30 years

Happy 30th Anniversary mom and Dad!

(Picture taken at the same church they got married in. They look pretty snazzy uh?!)

"The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine unity, and the most wonderful of all things in life."- Sir Hugh Walpole

We are SO blessed to have such caring parents who are so dedicated to each other! What a wonderful legacy to leave! Thank you for honoring the gift of marriage, and for giving us the gift of stability and enduring love.

I love you!

What are you believing God for?


**(This post is looong, and it's more of an outpouring of my heart. Just wanted to give you a heads up, in case this kind of post is not of interest to you.)

Lately, God has been expanding my thinking. He's been showing me glimpses of His power that I haven't been noticing, or that I've simply taken for granted. Thankfully, He's opened my heart and my mind to possibilities of His splendor and work in our lives that, honestly, up until this point I probably just never believed.

Because of the culture we live in, it is so easy to rely on ourselves. And honestly, because we are so blessed to live in this country, we often find ourselves not even asking God for the "big" things, because, to be frank, we simply don't need him. 

Likewise, God has been showing me that I've been running to my own solutions for situations, rather than going to Him first. I know that that sounds so cliche, but let me explain. A few weeks ago Jackson got incredibly sick with Bronchitis, and had to take lots of medicine, and complete some breathing treatments. Up until that point, praying for God to show up in the middle of that was just something I didn't do. Oh I would have prayed for Him to get better or feel better, but for God to actually show up and do something miraculous, was just not something I would have prayed for.

But, God, my sweet sweet heavenly Father has been challenging my thinking.

He wanted to show me that not only could He do something miraculous, He wanted to. 

At the doctor's office, I was told that Jackson needed to take some breathing treatments twice a day at home for a few days to open up his breathing. When I got home and told Adam, we both admitted to thinking the same thing, "There is no way Jackson is going to sit still with a mask on his face, hold it there, and breathe 5 times, TWICE." We opened up the breathing treatment parts, and at first, hoped for the best. Oh but God is too gracious to just allow us to "hope". Before we gave him his first treatment, Adam and I decided to pray out loud with Jackson for God to bring peace and stillness to Jackson, to calm him, and to help him take his treatments. Adam was so sure God would do it. 

And you know what? God did. Honestly, when Jackson sat still and did the treatments peacefully and calmly, I wanted to cry. I think I did actually. In that moment, I just realized that I needed to be praying and asking God for help for everything.  Adam is not perfect (although I think he's pretty close), but for the most part, He has such a strong trust is Jesus' provision. Me on the other hand, I really struggle with that. BUT God has been changing me. 

Now, I find myself praying and running to Jesus for everything. It's like a switch went off and I realized that God wants to do something powerful in my life. He wants to surprise me and show me His glory. 

A few weeks ago one of our two cars died. The truck has been so faithfully running for several years, but after hundreds of thousands of miles, it finally just died. Which meant, we were left with one car. My first thought was, "Oh dear, what are we going to do?" BUT, God spoke to me again. 

⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:6-8)

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19)

I knew, not only does God know what we need, but He says He will meet our needs. So I've been praying those verses and believing those verses and expecting God to show up. The truth is, in my opinion, we don't "need" another car. We could certainly make it work, until we could afford to buy another one, but I wanted to see God show up. I wanted to trust God to provide. I knew that our circumstance only provided God an opportunity to do something miraculous. 

And you know what happened? No, we weren't given a car. (Although I'm still not totally convinced He won't do that. Wouldn't that be nice? :) ), but we were "given" a car. Adam meets with several men on Monday mornings for a bible study. He shared with them some prayer requests we had, one being making our financial situations work for another car. They prayed, and another man prayed for God to provide us with a vehicle. Seconds after they said "amen" another man spoke up, and told Adam that this may be the quickest answer to a prayer he has ever received. They were blessed with 3 vehicles, and we could use their third car.

When Adam came home and let me know that so and so would let us use their car, I cried. I knew that this was God. I prayed for God to provide, and He did. I don't know how long we will use it, or when we will buy another vehicle, but I do know that God knows my needs, wants to meet my needs, and wants to grow my faith in the way He meets my needs. 

And the truth is, He wants to do the same for you. 

God wants to show up in your life. What are believing Him for?

BigStuf '11: Part 2

Here are some of my personal highlights of the week. Enjoy!

