Stuff that I didn't learn by osmosis...

Some things we do seem to learn by osmosis, don't we? I might have a mental block about some things, but I didn't learn anything about God by osmosis. I was taught it and it was told me, but I didn't learn it. How could that be?

You are made in the image of God and for His glory.

What happens when children don't get a grasp of this truth early in life? You can't beat that truth into them? You can't just tell them about it. I really never got that truth.

Catechism is a framework of thinking

When the building blocks come together and the scriptures come together with the work of the Holy Spirit, that is when you get it. Until then, it is just a bunch of facts and figures. The highest calculus is simple math in comparison to God's reality, without the Holy Spirit's ministry of it into your soul. We must pray for enlightenment...We say, Lord, I don't get it. I don't see You in the stuff my parents and the elders are saying. I really want to know what these people are saying, but, without your Spirit there is just a vacuum of talk...Why do they get so excited about worship? Why do they listen and talk about God so very much? Show me, Lord the reality of Your purpose for my life. I really want to know that. What is in Your image? What means for Your glory? How can I stop my own self seeking? Those are the spiritual questions of life and I really do hope that your experience will be that God made these things very real to me in my earliest time and I had the privilege of walking with God from my earliest remembrance. Love, Mom.

Show me how to wrap my scarf, mom?

The big independent 6th grader has never had to wrap a scarf around his face. This morning was different! It was 16 degrees outside and the little walk to the busstop from the house would send chills into the young lungs of my budding man. Try this nice scarf, darling.

How do I wrap it mother?

A darling word from an ever endearing sweetheart. I spent days on the busstops in freezing weather and never thought to ask how to tie a scarf around my neck. That is the difference between the eldest of many and the youngest of many. I should have taken that as a class in school, scarftying. I would have been a lot healthier had I been wiser in my childhood. We rolled out of the bed and hobbled to school the couple of blocks and many days we got there as an iceblock. Mom yelled and told us over and over to wrap up. I forgot to ask that one important question that my Ezra taught me today.

How do I tie a scarf around my neck, mother?

Well, it is never too late to learn, eh?

Grandpa's movies will have to do to tell us about the good old days...

Jesus is really the answer!

Stuart Little

Choreographed fraternal pugnacity!

What, my son? When you are the best in the world!

To me you are always the best Ezra in the world. Even when you have a temper tantrum and I can't tell if you are faking or really doing poorly! You took your shot from the doctor, very maturely.

ON the other hand, Socks and a clean shirt on picture day? Why? You have taught me, mommy, that my soul is the most important and I know that my picture is my mother's most treasured, whatever it looks like.

We really did try to get a clean shirt. In fact we had 3 alternatives, but, as I made the left to go to the doctor's office the spots called out my attention. I mustn't change them, mother. They are significant! How is it significant for you to show the dirt of your toothpaste and sundry other spots on your yearly picture.

My soul is clean, though my shirt may not be.

I pray that your soul would be the most important adornment that you are showing off and that you learn to see the imitation of God's excellence as a thing to aspire to, as well. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Let us glorify Him in our excellencies, as well as in our infirmities. and let us not rejoice, until the race is fully run for our souls.

We Got through Chapter One of our catechism.

It seems so much harder the older you are to go back to the basics. We must never let them slip out of our grasp. Earlier years we tried bigger bites at earlier ages. I will never know if they really listened when we were reading "Westminster and Heidleberg", Stepping Heavenward and Berkhoff when they were youngsters. Sometimes it doesn't seem so.

Then, I look at someone like Horatio Nelson, who was reared in the pablum of good doctrine, just to become a man of war. It seems such a waste. I do hope that these heartfelt attempts to introduce you to the God of peace will produce a peace in your heart that will resonate and become contagious. Don't miss the opportunity to walk with God from your youngest days.

What are God's Works of Providence?

I say, God's works of providence are a woman being able to help her children learn what God's works of providence are.

...His most Holy, Wise and Powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions I am very grateful for the tools to inculcate truth into my children's hungry hearts. We are going through, what we consider a baby book of doctrine that was penned by Pastor McArthur. I hope we are enabled, by "providence" to complete this task. :)

Homecoming!

Oh that dear Ezra? Calls from camp, "Mom, I fell out of the tube, but I'm okay." That was 3 days ago, no news was good news in my mind, until I saw lips of blue getting off of the bus.

Where does mother's mind go, to see the blue lips? He totally shrugged me off and went into the building. He is walking, he is talking, my mind checks off the other life signs that are evident, so as not to go ballistic in an inquiry as to why my son came back with blue lips.

