9.12.2010 - part 2

Watching my two oldest children getting baptized was a special moment for this mom.  It made me quite thankful for my own upbringing and the example of godly living from my own parents.  To be able to have this as a legacy to be passed on just leaves me with speechless praise to God.

As you may have noticed from the pictures from the last post, I too was baptized.  As a child, I was "sprinkled".  All these years later, it has never really crossed my mind that I had never been immersed.  While talking to my kids about baptism and what it is and means, "A" excitedly asked me how old I was when I was"dunked" (her words).  Guess what?  I couldn't answer her.  I explained how I was sprinkled and that some denominations practice this, but that just didn't feel right with me.  We do not practice this with our kids.  When they are babies they are dedicated to the Lord before the church, but not sprinkled.  So I decided that I would just join in the fun and "get dunked" as my kids say, right along with them!  I am so glad I waited until now, because it was truly special.

Want to hear what made this day sooooo super special??  This guy:

I have known this "gentle"man all my life.  He was the single biggest factor in my personal walk with the Lord.  He is godly, strong, humble, hard-working, full of mercy, fair, soft, smart, tough but gentle man that loves his wife and children and is thankful for everyday he is given.  This is the man that was gracious enough to baptize me, my children, and my nieces and nephews.  We think its pretty cool that he was able to do this, but I can only imagine what is was like for him.

You see, the man above is my DAD. 

I can only dream of what this was like for him to be able to baptize the ones that are so dear to him.  The ones that he has spent so much time praying for and over.  Not just as a dad to my brother and I, but as a grandfather watching his grandkids grow, teaching them, and loving them in a whole new way.  I am so thankful that we are able to share this day with him and that because I still have two other children that will one day be baptized- we will get to do it again!

                                                   

9.12.2010

                                             Can you guess

what made

September 12, 2010

 

so very, very

super special

for our family?

                                                         Romans 1:16


to be continued.............



A little slow

Yes, I know it has been quite some time since I posted, but I just wanted to pop in and say that I am working on it!!!  I have already changed the backround (again), and I am working on some new pics and names for my sweet, crazed, adorable, wack jobs.  hee hee.  But I have been putting off a post until something special around here took place, and it has.  Sooooo, with that- I am going to work on getting my rear in gear and get back to the blog world!

Still here enjoying life

I have been absent lately from writing, I know.  I have been reading and commenting on other blogs, but I just haven't had the urgency to write.  I  have been so busy since summer started, that I have been doing just what I am supposed to be doing- having fun with the family.
The girls still have gymnastics, A and T are on the swim team, and J is busy with camps (church, golf and basketball).  Its quite busy, but such fun.

Today we decided to take a slow down, spontaneous trip to my parents house.  Sounds funny, I know.  When we got here, I sat on the back patio with my mom and watched my girls catch lightening bugs and do gymnastics.  I loved watching them just be kids.  No pressure. No rush. Just playing.

I thought about running for the camera, but you know what?  I decided to just enjoy the moment.  I know that all to soon these days will pass and I will miss them dearly, so I decided not to miss one second.

The boys?  They ran to my brothers house to be with my nephews and play too.  Only they played Rock Band.

Hopefully I will get some pictures posted soon.  We have alot going on and alot still to do before summer is all too soon over.   I really want to update the pics of the kids on my sidebar anyway and give the kids nicknames.

Any suggestions?

Food For Thought

I have a question.  Some may think its an odd question, but this past Sunday in church, it became (to me) a very legitimate question.

Do you pray for your pastor and the leadership of your church?

Seriously.  Whether you love your church and are completely content, or if you wish your church had something that you feel is missing- do you pray for who God has in the position of leadership in that church?

Do you pray that God would guide the leadership of the church and "move and shake things" for His glory? 

If you do pray for things to get shaken, how open would you truly be to the changes that would be made?  Would your flesh and complacency want to accept it or complain and resist?

Have you ever imagined the amount of pressure that pastors must feel when God is prompting their hearts to make changes in a congregation that may not accept it?

These are all things that weighed on my heart Sunday morning as I watched the pastor of our church sitting at the front during praise and worship.  I felt the need to pray for Him, and as I was praying all of these questions were going through my mind. 

If you do pray for the leadership of your church,  think about challenging others to think about some of these questions.  If we are all honest, I am pretty sure most of us would be convicted in this area.  If you, like me, feel this weighing on your heart- committ this week to make praying for your pastor and others who lead in your church on a regular basis. 

James 3:17-18

Back to normal?

What a difference a week makes!!  The pity party is over.  We had a wonderful weekend playing while Big Daddy was away- playing.  My friend and her kiddos came to our house for one big sleep over!! We ate pizza, watched movies, snacked on popcorn and then put the kids to bed.  My friend and I had a sweet late night chat and giggles. 

Went for a run this morning and really had some time to reflect on why I let my attitude get so yucky last week.  Want to know what I came up with?  Selfishness.  Yep.  I was getting bogged down in what my expectations were for everyone else around me instead of focusing on what the Lord requires of me.  All I saw (from my clouded view) were all the things that were not being done right and causing me more work and headache.  I was not being thankful, was not setting an example of joy, and I was not choosing to love.

When the Lord says in the bible to "Love One Another", He means it just as it sounds.  Its not "Love one another if he or she deserves it".  Nope. It simply states to Love.  Even when- or more importantly when- we think they DON'T deserve it.  I wasn't walking in obedience, so life was rough.  I was trying to take control.  One thing I do know about the Lord is that until we give up the control to HIM- he will let us go about our way until we figure out just how ignorant we really are and decide to give things back to Him.

Luckily, I figured it out and things have returned to normal around here.  If, that is, you can call us normal.  You really don't have to tell me what you think- really.

Patient in affliction?

I really want to write this post that is a long list of reasons why I should be able to sit and have this pity-party I am currently having.  I want to tell you all the reasons why I am stressed, upset, frustrated, unmotivated, saddened, annoyed, unproductive, and down right exhausted.  However, I won't. 

I have been reading Philippians and Romans with my kiddos the last couple of days and while I went into the days wanting to open their little heads and pour in the knowledge, the Lord seemed to teach me instead. 

Last night while lying in bed, 2 verses kept coming to mind:

Romans 12:12  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Philippians 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

You see, unstead of praying and giving all my baggage and attitude to God, I was (am) carrying it around as some sort of excuse to allow my emotions to govern my attitude.  I have always loved the Romans verse.  I think its easy to be joyful in hope, and usually have no problem being faithful in prayer- I love to pray!  The part I have a hard time putting into practice is the patient in affliction.  The past couple of days though, I have mixed the lack of patience with the lack of prayer. Big mistake!!

You see, the thing about attitudes is that they are contagious.  Good or bad (unfortunately).  By the time I went to bed last night, I realized that my attitude the last couple of days had changed the entire mood of our household.  Every other person (big and little) were beginning to be short of patience, joy, and love.  To make things worse, I am now feeling guilty because Big Daddy left this morning for 4 days.  I can guess that I didn't give him a very nice going away present.

I don't like that I can have that much influence.  Why is it that mom's have that ability?  All I know is that now I have some cleaning up to do- and its not on my out of control house.  I need to go back and use my sin as an example to my kids of how NOT to act, and show them how to ask for forgivness when we mess up. 

I am just glad I have this verse in mind as well:
Lamentations 3:22-23  Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.