I know. I haven't blogged in a while, and I probably won't again after this post. We'll see. But, I wanted to get this video to my family in the easiest way, so I thought I would include it in a post about scripture memorization.

Let's start with a confession. I'm not very good at memorizing scripture. Oh, I've tried. Before my son was born, I got through the first chapter of Colossians. And then my son was born. I probably wouldn't remember half the chapter if I were to say it today. I've always been good at memorizing for the test.... and then promptly forgetting. Having a bad memory is good for my marriage, but not great when it comes to hiding God's word in my heart.

I have come to realize that the scripture that I know by heart today, I have either memorized as a child, sung in a song, or I have read it and heard it so many times that it has naturally sunk in to this dense brain of mine. I have to "absorb" God's word, not just treat it like a checklist to tick off.

On that note, we have started a method of scripture memorization with our children that is working for us (so far). Before each family meal (morning and evening), we recite our memory portion outloud together. At first the kids just listened and soon they were able to join us. Adding actions has helped them (and us) as well. We did the same portion all through the month of January, but when February came, we thought we should continue on with it to make sure they REALLY know it. I was amazed when we realized that my 2 1/2 year old could (more or less) say it all herself.

It's not just about memorization, either. We desire our kids to be changed God's words. To weigh and measure their experiences and choices against TRUTH. As the kids have learned these words, we have been able to have conversations that bring God's standards to them personally. "Are you loving your sister as yourself, or are you loving yourself more?" When my son shoveled a path through the snow for me, he was noticeably pleased when I pointed out that by serving me in this way, he was loving God with all his strength.

One of my prayers for my children in this day and age of relativism is that they will be able to discern right from wrong, truth from lies. God's word is the measuring line. May they hide God's word in their hearts so that they might not sin against Him. And, goodness knows... their mama needs this desperately herself.

Right before we left for the states, we had a Greek-themed birthday party for a friend. He posted some pictures of our fabulous party costumes and excellent food here.

I really enjoyed our Passover this year. It was especially nice to be able to celebrate it with friends. My husband divided it into three parts. We started with the first Passover (Ex. 12 & 13) and the command, "Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance." Then we moved on to the Last Supper, and Jesus' example of sharing the bread and wine (communion), followed by washing his disciples feet (Lk. 22:11-15, 14:17; John 13). Lastly we considered the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19) "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."

Here are a few pictures from our Passover celebration:

The table, lying in wait

Hurray! People!

Why? A couple of years ago, Zhong Sheng preached a sermon about the feasts/festivals that God commanded the Israelites to observe in the Old Testament. If I remember correctly there were seven of them.... none of which we celebrate as Christians today. Obviously, with the death and resurrection of Christ, we live before the throne of grace, and we aren't required to come to him with ritual sacrifices anymore. However, a large purpose for having these festivals is as a remembrance of what God has done for us. Actually, when Jews celebrate the Passover, it is more than just remembering what took place for their forebears... they believe that they are joining in with the Jews of old, of all generations, to celebrate God's redemption. I think this is such a beautiful way to view how personal God's work of salvation is across the span of time.

How? The first time we celebrated Passover, we fasted from anything containing yeast or a rising ingredient for the week before. Then we had a meal of lamb, vegetables and unleavened bread. My husband read some blessings over the food that are very likely to be the type of blessings Jesus would have said at the Passover with his disciples and we ended the meal with him washing our feet. It was simple and meaningful. If you go on the internet, you will find a plethora of additional foods, activities, prayers and traditions that have been added on to the original Passover requirements. Our tradition is still developing, so I don't know what all we will do this year, but I'm looking forward to it.

Lent is just about a week away and it is time for me to start getting ready. I wrote about Lent last year explaining my position and practice and then later reflected on what I learned about myself. This year I plan to observe this time period again, but with a few additions.

My focus will be Spring Cleaning... physically, spiritually and household-ly, or to nicely alliterate: Health, Heart and Home.

Lent starts February 17th (Ash Wednesday) and continues just over 6 weeks until Easter Sunday. My plan is still evolving, but I've come up with a few ideas that I'm excited about.

Health - As usual, I will stop eating desserts/sweets. It seems like such a good time of year to detox the body from holiday and winter feasting to prepare for the freshness of spring. This year, however, I hope to take on another challenge. The big push here in the UK is to eat "5-A-Day". By that they mean we should strive to eat five fruit and vegetable servings in a day. The bar is not too high - juice can count as one portion. But, in all reality, I'm not sure if I actually do eat that much in a day. I want to take a week during the Lent period to focus on intentionally serving "5-A-Day" to my family and see if there is a significant change from our typical weekly diet.

Heart - I would like to chose 6 verses for the six weeks of Lent to meditate on and memorize. I hope to focus particularly on verses that pertain to my role of homemaker. As part of this, I will post them around the house in places that I often look to help me dwell on God's truths throughout the week.

Home - Somehow my urge to spring clean always seems to come long before spring. While technically spring cleaning should probably take place after Easter, I have decided that Lent is the perfect time to clean out the clutter and dirt from the months of being house-bound. I have a six-week plan for this as well that I will go into more detail about later. In brief, I will chose one room to focus on for each week: bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, kids bedrooms, and master bedroom. My goal will be to get rid of everything that is unnecessary and clean/organize everything else. I'm a huge fan of Simple Mom and she has many good tips for de-cluttering your life as well as a 2-week spring cleaning party that she hosted last year.

