Today I....

1. Realized I haven't posted on the blog for almost a month....oops!!! (still dealing with a broken PC though, in my defense!)
2. Awoke to the announcement that Emma had vomited in her bed last night twice, "it's ok Mom, I didn't wake you up to tell you. I wanted to let you sleep." uh, that's sweet in theory....
3. Proceeded to locate the aforementioned vomit and clean it up.
4. Did 2 days of homeschooling with Kailie in about 3 hours. I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!
5. Made our meal plan for this pay-period.
6. Went grocery shopping.
7. Cleaned the kitchen, playroom, dining room and living room with Kailie and Emma (who is feeling much better now).
8. Talked to Colleen and Nate on the phone, yea!
9. Cleaned the litter box. Disgusting. That's like the quadruple whammy of motherhood: in one day I got to clean one child's vomit, 2 children's diapers, one child's pee-leg trickles while potty-training and the cat's nastiness in the litter box. 8-)
10. Fed my family 3x. Although this happens every day it is a very special part of my day and role in this house.
11. Played Go Fish, Kings in the Corner and Slapjack with Kailie and Emma before bed.
12. Read to Isaac before bed.
13. Listened to Emma tattle on Isaac for "picking up the toys that I wanted to pick up!"....?????
14. Continued working on curriculum plans for next year.
15. Still to come (it's 9:38 pm): Bible study with Dave, we're reading through Leviticus right now. Possibly watching GLORY (I love Netflix!) with him when he gets home from the elder meeting. Finish watching On the Record with Greta and whatever else until Dave returns.

I think it's been a good day.

Today I.....

Feel free to skip these posts. I'm writing them more for me, a reminder of what a mom actually does in a day, to keep me from feeling discouraged when I don't meet my own expectations (let alone anyone else's). Or, feel free to read on.

Today (November 16) I:
1. Missed church with 3 kiddo's with colds
2. Washed, dried (but didn't get put away yet) 6 loads of laundry
3. Ran the dishwasher 4 times
4. Vacuumed the living room, dining room (twice) and kitchen
5. Swept and mopped the bathroom
6. Cleaned and sterilized the toilet and bathroom sink
7. Took a shower
8. Made the bed
9. Fed the kids breakfast and lunch (we skipped dinner and just snacked on stuff)
10. Made 9 dozen cookies from scratch (some for the youth group, some for us now and some to freeze for later)
11. Read a biography on Martin Luther (it was excellent!)
12. Updated my blog
13. Worked on writing my curriculum for the kids for school next year
14. Talked to Mom and Dad on the phone
15. Held our weekly Bible study for the youth group at our home (this week we had 17 lovely people here)
16. Made 2 gallons of iced tea
17. Changed lots of diapers
18. Took out the trash in the kitchen and the bathroom
19. Mopped the dining room
20. Gave the cat a bath
21. Mediated many of the children's arguments over toys, papers, who was cleaning and who wasn't, etc.
22. Got all the kids dressed in the morning and the youngest 3 changed again at bedtime.
23. Rejoiced at having completed another year with Abby! (Happy Birthday)


That's about it.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Our little Abigail is 2 today! I can't believe it. Unfortunately our main computer is broken right now (with, of course, all of my pics on it!) so I can't put all the snapshots of her life to date on right now. 8-(

She's started using her low voice lately, and by low I don't mean quiet. I mean low like a man's voice. She does it alot when she's looking for one of her siblings. Here she is, this teensy petite red-head growling out, "KY-YEE???? ISICK???? LOWEN??? KY-YEEEEEEEE???????? MMMMMMMMM-AH???? It's pretty funny.


Abby is growing by leaps and bounds mentally these days, we recently had this conversation when she burst into the bathroom on me:
Me: Uh, hi Abs (while dressing)
Abs: HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? (stated in a very LOUD and low voice)
I thought of all the first complete sentences to hear from one of the kids this one was pretty cute. 8-)

She also recently decided that she can change herself whenever she's wet, so she's frequently found around the house with a naked tooshy. Dave calls she and Lauren the "pantless wonders".

Abby is also absolutely adorable as the "big" sister to Lauren these days. Lauren just started walking on her own this week and Abby rushes to her side to help her along. It is so funny to watch because:
1. Lauren is only 11 months younger than Abby
2. Lauren already OUTWEIGHS Abby
3. They're almost exactly the same height as well

Anyway, I wish I had pics but hopefully I'll be able to get them sometime soon!

John Piper on Today's Election

Vote!

Just a friendly reminder to make sure you vote today!

