Takeaways & Tidbits Lately Vol 4

Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone is enough.

St. Teresa of Avila

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I've watched congregations devote years and years to heated arguments about whether a female missionary should be allowed to share about her ministry on a Sunday morning, whether students older than ten should have female Sunday school teachers, whether girls should be encouraged to attend seminary, whether women should be permitted to collect the offering or write the church newsletter or make an announcement...all while thirty thousand children die every day from preventable diseases.  If that's not an adventure in missing the point, I don't know what is.

A Year Of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

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I told Sydney (who has struggled and fumbled and tripped all the way through middle school), "Baby, these are your worst days.  You are horrible, your friends are awful, your body is a nightmare, your brain is impaired, your peers are lunatics and sociopaths, your emotions are a trainwreck, and you are convinced that your parents are hopeless morons.  You could be a Prisoner of War and have a better experience that three years of middle school.  Just put your head down and get through it.  High school is better, college is the best, and then you grow up and pay bills and then you die.  I love you.  Good talk."

Jen Hatmaker, aka funniest blogger evvah, regarding Middle School, in Some Things I Wish Would Go Away

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Orphan care enlightens you to a very dark reality and awakens you from a spiritual apathy which once said it's someone else's problem to deal with.  For the cause of the orphan we fight a very real battle against a very real Enemy - an adversary who is unequivocally committed to steal, kill and destroy the lives of kids.  It is a spiritual battle at its core - a fight we cannot pretend does not exist and cannot excuse ourselves from participating in.

Jason Johnson in Orphan Care: The Call To Change And To Be Changed

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"Do you know yet if you can adopt them?"

Everyone, everywhere, all the time

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"Ma ma ma ma ma ma...."

Our daughter  

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"Ah laa yooo..."

Our son  

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And finally, I leave you with this:

Cuteness abounds around here these days.