Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Church Block Party

This year is our church's 50th anniversary.  That's pretty remarkable.  I always think it's such an amazing thing when I see a couple that's been married 50 years, and it's just as striking, if not more so, when a church hits that milestone.

Earlier in the year, we celebrated with former members and sister churches.  And 2 weekends ago, we celebrated with our community.  Not so much celebrating how great it is that our church has "made it" 50 years, but celebrating how good our God is and how we want to share His good news with our neighbors.

A planning team coordinated free carne asada and ice cream, games for the kids, bounce houses, classic cars, and a band that shared the gospel through the music of Johnny Cash.  It was a really good time and so amazing to realize what a great opportunity we have to share Christ with our neighbors.  I'm soo guilty of thinking too inwardly or too small when it comes to my witness at times.  It was a big stretch to get out of my comfort zone, actually engage with perfect strangers, and try to connect with their lives.  I hate that I can be so timid and I'm trying to work on it.

Anyway, there was about 350'ish people there and it all went off without a hitch.  It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day spent investing in each other and the community.





Sunday, June 16, 2013

Week with the grandparents

Over Memorial Day weekend, we headed back to Idaho and Spokane to see both sets of grandparents.  We stopped by Idaho first to drop off my sister who's staying with us for a bit, and then headed to Spokane to spend a week with Peter's folks in their new house.

Peter could only stay until Tuesday but we stayed the rest of the week, and the boys had a blast.  Ben woke up super early every day, but Poppy & GongGong entertained him until Jonah and I woke up a bit later.  We went for walks, went to the park, shopped on craigslist, went swimming, and just had a great time.






Say Please

This is one of those posts that you want in the memory books because you want to remember the good and the bad......but at the same time you wish it was just a silly story and not a reality that shows the reality of sin, even in our little children.

Jonah is strong willed.  And he is stubborn.  I can say that he's stubborn because I know stubborn.  I am stubborn.  So is Peter.  In fact, Peter thought he was stubborn until he met me.  Our kids were just genetically destined to be stubborn and Jonah is not disappointing.

For whatever reason, I had been a bit lax in teaching Jonah to ask for things in a polite and kind way rather than just pointing and whining.  I know how quickly it can become a bad habit and its not honoring to the Lord to treat others that way, so I wanted to be more consistent and firm in this area.  Things like saying "please" when you want something.  And Jonah would randomly try to sign please or make an attempt at saying the word.

So when he started using more whining than manners, I asked him to say "please" at the breakfast table for his milk.  He refused.  And screamed.  I tried discipline that normally works but yet he refused.  All morning long.  We tried putting him on a stool for time-out until he would relent, but he cried and screamed at us.

He literally began to fall asleep on the stool, so I put him down for a nap.  I thought he'd wake up happy and want to say please for milk and a snack.  He didn't.  He screamed in our faces over and over and over.  Yes, he did get milk, and did eat dinner, but wasn't given dessert or toys unless he wanted to politely ask for them.  We knew he was capable of showing love in asking for things politely, and we knew that he was being simply defiant.  And honestly, it just broke our hearts.  Oh, how we hate to see sinful natures in our kids.  We just so much want to see them know Jesus at a young age who has died to free them of that sin.

Jonah never relented that day.  He went to bed without saying or signing please.  And even now, won't say it (unless our friends ask him to sign it, then he will........until he realized we're watching, then he won't!)  Crazy huh?  We've just determined to pray,pray, pray.  And try to be consistent in showing him how to treat his parents, brother, and others.  Because Christ shows us how to do that.

Raising children is kind of scary sometimes.  Lord, help me raise them in a way that is pleasing to you and shows them who You are.

Jonah, we love you.  Lucky for you, your Mama is just as stubborn as you.....at least I think so.  You might give me a run for my money.  But goodness we adore you and are so blessed to be your parents!  And if you want to start saying please tomorrow, that'd be kind of amazing :-)




EPIC Black Butte Retreat 2013

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our annual EPIC Black Butte retreat that happened about a month ago.  It's something I always look forward to.  It is definitely alot of work, but its such a sweet time.  It's always amazing to see how God takes all of our plans, filters out all the self-seeking/frivilous/unnecessary stuff we planned, and has His Spirit work out an amazing weekend even better than we could have imagined.

Our theme for the week was the armor of God.  How necessary it is to equip ourselves daily with them wonderful armor tools God provides, because it's so crucial to persevere in our faith and not fall to Satan's attacks.  God brought a variety of young ladies to the retreat, 14 in all, and it was neat to see them focus on Christ and encourage each other throughout the weekend.

We played lots of games, shopped a bit, ate lots of food, shared devotionals, swam, walked, competed in the "Amazing Race", and just had a great time.  We shared a lot of laughs and made great memories.

I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was working with the other women who served as leaders.  It is so beautiful when God brings different ladies with different gifts together to seamlessly create weekend retreats that go off without any hiccups.  We work so well together and I am so blessed to work in ministry with them.

EPIC is on a little break for the summer, but fall will be here before we know it, and we'll wait to see what God has in store for our group!!










Monday, June 3, 2013

Picture dump

Since I'm so behind on my blog I thought I'd just dump a bunch of random pictures on here in a small attempt to catch up to more recent life!

 *  the boys loved Daddy letting them play in the car one day
*  lookin' cute in their shorts

 *  Jonah had his first haircut.  He sat all by himself at Great Clips and did so good!
*  He loooooves to sit like this on top of us.  It's hilarious

 *  my cute Ben is his pj's

 
*  looks like Jonah woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, ha ha

*  Ben has been riding his bike everywhere.  He picked it up in no time at all and was soooo proud
*  Nothing like a bedtime Baby Einstein with your brother by your side 

*  Jonah LOVES to do everything like Ben.  Including wearing his shoes and wearing his undies.  He was just so proud of himself.

It's ridiculous how cute they are! 

 oh Jonah, that smile!

they're looking at me like "ain't nobody got time for pictures Mama"  Love it! 

Oh how I love them.  That's all.

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