Olivia Lynn Kemp

Today Miss Olivia, 7 months old, came over to play while her mom & dad had a shoe show downtown. JM "keeps an eye on her" which is such a big help! :) Just this week she has really started enjoying baby food - I mean REALLY ENJOYING it. Feeding her food in addition to her bottle has made her seem so big to me. I did bring 2 kids through this stage, but I have to admit I lost all my skill. Let's just say she went for the bowl, I bobbled & peaches are now on my carpet. JM said I made a big mess. He is good a correcting me when I make a mistake.

BIG KISS!

She loves to blow bubbles . . . fun to catch it on film.

Here she is blowing bubbles to her mom on the phone.

Here begins the tug of war . . . JM w/ such innocent eyes - she is looking at him, like give me a break and let go.

JM starts to crawl away & she is ready follow.

He is definitely inticing her to keep going. She WANTS that toy.

So close if that right leg would just get out of my way.

Can you see the intensity on her face - she SO badly wants to crawl after him.

Don't worry mom I didn't crawl one bit. I made it to my tummy & for now that makes me a happy camper!

A Remarkable Life

This morning at church we had an amazing sermon entitled "The Most Remarkable Things About Christians." Our pastor defined this in such simple terms - "What makes a Christian remarkable is seeing their lifestyle reflect that of Jesus." We were challenged to identify what areas of our life reflected Him & what areas did not. Here are a few questions I have been challenged by & am pondering this week:

• Matt 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world . . . Let your light shine before men so they may see your good deeds & praise your Father in heaven." - This implies there is darkness around, and begs the question: Does my life bring light where I am at & does my behavior lead to the praise of God?

• Matt 5:43-47 "Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you." For Jesus to say this, obviously implied that loving & praying for enemies was not our natural bent. So what does my love & heart reflect for those I have labeled enemies?

• Matt 6:12 "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." What does my capacity for forgiveness reveal? Can I ask the Lord to forgive me, when I can't forgive another?

• Matt 7:12 "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Does the kindness in my life reflect the life of Jesus?

• Matt 22:39, John 13:34-35 "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By THIS (your love) all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Is my capacity to love growing to be like Jesus?

So I left church thinking, "What am I doing, what is my family doing that is remarkable? When others see us or hear us, do they see or hear Jesus? Is my capacity to Love, Serve, Forgive, Give, Be Patient, Be Forgiving, Be Kind growing by God's Grace?"

At first, I was thinking remarkable meant the apostle Paul, Billy Graham, and other Giants in the Faith, so obviously we weren't that remarkable. BUT, the more I have pondered I've realized that Jesus did many things quietly & discreetly to minister to individual hearts. This opened my eyes to things/people very close to me who truly are remarkable:

• Kevin - sincere heart & compassion for those who don't know Jesus
• Isabelle - her persistent dedication for orphans all over the world
• JM - his deep love for God & a prayerful desire to show God's love to others
• Other - strongly desires to raise her family counter-culturally & focused on the Lord
• Other - tutors children in poverty situations
• Other - Persistently prays & seeks to care for orphans & widows
• Other - Passionately shares the Word of God
• Other - sacrifices free time for those in need
• Other - Gives generously when needs arise
• Other - Quiet Patience can't be ruffled by any storm or chaos

This list could go on & on, I'm sure as you read this you could think of people you know who are doing remarkable things, (maybe quiet & behind the scenes) but remarkable none the less, for the Lord. Take time to thank God for them & encourage them in their service for the Lord.

I would challenge you to think & pray with me about what God is asking of you & where He wants to grow you to be more like Him. There are too many misconceptions of "Church" and "Christians" because we have made up so many of our own rules - let's just be like Jesus!

Catch Me if You Can, I'm the Gingerbread Man

Where oh, where will the Gingerbread man be? Our friend Will E. sent us a gingerbread man to take on adventures with us. The poor man arrived in the midst of all our sickness (see previous posts). He managed to cheer Isabelle up, this is the first smile in 4 days.

She agreed to share her oranges with him, too. She was feeling generous, or else she really didn't want to eat them herself.

The gingerbread man sang along with Kevin as he practiced his guitar. I think he enjoyed the music, even dancing a little.

