south carolina

David is eating a "chicken sandwich". :)
















All the Stover grandkids....having fun

wildlife

My sister and I woke up early this morning and went to a wildlife refuge in our area. It was so rewarding! :) We saw lots of cool birds and a fox. She can show you the pictures of the fox. This was one of my favorite pictures of a heron out on the Delaware Bay. This is about 10 min. from my house. Most of the time, you just stay in the car and drive around the wildlife refuge....it's pretty big. You can get out and walk to some lookouts and along some paths if you want to. We found out that this time of year (at least today) the bugs are awful. We couldn't even roll down our windows and listen to birds.
We had a good week together. Her husband was gone this week and so she spent some time with me. She got here Mon. We went to the beach on Tues...it was nice and relaxing.
Wed. Katelyn had an orthodontist appt. up in Exton, PA. It was really quick so we decided to go see Jeannette and family (esp. the new baby). I had never been to J's house. It is about one and a half hours from our house...hardly any stoplights; mostly highway. We got to love on the new grand nephew. He is soooo cute! He smiled and made all his cute little baby noises for us. Jeannette made an awesome taco salad for us (there were six of us)! She just whipped it up in no time...like a pro! She must have had good training! :) So now I know how to get to Jeannette's...yeah. :) okay I better go because I am trying to fix dinner and blog at the same time and it's not working out too well....just burned something.

pictures

These ladies are friends from school. Looking at all these pictures from Kate's special day makes me feel so blessed to have these friends in my life. I am reminded that no matter where we go, God has given us good friends. He has brought people into our lives who have encouraged us and helped us and been "Jesus with skin on" to us. We are so grateful.


We had fresh flowers on each table but at this table we took it off so we could see to chat with each other. This was b/t courses and the boys had taken the plates in order to serve dessert. These are the chargers. I wish I had a picture of the tables all set up, but the camera batteries were dead. :(
This server always likes to put on a show while doing his job! :) He is getting ready to serve blackberry cobbler.

Look at these handsome servers!!! I highly recommend these guys! They were on top of things the whole time. They were awesome!

Some of our friends from school.



This is the young ladies table at Kate's lunch on Sat.

phillies game

We went to a Phillies game Friday night with our church. We had a great time. I hadn't been to a game in about four years. Our pastor purposefully picked this game because they were playing the Braves, David's team. They are in the same division as the Phillies and he and David are always going back and forth picking on each other. He also picked the Braves because they haven't been doing very well and Tony was pretty confident the Phillies would win. It was 1-0 the whole game, Braves winning, until the 9th inning. The Braves scored 7 runs and ended up winning 8-2! Go Braves!
I had told David that I didn't care if the Braves lost any games the rest of the season, I just really wanted them to win that night. A guy hit a grand slam for the Braves, which was so exciting! I don't think I have ever seen a grand slam live and in person.
Jonathan has been converted to a Phillies fan. This pic is kinda blurry because I was in a hurry. Jacob got his picture taken with Phillie phanatic.

what we ate

lunch menu:
fresh salsa
butter crescent rolls
cucumber dip
caprese salad (fresh tom., basil, and mozz. with olive oil drizzled on top)
green salad (spinach, romaine, strawberries, caramelized pecans, mand. oranges)
fruit salad
honey chicken salad
blackberry cobbler with ice cream
I decorated with fresh flowers and candles.
I thought I should say something about food since I haven't in awhile...in keeping with my title.
pics will come later

Kate's day

Kate turned 16 last month and I wanted to have a lunch in honor of her with the women who have been influential in her life. So today was the big day. Mary Ellen did a beautiful job putting together a book with letters from many of these women. Mary Ellen is AMAZING. She had so much fun working on the book. The boys and Daddy were the wonderful servers and they did an amazing job! It was a beautiful time and so sweet. What a priviledge it was for me to bless my daughter and give these wonderful, godly women an opportunity to speak into her life. Those that were able to attend, read their letters to her. One of her friends also wrote her a letter which was a very touching moment. My sister in-law made a very cool slide show with pics of Kate growing up. I absolutely LOVED the song she used. Thanks so much, Kami. David and I just cried and cried when we watched it for the first time. I feel so incredibly blessed by my friends who came today. Most of them had to drive an hour to get here, fighting beach traffic. It was evident that they had put so much thought and effort into the letters that they shared with Kate today. I appreciate each one of them and so thankful our paths have crossed. Each of them has demonstrated God's grace and love to Kate in some way and for that I am so thankful. I pray that this is the beginning of walking together, encouraging, helping, loving, correcting, carrying, lifting up in prayer Katelyn as she grows into womanhood. I have always encouraged my girls to have another woman in their life to talk to besides their mom, who will be encourage and help them in their walk with Christ. I am so thankful for the older women in my life. I appreciate their insight and wisdom. God has demonstrated His love for us in such a powerful way. I pray my daughter will be a vessel to show the love of God to others as she continues to walk with Him and experience His love in her life.

