Thanksgiving

A pre- Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

Discernment

When the Lord gives me insight into any particular area...and I discern something contrary to what is being presented and applauded as "good" and "right" ...I often find myself needing to process through a time of deep grief and mourning...after my initial righteous anger settles.  (This does not mean I always express righteous anger in a sinless way...quite the contrary... lol)

Yesterday was not easy.  I felt an enormous burden for our nation.  The loss of so much... that so many do not even recognize as loss.  I wept for hours. 

Then, I began to communicate things to the kids like..."We will have opportunities now to minister to our hurting communities...in ways that we might not have if the Lord had not allowed this darkness to prevail."

And...

"If Rome could fall..."

And.....

"There will always be a remnant."

And...

"The Lord sees the big picture...we do not."

And...

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.'

And...

"In this world you will have trouble...but do not fear...for HE has overcome the world."

And...

And...

And...

And...

And...

All the things believers remind themselves of when they are tempted to despair.  


The below letter was sent to me by a friend.  



I'm writing to you to explain why, even after a late and discouraging evening that stretched past 1:00 a.m. on the East Coast, I was back at the office before 8:00 a.m. this morning.

And why the sinking feeling I felt last night has already been replaced with a deep determination.

And why I'm going out to buy equipment for our new office this afternoon.

And why we are going to build, build, build -- despite a stunning and, for me, unexpected defeat.

+ + Let's Be Clear: We Just Got Pummeled

Before I go on, let's be clear: last night was a defeat, and I didn't see it coming. I expected a "Tea Party Wave" -- perhaps a 300+ electoral-vote victory for Romney. All the signs seemed to be there. The 2010 elections, the failed recall of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and even the Chick-fil-A Day pointed to a re-shaped political landscape. The polls and crowds made it clear that there was more enthusiasm with Romney.

But that wave never came. The people did not rise up and reject Obama's statism. Quite the opposite -- 15 million fewer people voted, and Romney earned less votes than John McCain did four years ago.

+ + Far Worse Than 2008

Upon reflection, what happened last night was far worse than what happened in 2008. Our first "dance" with Obama was mostly about smoke and mirrors -- "hope and change" that was never really defined. For many Americans, Obama 2008 was more an idea, an idealized dream and a collective catharsis from our dark past.

But Obama 2012 was something altogether different because now we know the real Barack Obama. We watched him advance the most radical leftist agenda since at least FDR. We saw him rape and pillage the free market and impose a government takeover of industries. We witnessed him go to foreign nations and apologize for America and then leave our people alone to die in Benghazi.

This time we knew Barack Obama. Yet a majority of American voters said, "More!" The opposition to Obama's agenda never really showed up at the polls.

We can try to console ourselves by saying it was a close election ... that the leftist media gave Obama the election ... that we couldn't really expect a Northeastern liberal Republican to be our standard bearer ... that a bizarre hurricane swung the election.

All that may be true.

But it matters little now. And the less time we spend blaming each other or the trickery of the other guys the better.

So here's why I'm more determined ... why I'm building.

+ + A 2,500-Year-Old Letter Written for Today
I want to share with you a letter that, although 2,500 years old, it could have been written this morning. For us. For faithful patriots who feel like they just discovered they will have to live at least the next four years in exile.

This letter was written to Jewish exiles who had been pushed out of Jerusalem and forced to live under a tyrannical ruler named Nebuchadnezzar.

The exiles wanted one thing: they wanted to be re-established back in Israel. They even had a prophet named Hananiah come to them and tell them that their time of exile would only last two years.

You can read about it in Jeremiah 28.

Hananiah was a false prophet. He died.

And so Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles. You've probably heard a part of that letter recited many times. It's one of the most commonly quoted passages in the entire Bible. Unfortunately, this passage is mostly taken out of its proper context and delivered as a "feel good" word that everything is going to be O.K.

One of my friends was quoting this verse yesterday morning:

 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Those words sound so good. The future is bright. God has a plan for prosperity, for a real hope and a real future. On the eve of the election, it must have meant a Romney win, the GOP takes the Senate and we start the rollback of the Obama regime, right?

Not exactly.

+ + The Plan Was Exile

Here's the shocking context of Jeremiah 29 (and I offer to you, the context for November 6, 2012): the plan was exile.

That was the "plan" Jeremiah's letter was talking about. I encourage you to go read all of Jeremiah 29. Here is the immediate context:

This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you ..."

