Monday, February 25, 2013

The Kingdom of God and the Modern Mind


Hey friends and family,
Isaac has a fairly new blog project, “The Kingdom of God and the Modern Mind”, and we’d like to get the word out as there’s now a fair number of postings up. 

His blog is certainly more intellectual than my anecdotal “this is our life” blog, but it’s not so deep as to be unreachable for the masses.  Please take a few moments and read through a couple posts (or all of them!) and leave him a comment and please SHARE his blog!  Share it with friends, family, co-workers, your community groups…people that agree, people that DISAGREE!  Isaac loves honest discussion at all levels so long as it’s respectful. 

Below is a brief description of the two sides he’ll argue for and against in each post:

THE KINGDOM OF GOD
A vision of the world as it ought to be.
The Kingdom stands for the hope of man through the Gospel of Christ. It is a recognition of man's utter inability to create for himself an Earthly utopia and a reliance on a Kingdom not built by human hands.
This Kingdom is a gift bestowed on an undeserving people; to enter into it is to recognize that man cannot find happiness in fame or money; he cannot save himself through learning or through science or through a devotion to the pleasures of the world.
The Kingdom of God is the antidote to the misery of the Modern Mind; it is the cure to the disease of hopelessness; it is an end to the despair of man.
THE MODERN MIND
The force opposing The Kingdom of God.
Every word uttered in favor of God and his Kingdom is uttered against the Modern Mind.
The Modern Mind is ignorance in the disguise of learning; it is foolishness in the guise of wisdom; it is credulity in the guise of modernity.
The Modern Mind believes it may become its own savior by seeking the approval of man; it may earn favor by worshiping at the twin altars of science and pleasure.
The Modern Mind has long sought to build a kingdom of heaven on Earth, and its efforts have led to more bloodshed, more hopelessness and more foolishness than any other force.
The Modern Mind is the force that I mean to oppose, to be replaced by a mind set upon the beauty of the Kingdom of God.


I know you might be thinking that this is a shameless plug by a proud wife. Well, yes, it is, BUT it’s truly worth your read. If I could be completely unbiased by my relationship with Isaac I would still read and be encouraged and challenged by his words.  As his wife, though, my heart’s desire is to see him reaching others and engaging them in dialoguing and discussion on the modern mind and how the Gospel, though it may on the surface seem outdated, is still relevant.

In Isaac’s own words:

My passion is to offer a clear, literary demonstration of God's work both in the present and throughout history. I hope to embolden those who believe already, to elicit thought from those who are skeptical, and to utterly confound those who stand in opposition to God and His Kingdom. My educational background is in literature, my writing background in science. My love for literature has led to the desire to see quality in the things written of God; my love for science has made it all the more tragic that it is here where the presence of God today is most often opposed. I have born witness to the hand of God in everything I have done--the purpose of this blog is to demonstrate God's presence in all things and to offer a clear response to the arguments against God.

Now, how can you NOT want to read his blog and share it after that?

The goal is not to make converts. Only God has that power. The intent is to open the lines of communication, to challenge mainstream, analytical, “modern” thought. It is to show, though not attempt to prove, the relevancy of the Gospel even in our post-modern, modern world.

The long-term goal of this blog would to be to open doors for Isaac to realize his dream of being a full-time author.  Though he is gifted in and loves writing fiction, his heart’s calling is to share the gospel in a way that is real and intriguing for those with an analytical and modern mind.

Please pass my few humble introductory words along to those around you who might take a few moments to engage in something deeper than my tales of homemaking, sewing disasters, and toenail drama.

If you know someone who is an author, a modern mind, a fellow redeemed sinner, please pass this along and encourage them to leave comments. 

Let my final words be this: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”  (Proverbs 2:17) -- Please be iron to Isaac’s iron. Help sharpen and edify him through agreement, disagreement, or open-ended questions. 

God bless and thank you! 

