Natalie's Latest

Well, so far you've been hearing from Ben, or as I hear it said the most, "daddy". Thought I'd better contribute to the Bronson Family blog. The kids are busier than ever keeping me just as busy. Charis is anxiously awaiting her new little..:)- no one knows! Its been fun watching Charis go back and forth with what she will be satisfied with- a little sister or a little brother. I think she will be thrilled with either at this point. Joel just looks at my belly in amazement and confusion all at the same time- "thats a baby?" Just tonight Charis was thrilled to get to see my belly go different directions as the baby was moving around. That was the first time she got to see that and feel it with her hand; quite an experience for her!

Anyway, things have been really busy lately. Just a couple weekends ago a group of ladies and myself did a purity retreat for young girls at our church. We had a great group of Jr. High and High school girls that came. Such a special opportunity the Lord gave us to share His desire for them to live a life of purity and to fall more in love with Him than anyone or anything else. I am so excited to see these girls grow and live out what was shared on our retreat. God is good!

I am looking forward to our new arrival here in the Bronson house! Partly for selfish reasons because pregnancy has seemed to have lost its appeal (imagine that!), but also to meet this new member of our family. Prayers for good health for baby and me are so much appreciated. Thats all for now! God bless you!

PS - As always, leave your comments!

Mr. Mom

As I write this today the kids are busy making silly sounds and entertaining each other. Natalie is gone for the weekend leading a young girl's purity retreat in Sunriver. Its called "Power of Purity".

The weather has been beautiful lately, so we took advantage of it today by going for a bike ride. I had Joel in tow, but Charis rode her new (to her) bike. The neighbor girl just got a new bike that is bigger, so she gave Charis her old bike, which is bigger than the one Charis had. Its been a challenge for Charis to learn to ride this one, though, since its bigger. She has been without training wheels since last summer, but this bike is bigger, and so she has a hard time starting and stopping. She did very well today, though. We rode 5 1/2 miles, with lots of rolling hills, and she was having a blast.

We've all heard the saying, "kids say the darndest things." I thought I'd pass a few things on to you that Charis has said in the last week.

We had a bug (cold or something) going through our house last week. Charis had a fever of 101.5 when Natalie put her to bed. She woke up fine in the morning, though, and it never took hold. A couple of days later Joel was running a fever, just the same as Charis. As we got the kids ready for bed, we were all in Joel's room saying our prayers before the kids went to sleep. As Charis was praying, she prayed, "thank you Jesus that you'll make Joel better..." He woke up in the morning with no fever! The prayer of faith.

Today as we were riding our bikes, Charis was wondering who we could give her old bike to. She said, "Dad, who are we going to give my bike to?" It was very matter-of-fact. Now that she had a big bike, she didn't need her old one. I was humbled by her attitude. My tendency is to think, "now I have two" or, "now I can sell one and get some money for it."

I know those aren't sayings that will be repeated for years to come, but to me they were challenging. Do I pray that way? Do I hold my possessions so lightly? I hope so.

By the way, the picture at the top is what happens when Mr. Mom leaves Joel in his room too long at nap when he's no longer in a crib!

Also, please make comments! Its fun to hear what you all think, and for others to read your comments. You can do this by clicking on the "comments" just below.

A Prayerful Plea

I'm deeply troubled by what I've been seeing recently. So many men who are turning away from sound doctrine, believing what their emotion tells them, rather than the Word of God. They are compromising the Scripture, and as a result are compromising what Jesus has done. Many are even finding verses here and there to support their beliefs, but are not looking at the context of the Scriptures, and as a result are misinterpreting what is being said. It is not my intention to turn this blog into a place to debate theology, or lack thereof, but today I knew I needed to make a post about this. I offer these thoughts as a warning to all who will read this post. Men who were once sound in their doctrine are turning the way of the emergent church. They view Jesus as a Savior, rather than the Savior. Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus did not represent Himself as one of the ways, one way to truth, or a way to life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. They are also giving a back seat to the Bible, placing more emphasis on life experiences and sensory feelings. I regret to say that some of these are men that I have sat under the teaching of, received instruction from, and been exhorted to stick to the Word of God by. 1 Tim. 2:1-2 reads, "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." I encourage you to take some time today and pray for your pastor, your teacher, your president. I also ask that you pray for these men who have gone astray in their beliefs, and who have been deceived by Satan.

Just Another Update

Just thought I'd make another post today, just for the sake of making another post. Not too much has been happening with us. Both of the kids are doing well, and Natalie is feeling pretty good. She's now getting to the uncomfortable point of the pregnancy, so keep praying for her.

Hopefully you've noticed some new additions to our blog. We've opened up a Flickr account, and so we are uploading pictures to it, which also gives us the ability to have them displayed here on our page (thanks Tom for the help in getting that going!) That should give you all the ability to see how the family is doing, and how fast the kids are growing.

Charis is doing well in school, and is having a lot of fun in her dance class, which she does once every week on Wednesday. Joel is running and finding all sorts of things to get into, but he is still showing no interest in speaking. Like most guys, grunts will do just fine for him.

I've been having quite a bit of fun on my new computer. We bought a Mac notebook at the end of last year. I don't believe I'll ever be going back to a PC. I've already been able to make a movie for our youth group, do some audio and video editing, picture editing, and all sorts of other things. Its been a great machine. Things just work.

As far as things with the church go, things are going well. The High School group has been going through some growth, so thats exciting. We have such a great group of students here. Its encouraging to see how well they're doing. There are 4 or 5 who will be graduating this year, but it sounds like a couple of them will be sticking around for a little while, so I'm sure they'll transition into helping out with the youth group. Our Jr. High has also been going through some changes. Both of the guys that have been teaching are going to no longer be able to. Its good, though, because I think some of our high schoolers will jump in and help me with that.

Thats about it for now. But more will be coming.........