I finished the first book on my “books I need to finish” list. I read for a few hours today, and finished “The Prodigal God“.  Let me tell you, this book is awesome. I definitely recommend it to everyone.

I have heard so many sermons in my twenty-five years on the parable of the prodigal son. Probably one by every preacher I’ve heard preach much at all. They all preach that sermon at one point or another. They all pretty much preach the same thing, though. A few will address the elder brother instead of being mostly about the younger brother, but none of them ever said anything out of the norm.

In this book, though, Tim Keller writes about this parable, and it was so very interesting to me. It moved me to tears in parts. He examined the parable by talking about the historical setting and the cultural signifigance of what Jesus was saying, among other things. It was very cool. I especially liked the small section in the last chapter called “Salvation is Communal”. I have a deep longing lately for community in my life. I’d like to write more about that in some other post.

One thing about this book, is that it made me think about the Bible. As I already said, I’ve heard so many sermons on this parable, and they all barely scratched the surface of what this book covered. The whole book was about one short portion of Scripture. There was so much there. I wonder…is the whole Bible like that? I think it probably is.

Amy and I were sitting at my kitchen table at three o’clock this morning, eating lasagna, and talking about what we thought Heaven would be like. What? Don’t act like you don’t do that.

Anyway, during our conversation, I was telling her about when I was little, I had these crazy ideas of what it would all be like. I always pretty much thought Heaven sounded pretty boring, what with golden streets and mansions everywhere. I didn’t have a very accurate idea of God, either. However, it is safe to say that I did have a very imaginative idea of God.

I told Amy that I had a dream when I was about five years old that scared me to death. In it, I was lying on my back (much like I was lying in my bed), and I could see lots of stormy clouds above me. In those clouds, I could see God (who looked very much like Dale Snow) swirling around and around me. He was very angry, and I knew he was mad at me. I woke up believing that all of this meant I was going to Hell. It was really scary for a five year old. Then, I told her that they told me in Sunday School that there was no need of the sun in Heaven, because Jesus was the light. Now, this disappointed me greatly, because I was looking forward to a handsome, approachable flannelgraph Jesus. Being as little as I was, I took this whole “Jesus is the light” thing just as literally as possible, and I pictured this very boring Heaven with a lantern right in the middle. Of course, Jesus was this lantern, and he was hanging from a wrought iron pole. You know, the black ones with the hook on the top to hang the lantern on.

“So, Friend,” I said to her. “God the Father was an angry Dale Snow, Jesus was a lantern,”

Amy interrupted me, “And no one mentioned the Holy Spirit.”

Edited to add this disclaimer: This post is funny because of the friendly Baptist/Pentecostal humor. Go on…read it again. See? Funny.

My new year’s post is a little late, but I’ve had houseguests for a few days. Amy and her family came to visit for a few days for New Year’s, since they were going to visit Joel’s mom who lives nearby. They joined us at our church for our New Year’s celebration there, and got there just a few minutes before the New Year. That was cool. Since Amy was here, I didn’t spend much time online. I haven’t really thought too much about this New Year since it’s actually been here. I haven’t made any resolutions, or reminisced too much about 2008. I wasn’t a big fan of 2008. It brought a lot of hard stuff. I lost my baby, I nearly lost my brother, and I had to deal with a lot of hard stuff personally pretty much all year long. So, I’m more than happy to bid 2008 farewell…and tell it not to let the door hit it in the butt on the way out.

I’m much happier with 2009. It’s already got a lot going for it. Abby Jo will be here in March, and that automatically makes me like this year. I don’t have to go back to school this year. Another plus. I’m so looking forward to a break. I intend to get my life in order, and focus on the most important things…my relationship with God and my family.

Part of focusing on my family is getting things organized and running smoothly around this house before Abigail is born. I have let so many things slide in lieu of doing homework or going here or there, and I need to make up for that. I have a long list of big projects to do…organizing kids’ rooms, cleaning out closets, sorting through “stuff”, etc. I also have to get in a routine for keeping this house clean. I know my husband would count 2009 a success if I simply learned to be a better housekeeper. I will readily admit I have slobby tendencies and I hate to clean. I would rather do anything than clean. So, I have got to get this worked out.

As far as my relationship with God goes, I have a lot of work to do. I have been in a crisis of faith of sorts. Not knowing exactly what I believe about God and who He is and what He wants from me. I’ve gotten angry at Him this year. I’ve not loved Him like I should, and I want that to change. There are so many things that I’ve thought were true that I’ve found out over the last couple of years couldn’t be further from the truth. Things I thought were true of God that don’t seem to be true to his character at all. I’ve struggled immensely with the discrepancy between what the Bible says and teaches and how those of us who profess Christ don’t line up with His teaching. I’ve pondered a lot of theology this year, but it hasn’t brought me any closer to Him. I need to spend more time this year learning how to spend time with Him instead of just talking about Him. More time learning about who He really is…for myself…instead of just accepting what people tell me. I guess I need to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling.

Part of my effort to learn more about Him is to read about Him. I’m going to do my best to read through the Bible this year. I’m going to use one of the ESV Reading Plans, delivered directly to my feed reader. I’m following the Chronological plan, since that is the one Chris is doing this year. I like the idea of reading the same Scriptures as Chris every day.

I also have a long list of books I intend to read. Some of them I’ve already started and need to finish. Some are just on my list of books I intend to read while I’m not buried in homework.

