Love and Forgiveness.

After I wrote yesterday's post, a verse in 1 Corinthians 13 kept swirling through my mind. This morning and afternoon it is still swirling around in there, so I thought I'd share and reflect on it.

Verses 4 and 5 say: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

The part about love not keeping record of wrongs really jumped out to me while I was writing yesterday's post. How often do we harbor wrongs done to us to use as ammunition to shoot that person down at a later date? Even after the person made the offense had asked for forgiveness? If we were being loving and were treating others in the way God treats us, wouldn't we "forget" about the offense to bring it up or hold it against that person no more? This made me take a look inside myself. I've brought up things with my husband that had hurt me in the past and that he had apologized for--why? Because I wanted to hurt him. That's not being loving. Not only was I keeping record of his wrongdoings against me, but I was also being unkind to him in the process. I know of other times when I have kept a mental tally of when someone has wronged me. That's not love. God then works through his Holy Spirit (sometimes using other people, a song and also scripture) to convict my heart to bring me back into obedience and oneness with himself and then I ask for His forgivenes and lay my burden down at his feet. However, I have to admit that often something will happen that will make me want to try to pick up that burden again to carry it on my own...

Verse 6 says that [Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Bringing up acts of the past that have already been forgiven is not showing love. If I had been showing love to my husband (or to anyone for that matter), I would want to protect the relationship and not want to hurt him.

I know that I have a lot to learn from my heavenly Father in this area and will always have to work at this. Thankfully Father is there to help me and that he won't be keeping record of the many wrongs that I am certain to make along the way to ask forgiveness for. :)

Just a little somthing...

...that has been going through my mind over the last couple of months. Something that my pastor has shared with us on a number of occasions over the last few months. Something that reverberates through my mind and soul. Something of which I am eternally thankful. What is that something? It's God's forgiveness and his "forgetfulness."

In Hebrews 10:17 it says that "'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.'"

and in Psalm 103:11 it says that: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Isn't that just amazing?!?! When we ask God for His forgiveness, he forgives us and forgets. He doesn't keep bringing the offenses up again (the enemy does a good enough job trying to tell you "Remember what you did?" People can do the same.). His forgiveness is what I am striving toward being able to give to others--even when the offense is repeated (Matthew 18:21-22).

I want to forgive as He has forgiven me and to be able to forget about it and to not try to reclaim it after I have laid whatever it is at the Throne of God. Because, after all, total freedom in Christ is what I desire and to receive all that my loving, compassionate, kind, forgiving God has in store for me!

When Daddy is not home, someone gets sick...

At 2:00 a.m., David woke up whimpering about his gums hurting. In my groggy, sleepy, not feeling well state (thankfully my fever had broken by then), I thought that maybe he had something stuck between his teeth so I suggested he try to brush his teeth again and floss to get whatever was bothering him out. Well, he didn't do that, but did proceed to whimper for another 1.5 hours before finally drifting off to sleep. Meanwhile, Aidan woke up like he had just gotten up from a nap and was bouncing all over the place. And when I had mentioned the brushing of teeth to David, he promptly ran to the bathroom to prepare brother's toothbrush for him (and then proceeded to carry it into their room and while trying to give it to David, rubbed all the toothpaste into his brother's hair--haha!). When we woke up again between 7:30 and 7:40 a.m., David mentioned that not only did his gums and the entire right side of his face hurt, but his right ear hurt too. Ding, ding, ding, lightbulb goes off in my head and I realize that he has an ear infection (his 2nd one ever).

I call the doctor's office to schedule an appointment (as soon as I could find my phone--it had managed to die overnight, thankfully there were only 2 possible places for it to have been), and we were scheduled for 11:15. Below are photos of the boys in the examination room.

I really don't feel like having you take my picture mom, but I suppose I'll let you. Just so you know, I really don't feel good.

Take my picture too Mommy! (and in the meantime, I'll think of what mischief I can cause next...)

2 hours later, we ended up getting lunch and our prescription and were home. David fell asleep on the living room chair, wrapped up in his quilt. He looked so sweet sleeping there, although an occasional whimper would remind me that my angelic looking boy was still in pain. After a dinner of pumpkin waffles and bacon, we watched The Incredibles and started trying to get boys in bed. David fell asleep right away; however, Aidan decided that he wanted to wake his brother up by jumping on him, go figure. So, Aidan had to go to bed and then David got to hang out downstairs with me. I did end up getting some REALLY good cuddles from my 5-year-0ld boy.

