AAAAHHHH So Excited!

Today, we had a fundraiser to raise money for Convoy of Hope that is feeding people in Haiti. A couple weeks ago we started getting sponsors to sponsor us sledding down the hill at our church. Our goal was 500 runs down in one hour. We did it (507)and 21 children from our church raised $1,457.72! So Cool! Convoy of Hope can feed 50 people with just 10 dollars, so with the money we raised we are able to feed just over 7,2oo people. How cool is that?! I am so excited can't you tell?

YEAH!

31 Virtues for our Kids ~ Faithfulness

Faithfulness

For the month of January we will be praying for 31 Virtues for our Kids maybe even for ourselves too!

Proverbs 3:3 (New International Version)
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

I fluffed my pretty white dress, checked my veil, made sure I was holding my bouquet just right and put my hand into my dads arm . On that day, I walked down a beautiful aisle and at the end stood my best friend who I married that day. Until then, I never really had to work out faithfulness to such a degree on my own outside of my relationship with Christ. Marriage is a representation of Christ and the church and I take that very seriously. On that day I promised John that I would love him and be faithful to him till death us do part. So every day John and I are being an example of faithfulness.

Faithful: true to one's word, promises, vows, etc. steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant. reliable, trusted, or believed.

I want my children to see faithfulness in us. That means I must do my best at our marriage. There are days I am not going to get it right, but I can not give up. Thankfully, I can teach them that God never fails that is what is so cool about Him. We can count on Him all the time. He is faithful all the time because He is faithfulness.

Along with praying for our children to have faithfulness lets pray that God would help us in the same thing. That we would be faithful in our relationships and the promises we have made. That we would be a good example in this divorce ridden, promise breaking world. Help us to be a light in the darkness.

*" Let love and faithfulness never leave my children, but bind these twin virtues around their necks and write them on the tablet of their hearts."

*by Bob Hostetler, it is excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4, 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids

31 Virtues for our Kids ~ Biblical Self-Esteem

Biblical Self Esteem

For the month of January we will be praying for 31 Virtues for our Kids maybe even for ourselves too!

Ephesians 2:10 (New King James Version)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.



I love this one! I love praying for my children to have well rounded, Christ centered, good self-esteem. I want them to have a godly confidence. So when they look in the mirror they see what God sees in them, the beautiful creation that He is so carefully painting inside of them. I got to share at Jr. /Sr. High Camp on this very topic, it is dear to my heart.

God really knew how to speak to me when He uses ideas that are artistic like Him being the potter, creator, us being his workmanship. I love art and these ideas just really help me to get. When we are His he is working in us chiseling away the things that are not of Him and revealing more of Christ. God wants us to be a masterpiece that is used for His glory. He wants us to do good works ....we should want to because of what He has done for us.

I don't want the world defining my children for them, which will lead them to vanity, pride, selfishness, disappointment. I want them to see themselves as God sees them and I want them to have self-esteem rooted in Christ. Then they will have the courage to do mighty and awesome things for His glory.






*"Help my children develop a strong self esteem that is rooted in the realization that they are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus"




*by Bob Hostetler, it is excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4, 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids

Sinful Red Velvet Cookies

I had these the other day at our Library....

I got the recipe from recipe zaar

SERVES 5 -7 , 24 -30 cookies
Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature (1 stick)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (18 ounce) box red velvet cake mix
confectioners' sugar, for rolling and dusting

Directions
1In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.

2Beat in the egg.

3Beat in the vanilla extract.

4Beat in the cake mix.

5Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.I've chilled batter overnight and it comes out fine.

6After batter has chilled and you're ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F.

7Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar.

8Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

9Bake 12 minutes. The cookies should remain soft and gooey.

10Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

11To make these devilishly rich, I also top the cookies with cream cheese frosting, which is simple to make. I use Bev's Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe #55530), but double the vanilla. Or, if I'm making them for people I know have more of a savory tooth than sweet, I'll triple it to a full tablespoon.

I made these for our Superbowl party, they were a hit.


Ooooohhhhh, cookies will help me.... (LOL)

Confessions of a 9 Year Old!

I love have alone times with my kids. Yesterday, I spent some time with my oldest child. We went to the grand opening of our new children's library here in town. They had yummy cookies (red velvet cookies...I was excited about that too), free t-shirts and a magician. My daughter is fascinated with magic. She likes to figure out how they are doing the tricks. The guy was pretty funny too. It was so much fun to watch her laugh. She got her very own library card after the show... that was pure excitement there.

