Sunday, May 18, 2014

"Praise his name with dancing"

"Praise his name with dancing"
Ps 149:3

Today was Hope's dance recital. I look forward to it all year!
 Last year was our first ballet recital.
I had no idea what a big deal it was. 
I didn't know how to fix Hope's hair and I didn't know everyone brought flowers! 
I felt like a loser-mom. This year, I was ready! Brooke (my helper from heaven) and I put approximately 400 pins in her hair with hair spray. 
Hope said, "it kinda hurts when I smile". 
LOL. 
I said, "great!!! we did a good job, then". 


I am learning how to mother a daughter on the go.
 It is SO fun. 
I can't believe I have a DAUGHTER. 
A beautiful (loud and crazy) daughter!
She came out the womb big-eyed and confident. I love how God has made her. We are both having to learn to not "Let it Go". :) 
No lettin' it go around here! 












 These big brothers don't love watching this recital every year but I 'encourage' them to go to support their sister... since she lives at the ball fields with them! 
They say, "but she LIKES being at the ball field".
All for one and one for all in this family, boys!



 My mom and dad. I love them so much it hurts. They drove down and surprised Hope. She about climbed out the van window when they pulled up beside us. She prays for them. We all do. I HATE cancer. I HATE it. Yet, my God is bigger. He is our Healer. He is their Healer. 
I am so thankful for the love they have shown me and now my children. 
 That is Aubrey... our babysitter who GREW UP. :( Now she has a big girl job and a fiance. Aubrey has a lot of fans in our house. I used to try to convince her to drop out of college and be our babysitter forever. She didn't take the bait.



 This is Miss Brooke! My new "helper from heaven". She is Hope's "sister". She is an answer to prayer. I can't believe God plopped her into our family. I think it may be because He is equipping her for motherhood!! She is a natural. 

 This my drop-dead-gorgeous husband. Hope looks so much like him. 
I still don't know why people read my blog. I think it must be to see how a very ordinary girl can live a extraordinary life given to her by God. And, believe me, I am just as curious as you are to see how this ordinary girl is going to pull this off.
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts."
Zec 4:6

(Thankful God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.)
**************************
I started this blog so my mom could see pictures of the kids. I never dreamed anyone else would find it.
The last few months have been so hard. Very dark. I haven't wanted to take pictures or write. I have been a grouch. I haven't wanted to talk to people or be around people who don't have problems. 
I have just been trying to keep people alive.
Rhett got some terrible virus that caused him to spike a fever of 105+ for 3 days.
I rushed him to the ER on Mother's Day. Mother's Day was a terrifying blur this year.
It later got so high that I couldn't take the temperature. I didn't want to know. I have had high fevers before 105.4 was our highest. Rhett beat that high score.
I have never felt a baby so hot.

I stayed up with him for 5 nights. Just watching him breathe and praying and putting cold cloths on him. Tim even got up with me in the night because it was so scary. 
We sat out on the back porch at 3:45 am. We were scared. Rhett was HOT. 
The clouds covered the sky except for the perfect square around the moon. It gave us comfort knowing that God was with us out there.
 I remember the first time Reece got really sick. I had never felt such fear. Crippling fear. Here we were... 11 years later still battling scary baby stuff.
 Tim and I are just pouring our lives out into these children. It is intense. Not like the big families on TV.  It is hard. Crazy hard.
I am thankful that Tim's character is "etched in". Most men could not handle half of the demands that he joyfully tackles. He is my knight in shining armor. God wired him for this. He is very unique.
I love showing the kids on the map how God brought me to their daddy. He had a plan for our marriage and a plan for their lives. 
It isn't easy. We have had to fight for our marriage. We have had to extend forgiveness toward the other when it hurt. 
God gives us the ability to forgive others the way He forgives us.
The enemy strikes marriages when they are weakened by fatigue and trials. He doesn't play fair. He plays to win... to steal, kill, and destroy.
Our marriage is no different than any other marriage on the planet. It requires investment, the Word, time, prayer, commitment, understanding, forgiveness, friendship, love, romance. I don't want to have a boring marriage. I want to date. I want to study and know my husband. He truly is the most incredible person I have ever known and I get to be his best friend! 

  Some recent pictures from my phone...



I love our pediatrician. He had no idea who he got when he got us.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Dr. Frank Eldridge. 
(At the doctor's office... AGAIN:)


 Celebrating God's goodness... with a doughnut...




Jesus said, "In this world, you will have trouble". 
(Can I get an "amen" from someone out there?)

