For My Girls

Dearest Emily Ann and Bailey Jo,

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her."
Max Lucado

Love,
Mama

Bed and Breakfast?

This morning the little boys and I got up to some WONDERFUL morning air. It was 70 degrees on the dot. There were birds singing... a breeze was blowing... it was OH SO NICE!!! So Bug and I decided to make breakfast and eat it outside. He loves to "scramble" the eggs for me most mornings, but we usually just hang out inside. Today we ate on the deck while a hummingbird zipped all around us. It was delightful. Of course it was only minutes before it was back to business... dishes, laundry, getting the big kids off to camp, work, etc... But I am grateful for those few beautiful moments. It set the tone for a wonderful day.

"Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."

Lamentations 3:23

Father's Day

We were blessed with a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. Troy is the most amazing Daddy and I am thrilled that his children know and recognize this. They celebrated the day with him yesterday with church, lunch out (yay!), family swim time (which involved Robertson style smack-talking pool volleyball), dinner out (yay again!) and the day wrapped up with the girls taking Daddy out on a movie date. Whew! Busy, but so very fun! :)

On Saturday we got to celebrate something really special with my Daddy... We celebrated his 30th birthday........ SOBRIETY birthday that is. He (through God's grace alone - and he would say that) made the decision 30 years ago to surrender to God his addiction and allow the grace of Jesus to wash him and make him a new creation. For this I am grateful.... It not only broke the chains of addiction and generational sin for me and my family, but also is what led us to know Jesus in a personal way. Thank you Dad for ALL that you have given to us... :)

Here is Troy and Titus sharing some of God's word together... is there anything better for a Daddy to give his son?

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." Psalm 127:3-5

A Little Brag

Bailey Jo... without a doubt, she's one of the greatest blessings in my life. She is sooo funny, very mature, passionate, and has a real servant's heart. This girl is the "bomb"! I often think about what a marvelous woman her future husband will receive when they marry. She's got it going on! :) I'm just taking this blog to brag a little... Today Bai went with me to the grocery store (as she often does) and on the way she helped me organize a list - her writing, while I was rambling. Then, in the store she's like a super hero - able to help me get things, entertain a 2 year old, and keep me on task. She's amazing! Last week though she did a really amazing thing - she organized, worked, stayed up really late several nights pricing, got up at 6AM the day of and worked all day having a garage sale with all the money going to a family who lost their home in a fire. When the sale was over, she went outside and cleaned and loaded up all the leftovers... ALL of this being her idea and her desire to serve... there was zero prompting from us at all. She raised $326.00!!! I'm so stinking proud my heart could burst! Bailey loves Jesus, her family, friends, children, her pets and every other animal on earth. :) She loves to worship, take care of her little brothers, play volleyball, cheer her big brother on in sports, and help those in need.

Troy and I often talk about (and sometimes with my parents too) what an exciting future God must have for Bailey. She is gifted in so many ways, but most importantly with a heart that loves God completely... The sky is the limit for her!

Bai- thanks for all you do to bless our family. Many days go by that I know I couldn't do it without you. You serve all of us unselfishly. I'm ETERNALLY GRATEFUL that God made me your Mama... Every day of my life is better because you're in it. Its the cry of my heart that you keep following the way of Jesus... He'll never let you down baby.

Marriage Thoughts

I've been kind of camping out in Ephesians 5 lately... really pondering what God has to say about marriage roles... I've been challenged to go deeper with this... I think it's been easy to just say, "yeah, yeah, I get it... submit. Blah, blah, blah." Oh, but there's so much more. God has such a beautiful design for marriage and when we follow that design (not easy... in fact, impossible without his strength and power) it works! WOW! I want to stand up and SHOUT - WOW!! There's much to say about this topic of marriage... And let's be honest, I'm no theologian, but I have been married for almost 19 years and I can honestly say that I've tried (way too many times) to go my "own" way and then repented and decided to go God's way... And let me tell you, God's way WORKS!!! I am deeply in love with my man. Still. Has it always been easy? Goodness, no! (for the record, I believe that it's not easy for anyone, some just have a way of making it LOOK easy.) Has it always been fun and pretty and cozy and sweet? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! There have been some rough times. Times when (like I said before) we went our own way, were stubborn, selfish, sinful, etc... But thank God (really) that his mercies are new every morning. He takes our ashes and makes something beautiful.
So........ anyway, I got these beautiful tulips from my hubby yesterday. Nope, no occasion except that he loves me. Wow... that can still make my heart pound. As a side benefit of feeling so special - each one of my kids got to see that Daddy sent Mama flowers. This is a priceless gift that Troy has given our children - that they see that he loves me. I am learning more every day how to respect him (man's need) and he is learning more every day how to love me (female's need)... and so, we're stumbling through (sometimes kinda sloppily, but going on anyway) Eph. 5... And we're just watching the wondrous things that the Creator is doing in our lives. God is so amazing... and Troy's pretty great too. :) Thanks for the flowers babe. I LOVE THAT THEY'RE RED! :D

Beautiful Things

I have seen a lot of beautiful things in my life... Some of the first to come to mind are: the mountain peaks of Colorado, the view of Piha beach in New Zealand, a baby fawn nursing in my front yard... I guess I usually think of nature when I think of beautiful. These are some of the most obvious of God's handi-work.

But there are other beautiful things... things that I see in my home... Things like this text from my husband this morning - "May God bless you and keep you all day! I love you babe. Keep me updated about my babies today." I love this man.

And then there's the beauty of Joshua's face when he sees Taylor walk in the front door... The adoration that pours out of him is indescribable. And honestly, the look on Taylor's face when he sees Joshua matches it.

I love the beauty of Emily in her pajamas sleepily looking around for Titus so she can hold him early in the morning.

And the beauty of finding Bailey asleep up in Emily's room because she wanted to be near her sister.

These are just things I see... There are so many beautiful things to hear also. Like: squeals and then "Daddy's home!!!" or "Mama, guess what I learned today?" or how about baby giggles... or one of my favorites - the noisy, happy chaos around the dinner table...

God, you are beautiful. You make all things beautiful. Thank you for adding so much beauty to our home.

Enjoy the pics below:
A bee gathering nectar from the blossoms on this sage.

The sage burst thousands of blossoms today. It's a purple explosion.

And the winner goes to...................... beautiful soft-skinned, gummy-smiling Titus!!!

The Power of My Tongue

So, I will confess I have a real struggle... It's with my words. Sometimes I say unkind things - and always to the people that I love the most. Sometimes it's not WHAT I say, but HOW I say it...

This is not a new thing for me to be learning about myself. It seems it's been a struggle ever since I became a mom. And I hate it. I hate the sin in me... I hate Satan who loves this weakness.

I guess you could say that I've come a long way... I think my husband and children would say that. And yet, I've got a long ways to go. I admit it. I confess it. I repent of it. And I beg for forgiveness. Thank God that my family gives this forgiveness. But I still hate it that I hurt them sometimes. I will continue to study the Word regarding this. I will keep on praying about it.

Have I mentioned that I REALLY HATE this sin?

I know there is no condemnation for me... And I know that Jesus is refining me and gradually I am looking more like him and less like me. But it is a slow and painful process. I want ALL of my words to be full of LIFE, LOVE, and ENCOURAGEMENT.

The Lord has given me another verse about this today... one that convicts and inspires me...

Psalm 101:2 "...I will walk in my house with blameless heart..."

I want to walk in my house with a blameless heart... To love my husband and my children with blameless words.

I kneel and repent - to the Lord and my loved ones. And I get up and try again.