New Year, New Jacksons

That's right. We're adding to our family....but no baby humans. We adopted puppies! Chloe and Nadia are 8 week old sister lab/beagle mixes. (If you can figure out why we named them those names, I'll send you a present. You can't win if I already told you why.) They are sooo frickin cute....and a lot of work! I'm pretty sure we take about 10 potty breaks every day to ensure that there are no accidents on the carpet. So far, things are going well in that department. One thing that has become obvious in their first week with us is how very different they are. Nadia looks much more like a beagle with a short nose and stout body. Chloe looks like a lab with a longer nose and leaner body. They are both black with a little white on their chests.

Nadia (aka Whizzer, Baby Cow, Snuggle Baby, and Pretty Girl): loves to snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. She is definitely a lover...and an eater. When she came home, she was probably 1 1/2 times the size of her sister, and we found out why quickly. At our first meal time, she sat down, spread out her front legs and literally face planted into the food. She didn't move for about 1 minute in which time she had demolished the dinner. Then, she moved on to try and eat all of Chloe's food. Nadia's signature moves include: the leap frog--she will jump from a seated position straight up in the air like a frog, the 360 pounce--similar to the leap frog but she jumps four times in a circle, the groan/grunt--she shows her displeasure with gusto if you are outside in the cold for too long or go into a part of the downstairs that scares her (she is afraid of new places), the crash--when Nadia is sleepy no human effort can keep her awake.

Chloe (aka Lil Whiz, Velociraptor, Psycho, and Pretty Girl--yes they are both my pretty girls): loves to play and explore. Chloe is our skinny minny. We think that she wasn't properly weaned and hadn't eaten for about a week when we got her because she didn't know how to chew food or drink water from a bowl. She has learned though. Chloe can be found sniffing and exploring. She will definitely be our trouble maker but looks so cute doing it that you almost don't want to punish her. Chloe's signature moves include: Sneak attack--she hides about 4-5 feet from Nadia then bum rushes her for a play attack, crazy face--she bears her little teeth and her eyes get all big so she looks like a demented chiwawa, the head tilt--do you remember how in Jurassic Park the velociraptors tilt their heads like they are confused right before they try to eat people? That's what she does..should be cute but it kind of scares me, the guard dog--when she sees her reflection in the glass door at night she goes to great lengths to protect us from the scary dog outside that pounces and barks at us.

More pictures and stories to come I'm sure. I already love my pretty girls.

Chreasters

Ever heard this term? It refers to people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter. Between the ages of about 8-15, I was one of them. (I do refuse some of the blame mainly because I couldn't drive, but I also don't think I ever begged my parents to go to church either.) Chreasters have some moral sense that going to church on these major Jesus holidays is the right thing to do. They mentally ascent to Christianity as true but are uncomfortable with the sacrifice and the radical life that you have to live when you follow Christ.

People give 1000 excuses why they do not/should not/do not have to go to church on a weekly basis. What's so ironic is that if Chreasters truly understood the power the two sermons they hear every year--of the birth of Jesus and then His death, burial, and resurrection--those two messages would compel them to actually stop being Chreasters. They would have to choose. You must either be for Christ or against Him, believe or renounce belief. You cannot mentally ascent that God came to earth and was born through a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, and that He died as a sacrifice for our sins, overcame death and was resurrected through the power of His Spirit so we can live with Him forever. I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41

God didn't give us the choice to be Chreasters.

A Happy Soul

I was "getting my soul happy" in the Word today, and God laid a thought on my heart. I have been reading in the beginning of Luke as Christmas approaches, and I was reading Zacharias's prophecy that starts in Luke 1:67. It struck me that the Jews must have been absolutely shocked when they encountered Jesus. The Jews had a promise from God about their salvation and redemption. They stood on that promise for hundreds of years. When Jesus came, the fulfillment of that promise didn't look how they thought it would look. God absolutely did what He said He would do. He saved them from their bondage. He gave them freedom, righteousness, and rescue from their enemies. However, it wasn't how they anticipated. In addition, it was more than they anticipated. He included the Gentiles in this opportunity for salvation and redemption. Even though He had told them He would through the prophets, they did not understand and became offended when Jesus began to do what the prophets said.

