Saturday, July 22, 2017

Happy Belated Birthday Simeon


Happy Belated Birthday Simeon!  You are magnificent!  You light up a room whenever you are in it and you always bring the PARTY to you!!  Thankful for the gift you are in our lives!  You are a King Josiah - you carry purity, passion and no-compromise inside of you.  Love you more than you know and celebrate the joy of YOU!








Friday, July 21, 2017

4th of July Fun!

John, Nita, Jasa & Jamie
I'm just now sorting and going through my 4th of July pictures - I guess better late than never. A bunch of my photos did not turn out due to trying to navigate my husbands phone camera instead of mine - disappointed sigh - so there are faces and moments missed, but still so many good ones.

This year we had such a FUN 4th of July staying at home.  We invited a bunch of friends over for the evening and sat on the patio and just hung out, swam, watched fireworks in the distance and even had a few ourselves.



I tried to decorate with a few things in honor of our dear friend Laura in Washington, who we love to spend the 4th with, and who always does the 4th up super special! :-)  We miss and Love you Laura & Dav!











A bunch of friends could not make it due to traveling over the holiday, but many precious ones came out. I even had a 4th of July cake in honor of the day. :-)  A big thanks to Jamie for manning the BBQ.




The kids had so much fun with their friends.  We had tons of little toddler's and I was able to pull out my toy box and sippy cups. :-)

Thankful for our nation!  Thankful for our friends!  Thankful for God's continual faithfulness in our lives.  Here are a few more pics for fun . . .




















Saturday, July 8, 2017

Draw A Veil

Blog Friends, here is a blog I wrote for XP Missions this week.  Just a gentle place God was nudging me . . .

http://www.xpmissions.com/draw-a-veil/

“Love draws a veil over every insult”  ~ Proverbs 10:12

Have you ever had those awkward moments when someone throws a little jab at you, a tiny insult?  It’s so off-the-cuff that it’s not full blown in your face?  You internally wonder, “should I draw attention to this and call it out?” or “should I act like I did not hear and go on with what I am doing?”  Well, Proverbs 10 in The Passion translation gives us a beautiful invitation into what Love looks like in these situations.  Love draws a veil over every insult.

We may ask the question, “why do we insult each other?”  I think most insults steam from insecurity, jealousy, deep hurt and pain, envy, awkward moments we don’t know what to do with, or maybe it’s how our family of origin always communicated.  Of course, I would nutshell insults as operating out of an orphan mentality – not really knowing or living in who I am in Christ.  Regardless, insults are not cool!

“Love draws a veil over every insult”  ~ Proverbs 10:12

When I think of a veil, I think of a romantic, thin piece of material that covers the face of a bride as she walks the aisle to meet her groom.  The groom then lifts the veil revealing the beauty of his bride and symbolizing, for some, the consummation of the marriage. 

“Love draws a veil over every insult”  ~ Proverbs 10:12   The Bible says, that this is what Love looks like in the face of an insult.  When I see myself as a bride, a priceless treasure, royalty, deeply loved one, then if someone should ever drop an insult bomb, directed towards me, I am invited to pull a veil over that insult.  It’s protecting who I am, to veil an insult.  It protects my heart from offense.  It protects my mind from judgments.  It keeps my soul clear from clutter.  It keeps me as the beautiful bride of Christ I was created to be.  It also protects the other person.  Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”  Fascinating!  I am fostering - promoting the development of LOVE when I pull a veil over an offense (insult).    

When we are living a missional lifestyle, we have many opportunities to “draw a veil”.   Often people we encounter are hurting and as we know from experience, “Hurting people  hurt people.”  Sometimes those in hard life circumstances or pain, will insult us. Jesus invites us to . . . draw a veil.  Jesus was our perfect example as we read in Isaiah 53:7,  Jesus was oppressed, afflicted, abused and punished, yet He did not open His mouth and retaliate, He drew a veil.  But His veil consummated a marriage with us His bride for eternity. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and His great love drew a veil over a multitude of sin and insults. 

Maybe as you read this blog you can think of a situation where you were insulted recently.  Maybe you retaliated with stinging words.  Maybe you stuffed the rejection and didn’t face how it made you feel.  Jesus invites us to get real with Him, offload all insults on Him, release forgiveness and “draw a veil” releasing us into His perfect Love.

“Love draws a veil over every insult”  ~ Proverbs 10:12