This morning, our family received a wonderful blessing. We went to our early morning service and heard such a great and comforting word. The subject was “Trouble don’t last always”. The preacher spoke on three biblical characters (the man with the unclean spirit, the woman with the issue of blood, and the ruler) who sough Jesus for their issue. Each had been afflicted in some kind of way. They could have wallowed in it, could have been depressed, could have refused to keep going, but each did something opposite of that. They each sought God, they made themselves available, and they were each set free. The preacher continued discussing how we do the “Woe is me” and “pity party”, but it is when we put our faith in God and trust Him that we are truly sustained. [AND] Even if we are not delivered from that issue in this life, we know that when we pass into eternal life that deliverance and freedom is assured. Considering everything we’ve dealt with this past year that was certainly a blessing to me.
After the morning service was over and breakfast was shared, we went in the back for Sunday School. There I was blessed again. I was talking to the teacher of our Young Adult class that morning and we somehow got on the discussion of how the world was experiencing its birth pangs as discussed in Matthew 24:7-8. (7“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.) I shared with the teacher that I’d recently stumbled on the blog post of Derick Dillard, husband of Jill Duggar Dillard of 19 Kids and Counting fame. Now, my disclaimer is I am not a follower of this blog. I literally stumbled over it during another devotion search, but what he said was so powerful an interpretation of that scripture and its correlation to the birth pangs of a woman that I was happy for him that he got it on such a major level.
“From what I’ve learned in birth class (as well as from Jill, who is a student midwife) and from what I am witnessing right now with Jill, labor pains start sporadically and then become more consistent, longer lasting, and stronger the closer we get to the birth of our son. Again, it’s important to remember that we don’t know when he will be born, but we can definitely see the evidence that points to his imminent arrival, whenever that might be. This is the perfect picture of how “end times” events will play out.” -Derick Dillard, Dillard Family Blog
 |
| Spinosaurus |
 |
| Sail bones |
 |
| A future paleontologist? |
 |
| Imagine seeing that running down the street. |
After viewing the Spinosaurus, we took the opportunity to view some pretty big prehistoric fish models and fossils. Superbug was impressed at how several of the baby fish could still swallow whole if they desired.
 |
After viewing the exhibits, we all sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Superbug found a playmate and played in the museum’s courtyard while FatherWinter, Honeybee, and I watched and conversed.
We discussed going to walk along the Tidal Basin to see all of the historical sites and festivals, but there were so many people out that traffic was starting to back up. It made sense for us to go home and visit another day that wasn’t as popular.
We made the trek home with everyone falling asleep in the car, except FatherWinter who was driving. Once home, we finally had an opportunity to get that lawn work done.
Everything was going well before we realized we needed at least two more bags of mulch. So the yard isn’t looking too great at the moment.
But we have confidence, we’ll finish it sometime this week.
There will be a lot of activities ongoing this week. We promise to try and keep you updated on them all.
In the meantime, please keep our family in your prayers.
-WinterMommy
