You're Pokin' my eyes!

Just had to document this one:
Today on our way to get Karis from school the sun broke through the clouds. Natalie was looking out the window and it was really bright reflecting off the snow. She said, "Stop it, light, you're pokin' my eyes!"

Also:
Ethan got his first report card today. We are so happy to see that he is doing so well. Of course, his favorite part of school is gym class (he is so much like Mark, it's ridiculous at times!). He currently holds the class record for doing 24 push ups and was the only kid in his class to climb to the top of the rope. It totally cracks me up that the kid seriously has biceps!

Yum!

Cream cheese was on sale at Kroger this week...and what better thing to do with cream cheese, but make cheesecake. I sort of created my own recipe for this fabulous chocolate cheesecake:

I have plans for white chocolate raspberry one next week. Someday, I'd love to be making cheesecakes and cookies for money! (I'm totally serious, Julie!) Once some of the kids are in school all day, I'd like to get my name out there and do some showers or parties. If you're ever in need, give me a call...I'll hook ya up!

He did it!!

Oh, glorious day! Levi slept all night! I put him to bed at around 9 last night and I didn't hear so much as a peep out of him until just after 7 this morning!! (Lord, please don't let this be a one time thing!)

Natalie and Levi share a room, so over the long weekend we moved Natalies' crib into Ethan and Karis' room. I have always jumped out of bed at the first noise from Levi and done whatever it took to keep him from waking Natalie up (sometimes she'd still wake up, though). In the process, Levi expected me to get him back to sleep and some nights that was a long process! I knew he needed to learn to do some self-soothing, but what mom wants to listen to her baby boy crying "mamamama" and have to hold herself back from taking him in her arms to comfort him!?!? Each night has gotten easier, and hopefully last night was the first of many that he will sleep all night.

But, lest you think everything was just peachy keen in the Hunter household last night...Natalie was up at 3:45 and pretty upset about something that we couldn't quite pinpoint. She was a bit wet, so I changed her, but she still wasn't interested in quietly going back to sleep. So, in an effort to keep her from waking Ethan and Karis she came to bed with me and Mark. She was pretty restless for about an hour before finally falling back to sleep.

Someone tell me I WILL get a good night's sleep again before they are teenagers!?!?

A New Day

I wish it was easier to be a God-follower. I wish that making progress in one area of my life wasn't overshadowed by losing ground in another. I wish surrender came naturally. I wish my kids listened and obeyed. I wish a day of little frustrations didn't lead to an explosion of anger. I wish God's timing wasn't so different from what I would like it to be.

I'm thankful that God gives me a new day, full of His Grace. I'm thankful for opportunites to teach my kids about that Grace and the "messy" parts of human nature. I'm thankful that God is not silent...He answers a prayer from last week right in the midst of yesterday's screw-up.

I recently read an analogy about our life with God that I really liked. It compared that relationship to a sunrise. I'm sure you've witnessed a beautiful sunrise before (or even a sunset). What made it glorious and colorful? Usually it is the clouds. While clouds alone can be gloomy, they have the ability to magnify and display the beauty of the sun's light. Likewise, I'd like to see these issues and difficulties in my life not just as things that darken it, but things that have the ability to magnify the beauty of God's plan for my life and the brilliance of His amazing love for me.

Camping Out

Ethan and Karis set their tents up in the family room this weekend for some indoor camping fun. We even did s'mores in the fireplace one night. Yummm!

They were wanting to spend the night in them, but when it came down to bed time, neither of them were "brave" enough to do it. I was quite surprised. But I think I'd rather snuggle up in my cozy bed then lay on the hard floor, too!

Loving how God works...

I'm really loving how God is giving me evidence of His desire to meet my expectations in helping me deal with some of the hang-ups and habits I'm trying to overcome. I am seeing that God has been working on bringing me to this point of real change for a few months now. I think this post was kind of the beginning of it all. After having Mark tell me I was "hard to come home to after work", and thinking about how "not fun" I was to live with, I realized how spiritually starved I was. Of course, I probably didn't give that outward impression, but I was.

