A Couple of Cuties

I finally got the bug to clean up my Christmas ornaments and decor. Meredith gave me an opportunity to bless another family with some of our bounty. So yesterday I pulled out every box and bin of Christmas stuff from both the hall closet and the storage shed out back.

Whew! I tried to organize the boxes so that today I could sit down and empty out everything, go through it all, and sort it out for distribution. One of the things I found was this little red baseball cap that just charmed the sox off Adrian! Now, with the red one and another we brought him from Canada, he has "two 'ats"! Isn't he cute in his hat and rugby shirt?

And here is our growing little man, Andrew. He is just over six weeks old. I can't believe how the time has just flown by. Of course, I get to sleep all night too, so time might be a little slower for Meredith! But here he is, all snuggly and warm with a smile on his face. Must be having a sweet dream about his Mommy.

There you have it - a couple of cuties who came by to see Ludee.

Celebrating Hannukah

Today was the last day of our Bible study on the Fruit of the Spirit, learning to live beyond our selves. This has been a wonderful ten weeks of looking at each of the nine qualities of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. At the end of the study we can summarize each of the fruit in this way:

1. Love never fails.
2. Joy cometh.
3. Peace rules.
4. Patience waits.
5. Kindness tenders.
6. Goodness does.
7. Faith fights.
8. Gentleness bows.
9. Self-control stops.

I have said before, and it bears repeating, that the most valuable lesson I learned is that I will never be able to exhibit those qualities in my own strength. They are qualities of the Spirit and as such can only be exercised by yielding to the Spirit. I am only a vessel through which God can communicate His character, so long as I am willing to yield.

Well, today, we celebrated our personal Hannukah. Hannukah is Hebrew for dedication. Paul informs us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that, once we have believed in Christ for eternal life, our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit and is no longer ours. We do have a choice, however, in how we present that temple, whether to ourselves or to God. It is our desire, collectively as our study group, to dedicate our "temple" as a spiritual offering to God and to yield ourselves to the outflow of the fruit of the Spirit. May we now faithfully go forth and bear much fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Gal. 5:22-23 Amen.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Back in September the city crews were out on Vance Jackson, putting in sidewalks on both side of the street, from Wurzbach all the way to Jackson-Keller. We remarked at the time that this seemed very wasteful, as the curbs were very high and the sidewalks were certainly precluding any future widening of a very busy street. In fact, the curbs at the entrance to our neighborhood were dangerously high and threatened cars that turned the corner too sharply. But there was no stopping progress, especially when "stimulus dollars" were involved.

Just as the new walks were finished, and I'm saying immediately, like the very next day, the two-year South Texas drought broke and the heavens opened up and rain came down on Clearfield and Vance Jackson! And it rained and rained and on Sunday morning this is what we had to drive through to get out of our neighborhood.

About sixty feet to the left of our street there is a drainage ditch that collects and carries rain water from several subdivisions into a creek about a half-mile away. Before the sidewalks were put in, our rainwater naturally flowed in the direction of the ditch and we rarely had water built up this far. But now, thanks to our stimulus dollars, we not only had an artificial lake, but all the silt and sand from the construction. Once the water receded we had a mudflow!

Here is the city's solution to the overflow - a nice trench, aiming the water right into our street. I'm sure I was not alone, but I took lots of pictures and emailed them to our city councilman and asked what could be done. In just a day or so I looked down the street and observed about a dozen men all standing around the corner looking at the trench! Reminds me of the joke, "How many engineers does it take to change a light bulb?" I digress.

Here we are in the middle of November and two days ago I heard some major "construction noise" and looked out to see this:

Apparently the twelve men looking at the trench decided to do something about it! There is a large sign on Vance Jackson proclaiming this a $1,536,000 "pipe bursting" project! Oh my. All I know is that they have been ripping out all the sidewalks from our street to the top of the hill where the water used to run into the ditch. And they have now made a very deep trench which I assume will be fitted with some big pipes to carry the water somewhere.

Meanwhile, this is what we are left with today and just last night the weatherman predicted major rains and flooding for tomorrow and Friday! Just what we need. This project is problematic of so many things our government has been doing. They get some money to spend and jump into a project without looking past the completion to the consequences. Then the remedy becomes more costly than ever. Will we ever learn?

Four Weeks!

It's hard to believe that our little Andrew Graham is already four weeks old!

Although most of the time he is eating or sleeping, he's also beginning to be aware of his surroundings and will try to focus on whoever or whatever is near by.

After a satisfying meal there's nothing better than a good, long snooze

- for Andrew, Adrian and Mommy!

Fall Colors

It's here! The cool nights we've had for the last two weeks have caused some leaves to change color in our neighborhood! Of course, most of the trees in our neighborhood are Spanish oak and they don't change color. So when I walked up to the house this morning and saw the brilliant golden leaves on my Chinese Date tree, I got all excited. This is the most "color" I'll get.


Another indicator that Fall has arrived is the ripening of the berries on my holly bushes. The migrating birds are going to find these soon, and then they'll be gone. But they sure do bring some bright color into the flower beds.

As I looked around, though, I saw signs of confusion. After a long, hot and very dry summer, the rains came in September and October and caused much of the flora to think it was spring. So we have more flowers blooming now than we had all summer. I have several pink Gerbera daisies blooming by the mailbox.

