Learning to crawl before we walk. Some kids skip right over crawling, but the majority of them start out on all fours. Seems like whatever it is we do, that we start out rather "lowly" and then as we get better at it, we learn to walk upright (hopefully!). Proper development takes time and practice; it doesn't need to be rushed.

Just like we have to grow teeth before we can eat grown up food! Jordan has finally gotten that first tooth in at 8 months old. I love that babies remind us of the basics of growing. Growing is happening all the time (or it should be) and most of it is not physical for adults.

I've been having a little bit of trouble putting video in my posts. They aren't too large, but are also causing some type of error everytime. So, I'm attempting to add a few smaller videos first.

Well, this size works at least for today. I'll try a little larger one later on.

Character is the sum and total of your choices.

Church was cancelled this morning due to an ice storm, so as the girls decided to listen to some Bible stories on cd (setting the example for me!), I thought maybe I'd post some thoughts from our Sunday school lesson from the book With Unveiled Faces by Keith Drury. Yesterday I was reading the lesson on the spiritual discilpline of response. Here are some quotes that made me think/made sense or just evoked some sort of response.

Being a Christian is not about getting an exemption from evil--it is about having the resources to deal with evil when it comes our way.

Temptation brings the opportunity to either weaken or strengthen your will.

Opposition brings the opportunity to either develop perseverance or give up.

Without experienceing injustice, we are unlikely to learn forgiveness.

Without suffering we will undoubtedly develop only a moderate trust in God.

Without failure we are unlikely to develop full reliance on God--we will rely on ourselves.

We tend to think of bad experiences as being more powerful in shaping us than good ones. Yet our blessings offer an equal opportunity to respond in a way that forms us spiritually.

The blessing of success can teach you how to be humble, giving others credit for their part in your victory.

Many of the disciplines of action and absitnence can be practiced at a set time. We can schedule our devotions for 6:00 a.m. or plan a day of fasting and solitude this Saturday. The discipline of response, however, must be practiced all day long.

Glenda, thanks for posting your thoughts on verses that speak to you. I'm always happy to post things about my kids. Even a blog can show where a person's priorities are.

Being a Christian is about growing and learning all the time.

Our 5th snow day. Amazing. We got a call last night around 8:30 that school was cancelled for today. I wish we always knew ahead of time that we were going to have a snow day! The girls had a slumber party in the basement and watched movies while I stayed up to watch the Grammy's ceremony.

I am seriously concerned about teaching all that I need to at this point, but we had a fun day anyway. We went to the babysitters and pretended the girls were walking to school so I could get some pictures of them. I shoveled some of their pathway through the snow--what a workout! Still, this way they can tell their kids about so much snow that it was over their heads when they walked to school (so it's only a half block, not 5 miles up hill both ways). I really am glad that the babysitter's husband snowblows or shovels that path so I don't have to! I'm sure that my arms will be sore tomorrow--perhaps I need to do some more weightlifting than just the baby. :)

The pictures show the girls walking through the pathway and then at the tree where they meet their teacher. The brick building peeking out in the background is the school. The church/school parking lot is next to the tree on the left, so that's why the snow is piled so high at that part of the pathway. We've had so much snow that the people plowing have been forced to plow over the girls' path.

I'm also going to put in a little video at the end of the girls "sledding" on the little hill Bracken has been making for them as he plowed. This is my first video insert though, so sorry if it doesn't work out quite right!

What a winter. The ironic thing is that this is the first winter that Bracken doesn't have a snowmobile. He says he doesn't miss it because he didn't get out as much as he wanted to anyway. Maybe when the girls are bigger he'll want to get back into the sport.

Another snow day. Yesterday Taylor had reached the big 6 week mark from getting her ears pierced. We had a busy day and I didn't mention it to her (also I didn't have a new pair of earrings for her!). However, when I got the call at 5:30 am that we were having another snow day, I knew this would be the perfect day for her. She picked out a pair of snowmen earrings (from my small collection of earrings) and was "very brave" while I changed out the old studs. Morgan announced that she loves snow days because "I didn't wake up crabby!" This is true--she is definitely not a morning person (guess the name Morgan, which means morning in German, would've been a better choice for Taylor who is a morning girl). Jordan was just happy for another day to play. :)