The 5 Solas (or what we believe)

The following is reprinted from The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. I feel it is a great explanation of many of the problems in the present-day Evangelical church as well as a simply stated review of what the 5 Solas are. The Protestant church was built on these doctrines, it is imperative that we know them, believe them and start practicing them if we want to really see the church grow in this culture.

The Cambridge Declaration

en Espanol
April 20, 1996
Evangelical churches today are increasingly dominated by the spirit of this age rather than by the Spirit of Christ. As evangelicals, we call ourselves to repent of this sin and to recover the historic Christian faith.

In the course of history words change. In our day this has happened to the word "evangelical." In the past it served as a bond of unity between Christians from a wide diversity of church traditions. Historic evangelicalism was confessional. It embraced the essential truths of Christianity as those were defined by the great ecumenical councils of the church. In addition, evangelicals also shared a common heritage in the "solas" of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.

Today the light of the Reformation has been significantly dimmed. The consequence is that the word "evangelical" has become so inclusive as to have lost its meaning. We face the peril of losing the unity it has taken centuries to achieve. Because of this crisis and because of our love of Christ, his gospel and his church, we endeavor to assert anew our commitment to the central truths of the Reformation and of historic evangelicalism. These truths we affirm not because of their role in our traditions, but because we believe that they are central to the Bible.

Sola Scriptura: The Erosion of Authority

Scripture alone is the inerrant rule of the church's life, but the evangelical church today has separated Scripture from its authoritative function. In practice, the church is guided, far too often, by the culture. Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God. Pastors have neglected their rightful oversight of worship, including the doctrinal content of the music. As biblical authority has been abandoned in practice, as its truths have faded from Christian consciousness, and as its doctrines have lost their saliency, the church has been increasingly emptied of its integrity, moral authority and direction.

Rather than adapting Christian faith to satisfy the felt needs of consumers, we must proclaim the law as the only measure of true righteousness and the gospel as the only announcement of saving truth. Biblical truth is indispensable to the church's understanding, nurture and discipline.

Scripture must take us beyond our perceived needs to our real needs and liberate us from seeing ourselves through the seductive images, cliches, promises and priorities of mass culture. It is only in the light of God's truth that we understand ourselves aright and see God's provision for our need. The Bible, therefore, must be taught and preached in the church. Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher's opinions or the ideas of the age. We must settle for nothing less than what God has given.

The work of the Holy Spirit in personal experience cannot be disengaged from Scripture. The Spirit does not speak in ways that are independent of Scripture. Apart from Scripture we would never have known of God's grace in Christ. The biblical Word, rather than spiritual experience, is the test of truth.

Thesis One: Sola Scriptura

We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation,which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

Solus Christus: The Erosion of Christ-Centered Faith

As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision.

Thesis Two: Solus Christus

We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.

Sola Gratia: The Erosion of The Gospel
Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches.

God's grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.

Thesis Three: Sola Gratia

We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.

Sola Fide: The Erosion of The Chief Article
Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls. Today this article is often ignored, distorted or sometimes even denied by leaders, scholars and pastors who claim to be evangelical. Although fallen human nature has always recoiled from recognizing its need for Christ's imputed righteousness, modernity greatly fuels the fires of this discontent with the biblical Gospel. We have allowed this discontent to dictate the nature of our ministry and what it is we are preaching.

Many in the church growth movement believe that sociological understanding of those in the pew is as important to the success of the gospel as is the biblical truth which is proclaimed. As a result, theological convictions are frequently divorced from the work of the ministry. The marketing orientation in many churches takes this even further, erasing the distinction between the biblical Word and the world, robbing Christ's cross of its offense, and reducing Christian faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular corporations.

While the theology of the cross may be believed, these movements are actually emptying it of its meaning. There is no gospel except that of Christ's substitution in our place whereby God imputed to him our sin and imputed to us his righteousness. Because he bore our judgment, we now walk in his grace as those who are forever pardoned, accepted and adopted as God's children. There is no basis for our acceptance before God except in Christ's saving work, not in our patriotism, churchly devotion or moral decency. The gospel declares what God has done for us in Christ. It is not about what we can do to reach him.

Thesis Four: Sola Fide

We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice.We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion of God-Centered Worship
Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.

God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, cravings, the appetite for consumption, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God's kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success.

Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria

We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone.We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

A Call To Repentance & Reformation
The faithfulness of the evangelical church in the past contrasts sharply with its unfaithfulness in the present. Earlier in this century, evangelical churches sustained a remarkable missionary endeavor, and built many religious institutions to serve the cause of biblical truth and Christ's kingdom. That was a time when Christian behavior and expectations were markedly different from those in the culture. Today they often are not. The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal.

