Dottie-Wood

We went to Dollywood, or Dottie-Wood as Elisha called it, for the first time back in May with Rusty's parents. My parents had some how given me the impression that it was really boring when I was a child, but we loved it. The workers was really nice, probably because they were seniors, not moody teenagers. The longest line we had to wait in was for chicken fingers. Dolly was there, along with Miley Cyrus and Kenny Rogers, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see her, even if Steve says we did. We missed the parade. Caleigh was happy because she was able to ride some big kid rides. Poor Elisha though...Ms. Wendy at church had mentioned the train at Dollywood, which I had pumped up to him, but he didn't get to ride it either day. That part of the park was closed for filming of a Dolly Hallmark movie. Since we're planning to go back with my parents in July, maybe he can ride it then.

Other memorable moments from our trip:

• going to Hillbilly Village, a Langford tradition; the man in the outhouse didn't say, "What 'cha lookin' at?"
• Grandma coming out of her room to ask Rusty for help getting Caleigh and Elisha back in the bed. Rusty found them in the closet playing with the vacuum cleaner and hiding under the bed. He said it seemed like monkeys had escaped from the zoo.
• Losing our keys, spending an hour to find them in the stroller
• not getting Krispie Kreme donuts

Geez-Paw, Elisha, Caleigh, and Josiah

Wet and not minding it

Hanging out with Geez-Paw

Riding the Pig

Steering with 2 wheels

Grandma and Josiah

Drenched rats in the family-sized dryer. Yes, Geez-Paw paid 3 dollars for us to get in the dryer. We got on what we thought was a little kid water ride and some overzealous grown men attacked us with water guns. Caleigh was very upset; she changed clothes multiple times because she didn't like being wet.

Baby Owl. Josiah was the best baby. He just hung out in the stroller most of the time. Geez-Paw only had to take him for a stroller ride one time to get him to nap.

Geez-Paw and Caleigh in a coffin. Geez-Paw was brave enough to ride a roller coaster with me. Mary Jane worried he was breaking the post-heart-attack rules. While we were riding, Caleigh said Geez-Paw was going to break his leg or get killed.

Happy Mother's Day Birthday

The weekend of Mother's Day I kept my brother, Cole, so my parents could go out to dinner. Things got a little chaotic because I had to prepare for company, but the kids love having Co-Co stay. They got to watch a big kid movie and stay up a little late. Cole almost went to bed with Elisha in the baby bed, but of course, that wasn't going to work. He ended up in Caleigh's bed, but she wouldn't sleep with him because she didn't like "naked" people. (Cole had taken his shirt off.) She ended up sleeping in the floor.

My family came over to celebrate my mom's 46th birthday and Mother's Day. We had an Italian-themed dinner with Lori's Dish, Chicken Spinach Penne Pasta, and Chicken Lasanga. My sister made a homemade Oreo cake that turned out beautifully, and John John wowed my mom with his thoughtfulness. He gave her Willow Tree figurines to symbolize each of their children: Cassie - thoughtful, Katie - joyful, and Cole - imaginative. He also wrote her two sweet cards, which she read aloud, putting all the other husbands to shame.

What happens when Granna babysits.

Granna with Caleigh and Elisha...Note the ballerina costume. Caleigh changed clothes ten times while we had visitors.

The Cake

Cole and Elisha (pretending) gaming

Co-Co in the crib

Pictures Galore

I desperately pulled Elisha's hair up before he had his most recent trim. He would have made a pretty girl.

Caleigh rollerblading in her Ariel swimsuit, which she isn't allowed to wear out of the house

Our baby chicks who were living in the house, then on the porch. But, being left out in the pen when we went to Dollywood, they disappeared or were eaten.

Aunt Meig riding Lisha on the motorcycle

Caleigh with her pet chicken Angie

Caleigh and Josiah reading a book

Caleigh and Angie again

Josiah sticking out his tongue

TWM: Don't Be a Wimpy Woman

I read the first chapter in Voices of the True Woman Movement last week, but it has taken me this long to sit down to write a post. As always, I'm sure the Lord was working for His good in this situation; perhaps He was trying to prevent me from being too longwinded.

In the first chapter, Piper addresses the "ultimate meaning of true womanhood," and he starts with the idea that "wimpy theology makes wimpy women." When he says wimpy, he is not referring to someone who is physically weak or even overly dainty, but to the inability to withstand the trials of life. He lists several examples of true woman, ranging from a woman imprisoned for her faith to two women dealing with disabilities, and each of these women rejoiced in the Lord's sovereign goodness and mercy despite their "tragic" circumstances. One even said, ""I now see that my worst suffering is sin...'"

Personally, I don't feel that I have wimpy theology. I do believe God is in control of everything, and He is working it all for His glory. I do believe I don't deserve anything, that there is nothing good in and of myself apart from Christ. I do believe treasures in heaven will far exceed treasures on earth. I do believe I have to be willing to take up my cross. But, I DO have trouble really believing my strong theology. A lot of times there is a disconnect between my head knowledge and my heart and actions. Sometimes I want to scream, "God, why me? Why won't the baby stop screaming? Why do everyone else's children sleep through the night?" Sometimes I want to one-up someone else, think of the best costume for the kids or throw the best birthday party. Sometimes I want a big house, a new outfit, and better hair, too. Sometimes I would rather not prepare for company, much less carry a cross. That is why I must preach the Gospel to myself everyday. I have a Savior who is what I can't be, who died for me and gave me a new life, and while I may not know today what He is making me, one day I will see Him and I will be like Him (1 John 3:2). It is all about faith, believing in the unseen, believing the Word.

