Sweetest Words

And the sweetest words I will ever hear my little girl say...

I love you...

Cute Conversation

I was getting Kaylee out of bed this morning and just chatting with her...our normal routine.

Kaylee, pointing to my shirt: What's that?

Me: Letters...that is an 'A' with kind of a circle around it.

Kaylee: Oval

Me: Yes, that's right...(um, small child, how did you remember this?*thoughts*) Out Loud: How did you get so smart?

Kaylee, without missing a beat: Mimi


*a minute later*

Me: We are going to go downstairs.

Kaylee: Mommy work?

Me: Yes, Mommy has to work a little. Where does mommy work?

Kaylee: Puter (computer)

Me: That's right. Where does daddy work?

Kaylee: Fire truck.

:)

Fireproof

The other night Adam and I went to see Fireproof at a local church. Joey (a co-worker of Adam's at the fire department) and Lisa also joined us.

We enjoyed not only our evening out with the kids at Mimi and Pop's house, but also the message of this movie.

Although I have firefighter and EMS training, I am not actively pursuing either one at the moment. There were certain scenes that reminded me of what my husband does every day. They made my heart race and my eyes tear up. I trust God every day that Adam goes to work that he will come home.

The movie was such a good reminder of how much we need to cherish each other and work on our relationships daily.

The music to the movie was more than just a melody for the background...it too had a message that related to the movie.

(song lyrics to “Love Is Not A Fight”)

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It’s a house we enter in
And then commit to never leave

Lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We’ll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter in the raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave, may God send His angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it’s something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they’re falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we’ll only call
He will ask nothing of us
But demand we give our all

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It’s worth fighting for


That was just one of the songs in the movie.

I highly recommend that anyone and everyone see this movie.

In These Times...

There are so many messages out there. Some of doubt, some of despair, some of hope. It is easy to be swept into the thoughts of the world, to let our minds be carried by mindsets that are not the ones we should hold fast to. This morning I have so many thoughts swimming through my head that I decided to turn on some praise music and dive into the Word. That is the mindset that I want.

As I was flipping through some pages my eyes were caught on the subheadings. I know that these have been added into the Bible, but they summarize the chapter(s) to follow.

The times of the Bible were rough. They were filled with death, plagues, rule by horrific kings, slaughter of innocent children, and so many things that we can't even comprehend in our day.

Just look:
A Rebellious Nation
Judgement on Jerusalem and Judah
Woes and Judgments
The Lord's Anger Against Israel
A Prophecy Against Babylon
A Prophesy Against Assyria
A Prophesy Against Moab
The Lord's Devastation of the Earth
Woe to David's City
Woe to the Obstinate Nation


This is only a small taste of tough times in the Bible. But the greater knowledge is this: Jesus is our redemption. He came to save us, as Christians from things such as these. It doesn't mean that we won't have to walk through hard time. Goodness knows our eyes are blind if we think that, but it does mean that we will not walk alone.

Just look:
The Branch of the Lord
The Day of the Lord
To Us A Child is Born
Song of Praise
Deliverance of Israel
Joy of the Redeemed
Comfort for God's People
The Helper of Israel
Israel's Only Savior
God's Mercy and israel's Unfaithfulness

I cling to that God. To the God who pours out mercy even in the face of our unfaithfulness. The God who blesses us though we glance at the blessing with no more than an acknowledgement of it and continue on in our selfish doubt.

I will not allow myself to get caught up in the worry of the world. I will be thankful each and every day that He has given us MORE THAN ENOUGH. That's right, MORE THAN ENOUGH! So even when we are facing pay cuts, time off work without pay, smaller and smaller budgets...HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!

I cannot count my blessings for they are far too many to be counted. Each day something different stands out to me as a blessing that I am thankful for. The following list is in no way complete. It is not necessarily all of the things that are most important although some of the most important things will be listed. It is a mere reminder to myself when I look back at the things that stand out right now, in this moment...

