Whitney and Eric's Wedding

April, 2010

Ahhhh, our little flower girl. The big day finally arrived. She was so beautiful, but she has such a way of making us nervous! Until 10 minutes before the wedding we were wondering if Josie would make it, but she did! We had prayed with Josie several times and told her over and over that God would give her courage to walk down a VERY LONG pathway to the steps where Whitney and Eric exchanged vows. When it was all over and she knew she had done well, the best part was hearing her say, "Mom, God made me brave!" Praise God!

The wedding was one of the most beautiful we had ever seen. We haven't been to many outdoor weddings, but you could have seriously thought that you had stepped right into a wedding magazine! The only thing that was more beautiful was the desire for the wedding to bring glory to God! The day was full of joy, laughter, prayer, and worship. We are so proud of Whitney and Eric and so thankful to be a part of their special day.

Josie and Whitney at the rehearsal dinner. A few moments later Whitney took Josie for a walk down to a little swing hanging from a tree about 200 yards away. I cried as I watched them together, dreaming that someday Josie would grow up to be as loving, generous and faithful a young woman that Whitney is. I am so thankful for the example that Whitney and my other college girls have been/will be for my daughter.

Hiding in the closet. This is when we were the most nervous.

Luckily, we lured her out with a snack, and with the promise that no one would tell her she was beautiful.

I'm so thankful for these sweet girls!

Focused.

Wesley was also a little sentimental this weekend. Josie and Whitney look very much alike, especially when Whitney was a little girl. When he saw pictures of Whitney as a child, he couldn't help but get teary eyed. (But shhhhhh! Don't tell him I told you!)

Whitney asked us to join her for her bridal portraits earlier in March. They were both so beautiful!

Feast of Purim

February, 2010

I've always loved studying about the ancient Jewish feasts and have come to see that God wants us to have a great time in life! The first 5 books of the Bible, sometimes referred to as "The Law", sets out very specific details for the ancient Israelites' to celebrate! I know as a Christian I am not held to the commands that I follow these feasts and celebrations, but I find it fascinating that God thought it was so important to gather with other believers and celebrate--to remember the amazing things He had done for His children, that He commanded it!

Wesley and I hope to occasionally utilize some of these celebrations in our own family and to create not only wonderful memories of having a blast as a family, but also to teach our children of what a mighty and faithful God we serve.

Last year I had the pleasure to do a Bible study on the book of Esther (written and taught by Beth Moore) with some friends from church. The study was such an encouragement to remind me that even though we can't see God, He is always at work around us. It also fueled my love for the Old Testament and the Jewish heritage that Christians can take part in.

Even though Purim isn't one of the original feasts found in the law, it is still a wonderful holiday that we can enjoy. Purim is a celebration of God's deliverance of the Jews against annihilation. Think Nazis in ancient Persia, but the holocaust was avoided because in His mercy He used a young woman, Esther, to save the Jews. If you're interested you can read her amazing story in the book of Esther in the Bible.

This year we were excited that we were babysitting our nieces on Purim in February. We had our own twist on the celebration, so we didn't celebrate it exactly according to tradition, but we still had a great time. We read the story, made cookies and cut them out in the shape of a star ("Esther" means "star"), the girls dressed up as princesses, they made crowns, and we acted out the story. Here are pictures of our fun day. I hope you enjoy!

Caleb played King Xerxes

Esther (Hannah, in white), and her ladies' in waiting

The cast of our little perfmormance (except for me). Wesley was the evil Haman. I played Cousin Mordecai.

My Little Singer

It appears my son is following in the footsteps of his father, his Paw Paw, and his great grandfather Dargan. Rumor has it random singing (and sometimes spontaneous dancing) is genetic on Wesley's side of the family. Here's Caleb singing a song that Wesley has been singing a lot lately around the house.

Here's what he's singing:

"Shout your praise, lift high the name of Jesus!"

I can honestly say there are very few things that are sweeter to my ears than to hear him singing those words, and to hear both my kiddos pray.

It's a song sung by worldwide-known worship leader (and Aggie) Chris Tomlin on his album called "Hello Love".

