Baking Bread

Here are some fun pictures of a warm summer day on which Jessica and Joshua baked bread with two friends.

They are outside, because they put the bowls of dough in the back of my sun-warmed car (covered with towels) to rise. They are good little bakers!

They love doing fun activities like this and doing it with friends makes it even more fun!

Glad the health inspector didn't visit! I probably should've pulled their hair back into pony tails! :)

Mmmmmm, makes me hungry for the smell and taste of fresh baked bread! (And warm summer days!)

Design of a Loving God

I have been enjoying teaching science to my 8 year old daughter, partly because as I am reminded of the 3rd grade basics of science, I am reminded of the amazing design of a loving God. Things as simple as the distance between the earth and the sun being perfect, any closer and we would be burned to death, any farther and we would freeze to death. Also, the fact that while other liquids become more dense when they freeze, water becomes less dense when it freezes, so that it floats, and as the top layer freezes, it does not sink to the bottom, layer upon layer and kill all the plant and animal life in the lakes, rivers and oceans!
Another detail is the placement of the animals in the right amounts for balance of our ecosystem. See this article for an example of how meddling with that can challenge that delicate balance!
It's small details like these that make me rejoice with wonder to know the loving kindness of my heavenly Father!

What about you? What are the things that make you realize how deeply loved you are by God?

Wisdom Is Miraculous Too

James 1:5 says "But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him."

We tend to think of God's provision as being some unexpected, surprising or even supernatural "Miracle." While He sometimes uses each of these things to provide, He more frequently gives us wisdom to handle the situations we need help in. He wants us to dig in his word, know Him and his heart intimately and learn his will as if it were our second nature.

Most of all, He just wants us to ask Him. Like we want our children to ask; How many times do we say to our children "Use your words." We usually know their desires, even without words. God always knows our desires, but it pleases Him when we turn our faces up to Him and say "God, please help me, give me wisdom." Language is something powerful. God loves to hear us speak and praise Him, and He loves to provide for our needs and desires, and give us wisdom for every situation...generously!