crackers and coffee

On a morning where my breakfast consists of coffee with a side of crackers, it sure was so sweet to walk back into the living room from the kitchen and see this scene before me. Mark reading his magazines from Grammy, a favorite pastime, and Micah next to him... not bothering him, just playing with his own toys near his big brother. Oh I love it. Sweet moments like this just melt me into 1000 pieces.  Moments like this make me smile and think how wonderful life is. It makes me forget the sadness, heartache, frustrations of life and make me just feel alive. I live for these sweetness moments. Even on a day--- no, especially on a day where breakfast consists of crackers and coffee and it is taking all effort to not want to crawl back into bed, I am so blessed by God's small gifts. His desire for His children to know he's here, to know He's real, to be reminded He's with us, He'll never leave us and no matter what "yesterday" brought, He's still here "today."  Oh how I need to know that. Oh how we need to know that. God is here! God is here! Jesus is with us! Jesus is alive! Jesus is here! Oh we need it. Mark looked at me so sweetly and said "We weren't even fighting today, Momma! We were being your good boys today not hitting or anything at all."  Oh thank you Markie! 

And, Thank you, God, for today.

Silent Saturday

Contentment

What is it?
and
Can you achieve it?

Paul talks about it in Philippians chapter 4. He talks in verse 11 about having LEARNED how to be content.  Today in Bible Study, we talked about just this. And how it's a life long lesson. And how when we think "I'd be content if only...." anything... if we're thinner, if we have more money, if we have more children, more romance, more things, a bigger house, a better job, a better car.... Yet the problem is that THINGS can't fill us with contentment. Because as soon as we achieve someTHING, we end up wanting something else.  Satan's desire is to kill, steal and destroy us and man! he does a good job at trying. It's hard to walk in life with our heads lifted high singing sweet melodies all the day because life is jolly. Because life isn't jolly all the time. There are moments of discouragement, there are moments of discontentment. And we have to choose to LEARN from those. We need to learn from all our trials and struggles and live problems and learn how to be able to be content. My Bible Study leader said this morning so many profound things. You know... Paul was beaten to nearly death, stoned, beaten with rods, ship wrecked, naked, left for dead, starved, thirsted, imprisoned, robbed, frostbitten--- she said "and that's just what happened to his physical body what about his heart?!" He was deceived, despised,  hated, mistreated, his heart concerned for those around him, the current church, those hunting and pursuing him, he had concern for his own life... and instead of writing "I'm tired of ALL YOU PEOPLE!" he wrote "In all things, I've learned to be content."  Oh wow. Oh... wow.  We don't have our priorities lined up at all, at all, at all... Oh!  I'm not saying life is roses... because we know it's not. Life is hard. There *are* trials. But God is faithful. Oh God is faithful. God promises to be and remain faithful. And if Paul, who went through the worst of all imaginable sufferings (save the shame and horror that Christ suffered in His own crucifixion) and can come out on the other side, saying "I've learned how to be content" ... then who am I to whine about my own problems?  No one.  God tells me in Jeremiah 29:11 that he has plans for me. a hope for me. a future for me.  So even if my season right now is tough, even if my life right now is hard.... or yours..... how can we not aim for contentment. THIS wont last forever. It wont. THANK YOU JESUS! Whatever your "it" is... it wont last forever. This is a season. And God is faithful. And through Christ alone, we can place our trust and do all things with His strength and His might. Our contentment isn't found in something. It's found in someone... it's found in Christ alone.

Oh Father, help me to be content. Help me to remember DAILY to place my trust in you. To ask you to go before me and beside me and behind me. Help me Lord to remember that my trials are for a season and that I can cling to you and come out on the other side. Thank you Jesus for your goodness, for your grace and mercy. Thank you Lord for sending me a Savoir... Amen.

go here to listen to a gorgeous song... it's about a promise, that God has for us. That HE promises to always be there. To be there through it all. Makes you remember that YOU *CAN* do it -- anything -- with Christ's help, with His strength, His love, His NAME!, His blood!, His word.... I hope you enjoy it. I have been feasting on it for a few days actually because we're learning it at church. It's such a beautiful song about God's promise, God's goodness... even through the worst of hardest times... God's still God. And He. Is. Good.

how many steps?

