All American Jubilee

Every year Zion puts on a big dinner and auction called the Jubilee. This year was our first, and we enjoyed the great BBQ and seeing the silent and live auction action. Randy and Charlene Littlefield, who direct the church plants for the EFCA in the Texas/Oklahoma region, were visiting this weekend, so they joined us at the Jubilee and Randy preached on Sunday morning at Zion.

The dessert table was a big hit. Red velvet cake in a cone all over our faces!

The kids' other favorite part was the cake wheel, at which Naomi won not one but two cakes. So anyone who wants to come over for cake this week is welcome!

Diving In

Because Naomi thinks diving is the coolest Olympic sport (she even named her goldfish after a Chinese women's diving gold medalist), Daddy got tickets for us to go to the Big 12 swimming and diving finals at Texas A&M. We went Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and saw all kinds of swimming races as well as springboard and platform diving. Naomi's new favorite diver is Jaele Patrick, an Australian student at TAMU. Maybe we'll see her in the Olympics someday!


Naomi and Johnathan loved it!


Thank you, Daddy, for a fun weekend at the natatorium!

What I learned from my pastor... 2-28-10

We spent our second week in Luke 15 and looked more closely at the older brother's response in the parable of the prodigal son. The older brother represented the "religious" people Jesus was teaching, and this brother's response redefines the concepts of sin and being lost. The father went to both sons, prodigal and older brother who did everything "right," and urged them to come in to join the celebration. Kevin reminded us that we are most in danger of being "outside the party," or outside God's will when we become more focused on what we are doing rather than for Whom we are doing it.

Independence

To Naomi, things just taste better when she can make them herself. Like this waffle with peanut butter and butter topping. Maybe with some practice she'll be ready to make breakfast for all of us by the time the baby arrives!

Still More Snow

I'm starting to feel a little silly posting about snow again. If we were still living in Wyoming, I guarantee every appearance of snow would not warrant a post. But here's my reasoning... From what we've been told, this snow thing in Southeast Texas is pretty rare. Kevin went to a high school graduation last year at which the graduating seniors cited "seeing snow for the first time in my life" as one of the highlights of their senior year. So I figure if we are having a few episodes of snow this year, I need to chronicle it for the sake of our kids, who may look back and remember this as one of the few snows of their growing-up years in Kurten. We'll see...

Anyway, this was the first snow that has actually accumulated on the ground, and Naomi and Johnathan were itching to get out in it. I have to confess, the pictures I took are from my viewing spot inside the front window! I was too wimpy to get cold and wet out there with them!

It was a beautiful snow, falling in huge globs all afternoon. It very considerately left the sidewalks and roads clear (no shoveling!). But I think the spingtime robins and other migratory birds were a little perplexed - they congregated in big flocks in the trees and looked consternated!

What I learned from my pastor... 2-21-10

Kevin spent this morning and will spend the next 3 weeks digging into Luke 15, primarily in the parable of the prodigal son. We learned that to the people who were listening to Jesus tell this story, the parable must have been considered completely outrageous. In the Mideast at that time, a "shame and honor" culture defined all of life's relationships and actions. So for a Jewish son to demand his inheritance while his father was still alive, to squander it away, to reduce himself to feeding pigs was outrageously shameful. Even more so, though, was it undignified for a father to run to his son and welcome him back extravagantly after being dishonored so deeply. Kevin asked us if there are people in our lives that we feel don't deserve God's grace - perhaps someone who has offended us or wounded our pride. We were challenged to study Luke 15 this week and consider God's love for people.

There are so many layers to this story, as well as the two shorter parables that precede it. Next week we're looking more deeply into the older son's reaction. Stay tuned!

Reacting to the News

So, how did Naomi and Johnathan react to the news that their new sibling is a boy? Anyone who has asked Naomi over the past few months what she thinks the baby is knows that she was strongly rooting for a girl. And Johnathan, too, has been saying he wants a girl (though he may have been influenced by his sister's opinion).

Johnathan was the first to get the news, because he was sitting with us while the ultrasound was performed. But we knew he didn't quite "get it" right away, because when we were all done and leaving the doctor's office, Kevin asked him, "So is the baby a boy or a girl?" he responded, "A gril." ("Gril" is not a typo - that's how he says it!) We had to explain it to him. I still get the sense that the whole gender thing is rather meaningless to him, anyway. But he did tell us later, "I'll share my fire station. I be the fireman, and he can be a policeman!" So it may be sinking in!

We decided to "sweeten" the news for Naomi by picking up a blue-colored chocolate candy for her to reveal the baby's gender. After school she opened it, said, "Oh," and ate the chocolate. A minute or two later, she looked at Daddy and said, "But it really is a girl, right?" We had to assure her we weren't joking around! She has thought about it more and is okay with it - as long as she still gets to help take care of the baby.

We celebrated that evening with a blue cake with chocolate frosting. Baby boy enjoyed it, too, if we can interpret vigorous kicking to be his approval!