Wow...

I just read a bible verse that really jumped out at me:

"For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13

Man I need that right now. I serve a fantastically powerful and personal God, and although I have many questions about Him and how He relates to us, I am so thankful for His continual promises of help.

Thank-you Lord! I can't wait to see how you work this out...

-Sarah

Family competition

The other day we were sitting at the table when I said to Elie, "Now I don't necessarily think you should be comparing us but honestly, who do you think is smarter, mommy or daddy?"

Elie enthusiastically gave the reply I expected, "Mommy!"

Jesse quickly came up with his own questions, "Yeah but who's the coolest, mommy or daddy?"

With equal enthusiasm Elie responded, "Daddy!"

But then she surprised us with a question of her own, "who's got the shiniest head?"

Without hesitation she answered her own question, "Daddy wins."

I'm still laughing about it.

Our new photography blog

Check out our new photography blog 

Both Jesse and I have had fun learning to take pictures and, although I feel we have a long way to go yet, I think things are starting to come together. Check it out, let us know what you think.

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids on our family vacation to Portland. We went for Maria's (Jesse's sister) graduation. She graduated with a Masters in Art Therapy. We're all excited for her.

Sarah

Springtime in Victoria

Springtime is just as beautiful here in Victoria as I expected it to be. We are having lots of fun camping, biking, going to the beach and getting involved in various sports (at least as spectators). A good friend of ours (Katrina) has been teaching us some photo editing techniques and here are some pictures she took of our kids at a baseball game the other day. I laugh every time I see these. I think that's why I want to do photography. To me there is no greater gift you can give a person than a fantastic picture of the people they love.

Elie got a hair cut

I'm writing this in blogger but it may be automatically uploaded to my facebook account - I'm still not using facebook though, its just the setting I have facebook on.

Here's some pictures of Elie's new do. The glitter is a daily request as well. She's a girl!

Laws of Child-rearing - by Sarah

I'm writing this in blogger but it may be automatically uploaded to my facebook account - I'm still not using facebook though, its just the setting I have facebook on.

I've come to believe that there are laws of Child-rearing, similar to the laws of physics. What goes up must come down: true in the child world as well. For example, if Elie picks up Isaac he will inevitably come down (and he won't be happy about it).
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: one really good day with a two and a half year old is always followed by an equally really bad day the next day.
I don't know if Newton has anything similar to this one but, if a potty training toddler tells you she can 'do it by mysef' and remains quietly in the bathroom for more than 30 seconds it will take exponentially more time to clean up the event than it did to cause the event.
If its bright orange going in, it will be bright orange coming out.
That's all I can think of right now. Do you have any others?

Here are some recent pics:

Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. When Jesse and I were at Kings University College we got in the habit of giving up something for Lent but this morning when I remembered its Ash Wednesday tomorrow I wondered why I would give something up for Lent. I started doing some reading and was reminded that the 40 days of Lent is representative of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. He gave up a lot during those 40 days. He went without food/water and without communication with others. All this in preparation for his ministry where he continued to live a life of self-denial ending, ultimately in his crucifixion.
Wikipedia says, "The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." Sounds good to me.
I've noticed that sometimes I assume that free gifts are cheap. Its easy for me to forget the enormity of the gift we received through Christ's death and resurrection. So, I'm going to spend this season of Lent 'preparing for the commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus'. I'm going to do this by reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and reflecting on their message. Where will I find the extra time to do this? I'll be 'fasting' Facebook for 40 days =). So, no facebook. Its probably an addiction I should get over anyway.