The day I had

So Baby M has run a low-grade fever for the past 2 days.  B has picked up the habit of whining since I think he hasn't gotten as much attention since Baby M needs a bit more at this moment.  With that said, I thought that I was about to lose my mind today!  Daddy T came home and rescued me quickly so that I could have a few minutes of quiet. 

Today was the day that neither child could play with each other or by themselves.  This means that they had to follow me around all day.  The whining got so bad by dinner that I stuck Baby M in the crib (which she thoroughly hates), put B in his room, and turned up my music so incredibly loud that I couldn't hear any crying or talking.  I then preceded to cry because I felt so bad for letting Baby M cry but I was at the end.  I felt like I had nothing like to give.  I needed to be recharged.  I cried.  I prayed.  A miracle didn't happen, but at the end of the night when we were praying in bed, B leaned over and said "Mommy, I'm sorry for disobeying so much.  I love you."  At least my night ended well and I can finally hear my thoughts that are roaming around in my head.  The problem is that I'm too tired to process what my thoughts are!  I just know that I am now sitting and enjoying this moment.

Submission

Submission. What thoughts do you have when you hear that word mentioned? Is it that of someone with no backbone or who has no will? Perhaps it's someone who is weak and gets run over by others. Is submission something that you desire or something that repulses you?

For me and my marriage, submission is not something that I run away from or hate. It's something that I love and that I embrace. I like submission. Is it easy? No. Is it called of me to do by God? Yes. I'm thankful that my husband also knows and understands the word submission and he always takes my opinions and thoughts into consideration, prays over it and seeks counsel when he needs to, and then comes to a final decision. I know that the final decision was made with lots of thoughts and prayer.

John Piper says it best in his book The Momentary Marriage when he says what submission is not:

• It is not agreeing with everything my husband says.
• It does not mean leaving my brain or will at the wedding altar.
• It does not mean every effort to avoid changing my husband.
• It does not mean putting the will of my husband above the will of Christ.
• It does not mean that I get my personal/spiritual strength primarily through my husband.
• It does not mean that I act out of fear.

What Piper says submission is: "Submission is the divine calling of a wife to love and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts." This is the submission I embrace in my walk with Christ and in my walk with my husband.

So much fun

What were we doing

in these silly poses

that could possibly

lead

to

this?

If your answer was playing the Kinect, then you'd be correct.

We did the track and field one and it was awesome!

I did fear for Daddy T's life after he raced my brother, though.

How we celebrated

We celebrated Christmas at the farm on Christmas Eve.  Actually, my brother and Aunt Molls and us came up the day before Christmas Eve so we could see my Mom and Dad a little longer.  We had the best "Christmas Eve."  We love to sing Christmas carols because for some reason, my dad's heart enlarges 2 sizes on Christmas Eve and Christmas and he does things that he normally wouldn't do. 

I packed some of my therapy drums and instruments and my guitar and songbook and took them to the farm so we could sing that night.  Everybody had an instrument and played it to their best of ability and sang.  The kids loved it the most.  The djembe is the most prized drum for them...well, actually it's the tubano, but I left that at home!  It was actually fun to make music with  my brother again.  We had done it so much growing up since we were both in band together and were given lots of opportunities to play together in jazz band, etc.  We hadn't actually played together in quite a while, though, so that was my favorite part.  I do hope that becomes a new tradition for our family.  Even Daddy T obliged us and played the bells.

Aunt Molls has rhythm!

I am a foreigner.

I have been really pressed to study 1 Peter and commit it to memory.  I don't know if I'm going to be facing trials and that's why or if I need to be ready to help someone going through a trial.  Like I said, I have no clue, but I know that God has very clearly shown me in 3 completely different ways that He is desiring for me to study 1 Peter, despite the fact that I had already started Romans! 

So, here I am studying 1 Peter precept upon precept and letting Scripture interpret Scripture, as Kay Arthur says.  I have loved doing her studies and decided that I would do her study on 1 Peter to aid in my discovery of what the Word is saying.

Today as I was studying, God really spoke to me in such a wonderful way.  I love it when He reveals new things to me and helps me to see things in a new way.  I was doing a word study on "alien" and "stranger" and then started listing the ways I would feel if I was living as a foreigner in a land.  If I had to guess, I would be excited and would do all I could to prepare myself for this "new" land.  I would research it, find places to visit, and immerse myself in it.  I would learn all I could about it and would have goals made out of what I wanted to see/do while I was there.  It would be a time that would be somewhat freeing, I would think.  Only because I would know that I would only be there for a set amount of time.  After that, I would be returning back home to where I was familiar with things.  Not only that, but I would have a purpose for being there, whether it was visiting, working, etc.  So whatever that purpose was, I would be fulfilling that purpose to the best of my ability.  I wouldn't go to that "new" land and waste my days by sitting on the chair and watching television.  I would be out, meeting people and partaking in what I knew would help me fulfill my goal.

Now, when I think of how God has said we are foreigners (like in 1 Peter 1:1, for example....but that's just one of many instances), I realized that I had never taken into consideration the things that I wrote above.  I as a believer am only here for a moment before I reside in my permanent home in heaven with Jesus Christ.  But do I live in this "new" land with a purpose?  Am I excited about it or burdened?  Do I attempt to accomplish the goals laid out before me to the best of my ability or do I shy away from them?  Do I waste my days doing things that don't matter or do I fill my days with the things that God wants me to accomplish while I'm here?  How well do I know this "new" world?  How well do I know my inheritance that God has placed in heaven for me?  Do I truly believe there's an inheritance set apart for me that is "pure and undefiled and beyond the reach of change and decay?"  Do I truly believe that?  Does my life reflect where my true home is?  When people look at me, do they see that I'm not comfortable in this world?  Do they see me accomplishing goals that Christ has for me to do?

