October 7, 2008

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness
Galatians 5:22

Hello to all our wonderful family and friends-
It is at this time of year that people begin to focus on the holidays. The weather is changing, leaves are falling and the days certainly seem a bit shorter.

Fall always brings a feeling of upcoming cheer.....anticipation for the months ahead.
We spent some time shopping this past weekend.....for Halloween costumes of course! Brooke has decided to be the queen diva Sharpay......no costume is necessary although, she was not convinced of this. Ian has chosen to be a vampire.....not much by his own personal choosing but with a bit of a creative mind and mom and dad's help. Gavin is still undecided.

This experience truly made me reflect upon the "season." This is the one time of year that you can be anyone or anything you want to be....and have approval for it. I just wonder if people really choose to be something they want to be......or do we choose to be an alter ego so to say.....something daring.....something far reaching....perhaps something that would not normally draw approval on any other day. So with that....it draws me to reflect on whether or not I am living daily....the life I want to live.

Do we live our life to the fullest....fulling embracing all opportunities that the Lord presents to us? The past year has been a challenge....that goes without saying. We have learned to look at life with a bit of a different vision.....I think for months, perhaps years even, we were living in the Halloween world of being anything we wanted to be....during this time.....we lost sight of what the Lord was calling us to be.

Today, we live fully clothed in the grace of God. We have embraced his challenges and we are excited for what lies ahead. We live embraced with love both for each other and as a family.
I know I have shared with you my fondness for Peter Mayer. His music seems to speak to us and about us more clearly than ever. It is as if he wrote them for us personally. Recently I have been drawn to his song "Blueprints." We have wrapped ourself around our blue print and we continue to learn and grow every day....individually and as a family...

There is a wind that moves all around us
Making the sound of a song if you listen
And yet we wander over the world
For a place to belong to replace what we're missing
We bring our differences, our hopes, our faith and fears
We'll build a home for love in this family
For the light that brought us here

Chorus
With a blueprint for living
Each new day is lifted up
For this house we lay a foundation
On the cornerstone of love

The face of this world is changing and turning
What are we learning and what is our vision?
We build the walls of strength deep inside us
They must not divide us, become our prison
We bring our differences, our hopes our faith our fears
We'll build a home for love in this family
For the light that brought us here

Chorus
With a blueprint for living
That calls you back from where you've been
In this house we build a doorway
To send us out and welcome in

There is a river of life all around us
It's our common ground, the gift we are given
Ocean and sky, the wild of the forest,
Were here long before us and meant for all children
We bring our differences, our hopes our faith our fears
We'll build a home for love in this family
For the light that brought us here

Chorus
In this blueprint for living
From the word that touched the earth
Round this house we plant a Garden
God's grace is our rebirth
Lend your voice in celebration
Lend your hand in lifting up
This is the day of creation
Built on the cornerstone of love

It is because of this "blueprint" for living that we are able to be successful in life. We are able to build our family based upon love. We are able to build that doorway to send us out and to welcome in. We are working on our garden......where grace has been reborn. These are the days of creation.......built on the cornerstones of love!

Gavin continues to do well....and really thrive! He is over his ear infections of recently and I think we are beyond the spots too....chicken pox seem to be all gone. He has new tricks now too. Gavin can now pull himself up on things. Just this morning for the first time, he pulled himself up to the couch. He is crawling on his hands and knees and only really uses the army crawl if he needs to get somewhere fast. He has mastered the task of getting himself stuck in tight places. I definately would have to say of my 3 children....he is the most precoscious. I think my years are going to be filled with running and chasing after him because he has NO fear! He has two beautiful new bottom teeth and has also discovered chocolate donuts are really good. His daddy would be proud to let you know that more and more often he is uttering the word "dada" The two of them have a bond like no other.

Ian and Brooke are excited for their fall carnival at school this week. They cannot wait to get dressed up and play games and eat candy with their friends. I think they especially like the cake walk. Ultimately, they cannot wait til Halloween....and, it's on a Friday this year so that means even more trick or treating.

We hope you are all enjoying the fall season and the changing of the colors. Thank you for your continued support. We could not have made it this far without all of you.....

Peace and Love-
Colin, Juanita, Ian, Brooke and Gavin