SNAKE!!!

So Nate was in the backyard, finishing the grilling that I had started before he got home. Sophie goes out with him and yells,"Daddy, snake!" SOOO thankful it had fallen down into the window well and couldn't get out, he was a good sized snake. We had some neighbors send their kids over to check it out - it was really mean and would strike at anything you put down there. We weren't sure what kind it was, but the boys across the street said that it was a Copperhead - 1 of 2 poisonous snakes here in MD.

So, they took the gracious liberty of ridding us of the snake, and after a careful dissection and removal of the frog that it had just eaten along with who knows what else - boys, I'll tell ya, haha, and I will soon have 2! - they also confirmed that it was a venomous snake! Just the thought of Sophie frog hunting in our backyard and coming across this guy on her own ... I never realized I hated snakes so much until this one made it's way into our yard. Thank you Jesus for your protection, and for neighborhood boys who thrive off of things like this :).

Biblical Fellowship - Week 4

Last week, we wrapped up our class on Biblical Fellowship, taught by Kenneth Maresco (I failed to get up our last two weeks up, so I dropped them into a separate post - here is the link: Week 2-3 - Hermeneutics and Old Testament 1). Kenneth is one of the two executive pastors at Covenant Life. He humbly served us with great wisdom and care, as he taught from many years of experience as a husband, father, and pastor. He helped us see how through the power of the Word and scripture, the gospel connects to changing our lives, using the means of the the local church, community, and primarily in contexts such as Care Groups. One of the books of study this week was Jonathan Edwards' - "Charity & Its Fruits", writing on 1 Corinthians 13. The chapter we read as on "Charity (Love) suffereth long, and is kind". A very real part of life in a fallen world is that we suffer pain, injury, and hurt when people sin against us. Having a community of believers to care for us, and remind us of the gospel in those times is so vital. Edward's words are powerful, sobering, and helpful in setting our hearts right in moments of injury from others:

"...love to God tends to humility, which is one main root of a meek and long-suffering spirit. Love to God, as it exalts him, tends to low thoughts and estimates of ourselves, and leads to a deep sense of our unworthiness and our desert of ill, because he that loves God is sensible of the hatefulness and vileness of sin committed against the Being that he loves. And discerning an abundance of this in himself, he abhors himself in his own eyes, as unworthy of any good, and deserving of all evil. Humility is always found connected with long-suffering, as says the apostle (Eph. 4:2) — "With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." A humble spirit disinclines us to indulge resentment of injuries, for he that is little and unworthy in his own eyes, will not think so much of an injury offered to him as he that has high thoughts of himself. For it is deemed a greater and higher enormity to offend one that is great and high, than one that is mean and vile. It is pride or self-conceit that is very much the foundation of a high and bitter resentment, and of an unforgiving and revengeful spirit.

It is from littleness of mind that the soul is easily disturbed and put out of repose by the reproaches and ill-treatment of men: just as little streams of water are much disturbed by the small unevennesses and obstacles they meet with in their course, and make a great deal of noise as they pass over them, whereas great and mighty streams pass over the same obstacles calmly and quietly, without a ripple on the surface to show they are disturbed. He that possesses his soul after such a manner that, when others harm and injure him, he can, notwithstanding, remain in calmness and hearty goodwill toward them, pitying and forgiving them from the heart, manifests therein a godlike greatness of spirit. Such a meek and quiet and long-suffering spirit shows a true greatness of soul.."

Jonathan Edwards, "From Charity and It's Fruits-Sermon 4-Charity Disposes Us Meekly To Bear The Injuries Received From Others"

(Overdue) Week 2-3- Old Testament 1 & Hermeneutics

Old Testament 1
My second class was Old Testament 1, with Bruce Chick. A little about Bruce, he is the pastor of Sovereign Grace in Roanoke, VA. Bruce has an amazing testimony that he shared with us, from growing up in and out of church, to getting saved, playing professional baseball in the Triple A, to becoming a pastor. He is a godly man, humble, and wise. We were so served all week by his example of humility, but his amazing knowledge and skill in handling the Old Testament texts.

OT 1 focused on the Pentateuch, which is the first 5 books of the bible. It was a challenging week, probably the toughest yet, but sensed God's grace through it all, and learned so much!

