Hannah's Baby Dedication

A couple of weeks ago at church we dedicated our sweet Hannah Rose to the Lord. It is a time when we publicly commit and the church prays with us to raise Hannah in a Christian home and teach her about the Lord.



The life verse we chose for Hannah is Psalm 86:11-12

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.



We considered Colossians 1:10-14, but it was too long, and then Chris came across the verse in Psalms that we feel sums up what we want for Hannah's life--that she walks in His truth, with an undivided heart, fearing and praising His name forever!

I still pray the Colossians verse for Hannah, and all of my children.

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."


By the way, Hannah is the only one of my 3 to have pictures of her baby dedication. With the other two, I accidentally left the camera in the diaper bag in the nursery!

I Stand Amazed in the Presence...

A couple of days ago I heard a classic hymn on Christian radio on the way to the hospital. It was a new contemporary artist who I wasn't familiar with, but I loved his voice and this hymn really spoke to me that morning.

************************
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Refrain
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

Refrain

In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.

Refrain

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

Refrain

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

Refrain
*********************

In these last three weeks I will admit I have had some times when I wondered why God was allowing my Grandma to suffer so much. Surely if He loves her, he would either end the suffering or just take her home, right?

No, that's not how it works. I don't understand suffering on this earth, and I never will. But one day there will be no suffering. Jesus even said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

And he surely loves me, and my Grandma! Lest I forget the amazing suffering he endured ON MY BEHALF (and on hers!)..."He had no tears for His own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine." Oh, He loves me alright. And he comforts me even now.

Prayer Journaling

Today I'm participating in a blog carnival over on the blog Rocks in My Dryer. It's a weekly event called "Works for Me Wednesday"-- so this is my "works for me" tip!

I have always been a journaler. I loved keeping a diary when I was in middle school, although I don't remember WHAT I wrote in it. When I was in my mid-teens I started using a journal/diary to record my thoughts, particularly things I was learning in Scripture and things I was praying about. I also recording happenings of my day.

For some reason after I got married my journaling kinda fizzled out. Whatever the reason, I have one journal that has 4 years worth of entries--because I only journaled once every couple of months. It made me sad that I couldn't get back into the groove. I just wasn't very good about keeping my thoughts organized in prayer unless I was writing it down, so I knew that I needed to start journaling regularly again. Also, writing it down helped me think of things I wouldn't necessarily think about when my thoughts were jumping around so quickly in my head!!

Several months ago I attended a women's ministry event on prayer journaling. The speaker was an ordinary person--a bank teller, wife, empty-nester--who was just sharing what works for her with prayer journaling. That night we made cute little prayer journals, and I have been loosely following her method to get me back into journaling, and I have been loving it!

It starts with the word PRAISE as an ackronym - Praise, Repentance, Acknowledge, Intercession, Supplication, Exercise. In each of these steps, you just write out what you're thinking or saying to God. There is no perfect length--every step may be 1 sentence or 1 page depending on your day.

Praise - Talk to God about who He IS. Psalm 9 is a good place to start if you need some prompting on some things in God's character. I also printed myself a list of God's Names and some days I just pick one or two and reflect on that element of God's character.

Repentance - Once you have God's flawless character laid out on the table, you will inevitibly see areas of your life where you need forgiveness. Write to God about it, and ask him for forgiveness. Be specific. Ask God to reveal things to you.

Acknowledge - The easiest way to explain this step is with a fill-in sentence: "Because You are ______, I can be ________." Usually this sentence will be related to things you have written in the last two steps. "Because you are a forgiving God, I can be forgiviving to my friend." or "Because you are the Creator God, I can be confident you are in control."

Intercession - This is a big word the means "praying for others". We're all familiar with this one--pray for people who are sick, people who need guidance, people who are lost.

Supplication - This is praying for yourself. For your needs, questions, desires. Because you recognized God's character FIRST, your own needs just fall into place--you recognize that God is going to take care of you, and that maybe some of the things you thought you wanted are not necessary.

Exercise - This is where you say, "What now?" What do I do with what I have learned? Is there anything specific on which God wants me to take action?

I don't stick with this formula every day, because sometimes I just feel the need to brain dump. But it helps to keep my thoughts in a certain order--mainly, remembering WHO God is first and foremost.

