An empty blog....

means that life has been full!

Here's a small slice....

In the month of May I have been to San Diego, Murrietta Hot Springs, and San Francisco.  And this weekend the kids and I are settled at home, but Marty is in in Big Bear training for his Mt. Whitney climb.

I've been hosting 2 Bible Studies in our home every week, and will continue with my Thursday girls through the summer.

In the month of June we are looking forward to VBS, Forest Home family camp, and a trip to San Diego to meet our new nephew Nicholas deGrassie.


In July Marty and I will celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary!, we will have a couple of fundraisers for our India Mission trip, and I will head to a Legacy planning retreat with 5 other women (Legacy is a new ministry for Moms that we are launching at our church this Fall).

August has not yet settled in my mind, but in September I will lead a small team of women to India to work with the Literacy Mission Center to set up a Tailoring Ministry and host a Medical Mission.  And as soon as I return it will be time to jump in to my new full time job ----HOMESCHOOL! Zach will finish out preschool at Bethany Christian while I 'experiment' school at home for Jayden's Kindergarten year.  I am super excited.

I hear kids screaming upstairs so I must bid farewell.  Hopefully I can post pictures soon.

Easter Celebration

Celebrating Easter for the Sarkisians always means worship, fellowship and family.  

This year, however, our extended families celebrated in their respective towns so we looked to our friends to fill that void. 

Afterall, the friends God has grafted into our lives have have become like family.  And I  especially feel that my Christian girlfriends are my sisters.  For we share clothes, trade recipes, share heartbreaks and tears, carry each other's burdens, and have spontaneous fits of laughter.  One such 'sister', Caroline, heard that we were family-less and instantly scooped us up into their Easter Feast and Egg Hunt extravaganza!

                Oliver has developed an adorable affection for Kate Dewey.  She and her sister Allison come over every Monday to play while their Mom, Shelby, Angie and I have a Bible Study.                                                      Ollie gets Kate to carry him around and make snacks and he literally runs to greet her when they arrive.

After torturing the Dewey's collection of Guinea Pigs, we headed to the backyard for soccer, basketball, and silliness.

Jordyn Dewey has been a favorite babysitter for years and she makes Jayden feel like a best friend.

Jack and Meagan Jones often help their parents, Bonnie and Flemming, in Jayden's Sunday School class.  And Meagan will be traveling with me (and a few other women) to India this year.

Marty, Jeff and Flemming hid well over 100 eggs in the Dewey's front yard, and after a quick photo everyone under 18 raced outside to hunt for plastic treasures and sweet treats.

MARK 3:33-35

A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."

 Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"

 Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!

 "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Who do we dine with?

 MARK 2:15-17

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  when the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples:   "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 

On hearing this, Jesus said to them,  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

So often people step foot inside a church building and immediately feel condemned.  Even I have taken a seat in a worship service and wrestled the sensation that I am the only messed-up fool in the crowd.  

Everyone else is smiling, well-dressed, articulate, educated.  The appearance of normality, and the quick "how are you"/ "I'm great" banter isolates me within the knowledge of my sinful reality. 

I step foot inside our church building and immediately feel the awesomeness of a Holy God and my utter dependence of His power to do the meekest task in a good way.  I have for years felt like the only "sinner" I know.  

This is not true, of course!  And this passage in Mark reminds me that being a 'sinner' doesn't mean I cannot be near Jesus.  Being a 'sinner' is actually the RSVP that puts my name on the guest list to dine with Him.

For Thought

"Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust.  We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies."

Eugene Peterson

Hand-me-Downs

I'd never have dressed my daughter in a pair of manly, blue boots.  But she was my first child and received many frivolous benefits as such; including fury pink boots.

Little Oliver is my third and I've become very practical over the last 5 years, so buying new boots for his growing feet seemed foolish when we had a perfectly good pair in the garage.  And yesterday he was thrilled to stomp around the snow in them, confident and proud.

Saturday Morning

I did not set my 4:30 alarm last night, purposely, so that I could enjoy a bit more REM.  But this meant that my morning devotion aka 'Quiet Time'  was a group activity.  

Fun for all. 

My prayer time was interspersed with beautiful interruptions to show off artistic and academic masterpieces.  This is Zachary's page which began as an exercise in writing letters and turned into a ''map of Big Bear" complete with "a window", "a porch", and "a nest with a egg inside it".

A great reminder of why I crawl out of bed in the cold dark hours before dawn: QUIET.

***

Matthew 10:13-16  (Message)

"The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them"

Dinner with Friends

On Wednesday evenings Marty meets with a group of men at our church.  This means I am flying solo with the kids at home and subsequently I've developed a super relaxed attitude towards their evening meal....I'm talking bowl-of-cereal relaxed.  When his weekly commitment began I had grand visions of opening our home to friends, cooking them a warm meal, and sharing a heaping dose of laughter while the kids skip and giggle through the house.  But time has done what it does best and the days have flown by without a single nighttime skip or giggle.   That is until last week when the Ikenouyes entered our humble abode and joined us for plates of spaghetti and hours of fun.