My thought
I can’t believe it will be March tomorrow! February was filled with many activities, starting with a visit with granny, a Valentine’s lunch, tax filing, a couple of birthday parties for Tryphena’s friends, and we went to Shaver Lake on the 21st to play snow there.
Tryphena improves her reading, writing, and Math skills as the days go by.
Baron keeps growing, and his ears are all up now. He demands a lot of attention and activities every day.
Click here for February’s pictures.
We’ve been busy in the last couple of weeks with the addition of a new family member. Baron vom Nadelhaus is a 3-month-old German Shepherd puppy that we picked up from the same breeder we bought Duke from. He was born on October 23, 2010 (Duke was born on October 16).
On Friday, January 7th we left for Sacramento and spent a night there. We visited the Old Town Sacramento and went on board the Delta King steamboat that has been converted into a hotel and restaurant. On the following day we went to the Nadelhaus kennel in Chico, about an hour North of Sacramento, to pick-up our new puppy. He is the litter of Nestroy vom Hohen Haus (sire) and Inkie vom Nadelhaus (dam). In the picture above he is the one on the left.
We’re house breaking him, and because he is still teething, he chews on everything. We have to always keep an eye on him, lest we’ll have a torn apart house. Baron demands a lot of attention, and house breaking him can be an arduous task, but he will surely provide company and friendship for many years to come. Click her for more of his pictures.
Where have the time gone?! It seems just like yesterday but it has been 5 years since Tryphena was born. I took a day off so that we could spend her birthday together. She told us since last month that she wanted to go to eat at Macaroni Grill on her birthday. “And you can order whatever you want….. whatever”, she would tell me.
So there we went this afternoon. From there we went to granny’s, and we cut the cake there. We also promised her a new puppy for her birthday, so next Friday we are going to go to Sacramento and then to Chico on the following day to pick up a German Shepherd puppy from Nadehaus. We spent the rest of the day preparing the house for the new puppy!
Click here for her birthday pix.
Happy birthday, dearest daughter!
The Son of God descended miraculously from heaven, yet without abandoning heaven; was pleased to be conceived miraculously in the Virgin’s womb, to live on the earth, and hang upon the cross, and yet always filled the world as from the beginning”
-John Calvin in the “Institutes of the Christian Religion” book II, XIII, 4.
Dear Family and Friends:
We would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas filled with joy, hope, and peace.
As we draw near to the closing of 2010, we feel that this year flew by so quickly that we often wondered where it had gone. 2010 was a challenging year for us with some losses and barely any gain; however, we thank the good Lord for his sustaining love and his many blessings despite all of the losses. Continue reading “Merry Christmas 2010”
Tryphena gave her 2nd piano recital last Sunday. She played “Songbird Band”, and “Jingle Bells”
I hope your thanksgiving day was happy and that you had plenty of things to be thankful for. Ours was fantastic! We had Thanksgiving service at church this morning, and we’re reminded to be thankful for having God who not only created us, but also sustains us and re-created us in his Son Jesus Christ! The Psalmist in Psalm 100 reminds us not only to shout with joy to the LORD, and to worship him with gladness, but also to know that the LORD is God.
We then had some friends came to our house where we had plenty of good food and we enjoyed the company of each others.
Despite the current economic and political turmoil, we thank the Lord for sustaining us and for his many blessings he bestowed upon us, things that we don’t deserve.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
What comes to mind when you hear “October 31st”? Most people in America will say, “Halloween”, or “Trick or Treat”, or “Candies”. You will rarely hear “Reformation Movement”, or “Martin Luther” even among professing Christians. Many Christians today don’t know their root, or for that matter the 16th century history of the Reformation movement.
It was October 31, 1517 when the Reverend Father Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. This simple act started the reformation movement that changed the face of religious life and politics of the western world. His movement was quickly spread throughout the Europe and was carried on by men like Philipp Melanchton, John Calvin, John Knox, Huldrych Zwingli, Theodore Beza, and others.
The tenets of the movement, known as the 5 Solas of Reformation are Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria.
The formal cause of the Reformation movement was Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) where the reformers believed that Scripture is the sole authority in doctrinal matters. The material cause of the movement was Sola Fide (Faith Alone), that is justification is by grace alone through faith alone. The conflict over justification by faith alone boils down to the difference between the words “Imputed” and “Infused”. Is the ground of our justification the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, or the righteousness of Christ infused within us? Sola fide declares that the ground of our justification is solely the righteousness of Christ. It is apart from or outside of us, not a part of us. Continue reading “Happy Reformation Day!”
Tryphena sang “God Bless America” in this video.
In the video below Tryphenae is singing “Indonesia Raya”, national anthem of the Republic of Indonesia.
Today at noon Duke has returned to his creator peacefully in his sleep. There were no dry eyes in our house, and when the mourning has subsided I will chronicle his last week on this earth. It’s suffice to say for now that we will always remember him and he will always be in our hearts.
He was by my side almost all the time when I’m home. I will GREATLY miss him.
I will miss him when I wake up in the morning
I will miss his escorting me to the door whenever I am leaving the house
I will miss his greeting by the door with his excitement and wagging tail every time I come home (even when he was very sick and could hardly get up he would still try to go to the door)
I will miss his trying to get onto the treadmill when I exercise
I will miss him when I wash the car
I will miss his wet nose reminding me to stop working and to go to sleep whenever I work late in my study
I will miss his whimpering in the middle of the night wanting to “go potty”
I will miss feeding him even spoon feed him when he’s sick
I will miss filling his water bowls
We will miss his from-sleeping-to-the-door-in-3-seconds sprint when the doorbell rings
We will miss him when we play in the yard, yes, even I will miss him chasing the water from the hose
We will miss him whenever we take a walk around the block
Duke,
you are now is a better place where there are no more suffering, no more pains, and no more tears.
IF you’re in heaven with the Lord (our theology isn’t clear on this), just wait for us there, buddy.
One day we will see you again over there!
Just wait for us at Heaven’s pearly gate as you always had done: waiting for me by the door.
When I see you there I promised you we will play water to your heart’s desire. We will take a looong walk in the garden, and
then I will once again hug you.
Thank you for your loyal friendship, our unfailing love, your fierce protection, and your ever-present companionship!
Often I yelled at you, mad at you but never once were you angry at me. Right after I yelled at you, you would always come to me wanting me to pet you and love you. (And I always did….. because I loved you).
Farewell my best friend!
