The Same Power

I was driving home with my music blaring as usual (I even had one of Elias friends tell me this week that it was hurting his ears, no worries I turned it down) we were rocking out to a kids worship album, having a dance contest (which by the way, my kiddos have some really great moves, so if you're looking for a dancer... I'm just saying).  There is this one song that gets me every time, the lyrics are "The Same Power that conquered the grave lives in me, the same love that rescued the earth lives in me", oh there is so much in those lines.  It's a reminder that slaps me in the face every time.  When discouragement sets in, and I feel weak, what a reminder, that all that power is accessible to me anytime and all the time.  God didn't just demonstrate that power once and now it's over, He demonstrates that power today, now.  When I am stuck between a rock and hard place, that same power and love lives in feeble lil' me.  I have victory in Christ.  Be encouraged today, that no matter where life has you right now, no matter what your circumstances are, be they relational, financial, health, that same power and love lives in you and will be victorious in you!  

VBS

VBS has been a success so far, it really has.  Especially in our family, our kiddos are really getting a lot out of it.  Ryah was trying to tell me about the bad man Stanley that makes us say bad things.  I kept questioning her, telling her I didn't know who she was talking about, soon to realize it was Satan, not Stanley (those two names are commonly mistaken for one another I'm sure, sorry if you're reading this and your name is Stanley, you have my apologies).  Then there was the story of how to obtain a rabbit if she wants one.  You see a magician came to VBS and made a bunny appear in a cage.  So she tells me, all she has to do is put an old toy in our dogs cage and then put a blanket over it and say some words and then when she lifts the blanket off there will be a bunny in there.  It's all good though they all have learned some legitimate great lessons this week and are having a blast!  Great job Brenda!!!

I won't do that again!

I went for a run today on my new favorite trail.  It's in a field of beautiful flowers, it's peaceful and no one is around.  My ipod was dead and so I thought it was going to be a painfully long run, but it actually turned out to be one of the best.  I was on my way back home and I passed up a grandmother with a jogging stroller and then approached "the mom" who was pushing another stroller, she was stopped.  I thought maybe she was waiting for her mom, but she informed me of my worst nightmare.  There was a rattlesnake sitting (I guess they don't actually sit, nor stand, just lie there) in the middle of the road.  You see I have a fear of this happening, so much so I even pray when I start my run that I won't see any.  So, I stop and ask what are we going to do?  She says go past it, and "the mom" takes her stroller and goes by.  I stand there amazed.  Next, her mother comes strolling up and she too passes by with her stroller.  So, there the two of them are with the kids on one side of the snake and I am on the other.  They stare at me waiting for me to do something.  I am not planning on doing anything until the snake goes away.  "The mom" then offers to scare the snake away for me and proceeds to throw a stick at it, which did nothing.  So, there I am, my dog and I on one side and the ladies on the other.  They are staring at me and waiting.  I tell them I am scared.  She tells me to put my dog on the opposite side of the snake and just go for it.  Now that sounded absurd to me (and if you are an animal lover you might want to stop reading as of here), because in my mind I have been thinking that my dog would go on the snake side so in case in does decide to attack, my dog will be stricken first and I will have  a chance to get away.  But now I couldn't possibly even think of doing such a thing with "the mom" (A.K.A apparent animal rights activist lover) standing there watching me.  So, I stand there for a while longer and decide I've got to do this, these poor ladies need to be able to go home.  So, slowly I inch forward, taking baby steps (the kind like in the movie "What About Bob") and I put my dog in front of me (I thought that was a nice compromise) and push her slowly forward while keeping my eyes on the evil beast, and I see that it is not moving and so I move forward bit by bit, until I arrived safely on the other side.  I have never been so relieved!  I was feeling like a huge wimp until "the mom" tells me a story about having 2 rattle snakes in her house a couple of weeks ago and how she caught them with kitchen tongs and killed them.  I realized this isn't no ordinary mom I'm dealing with here, so I am not feeling so bad about myself anymore!  As I ran off thanking the Lord I wasn't eaten alive, I was a bit upset at first that I even had to run into one, but then realized I was thankful God had "the mom" there to help me or I'd still be standing there waiting for it to move.  Needless to say, I am running on the streets from now on.

Kissing

So my 6 year old tells me, "Mommy, daddy is only allowed to kiss his daughters and his woman".  ( I thought that was a very interesting way to refer to me as his woman, but nonetheless, I accept it).  So, I tell her that is so true and ask her where she learned about that.  Her reply, "Well, I've never seen him kissing any other women."  That's good to know!

