A New Month

Wow!  I can't believe it is November.  The big 2010 is slowly fading away.  I am starting out this new month with an effort at organizing Ella's day better and working in my to-dos around her.  I  have this idea that the morning should start with "school," and free-time should be in the afternoon, so after getting both kids fed and watered this morning I got Ella started on some workbook pages while I cleaned up the kitchen and washed dishes.  James was busy playing with blocks, eating snacks, taking things out of the bathroom cabinet, etc.  Ella is now busy with puzzles as I write, and James is down for his morning nap.  Next on the agenda is letting Ella play educational computer games while I work out.  We have found www.pbskids.org, Preschool Disney, and www.nickjr.com to be really great resources.  A couple of days ago Ella was instructing me on how to pull up videos, enlarge the screen, and move the mouse down so the arrow would not be in the middle of the screen while she watched.  HELLO!  I bit my tongue as I thought of how I was using the internet long before she was born.  


I thought James was going to be taking off on Saturday after his Friday night walk across the room, but he is still being reticent about letting go of our hands.  He took a few steps on his own Saturday and Sunday but for the most part wanted to hold on to something.  We walked several times around the gym at a church lunch yesterday in the following way.

He did, however, make some more progress this morning.  Hitherto, he has only walked when we forced him to, but this morning he saw Ella playing with his toy train in the kitchen, and he walked by himself from the bathroom and down the hall to her.  He fell as he reached his destination, but I was so proud.  Go, James!  

Yesterday our church family celebrated Pastor Appreciation month by giving thank-you letters and notes of encouragement to KJ's parents.  The Kizziah family joined us for lunch, so we were able to get a family picture.  We were just missing (so much!) Kameron and Olivia.

I'm feeling a little bit sick this morning with cold/sinus something, but other than that the month is off to a good start.  Here's a couple of stand-outs from my morning reading (I tried to have school while Ella was eating breakfast.):

"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive...Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven."

- 1 Corinthians 15:22, 49 - 

Hallelujah.  Those words of hope are particularly precious to me today.  

"However, we must always remember that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in his work.  Our renunciation and reliance do not tie him to any rules or course of action.  He's not a genie we summon into action by rubbing the magic lamp of our prayers.  Sometimes when we're tempted he allows us to twist in the wind, so to speak--he doesn't come to our rescue immediately...At other times we're amazed as we experience the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to resist the temptation of some persistent sin pattern, or making us clearly effective in some occasion of ministry...But whether he temporarily withholds or dramatically manifests his power, we may be sure he's working in every instance according to his own plan and timetable to accomplish his goals for our lives.

- from The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

I was encouraged by that today because I have often wondered at the difference.  What do I do right sometimes when it seems I'm able to take hold of the Spirit's power?  What am I doing wrong when it seems I cannot?  Is there some secret I'm missing here?  I forget that He is God, sovereign and in control just like the Father and the Son.  I loved his illustration, He's not a "genie we summon into action."  He is working in us for His good pleasure.  "At times...he uses our weakness and even our sin to drive us back to the first bookend (Christ's righteousness) for the assurance that the sins that now seem so shameful in our eyes are truly forgiven and that we will stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ."