Military Youth - Our Call to Go.: Update

Military Youth - Our Call to Go.: Update: 1) We will be leaving in about 2 weeks for Colorado. We have a week of training to complete with Youth For Christ. Pray that the trip goes ...

Wild Horses

Adelyn (2009) 

Tonight Elly and I had to have a girl talk. A talk about how girls have "emotions", and how those emotions can run wild (like a crazy horse running down the street, knocking everything down in its path.... as my analogy put it). 

We talked about how "the boys" can be "out of control" with their bodies - i.e. running, screaming, throwing, hitting... but girls,  we get "out of control" with our hearts. There is no better time than now, to teach her what it means to "guard your heart", to be "beautiful on the inside", and that we are accountable to each other. 


Now...this is coming from a mama that is full of passion. From a mama that knows what it is to run wild with my emotions. From a mama that knows she is not perfect, and doesn't pretend to be. So, Elly and I made a pact. When we see each others heart's "getting out of control" (i.e. anger, yelling, crying, pouting, drama...) we will say "throw a rope around your emotions". It's a silly little phrase, but I believe it will be a good reminder to us. Because just like that wild horse, we have to reign our own hearts and emotions in, before we destroy everything in our path.  

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Feeling Angry

We've had a lot of death around us recently. Earlier this week, I wrote a friend the below message to encourage her. As our week progressed, and yet another one of our dear friends lost someone, I realized that I needed a reminder too. A reminder that God doesn't have to answer to us, a reminder that it's okay to feel angry. Sometimes as Christians we have a hard time acknowledging that we are angry, that we are bitterly asking God.... Why? 

I love the examples of humanity among God's people in the Bible. 
Ezekiel 3:14 "I felt bitter and angry" (prophet Ezekiel). 
2 Samuel 13:36 "David and his officials also cried bitterly." (King David - the man after God's own heart)
2 Kings 20:3 " Remember, Lord, that I have served you faithfully and loyally and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to. And he began to cry bitterly." (King Hezekiah - one of Israels Godly kings)
Job 7:11 "I am angry and bitter"  (Job - a man who worshiped God, was faithful to Him. A good man, careful not to do anything evil)

But after the trials.. after time passes, Job looks back and says :
"I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want...... In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes." Job 42

God allows time for the grieving, the anger... but ultimately God is holy, and He waits for us to put that anger on the altar. There are things in life that we will never understand. It is my greatest fear that I will face this one day; that I would lose my child or husband. But it is through those times, as Job found, that we see God. We see the God that rejoices over us with singing. We see the God who loved us so much that he suffered His own son, to give us hope for tomorrow. 


Zephaniah 3:17 - The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Isaiah 53:5 
But because of our sins he was wounded, 
beaten because of the evil we did. 
We are healed by the punishment he suffered, 
made whole by the blows he received.

Noah's Zoo

For Fathers Day we visited an awesome NC treasure. Noah's Landing - a hands on zoo. It was awesome. So much better for little kids than the big zoo's. The people at Noah's Landing had buckets of *free carrots throughout the property. The kids could grab handfuls and feed the animals. Every animal was eye level and most of the animals they could touch. 

Gecko

I love lemurs!

Feeding the pig (or wort hog actually)

Of all the animals, Elly was particular fascinated with the  felix domestics... AKA house cat! 

Tut- ule

Zebras, ponies, and llamas Oh My

Xander LOVED the Zebra 

Bunnies with daddy

Food Dye and Turtles

What to do with all that old food dye in the cabinets? Make spray bottles for sidewalk painting!

Meet Larry - our box turtle we rescued from the road. The kids got to enjoy having him hang out for a few days, until he made his escape to the woods. 

The Seed Has Sprouted

Elly is every bit of three lately. This age will make or break you, I'm convinced of this! But the past 2 years in the trenches with Avery are paying off, little by little, they are paying off. 

