Hunger and Thirst

Quiet time. Sounds so easy, right? Time set aside to be quiet and ponder. Why is it such a struggle as a believer to set aside a portion of our day to read the most important words ever written? I don't know. But it is. Especially for me. I am T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E about spending time in the Word. Perhaps that is in direct correlation with how miserable I feel as a believer. I'm always telling myself I'm such a failure as a Christian. I was reminded tonight that we are expected to be failures. We are not perfect, nor will anything we do be perfect down here. Isn't that why we have God's grace and forgiveness through Jesus? We should strive to become perfect, just as God is perfect, but we won't attain it down here. Nope.

I tend to convince myself that it's no use in trying, I'll just mess up. I'm realizing that is pretty selfish. God gave us his Son and grace so that we could keep striving to please and glorify Him.

If I just give up and stop trying, I am like the foolish man. I should strive to be the wise man. "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matt 7:24) Right there. Jesus himself said it wouldn't be easy, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matt 7:14)

Well, even if it is hard, it is a good thing to keep striving towards what God has called us. The entire Sermon on the Mount has so many, many things that God expects of us, straight from Jesus' mouth. Of course we will fail at all of them. But Jesus didn't speak these things to discourage us. No, rather "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."(Matt 5:6) Bingo. I can't just give up because I know I will fail. Rather, if I hunger and thirst for Christ, then I will be satisfied.

What a concept! I've been so dissatisfied with my life lately. And why? Because I've not hunger and thirsted for Him. Rather, I confuse desiring to be a "good" Christian with what is really our purpose..desiring God.

Rockstar

Saiah was in her room rocking out today on her guitar. Her choice of lyrics were hilarious, so I was able to only catch the tale end. She started with singing to Jesus and wanting everyone to "rock with Jesus". She then somehow went down a different track, and well the last lyrics are completely inappropriate, so I do apologize for what you are about to hear. She did try to redeem herself by saying the song was for our friend Bill. Funny.

Run your toes through the sand

Kylie, Annie, Jonah, Saiah, Jed, Brianna, Casandra, Elizabeth, Joel, Heather and Jason

On our last day

The kiddos on their Easter Egg hunt

Saiah and I went down on the beach together for some special Mommy/Daughter time

Hearing the waves, smelling the salt air, feeling the sand, dipping your toes into the very cold Oregon ocean and seeing the beauty that God has created - what could be better?

We had our annual Merrihew/Walsh Oregon Coast gathering this year during Spring Break. It is always the most looked forward to trip on our calendar. Great times are always to be had as we all come together in one magnificent beach front house to spend three nights together. We all come from different towns, so it's just a great time of fun, friendship, family, food and SAND!!

This year we stayed at a house that truly had the best beach front location of any we've stayed. We were just several easy steps from the sand and surf, which turned out to be a great thing since we often had to race up the hill into our house to evade the hail and blowing winds at times!! Despite the crazy weather this year, we had a few times that we were able to enjoy the beach. Saturday afternoon gave us a good couple of hours of sunshine (minus the 10 minute storm we waited out!).

My sisters and I spent a few hours hitting the Lincoln City Outlets together doing what we do best..spending money! We enjoyed our time out together, as always. I am blessed to have sisters-in-law that I consider true sisters and even better than that, true friends. An only child couldn't ask for more.

The cousins had a blast in their own semi-private bunk room (many thanks to Uncle Joel and Aunt Lizzie for sharing that playroom with them - we owe you!!). Brianna, the youngest of the bunch did her best at being a big girl with the rest of them. Jonah...the only guy has no problem standing his ground either!

Jed, Joel and Elizabeth turned out to be quite the Guitar Hero rockers - ask them if they are addicted ;) The grandkids all had their annual last night slumber party with Grammy and Grampy with food, games, stories and a movie. Even Jonah joined in this year until the middle of the night.Our time there always goes by too quick. The draw of the majestic waves and glorious sound are often too hard to part from. I love watching the kids run around in the sand, scamper away from the incoming waves and shout with glee (ok, some shrieks) as they play. I couldn't help this year but think it won't always be that way. They are growing up so quick.

Precious are these years and special are the moments we have. I truly thank God for the family he has blessed us with, the times we have and the beauty He has created.

