Take Me Back..............

Well, we had a great morning, filling bags of food for Haiti. It flooded my heart with past memories of missions. Venezuela was our last missions trip. I found this picture of a boy taking care of his little sister. Lately, I have had the itching to do more, be more, and give more. I look at my home and want to throw it all away. The materials mean nothing to me. I've been reading up more and more about missions too. I just finished reading Scared and reading Hole in the Gospel. I cried out to God the other night "What do you want? I'm listening!!!" I'm not sure. But I do know one thing......we are downsizing, buying less, and trying to give more. I have 3 kids!! What values do I want them to inherit? Things mean nothing to Paul and I. I don't want to be attached to a home, a car, a bank account, a wardrobe, or a hobby! I want my children to realize that God is the center of our world...........not the crap here on earth! There is something so freeing about giving away valuable items. I wish we could just move to the inner-city and live IN THE THICK of POVERTY! I best be careful cause my wish may come true. Yes, it scares me to think about living next door to criminals etc..........but one does adjust. Each day, I'm gonna get rid of something in this house. It takes time, you know? I believe God has been slowly chiseling away at me for the past 10 years. Slowly and surely I have given up things. I stopped buying ridiculous decorations for my home years ago!! I mean, who really cares about that stuff??? We have pictures of our kids and items from past missions trips hanging on our walls. But...I have so far to go. God is still working on me and carefully pulling my fingers away from the items that are clinched with-in. Who knows......I may be giving something away to you soon! Each day, something must go. No one should have the amount of things that we have.......way too much. :-)

Valentines Day/ Kennedy's Birthday

Kennedy's 6th Birthday

Well, we celebrated our oldest daughter's birthday. Wow!! I can't believe our baby is six years old! She woke up on a Friday morning to find a balloon, some cheap flowers, and donuts in bed for breakfast. That was fun. She has always said that she wanted breakfast in bed. What is it with women and b-fast in bed?? We are born to be romantics!! hahahha......well, then we dropped her off at school. We later showed up with Oreo treats for the class and daddy was the "Mystery Reader" at school that day. We then checked her out of school (I'm a bad parent.....I know!!). We brought her home early and she wanted a 'Lunchable' for lunch. That night we took her to Red Robin for dinner with family. So, to be honest we were supposed to have cake/presents when we got home that night but...............we are a REAL family and let's just say that the birthday girl was feeling a little "tired" that night. So, we delayed cake/gift until the next night. Well, it worked out. Things don't always go as planned, but it still turned out to be fun!! :-)

Live It Up

The longer I live and the more I experience challenges in life, the more I realize that life is short and we should "live it up". I'm not talking about indulging in reckless sin but indulging in life.......the way God meant for us to live. It's interesting to see what the men did in the NT with the 'talents' that were given to them. The ones who invested were praised and the one who did nothing with his 'talent' well..............not so good!! The more I see life falling short and see tragedy, the more I want to experience. I'm not promised tomorrow and neither is anyone in my family. Why hold back? Why not take that trip that you've always wanted to take? Why not let the kids jump on the bed.......just this one time? Why not play in the rain.....and ruin your favorite shirt? Oh, so what! Why not let the kids skip school this one time and have a pj day?! Will 1 day of absence mean the end of the world? Why not buy those plane tickets and go see that 'loved one'? Obviously, you must be somewhat wise and not crazy foolish. But I think we hold back and "play by the rules" and "tuck away that golden egg into savings" and blah blah blah. I've decided to use our fine china as much as possible. What am I saving it for anyhow?!! And yes, we have food fights (when daddy is not home). And yes, Paul and go somewhere every 5 years and selfishly spoil ourselves. It's not because we deserve it but because we need it! Life is short. We need to love our God with all we have, love our family we everything we've got and live it up! He didn't create this earth for us to watch it pass by. Enjoy the fruit and beauty. Praise Him for it. Enjoy the friendships and family. Of course, give Him credit for every bit of it.

