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!