Did you know...

that the letters in the word "THANKSGIVING" can spell 

Hate your sin, the way God hates sin and loves righteousness. That's a good place to start. If we hate sin like God does, we will begin to understand the magnitude and necessity of Jesus' sacrifice.

Hebrews 1:9 "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 Chronicles 16:34- Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!

We are celebrating today with the Bales/Runyan side of our family. Yummy food, great family, it's been a wonderful day. We hope everyone is having a yummy, restful, and thankful day!

Thanks be to Jesus for life, family, food, and all our other blessings! We are so thankful for our friends and family that Jesus has placed in our lives. We deeply enjoy where God has placed us at this time in our lives.

Thank you Jesus.

Aside from Jesus, here's what I'm (Addie) thankful for:

This year at the kids table...

Last Thursday our playgroup had a Thanksgiving "dinner"  and it was a blast! It ended up being just the tea party girls and they helped make the pumpkin pie, mash the potatoes and set the table. They also made turkey sandwiches with cream cheese and cranberries. At times it was a little crazy but crazy fun as well. The big girls played hide and seek and then played upstairs in Caley's room. They loved her doll house. 

This was so much fun, and so good for the kids to see what goes into making Thanksgiving dinner and why we celebrate it. I hope it becomes a yearly tradition. 

How Caley Helps

We've started having Caley do chores and earn allowance. Her chores are usually to clean her room and set the table. She also helps me put the dishes away, which isn't a chore, just part of living here--do your part. ;) Every morning we go over the day's schedule, including her chores. When the day is over we put the "Day" card back on the whiteboard and the cards with the chores she's done. When the week is over and she's done her chores, she get $1. Last week we gave her the money in coins so she can portion it out easier for tithing the next day at preschool church.  

So she's been super helpful around the house lately. It's been really refreshing. Here's another way she's been helping, enjoy!

Down Syndrome Babies are Loved and Wanted

Contrary to what the statistics tell us about the abortion rates of down syndrome babies, there are over 200 families on the waiting list for adopting a child born with Down Syndrome. A recent Washington Post article featuring Barbara Curtis and her family, whom I've referenced before and whose blog widget is to the right, profiles their journey to adopting three children with Down Syndrome. Read it.

Election Day

Not a big surprise, but today is Election Day. And in the last few days the feeling in the Gerlach house hold has been hopeful, prayerful, and sometimes despairing when thinking about what may happen depending on the outcome of the election. One thing remains though. JESUS will still be our Lord and Savior regardless of whom is elected to president, governor, or commissioner of public lands. 

This video by John Piper says it beautifully. As Christians we shouldn't be so consumed in politics because this world isn't our home. We have a foot on earth and a foot in heaven. None of this human nonsense is a big surprise to God because He's seen it before and He'll see it again. It's not whether our country is in good economic times, as Piper says in this video, more people may turn to Jesus when we are in bad economic times.

 

[This does not excuse supporting a candidate who supports the killing of innocent children in utero (or newly born), but to be fair, both McCain and Obama support abortion (to varying degrees) and I voted for McCain. Choose the lesser of the two evils I guess. (Governor Palin does not support any form of abortion for any reason and I think that's the way it should be.)]

 

Our identity is not in whom we vote for, but in the God we worship. And the Gerlach house worships Jesus.

To God be the Glory, Forever and Ever, AMEN!

 

And if Obama gets elected, I'll be praying hard that the true Jesus grabs hold of him so our country can see TRUE CHANGE.

Halloween 2008

Thursday we had to cancel the playgroup Halloween/Harvest party because Caley and I, and the other planning mom (Rachael) were sick. We were really bummed out because we had fun activities planned like the spider web mud room, donut-on-a-string, prize in pasta, and pumpkin popcorn balls. We were really looking forward to all the kids in costumes too. Thursday turned out to be a great, relaxing day though, because Bill stayed home and took care of the kids and me while I slept until 1pm! It was a wonderful birthday present actually (he did give me some wonderful presents too, which Caley helped wrap).

Throwing spiders at a web

They made goo! (Glue, water, laundry detergent)
Bubble potion! (soap, water and dry ice in a tube)

On Halloween we went to the Everett Children's Museum and it was costume day with special Halloween activities. The girls were a wizard and a clown, because their real costumes were dirty. Later we went to the Mukilteo Boo Bash where they trick-or-treated at some Old Town businesses. For that we switched to their real costumes, bumblebees! It made for a fun day!