A little Encouragement for Holy Week

I can't believe Easter is going to be here on Sunday! This past week I have been going through parts of Romans and reading through Matthew. If you'd like to have renewed perspective on Easter I'd highly encourage reading Romans, particularly Romans 7 and 8, and then reading about Jesus' death and resurrection.

Speaking of the resurrection, we listened to a good sermon last night about it. If you have a little time and would like to listen, it would be time well spent. Here is the link if you're interested.

I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying the nice weather!

Contentment

"...In whatever situation I am to be content."
Phillipians 4:11 b

I used to squeak past this verse whenever I read Phillipians. I don't mean that I wasn't content, it's just I didn't give it much thought. Enter married life. A few months into our marriage I wanted to have a baby. I wanted my husband to have a different job. I wanted security. After we became pregnant my life was consumed with all things baby related. I thought, "After we have this baby maybe Erik will have a different job and we will be so happy."

We had Jack, and thought we might need to sell our home so we could get away from the job that wasn't turning out to be all that we had hoped it would be. We frantically began working on our home. Tearing out floors, replacing dated structures, and basically living in a work zone for several months. All so we could "begin" our lives. Anna came on the scene, and after she was born we waited for our house to sell. That was the only way I could foresee us being satisfied.

Well God in His Sovereignty didn't sell our house, but we did get pregnant with Lily. Erik did get out of his dead end job. But we're still in the waiting game. I'm constantly thinking, "When Erik's done with school, everything will be good.", "When Jack's old enough to do some things on his own, life will be so much easier." "Won't it be nice when we're done having children, Erik has his career, and I'm homeschooling all of them? Doesn't that paint just the sweetest little picture?"

I've been very convicted the last few weeks to stop looking ahead. Because, quite frankly tomorrow isn't even guaranteed. I want my days to be structured around the here and now, and not constantly structured around the next thing. I don't want to look back on the days my kids were small with regrets for how I spent my time worrying and not enough time pointing myself and them to Christ. This is not easy for anyone, but I think it's especially hard when you have little kids. I feel like I'm always looking to the next thing. I'll think when the laundry is done, I'll read you that story! And then someone needs their diaper changed.

But, difficult or not, Scripture is clear that being content is how we are suppose to live. No matter how tempting it is to look ahead to the future and be excited about the possibility of things being easier, I want to be content with todays circumstance. It's a choice I have to make every day, but it can be done by relying on God's strength.

I'm still here!

Wow I was getting decently consistent at this blogging thing, and then our computer started acting funky, as if it had a virus last week. I didn't have the patience to attempt blogging with that going on. Then we had family come in town at the end of last week/ weekend. Yesterday I was out of town all day for a doctors appointment, and then when I got home our hot water heater went out, Lily was crying her head off the whole evening, and then Anna came down with the stomach flu that's been going around.

Hopefully I'll be around more this week. I've been working on a few different posts, it's just a matter of finding/ making the time to complete them!

5 years ago...

Five years ago this past week my husband and I were engaged. I can't believe in some ways that it's already been five years, and in other ways I think to myself it's only been five years! The day he proposed seems like a lifetime ago. Looking back, I think about how young we were, I think about how little we had actually gone through together, and I marvel at how good God has been to us.

When we were engaged five years ago, neither of us had a Biblical grasp on what a God glorifying marriage was suppose to look like. While I won't say we are what we should be, I am so thankful that God changed our hearts on so many issues before we were married. What's truly remarkable is God changed our hearts at about exactly the same time!

Five years ago if you had told me I was going to be a stay at home wife and mommy to three children, I would've never believed you. First of all we weren't even planning on having children until we'd been married for five years, and secondly I was suppose to finish college and work full time for a few years. Maybe always since we didn't know how we'd afford for me to stay home unless my husband had an awesome job.

When he proposed five years ago, I knew I had myself a good man. He was someone who loved me for who I was(flaws and all!), he legitimately cared for and protected me, and he was also very romantic. Today he's still all these things to me, and he also takes the responsibility as our family's spiritual leader very seriously. He loves our children with a fierce love. He desires to protect our girls and model being a godly leader so our son can hopefully learn what it looks like to one day lead his family.

As I've reflected over how much we've grown and changed over the last five years, I still marvel at how good and merciful God was to us. He had mercy on how little either of us knew about Him and started showing us who He was. He had mercry on my naivety. I'm so glad that while I might plan for my future, God's plans are always the ones that prevail(Proverbs 16:1-3).

My failed Highlighting attempt

If you know me and have seen me in the last week you will have noticed that my hair is darker. Well there is a reason for that beyond just me wanting a change. Last week I decide I really wanted to have my hair back to being blond. But since money's tight right now I figured I could just go to Wal Mart and buy some blond hair color and do it at home. I was so excited at the possibility of figuring out a way to keep my hair blond and not have to spend sixty dollars every time to get it done. Plus I was excited that I wouldn't have to leave for two hours during the day and figure out someone to watch the kids and pump.

But alas it was not meant to be. As soon as the kids were in bed and Erik had left to go work out last Friday evening(yes I actually thought I would surprise him with pretty blond hair when he came home!) I went right to work running the highlights through my hair. I waited awhile, washed it out, and anxiously dried it. When it was wet I thought it looked a little orange, but I figured surely when it was dry it would look the way it was suppose to. Unfortunately once my hair was dry I discovered that not only was my hair orange at the roots, but it was streaked with chunks of yellow and orange, and in some places blond. Erik picked that moment to walk in the door. Imagine his surprise seeing his wife covering her head and repeating, "I messed up so bad!" He assured me that it looked all right(ha!) and we went to bed.

