Spring Piano Recital!

Since my brother and I have been taking piano lessons since September, (I did start s-l-o-w-l-y teaching myself some piano about a year before we started lessons) we both got to play at our teacher's piano recital! Although I was excited, I was very nervous! The song I was going to play for the recital was "Morning Has Broken" and it was very difficult to play correctly. I started practicing that song back near the beginning of April, and I thought I'd have enough time to pratice, and play it comfortably at the recital, which was on May 17. I kept playing that song over, and over, and over, and over...you get the idea, before the recital, and I'm sure everyone in my family (including myself) was tired of hearing the same song over, and over, and over, and over. As the recital got closer, I didn't think I'd be ready to play the song, but I kept working on it, hoping, no, praying that I would do well at the recital.

So I'll jump ahead to the day before the recital.

It was the evening, and I was playing my song for the last time that night, as well as the duet my brother, Aidan, and I were going to do at the recital as well. Aidan had his own piano solo too, but he had mastered his (he often tends to master things quickly, no matter how difficult they are). We were ready with our duet, Aidan was ready with his song, "O Sole Mio", but I was still struggling with mine! Yes, it is the night before the recital, and I'm still making mistakes. I went to bed that night a very nervous girl, but determined to do her best.

The day of my recital was Sunday, so we went to church, and, although I was nervous during the drive to church, the service was a good way to get my mind off the recital for a while. But when the service was done and we went home for a quick lunch, I started getting nervous again. And I mean REALLY nervous. After lunch, my family and I hopped back into our van, and drove to the church for the piano recital. My grandparents were there, and we met them at the door. One of my grandmothers asked me, "Are you nervous?" And I answered, "Yes! But I'll do my best."

Of all the children playing at the recital, by brother and I were very last, which meant I had to wait for a long time, getting more nervous by the second. Suddenly my name was called. "Amara? Come on up!" "Oh dear," I thought, "it's come at last!" It was so quiet as I walked up the stage steps, that I'm sure you could hear a pin drop on a pillow! The crowd of people looked like there was no end, but, in reality, there weren't that many people. I anounced what I was going to play, and sat down at the piano. I took a quick look at the piano keys, took a deep breath, and started playing the song I'd played so long. My hands shook and they got very sweaty as I played "Morning Has Broken". "Wait a moment," I thought, "was that a mistake? No! Praise God it wasn't!" I thought I was about to make a mistake in my song, but I didn't! The song flowed smoothly without mistakes! I was so happy at the end (partly because I was done and partly because I was pleased with the song) that I couldn't help but grinning at the audience! Next my brother and I played our duet "The Imperial March" and that was such fun! That song went well, too. Then, it was my brother's solo, and he played it beautifully! I'm not the only person that thought so, because when the recital was done, my brother and I had many people come up to us and tell us that we did very well! All around I enjoyed the recital (once it was finished), and I would love to do it again! It's funny I was so nervous for this recital...I've never been so nervous before in my life for anything else I was performing! 

Here are some pictures of the recital:

This is me playing "Morning Has Broken"

This is Aidan and me playing "The Imperial March"

This is Aidan playing "O Sole Mio"

This is what I fixed my hair into that day.

And I couldn't resist the picture of what my hair looks like while I'm writing this post!

I like mouse ears. :)

In Christ,

Amara

Spring in Color!

It's finally spring here in Michigan, and the robins and geese are back!

Something (I'm not sure what) inspired me to take some photographs of the greenery outside. Maybe it is because I love tulips, green grass, and trees. Maybe it is because I wanted photography practice, or maybe, just because I love spring! Call it whatever you want, but I had a blast taking pictures of nature! Anyway, here are my pictures (and commentary) of the growth around me:

This was the first tulip to bloom this spring...I was so excited! 

I thought this one was going to be white until I got a closer look! 

I was surprised at how the colors blended together perfectly.

This is probably my favorite tree on our property.

I was going to lie on the ground to get this shot, but since I didn't want my hair and clothes covered in dirt, grass, and leaves, I decided to stand insead.

I can't believe how green (some) of the grass has gotten already! 

I love golden-yellow tulips! They remind me a little of daffodils, the "springiest" flower I think there is!

Last fall we planted a lot of tulips lining our walkway to the porch.

