Before:
After:
Some in-betweens:
At home with his certificate:
One last one, my little lumberjack. I had to put it in here.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Finn's First Haircut
We finally broke down and got Finn's locks trimmed. I guess it was the increasingly frequent question of, when are you going to cut his hair? that finally got to us. Well that, and he was beginning to grow a full-fledged mullet. It's not a drastic before and after, but no more "party in the back."
Before:
Before:
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Month in Pictures
Hi, my name is Rebecca and I have been nonexistent in the blog-writing world for over a month. I'm sorry for the two of you who may read my posts.
When I am on the computer, I find myself here:
I love Pinterest! It has occupied way too much computer time lately.
But for the moment I'm back here. For those of you who do blog, do you feel like it's hard to come up with something to post when you have had a long extended period between them? I do. I have no idea what to write, so I'm just going to put some photos of what we have been up to for the last month and hopefully I'll get back on track of updating quicker.
Vacation. This was our first real vacation. We went with my family to Kiawah. It was so so much fun! We did a lot of eating, chasing Finn, drinking coffee, eating, playing on the beach, chasing Finn, riding bikes, eating, chasing Finn, going to the playground and a little relaxing. Oh, and eating and chasing Finn.
Nice weather. Now that we are having nicer weather, we can play outside during the day without a potential heat stroke. This boy had a meltdown when we had to go inside though. Sorry.
Skateboarding. Finn's first skating escapade. Don't worry, Mom, we'll get him a helmet for the next one.
Bed-head. Now that Finn's hair is longer, we never know what it'll look like when he wakes up. Also, he's naturally taken on the Rentz tradition of laying by a space heater. He even turns it on himself. I'm so proud.
Making a surfboard. Jeremy has been working hard on this board and it is looking awesome. Finn wants to help put his bubbles on it. Maybe next time, buddy.
Columbia. We took a weekend trip to see Aunt Rachel in Columbia. We had a lot of fun in her neighborhood park.
Bonding. Nothing says good father/son time like sharing earbuds watching the iPad.
Barnes and Noble. We have frequented B&N lately to play in the children's section. It's all fun and games until he starts pulling the books off the shelf. We nip that in the bud. That'd be a lot of books to have to pick up.
Pumpkin Carving. We had a pumpkin carving party for the college students. There were some really cool designs and it was a perfect night!
Climbing. Finn now tries to climb on anything he can. Oh...no...
When I am on the computer, I find myself here:
I love Pinterest! It has occupied way too much computer time lately.
But for the moment I'm back here. For those of you who do blog, do you feel like it's hard to come up with something to post when you have had a long extended period between them? I do. I have no idea what to write, so I'm just going to put some photos of what we have been up to for the last month and hopefully I'll get back on track of updating quicker.
Vacation. This was our first real vacation. We went with my family to Kiawah. It was so so much fun! We did a lot of eating, chasing Finn, drinking coffee, eating, playing on the beach, chasing Finn, riding bikes, eating, chasing Finn, going to the playground and a little relaxing. Oh, and eating and chasing Finn.
 |
| My very favorite picture. |
Home project. I did a quick sunroom clean up. I didn't want to spend any money, so I just scronged around the garage to find what we had. Nothing major or fancy, but now we can better go out there to read and hang out.
Barnes and Noble. We have frequented B&N lately to play in the children's section. It's all fun and games until he starts pulling the books off the shelf. We nip that in the bud. That'd be a lot of books to have to pick up.
Alrighty, I hear my boy waking up. I wonder what his hair will be like.
Until next time...
which will hopefully be less than a month.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Bubbles!
This boy loves some bubbles. I've had to resort to blowing bubbles in order to distract him to eat. Surprisingly, he's not the easiest baby on the block to feed.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Inside, Outside, Upside Down Kingdom
(the title is a lyric from one of my favorite Misty Edwards song called Servant of All.)
I meet with a few girls every Saturday morning. It is one of my favorite parts of the week. I love these girls so much and they have taught me much more than I could ever teach them. One of these girls, Katie, was wrecked over a false gospel saying moralism was the way to being in right standing with God; when what should be communicated is that it's JESUS that gives us complete innocence, and therefore a right relationship before God.
This morning I was reading through Romans 5-8. Paul addresses exactly what she is rightfully concerned about in chapter 7-8.
I think our natural tendency is to want to have a list of "do's" and "don't do's" in order to feel good in God's sight. It's how we function in most other areas of life.
In school: if we followed the rules and studied hard, we were commended and did well. If we broke the rules and brushed off studying, we got in trouble and received a bad grade.
