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...

"You Are Precious To Me....." These are the words the Lord has been weaving into my heart for the past few months - "You are Precious To Me..." - Just as you are - messy and graceless and fallen. Jesus says, "Come (just as you are) to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."  The last few months have been one of great intimacy with the Lord, it has been a time of diligent communion with my Father through the avenue of prayer, thanksgiving, conversation, and study, It has been a challenging few months too - I seem to always be tired, the questions the Lord penetrates my heart with are hard, the sin He reveals is burdensome, the patience I so desperately want to posses is challenged to the breaking point. Yet, it appears that the Lord works best when I am humble, when I'm empty, when I'm on my knees asking desperately for His grace because I have none left. 2011 has been marked with such beauty, I've been working har...

My lesson for this warm Thursday was, " Say "yes" as often as possible - God uses all opportunities to reveal himself through life's daily circumstances. The day began as any other, I awakened my sleepy eyes too early for my liking, calls of "Mama" from the other room drew me to reality, and Drew's excited voice jumped to the euphony of classical music -- my day had begun. We hurried through breakfast, packed lunches, and I sent oldest child ahead to dress and brush his teeth before school. When I arrived upstairs, I sighed and persuaded, "Drew. why are you wearing jeans to school? It is going to be hot and sweaty today, your not going to enjoy wearing pants." Believing I had won my argument I went into his drawer to find a pair of shorts to match his already worn shirt. "But Mommy I want to wear jeans, their comfortable and I like them!" I glanced at the clock, almost time to go, no time for Drew to argue with me. Then I heard a s...

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Here is the 16 month comparison of the boys. I think Gabe will start to look a lot different in pictures because I had Drew's hair cut short by 16 months. Gabe is still my little baby and I can't bare to have his adorable long blond hair cut. With Drew everything was a first and I couldn't wait for the next first. With Gabe I am trying to enjoy him being little - cherishing each moment because it could be his last. Last night he woke screaming about 4:30 and I was able to cuddle with him for about 5 minutes - cuddling with my little man hasn't happened for a lot time, so last night was quite the treat! Funny thing is, with a bigger brother to model after, Gabe desperately wants to be grown up. He watches and copies everything that his older brother does. For example, today while at the pond playing Drew wandered down to play on the rocks, of course Gabe insisted he too could follow. Gabe ended up all wet and muddy! For being 16 months, Gabe still looks little, possible...

“In these pages I tell secrets about…myself because I believe that it is not only more honest but vastly more interesting than to pretend that I have no such secrets to tell. I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are your secrets.” Frederick Beuchner I read a post today by Ann @ Holy Experience. It tugged at my soul. She wrote a post called, " Of blogging, secrets, porn and truth ." The post started me thinking about why I blog, why don't I just write my thoughts down in a journal unseen by the world? I use to, I wrote a lot about life, thoughts, and the real truth on a blog site unseen by anyone. It held my deepest desires, shame, fears, thoughts. Quiet different that most of the post I put up. My children may read them someday when I am gone, I wonder what they will think of me? Will they see a hypocrite? Will they be astonished at some of the things I wrote? I started blogging the months before my first son was born. The last trimester was hard, isolatin...

It's been 1+ week since our marriage conference. The novelty and bliss we experience after these conferences is set to expire any day now. The emotional highs are great, but its how we respond afterwords that cement's the marriage in passionate change. One statement from the conference that I've been mulling over is "What if God designed marriage to make me holy, not happy." Holiness certainly isn't what I was thinking about on my wedding day. But, in reality, that is the purpose of marriage. Marriages are tough, so is raising children. Both marriage and children were created by God to be stable, permanent , and push us towards holiness. If life is all about us, then there isn't any room for God. When we have strain in our lives it pushes us to depend on God. Thank you Lord for my family, in every aspect of my life they've changed me to become more like you.....

Our Butterfly unit was a huge success! I took a cute video of us letting them go.

(Faithfully Studying) Change... it is inevitable! There are many changes that are or will take place in our family this coming year. Change is good, it gets us out of our comfort zone and makes us depend more on God. Personally, I hate change; my first recollection of change took place when I was about 7 years of age. We moved from small town H. C., population 2,000, to the big city of Beaverton. We had to leave behind the only home I remembered, friends, grandparents, and our beloved dog Jack. I remember hating my parents for making us move to a small dinky apartment and a new school with kids that hated me and a teacher that chastised me in front of the class for not knowing the answer to 7x6. Change is Good; I just didn't realize it until I matured a little. In case my parents read this blog, thanks, you were right! Moving was the best thing you could have done. If we had stayed, I probably wouldn't have found the Lord, or married the man of my dreams (who lived in Beaverton...

Our little boy is growing up and stretching out his arms to find the boundaries.... again! Ever since Drew was moved into a big boy bed he has been retesting his boundaries. The new sleeping freedom has brought out a stubborn streak - one mommy and daddy didn't know Drew had. Last night when I went to bed, little sweet Drew was laying awake reading a Beatrix Potter book -- almost angelic like; never mind that it was 11:00 pm, he had been in bed 2 1/2 hours already, and he disobeyed by turning on the light and getting out of bed to find a book. I was shocked. Then today, Drew decided that leaving the table at dinner without asking to be excused was the norm. I couldn't believe that he sat in his chair 1 hour past dinner just because he refused to say "may I please be excused." Now, Drew has been asking to be excused for at least a year so it shouldn't have been an issue, but he made it into one. Other limits are being tested too, he is conveniently not listening to...

