On Monday Avery had her first dose of rice in milk and she seemed to handle it fairly okay, of course most of it came right back out, but thats alright. Our little girl is growing well and is about 13 p, 11 ounces at this time. She also cleared up alot since we took Shadow over to Hollys dads house to stay. Guess between the cat and the weather she was getting stuffed up.

I am sure there will be more fun to come in the days ahead. You never know what to expect but you look forward to all of it.

Colossians 1:12

We gave Avery her first mouthful of rice this week, and it came back mostly, but hey at least she’s working toward it. Pray for us as we desire God's wisdom in our lives as to what path we shall take toward the year. Thank you for those prayers and don’t stop praying. Bless you

David

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Joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

Colossians 1:12

As children of the Lord there is nothing greater than his promises and love for us. We give thanks to Him, and we give it with joy. Both the word ‘qualified’ and ‘inheritance’ have something important in common in this verse. They are both used complete void of any action on our own part.

When Paul uses the word qualified, it is not to be thought of in the same way we most likely would think. This is a position we now hold because we are in Christ and He is in us. To qualify is to be equipped as one with adequate power to perform duties. If we even begin to think we are able to be Christ like on our own, we are mistaken. There is no way we could come close, but it is the Lord who has made us able and equipped us to do His will.

Inheritance may not necessarily be earned, and it really cannot be chosen. No matter whom you are, you cannot decide what family you will be born into. There is no amount of choice on our end as to what we will gain from our parents; it is their responsibility and choice. This is why the inheritance of God’s children is so great. When we become Christians we have the ability to be born again. We are born into the Family of God and with that comes the blessing of all the things he has for us. Think of that! You are born into God’s own family and are His child. We are all qualified by the cross of Christ and we will all share in what the Father has for the Son and the children.

How i love saturday mornings! It means i have a full two days with not any work and i can just enjoy my family. I look outside at the melting ice and wish it would warm up to spring around here soon, but i know it will come in time. We dont want to rush the months that go by anyway. Little Avery is growing by the day now drinking 5 ounces every four hours or so. She is so sweet and into talking very much now, of course most of the things are just her gurgling and cooing but there is nothing that sounds as good. I love my little girl.

Im watching the sunrise outside thinking how nice it will be when we can get out more. For now its just as good being able to enjoy the house. I might need to get a snack in a minute though, im getting a little hungry. I am a big fan of food and im sure my daugther will be too. She only screams when she wants her bottle, other wise she is a very good mannered baby. Holly and i are blessed.

Colossians 1:11

Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 

Colossians 1:11

Imagine the unlimited power of God. If you can even begin to imagine it, you are no where near close. He is great beyond words or song could ever describe. Now the Apostle Paul prays that the church may be strengthened with His power and might. What an amazing declaration and prayer. Our Lord wants us to feel His strength inside of us.

First off do not assume that this means we will in any way have the Power of God or could do the things He can. He will of course give us power in the sense of strength and ability as we trust Him. The Holy Spirit will be with us in all things and often will do stuff through us that is amazing indeed. 

Our Lord wants us to have patience and stand firm in this life, as hard as that will be. He provides for us the strength we need to make it through all things and all times that we will go through. He is there for us and will give us all our needs. He loves us and will always be there for us in all of His glory and might.

Cold and chilly are some words that i would rather not be using about the weather right now, but has been for way to long. We cant wait for it to warm up and of course hope that it comes soon. We gave Shadow away to family to have her out of the house and hopefully help Avery with her cold. I am sure that will indeed help, but we will see.

Colossians 1:10

We managed to get through the storm and now just have to face some cold weather ahead. Thank you for your prayers as we do appreciate them my friend. I hope you that will have a good week ahead of you.

David

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so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Colossians 1:10

Our walk with the Lord is the single most important thing in our lives. It is the manner by which we walk that either produces life or death. Paul’s prayer for the people was for them to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, and pleasing him in all things. By walk we refer to our way of life, our daily habits, our reactions and actions to people and situations. How we respond shows how we are walking and if the path we are on it’s a good one.

Bearing fruit is the result of our lives with the Lord, and are the evidence of our relationship with Him. This fruit if the things in our lives that point our hearts to Christ, in our actions, our thoughts, and mostly our words are things we bear for good works. Now it is important that we judge our own lives because others will be watching us.

