I am on a trip right now to the East Coast. We are visiting family and raising financial support since we are missionaries in Kansas City, MO. It has been a good time seeing both Brian's family in North Carolina and my family in Maryland. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Brian's family and the house is completely full with everyone there! I have so much to be thankful for and I know how important it is to have a thankful heart everyday! My children have been working on this whenever they begin to have an unthankful heart. I ask them to tell me 5 things they are thankful for and they begin to realize all that they are blessed with. It's amazing how our spirits are encouraged when we are thankful.
We are getting ready to head back to Missouri at the end of the week. My mom is coming with us to stay for a couple of days before she flies back home to Maryland. It will be nice having her interior decorating skills to help me with the house in Missouri. We are also beginning to prepare for Christmas. With limited resources for Christmas presents this year, as I am sure everyone is dealing with, it is helping me to keep my heart focused on the one who deserves our praise this season, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
Anyway, I am going to try and be more faithful with blogging on a regular basis, even though I don't know if anyone is ready this blog yet :)
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and your heart is preparing to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings, Jesus!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
God's wonder working power
I am always so thankful that the Lord doesn't leave us as we are but is constantly transforming us into His image through the work of His beautiful hand. It's not always pleasant and it doesn't usually feel like a spring day in the meadow but it's a beautiful process! God is doing this with me right now. He is hedging me in from behind and from the front and on all sides. It's not painful perse but it is requiring some movement on my behalf. You see, we are soon expecting baby #4 to our family! Her name is Leiyah Ann Jones (we think this is how we will spell it for now) :) God has been working on my daily life here with my children and my husband through this process. He has been working to make our home more efficient so that we are using our time more wisely. With homeschooling 2 early elementary children, taking care of a preschooler and having a baby - at times, it seems impossible that I will have time to keep my house in order, provide healthy daily meals for my family and work on projects that I would like to start (and finish!). All the while, loving them as Christ loves me and walking in intimacy with Him! Here are several of the things he has worked on in my life in the last few months to create some order! My sharing this is not to sound puffed up or wanting a pat on the back. These are to show you how God has been leading us and working in me to surrender more of myself to His purposes.
He has led me to be more diligent and more focused in homeschooling. We have had difficulty with the curriculum we are currently using because it does not fit my children's learning style, especially math! Thank you Lisa for all your wonderful encouragement and help! He is causing my heart to be more diligent and focused on what I am teaching them and therefore causing my heart to grow. I feel stretched at times like a little shoot does when it is pushing through the earth to pop out of the ground and show it's beauty!
He has been teaching me about being efficient in providing healthy meals for my family while at the same time, being very conscious of the money that I am spending each month on groceries. Therefore, I have been making most of our meals from scratch. I have also been refining my process of planning our weekly meals and grocery list so that my time is made more useful during shopping trips and I am not making so many "oops" trips to the store. I am making our own cereal (thanks for the recipe Lisa) and our own bread weekly. This is not always easy with our schedule so He is working on my time management as well. Yet what is beautiful is that during this whole process, He is making this journey enjoyable, if you can actually believe that!
He is still working diligently on my time so that I am taking keeping my house in order with our schedule and housework. My children are amazing and quick to help with dusting, wiping floors, washing dishes (by hand since we have no dishwasher) :( and folding clothes. Yet things can always run more efficiently and He is gently guiding me to prepare things so that when the baby comes, we are able to transition smoothly!
He has also led us to use cloth diapers with this baby. Now I know that some of you hear this and think we are crazy for doing this since cloth diapers are so old school. Yet you would be so surprised how much has changed with cloth diapers in the last 9 years! Google it and you'll be amazed at what you find. Anyway, through God's leading, we will be doing this from the beginning and will eventually save over $2,000 from using cloth diapers as opposed to disposable diapers.
He has been working on my relationships with my children. He is beginning to whittle away at the very rough edges of my personality and get down to the root of my issues, fully bringing everything full circle to where I am seeing His hand in addressing my attitudes with my children. For example, the times I get irritated when I am working on something (whether it be a chore, a hobby, or anything else) and treat them as a nuisance. He is causing my heart to love them and is scratching the surface in teaching me that motherhood is one of the beautiful crosses He has led me to bear. He is producing greater unconditional love for them and truly causing me to train them in the way THEY should go. Not the way I think they should go, others think they should go or even how their brother or sister thinks they should go.