With our parents: if we did what was right, we pleased them and there was peace between us. If we broke their rules, we were unpleasantly disciplined and caused tension in the home.
In sports: if you scored, points are added and you helped your team towards winning. If you fouled, you had that against you for the rest of the game and hurt the team.
So we naturally transition this practice of good and bad to our spiritual life.
Paul describes these rules, the law, in chapter 7 as:
spiritual.
good.
right.
holy.
convicting.
That sounds like something we'd all want, right? Good rules that told us what to do to be spiritual and right with God. Give me my checklist. I'll take that. Thank-you-very-much.
But then he says in the same chapter that:
the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
the law aroused evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
Wait, trying to follow God's commandments results in spiritual death and doing bad things? I thought that knowing and doing good will save & protect me but now it's saying that these rules will destroy me.
What's the deal?
Me.
Paul says the trouble is not with the law. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, I am in sin's prison. I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. There is another power within me that it is at war with my mind.
He says that when we are told not to do something, it will actually make us want to. It brings those desires within us to life and causes a battle in our minds with what we will actually do, even when we know what we should.
When we are living our life according to rules, there is something within us that wants to rebel.
Here is a recent example. I told Finn not to touch the outlets. Now he will go stand by one and put his hand near it. Then he'll turn and smile at me, as if he's saying, I know you told me not to touch this, but I really want to. At an early age, there is something already in him that wants to test the rules.
This something is sin. Paul had some powerful things to say about it.
Sin took advantage of God's commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.
Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death.
We can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commandments for its own evil purposes.
At this point, trying to live according to God's rules, or a good moralistic life, seems pretty pointless and frustrating. (I think those of us who lived a majority of our lives trying to be good would know this without being told and the bible just confirms that which we already experienced.)
So if our experience is that our attempts to be good leaves us still longing for more and if our natural selves will always lose to truly being good with God, is there a relief? Is there a way out?
from living a constricted, rule-based life?
from feeling like you're disappointing God?
from stress and anxiety of always trying to be good?
from the constant battle in the mind of right and wrong?
from beating yourself up every time you mess up?
from the secret ambition to just cast it all away and live anyway you please?
This is the climax of Paul's discussion and in verse 25 through the next chapter he says, Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. The Spirit of God lives in you and gives you life because you have been made right with God through Jesus.
He has completely released us from a life centered on ourselves and trying to climb our way to God by what we do. We are no longer captive to a life that has to try so hard. This is GOOD NEWS! In fact, it's the best and most life-altering news we could believe. At least, it was for me. It gave me freedom I had wanted all along.
And this freedom we are given actually works paradoxically than what we would imagine. It makes us now want to serve God and produce a harvest of good deeds, instead of a license to do whatever we want.
Paul says it best when he says, Now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Release from law = now able to serve and please God.
God's ways are:
counter-culture.
amazing.
better.
So please join me as I remind myself to stop trying to be good and right on my own. Instead, let's join to put our energy in praising God and learning how to live in & by the Spirit.
Which is my next question, how do I live in and by the Spirit? Any help and insight would be appreciated (haha!)
I meet with a few girls every Saturday morning. It is one of my favorite parts of the week. I love these girls so much and they have taught me much more than I could ever teach them. One of these girls, Katie, was wrecked over a false gospel saying moralism was the way to being in right standing with God; when what should be communicated is that it's JESUS that gives us complete innocence, and therefore a right relationship before God.
This morning I was reading through Romans 5-8. Paul addresses exactly what she is rightfully concerned about in chapter 7-8.
I think our natural tendency is to want to have a list of "do's" and "don't do's" in order to feel good in God's sight. It's how we function in most other areas of life.
In school: if we followed the rules and studied hard, we were commended and did well. If we broke the rules and brushed off studying, we got in trouble and received a bad grade.
With our parents: if we did what was right, we pleased them and there was peace between us. If we broke their rules, we were unpleasantly disciplined and caused tension in the home.
In sports: if you scored, points are added and you helped your team towards winning. If you fouled, you had that against you for the rest of the game and hurt the team.
So we naturally transition this practice of good and bad to our spiritual life.
Paul describes these rules, the law, in chapter 7 as:
spiritual.
good.
right.
holy.
convicting.
That sounds like something we'd all want, right? Good rules that told us what to do to be spiritual and right with God. Give me my checklist. I'll take that. Thank-you-very-much.
But then he says in the same chapter that:
the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
the law aroused evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
Wait, trying to follow God's commandments results in spiritual death and doing bad things? I thought that knowing and doing good will save & protect me but now it's saying that these rules will destroy me.
