Father's Day Tribute...

Jared Samuel, my beloved husband, I cannot even begin to say what it means to have you in my life, let alone to experience not only the sacrificial love you show me constantly, but how that fountain flows to our son. Yet I never feel second to him. I know that your love for me is second only to the love that you have for the Lord. Our children then follow.

You have one of the most tender hearts on the planet and yet your son absolutely recognizes your strength. Not only physically as you wrestle with him, carry him on your back, but also in who he can rely upon you to be. One of his first words was "ba-ble!" and that is because he sees his Daddy opening it daily and you demonstrate with your life how important it is to you to meditate upon this Word. He also has heard his Dada's voice in prayer so often...especially after we say the 23rd Psalm together before bed and you pray for his heart and soul to be the Lord's always.

It is so hard for me to imagine how, in your difficult times, you doubt how the Lord could love you because of where you are weak or fail. It is so hard to imagine because I see how naturally the love of the Abba Father flows to our son through you. He is far from perfect and has a (his mama's) temper, yet your patience is so constant and true. This isn't only what I trust to be true of you in these days, but I knew that you would meet the demands of fatherhood naturally. Yes, it has stretched and grown you experientially, but the capacity was so foundational to you that you flourished in the midst of it. JJ (and Susie) are among the most blessed children in the world to have you as their Daddy...I pray that they never take you for granted as their mama has all-too-often done.

Amidst all of this is the life-long calling we have embraced together to "walk alongside" the next generation. While in many cases you are a mentor, we both know that the void of true parenting, especially fathering, leaves a deep void in so many young people. I praise God that our son not only experiences a Dad who so faithfully walks alongside of him, but every young person that you touch also experiences this. Every young man who sees any bit of your life is blessed to experience someone counter-cultural, who LIVES extraordinarily and so strikingly different than the callous course of modern men. You are truly an amazing man who the Lord shines in and through and every life is blessed that comes into contact with you, most of all myself and then, close to that, our children.

My dear husband, today and every day I wish you JOY AND PEACE in Christ Jesus as you embrace who He has made you to be and continue to love Him in every area of your life. My deepest prayer is that the greatest gift of His unfailing love (Lamentations 3:22-23) nestles ever deeper in your heart especially through your daily joy of being such a father.

Happy Father's Day.

All my love,

Abigail

Father's Day '09 Montage

Since our church started to meet with another one, we have been going to the 9am service. Since I left teaching and have a husband who is able to (often) start work later, I really, really like to sleep in if I can. So, Father's Day morning was a little bleary-eyed with no "bells and whistles", but Jared did receive the gifts I had made for him and the card I'd made on Shutterfly (with the indispensable help of JJ's cuteness of course!). I fine dinner was to come later...

Here's "A DaDa" and JJ cuddling and looking at the album that I continued (more pictures below) which was first given last Father's Day.

Below are the gifts that I (we) gave Daddy. The top left are 3 photos that I framed of JJ and Jared. The one next to it is a close up of a shot I did in sepia of Jared and JJ overlooking Budapest! Jared didn't even remember it. I was able to crop out most of a light that had ruined part of the picture. (remember you can click on each collage to see them closer). The next framed one is of Jared and JJ when we met our friends at Daytona Beach. Those photos turned out so great because there was no one else at the beach so it looks like it is just Jared and JJ and the ocean.

All of the others are of the album. I took a picture of the opening page and then all of the pages that I did for this Father's Day. I didn't even get through half of what I have printed and cropped to do! I think I am going to finish with those and that will fill the album. I will probably go to digital after I am through with these because it will be easier and more "streamlined".



You can see in the collage above the page that says, "Father's Day '08". Jared and JJ dressed alike with green shirts and khaki's and so this year I thought they should do the same! Then I did another photo shoot with them in their matching outfits and bare feet...I think they turned out "so sweet!"

I love you MY BEAUTIFUL MEN! Especially on this Father's Day '09 Jared Samuel, I want you to know that you are the best Daddy for our children that I could ever imagine...I can't wait to see you with a daughter...your love is so real and tangible and I am blessed beyond what I can describe to have you as my husband, life mate and the father of our children.

"There is therefore now no condemnation...."

...for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life has set YOU free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh COULD NOT DO. By sending HIS OWN SON in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be met in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For to live according to the flesh is to set your mind on the flesh, but to live according to the Spirit is to set your mind on the Spirit. To set your mind on the flesh is DEATH, but to set your mind on the Spirit is LIFE AND PEACE." Romans 8:1-5



I think I got it all.



This is PART OF the most recent passage Jared and I have decided to memorize together. And this is as much as I have gotten in 2 days. (We are hoping to memorize ALL OF ROMANS 8!) We have memorized several passages of scripture together, but hadn't recently and he mentioned the other day that it would be good to memorize another one. After praying about different promises, etc. that would be good for both of us to meditate upon as we memorize a passage, the Lord immediately took me to Romans 8. Just in repeating this section over and over this evening, the life-changing reality of the Gospel and what God has given us in Christ became so deep and real and penetrating and victory-giving.



As a Mom of a young child with another COMING SOON!, as much as I'd love to pour through the theological books I did at other points in life, the reality of time and what my mind attaches best to as a Mom brings me more and more to Scripture. I want to remember great Promises of old (Lamentations 3:22-23; Matthew 11:28-30; Phil. 3:7-11; II Corinthians 4:16-18) that have met me in the darkest times of my life and focus myself upon "hiding in my heart" anew or more fully passages like Romans 8. Just beginning with this passage, I can already know I will be feasting in the time to come as I work through memorizing it. I will be able to recite the amazing progression of this chapter and I just need to repeat it when I think of it and add a little more each day...

I was partially inspired to memorize this passage remembering listening to a John Piper Sermon on memorizing scripture. "If My Words Abide in You" (download here) where he recites (I believe) the entire chapter of Romans 8 and it was so powerful to hear all together and then his personal testimony of how the Lord has used Scripture memorization in his life.

I hope you are encouraged...as a mom it's very simple and something that you can "SET YOUR MIND UPON" whether it's one simple verse for a month or a longer passage. I do want to encourage you in this...I am so blessed to have both been raised in a home where the Scriptures were brought to me at a young age and I began to memorize at church, and also I have a mind that can memorize pretty easily, but I know that the true blessing over the years in my life has been "calling to mind and therefore having hope..." (Lam. 3:21b) and this is the only foundation that I dare walk ahead in in my life. The Scriptures are our sword and in the uncertainty of what a day can bring, I don't want my heart to anchor itself on anything less.

May this meet you in a particular way in your journey...Keep the Faith!