Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday Favorites: Pictures!


Someone was really glad that his daddy was home! Micah really likes to play in Kevin's room.


 Mommy had a very interesting jewel on her dress! 


He loves to sit on the counter while I get ready! 


Playing on the playground at the local elementary school! He loves the slides!


Hi! 


Playing with Daddy!



Coming down the covered slide!




I can do it all by myself!





He was supposed to be cooperating with the pictures :)

He thought this was better! :)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Delighting in...Leviticus?

When I was pregnant with Micah I was reading right on through my Bible not having any problems until I came to Leviticus. Have you ever read Leviticus? It's bloody and gross! I was so disturbed that I had to stop reading it and I was actually bummed about it! Leviticus has some interesting (and applicable!) stuff in there. Who knew? :) But Leviticus is definitely not my favorite book of the Bible. When I need comfort or encouragement I don't run to Leviticus for it!
Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
The writer of this psalm didn't have Psalms to delight in. Or Ephesians, Romans, Luke, or I John. He had Leviticus.  He had probably just the first five books of the Bible. Now there are a lot of promises in that part of the Bible but it majors strongly on God's commandments. This writer delighted in God telling him what to do! I don't know about you but sometime I resent being told what to do! Oops! This writer wanted God to show him what would please Him.
Psalm 119:35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. 
He delighted not just in the words but in the obeying of the words! What an attitude to strive for! Do I only want to please God when I liked what the Bible tells me? Or when I agree with what God's Word says? God wrote His book to protect me and allow Him to bless me. He wasn't trying to make me miserable. \
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
God didn't write His Word to burden me. God didn't write His Word because He didn't like me. Proverbs 8:32 states: "Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways."  We are to listen and obey because happiness comes from obeying God.

When I read my Bible am I resentful at what God has to say? Or do I delight in ALL the Bible knowing that God will use His Truth to bless my life if I obey it? 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Home Projects

Between technical difficulties with myself and Blogger I've been trying to post this since Saturday! So most of this is late week/Saturday work.

We started cleaning out the junk room to make a nursery for baby Kevin! When we moved a few months ago all the extra stuff just got piled in there! And boy, did we throw things out. I thought we threw things out when we moved??



I really should have taken a before picture. I was astonished at what we got done in two hours. And it still needs a lot of work; we are going to paint, reorganize, and store baby clothes.



Speaking of baby clothes you should count yourself fortunate that you're not getting the "and this is the outfit that Micah wore home from the hospital" pictures. It was tempting. It was fun, and a little sad, to go through all the baby clothes! I'm going to hang and put in drawers the 0-12 months clothes and store the others in the now-empty tubs!

We are working on this a little early and I'm so glad! When it's 90 degrees outside this summer and I'm chasing Micah and doing my regular work I'm going to be glad to not worry about this!




My wonderful hubby hung my dry-erase board in the hallway behind the kitchen. Great place for items I need from the grocery store. A paper list on the counter is always in the way.



Fixed a shelf on the bookshelf and reorganized the top to make a spot for Justin's stuff.



That way the top of the dresser can now look like this! It was u-g-l-y before! And yes, those are pictures of us from high school!



We also hung the extra curtains on the big window in our bedroom and took down the Roman shades. These aren't the curtains I want permanently but they made such a big difference in how everything looked! I was shocked. And I definitely want dark-colored curtains; I wasn't sure before.



See that couch? Yeah, that's not where it goes. But when Micah leans on it, it scoots. And so it gets scooted a lot! It's supposed to be turned to face the right and about where the ottoman is! Micah loves to rearrange furniture as much as I do!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Easy Explanation of Why I Use the KJV

Not trying to start a big debate; I just loved this explanation!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

And the Baby Is....




I know there's a weird space there between the first and second pictures but the ultrasound pictures were scanned in. The first picture is his little profile, in the next one his head is on the right and his hand is up at his face. You can see him waving in the last picture!

