Vintage Valentines

http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/free-vintage-kids-valentine-cards/

Go to this site to see some vintage valentine cards. They are free to download and make adorable cards for your dear loved ones.

I know some of you men out there are just looking for a site like this one :)..... right?

Valentine Banner

The boys and I cut tons of hearts out and strung on this red string. It made for a nice banner for Valentine's.

He is remembering family and thinking how much we love them!

I wish I had more pics of his older brother.. but he doesn't seem to want to act out for the camera anymore :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Drive-by Commenting

I love the internet. Where else can you have the audacity to comment on something someone else has created without having any connection/friendship/relationship/aquaintance with them. And this is the world of the drive-by commenter. Perhaps some of you have experienced this on your blogs. I know I have.

You have to love these people because the "real" world of people and ideas is probably a bit difficult for them. As a result, they do a google search for a topic they have something to say about, and then they post their "thoughts" on a random person's blog, making them feel all big and proud of themselves. Seriously, go out and meet some people and then, once you've established a relationship with them, they may want to discuss your ideas with you. Until then, keep your comments and ideas for your own blog.

Rant over. Hurray for blogging.

(P.S. This isn't directed at any of you guys who are our friends. We love your comments!)

Fresh Bread!

we just received a wheat grinder from one of our dear friends here in Vienna. I'm so excited!! I've been grinding kernels like crazy and yesterday we baked some bread with our freshly ground wheat flour.

Thad was my helper and enjoyed learning about the seeds that grow the wheat, the "big tractor like Frank in the movie Cars" comes and cuts it down, it's taken to the farm to be separated and then we get the bag of kernels to grind into flour.

Here is a picuture of the whole grinder itself. It is wonderful to have! Thanks to my dear friend :)

If you've never done this before... it's so worth it to get a grinder and buy your wheat kernels in huge bags at a whole foods or organic store. The bread is better and you are getting fresh ingredients with no preservatives. This equals happy tummies and happy children.

Pastor's Conference Audio

This is the audio from a leadership course Mark Driscoll did with a group of young pastors. I really appreciate his focus on the expository teaching and preaching of the word as well as his simple encouragement to continually speak about Jesus. This may be a bit long for some of you but if you are interested in advice about sermon prep or teaching I would highly recommend listening to all of this.

Seminary: Course #1 Prolegomena

"It seems that you've been living two lives. In one life, you're Thomas Gardner , a Chaplain and History teacher at a successful international Christian school. You have a social security number, pay your taxes, and you... help your wife carry out...the garbage. The other life is lived in books and in front of a computer, where you are known as a "seminary student" and spend all your spare time writing...papers. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not."

Well Agent Smith, your words hold some degree of truth. But, I'm pretty sure the whole seminary thing does play a part in making me the person that I want to be in the future so I'm going to have to impolitely disagree and ask for my phone call.

Yes, Mollie and I have been watching the Matrix. And yes, I am really busy with seminary. So I thought, "Surely, I can come up with a blog post that combines the two."My first class is Prolegomena, which is a big, fancy seminary term that means "first word" or starting assumptions, in this case, of theology. I thought I would share a bit about my courses and what I'm learning so I can share the theological love.

In beginning the study of theology, it is vital to establish the presuppositions upon which you are going to build your system, in this case, a truly biblical theology. There are essentially four pillars of a biblical theology (and some would disagree with one or more of these, but I think they are pretty solid).

PILLAR #1 - The Biblical God Exists
Duh, right? Sadly, there are lots of "theologians" who don't start there. This is THE critical starting point for growing in a knowledge of God from scripture. As Mark Driscoll says, "If you don't know Jesus, you don't know jack about the Bible." This study looks at different arguments for the existence of the God of the Bible using both philosophical and biblical arguments.

PILLAR # 2 - God Has Authoritatively Revealed Himself to Man
This pillar looks at the ways that God has revealed Himself through both general and special ways. Primary focus is given to the Bible as God's authoritative self-revelation and a study of things like inspiration, canonicity, and transmission.

PILLAR # 3 - Man's Ability to Comprehend God's Revelation
This pillar examines ideas such as the origin and purpose of language (that God gave it for the purpose of communication with Him and each other), the effects of sin on our relationships (both with God and each other), and the works of God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) in overcoming sin and reaching out to man.

