Ray and Laura - Entries from March 2008

Monday, March 31. 2008

Do I Stand By My Convictions?

Define: Conviction - a fixed or firm belief
Synonyms: confidence, creed, doctrine, dogma, eye, faith, feeling, judgment call, mind, opinion, persuasion, principle, reliance, sentiment, slant, tenet, view

I love doctrine - principles and positions. Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish essayist and historian of the Victorian era, said: "Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct." And I must agree. If I do not change my behavior because of a belief what difference does the opinion really make? So I have come to learn that gathering knowledge does nothing for me unless I place that knowledge into proper action: wisdom.

But there is more hope for a fool than for a man wise in his own eyes! (Prov. 26:12) And this is why I won't stand by my convictions.

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Posted by Ray in Lessons Learned at 22:12 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Thursday, March 27. 2008

A trip to the park

The kids love going to the park...especially when our friends join us! We try to take them often, since it gives Heather and I a chance to chat, and the kids are occupied. This time, Ray joined us as well, and chased after the kids the entire time. Click through for pictures!

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Posted by Laura Jean in Galleries at 16:18 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ Plus One

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel – not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. - Gal. 1:6, 7

Friend, if you had asked me several months ago what "a different gospel" looks like, I might have mentioned Mormonism, Catholicism, or something like that. But today, I must speak out against a distortion that has personally impacted my family: the very false gospel Paul was writing about.

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Posted by Ray in Lessons Learned at 11:17 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday, March 26. 2008

Closure

My life has moved beyond the turmoil of getting anathematized by men I considered friends. We've made some new friends and planted roots in a church body. I've made some spiritual strides lately: The future is unknown, and I've come to wait for it expectantly. But I'm missing something. I have cried out to my God for some semblance of closure. Proper closure accounts for all the clues and mysteries, leaves no stray ends, makes themes clear, and gives readers a sense that order is again in sight (define:closure).

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Posted by Ray in Lessons Learned at 22:08 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, March 25. 2008

Pincushions!

Heather came over this morning and we made pincushions! It was a good time of fellowship, as well as sewing. Click through to see our creations.

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Posted by Laura Jean in Adventures in Sewing at 16:34 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Monday, March 24. 2008

Baskets

The kids didn't need new Easter baskets this year. I have cute baskets that they have used for the last 3 years, and was planning on using those ones again.

Until....

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Posted by Laura Jean in Adventures in Sewing at 09:35 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

Easter clothes

Ray and I decided to go with blue as our color of choice this Easter. Last year it was yellow (which really was kind of ugly on the guys), and the year before it was green. Since Ray already has a nice blue shirt, we decided that blue was the way to go this year.

It was also decided that the boys would get new blue dress shirts and ties. They've been begging to wear a tie like daddy for a while now, so we decided that Easter was the perfect occasion.

I knew I wanted to make something matching for Megan and me, so off to the fabric store I went.

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Posted by Laura Jean in Adventures in Sewing at 09:14 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Sunday, March 23. 2008

Happy Easter!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Happy Resurrection Day, from our family to yours.

Posted by Laura Jean in Laura at 13:40 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

My wife is better than yours

Whether you like or not... whether you know it or not... it's true. My wife is better than yours.

You see my wife was up at 0615 preparing the whole family for the day. She lovingly cared for my baby girl who could barely breathe. She dolled herself up to make me notice her. (And trust me, I definitely noticed her.) She systematically woke, prepped, and fed all of the children.

But honestly, the work she did early this morning was only the finishing touch.

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Posted by Ray in Mind Hemorrhages at 13:33 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)