We repent of our worldliness. We have been influenced by the "gospels" of our secular culture, which are no gospels. We have weakened the church by our own lack of serious repentance, our blindness to the sins in ourselves which we see so clearly in others, and our inexcusable failure to adequately tell others about God's saving work in Jesus Christ.

We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God's Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals asks all Christians to give consideration to implementing this Declaration in the church's worship, ministry, policies, life and evangelism.
For Christ's sake. Amen.
Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Executive Council (1996)
Dr. John Armstrong

The Rev. Alistair Begg

Dr. James M. Boice

Dr. W. Robert Godfrey

Dr. John D. Hannah

Dr. Michael S. Horton

Mrs. Rosemary Jensen

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Dr. Robert M. Norris

Dr. R.C. Sproul

Dr. Gene Edward Veith

Dr. David Wells

Dr. Luder Whitlock

Dr. J.A.O. Preus, III
This declaration may be reproduced without permission.

Please credit the source by citing the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

A Living Education

I am currently in the process of starting another blog: A Living Education (You may click on the link over on the sidebar to visit also). I'm not sure when it will be completely up and running so feel free to visit often, if you are so inclined. 8-) The purpose of that site is to focus on providing our children with a quality, LIVING education. What does that mean exactly? Well, you'll have to stop by to find out.

Going Home

We will be leaving tomorrow A.M. to return home to Zion for Robb's wedding. I hope to post pics from the trip upon our return. 8-) Congrats to Robb and Amy on their big day!

Curious?

3rd Party Debate on CSPAN Live Tonight at 9 EST,
8 Central

Speed Wash

So, here I've been struggling for the past 5 or so YEARS trying to keep up with our ever mounting laundry problem. (Before we moved it was bad because Dave and I both worked full-time and I couldn't do the laundry when I was pregnant - which was pretty much always, since it involved going up and down the stairs which I couldn't do. Now there's just a lot of us with a lot of clothes to keep up with. Add in about a month ago the drain pipe broke so we were without laundry capabilities for roughly 5 days - x 7 people- x the laundry that was already waiting to be done....you get the picture) I was so frustrated when we moved, that I just found a big box that I labeled "SOCK NIGHTMARE" and threw it in the moving truck. Needless to say, that box was never opened, but at least now (7 months later) the nightmare remains contained in one location and is out of sight...somewhere....hmmm.....maybe it went to Goodwill???

Anyhoo, I have been working on getting caught up on our laundry and it just never seems to happen, as soon as I think I'm done an ENTIRELY FULL, NEW, HAMPER APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE!!!! Sigh. But yesterday I had an epiphany. Almost to be paralleled with Columbus' discovery that the world is indeed round, or possibly Franklin's discovery of electricity in lightning! What is this amazing discovery????

MY WASHER AND DRYER EACH HAVE A SPEED CYCLE!!!!!!! OH BLESSED WONDER OF TECHNOLOGY!!!! And yes, I've had these same machines since we moved in March, but let's not talk about the fact that the buttons have been staring at me for 7 months and I just now took the time to actually read them....8-)

Now each load is taking at least only 1/2 as long and I may actually see our laundry completely caught up by the end of this week! (for only the 2nd time in the last 7 months.....!!!!) For some of you this may not seem like a big deal, but to a household of 7 people (+ cloth diapers on 2 of those people) this is a HUGE VICTORY!

THANK YOU MAGIC SPEED WASH BUTTON! (and the wonderful folks at GE who made them!)

I was in birthday overload.

Kailie's 7th birthday was last Saturday, 10-11. Due to posting for Lauren's, Emma's, Mom's and Uncle Bill's birthdays all in that same week, I suffered serious birthday-blog overload and thus am late in posting my well-wishes and joyful thankfulness for our precious oldest daughter (and that was a very long sentence....)!

Kailie is in 2nd grade this year and doing wonderfully with her schoolwork. She is my little shadow (literally) and is eager to do whatever she can to please Mommy and Daddy each day. She has been such an immense blessing and help to me in caring for her younger siblings that I can't even imagine how I would accomplish many of my daily tasks without her here (namely: showering!). Her sense of humor is really starting to mature and it's fun to listen to her comments on life, the older she gets the more I see traits in Dave and I coming out in her as well and it's always surprising! She's a tremendous joy and a very beautiful little girl and we're thankful every day to the Lord for providing her to our family.

This was so cute, she was helping Daddy build the swingset, but had to wear her pink snowboots for some reason....8-)

First lost tooth.

Teaching Isaac to dance!

1st day of 2nd grade. 8-)

Happy Birthday 'Cle Bill!

