I recently discovered New Creation Apparel. Their large selection of modern-looking, beautiful skirts has me drooling over my keyboard! They are mostly quite long with lovely flairs and panels and they're all reasonably priced. Their selection of attractive maternity skirts makes me want to be pregnant again! As a company, they work closely with a number of suppliers, mostly small family-run businesses, which helps keep prices reasonable. Next time I'm shopping for a skirt I'm going to keep them in mind! In a Shoe is hosting a give-a-way though them.

Going outside is quite a process: shoes, coats, hats times four. Sometimes I get the process started before I stop to look out the window. Then I find myself standing on the porch watching the rain come down with three children all bundled up, buckled in the stroller, and excited about going outside. But happily water doesn't make us melt and there's no prim nanny waiting for us at home to say, "Children who get their feet wet must always take their medicine." So we venture out anyway feeling just a bit braver and slightly reckless as we stomp in puddles and race the little rivers down the side of the street.

Usually Esther is asleep during meal time. This works out great for me because I'm not ready to start feeding her solid food. But occasionally she wakes up early and is quite excited to be a part of whatever food business is going on.

Yesterday she woke up right as I was putting dinner on the table. I dished out the children's plates, hoping she would fall back asleep. But she was insistent. As I sat down to nurse her, she saw the table spread with dinner and her siblings heartily digging in. Though she can't speak with words, her body language was pretty clear: "Mommy! Feed me some of that food!" Quickly she finished nursing, but had not forgotten what was going on in the dining room. First we tried letting her daddy hold her, giving nibbles between bites. He wasn't moving fast enough so I set up our spare booster where both of us could feed her. She gobbled down maybe a spoonful of green beans as well as a few grains of rice, intently begging for more the moment each bite was down her throat. Pretty quickly though, she wasn't so desperate.

Soon enough she'll be sitting with us for every meal, impatiently waiting for another spoonful while I try to get my own bites in edgewise. She'll have to learn sign language for "please" and "more." And she'll get those stinky, chunky diapers. No, I'm not quite ready to move on to that phase yet!

Zachary, my brother-in-law, is getting married to Hannah on March 13th. Six days later marks our fifth anniversary—wow! It's hard to believe that our son Joshua turns four this month, and that Lucy and Esther fill our days with hugs and laughter. God has blessed Amanda and me far more than we deserve.

Five years. . .five years filled with dramatic changes, going from single to husband to father. Going from carefree to cost-conscious to mildly concerned about finances. I can no longer drop my life on a whim to go on a road trip; I have to actually plan a vacation (and sometimes wonder if we can actually afford one). But God is so good; He is teaching us to lean on Him, and consistently shows us His grace and presence.

Five years. What will Zack and Hannah’s fifth anniversary look like? Beyond that: what kind of world will my children inherit?

I believe I’m a realist—yes, a realist with his head usually stuck in the sand, but still a realist. And I see that we live in pretty hard times: our country seems more blatantly anti-Christian every day. Our government has become overtly socialist (if it wasn’t apparent before, our current President has made that quite transparent!). The Senate is currently discussing government takeover of health care. Here in Oregon we’re voting on two tax measures that, if passed, will probably do a lot of harm to small businesses, mine included. They may well pass. But you know what? I’m not worried. Our God is big. He is sovereign, and He knows what He’s doing.

I’ve often been struck by this as Amanda and I have read through Judges, the Psalms, and now Daniel. Over and over again, God’s people are given a choice: worship him (and enjoy His blessings) or worship false gods (and suffer the consequences). In Judges, we repeatedly see the same cycle: the people reject God, choosing instead idolatry; God chastens; His people turn back to Him; He delivers them. The faithful Psalmist repeats the same theme: I am oppressed Lord, deliver me! And lo, He does!

Since we would have a hard time claiming that we are as faithful as David (even with all his faults), it's entirely probable that we are in a cycle more like that of the Judges. We have rejected God and as a result are suffering His chastisement. We must repent of our personal and cultural sins and turn again to Him: He is faithful and just to forgive us. And the hard times we live in? They certainly won't go away overnight. We are "in exile" in a very real sense, and can appreciate the Psalmist's words (137:1): "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept." We don't have to like where we are, but we're here.

We should remember the example of Daniel and his three friends: their perseverance in doing good; their refusal to bend the knee to false gods—their faithfulness—spoke clearly to the rulers of their day. Nebuchadnezzar and Darius both acknowledged that [Daniel's God] "is the living God, enduring forever; His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end." (Dan. 4:34, 6:26)

Five years: till then and beyond, our task is clear: we are to repent of our idolotries and worship God alone; we are to be diligent and trust Him. It's that simple. In the words of Jeremiah:

Build houses and live in them
Plant gardens and eat their produce.
Take wives and have sons and daughters
Take wives for your sons
And give your daughters in marriage
That they may bear sons and daughters.
Multiply there and do not decrease
But seek the peace of the city
Where I have sent you into exile
And pray to the Lord on its behalf
For in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:4-7

Usually around September I start looking forward to sweaters, rain, tea, curling up with a good book...you know, all those fun cold weather things. But this year the thought of it being cold and dark made me sad. Apart from two or three weeks of miserably hot weather, I really enjoyed this summer. I was not ready to give up my tank tops and bare feet.

But God had pity on me. He kept the weather warm and beautiful well into October. We did have some dark rainy days, but they often cleared up by the afternoon and the candles that I would light to brighten the mood looked pathetic against the rays of the setting sun streaming through my dining room windows.

Then December and the darkest time of the year loomed around the corner. I got out the Christmas lights I already had and purchased more. I hung lights in the dining room, I stretched them across my big windows in the living room, and I hung them on the tree we brought home. God laughed at my efforts and gave us the sunniest (and the coldest) December I can ever remember. I think we had blue sky from horizon to horizon for two weeks straight. There were days I didn't even turn on my little lights because it was so bright outside.

I'm sure God didn't orchestrate the weather just so I would be happy, but whatever the larger ramifications of His plan are, I sure am thankful that it included some sunshine for me.