love this blog

This is from my friend's blog...she is on my list of favorite blogs. If you haven't checked her blog out yet, here is her latest...

Gimme All Your Stuff

July 22, 2008 in Gospel, grace, repentance, suffering, tim keller | Tags: Gospel, suffering, repentance, tim keller, grace, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, blessings, Job | | No comments

I’ve been listening to Tim Keller’s sermons in the car. You can download them for FREE here. I was listening to “The Gospel and Yourself” yesterday, and Tim’s illustration really caught my attention. It was something like this…

Pretend that someone married you because your family had a lot of money. But the moment that your spouse found out that he/she wouldn’t be able to get his/her hands on that money, he/she decides to divorce you. How would you feel?

Used? Forsaken? Betrayed?

We do this same thing to God all the time.

We want His stuff. But we don’t want Him.

I want the blessings. I want His wisdom, His goodness, His love, and His faithfulness. But I don’t want Him.

This is such a great way for me to remember the Gospel in my day-to-day life. I can ask myself, “In this situation, am I wanting God’s stuff, or am I wanting God?”

Immediately, I thought about how this truth applies to suffering. When I am in pain, I want to stop it. I want to feel better. So I ask God to take it away. I ask Him to give me grace. I ask Him to sustain me. I want Him to fulfill my expectations and acquiesce to my personal agenda. I don’t want Him. I’m not satisfied with Him. I think that I need more. It reminds me again of Job.

Job isn’t at peace until he realizes that all He wants is God. He despises himself and repents in dust and ashes. After all of his suffering, he repents. He repents of his self-righteous will. In effect, he says, “I’m tired of trying to fit you into my own ideas, God. I give up. All I want is you, Lord.”

I think that the heart of the Gospel is wanting God. It’s not an agenda. It’s not an idea. It’s not a religion or a way of living. It’s desperation. It’s (as Tim Keller says) “realizing that I am more wicked than I ever dared believe, but more loved than I ever dared to hope.”

He’s right. The Gospel is a paradox: I am a sinner, yet I am loved.