~My God loves me.
~I have a husband who cherishes me.
~I have two beautiful, healthy children.
~My parents and in-laws love me and would do anything for me.
~Based on the above, I do not have a dreaded mother-in-law. Instead I have another mother and words cannot express my love for her.
~I have a house. It is warm. It is filled.
~I have a church that I love.
~I love all of my family. I do not want to make it seem like I love anyone more than another, but right now I have an aunt and uncle who are blessing my socks off with their love, and I don't even know that they know how much it means to me.
~I work for an amazing Christian woman. I am blessed to be getting to know her more.
~God has healed the eczema on my hands. Healing for my legs is coming.

It's Been A While

It has been a while since I have made a blog post. Things have been quite busy, but I don't want eveything to slip through the cracks (ok, at times caverns) in my mind.

...Conversation the other day with Kaylee...
Me: Who gave you new froggie?

Kaylee (with coy grin): Mimi

Me: No, who gave you new froggie?

Kaylee (continuing coy grin): Pops

Me: same question...

Kaylee: Mamma...

This went on and cycled through a number of people...

Finally:

Me: Did Michelle give you new froggie???

Kaylee: Um, Yes!

Me: Do you like new froggie?

Kaylee: I lub it! :)

(When I first gave her new froggie from Michelle, she was so excited, yelled "New Froggie!", said she lob it, and sat it on the couch and said, "New Froggies, watch Dora...")

More to come, and pictures too!

Learning...

Yesterday my friend Terisa came by to teach me how to crochet. Terisa is very patient. I say this because even with help from Mom, Kaylee was running all over the place and every other second was taking Terisa's yarn out of her crate. There was at least one time that she stole three or more balls of year... I told Kaylee that I would teach her how later...in ten years...because almost two is not old enough to crochet. Just old enough to unravel all the yarn and make a trip to the craft store necessary.

But...even with Kaylee running all over and Logan being pitiful, I learned. I am so excited to be able to make a blanket now. Soon we are going to get together and work on other crafty things...knitting hats...making cards, all kinds of stuff. It may sound silly, but I am really pumped to have someone who I can do this kind of stuff with.

I was reflecting the other day about where I am in life. I feel blessed beyond words to be able to be home with my kids. However, in doing this there are many changes. I am no longer around other people (adults) very much. Dora and Diego have replaced Rachel... I do miss having friends, so times like yesterday are also very special.

I think that internally I have struggled some with this change, somewhat not even knowing that the struggle was going on. I used to have tons of friends in high school and college and the few years after, and then sort of suddenly things switched. I lost touch with many of my friends (some of whom I am reconnecting with through facebook, yeah!) And this stage of life is not so full of those friends. BUT...it is full of my kids. There are times when it is hard. Times when another adult around would be nice. (Yes, Adam is around, and he is my best friend...these times are referring to the times when he is at work and I have the kids by myself for an extended time.)

This time in my life, mostly devoted to my kids will be a time that I will cherish, and do cherish. I was transcribing a sermon yesterday that was focused on Jesus and the way He changed the way that children were viewed. It's too much to get into, but it was a great sermon. He pointed out things I had never realized or though of before. The sermon was also directed towards the need that there is today for kids to have adults in their lives. He gave some statistics and one of them was that some kids receive 15 minutes or LESS of undivided attention a WEEK from their parents!!!

Now most of the time when I am transcribing I am paying attention and noting things, but it is my job so I don't always really focus on what is being said. The faster I work, the better. But there were several times during this sermon that I actually stopped. 15 minutes or less? Wow.

And we wonder why kids are the way they are? We wonder why there is no respect? No manners? THIS is why.

My kids will NEVER, NEVER, EVER be able to say this. THEY will be the ones complaining when I am in the back seat on their dates when they are 20. I will be the mom who will never go away.

Well, just kidding...sort of...

SO anyway, this has been a post of many directions and rantings. Brought to you by the letter K and the number 3.