He proves Himself over and over, doesn't he? So, I don't know why we get so surpised when He does cool stuff, but we do! I've got 2 stories to tell today and they BOTH prove how awesome God as!
Story #1:
We were hooked up to the LiveLink for Passion 2010 at my church, because we are planning to take some college students and high school seniors. It was awesome, of course! But, what was really cool was this: Louie told a story about how he had blogged about the upcoming link and had, like 4 comments, which was a pretty normal number for him (makes me not feel so bad) and one of the comments was from this girl, named Haley, who said she would be watching from _________ (insert African country name that I forgot). Louie proceeded to research this African country and found out who this girl really was and realized that she was in this country by herself, bringing Jesus Christ to these people who were, like 99% muslim. So, his next blog explained some of this and said that 10,000 people would be praying for her and her work in this African country (story would be MUCH cooler if I could remember the name, huh?). Come to find out, the very day of the LiveLink, Haley's mother died! And God had already prepared tens of thousands of people to pray for her!! WOW -- he knows what we need and when we need him! When your mom dies and your're in a far away African country, you need a little prayer, don't ya?! Well, God had already taken care of that! AWESOME!!!
Story #2 -
I may should have started with this one, cuz the other one is just so stinkin' cool, that I hope you also think this one is cool!? Anyway, God had placed it on my heart, back in the summer, to have a Senior Bible Study (clarification: not senior adults, but Seniors in High School -ha). I thought about it and one morning a week is what sounded the best, because they are all just so busy everyday after school, with various things. Anyway, did I trust God and obey? No, I doubted that He had asked me to do this and decided that none of them would want to wake up early in the morning (and I mean EARLY - they have to be at school at 7:17) to have Bible Study. So, I never said anything about it, just secretly thought that it would be cool. How lame am I? Anyway, last week at XP (our wed night student Bible Study), we had 20 seniors there and some of them approached me and expressed interest in doing a Bible Study outside of that one time a week, maybe some morning. I said, OK! Sounds GREAT! I had been thinking about this! So, we set it up and yesterday morning was our first morning and 14 of them came!!! God is so faithful -- His purposes WILL be accomplished, even when we fail to trust Him like we should!!
So, for those of you who just want a kid update: they're great! Dash is growing like a weed - he is defintely working on a tooth (I can feel it under the gum) and he loves to sit in his highchair and eat frozen green beans, saltine crackers, or baby teething cookies. He is crawling -- it just happens to be backwards at the moment -- he's working on it, though! AND the separation anxiety just started - I thought he was way too young for this, but it has begun! And Boston is also growing -- all of his pants are too short! I feel, with Lance being his dad, that this will be a lifelong issue! GREAT! And he is slowly learning that it is NOT okay to throw fits when he doesnt' get his way! And he loves memorizing Scripture, so that's really cool. He's already hidden away 4 verses since the end of summer! Way Cool!
THE END!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It Makes Sense
Boston doesn't like to spend time in the bathroom by himself -- #1 is fine, he's in and out, but #2 is a different story. I'm pretty sure I've posted about his bathroom habits before, so I apologize. Anyway, he always wants someone to be there, ready to help him wipe, but it always takes FOREVER to get to the wiping stage. So, this is what happened Saturday:
Gramma got to be the one spending the precious bathroom time with him:
Gramma: man, boston, you stink!
Boston: ya, if I flushed right now, it would be called a courtesy flush.
Gramma: (hysterical laughing)
Boston: well, it makes sense.
Yes, boston is 3 years old and he was explaining the courtesy flush to his gramma! Hilarous!
Gramma got to be the one spending the precious bathroom time with him:
Gramma: man, boston, you stink!
Boston: ya, if I flushed right now, it would be called a courtesy flush.
Gramma: (hysterical laughing)
Boston: well, it makes sense.
Yes, boston is 3 years old and he was explaining the courtesy flush to his gramma! Hilarous!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
carol is...struggling...
