Cara a Cara - YOLO link up!

Good Monday Morning!

Whew, last weekend dumped me into Monday before I even knew it! After getting off work at 3 and hopping into a car at 3:15 and heading out for the weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday flew by. Before I knew it, I was finishing the day on Wednesday and didn't even realize it! 

Teaching the hand game! If you don't know this one, you should. Nuf said!

Like I said, I headed out of town with my church last Friday. Translated the conference we attended is called Face to Face with God. Before I left, little information was available to me. They told me the things I "needed" to know so I wasn't concerned. Obviously not enough to hint that something was a little different with this retreat then others I had attended. By the time I arrived on Friday night I was beginning to get the idea this wasn't what I was thinking.

Trying to get her to look at the camera!

success!

After a grueling first session I lost my phone, ipod, camera, extra reading material, and my privilege of speech. Overwhelmed, I went to bed that night wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. After the first two sessions Saturday morning, frustration doesn't begin to describe it! Not being able to speak, digest the insane amount of weighty information being thrown my way, and process the things that Father was leading me through.

To sum up a pretty full weekend in short, there is no way that you can come that close to the Father and not change anything. There is no way you can hide anything...or think you are hiding anything. He reveals the things in light that you had packed away and shut up. Being removed from so much forced me to deal with things that He planned for me to deal with that I otherwise would have avoided. There was not a huge band, dim lights, or alter calls. It was a small retreat center beautifully set in the most wonderful fall colored mountains. It was completely between the Father and me.

Just us two.

I spent 24 hours having the Father sing over me as I listened to the things He had to say. Refreshed, cherished, and content in the Father! Confident in the things He is calling me to right now! 

 These pictures are not all illegal! I was returned my camera Saturday night and this was all I was able to click!

 We had to leave pretty early Sunday morning to get back in time fore church. Leaving before the sun came up made me pretty sad because it meant I wasn't able to get some of the colors the mountains had to offer. However, God reminded me that my ways aren't His ways and He had some colors much better in mind!

 He painted this one just for me!

 I can't make this stuff up!

 We decided to hop out for a few minutes to snap some group photos!

 This man was so sweet! Don Jose, had a cake made for us to welcome us back! 

*********

On a different note, today happens to be the birthday of someone who pretty much sums up the term YOLO! This child 18 year old knows how to embrace the moment! She doesn't take forever to make a decision (like me) over something to eat. Super daring, and a great risk taker! She loves to be joyful and bring joy to others! Loves children, loves style, loves bright colors, loves her Lord, and I love her! 

SO, HApPY bIRthDAy shout out to my very favorite 18 year old sister! I am thankful for you! 

 Happy Monday folks! Stay dry!

First link-up!

I finally decided to take the blogging leap and join a link up party! I turned out to be just as shy in the blogging world as I am in the real world! Oh well! Here's my shell, and here I am stepping out of it! I have really enjoyed reading here and decided I would jump on the YOLO link up! Here is goes! 

This weekend we headed out to an annual family event, apple picking! We do this every year! It is a fun time to be away together! This year was a little different, which was sad! With my sister and her family stuck to the west and my other sister and her hubby having already make plans we were down to the 3 of us. My cousin, grandma, and uncle and aunt ended up being able to come along!

God blessed us with an AMAZING day! The weather was perfect and just slightly on the summer side of too hot! *sniff* But I can not complain, no rain. =)

Every year, for a few years has taken a picture on this hill. The group changes a little every year. This is the model for this year! **Oh and I didn't lie. My sister and her hubby did have plans. They just happened to be at the same place, just slightly different time as our plans! We crossed paths just long enough to get a picture together! 

Happy Monday!

Tuesday Talk

Happy Tuesday Morning!

I am loving the crisp fallness around here! God has sung my love language lately with falling yellow, orange, and red colored leaves, pumpkin baked goods, the crunch under you feet as you walk, cool nights, beautiful sunny days, apples, scarves NOT for decoration, and boots! I am in love with this month (all but 1 day) and next!

This Tuesday is a little different from last time I wrote. I am still in constant communication with the Father about the next step He's yet to light. I still don't know His heart on matter. For now, I am taking His answer as a "wait." I am at peace.

