Thursday, July 28, 2011

oh Summer

Wow it has been HOT! :) Not that it has slowed this family down at all.We have been busy busy taking advantage of the the time we have to spend with our precious friends doing fun things, indoors and out. Even in the heat we have enjoyed going to the playground that has a spray ground attached. The kids really love that. And lots of indoor fun. The kids had their first VBS this summer, and LOVED it :) It was really weird taking them and dropping them off somewhere. Very strange :)

I have really been enjoying them lately. Not that I don't always love my kids but somewhere in between trying to keep a clean house, planning meals, grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, driving, thinking about what comes next, etc. I loose site of the most important things. The time when the kids just want me to sit WITH them and watch a show instead of doing dishes while they are quiet. When they want me to roll on the floor with them instead of stepping over them as I sweep. Sometimes, instead of savoring the sweetness of my life, I'm checking things off my list. So I still have a list, yes, a mile long, and I still know as an adult there are things i have to do. I have reprioritized things a little. An example, Lily and Henry love to sing to Callie while I rock her for just bit before her nap. Most days I would shoo them out saying I needed to get her down so I could get the rest of them in bed. But not anymore. How sweet is that time when they are making up their sweet songs to her and she is BEAMING because they are singing to her. It makes me sad that I almost missed out on that blessing because I was too busy. And I rush putting the big kids to nap almost always. Why? Because I have cleaning to do, time alone to do, Facebook to check..... hmmmm. But now I really have taken my time. I lay in bed with them for a bit and talk, sing, read, etc. They share with me and I know they go to sleep knowing how important time with them is. But anyway, I am loving this time with my babies. Loving having them here with me because in all honesty I would not want them anywhere else in the entire world.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

How much can you love??

I really can never put into words how much I adore these kids. How much I love their individual personalities. How much I love taking care of them and teaching them. I can honestly say I am totally content in the place where I am with my life and where God is calling me right now. In the midst of our crazy life I have never felt more at piece!



Happy 34th to my man!

Kyle's birthday was last week. Oh what a joy I rejoice, the day that he was born! I am so in love with this man. After 7 years I can honestly say I respect, love, cherish and enjoy him more than the day we got married. He is an amazing man and I am so blessed to have him as my husband.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Room Two: The Dining room.

(Excerpt from My Heart-Christ's Home by Robert Boyd Munger)


"From the study we went into the dining room, the room of appetites and desires. Now this was a large room, a most important place to me. I spend a lot of time and hard work trying to satisfy all my wants.
I told him "This is a favorite room. I'm sure you will be pleased with what we serve here."
He seated himself at the table and inquired, "what is on the menu for dinner tonight?"
Well, " I said, "my favorite dishes: money, academic degrees, stocks, with newspaper articles or fame and fortune as side dishes." There were the things I liked, thoroughly secular far.e. There was nothing so very bad in any of them, but it was not really the kind of food which would feed the soul and satisfy true spiritual hunger.
When the plates were placed before my new friend, he said nothing. However, I observed that he did not eat. I asked, somewhat disturbed, "Savior, don't you like this food? What is the trouble?"
He answered, "I have food to eat you do not know of. My food is to do the will of him that sent me. " He looked at me again and said. " If you want food that really satisfies you, do the will of your heavenly Father. Put his pleasure before your own. Stop striving for your own desire, your won ambitions, your won satisfactions. Seek to please him. That food will really satisfy you. Try a bit of it!"
And there about the table he gave me a taste of doing God's will. What flavor! There is no food like it in all the world. It alone satisfies. At the end everything else leaves you hungry. What's the menu in the dining room of our desires? What kind of food are we serving our divine companion and serving ourselves? All that the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. (1 Jn 2:16) our self-centered wants? Or are we finding God's will to be our soul-satisfying meat and drink?"

Letting Jesus in..........

Oh my goodness. In our Bible study last week we received a little book/pamphlet, I mean tiny to read during the week. I had not really looked at it until today when Callie picked it up and bought it to me. I took this as a sign and began to read. I cried with ever single topic. What a wonderful little book. So wonderful in fact that I think I may need to copy each "room" for you. See this book is entitled "My Christ's Home." and is all about what it looks like to put Christ in the drivers seat of your life.

Here is the first "room".

This is from "My Christ's Home" by Robert Boyd Munger

"After Christ entered my heart, in the joy of that new-found relationship, I said to him. "Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want you to settle down here and be fully at home. I want you to use it as your own. Let me show you around and point out some of the features of the home so that you may be more comfortable. I want you to enjoy our time together. " He was glad to come and seemed delighted to be given a place in my ordinary little heart."

