That's right it's time for SEC football once again.  It's the season for crispy leaves that crunch under foot, hot chocolate, seeing your breath in the air, swirling those shakers high in the air, and at kick off yelling "War Eagle, Hey!"  Ruth has been working to teach Rebecca what to say.  I believe in starting them early.  I would be ok, if "War Eagle" was her second word (so to speak), right behind "Momma."

So Ruth has been working on potty training.  For about a week and a half now.  Sometimes she acts interested sometimes not.  She got up on Tuesday morning, and I had no more daytime pull ups, so I told her it was time to be a big girl.  We pulled out the frog potty to carry downstairs, since we have no bathroom on the mail floor, and I knew there was no way she was going to be able to go upstairs at any speed.  She was excited.  First day of really working at it 2 accidents for the day.  Second and third day one accident.  Fourth day no accidents.  Fifth day, Daddy had her all day, and said she did alright (whatever that means).  I've got this covered I'm thinking.  WAY better, WAY easier than Britt.  We've got this about half way done!
Now I will confess to you, that I don't buy into the pump them full of liquids all day.  For one thing, I want them to actually eat something, and for another, I'm trying to figure out when they need to go regularly.  For Ruth that means 20 to 30 mins after she eats and drinks and then about every hour to hour and a half the rest of the day.  I am watching the clock, setting my timer, and telling her when to go.  If she can get this down, we'll start working on her telling me when she needs to go.
The biggest difference between her and Britt, is that she doesn't act like it is a MASSIVE inconvenience to stop and use the bathroom.  She on the other hand, sometime checks with me to see if it's time again.  The other night I was working on laundry and forgot that I had told her to go and sit on the potty.  And I will confess, she sat there like 20 minutes.  She didn't care, she was excited.  I came back through and asked her if she had gone yet, and she said, "Yes, me wait for my 'ticker."
Well that was up until Sunday which was a wash, I didn't expect it to go so well, since we were out of the house, long hours on the road to and from Church, lots of distractions.  However, I didn't expect her to not go ANY for me.  Monday she had 3 accidents.  Tuesday I lost count of how many panties we went through, she only went once on the potty.  On Tuesday she actually told me, "I busy, I come later." On a few other occasions, she made the circle through the room, and snuck off without actually stopping to go, only to wet herself 5 minutes later.  Let's just say, not quite the walk in the park I initially thought.
The only other draw back the girl insists that she can't pull up her panties and her cover.  She fusses about putting them on, and then she only pulls them up to her knees while insisting "They get stuck on my hiney!" Sometimes she tries that when she's getting them off, but that usually means that she wet them, and doesn't want to confess to it.  So for the time being, I'm doing a ton of laundry.  Some days are going pretty good, other days not so much.  She has earned half the stickers she needs for a big movie.  Most of the time a Hello Kitty sticker now, and the reminder that she can see a big movie soon, is enough to prod her along.  Hopefully by the time we get this chart full, we can start working on her telling me when she needs to go.

I will confess Isaiah was really hard reading for me this time.  I had a ton of trouble with the first half of the book.  I can understand the significance for the time, but I'm not understanding what else the book has for me.  The prophetic language is hard for me.  I understand that at some point after the last Child of God is regenerated, the Lord will come back in the clouds with the souls that have already departed.  He will never again set foot on this earth.  He will raise the just and the unjust, then those that are alive and remain will be caught up together, forever to be with the Lord.  The elect will go home to Heaven and the rest to Hell.  I don't understand alot about eschatology.  I wish I had a little better handle on that sort of stuff, but I am content to know that we are living in the last days, that at some point there will be a last day, and because of the work of Christ in atoning for His people, I don't have to be concerned about the books, because my name is in The Lamb's Book of Life.  There is alot in the first half of Isaiah that I'm sure relates to 1) the coming destruction of the nations of Israel and Judah, 2) the establishment of the Church Kingdom, 3) the destruction of the Temple again 70 AD, and 4) something about the end of time.  I just don't have alot of light on this stuff.  Maybe one of these days with more study, and more sermons, and the blessing of the Lord, it'll click.  After all Isaiah did write in 28:10 "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:"

What I mostly enjoyed was reading the second half of the book.  I have an EXCESSIVE amount of highlighting that I added to my bible this time around.  (Gary is always making fun of me for drawing in my bible with all the different highlighter colors I have going on in there.)  Isaiah might be the clearest book in the Old Testament with references to the coming Messiah.  The entire Old Testament is full of types and shadows which point to Christ and His work of redemption.  You can see it when Abraham must slay Isaac and God stops him and provides a substitution.  Joseph imprisoned without a cause.  You can see it when Moses strikes the rock and water comes forth.  In the same way Christ the Rock was struck for us, and by his sacrifice he provided salvation, because he is the "living water".  Hebrews 10:1 says, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come" and Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam "is the figure of him that was to come." There are so many types and shadows in the Old Testament, looking for them, and being able to see more clearly the many facets of God's character, His love, His sacrifice, are what make it such a fun read. Other wise it would just be a bunch of random stories that have no relation to today.

