I choose the gospel!

What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the most succinct summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life.

The great reformer Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first is religion/spirituality and the second is the gospel. The two are antithetical in every way.

Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.

Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.

Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.

The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.

Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do. Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.

Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.

Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.

I'm back!

Company has come and gone. We are now trying to get back to "normal" life around here. Not sure what that really looks like, but I am sure it has a little to do with kids getting back into daily routines, bedtime routines, and sleeping once again all night in their own beds. The first day of no company is never an easy one. Poor Jaycee was in full bloom of emotions. She fell apart at every little thing that didn't go exactly her way. Lord help us for when the teenage years hit! When there are more people in the house you don't have as much of the sibling conflicts, but they were back in full force on Wednesday. We pushed through that day and yesterday was much better. Jaycee is back into her bed and loving it. Jackson starts out in his bed, but in the wee hours of the night, he ventures into our room and finds a nice cozy spot between mommy and daddy. I hope with the next week of really nice weather and no rain we can totally drain that boy playing outside that he will be so tired he won't be able to find our room and stay in his bed all night.

We had a fabulous time with family! 2 weeks passed by way too fast. I need to give myself a huge slap on the hand for not taking pictures. I really don't know where my mind was at in that department. Next time we are all together I will have lots of pictures to document our time together. The first week of Nana and Papa's visit we had great weather. The kids played outside everyday. We had fun at the Mariners vs Rangers game. The only bummer is that on our drive down a rock flew up and hit our windshield. It left a pretty good mark right in the center of the windshield. It was great having Papa here b/c he did all of the calling and appointment scheduling to get the window replaced. So thankful I didn't have to do any of that! Phil arrived on Thursday April 15th. The guys went fishing the next day with my dad and his buddy at Lake Texhoma. They all had a great time! Saturday was full of rain making it not such a great day since that was race day for NASCAR and the Nationwide race. We still made the trip down to Ft. Worth in fear that we wouldn't go and they would have the race. We still had a great time checking at Texas Motor Speedway and all the semis full of NASCAR merchandise. Sunday it rained as well so not only did the Nationwide race get postponed again but the Sprint Cup series was too. Both races were re-scheduled for Monday. The bonus was that Texas Motor Speedway allowed you to attend both races regardless of what race tickets you had purchased. The down side was that Phil had to fly back to Washington on Monday. We did consider changing Phil's ticket, but the lack of control we had over races starting on time, traffic, and weather we decided it was too much of a risk to take. Byron and Andy dropped Phil off Monday morning in Oklahoma City and then we headed off to Ft. Worth to catch the end of the Sprint Cup Series race and then see the entire Nationwide race. It was a wonderful day of racing! We arrived at just the right time to watch an amazing end to the Sprint Cup race. There was a huge crash that happened right in front of us causing 10 cars to exit the race. The red flag was issued to stop the race for about a 20 minute race delay so the clean up crew could get the track back up to par. The green flag was given around 12 laps to go I believe. It was a great race to the finish. Denny Hamlin which is one of our favorite drivers if not our favorite won the race. If Jimmie Johnson would have had one more lap he would have been victorious! That wasn't the case, Hamlin won! This guy is so tough. He had reconstructive knee surgery 3 weeks ago on his torn ACL in his left knee, but he is still racing and winning!!! The Nationwide race was fun, but no major crashes. Just being there is so incredible. Its so loud! Because of re-scheduling it wasn't packed making it easy to roam around and check the race out from different areas. It was a wonderful day at Texas Motor Speedway!

We totally loved having Nana, Papa, and Phil here. We had a great time playing, laughing, visiting, and being together. We look forward to doing it again and with the rest of the family!!! We plan to visit Washington sometime this summer, but haven't nailed down a date yet. It will most likely be July or August. June is a busy month for us. My parents are usually gone at least a week in June and my sis is getting married June 26th. That doesn't give us a lot of days free in June to travel to Washington. We will keep everyone posted!!!!

Our next 2 weeks!

Well, you probably won't be seeing much on our blog over the next 2 weeks! Nana and Papa arrive this Wednesday. They will be here for 2 whole weeks! WOOHOO!!!! Byron turns 30 this Thursday. So glad that he will be joining the 30's club, so maybe I won't have to hear all the comments about him being closer to his mid-twenties and that I am closer to my mid-thirties.(I highly doubt the comments will stop though.) Then Friday we are going to the Rangers vs. Mariners baseball game. The kids loved going last year and they can't wait to watch the fireworks show after the conclusion of the game! I am sure we will have lots of other fun activities during their stay. On April 15th, Phil arrives for a short visit. All of us adults are going to the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday the 17th. Hopefully, after all of our company leaves I will have lots of stories to share as well as pictures! We are so excited to have our family coming to visit. Look forward to making a lot of memories that we will cherish forever.

Easter 2010!

We celebrated Easter on Saturday at my grandparents' house. It was a beautiful warm day with a little bit of wind. Of course, the adults are the only ones that are bothered by the wind, the kids could care less! We had 84 eggs to hunt for 3 little kids! This was Mia Paige's first Easter Egg Hunt. All the kids did a great job. With so many eggs it makes it nice because the kids aren't fighting over the eggs. Jaycee and Jackson were both so sweet in leaving eggs so Mia could find them! My cousin Melody did make a dozen real eggs. Jackson wouldn't put them in his basket if he found them. He knew they didn't have anything good in them so he would just toss them back on the ground. It was such a fun day to be with the family! So very thankful for the true meaning of Easter! Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to save us! Thank you for making a way for us to have an intimate relationship with our Lord and Creator!

Revelation 5:11-13 Then I looked and hear the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne of the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!


Reach!!!

Jackson with Aunt Ree!




Jackson and his new funny face!

Little Miss Mia Paige!

Jaycee with her buddy, Johnny!

Jackson just tossed out one of the real eggs and was explaining why to us all!

Pa, Mia and John

The kids riding around on Pa's street legal golf cart!

Mia, Jaycee, and Aunt Ree!

2 adorable girls!!!!

Pre-School Choir!

Jaycee is a part of our church's pre-school choir! Sunday March 28th she participated in her first performance. SHE DID GREAT!!! All the little kids did a fabulous job. Jaycee was so excited about getting to sing on stage. She absolutely loves to sing. It was fun to watch her little personality shine through on stage. She was very focused when it came time to sing. She kept her eyes on her teachers for the most part to make sure she was doing the motions to the songs correctly. We are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful church and to have amazing teachers for our little ones! We so love hearing Jaycee praising Jesus all day long!!!!


All smiles!!!

Waiting for the music to start!


Chloe is the little girl with the green bow in her hair! She is such a little cutie! She is also Jaycee's best friend! Chloe is 2 days older then Jaycee! These girls have a fun future ahead of them!!!

One witty little girl!

Yesterday afternoon as I was making a couple of side dishes for our Easter gathering at my grandparents I overheard this little conversation between Jaycee and Jackson.

The kids were in the living room floor and Jackson had decided that it was time for some wrestling with Jaycee. Jackson was on top of Jaycee.

Jaycee: "Jackson, do you think that I am a bug?"

Jackson: "NO!"

Jaycee: "Then why are you squashing me like one?!"


Then today while at my grandparents she was playing around with her Great-Uncle Johnny. (She LOVES him.) He was sitting on my grandparents' couch and Jaycee had crawled up on the couch behind him.

Johnny: "Hey, you are a pretty sneaky little girl."

Jaycee: Yeah, its not hard to sneak up on an old man!"

This comment sent everyone into a good ole belly laugh!!!