the Santa Cruz Church

http://www.thesantacruzchurch.com/

"The Greatest Ecstasy..."

"We speak recklessly about the forgiveness of sins, but few pause to consider the indulgent pleasure awarded to those who are in right standing before God. The greatest ecstasy, the greatest state of awe and wonder that has been extended to us is the offer to be fully cleansed and return to the sweet nectar in the bosom of all that God is.
Oh the bliss of him whose guilt is pardoned, and his sin forgiven! Oh the bliss of him whom the Eternal has absolved, whose spirit has made full confession.
—Psalm 32:1-2, Moffatt"

From The Ecstasy of Loving God by John Crowder

 

"Limitless Possibilities of The New Creation..."

"At the first sip of the Good News we come face to face with the realities and limitless possibilities of the New Creation.
A Christian is altogether new and enjoys a joy-filled life in a new world. Christians are set free not only from sin and its effects, but are also set free from themselves!
This is how the Distilled Bible describes our new existence:
I consider myself as having died and now I am enjoying a second existence which is simply Jesus using my body.
—Galations 2:20, Distilled Bible"

From The Happy Gospel by Ben Dunn

End of the school year

This was such a great school year for me.  Last year, when we were living in GA, I was so isolated and homeschooling just added to that.  I asked God for a good net-work for my next year and that is just what he gave me.  After we moved to California, I asked some of my old friends with children if there were any home-school groups around the area, one friend recommended one that met once a week, provided all the curriculum except math and science and corrected all the papers!  It sounded perfect so I checked it out and found out that they met across the street from our house!  God is so good! 



So any way, the year was great, Jonas and Maile went to the school and I kept Nova back and worked on her reading a bit more.  They learned about medieval time period, so at the end of the year the put on a medieval feast, this is them at their feast.  We also dressed up and John was able to wear his monk robe for another occasion other than a meeting:)

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I really do enjoy teaching them at home, even on my harder days I am so grateful of all the time I have had to learn with them and get to know them as individuals, I can honestly say that I, a high school drop-out, unorganized, so NOT a type A personality, has some very well educated kids.  It is pretty rewarding.
Covenant Family Tutorial This is the school, awesome teachers and wonderful families.

Road trip across country, west to east and back again

John started the trip out with the two younger ones, Nova and Ezekiel, he equipped them with cowboy gear as they were headed out into the wild, wild west.  I Would join him later in Atlanta with Jonas while we finished school and then Maile would meet us even later so she could be in a ballet performance she was lead role in.  As the kids get older we are learning to adjust to things that are important to them, it seemed to all work out:)  John did great with the two little guys, they would send clips of them driving, or eating bar B-Q, they were so funny together.  He would bring them to meetings and they would "help" preach.  At one point ezekies had spray painted the back steps of a pastors house, this is where I would have come in handy:)





The trip was awesome and our best across country trip yet, no sickness or any major drama (except I did accidentally black out and drive us all into Canada without our passports whilst viewing Niagara Falls, we got back over the border though.)

After hours (sometimes 8 hours a day) in the car, I found creative ways to get out my kids wiggles.  Rock climbing gyms or walls can be found in most cities.  This gym is in Minneapolis.  I would also hit the pool of course at our hotel.

I love scaling the country with my children, we all learn how small this world really is, how possible it is to travel every crevasse finding and discovering all the beauty this sweet world has to offer.  I love how we get to see all the spectrums of life, from coast to coast, seeing how different people live from cities to farm land from east to west.  People are so cool!

Here our kids are dancing in a sweet church in Kansas where the kids outnumber the adults, not something you often find in the west coast.  It feels so vibrant and alive to experience such a common joy in parenting and worshiping God together with our children.  I loved my time in Kansas.

Our favorite of the stops, after weeks of ministering at dozens of churches, countless hours of driving, we ended in Durango, CO.  This would have to be, by far the most beautiful states I have seen, and I have seen all 50!  We were blessed with horseback riding and a private cabin on a natural reserve where we encountered Elk and John even spied a mountain lion!  It was a rejuvenating couple of days.


We ended our trip in the Grand Canyon, for my birthday.  The sense of vastness is so enriching for us all ( I am just glad we didn't loose Ezekiel over the edge.

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Awe and wonderment is good for the spirit at any age, nothing like Gods creation to send us spinning!

easter on the road

For the last three years we have spent Easter on the road, forgoing the traditional holiday activities ( not that conventional holidays are a huge value for our family) We do like to celebrate every childhood moment that makes life special, especially if it involves games and of course celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

This year Easter was celebrated at a road stop on our way from IL to KS, complete with egg hunt ( from eggs we died in the hotel room) and a bunny cake (very spiritual I know) I had purchased at a local store.  It was a sweet day, and at least the photos make it look like the kids had a "normal Easter".  I have learned to let go of a lot of "Ideals" as I raise my children on the road.  I think I always knew we would have an unconventional life :)