Must I say that FINALLY the Sisters met precious baby Eli.
We've been busy bees around this house lately enjoying all things CHRISTmas. S and Lyla have had so much fun playing with each other outside, making cookies, playing dress ups and riding bikes. We've all been enjoying lots and lots of CHRISTmas cookies, lights, and fun CHRISTmas songs on the radio. There is nothing like this season.
As we enter December, we're looking for ways to teach our kiddos about Jesus' birth and what a blessing it is to our faith and our salvation. It's challenging though as the media pushes Santa, Rudolph and Frosty. Its challenging to get them excited about Baby Jesus when the world tells them about a Santa who brings them lots of presents.
We're hoping to shift things to a Christ centered CHRISTmas by baking Jesus a birthday cake, and keeping CHRISTmas songs to mostly Christian CHRISTmas songs. We'll also be attending a CHRISTmas pageant at Popi and Mimi's church to tell us the story of Jesus' birth.
Anyone out there have some fun things they are doing to make this CHRISTmas all about Jesus?
No, no, no...
I'm not preggo
and
we didn't get another animal (thank goodness!)
But we Tyler built a playhouse, that started out as a stage..that's a different story! Tyler and I love to do projects... Ha, but seriously, I'm usually the one itching to paint or build or sew but he came up with this one all on his own. I couldn't be more proud of him too. He worked hard on this baby and he spent many, many afternoons building, rebuilding, ripping apart and putting together this little house.
And not to get all "Of the Earth Ashley" on you (as Tyler teases me about) but most all of the playhouse was built with recycled wood from Tyler's parents new house being built. Pretty cool, huh?
Was it worth it?
Well let's just say it is the only thing the girls want to do in our backyard now. We've had
Tea parties
Sleepy times
And visits from the space monster (that's me)-- such a loving nickname, right?
Hello blog... It looks as if I've abandoned you for quite some time. You've just been a little lower on my list of priorities lately. We have had so much change in our lives since I last posted.
New city.
New house.
New friends.
New church.
New rotations.
New baby cousin (coming soon!)
Enjoying old family for the first time in a loooong time.
We are so thankful for the blessings that God has so richly poured upon our little lives. To catch you up to speed would take much longer than what I'm sure you want to read, but these past months will surely be talked about in future posts.
Now I've just made you curious ;)
So let's act as if I've been here all along, shall we?
Halloween.
Did not think we would ever be celebrating this holiday until we heard of the Fall Fest at Trinity Bible (our new church- love). It ended up being such a blast for the kiddos, and this Mama was scrambling
last
minute
for some sort of costume to stick these little angels in...
Introducing,
Ballerina Princess Lyla and Ladybug Adah
We've been studying Psalms 1 at our home church, Mobberly Baptist out here in Longview. Let me tell you that we LOOOOOVE our church. We feel so blessed by the Lord for giving us a church that we are constantly at a state of growing and a state of convicted correction.
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers
But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night
He is like the tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
Psalm 1
For our purposes, this week, we focused on verse 4, digging into who we believe the wicked to be. Could I offer this point of view to you that perhaps the wicked isn't the atheist, the child abuser, the felon....etc., but instead the wicked is the UNGODLY. The UNGODLY being the person who attends church, who prays before they eat, who doesn't cuss...a person who is RELIGIOUS. This person's spirituality is purely based on their religious actions, and not of a personal and sincere relationship with God. Whew! Is that convicting or what?! I think we can all take a moment to study our spiritual lives to make sure we're not getting caught up in the actions of Christianity rather than the ultimate relationship with our Creator.
If you are not spending time in the Word DAILY, if you are not feeling the Holy Spirit's guidance in your life, I have to question if you have a sincere relationship with God. We MUST be feeding on the Word, so that we become a "tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." Friends, for the sake our our spiritual destiny, take a look at your life and examine it, for we don't want to fooled by Satan. We don't want to think that getting caught up in the ACTS of Christianity is what saves because without our relationship with God, our acts are absolutely meaningless. They become a show that we're either putting on for others or putting on for ourselves.
Guys, I speak this to you in the ultimate sincerity because I know in my heart that it wasn't long ago that I was this wicked person. I was the person who knew the right religious things to say, who attended church on Sundays, who prayed occasionally, who at more times than not, turned my nose up at the sinful act of others. I was self righteous. I thought that my actions were the thing that would save me. I can't tell you how many times I wondered at night if I were saved or not. I was the person who asked Jesus to come into my heart multiple times so that I knew I had "sealed the deal." But I have to tell you, that until I surrendered my life to Jesus, until I MADE the effort to spend time with the Lord on a DAILY basis, until my heart was opened and my ears were softened, until I was ready to GIVE my time to the Lord as an offering because each day of life given is a gift in of itself from the Father, until I stopped saying, "I should" and instead, began DOING what I knew to be true, my life has truly changed. Like night and day change, Friend. I don't wonder anymore if I'll truly be able to live an eternity in Heaven. I don't wonder anymore if the Lord is really there. When I gave myself to the Lord, and began a relationship with Him through reading his Word, I FEEL God. I FEEL His presence.
I can't wait to tell you what God is teaching me. I'm so happy that through this medium, we are learning about our Creator together. If you'd like to watch our sermon this week, I've posted the link below. It's absolutely convicting, in the truest ways.
I love you all and I care so much about your eternity. And ultimately, Friend, it's your choice. You can stop saying, "I should do..." and just start DOING it. I am a living testimony to you, that God is pursuing you. He doesn't give up on you. He wants you if you've never accepted Him and He wants you back if you've left Him. He loves you so very much.
Are you the chaff?
Does anyone else struggle with balancing a healthy lifestyle? God knows I struggle with this, and to be honest, almost every woman I've ever met has, in some way or another, made their struggle known to me as well. For me, it's finding that balance between obsession and making healthy choices that constantly has me in limbo. I ran into these videos on youtube, by God's perfect will. He knows what I needed to hear, and I'm sure they will bless you as well :)
I'm excited to show ya'll a new way to comment on posts now! It's super easy and you don't need any certain email address to comment.