However, Isaiah often speaks directly of Christ, it takes some study and work to understand types and shadows, but Isaiah comes right out and tells you often, that's exactly what he's talking about. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 11:1-5, 42:1, 53:2-11, 59:16, 63:1-5, and on and on) The entire last half of the book is so uplifting and comforting. Anyway, I thought today, I would just share a few of the tidbits that especially spoke to me.

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 25:6-8)

This struck me. Christ makes atonement removing sin and guilt, removing the covering or veil that separated us from being able to approach God. Not only though did he take care of our eternal state, he gives us good things while we are here - a feast if you will. He even takes away our fear of death, and wipes away all our tears.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.  (Isaiah 30:20-21)

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

The first verse reminded me of the second.  Sometimes we endure hard times, sometimes the Lord sends them to us, sometimes they are just the result of the fallen world that we live in.  No matter what the cause, adversity and chastisement are never fun.  However, something that I begrudgingly learned in our 3 years of unemployment is that I can choose to let adversity make me bitter, or I can let it teach me something.  Those of you that know me well, know I'm a bit of a control freak.  (Gary is probably laughing at the extreme understatement.)  I am not sure that I would have ever learned this level of trust in the providential care of the Lord without that period in our lives.  It would have definitely taken me alot longer to get to this level of study and to the place I am with prayer.  Despite all we went through I discovered the Lord was with us all the way.

Thou while keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah 26:3)  

Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, (Isaiah 30:29)

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.  The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall seeit together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:1-5)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

 Each of these refers to the peace and joy we have here in the Lord.  We have these things internally despite external situations.  Because we know that the Lord accomplished the warfare, because we have been pardoned, because He removed all obstacles between us and God, because He did the work and presented us to God.  Because of all of these things, we have nothing left to do but to be comforted, how can we not be at peace and sing with joy?  He did it all.  He left nothing for us to do.  We had nothing to do, nothing to offer and he took all of our trash.  We have to burn our garbage now in, because we don't have pick up.  The ashes are what are left afterward, the trash of the trash.  THAT is all we had to offer, and he took that and all the other worthless bits we had and gave us beauty, truth, salvation, all the good things we now have.  And he didn't do it because we some how deserved it, or because we earned it.  He did it that he might be glorified.  What an amazing and mighty God we have.

On Monday, Rebecca had three firsts.  After working at it for the last week only to fall in all four directions, she mastered sitting up on her own.  She's also figured out how to get herself to sitting up all at once.  She was laying in the floor with the other two, while I was editing the singing video for Monday, when all of a sudden I looked up and there she was sitting beside the others.  After watching her do it a few times, I decided that since I was going to be bringing in the sheets and carrying out the towels to the clothes line, that I would just carry her with me and sit her out in the grass to see what she thought of it.  I think we turned Britt loose in the grass when he started crawling at the Pippin House, and seems like Ruth got her first chance at grass at Easter when we were all watching the big "kids" play baseball.  Britt was excited and plowing through it.  Ruth picked at it with a curious expression.  All I can say about Rebecca is she didn't appear to like it one bit.  She would touch it and jerk her hand back, and then make this terrible face.
While we were all outside the older two were clamoring to be pushed on the swing.  So, I sat Rebecca down in the baby swing, and got ready to push them.  Just then, Gary pulled up, so I nabbed him for swing duty so that I could pull out the camera a bit.  I am just loving figuring out how to work this thing by the way.  Rebecca loved the swing, and any time it slowed down, she spent the time waiting for someone to notice, by licking the swing.  Strange child, must be her Daddy's genes coming out.

So as promised, here's my thoughts from the other kings of the Old Testament.  Lest you think that I'm just that good at recalling the stuff that I read a month and a half ago, and exactly where to find it.  I will confess, that I spent a couple of days hunting around, and since that wasn't working well for me, I went and pulled Elder Michael Gowen's book "Understanding Your Bible: An Old Testament Survey" off the shelf to help me find which chapters the kings that I were looking for could be found.  And then, when all else failed.  I just started at the beginning of II Kings and II Chronicles and flipped pages.  (Smile)  I also will say that my memory for verses is terrible (it's one of the side pluses to making Britt learn scripture, I have to learn it with him).  So, I also use an online concordance for finding the exact wording, plus it means that I can copy chunks of scripture without, having to retype it all and reread it several times to insure that I have it just right.