Monday, February 18, 2013

6 month-iversary!!!

Happy SIX MONTHS to my best friend, my love, my husband. Isaac. It's been an incredible journey thus far and I can't wait to live out the next six months and then the rest of my life with you!

We went to our favorite spot for breakfast to celebrate!


Here's to the rest of our lives together!  I love you, sweetheart! 


Charlie!

We've had our pup for just over four months now. He's fattened up a lot since those early days. He's filled out so much that his collar, which used to hang on him is now almost too tight even though we've let it out all the way.  I think he's about 65 pounds now (up from 52 when we got him). He's also learned "sit" and "stay" and "down".



He loves to jump in the creek near our house and is getting really good at returning when we call him.







Saturday, February 9, 2013

Happy birthday, Jade!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JADE! Welcome to the double digits! What a big birthday! 

This day should have been shared with Lael who will be 2 next week, but poor little one came down with the flu.  Rachel assured us she was the happiest, sweetest little sick baby!  (vomit) "Oh, sorry mama!" (vomit) "Can I have some crackers?" So chipper! 

So her gift will have to wait... 

I just love the center picture of Tori snuggling her baby while she snuggles babies!  

And this little man! He has just stolen my heart! He knows me and greats me with "Hi Tatie!" as soon as I walk into the room.




Jade had the brilliant idea to request a sweet cereal birthday! No cake for this girl: she got right to the good stuff! We were all shaking our heads that we never thought of this! It was amazing!  Sometimes having every eye in the room on you, every voice celebrating your birth is a bit overwhelming!




These kids are so distinct in their personalities, and so fun! Gwenna was being a little mother, then we face timed with the happy, sick birthday girl! And these two... I don't know what they were so excited about, but you better believe I had to capture it!!!


And now I will leave you with a bit more gratuitous cuteness.


Gabbie moments

Sometimes I have Gabbie moments.  Quite unexpectedly something will remind me of her and open a flood of memories.  The sting of her death is gone as I know she's been in heaven these many years! Still it's fun to remember her and share those memories!

The most recent instance? PUSSYWILLOWS! We used to always bring them to her in bouquets as the very first sign of spring!




Birthdays and Babies!

Spoiler alert: There are gifts yet to be given pictured below. Don't look if you want to be surprised! 

I've been busy knitting, sewing, and crocheting, which is why I haven't been blogging.  Now it's time to share some of the things I've been working on so far.  I still have a couple of works in progress, but I'm almost there with those, too!  (I apologize a few of the pictures are a bit dark. I was in a rush and didn't set up proper lighting or edit them after...bad Katie!) 

Jade has an American Girl doll and she's been wanting more clothes.  Well that's right up my alley! I've been wanting to hone my crocheting skills a bit, so I set to work. I love the plethora of free patterns to be found online and the fact that I can keep them all organized on pinterest.  










Next I found the cuuuuutest little play house pattern online here and after making a few adjustments, I got to work.

Anywho, using fabric that I had on hand, I created some pretty wild little soft houses for some pretty special toddlers. Matching for Lael and Gwenna, boy-themed for Caleb. 


After knocking these out (and not without a few tears and ripped stitches), I moved on to making a quilt for a very special little boy who should be making his arrival very soon!  As a little brother, Gideon doesn't get much that's special to him.  In fact, mom-to-be Morgan said this was the first thing that she'd received that was just for Gideon.  (Complete with initial so it never gets confused). 


Next up was a set of dolly clothes for the babies' babies.  Auntie Lorna said she bought three new babies for her grands to play with, and of course I was thrilled to dig into my fabrics and create!  If you have seen things I've made for my niece and nephew, Ava and Noah, you'll recognize these prints.  As often happens, I got carried away and decided that they needed not only outfits, but jammies and diapers.  One thing I learned from Ava is that babies need spare diapers. You can't just take off a dirty diaper and then pretend it's clean again to put it back on (scoffs).