Here's the rest of the song:

We will sing sing sing
And make music with the heavens
We will sing sing sing
Grateful that you hear us when we
Shout your praise
Lift high the name of Jesus

Sing sing sing
And make music with the heavens
We will sing sing sing
Grateful that you hear us when we
Shout your praise
Lift high the name of Jesus

What's not to love about You
Heaven and earth adore You
Kings and kingdoms bow down
Son of God You are the One
You are the One
We're livin' for
You are the love that frees us
you are the light that leads us
Like a fire burnin
Son of God You are the One
You are the One We're livin' for

We will sing sing sing
And make music with the heavens
We will sing sing sing
Grateful that You hear us when we
Shout Your praise
Lift high the name of Jesus

We will sing sing sing
And make music with the heavens
We will sing sing sing
Grateful that You hear us when we
Shout Your praise
Lift high the name of Jesus

We will sing sing sing
And make music with the heavens
We will sing sing sing
Grateful that You hear us when we
Shout Your praise
Lift high the name of Jesus

Snow Day!

We got snow here...crazy snow all day long! OK, maybe not for some of y'all, but crazy for us. It snows so rarely here we had to make the most of it while we could. I can't even remember when we had snow like this. It was a blast! Here are a few pictures of our day...what made it the best was Daddy got to come home from work early!

Wesley actually took this picture, he was excited he caught the snowball on "film".

My beautiful little snow babies...

This was our little attempt at a snowman. Unfortunately, we didn't have many options for eyes, nose and mouth. Oh well....Caleb loved it!

Spring Cleaning...A Lot Harder Than I Thought

It's that time! Spring cleaning. Okay, maybe it's a little early, but my house really needs it. It's no secret that I will never win a "Little Miss Homemaker" award. Neatness is not one of my strengths. In fact, I am a serious pack-rat.

Yesterday a friend of mine and I were talking about our similar "hoarding tendencies" and how crazy we are. After we finished laughing at ourselves, she shared with me that the time she felt the most peace about how she was living was when she and her husband were living on the mission field. They lived in the mountains and had very little. She reminisced about her life there and in a nutshell she said, "I was living in such simplicity I knew I was truly living the way God intended me to."

These words have been resonating in me.

For a while now I have been telling myself I needed to clean out 2 closets in my house. The first one is the hall closet where we keep all of our blankets, extra sheets, board games, etc. It had become so full that I had to lean against it with all my body weight to shut the door.

The other one was the "miscellaneous" closet in our extra bedroom/playroom. I'm embarrassed to say this, but have you ever seen that Tupperware commercial where the lady opens the cabinet and thousands of pieces of Tupperware pour out on top of her? Well, that's this closest, except it wasn't Tupperware--it was full of wrapping paper, gift bags, random Christmas decorations, old clothes, some of my art paraphernalia.....you get the idea.

After having this conversation with Alyssa, I was determined to clean out the closets THAT day. It was hard work! Believe me when I say this, even though I had to honestly confess that I would probably never use a lot of the stuff, it about killed me to get rid of most of it.

In the end, I ended up switching the purpose of each closet. The hall closet became the new home for almost all my craft/art supplies and the playroom closest is now home to the extra linens. Here are some pictures of the after. (I didn't even think about taking before pictures. Thank goodness, or I would have felt obligated to show you!)

I think the clear shoe boxes are my favorite parts of this whole reorganization!

Here's the playroom closet (remember think "Tupperware" here). At least I'm not afraid to open it anymore. I'm hoping to put labels on the plastic drawers so we can know which are the twin sheets, and which are the queen sized sheets. There are also a few other things I'd like to do with this closet (i.e. shelves), but we'll see.

The last week God has really been hitting me hard with some really important Truth. What do you think He's trying to teach me?

1. The conversation with my friend yesterday.

2. Our ladies' Bible study at church this week touched on living lives of true contentment--meaning not based on our "stuff". In it Beth Moore asked a question, "On a scale of 1 to 10 how important is your stuff to you?" (Do I have to answer that honestly?) Ouch.