One of the interesting things I have thought alot about is the story of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel.  I've read this account several times before, but some how I have always missed the fact that God chose to give him 10 tribes.  He even made him the same offer that He made David and Solomon,

"And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not for ever." (I Kings 11:38-39)

Even after such a sure promise from God through a prophet, and after seeing it fulfilled when he becomes king, then he is so worried about the people returning to Solomon's son as king, that he builds two golden calves to worship.  He claims that they are God, and continues with the same pattern of worship just with that addition.  I don't understand how he could have forgotten last time Israel made a golden calf and called it god.  The Lord must have seen something of promise in him, even Solomon did, "And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph." (I Kings 11:28)  There don't seem to be even any promising moments in the lives of the rest of the kings of Israel, but it seems so sad to me, that there was a man here, that as soon as he was shown favor by God, threw it all away.

The first 6 kings come from three different families, each rule for a fairly short period of time.  They all do "evil in the the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin."  A few are even said to be even worse than the kings before them.  Then comes Ahab, probably the most famous of the evil Old Testament kings, and his wife Jezebel.  Apparently it was such a "light thing" that he sinned as Jeroboam, that he then went and got a wife and went after Baal.  Ahab was evil it's true, but to me his wife is even worse than he is in many ways.  Everything seems to be her idea, and he just carries it out.  She cut off the prophets, she had the false prophets eating at her table, she seeks to kill Elijah after all Ahab tells her, she plans the murder of Naboth to steal his vineyard, she then writes and sends the letters of instruction for the murder, and finally they answer back to her not Ahab (I Kings 18:4, 13, 19 and 19:1-2, 7, 11, 14, 15).  In stark contrast to this stands Elijah the Tishbite the prophet of God.  Who prays with such faith that the Lord with holds the rain.  Who stands alone (save of course the presence of God) against 450 prophets and prayed unto the Lord, and watched fire fall from heaven, consume a completely saturated offering, wood, alter, and even the dust around and about it.  The man who then himself slew each of those false prophets.  The man who prayed for rain and when the Lord sent a little cloud, he outran Ahab's chariot to beat the rain he knew was coming.  On one hand we see a faithful servant and on the other, "there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." (I Kings 21:25).

Eventually Ahab dies, his son rules and dies, and another of his sons begins to rule.  Elijah is caught up into the whirlwind, and Elisha succeeds him with God's blessing as prophet to Israel.  He tells a young man to anoint Jehu to be the next King and to give him the message that he will kill all of the house of Ahab.  The young man follows the instructions including the one to flee Ramoth-Gilead as quickly as possible because Jehu would kill many (II Kings 9-10) He kills so many, going beyond what was required, that the Lord tells Hosea that he will punish him (Hosea 1:4-5).  Even sadder, is that he kills so many who worship Baal, and then even though the Lord has spoken to him through the prophets he continues to worship Jeroboam's calves.  How hypocritical, an idol is an idol is an idol, is not God.

Under later kings Jehoahaz, Joash (not the one of Judah but same name, different king of Israel), and another Jeroboam the Lord would give over land to Syria and they will fight battles and force tribute on Israel.  Elisha gives word that the Lord would grant them a reprieve under the next few kings, but still they wouldn't turn to Him.  The entire time Jonah, Amos, and Hosea are prophesying to the people, the leaders, the kings, and still no one will return to God.  Then the Lord suffers the Assyrians to come into the land to demand tribute, and later to take their land, and eventually to carry the nation away captive.

"For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt... and had feared other gods,  And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, ... And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, ... as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:  For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.  Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.  Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.  ... And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.   ... and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.  Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.  And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, ... Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." II Kings 17:7-23

The lesson that I gleaned from Jeroboam is that we should put the Lord first always.  He was so worried and worked up from a military/political point of view, so worried about the people returning to the house of David just because they were traveling to Jerusalem to worship.  So worried that he took matters into his own hands, and made gods.  First, he failed to believe the Lord.  He told him that He would establish Jeroboam's house in the same way that he did David's, but he couldn't trust the Lord to take care of him and his kingdom.  Next, he created an idol and even though he tried to claim it was the same God, he changed the form of worship.  God is very specific in what was required, and we should never deviate from his plan.  For example, there is nothing wrong in and of itself with getting a bunch of kids together to talk about the Lord, but Sunday schools are not a part of worship as is laid out in the New Testament Church, so we should not add them.  Ultimately his fears come true because the Lord destroys his house in punishment for forsaking His worship.