As a family we've been going through Experiencing God for family worship. It has been a fun and encouraging study with a practical and hand's on approach to realistically experiencing the Father. One of my favorite ways that I have enjoyed learning to experience Him recently has been as the Father who delights in His children. I didn't quite understand the complete concept and still don't. However, taking the example I have in an earthly Father subtracting sin full man, adding perfection, and multiplying it by 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 and beyond then I may begin to taste what it may be like! =)

Having the Father sing over me is an odd concept. I can't seem to understand it. Forever I thought that the only singing going on in our relationship was from me to Him. Now, I know that the Father does sing over me and delights in me just like a father does on this earth!  


Enjoy the Father singing over you today! Happy Tuesday!

my heart

I am here to tell you friends that I serve an amazing God! I'm serious right now, He is an AWESOME God. He is so much greater than ANYTHING I am able to fathom, think up, ponder, or dream!

He is infinitely bigger than all my fears, failures, and flops. He is eternally more than all my insecurities, worries, and shortcomings.

He is all together greater than all my dreams, hopes, desires, and plans. I have no doubt that He can and will supply EXACTLY what I need when I need it and can throw in amazing surprises just because He can.

I am humbled an amazed at the complete and perfect Greatness that I am blessed to call Father, Savior, Lord, and Guide.

Tonight, I am praising and thanking the mountain moving, awe-inspiring, heart cry hearing, gift giving, gasp giving God and friends, I invite you to do the same!

Friday Favorite

Current fav coming at you! Watch.

Where did summer go?

Fall is my favorite season. There is no doubt about it. But I am not going to lie. I am sad summer is gone! It seems to have gone by too fast! Fortunately our family vacation happens at the end of the summer and in a matter of 48 hours I will be sitting listening to the waves roll in. Quite honestly I am having a hard time making my head not think it is already there! 

Mid-August we decided to head away for the day as a family! I love when my parents randomly choose a day for us to be together away from the normal grind! 

We headed about an hour away and explored some shores! Ferry ride, walk on the beach, and family time! 

I am thoroughly looking forward to getting away with my family! Although the beach is a large attraction, in all honesty we could camp in the middle of the desert and I would be happy just to be away with my family! Things with work, friends, and even church have been just short of mayhem and I am needing some slow paced, unagenda'ed time, no kids, no having to be somewhere, no sitting in school pick up lines, no fixing lunches, or changing diaper time! Bring it on! 

When we return to our regular scheduled programming I have some fun exciting stuff planned! Hopefully I will be able to get more than one post a month done! HA! *fingers crossed!*

But, sneak peak...just because I can't handle too many surprises all at once. Plus, if I say it, maybe it will actually happen! =)

-fashion forward

-conviction confliction

-12 in 12 catch up

-diy dilemas

-preschool process

OK, that's it! No more! 

Until then, the beach is calling! 

fighting against jealousy!

Lately I have noticed I have been in a place where the not so sly, ever intruding, harsh on the eyes, nauseating Mr. Green Monster is creeping in various places. I don't like him. I have never welcomed him nor have I "opened" the door for him...or so I thought! However many "cute" words I could hang on it though Mr. Monster, whether he is welcome or not, is a real thing. A very real thing, and a really very bad thing. It is not a slimy green monster hiding in the shadows as he has been portrayed. Allow me to lead you through some insight that I have discovered lately.

My situation isn't colossal. I am not in pain, or struggling with holding things together. Nothing to write home about.

Puny really.

Juvenile.

I am talking elementary school playground.

Pat.het.ic.

It still caused big feelings of before said green thing. It wasn't fun. Isn't fun.

According to a article written by a psych specialist, jealousy is caused by 1 or more of 4 things.

-lack of self-confidence
-poor self-image
-fear
-insecurity

Whereas that may be shallow, hang on. It all blends. Trust me.

What I find in the Bible is that jealousy roots in one thing, a lack of satisfaction in what God has provided for you.

The world likes to hang fancy names on it like poor self-esteem, and insecurity. But the root of the matter is that satisfaction in what God has provided you is lacking. OOF! That's a gut buster! I have chosen to not put my satisfaction in the Creator of the world. The One who has the power, authority, and right to take away and give at His command. The Controller of my inhale and exhale has somehow slipped in my view as not being "enough." In reality, He is way more than enough. Even in my views of empty He has supplied JUST what I needed and that was more than enough. Yet, my satisfaction wasn't in Him.

