Happy Reformation Day!

October 31st is also Halloween as I am aware but it's much more then that, that unfortunately much of this culture does not celebrate, while Halloween, asecular "holiday" seems to get all the focus. Its Reformation Day! Its the day that we can dedicate and celebrate to the great reformers of the Church (we should do this everyday anyway) Theologians like Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale, just to name a few. Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin.

The Reformation cry was that the Saviour of man was Christ alone (known by the Latin term Solo Christo), saved by God's Grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), to the Glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria), and that Christianity must have as its ultimate authority, God's word alone (Sola Scriptura). This is the only way man can avoid being deceived by unrighteous Church teachers or self-serving leaders of the Church."  You can read more about this here...

 What is reformed Christianity?

Thank you for reading, if you did, to learn more about this day and the father of the Reformation. Martin Luther.

Now, the question. Since we don't celebrate Halloween, will our children dress up?

YES! They are! They are going to be very cute I may add :) but we will be celebrating this day at church and participating in a play based on the book, "The Barber Who Wanted to Pray" by RC Sproul.

 

 It is going to be an awesome way for us and our children to learn the meaning behind the reformation and the courage and faith it took these men to stand up for their belief in the truth, the truth of the Gospel. 

   Soli Deo Gloria

 

Fall

Visit to Grams work

The boys and I love to make impromptu visits to Grammy's work to visit and see "the girls" (the women grammy works with). It was so nice to visit here especially since she is feeling better now! :) The boys especially like to go so they can play with the water fountain, eat candy, and go up and down the stairs. Never a dull moment!

Here is Cohen showing the girls his latest trick of putting his shirt on his head and jumping.

Ashley, a student worker loved holding and loving on Pres : )

We love visiting Grammy!

He can see!

Cohen got diagnosed with astigmatism when he was only 2 years old, the doctor told me to keep an eye on Caleb (and now P) for signs of the same thing happening to them since it is heredity (Z and I both have eye sight issues). Caleb has been complaining of his eyes hurting for about a month so I caved and made an appointment to get him checked! He did great and his eyes are FINE! : ) He probably hears brother complain of his eyes so he feels the need to do the same. We are so relieved that he doesn't have any eye problems and we pray that he won't as he gets older! We only had a few meltdowns during the appointment especially the eye drops but other then that he did great!

Caleb got the cool glasses they give you after they dilate you and it only made sense for Cohen to wear a pair too :)

Aren't they cute, they requested to sit side by side in the 3rd row so we had to rearrange car seats so they could be together. :):)

You did it Grams!

Look how little Cohen was :)

Grammy! 

We are so proud of you! You did it! You went through 6 weeks of Chemotherapy and Radiation! 

We are so happy and thankful that you are on the way to recovery.

Love,

Cohen Caleb and Presley

ssssssssss

 

I caught this little fellow in our house today trying to visit. I came inside from playing with P (it was boys rest time, so that's our mommy daughter time). And there he was, slithering across our floor, heading up the stairs.

We (uncle Andy and I) got him outside and disposed of him. Forever. (Based on his markings he was poisonous)

We can officially say this is country living at its finest

 

 

it's just leaves

 dramatic.

ta daaa

Can I just say how excited I am about this! My wonderful neighbor let me use her sewing machine and helped me make this! I love how it turned out and can't wait to make many more!

She is set for her first thanksgiving!

Dress sewed by mommy, check 

Cream cardigan, check

Brown tights, check

Boots, check

Orange or green bow, check

Will be getting monogrammed November 3rd. :)  

sneak peak

In a few days I hope to have this thanksgiving day fabric made into a dress for our sweet sweet girl. I have absolutely no sewing skills what so ever, but hey there is a first time for everything right?

Check back in a few days to see if I completed it.. or gave up.

Can you tell I'm writing this post for accountability? :)

Calebs birthmark

On his hair 

Some of you have probably noticed and wondered..

It is on his left side of his hair

A beautiful round circle the shape of  a quarter.

