Revelation

It's late and my mind seems to be racing with all the thoughts running through my head that I can't seem to turn off. As we anguish over the decision laid before us, once again a song seems to express my feelings and emotions better that I can. If only I were eloquent enough to explain what is in my heart tonight. The Christian group, Third Day, says it much better:

My life has led me down the road that' so uncertain...

This time, I know you are holding all the answers...

My life has led me down this path that's ever winding
Through every twist and turn I'm always finding....

Give me a revelation
Show me what to do
Cause I've been tryin' to find my way,
I haven't got a clue
Tell me should I stay here,
Or do I need to move
Give me a Revelation
I've got nothing without You
I've got nothing without You

I don’t know where I can turn
Tell me when will I learn
Won't You show me where I need to go
Let me follow Your lead,
I know that it's the only way I can get back home

Give me a revelation,

Show me what to do

Cause I’ve been tryin’ to find my way,

I haven’t got a clue

Tell me should I stay here,

Or do I need to move

Give me a revelation

I’ve got nothing without You

I’ve got nothing without You

Revelation by Third Day

14!

Emily turned 14 today!

It is hard to believe she is so grown up. She has become such a beautiful young woman.

On Saturday, we celebrated at our house with the family. Emily chose to have fried chicken and a Matt Kenseth cake.

She is a huge NASCAR fan and has enjoyed being able to watch it this year.

Allan and I are learning to like it.Afterwards, we went go-karting per Emily's request. She has always had a need for speed and she drives around the track pedal to the metal. I might need to be scared of her turning 16.

Here is a final picture of Emily this morning after breakfast ready to open presents

God of This City

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head? Usually when that happens to me, it drives me crazy. Often it is some bizarre song that I don’t even really like. In the last few weeks I have had the song “God of This City” by Chris Tomlin suck in my head. This time, it is driving Will crazy. You see there aren’t too many words to this song and I tend to sing the same 3 lines over and over. On the other hand, I have liked having this song playing over and over in my brain. The Lord has really used it as a great reminder of why we are serving in the Philippines. As we struggle to raise enough support to return to the Philippines, it helps me remember that He isn’t done with Manila yet regardless of what our future holds. There is Hope among the poor and hopeless of Manila. Please pray with us that we will be able to return to the Philippines in late July and share His Love, Grace and Mercy there.

Below are the lyrics to this song along with some pictures of things that flash through my mind as I hear it. You can hear this song at http://www.last.fm/music/Chris+Tomlin/_/God+Of+This+City?autostart It will start playing automatically.

God of this City

by Chris Tomlin You’re the God of this City
You’re the King of these People
You’re the Lord of this Nation
You Are

You’re the Light in this darkness
You’re Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless
You Are
There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For Greater things have yet to come
and greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
We believe, we believe in you God

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

SNOW!

Since December the kids have hoped and prayed for some of that white stuff and yesterday those prayers were answered. The heavy rains began changing over to snow around 3pm and it snowed constantly until almost midnight. We received 6.5"! (Ok for those of you in places like Chicago, I realize that is almost nothing, but for South Carolina it's a big deal) The kids are thrilled and so thankful to be able to trek back in forth through the woods to their cousins'. We lost power about 11:30 last night, but it was restored about 4am. My brother is still without so everyone converged upon our house for lunch. The afternoon temps are expected to reach 40 so the kids are busy trying to get their fill of snowball fights, sledding, and snowmen before then. Here are a few pictures we took this morning. Some of them were taken in the woods behind our house. We headed out for a walk back there around 8:30 this morning. It was so beautiful and we loved trudging through the deep untouched snow. Thankfully the kids have some old snow pants to wear so they aren't too wet or cold and can stay out all day. I've never taken a snow day in homeschooling before, but sometimes you got to stop and throw a snowball or 2.

Pelting Dad with snowballs

Yesterday around 5pm

Today around 9:30am

We took a gorgeous walk through these woods this morning

A Bridge down in the woods behind our house