My joy is uncontainable

My heart is leaping for JOY! I can not contain it!

     I have exciting news........it's a BOY! A born-again 3 year old! J prayed and now has the Holy Spirit living inside him! 

 Luke 15:10 ..... "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

For the past 2 weeks he has been asking A LOT of questions, at times even demanding the answer. Questions that were stumping me, but making me dig in the Bible (or T-rav's deep thinking theologically-trained brain)

 Mommy where is Heaven?

 Mommy, what's Easter for? 

What will we do in Heaven? 

Daddy are you going to go to Heaven? 

Will my bed be in Heaven? 

Is taking my blocks back from brother a sin? 

and the mother of all questions that brought me to my knees pleading for God to guide my words.....

Mommy, what's the Holy Spirit? 

 If you're curious, I told him that the Holy Spirit is what you get after you ask Jesus into your heart. It makes you smarter about your sin and love God more......God giving me the right words at the right time, cause you know I ain't that smart to come up with something made that much sense.

I can tell you that I was not prepared for most of his questions. His innocence was what I was trying to protect but at the same time he needs to know more importantly that he was born a sinner, and because our God is so Holy, that He can not be in the presence of sin. BUT the good news is our God is so loving that He created an easy way for us to be with Him......He gave us His one and only Son, and who ever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. It's that simple. 

I had to remind myself that for J. Keep it simple, because it is simple! I had asked several times after having those conversations if he wanted to pray and ask Jesus into his heart. Each time we would get close. Even last week he said yes, but then decided when I wanted him to repeat after me that he didn't want to. We were so close, but I knew not to push it. It needed to be real and on his terms. God wants our hearts, not our routine.

Then on Thursday, Sept 15 (T-rav's 33rd bday, OH Happy Day!) the 3 of us were in the living room. C was already tucked in his bed, so daddy and J were getting in one last book before bed. Daddy started to read (it was a book about praying) then all of a sudden J says:

"Jesus please come into my heart, forgive my sins. Amen"

T-rav and I immediately looked up at each other, in shock! In my over-complicating-the-gospel-and-the-path-to-salvation adult brain I was thinking..."no, that wasn't real. there is no way he could understand what he just said. that couldn't take"....silly silly me. As if our salvation is something that our body "takes".....like we are catching a cold or something. I wonder at times if God just shakes His head at this girl......seriously! 

I right away said, "wow, buddy! That's great! You just asked Jesus into your heart. Way to go!"

T-rav's was similar, but since he's not a doubter like me, his smile was larger because he knew it was real, that it "took". 

Then let me show you how God used my 1st borns salvation to once again, show Himself to this girl. After J's conversion and the book was finished, we walked into his room to pray. Now I will tell you that prayer time with J before bed was hit or miss. Sometimes he would participate, only to help stall lights-out, and other times he would just flip his stuffed animal around or cover his head with ol Bob, BUT this time it was different. After only being a believer in Christ for a mere 2 minutes, this boy walks into his room, kneels beside his bed and says the most heartfelt prayer I've ever heard out of his mouth. At the end of it, he asked for Jesus to come into C's heart soon too. 

My mind was spinning.....still doubting mind you, even though God had just shown Himself as a living, breathing Holy Spirit within a 3 years old body.

So then he climbs into bed. I kiss him. Tell him I'm proud of him one more time for the confession of faith, then turn to walk out. Just as I flip the light out, he says in the most sincere, sweet way....."mommy, remember my songs, please." 

K, let's do a little side-bar, shall we? I'll share with you that bed time was a battle.....the boy does not like to sleep and we would see some of his worst behavior on display during the hours between bath time and "fall asleep" time. Bedtime was a beating in our house! So for him to remind me sweetly about songs, was a HUGE thing to be noted and accounted for. This was true evidence that the Holy Spirit had taken up residency in my son's heart only minutes before. He was changed! 

