bubble gum on a Bible

Saturday night, I discovered that Christian's Bible, new as of September, still had a glob of gooey, sticky, pink bubble gum on the front of its leather cover.

"Son! Come. Here!"

"Didn't I tell you to wash this off?! This is unacceptable. This is not how we treat God's Word."

"Yes, mam. I'm sorry, I couldn't get it off."

Obviously he hadn't tried hard enough!

-Sigh-

"Bring me a warm, wet washcloth; I'll help you scrub it off."

My 6 yr-old scurried out and returned with washcloth in hand. I set about showing him the proper way to remove the gum. Ugh! Christian was right - it wasn't coming off!

Thinking like one with experience in the school system, I thought, "Ah, we need to scrape it off."

"Okay, buddy, let's scrape it off with these scissors."

Not working well... not working well at all.

Christian's hands now gooey. Bible still a mess.

Frustrated.

That's when the Holy Spirit showed me.

I held up the Bible.

"Christian, do you know what this reminds me of?"

"That it's not okay?"

I held his face gently, as tears formed in my eyes. "Baby, this is just like my sin and your sin. We can try and try to scrub and scrape it off, but it won't work. Who do we need to make us clean?"

"God."

"Oh yes, Baby! We need God who sent our Jesus to die to make us clean. God loved His son sooo much, but He new we couldn't get it off. So He sent Him here to die for you and for me."

Now Christian sobs.

I sob.

The grace of the moment overwhelms us both, as a mommy and a son very much in need of a Savior hold each other, and the Spirit allows us to once again see the Truth.

That night, I let my children read me the Easter story, in their own beds - a gift stamped and delivered with the word "MERCY."

Oh sweet mercy.

kellybollman.com

www.kellybollman.com

I have so much catching up to do, so I'll make big plans for that to happen over our Spring Break! But in the meantime...

I have a new art website! I'm thrilled.

Can you believe how awesome this homepage that Jessi designed looks?! She is so talented!

The Lord has granted me with some serious desire to paint during this season of life -

so if you want a painting, know somebody that might want a painting, want to tell your husband that you want a painting for say... Mother's Day, it would be an absolute blessing to get started.

Storming and stuff

Time to catch up.

There was a snow"storm" a while back. :)

Christian lost his first tooth!

I've been painting up a storm too.

I think this one is finished.

This one is not... here's a close-up of the work in progress.

A good book, anyone?

If you are one of the few that have not read this book, you will not regret adding it to your "to-read" list. It's one of those that stays with you. Had to mention that!

What is one of your lastest good reads? I'm looking for some new books. :)

Painting

Okay, this weekend I focused on PAINTING! woohoo :) This portrait is most definitely formal or traditional (what the client requested). The photos aren't great. I had to take them indoors, as it was raining and didn't have great light... but you get the idea.

Love this little guys' chubby cheeks!!!

At any rate, I had FUN doing this!

#5

See that guy on the far left. That's John, Belle and Christian's Daddy. He has been in the US for almost 8 months (stationed in Italy & deployed to Afghanistan for 3 years prior), and this week he'll head out to Haiti. John's an Army Medic and will do an amazing job caring for people. I'm excited that he will be performing his passion. I'm excited that hurting people (beyond what I can imagine) will be receiving more care. John teaches classes on battlefield medicine. Right now Haiti, looks to me, comparable or worse than any battlefield. Expert crisis care is what they need. My heart is so glad for all of this.

John will be gone for 3 months or more. So, I pray for my babies' hearts, which had just gotten use to having a Daddy nearby. My most fervent prayers though are for what the Lord will do in the heart of that man in this picture (taken on our ski trip a week ago). The Lord has put me on a mission to pray for him.


I, of course, pray for all of those who are on a mission to help the suffering people in Haiti and for the very people, themselves, who are enduring circumstances that any blog cannot do justice.

Will you join me?



Thank you friends.

5 peeks

1. It's been a great day! These happen every so often. You know the kind, where your closets and drawers are stuffed with CLEAN CLOTHES, that made it out of the basket, got folded and actually put away in the (gasp!) saaaammmeee day.

2. This message by Andy Stanley was beyond good (the Lord causes some serious wisdom to spill out of that man's mouth) and perhaps gave me a push towards such "go-get-'em-ness". I listened to it while typing in grades this week at school. Perhaps you can check it out during a jog or tackling your own laundry!

3. I think God might have taught me how to paint like a big girl, today. I'm painting a portrait, and I just might post a pic when it's done. I'm also working on an 8 ft. sign for someone else. It's a delight to do what I love, while my kids play in the same room as me.

4. One of the trillions of things I've underlined in this study, One in a Million by Priscilla Shirer is this quote, which caused me to ink up a page again:

"As we consider the possibilities of what might go wrong if we step out and do as God says, we slowly convince ourselves that the possibility of the negative is more trustworthy than God."

5. ...

Out of time! I'm going to save this one for a post tomorrow.