As if that weren't enough . . .

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36

God is good. He is righteous and just and merciful and generous and compassionate and true and unfathomable and awesome and GOOD.

Helpless. Dead. Wrath's bastard child. Enslaved to lusts of mind and flesh. Flailing about in darkness. Drowning in sin's murky filth. Grasping at the burning misery of self-elevation. Running hard - away from the only One Who could save me from myself. Rushing full-speed toward certain doom.

but

BUT!!!!

But GOD . . .

Rich in mercy. Full of a great and unparalleled LOVE. The author of life. Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. Giver of every good and perfect gift. Grace personified. Truth eternal. Power unimaginable.

But God, while I was dead in my errant ways, reached down and made me alive together with Christ - by grace, through faith!! O undeserved gift! Christ became human, then became sin, so that in Him I could become righteous. When the perfect and holy God looks at me, He sees - not my sin, but - Christ, the spotless lamb, sacrificed for my wrongdoing. It is through HIS blood, poured out for me, that I stand before God unblemished, pure.

I think I will spend eternity trying to wrap my puny, finite mind around this truth.

I know I will spend eternity trying to say thank you.

As if that weren't enough . . .

He's given me health. He's blessed me with a wonderful best friend and lover and made us one flesh. He's given us four children, who I pray every day will grow to know Him and to love Him with their whole being.

As if that weren't enough . . .

He's overwhelmed us with a Christ-chasing church body; with friends who daily love on and sharpen us; with parents and grandparents who prayed for us and taught us the things we now pray for and teach our children.

As if that weren't enough . . .

He provides all of our needs daily - food, clothing, shelter - and oh, so many things that aren't needs at all, but that we enjoy and take for granted because we've never had to do without them.

I owe Him everything. He owes me nothing. Yet He's given, and continues to give, more than I could ever hope for.

And as if all of this weren't enough . . .

I get to spend all of eternity (it makes me dizzy) worshiping Him. Reveling in the delirious and unending joy that flows from His presence.

What a cost! What a gift! What a love! I want to shout it into the falling snow - to thank Him with a resounding voice . . . and with my life. What does this mean? What great and wonderful avenues for expressing my appreciation lie ahead? I have no idea. But this I do know: I can, and resolve to, begin by honoring Him in the daily moments of my life NOW. To take pleasure in serving Him in whatever way He chooses to use me. And to do it in the strength that He alone can and does supply. Oh how I love Him!

Praise the Lord! Praise God in Hi sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him for His excellent greatness. . .
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:1,2,6

Shark Rays and Sun Rays!

As scary as the roads were yesterday, the thought of being cooped up in the house for one more day was even scarier. So, the kiddos and I stuck with our plan to visit Newport Aquarium. We left the house at 7:30, cereal bars and bananas in hand, and made our way down 49, which ended up being a little slick, but not as bad as I'd thought. The crazy thing was the fog. It was so dense, we couldn't see anything to either side of us, and could barely make out the car just ahead. We'd been driving for about 40 minutes, when suddenly, the sun came out, the fog cleared and even the road seemed much drier - all within about 15 seconds. I noticed at the same time that we were just passing the sign that announced the end of Darke County. No joke! The farther south we drove, the more it seemed like a different world than the one we'd just left.









Due to having to drive more slowly, and to some morning traffic on I-75, we arrived about 9:30 and soon after, met up with my sister Sarah and her little girl, Addie, who will be 3 in May. During the months of Jan - Feb, 2 kids get in free ($30 savings) with each adult admission ($22). So I got 2 in free, and Sarah got Addie and one of mine in free. I debated about whether to mess with taking Malachi, but finally decided to take all four and just pay the extra child's admission. It was totally worth it. I have rarely heard him squeal the way he did when I helped him "pet" the "baby sharks". The only bummer was that my mom and sister Hannah weren't able to go this year. I was a bit hesitant to take all four kiddos that far without Grandma there to help out, but they did beautifully. (Except for one head-butt and one running-off episode!)

Well, there was one other bummer. I'd packed lunch for all of us - including a variety of snacks - which spent the day in the fridge without us. I was almost sick to my stomach when I ended up paying a little over $20 for 4 plain hot dogs and 4 small bags of chips - ugh. It was the cheapest option. We're definitely packing lunches (and remembering to take them!) from now on. The weirdest thing was not having ANY snack food for the kiddos - I ALWAYS have snacks handy - it's a matter of survival. But they did just fine - until we were about 30 minutes from home.

Now for the pictures . ..


"Lulu" the penguin came out and got a big hug from Mr. Moo!


They all loved the march of the penguins - seeing and hearing about 3 African penguins named Simon, Paula and Randy. I found out they're changing Paula's name to Kara and adding an Ellen.


There was an AMAZING jellyfish display. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures that did them justice. One new feature in the room was a blue screen with digital "jellyfish" swimming around. When the kids tried to touch them, they disappeared. The screen looks white in the picture, but was a really vivid underwater scene.


Zekers and Karis loved getting to touch horseshoe crabs and starfish.


The best picture I got of the 5 kiddos - whew!


The "Frog Bog" was a fun play area. It even had a version of "Frogger" that you could play by moving your feet over squares on the ground.


Waiting for sharks to swim by . . .


Rachel had great technique. She used 2 fingers, as instructed, and didn't stick her fingers in the water until the shark was directly beneath her. I had to hold Malachi up and stick his hand in the water for him to feel the sharks, so I didn't get any pics of him, but man, did he go crazy. He LOVED the shark tank!


What he did NOT love were the parts of the aquarium where you could look down at sea creatures through large squares of glass in the floor. He refused to walk on them, and it took some persuading to even get him to even touch them. I think he never really believed it was truly a floor, and was convinced he'd end up in the water!


Check out the teeth on this bad boy!


OK, the next several pictures are all "shark rays", a stingray / shark mix. I never would have imagined you could breed those 2 together. These guys are just COOL.









Outside on the plaza - pretty view, but too cold to stay for very long.


We were home by 3:45, and went directly to Wal-Mart for groceries, along with at least half the population of Greenville. What a day!

Snow Day

Today we . . .

slept in

had blueberry pancakes and eggs over-medium

read books

played in the snow - twice

shoveled the driveway - several times

removed an earring from inside an earlobe - the first minor surgery I've performed

made valentine cards

made brownies and pumpkin roll

made a snowman using 100 cotton balls, buttons, pencils, yarn, and construction paper

played "Guess Who"

played Wii

trashed the house

cleaned up the house

took baths and bundled up in cozy PJs




Today was precious. Thank you, Father, for snow, and for a whole day of family time at home!