Books I need to finish reading:

• The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg

• Anonymous: Jesus’ Hidden Years … and Yours by Alicia Britt Chole

• When Godly People Do Ungodly Things: Finding Authentic Restoration in the Age of Seduction by Beth Moore

• Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out by Joanna Weaver

• The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy Keller

• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

I’m not normally one to start a book and not finish it, but I’ve done that over and over lately. I would start a book, and then lay it aside to do my homework. I’ll have to start most of these books over, since I only read a chapter or two and then got sidetracked. However, I just started reading The Prodigal God, so I’m actively reading it.

Books I want to read this year:

• The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

• The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

• The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

There are probably more on that list that I’m not thinking of. I’ve had all of these C.S. Lewis books for a while. I got a great deal on them a while back at Sam’s Club, but haven’t had a chance to read them yet. I did read The Great Divorce, also by C.S. Lewis, right after I bought them all, and I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s a great book. I also look forward to reading lots of fiction while I have a break from school. I LOVE fiction, and I haven’t had any time at all to read anything not assigned for school for a long time. I have several Steinbeck novels on my shelf, as well as lots of random books I’ve picked up at the used bookstore that I look forward to reading.

So, all in all, I look forward to 2009 being a year of rest and growth. God knows I need both.

I uploaded my photos to Facebook since there were so many of them. It’s much quicker that way.

So, click HERE to go look at them.

Are any of you wondering if maybe we just didn’t have Christmas, and that’s why I won’t post any adorable Christmas photos of kids in jammies in front of the Christmas tree? If so, don’t worry. We did. I promise. Trust me.

The problem is that my card reader went out on my laptop, and to post the pictures I would have to walk all the way downstairs and put them on Chris’ computer and then come all the way back upstairs and access them and copy them to my computer. See my problem? That’s such a lot of effort.

In other news, Kyra and I spent last night in the ER. She got up about one o’clock this morning complaining of being itchy.

***Something freaky happened here and I lost my whole second half of this post. So, instead of rewriting it, because of how, um, lazy  am, you get the no frills version below.

Kyra had a rash all over her body and started throwing up. I took her to the ER. We were there till five thirty this morning. She’s fine today. We’re tired. It was just an allergic reaction.

Sigh. You should have read the first version. It was much better.

I will post pictures from Christmas soon, and say something or another about it. Right now, though, I just thought I’d ask…

If you had to pick one restaurant to eat at for the rest of your life…all your meals had to come from there and nowhere else…which restaurant would you pick?

My answer is in the comments.

This post brought to you by a very pregnant woman. ‘Nuff said.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day with your loved ones!

I got one of those email question/answer forward things from my friend, Heather, and, instead of emailing it, I decided to procrastinate cleaning by posting it here. I was on the phone with Amy Jo at the time, and we decided that it would be more fun for her to answer all of my questions for me. The thing about these questions, is that they are supposed to be answered in one word. We kind of cheated. We’re like that. But we tried. So, remember as you read, these are Amy’s answers for me.

1. Where is your cell phone?  ear
 2. Your significant other? heretic
 3. Your hair? bee-yu-ti-ful
 4. Your mother? crafty
 5. Your father? funny
6. No question here for some reason.

 7. Your dream last night? squirrels
 8. Your favourite drink? wet
 9. Your dream/goal? happiness

10. What room are you in? kitchen
 11. Pet’s name? peeve
 12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Heaven?
 13. Where were you last night? home

 14. What you’re not? stupid
 15. Muffins? pumpkin-chocolate-chip
 16. One of your wish list items? bigger-mp3-player
 17. Where you grew up? in-skirts

 18. The last thing you ate? Froot Loops

19. What are you wearing?? pajamas
 20. Your TV?? loud

 21. Your computer?? beloved
 22 . Your mood? constant
 23. Missing someone? Me!
24. Your car? Filthy
 25 . Something you’re not wearing?? bobsled
 26 . Favourite Store? Kroger?? (no, my friend, it would be a bookstore)
 27 . Your summer? adventure’y
 28 . Your favourite colour? pink (said very sadly)
 29. When is the last time you laughed? when I gagged at your pink
 30 . Who will/would re-post this? only the losers with nothing else to do

Just a little pregnancy update one day early, for those of you who want to know how things are progressing with Abby Jo. 

From Babycenter.com:

The network of nerves in your baby’s ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner’s as you chat with each other. He’s inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he’s born and takes that first gulp of air. And he’s continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches  from head to heel. 

I am feeling generally well these days. The nausea has almost disappeared, so I don’t have to take Zofran on a daily basis anymore. My main complaint is that I am ginormous, and that makes me not able to fit into my clothes or expect to always be able to get up or stand up straight on my own. My back and hips kill me. It’s hard for someone of my size to suddenly have to support such enormous girth right in the front of them. So, yes, that is my main complaint.

It’s hard to get these little people into the world. Totally worth it, though. However, if it lasted much longer than 40 weeks, I might have to think a little harder about my role in populating the earth.  ;)

I was reading an article by John Piper called “Clusters of Hope” from the Desiring God website. I found this portion to be particularly relevant to my current state of mind and also to my thought processes about the need for community in our churches. I thought I would share it with you.

It is amazing how much hope you can find when you look hard for it, and hope is a desperately needed power in our lives. It is the river of joy that flows back to us from the final triumph of God, and “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). We simply cannot live without hope—let alone flourish in the cause of God.

So maybe we should go harder after hope than we do. I have in mind specifically the most exhilarating hope of all—namely, the hope that God’s saving purposes are now triumphing in the world and will one day hold sway over all creation.

How shall we go harder after this hope? First of all, we can’t do it alone. Without each other’s cheering exhortations we sink. God saves one from despair by giving another a vision of hope. He does not always come directly. God’s work of encouragement in you saves me. His work of encouragement in me saves you.

Continue reading…