Fun in the Sun

This blog and I have such a love/hate relationship.  If absence really makes the heart grow fonder, then I should be head over heals right now! 

We're in the middle of spring break, so far so good.  It's been in the 70's every day.  I've had baby Jacob all week so we haven't been able to go far, but 3 park playdates in 3 days makes for fun in the sun, worn out kiddo's, and a happy momma :)

We'll be spending the last few days of the break painting our new house! Yup, moving again. Not far, and into a bigger house that will be paid off in 5 years.  I'm pretty excited :) God is good and as always, He has a better plan than I do!

Hello there, it's been awhile!

I have no idea where to even start an entry right now, other than God is SO GOOD.

In other news, I'm not so good... at blogging! Ugh. Now Facebook, I can do.  A lot.  Pinterest, I'm totally and completely addicted.  But blogging is harder for some reason. I guess it takes more time and thoughtfulness, both of which I'm lacking!

So it's been a few months since I've updated the ol' blog, so instead of filling in the gap, I'll just update where we are today, and I'll fill in the blanks another day. HA!

So I am happily taking care of our kiddo's along with a 6 month old sweet baby boy, Jacob.  He gets here every morning around 7am and is picked up by 5 each afternoon.  It makes for a long day sometimes but I enjoy it and I'm able to make a little bit of money while staying home with my littles so I'm thankful the Lord provided this "job" for me.

Jeff is now the associate pastor and student pastor at our church, The Gathering @ Brock. It was a series of unbelievable miracles that brought us to this place. God has us in an AMAZING season of life right now and I'm so thankful for everywhere He took us that led us right here! It's so much easier to look back and see how God was with us every step of the way that got us here, than it was to understand when we were in the middle of it. There were so many times in the last few years (that's documented on this blog!) when I was terrified, sad, confused, etc, etc about where we were, where we were supposed to be, why things were happening.  But now looking back God knew what He was doing and I can't imagine it any other way!

My parents and sisters are coming to church with us, also! Well, my dad comes occasionally. He has a really good job working with a buddy doing dirt work (gets paid well to work on super duper nice machinery with heat/ac and radio) but it's almost 3 hours away and right now while the weather is nice they're working 7 days a week!  I think the Lord is giving him a break, which is understandable, and there's no rush!

Anyway, not much else to report... oh yeah, the kids...

Calling the ENT specialist in the morn for Hattie. Tubes, tubes, wonderful tubes.  4 kids, 4 sets of tubes... why can't they just put them in when they're born!? OBVIOUSLY it's genetic, people! My mom and dad had ear infections, my husband and I both had them, and now all 4 of our kids have had tubes.  I think I see a pattern.  Other than the ear issue, she's the most precious, dramatic, adorable, perfectly squeezable little princess ON THE PLANET. She's my love. I dress her as girly as I can until she's old enough to tell me no! Although she hasn't said "no" yet, she has mastered "uh-oh, thank you, momma, da-da, and Hattie." :)

Noah has started guitar lessons and is absolutely loving it! He had his first recital last Monday night and it was wonderful.  He played Hot Cross Buns, Are You Sleeping, and The Tonkowa Song perfectly, as usual.  He is also representing the 4th grade in their school's spelling bee! Again, not unexpected. He's hoping to win it all this year! We shall see...

Max. Hmm.  Not much going on with Max.  He played soccer again, that's 7 seasons in a row now, but when we moved to Tyler the team he had always been on fell apart so now that we're back we had to start over.  If this team stays together they could be really good, so hopefully they will!

Last but not least, Benjamin.  My buddy.  He's a pretty bright 3 year old, ADORES his big brothers, tattles on little sister all day long, and loves his mommy and daddy :).  We're really wanting to put him into some kind of 2-3 day a week preschool.  Noah and Max were both in preschool at this age because I was working at one so it was free.  Now it wouldn't be free, but Ben would LOVE it.  I try to do a few papers with him everyday (he's learned his colors and shapes, about to start on patterns and letters/numbers) but I have to wait till both Hattie and Jacob are sleeping so it's tricky.  He would also love the social interaction with kids his age.  He loves the nursery at church... almost every night he asks if when we wake up in the morning are we going to church to play with his friends :( He loves his friends...

That's all for now... not looking forward to getting up early in the morning after this wonderful Thanksgiving break!! Must stop pinning ;)

The Shortest Never Ending Summer. Ever.

Ok, so 3 months without a single entry?! OMG I'm a slacker.  It's not like we moved and I've been home with 4 kids during summer break or anything.  Talk about a long summer that went by REALLY quickly! I know that doesn't make sense but it's so true! It's like the longest summer, EVER, but I can't believe the kids start school on Monday! Yaayyyy!!!!

Meet the teacher was tonight. It is such a blessing to know that the Lord hears our prayers and to experience it when He answers.  It was just amazing to meet Max's teacher and see that she's young, energetic and sweet... the exact words I use when praying for his future teachers.  They MUST have energy and plenty of patience.  Then Noah's teacher seems PERFECT for him... outgoing, very intelligent and organized!  We have been so incredibly blessed with awesome teachers (except one of Max's... She wasn't completely horrible, but there was definitly room for improvement! There's probably a prior post about that!) ever since they started pre-k 6 years ago!

To quickly recap the last few months, the move went great.  Back in the house I grew up in.  Back in the schools I grew up in.  Back with all the friends and family I grew up with.  It's been so odd... several times I have referred to things that happened 2 years ago as "last year", almost like the year we were in Tyler didn't even happen.  It's mostly odd because we went into that move assuming it was for forever!  When we made the decision to move (as well documented on this very blog) it was based on our future.  Our future was in Tyler.  And.... now we're back, and it's like we were never gone! Instead of it being our new home, it's just "the year we lived in Tyler."  It's sooo weird! 