I feel like I'm struggling to:
- make God known in my life
- prioritize my life in a biblical manner
- put off the sinful nature
- grasp the breadth of His love
- live surrendered to the Holy Spirit's guidance
- not be conformed to the pattern of this world
- be transformed by the renewing of my mind
- keep my house clean (what? cleanliness is next to godliness, right?!)
- be the prayer warrior that my boys need me to be, that my church needs me to be, that my extended family needs me to be, that my friends who don't know Him need me to be!
- love people the way He has called us to love
- serve others
- be the example of a christian hedonist
- only allow edifying words to proceed out of my mouth!
- make biblical spiritual disciplines my goal, my priority
- be in this world, but not of it
- remember that my life is not my own
- remember that my children are not my own - they are His
- bathe all things in prayer
- not be hypocritical
i know that i have this massive blogger following of people who simply don't leave comments (ha - jk)! but, seriously, if you are reading this, I ask for your prayer. this is like an online journal for me and the plus side is that someone reading this can approach the Lord on my behalf -- AWESOME! allow me to do the same for you if you feel like you are struggling in any way!
p.s. i don't want this post to sound discouraging -- I rejoice in these struggles! i'm so thankful that the Holy Spirit is bringing them to my attention and that He desires to help me turn them into the person He wants for me to be! I serve a great big God and I'm so glad to be His child. I just don't want to waste my life on all of these meaningless things and miss bringing Him the glory He deserves!
- make God known in my life
- prioritize my life in a biblical manner
- put off the sinful nature
- grasp the breadth of His love
- live surrendered to the Holy Spirit's guidance
- not be conformed to the pattern of this world
- be transformed by the renewing of my mind
- keep my house clean (what? cleanliness is next to godliness, right?!)
- be the prayer warrior that my boys need me to be, that my church needs me to be, that my extended family needs me to be, that my friends who don't know Him need me to be!
- love people the way He has called us to love
- serve others
- be the example of a christian hedonist
- only allow edifying words to proceed out of my mouth!
- make biblical spiritual disciplines my goal, my priority
- be in this world, but not of it
- remember that my life is not my own
- remember that my children are not my own - they are His
- bathe all things in prayer
- not be hypocritical
i know that i have this massive blogger following of people who simply don't leave comments (ha - jk)! but, seriously, if you are reading this, I ask for your prayer. this is like an online journal for me and the plus side is that someone reading this can approach the Lord on my behalf -- AWESOME! allow me to do the same for you if you feel like you are struggling in any way!
p.s. i don't want this post to sound discouraging -- I rejoice in these struggles! i'm so thankful that the Holy Spirit is bringing them to my attention and that He desires to help me turn them into the person He wants for me to be! I serve a great big God and I'm so glad to be His child. I just don't want to waste my life on all of these meaningless things and miss bringing Him the glory He deserves!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
I'm a Terrible Blogger!
I LOVE reading other people's blogs and keeping up with their lives, yet I am the absolute worst at keeping up with my own blog. Ya, well - what can I say?!
So, for an update:
Dash is growing quite quickly, which makes his mother very happy -- I'm not a huge fan of the infant stage and I'm pretty sure I am much more pleasant to be around once that stage is over! He REALLY wants to get places, but he just can't do it on his own yet. He absolutely LOVES his big brother, which I think is REALLY cool. His face totally lights up when Boston enters the room and he gets really excited when Boston talks to him or plays with him. I think that's awesome!
Boston is also getting bigger and bigger. He is absolutely hilarious (of course I'm his mother and I would think that regardless, but he really is). He cracks me up all the time. He is wanting to learn how to read, so I guess I should teach him one of these days. He really loves puzzles AND playing all the many games on Lance's ITOUCH. He gets high scores all the time -- he loves it!
Lance and I are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary tomorrow --awwwww, how sweet!! I know! We are still working 3 part-time jobs between us and rockin' along! He would love to become full-time at the church, which may happen in the not too distant future - we shall see. We are really excited to get this school year kicked off with the students at church - our prayer is to see some growth this semester, spiritually first of all, but also numerically.