Hebrews 13:5, after admonishing the love of money, states that He will never leave us. He is with me always. My satisfaction can not dwindle because He is not "with" me.

1 Corinthians says that Love does not envy. Since Galatians says that love is one of the fruits of the Spirit and Acts and numerous other places say that God sent His Spirit to be with us then I can't blame not being equipped.

So, causes of jealousy: Lack of satisfaction in the Creator, Maker of heaven and earth, King of Kings, Lord, Crafter of the universe, God.

Multiple times in Paul's letters to the churches he states the fleshly characteristics. Let's take a look at a few shall we!

Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteriesand all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Romans 13:13-14 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

James says...

James 3:13-16 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Now that I have covered what causes jealousy let's talk about what jealousy causes. From what I found in these passages I found some very unpleasant ideas.

#1 - It is an act of the flesh that is equivalent to drunkenness, sexual immorality, witchcraft, and the like. 

#2 - I won't inherit the Kingdom of God

#3 - I am not a loving person because love is all those things and if I am missing just one, I am not loving.

#4 - I am irritating like a 2 year old with a pair of symbols.

#5 - I am not behaving decently.

#6 - I am gratifying desires of the flesh.

Ouch...that was like stepping on a lego, only worse!

So now what? I have come to the realization that I am sinning, that it's wrong, and that my relationship with my Father is strained and divided because of this. The 2 questions I asked myself were, (1) how could I let this happen? and (2) what do I do now?

To answer question one blankly I am human. Being human in the his case over-ruled the Spirit in me because I let it. My self control didn't jump in to hyper drive...in fact, it failed miserably...because I allowed it to! 

Jumping to question 2, because honestly question 1 doesn't hold much when you think about it! Where do I go from here?

A lot of times in the past I summed up struggle to just needing to jump back on track like a derailed train. Um no! It take a little more than that. My choices got me here. I can't just pray and have it "all together again." Likewise with the derailment, I have to make a choice to "fix" it. 

OK, OK, how?

First, think about someone else. Back to the beginning portion. Remember when I told you it was shallow. Well it still is. But it will help us here. If indeed my self-esteem is lacking I need to look to the needs of others. My confidence, self-image, and securities, should be firmly rooted in the Father's view of me. Instead of looking into myself to see it I need to be looking at the world around me. The world He loves. To put it simply I need to think about someone else. Be like a sleuth on the hunt for blessing to give. Be resolved to be looking for other's needs and meeting them. Finding my inadequacies in places God will supply them and not in the superficial. 

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves

Have a tranquil heart. I noticed that my time with the Father had be shaved, and whittled because of life that it was like that fast food Jesus and my "system" wasn't liking it. My job was stressful, situations around me seems insurmountable (ok, just large but it sounds better my way!), and I had lost track of meeting with my Maker. 

Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Love. Love the person or people who make me jealous. Love my neighbors, sisters, parents, kids, friends, co-workers. Love. Just love. Sound simple? Well it is...but it isn't. 1 John tells me that I won't know God if I don't love because God is love. 1 Corinthians tells me that love is...

-it is patient

-it is kind

-it does NOT envy

-it does NOT boast

-it is NOT proud

-it does NOT dishonor

-it does NOT seek self

-it does NOT get angry fast'

-it does NOT keep tallies for wrongs done against it

-it does NOT get joy from evil

-it rejoices in the truth

-it protects

-it trusts

-it trusts

-it hopes

-it preserves

-it NEVER fails

I don't have it together. In fact I am still learning this. I am working on it...as you read this. But I am trying. I am being patient as God forms this in me.

Thanks for reading! 

Creation Unit Study Days 1-2

One thing I have found to be EXTREMELY helpful with having a 4 and 5 year old is having structure! I can notice the days that I have not been as rigid and they pay for it and so do I! I in no way have our entire day planned from clock in to clock out. I once worked for someone who couldn't, not have something planned and I am just not like that. When I have my own kids I hope to be far more relaxed when it comes to my days with kids! For now, having structure helps!

One of the things I have started with them is out "special" school time! They love getting their notebooks and papers and writing letters, counting objects, drawing pictures, etc. I started with a creation unit study using some parts of My Father's World curriculum. I only used parts and pieced together what I wanted because I didn't think the way it was set up all together would have been beneficial for them!

