Precious

Sometimes being a parent is so precious. This is one of those times...

And by the way, she's never even been to Shakey's!

Is your soul fat?

I've been reading through Proverbs and came across 2 recently that I've been mulling over:
Proverbs 12:27 A slothful man does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a man is diligence.

This is a vivid proverb. A slothful man goes hungry with nothing to eat. The lazy man will not enjoy the fruit of his labor. I try and be diligent but is it my precious possession? Is it something I value and prize and cherish?

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.

Now we get a little more specific in our diligence. Am I being diligent in my study of God's Word? In reading spiritual books, in listening to sermons, in memorizing and meditating on God's truth so that it reaches my soul and changes my heart? If I do, I get a fat soul. Not a fat body, a fat soul. But it starts with making diligence my precious possession.

Super Matt

Sometimes the life of a 3 year-old can be a whole lot of fun...at least when you're Super Matt and your costume involves night vision goggles, camo, a cape, and a gun.
The back view...little sister is pretty impressed too. Matt said the funniest thing the other day - he's been itching because of a bug bite on his shoulder for several days:
Matt: Why do I have so many bug bites?
Sandy and Me: Because you're tasty
Matt: But I'm not barbecued yet
Guess what we've been doing for dinner lately?
On another note, praise God - Andrew's cast came off. The doctor is pretty sure it's not broken...doesn't instill a ton of confidence does it? But everything looks good on the x-rays.

Goodbye...

It is with great sadness (and boy was everyone sad) that we said goodbye to Sandy's parents. We had a great week together.
Grandma got lots of exercise and the kids had lots of fun.
Their parting gifts were guns from Cabela's. Are we from Kansas now or what?

Brotherly / sisterly love

We are truly blessed by God with our boys and girl. While they aren't always hugging, when they do, it sure is cute.

And don't be alarmed...Emery is TOUGH.

Praise God for grandparents!

Sandy's parents came to town this week and boy are the grandkids happy.

This is their reaction when we picked them up at the airport curb (I made a wrong turn and was a little late picking them up).
Emery is very proud of her first ever flip-flops compliments of grandma. She calls them her "clip-clops."Matt got some airplanes.
And Andrew got night vision goggles. Exactly what every 6 year-old needs.

Random observations part 2

We've just finished up 2 months here in Emporia so here are a few more random thoughts for the enlightenment of those not in Emporia and for the entertainment of those who are:

• Big bugs! I'm not particularly squeamish about bugs, but man, most of them must be using performance enhancing drugs. Can we test them?
• Good beef - as you typically have good seafood when you live in a city by the ocean, there is good quality beef here even in the most average of restaurants. As a lover of beef and potatoes, I'm in the right place. There's even a Beeffest though I missed it this summer so I'm not sure what they do there other than eat beef (www.beeffest.com if the idea of a beef fest makes you curious). Now if only my cholesterol level weren't quite so high...
• The Flint Hills Mall - one of our friends here described it as a "mallette" and I think that is a good description. And even more funny is the JC Penny and Sears that are part of the mall are also mini. In fact, not just smaller, not just 1 story, but 1 room, literally. The mall is tiny but there are 3 good sized hardware stores in town and Lowes might be coming to town soon too. Guess what most people buy here?
  
• Free videos for the kids - No, I'm not talking about the library though it has them too. Each video store in town that we've been to has a small kids section of free DVD's and videos - everybody wins!
• Penny parking meters - not bad, eh? A penny still gets you something around here.

It's been a great 2 months thanks to God's abundant grace to us and the kindness of our new family in Christ here.