6/28/13

Life







Today I was home with just my three littlest.  
It felt like a day to do little kid's stuff, and the weather was perfect.



Who knew an old baby bathtub could be turned into a tiny splash pool, or water gun reloading station?




Elijah LOVES water.  He calls the sprinkler "rain" and it's pure joy.


It's the simple things.



Letting my anemic winter hardened soul soak up the colour and warmth. 
We've had so much rain this summer that our grass is a gorgeous green, it was only mowed a few days ago and it already needs it again!


It really is amazing how much fun little kids can have with a hose and a couple containers to fill.  It's a good thing we don't pay for our water though.





I've been thinking a lot lately about life, and how many lies we, as a society in general believe about it.   
I don't have time or brain function right now to express in detail how callously our world views children, how narcissistic we are, or how tragic I think that is...but here are a few rambling thoughts on the topic.

Just this week I watched America cheer and make a hero out of a woman who is championing barbaric late term abortions.  Justified by the god of "choice" and exploiting stories about children who would have been born disabled, or with with some other imperfection.  We applaud these eugenics killings like they are a courageous, merciful and harrowing decision a mother must make, when in reality it's profound selfishness and discrimination at it's worst.   But that's the thing, the world is blind...and only God can make the blind see.  
So here is my little blog, my little family, and my little story to stand as witness.

No doctor, no parent, no politician, and no media personality can predict the quality of another persons life, or arrogantly assume that they know what that even means.  

Here we are as a living, breathing counter cultural testimony that "quality of life" has nothing to do with wealth.   It has nothing to do with being able to give our children every material advantage.  It has nothing to do with family size.   It has nothing to do with savings accounts, retirement plans, and golf club memberships.  It has nothing to do with being born into a picture perfect family lineage. It has nothing to do with positive or negative blood tests.  It has nothing to do with years spent in school, or letters behind our names, or qualifications hung on a wall.....but it has everything to do with love, with sacrifice, with surrender, and with living the messy life God gave us for his glory. 

 Our "quality of life" has everything to do with seeing God's good design and sovereignty even in our weakness, disability, chronic illness and heartache.  We fix our eyes on beauty, but we refuse to close our eyes to the pain.  We embrace both, trusting the One who sees what we cannot see. 

Our society has an illusion of control, and when something happens that it cannot control it rallies, and rages, and rails against it.  It exterminates the "problem".

So often the children are seen as the problem...rather than our own quest for perfection and comfort.

I stand here not only as a testament to God's daily grace and His ability to multiply our little loaves and fishes, but to the reality that every life has purpose and value.  I use the word "potential" sparingly because it implies that our children's worth is yet to be seen or will come with future accomplishments. 

It doesn't matter if a baby is conceived under the worst possible circumstances, or born into a horrible situation, or diagnosed with a disability, or is unplanned for and  "unwanted", or is the offspring of a tragic lineage....NO child is a lost cause,
and no child is inherently disposable. 

I think my children would agree.

Whether a life lasts for only a few minutes, or for 100 years...there is purpose in that life.  Whether a child becomes a neurosurgeon, or is the child that the neurosurgeon cannot fix...
neither are born outside of Imago Dei.  None are conceived without the Creators touch, or outside of his Sovereign will. 

"Church, please, do not let the language of law or property guide how we think of the children God gives us. Children — all children in every circumstance from every part of the world of every color and ethnicity and physical or cognitive ability — are not chattel. Children are not chattel. They are rewards and blessings from our gracious heavenly Father, for his glory and for our eternal good."  John Kinght

I get to witness the beautiful reality of that every single day, 
because of that, the enemy's lie, and destructive purpose is so clear.  

My heart is torn open by it. 

The lie is so pervasive even many who consider  themselves part of the "Church" are deceived by the smooth words, and subtle poison.  Whole denominations have abandoned the cause of the weak, the voiceless, and the "least of these" among us and traded it for a politicly correct cause that seeks power, control, and sets "self" up as a god as it shouts "It's MY body!"
 Blind guides.
  

Wide is the road that leads to destruction, and that is certainly true when it comes to accepting the destruction of our worlds most vulnerable children. 


My body is not my own, it is laid down, used up, and poured out.  


"Though a poison should threaten to kill, I know my Savoir reigns
 when the breezes of death leave a chill, I've got Jesus' blood in my veins. 

So I feel like alive with a life that's not mine and I believe that's your intended design"


6/25/13

I Have a Daddy


Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Elijah.  

I have had at least three different names in my life, but this one is my last.  
My new Mom and Dad tell me that I am their son, and that's not going to change.
After nearly 5 months, I'm almost starting to believe it.

