Out of the loop

Life was busy for us these last three weeks. I will try to give you a glimpse of what we have been doing with our lives these days.

A couple of weeks ago my family came to visit us for the weekend and that is always a treat! We did lots of stuff with them and my brother, my Matty and my nephew got to see Tiger Woods play at the PGA while Lissy, Genesis, REB and I had a really nice leisurely time together. What a blast we had! I love and appreciate my family so much. They make my life so full!

The following weekend we took a trip to Minneapolis to visit Matt's sisters, nieces, and brother-in-law. We drove about 11 hours or so to get there(in two days) and it was fun! REB did well and so that makes traveling with an 18 month old more pleasant than expected and we were happier parents :) Of course she did have her moments, but overall she did so well! We had SO MUCH fun with our family! They took us to the Mall of America and there REB rode the kiddie roller coaster with papa. We also went downtown and they showed us around North Central University, where Matt's sisters and brother went to school. We had loads of fun playing with our nieces!!! It was also a treat to visit John Piper's church...the North campus. We were very impressed with how their is a sense of excellence everywhere you go and a love and zeal for the Lord. It was quite a treat!

We then headed south to Higgsville, MO where Matt had to work and we stayed the night. It was a pretty cute town and REB and I rested and did some shopping while papa worked hard.

Back home I buried my head in a GREAT book!!!! I could not put that book down and I was in a hurry to finish it so that life would go on as usual :) The book is called, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and if you have not read it, it's a MUST! It's a beautiful story about God's love for us and it is based on the Book of Hosea. Must read!!!! Thanks for the book, mom! I love you!

After the book there was lots of laundry to get done and lots of other chores to do around the house and no desire to write :) Sometimes I have the true desire to write and other times I have none...so now you have a glimpse of what has been going on at the Brodine household for the last three weeks or so :)

Seashells

Aiden holding REB, Kaar and Aren

A couple of days ago in my time with God I wrote how I sometimes could not understand or did not know how to put together what seems to be a dichotomy. I know that God sees all of me and that nothing is hidden from Him(Heb 4:13). This includes my good, my bad and my ugly :) Yet He still loves me AND "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21). He sees perfection in me through Jesus Christ. How do I put these two together? I asked God to help me understand this in a way that was clear to me.

I babysit these three kids twice a week in the mornings for a really good friend of mine. We were at the playground at the mall today and Aiden was showing me the sea shells that her sister Aren had given her. Although most of them were broken shells, she had them in a nice little box because they were special to her.

Our conversation went like this...
Aiden: Miss Lidia, look at my shells. Aren gave them to me because she didn't like them
Me: I like them Aiden....they are pretty
Aiden: I like them a lot too because even the broken ones are very pretty
Me: What do you like about them?
Aiden: I like this one because of the purple spot on it...I like this other one because of the dark purple lines in them...
~I just kept agreeing with her and looking intently at each one of them as she described them~
Aiden: (shaking them) I like how they all sound good together too!
Aiden: You know what I like most of all, Miss Lidia? I like that they are all different...you know, they are not the same and I like that a lot!

As she was talking I knew that God was answering my question very clearly. Not only was He answering my question, but also was showing me how we are to see everyone through the eyes of Christ; how we are to love others as Christ's special creations.

Aiden did not see broken, ugly shells, but she saw deeper than that...she saw beauty in a way that no one else could. She also liked how they were all different and how they made a wonderful sound when she shook them all together.

You see, God sees us like Aiden saw those shells. He showed me that the seashells represented each individual person(believer or non-believer) and that even though we are not at all perfect, God sees beyond our inadequacies. He sees a unique beauty that He has put in each one of us--even the broken ones and the very different ones. When we are saved and work together as the body of Christ, each using his gifts to encourage the others, then we make a wonderful sound, or melody, and it brings glory and honor to Him.

I hope and pray that I could see myself and others like Aiden saw those shells. When she was telling me all this I was almost crying because I felt like God was teaching me and giving me understanding about what I had asked. Not only this, but He was showing me how much He loves each one of us and sees us as a beautiful, not just broken, but special shell to Him.

When I looked around at the playground I was able to see something beautiful in each one of the children and parents who were playing nearby. What a beautiful lesson. Thank you, Jesus and thank you for using Aiden to show me this! What a special girl she is with such a sweet and tender heart!

Our sweet little girl...

she is getting big so fast! It is exciting :) She is going to be 1 1/2 years old on the 12th of this month. She is so funny and wild :) She is a joy. Hope you like these...