A BOY!! Hurray for an early ultrasound and hurray for another little boy. We're very excited. And yes, we already have a name picked out. He will be "Kevin Bradley."

Turned Into Another (Wo)man

I've been reading through 1 Samuel lately and paused a few places in the life of Saul. Yes, we all know that Saul ended badly but that doesn't mean I can't learn anything from him. He did start well; he was picked out of all the men of Israel to be the first king. And God picked him.

If God picked him, I would think he was a pretty good guy. Wouldn't you? Then I was reading along in chapter 10 and came upon verses 6 and 9.
And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.
The Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and he would be "turned into another man"?! That really popped out at me! Now we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation but that wasn't the case in the Old Testament. They had to receive the Holy Spirit from the Lord. (Note the instances in Judges where the Holy Spirit came upon Samson.)

But I didn't write this to scrutinize Bible theology. What struck me was that he needed to be a different man. God picked him out of all of Israel to be king and he needed change. He needed help that only came from God: not trying harder, not having rules, not following a formula.

God picked me to be a wife to my husband. God picked me to be a mother to Micah and this little one on the way. But I need to be a different lady. And you know what I've discovered? I can't do it on my own! I need God to change me. I know the Holy Spirit can be a "tricky" subject. Our Pastor has been preaching a wonderful series on being filled with the Holy Spirit. And you can listen in!

Sermon Podcasts:
Speak to Yourself
Give Thanks
Submitting Yourselves

Isn't that practical? And uncomplicated? Being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't about repeating some creed or trying to prove how much I love God. I simply have to obey God. (I say that tongue-in-cheek because sometimes that's not so easy!)

And we all know what's coming... my disclaimer about how I've not mastered this, it's something that I'm trying to put into practice. Can we just assume that I said this next time? ;)


Monday, March 19, 2012

15 Weeks

15 Weeks! This dress hides the belly really well :)






And here's Micah in my sunglasses! haha Funny, funny boy!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Friday Favorites: Motherhood

Mothering brings so many different emotions. I can look at my little boy and want to cry because I'm so glad God left him with us. I feel joy when he climbs in my lap with a book and gives me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. I feel frustration when he gets out of bed ten times in a row on the same night. Sadness overcomes me when I realize how quickly he is growing. I often feel overwhelmed when I think of everything I need to teach him. But that blossoming love that seems so great and yet grows every day is but a small parallel of how much God loves me.

He loves me when I disobey Him. He loves me on my best day... and on my worst. He loves me regardless of how I feel about myself. And that love is priceless.



And God always carries me when I run to Him with open arms.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The New Camera Has Arrived!

The hubby started playing around with our new camera and so far, I'm a big fan. I can't manage to do much with it yet but I'll practice tomorrow! And just because you've been shorted on pictures of our fun family....



Micah always uses either the broom or the mop when I am using the other one. He's very helpful and somewhat dangerous with it.



He's also fascinated by carrying around this bag of cough drops. And yes, he did get it out of my purse!



He's blurry because he's ALWAYS moving 100 miles an hour. Unless we're reading.



I believe we were "wrestling" over the dishcloth ;)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Be Your Best...at Home

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. -Luke 9:23
A couple of weeks ago, I remarked to Justin that I felt incorrectly perceived by someone who only saw our family once every couple of months. He thought for a minute then agreed that I might be. (Not what I wanted to hear!) But then he said, "But you are the same everywhere so I don't think it's anything you are doing wrong."

What does that story have to do with that verse? The word that sticks out to me in that verse is "daily." God wants me to take up my cross daily. I don't get to wear my Christianity only on Sundays. Or only in front of people I want to impress. I get to live out, or die to, the life God has called me to every day.

