Apron Giveaway...

I read an amazing blog called Raising Olives. She is a homeschooling mom of nine children. Her and her husband live their lives by honoring God and raising their children to do the same. She is very inspiring to me and I thoroughly enjoy reading her blog almost daily!



Well, this week Raising Olives has a giveaway on her blog, as she does each week. This week however, is something I really enjoyed and wanted to share with you. Hop on over to her website RaisingOlives to check out the aprons from Sasha Sews.

Love Gone Crazy

When we think about love we tend to think of romance movies or novels, weddings or Valentine's Day. But, do we ever think of the Greatest love ever given to us? God? I will probably bet that He is the last to come to mind when we think about love. However, God's love is perfect and he longs for us to love Him in return. If you have children, think about this; you wake up in the morning and your child comes into your bedroom and smiles and asks if you are ready to play for the day or when you come home from a busy and tiring day of work and you walk into your home and your child is grinning ear to ear and runs at you with arms wide open so happy to see you. That is love. It sure makes me feel great when Bean welcomes me home like this. I truly love those moments. This is the kind of love that our Father in heaven has with us. We are His children and He longs for us to come running at Him with that huge hug.


Francis Chan said in his book, Crazy Love, "The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him -- and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by" Page 61. The thing is, we cannot or will not ever earn our way to Heaven by being a good person or by doing good deeds. We have to truly love our God and know Him as our Saviour and Redeemer. "The greatest good on this earth is God. Period. God's one goal for us is Himself" Page 62. I read this and actually heard Chan preach on it and I can't help but ask myself if I believe that God is the greatest thing that I can experience in the whole world? Being a Christian, my immediate answer should be yes, but also being a sinner I know that my answer is sometimes no. While I know that God's love is the greatest gift and and I am so thankful to know God and to one day be with Him for all eternity, I know that I do struggle with desires that would fulfill my earthly time here. I love my house...it is beautiful and my husband (and Father-In-Law) worked so hard to provide me with it, but I also look forward to the next house. Why do I need a next house? Because the world tells you that you need bigger and better! I should just be thankful for the home my Lord provided me with and if I ever NEED a bigger house...He will provide then too! So, therefore, brings me to another question, am I in love with God or with what He can do for me? I am slowly learning to simply be in love with God. He is the one and the only. The only one I should have a desire for. This life on earth will end, so the kind of clothes I wear or the type of car I drive will never matter when I get to Heaven. What will matter is how I lived my life loving God, talking to others about God and how I spent my time representing God.

In the Mundane life, where is God?

How often do we live our lives caught up in the ordinary routines of life? I know there are days that I am so busy, but then at the end of the day when Bean is in bed and I am sitting on the couch, I can easily ask myself, "what did I do today?" Or "what did I do that was meaningful to others?" Or the most important, "How did I glorify God today?" I am sometimes very ashamed of my own answers. It can be so easy to place God on your check list of things to do for the day. I know that I struggle with incorporating God in the daily routines of my life. It is easy to remember God when you are doing a devotion or when you read the Bible to your children before nap or bedtime and you pray, or even before you eat. But, I am talking about including God in the EVERYDAY life. Like vacuuming or preparing lunch or playing on the floor with matchbox cars...those are moments when I could incorporate God either for myself or discussing Him with Bean during those quiet playful moments. I truly find it hard to remember remembering God during those moments.

During this second chapter of Crazy Love Francis Chan opened my eyes to the fact that I could be the next person in my family to die. Wow! I mean, you know you are going to die one day. One out of every one person does! But, to actually think "I could die today" can really make a difference on how you view what you do with your time. Chan says, "You could be the next person in your family to die. We have to realize it. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. We need to stop living selfish lives, forgetful of our God." Pg. 50-51. I am realizing that I need to regroup how I spend my days off. This actually was my prayer request last night during small group. To find the balance between housework and schooling Bean on my days off. I need to have a better schedule and I need to include on that schedule ways to incorporate God in my (and Bean's and Rock's) daily routine...I need to include it so greatly that it becomes so natural for me. Out of everything in life shouldn't God be the center and most important? I mean 'He is everything'! He created everything and can take everything from us at any moment.

