December 25, 2008
Minus the Klickas of Tennessee. You were greatly missed.
So here is one of the homemade gifts we did this year…gourd birdhouses. I am hoping the recipients liked them. I thought they were cool! Shane did most of the work. I was the brains, he was the muscles.
December 12, 2008
I have been having a hard time with Ethan lately. Patience is not a virtue of mine and parenting has been another trial I have been going through lately (will it ever stop being a trial…probably not, right?)
Anyway, yesterday was awful. I totally failed and I ended the day tearfully and apologizing to him. We had a good hour out looking at Christmas lights and prayed together and it was good. But I felt pretty badly.
I prayed about it last night and today was a new day. It has been a lot better.
So I am just leading up to a story…
We were just at the grocery store. Ethan has this tendency to push the cart. The cart he can’t see over. And I ask him to stop over and over again. I think he learned his lesson today when he pushed the cart into a display of dressing. Maybe 50 bottles of plastic (thankfully!) dressing on the floor. He was so affected by it, he was eager to pick them up and said “oh no!” quite a few times. And I didn’t freak out but used the time we were picking up to explain that there is a reason I say he shouldn’t push the cart, etc. And as we are squatting on the ground picking up the bottles, a handsome fireman decides to stop and help us. I was hoping he knew it wasn’t me that knocked them over, but it was very kind of him to help us, which I was also able to point out to Ethan. Those fireman, always lending a hand when people are in trouble!
It was kind of funny and a good learning experience for the both of us!
December 9, 2008
I feel like the Lord has being growing me lately. Stretching me and asking more of me. And I am loving it, knowing that He is seeking after me and I am able to choose to obey Him. It hasn’t been an easy and I will say most of the growth has happened when I have been by myself, reading or praying or thinking, but yesterday I had an experience at work that was not so pleasant or obedient, really, and I thought about it all day yesterday and today as well. I was put in a situation where I was able to try out what I have been learning, kind of the icing on the cake. And like I said, I wasn’t totally obedient, but I did go away from the day having learned from it and hopefully having a changed heart from it.
I have been learning about love. Loving others. Jesus called us to love others. Everyone. People we can’t stand, people we are repulsed by, people we have nothing it common with. And if we cannot love them, how can we say we love God?
I was thinking about all of this on my walk this morning and these verses popped into my head. And they struck me, tears came to my eyes.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” -1 John 4:7-12
Whoever does not love does not know God…wow. So much of the time, I am only loving myself. I am only thinking about myself and what I want and how to do things the best way for me. I am self righteous and proud and it is horrible. And I am not loving. When I am not loving, that means it is as if I do not know God. Yesterday, I was humbled and God so clearly was speaking to me. I am so glad I heard him.
I have been praying that daily I would die to myself and be putting others first, looking for opportunities to serve and to “bring a little piece of heaven into people’s lives” (as Don Miller puts it). I have shed many tears lately and I feel the Lord revealing himself to me and I am so thankful. Especially at this time of year, I am feeling close to him and although the stretching hurts, I am praying to be stretched more and that he would continue to grow me and speak to my heart.
December 3, 2008
I have been wondering what we are going to do when the kids become too old to share a room. Tegan solved this problem for me today. She found her new room. She climbed in and then begged for her silky to be given to her and she tried to cuddle up. I had to persuade her to come out for lunch.
December 1, 2008
Today, Ethan is four. I can’t believe how quickly it has gone, but it is also difficult to remember life before he was around. It was a lot quieter, that is for sure!
Becoming a mommy has changed my life and I am so thankful God put our two little ones into our care. I pray every day that we can be showing them the love of the Lord and leading them closer to Him.
Ethan, you bring us joy and laughs and much entertainment. You are a crack up and I don’t know what I would do with my days if you weren’t in them. When I am away from you, I can’t wait to see you again and to hear what you have been doing, what new things you have learned. You are my sweet little guy, even though you would tell me you aren’t little anymore. We love you forever and can’t wait to see what the next year brings!