This picture was hard to take because my camara wouldn't focus! 

But once I did take the picture, I think it turned out great!

Just think when this tree will bloom with flowers!

This tulip hasn't fully opened yet, but I took this picture because I liked the leaves... I haven't seen any like it before!

Here is the final picture of a plant we planted a while ago. It's a pretty burgundy, especially in summer!

That's the summary I have of growing things this spring for now, but I'm sure there is a lot I didn't cover! I like that the weather is warming up, but summer seems nearly on us! Spring goes by fast...don't miss the beauty of it!

In Christ,

Amara Jachim

Happy 18th Birthday, Aidan!

It is a great joy and privilege to have recently celebrated Aidan's 18th birthday!  We are very blessed to have Aidan as a part of our family and we would like to honor him with this belated birthday post.

Aidan,

Happy birthday to you!  It is a blessing to have you as our son and we were very grateful to have recently celebrated your 18th birthday.  We have been very thankful to the Lord for the growth that you have shown over the past year and we look forward to seeing the plans that God has for you in the future.

Aidan, we see a number of interesting skills and talents developing within you that we see could provide many potential options for the future path that the Lord will lead you.  Wherever God will direct you, remember that your duty and privilege is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).  We see in you a sensitivity to right and wrong which will serve you well for a lifetime provided that you continue to be consistently obedient to all that the Lord reveals to you.  We have observed a great eye for artistic and graphic design, which you have already used to create some absolutely top-notch things (such as numerous fantastic drawings and the very well designed web-site for Through All Ages).  Your biblical knowledge and theological insights have added a great deal to our family Bible time and our nightly dinner conversations.  Your musical talent and your dedication to developing that talent over such a short time has been a great blessing to us.  In looking at these specific strengths, we look forward with great hope to see God's direction for you and the good works that God has prepared for you in advance to accomplish.

As you go through the following year, focus your mind on these items to spur you on to great growth and Christian maturity:

• Live in the fear of the Lord - The Bible teaches us that "blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments." (Psalm 112:1)

• Live with a heart of gratitude - One of the marks of a disciple of the Lord is living a life that is filled with thankfulness, as we are taught in Psalm 100: "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." (v. 4)

• Live in a holy manner - As a believer in God, you are called to live holy and righteous each day in every task that is before you.  "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." (1 Thessalonians 4:7)

• Live with great hope knowing that the Lord is sovereign - We serve a God of hope Who is in control of all things and has promised that He will work all things for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." (Romans 15:13)

• Live joyfully - One of the greatest testimonies to the world around you, where there are so many that are filled with bitterness, wrath, and unending anger is to manifest the fruit of joy.  "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." (Philippians 4:9)

• Live victoriously - Know that you have the power of the Holy Spirit living within you and that as a result of this third person of the Trinity, "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

We are indeed very grateful and blessed to have you as our son!  May you be encouraged and spurred on as we honor you this day and may you always know that you are very dearly loved!

Happy Birthday, Aidan!

Love Always,

Dad and Mom

Happy Birthday, My Beloved Jill!

This post is for belated birthday blessings (her birthday was October 1) to my dearly beloved bride and my precious help-meet Jill!

Jill,

I love you very much and I extend joyful birthday blessings from the depths of my heart!  I thank the Lord for your genuine Christian commitment, your willingness to homeschool our children, your faithful care for our family, and your desire to live in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord and consistent with His Word.

It is my earnest prayer that our relationship as husband and wife would be a great picture of the message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as is so beautifully illustrated in Ephesians 5.  May the people that are around us be able to look at our lives and see our love for one another and as a result see the power of the God whom we serve.

You are indeed very precious to me and I am grateful for all of the blessed memories that we have together, including how we have matured in the grace of our Lord together through our time together as a married couple.  I pray that God will fill your coming year with overflowing joy, unparalleled peace, and steady growth in righteousness.

I love you dearly and pray that the Lord will make His face shine upon you brightly.  Happy birthday, my dear Jill!

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." (Proverbs 31:10-11)

Forever Yours,

David

Happy 13th Birthday, Amara!

We recently had the very joyful and blessed privilege of celebrating the 13th birthday of our dear daughter!  We are incredibly thankful to the Lord to have Amara as a part of our family and it is an honor to provide this post in honor of her birthday.