God was at work creating categories for me to see the richness of the Old Testament - that are rich with God's covenant making and keeping power for his redeemed people.

Hermeneutics

Following that, was Hermeneutics with Mark Mullery. Mark is the pastor of the Sovereign Grace church in Fairfax, VA. "Biblical hermeneutics is the craft of interpreting scripture." It is the process, skill, and steps that we use to approach and interpret scripture. Here is an excellent quote that came out of our lectures to help explain:

““Biblical interpretation has as its goal to discover the original meaning and intention of the text. Its goal is exegesis—to lead the meaning out of the text—and shuns eisogesis—bringing meaning to the text. Or as Luther put it: ‘The best teacher is the one who does not bring his meaning into the Scripture but gets his meaning from the Scripture.’” ( Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, p. 115.)

This would be my aim too - to allow scripture to speak for itself. May God continue to grant us at Oasis to do that very thing, that the emphasis and focus would never be our words, but that we would allow God to speak to us through His word! That we would tune in and listen to His voice in scripture!

20 Minutes with Mickey D and Sophie

I had the delight to run out for a quick daddy-daughter desert time after dinner with Sophie the other day. I never knew how fast a 3 year-old could down a entire McDonald's Ice Cream Cone! While being amazed at her whoofing down soft serve, laughing and having fun, I was able to learn few things about my little princes. I learned about her:

Favorite friend: Chasey (Chason, her little bro)

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Movie: Monster Inc.

Favorite thing to do: Color and read books

Thing that makes her sad: Chasey when he cries

She loves her little bro!

More than these neat details of her life, I learned a few other things that evening about being a dad. I gained insight into the potential that just 20 minutes can have with my children. I see that taking advantage of a simple but unique setting can create magnificent memories in the mind's and heart's of my children. It is also amazing that a simple buck-25, and just 20 minutes can be a precious investment with a profound impact.

Family Day

Monday's we have dubbed "Family Day", Nate is off of school and for the better part of the day is free to spend time with the fam - other than studying in the afternoon during the kids naps or in the evening when they go to bed. Sophie just glows on Monday's, she LOVES hangin' with her daddy :).

This morning we headed out early to a new favorite spot we have "Yummy Donuts" for breakfast. Sophie opted for the "pink one" instead of her regular favorite "the ball donut" which has the little ball sprinkles. Then I went to my Doctor's appt while Nate and the kids played at the fountain at the hospital next to my clinic. After that we changed diapers and had potty breaks and drove out to South Germantown Recreational Park, better know as "Castle Park" to play some more.

Home for lunch and naps and now Sophie is accompanying Nate to his chiropractors appt - which she thought was pretty cool. I need to figure out what i'm gonna make for dinner, but just wanted to get caught up a bit on blogging - thanks to all who are checking in on us, we can so sense God's grace and kindness and provision for us during this crazy and wonderful season of our lives.

*Oh, I get to go to school with Nate tomorrow all day, to his Biblical Fellowship class. Will be fun to see what his day looks like at the PC. And another exciting side note, we have an ultra sound scheduled for Oct 5th, so we'll get to see our baby boy again, and we plan on bringing Sophie with us this time. All is going well, they say he is still measuring big - I believe them, lol! And he is looking healthy and well. So we'll keep you posted on that too, hard to believe in a months time we could have baby #3 here with us!

Here are some pics from our day ...

Hard Times in MD

It is amazing how much more "date nights" are thoroughly savored by us now that Nate is into the PC full swing. With failed attempts at sharing the details of our day with one another at the dinner table in the midst of the chaos of the kids, Saturdays have turned into such a sweet time of sharing what Jesus has been doing in our hearts, what has been going on at home with me and with Nate at school. And this last Saturday we hit Hard Times, Hard Time Cafe that is ... www.hardtimes.com

A recommendation given to us by a classmates wife who is a local. It was a total hole in the wall, the kind of place we both love to try, and unknown to us, their specialty was chili.