I came out of his room and promptly started digging in my Bible for the next couple of hours, trying to find scriptures that would explain exactly how one becomes a repented sinner. Yes, even after witnessing "the new creation" in front of me, I was still doubting. Lord, have mercy on me.

Mark 10:14  When Jesus saw this, he became irritated. He told them, "Don't stop the children from coming to me. Children like these are part of the kingdom of God."

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever should believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Then I read in Luke this parable that pierced my heart.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 ⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

   ¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

   ¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It's not like I thought J had to do some sort of ceremonial sacrifice to receive the free salvation that is offered to EVERYONE, it's just that I couldn't believe that he could understand it at 3. 

So the very next morning, (again God's patience is un-ending) J comes straight out of his room and says with a huge smile on his face "mommy, Jesus lives in my heart!". I was in shock that he was still so excited about it. 

Then as I was getting his breakfast ready he was standing out on the back porch looking up at the sky, talking. 

Me: J, what are you doing?

J: just praying

Me: praying for rain? (the clouds looked like they were going to give way to glorious rain)

J: no, Jesus is going to come back. He's going to back in those clouds and he's going to come back.

Me: ****picture a look of total shock on my face** How do you know He's going to come back in the clouds?

J: because He is mommy.

Um, yes, He is. Mark 13:26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory"

I can promise you that in our times of Q&A, I never once mentioned anything about Jesus coming back in the clouds, I only told him myself that Jesus would be coming back for us one day. I AM NOT SAYING THAT J IS SOME SORT OF PROPHET, I'm only saying this because I could see God just smiling down on that moment saying, "see, I AM dwells in him now". 

Now, J may have heard the clouds bit from Sunday school or even pre-school, but God can and will reveal himself in ways that are un-explainable. I believe that since J has the Holy Spirit living inside him now and since God's word is living and breathing, then why wouldn't He already have Scripture written on his heart. J can't read yet, so the Holy Spirit can tell him things that he hasn't read. 

It was a way for me to just be humbled and say "Lord, I'm still a sinner by doubting you, please have mercy."

J receiving Christ was God's plan and timing. I love also how J wasn't lead to the Lord by T-rav or I, instead by the personality that the Lord gave him when He made him. It was just him and the Lord at that moment. With what I consider to be a royal battle most days became, in that moment, one of the best traits God could have ever given him.

God is so good and I love Him even more still for choosing J to be apart of His inheritance. 

Thank you, Father in Heaven for writing J's name in your book of life. You take all the credit for it, more this story of my unbelief glorify your great name. You deserve more words of thanks that I can type. 

1st day of school!

Last Wed was a sad/exciting day for our little family......both of my boys are now in pre-school. **big sigh of relief mixed with a little sadness**.  Who am I kidding? I felt a tinge of guilt when I handed off C, but then I came to and was shimming all the way out the door! C'mon folks, it's been really hard living somewhere new, with 2 small kids and really no support system till lately. I was praising and singing thanks that we could put both of them in the school and then hip hoped on home (only a mile drive) to read in peace!

It's funny because when I took J to preschool for the 1st time he was only 11 months, he went 1 day a week so that I could go to BSF and then have lunch with T-rav. It was an investment in my spiritual growth and our marriage..ha! ha! Dollas well spent and I really didn't think much of it because it was 1 day a week. Well now it was C's turn and yes, he's about 5 months older than J was, it was still hard to think of him as "big enough" to go.

The boys brushing their teeth before school

Trying to get their pic.....so un-cooperative

So since I'm all sentimental and up late I might as well dish a lil on my baby boy, C:

Mr C. Wow, where has the time gone? You are now almost a year and a half and all I see when I look at you is the little crawler we moved here with. Perhaps, because you were so sweet at that point and it was something I enjoyed seeing. You have now discovered your voice and my, it is commanding. You're hilarious when you are sassing J, and I'm so grateful that he is gentle with you. Why just tonight you got in trouble for scooping water in the tub and dumping it over the side. When mommy told you no and took the cup from you, you got so peeved that you start sassing, smacking the water with your hands and then slapped J on the back, just cause he was within reach. Yes, yes my dear little one with the big curious eyes, you have turned into a toddler. 