I whisper a prayer for the mothers whose lot it was to receive the reality of my overactive imagination, in this case. Thank you God, Ezra took out the bottle of blue candy that was the culprit for causing the maternal anxiety attack that nearly just happened. Thank you God that you remember why, when no one else can identify with this consistent and constant struggle of life. Yes, I am still taking my medicine and all the more when an Ezra man goes to camp.

nk God these young men are aware of their mother's oversensitivity to these mild episodes of crazies. I didn't really have an episode, but the yank of the heart that is growing up of the littlest fellow in my home is a season of real and important self-stock. Will you ever be ready to let them go? I really don't know and they know that. They tolerate my imbalance. I pour out in prayer to God, my sensitivity that some mothers this week had the heartbreak and worst nightmare come true in their lives, come to pass. Comfort and help them, Lord, as only You can.

This week, I will take a break from asking the why questions. I will just commit to pray for those whose hearts are open in pain for the rest of this short lifetime. I will Thank God for the best answer to all my prayers, that my Ezra came home safely and has had a great time and a little more grown than he was before he left.

It is my ultimate prayer that the craziness that bereavement leaves was the reason that Solomon was as wise as he was. His mother would have seen stars at the blue lips, like me. God bless their understanding of their mother to their profit, in Jesus' Name.

PS. after that... I smooched him to high heaven and we ate cake and ice cream and I filled his belly with good hearty beef soup and home made bread, once I forgot about the blue lips, we celebrated God's goodness.

Waiting for Ezra!

It is a quiet and solemn morning. The sparrows have cleaned me out of seed in the feeder. I must get out there and refill it. I saw a half blast in the eastern sky of clouds, but they weren't light, they were dark...That makes me wonder...Oh dear, he didn't call last night. I sigh in prayer to God. Is that a good sign or a bad sign? The letter they sent said that they would only call in case of an EMERGENCY. They called and it didn't seem an emergency. What is going to happen? My motherly impulse and experience says no news is good news and my mind goes back to the first time we waited for Ezra, in the tummy.

Be Anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your request be made unto God...

Waiting and Wondering and remembering before Ezra was with us...10 whole years ago. We had so many funerals to go to that year waiting to get to the delightful birth of the womb-closer, "washbelly" baby. What do you think he is doing in there? Some one or few of the children asked on one of the fateful occasions that we were sitting in the car. I think that the angels play movies of "this is your life" to the babies and the birth makes them forget the movies. I told them. I had enough experience at birth to really believe this and tell them this. I think they had this experience also and started talking to the belly to try to interrupt the movie. I had to calm them down quite a bit that day. I told them that there are people in your life who will be guides and trusted ones and those whom you should avoid and you know this in your conscience, but you don't always listen.

I do hope my Ezra is listening to his conscience and we are planning a great reception here at home for my baby's home-coming. We miss him dearly! Lots of food to cook for him.

The day after the hospital stay, my pain is in control, some. With a little help from Tylenol, the pain is at bay. I am still in the splint and have doctor's appointment at 1 pm. I don't know if I should plan to decorate my hand and arm, when I have cast on it, if they go that direction. The hand is swollen a bit, this morning and I must say that I have never spent more attention on my hand in my life. On one match, years and years ago, I hit my left hand with the racket and knocked my thumb nail into the finger. It was a painful occurrence and a little messy, too. I didn't need stitches, but it took a long time for the nail to grow back again. Today, the elbow fracture pain radiates into my shoulder, when I do too much movement. Wimbledon is a comfort and distraction from the pain and swelling of this injury. Injuries that are bone related are very internal and a deep pain. Almost a soul pain, like labor. Not at all like skin injuries or pleuritic pain. There is a fear of God that your body almost seems to be aware of the brevity of life, with this type of pain. Maybe only if you break a bone in your 50's or maybe all bone breaks are reminders of the soul and body connection, I don't know about other people, but I know it was like that for me.

Everything is awesome

What did I like about the Lego Movie?

1. I liked watching it with you!

2. I liked the intensity of the graphics.

3. I liked the speed of the movement. certainly not boringly slow.

4. I liked the variety of characters, all using legos to make them.

5. I liked that they made different kinds of vehicles and animals all using legos.

6. I liked the speed with which they made these different things.

7. I liked the colorfulness of the people in the lego movie. A couple of different colors.

8. I liked that there was a blind character.

9. I did really like that they showed that sinful and very sinful characters can sweep in swiftly and lure, even the strongest and boldest, unsuspecting superhero into sin.

10. I liked that they quickly left that sinful environment and that the superhero was able to get out of that snare. {that is not always the case} Superheroes sometimes are never able to get out of snares that they get entangled into.