We did a little shopping after and then decided to go to Burger King for and Icee. As she sat across from me, I began to wonder about what she thinks about her life...does she like it? Is she happy?

I asked her…

What do like about our town?

I like it because it is quiet and not to busy. I like the river and the Riverwalk restaurant there food is delicious. I like that we live close to our schools so we can walk to them. I like my friends and my church.

Why do you like our church?

My friends and because it is big....It has three floors. (This made me laugh because I don't think our church is very big at all)

What do you love about your life?

I love my family, friends and Jesus. I am glad that I have food and shelter to protect me from the rain and lightening.

What would you change?

I would change the time school start like 9:20 instead of 8:20. We both agreed on that idea. LOL

I sat there and then a God thought came to me.....Honey, you are pretty content aren't you?

Yep! She replied without even thinking much about it.

"Huh", I thought to myself. I began to think back to when I was a little girl. I am very thankful about my childhood; it was very good, no heart ache, no pain, just simple and pure. I remember that I felt the same things that my daughter just told me. Unfortunately, that is not the case for most children in the world for all too many sad reasons. Thankfully, my daughter is experiencing the same type of childhood. We are both very blessed.

But it made me think about being content and why does it change in adults so much. I started to ask God questions. Is it because a child doesn't know about all the things they can have? Is it because she doesn't have the adult worries? Is it because adults mess things up too much? Is it greed in us to always want more? Is it because she hasn't had bad things happen to her? Is it expectations we place on ourselves or let others place on us? Maybe, is it all these things?

God just said, "So what about these things"! What does it really matter why we are not content? We need to acknowledge when we are in a place of discontentment and find our simple contentment in Christ. What can not control every thing in our life, we can only control our reactions to those things. Christ provides our every need and that is good enough. My daughter has every need meet in her life and she is good with that.

God says in His word,
Philippians 4:11 (New International Version)I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances

God is asking us to be content no matter what is going on in our lives....kind of goes against the whole American way doesn't it?

Huh, something to chew on for awhile....



Side note I am reading chapter 3 in Primal....I read it that night and I think God was trying to say something to me. It was about your finances and your heart behind them. Once again God I am reminded about how much God is always trying to speak to us in so many ways. I will probably blog about it Friday.

Not Me Monday~ Football Edition

The day that my son was born, he did not watch Monday Night Football with his dad before I even got to hold him.

My husband is not grooming my son to love a game that sucks your life away for 6 months plus the preseason.

My son did not figure out how to say football before declaring his love for his mom by saying "mama" first. No son of mine would ever do that.

He then would not grunt in excitement when football games come on the television.

My mama's boy would then most definitely not take His dad's football and spike it on the ground and put up his arms when we cheered "Touchdown".

My one year old would not then go to church and with a small football not nearly throw a perfect spiral.

Knowing my distaste for the game, I would not be saving my fantasy football team of nine years to pass on to my son someday....why in the world would I even bother.

Side note, I would not be sad at all that my dear Tom Brady was not in the Superbowl. Not secretly sad at all! He has been a good quarter back for me....why would I care.

And yesterday, I did not come to the realization that I am going to be one of "those moms" ...one of those moms that go to every one of there sons football, basketball and baseball games. And I definitely do not need a minivan.

I am not looking forward to going to a Superbowl party and seeing how my son reacts to the excitement!

I am not completely in love with the fact that I am a mom of a boy, who apparently loves football like his dad!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

What are you going to do about it? ~ Primal

This chapter is titled "The Tribe of the Transplanted". Basically, to sum it up when we give our hearts to God, He gives us His. We receive a new heart and what are we going to do about it?

I like this paragraph because it made me stop and reflect...

"Let me ask you a question: what will kill you if you don't do it? What makes you glad or sad or mad? What puts a holy smile on your face? What causes your spirit to sob uncontrollably? What makes you pound your fist on the table our of righteous indignation? Somewhere in the mixture of that gladness, sadness and madness is your God-ordained passion. Or maybe I should say compassion, because you are feeling what God feels. And once you identify it, doing something about it isn't optional. You can't not do something about it!"

If you have this new heart than it breaks for the things that breaks God. I mentioned last week that your feelings for Haiti were a great measuring stick for where your heart is. Did you weep? Did your heart break? Did you give?

So far I am really enjoying this book. I love books that really get you to dig down inside and ask the really hard questions. He ends the chapter with this..."The only question that remains is this: what are you going to do about it?"