So Much To Learn............So Much to Bear

Here I am at 34 and yet, I still feel like a new Christian at times. I'm always finding new truths and moments of "ahh- haa" in my life. Thank goodness, right?! However, that also comes with moments of great embarrassment and groveling too as I am humbled by my own sinful nature. This year, I've committed to fast so many times and during that time study the good old Fruits of the Spirit. Sounds boring, I know, but boy am I learning like a new kids in school for the first time. I"m still stuck on the oh so popular fruit........love. As I was reading it today, I came across ICor. 13 because this passage helps me understand love a little bit more. Well it states that "love bears all things." Well what the heck does that mean?!! Well, I pulled out my greek/hebrew concordance and looked up the root meaning. It means to cover in silence, endure, to suffer. Ouch!! This hit me hard. If you know me, you know that silence only comes when I'm tired. I'm never silent!!Then I started thinking about all the challenging moments that would have gone some much smoother if I had just "endured in silence.............suffered". Silence is suffering for me and God knows it too. Then I started to think about pallbearers. When the funeral comes, they just quietly carry the dead to his/her grave with no words. It doesn't matter what that deceased person said or didn't say that upset the pallbearers; they show respect for the dead and so quietly carry him/her upon the shoulders. They "bear" that person on that day. How often should we just "bear" the difficult things and just carry them in love, without saying the last word or getting the last poke?! I must remember this with my family.

My Wonderful 34th Birthday..........More Than 'just another birthday'

You are Greatly Loved

Did you know that a Messenger spoke to Daniel and told him how much he was loved, more than once in the book of Daniel? Can you imagine talking to an angel and being referred to the "one who is loved"?? I'd pass out. Of course I know that God loves me but to hear an angel remind me that I am very much loved would just send me orbiting. Of course Daniel was special and I love studying him. He was always praying, confessing and fasting. In fact, when he was approached by the angel, he was doing exactly that. How much time and I spending in prayer and fasting?? I would like to journey to where Daniel was in his life. I'd like to match my spirit up with his and become a "Hedonist" in that way that John Piper describes that word. I want my every thought and moment to be about Him. It takes time, but I think it's possible. This is why I am studying the guys in the bible who understood 100% passion and commitment. I'm still young and have much to learn. I hope I have time to accomplish this idea. Having kids will force you in this direction. You want so badly for them to love God in a passionate way but it should be modeled (not taught).

Valentine Frenzy= LOVE

Here we go again. We like to make our very own Valentines for our friends and for school. I know, we sound cheap! But that is not the case, well maybe. But mostly we make them because we enjoy crafts. We are such nerds! Kennedy, Mia, and I love to sit down at the bar and craft, color, glue, and make one big mess. So, we made owls, hearts, aliens, and flowers. We had so much fun. We are done and ready a week early for Valentines Day. Next week we will make truffles and fudge for our neighbors. I love doing these things with the girls. I hope they pass on the traditions to their young ones one day too. But mostly I want them to understand what LOVE really is about. It is unconditional. Alexanders try and show unconditional love because Christ does this for us each and every day. We need to love one another and allow lots of room for Grace! Sometimes it's hard for the girls. They are quick to snap at eachother and having one another is really gonna teach them so much about real love. I am still learning too.......each moment!! They are quick to remind me too!

Lucky in Lemonade

Well we love the fruit market and bought 5 lemons for 1 dollar. So we decided to make lemonade for fun. Mia and I squeezed out the lemon juice. Lincoln kept licking the left over lemons and making funny faces. It was actually quite amusing to watch his face. Mia would occasionally take a lick. She was serious business about the squeezing. She finally said "wow, mommy, you are so strong!" I guess I have some impressive muscles,huh!?? After we made it, we sat down and enjoyed a glass. Even Lincoln liked the taste of the lemonade. I was surprised. I didn't think he'd like it but he does!

The Girls' First Sleepover

Well we decided to let Emma stay the night a few weeks ago. This would be Kennedy and Mia's first sleepover. Thankfully, we get along quite well with Emma's parents, Julie and Kerri. So for kicks, we told them they had to stay late and learn how to play Settlers of Catan. If they liked the game then they "passed" the friendship test and we could stay friends! ahha......actually it was a blast. The girls watched movies and ate cupcakes. Then they passed out while we stayed up until 3am playing Settlers of Catan. It really was a lot of fun. Getting up the next morning with the giggly girls was challenging cause I was sleeeepy!!