Our 11-Year-Old James

The child that first made us parents is 11-years-old today.

I'm not quite sure how that can be possible and yet at the same time it feels as if James has always been here. James is such a huge blessing to our family as he is quick to help in any way he can. He loves taking care of the babies and is pretty good at changing diapers. He plays with them, reads to them and carries them on his shoulders. H absolutely loves being a big brother and, by God's grace, be an amazing father one day. God is giving him a lot of prep! He also is wonderful at doing the dishes, taking care of trash and recycles and mopping the floor.  I am so thankful for this and I know his wife will be grateful as well.

James also enjoys learning. Within that he enjoys learning almost anything, however he has to be convinced sometimes he needs to learn it. Bible, Birds and Latin are his current favorites to study. God continues to grow James in knowing God and His Word. He blew us away the other day by telling us that the first beast in Revelation is a combination of the four beasts in Daniel's vision which I had just learned myself studying Revelation. The Holy Spirit is working deeply in James to teach him even when we fail to and that is such a blessing to know that we serve a mighty God who is faithful to teach us as we learn. Right now James is greatly enjoying the study of birds that is part of his science this year. He walks around with his books and studies the birds hanging around our yard. He tells us the names and what they sound like to the best of his ability. It's a lot of fun watching him teach his siblings. He continues to excel in Latin and teaches all of us what he can and tells us English words that have a Latin root.

Recently James has been seeking what he wants to do for work when he becomes an adult. It has been a blessing hearing his thoughts, helping him see how God has made him, where his strengths are and showing him where he needs to put his efforts to learn what he wants to learn. Right now he is leaning toward architecture and inventing. We will see how God continues to work in him in these areas as James grows into manhood. It is so much fun to watch him grow.

James also continues to work on his book and drawings. His imagination is so fun to listen to. For fun he is reading The Lord of the Rings currently reading the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. He compares what he's reading to the movies and corrects all of the mistakes the movie made. James has also been learning to play the drums with a friend at our local Body and is getting very good at it! He is learning to hear the rhythms and follow the beat well and knows which drum needs to be hit at what time. It's so fun watching him grow in this.

God has made James a natural leader, which is fun to see. By God's grace, James will be a Godly leader in his home, work, church and community. At this age he is learning how much he still has to learn, but James is learning that to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower of Jesus. I'm so excited at how God will use this.

Father, I thank You for our precious James that You have entrusted us with. You have given him such a zeal for life, for learning and it's amazing to watch him grow. I pray as he moves into a young man that James will grow in wisdom and grow in love with You, Your Word and Your way, hiding Your Word in his heart that he may not sin against You. Give him a deep love for others and a beautiful humility that comes from knowing who he is before You and a great strength from knowing who he is in You. Grow him in Christ-likeness and make James a man after Your own heart. Thank You for all You have done and are going to do. In the mighty Name of Jesus I pray these things. Amen!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the second book in the Harry Potter series again. I remember I enjoyed these books the first time I read them, but I have enjoyed it even more reading it as an older adult and knowing the full story line. 

As Harry prepares for his second year at Hogwarts, he meets a strange creature warning him not to return. After a bumpy ride getting there, strange things begin happening causing the whole school fear. Harry, Ron and Hermione are on the case, but many in the school fear Harry is behind it all. Will they uncover the truth before a murder takes place?

As with the first book, the story is compelling and extremely interesting. The plot is full of twists and turns and even more than are displayed in the movie. The writing is clear and easy to understand so that you can follow the intricate plot as they search for the truth. The tension of good and evil is clearly present which adds to the enjoyment.

There are great discussion points in here for older kids including bravery and courage, jumping to conclusions, is it ever appropriate to break the rules and thinking before acting. Everyone of these themes is prevalent and I'm sure you can find more if you're wanting to read this with your kids. This is also a great way to discuss that battle of good vs evil as you cannot escape this theme. 

I absolutely recommend this book for adults who enjoy fantasy! I recommend it with caution/parental guidance starting at middle school ages.

5 stars for this fun book that I'm sure will become a classic.

Reading Challenges:

I'm using this book for book two in three books by the same author in the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge.

I'm also using this book as a book of 240 pages or more in Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge found under the committed section. 

Year 36

36 years on planet Earth. 36 years of growing and learning. 36 years to grow in wisdom and knowledge. 36 years. 

It's funny. As I think about 36 years here, I wonder how it could be so long and so short at the same time. Sometimes it seems like I was young yesterday. I wonder how I could be married for 15.5 years, mother of ten children, walked with the Lord for 30 years. Other times I feel like I've already lived a lifetime. And yet, by God's grace, I still have a lifetime to live. 

I'm not sure how to even describe year 36 in my life. In some ways it has been a pivotal year as our family has been stable for the first time in about three years as far as house, job and church are concerned, which encompasses most of our everyday lives. With that stability, however, came a level of discontent that I wasn't expecting. In many ways everything was "back to normal" while, at the same time, everything was completely different. 

We were back to Jim working in a hospital 4 days a week, back to homeschooling with all of our books at the ready, back to cooking, cleaning and every day homemaking. But we are now 11 (less than a month after my last birthday) instead of 9, and everyone was older and still adjusting, we are in Mableton, GA instead of Louisville, KY. We went from a shot-gun house with a camel back to a ranch style with a basement and exchanged carpets for hardwoods.  Jim's at Piedmont in the PACU instead of Norton in the NICU working four tens instead of three twelves. We are at Smyrna First Baptist and not Sojourn Community. We changed the family we were near. We moved back to old friends and made new ones, while saying good-bye to the friends we'd made in Louisville. 

The same, but totally different. 

While all of this was lurking in the back of my mind, my body was also transitioning with the birth of our 9th baby and also to simply getting older causing physical needs to change and need to be figured out again. 

These two things have led to a perfect storm in the depths of my flesh, which Satan also used to whisper his lies. 

But God in His amazing grace has not left me as I wrestle with discontentment, believing the whispers that something should be different, we should be somewhere else or I should not focus on the things he has told me. He draws me to Himself reminding me who He is and who I am with Him while also letting me see glimpses of who I would be without Him. I open His Word and I see the depths of my evil heart and God reminds me Jesus has healed and changed it. 

Because of the death of Christ my sin is covered and has no hold on me. Because of the resurrection of Christ I can live and live life to the fullest where He has me. Because of the Holy Spirit living inside of me I can do all God has called me to and say no to the things He has not. 

The battle still rages while I'm still in my flesh and many days my flesh still wins. This year, God has shown me how easy it is to let my wants, my desires, my thoughts, my understanding to rule me or give my pride a stroke. But at the end of the day, none of those things mean anything if I'm not humbly living out God's Word and His desires for me to bring glory to His Name. 

And that is hard. 

The more I give into God the easier it becomes to do what I ought. So that is my prayer for the year (and years) to come: that I would die to my flesh and let the Holy Spirit flow out of me. That I would be content in following God even when it's uncomfortable, scary or not what I wanted or expected. 

No matter what the future holds here on Earth, I know I can trust God to lead me in the place where He will receive all the glory and that after this life my future is secure in Christ.