The plan was 70 years of exile. Keep that in mind the next time someone quotes Jeremiah 29:11 to encourage you that your time of trouble will soon end. Not only was the exile going to last 70 years, the exile WAS the plan!

If you don't believe me, go back and read the beginning of the letter, from Jeremiah 29:4. Here you'll see the Lord (through Jeremiah) giving the Jewish exiles specific instructions on how to conduct themselves in exile:

--Build houses and settle down.

--Plan gardens and eat what they produce.

--Marry and have sons and daughters.

--Marry off your sons and daughters so they can have children.

--Increase in number; do not decrease.

Again, remember the context. A false prophet had just come and said the time of exile would only last two years. That prophet died. The truth is, the people will be in exile for 70 years. And the directive is to build families, grow businesses, think trans-generationally and increase.

+ + Seek the Welfare of the Land

It gets better. Because Jeremiah's letter makes it clear that building and marrying is not enough. People in exile must do something else -- they must be a blessing to the land.

"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

So let's review. First, the plan is exile. Second, build. Third, bless. Simple, clear instructions.

But why was this important? Why a "plan" for exile with specific instructions on how to act in exile?

Historians tell us it was during the Babylonian captivity that the Israelites moved from a Temple/Jerusalem focused society to a synagogue and community focused society. Simply put ...

It was the lessons learned during their time in exile which enabled the Jews to survive 2,500 years in exile. But not just survive -- but to thrive and become the most prosperous, most successful and most innovative people group in the history of civilization.

Exile was the plan.

So that's why, today, I'm going to build. And I'm going to plant. I'm going to bless. And I'm going to pray.

For that is the final piece to the puzzle ...

"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

So let's get building. Let's get planting. And let's get praying. And let's bless this land. There are lessons to be learned in exile.

Steve Elliott, Grassfire

P.S. If this message is an encouragement to you, please share it with your friends.

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Although this is not a promise...it is a Biblical principle and the truth it holds within it has brought me encouragement today.

I am so grateful for the calling on my life to home-educate.  I could not be more pleased with the Lord's dealings with me on this matter.

One of the sweetest memories I will take away from Election Night 2012 is the fact that 8 young Bible believing men showed up at our home last night...alongside our 5 kids...and white knuckled the results alongside us.  The ninth boy who came drives me up the wall with his "progressive" ideas...but I was happy to see him in between wanting to shake some sense into him. 

I yelled a bit.  I screamed...kicked and carried on.  They got to see me in rare form.
I will never forget their disappointed faces.  The blank stares of some first time voters.

And sweet Zion...when she woke up this morning..she sat on the couch collecting her thoughts.  "Wait...was I dreaming or is Barack Obama still our president?"

"He is," I responded. 

A little while later I found an exhortation that she had posted on the refrigerator door. 

Stay Calm and Keep on Keepin' On

So it's the day after the election and you are feeling so sad for your nation when someone sends you a link to an article which puts a smile on your face. 

Children's Hunger Fund & Avenues

Children's Hunger Fund

We packed boxes of chips & bags of dried fruit intended for Guatemala's Zone 3.

And later that evening we attended a fundraiser.....

Avenues 

...where Michael Reagan was the keynote speaker.  Such a sweet testimony.

San Francisco

Mcabe booked a Men's Wearhouse job.  Rather than him fly up there alone and try to navigate different locations...hotels etc....the girls and I decided to hop in the car and join him for a few days.

Aside from me being sick with what I thought was food poisoning while we were there....it was a fun trip.  Short and sweet.

We did the typical things tourists do...travel Lombard Street... hit Fisherman's Wharf for Clam Chowder bread bowls...viewed Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance.....

The two highlights of the trip were seeing Renee & Keane and finding in Japan Town....the BEST $1.50 Store in the entire world!

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

While Bradley and Mcabe were in London...I had some down time.  The girls and I were out and about...actually doing some early CHRISTmas shopping at Barnes & Noble when I came across this in the Reduced For Clearance bin.  $6.98!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I totally related to the story & enjoyed it thoroughly. 

I knew Rob in passing...and his brother, Chad.  I remember being at a Malibu Beach colony dance party of some sort with him and then again....there was this other time he was in my Calabasas living room for some reason?????? Chad...with his then girlfriend Hilary (such a sweet couple at the time) ...sat directly in front of us in the Mann Village theatre as we watched Prince rock the world in Purple Rain.

I have to admit...I always thought Rob was way too pretty to be manly but I did have a small...very small thing for Chad.

