Windjammer's Festival

Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we had the Windjammer's Festival featuring many child-friendly activities and events! Josiah and Benjamin were very excited to take in as many fun experiences as possible in 48 hours. It all was exhausting for me! :)

Wee Matey's on the Library lawn featured boat races, bubbles and water balloons, and this fantastic sprinkler:

We brought Emma and her mommy on their first trolley ride!

Then went looking for some Windjammers (not a very impressive showing this year!):

Followed by some "fishing":

On our tour of the Coast Guard station, the boys spent a lot of time in the hallway rather than disrupting the tour guide's demonstrations:

They were only interested in seeing the boats! By the time we got to the dock, Benji was ready for his nap = major meltdown!!!

We brought Nana down to hear some of the live music:

Making "fish prints" at the Aquarium was a messy adventure!

The boys were especially excited for the parade:

It was a good one!

Last on our list were the fireworks! The boys got to stay up "super late", and were very impressed by the show. Josiah asked non-stop questions during the fireworks. He's always so curious! Benjamin didn't like them at first. He covered his head with his special blanket, then peeked out to ask, "Daddy, when's the popping gonna stop?" He did warm up to them by the end though. It was a fun two days, despite the wash-out Wednesday morning.

Elijah House

Last weekend, my family (Logan and I, my parents, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda, plus our friend Leslyn) participated in a retreat hosted by our 'new' friend Tammi from TX. Tammi is a beautiful woman of God, a former missionary, who has been visiting Maine for a little over a year and met us all at the coffee shop. She brought her friend Sue, a licensed prayer minister from WA, to come lead a seminar on material from the Elijah House ministry. I've been wanting to encapsulate some of the material here because it was excellent. But, alas, I'm a busy and tired mommy and I haven't really had a chance to review and regurgitate things yet. For now, I'm copying the "About Us" section from ElijahHouse.org, from which you can get an idea about the content of the retreat last weekend.


About Elijah House

Elijah House was founded with the mandate to restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers (Malachi 4:5-6). This is being accomplished by equipping the saints with biblical tools founded upon universal laws in the Word of God, to enable discernment of root issues and allow true healing.

These scriptural and universal laws are as follows:

Honor your father and mother...that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you (Deuteronomy 5:16)

Do not judge, lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1-2)

Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7-8)

For in that you judge another, you condemn yourself (Romans 2:1)

These Universal Laws are as sure as the law of gravity, and we are all subject to them whether or not we believe in them. When we break these laws, we set in motion forces that (without God's intervention) must be reaped by simple, impersonal law—law that is absolute and eternal. In our sinful responses to wounding, we begin early on to develop patterns of behavior that cause us to reap in adulthood the very things we have worked so hard to avoid.

Add to these laws the principle of increase: what we sow (both good and evil) will come back upon us multiplied, “For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7a NAS). The laws of God are both natural and spiritual. An example in the natural, in physics: "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." In the spiritual: ”Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7b NAS).

Why do we need to be healed? Although Christ has fully accomplished our death on the cross, our flesh refuses to accept death—it springs back to life: “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled” (Hebrews 12:15 NAS).

Many Christians have rightly celebrated salvation as a free gift, but have not understood that they are to grow up into it. They have celebrated with Paul that “by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are [being] sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14), not noticing that the second part of that verse is ongoing. They have not understood that sanctification is a process and have not acknowledged with Paul, “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).

As Christians, we tend to press on in terms of managing behavior rather than renewing our mind and receiving a new heart, which naturally changes behavior. Many have tried to forget "what lies behind" (Philippians 3:13) by ignoring the past rather than by letting the Holy Spirit search the innermost parts of the heart in order to allow Jesus to put deeply ingrained attitudes behind us through His cross. They have attempted to put aside the old self with its practices of anger, wrath, malice and slander, as if these were only external expressions, whereas Jesus called the Pharisees (and us) to "clean the INSIDE of the cup" (Matthew 23:36).