God doesn't want a parade of my "spirituality" when I am in full view of others. God wants my daily life at home with my husband and my children to shine for Him. Joseph may have run the entire country of Egypt for Pharaoh but it was only after he did his best for God in the prison.
But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. -Genesis 39: 21-23
Joseph wasn't just blessed of God because he was sitting around not doing anything. Joseph was the doer of everything that happened in the prison. And I think if the Lord was blessing him it was because he was doing it God's way.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. -Colossians 3:23
God wants me to do ALL in His name. Encouraging my husband, changing diapers, cleaning toilets, reading "The Cat in the Hat," preparing meals, disciplining toddlers, writing blog posts, etc. There is nothing so lowly or menial that God doesn't want me to give it my best. Nothing so unimportant that I can give it less than my best attitude.

God doesn't want me to sit at the piano on Sundays and smile and pretend to be an example of a Godly woman while my family knows that I grouched at them all morning and was too undisciplined to get out of bed in time to manage our mornings.
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. -Luke 16:10
I want to know that if I was nice to someone it was my husband. If I was patient with someone it was my little boy. If I encouraged anybody it was one of the dear people who live in this house with me. I want to give my best to my family, to these people that God has given into my care. I want to pour out God's love on them before I try to give anything to others. I want them to have my smiles, my fun, my heart.

And I don't mean that I don't try to be a good testimony and encourage others. But it won't mean anything if it's just a show that I put on in public and isn't real in my daily life. And who better to tell me than my husband? And if he thinks it's true you can bet that I want it to be. I don't want to disappoint him! Won't you join me in my challenge? Give your best to your family. Be that Christian you are in public at home too!




Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday Meals?

I know...I normally post a recipe on Mondays. But I dropped our camera! Oops! And I just thought how cool it would be if I had a picture of our poor, broken camera :/ But my wonderful husband ordered me a new (awesome!) one! So hopefully by next week we'll be back to recipes!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

14 Weeks

Another week along! And I am really excited about this baby!



P.S. I hate having my picture taken but I did wish I had done this with Micah so here I am :)

Friday, March 9, 2012

Friday Favorites: Birthdays

My husband's birthday is really tomorrow but it looks to be a busy day! So Happy Birthday, Darling!



That man of mine is the best! I'm so thankful for all that he does for our family and the great care of he takes of us! We're celebrating tonight and tomorrow. It doesn't get much better than that!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Flexibility in Scheduling

Remember one time when I mentioned that changes have to constantly be made to schedules? You get a schedule that works really well and what happens? You have to change it! I don't really like that but it's life so I had better get used to it. Also, it's called "flexibility." A schedule does you no good if it is so rigid that it doesn't serve your family.

We've had a schedule change recently since we moved Micah to big boy bed. He's now getting out of bed about 7:30 instead of 8 or 8:30. (I actually think part of this is because of some molars he's getting.) But this pregnant lady is very tired and right now I'm not going to torture myself trying to get up earlier. Everything has a season but that's another post. So I'm up about 7:15 and he joins me in my morning routine when he wakes up. He sits on the counter while I roll my hair if he's up that early. We cuddle on the couch and he looks at his Bible story book while I read my Bible. Then we read his story. Then we get his formula and he drinks it and plays with toys on the counter while I fix my hair and put on makeup. We've adjusted quite well to this change. Well, really, I have. He loves being up and doing all that with me.

One of my biggest struggles with schedule changes can be my attitude. It's not an annoyance to me for him to be up but it could be if I thought about how I wanted time to myself or time to to do whatever I want. That's my selfish heart coming out. God gave that child to me. He is my responsibility to mother and love and he needs to know that he is important to me. I can give him that time and attention. And I can use our schedule to best serve our family! After all, that's what it's for, right?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Micah Cleaning Windows

Our church has cleaning teams that rotate every four weeks and this week is our turn! Micah wanted to help so we taught him to clean the windows. This child is seriously adorable!


Sunday, March 4, 2012

13 Weeks

Really I was 13 weeks yesterday but I decided to wait until today to take the picture in church clothes. I'm going to try to take one every week. (At least when I remember!)