My Wonderful Children

     It is so fun watching my children learn the Bible. Nathaniel has been reading to them out of Genesis, and Juliana has been picking up on so much. When Nathaniel asks her what she has been learning about, Juliana says, "Adam and Even ate the fruit off of the special tree and they disobeyed." Nathaniel then asks what happened to them? Juliana - "They died." How awesome that at such a young age, she's learning some important Biblical truths. We are teaching her that when she disobeys that's called sin. She's also learning about sin in Cubbies. I love that what she is learning at Cubbies is only reinforcing what she is learning at home. Funny story, though. Last night, she put her hands on her head and said that she had bones on her head. I said, "Yes, you have bones on your head." She then asked, "Does God have bones?" Wow. Um, no God doesn't have bones, He is a Spirit. We decided to leave it at that for now and not try to explain the immaterial and material part of man. We'll save that one for another day. It's exciting though to watch her get closer and closer to understanding the salvation process. It reminds me more and more to be praying for the salvation of my children. I want them to understand what God has done for them and to believe in His powerful work.
     I had an awesome class today in Women's Ministries. The teacher was speaking on marriage and the importance of respecting your husband. It was so refreshing to hear her say that respect was a necessity in marriage and that marriage wasn't all about the woman and her needs. I am created to be Nathaniel's helpmeet not the other way around. So often now I hear women say that they have emotional needs that need to be met, but I wonder if with all the time we are complaining about our needs not being met, are we meeting our husband's needs? I found that when I started making my husband's dreams my own, and I started spending time with him, listening to him, our marriage started getting stronger. When I actually praise my husband for a job well done, or tell him that I knows he's working hard, and that I appreciate it, my husband just beams. That is what I was created for; I want to spend the rest of my life building him up, because when my gaze is on my husband, I'm not so worried about me.

Long Weekend

     So, today is Columbus Day Observed, and Frontier doesn't have any classes, which means that Nathaniel is working. It will be nice to have the extra hours. I know that Nathaniel doesn't love his job at a hog farm powerwashing up pig "stuff," but I admire him so for doing whatever he can for his family. Whenever I think of how he loves me because of his sacrifices for me, it makes my part of marriage (submission and helpmeet) seem so much easier.
     I had fun with the girls this weekend. The four of us went to Cheyenne on Friday afternoon while Nathaniel was working, and we did some shopping. I'm glad I had that fun afternoon with them, because Saturday was a trying day of them questioning my authority at every turn. It was very discouraging, and makes one wonder if you can give up child rearing.
     I am realizing lately how much I miss my family in Virginia. I wish that we could all be together again. I want to see all the cousins playing together. I have only seen that once, but I enjoyed it so. I feel a heavy weight of wondering how many times I will see my siblings again. When you see each other every couple of years, it makes life hard. I'm so proud of my brothers and my sister, though. I feel like they are going out and doing what they want to do in life. They're making something of themselves. My brothers have beautiful families. It's sad sometimes hearing about their life over the phone. It's just not the same.
     I feel like I need a lot of prayer lately. I know what the Bible says. I know what society dictates. I know what the word "tact" means, but how do you combine all of these things into the right thing? Or do you focus mostly on what the Bible says, and hope that the other two don't come out too bad? I don't know. Nathaniel and I have been having some great discussions lately. I love it when the discussion ends with both of us holding our Bibles open, a Strong's Concordance on the couch between us, and the Greek Bible on top of that. I hope that our marriage will always lead us back to God's Word.
     Anyway, pray for Nathaniel this week, he has several midterms, and he's worried that he won't be able to keep the 100% grade that he has in most of his classes. (That was dripping with sarcasm.) I'm kidding, it's hard for him to go to classes, work, spend time with his family, and still study as he needs to. He's doing great in school though. I'm so proud to be married to him. Continue praying for us as we will probably need to buy a new car in the near future. I know God will provide. I am convinced more and more as we are living out here, that this is where God wants us right now. I know that He will take care of us.

Blessed Are They That Mourn

     Last night in AWANA, I was teaching on the Beatitutde "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." I was trying so hard to describe what the word "mourn" meant, when I finally realized, that there is no good synonym for it. I was trying to tell them that mourning came from deep within your soul. When discussing sin and things that we know we have done wrong, we were talking about how we should be in mourning for our own inadequacy. How often do I fall on my knees and weep because of my sin? How often do I stop and acknowledge that I can't fix my own problem, only God can. I got so excited last night trying to explain to those boys and girls that God was the only one. We talked about how Jesus had never sinned and that's why He was the only one who could take our sins on the cross. Then we started talking about why Christ's resurrection was so important. I feel like we don't emphasize this enough with children, because we think it's too deep for them to understand, but they need to know why it's important that Christ raised from the dead and ultimately defeated sin and death. The next step in the teaching was to explain to them why Jesus said that people who are mourning their sin are blessed. I love the picture that presented. We come to the end of ourselves, then Jesus can step in and comfort us. It's so beautiful, and I am so thankful for what He did for me!