You can take the gluten out of your diet, have more margins, breathe deep, light candles, and there will still be trouble. I do not like "trouble". Sometimes I feel like the enemy so weakens me in the battle, I can hardly stand... yet, by God's power... I do.
There are seasons where the battle isn't as intense but this world has not felt comfortable to me since the day I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
 "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control."
Phil 3:20

I am eagerly waiting my Savior to return for me. And exchange our weak mortal bodies for glorious bodies like His own.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
What a promise.
What hope.
My mom sent me this picture from the breast cancer hospital waiting room in Texas. It is a husband praying over his obviously sick wife. She watched them as she waited to be called  back.
My heart broke as I looked at this picture on my phone but what a beautiful image of Christ and His Bride.
How Jesus loves us and prays for us. He knows we are sick.
That is why He came for us.
None of us know what tomorrow will bring. We have to be right with God. We have to be in a relationship with Him that resembles the one in the above picture. Pressing into Jesus... knowing He is our HELP and strength.

I want to hear that trumpet. I want to meet the Lord in the air and be with Him forever. I don't want the couple in that picture to suffer any more. I don't want MY PARENTS to have cancer lurking like a dark cloud. I want Jesus to COME BACK FOR US.

 "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.  Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever."
1 Thess 4

But, it isn't time. God is allowing more time for more people to accept His offer of eternal life.
"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. 
No, he is being patient for your sake. 
He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."
2 Peter 3:9

BELIEVE and RECEIVE Jesus Christ as your Savior.
There is no other name under heaven by which YOU can be saved.
Confess your sins. Receive the forgiveness God offers you.
Begin eternal life RIGHT NOW.


"But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD

will be saved.’
Acts 2:21
Don't put it off any longer. Today is the day of salvation.
Read your Bible. God will meet you there. He will speak to you.
Ask God to send His Holy Spirit to live in your heart to guide you into all truth and be your seal of salvation. The Holy Spirit will begin a demolition process inside you and recreate you from the inside out. I know He has/is in me!
In this world we will have trouble. 
Yet, God allows it for holy purposes. I don't understand most things. I just have to trust.
Like the story of the grandpa who asked his grandson if he wanted to go with him. The little boy said, "where are we going?". The grandfather left without him. When he got home the little boy said, "why didn't you take me with you?". The grandfather said, "If you would have wanted to be with me, you wouldn't have asked where we were going".

God hasn't told me where all we are going but I know it will be ok because I get to be with Him. I just want to be with Him.

I have joked that I would live in the jungle if I got to be with Tim. I just want to get to be WITH HIM.
God's presence and nearness should be enough...even in the jungle.

 God hears our cries for help though. We aren't just silently riding along on some scary ride. He takes us to still waters and green pastures. Yes, there are valleys but He is with us. He will protect us and get us out of danger.
And I am also very thankful that *wherever we are going* will ultimately end in heaven for all eternity. 
This is why Paul says,
 "I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death"
Phil 3:10

Paul just wanted to know Jesus. He went through some TROUBLE too. 
May we seek to KNOW Christ.
 To simply want to be with Him instead of constantly asking where we are going to decide if it is worth it.
He is worth it.

*****************

I will end this blog post with a song that is running through my head:

    • "I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
      Every hour I need Thee;
      Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
      I come to Thee.
  1. I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
    Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.
  2. I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
    Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
  3. I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
    And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
  4. I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
    Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son."









2 comments:

Jedi Mama said...

Girl, I just love your blog. I found it quite a while ago... quite by accident... and listen: I ended up going back through your old blog posts and reading almost all of them, clear to the beginning. You have such a knack for sharing Jesus with people. Anyway. I have SO RELATED to your recent posts about both of your parents having cancer, and how you didn't want to be around people who didn't have problems. Our April and May have been just as rough for us. My dad had surgery to remove cancer from his bladder. 12 days later, my mama had surgery to take a suspicious lump out of her throat, which (THANK YOU, JESUS!!) came back as totally non-cancerous. But she has had a wicked road to recovery from this surgery. It has just been a hard, HARD couple of months, so I totally feel for you and what your own family is going through. And the photo of the couple hugging in the hospital waiting room made me FLAT OUT BAWL MY HEAD OFF. I bawled and bawled when I saw it. Anyway... your blog reminds me of one that I used to read off and on for a few years. That one was written by a Christian gal in Texas, who had 8 kiddos, and I loved her devotional style of writing. She doesn't write her blog any more, so I'm really glad that I have found yours, because it's so similar, and I just enjoy your devotional-style posts. You're doing a remarkable job here. Thank you for sharing all that you do.

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog - please don't ever stop writing. I don't comment often but I "always" read the awesome words you write. You are such a sweet inspiration and I know the words are coming from God. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day or have selfish thoughts I will go to your blog for words of wisdom. I'm old enough to be your mom yet I am reading your blog for encouragement and advise.

I love seeing pictures of your family - they are all beautiful! Your precious parents are in my prayers and now the couple in the photo will also be in my prayers.

Have a happy, healthy and blessed day!

Love - Teresa