Andrew

Doesn't this say it all.

Spring Break 2009 continued

On Saturday of spring break we hung out at my parents house. Most of the cousins were there and took turns holding Ti. Elizabeth and Ti
Madison and Ti

Karli and Ti

Noah and Papaw eating grapefruits

We spent one night in a motel so that the boys could swim in an indoor pool.

Ti and I just chilling in the room.

The boys watching cartoons that morning.

We went to the park one day with Asher and Kadyn.

Andrew can actually go all the way across these monkey bars. I was impressed. I sure couldn't do that even if I wanted to.

Noah is showing me how he can hang upside down with no hands.

We had a great time except for the fact that my allergies have given me fits ever since we have started going outside and enjoying the weather. Ti went too but he just hung out in the stroller sleeping most of the time. I am ready for summer!!!!!!!

Moving on Up

Well did that bring to mind the show about the "Jeffersons". Does that tell my age that I actually use to watch that show.


Back to more important things. Titus has moved up a size in diapers. After leaking three times in one day I have decided even though we have a few newborn sizes left we are going ahead and starting size 1 (this is hard for me since I am so cheap). I weighed him at the vets this week and he weighed 9.3 pounds. He is packing on the pounds. He eats really good now if I could just get him to sleep good.

I don't know who he gets this double chin from. hahaha Has anyone seen a picture of me lately.

Another "Sweet Andrew"

Scene: Andrew, Titus and I laying in the bed. Andrew is singing to Titus.

Andrew "God Love You, God Loves You. In the bottom, In the bottom ( at this point I get a little nervous hehe)In the bottom of the sea. I don't like sharks. I don't like sharks).

He's got talent. Where do we sign him up for writing new songs?


Andrew - Mom, I love God with all my heart
Mom - That's good. Andrew, do you know what sin is?
Andrew - Something really, really bad
Mom - Who sins
Andrew -Adam, That guy that stole from his brother and then told his father he had to move away.
Mom - Andrew I sin.
Andrew - Silence and funny face

I don't think he is quite ready to admit that he does anything wrong.

A Parent's Impact

Luke 15:20
An he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

Here is a devotional from Dr. David Jeremiah

One writer I read said that the way parents treat their children in daily living has more impact on their children's spiritual development than t he family's religious practices, including having a family altar, reading the Bible together, and attending church services regularly.

Parenting s a difficult Job. But we need to remember that when the rebellious son in Luke 15 came to himself, he found a loving father waiting for him at home. That father had probably made mistakes in his parenting, but he did not stop loving either of his two sons--and the younger son, at least, knew it.

Sometimes the stress of parenting makes us want to stop loving and leave. But if we remain, and continue to love, we do more negate the chances of rebellion in our children than anything we could ever do. may God help us to love our children as He loves us.


Over the past few weeks I have sometimes just wanted to give up. Discipline is hard and I don't like to do it. After reading this devotion this morning I was convicted about how I am treating my children. It is really hard for me to be nice to them when I am so aggravated at them. (Can I get a witness) Anyway, my treatment of them should example God's treatment of us not based upon how I am feeling at the time. I hope this article might encourage someone today that have kids that aren't always perfect just like mine.

Dear Lord
Please allow me to show your love to those around me especially my children. Help me not to hold grudges for past wrong. Help me to show forgiveness just like you have forgiven me. Help me not to choose the path of least resistant but to guide my children in the right path. Help me to obey you so that I will the right example for them. Help me to love unconditionally just as you do. In your name I pray.

Spring Break 2009 - Dewey Farm

One day of spring break I took the boys out to the Dewey's farm to play with the new baby lambs. Here are some pics. Andrew is trying to sneak up on the lambs. Andrew can't do anything quietly.

Andrew and the cat liked each other. I am not for sure why. As you can see in some of the below pictures, the cats have a lot of patience.

Ti was tired. He pretty much slept through all the excitement.

The Dewey's feed their cows candy. The boys are inspecting it. I think they were probably tempted to try some themselves.

Poor Cats!!!!!

The boys also played with the chickens and brought me some eggs. I don't like chickens so I didn't take any pictures of that. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to get outside.

Something to think about

Well I have been thinking about encouragement a lot lately and came across this article on living proof ministries blogspot. I am such a blogspot junkie.



When the Mask Comes Off
When I was a teenager, I would look at the other kids at church and think I had absolutely nothing in common with them. They must all love being there every Sunday and Wednesday and never fight their parents about going. They must never wish they could do all the things their friends at school were doing. They must never sit on the row and be insecure because they weren't sure if their church friends were going to talk to them that day. They must have it all together. There was even one day in Sunday school in 10th grade when we divided into stations to talk about issues teenagers faced. I went to the station on peer pressure and to my absolute shock, I was the only one! That further reinforced my belief that I alone was being pulled in by the undertow.

