Roof Top Adventures

Some of you might call us crazy, but what would this world be of some of us weren't crazy?!  This morning and afternoon, TJ, Ava and I spent a few hours on the roof reading, eating, playing (Ava) and watching the air show.  Ava had her play pin, she even took a nap up there for a while we soaked up the sun.

Chocolate dipped Macaroons and Sushi Night

  

Last Sunday TJ and I attended a Jewish festival mainly to see his sister's (Harmony) Hebrew dance, but as we were walking around we found some interesting Jewish foods, one being chocolate dipped macaroons.  I soon realized... I can make my OWN!!!  So yesterday I whipped up some macaroons, and dipped them in chocolate.  I boiled water in a pan, and had this glass bowl over it cooking about 2 cups of chocolate chips, about 4 Tbls butter, and some vanilla.  You melt it till it's smooth, dip your macaroons, place them on some parchment paper, and chill them for at least 30 minutes... yum yum!                                                                       

Last night TJ and I joined forces with Kyle and Cherie Shropshire, to make some delicous sushi.  We actually have a sushi kit, that we got to use for the first time.  They had got some fresh tuna, and we cooked some tempura shrimp.  We had ingredients to combine;  cucumber, avocado, green onions, cream cheese, we even made tempura rolls, it was great.  Good food, good company, and I learned alot!  I think I could now make sushi on my own, not that I'm any kind of expert, but now that I have been mentured a little bit, I feel like I could actually begin to work on the special art of making sushi.

Crawling

Ava crawling for the first time

very focused :)

Ava's best friend Andrew

and... she's going in for the kill

Ava has just started learning how to crawl, and in these pictures we have recorded Ava crawling for the first time.  It has been really fun for TJ and I to watch her learn and grow every day, she's pretty amazing  :).  My friend Betsy took these at their house, Andrew is their son, and Ava gets so excited every time she see's him, sometimes he's not quite sure how to deal with her aggressive tendancies ;)
Ava has 4 teeth now, and just popped out a 5th  out last night, her top left front tooth.  She was not feeling well, I'm not sure if she was sick, or if it was from teething, she had a runny nose, and fever... I didn't sleep much last night... such is life, that's what naps are for right?

Today is TJ's first day back to work since spraining his thumb a week and a half ago, it'll be nice to put some money back in the bank!
Ava will be 9 months in a few days, I'll have to take a few more pics when that time arrives.  :)

Cracker Candy!

 

 Cracker Candy  so easy... so delicious!

Some Thoughts

Sooo... since Jehovah's Witnesses have been coming to our house, I have been studying their 'cult' whenever I get a chance.  Not only have I been studying about the watch tower society, I have been studying about who my own God is.  Yes I went to bible school, but did I learn everything there is to know?  NO!!!  Besides, you can only retain so much information.  Also I feel really passionate about what I'm studying right now, and am seeing it in such a new light since studying the falsehoods of the JW's.  As I'm studying I'm working on proofing them wrong, as I study.  TJ and I have talked about the fact that just finding verses to PROVE our case isn't going to cut it, if Jesus Christ the Son of God, in fullness of deity wants to reveal to them himself, and wants to do that through us, that's great.  Right now I'm just excited to see the ways that God has revealed himself to me, just because of the Jehovah Witnesses that have been coming into our home.  I hope and truly pray that God will reveal His TRUE self to them, and that somehow they can overcome this false gospel that they have given their lives to.

Thanks to Steve Page I have a list of verses that proves the doctrine of the trinity.  I have been searching for more verses, doing word studies, and finding out what the NWT (New World Translation) says, which is the JW's version of the Bible.  Also I have been reading the "Kingdom of the Cults"... very informative book!

                                                           Jesus Christ                                           Jesus Christ was God

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word^, and the Word was with God and the Word^ was God He was with God in the beginning." Here the JW's say the Word was 'a' God... which is totally different.  They don't believe that Christ or the Holy Spirit is God, Christ is Micheal the Arch angel, and The Holy Spirit is Jehovah God's impersonal powerful force.

                               Jesus Christ

John 1:14 "The Word^ became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory of the One and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Colossians 2:9-10

"For in Christ all the fullness of he Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head of every power and authority."

Like I said... Jesus Christ IS the fullness of God, second person of the God-head.

This is the one I was getting SUPER excited about!

So God created the earth, but the bible also says that The Son of God created the earth.  They say that Jehovah (LORD) created Jesus, and then Jesus created the earth (which is obviously false).

Isaiah 64:8

"Yes, O LORD you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter.  We are all the work of your hand."

44:24  "This is what the LORD says your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:  I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself"

So here we have the LORD, Jehovah who made the earth By HIMSELF!

                                   Jesus

John 1:3 "Through him^ all things were made;  without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life and that life was the light of men."

Colossians 1:15-17

"He is the image of the invisible God the first born over all creation.  For by him all things were created:  things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;  all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things and in him all things hold together."

2 Corinthians 4:4

"Christ who is the image of God"  

Hebrews 1:3  "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.  After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of he Majesty in heaven."

JW's believe that God's created being; Jesus, had to die for us, because it would have been too big of a price for Jehovah God to pay... when I heard this I sat there and thought, WOW, they really don't get it, that's the point!  "I AM" did become a human, he emptied himself, made the biggest sacrifice of all time, and made a way for us to be in perfect union with HIM.  All we have to do is recognize that we have sinned, repent of our sin, and turn to Him, believe in this free gift of eternal life, what incredible grace this is. 

Taking communion was different yesterday in church, it's like I have a little bit of a fresh perspective.  When you contrast light with darkness the light seems so bright, like when you walk from a dark room to the bright outdoors, you can hardly open your eyes, that's kind of how I feel right now.

Being a Christian isn't about doing the right thing or hanging out with certain people, it's about trusting in the one and only God with everything that we are, and when this is played out in our lives, we are actually able to glorify the God of the Universe, our TRUE purpose.