So, I'm hoping and praying that everyone will be feeling better tomorrow and that David will get to go to school, because, if he doesn't, I'll have a very sad boy on my hands since he wouldn't be able to perform in his school's Christmas musical.

Mike and Jessica's wedding.

It's been awhile...

This fall has been EXTREMELY busy! But, I really should not complain, since it is attributed to the fact that God is truly blessing us with a steady flow of work for my photography business. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll post some of the photos I have been taking. First, I'll start off with a few photos from the Christmas card photo session I had with my boys.

This one really shows their personalities.

I think this one shows their personalities pretty well too--and a bit of the special relationship that they share.

Aidan was such a goof-ball for the entire photo shoot and I kind of lost my patience with him. David did awesome though. He cooperated better than he has in ages, and I ended up with a lot of really cute photos of him! :) Thankfully, I did end up with some cute ones of the two of them together (where Aidan wasn't in motion and causing blur)...now, the hard part will be trying to decide what the greeting for the card should say!

Serving Jesus Isn't Always Easy

OK...this is another entry from my Life Journal. This one was written September 30, 2003. If you're wondering what I mean by "Life Journal," I'll offer you a brief explanation. A Life Journal has a daily Bible reading program printed in the back of the book that takes you through the old testament once and the new testament twice in the course of a year. Each day, after completing your reading, you write down any of the passages that the Lord impresses on you as a personal word to be applied in your life. When God has revealed a special lesson of life to you, you turn to a "fresh" page in your journal to record what God has shown you using the SOAP acrostic (record the Scripture, your Observations from the passage, Application - how you plan to be different because of what you have just read, then you record a Prayer).

Scripture: "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." Luke 13:24

Observation/Application: "What a great and powerful analogy these words of Jesus are. "Make EVERY (emphasis mine) effort to enter through the narrow door..." This isn't the easy way. How many times do people look for the easy way out? I know that I do this all too often, but I need to set aside my selfish desires--die to my "self" and earnestly strive to seek the Lord and live for Him. It doesn't just stop at acknowledging who Jesus is and then asking him into your heart--you must seek Him, discern His will fro your life and strive to live for Him EVERY DAY!

Prayer: Lord, I realize that following you isn't always going to be a cakewalk. Please help me to seek you daily and to always be hungry for more of you. You are the bread of life--I want to learn more about you and become more like you. Amen.

Weird: Loosely Defined

Tonight I really felt compelled to grab my first Life Journal off the bookshelf and read through the entries. As I was flipping through the pages, I came across an entry I wrote November 22, 2002 after a conversation I had with Rob (this was me putting my thoughts down semi-coherently so he could understand where I was coming from--be forewarned, it's a little rough). It is truly a reminder of where I want to be going in my walk with Him.

Haven't we been called to be set apart for God--to live our lives for HIM, not for things of this world? I feel that we have been [called as such].

1. We are to be a light shining for Christ to show others the way to him.
2. We are to strive for heavenly things, NOT earthly things.
3. We, as Christ's disciples, are to be fishers of men.

Once we repent from our sins, we turn a 180-degree turn from our old life. We put [it] behind us. This is one aspect of our lives that makes us weird (or different). To clarify "weird," I often use this word interchangeably with the word "different." To me, they basically mean the same thing. I know that when you have established a pattern of behavior, people expect you to perform in that particular manner. When you change your behavior patterns permanently, people who have set their expectations are thrown--they may find you weird because you are not behaving as they expected based on [their prior experience].

After we accept Christ into our lives and have a personal relationship with him, people who used to see you a certain way will view you differently. Just because you are a Christian does not mean that you should not ever hang around nonbelievers or not be friendly or likeable. We are called to be fishers of men. We need to share the love of Christ with others so they may find their way to Him. However, one must remember that bad company can corrupt good character--so you need to make sure you are the one influencing others...not vice versa.