You run everywhere, not with the best of coordination, but you stay on your feet most of the time. Your sharp turns while running are worth the watching as it brings most people who see it at least a smile if not a full on laugh. 

Coloring is your new thing. You love it, get so excited when I grab the crayons and go running for the coloring table saying "lololo" which I think translates to "color". Green is the color you always go for first and then the next is purple. You seem to hold the crayon correctly already, but only make tiny little marks with a huge grin on your face the entire time and chatting about whatever you are drawing. It's quite precious to watch. Daddy also discovered the other day that you lend yourself to the task of decorating as well, since he caught you giving the walls a touch of fresh new streaks of color.....green streaks, of course, because it's your favorite. :-)

You rock the sleep world and when it's 1:30 pm on the dot, someone can say to you "nap time" and you'll just truck right on in your room and walk towards the crib.....it's astonishing! We were thinking of writing some sort of book on how to train your children to walk themselves to their cribs and then just sleep, but then we remembered that most people who write those books never ever had a child like your 3 year old best friend and so we just chalk it up to the grace of the Lord, to whom gets all the credit for that little diddy you brought to our family. 

I don't like admitting that you are a picky eater, but boy, yous a picky eater! You like all things vegetable, heck you'll even eat salad leaves off mommy's plate with only salad dressing on it. You will almost die if you don't get to eat an avocado a day (I think you jones for them, seriously) and a easy thing to feed you is pasta, broccoli chicken casserole. You love meat and go crazy for a rib bone if you see it. But fruit, my dear C is not your thing. I had you walking the fence for a while eating bananas but you since have dropped that habit and refuse to let any other fruit much further past your pierced lips. I did manage to get you to eat a 1/2 frozen peach when it was scorching hot this summer, but I think it had more to do with internal temperature than really liking the peach. You would eat sorbet though, so I just considered it a fruit and moved on. I've discovered with your older brother, that eventually you'll come around. 

Another thing mommy has to admit is that you love your Chick-fil-A, oh do you love it! Your not much of a fry fan, but boy oh boy will you plow through 6 nuggets in no time flat. You'll even eat part of mommy's salad after those 6 nuggets! The worst part? You started recognizing the sign from the highway when you were only 11 months old.......please don't hate me! It was the only constant that we had when we 1st moved here, the playground, the nuggets, the wonderful music they play.....Christian Chicken is what got us through the 1st couple of months. Every Tues we'd meet daddy (if he could) and have a lunch date with our little family. So now I have discovered it to bite me in the butt. I have to distract you to look the other way out the car if we are passing one of these fine establishments, otherwise you will scream (you must've gotten your lungs from the Indian in mommy, wow, you put your momma to shame some days) and give me one of your patented dirty looks. 

You are not always a "toot toot" as your brother says, you are very sweet too. You love to give me kisses still. You have a very favorite game where we hold your hands and you jump up and down (well really mommy and daddy do most of the lifting you off the ground, you just bend your legs) and laugh so loud. You love to pretend to be a race car and will run around the house making that sound really loud....even reeving up your engine when you run faster. 

You love to hide under your bed, crawl into cabinets and pantries. You like to open the hamper part of the hall closet, pull out the clothes and then climb in and shut the door. At least you leave evidence of where you are. 