This morning as I was getting everyone dressed, I asked Elly to put her clothes on. She emphatically stated (as as the norm lately) "I don't want to". I repeat my request and calmly remind her of our house rules (which are posted in the kitchen) - obey the first time without delay.  Again "I don't want to!!!". Okay Elly. Now here is the point I've chosen to stop begging, asking, yelling.... getting frustrated. Where I would once get angry, I now just deal with the heart of the issue. She will have a consequence for her choice - disobedience. But as I am walking downstairs to pick her up and deal with the issue, Avery walks over and sweetly says,"Elly, I'd suggest you make a good choice right now, you need to obey, now put your shirt on". I stopped half way down the steps. And sure enough in 30 seconds she was dressed. They didn't even know I was standing there. And though they will fight (heck they are arguing now!), and be unkind to one another, I am so thankful for the bond they share. 

Dealing with the heart of discipline is an evolving battle. It's always hardest the first time around. But little eyes and little ears are watching not only me, but the sibling examples around them.

Today's Prayer

It's a pretty awesome thing, Lord, to be in Your service. As humans, we see the outward appearance, but You look at the heart. We reward achievements, but You reward silent sacrifice. We reward actions, but you reward the motive.  

So Father, thank You for the joy of serving You---supporting Your work, believing in Your mission. We know that  we serve the God that is for us. We know that we serve the God that is holy. But we know that we also serve the God that cares about the "one".... the one that is lost, the one that is in sin, the one that refuses to come to You. 

So, make us a family who has a heart for the whole world, not just our own little backyard. Our desire Father, is to know Christ intimately, and in knowing Him, to model His life of service, as a Follower not a fan. 

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people"

Mark 10:45

parts adapted from For a Heart of Service
by Charles R. Swindoll

Such A Time As This

Our soldiers and their families need an incredible amount of support right now. Perhaps more than ever before. 

We are called for SUCH A TIME AS THIS. 

I hate the news, I really do. But this week an article caught my eye. So far this year, the number of U.S. service members taking their own lives has averaged almost one a day — a substantially higher pace than in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, far more soldiers have taken their own lives than have been killed in Afghanistan. 

As we write our support letters, prepare our brochures, arrange training events... I feel heavy with all of the logistics that go into a ministry, but more so I feel grateful for the right time. For this very specific time in our lives that God has provided us with a chance to make an impact in hurting families lives.  

But I know that this is a "job" that totally depends on others financial love, a "job" that is totally about loving others unconditionally. A "job" that gives us a PhD in faith,and specializes in the God that is for us (Romans 8). We are so thankful for the amazing friends and family that have already stepped up to love a military youth and be a part of their lives and ours by helping us GO. 

I have started a blog that I will eventually roll into our YFC ministries page. Right now though it will serve as our update and information page. 

Sweet 3

This makes me forgot those little worries throughout the day. Like the baby throwing dog food in the washer. Or the big boy cutting a hole in his pi's so his "ding dong can peek through". Or the sweet drama of a girl, who I remind daily to be as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. This is my sweet 3. 

Avery has been reading to Xander. 

A Week Latter...

I decided to take last week off from blogging. We try to take Ben's first week out of school and have a fun week with the kids; and there are always many stacked up projects to get done around the house!  Since I work weekends, we have to save up our "to do" list for the summer months! And of course the kids are always excited to have daddy home during the day! 

Hello Noah

How many times have I read the story of Noah's ark to my kids. It doesn't matter if you grew up in church, or how many times you went to Sunday School, you know that one, it's basic. But as I was reading the story for the 100th time a few nights ago it struck me, it's not basic. For the first time ever, I feel like Noah. I can empathize with what he must have gone through. 


When God asked him to build the ark - the earth had never seen rain before. NEVER. We know that Noah must have been a great man of faith, since he went right on ahead and built this HUGE gigantic boat in the middle of dry land. He didn't ask God to prove anything. He didn't demand that the rain fall first. 


And here's where it hits home for us. We are making big decisions, we need God to let it rain right now! But am I willing to build my ark first? Am I willing to take that leap of faith, even when others don't get it, even when the world see's us as strange? 


Can you imagine what they must have said to Noah. Crazy old man building a boat. And not a cute story book boat; a nasty smelly boat full of animals and humans all baking in the sun, waiting for it to..... rain!  And thanks to my wise husband I have another new insight. Noah WAITED for 7 days inside the ark until God brought the rain. The Bible doesn't tell us what he did inside the boat during these 7 days, but I guarantee he was praying hard! And I guarantee the world outside that door was laughing hard. But Noah "did all that the Lord commanded him", and great was his reward.