The lesson that I gleaned from Ahab is that when we pair up with evil, we become worse.  He started out worshiping the golden calves as God, and deteriorated into worshiping just some other god.  Not that the first wasn't bad enough, but he obviously got much worse.  It's bad enough to partner up with it, think about the trouble that Jehoshaphat got into for partnering up with Ahab, but it is even worse when we partner up with a spouse that isn't following the Lord.  I've been really blessed in Gary as a husband.  He has encouraged me to study more, he is a sounding board to discuss things I've studied, he helps me refine my ideas and arguments.  Some of the guys I dated, most of the guys I dated, would have drawn me away from following the Lord.  I can look back and see that now, whereas I couldn't, or perhaps wouldn't have then.  They at the very least would have lead me to spend less time in the word, because they wouldn't have had the interest in it.  They would have wanted to do other things than a long weekend meeting.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that a Primitive Baptist should only marry a Primitive Baptist, but we should obviously be looking for a Child of God, and not someone who can't stand the Lord and doesn't want to live a good moral life.

From Elijah we can see the Lord's providential care, no matter how bad things get.  He feeds him by ravens, literally providing his daily bread.  Through a miracle He sustains a widow, her son, and Elijah.  He shows His presence in a mighty way on the mount, and then shows Elijah that he has preserved some to himself.  And no matter how hard evil Queen Jezebel works to kill him, the Lord takes care of him, even sending an angel to minister to him in his doubts and weakness.

The lesson of Jehu is one that I am learning.  That we can be zealous for the Lord in all the wrong ways.  There is a time to take a hard stand, but yet again, there are times were we go too far.  Knowing when to stand and when to step aside.  Knowing exactly were the line is that we should walk between justice and mercy is very hard to determine.  I don't think that anyone gets it 100% right.  I think because we aren't perfect that we all fall short.  There are times that we say nothing, when we should speak up.  There are times that we jump the gun, that we say too much, that we respond too harshly.  We all are hypocrites whether we want to admit it or not.  I have heard some say, I don't want to join the Church they are all a bunch of hypocrites.  The truth though, is that of course we are, because we will never be perfect, never be able to live above sin.  The question is what do we do with that knowledge?  Do we keep living as hypocrites because we can't do any better, or do we strive to do better, confessing our faults to one another helping to hold one another accountable, and THEREBY helping one another?

This reading through I saw a wise lesson that I had never seen before.  When Elisha is on his deathbed and gives Joash the word that the nation will smite the Assyrians 3 times, and the nation will have a reprieve.  Joash comes weeping and cries "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." (II Kings 13:14). Do you realize what he is saying here, I have always missed this. He thinks that the power of the nation comes from Elisha. He doesn't recognize that Elisha is just the spokesman for God. He doesn't recognize God is where their strength lies, that only God can bless the nation. He fears that everything will fall apart because Elisha dies. How many times do we put someone else in God's place. Sometimes we look to a parent or someone in our life as a pillar of virtue, and are shocked to find their faults. Perhaps we look to the preacher and forget that he too is a man. How often do we panic about how something can continue without so and so. Even worse, how often do we think that nothing can be done without us. I am the worst at this, this house can't run without me. In fact, it runs just fine. The Church has been on this earth since Christ established it, and it will be here somewhere till the end of time. Not to say that we shouldn't care for it with all diligence as the Lord commanded us, but it doesn't need us, we need it. The Church was just fine before we joined, and it will continue just fine after we are gone. We are not the be all, end all.

And the end is incredibly sad.  Though the Lord is long suffering far more than we are, though He loves His people far more than we can comprehend, He punishes them.  In the end all those things promised in Deuteronomy 28 come to pass.  Oh they were still His people even in the land of captivity, but Israel is never restored.  A remnant of Judah will return from Babylon, but none of Israel ever returns from Assyria.  The lesson is quite clear, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Hebrews 12:6)  It isn't that the Lord threw them away like trash, but here in this world we reap the consequences of our actions.  Just like I have to punish the children, the Lord will punish us.  The Lord has secured heaven for us, we don't have to worry about that.  We are His children no matter what we do, or don't do, and that is a great comfort to me.  My children will always be my children no matter what they do.  However, there may come a time in their lives, when I have to let go, and tell them that they cannot enjoy the blessings of our family if they insist on following certain paths in life.  Oh it would break my heart, and I imagine it broke God's.  Jeremiah (talking about Judah but the principle still applies) expresses his sorrow, and God's sorrow over for the punishment that His people will have to endure.  It is described as tears and weeping (Jeremiah 9, and Lamentations 1:16).  I know I have felt it when the Lord told me that I had grieved him, I remember the sick feeling of knowing exactly what I had done, and how far below the mark I fell.  I try to not do it again, though I do know that I will never reach perfection.  How much better is it to listen to the Lord's prodding, than to have to endure harsh punishment?