In ministry conducted at Elijah House and imparted through our training, there are several ingredients to facilitate the process of sanctification. All ingredients are grounded in Scripture. At their center are these three, which call us to wholeness:

Confession: bringing to the light what has been held in secret.

Repentance: exercising godly grief based in love for God and for those who have been wounded, resulting in real change.

Forgiveness: releasing to God those who have hurt us, as well as asking Him to forgive us for our own sin.

It is by these three acts that we are reconciled to God and to one another. Christ's work is complete, but God is still at work in our lives. True freedom requires recognizing that many of today's problems have their roots in our sinful responses to yesterday's wounds. These problems cannot easily be erased by fleshly efforts at good behavior. For more in-depth information about sanctification and transformation, read John and Paula Sandford's classic book, Transforming the Inner Man.

Quick Update

Here is a pictorial recap of the past week:

The boys made a Coast Guard boat with their Daddy Sunday night, and then Monday morning, Margo and Amanda brought the boys over to the CG station with their boat, earning them a personal tour of a REAL CG boat!!! They were so thrilled.
I tried to start a 'no more diapers' potty training onslaught for Benjamin last week, but it didn't go so well because of too many trips and days away from the house. I'm going to try to do better this week about keeping him in underwear and near a potty at all times. He is very proud of his big boy underwear, to the point where having to put on a clean pair every hour is more of a reward than the treats he's getting on the potty. ;)

Mom and Dad babysat Tuesday night so we could go to dinner with Tammy and Sue. I found this cute picture on my camera this morning. Looks like they had a good time! On a side note, I managed to go six days in a row without cooking dinner last week, which was a rare and beautiful break for me! It was good timing, because I've been struggling with back pain for a couple weeks now.

The Railway Village is still only open on weekends, so the boys look forward to Saturdays and Sundays. Josiah wants to take a picture with the engineer after every ride now. That's going to have to stop once we're going on a daily basis!
This weekend, we left the boys with friends so we could participate in a family prayer retreat! Tammy, who has been visiting Maine from Texas and has befriended the family, brought a dear friend of hers who is a prayer minister. She led a powerful retreat that I will try to highlight in a separate post sometime this week. A big thank you to Melissa, Wes and Laura, and Scott and Bree for watching the boys!!! Ya'll were a huge blessing to us. Here is a picture of Sue and Tammy:

Sunday night, Mom and Dad hosted a big birthday party for Aunt Linda at the coffee shop! Benjamin got his exercise pulling Josiah around on this cooler most of the party:

The boys wanted to help me make a birthday cake, pictured below, and Mom made a huge whoopie pie with "Big Whoop 62!" printed on it! There were 18 of us there to celebrate our dear Auntie. :) Dad brought his guitar so the boys could lead some singing, which included their favorites: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart", "Down at the station," and "Jingle Bells."

Goodbye Heidi

This Friday, Mom and I brought Heidi to the vet to be laid to rest. Heidi joined the family over fifteen years ago, shortly before we moved to Maine. When we got her, she only weighed 1 pound, and could fit in the palm of our hand. This picture is of Heidi soon after we got her:
She was always the sweetest little dog, loved by everyone. When she got excited, she sounded like an operatic diva, wimpering musically, and it was seven years before she got over piddling in excitement when people arrived at the house. She was happiest when she was getting attention from someone. She used to sit outside the coffee shop in the summer, and my parents got numerous offers from people who wanted to buy this special little dog.

She was a wire hair/long hair dachshound mix, giving her the perfect personality. She was always my baby, sleeping under the covers down by my feet every night. Logan even agreed to having his first pet when we got married, and she moved down to MA to live with us. Having Josiah put a cramp in her style, and then when I got pregnant with Benjamin, she really got jealous, so she went back to live with Mom and Dad after two years with us. She leaves behind Frankie and Molly, dachshound 'sisters', and many friends and family who loved her.