Increase in your knowledge about God my friend. This is the one thing we seem to forget about and put to the side in our lives. Maybe we think that as long as we have the basics down we will be fine, as if its enough to know we are saved and we should be good living the rest of our lives with that. But it is not enough. We should be ever learning and ever growing to know and understand this One we call Lord. We are in truth giving our lives to Him, we might as well spend our energy getting to know all we can about Him.

Avery at her one month and two month birthday!

Avery is three months old today and she has her cupcakes ready to go. If only she knew she had such sweet treats in at her finger tips. I am sure as the months go by up to her One year birthday she will figure it out and start playing with those treats! :)

Colossians 1:9

Ice is not one of my favorite things, and winter has gone on long enough. We couldn’t get my car out this morning so we had to carpool which makes me wish I didn’t work so late in the evening. Hopefully i can free it in the morning for tomorrow though. We are supposed to get some more snow so keep us in your prayers my friend. Hope you have a good weekend.

David
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For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding 

Colossians 1:9 

Colosse was known for its faith and love for people and Paul rejoiced for them. He also prayed for them constantly. The subject of the prayer was for the people to have knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God’s will. 

We all want to know what God’s will for our lives is. That alone is a constant question on our thoughts as we grow and mature as believers. For some it seems like his will comes out loud and clear, while others His will can seem hard to discover. Either way we must be in constant prayer for his will and for understanding in what He wants for our lives. 

Our prayers should be filled with the desire to understand His will for us in life. We know He has a direction for us and a plan but we do not always know what it is. Most of the time we won’t know until after we have lived, what the ultimate destination is for our life. We can trust Him to fulfill His plan as we believe in his perfect will. Pray for wisdom and He will be with you.

Colossians 1:4-8

Hard to believe that on Friday my little girl will be three months old. The days just go by so quickly. Now we just look forward to spring time so we can get out more with her and enjoy it. For now its just to cold.

I do ask for your prayers beloved as a dear brother in Christ has passed away while on a mission trip to Mexico. He was a mighty man of God and I know He is with our Lord now. Please pray for his wife and children and loved ones as they grieve. Thank you for your prayers.

David

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Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:4-8

Listed in these verses are all the things the Apostle Paul is thankful the people of Colosse are doing. The church was growing and spreading the truth of God’s word among all the land. First there was the love which they had for all saints. There were no split churches or denominational lines among the saints. You did not hear about so and so’s church being full of sinners and the like. All people who were believers in Christ were accepted just as they were for faith was all that was needed. Paul saw a love which laid down every barrier the church has put right back up in the last 2000 years.

The church in Colosse knew that they had a hope in heaven and the truth of the gospel had come to them as it had to entire world. Their job was not to store it for themselves and claim to be the only church, but to share it with the world as intended. Bearing fruit was the ultimate goal and being faithful to the word was the way to live. Paul was thankful because the people knew what it meant to be servants of Christ, and to love one another just as Christ loves.

No big surprise to see that the Church in America is not doing as well as it should be. Truly we have tried to hard to relate to the world that we are beginning to look more and more like the world. God’s truth is being crowded by man’s ideas and desires. The Word of Truth has been lost among the people and we must work to get it back. For the Church to survive we must hold onto the essential truths of the Gospel of Christ. These truths will be explained in the rest of this book and all of Paul’s writings. Our message from this is to bear fruit and love all believers as well be love to all mankind.

You know there are some things you can never have enough of in life. Ice cream is one of my things! Got to love it, along with milk and pretty much anything dairy related. I am a very big ice cream guy. Now this is a picture of me, incase you all think Avery is the only one with picture charm. Anyway.... there is a solid piece of ice outside at the moment and it quite an adventure driving on it. But today is my day off so i wont have to do that now, though walking out to the mail box was fun. Of course there is a little ditch which i had to pull myself out of, but thats okay.

As for the weather its sunny and cold with a chance of getting colder. Which makes me wonder why i am eating ice cream on a day like this. Well actually Im eating chicken (for lunch) but i might have some ice cream later.

Colossians 1:1-3

Friends I hope you are staying warm these days. We have a great deal of ice to deal with around here. I can’t say I like it that much. Actually Miss Avery is waiting for Spring so we can get her out of the house more and into the world of adventure which is there for her to explore. She is very talkative these days.

