Continuing my list of gifts, blessings that I write down to remember all the
wonderful things that God gives me along life's journey. I write these
down on my calendar, and when I get a chance I add them here to my blog.
These are all blessings are from August, 2012.
501. My daughter getting baptized
Blaze got saved when she was nine (March 2010), and since then we've been talking about baptism on and off, usually when she sees someone else get baptized at our church. We explained about how important it is to tell her story of how Jesus saved her and how God has been working in her life, what a blessing it is for other believers to hear that story, and to witness her "being buried in the likeness of Jesus' death, and raised in the likeness of his resurrection." For a long time she wasn't sure about how to tell her story, and she was scared to stand up in front of a bunch of people and share it out loud.
But when she found out that our Pastor was doing several other baptisms on August 5th, which is her birthday, she decided she really wanted to get baptized on her birthday. So for several days she practiced sharing her testimony with me, and then with our pastor, and finally in front of everyone! - before getting dunked in the Laramie River.
502. Books for her birthday
Blaze also made me so proud when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she asked for books! Not video games or an iPod or a phone or any of a dozen other "cool things" I'd think an eleven year old would ask for. She's fallen in love with the Horse Diaries series and wanted to add some more books to her collection.
503. Singing out of the Bible
One of my twins, Serious (5 years old) made me smile when I saw her sitting
with a children's bible in her lap, slowly turning the pages and making
up a song to go with the pictures on each page.
504. Moose calls. In the car.
I signed Blaze and Dreamer up for a 4 week summer school session this summer because it was going to include lots of field trips up into the mountains with a special focus on learning about wild animals that live in Wyoming, especially antelope, elk and moose. They learned a lot, perhaps most memorably how to imitate a moose call. Which they then proceeded to practice almost every time we drove anywhere in the car - and they got the twins practicing moose calls too.
505. And then seeing a real moose up close.
Not sure if all the moose calls paid off, but the weekend we went camping up in the Snowy Range, we got to get a pretty up-close viewing of a big bull moose. B. thinks the moose was curious about our horses, because he hung around our trailer for quite a while. (More people are injured by moose than any other wild animal in Wyoming, including bears, so I was a little nervous about our visitor).
506. Riding the horses in the lake
Another highlight of our camping trip was all four girls taking turns riding Rebel and Spring into the lake. Our camping spot was right on the edge of Rob Roy reservoir, with practically our own private stretch of beach. Here's Dreamer riding Rebel, with Serious trying to "pull" him out further into the water. (He wasn't having any of that).
We went camping with several other families, friends of ours from church, and one of the families brought along a fishing boat, so in exchange for pony rides, the girls got to go out on the boat and fish, too. Blaze caught two decent-sized trout and our friends cooked the fish for us on the campfire, yum. The girls all tried a bite but no one liked the fish except for me and Starlet.
508. The London Olympics
The girls were fascinated by the gymnastics portion of the Olympics, especially the artistic gymnastics with the ribbons. So then I had to find ribbons for all of them and tie them onto sticks so they could dance with the ribbons swirling around them. I loved it because I remember doing the exact same thing when I was a little girl watching the Olympics back in the 70's and 80's! (And now Dreamer has asked if she can take gymnastics when school starts).
509. Baby blanket love
Of my four girls, Serious is the only one who got really attached to her baby blanket and even now at five years, she still makes a fuss about having her blankie at bedtime. This can be an issue because she also likes to carry around with her, so it's often missing come bedtime. I finally told her that if she kept losing her blankie she was just going to have sleep without it. Her solution: to tie the blankie around her waist so she could have it with her all day and not lose it. She even put a belt around it to keep it securely around her waist.
510. Cats on the fence
I love to lean on the fence and see what horses come up to get their noses scratched and to beg for a treat; this is one of the wonderful things about having horses in our backyard. I also love how our barn cats will jump up on the fence and walk their way along the rails over to me to get some loving, too.
511. A wonderful milestone gift idea
I want to remember to do this for my girls:
When our daughter turned 18 and moved away to attend school, my husband gave her a Bible. It wasn’t a new Bible. It was the Bible that had been given to him when he became a Christian at the age of 20.
This leather-bound volume was nearly 25 years old.
Pages highlighted.
Gold edges tattered.
Notes and thoughts scribbled in the margins.
Many who may glance at it will see an old book. My daughter instead sees a treasure.
Kenna carries this Bible with her to church on Sundays. She curls up and reads it during the week in her times alone with God, seeking Him on the pages of His word. And she now highlights and marks and makes notes herself.
Sometimes, she will snap a picture of a page and send it to me; something her dad wrote in the margin that also spoke to her. She loves seeing his insights jotted down in his very own handwriting.
If you don’t have a Bible to give your son or daughter that you have personally used and loved over the years, you can still give them a meaningful gift. Simply purchase a new Bible a year before their milestone event—perhaps their 16th birthday or high school graduation. Then, take a year to read through it with a Bible reading plan making notations in the margin written specifically to your child.
Make comments about the verse’s special significance. Mention how you’ve seen a truth of scripture lived out in their life. Warn them of pitfalls. Encourage them with favorite verses underlined.
Then, on their big day, wrap it up and give it to them as a gift. It will become a treasured heirloom they too can pass on one day.
The gift of God’s word. There is nothing better!
Blessings, Karen Ehman
