Monday Devos

I've got something new I'm starting up on Mondays around here.  I've felt lead to do a weekly devotional, and I'm going to use Mondays just for that.  I can't think of a better way for everyone to start off their week, and I hope you agree!  :)  Please know that I have no seminary training :).  I'm just using scripture and trying my best to be transparent and use personal examples to help us all grow.  Let's get started.

"Do not love the world or anything of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its distress pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

1 John 2:15-17   

As most of you know, weekend before last I went on a women's retreat.  I'm telling you, it has been life changing.  Everything that was talked about that weekend spoke directly to me, and that was no mistake.  I don't believe in coincidence.  Since then, I have been determined to live radically.  Sold out for Jesus.  For the sake of my children's eternity.  For the sake of your eternity (and anyone else I might meet).  For my experience in eternity.  And for the complete joy only He can bring.

Before the retreat (literally that week) I remember very vividly having two separate conversations with friends.  One was about wanting a new car.  Oh believe me, I have excellent reasons.  For example, a push button door opener.  With two kids in hand, I can't think of a better reason for wanting a new vehicle.  Our's is not quite so fancy.  :)  The other more obvious reason would be gas mileage.  But really, I don't even know if that's been a legitimate reason or just an excuse.  The other conversation was about a stupid house.  Oh boy have I obsessed over this one over the last few years.  Our plan was to do the work necessary (nothing too fancy) to this house, live here for max 2 years, and then be on our way to our "forever" home.  HA!  5 years later...  God's kept us here for that time though.  I see now, if for no other reason than to teach me a very valuable lesson.  Contentment.  I found this adorable picture through a blog that I read.  It's how I'm feeling right about now.

 

via

One illustration they used on the retreat that started this radical transformation in me is this one.  Man, how many of us have been living for this little spec of time we are here.  I know was, but I pray I never go back.  Living sold out for Jesus is so much more rewarding.  (If you are reading this, and you don't understand that, please, please give me a chance to speak with you!!)

Now, does that not give you a different perspective?  The things of this world really, really don't matter.  To think of all of the things Jesus did for us.  Nailed, naked to a cross for sins I have committed.  And I was worried about a bigger, better house.  Or a bigger better car.  Whoa.  What an eye opening experience this has been.  I don't want to raise my children to want bigger and better things of this world.  I want to raise them to want to see more people saved.  Christians, will you join us?  Think of the things that could happen if Christians were truly sold out to Jesus.  What a difference we could all make.

Are we going to fail.  Yep.  I already have.  To make a long story short, I had to drive my mother in law's car Saturday.  Oh, it drives so smooth.  Nothing at all like my truck Expedition.  By Saturday night I was wanting a new car again.  I'm thankful his mercies are new every day.

"If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you."

John 15:19

Praising Him

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing praise to your name O Most High."

Psalm 9: 1,2

I've been in a spirit of thankfulness today.  Grant had a great eye appointment!  

As Dr. Metz was checking him out, I was literally catching myself holding my breath.  He checked his pressures more than once, which as you can imagine started causing me to freak a little.  He also seemed to take longer than normal for the over all exam.  I found myself holding Grant and praying.  I was preparing for bad news.  Isn't that terrible, how pessimistic I am????

He was asking me about that booger of a left eye.  Yes it still crosses, yes it's still weaker.  That was the only negative news I heard all morning was that we needed to patch for 4 hours or half of his waking hours.  We have to at least patch for 4 hours though.  I'm just leaving it in the Lord's hands.  I know He will take care of Grant in ways that even I can't.

I have had a relief today.  But I've still found myself wondering, would my heart still be filled with praise for Him if we received not so good news?  As Christians we are to give Him all of the praise in every situation, good and bad.  Something to think about.  With that being said, I am thankful that I can praise Him for the good today.

I was talking with a good friend earlier today about worship.  It's been on my mind all day.  Here's the thing, He doesn't care where you are, he requires our worship.  And he DESERVES it.  Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, the list could go on and on.  God doesn't care what the name is on your church building's sign.  He just wants worship from your heart.  And take it a little farther.  You don't even need to be in a building to worship.  Some of the best worship experiences I have had have been in our church, and some have been in my car.  :)

I can remember shortly after Grant's surgeries, when we were rejoicing in his sight, I was holding him in my bedroom and Nicole Mullen's song "When I Call On Jesus" came on.  I literally found myself in tears, eyes closed, hands lifted high praising the One who restored my son's sight.  The best part of that experience was when I opened my eyes and I saw my two year old with his arms lifted high.  No, he didn't understand what he was doing, but it was precious.  A memory I will never forget.

Wayne came home from work today to share a video he saw with me.  It's a remix of Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God."

I hope after sharing this with you today that I get one point across.  WORSHIP IS A MATTER OF THE HEART.  God doesn't care what church you go to or how you worship.  The key is that you accept Jesus as your Savior, and you worship Him.  Imagine the smile on God's face when his children worship Him.  I think he probably gets sick of people in church arguing over how it should be done.  Truth is, it should be done from the heart.