Your curiosity got you into trouble the other weekend. You love to brush your teeth and play peak-a-book with yourself in the mirror. You also like to open drawers and empty those as well. The other morning you were in your bathroom and closed the door (another favorite, open and shutting ALL the doors in the house). After the door had been shut you opened the middle drawer of the vanity and climbed from your step stool you brush your teeth on, into the drawer. It was a little bit before you realized you had gotten up high was too scared to climb back down so you started to call for help. Good thing daddy was here because when he went to open the bathroom door and could only get it cracked enough to see you standing in the drawer that was blocking us from getting to you my heart about stopped. I had no idea how were going to save you. So daddy very patently started pushing the drawer back in little by little with his pinkie finger, you some how figured out what he was doing and started moving back towards the front of the drawer that was coming back in and.......volia! it was enough to get the bathroom door back open. Thank you Jesus, daddy was here! Mommy can't think in some of those situations you put us in, silly.

You love to wave to neighbors walking by, although if they talk to us you get a little cranky. 

You and brother will throw a ball back and forth to each other for a good 15 mins before you loose interest. J loves when you play ball with him and I can tell you just love J starring at you for 15 mins.

You are starting to talk a little more and can say:

mommy (you started yelling this when J is annoying you....awww, the beginnings of a tattle-tale)

daddy

dak-don (Jackson, and you LOVE yelling this at him when I'm trying to get his attention from far away)

moon

bird

milk

dis (everything is that if you don't know the name of it)

dog

bye-bye

eat

more

tik-ken (chicken)

duce (juice)

dar (car)
cheese (even when I pick the camera up to move it, you say this)

I think you say more, but still babble a lot and will carry a conversation on with your self quite well, even though no one knows what you are saying.....adorable to me and daddy. J tells you that you're silly.

Before we cut your curly red locks off 

After the haircut

you love umbrellas

helping brother build, you 2 play so well together

This pic is hilarious. you were playing chase with daddy and he scared you when you came around the corner

Very serious look. Your eyes are dark blue on the outside and dark brown on the inside

  We, or rather I, have taken on a rather large project the next 6-7 months that I will desperately need time to work on without children in tow which is the main reason C went on to school twice a week with big bro J. I give you our field of dreams......deep between these trees will be a house that we will use to call home and continue to do the work God has called us to do here. For His glory only!

Daddy and J spent the weekend hunting Doves out west of town. These are pics from the 1st evening out....I think this was a day T-rav had been waiting for from the day we were told "it's a boy".

The most precious part was when they got home well after dark, T-rav was toting in a very tired J who was holding his Bob the blanket with a huge grin on his face. Hopefully he won't still be packing Bob in after a day of hunting when he's in high school.

You were born for such a time

From the book  Forgotten God by Francis Chan, Chan writes "And like our Savior, who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of. This is our purpose of living. This is our hope."


Have you ever had one of those days when the puzzle pieces just fell together? We had one of those a few days ago in our household. Not a great day of revelation, but rather some slow and steady things that have been simmering for some time finally came together to let some peace fall down on our hearts. It gave us such a boost of encouragement, knowing that "You were born for such a time as this."


After a few conversations with our pastor of the plant/start-up church that we have recently become members of, it's evident that the peace that God placed in our hearts in December while visiting this town was directly being prayed for by the leaders of this church that very same weekend. The church was growing steadily, but they were still in need of those who were ready to roll up their sleeves and help with the harvesting. T-rav and I were starting to roll up our sleeves, but what a surprise it was that that the harvesting we were going to do wasn't going to happen in what I lovingly refer to as "the promised land." 


 T-rav and I came here with the notion that yes, God had provided a great job to support our needs but that also there was something greater still He wanted to do with our life. We recognize the effort from others who were obedient to Christ, who invested hours of mentoring and discipiling in us, to help us see what the purpose and hope that is this life we live. MMBC is a very unique church, blessed abundantly from generations past that have spent hours on their knees praying for God's will to be done. God used more than a handful of people from within those walls to teach us by living out what the Bible says, not just repeating verses mindlessly, but being patient with us and encouraging. We had been equipped in some areas and felt the call to start engaging, but God had other plans for "where" that engaging would be. ( Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thought are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.") 