For 2 weeks we dove into each day of creation. I told them about each day and they would repeat it back. This week we began taking each day and doing some fun activities to go along with each day of creation!

For day 1 we talked about how God spoke light into place. That we can't say something and have it made. Only God can make things by using His mouth. We headed to the kitchen to make light and dark cookies!

I used this sugar cookies recipe.

Easy Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F  

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. 

Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. 

Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. 

When it came time to the make the "dark" part, I separated the dough and mixed a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder into it. I was concerned that it would have changed the make up or taste but it worked perfectly!

I had them take chunks of "dark" and chunks of "light" and roll them together! 

The "R" and "A" cookies at the bottom are for the clouds God made on Day 2! Quick cover up for Lala didn't make enough chocolate dough and doesn't care to make more! It worked well with the rest of the day anyway! 

After lunch we headed outside to play in water buckets because on Day 2 God made the waters above and the waters below! 

 I gave them small bowls, cups, spoons, ladles, paintbrushes, and clean sponges. They poured and splashed and painted! Super fun for them, super easy for me.

We talked about how God had made the clouds and all about the water cycle! We talked about the kinds of clouds, and their color and what that meant!

Special School time has been so much fun for me to do with them! Being on this side of school and doing the things I used to enjoy have brought back great memories! 

Stay tuned for day 3 and 4! 

From where?

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Will neither slumber nor sleep.

 

 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

 

The Lord will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forever.

 

Psalm 121

What works!

Lately my job has taken on a slightly different look! After loosing monkey last summer, I had maintained 3 kids with the help of Monkey's cousin Boogie, and my princesses. Way long story cut way short, I found myself at the beginning of this summer with just Boogie. Day in and day out he and I did what we liked to do. We soaked up as much vitamin D as we could, kept our fingers like grapes because of being in water, and spent mornings napping, and the afternoons exploring all over my hometown! Yesterday my job transformed yet again and now Monkey has returned along with his sister! 

So, now with a 5, 4, and 1 year olds, I am remaining on my toes and there is a never a down moment! Learning curve to say the least! I am having to rewire what it means to have a 4 year old in the house again! It's been a long time since Bean was there and none from my job were ever there! 

One of the ways I have tried to make being a nanny to older children work is having my rules clearly outlined. I am having to remember that outside of these walls and my care rules may be a tad different. To do so, I sat down with the 2 of them and told them 3 simple rules.

#1 - We have to use kind words to Lala (me) and each other.

#2 - We obey the first time.

#3 - We are not allowed to whine.

I tried to keep it very simple so they knew what was expected. At the same time I had to keep it broad so I wouldn't create any loop holes to be found later. After that, they knew what was expected. So I set up the Potato Head. I stood each of them on his shoes and packed in their each back hair, eyes, 2 ears, nose, mouth, 2 arms, and glasses. I wanted as many possibilities for filling up as I could fit!

 Every time I noticed a behavior that merited a part of Mr. Head being filled I asked them to choose a piece out of his back and put it on their potato. On the flip side, if behavior was breaking the rules they had to remove a piece and put it back in his back.

 At the end of the day we evaluated the fullness of Mr. Potato and if the majority of the pieces were on him and he looked more like a man and less like a potato then a sticker was placed on that day in a very homemade chart. 

I wanted the chart to be simple and not overwhelming. I have one for each of them with their names at the top. Beside their names I wrote out Philippians 4:13 to encourage them. I want to reiterate that through Christ they are able to love one another, obey the rules, and get along with everyone around them. Below that I sketched a basic grid. In the far right row I have the week's dates, 8/13-8/17. In the remaining columns they will put a sticker under the day that it coincides with. Sorry for the bad pictures! Phone Camera! 

Monkey got a sticker Monday because behavior was phenomenal and he deserved it! Tuesday started out well and went south at lunch time. After the episode at lunch all the pieces, sadly, had to be removed. By the end of the day he only had 1 piece in the head and he did not look like a man. I think the message was clear enough! 

If they have at least 4 stickers by Friday they will choose a special activity (baking cookies, choosing some books to borrow from the library, getting extra time on the wii or computer, or getting to choose the movie to watch at rest time) or a special prize (dollar toys from walmart, target, and the dollar store. Nothing fancy or big!)! 

So, there you have it! My wild brained and so far successful idea! Who knew Mr. Potato could help with behavior!