They're getting it

Every once in a while I have one of those days where I wonder why in the world I am a stay at home mom?  My kids are driving me crazy.... I'm pretty sure I'm driving them crazy.... and once in a while I have the thought that they would be happier in daycare with a more consistent structure, playing with their friends all day.  I know from talking to other moms that I'm not alone in having this feeling occasionally (or everyday).

It's a big task.  Being a mom is not the most glorious job on the planet, and sometimes I think it's quite possibly the hardest.  And I'm not always confident that I'm any good at it.

Because the kids are fighting....and I'm yelling. Sometimes I feel like I'm the professional time-out enforcer. They're whining...a lot. Claire refuses to use the toilet.  And has no desire to learn her colors (really, she just says everything is pink so we can move on. lol)  I don't always provide the most structured day.  And sometimes they watch more cartoons than they should.... and I begin to wonder if I'm qualified to do this.

 But every once in a while something happens that reminds me that even in the midst of all that....they're getting it.

Today, Boden ran out to the curb as the bus was pulling up and Claire ran after him and they both got there before me.  I grabbed Titus and followed.  I looked up and nearly started crying at what I saw.  Claire had her hand on Boden's head and was praying for him.

I couldn't make out what exactly she said (because I was scrambling for my iphone to capture the moment) but it didn't matter.  What mattered to me is that she's getting it.

And then it no longer mattered she thinks every single color is pink...or that that she has no desire to potty train.  What she does know is that she should pray for her brother.  She has watched me pray over him before he gets on the bus everyday.  She has learned something from me.  And it's way more important than colors or numbers or reading or writing, she'll get to those eventually.

I'm reminded today that I know I'm here for a reason.  God put me here to raise up these little children to know and love the Lord.  To be a reflection of Christ to them everyday.  And I'm so thankful for these reminders that God gives me once in awhile to show me that even though I don't always feel like I'm doing a good job - I am on the right track.  They're getting it.  Thank you Jesus.


Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Jesus and English

Happy 2012! We had a great end to our year, lots of visits from family, lots of exciting things happening and church, and lots of fun happening at our house with our 3 crazy kids.  I'll try to recap more of that soon.  I've just been so bad at getting on the computer and writing down my thoughts lately.

To start the new year we bought Boden a composition notebook to journal in.  He loves to write and we talk to him a lot about what he thinks Jesus is speaking to him, so we thought this would be a great way for him to record it, practice his writing, and learn to journal his thoughts.  On New Years Day Michael and Boden sat down on the couch and prayed about the upcoming year.  Then Michael asked Boden what he thought Jesus wanted to do in him this year.  And this is what he came up with:

"I think Jesus is going to draw me closer to Him"  How sweet is that? I asked Bo what the picture was and he said "That's me and Jesus, mom." Notice they are holding hands...Love it!

We do still have to help him spell words, but he knows all his letter sounds.  As I'm teaching Boden to read/write I'm realizing again how seriously confusing our English language is! Just today I was trying to explain that sometimes "K" sound is made with a K, sometimes with a C, and sometimes with a CK.  He kept asking why...which led me to wonder how in the world any of us learned all the crazy rules of our language and how am I going to teach the rules to my kids!?

Claire will be 5 months old in just a few days! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. She's such a sweet, happy baby, and Boden loves being a big brother. Claire started rolling over in the past couple weeks and her new favorite thing to do is squeal and play with her feet. It's adorable. I'm pretty certain she's working on her top two teeth now - her little gums are quite swollen, so I'm guessing it will be any day now.


At the end of February we went back to Virginia Beach for a week. We rented a condo on the beach - it was beautiful to look out at the beach, but it was COLD! It even snowed one day. We did get one afternoon where it was warm enought to at least take a little walk on the beach. Boden was so confused as to why it was cold at the beach, he remembers being there last summer and it was warm. He kept wanting to swim in the ocean. Daddy took him down by the water to put their toes in, but it was freezing cold! Boden loved it! We visited the aquarium one day - Boden really enjoyed seeing the big sharks and fish....once he figured out that there was a big piece of glass between him and the shark and the shark couldn't get him! :) It might turn out to be our last trip there as a family - Michael will likely finish up his degree at Regent this summer, and since he'll be really busy taking 2 classes in one week - we probably won't go with him then.


I've been busy sewing and making up some new things. Boden's friend Aiden turned 3, so I made him a "Super Aiden" cape for his birthday. Boden tested it out and approved :) I guess I better get busy making one for him too.



And yesterday, I made this little dress for Claire. I used one of her dresses and kind of traced the outline so that it would be about the right size, then just made it up from there. I think it turned out pretty good - and it actually fits her!



I'm planning to try and make Claire's Easter dress this week too - We're visiting my parents for the week while Michael is in Guatemala (therefore I have much more freetime to sew while the kids hang with Nana & Poppa and their aunties). We also got to go to my sister Molly's first bridal shower on Saturday -which was lots of fun. I'm so excited for her. It was actually a joint shower with my cousin Julie who is getting married in July and my cousin Scott's fiance Kelly who are getting married in June. It will be a busy summer for our family!

Michael and the team arrived safely in Guatemala on Friday and I haven't gotten to talk to him a lot, but he said they were going to an orphanage on Sat, preaching in a few churches over the weekend, and then working on a home for widows and street children for a lot of the week. He said it was 95 degrees there at 9pm the other night! Yikes! And we came to Nebraska and got snow.

A funny little conversation occured the other day between Boden and my sister Micaela....

Caela : "Hey Boden, where is your daddy?"
Boden: "Daddy's at Guatemala"
Caela: "What's he doing there?"
Boden: "He's telling people where Jesus is"

Don't you just love that? He was so matter of fact about it, it was so sweet.

