A week (and then some) in review...

Well, last week passed in a blur. So much went on, and I can't believe I am just now getting around to posting! Some things that I wanted to be sure to get on here:

My baby boy has learned to really crawl, pull himself up, and cut his first tooth in a matter of days. It's killing me!! I imagine he could be walking by January...unless I can find a way to tie him down without being reported to children's services.

Tuesday night I was feeling the stress of trying to get everything ready to leave for Erie in the morning, so needless to say, I wasn't the easiest person to be around. While I was scrambling around getting dinner ready, Ethan came up to me and in the sweetest voice said, "Mommy, is there anything I can do to help you?" I love that boy.

Karis is becoming quite the artist. She's a girl after my own heart when it comes to stuff like this! She drew about 20 pictures of Christmas trees and snowmen at my parent's house. Here is one of her masterpieces.
And Natalie. The girl is a wild woman and she's very sharp! The nursery worker at church told us today that she knows all the kids names and who's sippy belongs to who...she's always on the ball and making sure everyone stays in line. Here is a picture of here playing in the snow we got last Tuesday. It's really the first time she's been able to move around in it...and of course she was very mad when it was time to go inside. I could hear her screaming in the house as I finished shoveling the drive!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent last Saturday with Mark's family (and actually got his parents to play pictionary with us...I haven't laughed that hard in a while!). We were in Erie for a few days with my family. Dad and I did the Turkey Trot 5K, which was very cold! And of course I have to throw it in here that I beat him - for the first time in my life!

I am so thankful for an amazing family. I am thankful for a wonderful church. I am thankful for my MOPS girlfriends. I am thankful that God chooses to bless me...even when I don't deserve it.

Dealing with Sin...

Since our church's Thirst conference there have been a few things that have been at the forefront of my thinking. One of the major things I've been focusing on is dealing with sin. I was convicted by the speaker's teaching about irrationaly or vainly dealing with our sin. I am definitely one of those people who takes the "vain" approach. I'm soft on myself, I make excuses and often blame others/circumstances for my shortcomings. I am usually justifying and other times ignoring my sins rather than confessing or repenting. I realized how dangerous this really is because, not only is God serious about sin, but it totally disregards the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for me.

I have spent the past week and a half trying to focus more on this. I've quickly realized I have so much more sin in my life than I ever realized. Our speaker listed 78 sins...I circled close to 40 of them as things I've dealt with in the past couple of months! That's pretty sickening...even more sickening is that I can only recall confessing to the Lord about one of them! As I've made the decision to work on this, Satan has hit me in some areas of major weakness (jealousy, discontent, and second guessing some decisions that I believe God called Mark and me to make in the past).

I am choosing to live by I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." So, if you don't hear much from me...I'm busy confessing...

On a lighter note
We had a conference with Ethan's Kindergarten teacher last night. It went well and I am encouraged that he will be a little more challenged when January rolls around. We struggled with the decision to send Ethan to kindergarten last year because he didn't turn 5 until after our district's cut-off date (we could have had him tested or sent him to MCS again), but decided it was best to hold off for social reasons, especially since we were told that Lexington's program was pretty challenging. Well, I'm not trying to brag, Ethan is not being really being challenged at all. The boy is reading chapter books and doing 4 digit addition problems for fun, so when they work on identifying numbers 1-10 and learning site words like "a" and "my", he comes home saying he's bored. The good thing is Ethan is a bright spot in his teacher's day. His class is a difficult one, but she can always count on him to be a good example and do what he's told.

Also, Karis brought home a certificate for a free meal at Burger King for her obedience in class. Her teacher says Karis is so obedient she does what she's told almost before the teacher asks :O).

I am so thankful that God has blessed us with four wonderful children!

Beautiful Girls, Bird Feeders, and a Bitterly Cold Run...

After a busy couple of days it seemed like I finally had a chance to spend some time enjoying the kids. Natalie is totally obsessed with books right now. She will sit on any free lap and look through books, pointing and saying every word she knows...and even learning some new ones. Today she learned "jeweepish"... or jellyfish...and "ocopoof"...or octopus :O). Love it!

