Can you say “Conviction”???

This morning we started off a little slow.   Pictures and swimming will wear some people out! HA!

Apparently someone woke up in the middle of the night, and daddy can’t resist cuddling with his girls :)  So I woke up to these twinkies…


Momma and these two played until the sleepy heads woke up!


Then we headed to church.  The message was amazing and extremely convicting.  Not that I like to feel convicted.  I’m not a fan of squirming in my seat because I think the pastor has some direct link to God and knows all of my shortcomings, and then decides to call me out in front of the whole congregation.  OK. He may not have done that, but it certainly felt like it.

One of his opening questions/points of the sermon was this?

“If you were to pull one of your children aside, and ask them who/what mommy and daddy loved the most, what would they say?”
Let that marinate in your brain for a minute.

Like, WHOA.  I immediately started scrambling through all of the things Mia may say, and God wasn’t on the top of the list.  Mom.FAIL.  WOW.

Reality check.

How am I supposed to get her to love God above all else, if she doesn’t see her daddy and I doing that?  So I asked Dave what he thought her answer may be and he said “She’s gonna say her.”

When we picked her up from her class, I asked her.  “Mia, what does mommy and daddy love the MOST?” She replied “ME!”
I am certainly comforted to know that she is secure in our love for her, but I little disappointed in myself for not showing her who we should really love the MOST.
I can’t sit here and lie and say “Oh, I love God way more than my kids” because that would just not be accurate.  This is a hard hard pill to swallow.  It is so hard because my kids are here.  I see them and love on them every day.  Physically.  And although I know, deep down that they are not MINE, He gave them to me to bring up to know and love Him, it is still SO hard to put anything above them.  It has to be a constant desire.  I can not just simmer, as a Christian.  I need to be ACTIVELY searching Him and loving Him.  The One who gave me these beautiful gifts.  And it is HARD.

God never said it would be easy, I understand that.  But we humans, Christians, tend to seek the easy road, the comfortable journey.  Forget about Him when the road is easy and then seek Him out when the going gets tough.  I am talking to myself.

Does anyone else struggle with this?  Does your faith go through peaks and valleys?

Such a great, eye-opening Sunday.

He had many other, gut wrenching points, but I’ll just leave you with that question.

“If you pulled one of your children aside, asked them who/what mommy and daddy loved the most, what would they say?”

If you would like to see the rest of the sermon, you can view it here

Christmas Day 2012

We started the morning out right!  Meme, Poppy and Uncle B came over to be with us and eat birthday cake and watch Mia open her presents!  We first read the Christmas story, then had birthday cake in Jesus honor, then opened some more gifts!


The only time she has EVER woke up and had cake for breakfast.  Don’t get used to it, kid!




Mia LOVES her headphones so she can listen to her music!

After presents, we had to get ready to go to Nana and Papaws for another Christmas celebration!


My big girl, cheesy smile and all, ready to go!  How cute is this outfit??


All of the cousins, and daddy and his girl!

We topped off our Christmas night with dinner at our absolute favorite sushi place, with some of our favorite people!
My healthy little salad eater…





There is NO love going on there.  Obviously ;)  And it’s a shame that my kid has NO personality, at all ;)

Over the past few days, we have spent lots of time with loved ones, began and ended our Christmas holiday with sushi and celebrated the greatest gift of all, the birth of our Savior!  What a great time!  We are SO truly blessed!

Lessons

As I am making my way through reading the New Testament, I came across a verse.  A verse that jumped off of the page, smacked me in the forehead and went right back to the page acting all innocent as if it hadn’t just convicted the mess out of me!
The verse was Luke 6:45
“For what the mouth speaks, the heart is full of.” 
Ouch.
Does that reach into you soul and twist a little bit? 
It did mine.  Just that one little verse, sums up so much.  How many times do you/we go through the day and think or speak unpleasant things about others, circumstances, relationships, etc.??  How much gossip do we fall in to and and form negative opinions of someone who we don’t really know.  How many times do we negatively judge other wives, mothers, parents, whatever? 
I know personally, I am one to sink into pessimism.  I look at the glass half empty.  I worry about every single thing, even the things that are WAY out of my control.  If I am not in the word every day, praying every day, I slip into this behavior, spiraling downward, out of control, at record pace. 
Our attitudes affect everyone we come in contact with.  Have you ever been around that ONE person who can always bring you down? Or that one person who can walk into a room and light it up with their joy and vibrancy?
I want to be the latter of the two.
I love to be around the latter as well.
After this strong convicting text, I am consciously thinking about every thing before I speak.  I want my heart to be full of goodness, so that all that overflows onto others, is goodness.  I want goodness to overflow onto my husband, daughter, family, friends, strangers, and even more importantly, to those who, ahem, make it impossible to feel like they deserve the goodness!

Our Lord is RISEN and Mia is THREE!!

Today we celebrate our RISEN Lord.  He is NOT dead, he’s surely ALIVE!  He is ALIVE, INDEED!  How encouraging to know that He conquered the grave and death so that we could have eternal life in Heaven??  I am so thankful for His love, sacrifice and promise! 
Also…
Today, at 3:36 pm, Dave and I welcomed our 5lb 13oz baby girl into the world!  The past three years have certainly been a roller coaster ride, but we wouldn’t change a minute of it!  She came into our life and changed US drastically, for the better.  Because of Mia, our lives are complete and fulfilled and we have experienced a love far beyond what we thought our hearts could hold!  Thank you God for blessing us far beyond what we deserve.
We started out the morning first thing with reading Mia the TRUE Easter story of the resurrection of Jesus.  Then we let her open her Easter basket!

