we're back! :)

we're back after over 2 weeks in the great USA. Kev and I have many reasons to praise God, despite some things that seemed unpleasant at times (mainly the nastiest, longest flu bug i have ever seen that hit Josh, Jade and Justin (Brian & Holly's youngest), and not the greatest of weather).

I can't say enough about our wonderful friends, I will just say that I praise God for putting them in our life and we feel so blessed by them!! We enjoyed a short visit first with Pete & Lauralee, a week with Steve & Jo and the final week with Brian & Holly. Brian and Holly especially deserve credit for putting up with us & our sick kids in our shared condo for a week, and we absolutely could not have imagined better, more gracious and kind and fun condo-mates. Thanks to them it was still a blast despite the flu and the weather, and i think that is quite something. :) You all should try to nab them to go on vacation with you next, unless of course they will condescend to come with us again (then we want them :) ) ...anyways, it was a delight to come home again too, to our dear friends and family and church here, who we are also so thankful for. Thanks for checking in, hope you all are doing well!! ...i am too tired to post much tonight, and getting over a much milder verson of this flu myself. here's hoping and praying for a healthier week ahead for everybody!!

the sweet baby boys, in healthier days. What a joy to see them playing in the sand! :) of course it is appreciated much more now, after seeing them sick for so many days!! once again i am determined to never take this for granted.

it was great to see Sarah & Becky (& husbands :) ) Sarah, i love it that you follow my blog and it was so great to talk to you again, although it seemed short and I didn't get to say goodbye. Afterward i had all kinds of things i wanted to ask you about (she is the kind of person that is so compelling that I end up blabbing away the whole time and don't think to ask her things until afterwards i wonder why i never did...i hate when that happens!! trouble is it happens to me more often, so obviously i have to learn to listen more and TALK LESS!!) anyways, a beautiful person inside and out and looking great pregnant, I can't wait to hear the news. I really hope you & family are all feeling better again soon too!!

these two got along famously, we were very happy about that. Ashleigh had a delightful vacation with a wide variety of friends to play with and at first i had worried that the time spent with only boys around would be a downer after fun times with Steve & Jo's girls, but i need not have worried. She and Andrew are a lot alike and enjoyed the same things. :)

these aren't in order, and a i have a lot more of all the kids to post another day!

the view from our first condo at Compass Cove

To GOD be the glory!!

train your children in righteousness

1. Start your children on a regular program of Scripture memory.
"for most of us, our ability to memorize is not primarily a function of our intelligence, but of our will. It is a matter of what we value, love. amd believe necessary for life and happiness."
*kids don't always like to memorize Bible verses, but i must train them to do it whether or not they feel like it!*
2. Train your children to meditate on Schripture.
"Lack of meditation is the primary reason that so many professing Christians, in spite of exposure to the most excellent teaching, still remain ignorant, unstable, and unfruitful, "ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth". Instruction flows in upon them from all sides but their hearts and minds are like sieves, out of which everything runs as fast as it is poured in. The impressions which truth makes on their minds are as temporary as characters traced in the sands of the seashore, which the next wave erases forever. But MEDITATION imprints truth deeply on the consience, and engraves it on the tablets of the inner man, as with the point of a diamond or a laser beam. It thus becomes incorporated into the soul, and forms, as it were, a part of it; and it is ever present, to regulate the hearts affections, and the control and guide all of its movements."
*MEDITATION is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes of God.
from Teach Them Diligently by Lou Prioli. Woodruff, SC: Timeless Texts, 2000.