PILLAR #4 - Developing a Consistant Hermeneutic
The final pillar is determining how we should read and interpret the Bible. Various hermeneutic methods are examined and critiqued. The importance of the literal historical-grammatical method is examined and critiqued, but found to be the method that most consistently submits to God as the authority in the interpretive process. This method is then applied to scriptural study and reveals 5 major results:
1. Submission to the authority of scripture
2. Recognition of cumulative revelation (God has revealed Himself progressively over time)
3. Awareness of doxological centrality (God's glory is the unifying theme of scripture)
4. A normative dispensational conclusion
5. A clear distinction between Israel and the church

I should be completely finished with the class within the week and that's exciting. My next three classes have arrived but I'll be completing them one at a time over the next few months. The main thing I've enjoyed about this so far is how what I'm learning is so applicable to what I'm teaching in Chapel and in my Bible classes. Pray that God will continue to use this time to grow me closer to Him and that I would come to love Him, and not theology, more and more.

lazy saturday

Sometimes Saturdays call for cookies....and little boys for makin' and eatin' them. :)

yes, Thad gets dressed sometimes...and that's Ian's cooking hat :)

getting crafty

I made aprons! This summer while cleaning out my Mimi's sewing room, I found a vintage apron pattern and immediately wanted to make one. After picking out the designs from all the old vintage ribbon, ric rac and fabric lying around, I made these a couple of months later. They are so fun and I love wearing them while I cook! I had a friend over the other evening and she loved the fun look. You know, that's who I am. I love old things like that... I love vintage items and even hope to make a lot of my own clothes once we return to the states. Mainly because there is a lot of fabric waiting around for me at my mom's house from my Mimi's old sewing room. If you didn't know about my obsession with old and antique things, now you do! I'm a sucker for scraps that others would throw away. Everything can be used and recycled to make something more useful.

I made some for my sisters too :)

"May your hats fly as high as your dreams" - Michael Scott

So I gave my first graduation address today. Sort of. I had the priviledge of speaking today in a Chapel service dedicated to one of our seniors who was graduating early. I've never done one of these things before so I was pretty nervous. I ended up speaking about the future and how students tend to deal with/think about it. I think that most students fall into one of two categories which I feel I have named appropriately:

The Mollie
This is the ideal student for teachers. This student is focused on doing their best and thinks a lot about the future. They have their plans laid out and are seeking to do their best to accomplish their goals. The problem with this student is that they can sometimes become too foucsed on the future. Some kids have their life so planned out and are so focused on getting where they need to go that they miss being effective in the present.
(My wife was more of the former description than the latter, I simply chose to use her as an example to the kids because several of them are just like she was in high school).
The Thomas
This student is fine to have in class. They don't necessarily disrupt things, but they are known for being a bit talkative. This student lives for the here and now. "Why worry about tomorrow, it will take care of itself," is their motto. The problem with this student is that they can be so focused on today that they make no plans for tomorrow. They love people and relating to them, but they don't always think about the long term consequences of their choices.

Both of these types of personalities have their own strengths and weaknesses. Thankfully, Jesus loves both of them and gives some great advice that helps to put the present and the future in their proper perspectives. A Pharisee once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. His answer is awesome becuase it is present tense, with future implication:

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Loving God with our heart refers to an emotional love that arises naturally from a growing relationship with Him. Loving God with our soul refers to our volition or choices that we make. Loving Him with our mind involves our intellectual nature. Even what we study in the academic world is important to Jesus. So the basic summary is that we are to love God with the totality of who we are. This is the starting point of being useful to God: Loving Him with every part of ourselves. It's only when that is the starting point that we are able to accomplish the second part of the commmandment, to love our neighbor as ourself.

There is a huge focus today on helping others. Scripture is clear that this is a noble and good thing, but Jesus qualifies the commandment to do this by stating that it flows from a heart that is focused on God.

• When we love God with our heart, we love the things He loves and, conversely, hate the things that He hates.

