Family Fun Day

Friday was another Family Fun Day around here. This week we had a lazy family day. We had all had a busy week so we decided to just hang close to home and relax together. It was close to 75 here yesterday so we rode bikes, played hide and seek in the yard, and just had fun together.
Then after dinner, we took the girls on a walk to go see Christmas lights. They are fascinated with the lights this year!
Elliana spent the walk saying "wow, wow, wow" mixed with "more clause pease, more snowman pease" as she pointed to all the different lights. Avery just wanted to find all the lights that change colors and then touch them.
I love relaxing days at home with the family! We all needed a down day before the holiday week began!

Date Night

Every other Tuesday night Brent and I have a date night. This past Tuesday was our night to go out.

Talessa is our standing babysitter. She also watches the girls on Thursdays when I'm teaching. The girls love her to death! Every time I go to leave the house, they start jumping up and down shouting, "Talessa come, Talessa come!" She may be their favorite person in the world.(Avery took the picture below in case you were wondering about the weird angle!)
Even though our kids are in bed by 7pm and Brent and I have every evening together, there's just something special about actually going on a date with your husband. We decided not long after Avery was born that we were never going to be able to afford babysitters or dates, but that in the long run, we couldn't afford not to plan a date night for us. Tuesday night was a blast, and I look forward to our next date after Christmas!

Santa Disaster

Yesterday we attempted to go see Santa at the mall. Even though Avery has already asked the dreaded question, "Is Santa real or pretend?" and now knows that Santa is just pretend, I thought it would still be fun to get the girls' picture taken on Santa's lap. Boy was I wrong!

Here's the girls anxiously waiting in line to see Santa. Notice their hair is curled, and they have their Christmas dresses on. They are still excited at this point.
Then, no picture with Santa. We'll just say Santa was sweaty, grouchy, and really didn't possess much of the holiday cheer yesterday. I even got reprimanded by Santa! Maybe we'll try the Santa at Cabella's this weekend instead and see if he is a little more jolly =)
So to salvage the effort it took to go on this outing, we went and played in the playlandand ate chocolate chip and M&M cookies.
And ended the day with a picture in front of the tree. Just a side note: Today, Elliana doesn't want to read any books with Santa Clause on the front cover. She pushes it aside and says "no, no Clause". Maybe we need to end up skipping the whole sitting on Santa's lap for a picture experience this year!

My Spiritual Journey...

To read the previous entries of My Spiritual Journey, click here

The Lord has been revealing so much to me this week that this post is actually hard to write. I sit here wondering, where do I begin??? I haven't fully processed everything God is teaching me yet, but here is what I'm processing at the moment.

1st: Our church has been going through a sermon series entitled The Cost. A lot of the focus has been on asking ourselves what it cost us to be a Christian. In the midst of this, we are raising close to a half a million dollars to go straight into our missions fund for our work around the world.

As I listened to The Cost, I was convicted about the amount of serving our family does outside of the church. My husband is a worship pastor so obviously we serve inside the church plenty. But over the last month of so, the Lord has really been laying on my heart the need to be serving the unchurched people in our area. I'm not yet sure what that is going to look like but I am pushing forward in obedience, pursuing a couple options, and excited to see where the Lord directs our family as we look for opportunities to serve as a family.

2nd: I have really loved reading the book Prayer. I have learned so much from the book and have been working on applying what I've been reading. Its been so eye opening that Brent and I just decided to read it again together so that we can sit down and talk about things as the Lord teaches us. We decided this was a much better option than me continually interrupting Brent to read him various passages out of the book as I was reading it =) If you are interested in ordering the book for yourself, click here to get to Amazon where you can get it pretty cheap.

3rd: My sister gave a Bible study to me over Thanksgiving, and it has been so helpful as I learn how to implement the spiritual disciplines in my life. I wish I could pass it on to all of you but it was written by Wheaton Bible church for their ladies Bible study and isn't something you can buy off a shelf!! Its called Keeping Company with Jesus. One of the things about the study that has been beneficial to me was this spiritual disciplines inventory the author adapted from the book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. It asks deep questions to help you determine where you are at in each of the disciplines and where God is working in your life. Its the kind of inventory that is beneficial and fun to take every 6 months of so to see where God is growing you on your journey.

See I told you it was a lot this past week =)

My goals for next week:

• Order the book Prayer for Brent so he can read and I can reread it together
• Continue to go through the Bible study Keeping Company with Jesus
• Find an opportunity for my family to begin serving outside of the church
  

Family Fun Day

Friday was another Family Fun Day! We took total advantage of the warm weather and the free Christmas activities out in Grapevine. It was a blast.


