July 4th Holiday Week

I am pretty sure this is the best picture that has been taken of our family in a while. Dad is making his usual silly face. Mom is laughing at us all which is what she tends to do instead of cry. She did marry the man that gave here all six of us messes.   Josiah is making his I'm disgusted face which is oddly like Dad's when he is presented with something that might possibly have spices other than black pepper or Tony Saturies for dinner. Joelle's expression could be captioned " Squirrel". Hope is in her own world which is typical. Katy is with mom- laughing at us. Daniel and I are at our usual antics. This time however, he did not run from my embrace, he came to me.

We spent the 4th of July/Independence Day/America Day (I have no idea where that came from but a friend sent a text with Happy America Day) in my beloved Texas with my dad's side of the family.   The diving board in the picture belongs to his sister.  Somehow my family, my uncle's family of 3, and the original house owners- a family of 4- and my Nana managed to live in the place for about a week.  We were a bit on top of each other but it was fun.  We did a lot of swimming, shopping, and video gaming. (I'm not a gamer but 4 boys cousins and you can have some fun.)  We ate a ton of delicious food. Enjoyed some sparkly lights. Loved on each other.

Gospel opportunities abounded throughout the week- my mom took many of them. I would like to say that I too capitalized on the moments but I came back from Texas realizing the hideousness of much of my behavior.  Some stranger looking in might not have noticed how bad it was (I'm sure my mom did!) but I could see it in my heart.  Ouch. Realizing that my behavior was directly effected by the time I spent in the Word.  Little Word/Jesus time- ugly speech.

Sunday morning teaching at Sylvania seemed to be tailored just for me.  Somehow through the 10th plaque we concluded that God loves us because He loves us. I did not want our discussion to end. It was so refreshing.  In service, we were in Isaiah 27. Pastor Dancy expounded upon our fruit coming from the root which is Christ and how God treats His children differently than His enemies! Sunday morning was also communion at Sylvania. I was excited about that. Recently a sermon at Harvard reminded me that we fight sin by grace and He has given us means of grace: the Word, Prayer, Fellowship with Believers, Corporate Worship and the Sacraments.   I had not had the opportunity to partake of Lord's Supper since being reminded of that truth!  What a beautiful treat. 


How was your 4th? Did you see some beautiful lights displayed like my siblings and I? 

You can listen to each of those messages by following the links!