Over time, with no one I felt I could relate to on the shore, I gave in to the strong current. What grieves me now is that other kids were going through some of the same stuff I was, at least to an extent, but no one was talking about it. I didn't know. Many of us felt isolated in our secret struggles, whatever they might have been. Late in my senior year (which was the low point for me), I was at a party with some friends and a girl from my church was there. I didn't know her very well at the time. She told my boyfriend to spill some dirt on me because it was killing her to think I could be so perfect. Are you kidding me? Partly because of who my mom was, and partly because it's in our nature to think everyone else has it altogether but us, she had this very, very false perception that I didn't struggle. Her words haunted me for the next year. I felt so bad that she had the wrong idea and that I had allowed the masquerade to persist.

Eventually, the guilt got to me and I invited this friend to meet me for lunch. During our time together I was finally able to take off the mask. At that point I was a freshman in college and the Lord was delivering me out of the pit I had been in. Thankfully, I was also able to share the work He was currently doing in my life. That friend was one of the first people I ever shared those struggles with. It was not easy for me, but it felt so good to be real with her.

It marked a turning point in my life toward authenticity. I've found that it does me no good to surround myself with pretenders and it does others no good for me to be a pretender.

Two weeks ago Curtis and I were at a very low place in our parenting experience. Jackson's behavior had brought us to our knees and we felt hopeless. Annabeth was at my parents' house and we were driving in the car with him to Wednesday night church. Both of us were in tears because we were so frustrated. I asked Curt if this is how it was going to be for the next 15 years - us hating ourselves because we feel like failures and not even recognizing who we'd become. Neither one of us wakes up in the morning hoping we can spend the whole day disciplining our three-year-old, you know? We were seriously at our wits end.

Curt, trying to console me a bit, told me that his best friend had recently asked him how things were going with our two. Curt had told him that things were fine. His friend's reply was, "Thank God. If you'd told me things were good, I don't know what I would have done." Our friends are also in the trenches with their newborn and their two-year-old son. What if Curt had told him everything was great even though it wasn't? All four of us would have felt alone and like failures.

That night after Bible study, our Sunday school teacher and his wife summoned all the couples from our class over to a table. In tears, he shared a struggle they were having with their three-year-old daughter. They were at their wits end. They felt hopeless. Like failures. He literally said they wondered if this is how it was going to be for the next 15 years. So we're not the only ones? We're not the only ones! Curt raised his hand and said, "Us too!" We were able to spend some time praying for one another.

I can't tell you how encouraged Curtis and I felt. We had walked into church that night in despair and we left with hope. You know what's crazy? That very night we saw a change in our son. And since then, his heart has been a little softer and a little quicker to respond to discipline. We saw the hand of God move in our situation - from our friends' vulnerability that let us know we weren't alone to our kid's softened heart.

People need us to be real. Of course, I don't mean "real" to the point that we're trying to shock others with our sin nature. We don't need to let it all hang out. I have struck out many times on this. We must be Spirit-filled to walk the fine line.

When we're authentic, two things happen. One, we encourage others who are struggling in the same way. And two, we allow ourselves to be encouraged by others who have been there.

Well I for one don't want to live in a glass house for everyone to see all my families imperfection but I do want to be real. I don't want to pretend that our family is perfect. I don't have the perfect children, a perfect marriage or a perfect attitude. I actually have a stinky attitude a lot of the time. I guess we are all are work in progress but when I try to keep the farce of perfection up I might miss out on the opportunity to encourage others that might be in the same situation.

Lord please help me to be real so that I might have the opportunity to encourage someone else.

Encouragment

I am still doing my Bible study on encouragement. This is something the Lord really does want us to do for each other. I know this because I have read verse after verse that is talking about this. He doesn't just want us to encourage people in our circle or those that we like. This verse is out of the message. I Thessalonians 5:14 Our counsel is that your warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to their individual needs. Sometimes for me personally it is easier for me to encourage my friends than those people that I don't particularly like.

Speaking of exhausted, the Lord gave me a little encouragement last night. Titus slept in his bassinet all night and he even slept for about 4 hours one time. Thank you Lord. I was beginning to think I may never feel rested again.

Now back to the subject of encouraging those around us. Here is a quote from Barbara Johnson "When the flood waters of the cesspool have come up to your very soul, you don't need challenges; you need comfort. You need a friend to come alongside and say, "I am hurting with you... I am standing with you... I am weeping with you. I am undergirding you as best I can. Link your shield of faith with mine and somehow we will make it together." A few months ago in my life I needed that friend. Something happened that I needed to be able to go to someone and say I am hurting and I need someone to cry with. Jesus provided that person and I am so thankful she was there. Oh how I want to be that type of person that someone can come to and let me be the shoulder for them to cry on. So that we can link our shields of faith together and lean on each other to get through any situation. So I am volunteering to be an ear for anyone that might need it, to be the encouragement that someone might be needing.

Lets all go about our days looking for ways to encourage all those around us.

One Month

Guess who is one month old! The sweetest little non-night sleeping boy ever.

We finally got the decorations up in his room. Miranda did all the writing in the frames and Ashely Hester did the writing on the bugs. They both did a great job.

The writing in the frames says "Jesus Loves Me This I Know For the Bible Tells Me So"

Speaking of Non-night sleeping. This book was recommended to us. I will let you know if it works.