Our new pastor

Our church is so blessed to have a new, dynamic young pastor. He is very unapologetic in how he preaches the gospel. I love his preaching style and as a bonus, he has a great sense of humor. His video sermons are now online on our church website. How awesome is that?! Our church membership is up 20% from a year ago. Here is a video from a couple of weeks ago, addressing a very familiar passage from the Bible, John 3:16. It's about 28 minutes, so if you have the time, use it as your daily devotional.




Here is yesterday's sermon on Psalm 1. Focusing on worldly "happiness" v. Biblical "happiness". I particularily love his second point on scripture. Very cool.

Scripture on Fear

Lately, I've been journaling regarding fear. Fear can saturate much of our lives. Fear of failure. Fear of the future. Fear of fear. Here are some of my thoughts and supporting scripture.

Give it ALL to God. He does not want us to suffer. He wants to help us in our times of need.

Why we Suffer?

We need trials to help us grow in faith.

Romans 5:3-5

Exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Trials bring us peace and righteousness.

Hebrews 12:11

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Persecution reminds us our reward is in heaven.

2 Timothy 3:12

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

God will be there through it all.

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?

Proverbs 3:25-26

Do not be afraid of sudden fear
Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;
For the LORD will be your confidence
And will keep your foot from being caught.

Isaiah 41:13

For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, Do not fear, I will help you.

God can turn what others do to you into something beneficial.

Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Redeemed,
Annette

David Crowder!!!

We are taking Isaac to his first concert on November 6!!! We will have artist section seats to see David Crowder & the band. Can you say "Excited"?! The concert is at our church which seats about 5,000. It will be great memories to share with our oldest.

Here are some cool videos of his music...sit back, relax, watch and listen.



"O, Praise Him"



"He is Our King"



"Never Let Go"

These pictures deserve their own post

Ok, as I'm updating my blog this morning, and contemplating what I need to pack for our afternoon of violin lessons, I get several loud laughs from upstairs. I rush to find this...









Any bets on how long you think it will before we have someone with a broken bone(s).

Update via pictures

What the school room looks like following a typical day of school. It warms my heart. I love learning with my kids.



Computer boy.



The kid's and I went to a small apple orchards several Fridays ago. We had so much fun.



Isaiah playing in the corn bin.





I know who I think is more cute... but you have to love the baby goats.



I love watching my kids enjoy nature.


Who thought $5 face paints could be so fun.



Kurt and I playing with Isabel's new face paints.

Blog catch up with pictures

We will start our first FULL week of school this week. Should be fun. Last week went really well, just a lot of life's distractions. It is hard for me to believe that I am starting my 5th year homeschooling and now have a 3rd, 1st and K'er. We are enjoying the glorious Fall Minnesota weather. Love it! My favorite time of year.

Our first day of school this week happened to be daddy's birthday. We had a nice celebration and even got a little school done.



The kids are growing WAY too fast



Out for dinner on daddy's birthday



Our "Horsy" girl



Isaiah's first day of Kindergarten

Prayers for a blessed week to all of you.

A day with my KING

If you've never seen this video... it rocks! I've seen many times and it never fails to awe me.


Yesterday I atteded an all day prayer summit for women at my church. Can I just say how awesome it is to come into the presence of the Lord without an agenda? Without requests? Without it being about ME? It was so amazing. There will be a three day summit next March that I hope to attend at a resort somewhere. I can't imagine spending that kind of time with my Lord and Savior without life's distractions. Very cool.



The prayer summit includes time of corporate worship, praise, prayer... again, no agenda... it is only as the spirit moves. I went to one last year, and again it was great, and differed from this one in the sense that it took on it's own theme. There are also several hours of "code of silence". Can I say "bizarre"?! I haven't heard that kind of silence... like... ever. At one point I plugged my ears, and could actually hear the blood pumping through my veins. It was magnificent. To know that the Lord, with His all sufficient power, causes my blood to flow. Without His power, our world ceases.

We were given these prayer books that we could use in our silent times. I loved focusing on the attributes of our God, the names of our Lord and His Spirit and so much more.

I know the Lord is Holy (which means PERFECT). Only He is perfect. He is merciful. He is full of grace. I facilitated a Bible study this last year on GRACE. Grace is unmerited favor. Unmerited favor means we are undeserving and cannot earn His grace. It is something God freely gives to those who receive.


Other attributes of God, are ones we hear frequently, but to see them defined and prayed over, is very powerful...


FAITHFUL - God is always true to His promises. He can never draw back from His promises of blessing OR of judgment. Since He cannot lie. He is totally steadfast to what He has spoken.


INCOMPREHENSIBLE - Because God is God, He is beyond the understanding of man. His ways, character, and acts are higher than ours. We only understand as He chooses to reveal.


JEALOUS- God is unwilling to share His glory with any other creature or give up His REDEEMED people.


JUST- In all of His actions, God acts with fairness. Whether He deals with man, angels, or demons, He acts in total equity by rewarding righteousness and punishing sin.


LONG-SUFFERING - God's righteous anger is slow to be kindled against those who fail to listen to His warnings or to obey His instructions. The eternal longing for the highest good for His creatures holds back His holy justice.


RIGHTEOUS - God is always good.


SOVERIGN- God is totally, supremely and preeminently over all His creation.


