Liam's 1st Birthday

I do realize that this is about 10 months late.  Due to many things I am just now getting this up.  Some of my friends from Alabama wanted to see these pictures so here they are!  Maybe this will take up 5 minutes of your time during all your hurricane parties this week.

We had a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme.  As you can see, I had a lot of fun with it!  Here is the mailbox.

And the door

Liam's friends took home bookmarks, M&M's, goldfish and bubbles.

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" was our guestbook and everyone took home a bookmark. We asked our guests to pray that Liam will grow to be "Very Hungry" for things like God's Word, World Evangelization, and God's glory.

We ate everything that "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" ate.

And of course there was cake!  (Thanks Jessica for teaching me how to make cute cupcakes,  a skill I will use for years to come I'm sure!)

The Bathroom

Liam's Banner

God's word tells us to be "Very Hungry" for many things!

12 months in pictures on our swing

The Guest of Honor:  Liam!

with mommy and daddy

A party wouldn't be a party without Brenna... and Liam's new ride.

Time for cake!

and gifts

daddy reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

All our little guests

We had so much fun and Liam is very loved.  Thanks to everyone who made his big day special!  Now I better start thinking about his 2nd party.  Yikes!

Seeing and Serving

I (Kari) had knee surgery a week and a half ago.  It seems that anytime I am injured or restricted physically God begins work on my heart.  Although its not my favorite way that He chooses to work in my life, its the best way to capture my attention.  And its good for my heart.  I am in constant need for heart work.  My heart so easily wanders.  And let's just be honest, all the popular sayings about "following your heart" and "listening to your heart" are really just a bunch of crap.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  I am thankful that God has given me a new heart!  But I digress... (And I said crap.)

I am learning a lot of things.  This post is just about 2 of them; seeing and serving.  God did not give me the gift of mercy.  Let me say that again in case you didn't catch it.  God did not give me the gift of mercy.  I am terrible at seeing others needs and serving them.  But in His providence Abraham took an internship at Kossuth Street Baptist Church in the fall of 2010 and I have been learning about serving ever since.  The college students in our ministry love and serve people like I have never seen on a college campus.  I am amazed by it!  Little by little I have taken note of this fact.

Now I have surgery, get the IV, the gas mask, start counting and... wake up with a HUGE brace on my leg.  Contrary to the doctors previous assessment I will now be on crutches for 4 weeks!  (Did I mention I have a 22 month old?  details, details)  I need a lot of help. (Oh and Abraham is in finals of a seminary semester.  And Purdue just started today.  He is the campus director.)  We need a lot of help.   And I am amazed at how much help has come.  I mean, without even asking for it help.  Above and beyond help.  From people I don't even know well help.  Meals.  Desserts.  Babysitting.  Meals.  Rides.  Laundry.  Dishes. Bathroom Cleaning.  Someone even bought one of those suction cup grab bars for my shower!  

I am learning that there are people all around me that are good at seeing needs and serving.  I want to be one of those people.  I want God to give me a heart that loves people enough to look for how I can serve them.  We all need a little help sometimes.  We all need a lot of help sometimes.  I pray that God will open my eyes to the needs around me and then give me the humility to set aside my schedule to help meet those needs.   Proverbs 31:20 says, "She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy."  I want to use my hands like this virtuous woman does but God is in the process of changing my heart first.

Thank you to everyone that has served us during this time.  You are helping us so much physically and it is very needed.  But you are also being used by God to work on my heart!

For those that are interested, here is day 1 post-op.

Good Morning Girls

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." - Proverbs 31:30

Let me introduce you to a group of 9 women that I (Kari) have been going through Proverbs 31 with.   Two of them are not pictured.  (Krista is in London and Courtney is in Connecticut.)  Since Liam was born, and if I am to be totally honest since before that, I have noticed that my daily time with God has been fairly inconsistent.  I hate that my heart is prone to wander away from a desire for God's life-giving words!  Sometime this spring I just got sick of it and decided that I needed help.  My friend Whitney has told me several times about a blog designed to help women study the bible together.  Its pretty simple really.  We just all study the same thing and several times a week we e-mail each other to say what God is teaching us.  Um... why didn't I think of that?  Simple but smart right?  Here is the link http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/ .

So, I e-mailed several of my friends at church and got responses from women that were excited to try this out together.  I cannot explain to you how much of a blessing this has been to all of us!  It is amazing what daily time in God's word will do for your heart.  I love learning from God Himself in His word and then continuously getting e-mails and learning from other godly women as well.  It is as if I am meditating on scripture all day long.

This summer we studied Proverbs 31 and learned what it means to invest in becoming a woman that fears the LORD.  Wow - I never knew how applicable this passage is to my daily life!  I met with these women last week and we shared in person some things that God has been teaching us.  These women are all different because they have spent time in God's life-changing word.  Some of them have said that their husbands have noticed a change in them.  I can see change in their lives just by hearing them talk about it.  I have become convinced (again) that God's word is necessary in my life.  If I want to be a virtuous woman, or a godly wife, or have any hope at all I need Him to give me life through His words daily.

What a treasure we have in His word!  And what a treasure I have in these friendships.  Thank you to my "Good Morning Girls" for all the wisdom that you have imparted to me this summer.  I trust that our lives, marriages and children are all enriched from the time we spent with Him and with each other!

Happy Birthday Abraham!