• When we love God with all our soul, we choose to act on those things by reaching out to those in need in the world around us. We also stand with God against those things He hates and work to prevent them from occurring or end them if they are already present.

• When we love God with all our mind, we understand that all of what we learn academically can be of use to God. The things that we choose to study will play a major role in making us into the people we ultimately become. And who we become, is of great importance in terms of how God can use us in this world.

For students, loving God with all they are in the present affects the choices they make now that play a massive role in who they become. The challenge for all of us is to love God this way so that we are useful to Him in our local and global communities. This is the heart of Jesus' message and the only way that we can keep the present and the future in their proper perspectives.

Some Christmas photos

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas time and a great start to a new year!

Where have the ornaments gone??

So this is the culprit! I knew somebody was taking the ornaments....

But how can I punish this face :) he starting grinning when I found him up there. They know they are in the wrong... and they are hoping their charming little toddler look will help them out.

Thad decided he would help me out, but I had to explain that a Ninja sword fight was not going to help the situation.
No children were harmed in the making of this picture

Now, if I could just find the ornaments.....

Merry Christmas!!!

it's just too cute a picture...

Well, we made gingerbread houses. Not your traditional style... but we had fun regardless of the interesting creations. When all was said and done, there were more sprinkles on Thad's plate than on his house. Plus I found more under the table later.

This one above is mine, with Santa and his reindeer

mine again..

Here's Thad's creation and you can see his sprinkles on the other side.
We had friends over who joined in the fun and I will make sure we do this next year as it is so fun!!

Sorry

Some of you have tried to view our blog and unfortunately could only see a bright red color! We're sorry for that. We do have a lovely background but it can only be read by certain programs and therefore defaults to unreadable red. If it's not fixed now, please tell us. But all should be right again and we thank you for your patience with us as we make our blog look "pretty". Thomas just loves the new look!! :)

Pictures from The Journey

Thomas teaching. He can't live without a whiteboard.

One of our kids taking communion.

Thomas again...rocking his "Matthew's Party" t-shirt and Velcro "old man" shoes.

You should buy this for yourself or someone else for Christmas

From the album "Come Let Us Adore Him".

I cry like once or twice a year, and it usually involves Manchester Untied losing. I admit it though, I cried like a baby listening to this song and eating french fries tonight. Let me explain, because there's some history here. I have been especially overwhelmed by the incarnation this year as I've been doing my quiet times and studying for my times of teaching. I really don't even have words. I mean, I'm rendered speechless when I try to wrap my mind around it.

Last night at The Journey I taught on the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John. They deal so beautifully with what it meant for the Word to become flesh (mankind) so that He could show us the best way that life could be experienced.

Have you ever thought about the world that Jesus was born into? The Roman Empire was in the middle of it's most glorious period (the Pax Romana) and yet the people of Rome and the surrounding world found themselves disillusioned by religion and philosophy, overwhelmed by a rising materialism, and immersed in every sort of debauchery and immorality. Surely they felt their emptiness and yet had no answer for it. For the Jews, they found themselves locked into a religious system of their own creation. Blinded by their own self righteousness and desire to be separate, they had completely lost their mission of being a light to the nations around them (Isaiah 60:1-5).

Jesus steps into this bringing grace and truth. To the gentiles, truth. All of the false idolatry and immorality that failed to satisfy them and stood in stark contrast to the truth presented by Jesus. He demonstrated what it was to live a life of meaning and purpose that wasn't a slave to physical desires, something severely lacking in the Roman world.

For the Jews, He revealed grace. The following of the Jewish Law had become its own religion that differed from its original intent at the time it was given. For most, the law was something to be kept in order to please God and was also a source of pride (something God ins't a big fan of). The problem with law is that it's mostly focused on "do not". The grace that Christ offered freed people from the burden of the law. This freedom allowed people to take the focus off of their own behavior and to focus on reaching out to those around them in need, both spiritually and physically.

I pray that you can really spend some time thinking about the incarnation and that it was directly for people like us. Whether you came out of hedonism and idolatry like the Romans, or self righteousness like the Jews, "the Word became flesh," for us all. That's what makes it a Merry Christmas.

We're Not in Kansas anymore...