Since we have a lengthy car ride on Sundays, and quite often just riding around in the car, the kids want to do alot of singing.  Unlike alot of people, Gary has this policy of "absolutely no annoying kid songs" in the car.  (I will admit though that didn't stop Ruth from singing "Tinkle, Tinkle Wittle Staa" over and over for 30 minutes yesterday.)  We either have country on, or the family comedy channel when we have free XM Radio (because they want to get you hooked to buy it you know).  We use to listen to Rays baseball some too.  However, what we play most in the car is a few singing cds that we have from various Church meetings over the last few years or other accapela tapes of Church music.  Whenever Daddy is along for the ride, the kids are always clammoring for him to sing their favorites "Mo-ver Grounder", "Up up Brover", "Passing Away", "Blessed be the Rock", or something else.  (For the rest of us that would be "Solid Rock", "Nothing But the Blood", "Sweet to Rejoice", and "I Will Call Upon the Lord.)  I love to hear their little voices, and their attempts at the words are HYSTERICAL!  Britt attempting to lead time with a stiff hand is also new, he use to just randomly wave it around, at times he was almost on the beat.  I decided this month I really needed to get some video, and so on a couple of different occasions I have, so enjoy...

So, since I last wrote I've covered somewhere near 480 yrs of history in the Old Testament.  I've plowed through Kings, Chronicles, and all the prophets up to the fall of Jerusalem.  Have I mentioned how much better I like reading the Bible chronologically.  I have several questions that have cropped up trying to reconcile the two accounts, and what they mean, but on the whole it makes so much more sense to me.  Of course I am a history major.  So I started writing this blog about all the amazing things I have learned reading through the kings of Israel and Judah, but quickly realized this was WAY too big for a single post.  So I've decided to divide it up.  Tonight I'm just going to post about the Kings of Judah.

The first one that really caught my attention was King Abijah.  In I Kings 15:3 it says that he walked in the sins of his father and that his heart wasn't perfect, and basically tells that he wasn't a good king.  However, there is one shining ray of light in his life that is recorded in II Chronicles 13.  When Jeroboam goes out to battle with 800,000 men against Abijah with 400,000 men, Abijah calls Israel out for the worship of the two golden calves they have made.  He says that we continue to worship the Lord, and that "God himself is with us for our captain."  While Abijah wasn't the model king, he did call up on the Lord, so for David's sake "God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand."

The next king of Judah is Asa.  He had a great time of peace which he used to build defenses and make ready for times of trouble, and in time they did have trouble. He prepared for battle, and prayed, "Lord it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power:  help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in they name we go against this multitude.  O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee." (II Chronicles 14:11)  The Lord blesses him and sends him the message not only will He fight for him now, but if he will follow after Him, then He will bless him.  However, if Asa forsakes God then He will not be with him.  And even after the Lord defeated their enemies in such a mighty way, when Israel comes to attack rather than repeating the same course, he panics and sends to Syria for help and paid him from not only his own treasury but out of the Lord's house.  When the seer comes to point this out, Asa flies into a rage and imprisons him, and Judah is defeated.  Then again shortly before his death he has an affliction in his feet, and at no time does he call upon the Lord, but only seeks what man can do for him.

Jehoshaphat likewise follows after God even when confronted with a mighty enemy - the Moabite, Ammonites, and men of Seir.  He gathers all of the people to encourage and strengthen them, and prays to God, a prophet then answers with the Lord's word that the battle is His and that they won't need to fight.  The next morning he gathers them all together again and prays and worships,

"O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever." (II Chronicles 20:20-21)

When in the midst of this the enemy begins to fight one another and completely destroys one another to the last man, so that nothing but dead bodies remained.  Throughout his life Jehoshaphat demonstrates this zeal and faithfulness to God.  And yet, even he made mistakes.  He joins in an alliance with King Ahab three times:  through military alliances, in a business partnership, and by marrying his son to Ahab's daughter.  At times you just want to ask him what was he thinking?

Then later Joash began reigning at 7, and followed the Lord as long as the priest Jehoiada was alive.  Joash's grandmother was the evil daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.  She influenced her husband and youngest son during their reigns and at his death, killed all of her grandchildren and seized the throne.  Joash being a newborn was smuggled out, hidden in the temple and raised by the priest.  Until Jehoiada overthrew her reign and reinstated Joash on the throne.  He helped to restore the damage to the Temple, everything went fairly well during his reign.  But when Jehoiada died, others lead him astray and when the prophets came to him, he ignored them.

