Redemption

Here is sweet little B playing happily in the sandpile. She will be 3 in November and is such a tiny thing. We kept her several days this week including one night. C loves mothering her - changing her diaper and getting

her dressed in the morning etc. She gets a little perturbed when B wants to do things "herself"!



Today we had a fieldtrip to an assisted living center and then went over to the duckpond to observe geese and other water birds. The children had a good time trying to entice the over-full ducks to eat the bread and crushed corn we had brought. There was also a mother duck with 6 ducklings which can be seen in the second picture down.

This week I found a most encouraging few paragraphs from "Ministry of Healing" commenting on the story of the palsied man by the pool of Bethesda, which I'll quote here:

By sin we have been severed from the life of God. Our souls are palsied. Of ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than was the impotent man capable of walking. Many realize their helplessness; they are longing for that spiritual life which will bring them into harmony with God, and are striving to obtain it. But in vain. In despair they cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24, margin. Let these desponding, struggling ones look up. The Saviour is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, "Wilt thou be made whole?" he bids you arise in health and peace. Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe the Saviour's word. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses." Ephesians 2:1. He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin.

The sense of sin has poisoned the springs of life. But Christ says, "I will take your sins; I will give you peace. I have bought you with My blood. You are Mine. My grace shall strengthen your weakened will; your remorse for sin I will remove." When temptations assail you, when care and perplexity surround you, when, depressed and discouraged, you are ready to yield to despair, look to Jesus, and the darkness that encompasses you will be dispelled by the bright shining of His presence. When sin struggles for the mastery in your soul, and burdens the conscience, look to the Saviour. His grace is sufficient to subdue sin. Let your grateful heart, trembling with uncertainty, turn to Him. Lay hold on the hope set before you. Christ waits to adopt you into His family. His strength will help your weakness; He will lead you step by step. Place your hand in His, and let Him guide you.

Never feel that Christ is far away. He is always near. His loving presence surrounds you. Seek Him as One who desires to be found of you. He desires you not only to touch His garments, but to walk with Him in constant communion."

Wish I had music to accompany that!!

May you have a blessed Sabbath, and week ahead.

Autumn days

Our dogwoods are turning shades of dark red and with the cooler mornings, it seems autumn is here - how long it'll stay is another question. Tomorrow it's supposed to reach 88'F which doesn't sound very fall-like to me. Well, that's the nature of the season.

On Wednesday I met a lady in the library who gave a lovely little memory tool for remembering how Jesus was schooled. Think of the directions on a compass: N for Nature, E for Experience, S for Scripture and W for work. I guess these are the important methods most effective in teaching our children.

We had a full week. In history this week C learned about the Mesopotamians. She enjoys the social interaction a lot and doesn't want to miss this class. On Wednesday she went to a princess party where all the little girls got to dress up as princesses. (Makes me want to move to a little log cabin in Montana right now!) Twice this week she had Gymkids - I learned she's not in the minimasters - that's a different group of older kids. She is so pleased to be getting lower in her splits.

Cello has been tough this week - what with the Christmas piece and a hymn as extra stuff to do, as well as a new book of sight reading and rhythm pages called: Learn to read Music for Cello. We're on yet another new piece - Musette by Bach, who is never easy to learn - which has a number of tricky bowings.

S is back from Atlanta. While he was gone he received a FedEx package of new shoes from Australia - cheaper to buy them from there and pay shipping than to buy them even locally. So - might as well, since the plane is flying here anyway, right?

Our Facebook pages keep growing with "Friends" - where do they find you? I guess friends of friends of friends and networks here and there. Various people were asking me to be their friends way back in June or July.....so finally broke down and now find it quite fun to hook up with people WAAAY back when and others one has just lost touch with.

The only downfall - it takes TIME. As does this, for that matter. Nevertheless this is for specific people who might be interested in what is happening in the Johnson household since I'm not a good correspondent anymore. Plus, I never have the hours it takes to keep up with folk on the phone!

Here we are at a company picnic in June. Yes, these photos are relatively old - will have to update our iPhoto file one of these days.

Tomorrow we start a 12 week Footprints class - mentoring one's kids to know Jesus better and become His disciples. From the KID program started here in Collegedale - Kids in Discipleship. Hope it is helpful and it will surely be inspiring.

Enough for one week.

A visit today

So nice to see Raewyn again after 6 years. She showed us lots of photos of the Cape - the sea, the mountains, the nature reserves, and of course, the relatives and where they live now. Thanks, Raewyn. We'll see you again soon since you'll be in Cleveland for another 4 weeks or so.

We had some much needed rain this week and the mornings for the past 2 days have been pleasantly cool and fresh. The only things producing in the garden nowadays are the ochra, basil, a few little cherry tomatoes, and the carrots which we haven't picked yet. I still need to research on when to pick them. I always thought it was when you could see the orange root sticking above the ground....now they're flowering - they look like Queen Anne's Lace. Guess I'll check tomorrow.

This is what our harvests looked like in July:

This week we started "gymkids". Sort of informal gymnastics - tumbling - coached by the Gymmasters. I think they call the kids "Minimasters". C loves it so far. That means something every afternoon but Fridays. Today we had cello group. They're learning a long, involved Christmas piece arranged by a local composer. I'm glad they're starting it now! Last Sabbath she played a cello piece at a local assisted living center where we sang, listened to a story, did a Bible quiz and heard other instrumental solos by a couple other kids. I think we'll be doing that the second Sabbath of every month.

For French we're doing the Rosetta Stone program which we get free from our local library. Isn't that nice? Usually it's a good few hundred dollars.

Well, our trees are already starting to turn and look a bit stressed - they had a tough spring with a late hard freeze, and then some prolonged time with very little rain this past summer. So we'll see - maybe not much of a fall show.

The Doug Batchelor meetings are winding down - I think only 3 more to go. He's a great speaker and not afraid to speak the truth.

S is in Arizona - left today, comes back tomorrow. Yes, the joys of the corporate jet! SO much better than going commercial. Then next week he takes a class in Atlanta. Must be fun.

See? Nothing earth shattering.....
Til later!

Time to Start

This seems like a good time to start blogging - have been meaning to for a while - though have nothing earth shattering to say.

Some things happening in our lives right now:

School for C has been going 3 weeks. She's doing very well adjusting to the new schedule after a long, busy summer of play, swimming, music, friends, parties, camping trips and taking care of our vegetable garden and pets. Better busy than getting into trouble!

So, school mostly consists of: Bible, Cello and piano practice every day, Math, English, Afrikaans, Spanish and French, Science, Handwriting, PE, Home Ec (we belong to a Keepers of the Home club), Social Studies, art and plenty of breaks for chores and play inbetween.

This blog is mostly for people who know us - I think you'll be able to guess who S, L and C are... In advance, I'll just say that these entries will be short for the most part - as an update to family and friends across the ocean and around the world.

Just to let you know that Doug Batchelor's series "Here We Stand" started tonight on 3ABN and you can live stream on 3abn.org. These meetings are a shot in the arm and for any Bible believing Christian, a must-see. Time: 7-8:30pm EDT but are probably archived for those in majorly different time zones.

I'll be adding some photos sometime soon. In the meantime, cheerio for now!