Amara,

Happy birthday, our precious daughter!  You are now 13 years old (!!) and we look back at these years that the Lord has given thus far to our family with hearts that are filled with gratitude.  Turning 13 is certainly a milestone and we see that you are growing out of girlhood and growing into womanhood.  We praise the Lord for your professed salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and we know that this salvation will serve as a solid foundation for your future.  As you continue to grow, remember the following words of wisdom from God's Word in order to guide you along the right path:

• Inner beauty is of greater worth than outward beauty and adornments - As we are told in 1 Peter 3:4, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (KJV) By no means do we believe that this verse (or any verse in Scripture) is teaching that you should be as plain and as unattractive as you can make yourself--for that can be at least as self-focused as the one that is always trying to impress others with their clothes, hair, jewelry, and make-up.  The key is that the inner beauty should be primary and the outward beauty should be a consistent reflection of that inner beauty.  In 1 Timothy 2, we read that this inner beauty should manifest itself in the adornment of good works.

• Words are powerful and must be used with wisdom - Amara, your words will have a tremendous influence on others.  It is of the utmost importance that you take great care with your words and always strive to use them in a way that will be building others up and showing them grace rather than tearing them down and filled with harshness.  Your words can either be a soothing balm or a deadly poison.  Ephesians 4:29 provides a key to determining what words you should be speaking.  It states: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." (KJV)

• Live by the principle of honor - Showing honor to those that are in authority over you will bring God's favor.  There are so many examples in Scripture where those that show honor are blessed as a result (for example, the Recabites as recounted in Jeremiah 35).  In Ephesians 6:2-3, the Bible says: "Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."  Showing honor is a condition for it being well with you and notice that the connection between honor and blessing is one of the precious promises of God.  Even more important than showing honor to us as your parents is the honor that you show to the Lord.  You will show that honor through how you speak to God, how you speak about God, how you read, study, meditate, and memorize His Word, and how you order your life in obedience to what the Bible teaches.

• Be diligent and disciplined - God has ordered this world such that we need to work--and we should be working hard six days out of every week and reserving the Christian Sabbath for a day of rest.  We must be diligent and disciplined with all of our time, as the Bible teaches us in Ephesians 5:15-16 "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (KJV)  God owns all of us and it is for His purposes that He created us.  As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been bought with a price.  God, therefore, is the owner of all of your time and you need to make sure that you are using your time in the manner in which he has prescribed in His Word.

• Do all to the glory of the Lord - Everything that you do should be done to bring glory to the name of Jesus--from those things that people would consider big to those things that people would consider little.  The Bible states that "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31, KJV)  I am always struck when I think about this verse at how amazingly comprehensive this verse is as it includes even the daily, normal, ordinary, and common tasks of eating and drinking.  Since it is true that our eating and drinking should be done for the glory of God, then indeed every aspect of our lives should be ordered to glorify the Almighty.

Amara, may these principles be a help to you in your growth in the coming year and may they serve you well even beyond your next birthday and be a helpful guide for the rest of your life!  You have an exciting future ahead of you as you focus on inner beauty, take great care with your words, live by the principle of honor, consistently live in a disciplined and diligent manner, and do everything for the glory of the Lord!

Happy Birthday, our dear daughter!  We love you very much!

Love Always,

Dad and Mom 

Happy 5th Birthday, Tirzah!

Tirzah at her birthday party--excited to start opening presents!

Our dear daughter, Tirzah, recently had her 5th birthday!  What a delight to have watched Tirzah grow over these past 5 years since her birth.  We are very grateful and blessed to have her as a part of our family and it is with joy that we provide this birthday post to honor her.

Tirzah,

Happy 5th birthday, my dear and precious daughter!  I am so happy to be your Daddy and I am so glad that God has given you to this family.  You are a great blessing from the Lord and you are truly a gift from God.  It has been exciting to see you grow and develop over these past 5 years.  When we brought you home from the hospital as a newborn baby, you couldn't walk, talk, feed yourself, or hold up your head.  But now you can do all of these things and so much more--like write the letters of the alphabet, spell your name, and say Bible verses from memory.  I am so very pleased when we are reading God's Word as a family and you remember something from one of the Bible books that you have.  It is a blessing when you run off to get that book so that you can show us all how your book is telling about the same events and people that we are studying.