Another story that caught my attention was that of Amaziah.  Here is a King of Judah that has to do battle against the Edomites.  He calls to the kingdom of Israel to help, and they send men which he then pays.  Only to have the man of God come to him and tell him that he isn't to use them.  So, in obedience he separates them out and sends them home.  He then defeats the Edomites, and brings their idols home.  But he doesn't stop there, they weren't merely some sort of trophy "see our God is greater than their gods."  No, he brings home the "gods" of a defeated people and worships them?!?  And of course,

...the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand? And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel. (II Chronicles 25:15-16)

Then there is the account of Uzziah. He followed the Lord and the Lord greatly blessed and helped him (in fact his name means "Jehovah Helps"). He built strong towns, waged mighty battles, and improved farming. He has the longest reign of the kings at 52 years. However, "when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense." (II Chronicles 26:16) The priest moved to rebuke him, but he was so puffed up in himself that he responses angrily rather than being called to his senses.  It is then that the Lord strikes him with leprosy, because of which his reign ends and his sons begins. He eventually dies of the disease.

Another really interesting account is that of Hezekiah. He was a man "He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him." (II Kings 18:5). He begins his reign by spending 8 days repairing and rededicating the temple.  Judah saw a great revival, even having people come out of Israel to worship the Lord. Later he prayed to God when the Assyrians came insulting the Lord, and the Lord won a mighty battle for them, by his own hand, and not through the people of Judah but the Lord himself (II Kings 19:35). Then still later on his death bed he cried out to the Lord to remember him, and the Lord heard his prayer and granted him 15 more years of life (II King 20:1-6). However, the Lord allowed Hezekiah to be tested, and his pride got the best of him. The Lord had blessed him greatly (II Chronicles 32:27-31), and rather than give the Lord the credit when the men from Babylon came to visit, he showed off all of his treasures. Isaiah came to him, and asked him what he had done, and said that in punishment all that he owned, and one day all of his children would be carried off into captivity in Babylon. And Hezekiah more or less says one of the saddest statements in the Bible, well at least I won't live to see it.

One of our songs in the song book, that I just love tells "That sacred flood, from Jesus's veins, Was free to take away, A Mary's or Mannasah's stains, or sins more vile than they" (Beneath the Sacred Throne of God, sung to the tune of Avon, CM). I'm sure the author had King Mannasah in mind. He had to have been the worst king that Judah had. God said that he was worse than the Amorites that he drove out of the land (II Kings 21:11). For Mannasah, and all that he lead the people into, God pronounced the ultimate judgement that was coming on the people. He built up the groves, and idols, and altars all over the land, he killed many of the priest and prophets, and Jewish traditional holds that while Isaiah was hiding in a log he had it sawed in half killing him. He even sacrificed his own son to Molech (II Kings 21:6). However, as horrible as he was, and he was horrible without doubt, in the end after being carried off by the Babylonians into captivity,

..he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. ...And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places,yet unto the LORD their God only. (II Chronicles 33:12-17)

Josiah (a name I really like for a boy, but Gary hates on by the way) is the last God-fearing King of Judah. He begins reigning at the age of 8, "And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him." (II Kings 23:25). At 16, he began to seek after God, and at 20 he began to purge the land. He had a wicked father and grandfather, and he didn't know the law of God because when he was 26, and began the repairing of the temple they "found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." (II Kings 22:8). Josiah quickly realized that the Lord would utterly destroy the nation for all their sinfulness, he is struck to the core and rends his garments, and inquires of a prophetess. She confirms it all, but gives the message that the Lord has seen his heart, and his humble repentance and will spare him, in that it will not come to pass in his lifetime. Afterward, he read the word to the people, and worked even harder to stamp out idolatry. He re-instituted the Passover and the care of the priest, and the people all gave willingly. It was said, "there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." (II Chronicles 35:18)

Now I shared all of these stories with you, to be able to share the little bit of light I have seen by reading about these men, after all that's the purpose, if "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. " (II Timothy 3:16-17) I believe everyone of these men were Children of God, but not a one of them was perfect. Some were much worse than others, but each have valuable lessons for us. Abijah's "heart was not perfect" (I Kings 15:3), but he still acknowledged that only the Lord has the power to win our battles. We should always be quick to voice to others that He is the source of our power, our strength. We are we so often afraid to share our experience. I know I have been afraid at times that my mistakes were just too much, how could anyone find me credible. But the Lord doesn't tell us to be more concerned with our packaging than with sharing the good news of what He has done for us. Think of the instruction he gave to Moses, and other prophets that felt they weren't up to the job.

