The other morning in my quiet time the Lord allowed me to listen in on a conversation that He had with His people over 2000 years ago (Malachi chapter 1). I would like to paraphrase some of it here… (Please note – words in blue are the Lord speaking, words in green are the people speaking.)

 “I have loved you”

“In what way have you loved us?”

“Didn’t I choose Jacob for intimate fellowship and reject Esau? Don’t I still want to have an intimate relationship with you? Am I not still making sure that Esau’s descendants don’t prosper?”

“A son honors his father and a servant respects his master. If I am your father then where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? Why do you despise my name?”

“How have we despised your name?”

“By offering me defiled gifts.”

“How have we defiled you?”

“By not delighting in my table; By offering the blind, the lame, the sick. Why don’t you go to your governor and offer him the food that you don’t want, the blind, lame, sick animals that you are going to cull from your herd anyway. Do you think he will be favorably impressed with you and accept your gift?”

“Is there anyone of you who would dare to be bold enough to just go and shut the temple doors so that you will quit offering me vain sacrifices in which I have no pleasure or delight?”

“My name will be great among the Gentiles, in every place, from where the sun rises to where it sets incense will be offered to me, and pure offerings, for My name will be great among all nations!”

“But you profane my name, you are weary of my table, of offering sacrifices; you are dishonest planning to offer one thing but then bringing blemished gifts.”

“I AM a Great King!”

I was greatly affected by this conversation. God is still the Great King! He still expects us to bring sacrifices and offerings. No, he does not want goats, lambs, cows, or even fruits. But there are many sacrifices of worship that are mentioned in both the Old and New Testament. I wonder, is the table of the Lord ever wearisome to me/us? God forbid that we would be careless or disinterested when it comes to worshiping Him!

What do you think, what are some of the sacrifices that we are to bring? How do we avoid bringing lame, blind, sick, defiled offerings to the Lord? He is a Great King!

In some ways it is hard to believe that Anthony is already three months old. He is getting to be so much fun. He is starting to really laugh now and his belly laughs are so funny! I thought you might like to see how cute and big he is. He weighs 13 lb. and is 25 in. long. Now for the fun part, the pictures! On the front of his outfit it says Daddy’s All Star  and in a small circle at the end it says Property of Mommy.

 

 

   

I know this is a lot of pictures but I just love the different expressions on his face. 

He is teething some so his fist is in his mouth a lot these days.

I hope you all enjoy and have a good day!

 As the title says we (or Philip) got a break from school! It was a much needed break and we were looking forward to the time with family very much. We got to be in middle TN for a good two weeks. It ended up being a very full and busy time but yet very refreshing from being in Memphis. Philip worked numbers of shifts on the ambulance, did website work, and a few odd jobs that needed done.

Christmas eve we got to do some caroling for some of Papa and Mama’s neighbors. It was quite the time, we got rained out before we were done. We still had a good time and were able to bless numbers of people. The day before Mama and all of us girls made cookies, caramel popcorn, and checks mix to put in baskets to give to those we went to see. We had lots of fun working together! Papa invited the Millers and Beilers over for the evening. All of the family was here too. We had a wonderful evening visiting, playing together, and eating supper together. Here are a few pictures that I thought you might enjoy.

Making bean dip

This was our center piece for the table Christmas eve.

   

The spread! It made a very pretty table.

This is the families new dog. She is very pretty and an obedient dog. We tied this ribbon on her but when she went back outside she thought it was a new thing for her to play with.

Christmas day we were all together as a family. We had a wonderful time and lots of fun! It was nice having the guys around and no one needing to do anything in particular.

Anthony’s sleeper says My First Christmas on the front. Mama found it for him at a thrift store before he was born. It fit him perfectly.

We spent New Years Day with Philip’s family. We had a good time playing games and being together. Anthony didn’t enjoy the day very much because he was sick. He picked up a stomach bug that was going around. He was pretty miserable for several days because he also got a cold. There were several rough days and nights for a bit but thankfully he is getting better. 

Now we are back in Memphis and back to school. Only two more months of book work left! A month of study for Step1 board exam and then rotations begin. Philip is ready to be done with the daily classroom time and I don’t blame him.

Here is a bonus picture for you! He is sound asleep in his swing.