Living life for worldly things is an empty life. Living life for Christ is truly living--there are eternal benefits. :) Being "weird" for Christ isn't bad. It is setting your life aside for him, not conforming to worldy pleasures that are against his will and being a positive influence for those around you. Frankly, if I'm not "weird" for God, I'm not truly living my life for him--there's still work to be done.

Evening Prayers...

From a 5-year-old. :) First, however, I need to give a little background information. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert this evening and afterwards ushered the boys upstairs for their baths, and I went downstairs to fold the load of laundry that had just finished drying. The boys came downstairs after their baths to finish watching Peter Pan with the knowledge that it was time for bed as soon as the movie was finished. Well...the movie finished, they went upstairs, but not directly to bed. I could hear little boy giggles through the house as it sounded like they were having the time of their lives staying up just a little bit longer. I noticed, after they were both finally in bed, that part of the angel food cake was missing--it had been torn off by little boy hands when someone had snuck into the kitchen without his mama or daddy noticing. Rob asks David about this when he was tucking him in, just before prayer time and David tells him (with a sigh, I'm sure), "Yeah Dad, I did it" or "Yeah, it was me..." Rob told him that he wasn't mad at him and that we appreciated him being honest about it when asked and then proceeded to pray with the D-man.

Rob finishes praying and David tells him, "Dad! Dad! You forgot something!"

Rob tells David that he can pray for whatever it was that they "forgot" and David proceeds to say, "Dear God, thank you for my dad not being mad at me for eating that cake. Amen."

Leave it to David. :)

5 Things I Dig about Jesus.

My friend, Jenn, tagged me to share the 5 things I dig about Jesus--drum roll, please...

1. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

2. He gave up all his glory and splendor in heaven to come down here on earth as a man to later die on the cross for me--as payment for my sins and rose again 3 days later. Giving me hope that the best is yet to come. "He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw. From holding stars to clutching Mary's finger. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier. Why? Because that's what love does." (Max Lucado)

3. I'm created in His likeness!

4. His love for me--for all of us--is unconditional.

5. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

The rules state that I am supposed to tag 5 others, but many of my blog readers do not have their own blogs. So, if you want to participate, feel free to comment!

Feelings of thankfulness...

Have you ever been so thankful for an appliance? You know...those extreme feelings of gratefulness and feelings of wonder as to how you could have ever gotten by without it? Yeah, that's how I feel about my Bissel Mini-Green cleaner! I have used it SO many times since we bought it a year ago (and twice today, even). It worked great to get about a liter of white grape juice out of the dining room carpet just a few minutes ago and also got Aidan's pee-pee accident cleaned up too. Yes...I'm very thankful for this little appliance. It has truly been a lifesaver!

More from yesterday...

Here are a couple of others that I took of the boys together. They definitely made me work for these. :) We went back to Pandapas Pond this morning to take them on their first fishing trip. I'll post pics as soon as I upload them. Let's just say that fishing is a good lesson in patience for active little boys. :) They had fun though.

The boys...

I have been wanting to take photos of the boys for over a month now (I had something in mind for a Mother's Day gift, but it looks like it's going to be a very belated Mother's Day gift/father's day gift now?!?!). David doesn't really like to smile much for the camera anymore--naturally anyways, unless we're trying to get him to laugh. Both boys were a little tired after their mornings of swimming lessons too, so that probably didn't help matters much, but I did get a few cute ones. :) Plus, I kind of like the serious one of David--even if he does look so big.

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

As most of you have seen in the news, tragedy hit Virginia Tech with 31 reported dead and others injured. We just thought that we would let you know that our family is fine. However, of greater concern is the community of Blacksburg. Please be praying for this community as we begin the grieving process. We can't imagine what those people who experienced this first hand are going through but know that they can find healing through the Lord. Please join with us as we lift the burdens of HIS people up to Him that they may find the peace that only He can provide.

Back in the land of the living.

Everyone is finally starting to feel better in our house!!! I am so thankful for that! Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. Aidan doesn't have his appetite completely back, but he is starting to be his ornery and mischievous self again. I cannot begin to express how happy it makes me to hear him laughing and playing again. :) David kind of overdid things today when we were playing. He rode his bike on the little walk we went on this morning with our friends around our neighborhood. He crashed pretty badly once (he hit a pothole at the bottom of a hill--I had been warning him to slow down, but he wasn't paying any attention), but he stood up, shook it off (after crying for less than 1 minute) and got back on his bike. He's a trooper, that one is. :) After he practices riding his bike again with the training wheels on, I think we're going to try and have him learn how to ride the bike without them. Maybe he'll get it before he starts kindergarten?