When we moved back it was based on a more secure job with a similar salary. Well that was too good to be true I guess.  Jeff's first pay check was about 500 short of what we had been told it was going to be and his next was 300 less than that! Yeah, I was angry, scared, upset, worried, etc.  Then I went to the Lord and as always He gave me such a peace, a peace that all the money in the world could never give me.  Since then Jeff has been able to start his own concrete company on the side and has even applied for a youth pastor/assistant pastor position at the church we've been attending.  (Oh yeah, the church issue.... I'll have to save that for another post! Long story short, the Lord led us to an AMAZING church, it's tiny but we LOVE love love it.)  We should be hearing in the next couple of weeks if they're going to offer him the job or not.  Either way, I know we are where we're supposed to be and will always be taken care of!

That's all for now. Oh yeah, I start my new job, watching a newborn sweet baby boy, on Monday morning also! Getting the big boys to school will be an adventure!! :)

New Perspectives

Last week at church our pastor made a comment about Lent that hit me awkwardly.  We come from a very different background than this pastor, which is awesome because we're getting a new perspective which can be eyeopening, and also make us dig a little deeper into why we believe what we believe. This week I dug a little deeper and love what I found!

Lent is a time of prayer and fasting leading up to the Passover and Easter season, to commemorate the time Jesus was tempted in the desert before being crucified.  When Jeff and I began observing Lent, about 10 years ago, we decided to participate because we wanted to be able to put aside things our flesh long for and long for the Lord and His Word in place of it.  It's incredible how much time everyday we spend on the computer, watching TV, eating, playing sports, etc, etc, compared to how much time we spend in prayer and in the word. I am not at all judging anyone, this is a personal decision entirely.  I'm also not one of those super hyper religious people who think you have to begin and end everyday in the word and spend the rest of your day in thoughtful prayer. I don't believe that's what God asks us to do.  He asks us to be IN the world, not OF the world.  In other words, live your life, go out and eat and play and fellowship with your friends and family, but don't let those things shape who you are. Let the Lord shape who you are so you can be IN the world and not conformed to it.

Anyway, I've always seen Lent as a time to put aside at least one of those things like food or a hobby I really love to focus more on my relationship with the Lord. If it's scrap booking I give up for those 40 days, then the time I would have normally spent doing it, I'd spend reading my Bible.  Or if I gave up sweets, anytime I got a craving, I'd go pray or study the Word for awhile. It's really an amazing time for 40 days every year. I usually complain a little, but I'm human!

Our current pastor obviously doesn't observe Lent, and for the first time I see why someone wouldn't want to.  He sees it as a time that people use to try to "fix" something or just to make their lives better. Like make up for the time the rest of the year that they haven't given to the Lord. Some people think that if they give something up for the same 40 days every year that it makes them a better person or will make up for something they feel guilty about. Wow! I've never ever thought of that before. Too many Christians are trying to live up to a standard that no one can live up to.  They think that if they do something special it will make up for their sin.  Jesus paid the price, people!!

I'm a Christian because I want to be.  Not because it makes me better, different or weird. I'm a Christian because I know I'm horribly imperfect and I need help on a minute by minute basis to live life to the fullest. Not because I'm striving to be perfect.

If Lent or even Christianity ever become ordinary or simple then I'm doing something wrong and my heart is not in the right place.  It's not about results, it's about relationship. Whether you're fasting during Lent, or for a week in the middle of July, it's about drawing closer to the Lord... it's about having the utmost faith and hope that I can ever muster up, and then hoping a little more!

Good Times.

Living on the High Rock

It's amazing to look back at where the Lord has lead us and is still leading us.  I think it's the only reason I even attempt this whole blogging whatnot. 

This time last year Jeff had accepted a position at the block plant where he had worked since he was a kid when his dad owned it. It was a great opportunity to slowly move up the ladder to a great paying position. About a week after he accepted that position, the opportunity out in Tyler came up.  It was a similar position, but with more than double the starting pay, so we prayed and decided we couldn't pass it up.  I wrote about it on this blog in fact, in this entry: The Move Is On.  Well now, after a year of bliss here in Tyler (we've been so incredibly spoiled... more on that to come), Jeff has been offered the same position at the block plant, but with the same salary he's making at the Tyler job. So.... he got the job he wanted all along, for the pay we need.  How cool is that?!

Today the Lord led me to Psalm 27.  The entire psalm is about the Lord protecting us during hard times or when our enemies are attacking us. Verses 4-6:


       The one thing I ask of the LORD— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.

I believe with all my heart that the Lord moved us out of Weatherford precisely to get us away from the whole church fiasco my parents and sisters had to go through. It was so crushing to my dad, I wouldn't be surprised if he never goes back to church again.

"He will place me out of reach on a high rock."  I feel like Jeff and the kids and I have been on a "high rock" for the past year, watching the devastation all around us.  When we moved to Tyler, we accidentally picked a house that was in the best elementary district in the city.  Out of 18 schools, we accidentally picked the best. When we moved, Jeff and I were so burnt out from working too much with the church that we made a conscious decision not to sign up for ANYTHING for at least a year, and we haven't! The Lord led us to the church where he wanted us and that wasn't going to push us into service. It's such a great feeling on Sunday mornings knowing I don't have to work in the nursery! I know that sounds so trivial, but it's been such a huge part of my life for almost 20 years. Did I mention that we've had a house keeper and lawn service!

Anyway, has someone been a tad bit spoiled? Yes. We've been so totally blessed, which is why I'm ok with moving back. I know that even when we're under attack from the enemy, we're totally and utterly protected. What an amazing way to live...

Happy 7 Months, Hattie!

Have I mentioned lately that I have the most beautiful little girl on the face of the earth???