I like my new name.  It means "Yahweh is my God"
My middle name is Li and it means "strength".

Did you know there are a lot of different kinds of strength?
My Mom says I'm really strong, and I can do so many things.   She's right, I can.

Do you know who else is really strong?  My Dad.

He's a really tall, big muscle kind of guy, I like that...
although it kind of scared me at first.

Now I know that he uses all that strength to love me with, and doesn't use it to hurt me.



I'm really starting to love this guy.  


Daddies really come in handy when you need a boost, 
or when you're too scared and they tell you "you can do it" and because their voices are so big and they are right there next to you, you can't help but believe it.  


Mom's are great for lots of reasons too, for example mine is snugglier, and kissier than Dad is...but Daddy knows how to play better than Mom does.


I really like having my very own Daddy.
Every little boy should have one!  









My Daddy took me on our first camping trip as a family of 7 this past weekend.  I suspect if it weren't for him we wouldn't have been able to have smores as a snack at 10 in the morning.


Daddy was also strong enough to carry me up all those stairs to the top of the water slide.  We went up and down, up and down, up and down all morning.  I wasn't tired at all! 






My Daddy seems kind of rough sometimes, but I'm learning that's how Daddies like to play.  He pretends to fight and wrestle us, but  he doesn't actually hurt us, sometimes he even lets me win.  That makes me feel really strong.





Yeah, having a Daddy is pretty great.



I know he's strong enough to protect me.  That makes me feel good because I know that the world is a big scary place....especially when there are dogs around. 

He's kind of like a super hero.





The only thing that bums me out is that I have to share him.  The other kids seem to like him too. 


Oh, and I almost forgot!

Check out the sweet ride my Daddy hooked me up with!


I can peddle it all by myself and make myself go in whatever direction I want to go.
I'm pretty fast...
which is a good thing because us six year old boys have stuff to do.  


....and places to go. 



God did a pretty great job at picking a Daddy out for me.  




6/16/13

Happy Daddy's Day!



I have two great reasons to be thankful on Father's Day.


I have a husband who is not only a loving, faithful husband and a man who loves and serves Jesus, 
but who is also an involved, playful, and nurturing Daddy to our kids.








I'm thankful that he raises his girls to know how a princess should be treated,
and that his sons will know by example how to be  men who will set aside their own selfish ambitions to protect, love and serve others.  


I'm thankful that he takes us on all kinds of great adventures.


I'm also thankful for my own Dad.

A man who has spent his life working hard, but who still takes time for family....which now includes a lot of Grandkids who adore him. 


A man who also knows how to use his strength to protect, love and serve others.



Happy Father's Day to all the men who realize the importance of investing in the lives of their children, by giving their children themselves.  




6/8/13

6/1/13

Hickville Sports Day



One benefit of living in a small village is the annual "sports day". 


Town neighbors, farm neighbors and even some neighbors from neighboring communities come together for a day of food, soft ball games, and of course....
bouncy houses.


I remember last year wishing we had Elijah here with us, and I remember thinking "next year"...
next year he will taste the pie, ride the "train", and be a part of rural community.  

What a change.
A city boy from China, now a rural Saskatchewan farm boy.
That's quite a change of scenery.




He had a great time.  The "train" was his absolute favorite part of the day.  The first couple times he went with big brother or sister next to him....then he went with just Cece somewhere close by....then he was brave enough to go completely "alone" (well surrounded by other kids, but no familiar ones).

He was as happy as could be sitting on that thing.



Over and over again he went for rides.  Each ride was quite long and weaved it's way all around our little village. 

I was impressed with his bravery.  Little things like this, being taken out of view of Mommy without freaking out, is a huge stride.  I think the first time he was a little nervous, not knowing for sure that the train would return to where he left Mom and Dad....but after that he was Mr. Independent.  We always made sure to wave when it passed by.  

The "train" is my favorite part of this day each year.  It's a wonderful magical trolley that takes your children and whisks them away while you visit with other adults and eat pie.  I fully realize that in most other North American contexts this would never happen, or would be highly regulated.  I picture seats with five point harnesses, helmets required, waiver forms that need to be signed, and medics standing by.  There would certainly have to be more than one adult, and most likely emergency exits and wheelchair accessibility.  



My kids ate more than their normal fare of sugar and food coloring (I may have too)


Going for another ride.  This time my Hubster is taking his turn in the drivers seat.
YES....we are DONE seeding!!  Halleluyer.  The kids spent the day getting reacquainted with phantom Daddy.  We survived another year, mostly, with our sanity intact...almost.


Expensive frozen water.