I hope you have a great day my friend and be blessed.
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Colossians 1:1-3

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 
To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: 
      Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 

Ever stopped to examine the content of your personal prayer life? How often do we find ourselves praying for other people and for the Lord to bless their lives like we want Him to bless ours? Furthermore how often do we find ourselves thanking God for those people? Paul starts out most of his letters with terms of gratitude toward the recipients. This is a pattern for us to follow. 

Right in the beginning of this letter to Colosse, Paul declares who he is, his position and authority to be writing the letter, who is working with him, and finally who the letter is written to. There is a quick blessing and a thank you to the people, which is expounded upon in the following verses. We just want to grab hold of the message for us in how we are to pray. 

Pray to the Lord always, give thanks for all He does, and in all times and seasons never cease praying. Do not cease to pray for those who have been in your life as a blessing from heaven. But after you pray thank the Lord for them, and after that go to them and give them your thanks. Tell the people you love and know that you think about them with thankfulness to the Father. So get on your knees and pray and do it with thanks.

Though no on will probably even believe us we do have a new first as of yesterday evening. Our darling daugther who has been talkative a lot lately, mostly with coos and goos, repeated one small phrase right after i said it yesterday. We were watching TV and it got to a commercial so i began to fast foward. It Smallville and I said "uh-oh" in response to the show. Well a few seconds later we hear our darling daugther who was playing in her pack and play, say "uh-oh" as plain as day. It was the most amazing little thing in the world and she has not really said it since but we are working on it. Of course it will be some time before she has any sermons to preach, but for now at least we have the uh-oh down.

As for the pic of the day we have our darling looking at her froggy and duck which hang on to her car seat for enjoyment. She likes to bat at them and play with them when shes in a good mood. Avery is so adorable and we look forward to hearing what she has to say next.

Cute as can be this morning my friend. Just wanted to post a new pic showing my little sunshine princess in her happy mood. We are pretty much snowed in today so will have plently of time for games and family fun.

Winter ice has moved into our area and that causes a bit of trouble when it comes to driving around. We have freezing temps outside and not a whole love of visibility. That is okay though because my work still keeps us here doing our duty till hopefully i can flex out for the day. I do want to get home to my wife and daugther and cut of hot cocoa. And at least its the weekend now.

Pressing on things have been going good with little Avery. She is slowly learning how to make her self wobble while on her tummy and she kicks her feet around like she is thinking about crawling. I dont think it will be too long now. We bathe her every night which gives her lots of leg excercise. And she loved being held and walked around which doesnt make it easy to train her to roll over. I say train but its not something you can really teach, she will figure it out soon enough. I cant wait till spring so we can get out more with her and let her see the lay of the land.

Inbetween calls at work I spend my time typing up the Scripture. This allows me to have a good distraction and helps get me through the day. The Word has always been good for helping me and uplift me over the cloud of the day. I also have time to do my devotional writings and mail those at as well. Jon should be getting a web site doing pretty soon here where we can post those and other relative updates and info.

Jon has been my best friend since highschool and has always been there when i needed him. He also has a little girl who was born within days of ours so its pretty exciting to go through the whole fatherhood thing together. He lives out in CA still so it does make it hard, but I have learned how to make the most out of long distance, since that is how me and Holly spent our time before we got married. I should get going for now will see post again soon.

Avery is getting more and more excited by the day as she discovers her new world. Granny bought her a surfboard tummy time mat which she enjoys playing with. It has little fish to look at which we already know she enjoys from her mobile. Our darling princess is just about 2 and a half months old now, we cannot even believe that. She just amazes us more and more. How wonderful the Lord is for giving us such a gift. Here she sits on her mat enjoying herself and playing with her fish.

She also enjoys all of her other presents she got for Christmas. We have already taugth her the greatest gift was that of our Savior being born in a humble cave. Her first movie theater experince was to see the Nativity. We went yesterday afternoon to the mall and went to the movie. She slept through most of it til her babba (bottle) time. Then she ate and was happy. How wonderful for that to be her first movie. It moved me to tears as one of the best movies i have seen in a long time. It brought the whole event to life in such an amazing way. We enjoyed it greatly.

I will need to find a way to scan her pictures she got with Santa as she was very adorable. Also there are much more things to say and more to post. Time goes so quick. We have been having computer issues here which is why its been hard to get photos on here but it seems at least for now i got something to work for me. Well on toward the day.

The new year is here and so far it looks like any other normal year. Of course you have to get through the whole thing before you can really say that. Anyway its also only the 4th so really we have no idea what is yet to come. We will let you know but for now just wanted to say hello.