Tonight I worship the One who cares for us.  Who cares for my son.  Who gave my son sight.  I'm thankful for an awesome eye appointment today.  Yes, I could dwell on the fact that we have to patch more, but I refuse to do that.  I will worship Him because Grant can see.  I will worship Him because he cares about every aspect of our life.  I will worship Him because he deserves it and so much more. 

First T-ball Game

Since I found out Jacob was a boy, I have been looking forward to him playing ball (of course if he wanted to).  And we are finally there.  Last Thursday was his first game.  He did great (especially considering we've had to miss half of his practices due to asthma.  Thankfully, I think that's under control now)!  It was definitely a "proud mama bear" moment.  Not only from watching Jacob, but also from seeing my husband as his coach.  Melt. My.  Heart.  I don't think I have ever been as attracted to Wayne as I was watching him coach our son.  It was priceless.  Being a good daddy is sexy!  :)

And of course, baby brother loved watching the game too!  ;)

One thing that Jacob needed a lot little work on was running the bases, so daddy ran around them a couple of times with him after the big game!  :)

And just a side note if anyone is reading this that knows how to use their camera in manual.  These were with my new camera, and I don't know how in the world I did it, but some of these are saying the ISO was 3200, and I know for a fact I didn't purposely do that.  I've got a little practicing to do with my new baby because it's definitely different from my old one.  But anyway, that explains why some of them look a little grainy.  I obviously adjusted everything else, but I'm cracking up at myself right now.  I'm hoping to get to the park with it day after tomorrow (tomorrow is doctor appointment day - for Grant and our Fritzie girl.)

What a Retreat!!

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."

Ephesians 1:17

This verse describes what this weekend was for me.  It was definitely a defining moment.  The Lord has put a fire in my heart for Him like never before.  This weekend was the most incredible thing I have ever been apart of.  I was surrounded by some wonderful women that I am so fortunate to call friends.  We were all challenged to grow, and I think many, many will be answering that call.  I could feel the Holy Spirit like never before.  I am looking forward to seeing what He does with it.  I pray that I can be transparent with you here.  The things that mattered to me Friday morning don't seem to matter so much to me today.  This life in the grand scheme of things is so, so very short.  Just a speck of time compared to eternity.  I pray that I do the best with what He gave me.  My husband and children deserve more of me, and I plan on giving it!  I pray in the following months that there will be such a change in me that it shines through even through something as simple as our family blog.

Happy Monday morning to you all!  :)

Appointment Coming Up

Grant has an eye appointment coming up Tuesday.  Urg.  I don't know why I get so anxious (well, that's silly, there is a constant battle to fight blindness going on in our house!!!), but I do.  Glaucoma scares the daylights out of me.  The statistics are frightening with congenital cataract babies.  It seems like on a regular basis I read a fellow eye mom's blog to only see that their precious angel is now fighting glaucoma.  My thoughts and prayers go out to each one of them.


"Normal" moms don't get how scary this is.  "Normal" moms don't understand the pressure we are under to secure our child's sight.  "Normal" moms don't understand why it's scary to risk having another baby when you have a nearly 50% chance of going through this again.  It's not the end of the world.  Our children are going to have amazing lives, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds (in due time of course!  I don't want it happening too quickly!!)  With that being said, it truly can be heartbreaking.  I know people who have gone through worse.  I'm not trying to have a complete pity party here!  But I also know 99% of the people I know who have not had to watch their child suffer in a situation even remotely similar.


I was reading an eye mom's blog tonight.  What she said just spoke to me, and I thought I would share a little of it.

"Eye moms are the best.  We are strong and resilient.  We fight for our kids vision.  This war may be long and the battles rough - but we are going to see it through to the end.  I have to believe that....... That when she is 16 and has both eyes to see out of - that she will thank me.  I am going to do what is the very best for my daughter - even if it is hard, painful, heart-wrenching and difficult.  Cause that's what mom's do."


Maybe I'm thinking on all of this so much because we are coming up on our one year anniversary of hearing those terrifying words, and going through the even more terrifying surgeries.  I cannot believe it's been a year.  On the other hand, we have many days where I don't think about it so much because it has become a new normal.  I can remember when we were going through the initial shock I prayed for that.  A new normal.  God answered that prayer.  And tonight, I am very thankful.  He has brought our little guy a long way, and I know He is holding him in the palm of His hand.

MAMA GOT A NEW CAMERA!!!!!!!!

My new camera FINALLY came in yesterday!  I am so excited!  My children are going to start thinking I'm the paparazzi!    Truth be known, I'm still sick.  (My stubborn butt is going to the doctor today.)  So, therefore, it took everything in me to play with it for the little time that I did.  Which was at breakfast!  :)  Here are the first shots I took, and they are SOTC (straight out of the camera - no editing).

Mama has a wedding in two weeks, so I will be doing lots of "practicing" with my new camera between now and then!

this kid is a ham.

