Catching Up on Other Things

We recently participated in our local AWANA Grand Prix. This is a very anticipated event in our AWANA schedule! The kids get very excited about making their cars and racing them. Even the adult and youth leaders get in on the action!

TNT clubbers' (3rd - 6th graders) cars

Will placing his car on the track

Mike, ready to release the cars in the TNT races

Will was SO excited to place 1st in Design! He's been trying to win 1st Place Design for a couple of years now. He made a submarine this year. He christened it the USS AWANA. If you look closely to the left side of the submarine, you can see that he even made a little propeller (by taking apart one of his dad's fishing lures) and attached it to the rear of the sub.

Kate (participating in the leaders category) builds her car for speed. But she always manages to come up with a pretty cool design as well.

Kate ~ the double winner ~ won 1st Place in both Speed and Design!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day in your home? I certainly don't like the way it is such a commercialized holiday (like all holidays). I don't like for my husband to feel undue pressure to run out and spend money buying things just to convince me of his love for me. 

On the other hand, I don't think it's a bad idea to set aside a day to focus on showing our love for each other. So... in our house, we meet somewhere in the middle. We do give gifts, just little expressions of our love. And we try to focus on becoming more loving to others, as well as trying to develop characteristics that make us more lovable.

This year we gave our daughter a beautiful red rose, to tell her that like the rose, she too is beautiful all year long and not just on this one day. My husband and I want her to know that she is special, that she is created in the image of Almighty God. And that she is a treasure to us. This is a turbulent time for her--those teenage years--when she is forming in her mind an idea of what true beauty looks like. We want her to know that it is so important to focus on being beautiful on the inside... of being conformed to Christ's image. We want her to find her beauty and her worth in Christ alone.

Don't we all need to know that? That what this world says about us doesn't matter. That despite what the media tells us, beauty and worth are not measured by our dress size, or by whether we are wearing the latest fashions. That we are created in the image of God, and that we are to reflect His glory... that's what true beauty is. If you are a daughter of the Most High King, then you are the apple of His eye! And that is beautiful.