It's neat to see how God speaks to me through my journaling. I'll be just writing things out, and as I'm writing something will become so clear! One day it was particularly evident when I sensed God was telling me to do something specific. I wrote out, "But God, I'm scared. What if I'm a total failure? I don't know if I can do this." The next thing I read was something to the effect of "Don't fear." (I wish I could remember the specifics, and I can't find this page in my journal! Too many pages to flip through!) There was no doubt that was God speaking directly to me--almost audibly! It gave me chills and I just thanked God for the gift of journaling so that I could hear his voice that way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you commune with God!

What luck...or maybe not?

Sometimes I find myself believing that God is not going to provide some "frivolous" want that I have, because, well, there are more important things in life. Like food, housing, utilities, mission needs, starving kids in Africa. You know, important stuff. But things that *I* want? Not that important in the grand scheme of things.

This is NOT true. God does truly desire our happiness. And I have found that the more connected I am with God, the more my wants ARE His wants for me! "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

One example is when I got my new camera. It's a luxury I thought I would never be able to afford, but God provided with a tax refund that was more than we expected. I think God knew that it would bring me a great deal of joy and I could even use it for great things (like taking a bajillion pictures at VBS last week!).

I had decided a few weeks ago that the kids, particularly Claire, needed a playhouse in the backyard. They play so well with them at other people's houses. I started looking online and thought I was going to have to spend at LEAST $200-$300 on one. I got a starting fund of $100 from one of the grandparents for the kids' birthday gifts. But I was still having trouble justifying the extra expense from our pockets.

Yesterday on the way to the Y for a morning of swimming, I accidentally went to the wrong way, driving down a different road than I usually take. I passed by a house that was foreclosed on a few weeks ago, and down at the curb with the trash was the EXACT playhouse I had been researching--the Step 2 "Neat and Tidy Cottage". The roof was banged in and it was missing the door and the little table inside, but the roof was easily fixed and the kids will never miss those missing parts! (I'm going to contact Step 2 to find out how much replacement parts are, just incase it's dirt cheap!)

The funny part of this story is that I couldn't get the house into my trunk (you should have seen me standing on the road with my trunk open, surveying the size of the playhouse and even lifting it into the trunk to see if I could balance it for the short ride home). Thank goodness a friend from high school lives two doors down from where I found the playhouse, so I dragged the playhouse to her driveway and left her a note saying Chris would pick it up with his truck that night. She told me later that she pulled into her driveway and freaked out because they have the same playhouse in their backyard and she couldn't figure out who would have dragged it out and caved in the roof!!

I sprayed the playhouse clean last night and got some pictures of the kids playing in it. Claire absolutely loves it!












My God is so mighty to provide!!

Fear and Worry

The last week I have been filled with so many emotions. It started when I heard the tragic news last week of Steven Curtis Chapman's 5-year-old daughter being killed in their driveway. A couple of days later a friend told me her cousin's family was dealing with the exact same situation where his 5-year-old son had been killed in the driveway. That night Chris and I watched a mediocre movie called Bella, about a soccer star who hits and kills a young girl in a tragic accident. (I had no idea the movie was about that or I never would have watched it!) When we were watching the movie I was so affected that I physically thought I was going to be sick. I had to excuse myself and just have a good cry in the bathroom. After the movie, I cried my eyes out again and told Chris I am just sick thinking "what if that was me?" I love my children more than I can even begin to express, and losing one of them would make me feel like life itself had ended. I think I would end up in a looney bin--it seems like that pain would be so great I could never recover.

The next morning I came to the Lord begging Him to give me some comfort and wisdom. I searched His Word for verses to speak to my fear and worrying, and I found Matthew 6:27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" I realized that all this worry over what MIGHT happen is futile. My devotional magazine, Journey, put it well when the author wrote, "It's normal and good to fear a poisonous snake or lightning when we're caught in a storm, but we shouldn't fear the unknown or be afraid to trust God with things over which we have no control." I am NOT in control of those things so there is no sense in worrying about them! I should keep my family reasonably safe and leave the rest in God's hands.



A blog I read daily, written by a mother of triplets somewhere in Georgia (I don't know this lady but her blog is awesome!), has had several posts lately that really speak to how I've been feeling. In one post she says,

"As Moms charged with the safety and well-being of little lives, I think of the cost of an ill-placed mistake, distraction or lack of judgment on our part. Then I think about my belief in the Sovereignty of God and the advisement in Scripture that we will have trouble and heartache in this world. It is all too much for me to ponder for too long. So, I take a deep breath. I place my trust in my God, not myself. I pray for wisdom, discernment, patience and care."