1) Listening to students talking on the bus ride down to the beach.  Incredibly amusing yet slightly awkward conversations. :)

2) Speaking of the bus ride down there.....watching Adam chat it up with the bus driver.  He could make friends with ANYONE. Love that man!

3) Watching the opening act for the first night session. The smaller dancer was a little creepy to me, but creepiness aside, I could appreciate their 'mad' dancing skills.  They reminded Adam and I of the Jabbawockeez. Don't ya think? I guess that was the idea.

4) Watching these girls get to know each other and become friends. Watching God form friendships never ceases to amaze me!

5) Writing letters to children in Kenya. (We wrote on dry erase boards, took pictures of ourselves with Ipads, and Bigstuf sent our messages to an orphanage in Kenya).

6) Watching hundreds of students spending time with their creator on the beach. Beautiful right?!

6) Worship on the beach.

7) Praying over this sweet girl before we baptized her in the ocean. 

Two years ago she accepted Christ at this camp, and this year she went as a middle school leader. Since Bigstuf was where she became a Christian, she wanted to be baptized there. So we took all of our students out to the beach one night, and baptized her in the ocean. It was a sweet, sweet moment.

And lastly, I wanted to share with you a link to hear one of the songs they did that week. Love the song, love the lyrics, love the overall message. God's love NEVER fails. This song is a beautiful reminder of His faithfulness to us. Enjoy!

Your Love Never Fails   performed here by Jesus Culture 

BigStuf '11: Part 1 A trip down memory lane...

Hello again friends!

This past week Adam and I, along with a few other adults, bravely took 60 or so middle and high schoolers down to Panama City for BigStuf '11, which is a week-long summer camp on the beach. This camp is pretty special to Adam and I because not only was this year our church's 7th year to go (Adam has gone 6 of those years, and I've gone 4 of those), but it was also the first summer camp Adam and I ever took a group of students to, back in 2005, when we were 20 and took the kids from the church we went to in Mobile.

Here we were all young, and silly, and "surferish":

Here's another one of Adam from that week that really highlights his long hair. Whew!!  I was (and am) smitten for this boy! 

Fast forward 6 years, same hallway at Bigstuf:

Not the BEST picture of the two of us, but how fun to see the difference. Adam's hair is still long but not quite so long, and thankfully I got rid of that awful hemp and shell necklace, and replaced it with this one, (you can barely see it in the picture) only mine has the letter "J" for Jackson. I love, love, love it! And  I would say that was a bit of an upgrade- hemp to silver. 

Anyway, that's all I have for today. Be back later with more highlights from the trip!

Jackson's FIRST haircut

Welp, the time had come. I simply couldn't put it off any longer. On good days, little man's hair was curly and precious, and well, NOT haircut worthy. But on not-so-good days, his hair was "mulletish". See below....

Yes, I was that parent. You know, the one that other parents point to and whisper about, "Wonder when they will cut that poor boy's hair?" Well I LOVED it! So I put it off, and put it off, and put it off, and well, after watching his hair constantly get in his face, and realizing that now that it was so long the only way his curls would cooperate was if I put  product in them  (which I was certainly NOT going to do. Or to be honest,  Adam would certainly not LET me do) we decided to bite the bullet, and take the plunge! 

So we pulled up to the place, and Adam went in to make sure they cut children's hair. I won't lie, while Jackson and I were waiting in the car I was thinking about leaving and never going back. Kidding. But seriously, this was a huge moment! I felt like I would be saying goodbye to my baby and welcoming home a little boy. Would he cry? Would they cut him? Would I cry? Sheesh, this was a BIG deal! :) 

Mid-almost-meltdown, Adam hopped back in the car and told me that not only did they cut babies' hair, they had a certificate for him once his first haircut was completed. I was sold.

Here are some before pics in embarrassingly poorly lit and blurry light:  

Ashley, the girl that cut his hair, let him sit in my lap and play with all of her tools while she (patiently) cut his hair. Adam was hysterical and went to crazy lengths to keep Jackson happy and entertained. At one point I think he was dancing for him. Man I love that guy! Anyway, it was all over in 15 minutes, and believe it or not, no one cried! Me or Jackson. :) 


Here's an after pic taken on Adam's handy iphone:

SOOO cute uh?! 

And here's the cute certificate I told you about. Obviously we've still got to add his name to it.