What's the deal?
Me.
Paul says the trouble is not with the law. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, I am in sin's prison. I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. There is another power within me that it is at war with my mind.
He says that when we are told not to do something, it will actually make us want to. It brings those desires within us to life and causes a battle in our minds with what we will actually do, even when we know what we should.
When we are living our life according to rules, there is something within us that wants to rebel.
Here is a recent example. I told Finn not to touch the outlets. Now he will go stand by one and put his hand near it. Then he'll turn and smile at me, as if he's saying, I know you told me not to touch this, but I really want to. At an early age, there is something already in him that wants to test the rules.
This something is sin. Paul had some powerful things to say about it.
Sin took advantage of God's commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.
Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death.
We can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commandments for its own evil purposes.
At this point, trying to live according to God's rules, or a good moralistic life, seems pretty pointless and frustrating. (I think those of us who lived a majority of our lives trying to be good would know this without being told and the bible just confirms that which we already experienced.)
So if our experience is that our attempts to be good leaves us still longing for more and if our natural selves will always lose to truly being good with God, is there a relief? Is there a way out?
from living a constricted, rule-based life?
from feeling like you're disappointing God?
from stress and anxiety of always trying to be good?
from the constant battle in the mind of right and wrong?
from beating yourself up every time you mess up?
from the secret ambition to just cast it all away and live anyway you please?
This is the climax of Paul's discussion and in verse 25 through the next chapter he says, Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. The Spirit of God lives in you and gives you life because you have been made right with God through Jesus.
He has completely released us from a life centered on ourselves and trying to climb our way to God by what we do. We are no longer captive to a life that has to try so hard. This is GOOD NEWS! In fact, it's the best and most life-altering news we could believe. At least, it was for me. It gave me freedom I had wanted all along.
And this freedom we are given actually works paradoxically than what we would imagine. It makes us now want to serve God and produce a harvest of good deeds, instead of a license to do whatever we want.
Paul says it best when he says, Now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Release from law = now able to serve and please God.
God's ways are:
counter-culture.
amazing.
better.
So please join me as I remind myself to stop trying to be good and right on my own. Instead, let's join to put our energy in praising God and learning how to live in & by the Spirit.
Which is my next question, how do I live in and by the Spirit? Any help and insight would be appreciated (haha!)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Profound Simplicity
God loves us.
At all times.
He's never not greatly loving us.
God is good.
At all times.
He's never not good.
Simple
Profound.
Life changing.
I want to grasp this more.
At all times.
He's never not greatly loving us.
God is good.
At all times.
He's never not good.
Simple
Profound.
Life changing.
I want to grasp this more.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Finn's Birthday & the Uninvited Guest
What an awesome year it has been. There were so much joy and sentiment when I reflected on it.
The Lord is so good and has done such a work in my heart through His gift of Finn.
There is a softness and tenderness that wasn't as prevalent.
There is an overflowing joy in the simple things.
There is a heavy responsibility for a life we've been given.
Mostly though, there is a deeper understanding and thankfulness that I have a Parent in heaven who loves me as His child. Even though this is a love of such great proportions that I cannot completely fathom, there is a better relation now that I have my own child too.
I've prayed that God would direct my prayers towards Finn. I've asked Him to give me specific words. For a long time, set apart was what I was to pray over him. More recently it has been pure, as in Matthew 5:8, "blessed are the pure in heart, for they (he) shall see God." Oh, how I pray he is set apart and sees God at an early age.
We love our boy and can't wait to see who he grows to become.
On a lighter note, we had an awesome time celebrating Finn's birthday on Sunday with our friends and family. However, there was a very rude, uninvited guest who came. Who, you may ask?
The dirty, nasty, no-good stomach bug.
I mean, did he not know this was a big weekend for us and we did not want him there???
The party was originally to be Saturday evening, but Finn began running a fever Thursday night. By Friday, he threw up and was down-for-the-count. I also felt queasy all day. We assumed it was a 24-hour bug like it was that for all those around us who previously had it. He and I were feeling much better on Saturday, but we didn't want to risk it lingering for the guests. So we changed it to Sunday lunch after church.
Well, Saturday night that darn bug showed back up to visit Jeremy. He threw up all night and felt really badly on Sunday. We warned everyone and several understandably decided to pass on the party. But we still had a blast and loved sharing a great celebration of life with many of our friends and family.
Here are a few pictures of the occasion. I have to say that the face-plant in the cake was my favorite part.
*After the bug visited us all, he has been kicked out and asked never to return. Especially to a party. I suggest you ask him to do the same.
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