Tomorrow is party time for Eden. I can’t believe that she is going to be 4!!!  Where has the time gone.  I wanted to post a pic of the awesome job Katie did to make the house look great.  We even have a glass slipper on a pillow that goes with the princess dresses and castle.  Katie is so creative.   

I got out the tripod and my nifty 50mm 1.8 lens and started snapping.  Soon I found that I had a very interested assistant who was willing to hold up backdrops, move furniture, and hold lights at just the right angle. 

After she got the hang of it she wanted to shoot some ornaments on our tree for her self.  So we gave her a crack at it and she did rather well.  take a look at some of her shots. 

It was so much fun. next time I think that we are going to try for some sunsets.

boo at the zoo

Originally uploaded by pastorchrisbishop

Last night we went to Boo At the Zoo at the national zoo in DC. Katie, her mom, Eden and I went and had a great time trick or treating at the zoo.

There were tons of places where we got candy, toys and learned about what animals do at night. there were so many cool costumes. this is something that I know is going to be fun for years to come.

As my Eden turns 2 years old, I have taken a moment to reflect on the things I have learned in two years of motherhood. Here they are:

Babies go through more diapers than you think humanly possible, so always pack more than you think he or she could ever use.

Never give your child something to eat in the car that you don’t want to find weeks later under your seat.

Play dates are a wonderful idea in theory, but in practice, bring ice and tissues — bumps and tears are mandatory.

Leaving the diaper bag in the car actually causes your child to have a blowout.

Apple juice ferments quickly in a Sippy cup left hidden in the cushions of the couch. And it will make your toddler tipsy.

Read more at  The Frederick News-Post Online – Frederick County Maryland Daily Newspaper

“Nothing in this world is FREE!”

Have you ever heard this phrase before?  I have been thinking about this idea a lot lately.  Specifically in regard to God’s gift of grace for us.  Now I know that the price that was paid on the cross for our sin was huge.  Yet I want to talk about the personal thoughts we have about this grace that we have been extended.  I think that it is really a hard thing for us to wrap our heads around the fact that God’s grace is free.  In fact, the while underlying motivation for this free grace is that we might be set free from the bondage of the world.

I have been reading Paul’s letter to the Galatians and I can’t help but think it is a message that we really need to hear.  Paul is writing this group of Christians because a group of false teacher or what I have called “super Christians” came into the churches and told them that they need to do all of there extra things to get God’s grace.  They need to do this and that so that they are worthy of the grace. But Paul reminds them that:

God has no favorites—Gal. 2:6

We are all loved and we are all given grace.  Now we all respond to this grace differently.  I would even say that if we say we accept this grace but it doesn’t change the very core of who we are then i would say that we don’t really get what a gift this is.

There is nothing that we can do and there is nothing that we can say to earn this freedom through God’s grace.  I think that too many times this is hard for us to hear because all we have to do is really and truly accept this love.

This past week I was at summer camp and we swam and climbed and rafted and played Frisbee and did a ton of stuff that I am really great at.  I am not good at a lot of things.  I am not good at the working in the office part of my job.  I am good at the hands on part though, and summer camp was a whole week of 24/7 hands on ministry.  I easily got into the mentality of doing one more good thing.  I think that this is the cycle that we are taught early on, that doing the best makes you better or makes you entitled or earns you things.    Personally, at times i think that it would be easier to wrap my head around the works righteousness idea that if I do so many good things and get so many  “Jesus Points” I would get to the next level of deeper faith and finally when the game was over I would experiance God’s grace if i have a hight enough score.

But that is not the way it is.  The gift is free for all.  Paul writes about the law and it is to convict us and show that we can’t do it on our own in Galatians 3:19-22.  Living out this free freedom is a hard thing because we always want to try and earn something that is already within our reach.  We just have a hard time understanding why someone (God) would give it away.  The only things that are given away anymore are old couches and sweaters knit by your aunt Gertrude.

God’s grace is free and there for all.  This is what Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia about.  It isn’t about the extra hoops but about truly accepting it in your heart and living out your live in response to that free gift.

We had a delightful meal and then Katie went to a meeting and Eden and I finished our food, but not before something struck me.  Eden was eating only her bun with Ketchup on it. This is
not something that is very strange I guess but it got me thinking. Katie loves Ketchup sandwiches. I was mesmerized but the fact that Eden was chomping down on a Ketchup soaked piece of bread.

I had just read a passage from Deutoeronmy 6 the day before where the people of Israel are being told how to pass on their faith to the next generation. Here is what it says:

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates…

20 When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21 then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Deut 6

Wow..the people had just gotten the 10 commandments and now they are told about how to keep them in their hearts. Even write them on their foreheads…maybe this is a biblical argument for tattoos.
Then it goes on to say that when your kids ask you about the things you do tell them. Tell the your whole story of overcoming oppression, liberation, the love of God how to eat ketchup sandwiches…
Well not the last one, but it isn’t far off. We teach our children so many things and the imitate and embrace what we teach even if they don’t seem like they are listening or watching they are. But how often do we hesitate to teach them the Whys and the Whats of our faith. This is the most precious gift that we can pass along and we often bulk at the opportunity.
Next time you eat your ketchup sandwich (or whatever special thing you do) ask how is that going to be passed on, and are you doing that with your faith as well?

Before she was born I got this ice cream ball that you fill with ice and salt in one end and then the ice cram stuff in the other and shake rattle and roll it around to make your treat.

So, after about 30 minutes of playing on the floor right before bed we had a little treat that we were able to share, and we had a great time doing it.

What a great way to spend the evening while mom finished her sermon

Jack Johnson’s great flow and style soothes even the most savage of teething babies, and the dads. I think that this is a blessing to all who have little ones.

Eden and I took our first real hike today.  We went up in the Watershed and hiked around for about 30 minutes.  We have a way cool backpack that we were given from a family that knew it would be perfect for us.   Needless to say i have been counting the days that she was big enough and praying for the weather to break.  And today was that day.

She loved the hike but fell asleep about 5 minutes from the car on the way back.  Oh well.  Guest some stamina conditioning is in our future.