Storybook Village

Ohio Village

Growing Up

Calvin has decided he wants his hair to look a certain way. He wants to look like Chris Kratt, the animated version 😄.

Sunny Days

Monday at the beach. Violet actually went into the water voluntarily. 

Miss Fix-It Workin' On Her Bike

Summer Fun

Dairy Dock Tree

A Wonderful Christmas

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season.

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

I have usually only heard the first part of Psalm 46:10 quoted. Be still and know that I am God. Yet when read as a whole it has much greater power in my opinion. I have to confess that in the past when I heard "Be still and know that I am God" quoted, it was always a little confusing to me. I always felt that the first part (quoted on its own) requires blind obedience, but God doesn't call us to that is this verse.

Just hearing the first part makes you think that God is calling us to sit and contemplate the fact that He is God and that is it. We are told to quietly sit and contemplate the fact that He is God but that is not all! We are told to sit quietly knowing He is God and has the power to accomplish all His holy will! Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

God is not sitting around fretting that Christians are not doing their jobs well enough. He does not worry that the world will forget Him and become a huge Sodom and Gomorrah (I do, and what that means particularly for my babies). I am not saying He doesn't care, He does or He wouldn't have sent His Son, but He isn't helpless in the situation. He is the Lord over it! And He doesn't call us to feel helpless in the situation either. What an encouragement it is to read this verse in its entirety! Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Be Thou My Vision, Selah

Be Thou My Vision

(English Versification of the English Translation of the Old Irish Text)

by Eleanor Hull, 1912

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,

naught be all else to me, save that thou art;

Thou my best thought by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, thou my true word,

I ever with thee and thou with me Lord;

Thou my great Father, I thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, sword for the fight;

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight;

Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower:

Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:

Thou mine inheritance now and always;

Thou and thou only first in my heart;

High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,

May I reach heaven's joys, O Bright Heaven's sun!;

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

Melt My Heart

Sitting in the nursing mothers room with Calvin, I was upset by having a disruptive three year old at yet another Sunday morning church service. We were sitting in a rocker. He was struggling to loosen my grip as I struggled to hold him still, trying to make being taken out of the service a more boring experience than sitting through it. Discouragement began to set in and I searched for ideas on how to make the struggling stop. "What color are my eyes, Calvin?" I asked. He stopped struggling and looked at me. He brought his nose within an inch of mine, looking deeply into my eyes. "Um, pretty," he said.