Today is Uncle Bill's birthday and we here at the Blockhome want to wish him a very BLESSED BIRTHDAY! We are all looking forward greatly to seeing you and Cai at the wedding in a couple of weeks, but we wish we could see you (you too, Cai) more throughout the year...maybe someday. 8-) In the meantime, know you are much loved here by all 7 of us!

Happy Birthday Emma!!!

Today Emma turns 5! We are richly blessed daily by Emma's creative and artistic talents, she is a very loving and caring big sister to the younger 3 and best friend to her big sister Kailie! Emma loves to draw, paint, color, sing, dig in the dirt, play with her dolls and cook with Mommy whenever she can. She is truly a beautiful blessing from the Lord to our family. Happy Birthday Emma, we love you!!!

This is Emma on a typical day! 8-)

We met another Emma Katherine this summer!

One of Emma's favorite pasttimes by far, decorating cardboard boxes!

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom is celebrating her birthday today and I wish we could be there to celebrate with her. In the last few years we have watched her patiently endure many trials and hardships with her health. Only 3 years ago I stood with my husband in her hospital room watching over her body which had lost all resemblance to the woman I had known all my life. She had been on life support for several weeks and was in the operating room where she suffered terrible internal bleeding which the surgeons were unable to cease. Her doctors had requested the family to come and "say our good-byes". Dave and Robb were with me in the room. I remember that I actually told them, "If I didn't know whose room we are in, I would never know that this is our mom."

How great is our God, who spared her life from that tragedy and brought her home to us a couple of months later. How great is His mercy in allowing her these last 3 years which have brought her 4 more grandchildren to love and snuggle! 8-) We're thankful also for the developments in medical technology which allow her to "speak" even though she had to have her vocal chords removed during this trial. I am thankful for my dad who has stood so strongly alongside of her throughout this whole battle and for the living example he has been to my children of what it means to "have and to hold....in sickness and in health".

Mom, I know you struggle with this battle. I know you wish you could have your voice back. I know you wish you could sing again. I wish it too. In the words of your oldest beloved granddaughter, "Mommy, I love grandma. I know Jesus does too. One day He will make her all better and then Grandma can sing to Him again. Someday when I'm in Heaven I'll hear Grandma's voice again too."

We're so glad you're here with us.

Happy Birthday!

For All the Saints (listen here)
1. For all the saints, who from their labors rest,

Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,

Thy Name, O Jesus,be forever blessed.

Alleluia, Allelu...

2. Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might;

Thou, Lord, their captain in the well fought fight;

Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.

Alleluia, Allelu...

3. O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,

Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,

And win with them the victor's crown of gold.

Alleluia, Allelu...

4. The golden evening brightens in the west;

Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;

Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.

Alleluia, Allelu...

5. But lo! There breaks a yet more glorious day;

The saints triumphant rise in bright array;

The King of glory passes on his way,

Alleluia, Allelu...

6. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,

Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,

Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Making Babies

And no this doesn't have anything to do with Dave and I, ha! Kailie is studying American History this year for school and we found this idea in one of her craft books. Basically we were replicating the doll making process for girls who lived during the "Pioneer" era in the US, ala Laura Ingalls Wilder. Enjoy!

1. Take a new pair of men's tube socks and soak in water.

2. Wring out water.

3. Boil 12 tea bags in a large pot of water.

4. Soak your socks in the tea until achieving your preference of color.

5. Hang to dry.

6. Cut off the toes and calf section of the socks. Save the calf section for later. Stitch toe section closed, stuff head and stitch around the neck area, pull on the thread to tighten stitches and knot off.

7. Add stuffing to body!

8. Stitch body closed.

9. Using the calf section you removed earlier, cut it into four equal parts. Stitch 3 sides together on each piece, fill with stuffing and then stitch closed. Sew onto body for arms and legs.

10. Stitch on 2 buttons for eyes.

11. Braid yarn color of your choice for hair and sew to head.

12. Add a smile!

13. Create a bonnet and dress (and apron but it's not in the picture) from whatever scraps of fabric you happen to have around.

Ta-da! Meet Mary Kailie's first homemade dolly!

Baking Cookies

We recently attempted to make multicolored leaf shaped sugar cookies in honor of the Fall season....well, the first problem was that I don't actually OWN a leaf shaped cookie cutter (this was news to me of course) the second problem was that we ran out of the red and yellow colors pretty fast and then ended up with just large green blobs of dough by the end. Ha! The cookies still tasted delicious and here are some shots of our baking fun.

Out for a walk.....

She is her mother's daughter. Emma didn't want to step on "THAT THING!"