Other Firsts in History

4.21.2005


7.18.2007

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Precious angel boy.
I can't believe you are one.
You are an absolute doll, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the past year with you.



You had your favorite: spaghetti and meatballs. Followed by chocolate cake.


Your cake. It's a bit homely, but I don't think you minded.


Yea!!!

The closest thing I have to a group shot. No, Mimi is not dancing a flamenco. It just looks that way.





Your favorite facial expression. Ooh!

Christ Church Academy

Christ Church offers college-level classes on Biblical and/or Theological topics. They are offered one weeknight a week, three hours per class, for the duration of a semester. I am excited to take Old Testament Survey this fall. I know I'm kind of a weirdo in how much I love the Old Testament. I enjoy getting swept into the narrative, and I'm eager to learn more about the cultural background and textual interpretation. I took OT Survey in college, but wasn't as excited about it at the time. I'll learn more this time around since I'm more interested in the subject. Take it with me and we can study together!

You can just take random individual classes, like I am. Or there are non-degree "certificate programs," for those who wish to further their education without going to a formal seminary.

Intro to Greek will also be offered this fall. Ever wanted to read the New Testament in its original language? Need a foreign language option for your homeschooled high schoolers?

We look forward to expanding the options. I would love to see more and more classes being offered, including some for younger children. Stay tuned for that...

Go check it out and sign up with me! Christ Church Academy.

(Who's a bigger nerd: Me for being excited about taking Old Testament Survey, or my husband for teaching it??? Don't answer that.)

Community of Women

I so relate to this post (again a Sally Clarkson posting). A few selections:

I need real, velveteen rabbit sort of relationships--where you are old and worn out together and dirty from sharing life--but it has made you all the more precious to each other.

Sometimes I am so used to being strong and keeping going that I don't even recognize my need for other women. In days of old, people were born into and lived in their community their whole lives......Now, we live apart. ....So, we become used to fending for ourselves--taking care of all the details of life alone--and then suddenly we poop out and wonder where God has gone.

And husbands cannot fill all of our need for love that was meant to be filled by a community of people who loved us and by a gaggle of women who could share in all the feminine things of life--getting pregnant, bearing under morning sickness, living through the sleepless nights, nursing our babies, raising our children--cooking, cleaning, living loving--all to be shared with Titus 2 women who could come alongside us in love, friendship, spiritual and emotional and practical help.

What pressure we put on our husbands to fill us up and meet all of our needs for love, when God never intended one person to be able to do all of that!

"A gaggle of women"---I love that! One of the things I find most interesting about primitive cultures, such as in rural African villages, is the community of women. They live together all day, with the children together, doing chores alongside one another. Sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? I don't mean to romanticize it; modernity certainly has its advantages. But I can stand to learn much from my sisters there...

Let's not forget what Jesus prayed for us (JESUS PRAYED FOR US!) in John 17 (emphasis mine):

²⁰"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, SO THAT the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

This passage is one of my favorites. I blogged about it here.

I love and need this type of community, and would like to see more of it especially with my women friends. You are beloved, but the stuff of life gets in the way all too often. May God grace us with perspective and time together.

Blessings.

This I've Got to Hear

Want to hear my husband refer to me (in all sincerity) as an "African American"?

Go listen to his sermon titled "Christ Church and Africa."

I love that man.

Kenya

Justin is in Kenya, teaching Bible classes at Kenya Baptist Theological College. See his blog for pictures and videos.

He is with our friend's ministry, HaMoreh. This is a fantastic organization. From their site: "Our heart and hope is to be used by God in helping people around the world to enjoy God more through being transformed by the renewing of their minds." HaMoreh is Hebrew for "The Teacher." The ministry primarily teaches Bible and theology classes in African seminaries, and mentors and equips local Bible teachers and seminary professors. "We invest in the lives of those who will then go on to invest in the lives of many more." There is a helpful video here that explains the ministry very clearly.

As much as we hate being apart, I am so proud of my husband. He's doing amazing, important work. This was sort of a scouting trip, to see what ministry opportunities there may be for us as a family in the coming years. I look forward to those possibilities with eager anticipation.

This may not be the end....

...of his sister dressing him up.


Bless his little heart.