And yes, that is his hair in the box (in a little plastic bag taped to the back). I love it, in a creepy, but sentimental kind of way. :)

J-man is growing TOO fast!

Well friends, our little guy is just growing leaps and bounds. 

He is almost 15 months old (wow!), and he is learning so much!

Here is a fun list of what Jackson is up to:

• Little man is sleeping about 10-11 hours. Thankfully though if he wakes at 6 or so, he'll play and roll around until I go get him.

• He is trying to drop his morning nap, which means he sleeps longer in the afternoon. I am trying to let him drop it. :) Two naps have been a beautiful thing.

• He eats everything one day, and NOTHING the next. I am desperately trying to get Jackson to eat new foods.

• He says, "Dadee" (daddy), "Buh buh" (bye bye); "Baw" (ball); "Daw" (dog); and his new words are "Belbo" (elmo) and "Uh Aw" (uh- oh).  Notice that Momma or Mommy is not  on the list. We are working on that though. I'm not bitter. ;)

• Jackson is wearing mostly 18 month old clothes, some 12 month shorts and 24 month shirts. He's still very tall for his age. Wonder who he got that from? 

• He has just discovered how to use a spoon, so I've been giving him a spoon for most of his meals. Not much makes it into his mouth, but he has fun trying!

• He has always loved books, looking at them himself. But now he loves us reading to him. He wants us to read the same book over, and over, and over, and over.....

• He also loves playing peek-a-boo with anything... his hands, a shower curtain, a blanket, the occasional box of Cheese-its. You name it, and he's probably played peek-a-boo with it. The other day he spent a good 20 minutes playing peek-a-boo with the closet door.  He would hide in our closet and jump out to scare us, over and over. He loved it, and Adam and I couldn't believe how long he would stay in there before pushing the door open to "scare" us. At one point, Adam opened the door first to make a face at Jackson, and Jackson about fell over from laughing so hard. 

• Jackson has also gotten really good at following simple instructions. I can say, "Jackson go get a book, and I'll read to you." And he will go to the corner of the room, grab a book, and bring it back. Unfortunately when I say, "Jackson, let's eat our broccoli," or "Jackson, let me change your diaper", his instruction-following and comprehension skills are conveniently lacking.  

• He hates being told "No" (well, let's face it, none of us likes to be told "no"). Anyway, it's his reaction to being told no that is so interesting. If he were like his dad (when his dad was younger) he would rebel at being told no and emphatically and proudly do the opposite. :) But it is apparent, at this point, that he is more like his sensitive-hearted momma. All we have to do is look at him sternly and say "No sir" and the precious little baby bursts into tears. (Break my heart!) However, although he doesn't like being told no, he does mind for the most part, and for that, we are so so so appreciative!

• Jackson gives lots of slobbery kisses, high-fives, and he is trying to learn to touch his nose. If, he tries, he ends of picking his nose instead...oh well. :) 

Honestly, we love this little guy more than we could ever have imagined. And I love being a mom more than any other job in the world.  

One last thing...totally unrelated. If you haven't hear of Pinterest, go check it out. You will be addicted. Consider yourself warned. :) Here is the link to my new, but growing Pinterest board. 

-Monica

The Mission of Motherhood

 

I am currently reading one of the best books I've read in years.

For the past few months, I've had this book on my "Must Read before my kids are 40" list. And, thankfully, a friend of mine had it, so I started reading through it about 2 weeks ago. And honestly, and I mean this with all of my heart, this book is one of the most inspirational books I've ever read. It has helped encourage, equip, and inspire me to know, accept, and love this gift of motherhood. (I apologize for all of the verbs in the previous sentence. :-) )

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"I've come to appreciate the importance of the many thousands of routine moments in a mother's life, for it is in these moments that real greatness tends to be taught and caught. It is certainly important  to grasp the great calling of motherhood and respond to a  vision for what a family can be. But it's the way I respond to my children in everyday moments that gives me the best chance of winning their hearts. If I have integrity and patience in the small moments of life that are so important to my children, and if I approach them with a servant's heart, then I have a far better chance of influencing them in the larger and more critical issues of life."

Anyway, if you are a mother of small children, a mother who is expecting, or a mother at heart, please read this book. It will change you life.

Buy it on Amazon here.

Here is a link to Sally Clarkson's Blog  (author of Mission of Motherhood): I Take Joy

Happy Reading!

Monica