3. Our Life Group at church is reading Crazy Love by Frances Chan. (Wesley and I read this once already, but it's good to go through it again.) In the chapter entitled "Profile of the Obsessed" Chan said, "A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. [They] know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment..."

4. Our Pastor's sermon last week...I can't even begin go there with you, but it was wonderful/painful. (I know that doesn't sound great, but think exercise: putting your muscle in distress makes it stronger and in the long run you look and feel better.)

I can laugh at my hoarder-like traits all day long, but when I was up to my armpits in stuff that I really didn't want anyway, I was reminded how the closets in my heart labeled "selfish" and "unfaithful" were in need of emptying.

Please, Lord, the closets in my heart need some serious Spring cleaning! And when you're done, please fill them back up with something wonderful that can be an encouragement to others!

Just Because They're So Darn Cute!

Sweet, sleepy boy

Jo with my anatomy book (Daddy supervising)

Please don't judge me. After a week of potty training and 3 days of no poop at all, this is what we resorted to. I was seriously afraid he'd explode! (Does this make me a bad mom?) Oh well, just keepin' it real, folks!

Maybe this will redeem a teeny bit of my motherhood in your eyes. Here is Caleb answering some questions. These are some facts that we've discussed after reading together.

Isn't he a doll? It never ceases to amaze me how much our kids brains can store. God is good!

Josie's Prayer Life: Part 3

Well, we have another installment in the ever developing prayer life of my four year old daughter. (Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.) It is so fun and so beautiful at the same time to see her fold her little hands whether it's over her meal or at a random moment in her car seat. God is doing a work in her heart even now and I love watching it develop.

Last Thanksgiving we saw on my husband's Twitter account that a pastor we really respect had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. Matt Chandler, pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I've quoted him before in my blog and we listen to his sermons regularly. Let's put it this way, when we get in the car to go somewhere Josie requests to listen to one of two things: Anne of Green Gables audio book or Matt Chandler. (Did I say she's four?)

Anyway, our family has been praying for him since we read the news on Thanksgiving. When I told Josie that we needed to pray for Matt Chandler she asked why. This is a natural response. I explained that he had a boo boo in his brain and that we need to ask God to heal his boo boo. She said, "Oh, OK.....What's a brain?" I thought, "Oh, wow. Yes, that's a good question." So, we went to the computer and googled pictures of brains. She was fascinated. Well, I've created a monster. She still asks if we can look at brains and she wants to look at human brains, dog brains, cat brains....I'm so sorry if this grosses you out. I also have anatomy books so she is always wanting to look at bones and muscles and all kinds of things.

So, a few weeks ago she was playing with her doctor kit and told me, "Mommy, I want to be a doctor so I can help people." My heart melted. That came without prompting. Okay, I know she's four, and we will not pressure her into keeping that dream. Our typical response is, "That's wonderful, Josie, but you need to be whatever God wants you to be." I just think it's sweet and love her precious little heart. She continues explaining that this is her plan.

Not long after this first exchange my grandfather went to have a spot removed from his ear. The biopsy came back malignant and after surgery the doctor told my mother and grandmother that the cancer had grown down into his neck. He wasn't able to remove it all.

With difficulty, I told Josie we needed to pray for J.R. (my g-pa) because he had cancer. "Like Matt Chandler?" "Yes, baby, sort of, but it's not in his brain. It's in his neck." "Can I still pray for Matt Chandler?" "Of course! Let's pray for both!" So, we've been praying for healing--and for my g-pa's salvation. We honestly do not know if he has received Christ as his savior. (Please join us in praying for this.)

Hearing her pray is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Caleb usually tries his best, but at this point he prays for things like "Lightning McQueen" and cookies--but it's a start, right? I praise God for the way he's moving in her life. I can't wait to see what He does with her. Whatever He does, I know He will receive glory and that is the best part of all.

Click here if you want to watch short video clips of Matt's journey with cancer. They are truly inspirational.

Here's a picture of my little anatomy student with her Valentine's Day present (a puzzle):