Dear Becky, (oww, oww, stop hitting me Momma), I mean Dear Rebecca,

Today is your half birthday.  You have become so active in the last two months, especially.  You were crawling long before the other two, your brother Britt and sister Ruth.  Even though you haven't completely grasped the concept of crawling you are trying to, and of course you've had a weird crawl that works for you for nearly 2 months.  You do push ups with your hands and the tips of your toes all the time.

You seem to be really happy most of the time, and content to play on the floor.  You do have a bad habit of rolling up underneath my chair though.  Most of the time you have a big open face smile, like a little bird waiting to be fed by it's mother.  In fact, I found it funny the story that your mother related about getting your shots yesterday.  You were laughing and smiling at the nurses, and didn't even care that they pinned your legs down.  After the first shots, you had this look of complete betrayal, and only started crying when you saw them go for the second set of needles.

You are still a good nurser, but we have started supplementing a little this month with formula.  The few times we've given you formula, when you are ultra fussy, you turn into a different creature kinda like the Hulk.  You grab that bottle with a kung foo grip, and don't come up for air, until the bottle is empty.  When I try to take it away from you to give you a chance to breath, you get upset.  When I give it back, you bear hug it as if to prevent me from ever being able to take it away again.


You have really become alot more chattery, especially in the car seat.  You don't really cry or fuss, but you sure can make alot of racket.  I don't think you are actually making any sense, but are just proud to make racket like the rest of them.  You have lots of b, p, d, whatever consonant sounds according to Momma.  Sometimes you almost have a squeal, which as everyone knows, is not allowed in this house.  Daddy can't stand that!

You still have most of your hair, only having lost a little on the sides and back.  It still stands up most of the time, very uncontrollable.  It is so feathery and fluffy.  You are a little on the light size for weight and size, making it easier for Momma to carry you in that thing she wears.  You weighed 12 lbs and 7 oz yesterday, and were 25 inches long.  She tells me that you will stay in 3-6 month clothes at least one more month.

One thing I want to teach you, is to embody your middle name, to be joyful.  You seem to be very easy going and happy most of the time, except when you are hungry.  To me, to be joyful is something that is more than happy, but in any circumstance of life to still have a bright outlook.  Many things you can't control in life, or very few things, but your attitude and outlook in life can enable you to keep stressful and difficult moments in perspective.  Life often doesn't go as planned, even though Momma tries to plan EVERYTHING, but it isn't the end of the world.  Your Mother and Father and Brother and Sister love you and care for you, and we are there to help you to grow and get through it.

So happy point five birthday, love you Becky J (Momma stop throwing things at me), I love you Rebecca Joy!

Daddy

I hope that I'm back to blogging anyway.  Other than being sure to get the milestone post up, I've not blogged any this summer.  I have really missed coming to this little corner of the internet to check in with our long distance family and friends and share a little bit of our life.  Even Britt has asked when he gets to write on the computer.  I am so OCD about going chronologically through things, but I'm not sure that I'll be able to make up an entire summer, especially not one as busy as this has been.  I'll just hit the highlights, throw in a ton of random pictures, and maybe down the road I'll revisit some things.  I hate to do it that way, as our scrapbooks are woefully behind (the last entry is we are expecting a little girl and not Rebecca but Ruth).

















So the move from Indiana to Pennsylvania went well.  It was the easiest move we've ever made.  Some one else did all the boxing, loading, driving, unloading.  Gary flew back to drive us over.  I didn't even have to watch the kids since Memaw came up and took them off my hands for two days.  I didn't fully know it at the time, but it was a real blessing.  My hips and back still weren't quite back up to par after having Rebecca, and I had no idea what was in store with us with the house here in Penn.

















I'll confess I cried.  Some suggested taking pictures to be able to see just how much work we did.  To be honest, I would be ashamed to let anyone know that I let my kids live in this house in the shape it was in when we moved in.  I have always thought it would be alot of fun, if money wasn't an issue, to take an old home and restore it, to make a house beautiful and livable again, because they sorta have lives of their own you know.  However, I never dreamed I would have to live out of boxes in it during the process, try to manage two kids with way to much energy, and nurse on demand.  Let's just say it's been a demanding summer with a huge work load.  There has been alot accomplished, but there's still tons of work left to do, like sealing up the house and killing a colony of mice.



Rebecca is growing like a weed.  She is still the easiest baby to date.  She's been crawling in a weird fashion since 4 months.  Just this week, she started coordinating her knees and arms, for a more normal looking crawl.  She's picking up speed, but sometimes when she is in a hurry, she still resorts, to the weird head- knees together inch worm looking thing that she does.  She really loves Britt's old puppy.  He happily has declared it Rebecca's puppy.




