March 24th

As I was flipping through my Bible yesterday at Bible study, I was thinking back to a story that Esther told about Bibles in Africa. In a particular area of Congo(and I'm sure in many other areas of Africa and the world) there is only 1 Bible for many, many miles. Pastors walk all day to get to this village where the Bible is kept so that they can write down a passage and walk back to their village to prepare a sermon for their church service. Esther shared that she had to confess taking her Bible for granted, and I did the same as I listened to her.
I have a New King James Bible, a 1-year Bible, a students study Bible, a pocket NIV, a regular sized NIV, a Woman's Study Bible, and thats just to mention the ones I know of off the top of my head. Since when did God's Word become just another accessory? This is the Bread of Life - God's Word to us, and we collect them like purses, or pairs of shoes...
Next time you open your Bible, be grateful for it and remember that it is a privilege to hold it in your hand.

Today I am thankful for:

1) The beautiful morning - the sun shining through the windows is refreshing

2) Our new strategy with Ez's sleeping seeming to work: he slept from 5pm-6am, with one feeding at 3:30. (and he's napping right now - going on 2 hours!)

3) Being able to do a little grocery shopping last night by myself

4) The kids and I not getting the flu that everyone seems to be getting - especially since Jason had it last week!

5) Gavin's boo-boo on his hand healing so well!

6) Again, my mom's encouragement and ability to be such a great listener. I'm sure she is sick of talking about Ez's sleep issues (shoot, I'm sure most people in my life are sick of it too... :-))

7) Listening to Gavin pray for the kids in Africa. We have started praying at night for them and after I pray, he wants to, and he picks up little things I say and puts them together. Last night he prayed " please help the girls in Africa and take care of them"

8) Seeing Mark and Sarah's new house yesterday - it looks great! And I'm thankful that they will be able to move in very soon. Its very difficult to not have your own home...

9) Today is Friday! Maybe Jas and I can actually watch a movie tonight...if he can stay awake! :-)

10) The earplugs I bought Jason - a big part of my stress at night when Ez is crying is that Jason is being kept awake and will be so tired when he has to get up at 3:30am...so I bought him earplugs and they work really well. 2 nights ago, Ez cried about 10 minutes at 8, 9, 10, 10:20, 1...you get the idea. Jason didn't hear any of it!

11) My Bible

Have a blessed day.