At the Polar Express Train station, there are plenty of free activities for those of us who didn't buy a train ticket to get on the Polar Express. There was a miniature train set, ton's of little elf, reindeer, and Santa Claus displays, free ornament making, and Santa Clause (we got there too early to get our picture taken on Santa's lap though!)



We then went down to the other end of main street and were treated to a Santa Clause on stilts (the girls were a little scared of how tall he was!),









Santa, his elf, and a snowman played games with the girls,













Good food




And a free carriage ride and free kettle corn!





Grapevine was a blast. If you live around here and haven't checked out the action on Grapevine mainstreet yet, you've got to go! You can't beat free and fun Christmas activities =)

Transition...Phase 2

I started the second phase of transitioning the girls into the same bedroom...their closets. Moving closets sounded like it would be an easy thing one afternoon. Little did I know how disorganized their clothes were! Ignorance is bliss sometimes =) So Phase 2 of moving the girls into the same bedroom began with emptying their closets of everything and putting all the clothes they owned on the floor. There was probably a better way, but again, I'm not the best at organizing.

I then made piles.

Pile 1: Clothes they had outgrown that needed to be returned to their cousin
Pile 2: Clothes they had outgrown that needed to be returned to one of my sisters
Pile 3: Clothes they had outgrown that were ours and needed to go into storage
Pile 4: Clothes that were out of season but would still fit one of them in the Spring
Pile 5: Clothes to be put into drawers/closets

Yuck, right?! I have a friend who probably would have paid me money if I had let her come over to help me organize, but this definitely is not my cup of tea. But I finished. The closets and drawers are full, organized, and being used! Yeah for phase 2 being complete!

Sayings

Avery's saying over the past week:

After talking about the nativity scene:
"Mommy, when is our baby Jesus going to come out?!!" said with a bright eyed amazement as she pointed to my tummy.

Said while driving around looking at Christmas lights: "Mommy, I could just eat them up!" I guess she thought the lights were pretty???

Said after reading her a Bible story about the crucifixion.
"Mommy, but where is our cross?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Avery: "Where is our cross so we can remember what Jesus did?"
Me: "Maybe we can make one tomorrow"
Avery: "Did you throw our other one away? But that's okay. I'll roll the dough and you can do the hard stuff so we can put our cross up and we'll need candles too."

I guess she remembers what we did last Easter to teach her about the crucifixion and resurrection! How many months ago was that? She has the memory of an elephant =) Don't kids just continually amaze you???

Banana Bread Anyone?

One of the kids I watch was sick on Monday which meant I only had 4 kids. The day seemed to fly with all the fun things we were able to do together. Who would have thought I would think it was a piece of cake to bake and paint and play play dough with only 4 kids instead of 5 =)

I got some pictures of the baking process...yummy banana bread! We all took turns stirring and adding the ingredients. Still a messy process with 4 kiddos, but definitely manageable =)

They enjoyed eating it for snack that afternoon as well!
I only have a couple weeks left with all my extra kids. I think I'm trying to bribe them with good food so they won't forget me once they leave =)

My Spiritual Journey...

To read the previous entries of My Spiritual Journey, click here

Dependence on God. What does this look like in every moment of every day? Is it really possible to live every moment of every day in the presence of God or is that a goal that we will one day reach when we get to heaven and get rid of this sinful flesh that so violently wants to capture our joy and our devotion?

These are all thoughts I've been thinking through this past week. The church going girl in me wants to say yes that its possible. The tired, stressed, pregnant mom in me battles with saying no because I've failed in practicing the presence of God so much this past week. So what's the right answer?

Seek first the Kingdom of God. I've heard this my whole life and given this advice my whole life, but the reality of living in the Kingdom of God is becoming more and more clear to me as I continue pursuing and learning about what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. This past week I've failed in this task many times. I sought first obedience in my children, a clean house, grading papers, the perfect bedroom conducive to sleep for the girls, perfectly planned meals, a relaxing evening to unwind, and so much more. But failing doesn't mean the Kingdom isn't there to pursue. It just means I need to pick myself up, confess and repent of my failings, and wholeheartedly pursue my Savior.

So here's what I've been meditating on this week.

Proverbs 12:25 "An anxious heart weighs a man down..."
Phil 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

(can you tell what my struggles have been this week!!)

It all comes back to seeking God first. When I let life get in the way of that objective, anxiousness sets in. Memorizing, meditating, and praying these verses this week have enabled me to continually put my focus back on living in the Kingdom of God and not living in my own man made kingdom with my own man made worries. I've failed a lot this week, but I think that's part of the journey. It seems whenever God is trying to teach me something, as soon as I get comfy on my journey, I hit some sort of opposition which makes me need to seek God even deeper.

This next week, my goals are:
1) To finish Prayer
2) To continue to establish prayer into the rhythms of my life
3) To sleep, sleep, sleep so my mind can be rested. A rested mind is a lot easier to keep thinking about the things of God than the unrested mind!