What a great read.  Especially if you grew up in or around Hollywood during this era.  Played on the same beaches...travelled to the same film festivals.  Knew Robert Wagner (who paid a visit to the same Calabasas living room??????)  ...C Thomas Howell ( a whole other story)....Charlie Sheen (who was also in my Calabasas living room for some reason????)...etc.

It was a surreal read.


My take away.

If this thing called ACTING is in your blood...

Don't leave before the miracle.

P.S.  In my humble estimation...the whole West Wing thing that went down...it's sad to say...but I think Martin Sheen might have had a role to play.  I hope not....but it's my gut instinct.

P.P.S. Rob seems to have grown into a very manly man :)

City of Angels

I have been processing some thoughts floating around in my head and heart with a friend.
I shared with her a few weeks ago something that seems sort of impossible to explain in a way that makes perfect sense...to not only her...but to myself. 

I love this city.

I love Los Angeles.

I love people in Scottsdale.  I love things about Scottsdale...but that's different than loving Scottsdale. 

I feel as if our family is supposed to live here.  I feel as if the Lord brought us to this place.  In His timing and for His purposes.

In Bible Study this morning, the conversation turned towards us girls wondering if we (other families as well) were doing the right thing by moving with our husbands and our respective clans to this place...away from family support systems...away from comfort...away from ....our preferences. 

Life here isn't stupendously wonderful.  In fact, things have not gone the way we had hoped.  Acting work for Bradley has been non-existent up to this point.  There are new stresses.  New temptations.  New struggles. 

There are also new blessings.  And new opportunities.  New convictions.  Lots of them.  

For me ....it has come down to obedience.  I believe we are being obedient by living in Los Angeles.  Leaving would feel like disobedience.

It's hard to explain...cuz as far as the world goes...it just doesn't make sense.  Not one bit of sense. 

Jeni, the friend I spoke of above gets me.  I'm the Ethel to her Lucy.  She blogged about us in LA here.

October Baby

October Baby is a MUST SEE film.

It was so sweet to be in the room with three young women (who happen to be adopted) while they were processing the truths presented in this story of forgiveness.

 I had the pleasure of watching the delightful, funny, and heart-wrenching movie, October Baby.  This is by far the best Christian film out there.  I was really surprised by how good the story-line is.  I learned a lot of things during the film, but what really spoke to my heart was the forgiveness aspect of the movie.  The main character, Hannah had to learn to forgive her birth mom, her adoptive family, and herself.  Throughout the movie you watch Hannah face her battles and have struggles until she hits a brick wall.  She finally learns that God forgave her for all of her sins and she is able to forgive others.  This tells me that I can forgive anyone who comes my way, no matter our history.  God extended grace to Hannah...so how dare she hold a grudge against anyone, even herself.  Shari Rigby, a family friend, plays the birth mom in the film.  She struggled with forgiving herself after murdering her own child through abortion.  October Baby is a must see film.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a tear-jerker movie. - Jemima Gregg


Oh how I love October Baby! It is a tear-jerker.When I began watching the movie, anger built up inside me. What was I angry about? Who was I angry at? Hannah! I was angry about how disrespectful Hannah was to her family when she learned that she was adopted. I didn't understand Hannah's anger towards her father. I was adopted at the age of three and have been so thankful that my parents welcomed me into their home. After watching the movie, I realized where Hannah is coming from. She lived 19 years without her parents telling her about her birth. So Hannah believed she was lied to this entire time. Now she has questions with no answers to them. As to me, I've know my whole life that I was adopted. Thinking about it though, I can understand and might be angry and hurt if I didn't know. At the end Hannah learns that her parents wanted the best for her. She learns to forgive them and their friendship begins to grow. Hannah also exchanges bitterness for forgiveness in regards to her biological mother. Lastly, Hannah learns to not dwell on the things of the past but to look to the future. This is why I love the movie so dearly! - Cassandra Wilde  

