Ok... so super shocker here... two posts in tow days!!!  Crazy I know!  But today is a special one and I am blogging today in honor of my oldest child's, Skyler, birthday. 

I know.. he's nine already!!  It seems like only yesterday he was a baby! 

Like in this picture, when he was nine months old!!

How cute is he!  He loved that soccor ball!!

But now, he's so grown up looking like this...

 

Yup, that's my baby all grown up... well sort of!!  This picture was taken in early June of this year by my dear friend Kit of Kit Womble Photography.  She's the best, isn't she!!  We love our Miss Kit!

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post pictures of my hansome boy for his ninth birthday! 

Fires Set By The Tongue

I know, I know... it has been a long while since I posted anything on here!  I would be pointless to say how much has been going on!  So I'm just going to dive in on a topic that is pretty close to my heart and has grown heavy.  I just have to get it out!

Words have meaning. 

Sometimes I think we all forget that.  James 3:5-6 says " Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil amoung the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." 

Think about that for a minute... ok, long enough!  How many times have we said, me included, "my feet are killing me" after a long day at work, or "my kids are driving me crazy", when we spend to much time all together in the car?  Our feet aren't killing us... and we aren't going to a padded room because our children want attention from us!  If we aren't careful, the enemy can ride those words right on into our lives.  I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want the enemy that close to me. 

I was looking back over some notes I took in my old lifegroup class and this topic was covered!!  How convenient!! 

But there is a another side to all this... 

It's not always the things we say to ourselves that the enemy can ride into our lives on...but what others say to us.  We can either accept the words others use at us or we can deny them and cast it under our feet.  Always being careful with the praise and the hurtful words used towards us.  Too much praise can make us prideful.  And too much hurtful can make us question our self-worth.  The good news is that we don't have to accept everything that is said to us and about us.  We can take the good and cast down the rest.

Sometimes, sadly, we have to weigh the importance of a relationship because of words that are said.    Sometimes the phrase "That's not what I meant" can wear you down to nothing.  If that's not what you meant, then why did you say it?  I think the best rule when talking to others, in love and in anger, is to "say what you mean, and mean what you say".  And stand by it even you said something hateful and the other person stops talking to you.  That may be time to use some other words.. like I'm sorry. 

Words have "forever" meaning...

Not just in the heat of the moment but the next day, the next week, the next year, they still have the same meaning.  I forget sometimes, in the heat of an argument with my husband, that the things I say to him will be remembered...forever!  (Now, read that like the kid in The Sandlot!) 


And I would also like to point out that all of this doesn't just apply to the spoken word, but also the written word.  In the world of Facebook, blogs, Myspace, and text messaging, we have to also remember these things.  Aren't we so much braver when we can be ugly to others without being in the same room?!  Ahhhh... modern technology!!! 

I would just like to end with one thought that we all know very well. 

Words have meaning...we can lift up and tear down others with our tongues, a small part of our body that has so much power.

With Grace and Joy

In my weekly Bible Study we are studying Beth Moore's "Daniel: Lives of Integrity and Words of Prophecy".  I cannot tell you how much I am learning!  I spent a lot of today thinking about "friendly captivity" and how I play right into it! 

I have spent so much of my life doing what I thought I needed to be doing by everyone else's standards.  My parents, my husband, my neighbors, my friends!  But I wasn't paying enough attention to the standards God had set for me.  WOW!!  It seems so silly!  I should have known that I needed to be paying more attention to what God wanted from me and not what the world wanted from me.  But for whatever reason, I wasn't.  Well, I am paying attention now!  I want to receive the knowledge and understanding that God desires to give to me.  And I know that someday, I will hear the voice of God. 

I am reading the book "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  She has brought into my live a new word... Eucharisteo.  It flows so sweetly off my tongue and its meaning is just as sweet.  It means "thanksgiving", however, Ann goes even farther into its meaning.  "Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis.  But it also its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning "joy"."  The word means thanksgiving, with grace and joy! 

That got me thinking.  Do I give thanks to God with grace and joy?  Do I really?  Do I thank Him for days when nothing goes the way I want it to?  Do I thank Him for the hard times that have happened to me?  I know I thank Him for the good stuff, but do I thank Him for the not so good stuff?  And even further, since I am not sure that I am giving thanks with grace and joy, am I being obediant to what it is He wants for me? 

I think I know the answers to those questions and I feel shame.  But I also know that today is not over and there is no need for shame, only the need to fix it.  To go to my Father, on my knees with thanks for everything. 

Melinda

Looking Deeper

Okay, so it's been a while AGAIN!! 

A gracious friend of mine blessed me and my family with some venison from the game ranch her husband manages.  And we have eaten it at every meal since!  We had deer tacos, deer chili and tonight my greatest materpiece... back strap strips with peppers served over beef rice... YUM!!  My husband is in love with deer meat.  I think he may take up hunting after eating the meat! 

