Good Friday

It is Good Friday and there is so much to ponder. On this day, Jesus Christ made the greatest act of love that this world has ever known or will know. Never has there been a greater sacrifice. The Son of God hung on a cross- brutally scorned, mocked, spat on. When I think of the pain our Savior endured my pride is blown to the ground. It was my sin that He took upon His shoulders. But I am ever so thankful that He chose to love. He chose to die so that we may live. We will LIVE forever. Not because of ANYTHING we have done- ONLY because He died and paid the punishment for our sins. We will live eternally in heaven with God if we repent and except God's gift of eternal life, given by grace alone.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:6-8

So today, I am mindful of and thankful for Jesus' amazing gift. As though I haven't given you enough to chew on....... here's a poem and 2 songs that have been running through my head.

The Greatest Gift of Love

As I think of this day, and my comfortable life
I can't help but imagine all the terrible strife
That sweet Jesus endured, and all for our gain.
For our gift of life, the Son of God was slain.

On that dark somber day our Christ Jesus was hung
On a cross made of wood, a victory won.
Each bitter thought was placed on his head
The price was paid- “It is finished,” he said.

I cannot comprehend this incredible act.
Such love we were shown, and we can't pay it back.
Undeserving, unappreciative, and selfish am I.
My heart breaks to think- for my sins did the Savior die.

On this day of rememberance, as we ponder it all.
May our hearts feel the grief, the results of the Fall.
May we see the great love that sweet Jesus has shown.

May the gift of salvation in this world be made known.

Molly 4/10/09

You all probably know this son but take a moment and ponder these wordsds:

How Deep the Father's Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

And make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon his cross

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

Are you moved? Touched? Do you know this Son of God who died?? Will you join me in Heaven someday?? My prayer for this blog is always that God would use it to turn hearts to Christ. On this Good Friday as we consider this incredible free gift, would you consider taking apart in it? If you have not accepted God's free gift of grace and salvation, please do not hesitate!!

Praying you have a memorable Easter weekend. We are heading to our Good Friday service and I'm looking forward to communing, fellowshiping, and worshiping together with the Body tonight.

Love you all,

Molly

Happy Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. I told my mom this morning, "Tonight I'm spending the evening with my little valentine!" This year, I had my own little valentine. I babysat tonight for a sweet 9-month old boy while his mommy and daddy went out on a date night. We played with his choo-choo, rubber duck, read books, cuddled on the couch while he drank his bottle, and sang songs before bed. Thank you sweet Samuel for being my valentine today!

The other reason I love Valentine's Day is seeing all of these romantic fathers and husbands love on their wives and daughters. It is so sweet. I loved seeing the anticipation in wive's faces today as they excitedly talked about their "suprise date" tonight. I loved seeing my friend's face light up when she saw her dad had gotten her and her sister balloons and cards today. It's just fun and makes me happy.

Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day! :) Remember that you are loved more than you can imagine!!

Love,

Molly

Labor Day Weekend!!

We had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. Yesterday we took off for an overnight at my aunt and uncle's house. It was our first time spending the night in their new home and seeing it all put together with furniture and the finished touches. We had LOTS LOTS LOTS of laughs. I hadn't laughed that much since New York probably. We had good food and fun fellowship. Oh, and polar swimming in their pool. The boys were totally comfortable but my swims never lasted for more than 5 minutes before I had to get out and lay in the sun to warm up! :)

P.S. Aunt Diane, please give us a call whenever you need help locating mysterious beeping. We will jump from the couch IMMEDIATELY to go and help you! I'm laughing as I type this and I'm not kidding. The boys are looking at me funny and asking why I'm laughing out loud! We are NOT going to let you live that one down!

Enjoy the pics!! Someone just told me recently that the slideshows don't work, so I'm putting pics up individually.

Zzzzz... hehe!

Mom helping Aun Diane decorate their new house!

Not sure why I uploaded this one...

This picture makes me smile! :)

Another nap, Uncle Dan?!

Poolside!!

TRYING to throw Noah into the pool. but we weren't strong enough!! lol!

Looking like a 9 year old with no makeup and having done nothing to my hair... blah!

LOVE this type of pic. I wish the other brother was in it.

Rummy..... our new favorite game!

Helping Aunt Diane organize her new kitchen!!! My specialty! Just kidding lol!

Everybody have a GREAT week!! :) I thought I was starting my online stuff tommorow but it doesn't start till FRIDAY! I'm serious, I don't think I can wait another 3 days to start. It's depressing to not have anything to do that I feel is productive. If I feel useless it's not a good thing! lol! Ughh... I will have to find something to occupy my time. I'm so motivated to start my school but I can't! So frustrating!

