Sweet Blessings

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend spending time with family and eating lots of delicious food. Tim set up an old train set for John Caden that he had when he was a kid and Anna and I had fun making scarves together. So very thankful for our children! "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." Psalm 127:3

Dinner in Our PJ's

Not sure why it took me four years to figure this out, but I finally realized that there's no rule that requires kids to have their bath immediately before bed, so on evenings when Tim's not going to be here to help with the bedtime routine, we get baths early and eat dinner in our pajama attire (which includes puppy dog slippers for John Caden)! The kids think it's a special fun treat and it sure makes Mommy's evening a little less hectic! (Singing along to a Raffi CD while we eat and having ice cream for dessert makes it even more fun)!

"For the Beauty of the Earth"

"For the beauty of the earth

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,This our hymn of grateful praise."

I am reminded of this hymn every time we go out to play in our backyard. :) Creation most definitely declares the glory of the Lord!

Encouragement to a Mom's Soul

Much thanks to Tennyson for passing along such a great devotional to me today from Proverbs 31 Ministries.

Communing Over Chaos

Whitney Capps

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." John 15:4 (NIV)

I am out-going and chatty. I like to make fun of myself. I love to laugh. I enjoy being with people - until I don't. You see, at heart I am an introvert. At some point I can sense my energy waning. I begin to crave quiet, silence and solitude.
This is why I cherish quiet time with the Lord. I love the stillness of sitting and reading the Word or a book that turns my heart toward Jesus. My husband knows that one way to fill my love tank is to give me an evening of going out to dinner alone: just me, Jesus and a good book. (All you extroverts just cringed at the thought of eating alone didn't you?) Don't get me wrong, I adore my family, but I need mental white space.
However, with three kids under age four, quiet time with the Lord is an endangered species. I don't often get to go the bathroom by myself. If the water closet isn't a quiet place, you can imagine the chaos that follows me to my prayer closet.
For a few months after our youngest was born I lived in a spiritual desert. My soul was parched. I was desperate for quiet time with Jesus and prayed earnestly for God to help me find time to be alone with Him. Faithfully, He always provided, but often my tired and flesh-wrapped spirit dozed off in prayer or got distracted by other things.
I couldn't consistently make it work. After several months of mostly failed attempts, I cried out to God, "I don't know how to be alone with You!"
"Daughter, you don't have to be alone with Me. Just be with Me. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you."
Rather than give up on being with Jesus because it's not like it used to be, my Savior is asking me to abide with Him all day. God has ordained this season of my life and He knows even better than I do how much my children demand of me. In the clamor of the sword fights and confusion in the playroom, He is my hiding place.
I am learning to seize each moment, and see it as an opportunity to fellowship with Jesus. While my kids recite "God is great; God is good," I have a chat with Jesus. When I feel alienated from girlfriends, I read a magazine article. P31 Woman and Today's Christian Woman magazines are spiritual lifeboats for me in this season. While my kids do art at the kitchen table, I read a psalm or two. Whenever possible I try to have praise music playing in our house. Sometimes singing those lyrics is the closest my heart may come to meaningful prayer time all day.
Please hear me. I am not suggesting that these brief moments should replace consistent, focused times of prayer and Bible study. Those habits are hallmarks of Christian discipleship and growth. I am learning, however, to rethink my ideas on fellowship with Jesus. In this season of my life it's not so much the quantity of quiet reflection as it is the steady communing over chaos. But hey, at least we are together!

Father, Your daughter longs to be with You. Remind me of Your constant presence. May I seize opportunities to enjoy You throughout my day. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

A Lovey for Mommy and Daddy???

Being one of the few Saturdays that I didn't have to work, we tried to convince the kids to snuggle in bed with us this morning. But John Caden would have nothing of it---he had already come and gone from our room by 6am and left one of his "puppies" that he had brought in behind in our bed. Anna came in right after John Caden, and not realizing that John Caden had already been in to see us, saw the puppy dimly in the dark and in an excited voice asked, "Mommy!!! Did you and Daddy get a lovey to sleep with just like me and John Caden???" How funny first of all to see her so excited about the idea of Mommy and Daddy now having a "lovey" to sleep with, but then also how cute of her to think we shared it!

Sweet Anna

Wish I knew what thoughts were behind this mischievous smile!

Occasionally, when we're heading out of Anna's bedroom after putting her down at night, she'll say in a quick, sweet, chipper little voice, "Wanna sleep with me for a little bit?" Sometimes she gives the invite to Daddy and sometimes to Mommy. But because she's always been "Miss Independent" and has never been the snugly type, her offer is always irresistible. So last night when she asked, "Daddy, wanna sleep with me for a little bit?," a very tired Tim eagerly agreed. We usually only lie down with her for a few minutes, so realizing that her Daddy was staying longer than usual last night, I overheard her say, "Daddy, why are you sleeping with me so long tonight?" There was no response from Tim. So again she asked, louder this time, "Daddy, why are you sleeping with me so long?" Realizing that her Daddy was sound asleep and evidently feeling that he had outstayed his welcome, she then said, "But Mommy will be sad---Mommy wants you to sleep with her."

A Hike Up the Mountain

Kennesaw Mountain is another one of our family's favorite places to visit. The weather was perfect today for a hike!

One day a picture of me and the kids all smiling, sitting still, looking at the camera WILL be captured, but today was another day that it wasn't!