I started teaching a BOOTCAMP this morning - we will meet twice a week for 8 weeks. I have 7 ladies signed up and I think it went really well for our first day. It's at 5:30 in the stinkin' morning, but it's just 2 days a week -- I think I can handle it. It was really fun!
Lance and I are also both training for the Austin Marathon in February -- we'll see how that goes. He's run 2 marathons and I've run about 5 miles at one time before! I'm actually only training for the half marathon, which is 13 miles, but still seems like a long way to me! It's Valentines Day weekend, so I think it will be fun.
Anyway, I can't think of much else to update right now and I don't have any pictures to upload - we need a decent camera one of these days! Maybe I should start a savings fund for that...
So, for an update:
Dash is growing quite quickly, which makes his mother very happy -- I'm not a huge fan of the infant stage and I'm pretty sure I am much more pleasant to be around once that stage is over! He REALLY wants to get places, but he just can't do it on his own yet. He absolutely LOVES his big brother, which I think is REALLY cool. His face totally lights up when Boston enters the room and he gets really excited when Boston talks to him or plays with him. I think that's awesome!
Boston is also getting bigger and bigger. He is absolutely hilarious (of course I'm his mother and I would think that regardless, but he really is). He cracks me up all the time. He is wanting to learn how to read, so I guess I should teach him one of these days. He really loves puzzles AND playing all the many games on Lance's ITOUCH. He gets high scores all the time -- he loves it!
Lance and I are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary tomorrow --awwwww, how sweet!! I know! We are still working 3 part-time jobs between us and rockin' along! He would love to become full-time at the church, which may happen in the not too distant future - we shall see. We are really excited to get this school year kicked off with the students at church - our prayer is to see some growth this semester, spiritually first of all, but also numerically.
I started teaching a BOOTCAMP this morning - we will meet twice a week for 8 weeks. I have 7 ladies signed up and I think it went really well for our first day. It's at 5:30 in the stinkin' morning, but it's just 2 days a week -- I think I can handle it. It was really fun!
Lance and I are also both training for the Austin Marathon in February -- we'll see how that goes. He's run 2 marathons and I've run about 5 miles at one time before! I'm actually only training for the half marathon, which is 13 miles, but still seems like a long way to me! It's Valentines Day weekend, so I think it will be fun.
Anyway, I can't think of much else to update right now and I don't have any pictures to upload - we need a decent camera one of these days! Maybe I should start a savings fund for that...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
What Am I Doing?
I asked myself this question today after our church service. What is my life about? What, in my life, is glorifying to God? What, in my life, is pointing others to Christ? What is my purpose? Because I feel like my purpose most of the time is to make my time here on earth as comfortable as possible - do I still love God in the process? sure. Do I still do things in His Name, hoping to bring others to know Him? sure. But, what is my life really all about? I get so caught up in being in this world and doing all the things that this world does - except, of course, for the really bad things that Christians shouldn't do! But, should Christians FILL their minds with God-absent entertainment that does nothing more than deaden our capacity for joy in Jesus? Should Christians create an environment of jealousy among peers in their constant quest to have stuff and look "good?" Should Christians WASTE THEIR TIME?! All of these things have been rattling around in my head this morning/afternoon and I'm not saying that I have the answer to all of it, but I feel like I'm on the brink of something BIG! Not that I have the capacity to do big things, but God does and He is waiting patiently for me to say - "I'm DONE with the things of this world - I want NOTHING more than to glorify you in all that I say, all that I do, all that I think, all that I am!" I'm ready to say that -- HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE! So, how do I move in that direction? What steps do I need to take to make myself so different from this world and the evil in it so much so that my life begins to reflect Christ in an amazing way to those around me? Pray. Read His Word. Meditate on the things He tells me. Aren't those things you should be doing anyway? ABSOLUTELY! So, just do them, right? Quit talking about it and become the person He so desires for me to be!!! One thing He convicted me of this morning was this: I feel like I've been waiting around for an example of exactly who I want to be, you know? It was as if I had said - I want to be the person you want me to be, God, but I need you to show me what it looks like exactly - I need to see someone my age, in a similar circumstance as me, cool like me (ha), living totally and completely for you and then, I can use them as an example and that would be much easier for me! Had I ever said all of that out loud? NO, but God showed me today that that was an idea floating around in my head and that I needed to get rid of it! I walked up to the altar and prayed for Him to take such thoughts out of my head. I left them there and committed to BE the example! Stand up and be that person and quit looking for it in someone else, you know? It felt good and I'm excited!
