Echoes of His Love...

We may sometimes be overcome with the cares of this life and forget our position in Christ and our blessed hope in Him. As always, Mr. Spurgeon has a good word for such occasions. Read and enjoy:

"Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest. Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His griefs; but how high ought our love to rise! Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet forever."

From C.H. Spurgeon's Morning, April 12th

"We cannot but admit that not even the least thing takes place unless it is ordered by God. For who have ever been so concerned and curious as to find out how much hair he has on his head? There is no one. God, however, knows the number. Indeed, nothing is too small in us or in any other creature, not to be ordered by the all-knowing and all-powerful providence of God."
- Huldryrch Zwingli
 

A visit with the Worden family

On April first, our family spent the afternoon visiting with our dear friends, the Worden family.
The time was spent in fun outdoors, eating delicious food, and fellowshipping by singing hymns and songs of praise to our LORD!
A big thank you to the Worden's for the wonderful time and the blessing of your friendship!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Philippians 1:3-5

Rebekah and Faith going out to see the chickens.

The three chickens. Mind you, the rooster was very protective of his girls, and frequently displayed a very hilarious show of crowing. =)

The boys had a very enjoyable time exploring new heights (in Lukes fort), riding bikes and communicating through the walkie-talkie airwaves!

Armed and dangerous! 

"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian."
-A.W. Tozer

Someone just had a Birthday!

Happy 14th Birthday Christianna!

March 28th, 2006 marked a special day in the life of the youngest girl in our family!
Celebrating her 14th Birthday, Christianna Hope continues to bless our family with her sweet smile, helpful hands and joyful spirit as she strives to serve her Savior in everything she does!

May God bless you with many more years to come!

Love always,

Grace <><

SPRING?????

To be Spring...

















... or not to be Spring,

That is the question!

Saturday morning we woke up to almost two inches of snow covering our Downriver world! Due to the early morning sunshine that was coming in my window, I was up and dressed before 7:00am and snapping some photos of our snow covered trees out the window. Then I remembered that a few days before, some of Faith's crocuses had been coming up and
blooming and upon seeing that they were not totally covered with snow I headed out side to get a closer look (and the above picture). Thankfully, God blessed us with a sunny day, and before the morning was out, almost all of the snow on our property was melted and at the end of the afternoon you would have never guessed that a single crystalized water droplet had fallen.

Happy 20th Birthday Grace!

From the tiny tot on tiptoes
to the graceful girl at twenty.
Two whole decades, how the time goes!
and the memories are plenty…

"Grace! Camera!" The call is a common one in our home. In response to it, a tall slim brunette with soft blue/gray eyes and a shy smile hurries down the steps with her digital camera in hand. Expertly adjusting the focus, exposure, and lighting, she is sure to get the best picture of whatever her siblings request, helping the whole family to preserve high quality(and resolution) memories for years to come.

Grace Elizabeth Sauvé, my second younger sister in age, is a kaleidoscope of talents and ideas. Her other middle name is "Creativity" and she constantly lives up to it, with new and inspiring ideas for decorating, crafts, and other useful or unique projects. Besides being a budding Photographer, she is a competent Artist, particularly in pastel paintings, and also excels at the sewing machine, and in several other hand crafts such as crocheting and macramé. A long standing dream of hers is to own her own horse, and the majestic animals are frequently featured in her paintings, and on her bedroom calendar. Recently, she has been studying herbs and essential oils with her sisters, and is always ready to help freshen any sick room with delightful aromas. In the kitchen, her talents take more of a Mexican flavor, and she delights her brothers with spicy dishes that send some of us searching for a glass of water, or perhaps a carton of ice cream? ;-) She also enjoys making some delicious desserts, in which chocolate is a frequent ingredient. But more important than her many physical talents and abilities, her crowning glory is a deep love for her Savior, and a desire to read His Word and strive to know Him better. She also loves to read books about the saints and martyrs of the past, and learn from their faith and perseverance in trials.

Grace, your love for the Lord is an encouragement and example to me! I am proud of you, and I pray that God will continue to mold you more and more into His Image, and that He will give you many opportunities to serve Him in the years to come! May you pass on your creative skills, and your love for the Lord to many generations after you!

Happy 20th Birthday !

Lots of love,
Your big sister,
Charity Joy

Even though Grace was not feeling 100% healthy due to a swollen throat, achy neck and low fever, she was still able to enjoy all the specialties for a birthday-girl and find delight and thankfulness in everything she was given!