   

The youngest picture I could find where this is visibly noticeable is when he was 9 months old. His hair was brown as a baby, and turned blonder and blonder and the birthmark became more obvious. It is more obvious when his head is shaved but I love it. I love this uniqueness of it. God created EVERY single hair on our heads, and he gave Caleb his own unique birth mark.

:)

We just adore it! 

another one bites the dust.

Remember this post from back in 2011? Where Cohen threw a train at the TV and it broke, he was 2 years old.

It saddens me to say that sweet little innocent Caleb was the one responsible this time. He threw one of those pretty little lemon decorations up in the air and boom, it hit the TV. One hit to a LCD/LED tv and it shatters. broken. done. 

I was nervous to call and tell Zach but was so encouraged by his response "this is God telling us we don't need a TV" Great way to look at it Z! 

I was very nervous and humiliated to write this post.. but this blog is about our family, our stories, our life. This is our family scrap book, I put everything we or the children do on here, and this, is just another section of the book. And I'm not embarressed anymore that my children have now broken 2 flat screen TV's, they are those rough and tough boys, they are "those boys" that knock things over, throw things, play rough. This brings me back to this post that gives me comfort in times like these. 


"Whether you have a quiet boy, or one of “those” boys, your boys still sin. And most likely, though their reactions may look different on the outside, the heart of a quiet boy and the heart of one of “those” boys are much more alike than they are different. Its all the same in God's eyes."

Point of this: don't come over to watch a race, or football, you will be disappointed. and don't let our boys around if you have a flat screen.

A Christian Pumpkin

I came across this on Pinterest while searching for pumpkin crafts for the boys without it being "Halloween related" since that is something we have chosen to not participate in. I fell in love with this so we did it this morning and hung them up :)

A pumpkin the kids color then on the back is a poem. They then use the symbols to make it a jack o latern which can represent us, we scrap all the "yuckies out and place God's light in our center!"


Here is the poem:

I am a Jack O lantern
My lights will shine so bright
For I'm a Christian Pumpkin
My ssymbols tell what's right

My nose is like a cross
On which our Savior died
To set us free from sin
We need no longer hide

My mouth is like a fish
The whole wide world to show
That Christians live in this house
And love their Savior so

The story starts at Christmas
My eyes are like the star
That shone on Baby Jesus
And wise men saw from far   

My color, it is orange
Just like the big bright sun
That rose on Easter Day
Along with God's own son

And so on Halloween
Let's set our pumpkins out
And tell the trick or treaters
What God's love is all about.  

Its a free printable with the symbols you can cut out and paste on the pumpkin!            

 

"I'll huff and I'll puff..

And I'll blow your house down!"

 Cohen has been in his drama class now for almost a month and they put on a small play for the parents this morning! 

The play was "Three Little Pigs". I was so impressed with this class. They let the children make all the props for the play. They made the stick house, the straw house and the brick house and then each made their own mask. (Cohen was a wolf). Imagine that. 

I was disappointed that Cohen chose not to participate today in the play but I saw it coming. He only entertains when he wants attention, when he has attention he becomes introverted. 

I am only posting a small portion of this video because Cohen just stands there the rest of the time.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Finding a kitten, pouting, throwing pumpkins, touching pigs, getting bit by a pig, riding "cows" being pulled by a tractor and rope eating are just some of the things we experienced at the pumpkin patch this year. We love being with our church family!

3 point stance

Cohen hasn't been the only one in this house practicing his three point stance (aka, down set hut). 

Caleb may have a future in football too!

Hymn Story Net

We just started going over hymns with Cohen and letting him listen to them on youtube and then we talk about the meaning behind them. Caleb likes to listen and dance to them :) I think P likes it too. I came across a great site to use for learning about the hymns.  

www.hymnstory.net

You can listen to a free audio story on certain hymns. Cohen loves to sit here and listen to the story while coloring or doing an activity. How cool! A lot of these we went over at our hymn night at our church and it brings a whole new meaning to a hymn if you know the background in which it was written. Its amazing to see how much faith people have in God to not grumble even during tragedy, but instead, they write praises! 

This past week we did "Tis so sweet to Trust in Jesus"
(love this song! read the story behind it, or better yet listen to it on hymnstory.net)

I really need these reminders of these hymns daily!