A Time For Every Season....

From 1/31/2011 - a great reminder for me today! "A thankful heart is constantly extending grace  because it has received grace. Love and Grace are uneven." "Grace Begets Grace." Paul Miller, A Praying Life Page 152 Grace ~ a word I thought I knew much about. From a young age I learned in church that grace was "unmerited favor."   Now, ask me to define that in my own words and I would have said something like, "I am unworthy of anything and God has shown fit to bless me with a relationship with Him."  Over the last few months the  Lord has been speaking to my heart about living a grace- filled life. It  began last August with a Kay Arthur bible study on Spiritual gifts. I studied the word "Charis" (5485), it is Greek for grace and in the context I was reading meant "grace gifts or gifts of grace." I was slightly intrigued by this concept of spiritual gifts being gifts of grace. I never thought of spiritu...

Today it felt like Autumn, it has been the season for a few weeks, but just today it finally felt right - must be the 55 degree day of chilly windy weather! Thus the traditions have begun! Today we celebrated with Makeover at church, John spent his day off in the garage, hiding from the rain, and working on some exciting projects for the Home Makeover. We enjoyed cocoa and breathed in the cool brisk air with our warm coats and boots. Such a delightful day. I finally gave in and put Fernando Ortega's CD's into the player, broke out the pumpkin spice candles and spend the afternoon doing laundry. It was fun laundry because a friend from John's work gave him 3 bags of children's clothes! Most were cute, adorable little girl outfits and some boy clothes that were thrown in were perfect for Gabe. What a blessing! Abby will be so stocked, I only kept about half so I can pass the blessing along to my friend Nicole who is also having a little girl around the same time I am. Abb...

You may think that my post title is a little weird, but I assure you that its 100% fitting! It has been a real struggle these past 5 years and I'm finally out of my funk - thank you Lord! In March I really started to pray that God would take away my weariness and allow me to regain some of my pre -children energy. You may laugh, but since pregnancy with Drew, fatigue has ruled my life. It wasn't odd for me to get 10-12 hours of sleep each night. I've had other weird quirky things going on too, but in the last 6 months it has all compounded into - complete fatigue, lack of ambition, irritability, episodes of depression, tension, and a few other symptoms I won't name. I have been trying to exercise routinely since January and end up so tired afterwords that I can't even keep my eyes open to watch the kids. My exhaustion had turned into a huge issue! The Lord was so faithful to listen and wait patiently to "heal" me at just the right time. I'm a naturali...

Drew is my sensitive child, as I type he is playing at my feet afraid of all the lightning and thunder outside. He just came over and said, "Mommy I'm afraid, will you pray for me?" After our prayer he said, "Thanks, now I'm not afraid!" Such a blessing this child of empathy is to our family. At preschool yesterday Drew's teacher commented that he is such a caring student. Evidently a child had to spend some time in their class today while his normal class went out to play (he had allergies and couldn't go out). The little boy cried and cried, the class wasn't sure what to make of this new student, but Drew in empathy, went up to him and gave him a hug. Drew told him not to cry and then asked him if they could read books together. Some days its hard being a mom, especially raising little men to be like Jesus. Teaching Drew to love others, share and be generous like Jesus comes with a lot of persecution. We've met so many children that love to...

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...

For many, especially those with girls, enjoying the artwork of their children is a common occurrence. In our home it is very lacking, not for lack of trying, but for lack of interest. So I am so proud to post Drew's very first person - a beautiful picture of baby Jesus. Can you see the arms? He doesn't have legs because, according to Drew, Jesus is "wrapped in swaddling clothes" so the blanket covers his legs. To a mommy, it is as if Vincent Van Gogh himself drew this special piece of art. My favorite part is his hair, so adorable! I am so proud of Drew for his hard work and perseverance to draw me a beautiful, time consuming, picture!

Today I took Drew on a Mommy Date. First we went to Cabella's and bought him a new fishing pole with a 1 year warranty - seeing as the his Christmas fishing pole broke on the first cast. We took some time and enjoyed watching the huge fish swim in the glass aquarium. We especially enjoyed the turtles! Then we headed out to Starbucks where Drew enjoyed a doughnut, we sat and just talked. He told me all his favorite things and a few times I tried to say it was time to go and he replied, "But, I want to talk about my day again!" He had so much fun cuddling with mommy and sharing his favorite things. Then we went home and said good-bye to daddy who was off to work. That afternoon we took Gabe, Kitty, Nana, and Great Nana to the pond for some fishing. I can't believe I forgot my camera! I even caught a fish and was able to show the boys. Drew wasn't as impressed as I thought, Gabe wanted to eat it - fortunately for the fish he weighed next to nothing and its a catch an...

