Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Another "I'd Like to Kiss the Inventor" Post
Mrs. Beaver:
In June I posted about my fondness for the invention of Skype. Just now I found myself thanking God for another fairly recent (all things are relative--I'm 50 years old!) technical development.
Texting can be a great blessing to a marriage! Yes, texting! Mr. Beaver and I have fallen into the habit of sending each other a few little love notes throughout the workday. We still use texting for the mundane necessary task of keeping in touch to help keep the family functioning, but we also use the communication tool for ROMANCE!
What an encouragement it is to receive a note of adoration from your spouse! And, for me, purposing to be creative in sending "sweet little nothings" to Mr. Beaver requires that I rehearse in my own heart and mind the countless ways in which I am deeply blessed to be his wife. Boy, is that a good exercise in midst of the demanding daily-ness of life!
Sending tender words a few times a day helps beautify our 28-year-old marriage, and the state of our marriage matters. It matters a great deal, in fact. First, the strength and beauty of our marriage is our children's primary source of security. Some day we pray Christ will take that place in their hearts, but until that time our union is that to which they look to know that they can successfully face their struggles in this life. We have 12 (soon to be 16) children watching us.
Second, the state of our marriage is either going to encourage our children to marry someday or drive them to another option. And I don't just mean being single. Living with someone? Developing a relationship with a person of the same gender? As I said, the state of our marriage matters a great deal.
Finally, our culture is watching. Our culture has written off the marriage of one-man-to-one-woman-for-a-lifetime as an out-dated institution. But that's NOT what the Bible says! So, our job as Christians is to show the world that matrimony, which was designed BY God to be a picture of the relationship between His Son, Jesus, and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33), is a wonderful place to spend a lifetime. The state of our marriages will either endorse or mock our witness for Christ. The health of our marriages matters a great deal.
Now I realize as I write this that romantic texting won't be for everyone. Not every husband will want his pocket to vibrate that many more times each day. However, can I please encourage you, wives, to try a bit of romantic texting before guessing at your hubby's preference. You just might be surprised at his response. He may just be hungering to know that you're glad you married him. And, I know, that the principle for lovey-dovey texting is biblical. In Ephesians 5:33 (NASB) Paul emphatically states:
All that said, I'm off to text a few words of admiration to my beloved! If you run into the inventor of texting, give him my heartfelt thanks!
In June I posted about my fondness for the invention of Skype. Just now I found myself thanking God for another fairly recent (all things are relative--I'm 50 years old!) technical development.
Texting can be a great blessing to a marriage! Yes, texting! Mr. Beaver and I have fallen into the habit of sending each other a few little love notes throughout the workday. We still use texting for the mundane necessary task of keeping in touch to help keep the family functioning, but we also use the communication tool for ROMANCE!
What an encouragement it is to receive a note of adoration from your spouse! And, for me, purposing to be creative in sending "sweet little nothings" to Mr. Beaver requires that I rehearse in my own heart and mind the countless ways in which I am deeply blessed to be his wife. Boy, is that a good exercise in midst of the demanding daily-ness of life!
Sending tender words a few times a day helps beautify our 28-year-old marriage, and the state of our marriage matters. It matters a great deal, in fact. First, the strength and beauty of our marriage is our children's primary source of security. Some day we pray Christ will take that place in their hearts, but until that time our union is that to which they look to know that they can successfully face their struggles in this life. We have 12 (soon to be 16) children watching us.
Second, the state of our marriage is either going to encourage our children to marry someday or drive them to another option. And I don't just mean being single. Living with someone? Developing a relationship with a person of the same gender? As I said, the state of our marriage matters a great deal.
Finally, our culture is watching. Our culture has written off the marriage of one-man-to-one-woman-for-a-lifetime as an out-dated institution. But that's NOT what the Bible says! So, our job as Christians is to show the world that matrimony, which was designed BY God to be a picture of the relationship between His Son, Jesus, and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33), is a wonderful place to spend a lifetime. The state of our marriages will either endorse or mock our witness for Christ. The health of our marriages matters a great deal.
