Titus 3:3-7
At one time we too were foolish...But when the kindness & love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth & renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Ok. This video was sent to me by my mother-in-law. Now... if you know my mother-in-law then you will even get a BIGGER kick out of this. I love her dearly and knowing that she shared this little piece of bathroom humor with me...well....IT ROCKS!
Little glimpses into our little world. Hope you enjoy.
My Little Ninja Turtle. This is how he watches his movie. Sword in hand, ready to fight!
Fun in the snow!
Love!
This is one funny kid.
How do YOU eat a doughnut???
My dainty little princess.
It is always very hard for me to post pictures because I want to tell the stories behind each one. The kids are SO different and each shot always ends up being a small minute glimpse into their personalities. We laugh so much around here. We have the best kids ever! (sorry if you have kids and disagree with me, but this is MY blog :-)
WOW! I am not sure even where to begin. Today was one of those days at church that will be forever stamped on my life. I knew today was coming. I was so excited to experience it. But to watch everyone's face as it happened was priceless. Today was the 1st time I have ever been to church and "they" gave me money. In fact "they" gave everyone money. Read about it HERE subscribe to the blog and keep up as this movement of generosity forever impacts our community.
I have been on BLOG SILENCE! Because there is too much in my brain. I am waiting until it all comes together and then it will come spilling over and out. I will update soon.
As many of you know we were in Indiana this past weekend. The weekend started a little crazy because we missed a connecting flight in Cincinnati, the Weather was insanely cold, and a dead car battery. But minus those things, the weekend was perfect! I could go on and on about our experience this weekend, but I won't. I will just tell you of the BEST part of my weekend. I had the rare distinct pleasure of sitting and watching my wonderful hubby. It is not very often that I get to sit in the distance and enjoy. Sunday morning I sat through 3 services while hubby lead worship. With each service I intentionally changed seats. (I don't know why.....maybe it is just my psychotic nature. I wanted to keep him guessing where I would sit. :-O) The cool part was watching him share his heart through music. 3x. and the even cooler part was having him lead me in worship. With ministry, we never know whats next. We never know what to expect or anticipate. There have been many highs and many lows, but the true pleasure is having a husband to walk with.
Today is my first day of vacation. It is such a relief to be off work for a little bit. Tomorrow we are leaving to head out to Indiana. We will be visiting a church that is potentially calling my husband to be on staff. It will be a busy and exciting weekend. We will be taking 2 of the 4 kiddos. We figured that the Big girls would add the most to our trip. We value their opinion and are really looking forward to some alone time with them. I must confess that I am having a hard time with leaving the little ones. They have both been acting out a little, throwing fits, and then melting into a puddle of tears, this week. I know it is because they know that we are leaving. Both have commented about wanting to go and about how sad they are. I think that this time is different because they won't have their 2nd set of parents (aka: Big sisters) here to comfort them.
Please be in prayer for our family over the next week. Pray for safe travel, peace about decisions that must be made, and comfort for the kiddos. (and for me missing them)
PS I will update when we get back (and maybe twitter a little :-)
Why is everyone hungry for more? "More,More" they say. "More, More." I have God's more-than-enough, More joy in one ordinary day Than they get in all their shopping sprees. At day's end I am ready for sound sleep, For You, God, have put my life back together.
Luke 19:37-38: Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed: Blessed is he who comes, the king in God's name! All's well in heaven! Glory in the high places! Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, "Teacher, get your disciples under control!" But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise."
I have been back and forth since Christmas about writing this blog. I am not sure what holds me back from writing (well....actually I know that it is the bags of emotions that I tote). I am afraid of how people react, how it makes me look, how it makes others feel, and so forth and so on. But God has gently knocked on my heart day after day. The children's song "Ain't no rock" has come to mind a couple of times this week. And then this morning our worship pastor commented about the Rocks crying out in our place, if we don't praise. Funny thing about his comments is that he has said the same thing before, with the same song. But today it was in line with God tapping me. As many of you know our financial situation is bleak (to say the least) and has been for a while. We have struggled through the past months hardly making it paycheck to paycheck. About 3 months ago I began to think about Christmas stuff. Hubby and I talked a little and I quickly realized that we weren't going to have much in the way of presents. I knew that the kids would have plenty because of grand parents, friends, and Aunts/Uncles so I wasn't desperately worried. But I think at that point I really got a clear picture of how bad we were financially. (I know that presents aren't Christmas, but they definitely represent something. It is one thing the choose to not spend much and another thing to not have it to spend.) As time went on I decided that the money that I would spend on Christmas would be my birthday money. My birthday falls a week before Christmas. I knew that I would get $100-$150 dollars and I could make that work for all of us. Feeling a little bit better going into Nov. knowing that I has some kind of budget made it easier. But slowly things changed. It began with an anonymous gift card of $200 and it snowballed from there, gifts from family and friends and "Elves" just poured in. Sometimes the money bought gifts, sometimes it bought groceries. A couple of days before Christmas, after I declared I was "Finished shopping", I sat back and looked at our tree. I said to Hubby,"you know what is amazing?" Then I stopped... and said, "never mind I'm gonna keep this one to myself for a while." He just looked at me like I was cooky and went on. Now a week and a half out of Christmas I share. As I looked at our tree that day I was completely in awe at what God had done for us. He had taken care of us in such a HUGE way. Like I said before, I know that presents and toys aren't "Christmas". But somewhere in the chaos that we call life right now, presents represented stability. I have struggled for over a week to find the words to express why it meant SO much for us to have a tree full of presents. The best I can do is "Love". The presents that filled our living room on Christmas morning were because of the people around us who love us and a God who loves us even more. The act of giving represents far more than the material value of a gift. It represents a response to a call to action. A call to love. This Christmas season causes me to do a couple of things. #1- Praise God! I refuse to let the rocks cry out in my place. My struggle over what to say and how to say it has lasted a week too long. Let me sing, louder than creation to you.... Let me shine, brighter than the stars in the sky...
#2-Say Thank You! Thank you to all of you who have shown us love is such a huge way. You have prayed for us, given to us, and laughed at us(just kidding.... Maybe;-) You have laughed with us.
Philippians 4:10- 20
Paul writes a thank you. I read this yesterday morning in my devotion in my store. It definitely hit home with all that God has been showing me this Christmas season.
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. 15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. 17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. 18 At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