Grow Sprout Bloom

Auction Invite

Grow Sprout Bloom. This is my life as of late. I've been thoroughly consumed with the Spring Auction at Saiah's school. Now, don't get me wrong - I've had a lot of fun with it, but boy - I'm a bit tired! I've been able to dabble a bit in graphic arts as I had the opportunity to design all the materials for the auction - invites, posters, inserts, raffle tickets, RSVP cards, you name it - I think I did it! It was quite the experience and I think I could really get addicted to graphic design. I learned how to reformat things, and post a bit to our website.(If my wonderfully tech savvy brother in law could kindly refrain from my lack of aptitude here - I'd be ever so grateful!) ;)

Even more amazing is the community support for our little auction. All of us (and by us, I mean the 5 of us on staff at the school) have set out to get donations from the community. The response has been overwhelming and heart warming. Becky and I went out last week to ask for donations and all the stores gave us something, many with excitement.

I'm a bit nervous for the night of the auction to be a success. There is so much work that goes into planning and organizing something of this nature. I cannot help but have the flew fleeting thoughts of "what if nobody comes?" "what if nobody buys anything?", etc. I must remember God is in control and he will provide what we need, auction or not.

Auction Flier

Here is a little email I'm attempting to put together for the parents of the children. Its main purpose is to be forwarded by the parents to any out of town relatives that might like to buy raffle tickets or donate to the school. The text came over to my blog a bit squished, but the gist of it is here.
Let me know your thoughts. Who knew my blog would become a sounding board?!

"Planting the Seeds of Knowledge and Faith"
Pilot Rock Christian School 6th Annual Spring Auction April 19th, 2008 Silent Auction and Hearty Appetizers start at 5:00 Tickets are $10 100 Raffle tickets are available for a 1997 Toyota Avalon for $50 each Donations gladly accepted If you would like to make an online donation or purchase tickets for the auction or raffle through Paypal please go to our website:
Grow Sprout Bloom 2008

Mac addiction

It seems every time Mac airs a commercial with a song in it, I end up loving it. I listened to "1234" by Feist many times and am currently addicted to Yael Naim's "New Soul" that is used for the Mac Air commercial (which BTW, if anybody wants to say, oh, I don't know, give me a Mac Air - I'd have no problem with that).

It's such a catchy(did I just use catchy?)tune and you just can't help but have a spring to your step after listening to it.

Song lyrics | New Soul lyrics

Spring Teaser

We are currently enjoying our annual Spring teaser the last couple weeks or so. I've especially enjoyed - yes enjoyed- working out in the yard. Perhaps it's because our "new" front and back yards have so much in them, they demand more attention! Nonetheless, I've been busy raking the old leaves that never made it into the bins back in November, weeding, pulling old plants, raking the bark to even it back out, and yes...even mowing the front lawn!! Saiah's been an awesome little helper. What little kid doesn't like to be out in the sunshine, playing and getting dirty? She has always been a great little helper and still to this day is always wanting to help Mommy and Daddy out with whatever we may be doing.

I'm excited to tackle our big Spring projects. Jason is less than enthused as he will be the one doing most the work. We bought our house knowing it needed new paint. So, we purchased the paint last summer and Jason started prepping the house only to find many places on the siding of our house had rot. Not something we could afford to do after just moving into the house. So, this spring we will be replacing most of the siding, adding some rock to the garage wall and THEN painting our house. We are also putting in more grass in the backyard so Saiah has more room to play soccer and football(a little girls priority, yanno?!) and a back corner patio for a firepit to enjoy during those nice summer nights - hopefully, Larry, our neighbor won't mind the occasional whiff of campfire!

Jason has been extremely busy with work. Apex has a demanding order that is requiring him to put in a lot of overtime. Last week alone he worked 73 hours and it looks as though this week will be about 65 hours. Poor guy - he's beat, but with a good attitude about it. His only day off was Sunday and he was such a good sport getting outside with me and Saiah. He even washed (my) car for me! He is greatly missed by both me and Saiah during this time, but so nice that there is plenty of work for him to do.

One last thought. I'm so thankful for everything The Lord has blessed me with. I'm so incredibly blessed and the Lord is so wonderfully good.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:1

Good Morning Sunshine

Saiah is not much of a morning person when she has to be woken up. I went into to her room this morning a bit earlier than usaual to wake her so she could shower and had to share our "conversation".

"Good morning sunshine, time to wake up" I say as I gently pat her arm.

No response from a very sound asleep little girl.

"Scooter, time to wake up. You want to go get in a nice warm shower?"

"Hmmmm" ever so softly

"Do you know what you want to wear today honey?"

Saiah rolls over to her other side, pulls up her covers, snuggles in.

"Honey, you need to wake up" trying to shake her a bit.

"I'm dreaming of what I'm going to wear" she says in a sleepy voice.


Too cute. And yes, she did finally wake.