Last night

Erin, Jefferson and Geoff enjoyed bowling with friends last night while Olivia had an extra contemporary dance class in preparation for an upcoming concert. I spent an evening, sewing, with Chris. M. It was a lovely evening spent in great company while we enjoyed Martha Stewart. The sewing is also in preparation for the Performance School Concert.

Last netball game of the season.

Netball has been a part of our sporting experience since Olivia was six and Erin was five. They love training and playing.



















Go Girls!

Carpenter's glasses

I wanted to share this lovely story which is an example of God's plans for His purpose.

Carpenter’s Glasses
===================

My mother's father worked as a carpenter. On this particular
day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was
sending to orphanages in China. On his way home, he reached
into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone.
When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what
had happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket
unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed
shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China!

The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six
children. He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning.
He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. It's
not fair, he told God as he drove home in frustration. I've been
very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and
now this.

Months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in
the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that
supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday at my
grandfather's small church in Chicago. The missionary began by
thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting him.

But most of all, he said, I must thank you for the glasses you
sent last. You see, the Communists had just swept through the
orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses.

I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no
way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to
see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and
I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived.
When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses
lying on top.

The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in.
Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued:
Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had
been custom made just for me! I want to thank you for being a
part of that.

The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the
missionary surely must have confused their church with another,
they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to
be sent overseas. But sitting quietly in the back, with tears
streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the
Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

There are times we want to blame God instead of thanking him!
Perhaps we ought to try to thank Him more often.

A recent trip

The children love to ski and here are some photos from our latest trip.

The First

Hi friends and family and welcome to my blog. I hope you will enjoy visiting and finding out what the Shaw's are doing.

After spending some time last night throwing the word "Shaw" around Geoff and I finally thought a blog address "Shaw in Christ" was acceptable. Other offerings included "a Shaw thing", "Shaw and steadfast", "Shaw no comparison" Hey it was one in the morning so we weren't altogether awake. We had just been to a surprise party for a friend who was turning 50. Wow! It only seems we have just been celebrating all the 40th birthdays. We had a great time and feel blessed and privileged to have such wonderful friends.