October Baby is a Christian movie that is life changing. The film has heartache, resentment, hatred, grief, pain, love, and forgiveness. The main character, Hannah finds out that she is adopted. Because she is a survivor of a failed abortion she has depression, and other health problems. Hannah is determined to find her birth mother on a road trip with her best friend, Jason. After learning from the nurse who helped the abortion doctor that Hannah had a twin brother who also survived with an arm torn off and brain damage... but sadly died 4 months later...Hannah felt heart broken and guilty that she pulled through and he didn't. Hannah finds her birth mother, Cindy, who can't face the truth, doesn't want her, and pretends to be clueless or have any recollection of her. Hannah needs to learn to forgive her birth mother for not wanting her, and trying to kill her and for killing her brother. She needs forgive her parents for hiding the horrible news of her early childhood. On her journey, she realizes that she has been forgiven therefore she should forgive others. Convicted, Hannah places a note, saying "I forgive you" on Cindy's desk and is relieved as she is ready to walk into new life. Upon reading the note, Cindy cries because she knows it is time to face the truth. I about just died when I saw Cindy have her break through and accept forgiveness. I loved seeing the love Hannah's family shows her. She herself learns to love and forgive. This movie is about a girl finding out who she really is and learning to accept it. I love this film October Baby! - Galilee Gregg

Shari Rigby...the film's birth mother is a dear friend.  I had the privilege of attending a fundraiser for East Los Angeles Pregnancy Center where she was the keynote speaker.

Shari's testimony is one of healing and forgiveness found in Christ.  Post abortive herself, she shares authentically about her journey out of shame...and delivers a message of hope.

Shari's story.

and More here.


One of our daughters got up the nerve ask a very serious question last night.  It's been a season of intense ponderings lately...but this inquiry went very, very deep.  "Mom, could I be the survivor of a failed abortion?"

long pause

"It's possible because of your low birth weight...but we do not have that information."  

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........so maybe?"

"Probably not..... but maybe."


I cannot think of a more redeeming and life affirming way for the girls to spend their time than volunteering at our very own local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Psalm 139:14 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Brownie

Brownie died.

It was a very sad afternoon...the one where Zion was confronted with saying "goodbye" and the very real possibility that he would not recover or be returning home.

A few days later ...after a valiant effort on the bunny loving volunteer Pet Hospital staff's part...he was indeed "gone" and Mcabe and I had to deal with the issues of picking up and disposing of the body.

Mcabe is a hunter.  He has killed many a rabbit...countless numbers of rabbits over the years.  The name of the production company he runs with his Braverijah is Dead Rabbit Pictures.

Nothing sweeter than seeing a big bad hunter who hunts big things like elk and Asian water buffalo...picking up the remains of a frozen dead bunny in a brown paper bag and trying to figure out what to do with it...so that his heart broken little sister doesn't have to deal with the trauma. 

Brownie wound up in the dumpster behind a Starbucks in Burbank. 

There will probably be someone out there who is outraged by this.  If so...I hope it leads deeper ponderings.



 

Jane Eyre

ummmmmm....

..................Zion as a Valley Girl/Mean Girl Jane Eyre.


I am dying.  She had zero direction from anyone.

Anatomomy & Physiology

Galilee & Jemima are taking a Human Anatomy & Physiology class.

How awesome is it that a Master's professor has such a heart for home-education that he offers a class geared towards high schoolers! 


Dissecting a sheep heart.

Argo

UPDATE:  Article published today. 

 

SUCH a good film!  I am completely stressed and I'm not sure I will be able to sleep tonight.

Thomas and Allan...two friends of ours...invited me to a pre screening of Argo.  It is an amazing film.  A MUST SEE!!!!!!!

Ben Affleck did an incredible job directing.  It is Oscar worthy. 

Thought # 1...Thomas very wisely....made us aware of our surroundings....locating the nearest theatre EXIT just in case some random...you know.....guy with a beef showed up on on a mission to do some damage.  He didn't say this...but I sure thought it...."He's right....there could be some Hollywood secret cell wackadoodle scenario ...........etc.  The EXIT was directly behind us to the right.

Thought #2...If a crappy obscure short film/trailer You Tube video is the cause of so much middle eastern / North American / intercontinental hoopla...this film could possibly trigger another World War. Lord...let it not be so.

Go and see this film.  Spend your $$$$$ to see it in a theater.  (Locate EXITS)

Do not wait for DVD.  It is that good.

Women in Pursuit

This is my dear friend, Kelley.  She spoke on marriage at a Women in Pursuit event recently...and something she said was life changing.

Do we realize in the moments when we are having difficulties with our husbands...that our marriages are but temporary?  

That we are called first and foremost to respond to our husbands as brothers in Christ.  With the same amount of grace we would extend to another brother.  After all, they will be our spiritual siblings for all of eternity.

 I had never heard the idea presented so clearly before.  What a concept!

It changes....a lot.