Church defined?


Galations 5:4-6 The Message

4-6 I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.


NIV

4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Today we celebrate the legal birth of our family. It's been two years that have gone by faster than I ever imagined they would. As we drove to the courthouse September 29, 2004, Erin asked me what she should call her biological mom. I told her that the choice was hers to make and that no one would be mad at her for the decision she made. She said to me very mater of factly, "Well you are going to be my mom now and that makes her my aunt, so I think I should call her aunt." Inside I was dying from the pain I knew this might cause my sister. I told her that she didn't have to make the decision right then, but it was a decision I let her make. Over the past two years she's always called me mom. When she talks to my sister she calls her mom as well. It doesn't bother me because I think the more moms a person can have the better. Everyone has a different answer as to how we should work out this delima of having two moms. They all have their idea of what a perfect family looks like and how we should press ourselves into that mold. What I know after two years, is that Erin will not be okay if her biological mom is not involved in her life and if Erin is not okay, we are not okay.
Sometimes I feel the stress of being a young mother and the presure of raising a child that is not my own. Then, I stumble across a card that she has made me or a letter she's written about her happy family and I can't imagine that there is any other path than the one we have chosen.

One step forward and two steps back. Sometimes life is exactly like that. Erin has started telling lies again, senseless pointless lies. She hid the wheels to her wheelies in her backpack and told me they were in her top drawer. She told me she was helping a friend look for something yesterday when the teacher kept her after class. The first lie came with a consequence of no t.v., computer, or video games for the day I just found out about the second lie this morning. I've talked with her about how telling lies affects our relationship. I've told her that trust is built and that each lie takes one of the blocks of trust away.
She's talking and drawing in class when she should be paying attention. Her backpack and desk are a mess. She's forgotten to hand in papers that were due two weeks ago even though I've reminded her every morning to hand them in.
I'm frustrated and afraid. What am I doing wrong? Is there something I'm not doing that I should be doing? I don't want to push her so hard she breaks, but she has to learn that she must scary part of the load. I can not go to school with her every day to make sure that everything is done as it should be and that she isn't talking and drawing in class.
This morning I talked to her about self confidence and how it doesn't mean that you think you are perfect, but rather you know your strengths and your weaknesses and feel good about who you are as a person. I told her that knowing you have a weakness is only half the battle. The other half is accommodating that weakness. If you know your desk tends to get messy then you should go to class a few minutes early one or two times a week to organize it. I'm not sure she has the self monitoring tools to do this, and if she doesn't have them where will she get them? I'm afraid that middle school next year is going to break her. She has to have a firm grasp on these basic skill now and my methods of teaching them don't seem to be working. HELP!

In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church
where I kneel.

Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.

Is there not a region of love where the sovereignty is
illumined nothing.

where ecstasy gets poured into itself
and becomes lost,

where the wing is fully alive
but has no mind or
body?

In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque,
a church

that dissolve, that
dissolve in
God.

By Rabia
From Love Poems From God

I decided to tell Erin. I did it as gently as possible and made sure we had time to discuss it and answer any questions she had. Her main concern was that Brianna was not alone and that they (the hospital) made sure that she was really dead and not just in a coma. The night after I told her about it she had a dream that she was in the car and she was telling the driver "You can't lose control. You just can't lose control." She said to me "Mom, the driver didn't lose control and Brianna was okay. I wish we had a time eraser and I could make Brianna okay." I told her that every feeling she was having about the loss of Brianna be it anger, saddness, confusion, or just a wish that this didn't happen was normal and that she had every right to feel each of those things. I've answered all the questions I can and been honest about those that I can't. I can see that she is working through this and processing it in her own way. New loss has a way of brining old losses to the surface. I knew this was true for me and now I can see that it is true for Erin and probably every other livng being. Whatver this brings up, we wil work through together.

I need some advice. My mom called me yesterday to let me know that a friend Erin was very close to when she lived in Tulsa died in a car accident. While Erin hasn't spoken to this friend since she moved here, she does ask about her a lot. Just before Erin moved here her friend moved to Las Vegas. Erin sometimes talkes about how they planned to meet in the middle, or how we could go to Vegas and find her.
Should I tell Erin? The biggest part of me knows that I should, but a small part of me doesn't want to. I'm not at all sure how she is going to handle this news.
Please pray for the mom of this little girl. I only know that her name is Angel and that her daughter, Brianna, was her world. I don't want to imagine what she must be going through right now.

My mom and Erin standing in front of a huge Jelly Fish tank.

One of the many Humpback whales we saw on our whale watching trip. We didn't get to see one breech the water, but the sight of them smacking their tales on the water was amazing enough.

The lilly pad pond at the Conservatory of Flowers. They have lilly pads so large a small child can sit on them. Wanna give it a try with Sam, Becky?

I really want to see Jesus Camp. I'm sure it's a very slanted movie, but I don't care. I saw the previews of it, and my jaw droped. It reminded me of the song we used to sing in Sunday Scool, "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the calvery, soar or the enemy. I may never shoot the artilery, but I'm in the Lord's army." It's a little scary looking at it from this side of things, but at the time, I loved doing all the motions.
Survivor starts tonight. Yes, I watch it, and I'm not at all concerned about what that says about me.
Tonight is Back To School Night at Erin's school. I'll be going to her classroom to hear about what she'll be learning this year. Did I tell you all that her school has adopted a healthy eating policy? No more sweets of any kind at school for any reason. I'm glad they are teach children to eat healthy, but it almost feels like we are being watched by Big Brother and if we sneak in a cupcake were going to be eaten by rats. I'm not 100% sure that it's really their job to teach my daughter how to eat, but with the rate of childhood obesity climbing higher and higher each year, I can see where they think they might need to step in. Perhaps a better place to start would be the offerings of the school lunch menu. Pizza every day is hardly healthy and what about those little peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches without the crust? Isn't the crust the healthiest part and did you say you offered that in whole wheat oh I guess I must have read the menu wrong. You only have white bread.
I am signing up for the PTA. It should be an interesting year.

Getting used to my new schedule is proving to be a little more difficult than I thought. I'm so used to being free in the afternoon, but now I'm squeezing all my non-work-related activity into the few hours I have before and after work. It's not all bad. I love not having to be up at 5:30 in the morning. I do wish I had a little more time to spend with Erin. Luckily I have Mondays off so that will be our mom/daughter time.
The last few days of the month are always hectic with this job. I'm busy making one late call after another trying to get the last few payments in. It's exciting, I know!
I'm preparing for my mom's visit next week. We are doing a lot of tourist type stuff which should be fun. As long as I've lived here, I've never been down the famous Lombard Street, or seen China Town. I booked a tour with an open double decker bus like the kind comonly seen in London. The tickets were relativley cheap and it's a hop on/hop off type of tour so we don't have to wory about driving to each location and finding parking.
Today my wonderful husband is working for me so I can shampoo carpets and finish up the laundry. (Yes, this is what I like to do in my spare time.)
I called my grandpa today. He's still in the hospital, but should be released Wednesday. He sounds great!
I think it's official enough now that I can say, David has a job! He received their employment offer in the mail last week and accepted right away. They are finishing up some paperwork and then will call him with his start date. He's really excited, and I'm happy for him. The job will combine the knowledge he has of cars with his love of the computer industry. I'm happy to seem him inspired and excited.