The next day when the sun was out and we could really see the damage that was done to my hair, I decided to just dye it all one color. So Saturday night found my husband dying my hair(which is a whole other post!) and now I am brunette! Hopefully I'll be blond again one day soon, but for now I think I'll be leaving the highlights to the professionals!

To read about more people who have failed this week, check out Mrya's blog at My Blessed Life.

My Mischievous Little Girl

Do not let the adorable little girl in the above picture fool you. Beneath that heart melting grin lurks a mischievous and curious toddler. Lest you think to yourself, "But that's how all toddlers are!" let me give you a small idea of what she's like. For example in the last week she has dumped trash into the toilet, put her toys in the toilet water and stirred them with a giant spoon like she was making soup, and climbed into Lily's swing while it was still on. In fact just today she has stolen Erik's sunkist, took my phone when I was in another room and called her Papa, and dumped clean towels into the dogs water bowl(and yes it did have water in it!). Anna is so curious that her Memaw has given her the nickname George! She actually got that nickname when she was staying with them while I was having Lily and she figured out a way to reach out of her crib and take apart my mother in laws picture frames. While she was suppose to be taking her nap.

It cracks me up to no end that when I was pregnant with her people used to tell me they were so happy I was having a little girl since boys are so much more of a handful. My parents were not one of them, though. They just laughed and said I was way more of a handful than my older brother. She's very smart too. Erik and I will get fooled into thinking she's entertaining herself, or engrossed in a video and we'll go do something else. Within a few minutes we'll hear a crash, or we'll hear Jack say something like,"No No , Sissy!" To add to her cuteness she's really tiny and a big "talker". She loves to" help" with Lily by covering her with all the blankets she can find and then ripping them off.


Yes Anna might be a bit of a handful.I do believe the saying, "It's a good thing your cute." was invented specifically for her. It's so crazy that a year ago we were worried about some developmental delays she was having, and now she's this busy into everything toddler. She must be making up for lost time! It's so sweet to already see in her so many girlish tendencies. When I'm making dinner she must have her "bowl"(measuring cup) and her spoon. Oftentimes she'll come up to Erik or I and have us put on her apron her Nana got her for Christmas. It's such fun watching her and Jack interact, they are definitely eachother's best friend.

Life with Anna keeps all of us on our toes, and keeps her Daddy and I spending a little extra time each day praying for her safety! I'm so thankful the Lord has entrusted her(and all our kids, obviously) to train her up for His Glory.

The Blessing of Sleepless Nights

As most of you know, I have a one month old. As is the case with most newborns, Lily is up at least two or three times a night wanting to eat. I have to admit this has never been something I've enjoyed with any of my kids. My attitude is usually, "Just hurry up and finish so I can go back to bed!" But last week I read somewhere( I can't remember where) about learning to be thankful for those sleepless nights, because it means you have a child to take care of. So it hit me last week that I can surely use all the time I'm up nursing Lily for far better purposes than just whining to myself how tired I am!

It hit me that I could use the time Lily is up eating and the rest of the house is sleeping to pray. Even though I want to go back to bed, the twenty or so minutes I get to pray each time she wakes up has been such a blessing in my life. It's time for me to thank God for all He has given me. So often I remember the big things God has done for me, or the big things I want God to do for us but I don't always thank him for all the seemingly little blessings in my life. I also pray for my marriage and kids. I want our family to be Christ centered, and Lord Willing one day we will all enjoy fellowship with each other as Christians.

It's not always easy for me to spend time praying as I nurse Lily, but I do believe God hears me despite my groggy state of mind. It's so wonderful to serve a God who cares and loves me and doesn't need formalities to hear my prayers.

Surviving life with three kids two and under

I was going to title this post, "Thriving in my life with three kids two and under," but let's face it, no one would believe that! At least not since it's only been a month since we've had Lily. Maybe in a few months we could say I was thriving, but by then I might not have three kids two and under since Jack will be turning three in July. Life is good, though. Really busy, but that's how I like things.

One thing I have discovered in the last month is that I am so thankful Jack and Anna are on a basic schedule. I really don't know how any of us would have survived if they weren't. Most mornings begin around eight with breakfast and Bible time followed by play time, video time(which is strategically placed around 11 also known as their grumpy time!) and story time. My basic goals for each day are to spend time playing with and enjoying my little ones and staying on top of laundry and dishes. Anything else that gets accomplished is just an extra gold star for me to put on my chart. :-)


Something else Erik and I are trying to start doing is taking Jack or Anna out by themselves whenever we run errands around town. Since Lily is virtually attached to me most hours of the day I don't really feel like she's too starved for attention! So far I've only taken the three of them out once to our MOPS meeting last week, and it went really well! It was just a little tiring making sure Jack didn't run off and maneuvering Anna and Lily so no one got dropped. Thankfully once we got to MOPS the other moms were happy to help.


As I said before Jack, Anna, and Lily are all doing really well. Jack and Anna have done awesome with Lily, and there has not been too much jealousy so far. I do think this has been tougher on Erik and I this time around, just because we want to enjoy cuddling on our sweet Lily and spending time with Jack and Anna, but there is also so much else that needs done every day. Since Erik was only able to take a few days off from school when Lily was born, we have all had to learn to adjust to our new life a lot quicker than when we had Jack and Anna. I'm not saying that it's been bad or anything, it's just been crazy! But I wouldn't trade my life with three kids two and under for absolutely anything. And there's no one else I'd rather spend my life learning to adjust with than my wonderful husband and kids.

I realize this isn't the best family picture, but it was the best we could do with our timer! Hopefully in the near future we'll be having someone else do our family portrait, though I think I'd like to lose some more baby weight before then!