Since then, I started a new mentoring relationship with a dear friend from church. Sue has talked through a lot with me, encouraged me, and even folded laundry for me :O). I've been able to let go of a lot, as far as the expectations I put on myself, thanks to her. I think my family would agree, I am much easier to live with these days.
There was also the Thirst Conference at church, which did for me exactly what was intended...it began to quench my thirst.
I have also reconnected with my friend Mandy through the Facebook/Blog world, which was at first a big hindrance to my progress because she is someone that I compare myself to often (my biggest hang-up right now). I'd read her blog, then link to someone else's blog, who also seemed to be a much more amazing woman than myself, and on and on. I'd spend hours comparing myself to these women and overanalyzing, justifying, and judging so many things. But, she is the one who inspired me to choose a word for the year. And she got really honest in one of her blog posts, which led to a really neat Lifegroup where a bunch of moms are "coming clean" about their "issues".

So, yah, I am really seeing that God is doing all these things for me...because He loves me...and He wants me to be close to him. I have been praying expectantly that God will meet me in the mornings. I don't have much to offer him due to complete exhaustion, but He is lifting me out of bed before the craziness of the day starts. (My alarm went off at 6 this morning, after another long night with Levi and Natalie, and Mark said in disbelief "What are you doing?"). I can honestly say, though, even as tired as I am, I don't want to be in bed during those moments...and I know that is completely God's doing. I spend my time journaling, reading a few verses in my Bible and taking notes, and, if no one is up yet, reading a short devotional. I love how God is tying so many things together for me...my devotions, the Lifegroup, church sermons on prayer and revival...they are all getting right to the core of what I feel like God is doing in me.

It's definitely a day by day journey. Some days I fall back into that trap of uptightness. Many days I fall into the trap of overanalyzing and comparing. But I keep going to back to my verse from Exodus 14, "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still". I look at what He's done even while I've been standing in the way, and then look at what He's done when I've stilled my efforts and let him do the work, and I know that's what I want more of.

I so needed the verse that I got out of my devotional today. "My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare." Psalm 25:15. For me, it re-emphasizes what I get out of Exodus 14:14. If I keep my eyes on him...if I just quit and watch and wait and let him do his work...He will free me from this trap I have gotten myself stuck in. I can't do it. He is the only One.

Maybe this would have happened for me a long time ago...if I had expected God to do it.

Some videos...

I've been playing around with the video feature on our new camera. For our next teacher training meeting we have to have video of ourselves uploaded into our courses, so I thought I would start practicing.
Also, I've been telling my mom about how Natalie's new thing right now is to sing while using a tire gauge for a microphone...she sings "Lord, Jesus, Jesus loves me" over and over. I have yet to get a good clip of this, but I did get all three kids singing.
All I have to say is that our kids have obviously inherited our amazing musical talents:

Yes!! As I was waiting for this video to upload, I got Natalie to sing, so enjoy this as well!

Snow!

This morning we had about a half hour of those beautiful HUGE snowflakes that I love. I let the girls go out and run around in it for a bit. I got three pictures that I love, although I wish Natalie would have held still so it focused on her instead of the wood pile!

PS . . . A tip for all of you mom's: If you want a really clean house give your kids "dirty" jobs for "dirty" behavior! Ethan and Karis have been bickering and patronizing each other ever since Ethan got home from school...and as a result my house is picked up for the first time in a week! Next on the list is the bathroom trash cans :O).

Growing Up

Oh, how I loved this boy's toothless grin 6 years ago...I kissed that "gummy" smile a million times I'm sure...

It doesn't seem possible that six years have passed...that my baby boy gets on a bus...that he reads books...that he knows what 472 + 212 is...that he sets an alarm clock...and that he's lost his first tooth...

