It's time....

I have been pondering the idea for some time now whether or not to turn off our blog. For heavens sakes, it's been almost two years since my last post!!!! Some of the things that I actually thought about posting might be too personal or even confrontational....wasn't sure if that was a smart idea. But as of late I have been thinking that it "is time."  

Yes, our life has changed a lot in the last couple of years. The girls are growing up and some of the cute/funny stories that we once had aren't as frequent (though Mya keeps us giving us good material). But that is just it!  Though we may not have as many cute/funny stories...we have life stories/situations that I feel the need to document somehow. Not to mention I have missed most of Mya's "good stuff!"  I may have to retell some of the things that she has done because I don't ever want to forget them.

So with the end of a somewhat rough year I am thinking it would be good to start off the new year "anew!"  But first I may have to give a brief (if that is possible from this girl 😁) recap of the last two years. Geesh, can I even remember back that far to some of the details.....whole point in starting this "thing" again.  I am getting old and forgetful!!!  The fact that I rarely get my camera out anymore breaks my heart. I'm not even documenting our life in the way that I love! 

But as I sit here wanting to recap...Miss Mya just woke up and won't stop talking which means I can't concentrate enough to write. So this will have to be the first entry in the line of many more (hopefully) Recap to come soon. I can't wait!

ummmm....yeah, i just noticed that it was thanksgiving that i last posted....sad, sad, sad!  but today i won't dwell on that.  i am rejoicing!  it is only 7:20 and my time this morning has been so full (spirit filled!)  quiet time, communion and a little run....even through in a shower!

it was wonderful running this morning watching the sunrise!  it made me think of something a friend of mine said this week.  we had been talking about our recent trip to maui and how the sunshine was just so wonderful (how good it was for our bodies...our mood).  we then talked about how winter time is hard here because you just aren't able to get out as much. she proceeded to tell me how she needed the sun.  as the words came from her mouth i felt the holy spirit smack me in the face...."did you just hear what she said?"  she needs the sun....we need the "son!" we NEED the Son, not just an occasional dose, but an everyday, every minute, every second dose of the Son!  He nourishes our mind, body and spirit.  His love in unconditional, He never leaves us or forsakes us, He holds us in His right hand.....i want that, i need that!

today watching the sunrise, i celebrate the "Son" who is risen, to shine his light so that all may see....His presence, His love, His beauty....His gift!  wow, i am truly blessed to be able to experience that love on a daily basis, all because God loved me so much that He sent his one and only son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have life everlasting.  praise God!  thank you for the cross...thank you for your resurrection!  celebrating "life" everlasting today ;-)...an empty tomb!

ThANks!

thanksgiving |ˌTHaNGks'giviNG|

noun

1 the expression of gratitude, esp. to God.....AMEN!

today millions of people will gather around tables full of food...with family and friends and give thanks.  for that alone i am thankful for!  our busy lives take us away from sitting down and breaking bread together!  such a simple thing, yet so hard for people to do.....we take it for granted! this all kind of hit me last night as i enjoyed a pre-thanksgiving meal (of pizza and beer) with my dads side of family.  i thought it was pretty great!  i know everyone was pretty tired from pre-thanksgiving baking and just work in general, but i was grateful that we could all sit down and just hang out.  doesn't happen very often, so i savored every minute.  so that starts my thankful list!

all of my thanks does not just go out into the air, it goes to God above.  i give him all thanks and praise for all that i have and don't have!  he created me and knows me inside and out and loves me the same!  how he could do that just blows me away most days!  he has blessed me beyond words.  i have a husband who loves me, stands by me, encourages me, works for me and with me...who is my best friend.  we have three gorgeous little girls who bring me great joy, who make me laugh and cry, who bring me to me knees (more often than not), who teach me of God's love and mercy.  i have family and friends all around who i adore, a job, a house, a car.....a coffee pot!  so many things i take for granted on a daily basis and for that i am sorry!  God has blessed me abundantly and my relationship with him is one i don't take lightly, and i will live a lifetime here trying not to take it for granted.  because if i don't take him for granted how can i take any of these other things for granted....they are all from him!  everything i have, everything i am is from HIM!  He has me right where He wants me.  that is exactly where i want to be.  so very thankful on this day and everyday.  i hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed thanksgiving day....don't eat too much ;-)

mom foul!