Drew's smiling face before his second night without "Mimi." The first night went well, Drew only woke up once at 10:45 looking for it. After rubbing his back for a few moments he went right back to sleep. So far so good! Night # 2 has not been too bad, I did run into his room when he started streaming, only to discover he had unzipped his PJ's and got stuck in them trying to take them off. He said he was hot! A few times today Drew asked for his "Mimi," I just said "oh your a big boy now, you don't need one." So far it is working! Today Drew was able to poor his own raisins at snack, he was so proud and said "I'm a big boy mommy!" New pictures and video's are posted on the photo and video page.

Last night was Drew's last night with his " Mimi " ( passy ). As a special treat we let Drew play all day long without a nap = hoping he would be more tired tonight for bedtime. Drew had such a fun time playing outside with Mommy and Daddy, playing in the garage, swimming at the pool, playing chase, driving his jeep on the sidewalk, and having a picnic lunch in the garage! Tonight at bedtime, eyelids drifting downward , we explained to Drew that he is a big boy and doesn't need Mimi anymore. I bought him a new train and gave it to him. I said "instead of your Mimi you can play with your special train in bed." I even played a special boz CD for him to fall asleep to. Drew was very excited until the lights went out and the door was closed. Then he cried for his Mimi. Oh, how guilty I felt! Poor little guy. He has slept every night for 2 1/2 years with a Mimi ! It took Drew about 1 hour to fall asleep. He stopped crying after 5 minutes, but kept asking for D...

I was listening to this song on the radio yesterday and realized that the words echo my 27 years of life . These words reflect the real life moments that come out of marriage and daily living- there are very hard time, times to speak ones mind, time to keep quiet, times to cry, times to laugh - there is a time for every season according to Ecclesiastes 3. How those words prepare me for the future; in this Christian life we weren't promised ease, we were promised trials. My life doesn't exist for self it exists to glorify my Father. How better prepared I am today for trials than I was 4-8 years ago - it was through the past refinement that I have grown. I love the passage in James 1 that speaks on trials and how they prepare us for future service and endurance to run this race called life. May I never forget that I am in the refining process and will be until death. Most recently I have been hit with the reality of death. Our pastor spoke on it Sunday, Carrie McDonald spoke on ...

Today was Drew's last day at school until the Fall. Mommy will miss being off duty on Monday's and Drew will miss playing with all his friends. The teachers put together a scrapbook of Drew's year at school, he was able to learn so many "life" lessons and grow with his speech and his sharing skills. He enjoyed playing with paint, going to music class, dancing, jumping, playing in the gym, and listening to lots of books. This past year Drew has become very social and longs for the next time he will play with his friends. This weekend Drew went to a neighbor's birthday at "The Little Gym" - he had a blast running, tumbling, jumping, throwing balls, and being your typical boy. He loved eating the cake - so much so that he grabbed two forks and ate with both hands! The good news is Drew will be back to school in the Fall two days a week! Meanwhile we are working at home teaching Drew his colors, letters and numbers 1-10. We are also trying to get him to...

1/3/2007 2007 has already started the changing process; yesterday we sold our 1996 Jetta, it was my last tangible memento of life before marriage and child. I will say I miss the car, but not the life it represented - freedom, independence, stability, isolation, selfishness. Family is such a wonderful blessing from the Lord and I am so blessed to have a fantastic one! My husband is so wonderful, the week before Christmas he spent all his time off remodeling the pantry so his Christmas present (a new freezer) would fit and not look too out of place. What a guy! (Thank you David too - a wonderful brother in law!)Then, a few days ago we finally went to Petsmart to get the dog a new ball because the last two had fallen down the drainage ditches outside the house. Would you believe that within 10 minutes of playing outside with the dog I managed to get it lost down the drainage ditch! I was really mad at myself for loosing a $7.00 ball. Ugh! Sweet John, got a flashlight and crawled into t...

May 8, 2006 H ow does one describe the weekend I just had- I am not sure that I can fully put everything into words, but here is my feeble attempt. This weekend John and I went to the Gaylord Texan for a weekend of marriage strengthening. We have been looking forward to this weekend for months! I was looking forward to sleeping in a King size bed just like when we were on our honeymoon. When we arrived, we were told that there were no King size rooms left, so we would have to settle for a queen. I was quite upset (I booked our room 6 months ago and specifically asked for a King), but after speaking with a manager was given a Suite! Wow! The retail price on this room was over 500.00 per night. This was the beginning of a fantastic weekend. Friday night the Weekend To Remember conference began, the subject was on the "5 Threats to Oneness." The first night was funny, enlightening, serious, and the homework questions were very direct & powerful. The rest of the conference w...

May 8, 2006 H ow does one describe the weekend I just had- I am not sure that I can fully put everything into words, but here is my feeble attempt. This weekend John and I went to the Gaylord Texan for a weekend of marriage strengthening. We have been looking forward to this weekend for months! I was looking forward to sleeping in a King size bed just like when we were on our honeymoon. When we arrived, we were told that there were no King size rooms left, so we would have to settle for a queen. I was quite upset (I booked our room 6 months ago and specifically asked for a King), but after speaking with a manager was given a Suite! Wow! The retail price on this room was over 500.00 per night. This was the beginning of a fantastic weekend. Friday night the Weekend To Remember conference began, the subject was on the "5 Threats to Oneness." The first night was funny, enlightening, serious, and the homework questions were very direct & powerful. The rest of the conference w...