Today was wonderful, thanks to my very sweet husband! He took the boys the whole day while I worked, I caught up on some things and thus was able to spend the whole evening hour with my family. Drew desperately wanted Pizza tonight since it is Friday, but on Wednesday I was so tired we had our "pizza" night then. So, John told Drew if he vacuumed the whole living room and put away all his toys then he would be paid 5.00 and could buy pizza with it. Drew was so excited, he worked so hard and used daddy's small garage vacuum, I think I heard that thing on for at least 40 minutes. Drew proudly came upstairs and showed off his reward. So tonight I took him to buy his pizza. It was so sweet, he ordered and even put the money on the counter, I graciously added the $ for tax. Then we went over to Family Video and Drew picked out a movie. We spent the evening as a family eating Drew's pizza, watching Diego, and after....... We turned on Christmas music and decorated the hous...

Tonight I sit fighting for joy; overwhelmed by the pressure I put on myself. There is that constant pile of never ending laundry, the cooking, cleaning, playing with the boys, instructing, book reading, the lawn that needs mowing, the gifts that need purchasing, plus that real full time job that provides ample work; there is the Bible reading, the letter writing, the time spent serving, the time spent disciplining, and the list could go on and on. As I sit here struggling to find joy in the midst of it all, my husband asks what he can do to help. I have no answer. The real issue isn't what I or He can do to check those boxes and complete that never ending list - for there is always a list and always things that need to be done. The real question is "Why am I choosing to live a stressed out life, instead of choosing a heart of thankfulness which generates a spirit of everlasting and contagious joy?" After all Joy is the second fruit of the spirit, so if you have the Holy...

What a Sunday! John left right after church to work at HD . He is anxiously awaiting the completion of his teaching certification - 8/1 is his last day. Drew and I had a wonderfully terrible day. Right after lunch Drew and I had the biggest battle ever. He had done something worthy of a spanking and we went through our routine: M: "Drew, what did mommy ask you to do?" D: " I didn't obey" M:" I know you didn't obey, what happens when you don't obey?" D: "I get a spanking..." About that same time he was saying the final word, he ran under his bed. Normally he isn't too bad about getting my spankings - Daddy is a whole other story! We battled for about 10 minutes while he screamed uncontrollable, kicked, and kept trying to get away. I prayed one of those "help me, give me wisdom" prayers and God showed up. I left Drew in his room and told him to come get me when he was ready to submit and take the spanking. I knew he would ...

(Written for the mentoring group at my church) Today, September 21, marks the first day of autumn! Since moving to Texas in 2003 Autumn has become my most treasured and anticipated season! As a family nester I chose Autumn, the first year of our marriage, to be the season most celebrated, most anticipated, and most enjoyed by our family. I love the simplicity of this season, the shortening of days, the drinking of hot tea, the reaping and gathering of food put in the freezer for winter, the coming together of family, the falling of leaves, the changing of the colors, the smell of winter fast approaching, and this year the new life inside that will soon grace us with his presence! I also adore traditions! Our autumn traditions include: the reading of the Pilgrims story throughout the month of November, decorating the house with autumn colors, fall cleaning and organizing, easy crock pot meals, the getting rid of the unnecessary and bringing out of well loved fall paraphernalia. I adore...

September 10, 2006 The fancy picture of John and I was taken a few nights ago, I was finally able to fit into a pre-pregnancy dress! So, John took me out on a fancy date, our first fancy date since Drew was born. Grandma Patti watched Drew for us. Patti has been visiting us over the past month to help out with John's recent foot surgery and to play and spoil Drew. You can vaguely see John's "boot" on his left foot, he had bunion surgery three weeks ago. He is healing quickly, but not quick enough for John! John will need to have his right foot cut open in another few months, poor guy! He is also scheduled to graduate with his Criminal Justice Science and administration degree the end of October. Needless to say, John is very anxious for school to be over, at least for a little while. He is already looking into Master's programs, but we have decided to wait at least a year. I really need time to relax and enjoy John not being in school! Drew is reaching a new phase...

August 27, 2006 The chaos from the wedding has ended, but our lives are still too fast for my liking. John just had bunion surgery on his left foot, he is feeling horrible and is really considering not returning to work this Wednesday. His doctor's appointment is this coming Monday so hopefully John can get onto some new pain medications that are less "mind numbing." I feel so bad for John, he is in such pain and hates being cooped up in bed all day. Thank goodness for Mothers! John's mother has been here helping out this week; I don't know how I would have managed without her! I have been trying to pass the time for John by reading to him. We are reading a great book called Facing Terror, written by Carrie McDonnall. The book describes the lives of missionaries serving the Arab Muslim's in Iraq . It is an awesome book that goes into great detail about the culture and history of Iraq and other countries such as Sudan , Israel , Palestine , and Jordan . Drew h...