Easter is a Great Opportunity

Had a not so discouraging day at work today. Since today is Passover I thought I would mention it to the girls to spur on discussion, which it did. The youngest asked what it was. I explained how yesterday was Palm Sunday and how Jesus came into the city and he rode a donkey. She wanted to know if I was there and saw Him. So then I tried to explain how He is in heaven now and when he was on earth, it was a long, long time ago and I wasn't alive yet. lol Then I explained how He then was crucified which is celebrated on Friday. She clarified that crucified meant dying....lol Then she said, "and then he became magic!" Well, we are making some progress.

A few days ago I was listening to worship music that had Jesus name repeated multiple times and the girls wanted to know who named Jesus. :) So we had that conversation too. Better than talking about what alcohol drinks they have tried, definitely better!!

Sadness....and Alcohol

I had a sad but good experience at work today. One of the girls had a friend over and this typically goes one of two ways, either they get really bored and want me to entertain them or they get crazy. Today they got bored. lol So they asked me what they should do. I suggested making some Saint Patrick's day decorations. While they were making them, they asked what Saint Patrick's day was anyways so I told them. None of the girls go to church (they HAVE gone before, but don't regularly go at all), so I tried explaining that he was called a saint (which of course ensued questions and one of the girls said "OH! So he was basically a missionary!" Smart girls. ) and I explained what he did and what his life was like. They asked why do we celebrate it like we do now then so I was honest and just said I'm not sure. People use it as an excuse to drink alcohol and get drunk (and this is nothing new to them either even though they are 11, 11, and 6, while the girls have play dates, the mom's have "wine dates."). The talk of Saint Patrick's day didn't last long; the conversation soon turned to alcohol. The one girl stated how her dad gave her some to taste before and she really liked it. The other girl said that she had tried it before too and liked it. Then they proceed to ask each other what types of alcohol each other had tried. It was a very sad and disheartening conversation to hear especially from such young girls. What are those parent's thinking? These girls were so proud of the fact that they had drank alcohol before and were talking about the different places where they would be allowed to drink because the legal age isn't as high as it is here.

It's so sad to see. I don't think I made enough of a difference tonight, but I hope the talk of Saint Patrick and what he did in bringing others to Christ and how he devoted his life to it caused a little tickle in their hearts and will cause them to think.

God please bless me with more opportunities like this precious one tonight!

The Power of Prayer

I was listening to the radio last night on my way home from work and the talk show host was talking about how if you pray that you loose 20 pounds God isn't just going to have you wake up 20 pounds lighter. But that got me thinking, why not pray to God for weight loss? He cares about every area of your life no matter how large or small. And, He is fully capable of making you loose weight over night, though just from looking at history and how He has worked before, I don't think that He will, though He totally could. But He can help you to become disciplined and loose the weight. Then that got me thinking even more. lol Have you ever prayed for something but then get discouraged and quit asking God to help you in that area? I know I get like that a LOT. Or I will fail, get discouraged and quit praying about it.

When I was little, I had always dreamed of getting a horse. I was horse crazy for sure. It was to the point where my mom would stop the car whenever we would pass a field or a pasture with horses in it just so I could look at them. My mom is awesome. :) Well, I determined that I wanted a horse. So I started praying. I forget how old I was, but I was young. I prayed and prayed. Not only did I pray, but I would ask others to pray for me. I remember at our old church, I would go into the library on our way home and tell the librarian that I still didn't have my horse, but if she would keep praying that God would send me one, I would appreciate it. I did this all faithfully week after week. Ah, the faith of a child! When I turned 11, I was blessed with my first horse. I prayed for at least 4 years for a horse. 4 years! You would think that a young kid like I was, would get discouraged and give up, but for some reason, I had faith and just kept asking God. Now, I am not saying that God is a genie that will give you anything you pray for, but what I am saying is that we shouldn't get discouraged when our prayers don't seem to be answered right away. Maybe the answer is no. Maybe the answer is yes. Or maybe the answer is wait which it was for me.

Another example of praying is how I used to pray for my "future husband." Some nights I would be in tears praying that God would guide him and protect him and draw him closer to Him. I would pray for him almost every night. After John and I started dating, we both realized that during that time that I was praying for him, he was going through some really rough stuff and he started turning his life around. While he was struggling, I was praying for him not knowing who he was nor why I had such a heavy burden to pray for him. God is awesome. I think He uses prayer sometimes to mainly change us and show us that he is in control. That He's got this and we need to trust Him. It's so awesome to see prayer answered.

