Grateful For My Girls

It’s Grateful Heart Friday and this week my highlight has been my daughters. My little loves turn 5 tomorrow! I just can’t believe it. It seems like 5 is such a monumental age to turn. Maybe because they go to kindergarten when they turn 5. Or maybe it’s because they learn to read at 5 and ride a bike! It just seems like a permanent break from child to kid! I sure hope the innocence stays and the magical imagination!
      Emmie Girl, I’m grateful for your beautiful voice and the songs you make up all day long. You make me smile! I’m grateful for your artistic gift that makes our home beautiful. I’m grateful for your repentant heart that doesn’t sit well until you’ve said you’re sorry. I’m grateful for your spirit of leadership – I can’t wait to see what God does with that in your life! I’m grateful for your beautiful prayers at night. I’m grateful for extravagant imagination that takes you to amazing places with fantastic characters. I’m grateful for how much you love your teacher, school and learning. I’m grateful for your love of Jesus. Most of all Emmie, I’m grateful that you’re mine. I love you. Happy Birthday!
      Georgie Girl, I’m grateful for your long cuddles. I’m grateful for your nurturing heart that assures me that every doll and stuffed animal in our home is taken care of – I can’t wait to see how God uses your nurturing heart to love this world! I’m grateful for your goofy songs, stories and shows that make us all laugh! I’m grateful for your adventurous spirit. I’m grateful for your love of Jesus. I’m grateful for your energy that makes you run everywhere you go! I'm grateful for your new found passion for learning to read!  I’m grateful for your heart to welcome new people and include them in your world. Most of all Georgie Mouse, I’m grateful that I get to be your Mommy. I love you. Happy Birthday!
      Now it’s your turn – take a few moments to reflect on all the blessings from this past week and cultivate your grateful heart!

1. Include a photo of what you’re most grateful for from this past week.

2. Grab a Grateful Heart Button on the right and add it to your Grateful Heart post

3. Link up and be blessed as you share your gratitude with other and grow as you read about their week and let’s cultivate Grateful Hearts together on Friday!

 

Mercies In Disguise

I heard this song for the first time on Sunday and I sobbed through the whole song. The lyrics are so powerful and through the year we've had thus far, I felt like this song was God whispering some answers to me. I was reminded once again that my life as a follower of Jesus is not my own. I do not exist to create the most pleasurable, perfect, happy, fulfilled life that I can while on earth. I exist to bring glory to God, to worship Him and be made more into His image every day. My life is not really about me. It’s about Jesus. The trials, the loss, the frustration, the disappointment – what if they are mercies in disguise?

“What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy”

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,

if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Romans 8:17

Blessings by Laura Story

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home,

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are your mercies in disguise

Forgotten Passion

As I dropped of my son in the nursery at church yesterday I ran into a woman I met about 6 months ago.  My husband and I were at a point when we really wanted to join a small group at our church.  When they said they needed leaders, we volunteered and were anxious to get started.  We had a long list of folks that were interested, but were disappointed when only one person could come.  We decided that perhaps we’d wait until after the holidays to try to start again, hoping that more people would be able to be a part of our group.  Then, we kinda forgot about it, until yesterday when I ran into the one woman who came to our small group.  She asked if we were going to start up a group.  I honestly told her that we hadn’t thought about it.  I was a little embarrassed that something we once were so passionate and excited about was now something I had forgotten.  As I walked into the service, it was Palm Sunday and our pastor talked about the grand entrance of Jesus coming into Jerusalem.  People lined his path, waving palm branches which symbolized their wishes for life, prosperity, success and good fortune upon Jesus.  They cheered him on and cried out, “Hosana.”  They were so passionate.  But 5 short days later they would completely forget that passion.  How does this happen?  How can our passion so quickly fade?  Judas would betray Jesus, Peter would deny him and others would shout, “crucify him,” but only a short time before that they loved him, followed him and sought his teaching.  Are we that fickle?  I was convicted of the ups and downs of some of my passions.  Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in a moment, join the crowd, go with the flow and then lose steam as the moment passes.  But other times I think God breathed passions are thwarted because of obstacles, disappointment or unmet expectations.  I’m left wondering - what vision or passions have I betrayed and forgotten?  Was is something that came in the midst of a moment and quickly faded?  Or is it something that I need to return to, regardless of obstacles, because it was from God? 