Hoola Jumping!

What do hoola hooping and jump roping have in common?  Absolutely nothing until you've met my 6 year old daughter.  She mastered the hoola hoop so she moved onto jump roping and mastered that.  So, now she has combined the two!  It's hysterical, she actually hoola hoops while she jump ropes.  I will get this on video and post it.  I challenge you to try this and let me know if you master it as well, I'm working on it...

Growing up...

There is officially only 2 weeks of school left for my kiddos!  I can't believe how fast time goes by. Next year I'll have a 3rd grader and 1st grader.  Tonight we had open house and my son was Christopher Columbus, he did an amazing job!  My daughter was so proud to show us around her classroom and all of her accomplishments from this year!  I am so proud of them!  I am excited for the summer, to soak in time with them.  They are growing up so fast and each stage is exciting and fun!  Everyone always says it goes by in the blink of an eye and I am already feeling it!  I want to take advantage of every moment with them.  Being a mom can sometimes seem so unimportant, but it is by far the greatest job that I could ever be given.  3 lives to invest into, 3 little people to pour Christ into, 3 kiddos to give my all to.  God has counted me worthy to take care of 3 of His kiddos, to make sure they are loved, cared for, poured into, and grow up to know and love Him.  When I'm old, I want to have 3 kiddos who still love hanging with their mom and are serving Jesus with their whole heart, and that begins now.

Oh Scout!

So do I need to be worried when my 6 year old daughter tells me she wants pink hair and a tatoo?  I tell her she has to wait until she is 18 to make these decisions and she tells me 14 would be a good age!  I am seeing a lot of me in her and I guess I turned out o.k. (for the most part)!  She is so adorable, everything this girl sets her mind to she takes to the next extreme.  For instance you have to see this girl hoola hoop, she does trick while hoola hooping and since she's mastered that she's now moved on to extreme jump roping!  I'm not kidding!  Her art is amazing, she goes out on the street in front of our house with her sidewalk chalk and doesn't come up for hours until her masterpiece is finished, and at that point she is covered in chalk and her hair is always wild!  On Saturday we were at a wedding reception at someone's house and the lady of the home comes out to me with her camera and tells me she has a picture she wants me to see.  She said she glanced out her kitchen window and there is my daughter laying down on a limb of a tree she had climbed, just sitting there chilling!  At a wedding reception!  All this to say, she is amazing and I love her!!!

"give me an undivided heart"

When I was in Albuquerque (I seriously spent a good majority of time there trying to remember how to spell that and I still had to google it!) the worship leader Kristian quoted Psalm 86:11" Lord, give me an undivided heart".  I haven't quit thinking about it.  It hit like a ton of bricks.  I so often live my life divided.  Part of it belongs to God and honors Him, and other parts I keep to myself.  How many areas in my life are divided, where I am standing with one foot on this side and one on the other.  I don't want to be half hearted, half devoted to my Savior who gave all for me without holding back!  How ashamed I am!    I want my life to be completely given over to Christ!  When I am hanging with my kiddos, driving, shopping, alone, with friends, with family, thinking, reading, running, eating, cleaning, laundry, cooking, wherever, with whoever, that my heart is not divided.  Everything would belong to Him and be given over to Him.  I challenge us to examine our hearts daily and ask the Lord to show us any areas that are not completely given over to Him, if there is any area we are divided over...

Kitty Pants

Last Friday I taught on Col. 3, which is a great chapter. It talks about Putting off sin, putting on Christ and Reflecting Him in all you do. Visuals are always a great way to help people remember, so I got a great outfit for my illustration. An amazing outfit worn by Jenny Porter for her Kitty character (a character from several church dramas we've done). It consists of bright tye-dyed stretch pants, a lime green shirt and a pink blazer equipped with shoulders pads and all! It's nothing short of amazing! I was trying to decide whether to wear the visual or not and so I was trying it on and in walks Elias. He asks, "Is that a new outfit mom?" "No", I replied. "Oh, well I really like it", he says. He's going to be a great hubby someday! Regardless, I decided I can not get away with wearing this outfit and be taken seriously. Nonetheless I think the viusual on the hanger went over just as well to accomplish the task at hand. I shared with the women how our sin, our old way of life is out of date, it's out of fashion. That Christ has a new wardrobe for us, one that does not go out of style. I want to cast off the sin that so easliy entangles me and brings me down and live the life Christ has created me to live. At the end of Col. 3 Paul challenges us to make sure that all we do can have Christ's name attached to it. When I drive, when I speak, whatever I do I need to make sure I can attach Christ's name to it. Examine your life today and ask God what sin He wants you to put off; and put on Christ.

