...thoughts about my quest for the beauty of abundant life this side of heaven.
…that is how I have been feeling after spending this past weekend celebrating Luke’s birthday. We were surrounded by our family and our precious friends who we love and appreciate so much. I never want to take any of it for granted…
Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family,
that you have brought me this far?
II Samuel 7:18
…jenn
On Friday…Luke celebrated his first birthday.
Luke and I spent the late night hours of his birthday in the same way we spent the late night hours of the day he was born…with him snuggled up next to me in bed. I remember saying that I was going to send Luke to the nursery that first night so that I could get a good night’s rest. It was all big talk because when it came down to it…I wanted him near me.
As I lay there with him this past Friday night I was able to reflect on this past year…the good, the bad, and the ugly. Luke definitely has a “strength of conviction” that I have not seen in my other 3 kids.:) That “strength” has been a challenge to say the least, but I also realize that his “strength” is a gift. A gift from the Lord to remind me that attempting motherhood apart from Him is going to end in frustration…every time…guaranteed.
I don’t know who has grown more over this past year…Luke or his mommy? :) I’m so thankful that the Lord choose to bless me with a third son. Here is what Luke is up to these days…
Luke,
I love you so much. My prayer for you is that
you would come to know Jesus as your savior, and that
the strength of conviction that we already see in you would
define your walk with HIM.
Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!
Your Mommy :)
…my toes have not looked this bad in a long time. They need help…serious, professional help.
…jenn:)
Jackson and Mackenzie did not have school on Monday so we decided to spend the morning doing some crafts. I think they turned out pretty cute. I love looking at the pictures a couple of days later because it helps me to focus more on the fun that we had and less on the crying, fighting and time outs that were also a part of our morning…;).
jenn
*craft ideas courtesy of the crafty crow
If You Give a Mom a Muffin
If you give a mom a muffin
She’ll want a strong cup of coffee to go with it, She’ll make herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee She’ll wipe it up.
While wiping the floor she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer, she’ll trip over boots and bump
into the box of Goodwill items.
Bumping into the Goodwill items will remind her that she has to get these
boxes out of her basement and into the car.
When she puts the boxes in the car, she’ll find a bag of groceries and this
will remind her she has to cook dinner.
She will get out the chicken defrosting in the fridge.
She’ll look for her cookbook, “101 Things To Do With Chicken”
The cookbook will be sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the Netflix movie she’s meant to send back and the phone bill,
which is due tomorrow.
The checkbook will be in her purse that is being dumped out by her
one-year-old.
As she bends down to rescue her purse, she’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the baby’s diaper.
While she is throwing away the diaper and searching for the hand sanitizer,
the phone will ring.
Her three-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to call a friend – not for coffee, but for a very
strong drink.
Thinking of drinking will remind her that she was going to have a cup of
coffee in order to stay awake for the rest of the day.
And chances are….
If she finds her cup of coffee (which she has to reheat by now), Her
children will have eaten the muffin that goes with it.
-Anonymous
My life in a nutshell these days…
jenn:)
This is what happens when she picks out her own outfits. Luckily she is so cute it doesn’t really matter. I think the purple sparkly flip flops are the best part. :)
…jenn
…this was when we were in South Carolina. It is all the in-laws…my four awesome brother in-laws, my awesome sister in-law and me. :)
Here is a nicer one…
Love these guys…
jenn:)
I decided to give walking a whirl…
and I thought it would be great if my hair would curl…:)
In ten days I’m going to be one…
This “getting bigger” thing is so much fun. :)
Where has this past year gone??
…jenn:)
…So on Friday I had signed up to provide one of the side dishes that goes downtown with a group from our church that feeds the homeless. I was asked to make pinto beans. Nothing fancy…just four large cans of beans from Sams Club that I doctored up with a little garlic salt, pepper and cumin.
As I was cooking them, Tucker walks into the kitchen and says, “Yuck. What smells like poop?” Thank you Tucker…just what I wanted to hear about something I am cooking for other people to eat. (Reminded me of when Jackson said the EXACT SAME THING about a meal that I had made for a woman in my bible study group that was recovering from surgery…nice.)
Well, I continued cooking them…poured them into the disposable aluminum pans… put them in my van…and off we went to deliver them. When I got to my friend Robin’s house (she and her husband lead the ministry), I took the pans out and immediately realized that something had gone very wrong. There was a river of pinto beans on the middle seat of my van. The River continued down the side of the seat, under the seat and created some beautiful puddles all over the carpet….yuck! I had a roll of paper towels that I used to mop up what I could, but I knew that it was going to take a major cleaning job.
After I got home, we did our best to clean it up and Galen said he would give it a really good cleaning on Saturday. Well, he did his best, but when we went to get in the car Sunday morning, the smell was unbelievable (refer back to Tucker’s comment :). We knew that we would need to have the carpet cleaned professionally if we ever wanted to ride in the van again. So after church we took it in to have it cleaned and detailed. I am happy to say that 2 1/2 hours and $150 dollars later…we have a sparkly, clean van that smells lovely.
I think Galen put it best when he said…”It’s the high cost of ministry Jenn.” :)
…jenn
…struggling today with feeling more like a maid then a mom. Frustrated by little ones who are definitely old enough to pick up after themselves…but choose not to. Tired of reminding, tired of sticky floors, tired of mountains of laundry, tired of “uncrossed off” to-do lists, just really tired.
At the perfect time, a dear friend pointed me here. Beautiful encouragement. Wonderful, beautiful, convicting encouragement…just in the nick of time. :)
…jenn
