Sunshine and Bluebonnets

Sunnie enjoyed posing for pictures one Sunday after church in the Bluebonnets. Ronnie found this pretty place while working. It was beautiful and even more beautiful with our little ray of Sunshine in the middle.

She really had fun running through the flowers and we had fun watching.

Easter

Sunnie Kay

Nautika

Gwen

I love Easter. What a wonderful day HE LIVES!! I am really slow about getting my post for this holiday added. John, Carmen, Bradley, Ben, and Sunnie came to Harvest Time with us, Misty, Caleb, and Tyler attended church at Trinity and Bethany and Jeff went to First Baptist. I am so thankful for our family.



Later in the day we had the annual Wolfhill Egg Hunt at Grandma's. We had so much fun. We even hid a few eggs for the older kids to hunt...with a couple of prize eggs thrown in. Shaina and Ben went home with those treasures. There were little ones with baskets everywhere. I think we all miss Pa Pa on Easter...he loved Chocolate and could always be found stashing a couple pieces in his shirt pocket while the little ones were hunting, but because of this day and what our Lord did for us we know we will see him again.

Because He Lives

Just in time for the holiest time of the year for Catholics and Protestants alike, the documentary based on the book; The Jesus Family Tomb; the Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History has been released and shown on some networks. Of course there was the usual small furor raised in the media, with a few theologians and some from both sides of the issue commenting. Once again the vast majority of Christians refrained from rioting in the streets, or ordering the execution of the producers, and or authors. If Rosie was right I would have expected such things to be widespread. I guess maybe there is a difference in a faith where our Lord has told us to follow His example, to love our enemies, and to turn the other cheek.

This is just another example of the many attacks against the faith of Christians throughout history. It is to be expected, certainly nothing to be surprised at or alarmed about. In case you haven’t heard the particulars, the aforementioned book is the account of the discovery of a set of ancient ossuaries in a tomb in Jerusalem. Ossuaries were containers for the bones of a body that had decomposed. These ossuaries had the names Jesus son of Joseph, Mary, Joseph, Juda son of Jesus, and Mariamne on them. The writers of the book admit that these were very common names in Israel at that time, but through a convoluted series of theories, myths, and conjecture come to the conclusion that these are the bones of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, a wife of Jesus, and a son of Jesus. To quote the “Church Lady” of Saturday Night Live, “How convenient”!

If the writers could get past the fact of the very common use of those of names in that time, I wonder if it ever occurred to them that those opposing the early Christian Church might have written the names to foil the message of the resurrection. The writers do mention that in the book of Matthew the authorities feared that Jesus’ body would be stolen. It stands to reason that those same authorities might make attempts in later years to discount what they considered the resurrection myth. There are still plenty of folks today who want to destroy the base of the Christian faith. They will jump at any excuse or opportunity to do so. They will even quote such foolishness as the Gnostic gospels, the Da Vinci Code, etc.

It takes a lot of negative faith to believe that a hoax was perpetrated two thousand years ago that has managed to change the world to the extent that Christianity has. It takes just a little mustard seed of the faith that is given by God to believe the most wonderful message ever heard; that God sent His Son to this earth, revealed His deity through miracles and signs, and that Jesus obeyed His Heavenly Father even to submitting to the suffering and shame of crucifixion. Now here is the best part; that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead to live forever so that all who would believe in that fact could have forgiveness of all sins and a resurrection to everlasting life of their own.

But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8:11 KJV

Here is a link to a really good article on the resurrection by Josh McDowell

Ben

Ben is our third eldest grandson. He is the professor of the family. He reads a lot, and retains a lot of what he reads. He says that he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. When I was his age, I couldn't pronounce the word, much less know what it meant. Sometimes I think Ben is a little too smart for his own good.

It was about three years ago that Ben brought me a dead bird that he had found out in the pasture. "What should we do with it" he asked? I said, "just throw it back out in the pasture and go wash your hands". He wasn't satisfied with that, he wondered what would happen to the bird's body. "The coyotes or a possum will eat it", I told him.

"I think we should bury it", Ben said. "OK then, you can bury it if you want". I figured next he was going to ask for a funeral service, but he didn't. He said, "where's your shovel"? I went and got a shovel and handed it to him. "Just go out in the pasture a ways and dig a hole", I said.
Ben took the shovel in one hand, the bird in the other and I helped him through the chain link gate. He walked out about thirty feet, laid the bird down, put a foot on the shovel and then paused. "Hey Ronnie"? " What is it Ben"? "How much are you gonna pay me for burying it" he asked? *****

When Ben was about eight years old he approached his Mom for a talk about Santa Claus. He expressed some of his doubts and asked his Mom to level with him, which she did. Afterwards she asked him was he OK with it. He said yes, he was big enough to handle the truth. A while later Carmen walked by Ben's room and noticed that he was crying. She said, "Ben, what's wrong? I thought that you were OK with what we talked about."

"I'm OK", he said. "Well why are crying Ben", Carmen asked? Ben replied," I just now realized that I probably won't be getting that laptop for Christmas".