Wednesday, October 31, 2007

EJ's Poetry


Scarlet Snow
by Ethan J. Sanders

Along the well-tread path of Life we know so well,
That journey, destiny of all men;
By its side we see many sights, Time gives not to pen
The sad yet glorious lots too many to tell.
They are the resting places, berths of travelers
No more ever to walk abroad this old earth;
Many barren, forgotten, few clothed in mirth,
For so sparse are the victors of Eden’s curse.
In this view of lives lived and done
There comes a space, woeful, marked with defeat-
Gray with many years of ruin, Death’s lonely seat,
Hope long vanquished, his sad race run.
It seems to all his light gone out, never again to shine,
And despairing, we continue our dreary tour;
But, hark! there falls from the sky upon that desolate moor
Tiny snowflakes, of purest white, clearing that squalid mine.
Those pristine snowflakes, sent from heaven above,
Tinged with scarlet of preciously shed blood-
Washed in an instant that sorry lot of mud,
And faith in the Lamb rewarded in Love.
Such the cleansing, baptizing work of God-
That whilst we were sinners, hope long blown out,
The Lamb, Lion and Terror of Judah, won the bout
O’er sin, and our sorry tract washed, all to Him laud.

Psalm 51:10

I read this interesting commentary on Psalm 51:10 by Spurgeon just now in my quiet time. It is where I often am at...I need the Lord so badly!

"Let thy personal weakness, O Christian, be an argument to make thee pray earnestly to thy God for help.
Remember, David when he felt himself to be powerless, did not fold his arms or close his lips, but he hastened to the mercy seat with "renew a right spirit within me."
Be much in prayer; live much upon the Word of God; kill the lusts which have driven your LORD from you; be careful to watch over the future uprisings of sin.
The LORD has His own appointed ways; sit by the wayside and you will be ready when He passes by.
Continue in all those blessed ordinances which will foster and nourish your dying graces; and, knowing that all the power must proceed from Him, cease not to cry, "Renew a right spirit within me."

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Happenings

I've semi-dropped out of blogging. I feel sad about that because I really miss all of you! I know that people don't come over here to read because I rarely post. I noticed that I'm not even on my friends' links anymore...sigh. Anyhoose...from here, these are the happenings. The kids continue to LOVE school. Today Morgan, EJ, and I started violin/guitar lessons with an awesome teacher. He's in the symphony! He's really cool...and we love his sense of humor. We found out that we are getting ready for a strings ensemble Christmas caroling thing in early December. Wow~that should be fun! We only have 22 carols to learn... Ethan continues to write poetry~he recently wrote a poem called "Scarlet Snow". I'll have to get his permission to post it! He's very gifted with words. He's in an online writing "club" called FaithWriters. He's also got his driving permit, so he's learning to drive! Oh joy... tonight I got the privilege to be his passenger... and I actually didn't whack out like I thought I might or should. My mom is still visiting here and Dad is in Mexico, due back on Friday. Last Saturday we got to go to a hayride/weiner roast at the farm of a church family. It was cool. Aaron loved the barn swings. Several of my kids didn't even eat, they were having such a good time! (Of course, they wanted to eat when they got home!) I had teacher conferences yesterday with a couple of teachers. My kids are fitting in really well in school. Aaron has problems with talking...have no idea where he got THAT from! We are privileged to have started working in a small church~kind of like a mission out of our church. Matt is the youth director and I teach the little uns. This is, of course, provisional until God shows us His perfect will; but we are very happy to be working for Him! Today we met with our missions director, and we were sharing the way God might be leading...suspense...can't tell all of YOU about it yet =)! We are excited and fearful and sad and happy and and and.... I'll let you know when I can. I am enjoying the opportunity to meet our neighbors and pray for their salvation. I've met the people across the street and caddycorner, and I am hoping they will go to church with me sometime, and above all, that they will meet my Saviour! I need to post pics on here...when I have some. I really miss all of you and I really do lurk even if I sometimes don't comment. I guess I'm more of a lurker at heart than a TRUE blogger! Speaking of the heart, the ladies Bible study at our church this year is about the heart. It is really, really good and I've been challenged to get up very early to keep up with mine. How about you? Once again, I hope to keep this up more regularly. *I guess that's not a promise...*

Monday, October 15, 2007

Moving In...Don't Know About On

It's been two weeks...guess I'm about due for a post. It's been a busy two weeks~I feel like we've been here forever! Already, there have been two field trips, a choir concert, a game and a tournament (for Miss Cheerleader)...also an all-day ladies' conference for me! Today we will be moving into our "permanent for now" house. I can't wait until that's done. Matt is moving furniture today, and I'm supposed to be getting everything else ready to leave this house (but I'm posting..lol). The kids are loving school. Seth says it's even better than X-Box. That's saying a lot! To those of you wondering what this SAHM does with her time now, well...I run around getting all the things the kids need for school. It seems like daily someone says, "BTW...I need ______ for school tomorrow. Can you get it?" So I guess I'm now the "getter". Mom and Dad will be here later this week~that will be nice! Our church here has showered us with winter clothing and furniture and food, for which we are very thankful. Tri-City is the best! Our future is still uncertain...whether it will be Venezuela or somewhere else, we know not yet. God knows though~please continue to pray.

Friday, October 5, 2007

The Rat Race...

Okay, guys, here I am! People have wondered... We left Caracas on Monday morning. It was a very "tranquilo" trip, considering we have 5 children, 2 of them under 5! We arrived in our home town around 5 p.m. We had a quiet evening with the family with whom we are staying. Then....the rat race began! That morning Matt had a meeting with our home pastor and in the afternoon we went to do some shopping for school clothes. That evening I attended a ladies meeting. I cried some about Venezuela. That next morning we had a meeting with the kids' school principal. They are all 5 attending our church school, and it is really different for Mom and them! They are really enjoying it. After the school meeting, we had lunch there, then on to school supplies and grocery shopping. Guess where?! Wallyworld, of course! That night was church. Yesterday was their first day of school, and I was over there 4 times! I felt somewhat like a chauffeur... AND I was exhausted! Morgan is on the JV cheerleading squad (right up her alley), EJ on the Bible quizzing team (right up his alley), and Seth is just having a good ole time (right up his alley)! Today hasn't been as hectic. I've only had to be the "designated driver" once. I am enjoying the quiet times, I have to admit. And I'm thrilled that the children are having a nice time in school~they deserve it after putting up with Mom all these years! I am attaching a couple pics of them on the first day of school...

Ethan and Morgan

The three oldest

Monday, October 1, 2007

You Should Paint Your Room Purple
Sophisticated and exotic, purple can also be a deeply comforting color.Your purple room will inspire you to trust yourself more and go with your intuition.Purple has also been known to facilitate healing and a feeling of protection.