God is also stirring in me a desire for hobbies. It is very sad but I have never had a hobby in my life. You might think I am exaggerating but I have never taken time to do anything that I loved because I never took the time to figure out what I enjoyed doing. Anyway, God has been stirring a desire to sew and to knit in the last few months. Therefore, I am beginning a project that I will hopefully finish soon and be able to post pictures of it on this blog. I am making my own mock "Bebe AuLait " nursing cover. I am also going to be starting a small knitting project. So if anyone has any beginner project ideas for me, please email me and send them!
Well, this has been an exceptionally long blog and for that I am sorry! Yet, I thought it would be a good idea to begin with what God has been doing in me for the last 1/2 a year! I love you and pray that God would bless you with His manifest presence today!
He has led me to be more diligent and more focused in homeschooling. We have had difficulty with the curriculum we are currently using because it does not fit my children's learning style, especially math! Thank you Lisa for all your wonderful encouragement and help! He is causing my heart to be more diligent and focused on what I am teaching them and therefore causing my heart to grow. I feel stretched at times like a little shoot does when it is pushing through the earth to pop out of the ground and show it's beauty!
He has been teaching me about being efficient in providing healthy meals for my family while at the same time, being very conscious of the money that I am spending each month on groceries. Therefore, I have been making most of our meals from scratch. I have also been refining my process of planning our weekly meals and grocery list so that my time is made more useful during shopping trips and I am not making so many "oops" trips to the store. I am making our own cereal (thanks for the recipe Lisa) and our own bread weekly. This is not always easy with our schedule so He is working on my time management as well. Yet what is beautiful is that during this whole process, He is making this journey enjoyable, if you can actually believe that!
He is still working diligently on my time so that I am taking keeping my house in order with our schedule and housework. My children are amazing and quick to help with dusting, wiping floors, washing dishes (by hand since we have no dishwasher) :( and folding clothes. Yet things can always run more efficiently and He is gently guiding me to prepare things so that when the baby comes, we are able to transition smoothly!
He has also led us to use cloth diapers with this baby. Now I know that some of you hear this and think we are crazy for doing this since cloth diapers are so old school. Yet you would be so surprised how much has changed with cloth diapers in the last 9 years! Google it and you'll be amazed at what you find. Anyway, through God's leading, we will be doing this from the beginning and will eventually save over $2,000 from using cloth diapers as opposed to disposable diapers.
He has been working on my relationships with my children. He is beginning to whittle away at the very rough edges of my personality and get down to the root of my issues, fully bringing everything full circle to where I am seeing His hand in addressing my attitudes with my children. For example, the times I get irritated when I am working on something (whether it be a chore, a hobby, or anything else) and treat them as a nuisance. He is causing my heart to love them and is scratching the surface in teaching me that motherhood is one of the beautiful crosses He has led me to bear. He is producing greater unconditional love for them and truly causing me to train them in the way THEY should go. Not the way I think they should go, others think they should go or even how their brother or sister thinks they should go.
God is also stirring in me a desire for hobbies. It is very sad but I have never had a hobby in my life. You might think I am exaggerating but I have never taken time to do anything that I loved because I never took the time to figure out what I enjoyed doing. Anyway, God has been stirring a desire to sew and to knit in the last few months. Therefore, I am beginning a project that I will hopefully finish soon and be able to post pictures of it on this blog. I am making my own mock "Bebe AuLait " nursing cover. I am also going to be starting a small knitting project. So if anyone has any beginner project ideas for me, please email me and send them!
Well, this has been an exceptionally long blog and for that I am sorry! Yet, I thought it would be a good idea to begin with what God has been doing in me for the last 1/2 a year! I love you and pray that God would bless you with His manifest presence today!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Here It Goes!
Well, here I go! I have never blogged before in my entire life. My husband has been "encouraging" me to start one for several months now. So I decided to take the plunge and start one. I don't know how good it will be but I think I will mostly be talking about my days, what God has been showing me and any new projects that might spark my interest to start. We are having our 4th child in April so it will be fun to share that experience. Maybe this will help me to focus more on taking pictures!! Anyway, I'll be blogging again soon once I can get the hang of how this blogging "thing" works. If you have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know! May you have a blessed day and may the Lord's face shine upon you today!
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