My Weakness = His Strength

I've become THAT girl. The annoying one who posts her runs on Facebook. The one who sets her alarm for no other reason than to get an early morning run in. That girl who fist bumps to the music blaring out of her headphones as she runs down an old country road. Yup, that girl. The runner. And the amazing thing is that it's by none of my own strength. I literally have to beg God before every run to fill me with His strength and His determination and His power. Because left to my own devices, I would still be asleep, grumpy, and still stuck in a helpless cycle of self loathing. On my own there is no self control, no strength, not even an ounce of desire to get up in the mornings and run. Not at all. But where I am weak, HE IS STRONG! 

The Proper Way to Eat a Quesadilla

Here is Hattie...

And here is how she eats quesadillas:

Step 1: Dip chip in guacamole.

Step 2: Wipe guacamole from chip onto quesadilla.

Step 3: Lick guacamole off of quesadilla.

Step 4: Take a massive bite of quesadilla.

Chew and Repeat.

Any questions?

To Learn, Or Not To Learn

I'm growing. Scratch that.  God is growing me.  Stretching me.  Challenging me.  And to be honest, I don't love it! I just wanna curl up in a ball on my momma's couch, where it is safe and comfortable and known.  I don't like the unknown.  Which is probably why God keeps taking me there.

I knew what it would be like living in Strawn again... been there, done that.  But this time I have 4 kids! That's 4x's greater chance that someone I'm respnsible for is going to need something.  Something that this itty bitty town doesn't have! And then it hit me, as it usually does, when I was in the Word.

I'm currently memorizing James 5, slowly but surely, and the Lord smacked me upside the head with it:  "You've spent your days on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire.  You've fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter..."

O.M.G. -- No translation needed here.  No analogies to understand the context. I've been reciting those lines over and over and over for the past 2 months, all the while literally satisfying MY every desire! Fattening my self, my home, my family -- for no worthy reason!  If we need something, ANYTHING, we just go get it! Living in close proximity to a Walmart has jokingly (but mostly seriously) been of such a high importance to me! Why?? SO I COULD SATISFY MY EVERY DESIRE.

Need a gallon of milk? Run to Walmart.

Got a craving for chocolate? Run to Walmart.

Out of hairspray? Run to Walmart.

That has always been so important to me, and who knows how long the Lord has been saying, "Lauren, just wait..."

This is a story...

...about a house.  An old house.  A lived-in house.  Jeff grew up playing Atari in the upstairs living room and celebrating every Memorial Day weekend in the yard.  Endless rounds of horse-shoes and boche  ball have been enjoyed under the great big trees, while the women prepared food to feed an army.  Kids grew up in this house, and grandkids know it well.  It's Granny and Papaw's house.  And now it's ours...

Step 1: Paint. And oh did it need it.  It has always been white.  And only white.  Whitewashed to be exact.  So we picked out colors (nothing too crazy, just a little change), paintbrushes, and got to work!  I'm pleased with the outcome but can't guarantee I won't repaint in a few years :) 

I can, however, guarantee that even though this house holds enough memories to last a lifetime, I can't wait to start making more! 

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!! :)