My source of spiritual power is not going to come from movies and internet and TV and the things of this world, so why waste my time on those things? (I'm obviously on the internet now, but I'm journaling, people)! I've heard people argue that they need to be relevant in order to minister to the people around them (meaning, they need to stay current in the movie scene, the entertainment industry and what not in order to be effective)! BLAH BLAH BLAH is what I have to say to that! Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners! What good can come from ALL of the sexually explicit material that surrounds media these days? NONE GOOD is the answer! Also, do you know how deadening to your brain the triviality of television is? We need to enlarge our capacity to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ, but television takes us in the opposite direction, shrinking our minds ability to glorify Him!!! I absolutely do not regret the absence of television in my house - now, to talk the family into going cold turkey on the movies!!!
Seriously, I'm DONE wasting my life! Trivial, meaningless things are OUT THE WINDOW!! I'm ready to be used by God all day, everyday!! Pray for me!
My source of spiritual power is not going to come from movies and internet and TV and the things of this world, so why waste my time on those things? (I'm obviously on the internet now, but I'm journaling, people)! I've heard people argue that they need to be relevant in order to minister to the people around them (meaning, they need to stay current in the movie scene, the entertainment industry and what not in order to be effective)! BLAH BLAH BLAH is what I have to say to that! Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners! What good can come from ALL of the sexually explicit material that surrounds media these days? NONE GOOD is the answer! Also, do you know how deadening to your brain the triviality of television is? We need to enlarge our capacity to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ, but television takes us in the opposite direction, shrinking our minds ability to glorify Him!!! I absolutely do not regret the absence of television in my house - now, to talk the family into going cold turkey on the movies!!!
Seriously, I'm DONE wasting my life! Trivial, meaningless things are OUT THE WINDOW!! I'm ready to be used by God all day, everyday!! Pray for me!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Holy Emulation
I don't at all want to sound like I think I'm some big hot shot and everyone wants to be like me, but at the same time, I can't deny that I am watched. People I work with know that I love the Lord and I would be kidding myself to think they are not watching to see how I'm different than they are. We work with students at our church, which is like signing up to have all eyes on you - these kids are at crucial times in their lives and they are desparately searching for someone/something to pattern their lives after (even if they don't admit it). It's sobering to realize that your life is bigger than you - the things I do, the steps I take, the words I say - it's all got a purpose. I want to strive to be constantly aware of that and quit being so selfish. What is my goal in life -- to not waste it! How does that happen - when I'm honoring and glorifying Him. I want my life to point others to Christ.
From an author, Thomas Brooks:
Bad men are wonderfully in love with bad examples.... Oh, that we were as much in love with the examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men.
Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends; and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely picture of Christ? The pious examples of others should be the mirrors by which we should dress ourselves.
He is the best and wisest Christian...that imitates those Christians that are most imminent in grace.... It is noble to live by the examples of the most eminent saints.
I want to provide a holy example with my life. I don't want to be the bad example who spends her time worried about worldly things, filling herself with the things of this world, forgetting to look beyond herself and point others to Christ. How dreadful is the picture of a wasted life?!
“[Do] not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity” (Titus 2:7).
AND for my kids -- who, on this earth, is going to love them more than I do? Who should be the one to teach them what it is to honor and glorify Christ? Who needs to help them realize that this is not our home nor are the meaningless luxuries and rampant idolatry? What a job, huh?
Okay, so that was supposed to be a segway into talking about my kids!