First things first, a couple of weeks ago we went to the galleria for a little shopping for the boys.  I was trying to find new outfits for Grant's dedication (yet another post I'm behind on.)  Jacob wanted to ride the carousel, as usual.  With me being the only one there, it was kind of tricky.  Here is our little ham on his first carousel ride right beside big brother.

This is a bad/blurry picture for two reasons.  My blackberry takes terrible pictures, and he was crawling up me while I was trying to take his picture.  He had a death grip on me, I'm telling you.  I think we will stick to the stationary bench next time!  ;)

Now, the point of this post.

He keeps us laughing.  Really, this kid is hysterical.

Last night he was walking from the hall into Jacob's room where Wayne and Jacob were playing.  He walked smack into the wall (that's not the funny part.)  Immediately he snatched his glasses off of his head, yelled at them and threw them on the ground.  I swear it was like he was saying, "You stupid things!  You don't work!"  I wish I had it on video.  I know we could have won America's Funniest Home Videos with that one!

Feeling Like Poo

Man, I feel like my family has been sick for the entire winter (if that's what you want to call it).  I'm about sick of it, no pun intended.  I had to take both boys to the doctor today.  Jacob has pink eye (again, he just had it for the first time about 2 months ago), and Grant has a terrible ear infection (again).  Now that we have them on some good meds, I'm praying for a few hours of sleep tonight.

On top of them not feeling well, I really feel like poo.  I think it's allergy related.  I was so bad off last night (if you are on facebook you already know this) that Wayne literally dried my hair for me.  You should have seen me at the doctor's office this morning.  My hair looked like a poodle who had stuck it's finger in a light socket, no makeup, the most random clothes in the entire world, and I'm sure the doctor's office has to think we are poor from the way we looked.  I didn't even care.  And just in case you were wondering, this is I'm quite sure exactly what I looked like.

OK, if I'm honest, she looks a whole lot better than I did today.

Once we got them on the road to wellness, I've really been focusing on what is driving my allergies crazy.  This is not your typical seasonal allergies.  My throat literally at times feels like it's going to close up and I won't be able to breath.  I breath better outside than I do inside.  So, I've been trying to figure out what exactly we've changed around here.

Exhibit A:

Sweet girl was an inside dog before I got pregnant with Jacob.  I'm a germaphobe when it comes to my kiddos, so the dog had to go outside.  I couldn't handle the thought of a dog licking my baby!  Now that she's had this treatment, she has to stay closed up.  She's basically lived in our room in a kennel (vet told us to because it's the only way we can keep her calm), getting out a few times a day.  We are half way through her treatment, so God forbid, if it is her, I have two weeks left.  I had asthma as a child, and I was always triggered by cats.  Dogs never bothered me that I remember.  She is extremely hairy, which is why we are keeping her shaved.  I'm really hoping it's not her because Jacob is really having a blast with her inside and saying things like, "Thank you so much Mama.  I love Fritzie being inside!"

Exhibit B:

Scented Oils (I don't have a picture)

Because of Exhibit A, I was determined my house was not going to smell like she was in it.  Off to Target I go.  I spent way too much money on some scented oils (the ones with the wood wicks that come with them) and some Febreeze scents.  I love smelly things.  Always have.  When I was cleaning up the kitchen today I knocked one of them over, and I started sneezing like crazy.  So, all the new smelly things I just bought went outside with the trash can.  Waste. Of. Money.  Makes me sick.  Literally.

Who knows what is causing all of this.  I sure wish I did!  I'm sleeping on the couch for the second night in a row.  No, Wayne didn't kick me out!  I'm just afraid to sleep in there because I don't know if Fritzie girl is causing this or not.  The only thing I do know is I want this to go away.

Yes, I just wrote an entire post about me feeling like poo.  That's how bad I feel.

I will leave you with this.

Back in January Grant turned one.  I really need to blog about it.  I need to blog about Christmas too.  In March.  Oh well.  Maybe I will be able to breath by the end of the week, and I can officially catch everything up.

Hope everyone sleeps better than I do tonight!!  :)

What a Process

So, I started making Jacob's throw last night after I posted the post below.  And I don't like it.  I don't like the red color in it, which if you know me, that is a shocker.  When we got married, every room in our house had some shade of red in it.  Some girls are pink girls, some girls are red girls.  I'm definitely a red girl.


The problem?  Jacob loved that motorcycle, and I have to put it in there.  So, I get up this morning and read my daily newspaper blogs, and one of my new favs posted a picture of this fabric...

I got really excited, which took me back to my original idea.  Their room definitely needs to be yellow, white and gray.  Even if that means not using the pillow sham I bought and thought I would love.  Shhh.  Don't tell Wayne that part.


So, I look around fabric.com some more, and I found a few more that I loved. The first one being my absolute favorite!

I've never ordered fabric online, and the thought of it honestly scares me a little.  I'm just afraid it's going to get here, and like my pillow sham, be nothing like I thought it would be.  Any advice?  Anybody had good or bad luck with ordering fabric online?