Grow & Go

Today was one of those days that you love and hate.  

One of those days where you pray to see the Hand of God with one outcome,
 and then you see it anyway with a completely different one. 

It's a long bittersweet story, but not mine to share.   

Just know that I saw the Lord work through a friend, in her faith and in her sweet baby boy. 

So today, I stopped and stared at these two faces a little longer & prayed a little louder.

I stopped.  I cried.  I prayed. 

Life is but a vapor and it is never more evident than in the faces of children. 

Babies one day, high school graduates the next.  

One blink and years are gone, right before our eyes.

But today, instead of being sad that my babies are growing up (I should *totally* place a rock on their heads, pronto), today I decided to rejoice in the fact they have a chance to grow up.  The boys are healthy with growing minds & bodies; they get a chance (for how ever long the Lord wills) and the more I understand about this ol' life.....I'm grateful.

They are not mine to begin with anway, they are HIS.





HIS children.

Growing for one purpose: To bring glory to His name, and shine through the darkness in big ways and small.  

So, grow & go, sweet boys. 

.....and I pray, you do.

"He said to them, 

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 

Mark 10: 14- 15

Cousin Comparison: The Three Amigos

Cousins who are born so close together and back to back; it makes for a fairly tale for grandparents and a dream for aunts and uncles.  Danielle and I have thousands & thousands of pictures of the orginial "Three Amigos", Layton, Mady and Luke.  
 
If I thought really hard about how fast time is going, I would curl up in the fetal position and weep....for hours. 

 But then I realized how these sweet ones have blossomed over the past three years; each with their own (very distint) personality.  Love these three (and Collin too!) and I love who they are becoming day by day.  

*PS - Doesn't Collin look exactly like his big sister,  Mady above?? 

Can you imagine what the next couple of years will look like for the Three Amigos...an 8 year old and two 6 year olds?

Oh me.

I might go curl up in that fetal position now.  

Celebrating HIM

What is Easter all about? 

Family, food and really cute kids dressed up to the NINES?

What about the infamous egg hunt that includes monogrammed buckets and kiddos rushing to find that one last egg?


 

or it is about spending time with nephews big and small? 

Or chick shaped cookies (ahem....that we all devoured quickly) or egg dying at it's messiest?

 



What about the adorable cousins lined up in a row, with ties and big bows?

 

What about grandparents with huge smiles and full laps,

And kisses and tickles too?

All good things above, I treasure and it made for the abouslute best weekend, but it certainly wasn't our focus. 

But is that what Easter is all about?


The Cross.

And His Resurrection.


Coloring Eggs, Baskets, and Bunnies come in at a mere second to our Lord and Savior.


That's what Easter is all about.

"He is not here, for He has risen, 

just as He said." 

 Matthew 28:6

Props

Angie Smith, blogger/author of "Bring the Rain" wrote a powerful post recently,  I had to share. 

YOU ARE NOT A PROP

"I’ll just start this post out by saying I’m going to step on your toes. And if you’re someone who gets the whole way through and doesn’t feel like I did that, please don’t email me to let me know that’s the case because I prefer to believe we are all equally guilty.

There are a million different ways we do this to our kids; some obvious and others really subtle. I think social media is one of the most blatant areas, and let’s face it; it has changed the face of parenting. If we call it anything other than a game-changer, we’re lying to ourselves.

For example.

When I was eight, a birthday party meant a paper crown and some friends with knee-high socks skating at the local rink.

And nobody expected any different. The only people who knew what it looked like were actually there, and trust me, they were too stuffed with store bought cake to care what my mom had hot-glued as part of the decor.

Moms weren’t uploading or applying filters or writing blog posts. They were watching us skate. And I know that because remember them pointing and laughing as we rounded the corner for the millionth time.

There are parts of the existing photos that I wish I could change. For example, the fact that my mother was sporting a perm that made Richard Simmons look like a hair underachiever.
But I wouldn’t change the memory.

And it doesn’t get better because other people “like” it or comment on a post. 

To be fair, she wasn’t under the same pressure we tend to be under now.

Kids, do you know we couldn’t even see those pictures that day? No. Seriously. We had to push the button and just hope they turned out when we picked them up from the drugstore a few days later.

There’s a lot about social media that’s fantastic, and I for one am super glad I can check my phone to see if I captured an image the way I wanted to, but there’s a real danger that’s underneath it.

I’m not the first to talk about this, I know, but I want to say it in a way that maybe you haven’t fully considered.

Are your children convinced that the following statement is true?

The value of this moment is in experiencing it with you, not in what others will make me feel about it.

We aren’t fooling them. They see us click, click, click, and stare at our cameras.

It used to be that we were staring at them.

Social media doesn’t have to be bad, and it’s an amazing way of sharing glimpses of life. I’m not saying we shut the machine down.

I’m just challenging you to ask yourself this: Am I documenting or directing?

And here’s something really important to understand as far as being props. What makes them work is the feeling that they’re essential and they’re valued outside of what they offer your little production.

I thought about this analogy with regard to the way the Lord loves and sees us, and it fell short of being a perfect reflection. The truth is, we are props in His play, it’s His stage.

We dance around and breathe life in and out because we want to make the Director known. And it’s spectacular.

He delights in us.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if I made up a new filter name like “washed by the blood” and tried to make a profound statement about the way He sees us? Yeah, I didn’t think so either, so I won’t.