I had the Frito Pie with Cincinatti style chili and Nate had a HUGE Chilicheddar Burger topped with a spicier Terlingua Red chili. It was great, and next-door was a little italian ice place that had some tasty mango italian ice. It was nothing fancy, but a great way to spend our evening - oh, and I even made a good joke that impressed Nate - which is rare, I think I make jokes and he laughs just because it's goofy, but it was actually witty this time, lol! As we were waiting for our food, the power went off and on (apparently someone had hit a power line outside, but we didn't know this at the time) and I looked at Nate, raised my eyebrows and said "hard times, huh?" and he said "that was good" with a big smile on his face. Those are the things I live for being that he is usually the one making me chuckle :). Fun times at Hard Times, those date nights always leave me refreshed and more in love with my husband, always looking forward to the next Saturday.

Sophie's solution to her crazy brother

So Sophie and I were having a conversation about our new baby coming very soon. I told her, "we're gonna have to protect him from 'Chasey-boy' (a nickname given to Chason by her) so that he doesn't hit the baby too hard or be too rough with him, cause Chasey can be crazy, huh!?" We both laughed and she thoughtfully replied "maybe we should send him to Minnesota." Caught off guard by her seemingly well though out and calculated answer, I asked her "Who?" And she so matter-of-factly said "Chasey, maybe we should send him back to Minnesota."

Going to bed alone

*Nate and his nightly routine of winding the kids up after dinner - I love it! They love it. This pic reminded me that even when our hours together are short and seem to fly by, the time spent is full of such joy and is so precious.

So we are at the end of week 2 for Nate's classes and I think that the reality of how much we are actually going to be seeing daddy around the house - or lack thereof - has set in.

Last week he had a grueling schedule, but it was week 1 and he had no reading, quizzes or tests, or reading - did I say reading, haha - that he was coming off of. I think he said they estimated 22.5 hours of class time for this week (Old Testament 1: Pentateuch with Bruce Chick - whom I heard affectionately referred to as "Bruce the beast" by one of our pastors) and 25 or 26 hours of study time. So this week, some mornings I will see him as he gets ready to leave the house, for maybe all of 20 mins, but usually he has left or is reading in his office until he leaves. Then he will come home for dinner between 5pm & 5:30pm, will play with the kids, help with dishes and baths, do a bible story with Sophie and then will be back to the school by 7pm or 7:30pm. This week he has gotten home well after I have already been in bed - then we start over the next day.

But with all of that said, I have to say that I am more aware of God's grace at work in our lives than ever. I see how gracious Jesus has been to our family, allowing even the short times we are together to be sweet and satisfying. I am growing in love and affection for my husband daily, even though I see him so much less. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit at work in my heart, the "old me" would have stewed and felt sorry for myself, being 8 mos pregnant, away from home and having to care for 2 small (very wild, lol) children while Nate is away most of the time. But I am truly filled with joy that I am able to serve my husband in these things. God is revealing to my heart the eternal purposes for what I do as a mother and wife, how these things are for His kingdom and His glory. From laundry, to changing dirty diapers, disciplining my 3 year old for the 50th time that day, to grocery shopping with both kids in tow - I am fulfilling God's purposes ... and that is worth going to bed alone for a season.

My First Week - ST 1

Week one is complete! Last week was my first class, which was "Systematic Theology 1", with Jeff Purswell. It was phenomenal - lots of work, but amazing. Jeff has to be the most brilliant guys I have ever met, and I am humbled by the fact that I get him as a professor and dean for the entire year. Amazing. Read more about Jeff here.

The class focused on the doctrine of the word of God - so areas such as scriptures authority, inspiration, trustworthiness - and ultimately, seeing the Bible as the culmination of God's revelation and redemptive acts for his people. I leave you with a stand-out quote from my studies:

“Scripture was written by the Holy Spirit that it might serve him in guiding the church, in the perfecting of the saints, in the building up of the body of Christ. In it God daily comes to his people. In it he speaks to his people, not from afar but from nearby. In it he reveals himself, from day to day, to believers in the fullness of his truth and Grace. Through it he works his miracles of compassion and faithfulness. Scripture is the ongoing rapport between heaven and earth, between Christ and his church, between God and his children. It does not just tie us to the past; it binds us to the living Lord in the heavens. It is the living voice of God, the letter of the omnipotent god to his creature. . . . Divine inspiration, accordingly, is a permanent attribute of Holy Scripture. It was not only “God-breathed” at the time it was written; it is “God-breathing.""

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics 1.385.

This weeks class is "Old Testatment 1", with Bruce Chick.