All praise and glory go to Him!

Feeling Tiny

Our Wednesday night small group just watched the Louie Giglio video, Indescribable. In this video, Louie shows us just how far away and how powerful some planets, stars and galaxies are in the universe. It was incredible to think just how small our planet is compared to the universe, let alone just how tiny we are as humans compared to the universe. Louie made a comment that it would take all the gross national product of all the states like millions of years for us to power the sun for 1 second. How about that? Stop and think for a moment about that. Amazing, huh? This was the second time that I watched this video and yet, although I knew some images were coming, they reached a closer part of my heart than when I watched it the first time.

I am currently reading a book called Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. I am about half way through. It has been a very convicting, yet inspiring book. It has me questioning just who God is to me and how I view Him, as well as my love for Him. I brought up the Indescribable video because Chan has on his website a little clip also using astrological concepts to show just how big our God is. You can view it at http://www.crazylovebook.com/ and go to the "Awe Factor" You will be amazed at what you see.

I wanted to share some highlights on chapter 1 that left a lasting impression on me. On page 27 of the book (which you can also read on his website), Chan goes through different things throughout the earth that only God could have created; not some explosion. I am only typing a couple of them, so I encourage you to go to his website to read all of them!

An average elm tree has approx. 6 million leaves on it

Your own heart pumps enough blood throughout your body that is could squirt up to 30 feet

There are hundreds of different kinds bananas

Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by one or two degrees

Goosebumps actually help you to stay warmer by trapping in your body heat

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Psalm 19:1-4

Chan tells us that God is Holy, God is eternal, God is all-knowing, God is all powerful, and God is fair and just (even when we don't see it). "God never excuses sin. Whenever we start to question whether God really hates sin, we have only to think of the cross, where His Son was tortured, mocked and beaten because of sin. Our sin" Page 34. Think about just how big God is; that is how much God loves us too and He truly cares when we sin - it hurts Him like we hurt our mom's and dad's when we disobey. This chapter and the video both have me thinking about my significance in life. Everything that I do in life is so insignificant when you think about how HUGE God is compared to us. Just how big the sun is compared to the earth, and so forth. It is like almost contradicting of itself, because there are things in life that I can do, like spread the word of God, or invite a friend to church, that are very significant to God, but when you sit back and think about how puny our lives are and that we are but a vapor on God's timeline, that significance is really shrunken down quite a bit! How Humbling!!!

Tell me your thoughts - please. I am interested to see how you view God and how you love Him!

Who doesn't like convictions?

Convictions are great. Right? I mean it is God telling you what you should be doing with your time. So, shouldn't it be easy to turn from your old ways and start anew? Ha, that seems too easy. I have been so convicted in getting up early before Bean wakes up to read my Bible. I have had friends tell me, I have heard messages on it and have felt convicted of it. So, you would think that I would just "do it." I mean, I have blogged about this before!

It isn't that easy. I did so well last week and then I started to not feel well. Then Bean started to not feel well. I haven't been sleeping the best and I am simply NOT a morning person. I do read almost everyday, but there is something about reading first thing in the morning and giving your day to God. That is what Jesus did when he walked this earth. If Jesus did it for God, then why shouldn't I do it for God?

Last week, I really took the time to read in the morning and then through out the day I would read my two other books that I am involved in. One is Crazy Love by Francis Chan and the other is Life on Planet Mom by Lisa Bergren. Both wonderful books. I think that last week I was truly filling my time with the Lord and his word throughout my day that I was focused soley on Him. Now, this week (and it being Friday!) I have realized that I haven't read a single chapter in either of my books nor have I gotten up one morning to read. I have read during the day, but I haven't given my day to the Lord first thing. Let me tell you....it matters. I can honestly say that my mood is different. I am not in the wanting to read mood like I had last week. I am in the "I am reading because I have to" mood and this is NOT where I want to be. I am blogging about this so that whoever reads this can keep me accountable and pray for me.

Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.

The change starts here...right now! (Help me!)

Life and change...

So much has happened since February when I last blogged.

Bean broke his arm the early part of June. We were very blessed that is was a clean break and he only had to wear his cast for 4 weeks. Not too bad and he didn't miss too much of summer since this was one of the coldest ones I can remember. He did not do well with his cast for the first couple of days, but after I told him that only the doctor can take it off, he seemed to stop asking me to and began to accept it and get used to it for that period in life.


Family life is great! Bean is almost three years old. That time has just flown by. He is so loving and amazes me every day. He has learned his first Bible verse, "God's way is perfect" Psalm 18:30. It is so cute to hear him quote it. He is learning how to count, the sounds and names of his letters and how to use scissors. It is amazing how fast kids can learn, but it is also amazing how much we parents need to teach them. The things that we simply do every day, well a three year old needs to be shown how! But, it is a fun learning process! Love this age!

Do you remember our tree incident back in December? You know, the tree that fell on our house? Well, last Monday we had another tree fall and crush our tool shed and my car. I was in bed waking up for the day when it happened. I heard the tree fall. It actually wasn't as loud as I thought it would be for falling and taking out two things. Then, my gram passed away two days later. It was a very stressful and sad week. We got through it though, with the help of God, our family and some great friends. Through last week, God has truly shown us how blessed my husband and I are. We buried my gram and I find it amazing how we are all there for one another. Keep us in your prayers though, as the grieving period is still here. We did find a new car...a mini van to be exact. And, if you know me...I have been wanting one since I had Bean. We are excited and truly honored that God gave us a car that totally surpassed our expectations of what we could afford.

Our last and biggest news is that we are expecting again! Yep! A boy and he should arrive sometime in late January. We can't wait to meet him. If you have any suggestions on names, please share as we have not yet come up with one!

Many blessings to you all!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.....

When people say the heart will grow fonder when your love is out of town they are telling the truth. Me and one of my friends have been talking all week about how much we miss our husbands and how when they are home we will nit pick at them when we are frustrated or argue with them over the most ridiculous things and yet, now we would give anything for them to be home with us. Well, my husband is coming home tomorrow (and my friends')!!!! I (We) are so excited! I won't get to see him until pretty late, but, nonetheless, I will get to wrap my arms around him. A group of people from our church went to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip which left many of us "widows" for a week. I have learned a lot this past week. Out of seven nights I stayed at my house alone for only two of them. I definitely need to learn to give Christ all of my trust in the area of fear that I have with being home alone at night. I have learned that besides my husband I have so many people in my life who love me and are there for me at the drop of a hat. My husband is such an amazing man, but with him not being home this past week I found that I am very dependent on other people. I spent quite a bit of time over my parents house and even two nights at there house and I found more time than ever to talk to a really good friend on the phone all week. We kept each other's spirits up while we missed out hubby's and let each other get it all out and we also talked about our attitudes about going on a mission trip some day. Sidenote: I think that we might be convicted sometime soon in this area! This week gave me the opportunity to see how my attitude and my behavior affects Bean without Rock being home and I have to say that I tend to get frustrated quite easily with things.

Anyways, I am so proud of my husband for giving so much of himself this week to share the good news of Christ with other children and adults, to help make a water purification system and to help build a school for many of the adorable children. I can't wait to see his pictures and hear all of his stories. God has an amazing way of letting his Glory shine through and I have been touched this week by so many people. God is good - all the time! Sorry for rambling - I had a lot to say!

H - let's make sure we stay in touch as often as we did this past week. I really enjoyed your friendship and encouragement. I am so proud of you this week! (A - you too if you read this!)