Things Only a 5 Year Old Can Show You......if you let him

I have always been so proud of myself at how I grew up in a home where there was alot of yelling and anger and yet I never repeated the cycle of yelling.
I tend to be really laid back.

I'm going to tell you a story about something that was said to me today......

Today I was washing the floor by hand so my head was down and I was deep in thought( I do my best thinking down there). My 5 year old came up put his sweet hand on my head and I said " oh hun, hop out I'm washing the floor" he turned around and scooted out. But he sat in the entrance of the kitchen and he said " Mom, I don't like it when your mad." I didn't look up but kept washing " I'm not mad Presley" He said " ya the other time you were mad I could tell by your eyes".
Sadly I really can't remember which time he is talking about but it is something that is bugging him. Not an hour later I was brushing Natalie's hair and she said " mom did you know you hurt Presley's feelings" I was shocked! Why can't I recall what I did?? I asked her why and she said "When you were talking to dad" again I can not remember ANYTHING. I said " OK thanks Natalie. Privately called Chris at work and said " did we argue about something in front of the kids?" He was as sure as I was that no nothing was said...

For the rest of the day I racked my brain and really thought about what anger is and what is could look like in the eyes of a small child.

I'm starting to realize that the spirit of anger is JUST as harmful as someone who blows up.
So what is anger? Anger is a feeling and feelings are just flesh so we have no right to be angry!
Then today I read this "There are some things you just don’t do at your house.

You don’t bring X rated movies into your house and watch them as a family.

You don’t bring an idol into your living room and bow down before it.

You don’t have a witch come into your house and hold a seance.

And you don’t get angry in your house.

Ephesians 4: 31 says, "let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger... be put away from you."


See what hit me today, is my children are spiritual beings and they sense things just like I do.
No I may not be the mom that screams at her kids, or the mom who is flipping out, but I have displayed a spirit of anger that my children sense! And it was hurting them.



As women we believe so many worldly lies, like it's who I am, it's that time of the month and everything else we says to justify our flesh. We need to get real with the truth and call it what it is. SIN! we need to ask our spouses you love and care about us to point out the spirit of anger in us when they start to see it creep up. And we need to be humble enough to repent. Not only to Jesus but to our family.


The first words to each of my family members each day should be words of praise. Those words set the stage for the rest of the relationships that day.
Praise is a huge motivator. Praise is a magnet that draws your children's hearts to you. Praise is also a defense for you against wrong words and attitudes. So today I really took all my emotions captive, it's funny because I really had to take notice and repent of the deep sigh or the "oh dear" when something happens. I prayed that He would fill me with His Spirit and produce fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life.

A Girly Photo Shoot

My neighbor and I took Natalie out this evening to take some 7 year old birthday photo's.

I am so happy with them cause they captured her sweetness so much.

(this is a post by Tiffany but I thought it fit so well)

There is a rising epidemic in our culture.

Have you noticed it?

The length of childhood, for little girls especially, is rapidly decreasing. It is a sad phenomenon. When I was a child, I can remember playing with my dolls until I was 14 or 15 years old. There was no shame in it, no push for me to grow up. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case today. Everywhere I look I see little girls dressing older, talking older, and acting older. In my opinion this should not be. We are taking something very special from our daughters when we don’t allow them to enjoy a lengthy childhood.

Childhood, this marvelous girlhood, only happens one time. We need to protect it and cherish it for our little girls. I want this for my daughter, but the cultural pressure suffocating these dear ones, pushing them to look and to act grown up is overwhelming. However, we as mommies, can push back. Here are some of the ways that we can protect childhood for our daughters.

Let’s limit media – the obvious is TV, but also magazines (let us be careful as moms what magazines we are reading), music, internet, video games, and even some books. They may seem harmless at first, but our children are so impressionable. Is this what we really want impressed on them?

Let’s allow our little girls to look like little girls, pretty bows, frilly shirts, twirly skirts, braids, pig tails and the like help to preserve this girlhood period a bit longer. While it is fun for our daughters to play dress up and experiment with our makeup, let’s keep it for play for now and put the dress up clothes back in the closet and the makeup back in our drawer when play time is over.

While we are raising these little ones to one day be homemakers, and that is the majority of the reason for this site, we do not have to push them into being little women just yet. They can learn a lot from us by our modeling, rather than formally training them in every task. Let them be little and practice in their toy room with their baby dolls, strollers, kitchen sets, and ironing boards. There will be plenty of time for our daughters to do it for real later.

