The other day I was reading in Mark 5 about how Jesus cast the demons out of the demon-possessed man and sent the demons into a nearby herd of pigs, which ran off a steep place and drowned in the sea. The people of that city and country then asked Jesus to leave, probably partly due to the tremendous financial loss of about 2,000 pigs. The people cared so much about their earthly treasures that they sent Jesus away--missing out on a far greater treasure! This had me thinking about my own life. What am I clinging to? Where is my heart? Is it on my earthly treasure like it was for these people? Sometimes I am tempted to fear the future, and I worry that God is going to take away my earthly treasures. It is easy to put so many different things ahead of Jesus. My own personal struggle is learning not to idolize certain people that I love. Other earthly treasure could inclue health, money, possesions, etc. If I am clinging to my earthly treasures, I might miss or reject a much greater treasure--more of Jesus.
Lately, Bethany has been "mothering" Julie a lot, which Julie sometimes likes, and sometimes doesn't like. Yesterday I saw Bethany kneeling in front of Julie, holding her hands with both of hers. She spoke in a gentle "mommy voice" saying, "Look to Bethy. Look to Bethy." Then she started to tell her that it was a "no-no" to touch the piano (I'm not sure where she came up with that). She also told Julie to open her mouth (something I do when Julie is eating something that she is not supposed to be eating--like something she found on the floor). It was all I could do not to laugh as I watched this! Bethy often "mothers" Ruthie, too, by entertaining her, covering her with blankets, bringing her toys, etc.
The other day I showed Michael a little video clip of spider monkeys jumping from tree branch to tree branch. That proved to a mistake, because guess what my active little son likes to do now?! He enjoys playing "spider monkey" (or "monkey spider" as he sometimes calls it!) by jumping off things like the piano bench, or toy tubs stacked on top of each other. Oops. Maybe next time I should emphasize the virtues of a sloth, or some other very slow and inactive creature. :)
The children love to sing songs, and I enjoy hearing them singing various hymns throughout the day. It is surprising how many words they can remember. Some of their favorites are "Angels we Have Heard On High," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "There's a Little Birdie in the Apple Tree," "Jesus Loves Me," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and more. I was surprised to hear Michael sing "At The Cross" a few days ago--that's a new one. The children don't always get the words just right. I heard Michael singing that song with his own changes: "...and now I am happy all the way" (it is supposed to be "all the day," but his version works, too!)
We have something much better than a T.V.--real, live, hilarious entertainment all throughout the day (and sometimes the night!). Our children sure keep us laughing! They do so many funny things, it is hard to remember to write them down.
Michael is often making us smile as he tries to pretend to be different animals--swimming like a turtle, a dolphin, a killer whale, flapping like a butterfly...you name it! Recently, he brought a medium sized ball to me, and asked me if I would put it in the back of his shirt. I complied without thinking much about it--the kids are always doing very creative and funny things! Then he got down on all fours, and informed me that he was a camel--the ball made it look like a hump on his back! A little later, he had two balls stuffed up the back of his shirt, for two humps. Their creativity makes me smile!
The kids like to make up silly songs and sing them--sometimes to the tune of songs they heard, and sometimes their own original melodies. The other day, Michael was singing about how Bethany wanted to be let out of her highchair, to the tune of "Angels We Have Heard On High". :) He must get that from my dad, who gets the award for the most original songs. ;)
Michael and Bethany have been playing a new game with Julie. "Fetch"--yep, just like what you do with dogs. :) They usually like to do it with their empty crayon boxes. They throw them across the room, and Julie runs, picks them up, and brings them back. All the children love this game, and especially Julie. :) They will do it again and again! The other day, when Michael threw it for Julie and she would bring it back, he would say, "Thank you, Julie!", and then say to me with a chuckle, "That's so cute". :) :)
During school time, both Michael and Bethany love to write their names. I usually help them by putting my hand over theirs and saying each letter as we write it together. Bethany often likes to try to do it by herself, too. She gets hers and Michael's letters all mixed up, though. You can often hear her trying to spell her name, something like, "M, t, h, c, t, h" ("H" is her favorite letter). Their enthusiasm for "school" is so cute!
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A few weeks ago, I asked my "jack-of-all-trades" brother Andrew if someday he would help us to revise the front page of our website, whenever he had the extra time. We have hardly touched the front page since we originally threw it together. I didn't think much more about it, since I know how busy Andrew is. A few days ago, he surprised me by asking me what I had in mind for the website, and what I would like. He not only redesigned our front page, but he also updated other technical parts of our website so that it would run smoother and faster. I sure have a sweet brother! And one of my favorite parts of our website is something that most people don't get to see--the admin section. Years ago he made it really user-friendly so that I could use it (I'm afraid that working with computers is not one of my gifts!). Thanks, Andrew! :)
It would be fun to hear what you think of the new changes!
For those of you who might be interested, we now have an RSS feed for our Recent Happenings page: http://feeds.feedburner.com/johnsonfamilyadventures?format=xml
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