What about ME?

I was having a "What about ME" morning one day this past week. We "slept in" - waking up with the boys instead of before the boys. There was only time for Matt to shower before going to work. I am thankful that most of the time I can shower before he goes to work too. But not this day. I felt like my needs did not matter. Everyone else got what they needed and even what they wanted and I just had to kind of go with the flow. If it fit for me to get what I wanted or needed then good. If it didn't, then oh well. This is not a great way to start the day. And even as I type this, the false-thinking is so blatant to me!

So... I dropped Owen off at school in my "running" clothes - though no run had happened (no one needs to know that)! Baxter and I went back home for him to rest. I got to take the shower I had wanted so badly that morning and then I was able to spend some time in the Word. The time in the word brought me to Acts 20:24: " But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

What an encouragement it was to me that day! I had been valuing MY life and MY wants and MY needs way higher than God has intended me to. My life is to be lived for HIM and for the sake of the gospel of God's grace. It is a joy and a privilege to sacrifice much for that sake! This doesn't mean that I should never get a shower or a morning at the bagel shop or a night out with my husband, but it does challenge how much I am depending on those things and how much I am living for those things.

I have written this verse on a 3X5 notecard and placed it on the counter near the sink. I see it often and it has been such a great reminder/challenge to me. What is my life for? It is for God's glory and for the advancement of His kingdom. What joy that brings!

Precious Boys

Not much to say but Thank You God for these precious boys! And I LOVE FALL!

Visit from Grams and Grampop

Matt's folks called the other day and asked if they could come visit us on Matt's day off (Tuesday) to return some games that we had left at the beach...and see the boys and us. We didn't really NEED the games back, but we welcomed the visit!













Here are some fun pictures of a story time before the left. And a series of B sitting close to Grampop.

Just because

Home School week 7 (I think)

With all of the colds we've had, our school time has been a little less constant. No one had energy for it. And that is ok! The joy of this is that it is flexible and if it doesn't happen there is no loss. Somewhere in the midst of the colds, we spent some time learning about Jesus through a story in Matthew 14. It is a familiar story to many, but a profound picture of the power of God. It is the story where Jesus feeds 5,000 people with a little boys lunch - two fish and five loaves of bread. I hope and pray that it gave Owen a bigger sense of who God is and that that GREAT BIG POWERFUL GOD loves HIM enough to send His son to die for Owen.

We read the story in this board book we have and then did some water colors on a coloring sheet. He's just started to be real purposeful about this and enjoys getting the colors just where he wants them.



Later in the week we did a craft that I found HERE.

Here are the supplies needed - it's supposed to be like the loaves and bread (pretty sure they didn't have frosting back then!)



Here is the "finished product." I used quotes because Owen didn't want the goldfish on his cracker (at first he was distressed at my adding frosting to his perfectly good graham cracker, but when I assured him it was just like the frosting used on birthday cakes he complied) and so we took them off. I can't blame him. Cheese crackers on a yummy graham cracker with frosting? No thanks!



Enjoying the true "finished product." (What you can't see is ME enjoying my finished product too with a cup of coffee. You should try it sometime! Very tasty!)

Finally Getting Well

I haven't posted since that last post about being housebound again. Well, we were housebound for a while. Just this week getting back into the swing of things. No swine flu, just an annoying cold virus that kept circulating through Matt, Owen and Baxter. I have only caught a touch of it for which I am very thankful and surprised seeing that I was coughed on and sneezed on quite a bit!! Here is sick Owen on Saturday.

Housebound...again

God is good. He is actually very good. That is quite an understatement to say the least, but I guess what I mean to say is that I experienced his "very goodness" today.

Baxter is going on 9 days with this cold. He's on the mend just dealing with the remaining guck. Owen started in the middle of the night with a croup-cough. Typical for our boys. It's just the way they get sick. I knew yesterday that he wasn't quite himself. Going to bed last night the Lord revealed my anxious heart and allowed me to entrust my boys and myself to His wise hands. Today is a school day for Owen, and I knew that if he woke up sick, we'd be housebound AGAIN. Instead of carrying that anxiety with me to bed, I cast it onto Him knowing that He cares for me, and went to sleep. I awoke at 3:30 to a very croup cough, wheezing sounding Owen. Thankfully we had some prednisone left from Baxter and so we were able to help him out. He ended up sleeping until 7:15 or 7:30, but I knew then, at 3:30, that my day would not be as I had planned. My day was in the Lord's hands and it didn't look like I had planned. And I was ok with that. That on its own is a work of God!

We ended up having the greatest day we've had in a while. God was so good to take away any bitterness or sadness that we were housebound again. He allowed me to be creative (Below are some pictures of our "painters tape road and city" that we made. I saw this idea on a blog that I saw. They had stop signs and such too. I guess you could go all out), and proactive. We just enjoyed being together and doing things together. We even got out for a run. You can't get other people sick on a run! Thankfully it was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was all such a blessing.

I realized after Matt got home at 5 and I grabbed a quick shower before dinner that I felt the Lord's nearness and goodness more than normal - on a day where I would have anticipated struggling to see that. I realized that all of the things I normally go to for help or peace or stability were taken away (the mall, the library, Target, preschool, plans, friends...) and I was left with a good, no, a very good, God to rely on for that peace and help and joy. What a blessing. Those other things will return soon, Lord willing, but I hope and pray that my trust and joy would still be found in Him in a new and deeper way than it was before this housebound day.

This song is a favorite of ours - we call it "Praise God" - and I think it's fitting for today.

"Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above thee heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. AMEN"

A few more from the field trip

Here are a few more from O's field trip.

Owen, Kylen(one of O's best little pals at school and beyond...Baxter loves him too!) and Baxter watching the tractor.



Me and the boys.



Owen, Kylen and Natalie (a new sweet friend at school) and Baxter and Megan (Natalie's little sister). Not a great picture of all of them, but I liked it anyway.



Here is the whole group - there are two 3 year old classes and one 4 year old class. Owen's teacher is in the middle with short blond hair and sunglasses. Funny thing about Mrs. McGurn is that a) her husband was our realtor when we moved to town and 2) we live in her brother's old house! The assistant in Owen's class, Mrs. Taylor, is sitting right next to Owen on his right. Another assistant, Mrs. Hall, is next to her. We are thankful for such wonderful women to love on our boy!



Here is the neat hay maze. Just the right height.