Grateful For The Little Things

It’s Grateful Heart Friday and I have something that I’m super thankful for this week! The love of popcorn! Sounds silly, but I love popcorn and I can’t get anyone in my family on board. Yea, my husband will eat a little, my girls say it gets stuck in their throats, and I’ve thought the little guy is still too little! Sometimes I just crave popcorn as an easy, salty, yummy snack, but I hate to make it just for me (probably because I don’t do microwave popcorn and go the whole nine yards with my Whirly Pop with real butter!) But this week, our little neighbor came over to play with the girls and they had a blast creating all sorts of art which gave me an idea – “Let’s have an art show!” They made invitations and I made popcorn. Later, the neighbors came over to view the gallery set up in our dining room and munch on some popcorn. Guess what? My three children devoured the popcorn and almost more than the beautiful art, empty popcorn bowls made me smile! I’m so grateful that my kids now love popcorn!! It’s the little things friends!
      I’m grateful for the creativity that floods my home. I’m grateful for awesome neighbors that cook for us, play with us and love us. I’m grateful for my fabulous husband and God blessing him with another year of life. Most of all, I’m grateful for a God that is just as interested in the tiny details of my life, as He is the bigger issues. I’m grateful that He knows the little things that make me smile and He delights to bring those things into my life.
      Now it’s your turn – take a few moments to reflect on all the blessings from this past week and cultivate your grateful heart!

1. Include a photo of what you’re most grateful for from this past week.

2. Grab a Grateful Heart Button on the right and add it to your Grateful Heart post

3. Link up and be blessed as you share your gratitude with other and grow as you read about their week and let’s cultivate Grateful Hearts together on Friday!

Embrace Hubby's Birthday

Today we're embracing The Hubs because it's his birthday!  I'm so grateful that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband who is a great friend, awesome father, and wonderful partner in life. 

 Happy Birthday Babe!  We love you

 Happy Birthday!

Vision

My daughters are turning 5 in 10 short days and I can’t believe it! We’ve been having a blast planning the Fairy Garden Party, and I’ve been going nuts with the opportunity to use a bit of my creativity and love for entertaining! Last year I thought it would be fun to let the girls get in on the decorating. So, for their Pink Pig Red Butterfly Birthday, the girls painted pink pigs and red butterflies that hung from our patio covering and made the space so festive and personal. This time I thought I’d let them paint fairies to adorn our garden. I have a vision for this party. I have a vision for these fairies. And guess what? Their vision didn’t match mine! Honestly, I cringed as they began to paint. “No, wait, think about this before you do it.” Yep, kinda controlling Mom – that’s me. Luckily, someone who loves me a lot stepped in and said, “I thought they could paint the fairies any way they want.” “Yes, I said that, but…” Then I realized that my “vision” was destroying some little girls and their creativity. So I stopped, switched gears, and started admiring their work and praising their creativity. No, blue is not one of the colors of the Fairy Garden Party – but you know what? that’s ok. This little blue fairy is beautiful and I’m sure she’ll make a lovely addition to the party.
      We must never allow our vision for our children to over power their vision for themselves. I was reminded that God has uniquely created them and given them vision to create – just like their Moma. It is my responsibility to create an environment where my children can live into their vision and not an environment where they are forced to live into mine.

Extravagant Love

It was just before the Passover Feast. 

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. 

 Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 

John 13:1-5

Grateful For Hope

It’s been almost 7 months of Grateful Heart Fridays and I’ve been blessed by several of you and your Grateful Heart posts. In honor of this 7 months of cultivating our grateful hearts together, I have 2 new changes to the Grateful Heart Friday posts.

