too quiet

after reading psalm 71 this morning, i was convicted that i have been too quiet.

"But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure." (v.14,15)

the words "praise" and "tell" stood out to me in this amazing verse, but as i read the rest of the psalm, more and more stood out:

tell of your righteousness
proclaim your mighty acts
proclaim your righteousness
declare your marvelous deeds
declare your power to the next generation
declare your might to all who are to come
praise you with the harp for your faithfulness
sing praise to you with the lyre
shout for joy
sing praise to you
tell of your righteous acts all day long

what do i speak of, think of, talk of all day long?

simply put, i have been too quiet.

what might acts, marvelous deeds, displays of power and might do i have to share that God has done in my life or my midst? MANY!

healthy babies born, relationships restored, prayers answered, hearts changed, souls saved, families having houses to live in, illnesses healed, jobs provided...

seeing the power and magnitude of multiple thunderstorms this week...seeing the power and might of God throughout the old testament...

seeing Him at work in my heart and our daughter's, as i continue to learn how to parent, teach, train, correct and love elise better.

let's not be too quiet to sing and praise Him today
and to tell, declare and proclaim Him all day long.

jedi tradition

oma, elise and i went to chick-fil-a yesterday to enjoy a lunch out together and let elise play in the play area (now that she's coming out of her shell and is willing to talk to most anyone and attempt new toys, that were scary not that long ago). anyway, while in the play area, a little boy named Jacob (and his sister Julia) introduced themselves to us. before long Jacob was calling elise by name, saving her from getting knocked down by little girls coming down the slide, and so on.

as a kindergarten teacher, i thought i'd had my fair share of kid conversations--you know the ones--where they do most of the talking and you listen, nod your head, slip in an "uh-huh" here and there...well this conversation with jacob (who's 7 and 1/4 years old, i might add) topped them all!

i heard about everything from his dad's broken collar bone and torn wrist ligaments, to how yesterday was take your kid to work day and his dad is an engineer, to his favorite sports being tennis and swimming, to how tall he is for his age, to comparing our favorite star wars movies...and on and on it went...i enjoyed every minute of it, i have to say. this kid was so sweet, so kind, so intelligent and the conversation so enjoyable.

but (and my main reason for even writing this post) was that the highlight of the entire conversation was this:

Jacob: I know it sounds crazy to some people, but I'm not going to get married.
Me: Why?
Jacob: It's Jedi tradition.

how can you argue with that logic?

easter

it was a nice and busy easter this year. in sunday school, the lesson was on moses parting the red sea. so after justin did an awesome job teaching, the kids had snack and i got to do an acitivity with them comparing and contrasting the red sea story with the easter story. it was soooooo cool to here the similiarities they came up with! they made the connection of the blood that was painted over the doors during passover and Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. they observed how the Isrealites had to trust in God to get them across the red sea while Pharaoh's army was chasing them, and Jesus had to trust God and His plan while He was on the cross. God saved the Isrealites and God saves us through Jesus' death and resurrection. and my favorite was when a boy named noah said he knew something that was different about the two stories: that God split the red sea, but didn't split anything on the cross...but then the class and i talked through it and came to the awesome conclusion (with kids' hands flying up in the air as we talked it through more)...that God did split something while Jesus was on the cross. when Jesus died, the temple curtain was split in half, showing that we now need no mediator between us and God. it was awesome to draw that conclusion with them and see noah light up because it was his thought that got it all rolling. i truly felt privileged to be part of that activity and witness these little ones thinking so hard and drawing conclusions about God first hand.

after church, we spent time hunting eggs and hanging out with justin's family. then we headed to my mom's for dinner with my family. it was hard to believe this was elise's second easter already...last year she was so tiny and so unaware. this year, we watched her "hunt" (be led by the hand/carried) for eggs, eat candy, pose for pictures with her cousins, and have a little bit more of an idea of what this holiday is like. i look forward to when she's old enough to read her the easter story and have her understand it. i look forward to doing things like resurrection eggs or a resurrection tree. but for this year, she got dressed up (and was very aware that she looked pretty in her dress!), enjoyed time with family, and now enjoys playing with her plastic eggs in the bath tub.

pre Easter egg hunt

today we visited jake's house for a pre Easter egg hunt with lots of friends! as silly as it may sound, elise and i have practiced finding eggs in the house (wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing on sunday!). however, she's quite content to find just one egg and open it. these eggs had treats inside (my practice ones did not)...so needless to say, she was even more content to just stand there and eat the contents of her egg. all in all, her bag consisted of two eggs and lots of dirt and mulch (the last picture will explain) thanks jo and jake for inviting us over (i'm sorry we didn't get a picture of you guys though!) we had a great time!

grass and crayons

here's our little bugaboo. i just can't get enough of her. at first, she didn't seem to fancy the outdoors, but now she can't get enough grass, flowers and dirt (she loves dirt!) she even had a great time on the little slide i got for her at a yard sale last weekend. then yesterday, we picked up some triangle shaped crayons (awesome for little grips-thank you to my OT friends out there who bestowed this knowledge on me)...and she went to town with them. i think yellow was her favorite :) i'm such a teacher at heart and watch for things like her fine motor skills. i know, i'm such a nerd! but seriously, i could not be more proud or content with our little girl. i love being in her company, playing with her, listening to her endless words...parenting is just amazing. and being home is even more amazing. as my sister in law so perfectly wrote about on her blog just recently...i hope i do not forget the joys of these days or take them for granted.

can you guess where we were?

elise enjoyed a wonderful morning with three of her cousins this past week. these are my two favorite pics...playing in the water with eva and mara (elise was trying to eat it as you can see)...and "shopping" with jonas. he was king of the cart! elise blew my mind during this trip with her bravery and boldness. she's been in quite the mama's girl phase of late (which i must admit, i love!)...but she was off and running on this outing! she just couldn't get enough, and it was good to see her so brave and excited to explore! thanks aunt vanessa and cousins for inviting us. we had a great time with you all!!

encouragement for the morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4rCztjPRnw

i know my friend julie posted this link the other day. but if you haven't had two or three minutes to listen to it yet, please do.

elise and i just sat here and listened, after i was encouraged to expose her to more different kinds of music after reading linda's blog...and chills ran down my spine. thank you Lord, for giving Andy this amazing gift and just think how many of us at church are blessed enough to be the recipients of his gift. i can't wait to see how the Lord uses him in the future.