inspiration

I have been home from SC for a little over a week, but have not felt inspired to write anything. So today I was reading my sister's story of how Christ's love has permeated her life and was so moved by it! This is such a beautiful story in the life of every child of God. I used to think that because I grew up in a Christian home and didn't do drugs, alcohol...all the "big sins" that I didn't have a good story. I was Simon in the story where the harlot comes into the house of a pharisee and comes straight to Jesus, weeps, anoints his feet and washes them with perfume and her hair. The woman knew and had experienced Jesus' love and was so confident that she (knowing who she is in Christ and not in the eyes of men) could walk right into this pharisee's home and unashamedly lavish her love on the Lover of her soul! This has become one of my favorite stories in the Bible. God took me, a self-righteous pharisee, and showed me that I am the adulterous woman who has committed ALL the big sins! His work on the cross has covered it all and I rest in who I am in Christ! When I think I am not all that bad I diminish His amazing act of love for me on the cross. I make a mockery out of it when I try to add my perfomance to His work for me. We think that once we are saved that now we need to live up to our salvation! It's like being given a HUGE amount of money and then going to get a job at McDonald's to try to pay it back! Paul says in Gal. 3 Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh? .... Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
I thought that after God had saved me , that the rest was up to me...wrong! That was bondage to me, always worrying if I was doing enough to work out my salvation....just like all the Pharisees! The very best that I can do is filthy rags. My works are ALL tainted with sin. If God's pleasure was based on my performance or if my sanctification was based on my keeping the law, I would never be pleasing to God and my record of works would not stand. My salvation from beginning to end is in the finished work of Christ! This may sound weird but when God showed me that I am the ho, I was so excited because that meant that He died for me, THE BIGGEST SINNER! His love became huge because my sin was huge! I have a story to tell!
Martin Luther writes about passive righteousness, this is part of what i read today.
"Passive righteousness is the great comfort of the conscience and peace for the soul. For example,
when we clearly see the law of God, we quickly see our sin. The evil in our lives comes to mind, it tears us apart, and we groan, "I cannot believe that I did that again. Lord, I promise I will not do it again." For when we are in trouble or our conscience bothers us, the devil likes to make us afraid by using the law, and he tries to lay on us the guilt of sin, our wicked past, the wrath and judgement of God, and eternal death to drive us to desperation, make us slaves to him and pluck us from Christ. Furthermore, he wants to set against us the parts of the gospel where Christ requires good deeds from us and with plain words threatens damnation to us if we do not do them.
This troubled conscience has no cure for desparation unless it takes hold of passive righteousness. So when I see a person who is bruised and oppressed by the law, terrified with sin, and thirsting for relief, it is time to take the law out of his sight and show him the gospel of passive righteousness which offers the promise of Christ, that he came for the suffering and sinners. Then this person is raised up and has renewed hope, now that she is no longer under law but under the gospel of grace. Therefore, when there is fear or our conscience is bothered, it is a sign that our passive righteousness is out of sight and Christ is hidden. But when we truly see Christ, we have full and perfect joy and peace in the Lord.
So do we do anything? Do we not do any work to obtain this righteousness? I answer nothing at all. It is like this: the earth does not produce rain, nor is it able by its own power or work to get it. The earth simply receives it as a gift of God from above. It is the same with "passive righteousness. It is given to us by God without our deserving it or working for it..."
The journey that God continues to take me on is one of ups and downs. Sometimes I stumble and fall and don't even want to get back up. Sometimes I want to run the other way, but He is a gentle, longsuffering, persevering, ever faithful, always pursuing, big-hearted Father. He picks me up, carries me, walks with me, holds me close to him (sometimes while i am screaming ). Even though I screw up everyday, his goodness and mercy will follow me ALL the days of my life! My feelings don't change what He thinks of me, I am His , always and forever because He made me His and nothing and no one can change that. He sings over me, delights in me, lavishes his love on me like the father running down the road to his prodigal son and kissing all over his son! What a story to tell. That is why I say this is the music of the gospel...it is BEAUTIFUL music.
I have to write this down and remind myself of this all the time.
I saw a quilt that my friend made today and it is a scrap quilt....just like God takes all the scraps of our lives and puts them all together to make something beautiful. Sometimes this doesn't look good as we are in the process and most of the time it doesn't feel good. He is working in me as I rest in Him. Rest.

Going to Carolina in my mind

I love that James Taylor song. We always listen to it as we hit the road heading for SC. We can't wait to go see our family and maybe some friends. Our van has 235,000 miles on it. So we are going to lay hands on it and pray over it as we take another trip.
Being the NASCAR fan that he is, David always tells the kids to say the most famous words in NASCAR as we start the car and then pull out of the drive way. So they yell, "Gentleman, start your engine!" He starts the car, we pray and we are on our way! (little bit of Stover trivia).
Kate is especially looking forward to all that family bonding time in the car! ha
Today it is cleaning and packing.
Happy Birthday, Rachel Dillon! We love you!

waiting

Waiting is so hard for me. We have been in the waiting phase for a long time...it seems. This morning I went up to Kennett to a summer Bible study at our pastor's home. Our pastor's wife was leading the study. We talked about when Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem in Acts 1. One of the things she said was that waiting is not a time of no activity but a time of preparation. It's like pregnancy. God is preparing us for something, teaching us and growing us in the process. A baby certainly couldn't be born as soon as it conceived but needs to grow and develop. There is certainly a lot of activity going on but also waiting for the right time to give birth. God has certainly been stretching us, teaching us, and growing us. We continue to wait on Him. I sometimes feel like God is asking me, "Do you trust me? Just trust me for today." That is what He gives grace for...today. I don't have to understand, just trust. During the time that the disciples had to wait, they devoted themselves to prayer, teaching and encouraging each other. So I was challenged this morning to pray more diligently and to trust in what God has for me today. Today He has me in Smyrna, DE to be a light to the people He has put in my path.