Over All

“Oh God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. 

Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou are glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. 

I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, 

though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth.

 Be Thou exalted above my comforts. 

Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. 

Be Thou exalted over my reputation.

 Make my ambitions to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream.

 Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, 

above my ambitions, 

above my likes and dislikes, 

above my family, 

my health and even my life itself. 

Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase, 

let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. 

Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast,

a colt, the fold of an ass, 

and let me hear the children cry to Thee, ‘Hosanna in the highest.’”

            The Pursuit of God

                   - A.W. Tozer

12.25.10

Christmas eve the littles all opened one present (new PJs...just like half of America!  lol)  Kessa and Gabi got matching ones from American Girl that I snagged on e-bay...and the other two got jammies from Target.  Not gonna lie, I was disappointed in the jammie selection available this year...I looked at a lot of stores!  Oh well, they could have been old and holey and the kids would have loved them!  :)

Grace got a new shirt from DressMe that I think she looks FABULOUS in!  (but of course being the tightwad frugalista that I am I bought it used off of Recycled Upcycles)

Kessa recieved a beautiful, one of a kind, hand made Waldorf doll from Snicklefritz Friends (have I mentioned I LOVE to barter?!?  If you make something cool and have an itch for some cute clothes for your kids PM me and I bet we can work something out!  lol ;)

and THIS little dude...is becoming such a man.  He got REAL tools for Christmas and couldn't have been more pleased.  

(that cool bracelet Ezekiel has on is an ID bracelet from The Owl and The Firefly)

We did have some attitude issues that were discouraging to deal with on and around Christmas, but God is faithful and they seem to be on the mend...at least until next Christmas.  

Kessa also floored my husband's family when her Grandmother began reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 and she took over and quoted the entire thing. This wasn't something I sat down and made her memorize.  Last year at Christmas (when she was 3) we just read it every night before bed, and being the little sponge that all toddlers are, she memorized it.  That has been both an encouraging and convicting lesson to me about what I saturate her mind with...may it always be as beneficial as learning scripture!

I pray you and yours had a very merry Christmas and were reminded anew of the wonder and awe of God being made flesh...of Emmanuel....God WITH us.  

I Can Fight This Feeling...

Nope, that's not a typo, but it did get the old 80's song stuck in my head...and now it's probably in yours too!  Just consider it my little present to you.

ANYWAY...today we got up and thought it would be fun to make cookies (and we might have needed to so that the hubs would have something to take to a carry in at work tomorrow too...) but then discovered we were out of milk and flour.  Enter trip to the grocery store...in the freezing cold...with three kids.  Not my idea of fun.  I dreaded it the entire time we were getting ready (ok, so that probably wasn't the most God glorifying attitude I could have had, but it's the truth!)

After much ado I got all the car seats strapped back into the van (that's another story) and all the kids strapped into said seats and we were off!  We ran a few other errands and then hit the grocery store.  Which was crowded.  Ugh.  It was 10 in the morning on a Wednesday!  Why were all those people there?

The kids (please note in this post when I say "the kids" I am going to be referring strictly to the older two.  The two that were not sitting peacefully in the cart.)   So, the kids were crazy hyper being kids in a really good mood and a little bit too over the top for a grocery store full of elderly people.  (did I not mention that?  Yup, it was full and they were all older people...)

Remembering the reasons I wanted to teach them to behave in public I bent down and had a quite talk with them that went a little something like this, "Hey guys, I know you're excited but remember how we've talked about not everyone being used to kids and the nose they make?  And remember it's really not respectful to the other people around for you to be running around, getting in front of them, and being loud...especially for the people who aren't used to kids being around all the time.  How do you think you should act to show them God's love?"  silence  "You think maybe you should be a little calmer and stay close to the cart?" blank nodding (also interpreted as, just be done talking mom!)

We make it through the store and I have them go sit on a bench as I check out...and then I notice them using their feet to push each other across the bench...but this was NOT being done in fun.  They were getting mad.  One threw a punch.  Another picked up his or her little booted foot and stomped on his or her siblings hand as had as possible...which resulted in screaming and a mommy that just wanted to get out of there!

As I was struggling to not loose it I was reminded of some words I had read that morning.
Words that had discouraged me, rather than encouraging me.
Words that had driven me to my knees over my failure.
Words that caused me to cry out to Christ.
Words that now, in this moment, after the storm, that were quietly reminding me how to respond.  
Specifically, these words:

Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.

And because of those words, and all the other words in that post, I called upon my ever-present Savior for patience and help and I chose.  I chose to be thankful.  

Thankful that we went to the grocery store at all, because if we hadn't I wouldn't have seen the water bill that was due that day.

Thankful that my children being in the grocery store brightened the day of many of those aforementioned elderly people.

Thankful that despite the fight on the bench they were now playing happily together.

Thankful that the Holy Spirit alone is able to change my heart.

Thankful that God ordained I read those words that so discouraged me in the morning that I might gain strength from them later.  

Thankful for the struggle that I might better appreciate the peace.

Water 4 Christmas

If you've been around blogland you know that all sorts of charities pop up during this time of year...and I've got another one for you!  lol.  Last year was the first time I think I had heard of Water4Christmas and for some reason God has really used this charity to touch my heart.  For one of our children's gifts last year we bought them shirts from the Water4Christmas etsy shop and explained to them how them getting those shirts instead of another toy helped a little girl and a little boy have clean water to drink that wouldn't make them sick.

This year the Water4Christmas etsy shop did things a big differently.  They didn't have a chance for a bunch of crafty ladies to get together and make stuff for a whole weekend so they reached out to the crafting world and ask for donations.   The call for help that I saw was very close to when they needed to donations by so a lot of the stuff isn't Africa related, it's just cute stuff people already had made.  BUT, everything was donated so 100% of what you spend (minus shipping) goes to providing clean water in Africa.

