The Saturday 7

I don't really feel like writing this week, so prepare yourself for a less than stellar entry.

1. Last Sunday the girls got invited to a gymnastics birthday party for one of their friends. Neither of my girls has ever been to gymnastics, but they're both interested in it, so they were thrilled to go. They loved the gym and all the equipment.

By the time they were done, they were begging to sign up for classes. They don't do sports and I've been wanting them to get involved in something, so we signed them up for a weekly class! I think Lena will love it and be a natural, but I'm a little more concerned about Lucy. She does not like to push herself, and if she doesn't succeed the first time she tries something she immediately gives up. (She might get that from me.) They start in September, so we'll see how it goes!!

2. This week I read The Reluctant Duchess (meh), The Heiress of Winterwood (meh), and Just The Way You Are (yeah!). [Affiliate links . . . you know the drill.] They were all Christian fiction, but the first two were "Regency Romances." I'm getting so sick of the Regency era. It's been done so many times. There's really nothing new or interesting about it anymore. I'd like to read some Christian fiction set somewhere beside America or Great Britain and I'm realizing there's not much out there! I loved the Pepper Basham Book though (Just the Way You Are). She writes with such great humor and heart. In this story, the main character has 3 kids who are close to my kids' ages, and I'm guessing Basham has kids of her own around those ages because she was so spot on with how they act. Sometimes I read books where the 4 year old speaks in baby talk or the 8 year old needs a nap. Lame.

3. I feel like I've been crazy busy lately and I don't even know what I've been doing. Haha. Last week was VBS, this week I was working on a secret project for my mom's birthday (I don't think she'll read this before she gets to open her present), next week is our last week of summer and last minute back-to-school prep, then school starts, we go camping over labor day weekend, and I'm throwing a baby shower the following weekend. Last night we had small group, tonight we went to a birthday party for my 80 year old great-aunt, tomorrow we're going out to breakfast for my mom's 60th, and going to a pool party in the afternoon. I also have a dentist appointment and an eye doctor appointment in the next two weeks. I just feel like it's crazy-town in my head lately!

4. One of the things we talked about at small group last night was resting in our justification. I've struggled all my life with the balance between faith and works. Paul is so adamant that salvation is by faith alone, but James declares with certainty that faith without works is dead. And I've been beat over the head in the past few years with the idea that I can do nothing apart from Christ. That my weaknesses are opportunities for him to work through me. That a vine apart from the branch can't bear fruit, that even a vine in the branch can't conjure fruit by trying hard or praying hard or thinking hard. It's Spirit work. And yet Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount to be perfect as he is perfect. And to be totally honest, it makes me a little mad. Why tell us to be perfect when you know we can't? When that's the whole point - to realize that we're wretched sinners, incapable of good, and 100% reliant on you? But last night while I was lying in bed, I started to think about it from a parenting perspective. I expect my kids to strive for perfect obedience. Do I expect them to achieve it? Absolutely not. So why do I want them to strive for it? Because if I didn't, they'd be indulgent, selfish sloths. They have rewards and consequences to remind them why it's worth it, and they're constantly growing and maturing because of it. The same is true for me as a Christian. Jesus knows I can't attain perfect obedience. He did that for me already to ensure my salvation. But now that I'm saved, I rest in the justification - not fearing for my soul or my eternity - but still striving for perfection in order to grow and mature. Because my inclination - even as a child of God, saved by grace - is toward slothful indulgence, which will only serve to ruin my witness and make me an ineffective Christian. #deepthoughts

5. I seriously have nothing else. Levi's fighting some kind of fever, crying in his bed, and likely to be up every hour tonight, so I'm going to throw a couple pictures in here and try to get some sleep. Sorry to disappoint!!

Rainy day fun. (That's Lena getting some serious air jumping in the puddles!)

At the park. Levi enjoys seeing all the trucks on the road more than playing on the playground.

Haha.

I think this would be so interesting! Putting it here to remind myself later.