Great Job Worshipping, Daddy!

Imagine that you've been ill all day.
Imagine that as you finish preaching, you honestly can't remember the sermon.
Imagine that you're so tired that you just feel like collapsing onto a pew.

Then imagine a bright, shining, happy 3 year old girl practically squealing with pleasure up into your face,
"Great job worshipping, daddy!"

Final Score: Sidney-1 Raccoon-0

sidney got a raccoon last night

i was reading to the children and she was going crazy downstairs, so i thought we might have a prowler

i went down and put her on the leash and took her out; the raccoon was right outside

sid hurt her pretty good during the initial part of the chase but the raccoon went for the forest

now

i'm running with sid and the coon

keeping up pretty good in the open spaces

but i'm over 2 feet tall and the forest didn't work so well

woods, rather

they mock me here when i say forest

they say a forest is something from a disney movie

around here, "we got woods"

so after getting scraped and banged pretty good i ended up dropping the leash

so i go back to the house for better shoes and the giant mag flashlight

i found sid a couple hundred yards into the woods

thankfully for the retractable leash she didn't get herself tangled or choked or anything

also very thankfully she didn't get bit by the coon

which i'm pretty sure was in many pieces in the surrounding vicinity by the time i got to her

so i take the leash and sidney starts leading me out

and she led me over this pit/den think that was covered with thick prickly vines

now

she runs right over it, no problem

i took one step and fell in to my waist

wearing shorts

my feet not touching the ground

and i not knowing how much farther there might be to fall

suspended by the vines

by this time it's only about 20 yards to the house, and i'm yelling at the top of my lungs

and my dear dear wife reports that she heard nothing

note to self: don’t let wife get so exhausted that she sleeps too heavily to rescue you when suspended at the waist by thorny vines

have built up an immunity to hearing

anyway, between sidney pulling on the leash and my reaching a small tree a couple feet in front of me to pull myself out of the vines, we escaped tonight's evening news when the police would have found my half eaten carcass after heather called in the missing person

from now on, if she goes into the woods after something

i'm just gonna sit on the edge and make kissing sounds

(she answers kissing sounds better than calling)

Moved Back Again!

Blogger.com didn't like publishing to hakimfamily.info--always got stuck
etc, using the ftp--so the blog has moved back to blogspot.com. Follow
the bouncing blog!

Final Score

4/8 for #1 and 0/1 for #2
After 5 pair of underwear and 3 pair shorts, I gave up and put a diaper
on him. Guess we'll try again next month.

It makes you think of how often we fail before our Heavenly Father, and
how He keeps clothing us with more days, hours, and minutes as we soil
one after another. How glad I am of His patience, how I desire to be as
patient with my son, and how I long for that day when all spiritual
soiling will end, and I will bat a thousand forever!

Move Completed

The move from blogspot to http://blog.hakimfamily.info is now complete.
Please update your bookmarks!

3 out of 4 isn't bad!

Even at the freethrow line, that's considered pretty good these days.
And that's exactly how Emmet is doing so far today going peepee in the
potty!

I apologize for the lack of posting over the last couple days and any
other confusion regarding this blog or the family site, etc. A couple
more changes are coming. Soon, this blog will be maintained not at
blogspot but at http://blog.hakimfamily.info

If you would like to subscribe to these articles by email, please send
an email to blog@hakimfamily.info with "subscribe" in the subject message.

Thanks!

James.

[update: now 4 out of 6, but still better than Shaq]

Good Mooooorning!

Well, the earth's mass remained constant... again. Harrumph.

No poo on the carpet. You might think that I mean no doggy poo. But
really, ever since the kids started walking, "no poo on the carpet" has
been considered a blessing around here.

y'all have a great day!

Kessedi's Quotes On Doggy Adoption Day

(before we got there) "Can we go get the doggy; bring it home now? Let's go get the doggy!"
(to daddy) "Good job getting the doggy and bringing it home!"
(leading Sidney by the collar to her crate) "In here, doggy; get in here!... now sit! ... no no, stay!"
"Good doggy"
"Pretty doggy"
"Doggy's mouth is STINKY!"

Introducing Sidney

What you say. What they hear.

What you say: "Please put this cup in the sink."
What she hears: "Please stick the cup as far in as possible, then pull
it out, full of dirty dishwater, and dump it all over yourself and the
floor, just to make sure it was actually going into the sink."

Satanic timing, Divine timing

So gradually my body broke down this week.  Exhaustion probably.  But here I am 13 hours from worship and feeling more poorly than at any other time during the week.  We were watching Veggie Tales' The Ballad of Little Joe, where one astonishing and grievous alteration is made to the biblical story.  In the veggie version, Joseph says, "You intended it for evil, but God used it for good."  But if you're using a translation done by someone who is neither a liberal nor a loser (educationally speaking), your Bible correctly says, "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good."