Happy Birthday Abraham!  We love you so much and are proud of you.  The life of a seminary student, pastoral intern, daddy and husband is full of responsibilities and sleepless nights. Abraham works harder than most people realize.  It is not a rare day when he is working by 7:00 am and coming home around 9:00 pm only to get out his books and study until midnight or later.  The small amount of time that he does get "off" is spent loving both his wife and son. (Which takes a lot of work when you are worn out.)

It seems that we have been in "survival" mode since we have been married going from one transition to another.  I trust that the day is coming soon when we will both say we are thriving.  Abraham, I know that you are tired most days, overwhelmed and that you often feel like you are failing at many, if not all, of your responsibilities.  My guess is that other men in the same place in life would say that they feel the same way.  

1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."  I am so proud to be married to a man that works for the glory of God and the joy of all people.  I love your vision to see college students reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ and raised up in the church as laborers for His glory.  I love your passion to see men learn to be "men" in a world that desperately needs them.  I love that you desire more than anything to see Liam grow into a man after God's own heart that is willing to give his life to Christ and His calling at all costs.  Your humility and steadfastness in your walk with the Lord is so encouraging.  And I am so thankful that you have sacrificed (and God has made a way) for me to stay home with Liam.  

You are not failing.  We might fall some, but God always seems to pick us back up.  I need the example you set of a man that is steadfast and rests in the strength of the Lord.  Liam needs your example.  The family, friends and students that God has put in our lives need your example.  Thank you for working so hard to love God and people.  I love you and am happy to be on this journey with you.  Happy Birthday to the man that I asked God for all those years as a single woman.  God has given me more in you than I could have ever known to pray for.  

Man Day

Wow. It has been a long time since our last post. But students newly arriving and sickness throughout the home will do that.

I (Abraham) recently began a new tradition with Liam. For the past several weeks I've been asking myself, "Are Kari and Liam my primary discipleship ministry, or are students, etc. taking the priority?" This question has often left me convicted that I need to make changes in my schedule to get more on track.

One part of such a change is Man Day. Currently on Friday afternoons I take Liam out for time just between him and I. While we seek to have fun together at a park or other cool establishment, the primary goal is to discuss the Gospel together. Funny. How does one discuss the Gospel with a ten month old? One does not. But Liam hears me speaking of Christ to him. The goal is that by beginning such a pattern now, we will reap the benefits in years to come and it will be a regular practice, that Dad and Liam regularly talk about Christ together. That Christ invades their conversations frequently. The vision, Lord willing, is that as grown adults together Christ will be a regular part of what we talk about in the Cremeens home.

Please pray for us as we attempt such a goal. We recognize that one Friday afternoon a week is not sufficient to accomplish this (and that's why we also practice regular family worship together in the evenings). But we trust that God will use it to help create a pattern in our home.

Even Before He Can Remember

I've (Kari) recently read Noel Piper's book "Treasuring God in our Traditions".  I recommend it to any mother.  She has spurred our family on in a number of ways to think about traditions.  My favorite one recently has been Liam's "tradition" of daily time with God.  I know, he's only 9 months. But he has been spending daily time with God now for a couple of months, and often he is more consistent than I am.  

Noel writes when speaking of her children's daily time with God, "It takes only a few seconds of thought to realize that it is smarter to get a three-year-old started with good lifetime habits than to spring a new regimen on a teenager.  One old saying is, "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree."  Wise Solomon said with the authority of Scripture, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).  Why would we wait to train up children in this essential discipline?..."

Thank you Noel for speaking such wise words to this young mother.  Our prayer is that Liam will look back on his childhood and say he has spent daily time with God since before he can remember.  Our greater prayer is that he will grow to love and treasure this discipline because it allows for him to know a God he loves.  Above all the desires we have for our son is the desire that he will know the God who made him and died to save him.  

For a 9 month old, this can be challenging.  But that's half the fun.  For now this is what it looks like.  In the morning we sit down and read one or two cardboard books.  Some of my favorite are "But not the Hippopotamus", "Guess How Much I Love You", and "Barnyard Dance".  You get the point, they are baby books.  After finishing I hand the book to Liam and let him play with (and chew on) the book all he wants.  Then, I slip Sally Lloyd-Jones'  "Jesus Storybook Bible" out and read him a story from this.  I tell him one or two things to remember from the story and then we pray.  Noel says in her book that before her kids could read she recorded bible stories for them to listen to during their time.  

I love creating an environment for Liam to spend daily time with God.  This is partly because I love spending any time with Liam; but mostly because I get to introduce to my son, whom I love beyond what I can describe, the God who loves him beyond measure.  I expect that as the years come and go Abraham and I will have to be creative and firm as we foster this discipline into Liam's life.  We would love to hear how you are being creative with your children.  Please comment and lets share ideas as we learn to parent together.  

Intentions

Is this a DTR conversation? No. But it seems appropriate that from the onset we make it clear what we desire to accomplish by starting a blog. The Cremeens Family has not blogged since its inception in April 2009. So, why now?

The goal is twofold. (1) We desire to share how our family is growing as a Gospel-driven family. We want to be transparent about our mistakes and uphill climbs that we might offer some service to others seeking the same. (2) After a decade of ministry in discipleship and training disciple makers we desire to compile our thoughts and resources on those topics as a service to any who might use them. We have made plenty of mistakes along the way and hope that our lessons learned may prove useful to other churches seeking to be disciples who make disciples.

There you have it. The Cremeens Blog will contain a mixture of family information and discipleship resources, both driven by the Gospel.