Speaking of pink, this salvia has sweet, delicate little flowers dancing on the tips of its branches. I guess it really appreciates the warmth of the sun during the day, as well as all the rain we've been blessed with since September.

The orange lantana is also in bloom, right along side the crepe myrtles which have dropped their leaves already. It's been a very perplexing predicament for my plants.

Gentleness, the Eighth Quality

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

I have so enjoyed getting deep into the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit over the last eight weeks. I feel as though we have walked through the catacombs of God's Word to discover and broaden the definitions of each of these words. Beyond definitions, though, I have discovered the source of the power to unleash these qualities in my life.

This week we looked at gentleness and examined three aspects found there: submission, humility, and teachability. We learned that gentleness, or meekness, is not the same as weakness. Rather, it is the power and strength created from submitting to God's will. One of the greatest examples of this kind of submission is found in the Apostle Paul, who changed from one who persecuted the church to a man who suffered persecution for his Savior.

We discovered that humility, according to examples from Scripture, is the "correct estimation of ourselves which results from a correct estimation of our God." John the Baptist was a great example of a man familiar with humility. From before his birth until his death at the hands of Herod, John knew that his ministry would never eclipse that of Jesus. His own assessment of himself is found in John 3:30 in which he says, "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Finally, we learned the third aspect of gentleness, which is teachability. One who had a teachable spirit was Apollos, a fervent disciple who was taught correct doctrine by Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18. Another was David, who learned the hard way to read God's instructions before setting out to transport the holy ark of God. You can read about his experience in 1 Chron. 13. Sometimes we must face severe hardship when we resist constructive teaching.

Jesus presents us with the most valuable picture of gentleness as He washed the feet of His disciples the night before His death. His answer to Peter's boasting was gentle. And please note that He also washed the feet of His betrayer. At the end of the washing He said to them (and to us), "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (Italics are mine.) John 13:16-17.

Go forth and do likewise.

More Cuteness

Adrian was full of cuteness this morning. He watches Sesame Street every day and one of the programs was all about wearing hats. So Adrian was showing us how he puts on this hat and then just as quickly tears it off his head and slings it to the floor!

He was having a ball and had his Grandpa, especially, in stitches over his antics.

Look closely and you'll see he has just enjoyed a blueberry muffin. When he says "muffin" it sounds like he's saying "Murphy", so we told Graham he was saying "uh-hah muffin!"

(Uh-hah is his word for uncle.)

Oh, my goodness. How much cuteness can you take? I was snapping pictures so fast my camera finally said "busy" and told me to slow down! It was very hard to pick just three of the more than forty that I took. What fun!

Three Weeks Old Today

This face is a reflection of happiness and satisfaction!

Translated, that means a full tummy and a clean diaper.

Andrew is three weeks old today.

Some Thoughts about Faithfulness

The seventh quality of the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. In our study this week we observed God's faithfulness, then the faithfulness of man. We learned that keeping the faith is sometimes hard and that Satan desires to destroy our faith through fear and doubt.

One of my favorite pictures from the gospels is that of the father of the demon-possessed son. He was brought to Jesus and told Him the problem and said, "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." To which Jesus answered, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." My favorite part is the father's tearfully honest answer, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."

The more we know God, the more we can truly believe Him and His ability to act on our behalf. But just because God can, that doesn't mean He always will. Genuine faith walks steadfastly with God for the pleasure of His company, not for His results.

Here are a couple more thoughts that I gleaned from Beth's study this week:

• Why did God put His Holy Spirit in us? God expressed His faithfulness to us in Christ, and Christ expressed His faithfulness to us in the Holy Spirit. And only through His Spirit can we, in turn, express our faithfulness to Him.
• Revelation 4:11 proclaims (in the old King James) "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Our calling is to please Him, and without faith it is impossible to please God.
• Our entire lives are lent to change. But who He is will never change. (see Heb. 13:8) As He reveals Himself to you, His heart remains the same. His faithfulness flows from who He is. To please Him, our faithfulness must do the same.

This whole study has been such a blessing. One thing I have grasped from it is that all nine of these qualities must flow through me from the Holy Spirit. I no longer have to work at being loving or kind or faithful. It's not up to me. I am just an earthen vessel, indwelt by God's treasure (the Holy Spirit) so that the "excellence of the power" may be of God and not me. (2 Cor. 4:7) Praise Him!

(Living Beyond Yourself, Beth Moore)

Snuggie

Have you seen these?

Snuggies are all the rage these days. I noticed that this year's "model" even comes in your favorite football team logo! But that's not what caught my eye this year.

No, Snuggie has come out with a Snuggie wrap for dogs!

As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to conspire with my doggie-loving, more-over-the-top-than-I friend, Lois, to get Snuggies for our dogs. Her poodle, Jefferson, and Treasure go to Bible study every week and enjoy being loved and petted by all the ladies there. Jeffie is a clothes horse and comes dressed in wonderful costume every week. Treasure, on the other hand, prefers the au-naturale apparel, counting on her good looks to catch Jeffie's eye.

Now, I ask you, is this a happy dog?

Bless her heart, this was the sixth try at a happy picture. And I think this is as much "happy" as I'm going to get. But I'll take my camera to Bible study this week and maybe Jefferson can lift her spirits enough for me to catch them both in their Snuggies with happy faces!