I bought these:

and this

and I'm thinking about buying these for myself:

So what about you?  What can you buy this year and help serve others at the same time?  

Well I think these are super cute!  If Grace were just a tiny bit smaller I'd be all over this set.  I just love it! And this would be sure to make some little girl happy.   There are probably 5 or 6 more pages of things for you to look through and new things are added almost daily, so, GO SHOP!!!!!!

Gratitude

Gratitude for so much.  Big and small.

Blessed.

I feel like God has been inundating me with reminders of all that He has bestowed on me.  Reminders to be grateful.  Reminders that  "I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!"

I'm studying Exodus in my current Kay Arthur bible study and let me tell you what, those Israelites can be convicting in their grumbling and ingratitude!  Moses and Aaron reminded the people that, "Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord."  (Exodus 16:8)  I know that God is going to bring that verse to mind the next time I open my mouth to whine about something.  To complain about how good I've got it.  God has blessed me with the circumstances I'm in and I'm choosing to be grateful.  I'm choosing joy.

I've been inspired by Lindsay to start a notebook of gifts.  A journal of gratitude.  When a tiny thing I'm thankful for flits across my mind, I'll record it.  When a complaint or whiny attitude attacks me I'll chose to write something I'm grateful for instead.

Because really, Christ is saved me.  He's sanctifying me.  He's conforming me to His image.  Those are ALL reasons to have a heart overflowing with gratitude.

Now, I challenge you to join me, and Lindsay and Ann, and choose JOY through gratitude.

Reminded...Again.

You absolutely can't do it in your own strength.  You can never be strong enough, smart enough, resourceful enough.  Putting others first just doesn't come naturally.  Laying aside what you want, to serve another with grace and contentment - that is what God calls you to.  You can do it only when you rely on the strength that Christ works in your, the love that he supplies, and the perseverance that the Holy Spirit provides.  

                                                                                                                -Ginger Plowman

                                                                                                              Heaven at Home

This is something I need to be reminded of daily.  Christ's love, Christ's strength, Christ's grace, Christ's patience, all of these working through my and pouring out into the lives of my little family are the only way I will ever be able to please Him (or make it through a day without having a temper tantrum for that matter!)  

One example from this week of Christ's grace flowing through me that I'm so grateful for happened on Wednesday.  I've been trying to do a better job of keeping things picked up...and of making sure the kids help.  This doesn't always go over so well.  Like most kids they LOVE making a mess but aren't so keen on cleaning it up.  So Wednesday morning I asked my 4 year old to pick up the toys in the living room (because we'd been doing a good job of keeping stuff picked up there weren't very many!) and she decided to throw a big fit about it.  Normally this would have earned her a spank and then she would have had to pick up the toys away, but I decided to try something different.  

I told her after she finished picking up all the toys she could pick out ONE toy, and that was the only toy she would be playing with for the rest of the day.   Wasn't too tramatic right then, she thought hard about it and then chose her doll house (smart kid!  Way to get a lot of toys all rolled up as one!)  

Anyway, the whole one toy thing didn't seem to impact her much until naptime, when she wanted her doll Fiona.  

THEN, THEN it was the end of the world.  She was tired (it was naptime after all), she and Fiona ALWAYS sleep together, and she was just done.  A large fit ensued.  Normally, in my own strength, by this time in the day, I probably would have been close to loosing it.  I probably would have told her (in no uncertain terms!) that she was acting spoiled and selfish and if she didn't stop she would have to be punished.  BUT on this particular day, because God was pouring out His grace through me I realized what a teachable moment this was.  

I sat down on the edge of the bed and calmly told her I understood how upsetting it was to not have Fi for naptime.  I reminded her how blessed she was to have Fi at all and we talked a little about how much she loves her.  Then I pointed out that the main reason she throws a bit fit about picking up her toys is because she isn't grateful that she has them.  We talked about how God has blessed us with so much and that he expects us to be responsible for what he's given us, for her this means taking care of her toys and picking them up when she's asked to.  Finally we prayed together and thanked God for Fi and all the other toys and then asked that he fill us both with grateful hearts that would rejoice in taking care of the things he has bestowed on us.  

Now, I can't say that all of that made a lasting impact on my 4 year old, but it DID make a lasting impact on me...and it DID stop the fit and allow her to sleep (even without her doll.)  

So, that's it.  Why can't I remember how much better things work out when I do them in HIS strength and not my own?!?!  

Comparisons

We all fall prey to them don't we?  They're ugly things.
It doesn't matter if we're the ones doing it or if someone else is.
It doesn't matter if we come out on the good end of the comparison...or a little bit lower on the list.

In one case we end up belittling others and becoming prideful.
In the other case we end up missing out on the gifts God has blessed US with and envying someone else.

We do it all the time.  We envy how quickly she can work, or how clean her house always is, or how well behaved her kids are, or how good her photography is, or, or, or.  The list goes on and on and the more we compare the less satisfied we are.  Often it doesn't even spur us on to work harder or seek out help in becoming more like the characteristics we envy.  It just makes us bitter.  And gets us down.

I'm reminded of Galatians 6:3-5 which says, "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."  In my bible from highschool and college I have written under these verses, "we should compare ourselves to no one but Christ that we may see how miserably short we fall.  That's helpful if we're getting prideful, but I was also reflecting tonight that if we are looking constantly to Christ we won't get caught up in the whole comparison thing to begin with.  We will simply be seeking after Him fully, trying to glorify HIM in all work, all play, all business, all cleaning, all training, all discipline.

Life really is so much more simple when we forget the world and seek first Him who can satisfy completely.

and because no post is complete without some eye candy....