The Study
The first room we looked at together was the study-the library. Let us call it the study of the mind. Now in my home this room of the mind is a small room with thick walls. But it is an important room. In a sense, it is the control room of the house. He entered with me and looked around at the books in the bookcase, the magazines on the table , the pictures on the walls. As i followed his gaze, I became uncomfortable. Strangely enough, I had not felt bad about this room before, but now that he was there with me looking at these things, I was embarrassed. There were some books on the shelves his eyes were too pure to look at. On the table were a few magazines a Christian has no business reading. As for the pictures on the walls-the imaginations and thoughts of my mind-some of these were shameful.
Red faced I turned to him and said, "Master, I know this room really needs to be cleaned up and made over. Will you help me shape it up and change it to the wall it ought to be?"
"Certainly," he replied. "I'm glad to help you! I've come to handle thinks like this! Fist of all, take all the materials you are reading and viewing which are not true, good pure and helpful , and throw them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of the Bible. Fill the library with the Scriptures and meditate on them day and night. As for the pictures on the walls, you will have difficulty controlling these images, but I have something that will help." He gave me a full-sized portrait of himself. " Hang this centrally," he aid, "on the wall of the ming." I did and I have discovered through out the years that when my thoughts are centered on Christ, the awareness of his presence, purity and power causes wrong and impure thoughts to back away. So he has helped me to bring my thoughts under his control, but the struggle remains.
If you have difficulty with this little room of the mind, let me encourage you to bring Christ there. pack it full with the Word of God, study it, meditate on it and keep clearly before you the presence of the Lord Jesus."

That was just the Study! Each room gets better and better :) more to come.....

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Early July Garden...

So although I've learned a ton this season about what to do/and not to do! with growing veggies..... I am pretty pleased with how it is going even with all I did wrong. My Better Boy is doing great. These are my two biggest tomatoes on that plant and I've spotted more tiny babies beginning to form.

And these are my cherry toms .... there are more on this plant as well. Sorry about focus, couldn't figure it out.
Getting big
My squash plant is getting big, no squash yet but I have faith
My bush cucumbers aren't so bushy:) I'm thinking more vining but hey maybe the non bush variety is even more viney

Baby cucumbers
And baby strawberry's :)

Were did the last month go??

Goodness, we have been sooooo busy! And I suppose it a good thing but my, I feel like we have been on overdrive. We have had some wonderful fellowship with some wonderful ladies and kiddos, and Henry has had swim lessons everyday at 1 for the past two weeks. He is finished and is swimming like a champ. Lily is next :) Thus the reason we have been super busy.

God has been super present here recently. There are always times in our walk with him when he seems silent, but there are times as well when he is super present teaching you things and leading you in obvious way. This is one of those times. He has been really pushing me to dig deeper with Him. To leave the safety of my norm and open my life up to him completely. I was ask to be a discussion leader for the fall Bible study. This is an exciting thing bt also completely scary for me. It is some major commitment and responsibility. Also I am not one to love change so much. God is teaching me everyday to take life as He gives it and enjoy where I am when i am there. But leaving the comfort of my small group, the ease of just coming in every week with no worries, was defiantly on my mind. So as I prayed about it I knew that God wanted me to say yes. So with concerns and all I said yes. I continued to pray about my uncertainty and worries. So then just like Him to give you what you need, I started summer Bible study this week. Wow. I love it when God comes through just plain as can be. I am in a new group this summer, a blend of a few old wonderful girls from the previous group and a new group. Well my dear friend is our discussion leader and let me tell you she is such an answer to prayer. She is a wonderful leader who really takes her responsibility seriously. And I walked out of there more pushed and encouraged than ever!!
I have also been very convicted about deepening my relationships. I have some wonderful friends but in all honesty it is really easy to become very superficial in our relationships. To not deepen and be real. But I have been feeling very pushed to move those in that way and to find community, live life like the church in Acts, how it is meant to be lived out. Anyway to make a long story short, He has shown up again in a big way. Not long after my convictions about that were there many opportunities to get together with wonderful women, get real, and glorify God. It has been refreshing!
So although life has been busy, and spiritually it has been busy, I have never felt so full and connected. I am thankful for this time. I know there will always be silent valleys but I will enjoy the climb and the peak while I am there :)
Here is my sweet little 9 month old gal. She is quite a sweety!
We are enjoying summer to the max. We are brown from being in the sun so much and enjoying the bounty of fruit available right now ;)
Kyle and I have been enjoying the nice evenings on our back deck, we've had some beautiful sunsets.

Just had to throw this in because I love them and this pic!
Sometimes it's hard to keep them all together and still after I get them out of the shower, until you put on Veggie Tales that is :)