I challenge you to live as if you are a foreigner.  Make a list of how you think you would feel if you were living as a foreigner.  Then apply that to your Christian walk.

Encouragement for Mothers

If I could share one book with you that has been of the most encouragement to me, this book would be it.  Rachel is so real and honest and creative and is the most encouraging woman that I've read lately.  Most of the mothering books frustrate me because it's all about "me time" and really focuses on how I can change my kids.  But you know what?  It's not about me changing my kids.  I mean, yes, my kids do need to change, but in the words of Michael Jackson, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror." 

In order for my kids to change, my attitude towards my kids have to change.  The way I look at the things that my kids do has to change.  For example, chaos seems to surround me when I need to be out the door.  One kid will need his shoes one.  The other will lose their shoes.  Then the first child will drop their water and make a mess.  Then the second child will have a dirty diaper.  It seems like the cycle continues.  All of this builds up until I feel like I'm loosing my mind and I explode.  Rachel shares that if you break it down, it's really not overwhelming when you think about what child individually needs.  So she sets the timer for 20 minutes and knows that in 20 minutes that this chaos will end.  I love it!  This has been the best thing for me.  Making sure that I'm focusing on my heart and my attitude has made a huge difference. 

Attitude is a heart issue.  I want my children to have a heart to obey and a heart to do things willingly and with the right attitude; not whining or complaining.  How can I make sure that my kids have the right attitude about doing things when my attitude towards them can be described as less than stellar at times?  My prayer is that their hearts are turned to God and that they will always restore the fellowship with others when it's broken.  In my mothering, my goal is to address their heart.  So to do that, I need to start with my own heart....and that's not easy.

Thanksgiving on the farm

Thanksgiving Day was spent on the farm this year.  It was wonderful to see most of our family that came from Florida and Louisiana to visit.  We missed Ash and Amb this year, but we'll hopefully get to see them this summer. 

Baby M braved the after Thanksgiving shopping with the girls this year.  She actually did really good.  Thankfully, it wasn't quite as busy in the college city near the country farm.  We actually had front row parking which is unheard of.  Of course, we waited to go until the morning because there wasn't anything pressing that we just "needed."

The weekend after Thanksgiving we spent with Daddy T's family, which was a lot of fun.  I honestly love Thanksgiving because all of my (Mommy T's) family usually gets to come in, which makes it just as much fun for Christmas for me.  Hopefully everyone can be there next year and it'll be just like old times.

Baby M, Mama, Papa, and Aunt J

Blake showing Uncle J how to use the iPad.

Baby M getting ready to feed the horse.

B loading up his tractor with rocks so he can throw them in the pond.

Proof that my kids still exist...

I know that it's been quite a while since I've posted pictures.  Why would that be?  Because I haven't had a chance to download the pictures to my computer.  My mother forced me to do it today when she brought me some pictures from her camera, so now I can at least update you in pictures of what the past 2 months have been like.  Aren't you glad?! 

Have they grown?

Papa and Baby m

B and the djembe...by far his favorite drum

the favorite thing the kids love to do on the farm...feed the horse and mule

My year of decluttering-Week 1

I feel like our house in a state of disorganization.  Part of it is because some things are boxed up and put up until our house sells.  However, I'm finding that we don't use half of the stuff that we put in storage.  Granted a lot of that stuff is baby clothes, baby toys, etc, but I realized that I have a lot of stuff in our house that I don't use.  I find myself moving the same things to different spots just because I don't have a place for it.  I figured that I might as well go ahead and start organizing and purging so that moving will be a lot easier.  But that means letting go of things that I tend to hold on to just because of sentimental reasons and not because of need.

So I decided to take each week and organize one thing.  This past week, I organized our pantry and took an inventory of what I had apparently stocked up on.  I was actually thrilled to know that I had several things in there to make complete meals but had no memory of ever purchasing it.  I went through spices (because I am always using those, thanks to my friend Jaime) and organized them and shelved the ones I had duplicates of.  I felt so much better after going through and finding a place for everything in our pantry.  It definitely made putting up groceries today a lot easier. 

What's my organization section for next week?  The refrigerator!  That means a good old-fashioned scrub and washing of the shelves and organizing it.  My other goal?  Keep the pantry clean!

Best letter EVER!

As I've written before, we sponsor several kids from both Compassion and World Vision.  I have a big heart for all of our kids and am thankful that we are able to support all of them.  They each are a big part of our lives and are prayed for and written to often.  Two of them are B and Baby M's age...the exact birthdays of them.  It helps us to know where those two children are developmentally and one day our kids will be able to write to them.  Two are teens, one about to graduate out this year.  Two are elementary age. 

I received a letter from one, Rex, that is in the Philippines.  His sister writes us several times a month and I have learned so much about Rex and his family.  When I opened the letter from him earlier this week, I was overjoyed!  Why?  Because she shared that Rex acknowledged Christ as his Savior and he is now my brother in Christ!  That news made my day! 

I love how just a small amount of money each month can lead to eternal life for others.  It seems like such a small thing to just give money but in doing so, others are able to the job that I can't do due to logistical reasons.  I'm so thankful to God for the people he has placed in Rex's life and I'm praying for them to mentor him as he grows and that in some small way, I might be able to be encouragement to him. 

If you have ever thought about sponsoring a child, you should.  It does make a difference.  We get so many letters from our older kids telling us what they were able to buy with the money given to them.  Clothes and other essential things.  A small sacrifice for us makes a big difference in the lives of those that are hopeless.  Just a little money provides them hope for the future and skills to change their lives and give them a reason to do their best and to hope that things will be different for them than it was for their parents.  You provide food, health services, and education.  They also learn about Christ and all He did/does for us.  Who knows.  You may gain a brother/sister through sponsorship as well!