Piper goes on to examine what makes a strong theology - believing the God-centered purpose for all things, most clearly displayed in God's Son dying for His bride, a sinful, rebellious people. Many of us don't realize that in eternity past God decided to make male and female to show the relationship between Christ and the church. It wasn't an afterthought. Married women should display an understanding of headship and submission, allowing their husbands to act as a servant-leader in the home and submitting to his authority, thus imaging forth "the glory of the sacrificial love of Christ for His bride." While marriage was ordained to be a picture of Christ and the church, singles are still called to display the glory of God. Piper lists three ways this is to be done: 1- showing the family of God grows by regeneration through faith, not procreation, 2- showing a relationship with Christ is more permanent that with a spouse, and 3- showing that marriage is temporary, only pointer to Christ and the church. All is to be for the glory of God.

I assume the rest of the book will discuss these specific calls to women more in depth, and I look forward to be confronted with how I can better submit to my husband and enjoy my role as a woman.

Wherever we may be and whatever we may do let it be for God's glory alone.

TWM: Piper's Prayer

Although I have finished the first chapter in Voices of the True Woman Movement, which was written by John Piper, I think it is fitting to start with Piper's prayer for women that can be found in the appendix. If you have ever heard Piper pray, you know the power of his words encourages you to think in terms of God's glory in all areas of your life, and he does the same in this written prayer.

His prayer encompasses all aspects of womanhood. He asks that we be women of the Book and women of prayer, that we grasp God's sovereign grace, and that we fulfill our God-given roles, be it in singleness, marriage, or motherhood, for the glory of God. Up until that point in the prayer, the content seems to be typical for a prayer concerning women, unless of course you understand the comprehensive effects of God's sovereignty. But, then he asks that women not believe secular employment is more significant than the call to service in the home and ministry in general. Having only read the first chapter, I don't know if the book will have a specific call to encourage women to be homemakers, but I pray that we all see our primary duty to our husbands and children, instead of financial gain.

What most struck me most was the portion on planning for ministry in each chapter of life. Sometimes I get bogged down in being a mother of small children, cleaning marker off the wall and poop off the floor, which accidentally got tracked through the house, and I forget that "finite life is a series of trade-offs." The grass will never be greener. As someone told me the other day: the grass is brown on both sides of the fence. Yet, I am called to minister where I am, and what greater ministry than to disciple my children, showing them the sacrificial love of Christ who is ever patient with us and who provided for us what we could not provide for ourselves. And, even though I will never perfect imaging Christ, that too will allow me to teach them that like me they need a Savior to stand in their place.

Another Piper-esque comment was concerning the wartime lifestyle. Some would be taken back by Piper's continual call in his preaching and writing to give "it" up for the sake of the kingdom, and here he prays that women will give up nicer "whatever" because " it is a "poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ." When souls are at stake, who needs a bigger house or a better wardrobe. I have read Don't Waste Your Life, and it really inspired me to live this wartime lifestyle - for a little while. I only pray now that the Lord will renew a passion within me for the lost and stomp out my desires for "better." Envy is a real sin in my life, but when I look at what the Lord has to offer in eternity, oh, what I should be willing and happy to forfeit in this life.

I pray that you too will live for the glory of God wherever you may be and that you may exalt Him as a you live out the life of a true woman.

TWM: Piper

True Woman Movement

I attended the True Woman Conference in Chattanooga back at the end of March. I had actually wanted to attend the conference in Chicago in 2008, but I had a newborn, no one from church was interested in going, and it was a pretty big distance to travel. Thankfully, the True Woman Movement has maintained its momentum, and I pray that it endures, that women will allow the Word of God to shape their knowledge of who they are, what they are called to do, and more importantly whom they are to serve.

A few weeks ago I received an email asking if I would blog about each chapter of Voices of the True Woman Movement. I agreed and received my free book in the mail last week. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my word by keeping up with my responses and reactions here on my family's blog. As I go through this book, I plan to weave in my personal experience of discovering what a True Woman is.

If you knew me ten years ago, I was on my way to being a Femi-Nazist. I checked out A Vindication of Women's Rights from the school library, but graciously, the Lord must have prevented me from completing it. When I filled out the application for the Junior Miss program, I think I said my heroes/role models were Oprah Winfrey, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who lead the women's rights movement, Horace Mann, who revolutionized education, and Margaret Sanger, who started Planned Parenthood. In some ways, I was totally ignorant. I didn't realized the paganism in Oprah's New Age theology or the relation between Sanger's call for birth control and abortion. Without the work of the Lord in my life, I would still be ignorant. I would stilll be entrenched in this deceptive worldview. I would still believe that my worth depended on my ability to succeed in a career or to cause a man to lust after my body or to prove myself to be equal or better than men. While I doubt I would have rejected being a wife and mother altogether, I would never have realized the eternal significance of both. Praise the Lord! He has opened my eyes, and I pray He too will open your eyes to your great calling as a woman.