God is reminding me that he is working everything out for my good (Romans 8:28), so I have to trust Him. The triplet mom quoted Andy Stanley on her blog a couple of days ago, and I like what he says about faith: "Faith is not about moving God to embrace our agendas. It is about being moved to embrace his agenda. As Jesus demonstrates for us, great faith is reflected in great surrender."

My prayer is that God will increase my faith in Him, so I will stop holding so tightly to the things of this world. I want to stop worrying about what I cannot control, and just serve God knowing He has a wonderful plan in motion!

Aaron is such a sponge!

Wednesday night Aaron and Daddy were having a conversation about Daddy's work. Aaron said that he works at his house, and he works on elevators like Daddy does. This lead to a conversation about elevators, and Chris asked Aaron, “Do you remember when we went to the beach and got to ride in the elevator to our condo?” (This was last September.)

Aaron said, “Yeah!”

“Do you remember which number you hit to get to our condo?” Daddy asked.

“18!” Aaron exclaimed.

I can hardly believe he remembered the floor number, from over 8 months ago! It makes me wonder what things he is experiencing now that will stay in his long-term memory. They says kids start remembering things from 3 or 4 years of age, right?

This is exciting and scary! What things am I doing wrong that he is going to remember on a shrink’s couch in 20 years? What am I doing right?

Yesterday I showed him an index card on which I had written his new memory verse, Hebrews 13:16. I pointed to each word as I read it and was getting him to say it with me. Within 3 times of doing that, he had it memorized! It was the neatest thing to see him looking at that card and “reading” the verse from memory!

We also go to apply the verse yesterday. He had a sudden meltdown when he was looking for one of his old ride-on toys, and we reminded him that he had chosen one ride-on toy to keep and we sold the other two in the consignment sale last month. (Our house was so crowded with all those ride-on toys!!) He had been okay with it then, even excited, but suddenly last night he wanted that one particular riding toy for a game he was playing, and he started crying. Chris reminded him, “What does your Bible verse say? ‘Don’t forget to share with others.’ You had to share your toy with another kid who needed it.” He stopped sobbing, but was still upset about it, and I reminded him of some of the fun toys he got in exchange at the consignment sale, like his gas pump and the Elmer book, and he was happy about that. It was just neat to be able to apply the verse he started learning that same day!

Here is Aaron reciting his verse, with Claire talking in the background. Her little voice makes me smile in this one!

I guess He had something to say!

Last night Chris and I stayed up late, chatting, until around 11:00. That's about an hour past our bedtime, so I just knew I was going to have a hard time waking up this morning...and I REALLY wanted to get an early start to get some shopping out of the way before my fun outing with the kids (watch the blog for more info on our fun trip today!).

Well, wouldn't you know I woke up at 4:45...and COULD NOT get back to sleep? I tossed for over 45 minutes before I finally decided maybe God woke me up extra early so we could have a nice, long, uninterrupted chat.

I opened my April edition of Journey magazine to see what today's devotional was about...hmmm...parenting! Now surely that applies to my life. Hmmm...it's about DISCIPLINE! Oh wow, now there's some information I need! I think God is talking to me here!

I read some of the verses in Proverbs about discipline, and highlighted them in my Bible. Real gems, such as:

Prov. 13:24 "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."

Prov. 23:13-14 "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death."

Prov. 29:15 "The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother." (I really like this one! Boy, have I been embarassed at times by a misbehaving child!)

I didn't feel really moved by all the verses about the rod though. We do use a wooden spoon for discipline when needed, but I really try to be careful to only use it for serious offenses. So, God, what is it you have to tell me?

Then I saw it--the real beauty of what God had to tell me lay in Hebrews 1:3, a verse I found by accident (or not??)...it wasn't even listed in the devotional.

Hebrews 1:3 "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."

I added the bold text to emphasize that God sustains us by his WORD! A couple of years ago God brought Deuteronomy 6:4-9 to my attention, and Chris and I decided to make it our family verse. It talks about making God's Word central to your daily life--talk about it when you get up in the morning, as you walk along the road, and when you are going to sleep at night. (I even ventured to write the entire verse in beautiful calligraphy to frame in our living room, but I haven't quite finished that project.)

It occurred to me that I have not been making the Word central to our lives, and that is what is going to sustain me in parenting (particularly discipline!), and in life in general.