The Cake! Tastefully and creatively make by Faith Ann. It was Grace's desire to have a three layered cake, two white with a chewy, chocolate brownie in the middle! Delicious!(note the REAL flowers that adorned the sides and top. A courtesy of God's glorious Spring coming to bloom in Downriver, Michigan!)

With all her presents! Grace was blessed with many gifts this year, including two picture frames, earings, batteries for her camera, a tatted doily from Faith who also made her a beautiful skirt, a journal, gardening book and some essential oils!

Charity's 7X7+1

Explanation: There is a blog game going around, you have to make 7 lists of 7 items about yourself. At the end of your lists you "tag" 7 other people to do the same. I was tagged by Allison Marshall, who was tagged by her sister Annick, who was tagged by Mr. Klaty, etc. :)

Well, I've never done one of these before, so here goes...;)

7 Things I'd like to do before I die

1. Be completely healthy.
2. Marry a godly young man with a vision for taking dominion for our Saviour.
3. With above young man - raise up many little blessings to help us "take dominion" for the Lord.
4. Live to see my great-great grandchildren.
5. Travel to Europe to see the places where our Ancestors in the Faith lived. (Especially Scotland;)
6. See a "truly" reformed Christian President in the White House.
7. Have a gentle, quiet, submissive spirit before the Lord, my family, and my future husband.

7 things I like to make with my hands

1. Knitted baby blankets
2. Crocheted doilies
3. long, flowing feminine dresses for me and my sisters to wear!:)
4.Tasty Sourdough bread(when it turns out)
5. Pencil Portraits
6. Healthy meals
7. Dainty Crosstitch pictures

7 Books I really enjoy reading after the Bible

1. Any Isabella Alden Book(too many to choose from!;)
2. Ben-Hur
3. The Count of Monte Cristo
4. Law & Liberty
5. Nourishing Traditions
6. Herbal Treasures
7. Ishmael & Self-Raised (set)

7 Men I really admire

1. My Dad
2. Doug Phillips
3. R.J. Rushdoony
4. Justice Tom Parker
5. Dr. John Eidsmoe
6. Judge Roy Moore
7. Jeff Botkin

7 Movies I like(or would like) to watch

1. Timechanger
2. Rigoletto
3. Ben-Hur
4. St. John in Exile
5. Flame in the Wind
6. Pride & Prejudice (would really like to!:)
7. Gettysburg

7 Things I do not do well

1. Be creative on my own without following directions.
2. Give a "soft answer" instead of retaliating
3. Give up my own wishes in preference of others
4. Keep my room as clean as it should be.
5. Finish every handcraft project that I start.
6. Exercise as often as I should.
7. Act interested in other's ideas and opinions.

7 Things I say often

1. Are you sure...?
2. Drat!
3. "... Munchkin.." (refering to one of my youngest siblings)
4. I need a hug!:)
5. Pweeeze!
6. Mom... I have a problem...;)
7. You have to read this!

1- 7 People I tag...

1. Dad
2. Theresa Eddy
3. Jessie White
4. Christianna Sauve
5. Tamra Klaty
6. Kelly Shepherd
7. Evvie Marshall

Go do it, and be truthful!:) I will be looking for your lists!;)

~Charity

Glory of Heaven - Jim Elliot

“I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious, to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and give oneself again to God-what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, and smile into his eyes—ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.

“O Jesus, Master and Center and End of all, how long before that Glory is Thine which has so long waited for Thee? Now there is no thought of thee among men; then there shall be thought for nothing else. Now other men are praised; then none shall care for any other’s merits. Hasten, hasten, Glory of Heaven, take Thy crown, subdue Thy Kingdom, enthrall Thy creatures.” (From the Journals of Jim Elliot).

Visiting with the Hyslops

This past Tuesday we spent a lovely time at the Hyslop's. They had invited us over for the afternoon and evening, with the repeated reminders to "bring your snow stuff!" (the following pictures show why) We all had a wonderful time, playing and fellowshiping with this dear family, and are so thankful for their friendship and love in the Lord.

Here Christianna and Abbie take off down the hill. There were a couple bumps to either aim at or avoid, (usually you ended up doing the opposite of what you had intended:-) and a brier patch to get stuck in at the bottom of the hill if you veered too far off the main track. Fun, fun, fun!!

Miss Abbie Hyslop . . . enjoying the sledding hill.