We had to wake up the birthday girl this morning!  She was knocked after the her birthday bash yesterday!

Cinderella and Barbie!!  And a bible from Aunt Terri and Uncle Charlie! Look at that bed head, would ya?!
Our Easter celebration was awesome, as expected!  After church we went to Nana and Papaws for Mia to open her Easter basket from them and to eat lunch!

Pretty big girl!

Mommy with her birthday girl!

Loves of my life <3

From Nana and Papaw!
We came back home and have been playing all day!  We’ve been jumping on her trampoline, swinging and sliding and writing with chalk, OH MY!

Mommy did a little tribute for Mia!

Family time!
“Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It’s about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you’re lucky, he just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be.” – Joan Ryan
Happy HAPPY birthday to my perfect little princess!  I love you more than you will EVER know!
Happy HAPPY Easter everyone!   May you all know the TRUE meaning of Easter and the love of the Lord fill you for all of your days!

Is Salvation easy??

Tonight while on my way home from work, the radio station I was listening to brought up a very interesting, controversial topic.  And it just happened to fit perfectly with the book of James study that I am doing right now!
They were discussing Whitney Houston.  Did she go to heaven? Before her death and throughout her life she had professed Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  However, she was in the midst of an addiction. 
DID SHE GO TO HEAVEN???
There were multiple stances taken on the subject. 
Some believed that Salvation was easy.  Meaning, once you accept Jesus into your heart, you WILL go to heaven.  You are saved.  PERIOD.
The others believed that you can actually LOSE your salvation.  By your lifestyle.  By your sin.
One person actually called in and said we had to be PERFECT, you know, WITHOUT sin, to go to heaven.  She then sited the famous Philippians 4:13 verse.  (I don’t care who you are, if you believe that, NOBODY is going to heaven!  Scary.)
So, this topic got my wheels spinning.  Here’s what I believe: 
First of all, we ARE NOT saved by our works, but by the grace of God alone.  With that being said, “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17  In our James study with Beth Moore, she basically explains it as “real faith is demonstrative.”  The power in the Holy Spirit “convicts and compels” you.  When you have a relationship with Christ, you WANT to do good deeds.  You WANT to bear fruit.  You WANT the love of the Lord to come out through you onto others.  “Our faith is pumped into our actions…”  I mean, even the devil “believes” in God!
“You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected.”  James 2:22
Secondly, addiction is a sickness. Coming from a nurses viewpoint, people who struggle with addiction, whether it be drugs or alcohol, are SICK.  People tend to think that, like mental health disorders, because it is “in your brain,” you can overcome it.  This is simply NOT the truth.  It’s like trying to talk yourself out of having diabetes, or not getting chemo for your cancer and just “thinking” yourself to beating it. People with addictions need help.  They need people to love them and help them. They are desperate for Gods mercy.  Can people who struggle with addiction or mental health illness be saved or have a relationship with the King?  I like to think so.
“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…” Psalm 103:2-3
Lastly, are we supposed to judge others?  Are we the ultimate judge?  Matthew 1:7 says that if we judge others, we will be judged with the same measure that we judged! OUCH!  I am the first one to admit being judgmental.  Some people judge addicts, I have judged/judge other moms.  It is truly pitiful.  Where in the world do we think that our “ways” are better than any others?  “God bases His judgment on truth."  We are commanded to “love our neighbors as ourselves!” James 2:8
“There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” James 4:12
So did Whitney Houston go to heaven? 
Honestly, I don’t know. I would like to think so, but only God knows. 
When it comes to salvation, I can see both sides.
I would love to hear some other perspectives, so please, leave a comment!
What do you think?  Is salvation EASY?

Christmas 2011

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!  This is what we had waiting for us when we went into her room this morning!
We had a great morning, opened presents, got ready and headed to church!
Still a little sleepy…

Trying out her stethoscope!  Just like mommy!

And, helping mommy sweep with new new broom!  HA!

After church we headed over to do Christmas with Nana and Papaw (or as Mia says it, NAYna and PauPaul)!

Mia got all kinds of goodies for Christmas!  We are so thankful for such wonderful family who loves our baby girl almost as much as we do! HA!


Papaws Louisville pullover!

Our sweet gift from Dave’s parents…

AND, Mia’s iPod touch!!!!  She was on cloud 9 saying “Mia’s pone!”  I’m go glad she has one of her own, so maybe now she will stay off of Mommy’s new iPhone and stop calling people :)

Daddy’s new handy tool!

Playing with the new iPod!  Thank you Nana and Papaw!

Unfortunately after this we had to leave for a little bit because Uncle B got sick, on Christmas, and we had to take him a Ginger Ale and a Phenergan.  We left our little grumposaurus with Nana to get a little nap!

She has just been so exhausted with these past couple of days of non stop action!
Once we got back we went to Dave’s aunt Terri and Uncle Charlie’s house for our family Christmas!
Mia and her little cousin Arley running around in circles…

Little blond haired, blue eyed cutie!

Decorating cookies with great Aunt Terri!

We had such a wonderful Christmas!  We were surrounded by our families, whom we love dearly, had lots of good food and opened special gifts for Jesus’ Birthday!  We are truly blessed beyond what we deserve!
It is very humbling and gives an overall sense of warm fuzzies when you sit back and just observe everyone you love, all under the same roof, spending time together.  It makes my heart swell with love and gratitude for each and every one of them!
We hope you had a very blessed Christmas as well!