How about you? What are your goals for the week?

Boomer Sooner

In honor of OU's big win Saturday night, here is what the girls wore to church yesterday.Technically they are dresses so they count for good church attire right?

The Transformation Begins

Today began the transformation of Avery's bedroom. We began to change it from being a very small bedroom for one into a very small bedroom for two!We woke up and started emptying Avery's bedroom and cleaning. Its amazing what a 3 year keeps under her bed! Brent then made this sign on the box to put in front of the bedrooms so the girls couldn't see what he was doing. The sign says "No Little Girls Allowed. Mommy and Daddy have a "big" surprise". At this point, all the girls knew was that we were putting together a surprise for them. They had no idea what was about to happen.The girls finally have a dresser! Its actually 2 small dressers pushed together to look like one. Here are their new bunk beds. Avery is so young to put into a bunk bed, but there is no way 2 twin beds and a dresser could fit into the room because of its size, so this was our only option. The new bedding and curtains and stuff will arrive under the tree on Christmas morning.
Their first view of the new bedroom.Brent and I were pretty nervous that they would be scared, but they loved it! Elliana was a bit sad she couldn't sleep in her new bed today though! That move will come after the holidays. As I carried her to her bedroom for naptime, she kept pointing to Avery's room saying "ana night night, ana night night". (she calls herself "ana" a lot) Hopefully she'll still feel that way when the official move happens!

Family Fun Day

Friday is Family Fun Day! We've missed hanging out as a family the past 2 Fridays because of Thanksgiving, so we were excited to have a day together today. Unfortunately all I can say is that the best made plans don't always work!

Here's what we planned for today:
1) Wake up and make a fun breakfast together
2) Drop the girls off at a friend's house in Grapevine so Brent and I could run to Ikea and get some things we need in order to move the girls into the same bedroom at the end of the month
3) Pick the girls up in time to get them home for naps
4) Wake up from naps and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening having fun together decorating the Christmas tree and the house for Christmas.

Here's what today actually looked like:
1) Elliana woke up really early this morning which meant she needed some Cheerios to tie her over until breakfast = a huge fit when the rest of us sat down to eat our "fun" breakfast together b/c she wasn't hungry anymore

2) We go to drop the girls off at our friend's house. The road out of our neighborhood was closed so we have to turn around and take a new route = 30 min. late dropping the girls off & 30 min. later than planned getting to IKea

3) After we saw the bunk beds and bedding we had planned on buying, we realized it wasn't what we wanted and so spent more time than we thought planning out the girls' new room= instead of spending 2 hours at Ikea, we spent 3 1/2!!!4) We didn't get back to get the girls until 2:00 which meant Avery didn't get a nap today and Elliana got a shortened one= most of the afternoon was spent working on obedience issues (to put it nicely!)
5) We got the Christmas tree up
but postponed decorating it until the morning when there weren't so many tears
ate a homemade chicken noodle soup for dinnerBrent, Avery, and I enjoyed it! Elliana, not so much. gave the girls early baths, read tons and tons of books, played "horsey" on the bag of winter clothes I brought out to go through, and they were both in bed before 7pm.
We'll try our family fun stuff in the morning after a good nights rest for everyone =)

Puzzles

Elliana has recently fallen in love with puzzles. She'll sit for long periods of time and just play with the puzzles. Today I sat down with this shape puzzle that I haven't done with her in forever and thought I would video her figuring out all the shapes. Its fun to watch her mind work!



She has always been interested in shapes and figuring out how things work. I guess this is the perfect avenue for her creativity!

My Spiritual Journey

To read the previous My Spiritual Journey entries, click here

To fight sin patterns in your life, you must know where your weaknesses are. To live in denial of your weaknesses means that you deny yourself the opportunity to grow. Its a lot easier to ignore sin than to fight it, but fighting it is an important part of the journey to becoming more like Christ.

So Here's What I Know About Myself:

1. I am an introverted person. I love being around people, but I must have time to myself or else I begin to feel overwhelmed and frustrated with life. Alone time throughout the day is what rejuvenates me.

2. During the normal schedule of life, I can manage finding time to myself. Whenever I begin to get frustrated, I know its time to sit quietly with God for a bit. I can get the kids started on an activity and go sit on the couch with my Bible for a bit.

3. However, when life is not normal (vacations or when company comes to town or right after a baby is born), I have not figured out how to find that time by myself in order to keep my heart quiet and control that sin in my life that tries to overcome me.

4. This is my continual battle in life. For as long as I remember, I’ve had to battle getting easily frustrated and overwhelmed by things. You can ask my parents…it was never all that pretty as a young child! The one time I found complete victory was before I got married, and I lived by myself in an apartment. I had all the patience in the world b/c of all the time I had to myself. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stay that simple.