I have been following a blog called A Holy Experience (http://www.aholyexperience.com/ ) for a while now and have decided to take up her challenge to see gifts in everything and write them down.  I will put my first ten gifts at the bottom of this post.  Ann Voskamp has, unknowingly, been helping me to see gifts in all that I do in my home, at work, at church with everyone I encounter. 

Ok, so my walk with to Christ has been more intense this time around.  The easiest way for me to descibe my education before is like a small child learning to paint, using a big brush with broad strokes. Now, I am more "grown up", I am trying to use a small brush and watercolors!!!  I left Fort Stockton and our wonderful church family with a relatively basic understanding and now I am refining it.  Looking in the minutia of the Word for beautiful little nuggets God left there just for me, instead of just reading the Scripture which was the basis for Sunday service.  Looking deeper is what I am searching for right now, along with God's purpose for me.  I hope to find the gifts that God gave just to me to enrich His Kingdom. 

I have also just started a new bible study with a little group that was started in town.  Beth Moore's Daniel Study.  We have only done the first session and I am so ready to find out how to live in our modern day "Babylon".  I will be sharing more about that on Thursday, after we meet again!

So for my One Thousand Gifts List:
1. A kitchen to create a nourshing meal for my family.

2. My husband... who brings me comfort and laughter

3. A daughter... who brings me joy

4. A son... who reminds me everyday of who I am

5. A hug...

6. My sunday school class... those kids definitely taught me something today!

7. A friend... who brings me meat and her peaceful spririt

8. Joyful laughter shared with my kids today!

9. A Son... who gave himself to save me

10.  A creative mind...


Melinda

Changes!

Hey there y'all!  There have been some changing happening around our house.  My family and I have been going to church again, which is something we really needed to do.  I have also gone back to work at Cato, a local clothing store. 
I originally started this blog to chronical the our family life and share everyday things with our families.   I have been feeling led to include more about my faith and my walk with Christ, along with my rededication.  I use the term rededication kinda loosely because I feel it is more of a "realignment".  I have always loved God with all my heart but I was not fully walking in alignment with God's path for me.   I could hear Him guiding me but I am rebellious and chose to walk just on the outside of His path. 
The Bible is my guide, both old and new testament, and I follow Jesus' teachings of how we should live our lives.  I'm not sure how this is going to work but I am trusting God to lead me where He wants this to go. 
Right now, being that it is the Christmas season, the children have been doing an Advent Devotional called the Jesse Tree.  I have found many resources for this devotional and I had picked two different ones.  The one that we are following the closest is from Faith Magazine and the other is from http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/11/update-free-jesse-tree-advent-devotional/  I have to say that next year, we will use this one exclusively!  It even has fully colored ornaments! Love it!!  Or maybe I will get creative and write my own...HA!!  Anyway, Chaos and Mayhem, my sweet children, are really enjoying the advent and look forward to it every evening.  I will post pictures of our wreath tomorrow with our ornaments hanging from it! 
That is enough for now... maybe something more tomorrow!



Melinda

She Lost It!!!

Sorry, I am a little late on my weeky post but what can I say... I'm posting now!!!  So this week hasnt been that crazy but we were definitley movin' and groovin'!!  Emma Lee has started gymnastics.  She started going about a month ago and is loving it!!!  She comes home and can't help but show off her cartwheels, and rolls, and the newest one ... a one-handed cartwheel!  I will post pics of gymnastics after her first family observation night.  Parents are discouraged from being there during class so I haven't actually seen her do anything on the "bouncy rug".  We also went to Family Worship Night at our church on Wednesday.  We really enjoyed all the music and the message that was given.  Emma also got to draw with pastels during the praise and worship time.  It is called "art fusion".  They are split up into groups and they all start their own drawings and then they switch and get to add their own take anad ideas to anothers drawing... so it becomes all of theirs!  She made the biggest mess and loved every minute of it. 

Oh yeah, back to the title of this post.  Emma Lee, my baby, had her first loose tooth.  And she asked me if I had one of those envelopes that have the tooth fairy on it.  Nope, those you can only get from school.  So what does she do?  She leaves her tooth alone all weekend and then Monday morning in school, she reaches into her mouth and pulls out her tooth!  Her teacher told me Emma said "Here's my tooth!! Can I have a toothfairy envelope now?"  Love it!!!

How adorable is that!!! 

See you soon!!

Melinda

My First Real Post in a Long Time

Hey there everyone!  We have been very busy lately!  But it is slowing down since the kids went back to school.  Emma is in kindergarten now and she is doing wonderfully, like we had any doubt about that!  This year Skyler is in second grade and he seems to really like his teacher and his class. 

I am trying to find my way through all the free time I have with the kids in school.  I have been doing some sewing and some knitting. And watching movies!!  Not the best use of my time but what can I say!! 

I have been making some crayon rolls for my mom to sell.  I have make five so far and have two more to do.  I have more fabric that I can cut for them but I think I might make some other stuff too!

Skyler turned eight this summer.  I can't believe how quickly time flies!!

I will be back next week with pictures of the kids and an update from our week!

Melinda