i had a post all ready to go...well, not quite (i have actually been working on it for the last few days, just never could get it wrapped up).  but after tonight i thought i would start with something a little more "in the moment."

i want to preface this post with so much "stuff" that has happened in our world since my last...forever ago post, but there is just too much for my little brain to wrap around and my fingers to type out.  needless to say we are busy and it is monday.  i don't think i have had a chance to mention that fact that i despise monday's....in fact, as a family we all do.  mondays are non stop, go, go, go all day long until it is time to go to bed.  oh, and have i mentioned that it is still "fall" which means i am extra busy ;-)  i am not saying this to complain, really i am not!  just stating the facts.  anyway, it's monday....kids off to school, mom/parenting seminar, house being painted, photo cards to make, photos to edit, lunch to make, phone calls to make, etc.......pick up one kiddo (one is carpooling to gymnastics), drop off at tutoring, run to the store (quickly), go to pick up kiddo from gymnastics.........running late!

so i run in to get alaina, go to grab her things and see this big bag filled with stuff.  i proceed to ask what it all is.  she looks up at me and says, "you didn't come to my thanksgiving feast"!!!!!!!!!! uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................

heart sinks, dead pan stare, tears fill the eyes....this is me!  i forgot all about her first grade thanksgiving feast.  this first grade thanksgiving production is a big deal!  for them this was there BIG production for the year (like Kylee has had in the past) and i missed it!  i couldn't believe it.  we barely get out the door of the gym and i lost it!  i cried so much i think i made the poor kid feel worse!  i couldn't stop. i cried the whole way home, when we got home and then some more.  honestly i want to cry now as i write this.  it just makes me so sad.  now i know that she wasn't the only one whose parents weren't there, but me being so stinking visual....i can just see her in my head now.  i can see the sad face, her quietness, sharing her meal with someone else's family....ugh!  i know i would have been devastated.  but, and there is a big BUT, something that i will take away from this experience...several things actually, but the big one was her grace!  when we got home and i was STILL crying i held on to her and apologized again....she started crying telling me that she forgave me. she so freely and easily forgave me.  the whole thing just gave me a visual picture (and it helped that i was literally on my knees holding on to her....wanting to be more on her level) of how God is with us.  we come to him, genuinely sorry, crying to Him.  He wraps His arms around us, cries with us and tells us He forgives us.....then, just as Lainey did, shows us what we missed!  that's right, miss alaina put on her own little performance of what they did today because she didn't want me to miss it!  thank you lainey for your beautiful performance....even with little sis in tow!  your voice was lovely, but your heart is what shined.  thank you for sweet spirit and for forgiving me when i mess up!  love it when we can learn from our kids.

but now it is time for bed...i cried too much and i am really tired now!!  hope to post more frequently....really i do! ;-)

2 samuel

i may have mentioned it before that i am very blessed. i have a wonderful husband, three beautiful girls, great family and friends, a good job, a awesome house......i could go on and on. but one of the blessings in my life that i forget to mention is my bible study.

 i have done my share of "beth moore" or different "book" based studies...which were all great, but i knew i needed and wanted more. i wanted to dig in to God's word without directions from a book...yet i didn't know how to do this. of course i had read my bible (not cover to cover), but it didn't always make sense. it was always great reading, but it wasn't necessarily personal. i know that i tried to find things that related to me or some situation i was in, but was i truly reading to learn more about God....or was i just reading? don't get me wrong, i don't judge why or how someone reads their bible...if it is being cracked open, that is awesome!!! i just knew i wanted more.

 in psalm 109:105 it says that "your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." well, i needed that light and i wanted to find it directly at the source. i wanted to let Him speak to me. but i just couldn't figure out how to do it on my own. i needed a little direction, but didn't want it from another book....i wanted it from an actual person.

well, that lucky person became my mother in law!! she was willing to dive in head first with me, along with one of my dearest friends. this was over two years ago (hard to believe)! this past year another dear friend was able to join us. i can say nothing but wonderful things about our little group and about all we have learned. we have dove in, letting the words sink down deep and letting the Holy Spirit rise up and work in each one of us! definitely a God thing!!

