Growing up...

This weekend marked a momentous occasion in our house- Nicole got her ears pierced! On Tuesday she mentioned wanting to have it done and then on Saturday morning she asked Ryan and I. We had been waiting for her to want to do it- once she turned 5 we said that she could do it but she kept putting it of (“till I’m 8” she’d say). But Saturday morning she woke up wanting to get it done. Once we gave the ok, she herded Nate and Lauren into their rooms to get dressed so we could get going. She was extremely excited. And she was quite the champ- she brought her beloved Rabbie with her to snuggle with but no tears dropped from her eyes. She was a stud! Here is a photo documentary of the happenings…

Nicole super stoked on the way to get her ears pierced!!!

Nicole making her selection...

Waiting patiently while they prepared things...

The deed. (2 at once is definitely the way to go!)

The worst it got. No tears, no wailing! She was stronger than her mother!!
My favorite picture- Nicole beaming with pride, Daddy holding his baby girl in his comforting arms and a bag that declares to the world what just happened.My baby and me.

It was a little odd going to be that night thinking that my baby girl now has pierced ears, something that, in my mind, marks a little more mature stage. I sure do love this thing called life that the Lord has allowed me. I am blessed and enjoy these little moments.

Bugs, photography, and sin

What good is having a blog if you can't use it to post gratuitous pictures of your cute kids? Here are the latest of them with their Fall Festival costumes...

My 3 bugs
Nicole as a bumblebee princess

Lauren's innocent face as a butterfly princess.

And then her "don't smile" face...

Nate as the creepy spider.

On other news, I've been reading a really great book by Jerry Bridges, "Respectable Sins". It has been a good (though, hard) challenge to me. His book addresses those sins that we as Christians tend to minimize; anger, frustration, anxiety, lack of self-control, jealousy, ungodliness, vicarious immorality, etc. As believers, we often compare ourselves to the world and come up looking fairly clean- certainly not guilty of the extreme sins- theft, adultery, murder, hatred... that the world so blatantly flaunts. But Bridges challenges his readers to consider that even a 99% in God's class still earns you a "F"; that it is not the world's standards that we are to measure against.
To be honest, I've been a believer for 15 years now (actually to the day tomorrow) and I think I had gotten kinda stale. The communion plate would pass on a Sunday morning and the leader would encourage us to do business with God and I would come up short... I did not think that I was perfect in anyway (certainly, I'm NO Jesus) but yet, I couldn't name specific sins (and thus deal with them) in my life. I was tolerating those "acceptable" sins. I was very intrigued by the title of the book yet very cautious/hesitant about what it may have in store. God met me within those pages and exposed my heart in many ways, in many subtle sins. Was it/ is it hard to face up to my sin? Yes. But man, is it good. I feel fresh again. Alive again.

Jerry Bridges writes,"(So) we need to be honest and humble enough to admit our subtle sins in order to experience the love that comes through the forgiveness of those sins. But we must also face them in order to deal with them. The worst sin of all, in practical terms, is the denial of the subtle sins in our lives. We cannot deal with them until we admit their presence."

I have joy that God is certainly not done with me yet. As I learn that I must trust Him more (for He is the sovereign God), it also causes me to take more joy in the grace and love he pours out in abundance upon me. I Peter 5:5 says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I desire his grace.