5. In II Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh. Vs 7 starts, “to keep me from becoming conceited…” Sometimes I wonder if the Lord uses this frustration in my life to keep me humble. Nothing makes me crawl back into His lap faster than when I lose my temper.

6. Like Paul, I continually cry out to God to remove this from my life, to help me find victory over this, to allow me not to struggle with this anymore. Although God continues to grow me and pushes me forward in my journey, He has yet to completely remove this struggle from my life. As of right now, its my push to remind me how dependent I am on God and how thankful I am for his grace.

7. Last week I talked about being helpless before God as one of the first steps of prayer. I asked God to teach me what that meant last Tuesday. He used the rest of vacation to show me how helpless I am and how dependent I need to be on His strength and power. I love that God continually teaches me, but sometimes I wish the lessons didn’t need to be so humbling! I think the next steps of this journey will be difficult but so good as I come out on the other side.

8. This morning I am thankful for a husband who loves me despite my struggles, a family who gives me grace when I need it, and a Father who promises to continually refine me so that one day I can stand before His throne in complete victory.

Team Fun

Our team (Bible Study) at Northwood got together last night to decorate a Christmas tree for a teenage mother. We put all sorts of baby stuff on the tree and then started a basket for a pregnant teenage mom as well. It was so fun to just hang out, talk, work on this project together, and watch all our kids play together.While the girls sorted all the toys and baby items and decorated the tree, the guys entertained the kids with the Pampered Chef apple slicer and some caramel to dip it in. The kids loved it and I think all the dads had a pretty good time as well!This was the perfect activity to occupy 8 kiddos fingers while we worked away in the other room.
We didn't get to finish the tree, but we got a good start on it. Here's a picture of our half finished tree. I'll post some pictures of the finished tree and basket after we finish it next weekend.

Disney on Ice

Avery's best friend got her tickets to Disney on Ice for her birthday and tonight was the big night. Luckily we've spent the last week at Grandma's house who has cable, and we've been watching our fair share of Disney's Playhouse in order to get the girls ready and excited to see Mickey Mouse.

We got home from vacation about 12:45, ate lunch, put the girls down for naps, got them up, bathed them and left for our big night. As soon as they heard we were going to see Mickey Mouse, both of their eyes lit up with that magical excitement. Avery decided that she wanted to see all the princesses and so she needed to dress like a princess. Here's what they wore.
Avery stepped into the car at the end of the night, turned around and looked at me with her eyes glowing and said "that was sooo much fun!" She also was a bit concerned we might have lost the tickets because she wants to go back tomorrow =)
Our conversation on the way home:
Avery: "I wanted to go on the ice too"
Brent: "You wanted to go ice skating? Maybe some day we can take you ice skating."
Avery: "But I can't ice skate. I don't have ice skates. I only have shoes. But I really wanted to ice skate with the monkeys and the princesses and the bear and Mickey Mouse."

Elliana's strain of consciousness since we left the arena:
"Monkey's, roarrrr (her way of saying bear), Mickey Mouse, bye bye Mickey Mouse, dance, dance, dance, yeah," This has been repeated about 20 times so far =)

I think the night was a success! Thanks Adam, Jen, Connor, and Bryce for inviting us along for such a fun evening.

Black Friday Music Deals

I love great deals. I actually plan on Christmas shopping on Black Friday this year; this is a first for me because although I love saving money, I hate crowds and traffic! Fortunately this year many places are offering their Black Friday deals online.

Brent just wrote a whole post with links to a site where you can get whole music albums for $5! There are links on his site to get this great deal as well as other great Amazon deals. Go check it out by clicking here.

Happy shopping!

Relaxing

There are two types of vacations.

First type: There is a definite schedule. You wake up, shower, get ready for the day, and spend the day busy going and doing things and visiting people that you haven't seen in a while. This type of vacation is fun, but I often need a couple weeks to recover from this type of vacation. By the time we arrive home, our whole family collapses for a couple weeks while we try to get rested up from our "vacation".

Second type: No schedule. You wake up and sit around talking and enjoying coffee and conversation. There is no place to be and no one expecting you to do anything. You simply get to be. You may make it into the shower during the morning hours, or it may be noon before you shower. You may go do things throughout the day or you may just hang around the house and play. It doesn't matter what you do; its just fun to be with people you love and who love you. By the time we arrive home, our whole family will be able to jump back into real life because we are all well rested and relaxed.

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful that we are on the 2nd type of vacation. Life has been busy and hectic the last few months and I'm so thankful God provided us the opportunity to just be.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and I hope its a day filled with relaxing in your PJs with a cup of coffee for as long as you like!