Friday, August 7, 2009

Sheltering Our Children

"Scripture tells us, 'The heart is deceiful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?' (Jeremiah 17:9). So we are aware that sheltering our children will not keep them from being sinful. However, we also know that external temptations to sin may reinforce the sin originating in the heart to a point beyond the child's current level of self-control, resulting in sinful thoughts or actions."

~from Keeping Our Children's Hearts by Steven and Teri Maxwell

Thursday, August 6, 2009

More Photos of Tirzah



More pics just for fun! These first two are a couple views of the decorations the children made ahead of time for the baby's hospital bed. I had the idea that this would be a delightful witness/testimony of God's heart on the matter of children. I had asked them to make little signs of scripture verses, pictures, and any other thoughts they might like to put on there. They each made cards--with Amara being the most enthusiastic by far making 9 of the 11 cards!

Here are the cards they made:

Amara:
drawing of her and the baby
teddy bear
rattle
baby toy
"I love this baby"
"This baby is a gift from God!!"
"I prayed for this baby"
"This baby is a blessing to us!!"
and the bible verse from Matthew 19:14--"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Aidan:
bible verse from Psalm 127:3--"Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

Jordan:
bible verse from Psalm 127:4-5--"As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are the children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Those are delightful, are they not? I loved looking at the little baby bed with all the cards. The myriad of doctors, nurses, and others who came in were so taken by our little display! They would stop, rotate the bed, reading all the cards, and then ask about them all. It was wonderful. They commented on how sweet it was. So, there is a good idea for any of you that will have a baby in the hospital!





I need some updated pictures. The first two are from the day we came home. The last one is about a week later. I have lots of pictures to put up, as you can well imagine, but finding time is the trouble! And, I will never be caught up since I am continuing to TAKE the pictures! Keep stopping back for updates. Tirzah will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. I cannot believe it. She has grown so much.

Sigh. Time goes so fast. It is a good reminder for all of us. God has given us only *this* moment. You may have the next moment, or you may not. We need to make the most of every moment we have. Having no regrets. Doing all for God's glory.

~J