Finally he enjoyed a yummy lunch at Chili's with Isabelle, John Michael, and their cousin Olivia.

Stir Crazy!

From our last blog you probably realized that we've been shut in the house for nearly 1 week. Our sweet, loveable "big boy", as he likes to be called, is about to go CRAZY! He needs outdoor air. He needs wrestling with his dad. He needs dirt, a rock to throw, or a snow ball to make. This morning when he woke up, he told me that he looked outside and saw that the snow was melting (it was below zero this morning!). He so desperately wanted to go outside that this afternoon I gave in. I told him that he could go outside knowing that it wouldn't last too long. I told him to run laps around the house and I'd time him. To say that he was pumped would be an understatement. He quickly got on his warm clothes, winter hat & gloves and out he went. 2 1/2 laps down and he was sidetracked by the snow. He started trying to make snow balls & throwing them, but "ice" coating the snow makes that a bit difficult. So then he moved on to this . . .

a desperate attempt at a snow angel. . . .he did this at least 10 times, it was so cute!

With snow angels not working so well, he moved on to the swings - I felt very sorry for him. Boredom showed in the way he just spun in circles, hanging limply.

At this point he was throwing himself in the snow to see if he could make a dent. He'd quickly get up to see if there was any mark from his body.

Shortly after this photo he came inside - I think he was out for maybe 20-30 minutes. Enough to know that below it was too cold to play outside, but enough to burn some steam off & get some fresh air.

The Virus

Boy, what a week. Isabelle started 2 weeks ago with a week of dizziness & not feeling well. Everyone was fine for about 4 days, and JM woke up Sunday morning with the NASTY . . . it spread like fire to Kevin on Monday and then Isabelle on Tuesday. Whatever "it" is involves lots of trips to the bathroom & severe stomach cramping. It has been a LONG week needless to say. I am thankful that as of this moment, it has not hit me yet & I am fervently asking the Lord that it will not come my way. JM seems to be on the up swing today along with Kevin. Kevin is finally back to work. He does not not work, so it was weird seeing him in a fetal position in our bed all week. Isabelle is still not great today, and still dizzy so the doc wants to do a CT Scan in the morning. She had a terrible fall down our basement stairs right before Christmas and they are wondering if she is experiencing some effects from that. Our doc is very precautionary. I sure hope our insurance doesn't drop us b/c of all the med. bills we've had this year. WOW, what a year & what a week. Hope you are all healthy and well!

Kevin's duck hunt

Kevin & the Guenthers in Des Arc, Arkansas. This was their first day of hunting! There were thousands & thousands of ducks - a sight to see!

Happy New Year

Is it already Jan 14th? The first month of 2008 is almost halfway over. Wow, time does fly. I remember hearing my grandmother saying that and having no idea what she meant. Now I get it. We have had a much more restful start to 2008, than the way 2007 ended. Kevin had 4 snowstorms in December & was sleeping between each one. And we celebrated our Lord's birth in between the last 2 storms. It was a full month.

2008:

• Kevin spent 4 days in southern Arkansas with a good friend duck hunting. They had a great time, but it was freezing & he came home with poison ivy or oak, we aren't sure which. I'll post pictures in days to come.
• The kids & I enjoyed quiet, at home days gearing up for the start of school. As a kindergartner, Isabelle couldn't wait to go back to school & JM and I started homeschooling preschool this semester. There were some issues that caused Kevin & I to decide to bring him home for the next semester & he is thriving. He LOVES every minute of our time together - we have a letter of the week and he is constantly trying to find every word he can think of that starts with that letter. It is pretty cute.
• And me - I got caught up on sewing & scrapbooking over the break. I didn't get all the books read that I wanted to finish though. I was diagnosed back in November with vocal chord nodules - I have speech therapy 2 times a week & have to have 2 "1 hour" silent periods a day not including my sleep - this is very difficult to come by with a hubby & 2 little people in the home. They all understand and are trying to help me.
  
  There's the update on us. . . we pray you are having a blessed start to 2008. Check out Isabelle's latest words on "Arts for Orphans", the link is in the upper right corner.