6994 17375

15047

11845

5606

7546

6355

4565

4317

13292

12304

9328

5600

4266

13831

11705

4692

5716

12708

These are examples of some of my daily step totals for the past couple weeks. I've been keeping track in an excel sheet for total steps walk, total calorie burn, total miles walked...  Jamie gave me a neat little gadget called a "Fit Bug" and I've been loving wearing it.  As you can see, some days are WAY better than others. My goal is 10,000 steps a day. You know that's what "they" say you're supposed to achieve. I'm telling you something though, that is just not possible if you are going through a "normal" day.  Now the days that I make it to the park or do Zumba or something. Sure! No problem... But if I'm not getting that walk in. Ha! Yah right. The days with 4 or 5 at the beginning are sad to look at.  They make me feel booooo! But anything with 5 digits is nice! It makes me feel like I'm really doing something good for my body.  I started trying to add more steps by doing some "steps" on the curb before I'm walking, but still that is on my walking days. I need to try to do that on my not walking days, see if I can anti-up my step totals.  I'm chugging away though.

I hadn't posted anything on weight or weight loss for a while... so I thought I'd break the ice. I'm still moving forward. I'm still desiring a smaller me. It's just slow slow slow. I'm focusing right now on Visalus shakes (ask me about that!) and walking walking walking. I haven't done weight watchers since around June. And I feel better for stopping that part of my mental life. Counting, tracking, food awareness, etc, was consuming my thoughts all the time and I was getting into a bad funk. I was discouraged to say the least. I was pretty pleased to try something new. I'll admit, the weight hasn't fallen off like I thought it would with the shakes, but I'm doing well. I'm being committed to it, and I'm being honest with myself!  I'm also trying weekly to get 3 or 4 days of walking in. Some weeks better than others, but for me that's a big deal. So anyhow, there you have it.

How many steps are you getting in?

the 23rd Psalm

Psalm 23

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Lord the Shepherd of His People

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

Repeated with thoughts...

 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.  *(NIV says I shall not be in want)... there is nothing we shall want if we have our shepherd. and Oh how I need Him. Oh how I will cling to the shepherd.

 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;  *make me Lord, make me to quiet myself, listen to you in my heart, let you lead me, let me be still, Father and trust you. 
He leads me beside the still waters. *where everything here is chaos and busy, oh I need the calm still waters where You are waiting for me.

 He restores my soul; *restore me Father!
He leads me in the paths of righteousness *Lead me Father!
For His name’s sake.

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, *even though these trials are hard and the days are long, even though Lord it is dark and I am saddened
I will fear no evil; *help me to fear no evil Lord! If you are for me, who can be against me?! (Rom 8:31) Help me to hide that truth in my heart and to live it out, Father!
For You are with me; *oh Thank you Jesus!
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. *I need your protection Lord. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;  *thank you Father for preparing a place for us.
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. *Fill me Lord.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever. *Lord God in Heaven, Thank you Father for all you are, all you do, all you've done, all you've yet to do. Oh Lord Jesus. Thank you. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Oh Lord! What a promise! I shall cling to this.

Amen. Amen and amen. 

our first soccer season

It's hard to believe that our first soccer season is at a close. It seems like it just started. We had the last game Saturday and you know a soccer picture fest is overdue!  I've learned unlike baseball, where it is pretty easy to focus on where your child is... batting, running from first base to second base, sliding into home plate, playing right field, playing third base, etc... you know... it is hard to keep up with your kid on a soccer field! Especially since my eyes always bounced back and forth between what the little kids were doing/wanting and where Matthew would be on the field, I found myself saying "Where'd Matthew go?!" often. Anyhow, enjoy. This is what the soccer season looked like from my eyes. Mark and Micah seem to have enjoyed the season as much as Matthew has. (Matthew is number 13, in case you have trouble

 spotting him in some of those pictures!)

We've had to make a new shelf on the book case just for trophies!