I referred back to an excellent book Chris and I have, called Teach Them Diligently: How To Use The Scriptures In Child Training. It's got a great reference chart showing verse you can teach your child and use for certain scenarios. Aaron, at almost 4 years old, has a few verses memorized already, but we haven't been actively working to teach him more. So I picked a verse about sharing to start teaching him.

Hebrews 13:16 (NIrV) "Don't forget to do good. Don't forget to share with others. God is pleased with those kinds of offerings."

We talked about it today at nap time and he really liked the verse! It's practical to him and he felt special reading something out of his grown-up Bible.

My prayer today is that God will give me grace when I stumble and will show me creative ways to make His Word central to our lives!

Stop the yelling!

Today was a very challenging day at our house. We try to lay low on Sunday afternoons, with everyone having quiet time, and even naps. I guess Aaron was feeling especially cooped up because he was showing out all afternoon. I lost track of how many times he got a spoon spanking or got sent to his room. The main problem was the yelling...at Mommy and at Claire. (Funny...I don't recall him yelling at Daddy!) "NO, MOMMY! I DON'T LIKE THAT!" or "NO, CLAIRE, GIVE IT BACK!" or "I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT!" I could go on and on.

The disrespect really gets under my skin. It's better when Chris is here and can discipline Aaron. "You don't talk to your mother that way. Go to your room." But when I'm by myself, I tend to LOSE IT! I have found myself yelling at him more and more these days. Chris said to me tonight (after I yelled at Aaron for not doing something I told him to do), "He yells at us so much because we (you) yell at him so much." Ouch. But just what I needed to hear.

This was right before we walked out of the door to go to Sunday night service at church. On the way there I was contemplating why I yell so much, and thinking to myself, "I don't picture me being patient enough to NOT yell. I just don't know what else to do." Wouldn't you know that we got to church and the sermon was about the tongue?

James 3:2 says, "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." Isn't that the truth? I was right on when I was thinking "I" could never control my yelling. It will have to be God!!

Matthew 12:35 says, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." It's going to involve a change of the heart. How can I gain control of my evil tongue if my tongue is just spewing out the contents of my heart? I need to change the contents of my heart. Instead of impatience, selfishness, and pride, I need God to plant within me the things I need to speak good words: patience, love, forgiveness, humility....

And this does not just apply to yelling. What about the "g" word...yep, gossip! "Did you hear what she said to her?" "Who does he think he is?" "I just have to vent..." I used to pride myself in NOT gossiping, but in reality, we're all guilty of it at some point or another. (And there's another big sin--pride--but that's a whole new post!) I have caught myself several times just in the last week saying things that I knew I shouldn't, but sometimes it just feels so good to get it out there. The Holy Spirit is almost always prompting me, "You really shouldn't be saying that." But sometimes I just say it anyway. That evil tongue, rearing it's ugly head.

Thankfully, there is an answer! A new heart!

Ezekiel 36:25-27 says, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

I just need to let God do the controlling and step out of the way! Being in fellowship with Him every day is going to be essential.

And I just had a bedtime conversation with Aaron. I explained to him that yelling is not the right thing to do, and Mommy is asking God to help her try not to yell. I told him that he needs God to help him not yell, too, so we can all be respectful and say nice words to each other.

Thank you Lord, for an awesome Word from you today! (And thank you Bro. Jimmy for sharing it tonight!)

Alot on my mind...

I really want to be one of those bloggers who has something to post every day. And honestly I really do feel like there is something I want to add to the blog every day, but I just don't get time. I can't figure out why--how could keeping up with two kids, keeping a house clean, working part-time, and being involved in church possibly take all of my time?

But I digress...I have alot on my mind!

First was some very interesting conversations at my book club last Thursday night. We got off topic (we so rarely do that....ha ha ha) and started talking about what it means to be "saved". We discussed how being saved is different from growing up in a Christian home where you've always believed in Jesus. We mentioned that it's different from deciding to be religious. We discussed the ups and downs of the Christian life. I've been thinking about our conversations alot over the last week. I thought about how my kids are going to grow up in a Christian home, but I pray that at some point in their life they realize that is not enough. They will have to decide at some point that the sacrifice Jesus made for them must be accepted as a gift. He's not going to just take up residence in their life through osmosis--they will have to invite him in and decide they want to live for Him instead of themselves.

I was reading in the book of Daniel, and although I've read it before, it really struck me how that book is way more than just the lion's den and the fiery furnace! Daniel was serious about living for God even when it wasn't popular. Daniel 9:13 says "...all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth." And it occurred to me that is what God wants--for us to turn from our sins and give attention to his truth!