Ruth not to be left out has insisted that I get her some school books too for her Hello Kitty "packpack".  I plan to let her hang out with Britt for the most part, but will be shocked if she picks up much.  She doesn't know all of her letter sounds, and I don't think she even knows all of her letters yet.  All things Britt was already doing at this age.  She's got plenty of time, so I'm not concerned.  She just turned three this week, and is starting to let Britt know more and more that she has opinions of her own about what to play and do.




We have had visits this summer from Mister and Memaw as well as Ahna and Grumps.  Grandmother and Granddaddy are planning to come up in a little more than a month.  The kids have been excited to see their grandparents, and we've been excited to have somebody else to entertain the kids.  We've also had some help on the house.  We also managed a trip down to Florida for Little Union's Annual Meeting.  We are planning a trip home to Alabama for Thanksgiving.

















Kita has really filled out alot.  She is still a little on the petite side for a Husky, but her energy level is that of any Husky.  I need to work with her more, but like I've mentioned the house has been a full time 18 hour a day kind of project.  I have decided that I would like to do some classes with her.  Gary has reluctantly agreed, mostly because I reminded him that it would do me good to have some child free time, doing something myself.  I was hoping to start that this month, but with the work on the house, and starting to homeschool, I will probably wait until later in the fall.













I am still doing my Bible reading.  I was a little ahead of schedule because I like to read all the story together rather than breaking it up, but I didn't read alot while we were in Florida so I got behind again.  Today I will finish Jeremiah and be back on track.  The strength of reading chronologically is that you are reading portions of the major and minor prophets all while reading the accounts in Kings and Chronicles, which in my opinion makes so much more sense.  We continue to visit Churches in the area.  There are a few we have not visited yet, a few we want to visit again, and two that are form most in our minds.  We don't want to rush making a decision, but at the same time we want to deside soon.  We have been gone from Florida a year now (just more for Gary, just less for me).



Gary continues to enjoy the work he's doing.  He has a good team, and better bosses this time around.  Ruth danced with his boss at the wedding of a co-worker last weekend, and he offered to take her home with them.  He is building a program from the ground up in many ways.  He is trialing some ideas with a few farmers and taking in all the meetings he learn the differences for crops in this area.  He is very comfortable with everything.I will confess to having minor panic attacks any time he comes home unexpectedly.  I can't help it, it was about this time that the other position let him go with no warning or reason.  I tell myself it is stupid, but I suppose with time I will get better about that.  All in all we are adjusting well to Yankee Country and the Arctic North as we jokingly call it.

Ruth,

So much has happened this year.  While you are still our sunshine, you have started fussing at me any time I call you sunshine or Daddy calls you sweetie.  You insist that your name is "Ah Roo Cunnham"  Your speech has improved alot over the last 6 months.  Working with Ms. Leah helped, and of course now we have a better idea of some of the things to work on with you.  Some areas still need work, but you are improving rapidly now.

Your brother is still your favorite playmate.  Rather than just playing whatever he wants, and mimicking him, you are developing some opinions of your own.  And boy are you not afraid to share them!  Especially when he won't share his leap pad.  You hit your terrible two's about Easter time of this year.  You can be incredibly stubborn when you don't want to do something or when you want to do something that we don't, and respond with "But I don't like it" or "But I want to."  Even so, compared to others we've seen and what we've experienced with Britt, you are mild.

You love to play dress up.  I remained shocked that I have such a girly girl.  You love your dresses and are always having me fix your hair.  You are obsessed with shoes, and probably have more pairs than everyone else in our house put together.  You especially love your jewelry!  We can't help but smile.  You really enjoy the couple of barbies that you have.  I never remotely cared about them, and I'm really not excited about that.  I think you are entirely too young to have them.  You do still love to play Hot Wheels cars with Britt, and get filthy outside, but you are definitely all girl.

You have adjusted really well to yet another move and having a new little sister.  You continue to bounce along with life.  Most recently you have started talking some with Rebecca now that she is a little more vocal.  For the longest time, you would fuss at Britt when he would talk to her and ask her questions saying, "Babecca can't tawk, Bit!"  You like to share your blanket and sometimes even monkey with Rebecca.  You cheer for her when she starts to crawl and sometimes ask when she can sleep in the big bed with you.

I dreamed about what you might be like for a long time.  You are nothing like what I imagined, but you are so much more.  My dear girl, giver of purple kisses, queen of dancing to any music in any place, pure sunshine, with such personality, Momma and Daddy love you very much.  We pray the Lord continues to bless you, and we are so thankful that you were given to us.

Love,
Momma