Happy Birthday Noah and Caleb!!!

We celebrated Noah and Caleb's 13th birthday on Tuesday night. It was a couple of weeks early but we'll be at Family Camp over their real birthday and it was going to be too hard to hide a ping-pong table in the garage for 2 weeks! :) So we celebrated early. We went to Chili's for chips and salsa (YUMMY!!) and then back to the house for gifts. We'll do cake and birthday dinner on a different night. As I said, they got a ping-pong table from one aunt and uncle, $ from another aunt and uncle, and a Wii from my parents. The Wii is a blast. I love it!! :) But I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE 13!!!! Don't miss the video on the bottom of the boys seeing their Ping-Pong table.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!! We woke up to a cold and rainy morning but it didn't dampen our moods. It was a very full day. We woke up and went to church, came home, ate lunch, and then my Mom and I went to the nursing home so I could model my prom dress for their "Mother's Day Tea." I did it with my friend Kristen which made it alot more fun than if I'd done it by myself. Then we came home and I finished my mom's gift which was a DVD with a slideshow of pictures and home videos on it. I'm hoping to post that on here next if I can figure out how! :) Then my brothers and I took Mom out for dinner (my Dad's working today) at Pizza Hut. After dinner we came home and my Mom opened our gifts which consisted of some cute Post It notes and the video. We just came up from watching the video twice. My Mom liked it. :) You might have to click "View All Images" to see this slideshow. It does work, I promise. Sorry, I'm still figuring out how to do this.

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter to everybody!! It has been a cold easter for us. Whenever I think of Easter I think of warm, spring weather so that all the girls can wear their new summer-y dresses to church. Well... all of the girls still wore their dresses but we froze. As I sit in our cozy family room blogging the snow is coming down in HUGE flakes. Yep it's snowing on our spring break. Noah exclaimed, "Why don't they just call it winter break?!!" Either way, I hope that it decides to be springtime soon!! I'm ready to break out the cute spring clothes and flip-flops!! But back to Easter, we had my Aunt Diane, Uncle Dan, cousin Jon, and Lil over for lunch after church. They came to the service to hear me play piano and sing in the choir so that was fun to have them there. I failed to get a picture of us at the dinner table but we had a good time eating delicious food, talking, playing games, and, of course, watching the NCAA games. I didn't participate in that activity but the men did.

Here's a picture of the winter weather:

A picture of the us kids after church:

Easter Egg Fun!!

Tonight we colored Easter eggs. It was fun and we had lots of laughs. Here's some more pictures (i look really bad in them because I'd already gotten ready for bed!):

And I also wanted to say thanks for all of the sweet comments that have been left on this blog. It's been so encouraging.

Beautiful Flowers

Mom's birthday was on Wednesday and she received two BEAUTIFUL bouquets!!! The aroma of them still lingers in the kitchen and when we first received them it was so pungent you could smell it everywhere. I couldn't help but think about what our pastor always says about Christians. He says, "A Christian is either the sweet aroma of life or the stench of death." To a non-Christian, our hope in eternal life only reminds them of their mortality and their miserable future. But to one who loves the Lord, we bring the sweet aroma of life. So as I smelled the flowers, I was reminded of this. I was reminded of the new life that springtime brings and the beautiful redemption our Savior gave to us so long ago at Easter time.

I had a great time taking pictures of the flowers today and then messing around on my new favorite photo editing website, http://www.picnik.com/ Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

May our lives be a fragrant aroma......

a light in the dark....

And a bright spot in the lives of those who are searching. Searching for love, hope, peace, and joy. The joy of Christ our Savior who died for me. He took every sin upon his shoulders, beared the pain and punishment we were to bear. He died for me, you, and anyone who will accept His free gift of eternal life. May He touch your heart this Easter, and show you His great love and grace.

Happy Valentines Day!!!!!!!

Happy Valentines day to everybody!!! I hope you all were shown a little love today!

We ate dinner as a family tonight and spent the evening just hangin' out. Mom and Dad always give us a small gift every year but this year we had to wait until after school to open them because Dad was at work this morning. Caleb could hardly bear to wait another 7 HOURS to open his present! We had a "Buy One Get One Free Blizzard" coupon from Dairy Queen which expires today and so Mom and Caleb are coming in the door with our frosty treats.

Caleb and I are heading off to Kankakee tommorow for a Band/Choir trip with Cornerstone. My aunt and uncle from Maryland are flying in tommorow as well so it will be a very busy weekend!!! I'll post some pics. from both activities when I get a chance!

Have a fantastic weekend!