Zaccaheus was a weee little man!

So, I love my son Elias! For a school assignment he had to do a biography book report and share it with his class. So I thought we'd be sneaky and slip a Bible story in there. We worked hard on it and wrote it as evangelistically (not a word, but it works) as we could. But leave it up to Elias to seal the deal. When I got his report back, I was reading through the comments and at the end it says, "Elias, I liked the song. You were very brave to sing to the class." I ask Elias about it and he tells me, "Yah, mom no one in the class ever sang during their book report so I thought I would sing Zaccahues Was A Weee Little Man". I love the innocence!!! I pray it stays with him...

She lost her tooth!

This morning Ryah informed me that she was going to lose her tooth today and that I had to check it. So, I checked it and didn't really agree with her that it was loose enough to come out today. But she insisted that it was and that it would happen at school. Now why she insisted that it be at school I am not sure, other than in a Kindergartners mind that would surely be the talk of the school it it were to happen. So, as I am driving her to school she tells me that she is going to tell her teacher that her tooth is going to come out today at school. Well... when I picked Ryah up at school sure enough there was her tooth in a baggy. Such determination, I love it! The story behind it was that her and her friends were at recess and that she was talking about her loose tooth and how it needs to come out. So, her friend Haley goes, gets a napkin, and proceeds to pull Ryah's tooth right out of her mouth. That couldn't have been hygenic! Now if you know Ryah, this is truly a Ryah story. Only Ryah would have a friend get a napkin and rip her tooth out. She was so proud, smiling extra BIG to see who would notice. She's in bed now and as I have reflected on the event I feel bad because with your first child the whole tooth loosing thing is such a big deal and you have to call everybody and tell them, with Ryah we barely got a call in to her dad. And to make matters worse I actually contemplated if it was ok for the "tooth fairy" to leave a check! I didn't have cash, but then I realized my name was on the check and even though she can't read her brother can and since it's the first, I made a trip to get some cash. It actaully worked out because I needed some cash to back pay the kids piggy banks from all the money we've "borrowed" for the other "tooth fairys". Congrats Ryah!!!

New Year's Resolutions???

Chris always loves the beginning of a new year, he says it feels like a fresh start. I on the other hand, with my rebellious side, doesn't like the fact that everybody holds off until Jan. 1st to straighten out their life. I mean if you have goals and things you want to change, change them, why wait till Jan1st? So with that said, I don't make New Years Resolutions, but if I did... I want to love on my hubby and kiddos, and show them more of Jesus. I want God to deepen my commitment to Him this year. I don't want to test the endless grace He offers me over and over again. I want to get past myself and to sacrifice a life a comfort so others can know no pain. I want to serve without limits. I want to know God more today than I did yesterday. I want to love without limits. That's what I resolve for this year.

Why do we need vacations to recover from vactions?

The kiddos have been off school the last 2 weeks and I was so looking forward to getting sleep! That didn't happen, needless to say... Christmas was great! We surprised the kiddos with a bengal cat this year that we pre-named Bella (we did this because Chris says kids always pick lame names like sugar or something wierd, so instead he names her Bella, is that really any better? I don't know). Bengal cats are part leopard and they are really cool looking cats with great temperments. She is 9 weeks old and can already scale her way onto the counter tops! The best part is the kids (and maybe Chris and I) fighting over who gets to hold her every second of the day! I would have pics on here but for the second year in a row Chris and I have managed to lose our camera on Christmas day, how does that happen 2 years in a row??? Then we took the kiddos up to Lake Arrowhead for a week. It was beautiful! Snow was everywhere! We went snowboarding for Chris 33rd birthday. We took our boy Elias and he did amazing! I want to take him up there every week just beacuase I think he could become a professional one day! I on the other hand was a little rusty. You see I have this fear of getting hurt! I didn't have that fear last time I went, I don't know what happen to me, but I don't like it! Chris spent a good amount of the time trying to teach me the "proper" way to snowboard, but I think my way is just fine! We also took the kids sledding. Cade, the one who I thought would be whining about the snow, was our wild sled momma! She would sled down these huge hills alone and then drag her sled back up, it was so cute. Then there were boat rides, jacuzzi soaks, game board matches, ping pong competitions, pool competitions, and eating, eating, eating! Anyways after all that craziness I am exhausted! I need some sleep this week!