Feel weak?

Encouragement from John Newton:

Our experiences pretty much tally; they may be drawn out into sheets and quires, but the sum total may be comprised in a short sentence, "Our life is a warfare." For our encouragement the apostle calls it a good warfare. We are engaged in a good cause, fight under a good Captain, the victory is sure beforehand, and the prize is a crown, a crown of life. Such considerations might make even a coward bold. But then we must be content to fight; and considering the nature, number, situation, and subtlety of our enemies, we may expect sometimes to receive a wound; but there is a medicinal tree, the leaves of which are always at hand to heal us. We cannot be too attentive to the evil which is always working in us, or to the stratagems which are employed against us; yet our attention should not be wholly confined to these things. We are to look upwards likewise to Him, who is our Head, our Life, our Strength. One glance of Jesus will convey more effectual assistance than poring upon our own hearts for a month. The one is to be done, but the other should upon no account be omitted. It was not by counting their wounds, but by beholding the brazen serpent, the Lord's instituted means of cure, that the Israelites were healed. That was an emblem for our instruction. One great cause of our frequent conflicts is that we have a secret desire to be rich, and it is the Lord's design to make us poor. We want to gain an ability of doing something; and He suits His dispensations, to convince us that we can do nothing. We want a stock in ourselves, and He would have us absolutely dependent upon Him. So far as we are content to be weak, that His power may be magnified in us, so far we shall make our enemies know that we are strong, though we ourselves shall never be directly sensible that we are so; only by comparing what we are, with the opposition we stand against, we may come to a comfortable conclusion, that the Lord worketh mightily in us (Psa. xli. 11).

Just feeding the family :)

Look at that keeper!

Back in July Joe went sturgeon fishing for the first time with Julie's dad & a family friend on the Columbia River. He'd been wanting to go for quite some time, but the trip they'd planned for June got cancelled because of some crazy wind in the gorge. Believe it or not that prehistoric looking fish was one of very few caught that day (my hubby probably got quite a few jealous glances from seasoned fishermen) and tasted great (though I'm no expert at cooking it yet). The nice thing about sturgeon is that at 47" long, even split among the three guys in the boat there was enough for at least two dinners for each family.

On another note, baby Isaiah is still doing well. He's an active little guy and we're getting quite excited for his arrival in October. Of course, things are getting a bit uncomfortable for mommy, but the Lord has been gracious during the pregnancy. I really tried to get a couple of pictures to show how big I'm getting in the last few weeks, but I left our camera in Oregon on a recent trip. So I'll post a few after my mom visits in a few weeks.

Joe just finished his summer job on Friday and is heading back to Providence Classical Christian School for teacher prep week on Monday. Things will definately pick up the pace from here on out and I may need a few more naps to try to keep up.