Ryan's Review of Ratatouille (we took Rylie last night)

As most of the reviews you will read will tell you, Ratatouille has a great story that is fun, engaging and has a heart- a quality for which Pixar movies are known. However, in the reviews I've read I haven't discovered much talk about the quality of animation in this movie- and it is breath-taking! There were moments when I sat there just marveling at how crisp, colorful and beautiful this Pixar movie is. Many scenes look like rich paintings and all of the motion of the characters is extremely fluid and life-like (unlike some of the earlier Pixar movies in which the movement of the human characters were especially herky-jerky). Needless to say, the folks at Pixar have outdone themselves again and the anitmation seems to have taken a huge step forward. As for whether or not your kids will like this move- my two year old daughter lasted through the entire movie and as we left the theater she was yelling " 'dat was GREAT!" I heartily agree!

Thursday Thoughts

My thoughts this week are on God's unfailing love (from Ps. 33:5). His love for us is unconditional. That means that no matter what I do, or don't do, He will allways love me. This has nothing to do with me! Contrary to popular belief, it is not all about me. I/we don't deserve His love at all. There's nothing we do to earn His love. He loves us because it intrinsically part of His character. It is who He is. When He shows love to us, it benefits us, but more importantly, it brings Him glory and praise, which is what this Psalm is about.
He takes joy in showing us love, all creation is an expression of His love. Of course the ultimate example of His unfailing love was sending His Son to humble Himself to be born on the Earth and suffer the abuse of an arrest and ultimetly dying on the cross for us. He loved us so much that He suffered a horrible death! That is unfailing love! It was also extremely loving that He rose again and offers us new life!
For a long time I really struggled with being able to say that God loves me, I felt somehow that that was self focused because He loves me for His glory. But, I have really been reminded that He loves me like a Father. He doesn't just love me because it brings Him glory, He loves me because He created me and He is my Heavenly Father. He desires to have a relationship with me because He loves me. Amazing!
He deserves much more praise and glory than we could possibly ever give Him!

Wordless Wednesday! (Flowers my little girl picked for me!)

Cherry on top

Tonight was a great topping to our fun summer day. When Ryan came home from work, we went to the local beach and had a picnic. Rylie was excited about throwing rocks into the water until she got sand in her shoes. She said, "ewww, that's yucky". She is such a princess. She decided she would rather just run in the grass and pick flowers. On our way home we drove through the woods and saw three raccoons. We had great family time!

Summer Fun

Rylie and I had a fun summer day! We had a picnic in the front yard, caught bugs, drew with sidewalk chalk and chased the ice cream man down for "choc-o-late and manilda" (vanilla)! Here's some pictures so you can join in the fun!

Pictures from the Mariners Game

We had so much fun with our friends, Eric and Jacki last Wednesday when we went to the Mariniers Game! Jeff Weaver pitched a shutout and beat the Pittsburg Pirates! This was even more gratifying to me because Eric is from Pennsylvania and is a Pirates fan! We have a lot of baseball competition! We decided long ago that we can't be friends during baseball season. Besides being a Pirates fan, he is also a fan of the evil Yankees. He has even taken to calling Rylie "my little Yankee"! Unfornetly, Rylie loves him, so I can't ban him from her! Here is a slideshow of pictures from the game. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you have to agree that the city looks pretty!



Mariners Game

A thought from the Valley of Vision

"Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.
Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on
wings of grace,
to raise me to himself."

Thursday Thoughts

I have been studying Psalm 33 and all of the different reasons it gives us to worship God. The third reason to praise and worship God is that He loves righteousness and justice. The definition of "righteousness" is "the state of doing what is required according to a standard". God is the epitome of righteousness, He is the one who set the standard. Righteousness is the ethical and moral standard, this standard is the nature and will of God. God is perfect and therefore without sin. As Rylie says, "He's always good and never bad". He takes pleasure when we are righteous. Righteousness is exhibited only through conformity to the standards set out in the Word of God. When we are righteous we serve God, we do right deeds. We are obedient to God's law and become like Him, conforming to His nature.
"Justice" means "the state of deciding what is right without prejudice". God is the true authority, judge, ruler of all creation. He is the one who made everything, He has the right to rule it! God is just according to truth without partiality. Justice is not the same as fairness. Sometimes it may seem like God isn't fair (only because we don't see things from God's perspective), but He is always just. He loves it when people act with justice as well. We need to act without prejudice or partiality.
How wonderful that we have a God who is always good and right and true and just! How wonderful that He shows mercy on us! Praise Him this week when you see aspects of His righteousness and justice.