He never once told us that being here would be easy, He just gave us a sense of direction and a peace that surpassed all understanding, so we faithfully came here. He let us wander a little during the 1st 6 months, only to reveal Himself (to me especially) in ways that I don't think would have ever happened had we not been faithful to His calling. It's hard living here in "the hole in the Bible belt" but I'm getting to see God in new ways.


Matthew 24:44-46
So you also must be ready. The son of Man will come at an hour when you don't expect him. "Suppose a master puts one of his servants in charge of the other servants in his house. The servant's job is to give them their food at the right time. The master wants a faithful and wise servant for this. It will be good for the servant if the master finds him doing his job when the master returns.


A very wise friend told me.....You don't have to be successful, just be faithful. Wow, how true!


T-rav and I love the words to this song, especially now

Relearning

At one point in my life I knew the 10 commandments, or at least I hope I used to.

Sadly, today as I was trying to recall them, I could only name from memory 4 of them. FOUR!!! Ridiculous.

So since I'm learning Geology as a 3 year old, I guess God is going to teach me His commandments like one as well.

I'm STILL a work in progress, but I pray that I stay teachable.

Here is what I'm we are learning in the form of rhyme from the Go Fish Guys:

One - No other God but the One that is true
Don't worship any other, that's #2
Three - use the name of God only with respect
Four - on Sunday take a rest
# five is just for you
listen to your mom and dad, cause what they say you gotta do
Six - don't ever take somebody's life
Seven - feels like Heaven but only with your husband or wife
eight goes along with # nine
don't steal from others and don't ever lie
Ten - If your friend has something that you think is cool
don't ever wish that is was yours, and that's the final rule.

I drew and cut some numbers out of construction paper and hold them up for J to see as we memorize this rhyme together.

He's a visual little fella, so I'll give him all the cheats he needs to write em on his heart.

Love coffee?

I do!

I also have some friends that are trying to bring home their baby from a hard part of the world.....the same place that is the birthplace for coffee. What a beautiful coincidence.

Click here to find out how you can get more bang for your coffee buck.......a kingdom come kinda bang!

If you don't like the scenery, then change it

That's one of my favorite mental quotes. I repeat it often to myself when I'm frustrated so it doesn't turn into pouting.

Since I can't change the scenery in living in one of the most liberal cities in the US, I might as well dig deeper into gaining strength from Christ and doing His will in this city.

Or as this verse sums it up with a nice little bow on top

Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but over come (master) evil with good (emphasis mine)

Discouragement has recently come our way in many different forms, but God has made it clear what He is doing. T-rav and I have decided that we can either be apart of that in serving Him or we can just sit back idoliy and watch God move in the hearts of those all around us. We refuse the later even though it would be easier on some days, but what a waste of time that would be.


saying "cheese". loves getting his pic taken

loves to have clothes on, so bizarre to me since I'm used to a streaker. He found J's favorite pj's in his drawer and brought them to me to put them on him.

His favorite treat in the evening....sorbet

saying "cheese" again. it's so cute to hear

He's a trained monkey, he'll do this on the command "let me see your squishy face"

Making faces is J's favorite pastime with the camera

This is what going for a walk looks like now-a-days. How did this happen?

J is a Geologist in the making. He is obsessed with Dinosaurs and loves looking for fossils and he'll spend hours in our backyard looking for them. He and daddy found some oysters shells the other night out back that had been fossilized. For once I was actually interested, I guess when it's explained to me at a 3 year old level I find it more interesting. lol!

Here's J hunting for them and C picking up any ol rock to show to daddy. He's figured this stuff out

C losing interest, J gaining more

Who is this little toddler?

and this big boy?

Yes, daddy is his hero too :-) . How blessed we are to have T-rav. He loves God, loves us and works hard

The ride back, they usually tucker out after a while

This is why we call him "kitty"

Where's kitty?

And a video from 2 months ago, but it's too cute to not post because it's outdated