How many times in your life has God done something that He promised, but it did not look like what you expected? For example before I met David, I really had a desire in my heart that I would like to get married when I was 24. (Don't laugh, I just really wanted it.) However, there were no guys within a million miles to make that happen. So, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be single until I moved to CA where I would meet my husband. Then, David came out of no where and totally changed everything. I did not realize that I had a pre-conceived idea about how my husband would be, but I did. One day in Indiana I was sitting in Starbucks where a group of trendy (white) Christian guys were having a small group meeting. I realized it. My husband will not be a guy like that, and deep down I thought he would be. I didn't get offended though, and David is a bazillion--that's a real number--times better than I imagined my husband would be.

Second example: When we moved to CA, we thought that our church plant would go just like how it went for another church that we have really drawn from. Their church exploded in the first few months and has grown at an astronomical rate. That has not happened (yet) for us. We were very tempted to be offended. We knew that God sent us out here to start a church that would transform this entire region, but how would we ever change the region when no one was coming? God had a much bigger plan. Before He could change the region, He had to change us. He has unleashed a true revelation of grace and love on our team. I can honestly say that we are all different people than when we moved here. Now, people are coming, getting rocked by Jesus, and staying. Then, they are bringing their family and friends.

What do you do when the fulfillment of God's promise does not look like you imagined it? Choose to not be offended. He is infinitely more good than we can know. He won't let you down.

Great Analogy

I just heard a great analogy about giving. So, here it goes in a paraphrased version:

When a little child decides that they want to give a picture to their dad for a present, they go to the supply of paper that their father bought. Then, they get the markers out of the drawer in their dad's house. The picture they draw blesses their dad because it was out of their heart of love, but the child cannot truly give their dad anything that was not already his.

In the same way, God is our Father, and everything we have is His. He desires that we use what he provides us to give back to Him out of our heart of love.

Why would we ever choose to be selfish and not give to our Father from the abundance He provides? When we don't give, we are saying that God does not deserve what is His and take it for ourselves.

Deep. Kind of makes you evaluate your giving, huh?

My secret hope

is that one of our neighbors will decide that they are tired of looking at our overgrown grass and come mow it for us....

Bonus video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_eYSuPKP3Y

Love,
Lara

FROG

FROG=Cheesy Christian rubber bracelet that stands for Fully Rely On God.

David is finished. (If you aren't sure what that means, talk to me.) Praise the Lord. Throughout this season, I have really learned to FROG. Due to the nature of what he was working toward and the high stakes regarding our future, I had the opportunity for the past 5 months to live in a constant state of worry. If he didn't make it, then what? I had no idea. So, I worried. After about a month of constant worry and pressure, I realized how crazy it was to live like that. From that moment, I began my FROG journey. I'm not saying it happened overnight. I was still battling worry and fear today during his last 2 tests for graduation. BUT, I can say that I am not conquered and held captive like I used to be. I overcome through FROGging. I praise, I thank God, I remind myself of His past goodness toward us, and I tell satan to get the hell out of my mind.

Although I am ashamed by the total cheese factor of the bracelet (which I do not wear), the concept is powerful. FROG. He is sovereign. He is good. That's all I need to know.

Possibly the best compliment ever

I was at the couples small group last night, and one of the ladies approached me to talk with me privately. She wanted to talk about the women's Momentum meeting that we had both attended about a week and a half ago. Amanda did a great teaching about the Proverbs 31 woman and really broke down what it looks like to be that woman of power and virtue. This friend said to me that when she was thinking of the Proverbs 31 woman all she could think about was me!

I, of course, got all teary eyed. It was such a sweet compliment. I'm not writing this blog to brag about myself but to glorify God. He has truly done a work in me if that is how other people see me. I used to read Proverbs 31 almost every day and had most of it memorized. (Let's just say I may have slipped on that practice.) However, it really is the desire of my heart to be like that woman. She is an example that God set in the scriptures for all of us ladies to follow.

I think that it is really important that God never gives her a name. He names other women: Ruth, Deborah, Mary, Priscilla, etc. He never names her though. I think it is because He wants us to put our name in that Proverb and see ourselves as her.

That may have been the best compliment I have ever received. It has definitely motivated me to study Proverbs 31 again and sharpen myself in the areas that I fall short.

I encourage you to read Proverbs 31 in the amplified version. Praise God for forming us into such beauties!

A Remnant Thanksgiving (in pictures in reverse order)

Food Hangover



All smiles...about to eat!




The food...so much food that it didn't all fit in the picture.



Beautiful chef with new cut/color.

Lovin.

Best baby ever.

A friend with a gourd.

The beginning.