Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Our 1st Camping Duo Adventure

Giving God Glory
God is the ultimate reconciler! Reconcile = to reestablish a close relationship between. Colossians 1:20 states - ...and through Him [Christ] to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross... God made a way for sinners, His enemies, to have a close relationship with Him through sacrificing His Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord! We also thank the Lord for Him moving in our lives and hearts through some trying circumstances to bring about reconcilation in a couple of our relationships. We are grateful to have close relationships restored with these dear friends!

Praises & Prayers
Tami - Praise for God's loving care and kindness towards her. Continued prayers for God to heal Tami but ultimately that His will be done, for strength and peace for her and my dad, and for God's perspective for all loved ones involved.
Our Family - God's will to be done with growing our family and for God's desires for our family to be our desires.
Wes - Praise for God continuing to work out opportunities for him to disciple one of his co-workers. They are presently studying Genesis. Pray for the Lord to continue to grow this young man in his walk with Christ.
Me - Praise for perseverance in completing several classes this summer. Pray for the Lord to grow me in humility.
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age. Pray for us for continual wisdom in training Noah and for accurately living out the Lord and His Word in our lives. Pray that the Lord would protect him from our sin.

What's on the Harrison Hearts

The Ugliness of Pride - Have you ever thought about how the root of most sins is pride? Wes and I have become more aware of this recently and are growing in our hatred of pride. Here are some of the truths that have been revealing this to us: 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 - ...so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Peter 5:5-6 - ...God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. John 3:30 - He must increase, but I must decrease. It is so easy for us to think too highly or even too lowly of ourselves, to be self-reliant rather than dependant on God, to seek to fulfill our daily agendas rather than being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leadings, to seek "glory" for ourselves rather than seeking to give God the glory, and so on... We are praying for the Lord to grow us in humility!

The Importance of Application - James 2:22 states - But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 1 Corinthians 8:1 - ...Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 - ...If I...know all mysteries and all knowledge but have not love, I am nothing...it profits me nothing. I catch myself becoming somewhat like the Pharisees at times...getting prideful and puffed up from knowledge or such, and it disgusts me because I have allowed God's truth to remain simply intellectual knowledge. I can get lazy by merely be a hearer of the Word and not a doer. Knowledge must not be an end in and of itself. It must lead to love in action! God's Word must be applied correctly! Otherwise, we risk the danger of deluding and deceiving ourselves and having nothing but empty academic religiosity like the Pharisees did.

Marriage Memories

"Dying to Ourselves" - Here we are before we knew that ahead of us was a night of only a little sleep. As camping calls for, we let Noah stay up past his bedtime and got him ready when he started acting sleepy. He slept like a rock for one hour, and we thought it was going to last...but no... Wes and I had the opportunity to "die to our flesh" that night because we didn't expect a night of sleeping perfection, but we had hopes of all of us sleeping through the night. We took turns holding Noah, patting his back, singing to him, etc. throughout the night. I finally got Noah to fall asleep with me in my sleeping bag, and all 3 of us enjoyed a few hours of sleep from about 3 am to 6 am. It was definitely a memorable time as parents and as husband and wife. We are thankful the Lord helped us to make the most of snuggling and cuddling with Noah rather than getting frustrated and taking it out on each other.

Family Fun

4th of July Fun - We enjoyed celebrating the 4th at our home in Falcon with family and friends including BBQ, our first family fireworks "show," and ending with Wes' 4th of July Trivia Competition - and the competition was fierce! The neighborhood kids joined us for some of our festivities too. We also enjoyed the Lord's fireworks from heaven that night!

Our Fam

Neighborhood Kids Joined Us for Sparklers - including dance moves!

Smiths Spouse Rivalry

Our 1st County Fair - We ventured to the El Paso County Fair on $1 admission night. So, we only paid $3 to get in but probably made up for it in other splurging there. ;) Noah had a lot of fun and even won his first game and prize!

Fun as a Fam

Noah's 1st Fair Ride - He loved steering "Haley's Hotrod"

Petting Zoo & Noah's Prize

Applying the Attributes of God Bible Study - I had a great time studying and learning how to apply God's attributes to life's challenges. I also enjoyed the wonderful fellowship with the ladies in my group, and Noah had fun playing with his friends in the nursery Tuesday mornings.

Classes Update - I only need one more class to qualify for recertification in order to keep my teaching license current. Whoo hoo! I've taken - "How to Talk so Students Will Listen," "Your Aging Brain," "How to Motivate Students," and some "LETRS" classes. I hope to take my last class during Wes' upcoming break from school this fall/winter.

Do you recognize this signature?

John MacArthur visited our church the second Sunday we were there. We introduced ourselves, and Wes asked him to sign my John MacArthur Bible. While talking with him, one of Noah's shoes fell off. John scooped him up and slipped it right back on as he mentioned his experience with these sorts of things from all of his grandchildren.

Noah News

Noah enjoyed being a big bro for a few months. He hopes that his dream will still come true! :)

Age - 17 Months

1sts - Fireworks, Fair, Being in a Parade, Word = Mama

# of Teeth - still holding at 4 - 2 top & 2 bottom

New/1st Word Noah is Saying - Mama

Latest Loves

Giving kisses - especially on the lips :)

Kicking his ball he won at the fair

Stacking blocks

Pulling Mommy's clothes out of the drawers

Pushing around his laundry basket

Playing with Mommy's nail polish

Rolling around in clothes and sheets

Playing in the crawl space

Pushing toys off the deck

Playing with money/coins

Squatting 1 cm off the ground

Playing "So Big!"

Stacking Blocks & Pushing His Laundry Basket

Playing with Coins & Showing off His Squat

Noah Rubbing His Face & Busting Out His "Sleep" Sign

Other Intriguing Info

Restaurant Drama - Noah had some tantrum-throwing issues at Olive Garden for our family birthday dinner this month. We are hoping it was mainly a result of playing hard at Grandpa & Grandma's that day and being extra tired. We'll find out on our next restaurant outing...

No Swimming at the Swimming Pool - After discovering the tub of toys open to kids at our rec center swimming pool, all Noah wants to do at the pool is pull out the toys in the tub. I think he gets bored being held in the pool and also wants indepence, so I am figuring when he is able to swim or stand in the pool on his own that he will enjoy swimming more. Time will tell...

Memorable Moment of the Month

Our Camping Duo Adventure - We went camping with friends for our 1st time and really enjoyed the camping duo experience. Some of our festivites included: playing in the creek, chopping wood, cooking campfire food (and of course smores!), tossing the frisbee, performing elk bugle calls, hiking, and not much sleeping... We had some intentions of staying 2 nights depending on how our little boys slept, and let's just say 1 night was just right for both of our families. Our fun during the day definitely made it all worth it!