Boston starts soccer camp this next week - he is so excited. I think it will be really good for him to have a teacher to listen to and follow instruction from with other kids his own age. We will see how it goes. He asked me yesterday when he gets to go soccer camping! ha! He also tubed behind the boat this week - it was awesome! Lance was sitting at the edge of the boat with his life jacket on ready to jump in, but Boston did perfectly. We kept asking him if he was done and he would shake his head no. We finally just had to make him come in because the sun was going down!!
Dash is just getting bigger and bigger and losing his hair. It is still looking really blonde and his eyes are still blue and his skin is still really pale. Other than those major things, he does look a little like his brother. He LOVES to play under his little baby gym that has linky toys hanging down -- he has been to my work kids club 3 times now (2 hours at a time) and they said he did perfectly. They never even had to pick him up - he was just so content all 3 times! AWESOME! He has been to the church nursery twice and fallen asleep both times, so that is good as well. He is REALLY big - 95%percentile, but so is boston, so nothing new here (they both had doctors appts a few weeks ago - the 2 month check-up and the 3 year check-up).
I am LOVING life with no TV (even though we watch a movie every night, but that's different). That's right, we did not make the DTV transition so now all of our free channels are gone and it's great. I feel like it wastes too much of my life and you know I'm not all about that! We are well into the heat of the summer here in Houston and I am also loving that. (Lance isn't really loving either of those things, but he'll survive)
From an author, Thomas Brooks:
Bad men are wonderfully in love with bad examples.... Oh, that we were as much in love with the examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men.
Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends; and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely picture of Christ? The pious examples of others should be the mirrors by which we should dress ourselves.
He is the best and wisest Christian...that imitates those Christians that are most imminent in grace.... It is noble to live by the examples of the most eminent saints.
I want to provide a holy example with my life. I don't want to be the bad example who spends her time worried about worldly things, filling herself with the things of this world, forgetting to look beyond herself and point others to Christ. How dreadful is the picture of a wasted life?!
“[Do] not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity” (Titus 2:7).
AND for my kids -- who, on this earth, is going to love them more than I do? Who should be the one to teach them what it is to honor and glorify Christ? Who needs to help them realize that this is not our home nor are the meaningless luxuries and rampant idolatry? What a job, huh?
Okay, so that was supposed to be a segway into talking about my kids!
Boston starts soccer camp this next week - he is so excited. I think it will be really good for him to have a teacher to listen to and follow instruction from with other kids his own age. We will see how it goes. He asked me yesterday when he gets to go soccer camping! ha! He also tubed behind the boat this week - it was awesome! Lance was sitting at the edge of the boat with his life jacket on ready to jump in, but Boston did perfectly. We kept asking him if he was done and he would shake his head no. We finally just had to make him come in because the sun was going down!!
Dash is just getting bigger and bigger and losing his hair. It is still looking really blonde and his eyes are still blue and his skin is still really pale. Other than those major things, he does look a little like his brother. He LOVES to play under his little baby gym that has linky toys hanging down -- he has been to my work kids club 3 times now (2 hours at a time) and they said he did perfectly. They never even had to pick him up - he was just so content all 3 times! AWESOME! He has been to the church nursery twice and fallen asleep both times, so that is good as well. He is REALLY big - 95%percentile, but so is boston, so nothing new here (they both had doctors appts a few weeks ago - the 2 month check-up and the 3 year check-up).
I am LOVING life with no TV (even though we watch a movie every night, but that's different). That's right, we did not make the DTV transition so now all of our free channels are gone and it's great. I feel like it wastes too much of my life and you know I'm not all about that! We are well into the heat of the summer here in Houston and I am also loving that. (Lance isn't really loving either of those things, but he'll survive)
And now for some cool pics:
I did a mini-photo shoot with my cheap Lumix Camera (okay, so it wasn't that cheap, but it wasn't like a fancy digital SLR or anything like that) - this was the pic I used for Lance's Father's Day Present.
Dash getting so big (he's completely naked in this picture because he just got out of the pool after his first swim)!
Boston jumping into the pool - he LOVES this little life vest swimsuit thing - he's just like a little fish!
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