Off to the beach

I am so excited!! We will be back next week so everybody have a great Labor Day.

Forts and playdates

Our friend Micah came over the other day and we had a blast. Painting, Building a fort and just running around up and downstairs.

Lessons I have learned this year- Part 2

As I started to spend time with the Lord daily through the Bible, prayer and meditation I started to see clearly through these new eyes He had given me. It took me quite a while to believe that loving my husband and loving my kids was enough for Him. You mean to tell me God that if I just love my man and spend time with my kids that I will please you?? More then please Him I felt like it erupted a joy and laughter from his gut that only these type of simple disciplines could bring. I started to see that I was getting to something a lot deeper then I had originally planned.
If any of you know me, I can perform like nobody's business. I can put on a show and take the stage with no problem. Speak, sing , prophesy, dance, pray, give me a mic and I am good to go. Need a leader to get a crowd going, I am your woman. Herein lies the problem! I went to a Beth Moore simulcast and I really didn't think I was going for any particular reason until I was on my face crying my eyes out. He, in His faithfulness, showed me that the pit I was in was lined in wallpaper with my face all over it. I was so consumed with my abilities that I actually thought it was my own goodness that had caused the Lord to want to save me!! Imagine that. I was lost as the day is long and He has been so good to expose my heart and clean me up. He revealed to me that He led me to this road of just me and Him so that I can see it is ONLY HIM that can save this wretched soul! It is not by anything my hands could have done. It is only by the Precious blood of Jesus, that while I was still a sinner Christ died for me. In that moment I just wept! I got up off the floor and since then I have seen myself and others differently. I am now seeing through eyes of one who has been humbled by His great mercy(unmerited favor) towards me.

****I am so thankful for that day. In the days to come you will read of ways my relationships have changed because of that wonderful encounter with my Lord and Savior

Lessons I have learned this year-Part 1

I was sitting here this afternoon and I started to get that feeling. You know, the one that happens around this time every year and you look around and you can't believe that it is only three months until December. You take a breath and you wonder where the year has gone. I started thinking back trying to remember what we had done and more importantly what I had learned. The list could go on about things I had gone through, but to sit back and think about what I had learned and what I was now doing differently in my life because of it? There are , like I said, a list of things I think I should do different but there are a few things I have definitely learned this year that I AM doing. Some of these things I have learned have a lot to do with seeing. Seeing my God, people, my husband, my church, my friends and myself. It all started when I asked the Lord to take me deeper into the things of God. I, in asking this, thought it might be an experience with the Lord that helped me feel different and in return I enjoyed being with Him more. I also thought it would just magically happen and one day I would just know and see things through His eyes and not mine. Well, as in all things pertaining to life and godliness it doesn't quite work out the way my finite mind had planned. Even now as I am pondering what to say next I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God that He doesn't do things the way I plan it. Praise Him forevermore the maker of Heaven and Earth.
OK, so in January after much debate with God, I sensed that He was asking me to lay down all types of service to the church. I was VERY involved and had a difficult time saying NO. I was also tired from the holiday season and giving what energy I did have to the church, my kids, exercise class and then my husband. Does that seem a little out of order to you?? So except for every other Wed. night taking care of the kids(because two of mine are in that class) I stopped it all and it was the death of me! Larry will tell you I struggled every time there was a need in the church. Every time that the nursery worker didn't show up. Every time that one of my friend's would talk to me about their frustrations and how just a little bit of help would do so much. It was the death to any part of me that would please people for their acceptance of me. I was so trapped in my way of pleasing people that when these things I did were torn away I wasn't sure my friends liked me any more and I constantly doubted that they wanted me around. To top it all off I didn't have any way to prove to God that I was worth something to Him, that I was a good christian, doing what I was supposed to and that was why I was blessed. Anything that I presented to God, as a means for Him to love me and think so wonderfully of me, was gone and it came down to just me and Him. Me and Him, and He was telling me that He loved me and was pleased with me. WHY Lord?? I am not doing a thing for you right now. All I do is take care of my kids, love my husband, and go to church. Right then, He started to open my eyes and I have not seen the same since.

