He meets us where we are!

Well, I missed yet ANOTHER sermon this morning! ALL four of my kiddos are coughing. I decided other moms would probably appreciate it if we didn't spread our germs throughout! So, Keven went and will be home shortly. The kids and I just hung out together and listened to some music. I just LOVE music! Sometimes God speaks to me most clearly through the inspired words of others. We listened to Mercy Me and this song got me this morning. Hope you enjoy it!




Thank You Jesus for taking on human flesh and being our Emmanuel, God with us! Thank You for suffering unimaginable pain if even for just one! Praise You for wooing me and calling me out among the millions to share in Your Glory! May I never lose sight of the price You paid. Help me to live my life in the shadow of Your grace and with eternity in mind! You ARE my heart!

Inquiring minds want to know!

Okay, at least one inquiring mind does! My friend Jen posed two questions to me in the last couple of days. They are: "What is the most amazing thing God is doing in your life?" and "What is the best thing God has taught you lately?". Loaded questions huh? You'd have to know Jen, she's a thinker that's for sure! (You KNOW you are Jen!) ;)

Really I think my answer would be the same to both of these questions! The most amazing thing that God is doing is teaching me that I am who I am. You're probably thinking, "What?". What I mean is this: I am who and what He made me. Am I perfect? Absolutely not! Is He finished with me yet? Have I "arrived"? Goodness no! But, I am who I am right now and it's okay to be okay with that! I hope I'm making ANY sense to ANYone!

This has been a process. What hasn't?! I have finally realized that I do not have to be like anyone else. I think we as women, especially in the Christian community, really put pressure on ourselves and one another to fit some kind of mold. That mold looks different to everyone but it's one that we all dream up in our heads (or a bunch of us do anyway). Some of the molds might be: we MUST stay home with our children, we MUST home school our children, we MUST be at church every time the doors are open, we MUST listen exclusively to Christian music, we MUST have hot meals on the table three meals a day seven days a weeks, we MUST have a spic and span house.... or we aren't "good" Christian women. You get the point! I've made myself feel guilty over all of these things at some point in time! Craziness! None of us is good, not even one! That's Scriptural, I don't think any of the "MUST do's" that I've listed are. Someone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's my point. None of these things are bad. In fact, they are all admirable qualities to have and strive for. But, God may not have these things in mind for ALL of us! Some of our "duties" are very clearly laid out in Scripture. Yes, we should put our families and homes first. But, the way that plays out in everyone's lives may look different!

So... God is teaching me not to beat myself up for not being ALL and doing ALL! He's teaching me that I don't have to be like so and so. I am one woman doing the very best I can TODAY for my family! Isn't THAT what He asks of me? The point is, what is He asking of you (and me)? Not Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Smith, but you!

Some lessons come very hard! I'll have to post on that one at another time!

Giggle Pants!

My poor little boy has not been feeling well the last few days and woke up happy as can be this morning! What a treat for all of us. Daddy decided to have a quick tickle fest with him before nap time!

Something to ponder....

This very important question was posed to me the night before last by my friend and neighbor Tara:

"Did you know that snow globes don't bounce on wood floors?"!

Oh, I am just rolling thinking about it! She felt the need to inform me of what I am in for as the mother of a boy! She has two of them herself, ages 2 & 3!

Here is the culprit of the non-bouncing snow-globe! Trust me, he doesn't always have Oreo crumbs on his face. This was taken in Sept. while in our backyard during one of Marlie's neighborhood cookie parties!



Here's his little brother!


When I mentioned that I was going to put this on my blog, Tara said she had another one for me! Their oldest son comes walking down the hall with a container (I can't remember what KIND of container) of water. When asked where he got the water from, he nonchalantly responded, "From the toilet."! Oh the wonder of boys!

Did I mention that I just LOVE my neighbors? Oh yah, Tara and I have set up an arranged marriage between her 3 year old and Dani. Think it'll work? Ha ha!

The simple wisdom of my three year old!

This is a conversation I had with Danielle on March 13th.

Dani says to me as she is coming up the stairs from some heavy duty playing: "Did you hear my heart?"

Me: "No! What's it doing?" Thinking her chest hurts, or her heart is off beat... you know all those things that goes through a mother's head in a split second.

Dani: "Jesus is saying something!"

Me: "He is?! What's He saying?" Expecting something story like as is typical for Dani. She's going to be our creative writer I think.

Dani: "He's saying..." and whispers to me, "I LOVE you!"

Makes me wonder why it's so hard for me to get it sometimes. If my three year old gets it with such clarity, why can't I? Must be one of the many reasons Jesus says we are to be like children. We try to make so much out of things. It's quite simple. He loves us! PERIOD! Why do we (I) try to make it so complicated? I don't know about you but I find it hard to accept or believe in love without conditions. Maybe it's because Jesus is really the only one capable of truly loving that way. I don't know. I think that if I really understood the depth of His love, life would be so much easier. I will likely not "get it" completely on this side of heaven but I will work on it! How 'bout you!?

I could watch this all day!

Don'tcha just LOVE it when you get little signs that your kids really do listen?

Hannah got a Bible from her Grampa and Grammy for her sixth birthday. It's become a tradition that they each will get their own, full text Bible at this time. Well, the girl is a great reader! So, she sits down after supper and is reading her Bible. You never know how much she'll be able to read or understand, but hey, let the Holy Spirit work! So she opens to John and is reading along. When she comes to 1:7 she says, "Mom, are they talking about John the Baptist?" I know it's so small, but that she was able to read that much of the text and then KNEW it was John the Baptist that it was talking about just made this mommy's heart proud!

I HAD to take a picture of my sweet little one reading her Bible. For those of you who don't already know, I try to have my camera handy to capture most anything.



And... this picture was taken before we went to church this morning. Precious! Tyler was napping. Halleluia! That's a blessing on a Sunday morning before church. Hate to hand over a cranky baby to the nursery workers! Bless 'em!

Where'd my baby go?

Yesterday was a big day for little Tyler. He had his very first, COMPLETE, big boy haircut. I say that because Keven has buzzed him a couple of times (not my fave) and one other time we attempted a haircut but weren't able to finish it! You know how it goes! My friend Kelly came over and cut his and Dani's hair. What a treat to have someone come to my house. Sure saves the hassle of loading up four kids and trying to keep three entertained while one gets their hair cut! It was a beautiful day so we just put Tyler in his highchair outside to avoid such a mess in the house. Poor Kelly had to really work and move around to get the job done but she did it! He was a trooper for the most part but by the end he was just out of fun tickets and we ended up having to hold him down a little. Hopefully he won't remember THAT part of the experience for the next time.

How cute is this?


The finished product. Notice the paci to keep grass, leaves, mulch and any other unmentionables from entering the mouth!


Dani was a good girl too! Boy did she need her bangs cut. She looked like a little ragamuffin whose mother doesn't take care of her. Poor thing! As you can see we had to move production indoors. Darn Colorado wind!


Well, now we're all ready for 1st year pictures at the end of the week! I can't believe my baby's a year old already. Where does the time go?