1. Each Grateful Heart Post must include a photo(s) of what you were most

grateful for from the past week.

2. We’re linking up! It’s been really encouraging for me to read several of your grateful heart posts and I thought it was time to extend that encouragement to others!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been trying to capture some fun Spring photos of the kids to fill my wall of frames. Our first attempt took us to the beach - I was not too happy with the results!  So this week I took the children to The Gardens of The World, hoping to capture some fun photos in the garden. Well… I was about a week or two too early for the spectacular unveiling of Spring color, but one little cluster of color caught my eye. There is a path lined with cherry trees and they are all bare as though still trapped in Winter. But I saw something in one tree that honestly looked like someone glued some tissue paper to a branch. The whole tree was bare except for this spectacular cluster of bright pink lacey flowers. Immediately I thought of hope. I heard God’s voice of encouragement speak so loudly that in the mist of barrenness, Winter, and the desert, He offers hope that newness, Spring and life are just around the corner. The blush blossoms could not be missed, they were not discrete, they shouted “there is hope for amazing beauty in the midst of ashes, hang on.” I’m grateful for hope. This past week I’m grateful for a night in with two amazing girlfriends who sincerely asked how I am doing since our miscarriage and listened with opened hearts as I shared. I’m grateful for a night out with two other amazing girlfriends and their love and care for me. One dear friend bought me a necklace with a very, very, tiny heart on it. She said it was to honor our little heart that we lost. I am grateful for the promise of Spring. I’m grateful for a God who breathes new life into death. I’m grateful that I’m on this side of the resurrection of Jesus and I know that death never wins! I’m grateful that in addition to celebrating that everyday, we get to celebrate the greatest miracle ever in 2 short weeks!
     Now it’s your turn – take a few moments to reflect on all the blessings from this past week and cultivate your grateful heart!

1. Include a photo of what you’re most grateful for from this past week.

2. Grab a Grateful Heart Button on the right and add it to your Grateful Heart post

3. Link up and be blessed as you share your gratitude with others and grow as you read about their week and let’s cultivate Grateful Hearts together on Friday!

 

Embrace the Photo Shoot

I have a wall of frames in my house and I obsess about having the photos in them correspond with the season or holiday we're in.  So, we just attempted our Spring / Easter photo shoot to fill the frames!  Not too many good ones, but here are a few!



Moma and my little ladies (love it when their smiles are genuine!)



And how much do we love when the ocean looks like I live in Maui!  (I don't!)

Daddy and the ladies getting airborn!

 

  Yummy pit shot!



Just plain yummy!



Miss Em teaching a very profound life lesson to the Doodle - I'm sure!

I'm dreaming of the day when we get a professional photographer to take photos for us!! 
Anyone local and have cheap rates??!!! hee hee

I'm Not Impressed

Back when I started this blog I felt a clear calling to do it.  As I mentioned in my very first post, I knew almost nothing about the blogging world, but something inside me kept saying, “you need to start a blog.”  I did, and it was such a blessing to me.  It took me back to the days before children, before marriage, when I used to daily journal and reflect with God.  It also took me back to the days before marriage when I was in full time ministry and I had the privilege of sharing my faith with college students.  I felt that now as a stay at home mom, my blog became a new little ministry for me.  But somewhere along the way things have changed a bit.  The waters have become muddy.  My vision has faded.  My passion for ministry and connection to God through my blog has lessened.  As my eyes have been opened to this enormous world of blogging I have become distracted.  Would you believe that when I started just over a year ago I kinda thought that I was one of a small handful of Christian women blogging about Jesus?!!  Yea, that’s how little I knew!  Not to mention the millions of fabulous creative blogs about fashion, crafts, photography, parties and design that now keep me looking at me screen far too long theses days!  As I have enjoyed many other blogs, my thoughts have drifted to… “How can I get that many followers?  How can I be that creative?  How can I be that funny?  How can I be that inspiring?”  My passion for simply reflecting on Jesus in my daily life has turned into a quest to be bigger and better in the blog world.  And with that, my hunger to sit down three times a week and talk to God and praise Him for revealing Himself to me through the little things of motherhood, has become a bit of a chore.  I find that I don’t always have something to say on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I stress out if my post isn’t up first thing in the morning (which these days, it rarely is).  And sometimes it just isn’t as fun.  Now I could sit and beat myself up and look into all sorts of reasons why this is happening, but I know the real reason.  I know the true distraction.  I know what is pulling me off track and it isn’t my pride or desire to be famous!!!  It’s an enemy that quickly saw that this blog was connecting me deeper to my Maker.  He saw that this little blog was bringing me joy in my relationship with Jesus.  He noticed that one or two other people were being blessed by it and looking more toward Jesus and He didn’t like it!  It’s his pride and selfish desire to be famous that began to distract me, steal my joy, and pull me away from my love of Jesus, into my love of self.  But Satan, I’m not impressed!  I’ve figured you out and I’m not falling for it any more! 