***** I have decided to stop here for today and continue to write about this in the days to come. I am being touched all over again by the Spirit of God as I write and He is encouraging me about what He has taught me over the last nine months

Rock Poms

Katherine was trying to entertain herself while I was making dinner. She started playing with grocery bags and the sound reminded her of something. All of the sudden she was saying things like- Yeah, Go, Rock etc. I asked her what she was doing and she said "These are my Rock Poms, like Katie. I am a cheerleader, what does she say mom?"

Of course the camera came out and the moment was forever captured!

Eardrum

As we were driving home from the grocery the little voice in the backseat started asking me questions.

Momma, why is there an empty space in my ear??

Honey, you have a hole in your ear so that the sound of my voice can go into your ear and you can hear me.

Why?

Well, you have an eardrum and it converts the sound of my voice and then your brain tells me what you said.

>Long Pause< as she is thinking about all of this I go into the five senses and try my best, as I am driving, to show Evan my Nose, Ears, Eyes, Mouth and Fingers.

Momma, I want to take my drumsticks out!

You do? Honey you won't be able to hear if you take your eardrums out.

Momma, I don't want to hear you anymore.

Brushing teeth routine

5th anniversary

This week Larry was ultra romantic and remembered our first date five years ago. He bought five candles, a card and set it all up before he left for work. He placed it on the desk where I always go after breakfast to check up on e-mails and my Blog while the kids play. The best part about it was the fact that I had forgotten what day it was and his surprise took me by total surprise.

Working with Daddy

The kids couldn't stand to be inside last Sat. when their Daddy was pressure washing and cleaning the outside of the house. Katherine put her work clothes on and did ALOT of work with him. She helped scrub, pull weeds, and spill water everywhere. She had a blast.
Larry has been doing work around the house to get it ready to sell. We haven't put it on the market but when it is time we won't have a huge list of things to do. It is really looking great!

Surrender to Love

I am reading a very good book. David G. Brenner is the author and it is called "Surrender to Love".

The following is a quote that really stuck out to me today.

"Both popular psychology and spirituality- even popular Christian spirituality-tend to reinforce this false self by playing to our deep-seated belief in self-improvement. Both also play to our instinctual tendency to attempt to get our act together by ourselves before we receive love. The life and message of Jesus stand diametrically opposed to such efforts at self-improvement. Jesus did not come to encourage our self-transformation schemes. He understood that rather than longing to receive love in an undefended state, what we really want is to manipulate God to accept us in our false and defended ways of being. If only he would do this, we could remain unaware of just how desperately we need real love-Divine Love."

Can we have a dog???

Our friends are visiting for a couple of days and they brought their little dog with them. Puddun' is her name and Evan and Katherine LOVE her.
I found Evan in the bathroom with her today as she was trying to eat her snack. Evan thought he would join her.

Tax free Day at the Mall

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!
I know that I thought I would save money and find some good deals. What I didn't think about was how my children would do, riding along with me, trying on shoes of all shape, color and size. The kids trying on shoes not me. We arrived and after about the third pair, by each child, we purchased Evan a pair. Katherine was throwing a fit at this point because she has it in her mind that the pink pair was THE pair. It wasn't and we left without any shoes for Katherine. The day went on and it was actually going to turn out ok but then Evan decided to spill the ice water Everywhere. This of course was only the first catastrophe. As the hour moved on I had to then change the water soaked outfit with a new one(Carter's had a sale/$3.19) because Evan had POO everywhere. This only led to Katherine getting the urge. I, not able to snap Evan's outfit up fast enough, had to RUN down the Mall to the closest bathroom with her and we , you guessed it, missed and ruined the cute panties.

I am DONE and ready for this trip to be over, but not before the kids start crying because it is now Noon and time for lunch.

Can I call in sick tomorrow???