But it’s true.

He loves us in a way that should inspire us to love our kids-not because of what they offer our image or our status, but just because we like watching them skate.

I’m tempted to go back through this and soften the edges, check the grammar, and make sure I said what I wanted to, but I’m not going to.

So if I missed a comma, please accept my apologies.

And know that they’re missing for a good reason.

Four good reasons, to be exact. 

Go love well, and don’t wait for anyone else to tell you you did.

You never know for sure how many times you have left to see them skate around the bend, and I wouldn’t want you to miss it.


Love,
A "


Angie made such a great analogy and her post made so much sense to me.  What did I take away from reading this?  I want to be simply present with the boys and anxiously ready & willing for my big part in His production.  If I'm not careful, I wont be ready or I'll miss it entirely.

Distracted

Distractions have been a huge burden on my heart since the beginning of the year.  Personally, several distractions had became more and more profound in my everyday life.  One of those was my phone.  The device that is suppose to make life easier, help me feel more connected and more accessible, was making me feel less connected in my walk with the Lord and less accessible to the ones I loved the most. 

I was slowly becoming more familiar with my iPhone screen, than the pages of the Bible.  I found myself saying to my children, "Hold on a second, let me reply back, let me see what they said, hold on, let me......".  Blake and I realized that we couldn't even have a conversation without the phone dinging, buzzing or ringing.  It was distracting us from each other.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I couldn't breathe.

It had gotten the best of me.

Satan had gotten the best of me.

He dangled this in front of my face, and with the touch of a button, I so easily caved.   

So, I did this.

See those 4 empty holes at the bottom of the screen, my four biggest temptations...

Twitter, gone.
Facebook, gone.
Blog app, gone.
Pinterest, gone. 

To the best of my ability, I eliminated Satan's strongholds and his temptations on my life (and my fingers).  With prayer, it was truly as simple as touching a little red box to delete.  Gone.  Out of my sight.  Out of my heart. 

THEN immediately came my fleshy, self-centered reactions.  At first, I remember having to stop myself, because like an addict, I needed it.  I longed to see what people were doing, saying, posting, etc.  "What am I missing?", I thought to myself,  and "Will some of my relationships suffer?", or "Will I feel like I'm in the dark?"

THEN, the Lord comforted by doubts.  I began to rephrase these questions in light of CHRIST.

If I was spending countless minutes starring at my phone, "WHAT AM I MISSING?"  Too much, I decided. The gospel is too urgent, I don't have time to be wasting time.  I was missing the beauty of pouring myself into prayer and God's word; fully & not half-heartedly or when I get finished reading my twiiter and FB feeds.

"Will my relationship with HIM suffer?" Yes. If I am not engaged with Him as my personal Savior and Lord; the one that died for and had mercy on me enough to forgive me of my sins! What was I doing? How blind did I have to be to realize this truth.  My relationship with Him has to come above all else.

"Will I feel like I'm in the dark?" What I discovered through this process is that darkness is constantly bombarding us with the in the things of the world.  John 1:5 says “The light has come into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  I need to be intentional with my time to avoid the distractions that will lead to darkness and focus on things that bring light and life.  Not the trivial or the temporal.  The eternal and the everlasting.


He who was, is and is evermore.  Out lasting all of the things that I see with my eyes today, He has and will overcome them all.  

Thankful and grateful for His sacrifice.  Grateful that this time of silence, even though it has been very difficult at moments, I have conformed more into His image; sacrificing the things that I seemingly head so dear.   

 

Seeing the cross with more clarity than ever before, especially in the months and weeks leading up to Easter.  

So far....

in this new year...we have been b.u.s.y!

Girls weekend, Luke's 3rd birthday party, Blake's mission trip to Africa & back, Layton's basketball games, my photo sessions, lots of added stress with my grandmother's health, preparing & studying for two Bible studies, stepping out in faith to launch a new small group, baby showers, Blake's birthday, joining a gym & attending fun classes, training to run a 5K in March.....& oh yeah, lots of family time too!

Whew.

 I'm tired just typing all of that. 

Yet, I am one excited mom!  Layton not only is excelling on the basketball court (see above), but is excelling in the classroom.  He is reading so well, it simply amazes me.  That boy is growing up in front of my (teary) eyes.

Enjoy this clip of my boy shooting the lights out!  I think his Air Jordan's are the secret weapon or maybe its in his genes, either way.....I'm couldn't be more proud :)



.

Home & 2103

We are home (finally!) and enjoying our new year together as a family.


And even though its always a little sad to say goodbye to another year.....

 

I want to reflect on 2012 & my top moments that will forever mold my memories.


* No more diapers! Potty trained at 2 & 1/2 years old!  Go Luke :)
* Happy 10 years!  Our ah-mazing anniversary trip to Hawaii.
* Africa.  Need I say more?
* Welcoming baby Collin!  Layton & Luke became big cousins again!



*Family Vacay to the Beach
*Cephas & Biba visiting America for a month:)
*Beginning my first business adventure,  "For His Glory Photography"


*My baby is half a decade old.
*Traveling to work with the sweet refugees in Southern Europe.
*Lukey Bear turns 2! 
*Our one and only snow :)

What a really great year it was! I'm so very thankful. 

Thankful indeed.