Aidan.

He looks so little lying on the hospital bed...

Sleeping with his Larry the Cucumber doll while covered in the quilt his Grandma Kris made.

Aidan and I got back from the emergency room at Montgomery Regional Hospital between 2:30 and 3:00 this morning. Aidan has had the flu since probably late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. Rob took him to the Carilion Family Medicine after-hours clinic this evening and was told that if the little man didn’t drink 1.5-2 oz. of PediaLite every 10-15 minutes over the course of the evening, we were going to have to take him to the hospital so he could get an IV to rehydrate him. Well…the little stinker didn’t want to drink anything (he might have drank 1.5-2 oz. over the course of 2.5 hours…), so I was the one elected to take him to the ER. He did amazing and was told by his nurses that he got the best patient award for the evening. He didn’t cry at all when they took his blood or when they set the IV. Actually, he only cried when he would wake up and not remember where exactly he was, so I would hug him and cuddle back with him on his bed until he would fall back asleep. He liked having one of my ear buds for my iPod in one of his ears while he was drifting off to sleep so he could relax to some of his favorite, familiar tunes.

Me, on the other hand, didn't do as well as my brave little man. I almost passed out twice. :( I really don’t do well with needles, and found out this evening that it is even worse for me when I see one of my kids having had it done (I didn’t watch—otherwise I would have been lying in a bed myself!). Leave it to the mom to be more trouble than the patient. :)

While we were having tests done, the doctor decided that he wanted to do a strep test as well. Come to find out, Aidan not only has the flu, but he has strep throat on top of it. And, with him not wanting to drink many fluids, he had become a bit dehydrated. Yes, that would be the 2nd time this winter that he has had strep--he had it once in December…and it makes a grand total of 7 strep cases (possibly 8, Rob goes into the doctor for himself tomorrow…) in our family since mid-November.

He seems to be doing a bit better this morning. More energy. Expresses his opinion about what he wants to wear or watch on TV. Actually sits up on the couch instead of lying there like my little rag doll. The antibiotics should kick in by tomorrow, so we should be seeing more improvement then.

I am so proud of him and how well he did last night. I was so scared to take him in. Not sure what to expect...I prayed the entire drive to the hospital that everything would go smoothly. I prayed for God's hand to be upon not only Aidan, but also upon myself. I asked Him for courage and strength and for Him to take my anxiety away from me. God is faithful. Granted, it was still a bit scary seeing my baby lying there hooked up to an IV, but I was so thankful that we were in a place that would help him start to feel better. So thankful that we had a doctor and nursing staff who were taking care of him (and me too). Now, I'm going to be continuing to pray for His healing hand to be upon our house. Please be praying for us all as well.

Miscellaneous Monday. (a day late)

Here are 3 miscellaneous facts about me. :)

1). I had almost every major in the College of Business and Economics before switching over to elementary education studies.

2). I only had 3 wisdom teeth (my brother only had 1--so between us, we had a full set!).

3). I read 2 novels in less than 24 hours (between Sunday night and yesterday evening)...honestly, I just couldn't put them down!

Craziness.

I have been backing up photos from our old digital camera (and have been going through some to print--I can't believe that I have very few printed from Aidan's first year...David has an entire box of photos that I have to scrapbook still since I shot with a film camera when he was a baby). I came across these ones of David--a range of him only being days old to almost 2 1/2. He pretty much looks the same now, but has some bigger-boy features (and the attitude to go with). :)

He will be 5 next week. He is my baby, yet at the same time he is my big boy. Time has sure flown!

Give it All Away.

I have fallen in love with this song on Aaron Shust's album Anything Worth Saying. I hear it at least once a day on Spirit FM, and from the first time I listened to this song I could feel my heart stirring.