The Bible is so very important and is the most important book that has ever been written or that ever will be written.  It is the only book that God wrote.  Always remember that the Bible is true and everything that it teaches is right!  There will be people that try to tell you that the Bible is wrong about this or that--but it is the people that have it wrong and not the Bible.  The Bible is perfect, just like God is perfect.

I know that God has a plan for you since the Bible tells us that God is in control of all things and will use all things for His purpose.  I am very excited about the future that God has for you and I look forward to training and teaching you day by day from Holy Scripture.  I pray that God will save you from an early age, that you will love Him wholeheartedly for your entire life, and that you will joyfully serve Him in everything you do.

I love you, Tirzah!  I hope that my love for you will be a good reflection of the love of God and that you will be able to more easily know the character of God through my example.  I love you very much, Tirzah, and I am committed to being a godly influence on you.

Happy 5th birthday, Tirzah!

Love Always,

Daddy

Happy 20th Birthday, Jordan!

Jordan with his birthday cake made like a root beer float--complete with straw!

We recently celebrated a very joyful and blessed time as Jordan turned 20 years old!  It is amazing that it has really been 20 years since we first set eyes upon him after he was delivered safely into this world by the hand of God at 11:41 A.M. on June 21, 1994.  Jordan has been a gift from the Lord and it has been a great privilege, as well as a tremendous responsibility, to be his parents entrusted to train him according to the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Jordan,

Happy 20th birthday, our son!  Our hearts are filled with gratitude to God Almighty for bringing you into this family and we have great hope for the future that our Lord has planned for you.  We pray for God's hand of blessing to be upon you and we are excited about the good works that God has before ordained for you to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10).  We are petitioning that the Lord will use your recently opened historical poster and postcard business for the building up of His church and for bringing honor and glory to the King of kings.

As we look back on the 20 years that we have had you as a part of our family, we thank the Lord for this time.  You have added a great deal to our home with your interests in history, geography, and theology.  God has indeed given you many gifts and talents, which have become more and more evident as the days, months, and years have progressed.  We have many fond memories of watching you develop into manhood and consider it a great treasure that God has allowed us to be your parents.  As our mind scans through the years from your birth until today, there is indeed a joyful pantheon of times, places, and events involving you.  From your probing questions to your sharp wit to your well-studied responses, we have benefitted from them all.  For the ways in which God has used you in our family, we are indeed very thankful.

As we look ahead to the future, we are excited since we know that the Lord is in control of all things and will be working things for His glory and for your good.  If you will faithfully serve the Lord all of your days, you will be blessed.  With that in mind, we charge you with growing and developing the following character qualities in greater and greater measure:

• Godliness - This quality is absolutely foundational for living a life that is pleasing to the Lord and will be the bedrock upon which the remaining characteristics will be built.  In 1 Timothy 4:8, we read that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (emphasis added)

• Humility - The Bible teaches that God will oppose the proud, but give grace to the humble (James 4:6). Pride is an ugly dragon that must be slain in order to have God's grace upon you.  Battle diligently against the attacks of this formidable adversary.

• Servanthood - Just as Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45), you too should live a life of service to others.  Those that live for themselves are those that are the most miserable, but those who are willing to serve will be the most joyful and fulfilled.  Be among those who serve with enthusiasm and gladness.

• Wisdom - The book of Proverbs is consistently brimming over with the importance of gaining in wisdom.  It is this attribute that is more valuable than rubies (Proverbs 8:11) and is referred to as the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7).  It is wisdom that results in proper application of the teaching of Scripture to the life situations that you face day by day.

• Love - With Christ as your model, you should show a love for God and a love for others.  Your love for God should be shown by your obedience to Him (John 14:15) and your delight in His commandments (Psalm 119:47).  Your love for others should extend not only to those that you like, but also to your enemies (Matthew 5:44).  That kind of love should keep you dependent upon God, Who is the Only One that can supply something that is so counter to our own sinful nature.

May this brief list of character qualities be a help to you in encouraging you in a path of righteousness and may you live a joyful, productive, and consistent life that will cause others to glorify God based on your good works (Matthew 5:16).

Happy Birthday, Jordan!  We love you dearly!

Love Always,

Dad and Mom