Birthdays and Parades and Camping

The princess was feeling a little under the weather today. I'm posting this as proof that she does in fact be still from time to time.

Daddy and babies getting ready to go swimming.

Nathaniel racing on his big wheel.
The kids having a bike parade.

Lis zooming along on her trike.

Camping at Hull Creek

Born on the fourth of July:

Good Books

I love to read.

I don't do it often because when I get consumed in a book it's very difficult to put it down and then things around my house go awry.

Most of what I read is self help, spiritual topics.

I'm currently rereading the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. They are so good. I can't imagine the amount of research she must have done to make them so realistic.

The first time I read the series I had a hard time getting started with A Voice in the Wind. It took me two years to get through the first chapter, but once I did I couldn't put it down. I've heard from a lot of others that they had the same experience. This is my second time rereading them and they are even better this time around! Francine Rivers is amazing!

If you haven't read them they are set in the first century during and right after the destruction of Jerusalem. A girl named Hadassah is saved by a Roman soldier and sold as a slave to a Roman family to work as a young girls maid. It goes through the hardships she faces as a Christian in the first century. It also tells the story of a German captive named Atretes. He is a successful gladiator hoping to eventually earn his freedom.

If you haven't read them, you definitely should!

Love

Sometimes I have something that I want to say but it just doesn't seem to come out the right way.

A lot of things have been bothering me lately.

One of those things is the apparent lack of love displayed in the body of Christ and even in physical families. It seems like we have a checklist of things that make us feel like good people and as long as we have it checked off, we feel pretty good about ourselves. We may treat our husbands and children with impatience and rudeness, but hey! we were at church three times this week. Or we may gossip about everyone there but at least we sang the loudest or gave the most in the offering.

The apostle Paul says that none of that even matters if we don't have love.

John says that if we don't love our brothers and sisters that we don't know God and he does not dwell in us. He also tells us to not love in word or tongue but in deed and truth.

It's not enough to just tell others that we love them. Actions speak louder than words. We must show them. Paul gives us a very clear definition of exactly what love looks like in one of the most well known passages of scripture.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Our lives must be defined by this passage.

We have to remember that our feelings are not a good indicator of what is right or true and always give one another the benefit of the doubt.

Love is not blind. It sees and loves anyway.

Schoolgirl, Hawaiian, Princess, Skate, Beachbum, Semi Potty Trained Barbie

With her favorite Prince.

The rear view.

Schoolgirl, Hawaiian, Princess, Skate, Beachbum, Semi Potty Trained Barbie, in the flesh.