We'll I was walking through the foyer and around the tent my boys had set up right in the middle of everything, when I glanced back and saw this sight. I started laughing and wondered how we killed the wicked witch of the east? This is how I found it, no tampering with the set up here! It's funny and of course my boys have no idea what movie scene they created.
But it turned my thoughts towards how I feel sometimes as we continue to live in a foreign land. This is not "Kansas" anymore and I feel lonely at times without much connection to home. I know that lies come from the evil one to discourage us and so I encourage myself in the Lord. But to be honest, we do have days where we feel so out of place. Even as our ministry here is going really well, we tend to doubt at times that we're making a difference. Again, we covet your prayers and encouragement as we daily connect with students or staff and desire to be used to the fullest. As always, the homesick feelings come during holiday time, but we know this will be another wonderful Christmas celebration. As we focus our eyes on the Lord, we are reminded that we are all in a foreign land and not "home" yet. Because Jesus himself was willing to come to this world, we can have hope for our future and the promise of a true home where we'll find true belonging.

Thanks for caring for us and checking in with us! We love to hear from you and think of all of you so often.
Blessings to you this day!

This is kinda regressive Turkey dinner... at least it's how I'm portraying it for you!

20 lb Turkey!!

The before shot... yes those are pears for our place cards... :)
Definitely a wonderful day and lots of yummy fellowship!

More info on our youth church

Here is the handout we made for our youth church. I'm not sure if you can read it but if you click on it you should get a close up. I thought it was really cool how my friend Cindi highlighted certain words. I wrote a paraphrased version of Luke 24:32 for it. "Didn't our hearts burn within us when He spoke with us on our journey and opened the scriptures to us?" I thought that was really cool and it worked with the original text.

The Journey: We're not a band. We're like a church type thing

At about 5:45 in the morning sometime this past June, I found myself sitting in front of my brother-in-law's sweet computer thinking and praying. I had ridiculous jet lag because we had only gotten to D.C. the previous afternoon. I remember praying and asking God what His plans were for VCS for the coming year. I remember that I just starting writing down ideas and then a vision for each of the ideas.

The thing I spent the most time thinking about was the idea of a youth church. Because of the diverse student population of VCS we frequently have kids that come to know the Lord from various cultural and religious backgrounds. Many of these kids come from homes where they have never been to a church. This could be because the family simply never went or because they were hostile towards the idea. The issue is that when these kids come to know the Lord at VCS they often have opportunities for discipleship but many never actually attend churches.

As the summer progressed I somehow managed to misplace my idea notebook. When we got back to Vienna we jumped straight back into things with school, chapel, and soccer. And then we had Spiritual Emphasis Week. As the week came to a close I discussed ideas about follow up with teachers and our speakers. In my heart I clearly heard God reminding me of the vision he gave me early one morning in the summer. I shared this idea with a few teachers and our secondary principal. Everyone thought it had amazing potential and so we started planning. What we came up with was The Journey: A Youth Church.

The Journey is intended for, but not limited to, these types of students. We want students who come to know the Lord from non-Christian backgrounds to experience a church community. Having The Journey be connected with the school provides an atmosphere of familiarity for both the students and the parents. Yesterday we announced the idea of The Journey to the students and we have had an amazing response. I think the coolest thing for me was discussing this idea with a small group of students. One girl said that she had come to know the Lord during her first year at VCS but has never been involved in a local church. She said that she was so excited about this because it was a church that she would feel comfortable being a part of. I seriously got choked up.

With the goal of reaching our kids in the context of their world, we decided to start a facebook group and a website. We already have 30 or so kids who have joined the facebook group and kids are leaving comments about being excited about things.

As you can imagine, this thing has taken a lot of work on the part of numerous individuals. The beauty of things is that God puts certain people in certain places to be used for His purposes. Myself and another teacher have been the main idea people but we have several people who have been involved in publicity and graphic design for things. We also have a tech (snort) guy handling our website. So this whole thing is pretty exciting.

Please be in prayer for The Journey. Our first meeting is Wednesday December 3rd. I'll post a bit more about the vision of The Journey as well as our structure and idea about the order of things later.

More photography from Thad

what's a better subject than your naive little brother?

too much tilt

almost there....

that's better.