Search my heart, search my mind,
search my soul
Make me clean, make me new make me
whole

All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay
them down before Your feet
All of my time, all that was mine, I now
submit to Your design
'Cause You are the one who can make
my life complete
You are the one who can give light to my
feet You are the one and only one who dared
to give it all away for me

You are my strength, You are my God,
you are my King
You make me laugh, You make me
dance, You make me sing

Everything inside, everything outside, I
give it all away
You never change, but You rearrange my
heart more everyday

Everything that I am and everything that I have is truly His. God gave up his one and only Son so that I wouldn't have to pay the penalty of death for my sins. Jesus took care of that for me--for everyone. God loves us so much. I want to make this song my lifesong. I desire for Him to change me from the inside out so that I can radiate His glory. God is the only one who can make our lives complete. He is our ultimate source of strength--our pride often prevents us from drawing from it. We feel that we are too independent and self-sufficient, but honestly, without Him, we can do NOTHING!!! Thank you Lord for daring to give it all away for me.

Christmas Overview.

I am still in a bit of a state of disbelief that today is actually Christmas day. Other than the presents we have opened, the traditional dinner prepared and eaten and the Christmas tree up, it doesn't feel like it should be Christmas. But, alas, it is indeed December 25.

Last night we opened our presents. It was wonderful chaos, and also really gave Rob and I glimpses the distinct differences between our boys' personalities. When it comes to unwrapping presents, David wants to jump in and help to open everybody's presents (in a hurried fashion). Aidan, on the other hand, will open one present and want to go play with it awhile before coming back to open more. I almost think he was a little bit overwhelmed at all of the excitement, the presents and chaos since he sat back for a little while quietly playing. The train table that we bought with their Christmas $$ from Grandma Kris and Grandpa Mark has been played with pretty constantly over the last couple of days. The table has allowed us to set up track that can actually stay set up (not like when it had been set up on the family room floor and I would make them tear it down and put it away each time). They got a wooden castle from their Uncle Dunny that has been a huge hit as well. :)

After we finished opening presents and let the boys play awhile longer, we put them to bed and went downstairs to watch Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the movie I got Rob for Christmas. Aidan went right to sleep, but David was wound up tight--too excited to even think about falling asleep. At one point in the evening, I went upstairs to check on him (because I heard a suspicious noise) only to find him playing with his plastic Revolutionary War figures and canons upstairs in the bathroom! He had a little battlefield set up on the counter next to the sink, next to the crust from the piece of pizza he had pilfered to snack on while playing out the big battle.

This morning was fun. Aidan woke up first, of course, and wanted to go downstairs to watch "Bob" (which means, I want to watch VeggieTales). Rob coaxed me to get out of the warm comfort of our bed so I could see Aidan's reaction to his "Santa" gift, a Little Tikes car. Well, Aidan didn't even care that there was a car sitting in our living room. The first place he went was to the train table to go play with the trains again. Rob worked pretty hard to get him excited about the car and about the filled stocking inside. David woke up more than an hour later, so we got to see his excitement over everything later (after he had dumped everything out onto the couch to inspect).

Overall, today was really relaxing. The boys played and watched their new movies. Rob finally got the present I gave him to start working, and I fixed prime rib for dinner...yum! Sydney thought the prime rib tasted good too. While I was upstairs giving Aidan cuddles , and Rob and David were downstairs playing and watching TV, she jumped up onto the counter and pulled what was left off of the cutting board and carried it into the living room. I came downstairs to see her lying in the middle of the floor gnawing on it--as soon as she saw me, she knew that she was in trouble. Rob had to throw the rest of the meat away (I'm so sad...no stew or French dip sandwiches now), and I had to clean up the garlic cloves that were strewn across the floor. Syd's punishment was banishment out into the rain and she will have to sleep in her kennel out in the garage tonight (well, that's also in case she ends up getting sick again like she did when she dug the ham out of the outside garbage can earlier this year). Bad princess!!!

Well, I need to go give a certain 4-year-old some night-night cuddles. Hoping you and yours are having a very Merry Christmas and that you all are experiencing the joy of Jesus this holiday season.

You know it's time...

...to potty train when your 2-year-old takes off his diaper immediately after he goes #1 or #2 and tries to parade around the house. Yeah...that would be Aidan. We never had anything like this happen with David. Frankly, when it was time to potty train that child, we had to convince him that it was his idea. Otherwise, he wanted nothing to do with the venture. Maybe Aidan will potty train more easily? We can only hope and pray! :)