A Daily Dose of Truth and Encouragement

A Godward Heart-Treasuring the God Who Loves You

50 Meditations for Your Journey by John Piper

I love John Piper; he, like CS Lewis, seems to put deep thoughts into clear words.  When I saw I Piper book available for bloggers, I grabbed it!  I received this book for free from the publisher’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

I had not read one of Piper’s devotional books before, but plan on getting more and know I will reread this one again in the future. 

Each day is three to six pages and covers a crazy range of topics, from meditations on a specific verse, to voting, to race, to prosperity teachers, to suffering and joy and twitter!  I got this book at a time when I really needed to be regularly presented with thoughts on God’s love, plan and purpose for us.  That is the best things about Piper (though lately I have been enjoying reading authors/bloggers who disagree with him on both theology-Calvinism and presentation, I think I can be fed by both) he hugely advocates for God’s sovereignty but never never never stops stressing GOD’S LOVE.   The way he talks about both is compelling and beautiful.

A quotation from a discussion with his daughter, “You know that whether you die in a bridge collapse or in a car accident or from cancer or terrorism or old age, God always keeps you, even when you die.”  Honesty and truth that can be beneficial to us all.  

Easter!

 Grammy came to visit for Easter weekend.  We went to the mall for me to get a flowery Easter dress and then lunch at Hula Hut, cool breeze, tons of people and fun nature to watch on the water.  Then back home to dye eggs.

 Our neighbors came over for an egg hunt including candy, confetti and Resurrection eggs, we told the story with them while they kids ate candy.  Caleb fried fish for dinner!

 Easter Sunday-he is risen!  Lydia lost a tooth so both the Easter Bunny & Tooth Fairy visited.

 Family in front of our agave which is blooming!  It should be pretty and then die after.  We had a great time in our SS class and then Caleb and I worked out last nursery (forever!) with 13 three year olds.  The weather was nice so we spent a lot of time outside on the playground before making playdoh crosses and empty tombs :)

 After a crockpot lunch on the picnic table we took pictures in the drainage ditch which has pretty buttercups.

Eating bunny ears with Grammy!

Animal Fun

 I bought a groupon for a Horse Riding lesson for Lydia.  She of course had a wonderful time.  While Lydia was learning all about grooming and posting, Gloria and I played with a bunch of dogs.

 Gloria enjoyed petting the horse too.

 After Friendship Gloria and I went to a teacher's home for picnic and to enjoy the calves and bluebonnets.  This is Tiny, who was bottle fed and enjoyed being petted.

A few of the friends who came!

Enchanted Rock

 First trip to Enchanted Rock since the spring I was pregnant with Lydia!  This time everyone was able to carry themselves.  Janine from Germany came too.  We enjoyed the wildflowers on the drive, and had a nice picnic before heading up.

 We made it to the top and crawled through a rock crack.

 Family pic!  Lydia was super silly and Gloria was really go to HOME!

We stopped in Fredericksburg for lunch at a German restaurant.

March Fun

 After a great Spring Break camping trip, and giving blood for autism research, we spent the weekend in Salado and enjoyed the spring weather with Nana & Grandpa.

 For Friendship we went on a Field trip to the Elisabet Ney Museum.

 Attempt at curls :)

 Lydia was Sally Ride, the first female in space, for the 1st grade history of firsts performance.

 Carrie and family came to visit and they kids spent the whole time outside including a visit to see

 WILDFLOWERS.

I had a horrible sinus infection but we all enjoyed the quick trip.

Camping - Guadalupe River State Park

 Spring Break fun-we packed the car to the brim and headed out of town to camp!

 The park has an amazing children's Discovery Center and we spent a lot of time there especially when it was drizzly.

 The river.

 First night we had hot dogs and then went to bed early as it was rainy.

 Next morning we did our own short church service, an overlook walk and then back to the discovery center where Gloria enjoyed playing with their native birds.

 Back to the river for more walking around and tree climbing!  Much better than climbing on couches.

 Caleb caught a fish.

 Sweet sissies!  They both had the same pony tale hairdo for the weekend.

 Foil dinner.  We brought the axis deer Caleb shot here back for dinner cooked over the camp fire!

 S'mores

 Next morning we enjoyed the bird watching stand, we saw lots of Cardinals, Lesser Gold Finch and some Tufted Titmouses too.  Caleb was afraid that the girls won't sit still or quiet but they were excellent and his cough and my camera noise scared more birds than them.

 We got one of the park's Junior Ranger backpacks which had guides.  Lydia enjoyed looking at the books on our hike.

 Back at the campsite they made a secret fort-it was on Lydia's list of things to do.  They also enjoyed spending time at the playground by our site and making friends with all the various families who were there.

 This early evening it poured and we played a game inside our tent.  There was a short break which was good so we could have one last fire.  Lydia didn't like the smoke in her eyes so she creatively used her rain jacket this way!

 Last morning, we were back to Gloria's favorite climbing tree while Caleb fished and

 Lydia and I walked along the bank to the rapids.

 Fun cypress roots were every where.

We packed up our campsite, had lunch and spent another hour at the discovery center.  We said, let's look over at the river one more time to say goodbye, and the place that had been pretty empty was covered with waders and swimmers and picnickers!  The girls asked if they could swim since we weren't in a hurry and because we had crocs and extra clothes we said yes.  So they played and climbed and enjoyed the warm day.  I stuck my feet in the water but thought it was still rather cold.  From here we finally left, got some Whataburger, took a bath (really needed) and hit the hay!  A wonderful family camping trip.

February Fun

 This winter has been long and cold, and though there were several missed or delayed days of school, MDO and even Friendship, we tried to not let the cold keep us indoor all the time.   Here Gloria and Caleb enjoyed a Sunday afternoon of biking riding.  Gloria is in her AppleJack outfit.

 At our church there was a children's new Christian class.  On the last meeting, the children gave their testimony.  Ms Bonnie (who prayed with Ron'trail at VBS) was a great teacher!

 The girls really enjoyed ice skating so Caleb wanted to take them roller skating too.  They didn't get as brave and it was inside, dark and noisy but overall a fun time was had.

 Valentine's! Our week of dress up and fun was put on FB but here is a picture of Gloria's crafts from Friendship.

 And our winter front yard sun makes for a great afternoon with friends.  The girls made a club called Animal Shelter Girls complete with logo-paw, and flag.

 Gloria and I attended Rasmia's American citizenship ceremony.  Very moving to see 638 from other countries become Americans!

 We took Janine to the Texas State History Museum and enjoyed the amazing mammals and a short film about Texas after lunch at Cafe Express.  It was another chilly rainy day so we were happy for inside fun.  Janine enjoyed learning more about our great state :)

 We hosted some international ladies through Global Austin.  Ines from Tunisia & Shadia from Yemen are both CEOs of nonprofits, they were traveling with a larger group through the US and enjoyed a dinner with our family.

We are enjoying Wednesday with Kylie.  She and Gloria make the greatest creations with playdoh!