So this is my prayer for my children--that what they are learning now about God and the Bible will not just be something they know about or believe in, but something that is relevant to their daily lives.

I'll save my other thoughts for another post--this one is getting long!

Our Resurrection Eggs!

I am so proud of my little Aaron-man. Last year we made some homemade resurrection eggs, and we've been playing with them this week. It's one dozen Easter eggs, each with some item in it representing stories surrounding Holy Week and Easter weekend. Aaron has each of the stories memorized. Of course at age 3 1/2, he doesn't really grasp the weight of what happened that week and that Friday, but he gets all excited when we get to the last (empty) egg and he says "the tomb was EMPTY!"

Here's a run down of our eggs--there are other stories I could have chosen but these are the ones I picked when I made the eggs last year.

1. Leaves, which represent the palm branches the people waved at Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Aaron always says "Hosanna! Jesus is coming!"

2. A cotton ball with perfume on it. This represents the perfume that Mary poured on Jesus's feet, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. I explain to him that Mary was anointing Jesus, which means she was telling people that he was a special person.

3. A piece of bread, representing the bread Jesus ate with his friends at the last supper. I'm teaching Aaron to say "This is my body which is broken for you."

4. A quarter--Aaron says "Judas!". Aaron is learning that Judas betrayed Jesus and got 30 silver coins. He told me tonight that Judas got 30 quarters. :-)

5. A piece of purple cloth, which represents the purple robe they put on Jesus after they beat him.

6. Some thorny branches, which Aaron will tell you they made into a crown and put on Jesus's head. At first he thought that was a good thing, and then I told him the thorns were really big and it actually hurt Jesus.

7. A cross, representing the big, heavy, wooden cross they made Jesus carry.

8. Two dice, which represent the "game" the soldiers played, and the winner got Jesus's clothes.

9. Nails, to remind us that Jesus was nailed to the cross, through his hands and feet.

10. A piece of sponge, which represents the story of Jesus becoming thirsty on the cross. I ask Aaron, "Did they give him some yummy water?" He says "No! Yucky vinegar!"

11. A rock, which they put over Jesus's tomb after He died. "So no one could get in, and no one could get out," Aaron says.

12. A empty egg, reminding us that Jesus DID get out! He rose again on Sunday morning!

Give God His Glory!

Yesterday I browsed Beth Moore's blog for the first time. If you don't know, Beth Moore is a renowned speaker, teacher, and author of many Bible studies. One post I read yesterday struck me, the theme being "Give God His Glory!" (You can read it here: http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/2008/03/something-on-my-mind.html). Basically if you see God do something, make sure you give Him credit for it! So I was thinking about a couple of things that happened recently that I need to give God His glory for!

*Before the consignment sale, I was so worried we were not going to have enough volunteers. It seemed many people within our church did not grasp the scope of what we were about to put on, and I was worried we would have long lines, confused or frustrated shoppers, and leave no positive impression on people who came through the doors. God reminded me of the story of the loaves and fishes--how He was able to take what was obviously not enough--2 small fish and 5 loaves of bread--and feed 5,000 people! He told me that he would do that with our volunteer staff. And He did! We had plenty of help--and the helpers we had were very busy and took charge of their jobs and everything got done!

*Again a story from the consignment sale--we had prayed a few days before the sale started that God would keep us and our children well so we did not have that distraction. Wouldn't you know that very night several of our kids, and us, started getting the stomach virus! (I was one of the ones affected...it was HORRIBLE!) But by the time the sale started, we were all on the mend and did not have the distraction of sickness during the sale. I thank God that he got that sickness out of our system before we had so much to do for the sale!

*Just last night we were putting the final touches on the house and dinner because we were having a small family gathering to celebrate Chris's birthday. Right before the first guests arrived, Aaron was carrying a 2-liter of Diet Coke, running through the kitchen, and somehow he fell and got a NASTY boo-boo on his finger. It had two huge splits, blood was going everywhere, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I was freaking out thinking we'd have to go to the ER for stitches, when my sister-in-law, Christi arrived. She is a physical therapist and has a much more level head and know-how about injuries than I do. She took a look at the boo-boo, assured us it would be fine, sent Allen to their house for medical supplies I didn't have on hand, and helped me doctor the wound. I am so thankful she arrived at that moment--I would have been clueless about what to do! That's God's perfect timing!

I could probably think of more, and I'm going to try to keep thinking of them! I want to give Him the glory so He will continue to work in my life!