More beach pics and some free thoughts.

I posted this one before but I just love it. You have no idea how hard it is to get these 3 monkeys in a picture. OR, how hard it is to get a family picture for that matter. Tim just about has a nervous breakdown when I say, "Let's go take some family pictures!". I say he has 'family-picture-bi-polar'. But, he snaps out of it as soon as we are done. And then he always loves having them. I am not sure we would have any pictures if I didn't enjoy taking them. I will say I am much more motivated to take them now that I have a blog. I was never a good scrapbooker. I just can't hold still long enough to do it. Reece and Bubba both have baby scrapbooks and I am determined to finish a baby one for Lake.

But, when do I have time to sit down for hours to do it? NEVER. When I sit down and take my eyes off of my boys, you can count on disaster. Today, we had a(nother) broken lamp that surprisingly looks like new with the help of my Super-Super-Super glue. I think everything in my house has been super-glued at one point or another. Also, while on the phone with a dear friend, Bubba flooded the bathroom because he forgot to turn the faucet off from where he was giving his lizard its daily bath.

At the beach, Lake dumped out my (10 yr old) broken bronze powder out of my makeup bag and it went everywhere staining white carpet. My first instinct was to vacuum it. Huge mistake. It stained the vacuum and everything the vacuum touched so mom and I spent the day scrubbing. It finally came out. It amazes me how I can spend one whole day cleaning and organizing and it literally can take them 1 second to undo it all.

That is where my patience gets STRETCHED. God is working on me. But I love every second of being their mommy.

Tonight, as Bubba was going to bed I simply asked him as many questions as I could so I could know more about who is in that cute little body.

What is your favorite color? Red.

What is your favorite movie? Polar Express.

What is your favorite thing about God? That He made me.

What is your favorite thing about your room? The jelly fish hanging from the fan.

What is your favorite thing about Mimi? That she loves me.

What is your favorite thing about Church? Singing that song I love.

What is your favorite toy?

The one with the sharks and the the thing that you drive the car through with the stuff on it.

Where is your most favorite place you have ever been? putt-putt.

When you have 3 children this close in age, it is so easy to not really know them individually. Mine travel in a group (maybe more like a wild flying tornado than a group). But I rarely get time one-on-one with them because they all 3 love being together. At the beach I did go with each one into the pool and we had the best time being together.

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These past days have been so busy with travel and just keeping up with 3 boys who can run circles around me every minute. The hardest part is knowing where they are at all times. We have locks on the tops of our doors... not to keep people out... but to keep little boys IN. Lake's goal in life is to bust out of this joint. It always has been so it is just panic if I don't know where he is at all times. Talking on the phone for hours with my girlfriends is over. ( I miss you Jennie, Julie, Val, Suzy & Deena--- those are my 'phone friends' who I can talk to for 2 hours about nothing).

But that is ok. I believe there are 3 main reasons why God created me.

1. To know Him and glorify Him with my life.

2. To be Tim's wife.

3. To be a mom.

I am so thankful for all God has given me.

My health is 'good'. I am still off of medications. The bad days of joint pain and headaches seem to be getting further and further apart...but they still come.

"I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. "

Isaiah 45:2

This verse gives me a visual of a very strong welder cutting through bars of iron with a blazing blow torch to get the captive out of captivity. I don't know if that is accurate though because all Jesus has to do to rescue you (His bride) from your captivity, is SPEAK and bars break in two. So, I pray He is speaking into my very long battle and any of my readers in captivity...

I know He can. I believe He will. I just don't know when.

But, I think I will know when He speaks into my storm.

Thank you for praying for me. I am so thankful for each new day.
I have started getting up before everyone and walking. Just to get fresh air, listen to worship music and to try to get back in shape after yrs of doing nothing. I used to love to exercise but haven't been able to in years because it makes all my joint pain flare up so it isn't worth it. Be thankful for little things like being able to exercise! Be thankful for being able to decide when you want to get pregnant.

I lost control 4 years ago when I got sick. After these years of kicking and screaming and wanting control BACK, I have (finally) let go and given God the reigns with (most) things because I never really had control anyway. He has a very specific plan for me I have come to understand. Why fight it? It would make no sense when His Word tells me over and over and over that His plans for me are GOOD.

Why we have to experience pain in order to grow spiritually, I don't know.

But I do know that is when our faith develops its SUBSTANCE.

So, no matter what...

I am held, kept, and secure in His sovereign and GOOD plan for my life no matter how it looks to my finite eyes.

It IS hard when His ways are higher than Yours and you can't see the big picture.

It is hard to see the beauty in suffering and what He is doing in your life when all you can feel is pain and see is darkness.

Here is what I do know....

He is faithful when I am not.

He is good when I am not.

His ways are perfect. Mine are not.

He loved me when I did not love Him.

He knows how my story ends. I do not.

His heart breaks to see suffering in a place He made to be without it.

He brings worth to our pain and uses it in ways we could never imagine.

He leads me beside still waters and floods my soul with peace.

He restores my soul from the wounds this world brings.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

He anoints my head with oil in the valley and my cup runs over.

He never leaves me so I need not EVER fear.

He gives me treasures and riches in darkness.

There is NO darkness at all in Jesus.

He has summoned me by my name and is crazy about me.

He has told me over and over and over,"YOU ARE MINE."

Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life because I am His.

And I will dwell with Him in His house forever because He bought me back...

on the cross.

So, I rejoice in how He loves me!!!

I rejoice in all He has given me.
I rejoice in how faithful He has proven Himself to be when the ground gave way beneath me.

I rejoice in His the hope of His Promises.

Be encouraged if you are in a trial with no light at the end of the tunnel. I wish I could hug you and pray for you.

I UNDERSTAND but there is always HOPE.

I have personally seen miracles.

I have seen God heal a lady I laid hands on in prayer who was at death's door in the hospital.

I have seen God resurrect marriages through a wife's prayers.

I have seen God pursue and radically change people by His love.

I have seen God give the barren woman children.

Don't you ever give up in prayer.

I love this Beth Moore quote a friend sent me and I have sent to friends...

Hebrews 10:35-36
"God has made us certain promises that we will only see fulfilled on the other side of a demanding climb. We are going to have to sweat this one out and feel the burn in our limbs but the reward is going to be "great." There is something God wants to give you, Beloved, but He's purposely requiring tremendous perseverance from you in order for you to have what it takes to receive it rightly. Humbly. You will need ENDURANCE to do His will in this particular situation. It will not come easy because it's too good to come cheap.
In order to stop you, Satan is attacking your confidence, making you feel stupid, or ill equipped, or just plain ill. Do not throw away your confidence! Without Christ you can do nothing but, with Him, you are capable of things you never dreamed. All surpassing power abide in your jar of clay. Do not shrink back! The God of the universe looked the world over and found You!
2 Timothy 4:5

May you be strengthened with all power according to

His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience! And may you joyfully give Him thanks for qualifying you for the inheritance that awaits us!!!!!

(Col 1)

Here are a few more beach pics....

Tim's birthday present/ Father's Day present. A new cereal bowl from the pottery place. He eats A LOT of cereal so now he can think of us every time! We painted a golf hole on the bowl part with sand traps in the middle of the ocean. I said to my mom, "Wow. This is a hard hole." She said, "yes, especially since he would have to swim to get to it." I thought that was funny because it never occured to me when I designed it. My blonde hair gets blonder in the summer.

Our class clown...

Doing Christian Yoga with me at the beach. I just bought a DVD and I like it because it is meditating on God's Word as you stretch. I need low impact stuff and am not a big fan of yoga without God's Word.