Wordless Wednesday (For Eric!)

Scenes from Father's Day

Rylie is sick! (and other random things)

Our Rylie girl is sick! She has a fever, so we're going to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully it is just a virus and not an ear infection. The poor thing is burning up and has hardly eaten anything. She even fell asleep watching Little Bear, which she never does because that's her favorite show. We've had a week and a half of sickness at our house, and I'm ready to be done with it!
We managed to feel well enough to go to Luke's big birthday party. (see Saturdays post for pictures)
Tonight our friend, Chantal is having her Bridal Shower. We are so excited for her and Justin. Ryan has had the honor of doing their premarital counseling and I get to do the devotional tonight and help out with the shower. It's so fun to watch them prepare for their new life together.
Rylie is being so expressive lately. She keeps saying "Oh, that's beautiful!", or "Oh, that's lovely!", etc. She will say this about all kinds of things from the mundane to the things that really are beautiful. She's also made up her own song about worms. She wiggles her finger and sings, "worm, worm, worm . . . " you get the picture. It's pretty cute. She's been asking me, "count with me" a lot lately too. Ryan and I just keep looking at each other amazed at the things she keeps saying!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Luke's Big Birthday Bash!

Luke’s Big Birthday Bash!

New Banner!

Thanks to my friend Stephanie, I have a new banner and a new blog template! Thanks for all your work Stephanie, in between classes and Mommying! (I'm feeling a little better! Thanks for the well wishes!)

Thursday Thoughts

Thursday Thoughts will be postponed this week because I'm sick! :( Hopefully I'll be back soon.

Wordless Wednesday!

Luke Turns One!!!

Happy Birthday Luke! Twelve months ago, baby Luke was born at only 4lbs! He has gone through a lot in his short life, including almost dying and having to be rushed to a NICU, and having major surgery on his arteries! Plus all the normal sickness (febrile seizures), and milestones that babies go through. We are so thankful and blessed to have him in our lives! We love him!

When we got the call that Pam's ultrasound didn't go very well and the doctor diagnosed Luke as failure to thrive in utero, I was devastated! But, God gave me Psalm 100 as reassurance that He is faithful. He is Luke's creator and loving Father. No matter what happened this holds true! We praise the Lord that tonight we had the privilege of watching him lick yummy frosting and shove ice cream in his mouth! (The girls enjoyed shoving ice cream in their mouths too and all of them ended up needing baths!) By the way, guess what word he was saying all night. . . Auntie! That's right, he loves me! Happy Birthday Lukeman!

Promotion Sunday

Yesterday, Rylie had her Sunday School promotion. Even though she's not moving up to a new class, she got a certificate and a gift. I was so proud of her, she was such a big girl! She walked up there with the rest of her class and stood there and received her certificate like a big girl! It's so amazing to me to watch her do these things independent of me. But, then again, today she's sick, so she's needed lots of Mommy snuggling!

More Conversations with a Toddler

Me: Good morning Sweat pea!
Rylie: Did Daddy go to work yet?
Me: No, remember, Daddy gets to stay home with you today and have a Daddy day.
Rylie: Can you go to work?
Me: Why, are you excited about Daddy day?
Rylie: (with a big grin) Cheeseburgers!!!

So, I lost out to the allure of Daddy and cheeseburgers!

New Movie!

For those of you that love Beverly Lewis' books, there is exciting news! Her book, The Redemption of Sarah Cain, is being made into a major motion picture set to debut in theatres this summer! It is called, Saving Sarah. Very exciting!