I also strongly believe that allowing our little girls special time with their daddy keeps them little longer. Being accepted and loved and cherished by their daddy, keeps them from longing for that affection outside the home. Essentially it keeps her little longer. Along with that, little girls also need fun interaction with their mommy. Let’s show them our silly, soft side. Get on the floor and be crazy, create zoo animals out of play dough at the kitchen table, craft with glue and scissors and messy, but oh so delightful, glitter, put puzzles together, read and snuggle on the couch. Allow her be a child in her own home.

I think that a long, sunny childhood is an amazing preparation for adulthood, and it is one of the most beautiful gifts we can give to our girls. We cannot slow down the clock, but we can make the most of the minutes that God blesses us with.

Faith Like a Mustard Seed.

Tonight we took everyone for a long drive, the little ones napped 4 hours this afternoon so bedtime was nowhere in the near future. As we were out we got talking about the huge abundance of mustard plants that seem to be taking over ever free space along train tracks or open fields. I have never noticed this in our city before.
It's funny cause as we were out Chris and I were talking about faith and trusting in God and how brutally hard it can be sometimes.

On Mother's Day this year we went on a day trip to an old historic ranch on our way home the suburban was making some pretty scary grinding sounds. And it was only by the Grace of God it made it into our driveway. Within a few days we had a quote of how much it was going to cost us. After swallowing really hard we said "OK lets pray".

Fast forward 2 weeks later, God started speaking to both Chris and I about something that he wanted us to do. It took us both a few days to put the pieces together that God was speaking to us the same thing.
As it turns out we both felt God asking us to give away a certain percentage of our income away.
What on earth!!
Why right now? We can't even get our truck fixed!

Fast forward a few more weeks, the truck is fixed but we can't pick it up because we didn't have the money to pay for it. So it sat at the shop for 2 weeks. finally the company calls and says they really need us to move it. So we swallow again and take Chris's whole cheque and pay for it. We were scared! really scared but we both know with out a shadow of a doubt that God is faithful. But we just used all our food money, bill money, rent money to pay for this.
Yet we still had faith that everything was going to be OK. The long and short of it, Our cupboards are full, our rent is paid, and so are the bills. We don't know how ( well we do) but it doesn't make sense on paper. But the funny thing is we never were given money, we were never given anything. God made everything stretch. And oddly, when I checked my bank today it still said $0.00. But I used my debt card just yesterday!!!

OK so back to our drive to night, there is a ton of mustard plants everywhere. And it reminded us so much of our faith.
They say a mustard seed is one of the tiniest seeds and honestly when the truck broke and then we felt to give what we did have away which was certainly not "extra" I don't know if even mustard seed size faith was what I had. It was so scary and really hard not to think logical.

But I know deep in my heart that mustard seed faith moves mountains. And no matter how weak I think my faith is, it's enough to get through what we are facing because we have "little faith" in a big God.

Matthew 17:20 says, "If you have faith as small as the mustard seed, nothing will be impossible to you."


Little Faith + Big God = Huge Results!

Well Hello..

I have been wanting to post for a few days now, but I was consumed my a book that stole every free moment in my evening.
I joined a book club for the month of June, we were reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.