God didn't just react to something  that the brothers freely willed to bring about the result.  God freely willed through what they freely willed to bring about His good purposes.  Why is that important?  Well, for one thing, it's what the Bible teaches, so it automatically is.  For another, if you're under spiritual and/or physical attack from the darts of the evil one, it's good to know that every Satanically timed attack is also always a divinely timed attack.  Satan is only able, even in his free and rebellious and hateful will, to do that which God in His free will has purposed for my good.

So go ahead, Lucy (short for Lucifer and a nice belittling taunt for the pathetic nemesis of the Christian), give it your best shot.  You can only do me good!  Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

It certainly does me!

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Happy In Jesus

Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey.

I was thinking, as my daughter sat on my lap at the end of worship tonight, singing Trust And Obey with great feeling, of how happy indeed I was in Jesus at that moment. And of how it does not seem likely from Scripture that in the New Heaven and New Earth we will have new children. And of how that makes this life the last opportunity to have them and rear them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Surely, whatever blessings belong to the next age make this one fade to nothing by comparison, but that doesn't diminish how great a blessing it is. In truth, it only strengthens the joy of my hope for glory. It was truly a Psalm 127-128 moment for me:

Psalm 127:1-128:6 (ESV)
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
5Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
128:1A Song of Ascents.
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
2You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
5The Lord bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
6May you see your children's children!
Peace be upon Israel!

Things that I'm Glad to See Reflected In My Daughter

I posted earlier how Emmet reminded me that my children emulate me and
how frightening a thing that can be. Well, God has encouraged me by
several things that Kessedi has done today that she learned from her papa.

1. She was spontaneously organizing her books. This may not seem a big
deal to you, but with the grief that I have gone through just getting
them to put the books on the shelf, it mattered to me.
2. She has taken to randomly saying, "Daddy? I love you!" This is an
imitation of something I try to do with Heather and the children

and this is the best one for me...

3. She pulled a Christian book off the shelf and said, "This is my
Sunday book!" Oh that my daughter would learn to treasure the Lord's
Day because it is His; how happy I shall be indeed!

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Enjoy!

Latenight Eating Is a Bad Idea

Due to having supper three times by 1 a.m. yesterday, the earth's mass
increased slightly yesterday.

Do Unto Your Children As You Would Have Them Do Unto Everyone Else

This morning, Emmet powerfully and humorously reminded me of how careful
I must be about how I conduct myself around my children.

As a result of some (tasty) leftover ham and bean soup that I ate late
last night, the pressure in my colon led to a flatulent expulsion, and
Emmet exclaimed, "Stinky!" He then ran up behind me and pressed his
nose to my shorts, followed by a heart-felt "ewwwwww!," to which he
added, looking up into my face, "diaper change?" He was basically doing
to me what I have done to him hundreds of times.

Now, I would be mildly embarrassed if someone, perhaps at church,
farted, and he repeated the entire procedure upon them. How much worse
would it be if someone asked him a question while he was busy, and he
answered crossly? Or if someone did something that he had forbidden
several times, and he threw his arms up in the air and exclaimed, "What
is the matter with you?!"

Thank God for giving me a son, to foster that private righteousness
about which I might otherwise grow lazy.

Is It The Tea?

Apparently, I need to invest in some decaf tea.
Or else not drink a quart of the stuff with and after supper.

And I need to be more earnest in my prayers regarding our sleep at the end of family worship each night. Both children have had bad dreams, and we're not yet pushing 11p.

However, as I lay awake, reviewing the day, I recalled that I meant to blog something that happened today but hadn't, so here it is!

We were on our way into chapel, when I noticed that the regular Thursday preacher wasn't there. The man who was there instead was one whom I consider to not be either very loving or obedient to God's laws. Specifically, to me, he has left the impression in the past that he is impatient, worldly, arrogant, not a lover of spiritual things, and has complete disregard for the Lord's Day, even to the point that he seems to think it is his day. Now, let me haste to say that he might not actually be all these things.

My contact with him has been extremely brief. However, I have sat through a few of his sermons that were applicationally average and expositionally poor. So, not desiring very much to risk it, and feeling bereaved of the expected feeding for which I had hoped from the Thursday series out of 2 Peter 1, we went straight to the grocery shopping. I got home over an hour earlier than planned and ended up having a great day.

So what did I learn?

