Reading Material

The sun is out. And I have a window open because the temp is actually in the 40’s I haven’t felt that all winter, except for the brief trip I took back home to Arkansas. I like the sun. I have missed it. The ground is still covered with several feet of snow with more on the way this week, and the snow piles in parking lots are starting to look like Mt. Everest. But I will take the sun for now.

Now on to more important issues, why do men have to have reading material when they do their business in the bathroom? Obviously I haven’t done a complete scientific study on this, but the men that are in my life all poop with a book; even my son who is just started potty training. The first time he sat on the pot he signed the word book. It’s like it is in their DNA. 

Liam reading on his big-boy potty

Do they use that time as their quiet time? Is it their moment to get away from everything? Is it a stress reliever? Because as a mom I don’t get peace and quiet in the bathroom.  I get this cute little blue eyed; blonde headed boy yelling gibberish at me. Deep down I know I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Obviously not our bathroom but I thought it was funny

I don’t get why men do it, but I might as well take it to my advantage. So I started to put reading material on top of the toilet that I think he should be reading, Such as a jewelry magazine, and article on how to be a good husband, the bible turned to Eph 5:25 – Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and he gave himself. They may not want to get in and get out like us women do but at least I can get some gain out of it!!

I don't know who this little guy but he feels the same way I do

Enjoy your sun, if you have it!! I am enjoying ours.

Setting the Table

So I am just sitting here with my son sitting next to me blogging on his computer.

And I can’t help but think about how thankful I am for what God has done for me in my life. He has done so much for me. He has healed me from scoliosis; a friend of mine literally saw my spine move. My son was healed physically; he was diagnosed with a possibility of having everything from leukemia to kidney failure with cystic fibrosis somewhere in there as well. They didn’t know what was wrong with him, but it didn’t matter God healed him. Those testimonies are huge!! But the testimony of my heart today is just the simplicity of God. How he is always there. Through what we would call the big things or the small things he is there. I think so many times I take things for granted the things He does for me everyday. I shouted and hollered when my spine was healed and when Liam blood tests and x-rays came back normal. I should hoop and holler that I have never gotten in an accident; I stay out of harms way everyday; I have never been without food (maybe not the food or the clothes I wanted but I still had them). Maybe I should be thankful that the sun came out today, and I have clean air to breathe (I have a friend in China where clean air doesn’t come to often).

I did an internship once in an intercity church in Little Rock, AR. The pastors there were so amazing! They had so much grace and patience for the people there. I remember one time there was a lady there who stood up and started shouting and praising God for her water and electric getting turned back on, that the van came and got her to church, and for her kids who are no longer going to get in trouble!! It was really funny at the time, but I think she was on to something

I asked a friend of mine how she was doing after a tragedy in her life. And she said all I know to do right now is to prepare a table of thanksgiving in the presence of my enemies. (Read Psalm 23 at some point today)

You know preparing a table of thanksgiving is a great idea, but not just during crisis but also during just simple things in our life. I feel like if we do that it doesn’t give the enemy and room to try to root selfishness, bitterness, jealousy, envy, insecurities in our life.

So my table of thanksgiving is always going to be set. I want to live a life of gratitude.

LOVE

Love…..

It’s the word of the month…. LOVE….

We say it all the time. We say it to our husband (I say it way more than him!! J). We say it to our kids (Liam can’t say it just yet, but he definitely knows how to show it). We say it to our friends (I am lucky to have the best friends ever). We say it to our family (I have more mom’s and dad’s than most people….lots of love right there). We say it all the time.

But where does love come from??

1John 4:19

We love Him[a] because He first loved us

Love came from God. He created it. It’s the emotion He had while creating us. It’s the emotion He had when he called Abraham to be the father of all Nations. It’s the emotion He had when he saved Noah out of the flood. It’s the emotion He had when he saved Moses as a baby. It’s the emotion He had when He called disciples. It’s the emotion He had when He healed the multitudes. It’s the emotion He had when He sent his only son Jesus to die for us. It’s that emotion that saved us. It’s that emotion that healed us. It’s that emotion that we were set free.

God LOVES us. And I LOVE him.

We have all heard the story of Jesus dying on the cross. But by default because of our busy lives, our routines, or religious deeds that is all it ever becomes is a story. A story that we do love and a story we cherish… but it’s a story.

Do you remember the first moment in your life when it wasn’t just a story it was an experience, it was a moment, it was a movement in your heart. It was in that moment that the heaviness of God’s love flooded your life. You realized what Jesus actually did for you.

I can remember a few of those moments. I can remember the first time I felt it. I remember when I watched the movie The Passion of Christ I felt it then. I remember once when I was just driving with the beautiful hills of Arkansas as my background, I felt it then. I remember listening to a message someone preached once, I felt it then. And I felt it just the other day during a devotion.

We have those moments where we just stand still, we have to stand still, when you really realize God’s love for you it’s paralyzing.

So I encourage you this month---The month of LOVE to have one of those moments. Ponder what God really did for you. He sent his only Son to die on a cross so that you can be saved, so that you can live in freedom, so that you can be near him, so that you can be healed, so that you can love others but mostly because he LOVES you.

Have a moment….but then stay in that moment…forever!!

Snowman

We have lived in Michigan for almost a month now and there is one thing that I have not seen yet, well besides grass. I have yet to see a SNOWMAN!! I don’t know if the kids are just so used to snow that building a snowman is not fun. Or it might be that the temperature here lately has been in the negatives. But today we are getting several more inches of snow and it is 30 degrees so Liam and I went out to build a snowman.

I couldn’t build it on the ground because there was so much snow already on the ground that I would have to make a ginormous snowman for it to even be seen and I was not about to be out there that long. So we made a small one on the picnic table outside our apt building.

        

Liam giggled the whole time. And he would grab snow and hand it to me. I will say he was concerned with why we were leaving perfectly good strawberries on a pile of snow. Didn’t I know you are supposed to eat strawberries not use them as a silly decoration.

    

In the end we had a blast making our snowman and now I can say I have officially seen a snowman in Michigan!! I hope our snowman brings joy to the people coming and going out of our building