Maddie's Devotional

This is Frank.  He's a long-suffering assistant for Dr. Gorilla, and for some reason is forced to work in a large inflatable gorilla costume.  We did a good bit of filming today, this portion for Summer Xtreme, of course.  The other bit of work for videos was all voice recording for the paper bag puppet videos.

Hannah, myself and Josh are here (with Isaac taking the picture), and you can see some of the makeshift filters we've created to soften things a bit - it's panty hose stretched over hangers.  It works, don't laugh!

Anyway, today was a good day.  Maddie did some work for Summer Xtreme too - she completed a devotional that will make it into the final booklet.  Pretty cool stuff!  Here's her writing:

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” Psalm 139:14 NIV

     Imagine it’s winter and you wake up one morning to see snow falling from the clouds. The snow gently falls to the ground making a soft and beautiful white blanket on the ground. Just to the normal eye, they all look the same, but once you put the snowflakes under a microscope, they’re all wonderful and unique in their own way.

     Just like snowflakes, we’re all beautiful and exceptional in our own way. We all have something unique about ourselves that is remarkable. For one person, it might be their painting skills, while for someone else, it’s their singing skills or their kindness. Even what you look like is amazing and rare.

     The world might try to change you to become like “everyone else,” but God didn’t call you to be like everyone else. He created you to be different, just like the snowflakes that fall from the sky. God made every single part of you to be perfectly unique no matter how small the detail is, just like the tiny details of those snowflakes. You are made in God’s image, and that is perfection.

     God loves the way you are, so don’t try to change the way He made you. He made you to be you, not to be someone else.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

     Tonight we were back at taekwondo, although for not quite as long.  Maddie's competition will be next week, and there was a little bit of training involved tonight.  

     We got home, and basically we're going to be watching episodes of "Monk" until the end - we're at season eight and its closing in on that series finale.  It's bittersweet, but Maddie is really enjoying every episode she's seen thus far.  She loves the characters, but so do we!

    Our reading tonight finished up a story about what Darth Vader had for dinner while at Cloud City.  He was happy that Han Solo and Princess Leia could join him for dinner, but the epic question is, "What does Darth Vader eat?"  It was a fun little short story.  There have been some good ones, "From a Certain Point of View."

     Afterwards, we said our prayers, and it was time for everyone to head down and get tucked in for a good night's rest.