“To come to see that God’s love is a deep, warm love—a love constantly lavished on us quite irrespective of our merits, a love that cost the cross—is to reach a turning point. It is impossible to experience this love and remain unchanged. A man may respond to it with all his being, saying in effect, ‘This is tremendous. Deep down this is what I have always wanted.’ He will then open his heart to God’s love and respond with an answering love. On the other hand he may reject this self-sacrificing love, thus joining the succession of those who put Christ on the cross. What he cannot do is remain neutral. Attempting to remain neutral in the face of such love is itself a rejection, for love like this cries out to be received.”
Leon Morris
Testaments of Love, 165
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Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:8 (ESV)
~~~

God’s love for you is not one of toleration but of tender compassion. You may struggle with believing that God loves you because you keep on discovering ugliness in your self-life. You keep stumbling in your daily walk and wonder how God could really love you when you fail so often. You may have become disgusted with yourself and thought that God must feel the same way about you. God has known perfectly the worst about you, ugliness that you have not yet discovered about yourself, and for reasons He never explains He set His love upon you for all eternity. His love is patient and kind forever. His love always extends forgiveness with longsuffering towards you. His steadfast love never fails. God wants you to receive His unexplainable love in your unworthy state and thank Him for it with a worshiping heart. __________________________________________________________________________

This weekend we drove down to the creek where our kids love to swim. But due to the month of rain we had the creek was no longer a creek but a rushing river. After we oood and awwwwd over the power of this water we went home to fill up our pool.

The kids swam for 5 hours straight! I came in the house while the baby snoozed and made the most yummy sausage pinwheels for a light dinner.

With all this rain we have been getting we have really been plugging away with school. I have been working on creating a summer schedule for us all, I think we are going to work really hard until August when Chris and Austin leave for Guatemala. Zachary and I have a running list of things to do while they are gone.

My First Fondant Cake

So my friend I tried out making a fondant cake together to welcome the newest little peanut in our church. Took us 3 hours this afternoon.

Grace All Over Again

Thoughts at the end of May, this post may possibly be all over the place.

I can remember two other times in my spiritual walk where I have felt the way I do. The first time was soon after I became saved and the second time was about three years ago. It's hard to explain what I am feeling. During these times I experienced major growth in my walk but yet it is very painful and yet nothing is happening. Odd? Yea I know... If I were to explain it by fleshy feelings the word that comes to mind is "lonely" yet that can't make sense. I have so much going on.

The Lord had started preparing my heart for all this back in January when we felt Him asking us to step out in a certain way a little more. This past month the Lord decided it was time to show me my legalistic heart. This was such a blow to me, so much that there were times I was reading my bible and it was hard to breath. It was like pulling the rug out from my feet. I realized how much comfort I took in my idea's, it felt safe. It made me feel in control of things my family, my homeschool, my church, my pride. my image. But the sad thing is I have been missing out, He showed me there is nothing save about it at all. It is a slow suffocation that is deadly to His Will for your life. The hard to breath verses that were bursting out of the pages at me were things like Hebrews 11:6 " without faith it is impossible to please God."
I have been a homeschooling mom for 7 years now and for 7 years I have jumped into a culture and blocked everything else out. It's so much easier and comfortable when all your friends believe what you do. But this was another pull to the rug under my feet, we are not called to be a comfortable people! We are called to 100% trust and lean on Him.

Tonight we were in Walmart, and the past few times I've been there the line ups have been down the aisle with three tills open. And every time I have gone I keep ending up with the same young girl. Honestly by the fourth time getting her I was rolling my eyes and really annoyed that I kept ending up in this till. She's a little socially backwards and starts a conversation with the customers 4 or 5 ahead of you and just keeps talking. Today was different though, as fast as I was feeling annoyed and going to back out of the line when I saw her He spoke to me " love your neighbor as yourself', When you love Me you love the least of these" OUCH!


"...Sometimes people add many other factors to their devotion to Christ. Instead of purity of devotion to Christ, they are more devoted to dress, diet, denomination, choice in educating their children, and entertainments they avoid, just to name a few...

To make matters worse, they have so elevated these things that they see them as synonymous to love for Christ.

The loftiness of such thinking against the knowledge of God is revealed when they can't love or fellowship with others who don't hold their convictions. Instead of tearing down walls between brothers and sisters in Christ, they build walls. It is possible the ones who don't hold their convictions have a more pure devotion to Jesus Christ and His work on the cross than they do..."
(N. Wakefield from "Tearing Down Walls.")

Some may worry about me after reading this, but the truth is on the outside my life will look no different, my convictions are still the same. But what has changed is my heart. And for that it brings me to tears. The Lord truly does an amazing work, it breaks me to think of what He has done for me.

Some Interesting Things About Me

I've been thinking lately on why I can easily get so frustrated with people and I *think* it comes down to being an introvert.
I am always thinking. I think this is why I enjoy my blog so much, I can say what I feel like saying. I much more prefer written communication over talking. In my marriage when I need to talk but don't know how because it's too heavy for me I keep a written journal for Chris to read. But I think this is why I am so misunderstood with my friends.

As an introvert I have a tendency to always be observing. Which can easily be mistaken for being "snobby" It's funny because I like being around people, though not necessarily for the purpose of interacting.
But, as a introvert I need solitude in order to recharge. Solitude is a necessity, I don't thrive too long with out it.

I need alot of time alone. This may not make much sense coming from a mother of 6, but being alone with just my family is "alone" to me. Spending to much time with people drains me I slowly begin to shut down, until it becomes necessary to withdraw from the situation.

I found out things unique to me, as an introvert, that I had never thought of. For example, I don't do well with interruptions. Why? Because of my need to think before I respond. This often causes extroverts to grow impatient, which is why we tend to have other people answer for us. I usually don't get past an "Uh..." or a "Hmm..." because by the time I'm ready to answer, someone has already answered for me!

Introverts dislike small talk. We prefer deep meaningful conversations with one or two close friends.

Although I love quiet solitude, I also love having a few deep and intimate relationships. With these two things, I thrive.