Greenville Zoo

Tuesday we went with some friends to the Greenville Zoo. They posted some pics on their blog. All the kids had a wonderful time and it was Carissa's first visit to the zoo.

Mother's Day and soccer

Here is the most descent picture of the four of us for Mother's Day. The next two are some of the ones that didn't turn out so well, but are a little funny.

Here is Josiah during one of his recent soccer games.

Boston

Chris and I were able to take a much needed trip with just each other to Boston for my birthday weekend. I think we walked all over downtown Boston, doing the Freedom Trail and just exploring. We were able to go to Citylife Fellowship on Sunday morning. It reminded me that in heaven white people won't be the only ones there. Their congregation is about 1/2 Asian-American. This seemed typical of the part of Boston we saw. There were alot of Asian-Americans. What blacks we saw seemed to be from Africa (from how we heard them talking). We saw some Arabs. I don't think we really saw any Hispanics. I felt very much the minority being a traditionally dressed white who only spoke English. Our wonderful friends (the kiddos' second parents), Mark and Mer, kept Josiah, Caleb, & Carissa for us. Here are some pics of us in very cold Boston.

At the Museum of Fine Arts. Chris with a Rembrandt, me with a Renoir. For the few weeks before going, Josiah had been asking us to get him something with VanGogh on it. Before we left he changed his mind and said he wanted something with a Renoir on it. So, I was able to find him a little book which had several Renoir paintings in it. Caleb got the VanGogh book.

Chris at the Boston Pops orchestra shell.

Chris in front of the George Washington statue with his Starbucks. I think there were Starbucks every few blocks. You could literally buy a drink at one and start walking and find another one before you had finished your drink.

Me in front of the Paul Revere statue.

Me, ready for the symphony, with a view from our hotel in the background.

Easter

Here are some pics from Easter. The first ones are of the boys dying Easter eggs.

Saturday evening at the park downtown.

The boys rolling down the big hill.

Bops with Carissa.

Minnie with Caleb and Carissa.

Getting a pic of all of us has become quite tricky!

John Piper on Adoption

Here is a link to the video John Piper did for the Caedmon's Call concert to benefit Ethiopian orphans. We were able to go to the concert and it was great! The video is only about 5 min, so please take the time to watch it.

Video of Carissa

'Down with Santa' by Thabiti Anyabwile

'Down with Santa' by Thabiti Anyabwile

I am so glad to see a Christian seriously looking at this issue from a BIBLICAL worldview. A friend and I were talking about this just the other day ~ that just because our culture does Santa does not mean we as Christians should do Santa. Since when were we Christians supposed to conform to the culture? Thabiti does an excellent job of explaining why Santa should not be included in the Christian Christmas. He portrays my sentiments exactly.

My parents did not want to lie to my brother and me, so we did not "do" Santa. My Christmases were just fine. I have wonderful memories of "magical" Christmases. On thing I did run into as a child and am now revisiting as a parent is that I was forbidden to tell other children the truth about Santa. I fully understand why my parents did this. But now that I have a four year old who is very adament about not lying and telling the truth and wondering why people believe lies, I don't think I want to tell him to go along with the lie for the other children's sake. How can I tell my child NOT to tell the truth? That goes against what I have taught him and what the Bible teaches. There is of course the fact that we should tell the truth in love. But how do I teach my four year old this as it applies to Santa and other children? As I said, I'm still grappling with this issue. Any comments and suggestions would be welcome.