Captivating...

I'm reading the book, "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul", by John and Stasi Eldredge. After graduating from college, Stasi hitchhiked thru Europe and as a proud feminist wore a necklace of a symbol of a woman with a fist in the middle - independent and strong. This was after many heartaches. The message of Captivating is this: Your heart matters more than anything else in all creation. The desires you had as a little girl and the longings you still feel as a woman (yet have been pushed aside, wounded, buried) - to be swept up into a romance, to play an irreplaceable role in a GREAT adventure, to be the Beauty of the story - they are telling you of the life God created you to live. He offers to come now as the Hero of your story, to rescue your heart and release you to live as the fully alive and feminine You - whom He thinks is truly captivating.
Doesn't this remind you of all the Disney movies we grew up with? My personal favorite is "Beauty and the Beast". Belle is not an airhead, loves books, doesn't want the provincial life, longs for adventure and finds romance in a peculiar way. With Christ, reflecting Him - our fairy tales are transformed into a true story.

I am finding myself intrigued with Captivating. Some people love it - some hate it. One female professor at Talbot loves it and uses it in her class. Another female professor at Biola published an article against the book for its bad theology. Have you read it? What do you think?

Winding things down...

Our school year is slowly coming to a close. Some of our weekend activities:

8th grade banquet... with his buddies.


Talbot baccalaureate... Grandpa giving the charge...

... Dad serving communion.


unwinding...




...Saucy style

the MAN CAVE...

I realized that this blog is sorely lacking a view from Mark's corner, so here we are. His corner just has to begin with his MAN CAVE (a real term)...

definition:
man cave: "A room, space, corner or area of a dwelling that is specifically reserved for a male person to be in a solitary condition, away from the rest of the household in order to work, play, involve himself in certain hobbies, activities without interruption."


We converted our back shed into Mark's prized MAN CAVE...



It's filled with Mark's kinds of tools where he chews on "brain candy". Check out the Sundoulos link to read his latest morsel. (This issue of the Sundoulos is dedicated to Talbot's Extension at Kyiv Theological Seminary. See also Anatoly Prokopchuk's article.)

Then there is the more dignified non-cave at Talbot.
Mark's impressions at the end of his first year...

"I appreciate the community among the Talbot faculty and the university atmosphere."


"I always enjoy the students."

" ...pretty well, relatively normal."

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by now since we returned from Ukraine and I was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. People often ask me (Bonnie) how I'm doing or how I'm feeling these days. My reply is, "...pretty well, relatively normal." I thought I'd explain what is well or normal for me. I'm so thankful for God's grace to me that I can answer in this way, that I forget that I don't feel 100%. Less than 100% mainly is that my body aches all over every morning or after having sat for awhile - upon standing up. My joints are also pretty weak - kneeling down, opening a jar, carrying groceries, etc. are met with some pain. A half hour nap in the afternoon revives my energy. Hmmm...I think that's it. None of this is debilitating. I garden, cook, clean, helped in the church nursery, have friends over for lunch and even go on roller coaster rides with my guys at Magic Mtn ...and then rest.

I take arimidex daily, which is an estrogen blocker and have an aredia infusion once a month for my bones. I also take extra vitamins and supplements and try to exercise and eat healthily - not always succeeding.

How do I feeeeeeel? I (we) meet each doctor check up with some dread and anxiety, wondering if the test results will read that the cancer has begun to spread again. They are about every 2 months or so. Everything remains clear right now - thank you, Jesus - I know that's from You!, but you can pray for me to have Christ's perspective in meeting these check ups - I'm going to have them the rest of my life. One of my strongest emotions - I treasure Mark, Ben and Josh and thank the Lord for them.

Well, does that help? Thank you for caring...
'but He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.' 2 Corinthians 12:9

Happy Mother's Day!

We'll be away this weekend, so we had an early celebration...


Dinner by our two chefs...

the menu of the evening ...

... for Grandma and Mama
Mama with her row of flowers.