At Natalie's naptime it was Karis' day to pick what we played, so she wanted to play with some makeup and her vanity. We gave each other some pretty "hot" makeovers!

We also made some birdfeeders with some pinecones, "fat", peanut butter, oatmeal, cornmeal, and birdseed. It should be interesting to see what kind of birds we attract before the squirrels get to them!

When Mark got home he was nice enough to stay with the kids while I ventured out to the bike trail for a 3 mile run. I try to do most of my runs in the neighborhood so it doesn't take up as much time, but with all the hills it is hard for me to go much more than two miles. Since I'm running a 5k with my dad next Thursday, I wanted to get in a couple longer runs. Anyway...it was pretty freezing, but really refreshing. I got to do a lot of thinking, some of which maybe I'll share in the next few days. For now, it is definitely time for bed!

A Good Day...

We had a nice day getting our shopping done for Operation Christmas Child. Ethan and Karis each took $5 to contribute to filling our totes with plenty of goodies. It is always fun to see what they pick out. We got to do lunch at Burger King and head to WalMart for a few other things. The weather was terrible, so it was nice to come home to a fire in the fireplace...we even made some s'mores!

He fights for ME!

I came across Exodus 14:14 in a book the other day and I'm claiming it as my verse. Here's the reason:

I have a Promises For Moms book that just lists verses on a bunch of different topics. I was scanning the topic on "rest" when the words of this verse struck me. I wanted to know the context in which it was said, though, so I have spent my quiet time the past couple days reading through Exodus 14.

I'll be honest and say that although I have heard the story of Moses leading God's people free and parting the Red Sea many times, I don't ever remember actually reading it straight from my Bible. Exodus 14 is the chapter where Moses has lead the Israelites away from the Egyptians. The Egyptians pursue and the Israelites panic. They are afraid they are going to die in the desert, and they are angry with Moses because they would have rather remained slaves than suffer that fate. Moses tells them not to be afraid, but stand firm. In verse 14 he says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

I took a few things from my reading. I feel like I have some things in my life that I really need to change. I have some habits and hangups that I just need to get rid of, but they are going to pursue me like the Egyptians pursued the Israelites. I am also feeling like I need to flee from the culture we are living in. I don't want to be absorbed into our Godless, materialistic, self-centered society, nor do I want my family absorbed into it.

One of my problems is I try to fight these things on my own. I totally stink at being still. I go and I do and I go some more and do some more and I think and I try this and I try that and then I think some more and I try something else. If I could just give all that up, God would fight for me. He would part the sea and I'd find myself on the other side and all that "stuff" would be buried.

So, I need to be still. I don't mean that I need to find a quiet place to sit (although that would be beneficial, it's next to impossible in this season of my life). I mean I need to still MY efforts to do this stuff on my own. When I'm faced with one of these issue, I just need to stop thinking about how to fix it and start praying that God will take care of it. There is a battle going on for my heart and mind and the hearts and minds of my family...and God wants to fight it for me, if I would just let Him.

Two Cuties and the Thirst Conference...

This morning I enjoyed spending time with Natalie and Levi. It seems like lately I'm always running around during the few hours that I only have two kids. Sometimes I'm exercising with a friend in the neighborhood and her little girl. Sometimes I'm running errands. Other days I grade papers and answer emails the whole time.

One thing Natalie has really enjoyed doing lately is grabbing the car keys (you'll notice them stuck in the corner of the cupboard in the picture) and using the container cupboard as a "choo choo train". I'm not quite sure where she got the idea for this, but she will spend quite a while going in and out, taking babies for a ride, and "talking" about a train. It is pretty comical.

I also couldn't resist sharing this picture of Levi. Natalie helped me give him a bath this morning. We have been out late every night at church for the Thirst Conference, so I've been squeezing baths/showers in at random times. Anyway, Levi loves bathtime and I love his eyelashes!

Speaking of the Thirst Conference...our church has been hosting a revival conference with Life Action Revival Ministries. I wasn't sure about the whole thing at first, but I am so glad we made the commitment to be there for all of the services. It has been challenging and refreshing. Tonight is the last night, so I'm hoping in the next few days I will have a few minutes to think through some of the things I hope put into practice.