11. I liked that the fall of Emmett led him to meet the man upstairs. 12. And I liked that there was a real line between the reality of the family and the play of the legos. That made the story all that much more endearing to me. Because, parents and kids can play and talk about all kinds of things with legos and other kinds of play and learn some real lessons and not have to get entangled in real sin as they work out what is really expected of them in their real behavior. That is only if we can know the line between the real and the fictional!

Maybe, tomorrow I will write about what I didn't like about the Lego Movie. We'll see.

Tears and Tiers! peers and piers?

Oh, what a whirlwind weekend? I came home to tears in my Ezra's eyes. I opened the letter, you said. I am "unaccepted". Not quite the expectation that I had for a usual Friday commute home. The letter clearly said "to the parents of..." Ezra Walker. I rarely share those things with you, unless they have good things to say. Maybe, I am shielding you a bit much. Things can't always say good things about you. You are my treasure, but you got a 2 and you knew you did. What happened? We've been reading before we talked, just about. Maybe too much Wii? Maybe you took the test on a bad day? Whatever. The result took us on a dear and great adventure that I think we'd ever had. We've absolutely never gone, just you and me and your dad on a trip, just the 3 of us. Wasn't that nice. Maybe that is what this is all about. Maybe not going to Fries will give us time to be just a trio, for a minute or two? Imagine that?

Thank you Elizabeth! We went to the aquarium!

Middle School is in the fall---Here are the graduation photos

___________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________<>Ezra's little trip to the Strawberry Farm some years ago.Bluejays Don't Beg

Out came the tooth, Finally!

Oh my dear, what a stubborn tooth that was. I think you were afraid for that tooth to come out. It was the biggest baby tooth that I have seen come out of anyone's mouth and I have seen an awful lot of baby teeth. I said to myself, he is a real Walker! Mother Walker, Grandma Rosalee warned me about mirrors in the baby's crib and teething problems. I was watching. Little Danny was the first one of the Walker boys who I watched have the double tooth problem. I was still watching, all of the time.

This baby tooth was monumental for me. You knew it was and it was your decision to take it out. You had pain relief from a half an hour of tylenol and you were determined, because when I shook it, I felt very little movement of the tooth. You had to pull up on it and you did. You woke me up a couple of times in the night to give me a kiss and I felt like Samuel sensing the Lord's call on his life.

God said to me at each kiss, "Tell me this isn't the best thing ever?" I said Yes Lord it is the best thing ever. Those kisses are the greatest treasure and I am the recipient!

No More Baby Tooth, but we are working on something that is lasting, in our relationship. Wow, you are such a fabulous young man!

What, my son? Fifth Grade edition.

Do not remove the ancient landmark, which our fathers have set? Pr. 22:28

When life gives you brothers...make a ruckus? that seems the heritage that Teddy Roosevelt and Taft left for us nationally...but, personally, now.

What is the matter? This morning it was the want of a juicy. It doesn't taste like it used to taste. I am thirsty for something and this sweetness is not satisfying me. O dear boy, a healthy dose of Proverbs 31 for you. We do go through seasons of "senioritis" the lot of us. I don't know what I like anymore. I don't know how to act like a middleschooler. I am afraid of the future and sick of the present. If I could look at a tv show that would show me where I am going I would feel comfortable. For now, all of these people around me and I am the only one feeling like I feel is the loneliest sense that there can be. I hear you crying out for direction and focus. I hear your spotlight no longer being the motivation of your life. I see you no longer a baby and yet can't enter into your elder brother's comradery, either. The answer is not in the Wii. That is certain. David found the answer in seeking the comradery of the Lord. Psalm 23 and Proverbs 31. Don't miss how God can show himself dearer and more attentive than 8 or 100 or more older brothers who have your back. You can know that dearness. It comes out of the want of more. Let that insatiable thirst drive you to Jesus!

Handsome Easter Suit!

Just Reminiscing!

Congratulations Mr. Walker, you have been accepted...

Oh Wow! Accepted, isn't this what we wanted? Acceptance into IB or STEM, whichever. To follow in the footsteps of brother is a privilege, sometimes. Everyone has his own path to tread. This time your wish was received. What a journey. Almost late or too late for the deadline, as usual. Not sure if this was something we can factor in, with all of the galavanting that we already do. But, you wanted it. We prayed about it and thus far, God has said all sails are a-go for JN Fries in the FALL. What an ambitious project for you. We are all on the team with you and expecting great things from your continued perserverance in your studies. There is so much in store for you and we are cheering on the sidelines for you, as you already know!