A Time For Every Season....

I just want you all to know that I figured out why postage keeps going up! Take a look at what the postal lady did to our mailbox today, the good news, she hand delivered our mail and will be for quite some time! John and I have been laughing all afternoon - its either laugh or cry!

I'm taking a little sabbatical from blogging. The Lord perfectly worked out a busy February and a March fast to keep my mind focused on Himself. Over three sequential weekends I'll: attended a marriage conference, attended a mothering conference, and fly away on a personal retreat to Oregon to visit my best friend Bethany and read tons of great godly books. At first I was overwhelmed with being gone for so many weekends, but the Lord knew that I needed a retreat to process all the ideas swimming around in my head. I'm coming out of a "dry" time with the Lord. I have them about once a year and the Lord uses those times to reveal various sin or lifestyle changes that need to be made in my life. I'm so excited to be out of the dry spell and am excited again to be inspired by God's word and walking in faithfulness. Coming out of the desert and into the valley makes for a peaceful home, joy filled children, and a very happy husband! It is interesting how the L...

(Don't forget to mute the music on the right sidebar...) Do you know that the Bible speaks about money and possessions over 2,000 times; it speaks more about money than any other subject in the Bible. If your struggling with your finances, need accountability, or are just searching for financial answers, join a Crown team today! There are life groups popping up all over the metro- plex . You can check out Crown's website and find classes that meet any day of the week - or look at my sidebar and follow the link to a lifegroup. We are just about to begin our third Crown class since our marriage in 2003. Join us on this exciting journey! On a personal level, Crown has taught John and I God's plan for handling money. It has brought peace into our marriage and allowed us to work together as a team to reach our financial goals. We're well on our way up the Crown money map and are so excited to finally have reached our goal of having 3 months living expenses. Over the past 6...

(15 Months Old) (13 Months Old) (15 Months Old) (1 Year Old) (14 Months Old)

We're celebrating marriage this weekend - for 6 years in a row we have spent a weekend together improving, maturing, and celebrating our commitment made on January 11 th . Divorce is NEVER an option, with that being said, its imperative that after the foundation of commitment and covenant is secure - energy is placed into cultivating the communion. As we were reminded tonight, most people who need to be here aren't, it is those who see that marriage is an investment that are here - learning, remembering, and seeking out godly wisdom. A covenant marriage takes sacrifice, commitment, and humility. Marriage wasn't created to bring us all happiness, it was created to reveal our sin, flesh, selfishness, and greed and provide an environment where two sinners lay down their flesh and through the power of the holy spirit serve one another. It is within the community of humility, servant-hood, and forgiveness that we learn to see God's perfect character and bring glory to God th...

Tonight I bowed my head and asked Drew to pray, he replied, "I will pray after I pick the boogers out of my nose." Things this week are a little slow and a little messy. John had some d ental work done today so he has been a little quiet and tired. I'm still working on a crazy mess at work with many conference calls each week. I've spent so much time on the phone the last 6 weeks that my neck is killing me and the batteries in all 3 portable phones now only last about 45 minutes each. John was so sweet to run to Costco today and pick me up a new set of mobiles because I was so frustrated with the battery life on the others. I took the evening to just spend some time with the boys. I worked all day and didn't spend much time with them until dinner. It was hard to switch back to being a mom and just enjoy the kids, especially when everywhere I looked there was work - laundry to wash and put away, grout bits all over the bathroom to vacuum, toys to put away, books ...

Have you ever wondered if you struggle with issues of control? I have a wonderful test that you can perform the next time your at a carnival. Just send your son, husband, and new Nikon D-80 camera onto a Farris Wheel and see how you react! Did you react to the total loss of control? Did you glue your eyes onto your child, memorize the "cage" number their in, pray for the ride to be over, scream at your husband to make your child sit down - even though the only people who heard you were those directly in front of you? Did you check to see if your husband had the camera strap around his neck while snappin g pictures of you from 75 feet in the air - he didn't by the way. Did you almost ask the attendent to stop the ride when you saw your son reach out and touch the metal brace at the top of the ride or when you saw the front of his head peeking over the back of the seat? Did you mentally image your new camera crashing to bits on the cement? I would never do such things, obv...

I went to pick Drew up from pre -school today and his teacher rushed out once she saw me walk by. She began by saying, "Your little Drew just made us cry today..." Mentally I was thinking, "What did he do, hit someone or spit on you?" Sweet teacher Misty went on to say, "Drew was singing quietly and I overheard him singing Holy, Holy Holy. I asked Drew if he would sing that song to the whole class, not wanting to embarrass him, and Drew said yes!" He sang the first verse to the whole class and Andrea and I almost started crying, it was so sweet to our ears! Your parenting Drew so right!" Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity! She went on to say that he is the most polite child in her class. Today I forgot to send him a drink in his lunch and the teacher found one to give him, he replied so genuinely, "Thank you so much, ...

(Drew insisted on participating in Gabe's blanket time training! So cute!) Last night I was in the middle of cooking dinner and Gabe was underfoot, whining and demanding I pick him up. Normally I would plop him in his high chair with some finger-food. Unfortunately, I'll normally end up feeding him his dinner before we eat and then he isn't happy to sit still while we're enjoying our food. So, I thought to myself, "We've been practicing blanket time for a good 3 weeks, now is a great time to use it!" It was perfect! I had 40 minutes to myself while the boys, Drew included, sat on a blanket in the living room and played with a toy. Drew insisted on participating and actually asked for blanket time so he could be a good role model for his brother! Gabe was so good, he only went to get off 1 time and I just looked at him and told him to get back on his blanket. He turned right around and sat! Who says a 1 year old can't understand our simple commands! I...

Here are some pictures from our sunny weekend! I took the boys to the park and we enjoyed the sunshiney 70 degree day. This was our first shorts day since last October.

We were home this week with Papa Tractor and Grandma Carol. The boys had fun with the constant attention and garage time. Drew enjoyed playing Bingo, going to Preschool, playing in the garage, reading books, asking everyone "Why," having Papa read him Winney The Pooh (Drew's first chapter book) and riding his scooter. Drew also enjoyed sliding on the walkway after our ice storm! Gabe enjoyed reading books and following all the action around the house. He was sick for about 1/2 of their visit, but proved to his family that even thought he is sick, he can still eat! Gabe has been well for 4 days now, we're still waiting for some tests to come back. I'm praying he has a parasite, that would explain a lot, otherwise we're all at a loss as to why he keeps getting sick.