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First and foremost I am thankful that God offers us salvation.

John 3:16-17 –  ”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

I don’t know if this is the most important verse in the Bible, but it summarizes the Bible well.  There is only one thing that we can do to attain salvation, believe in Jesus as our savior.  Some points that I think are important about this verse.  Salvation is offered because God loved the world.  There is a contrast between the acceptance of Christ (eternal life) and not believing in Him (condemnation).  I think that later point has largely been lost in this universalistic society that says my way is as good as your way.  There is only one God, who created and sustains our world.  He has given us his way to salvation, there is no other.

I am also thankful that God chose me to believe in him.  Why did he?  It isn’t because of anything I have done or will do.  Unfortunately we are all sinners.  My parents had the privileged of raising little sinners, and now Sharletta and I get to raise little sinner.  Just as the generations before us, we have the opportunity to point them towards God, His mercy and grace, and teach them his ways, so that they might also come to believe in him and continue to proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ for generations to come.

I’m thankful for my wife and kids.  I appreciate all the time that Sharletta spends teaching them.  I am especially thankful for the time she spends with them learning Bible verses, catechism and singing songs with them in the morning.  She also does a good job of making good food for our family, especially given that by 4:00 or so she is really ready to have a break.  Our kids, although far from perfect, have been a great blessing to our family.

I’m thankful for the courage of my sister-in-law to ask me difficult questions and spur me on towards a more faithful time of devotions.

I’m thankful for a Christian heritage and pray that future generations would have stronger faith and a closer relationship with the Lord.  I’m especially thankful for my parents and grandparents who taught me much about God and showed through their actions that it wasn’t an empty belief, but faith clearly shown by their actions.

I’m thankful for a warm home, a good job, my tasks at church, another boy coming shortly, financial blessings, food to feed my family, cars that run, and my little sister visiting from California for a couple days.

Remember to thank the Lord for all your blessings today and my he draw you closer to Himself.

Tim Vander Pol

I was looking for a blog of someone who used to attend faith.  I never found his but I ran across this post by someone of the same name.  It reminded me that often respond with discontent to those closest to me, specifically Sharletta.  There are many things that I would like to be different about our relationship, and we need to continue working on it, but I still nee to be content with what God has given me.  Which is something I struggle with sometimes.  http://accordingtojeff.com/?p=283

This morning I read a related article about how being thankful benefits you.  Read about it hear.  Another reason to daily go before our Lord with our thanks for all his blessings.  They mention keeping a journal of what your thankful for.  I think I need to revive my old prayer journal to take this to the next level.  Unknowingly we have been training our kids to pray in this light.

At night Abigail has to have at least two good thinks (thanks), two bad things (sins), and one request.  We loosely based this off the ACTS model of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication)

http://www.rd.com/content/the-new-science-of-being-thankful/

I hope that these little notes will be as beneficial to you and your frame of reference as they were to me and mine.

God Bless,

P.S. More pictures were uploaded into the most recent gallery.  I will try and get them labeled soon.

I keep getting reminded that I haven’t posted anything in ages.  So here comes a very eclectic post.

Here is a quick update on the baby front. The ultrasound showed that the baby is due right around Thanksgiving and that it is another Boy. We haven’t moved Julia downstairs yet. Abigail is looking forward to the move to the top bunk. We were trying to hold off on the move until Julia was potty trained. It was a bribe for a while, but she isn’t interested in potty training at all.

This weekend we got most of Abigail’s Kindergarten portfolio together. Basically, we cleaned out the files and decided what would be pertinent for her permanent record. Since she doesn’t get official report cards this is basically the documentation that we have been teaching her. She has been itching to start school again since she had most of two months off. In those two months she made some remarkable progress in reading, just by sitting down with mom and reading at least one “I-Can-Read” book each day. In fact right now she is reading her own easy reader bible story to herself. Having her read the easy books flipped the switch where she started actually reading instead of painfully sounding out words. She is only half way through her phonics curriculum an still has lots of the complicated sounds to learn, but still quite good for someone who would be just entering first grade. She also informed her Sunday school class that her name is Abigail, not Abby. This revelation has been a little bit hard for her parents to adjust to.

We just got over a couple weeks of family visiting. First we got to visit with Cathy (and kids) who came out from IA. Then Caren (and her kids) came up as well. Sam and Trish (and Natalie) came out right after Cathy went home. It was unfortunate that we just missed all being home at the same time, but it was great to see them all just the same. The cousins all enjoyed playing together. They especially liked swimming in the lake on the floating island. Sam and I also got to spend a little time just talking as well which was good and enjoyable.

Right in the middle of the Vander Pol side’s visits we also got a visit from the Postma side. Sharletta’s parents were out for about a week and a half. We all went to the zoo, rebuilt our back fence, and they spent a lot of time playing with the kids. We got to play Rook a couple of nights, which we hadn’t played in a couple years. It was the most fun when mom was too tired to think straight.

Malachi has started talking a lot more. He is a huge copycat. You have to be very careful what you do and say or you might see or hear something repeated that you didn’t want. That is probably the major factor that influences most parent’s behavior for the better. Right?

Julia sometimes has it rough. She tries to command Malachi around like Abigail does her, but he just won’t listen. She is just as soft hearted as Abigail, and doesn’t like being left out of things she is too small for. She is a big helper and is always looking for something to do for you.

One of Julia and Malachi’s favorite activities it standing by the fireplace until someone says, “Ready, Set, Go!” then they run into the kitchen, turn around and head back. They will do this about as long as anyone has the patience to repeat, “Ready, Set, Go!” Malachi usually waits until Julia is half way across before starting so he doesn’t get pushed or run over. Julia has a tendency to start early anyways and is always proud that she beat him.

I will once again make the vain promise to try and post more often. I have lots of ideas that float through my head every morning and then Julia wakes up as soon as the shower starts and it is all over.

God Bless, Tim VP

P.S. When I got hurt playing basket ball Abigail made me a get well card, which was very sweet.  Apparently I am getting old because my hair, in life and my daugters artwork is distinctly gray.  Thankfully the natural lightness of my hair masks it a little. 

This is an announcement and a little experiment tied together. 

 
We pray that God will continue to build our house and that he will guide this pregnancy throughout its various stages.