Quick 5

A good friend and college roomie, Stef, does lots Quick 5 posts and since I'm short on creativity tonight, I'm stealing the idea:

1.)  This week marks Week 4 of working out...you know instead of paying nearly $50 a month for a Y membership that I never use.  Novel!  And, I can truly say I'm enjoying working out!  I've started doing a noon strength training class (i.e. no sweating) on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then trying to get in either running or eliptical time two days a week.  I'm totally out of shape and I have a long way to go, but I've started!! 

2.)  Work has been kind of a bummer lately --just lots of reminders of how crappy life really can be and how much people need Jesus!  I met with a 16 year old girl today who is hospitalized after a very very serious suicide attempt that nearly took her life.  She has too many cut marks to count on her forearms and in our 30 minute meeting she smiled only twice.  It breaks my heart! 

3.)  Micah seems to be 100% after puking from Saturday-Tuesday!  Hallelujah!  And after a couple days of no dairy, all he wanted to eat tonight was cheese...so much so that he even said the word cheese for the first time tonight!  Love that little boy! 

4.)  My dear husband took out our ridiculously loud dishwasher Sunday night to replace it with one we bought from somebody in town who was remodeling and replacing all their appliances.....only problem was the "new" dishwasher was just as loud as the old one, it leaked water and it refused to drain.....so last night he pulled out the "new" dishwasher and put the "old" back in.  Bless his heart!  And after washing dishes by hand for the last few days I can't tell you how thankful I am for that noisy dishwasher! 

5.)  Miss Makenzie might make me lose my mind yet! :)  She's going through a major attachment phase and crying every time I leave her (no matter who I leave her with....dad, grandma, Cori (our beloved babysitter whose house Makenzie LOVES going too), children's church...this morning I had to peel her off my neck and leave her screaming.  Cori assures me this lasts less than 5 minutes and she does great the rest of the day.  Tonight when I picked the kids up Makenzie told me she wanted to stay at Cori's house forever and not go home with me (I think mostly because Cori had jello that she really wanted to eat!).  Oh life is rough when you're three!

LOVE THESE TWO!!

You'd never know by the picture that we had to wait to put Micah's outfit on him until we were ready to take pictures...and within minutes of taking this picture he puked on his tie!!  Please tell me I'm not the only one who would dress my poor puking baby in his Easter outfit just for the sake of pictures! :)  And if I am, oh well - look how cute the picture turned out!!  

Thought for the Day

" I am not sovereign over my children - God is.  And God will use every aspect of my human parenting, EVEN MY SINS AND FAILURES to shape my children into who He desires them to be, for the sake of His kingdom."  --from Parenting if Your Highest Calling....by Leslie Leyland Fields


I don't know about you, but I think this is incredibly encouraging!!  Especially on a day like today--Micah is on day 4 of throwing up, Makenzie is sick and tired of Micah getting all mom's attention and is doing her best to draw attention by screaming and throwing fits over everything even to the point of screaming at me "I don't want a fruit snack ever ever again."  (Those of you who know my daughter know that she LIVES for fruit snacks :)).  I wish I could tell you that I turned into supermom and spent my day taking care of my poor sick boy while giving my 3 year old all the attention she needed...and I could tell you that, but it wouldn't be true!  The truth is, I've turned into a total crab--I've crabbed at Micah when he's crying to be held and I'm trying to switch yet another load of puked on laundry.  I've crabbed at Makenzie for needing my attention while I'm trying to tend to Micah.  I've crabbed at Tom for not helping the way I thought he should help.  I nearly bit off my secretary's head when she didn't understand my instructions over the phone.  Not exactly the picture of the mom I want to be!  But what an encouragement to know that God uses all of me, even my sins, even my failures, to shape my children into who He desires them to be!  Thank you Lord! 

Convicted....

I have to admit, I've been acutely aware of my need for God lately. I can see it in my marriage, I can see it in my parenting, my interactions with my kids (particularly my testing 2 year old), at work, with friends.....I know that God has been tugging at my heart, gently calling me back to a place that I was in college....not a physical place but a place in my life where I was deeply connected to him. Where I longed to serve Him, and serve others for His glory. Where I longed to dig into His word. Where I actively sought His will for my life. The other day I was getting spending my free time (aka nap time!) perusing blogs and through a series of "clicks" I came across this one. (Renee Meyer, the author of this post is married to the pastor who married Tom and I....and he was SUCH a blessing to Tom and I during our college years and as we prepared for marriage!! The two of them were married after we were, and Tom and I actually left the college group (or aged out!!) where Matt Meyer was pastor....so I don't really know Renee, but I like to think I do).

Anyway, her post was SO, SO convicting!! I don't even want to admit how often I struggle with resentment, and how often that resentment is towards my husband (the man I love the most, the man I CHOSE to marry--but I will tell you I want to be free from the ugliness that is resentment! And just like Renee wrote, the ticket to freedom is in laying my life down....in freely choosing to do so. My choice, my action. No one takes it from me. There is no one to resent. John 10:17-18....I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative...

Why a blog?

With email, facebook, my family shutterfly page (http://tomandnatalie.shutterfly.com), I don't know that I need one more thing to keep updated....but there's method to my starting a blog. Mostly for my own personal gain, though if you've found this page and decided to follow my ramblings, I hope you will be blessed. To put it bluntly, my spiritual life has really sucked lately....no devos, not nearly enough prayer, my relationship with God has been put on hold, pushed to the side while I've frantically tried to keep up with life. 5 years of marriage, a law degree and 2 children later, I'm realizing just how off track I've gotten and how desperately I need to re-connect with the God who loves me enough to keep pursuing me. So, here it is....this blog is my journal, my thoughts, prayers, God sightings, struggles, and whatever else might find its way out of my head on onto the keyboard. I'm a much faster typer than writer and since time is in short supply around here, I figure typing my journal is the way to go. So, whoever you are, wherever you are, enjoy!