Family Fun Days

Life has been so busy the past few weeks, as it is summer and it seems the demands on my time increase with the heat. This past week or two I have been feeling the "blahs" and so I decided that I would not make any comittments for this week that didn't directly involve Church, my children, or my husband. It has been so nice to just relax and enjoy everyone again. We have gotten our school work done S-L-O-W-L-Y without the need to rush off somewhere, and we've spent time as a family.

Thursday we took the children swimming, and since it was an overcast day I didn't feel the need to put up the sunshade on the baby's boat. He loved it, every minute of it. The joy in his face as he threw his head sideways into the pool getting his hair wet and splashing water in his face, the shrill screams of delight as he threw his little toys into the pool and waited for them to "magically" return to his hand. The baby enjoys the water, and I am thankful for that because many babies just don't like it, and here in Arizona the pool is a necessity if we are to get any outdoor exercise from June - August (yes I am a wuss and dislike the excessive heat).

My older boys have both just recently learned to swimm, mostly because I have a very "odd" point of view when it comes to teaching a child to swim. I never learned to swim until High School and as a result I decided that I would never push my children to learn to swim if they weren't fully comfortable with it. My boys are now little fishes, the put on their goggles and nose clips and off they go, Hubby and I left to keep eyes on them and be sure they come up for air every now and again.

We enjoy swimming in the early afternoon, as very few other people use the pool at that time so we generally have it pretty much to ourselves and I don't have to worry about the boys splashing people or worry that someone else is doing something that could hurt the boys.

I am forever grateful for days like these where we can just relax and be a family enjoying the company of one another, and making memories with our children that will last forever.

Birbitt thinks memories can be made even during the most everyday events, playing in the pool to beat the summer heat, making a meal, or just being together. Memories don't have to cost a penny, and they last a lifetime. Go out and make some memories today!

Worth Saving?

I was working at our church today, helping to clean out rooms so the painters can paint, and helping to organize other rooms. Well, as we (myself and the lady whom I was helping) moved to the next room we discovered a pile of probably 5 or 6 hundred books! We had no idea what to do with them so my work buddy made a few calls and was finally told that the books were "trash". When she told me we'd be carting them out to the dumpster I nearly cried, see to me books are precious and even though some may be old and outdated to me there is nothing more relaxing (worldly thing that is) that picking up a book and getting lost in it's pages. Yes I can even get lost in a non fiction book, I get lost in my learning and it's soothing to the soul.

After speaking with her for a bit we decided to go through the books and each take what we could or would use, save some for the new library that our christian school and college will be building, and the rest were loaded up in my trunk and her trunk to be carted off and donated. I took my load to a local christian thrift store that I thought would be best suited to rehoming hundreds of Christian books, Bible Study books, Bible commentaries, Concordances, and other Christian reference type materials.

I sorted through the books and brought about 30 titles home with me, some by great preachers such as Dr. Jack Hyles, and Dr. Michael Sproul, some books are signed by their authors, some I wasn't really sure if I'd read but the titles sparked my interest and I couldn't pass them up. I even picked up an old church hymnal because I love to sing the hymns and many times I forget the words to some of my old favorites simply because I don't sing them often enough.

At the end of the day I am pleased that this stack of treasure was saved from the landfill. I understand the need to weed out books to make room for the new, but to me throwing away any book that is still readable just tears me up (no pun intended). Later in the afternoon my work partner confessed that she was glad we decided to donate them because she too loves books, and concindentally she left with more books than I.

As I sit here typing this I just thought how the state of these books reminds me of the state of our souls. Some people saw those books as junk to be discarded, but others like me saw them as precious treasure to be saved and given a new life with a new home. Much like us, you see even though many don't see us Christians as much more than another annoyance to be dealt with God saw value in us and he sent his only son to die on the cross to save us, give us a new life in Christ, and a new home in Heaven. God thought we were worth saving, and he did. Perhaps we should remember this lesson the next time we are annoyed with the unfriendly checkout clerk, or the loud person in the library, or that driver that just turned out in front of you causing you to slam on your brakes suddenly.

Birbitt thinks that, even though you or I may not see the value in a particular person or thing, someone somewhere believes that person or thing to be precious and worth saving. Just something to think about as we go through our busy lives, and maybe it will help us all, me included, to be just a little less annoyed with the disruptions that come. I am thankful that God saw value in me, and thought I was worth saving, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross I can live knowing there is something better for me when I am called home!

I think that in some way my ordinary day of working at the church helped me to see a shortcoming in my own life, and now I have something else to work on, something of eternal value. Thank you Lord for using a day of cleaning, and emptying to help me see an area of weakness, and give me the strength and determination that I will need to overcome this.