Jesus Sees

We drove into town yesterday to run some errands. The weather was snowy, blowy and blizzard-like through the Bozeman valley, particularly on the drive home.

While the driving was, at times, white-out conditions, the Lord blessed me with a peace and joy that not only would all be well, but just how much our children are a blessing.

You see, we had a CD playing in the van. It is one that we've often put on at night in the kids' room, after we say their goodnight prayers. The CD is a favorite, and if a CD could wear out, this would be well on its way! The CD is "Songs 4 Worship Kids Awesome God".

Sadly, I didn't have a camera, but hopefully I can describe the situation that brought not only joy to my heart, but tears to my eyes. Most of the kids were singing along with the CD, but Olesya was really getting into it. She was clapping, singing aloud and really enjoying the music.

After awhile, she raised her hands to the Lord in worship, and sang, face heaven-ward and with eyes closed, directly to Jesus. When the song "Jesus Sees" came on, I couldn't hold back the tears. Here are the words...

When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.
When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.

When you help your mother with your little baby brother, when you share your favorite toy, when you give your pennies to those who don't have any, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.

When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.
When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sess, Jessu sees.

When you help a widow or an orphan who is little, then your heart will be filled with joy, when you share your bread and the hungry ones are fed, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.

When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.
When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.

When no one else is looking and no one seesm to care, He is there with you and me, Jesus sees.

When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.
When you do it to the least of these, Jesus sees, Jesus sees.
Jesus sees, Jesus sees. Jesus sees, Jesus sees.

Kids' Day #1

We've started a new tradition for Wednesday nights, and with the first one under our belt, it seems to be a success.

A little background - the kids are fascinated looking through my cookbooks and drooling all over the yummy looking recipes. The cookbooks are used quite often because I love to cook, and we usually have a new recipe 3-5x/week. Any excuse to try something new, and I'm there!

So, I decided that a good way for the kids to learn about meal planning, meal prep and cooking, and give me some one-on-one extended time with each child would be to have a Kid's Day.

Each child got to pick out there own menu. They had to have a meat, starch, vegetable, and fruit. They could also choose a dessert if they wished. I then drew names to determine the order of the Kid's Days. (We draw names a lot around here - to determine who gets the last piece of Pepperoni pizza, who goes on the computer first, who gets to pull the purple sled, who gets the yellow plate...it works great, incidentally. In fact, we don't have arguments about "No - me!", nor complaints about it not being fair. The kids actually ask to draw names when something comes up, so it seems to work well....Anyways....)

So, every Wednesday, starting two days ago, for the next 6 weeks (and then beyond if we decide to continue, which I think we will), is Kid's Day. Mariyana was first and her dinner was halibut steaks, marinated cherry tomatoes, garlic & rosemary braided bread, fruit salad and raspberry sherbet jello mold. Yummy!

The meal turned out great, and as it turned out, Mariyana discovered she really liked to make bread, so I think that will be a more common occurrence. The recipe actually made 3 braided bread loaves, and so Mariyana and Sasha brought the extra loaf to our neighbors who arrived for the weekend.

Here are a few pictures....
Mariyana kneading her bread dough. She said it was hard work, but fun, nonetheless!


The beautiful results!


The entire family enjoying the first ever Kid's Day Dinner.