Little Delights!

I had the absolute pleasure of taking Dayne & Maggy's 2 year old pictures :)!
We decided to take them on Christmas Eve when we were celebrating Christmas.
Fortunately there was a bunch of beautiful fresh snow on the ground which made for
an absolutely fun & beautiful photo shoot! Just imagine two almost two year olds bundling
up in all their winter garb: hats, gloves, coats, boats (which they were thrilled to show off! :)).
They were dressed & ready to go play in some snow!!
Dayne was infatuated with catching snow flakes on his tongue like his uncle sethy.
Maggy was captivated by the footprints she could make in fresh snow.
We had a blast and they defintely had some darling poses for the camera!
Here's a few of what I got, enjoy :)

{Jesus speaking}"'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them"

 (Mark 10:14-16)

""A child can always teach an adult three things:
to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something,
and to know how to demand with all his might
that which he desires."- Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

 

Community.

Another “new favorite song” to share with you all! I’ve been listening to this song over & over & over again. This may not surprise some of you…I have a tendency to “wear songs out”. One of my roommates in college told me that I was going to “wear the song out” because I would listen to it over & over again…old habits die hard I guess. You are going to like this one, at least I hope, but either way…I LOVE IT. It’s called “Shelter” by Jars of Clay. I bought the CD for Seth for Christmas, not really expecting my new favorite song to be on this CD.

So one evening we were getting ready to go to the gym and I asked Seth if he would add that new CD to my IPOD. I decided to try it out and sorta skipped through all the songs once, so I could get a “feel” for it. Then I listened to this song and my adrenaline started pumping (aka my heart was “clicking” with it) and for the rest of the workout, on the way home, and when we were home, onto the next day, and so on I played this song…A LOT. Now I know this is just a song and, yes, in a few weeks I’ll probably have a new favorite I’m convincing you to love...

However, this song has been really special to us at this point in our journey. We are three months away from our “predicted” move and we’re (especially me) starting to “mourn” what we’re leaving….I mean we have the MOST AMAZING family & friends here. But we’ve also been hit with an INCREDIBLE thankfulness and amazement at what God has given us. This body of family/friends we are in has been amazing. God has been impressing on our hearts the beauty of each relationship we hold and how astounding it is that we get to be blessed by you. We know we will never walk alone, we know a lot more about the love of Christ because of the love you’ve shown us. We are so unimaginably blessed. And you know what’s so great? God knew that. He delights in the fact we have each other. He knew that we would need a physical shoulder to cry on, an audible voice to speak to, someone we can call by dialing 7 simple #s on a phone, someone to laugh with, someone to hug, someone to encourage us, someone to go on trips with. This was God’s design- to give us a community. To give us these relationships. We know Jesus so much better because of you. We know His love so much greater because of the way we’ve been loved. We get to cry together, we get to mourn together, we get to laugh together, we get to worship together, we get to take each new chapter together. We weather the storms & rejoice in the happiest moments. Sometimes we’re just still together & sometimes we talk for 5 hours straight. And if we think this community is unbelievable & awesome down here…just imagine what our community in heaven will be!!! We will be communing face to face with our Jesus!! We think we know worship & joy now…let’s just let our imaginations go wild at the thought of Heavenly community.

But while we tread this earth & journey onward, “in the shelter of each other, the people live”, let’s celebrate our victories together, inspire each other to real true Jesus love,  give hope to the hopeless, & care for each other.

We love you & we thank you for being our shelter. Your arms have held us & grown us.

Here’s a link to the song: (if you can't click on it, just copy & paste the link)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcgj-Jbl2RY&feature=related

Here’s the lyrics:

 To all who are looking down
Holding on to hearts still wounding
For those who've yet to find it
The place is near where love is moving
Cast off the robes you're wearing
Set aside the names that you've been given
May this place of rest in the fold of your journey
Bind you to hope
You will never walk alone
(Chorus)
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (Never walk alone)
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (Your arms are all around us)

If our hearts are turned to stone
There is hope we know the rocks will cry out
And the tears aren't ours alone
Let them fall into the hands that hold us
Come away from where you're hiding
Set aside the lies that you've been living
May this place of rest in the fold of your journey
Bind you to hope
We will never walk alone

(Chorus)

If there is any peace
If there is any war
We must all believe
Our lives are not our own
We all belong

God has given us each other
And we will never walk alone

(Chorus)