God's Favor

It's always amazing to watch God move in our lives, and WOW, He has been MOVING since the last time I posted here.

We moved to a new home a couple of days after Christmas. The events that led up to that move showed us that God truly have us in a place of favor right now. We had no intention of moving but knew that God wanted us to relocate.

Everything fell into place just perfectly (with only a 3 week window of time to move and all the family sick with the flu besides me!)

We are now settling in and loving our new home. We have much more space and are so blessed that we will not be able to host guests more often and share Christ's love with them. This home is certainly not just a place for us, but a place to share!

Lots more wonderful things have been happening lately, but instead of listing them all, I'll share the best one. We are expecting!

Yes, our family is about to grow once again and in September we will have a new little one to share our lives. God is so good and we are so very blessed.

Hoping to blog more in the days and weeks to come to chronicle our journey as our new little one grows and arrives into the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be taking it slow here for Thanksgiving day... I've been sick for the past 2 1/2 weeks and am still not 100% yet. I've been fighting off a sinus infection, cough and thrush and now am waiting to see if I have mono. Should know by Monday... praying and believing for healing and trying to rest as I was told to by my doctor. That's always hard with little ones around :)

We are so thankful for so many things... our lives, God's provision and mercy, our wonderful children, family and friends. There is just too much to name. I pray that everyone has a truly blessed Thanksgiving!

Beautiful Day

It's been a while since I was awake early enough to watch the sun rise but today I did. So beautiful. It made me think of this scripture...

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Have a blessed day!

Praise God!

Last night we got home late from a Bible Study at our pastor's home. I was laying down with a headache coming on when our 5 year old came in. She asked me what happens to our bodies when we die, do we turn to dust if we are buried and if we are not buried as well. I told her yes, but if we are Christians our spirits will go to heaven. She then asked me if she was a Christian. I went on to explain to her what it means to be a Christian (she has heard this explanation before but I tried to make it even more simple and on her level). I asked her if she believed that Jesus died for her sins and does she understand what sin is. She answered yes to both questions. I told her that if she prayed to ask Jesus to come into her heart and if she let Him know that she was sorry for her sins and wanted to accept His death for her sins then she would be a Christian. She asked me if I could help her to pray that. I said of course, and I let her in prayer to the Lord.

We are praising God for our baby girls salvation! God's Spirit is at work in our young ones lives and His saving grace is from them just as much as it is for us adults. I pray that God will bless her each and every day as she begins her walk with Christ.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 19:14

Father's Day and feeling better

We had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. After the girls gave Daddy his gifts and after eating breakfast, we spent the morning at church then had lunch together. We spent the evening with some dear friends and had a blessed time of worship and prayer as well as talking and catching up.

I had the massage therapy appointment after church while my husband spent time with the girls. The massage helped me so much, I had a wonderful therapist and she said I had two very large knots in my upper back which was probably the reason I was in such pain and that it lasted so long. Today I was just praising God because I was able to get down on the floor with the girls with no pain for the first time in years and I was able to bend over to pick things up without pain which never normally happens for me. My neck and back feel totally normal and I am just so thankful.

Thanks for everyone that was praying for me, God heard your prayers!

When Mommy Is Sick

I've been sick for several days now. Not the runny nose, coughing kind of sick. Actually I pulled a muscle or a nerve (or something) in my upper back. I have been trying to take it easy but it's hard to do when the days are busy and full. Tomorrow I will finally see the doctor because it will be almost a week since this started and I'm still in quite a bit of pain and feeling very fatigued.

I'm sure any mother knows, it's tough around the house when mom is sick. Yesterday I had a bad flare up of pain right around my 2 year old's nap time. I asked my 9 year old to help her get into the crib for her nap as I lay down on the sofa with a heating pad. I explained to 2 yo that mommy is not feeling well and her sister would help her to bed for a nap. She seemed fine with this at first but the crying began as soon as 9 yo left her room. It took us about 15 or 20 minutes to get her down for a nap with me calling out to her from across the house to quiet down and take her nap and I would see her when she woke up.

Even though times like this can be trying, it is a great opportunity for learning and training your children. My 7 and 9 year old have taken over most chores the past three days. I have been very tiredand achy so after just an hour or so of housework I am spent and have had to lie down with my heating pad. The big girls took over with no problem and had a great attitude too. My 4 yo enjoyed playing "baby-sitter" when 2 yo was awake and felt like such a big girl watching and playing with her baby sister. My 9 yo was so happy when I had one pretty good day and went out shopping for groceries. I told her that even though I was fairly ok, I would need a helper to lift things and put large things under the cart. She was a huge help! Daddy watched the youger three girls and reported that they had been extremely well behaved when we got home.

I also believe that when mom is sick it really teaches children to learn how to serve others. Parents naturally serve their children all day but children don't always get a chance to really serve their parents, especially when they are young. When my girls see their daddy helping me when I am unable to do something or when I ask them to help and compliment them when they do a good job or have a good attitude, it really helps them to learn to have a servant's heart.

Prayerfully, I will be just fine after tomorrow's consult with my doctor but in the meanwhile it gives me such peace and joy to see the love of Christ shine through my children.

A Matter of Prespective

God's blessings are so good, I always wake up every morning thinking of how much God has blessed me and my family.

I didn't always think this way. When I was a "baby" Christian, I had just come out of a bad state of depression. The negative thought patterns that had developed in my mind, over the course of many years living a worldly life still continued in some ways even after I gave my life to the Lord. I spent a long time continuing to worry about things and trying to "fix" them myself. However, with God's grace and His word to guide me I am now so aware of every little way He blesses us each day.

Lately I have been reading all the news reports about the economy. We have also been feeling the pinch here at home and watching the struggles that friends and family are enduring because of hard times financially. The funny thing is, despite any struggles we face we feel so amazingly blessed and are happy and joyful every day. In fact, I have honestly never been quite as happy in my life than I am now.

God is just so good and I just felt tonight that I wanted to share my feelings on His blessings. No matter what we may endure, money problems, health concerns, losing a family member, etc, God is bigger than all of those things and can give us joy despite them.

O my soul, thou hast said unto Jehovah, Thou art my Lord: I have no good beyond thee. (Psalm 16:2)

Here's one of my favorite praise songs, I hope you enjoy it too...

A Blessed Mess

Have you ever looked at your house when it was messy and thought of how blessed you are? Normally, that is not my first reaction. But last night it was. We had a very long day, running errands all over town and came home to quite a mess which it was much too late to tackle. I just stood there and thought of how much God has blessed us. The fact that my kids have all these toys that many children only wish they could have... the fact that there were lots and lots of groceries to put away that many families cannot afford... the fact that the laundry was piled up reminded me of all the people who are in need of clothing in the world. I didn't see the mess, I saw the blessings bestowed upon us by a mighty and awesome God!

We spent a lot of time last week organizing things. Bookshelves were sorted and reorganized in anticipation for several packages of brand new books that are due to arrive any day to add to our homeschool library. Closets were sorted and organized in anticipation of an upcoming shopping trip for new winter items, the kitchen was cleaned and organized for yesterday's shopping trip.

This morning the house is still a bit messy and my girls and I are off to clean it right now so we can spend the afternoon learning.

It's easy to feel down when faced with the never ending job of keeping your home in order, but when those kinds of thoughts try to get you down, just remember that all that needs to be cleaned up and kept in order are true blessings from God.

Pray you are having a blessed day!