Now I realize as I write this that romantic texting won't be for everyone. Not every husband will want his pocket to vibrate that many more times each day. However, can I please encourage you, wives, to try a bit of romantic texting before guessing at your hubby's preference. You just might be surprised at his response. He may just be hungering to know that you're glad you married him. And, I know, that the principle for lovey-dovey texting is biblical. In Ephesians 5:33 (NASB) Paul emphatically states:
So, wives, if your husband would prefer that you express your ardor for him in some way other than texting, pray for the Lord's wisdom. Ask Him to show you other methods or tools you can use to encourage and build up your man. I know God will answer your plea. He was the one who issued the command that we respect our men. And what He commands, He enables, if we'll only ask Him for the help."...the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."
All that said, I'm off to text a few words of admiration to my beloved! If you run into the inventor of texting, give him my heartfelt thanks!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
What Do You Think?
Mrs. Beaver:
Doesn't this photo capture the very essence of a father's protection?
...the nearness...
...the encircling arm...
...the touch...
...the watchfulness...
...the focus...
...the willingness to wait...
...the sacrifice of self.
Amazingly, we have a God who is a perfect Father.
Through the sacrifice of his own Beloved Son, Jesus,
this Father has seen to it that our every need is met
both temporal and eternal.
In Him, we are perfectly protected from all that is not good for us.
What love!
"He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him over for us all,
how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"
Romans 8:32, NASB
What love!
He is all we need.
God's Little Blessing
Mrs. Beaver:
Yesterday morning the Lord brought two things (for lack of a better word) together at just the perfect time. I was feeling strong enough to pick up a camera for the first time since my surgery a little over a week ago. In addition, my granddaughter, Brielle, was wide awake. I thank God for His gift of "coincidence." Here is the result:
Yesterday morning the Lord brought two things (for lack of a better word) together at just the perfect time. I was feeling strong enough to pick up a camera for the first time since my surgery a little over a week ago. In addition, my granddaughter, Brielle, was wide awake. I thank God for His gift of "coincidence." Here is the result:
Friday, July 6, 2012
Grandpa's Beard
Mrs. Beaver:
This morning Grandpa and month-old Brielle spent some time together.
This gave her the opportunity for a new sensory experience: touching Grandpa's beard!
At first, she wasn't sure she cared for his bristles.
But in the end...
...she decided Grandpa's beard wasn't so bad after all.
Getting the chance to cuddle with him was worth any sacrifice his furry face might require!
She even got to be Grandpa's doll baby as he joined in the play of her Aunt Amy (L) and Aunt Oksana!
Lissie and Her Little Love
Mrs. Beaver:
 |
| Photo Credit - Natasha |
Lissie loving on her four-weeek-old niece, Brielle, daughter of Aaron and Anna.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A Flood of Memories...
Mrs. Beaver:
When I sorted photos this morning which were taken by the family paparazzi at the airport last night, this photograph caught me off guard. I found myself weeping. A long-forgotten memory had been stirred.
When Mr. Beaver and I were first married, he was in the U. S. Navy, training to become a nuclear engineer aboard one of our country's submarines. As the photo above flashed onto my screen this morning, I was taken back to autumn 1985. My husband was standing in front of a similar flag, posing for me as I snapped a picture. The big event? The base commander had just pinned a single gold bar on his collar, promoting him to Lieutenant JG (Junior Grade). It was my beloved's first change in rank. He was now one very small step above the lowest officer rank of ensign, but I was so proud of him as he stood there straight and tall, demonstrating the military bearing he'd learned at Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island two years earlier.