anyway, i could go on and on, but that was not entire reason for this post. it just made me think of them because as i was sitting down studying the other day, God really spoke to my heart. when God reveals something to me, i want to share it (i am like a teenager....who can i tell first). so as i am sitting there, getting all excited...thinking, "i can't wait to share this at bible study" when i look down and see that it was from a totally different book than what we are studying in our group. as a group we have been studying Genesis, but on my own i have been studying 2 Samuel. well, 2 samuel is where i found something really cool. i thought to myself, "darn it, i can't share it now, it has nothing to do with what we are studying." but then i got to thinking again (i do a lot of that), why not? why not share it with them, but why not share it with anyone willing to hear? so here it is........(i couldn't find my NLV version online to cut and paste...so i just snapped a pick of my own bible)...........

....this is what was revealed to me......
*He has chosen me!
*He is with me!
*He will destroy my enemies!
*His name will be made great through me (i may question this one a little ;-))
*He has/will provide for me!
*He keeps me safe!
...because,
*of Jesus the Messiah
*He has made His Kingdom strong
*He has built a temple (in each of us)
*He has established the throne of His Kingdom in Heaven...forever!!!

::6::

happy birthday to you, sweet alaina jean! six years ago you came into this world....and still you are one of the greatest joys of my life (always will be!) ;-) even then you didn't have any teeth...ha, ha!!

oh my sweet, sweet girl we love you so much and are so excited to celebrate your birthday with you. to be six years old is a big task....but you have already done so many things. you are reading, you are missing teeth, you are swimming in the deep end of the pool...what else.....i know there is a lot more, but we can talk about it later. i am so very proud of you lainey. you are our sweet and gentle, blue eyed, blonde haired girl with all the frills ;-) you have your own sense of style that is full of glitz and glam. we also love that we get to celebrate it with you in hawaii! breakfast in bed with the ocean right outside your window....pretty darn awesome! you may not understand the greatness of that, but we will be sure to remind you. you are a blessed little girl and we are even more blessed because you are our daughter! we love you so much! happy birthday ;-)

they are calling me

yes, the waves...the warm breeze...the soft sand....yes, i hear you calling me. don't worry, i have heard you and i am so happy to say i will be there tomorrow! i am anxious and excited, yet dreading tomorrows travels. so all you prayer peeps...keep us in your prayers. especially little miss mya...it's going to be a VERY LONG day...to say the least. i think we have everything we need ;-) now i just need to crawl into bed for a few hours of sleep before our adventure begins. but before i go i remembered a little conversation the other day that needed to be shared (more for my benefit....so i will remember one day).

i am sure you all remember the year in elementary school when you learned to play the awesome "recorder." i remember thinking to myself, "i am going to learn to play and instrument...and play it well." i remember being so pumped about it, thinking it was so cool...especially the fact that i got my very own instrument. well, i think the euphoria wore off the very first day i tried playing it on my own. it didn't sound so good. needless to say, it was never used again, it just collected dust in my closet.



anyway, the time has come for kylee. she came home so excited, telling me all about the "flute" she was going to learn to play...and that she would get her own. even better than that, she could pick what color it was. all i had to do was write a check. hmmmmmmmm. i quietly laughed, looked at the order form and saw the color choices...blue, green or pink. guess what color kylee wanted? "blue" of course! i read on, seeing that the recorder did not NEED to be purchased, that they would also be available at school for them to use. the thoughts running through my head (get ready it's a run-on).... "we do not need to buy this because she will never play it again, yet we have two more right behind her, but "blue?" the other two are NOT going to want blue, they will want pink....but i remember how excited i was getting my own, maybe we should....hmmmm." okay fine, we agreed to get her one and the blue one at that. we also informed her that it would not always be hers....she would have to pass it down to Alaina and Mya when it was there turn.

"but mom, they can get there own. i am still going to be playing it!"

do you hear me still laughing? this went on and on, until i stopped arguing and let die. so, the other day out of the blue kylee proceeds to tell me that when the other two are done using the recorder, she wants it back. i then proceed to laugh out loud and say, but stop myself, thinking this is too good to be true....the perfect high school graduation present. guess what she is going to get at her graduation party.....you got it, a used (but not too used i can assure you), BLUE recorder....with a big bow ;-) i love it....can't wait to give it back to her!! hopefully i will remember....the likelihood of that happening is slim to none...darn it!!