What have you been praying for that you are starting to get discouraged about? Don't give up. God hears you and He ALWAYS answers. It may be a yes, a no, or a wait, my child. Either way, He will answer and it will be in your best interest and it will bring Him glory. Don't give up. Keep on praying. Keep praying for that future husband or wife, keep praying for that friend to turn his life around and come to Christ, keep praying that the longings of your heart be fulfilled, keep praying that you will learn to be more patient and Christ-like. Don't give up my friend; lean on God.

Quality Time

John and I used to play games with each other all the time when we were dating. Once we married, that stopped. Honestly not sure why. We just got lazy and complacent I guess? Anywho, over the weekend we decided to play games. We played Yahtzee one night. That was a blast. Then another night we played Uno. Then John taught me how to play Chess. I am no good at it, but it was still fun. I reorganized our game cupboard and placed it in a bookshelf near the kitchen so that we can get to the games easier. Before they were in a closet on the top shelf so we hardly saw them and they were so hard to get to, we just didn't. I enjoyed playing the games with him. It was fun doing something other than watching a movie or whatever. we tried Trivial pursuit, but we both realized we are NOT smart enough for that game. That game is HARD!!! lol so we quit....and are throwing the game away....

What are some things you and your family do for fun? Maybe pull out a simple fun game tonight and play a few rounds. You will be surprised at how fun it is even if you don't want to at first. :)

Mundane Monday

Hi Everyone!
How are you doing on this wonderful, glorious Monday that God has created just for us?!

What do y'all have to be grateful for today? I know it's Monday,  but instead of doing the thing that comes naturally to us--grumble and whine about it, trust me I'M the expert in this area!--let's rejoice and thank God for this beautiful day. Even if you struggle to find something, think of something to be thankful for. God has blessed you with breath and the hairs in your ears. Yes the hairs in your ears. without them, your brain wouldn't receive the sound messages and you wouldn't be able to hear....unless you can't hear, then be thankful that you are able to read this. :) God is awesome and there is ALWAYS something we can thank Him for!

1)My amazing husband how is always thinking about me.
2)John asking me if something he asked me to do would be too stressful for me.
3)Him asking how my day looks before asking me to do anything for him. So selfless!
4)Sick baby cuddles.
5)A wonderfully behaved sick baby who is so phlegmatic I feel bad for him!
6)Chicken. :)
7)Good books.
8)Watching Ice skaters ice skate from all over the world....live.
9)Candles.
10)Peppermint oil.
11)Fat Fat.
12)When fat fat poops IN the litter box. :) It's the simple things ya know.
13)A warm car on a cold morning.
14)The sun peeking in our windows in the evening.
15)Having the blinds open while watching the snow fall.

God is good. :)

Our Cry

As many of you know, I am very against abortion. Maybe I will post another post later about the excuses people come up with that they hope will make abortion seem okay and even good. Until then, I want to just express how awful it is. If any of you have had an abortion, I cry with you. God is there. I am not judging you. We have all sinned and Christ died for our sins. That doesn't make abortion right and we need to cry out against it. Here are two videos I wanted to post about  abortion. They are both amazing and they are both worth watching and sharing. Check them out. John Piper's response to Obama and abortion

Enjoying

I wanted to write today, but I wasn't sure what to write about. So I thought I'd write about my day. I a sitting with candles burning and our incense burner going. I am sipping on strawberry milk and I have George Winston  playing. If you haven't heard him, check him out. GORGEOUS piano player.

My poor little guy Levi has had a fever the past few days. Yesterday he seemed great, but today he was super whiny and cried about everything. To the point where I moved something of mine and he burst into tears. After many "baby" timeouts (we place him in his bedroom in the crib and then go get him when his fit is over with lots of smiles and hugs), I decided to take his temperature. John thought it was because I coddled him while he was really sick, but it didn't seem like one day of cuddling would do that. And I was right, he has a fever. Either has a fever again, or it never went away. Either way, he is sick. It's a small fever, but has caused him to take two very LONG naps today...and that isn't normal anymore. One is the norm and one two hour is basically it. Today it's been 2 naps that are around 3 hours each.

I am enjoying the down time. I have tidied the whole living room. It was looking really just messy. Stuff everywhere and things just not put in their places. And I think it looks great....now the kitchen, bathroom, both bedrooms....that is another story. :P

John has had to work all day and I am hoping that when he comes home to have his dinner ready along with some "detox" activities of his choice. Some brain dead stuff for him to do to unwind. My ideas were his video game, a game like Yahtzee or Liars' Dice, or maybe a movie....?

I have been tired all day and I really should be taking a nap while Levi is because it isn't fair to John, but I always feel guilty when I nap. lol But I'm no fun if I don't and he doesn't like when I go to bed too early because he wants to spend as much time with me as he can. So sweet!

How is your day going? What are some things you are doing on this enjoyable Saturday?