I'm excited. I'm ready. Care to join me?

I had way too much fun browsing the web for creative projects last night. I don't know if I will get around to doing any of them. Most of them probably take more time and ability than I have, but it's fun to see how creative people can be. As much as we might be denying it... Christmas IS coming and these might be some good gift ideas.

Patchwork Cards by Craftapple

Reversible Swaddling Blankets by The Purl Bee

A Napkin Set Tutorial by Angharad

Quilled Snowflake Ornament by Reese Dixon

Stack and Nest Quilting Blocks by Elizabeth Hartman for Sew, Mama, Sew!

Need some winter craft ideas: The Long Thread

Need some ideas for hand-made gifts: Sew, Mama, Sew

Have fun!

One thing I found interesting in this 40ish days was the number of times when I was taking care of a sick and fussy child or dealing with a disappointment that I just wanted to turn to chocolate for "comfort". I wondered why - what does this tell me about myself? Some might talk about the natural "high" that chocolate can give and how I subconsciously desire it when I'm feeling down. Perhaps in all the giving, giving, giving that motherhood requires, I consider it as something just for ME. Maybe I looked to it to take my mind off the frustration of the moment. Maybe I really am addicted!? =) Whatever the case, it was eye-opening for me to consider what I turn to when I am feeling low. Very often, rather than turning to the Source of joy and contentment, I try to conciliate myself with second-rate choices. This verse comes to mind:

What a blessing that we have a Savior who understands us... even to our most subtle desires for self-gratification or self-pity. My challenge for us all to think about is this: What/who do you turn to when you are feeling low? Food? Coffee? Music? Escaping into a book or a movie? Your spouse or best friend? In and of themselves none of these are wrong, but there is a fine line between finding these avenues as comforting and looking at them as our source of comfort. The next time that you hit a point in life where you are saying, "This stinks! I need....(chocolate, a vacation, a good cry...)" try to remember to take your troubles first to God. He "gets" it and He's told us to give all our cares to Him because He cares for us.

Lent is one of the oldest Christian traditions to remember Christ's 40 days in the desert and to prepare for the Easter celebration.  It starts on Ash Wednesday and ends with an Easter Day feast. To quote churchyear.net:

In particular, Lent focuses on fasting, prayer, charity and scripture reading.  Today only the very orthodox keep strict dietary and spiritual rules.  For many people, Lent is either ignored or a time to try a temporary diet from things like chocolate or sweets.

I was not aware of Lent until I went to college.  However, since then, I have been one to use the Lent time-frame to diet or give up something (typically chocolate or sweets).  This year is no different except that I enter Lent with a slightly different purpose.  I feel like we live in a world and time period that we rarely restrain our physical or emotional indulgences.  Of course we wouldn't do the REALLY bad things - like eat the whole plate of brownies, alone, in one sitting.  But, very often our lifestyle is: if I want something, I give it to myself.  If I want to relax, then I plug in a movie. If I have a sweet tooth, I satisfy it.  If I'm tired, I just sleep in a little longer.  I have to ask myself... how often do I purposely chose to take the less desirable path and deny myself something?  No, there is no spiritual merit in self-denial for it's own sake.  We have been clearly warned in Colossians:

So please be clear that I do not think denial increases my spirituality, however, I see that Jesus himself lived a lifestyle of self-denial.  How often does scriptures show that Jesus would spend all day with people and then be up in the wee hours of the morning to be with God?  Or how about the times when he would deny himself sustenance because he lived by the truth that "Man does not live by bread alone"?  I believe that when we ignore or reject taking periods of time to restrict ourselves from our bodily "needs", we miss out on opportunities to see, first of all, how tightly we hold to these activities, like eating, sleeping, entertaining ourselves, etc...  Secondly, we don't get to experience how God can meet our needs when we are weak.  

There are many ways to keep Lent that are individual for each person.  I find that when an activity starts to take too strong a hold in my life, it is good for me to give it up temporarily. Being either pregnant or nursing for the past two years+, I have not been able to fast from entire meals as I might normally like, but I have removed all sweets from my diet, or... (this one is a challenge) I have cut off the computer for a week because I see it consumes too much time.  My husband and I have stopped watching a certain show because we were too consumed with thinking about it all day and wondering what would happen next.  

In reverse, there might be something that I need to add to my routine.  For some it might be getting up consistantly for a quiet time, exercising, taking time to reach out to other people. All these things, done in an attitude of honoring God and desiring our bodies to be "living sacrifices" ARE beneficial on a spiritual level.  

Lent somewhat snuck up on me this year, so I didn't have time to go into it with much thoughtful preparation.  Since I have found myself becoming more and more indulgent with sweets/snacks/desserts since arriving in England, I've decided this might be the best way to go.  It is neither good for me or my baby, nor is it good when I start getting to the point of thinking I NEED something sweet to make me happy or satisfied.  So, I will once again give up sweets for Lent.  I guess we all have our weaknesses.  However, I want to do this, not just as a form of diet or better health.  I want to recognize that these things should not have a hold on my life and I want to be willing to give up whatever might hinder me from loving God wholly.