A Year of Expectancy

I've come across quite a few people lately who choose a word or phrase or prayer to mark a year of their life with. With all the the things I've been working on lately, I feel the need to try this out. I had plans to post my "word" the other day, but as I sat feeding Levi in the middle of the night God gave me a new word. Here's a somewhat condensed version of all that is going on in my head and heart:

For the last month I was sure that what I was going to strive towards in 2009 was being more "intentional". I feel like all too often I float through my days without doing anything of real purpose. My life is "boring" in most aspects. I'm too tired and stretched too thin to live out any passion as a wife, a mother, and a Christian. I don't like that. As much as I don't like it, though, all my thoughts over the past several weeks have been focused on what I can do to change it. Now, I know there are things that I do need to do, but I've realized I was getting it all wrong (which is not all that uncommon for me).

I have never been one to feel like God has spoken to me. I have felt His guidance in certain directions and He has given me peace about certain decisions, but I've never had Him speak a word to me...until Thursday night. You see, I've have been digging deeper in the Word and learning about what it means to be obedient to God. I'm also reading a book called "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" and gaining a lot from it on the aspect of obedience. That said, I was working hard to focus some thoughts in my half-awake, mostly groggy state and I heard God say to me "Be expectant". I had no initial response to that. There was no "conversation". I don't even really remember where my thoughts went after that.

The next day, as I read my book, I again encountered this idea of being excpectant as these words literally jumped off the page at me: "Live in expectation of experiencing God and hearing his voice". All my life I've had a relationship with God on some level. More often than not it's been a fairly shallow one. The reason is, I don't expect God to do anything for me or with me, because I'm just me. So, I end up trying to do everything on my own and miss out on experiencing all that God has for me. My heart must become expectant for what God wants to do with me, for me, and through me.

As I've prayed about this the last couple days I've figured out, for me, being expectant will mean:
Counting on answered prayers.
Looking forward to my time in the Word.
Resting assured that God will meet me when I come before Him.
Anticipating changes in my heart and mind.
Awaiting ministry opportunities.
Preparing for Christ's return.
Listening for God's voice.
Finding more passion.

I'm already excited about some things that God is placing on my heart. I expect that He has great things in mind...

A Laundry List

Okay, so I have a laundry list of things that I've wanted to blog about, but of course haven't had a chance to do so.

1. Thanks to all of you who prayed while we were sick. I think it's safe to say we are done with the flu and that I was spared...I put a lot of stock in the fact that that is because you prayed. Know that I am praying for all of you, as I know that there are several of you dealing with your own health, sleeping, baby issues, too.

2. I wanted to post a few pictures of Christmas. We really enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day before Mark got sick. Mark and I got everything wrapped and were in bed by 11:30 and the kids actually slept until about 8!

The kids before Christmas Eve service.

Ethan asked for three things: a Bible, an alarm clock, and Warioland for the Wii. Here he is opening his Bible.

Karis with her hairdresser set. We've had some fun giving each other some new "do's".

Natalie with her new baby. She loves to play "mommy".

Natalie helping Levi open his present.

3. Our Natalie girl turned 2 on Monday. I can hardly believe this. I remember Christmas two years ago wondering when the baby would come. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, although I had a very strong feeling that she was a girl. Mark and I spent many long nights playing Tetris while sitting on exercise balls trying to bring on labor! I remember saying to him before bed on the 28th, "Don't get your hopes up, but I think my water is leaking". A few hours later we were on the way to the hospital. My actual labor was slow to get started, but it ended up that the doctor barely got there in time to catch her! She has been a bundle of sweetness and silliness from early on. I just love watching her personality develop. Her name means (born at) Christmas, and I pray that her personality will continue to grow into one that makes people want more of Christ in their lives.

4. I have this really amazing friend named Mandy who I have gotten know better through the blogging and Facebook world. She is a wonderfully creative and Godly mom of 4 who is on a journey similar to that of myself and many of you. God has inspired her to gather a community of moms to share in an online Lifegroup about how we can be more of what God wants us to be. Here is your invitation to join if you're interested. I'm excited about how this will help me as I seek to obey God in all things.

I guess that's all I have for tonight. So much more is milling around in my head as we start this new year, but my pillow is calling my name!