TRUTHFUL- All that God says is reality. Whether believed by man or not, wheather seen as reality or not; if it is spoken by God, it is reality. Whatever He speaks becomes truth as we know it.


WRATHFUL - There is within God a hatred for all that is unrighteous and an unquenchable desire to punish all unrighteouness. Whatever is inconsistent with Him must ultimately be consumed.




Thanks for letting me reflect. What an awesome Lord we serve.

Daughter of the King,
Annette

North Dakota Reflection

We've been home for a few days now. Due to my awesome husband, I came home to a clean house. Even the carpets had been steamed cleaned. What a great way to start a new school year.

I've been busy getting the fridge and cabinets filled with groceries. Lately, I've been shopping at Costco. I really like that store. We are not able to eat any of their processed foods, but I really appreciate their organic selection of fruits and vegies. I also like that they carry many natural meats (no nitrates, etc.)

We had a great time in North Dakota with my sister and her family. The kids and I had planned to return to Fargo from McVille last Friday, but ended up staying and were so excited when Kurt came all the way to McVille to join us. It was McVille Days last weekend and we had soooo much fun. There were tons of kid activities including a bike parade, paper plate toss, canoe races, street dances and much more.

Quite impressive for a small town of 450 people out in the middle of farm country. Kurt and I figured our immediate neighborhood of 82 homes has about 450 people. We would never feel such a community of belonging and friendship here as we did McVille. It was truely a breath of fresh air.

It was actually hard to leave McVille last Sunday as we drove to Fargo. I've always loved farms and open fields of grain and corn. To me, it represents such a dynamic portrait of what God created thousands of years ago. I can honestly say I find as much beauty in North Dakota farm land as I would in the mountains or at the ocean.

Other adventures for our week in McVille included fishing, tree climbing and horseback riding. It was also very fun spending quality time with my nieces. We love North Dakota.

We start a swim camp tomorrow. Four mornings a week for the next two weeks. We are also planning to do an Olympic unit study with some homeschool friends of ours. I'm looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine.

Farm girl living in the city,

Annette

In North Dakota

It's been awhile since I've updated. I'm in farm country, North Dakota with my kids this week. We are staying with my sister and her family. Actually, I'm taking care of my two nieces while my sister and her husband work. My older niece, Nadia, is six and Ellen Jane is three months tomorrow. That combined with my 8, 6, and 5 year old is good practice I think for having another baby... right honey?

We will be here the remainder of this week and then head back to my parents home in Fargo for a few days before returning to the Twin Cities.

We are enjoying ourselves here and the kids are having a blast in the big pool in the back yard. Tomorrow we go fishing and to see some horses.

I've been doing a lot of reading... just finished a 700 page book Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen. It's a great historical fiction of the early 18th century, but a little sexy (if you know what I mean). Starting the sequel to this book Now Face to Face which is a mere 800 pages. My next read after this will be Joel C. Rosenberg's Dead Heat. It is the fifth book in his best seller series dealing with the end times. Awesome, awesome books.

Off to check on the kids.

Redeemed,
Annette

Violin

We are a violin family. That's like saying to those who play serious hockey, that you are a "hockey family". It takes lots of time and money to do either of these.

Isaac is 8 and has played violin for 3 1/2 years. Isabel just turned 6 and has played 1 1/2 years. Isaiah will be starting violin either in the Fall or by January. That all amounts to lots of time and lots of money.

As of late, I've been struggling with the violin commitment. It is huge. I was (trying to work my way out) in a slump. When mom is in a slump, everyone is in a slump. Practices have been slim to none over the past three weeks. This makes my palms sweat as we have lessons tomorrow.

After discussing with my awesome husband, he encouraged me and really believes that we need to stay the course. He will try to help out with practices as much as he can. Being a violin parent to young children requires me to observe every aspect of the practice. Once they are 12 or so they can go solo.

Besides practice for both (and soon to add Isaiah) there are also two different lessons each week. Lessons require considerable travel time... an individual lesson and group lessons for both. It's an awesome community of students and parents from all over the Twin Cities. We feel honored to connect with so many in this one endeavor.

Why would I want to quit? Time. Money. Time. Money.

Why should we continue? Violin is a beautiful instrument. My children can play the violin beautifully and we consider this a great gift from the Lord. Playing and knowing music broadens the mind and trains it in a whole different way that then effects other areas of their learning. We belong to an awesome group of violinists and supporting parents.

One of the main reasons we would stay the course is to teach the kids to be a blessing to others. I really believe that their gifts in this area can be used to bless others. I pray to find a nursing home by Fall, to which we can go to weekly and practice violin for the residents. As they mature, they could play in our church orchestra. Who knows what the Lord would have in store.

Thanks for listening. Here's a really cool act from last week's "America's Got Talent". Our kids are classically trained, but we all think this video rocks! (I can't get it to load right, but click on the tag)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVMHzKr_-A

My first blog post...

Here I am... in blog land. Prayfully, this blog will be used in communicating my life, my family and my faith.

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!!

This past week was VBS with over 1,100 people each day. Such fun. Such energy. It was so awesome to have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with these young kids.

Tonight Isaac starts his little league baseball playoffs. I'll keep you all posted on the outcome.

Before saying goodbye, here's an awesome Godtube video I'd like to share with you. I am Redeemed and my Redeemer lives...

http://

Redeemed,
Annette