(1) How very, very, very important it is for me as a preacher of the gospel not just to pursue love and righteousness vigorously, but also to carefully guard how others perceive me. Enough rubbish about not paying attention to appearances. If I am paying attention to them because I value how people think about me, then yes, that's a sin. But if I am not paying attention to appearances at all, that's an even worse sin. People will hear or not hear God through my preaching the Scriptures as a direct result of how I have conducted myself in their presence. Even my very demeanor matters--these things are not built upon evidential data but upon the "feel" someone gets around me. If I am not now humble, loving, compassionate, empathetic, serious about spiritual things, sincerely passionate about godliness in myself and others in such a way that is palpable to those around me... then I had better become so, and quick. If people can spend more than 30s with me and not come away knowing that I love God, live to glorify Him, and care deeply about their souls as a result, then I am a sham as a minister of the gospel and make a mockery of the third commandment.
(2) How very, very, very important it is for me to preach a well-prepared, well-exposited, closely applied sermon every time. People will categorize my preaching based upon random samples. So there cannot be any weak sermons at all, or it will be upon my head if they are unable to hear the good ones after that, because their experience of the poor ones has colored my preaching in their minds and hearts.

And now, it's quarter past 11. Still not sleepy. And I have both the opportunity and the need for it!...

must be the tea.

I'm Not A Rolling Stone

They just can't get no satisfaction (their grammar, not mine).

Not only am I fully satisfied daily by the grace of Christ, but some days that grace so superabounds that I am actually also satisfied with how I spent it.

Today was one of those days. True, I didn't meet my studying goal, and there were many house-husband duties that I wish could have been spent in more profitable endeavours, but I am on the whole pleased. So while there is always room for improvement, I award today with the highest available mark on this side of glory: 9/10

Today's Supper Menu:
Winter Veggies and Brown Rice (Steamed acorn squash, turnips, carrots, and onions tossed in a honey-nutmeg-orange peel sauce)
Whole wheat rolls (homemade with dough made from scratch)
Raspberry Walnut Salad (romaine, radiccio, cabbage, and carrot shreds, tossed with walnuts and a lite raspberry vinegarette dressing)
Tea
Water

Want to visit? We always make enough for at least 2 guests, and will be glad to stretch it even further if more arrive. No notice required for partys of 4 or less. :D

A Two Shower Day

Summer started already :(

They're Back!

It's been near 80 and sunny for three days, and the critters are back in full force. During our daily outdoor exercise, we managed to capture a yellow sulphur, a question mark comma, and a couple lizards. The photos here are the exact species, but they are not the actual animals we captured (I don't have enough time for that!)

Which Is A Higher Percentage Of Water?

I can't honestly remember whether I am made of more water or the earth
is. However, I am fairly certain that the reason that the earth didn't
shrink yesterday (it didn't grow either) is because I am retaining more
than my share. At least that means that it's almost certain to shrink
today... :)

Beware the First of March

What is a man with a target bed time of 8:00 and "strict" bedtime of 9:00 doing starting a blog at 11:37?

Well, dishes don't do themselves.
And as I found out, if you do them until you run out of water, they don't get done at all.

And children don't put themselves to bed.
In fact, even if you get them sleeping soundly, there's no guarantee they'll stay that way.
Kessedi is sitting in my lap.

Bless the fair bairn's heart.  She got up to peepee in the potty and noticed some noise downstairs.  She came down to find daddy doing dishes.  "Kessedi help?  Kessedi help you?  Kessedi help the dishes?"

And help she did.  Helped with the dishes, then helped put away the laundry, then helped put away her books and straighten the living room.  She's better at 11p than I deserve her to be at 11a.

Even as I type, she's telling me what to type.  "Press the h!" "Press the g!"  "You want to make 'heh heh' ... you want to make 'jeh jeh'"  Not bad directions from my little phonics princess.

So anyway this was supposed to be about the day.  Let's see.  Wrote a good lesson on parenting (part two of "patience" in the "character" of a Christian parent) but didn't end up teaching it.  Still, a couple points for writing it.  And finished The Federal Theology.  Short book, but whenever you finish any book, that's a good thing.  And researched something for Emmet's birthday that's going to be a total surprise, even to Heather, so it's not going to appear here until after the party!  And exercised.  And led an hour of confession in prayer, following the ten commandments.  So while 90% of the todo list has moved on to tomorrow's list, I still give today an 8/10.

Kessedi wants you to know "that's a number eight and a number ten."  Smart girl.  And boy was she excited that I hit "g" again for 'girl'.

Supper tonight was:
Garden salad ( Mediterranean leaf mix, black olives, tomatoes, jack cheese, and thousand island)
Ham and Bean soup (from scratch, cooked all day)
Cornbread mini-loaves (from scratch)
Tea
Water

Now, with eyes that are bloodshot from being open too early, too often, and too late, I bid the screen adieu.

Goodnight!

Reminded again of just how blessed I am

While I make tonight's soup, we're listening to klove as usual, and one of our favorite
songs came on, and Kes charged at Emmet who was sitting in the window
sill reading, crying out "Praise the Lord! Come on, Emmet, get up and
praise the Lord!" to which he responded by taking hold of her extended
hand, and they raced into the middle of the room and started dancing around.

Once again...

am I blessed or what?

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