Explosions

Fall, the time of year when God shows off his painting skills before wiping the slate clean, revealing a gray winter.  I love fall in Michigan.  The leaves explode into every shade of red, brown, yellow, and green and it's beautiful!  I love the temperature, too...60's and sunny.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Our first month of activities has been lots and lots of fun.  Eli LOVES riding the bus and runs to it everyday.  His teacher tells me that he's a pleasure to have in the class, although I suspect she has to say that!  Eli also loves his Bible class (BSF) and squeals with delight when we pull up to the church.  He's my big helper in the mornings since I've accepted a new ministry position, Assistant Class Administrator.  I have the pleasure of setting up and running the power point and sounds system, even though I'm not very technical and have no idea what I'm doing!  LOL  And I'm in a Pilates Bible study, which is a ton of fun.  Papa and Eli get to hang out while I work out!  I'm debating whether or not to volunteer for the Mom to mom ministry again.  I would only volunteer twice a month, and I really think Eli can handle it.

Eli is exploding with his vocabulary and skills.  We worked on cutting with scissors this summer, as well as coloring and pasting.  His fine motor skills are still his weakest skill, so I look for ways I can help him.  Every day he seems to do or say something that is completely out of nowhere, like doing push ups in the kitchen the other day...um, what?  Or pretending to sleep on the bus, then snoring when I called him a silly goose (the bus driver and I had a big laugh over that one!).  But he's also understanding responsibility.  He'll take his plate to the counter without being asked, and picks up all his toys at the end of the day without help.  We've also set him up to do a lot for himself, like getting quarts of milk so Eli can pour it all by himself, and placing his yogurt where he can reach it.  And he just started washing in the bathtub all by himself.  He's also getting in to games, like war.  He's got a Cars war game that we play.  I deal, then we each flip over a card and he tells me which one is the biggest...and he does pretty good!  I can't wait to teach him my Baba's version of Rummy and then whoop up on him :)
 
In total, I'm in 3 different Bible studies this semester, the last one being a study on how to have a Word filled family.  BSF is studying Isaiah this year and in Pilates, we're studying a book focusing on the historical significance of the name Rabbi for Jesus.  So in all 3 studies I'm being convicted of how much of my time and energy is still mine.  It's an explosion of conviction!  In Jesus' day, Israel was immersed with the Bible, and even found it fun to discuss different topics of the Bible (Torah) at parties!  And how else am I to teach my son the value of God's word, than to be immersed in it myself.  And Isaiah warns that the people of God have rebelled and in the end, only the Lord, most high, will be exalted.  The parallels between our world and the Israelites at that time are quite scary.  I guess all this to say I need to be immersed in the Word more, dedicating ALL my time to Him, not just the 15 or 30 mins I give him each day.

By immersed, I mean completely and utterly surrounded so that there is no finding my way out.  It's kind of like being in a pool filled with water.  If you're in a pool, you're in a pool.  There's nowhere you can go in a pool to escape the water.  You can be in the pool in different degrees, but you can't be in the pool and not wet at the same time.  Such it is with Christians.  We can be immersed in the Bible in differing degrees, but we can't be an active, effective Christian bearing fruit and affecting those around us for Christ without getting a little wet.  After all, how can we know what God wants if we don't take the time to listen to Him?  I feel like I'm just dipping my big toe in the pool right now.  Compared to how the Israelites view studying the Bible, I'm hardly touching the surface.  So my goal is to really and truly give my all to Christ, and that, my friends, is not going to be easy for this hard headed, sinful, selfish gal!