My friend Jenilee over at My Awake Journey is doing an indepth study on this book go check it out!

31 Virtues for our Kids ~ Respect

Respect (for self, others, authority)

For the month of January we will be praying for 31 Virtues for our Kids maybe even for ourselves too!

1 Peter 2:17 (New International Version)
Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Man, sometimes I wish some kids had even a once of respect these days. Respect seems to be hard thing to come by in this generation. It is kind of sad in my opinion. It also is hard to teach my kids to be respectful when other children around them lack it.

I really like how the complier of this list clarified respect for self, others and authority. Too many times I find, working with teenagers, that they do not respect themselves. They care too much about what others think about them that they do not care about their own character.

Not only should we respect those that we like, but give respect to those we don't care for. We must show the love that God has called us to. This is very hard at times to do...I ain't gonna lie.

Then I Peter also tells us to respect God and those in authority. We need to teach our children to give respect to our leaders even if we do not agree. I think there is an aspect of teaching our kids to give reverence to God our ultimate authority. God is our friend but He is also King. I find all too often at church that many kids don't know how to respect God's house and even God himself. It is our duty as parents to instill in them a holy reverence; but yet help them understand God friendship and love.

*Father, grant that my children may show proper respect to everyone, as your Word commands."

Lord help me learn respect and give it and I will...

I love this picture of my daughter giving Gaston attitude. It makes me laugh because my daughter is not like that at all...we totally staged this picture.

*by Bob Hostetler, it is excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4, 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids

31 Virtues for our Kids ~ Mercy

Mercy

For the month of January we will be praying for 31 Virtues for our Kids maybe even for ourselves too!

Luke 6:36 (New International Version)

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.







Mercy~compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence; an act of kindness, compassion, or favor




A couple Sundays ago, I did an object lesson with the kids in Jumpstart Kids Ministries. I had one of the kids come up and play a game with me. The game rules were that she had to answer ALL 1o questions right that I was going to ask her. If she didn't get them ALL right she was going to get squirted with a little water gun. If she got them all right she would get a yummy candy bar. She agreed to the terms of the game. She didn't get one question right....well that was partly my doing, I asked her riddles. I then teased her and got out my giant super soaker to spray her because she didn't get any right. We all agreed that is what she deserved. She even took her glasses off to get ready for the spray of water that was about to come her way.

Now of course at this point I did not douse her in water as exciting that may have been. The children were very excited about the idea of it. Nope, I wanted to teach them the ideas of mercy and grace. Mercy was given to the student by me not spraying her with the super soaker. I had compassion on her even though it was the punishment she knew she was to receive. Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

I then went a little further and gave her the candy bar even though she didn't get a single answer correct. I told the kids that this is grace....getting what you definitely did not deserve. She did not deserve that candy bar. But that is exactly what grace is all about.

I want my children to fully understand mercy and grace. I want them to show mercy to those that hurt them as hard as that may be. Hey, I need a good dose of mercy at times too. As humans that natural tendency is to hurt as we have been hurt. But God is always asking us to do what He is calling us to do, walk in mercy.

Yesterday, we talked about justice....we need to love justice; but it must be coupled with mercy. To many times we are ready to be just but not ready to give mercy. Mercy is showing God's great compassion in this very lost world. Mercy also means acts of kindness, compassion and benevolence.

There is no greater time than now to show mercy....
I have posted two pictures of places that desperately need our love, mercy and grace. The first one was taken by me in Jamaica at the orphanage that I went to last November. The second is a picture taken by missionary Matt Love from Dominican Republic last week as he was in Haiti. In that picture Convoy of Hope is passing out food to those in great need. We need to be merciful in times like these.


*"May my children always be merciful, just as their Father is merciful."

Our Father is merciful! Our punishment we deserve is eternal death; but in His great Mercy He has provided Grace!






*by Bob Hostetler, it is excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4, 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids

A Toothpaste Request!

My daughter has been very upset about the toothpaste I have been buying. As I was leaving to go to the store she gave me her toothpaste request....

Mom, can you get some different tooth paste?
Sure, honey what do you want?

Please don't get the kind with baking soda or....
Tartar sauce in it!

At this point John and I bust out laughing to ourselves. (don't worry she didn't notice, she was to engrossed in her DS)

I then of course I said, "Sure honey...no baking soda and absolutely NO TARTAR SAUCE!"

Maybe, that is why her breath was so stinky!

So, just as promised

NO TARTAR SAUCE!


Too funny....