If you think of it this week - would you pray for Michael and the rest of the team as they minister to the people of Guatemala and "tell them where Jesus is"?

memory verse

over the past week i've been teaching boden his very first bible memory verse. i taught the preschool lesson at church last week, and our memory verse was proverbs 3:5 "trust in the Lord with all your heart". i had never really thought of trying to teach boden memory verses so early, but he caught on quick! he surprises me all the time. it absolutely melts my heart when he's just playing with his toys and saying the verse, without me prompting him at all.

thoughts

this will probably sound a bit unorganized…i’ve had a lot of thoughts rolling around in my head for the past few days/weeks and have just been unable to put them in words…but i’m going to give it a shot.

i’m sad. i’ve been trying to figure out exactly what has been causing this feeling, but i don’t think i really grasped it until last night. this election stuff has really been getting to me. i’ve always disliked politics – mostly because i hate lying and i feel like that’s mostly what is involved in political campaigning. i read an article after one of the debates that basically went through and took each point that the candidates talked about and explained the actual truth. in nearly every point they made they exaggerated or twisted something the other had said or what they voted on previously, etc. it made me wonder – why even bother watching the debates and the ads if we’re just going to have to then go figure out what the real truth is? does anyone in america even care about truth anymore?

but i think what has really upset me about this election is the way so many americans are putting their hope and trust in a man. this doesn’t have anything to do with which man, but just that as a nation we are looking to a man to change the world, rather than to God. as we were watching the celebration in chicago on tv last night i saw people sobbing and crying and full of excitement and i thought (and I think I even said this out loud to Michael) “did Jesus come back and no one told me?” i was obviously being sarcastic, but really – why are so many putting so much hope and trust into this one man? he is only a man just like all the rest of us, why are so many acting like he is the savior of the world? Psalm 146:3 says “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.”

i feel like we are just like the israelites who didn’t want to look to God anymore – they wanted a king – a man to lead them. trusting God just wasn’t enough for them. that’s where our nation is. we don’t want to take the time and effort in prayer and study to find out what God has to say – it’s too difficult – we want a man that we can see and touch and watch on tv. in fact – i wonder how many “Christians” even prayed and asked God what he thinks about the political issues or who they should vote for? sadly, i think many just looked at what they think would best serve their individual needs and desires.

a friend of mine, kari, posted some thoughts regarding a sermon series done at her church regarding politics and what God has to say about the issues titled Politics, Religion, and the Word. I have listened to 3 of the 4 messages so far and the pastor talks about some very sensitive issues such as the sanctity of life, same sex marriage, war, terrorism, etc. in my opinion he does a very good job of presenting the facts and then comparing them to God’s word rather than someone’s opinion. i think many people, christians included, get our views on these subjects from our friends, family, politicians, and even celebrities, yet never take the time to see what God has to say about it. and if they do see what God has to say about it and they don’t like it, they just decide he couldn’t have possibly meant that, and they skip over that part, yet continue to call themselves followers of christ. i overheard a conversation between two women just a few days ago (one of whom calls her self a christian, the other I’m not sure about) talking about abortion. one (the christian) said – “well, I’m pro-life, but i think women should get to decide if they want to terminate a pregnancy if they find out the baby is sick…that’s just such a commitment and so much work to raise a sick child.” i thought to myself – how in the world is that “pro-life”? does that mean that if (god forbid) my 15 month old became very ill or was in a bad accident i should have the option to kill him because it is just a “big commitment” and “a lot of work” to raise him? do they really think God doesn’t know what it takes to raise a child like that and that he must have just made a mistake? i’ve got news – GOD DOESN’T MAKE MISTAKES! it's these thought patterns that just break my heart and make me sad. what are they saying to unbelievers about what it means to be a follower of Christ? kari said it well, so i’m just going to quote her - she said, “why don't they just say, "i guess i don't really believe God or His word since i obviously think He is being unfair in His ideals and doesn't know what's best for our world." that would be a whole lot better than them giving christianity a bad rap because they say they believe one thing but act in the completely opposite manner.”

in the end – what God says is the only thing that’s going to matter. one day i will stand before my creator, as will we all, and have to give an account for my life, and i certainly don’t want to hear God say “why did you choose to ignore me? you listened to your friends/family/politicians/celebrities and valued their opinion more than my word.” i really encourage anyone who has questions about what God has to say about certain issues to listen to these messages (this link will take you to kari's blog where there is a link to the messages); they are not condemning, but instead full of truth and will definitely give you a different perspective on “the issues” than anything you’re hearing in the media. i realize that it’s too late for anyone to change their vote, but it’s not too late to change your heart…and that’s what matters most anyway.

one final thing – it’s probably pretty obvious that i didn’t vote for the candidate who was elected our next president – but i will be supporting him and praying for him, as we all should. our nation needs to unite and support our leaders, whether we agree with their views or not, and place our trust solely in God – knowing that no matter who is in what office – He is always on the throne.

he's listening.

lately i've been in kind of a funk. this morning i picked up my phone to call a friend, or my mom, or one of my sisters, hoping one of them would be able to cheer me up...but i wasn't sure who would be available to talk that early in the morning. i figured they're probably busy with their day, getting ready for work or feeding their kids breakfast and i'd probably end up getting a voicemail.

and then i felt God say “what about me? i’m here. i’m listening. talk to me.” wow. why is it so easy to turn to a friend and forget that God is the one who is always there, ready and willing to talk with me. not just willing, he desires to talk to me. he's there to listen to my fears and worries and then to remind me that he has it all under control. he's there to comfort me with his peace. he has all the answers i could ever need. we will never get his voicemail, or get put on hold, or have to wait for him to call us back. he's there. right now. just waiting for us to call on him and talk to him. he won't disappoint.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears." Psalm 18:6