Boys vs. Girls

Boys and girls truly are different. It is something we never really noticed until we were blessed with Emma. As a young toddler she gravitated toward play kitchens and dolls, the boys always loved trucks, trains, and cars. As she gets older she continues to process and do things differently from her brothers.

This was made evident once again at the zoo on Monday. (I actually was told by my husband to use a vacation day and go with my sister (who was watching my kiddos) to the zoo. It was one of the best "hookie" days I have ever had.) As we were looking at many different animals, the boys would quickly look in a cage and then say something to the effect of, "There are 4 monkeys in there." Emma however would look in the same cage and say, "That one is the daddy, that one is the mommy, that one is the brother, and that one is the baby."

Emma loved that there were animals with their babies, so did I.

After the zoo on Monday the kids were outside and had found an insect of some sort. The boys were attempting to catch it to inspect it. Emma however was following it around saying "Hey there buddy, how are you today?"

I love the diverseness of our children and I love how it is a reflection of God's creativity. Here are some more pictures of God's creativity in nature.

My Mama's Pride and Joy

Father's Day weekend afforded our family a rare get-together. With my brother's schedule a gathering of all of us is sometimes a bit difficult to pull off. We are all immensely proud of him so we enjoy the gifts of time together as they come. The last time we were all together what just after the birth of my niece and pictures of everyone together were not a priority.

It is so great to spend time with family. My mother was "bursting at the seams".

The desires of your heart

Desires. We all have them. But often times they either fall short of our expectations or we can't seem to achieve them.



I don't know about you, but sometimes I really struggle with the verse that says that God will give you the desires of your heart. I believe that all too often this verse has been taken out of context and used far too often to promote prosperity theology.



The entire verse in Psalm 37:4 is this:

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

There is a condition to our receiving the desires of our hearts. We have to delight ourselves in Him. Another version of this verse says to "Enjoy serving the LORD..." and yet another looks at the last half of the verse saying "the petitions of your heart."

So if the desire of my heart is to have more money shouldn't I expect God to give it to me. I love God, I read my Bible, I pray. Actually if I was really spending time reading my Bible I would find a verse that speaks to this desire, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." 1 Timothy 6:10.

As I grow in my understanding of God and in my faith, I am finding that it comes down to knowing God. I also understand that He can never be fully known this side of eternity. The reality is this though--if I am seeking to know God better and more deeply, He has promised to be found. (Deuteronomy 4:29) In finding Him I then begin to understand more clearly what He desires for me. It is in finding His desire for me that the desires of my own heart begin to change to reflect His.

This world measures success by power, prestige, money, etc... But being in God's Word and being obedient brings about success in God's eyes. (Joshua 1:8) As I spend time seeking, learning, and growing in my relationship with God I begin to delight and enjoy Him more. As this happens and as my will is submitted to Him I find that He does truly give me the desires of my heart. Partially this is due to the fact that my desires have changed. I no longer desire money or material things (though I still like nice things and don't mind a few extra bucks), but rather to be in His presence and filled with His Spirit. There is no greater joy.

This Crazy Life

Our lives have turned upside down or sideways or something. Needless to say, life has become a bit crazy.

Our house is on the market! The rooms have been purged of much "stuff" and for the most part it looks clean. The realtor actually was amazed at the transformation between Monday night and noon today (Thursday). The attics and closets still need a lot of attention, but those will be a bit easier. (I think.)

We actually already have a showing scheduled for Friday. I warned our realtor about the closets and she said it was fine, which was a HUGE relief to me. Now I will focus on cleaning instead of packing for a little bit. The kids are beginning to see just how OCD and perfectionistic their mother is when it comes to this kind of thing. I actually LOVE the way the house looks right now. It is clean and simple and without clutter. Maybe someday I will achieve that reality. HAHAHA!!!!

This week has also been crazy emotionally. Though we know without a doubt that we are following God's will for our lives, we are dealing more and more with the reality of saying "goodbye" to our family and friends as well as our home. It's tough!

We are so very thankful to God for His faithfulness. He has proven Himself to us over and over in this process in so many different ways. He clearly answered our prayers for discernment and clarity in the decision. He has worked in our children's lives to prepare them for this move and to create in them an excitement for this new adventure we are taking as a family. We know that God will not stop being faithful now, but that He will continue to give us clarity and wisdom. Our prayer is that we continue to walk in obedience. He is good ALL the time!

Misc. Pictures

Last Monday was Stephen's last soccer game of the season. He played really well. It was fun to watch him get better as the season went on.

Here he is with a throw in. (Great form!)

After the game, there is always a snack, but since it was the last game, the boys got frosted sugar cookies. These happen to be one of Grandpa's favorites as well. Stephen wasn't in the mood to share though.

Over the weekend, we had some severe storms heading our way, so we headed over to my parent's basement for a little while. Fortunately the weather did not end up being very severe at all.

The result after the storms passed through was amazing. I love the reminder of God's faithfulness.

Today I am Thankful for...

...answered prayers. I have had two co-workers and friends with medical issues that God has taken care of in the past week. We prayed for healing for their bodies, as well as good counsel from Doctors. God took care of them both and is bringing them peace and healing.

...God's Hand in our lives. He truly does care about the very details of our lives. Literally minutes after I posted on Tuesday, the waiting ended for our family. We now know what the next step is for our family. Later this summer we will be moving to Pennsylvania. (Out of respect for the people on the other end of this process, I can not give more details until later in the month.)

...the love of many people in our lives. As word has gotten out about our move, we have had tremendous love and support showered on us. And while there have been (and I am sure that there will be many more) tears, it has been a blessing to sense the love of God tangibly through the outpouring of love from others.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! HE CONTINUES TO BLOW ME AWAY WITH HIS FAITHFULNESS!

Thought for the day

Obedience

This word keeps stalking me. That is the only term that comes close to describing what has been happening in my life. It keeps showing up in my quiet times with God, my more public Bible study time, the sermons I have listened to lately, conversations I have been a part of, and it just seems to be everywhere.



Now for many people who know Aaron and me and all the "stuff" that is going on in our lives right now, you are probably not surprised. In fact, I have shared before about how we are asking God to reveal Himself and His will to us so that we can be obedient. This truly has become a theme in our lives lately.

Aaron and I have taken some steps of obedience and we are currently in a stage of waiting on God. It amazes me that even in the waiting, God is still driving home the point of obedience. You see, I don't believe for one moment that God is "coincidental". I believe that He orchestrates the details of our lives. That means to me that He knows I must still need to learn about obedience or be encouraged to continue in obedience, so He is placing people and passages and sermons in my pathway.

The crazy thing is that I think the enemy is also aware of what God is trying to teach me. And he is so good at getting me to second guess the steps we have already taken, to doubt what I know that God has told me or promised me, or to discourage me in the waiting.

So, I keep reminding myself of a few things:

1. Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.
2. He loves me, Oh how He loves me.
3. His Word is a light to my path.
4. He came to give abundant (joy-filled) life.
5. He rewards obedience!

No matter what I FEEL or don't FEEL-He has a plan for me. My job is to listen to His voice and to obey!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

Aaron and I spent the holiday weekend away from our kiddos. That wasn't the original plan, but our plans changed and we needed to be in PA. While there was business involved, the reality is that my husband and I had an amazing time savoring our time together without children.

We flew to PA, which we had never done together before. We have always traveled by car. It was fun to do the whole flying thing together. We actually realized that it had been our honeymoon when we had last traveled by plane together. (In fact, Aaron has only flown once since our honeymoon and that was in a private jet.) It is one thing to hear about all the security issues and procedures and another to actually experience them, I am sure that at times people thought we had never flown before, ever.

We arrived in PA late Saturday evening and went to the rental car counter. We had reserved a car, but when you do that online all you are told is that you reserved a "make and model" or something comparable. Well the guy at the counter said that all they had available was a Ford Focus, VW Bug, or Ford Mustang. None of these cars are very large and Aaron is 6'6" so leg room and head room was a concern. However, both of us love Mustangs so needless to say that was the car we chose. After the gentleman handed us the keys and paperwork, he then says, "Oh, by the way, it's a convertible, is that a problem?" Uh NO!

We were like kids all weekend. We spent a large amount of time laughing and giggling. We drove with the top down most of the weekend. I actually got a bit of sun as did Aaron. It was so different from the norm for us as we are a two minivan family. It was so fun to look over at my husband and to see the little smile peeking out just because of the car. Aaron did a lot of squealing the tires, his excuse: "you have to respect the car."

Our kids stayed busy while we were gone. We are still hearing stories about all that happened. They spent time swimming at the lake, swimming at two different pools, and hanging out with Uncle John and Aunt Laura. I think that we probably missed them more than they missed us. But that's OK, they had fun and so did we.

I love the fact that Aaron and I can still have fun and enjoy each other's company. In fact, I think we do it better now than when we were dating and first married. And isn't that how it should be?! After all, our children will all too soon have their own lives and it will be just the two of us, we had better still enjoy each other's company. God has blessed us greatly and we fall more in love with each passing year. Our Memorial Day Weekend looked different than it has in the past, but it was a great reminder of what we have and how very precious it is. It certainly helps to have a Mustang too.