Great Kids Books

Every Christmas Andy and I try to get each of our kids a book. But not just any book. We really want to find one that has meaning and longevity, something that our kids will remember and we can someday pass down to our grandchildren. This usually proves to be quite a difficult task. My mom has already given my kids all the great Robert McCloskey books and we haven't quite reached the Chronicles of Narnia level.

But this past Christmas I hit the jackpot. I found these:








They are well written stories that teach awesome doctrinal truths. Each book has stimulated great conversation in our house with our three sons (ages 7, 5, 3) who love the stories and illustrations. Check them out! (R.C. Sproul has other kids books as well and more on the way....yay! I'm all set for Christmas this year too!)

If you click on the books it should link you to Amazon. I ordered my from the Westminster Seminary bookstore (wtsbooks.com) which is another great resource for good books.

Messy Messy

I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with spring for two reasons - mud and bugs. You see, spring is an almost unknown word here in the northeast. We call these months "mud season" followed by "bug season" and then finally, at long last, summer!

I love the sun, the warmth, the new life. I love that my boys can head outside again and burn off some of that endless energy. I love the fresh air and the smell of lilacs.

But, I hate mud. To be totally honest dirt makes me panic. I like my house neat and clean - and preferably my yard also. That's why God gave me three sons. I swear He wants me to face my fear of a dirty floor.

Over the past few weeks I have really struggled with my attitude. I have ridden on an endless cycle of anxiety - frustration - guilt. And I know (in my head) that it's ridiculous - "what's wrong with a little dirt? You just vacuum it up!" - but my body has this visceral reaction when my floor is dirty and it's hard to control.

As a result, my soul feels muddy. I have yelled at my kids (a lot!), coveted other people's clean houses, been discontent in almost everything and slacked off in my relationship with my husband. I feel like I just found a big mud puddle and rolled around it.

Thank God, He doesn't expect me to clean up before I come to Him. Because I'm desperate and I don't know how to be "soul-clean" again. I can't make my anxiety go away just like I can't snap my fingers and make the earth not dirt. I come to Him, invited, and find rest.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30)

I no longer have to carry the weight of having to have a clean house to be a good person, to be in control. I'm not a good person and I'm not in control - the cross of Christ gives me the ability to say that and walk on in confidence. He removes the heavy burden I think I must bear and replaces it with His lighter one and He carries it with me. That is love. And that, my friend, is beautiful - dirty house and all!

Desperate Times

I left for the grocery store at 6:30 this morning because that's what desperate moms do.

Moms who have been trying hard to keep their heads above the water. Above the mud and the mess, the laundry and lack of naps, the bills and the bickering. And they just need to be alone and get something done.

So with coffee in hand I left the just-beginning-to-stir house and hopped in the car.

Because there's nothing like driving alone while being serenaded by Adele with no one yelling, "Turn it down!" or "Skip that song, we don't like it!" Or navigating the grocery store with empty aisles, no lines and no bargaining over good behavior for treats.

And most of all there's nothing like heading home at 8:30 with your to-do list already halfway done.

Because then there's time for dance parties in the kitchen, watching a 3-year old and a 5-year old groove to "Ice Ice Baby," and seeing their eyes light up as we build a farm out of clay. There's nothing like falling in love again with a husband who makes breakfast, dresses the kids and gets a first-grader to the bus on time all so you can spend time alone at the grocery store.

That's what desperate moms do.

Moms who are beginning to realize that with just a blink they'll be driving alone everywhere, grocery shopping for two and no longer having dance parties in the kitchen. Moms who want to learn how to savor the moments.

I think I may starting a 6:30 am grocery shopping tradition.

Now..."Let's get out of here! Word to your mother! (Ice Ice Baby....)"


(And if you need a good laugh on your Friday - check this out - probably not with the kids around. It always makes me laugh no matter how many times I've seen it!)

Broken Cisterns

My mom got new furniture last week. My dream furniture....beautiful brown leather. I won't even let my kids sit on it. I was so jealous, completely forgetting that my mom is twenty years older than me and she had hand-me-down furniture until I was in high school. And it had a brown and orange floral print...and it was itchy. But since I forgot all that I decided that I need new furniture...now. Problem, I can't afford new furniture. So I spent all day Saturday scheming up a way to start a business (since having kids at home doesn't allow me to work at a "normal" job) and make lots of money.

Result: I totally ruined the day with my husband and my kids. I paid no attention to any of them because I was creating a way to make my dreams come true. And then I cried when I went to bed and realized that I had "lost" a day and gained nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Why do I do that? Why do I think that the next thing will make me happy? That if I could just have that one thing everything would be great? "If only my life was like hers...." "If only I could figure out a way to take that exotic vacation I have to have...."

Rivers of discontent running through my mind. Plans to create a world that will provide me what I just know I'm lacking. My soul looking for water to satisfy and if I could just find the right balance, the right rhythm, the right job, the right whatever...then I wouldn't be thirsty anymore.

Then this:
"...for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Jeremiah 2: 13

I'm scurrying to collect water for myself, it satisfies for a moment and then it's gone and I'm on the search again for more water. Meanwhile there's a fountain right there. And not a nasty, germ covered public fountain. A fountain of living waters. My soul trembles at the thought and it's right there.

So why do I focus on my broken jar?

I think it's because I love my (supposed) happiness more than Him. I forget that He is what I am created for. He is the source of more than happiness, of joy itself!

How? That seems so ethereal, impractical when my kids are sick again, there's more laundry on the floor, more bills to pay and another meal to make. How do I bathe in and drink in the "fountain of living waters" when I'm practically drowning in life? How do I put down my cistern?

"...the only way to dispossess [the heart] of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one.... We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart, than to keep in our hearts the love of God - and no other way by which to keep our hearts in the love of God, than building ourselves up on our most holy faith." (The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, Thomas Chalmers)

I can only give up my love for the world by replacing it with a more powerful love, the love found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is replaced by hearing and seeing the Gospel over and over and over again.

So today, let's drop our cisterns and run...no sprint...to the fountain! I will meet you there and we'll relish in the Good News and drink together!

"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" John 4: 13-14