Put Your Weight Down

“When I was at the party,” said Betty, age just 4.

“A little girl fell off her chair,

right down upon the floor.”

“All the other children began to laugh but me. I didn’t laugh a single bit,” said Betty seriously.

“And why didn’t you laugh darling?

Or don’t you want to tell?”

“I didn’t laugh,” said Betty,

“because it was me that fell!”

I learned this poem from my mom when I was a child. I’m not really sure where it came from. And I sure don’t know why I heard it often enough to have committed it to memory! But the knowledge of this little gem came in handy this past weekend when I was at a party – a ladies only tea party with my daughters!
     We were one chair short, so a friend willingly offered her spare folding chair. I was the lucky one to be assigned the “high adventure chair,” and it didn’t disappoint! We were seated and started our lovely tea with our daughters. Each little girl decorated a Spring hat with flowers and wore them at the table which only added to the festive afternoon. After getting up to get some more delicious tea sandwiches, I returned to my seat and sat down – way down – like all the way down to the floor as the chair broke into pieces! Luckily I wasn’t too hurt, but after composing myself, the little quip from my youth came back to me and I entertained the ladies by reciting the poem – my mom would have been so proud!
     Now nursing a bruised bum, I’m reminded of a friend who used to talk about faith like “putting your weight down” on something. Like putting your faith in a chair when you put your weight down on it, if we are going to trust our lives to Jesus, we’re going to have to put our weight down on Him. Are you putting your weight down on something solid and secure like Jesus? Or are you putting your weight down on a high adventure that the world is tempting you with that will lead to a great fall?
*See Allison – you were right! I could fit that experience into a blog post!!!

Grateful For Where I Live

It's Grateful Heart Friday and as I look back on my week, yesterday alone provided much to be grateful for!  At the start of the week, I was grateful that Grammie and Papa came for a quick visit.  I'm grateful that they played with the littles all day Tuesday while I started the big birthday party shopping for the little ladies (more on that soon!).  I'm grateful for an amazing dinner out with my parents and my husband.  I'm grateful for the sunshine.  I'm grateful for a lovely day at the ocean yesterday with the whole family.  I'm so grateful for where I live!  I'm still amazed that I am 15 minutes from the ocean and the scenery never gets old.  I'm grateful for my little man who wanted to hold my hand as we walked along Point Dume.  I'm grateful for endless fun running around on the sand.  I'm grateful that my children smile and laugh so much!  Most of all I'm grateful for the Creator of heaven and earth who stuns me with His artistry.  I'm grateful in the midst of His vast and glorious creation, He knows my name and is mindful of me.

Now it’s your turn – take a few moments to reflect on all the blessings from this past week and cultivate your grateful heart!  (Grab a Grateful Heart Button on the right and add it to your Grateful Heart post)  *Next week there is going to be a twist to Grateful Heart Fridays, so stay tuned!!