On the October afternoon that came flooding back to my memory early this July 4th, Mr. Beaver was wearing his carefully-ironed, dress-white polyester uniform. He and the other young men present had just finished 10 weeks of weapons training on the small Naval base at Dam Neck, Virginia. The ceremony marked not just the promotion of a handful of naval officers, it also acknowledged that these men had completed nearly two years of intense training. Each of them would now be shipped to a base on one of the coasts and attached to a nuclear submarine. While many of the men had long treks ahead of them to the west coast, ours was a fairly short drive to Charleston, South Carolina. For the next three years Mr. Beaver would serve aboard the USS Lewis and Clark, a ballistic missile submarine. The ship's quiet mission was America's security as the Cold War arms race continued to define the relationship between the United States and Russia (then the Soviet Union), just as it had since the end of World War II.
When Mr. Beaver's required service ended, he decided to leave the Navy. He loved the work but knew life in the submarine service would require us to be separated nearly fifty percent of the time. We hadn't even begun dating when Mr. Beaver signed up for the Navy so time with a wife and the needs of a family hadn't been a consideration. (While we chose a different lifestyle, we're deeply indebted and grateful to those who have made the sacrifice of serving for an entire career in the military.)
So much has taken place since that October afternoon nearly 30 years ago. The Cold War is history. My husband has been a food marketer now for five times as long as he was employed by the Navy. But in a strange twist following Mr. Beaver's U.S. military service, God has placed nine children born in the former USSR amongst our number. Seeing Mr. Beaver cradling his first grandchild with the U.S. flag in the background reminded me just how faithful God has been to the two of us since our days as a young military couple through the ongoing era of adding groups of older Russian kiddos to our family and into this new season as grandparents. Looking back, as this photo caused me to do, I can see that His love and care has been a constant in our lives. I wept with relief this morning as I stumbled on this photo. I'd been reminded. I have a God who can be counted on...depended on...leaned on...leaned into. He was with us on that warm fall afternoon long, long ago. He is with us now as I recover from last week's surgery, and He will be with us as we add a sibling group of four. I sit beneath the shadow of His wing and smile into the future.
Mr. Beaver's Turn
Mrs. Beaver:
Last night my beloved husband got to meet his first grandchild.
This first picture is blurry but too important to leave out.
What a joy to watch as my first child, Anna, introduced her daddy to her first child!
We're in a season of being overwhelmed by God's lovingkindness to us!
Doesn't this photo say it all?
To God be the glory!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Please, Take a Look...
Mrs. Beaver:
I'd like to call your attention to the blogs of dear friends.
The first blog is called Matches and Dynamite, shared by the mom whose children Jaynie taught during her first four months in Central Asia during late 2011. The family traveled to America for the birth of their fourth son, but they have just recently moved back to Central Asia. The tranistion has been more difficult for them than they anticipated after living in the country for several years. The wound on the face of the oldest boy is a dog-bite. Jaynie says the woman holding the baby several photos later delivers their milk three or four times a week.
The other blog chronicles the adventures of the family whose children Lissie will be teaching during the coming school year in yet another Central Asian country. You can get a peek at what Lissie's life will look like by reading In All Things.
Both families are so driven by their love of God that they've been willing to give up the myriad comforts and conveniences of life in America to serve the people groups amongst whome they live. Please pray for both families. Pray for strength, endurance, God's grace, and impact in their locations.
I'd like to call your attention to the blogs of dear friends.
The first blog is called Matches and Dynamite, shared by the mom whose children Jaynie taught during her first four months in Central Asia during late 2011. The family traveled to America for the birth of their fourth son, but they have just recently moved back to Central Asia. The tranistion has been more difficult for them than they anticipated after living in the country for several years. The wound on the face of the oldest boy is a dog-bite. Jaynie says the woman holding the baby several photos later delivers their milk three or four times a week.
The other blog chronicles the adventures of the family whose children Lissie will be teaching during the coming school year in yet another Central Asian country. You can get a peek at what Lissie's life will look like by reading In All Things.
Both families are so driven by their love of God that they've been willing to give up the myriad comforts and conveniences of life in America to serve the people groups amongst whome they live. Please pray for both families. Pray for strength, endurance, God's grace, and impact in their locations.
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