Thursday Thoughts

Two weeks ago, I started a study in Psalm 33. I found 14 reasons to praise God. Last week, I explored what it means by "His Word is right and true". This week I was thinking about the second reason, "He is faithful in all He does". This comes from verse 4. I looked up "faithful" in some Hebrew dictionaries and lexicons. The words used to describe this word were, trustworthy, realiable, steadfast, dependable, true, fidelity. These are definetly descriptive of God! He is by His very nature, faithful. He is faithful in His perfection, in His sinlessness. He has never sinned, nor will ever sin. What a comfort! The One who is in charge will be faithful to remain Holy. He is faithful to all of His promises. He promised to save me, adopt me as a joint heir with Christ, to keep me, to sustain me, to love me, to show me mercy, to protect me, to provide for me, to commune with me. . . I could go on and on. I do not deserve a single particle of any of these things. I am but dust, but He will be faithful to keep these promises to me! Amazing! (Thank you!) He is also faithful in His warnings of judgement and punishment. You can believe and trust in everything that He says.
I love Mount Rainier. Everytime I look at it, I feel a sense of power and permanence. I feel like it is realiable, it's not going to change or move. How much more powerful and immutable God is! Thousands upon thousands of times more reliable! This is a central part of God's character. This brings Him glory. He is not faithful to us to be nice to us, He is faithful to us because that is who He is and it brings Him glory. We just get the benefits of it. I need to not take things for granted or by any means assume that I deserve something. I need to be greatful for His faithfulness to me and others and give Him the praise and glory that He deserves! In this world of shifting shadows and unreliabilty around every corner I am so thankful I have a Rock that is called Faithful!

Wordless Wednesday! BBQ

Fun with Friends

John Paton Quote

My friend, Stephanie (of the Ryan and Stephanie blog fame), recently posted this quote by John Paton. I thought it was so convicting on where my perspective is. I asked her if I could steal it and she graciously said I could (thanks Stephanie!). So here you have it:
In the early 1800's, John Paton knew the Lord was calling him to the New Hebrides. However, he was already a successful pastor to a growing church ministry in Scotland. Many people tried to convince him not to go, but this only confirmed in his heart more that the Lord wanted him there.One gentleman protested, "The Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!" to which Paton simply replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is so to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms: I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer."Quote taken from John Paton's autobiography, John G. Paton; missionary to the New Hebrides.

Congratulations Edgar!

Edgar Martinez, the best Designated Hitter in all of baseball, was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame tonight! For those of you who don't know much about him, he retired three years ago after spending his entire major league career in Seattle. He received high praises from fellow players, coaches, the mayor, etc. He had a street named after him and a week dedicated to him. Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, gave him the very astute honor of forever naming the DH award after him! So, you have the Cy Young award and the Edgar Martinez award (and a few others, but it's very prestigious!). Edgar is a very humble person and accepted the hall of fame with grace. He even mentioned some people that he was worried that he forgot to thank in his retirement speech three years ago! That's just the kind of guy he is! I have heard that he is a Christian as well. He is an outstanding person, on and off the field (and coincidentally, my all time favorite player!) There is a campaign to get him inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, so if you know any sports writers, encourage them to vote for him! (Yes, the DH is a valid position!!!) In this picture that I've included, it shows him with 5 other legendary baseball players. He is pictured with them because he has the same series of stats as them! This humble, unassuming man started his career in Puerto Rico where he was too poor to have a real bat and glove, now he has a street and an award and deserves to be in Cooperstown!

Baseball Fun!

We are blessed to live very close to a minor league baseball park. We decided that the weather was perfect for a baseball game today! We had a blast! Rylie had fun yelling and dancing and eating a hot dog, but that wasn't her favorite part. Her favorite part was popcorn! The girl is serious about popcorn! We got a big tub of it and she ate nearly the whole thing by herself! Here are a few pictures from our evening. (By the way, we lost, but it came down to the last pitch, so it was an exciting game.)