new blog

Well, it's up. It's mostly done...not all the way, but it's up. Visit our blog (which is now a combination of our past two blogs The Things We Say and The Things We Do). Be sure to save the new URL as a bookmark if you access our blog through your favorites.

Feel free to poke around...and check out our new tabbed pages.
The Things We Do Blog

new location

I'll be taking a break here until I get my blog moved to a new location. I'll post the new blog for you once I get it up tonight or tomorrow I'm guessing.

See-through Eyes

Emilee- "Mom, how come you always wear sunglasses when you drive (even in the rain)?"

Mom- "Well, my eyes are blue and very sensitive to any light even when the sun isn't out. In fact, my eye doctor said that he's never seen anyone's eyes have as blond of a retina as mine. I usually wear sunglasses even if it's cloudy and raining, snowing or even getting dark out."

Jon- "So you have the most see-through eyes on earth?!?!?"

on our minds and around our house

Can't believe how much food Jonathan is eating right now. This kid is growing like a weed and packing away the food.

Reading way too many books at once.... see bookshelf on sidebar.

Sore muscles from playing Wii. What a workout!

Jon is reading Pilgrim's Progress for the third time and has decided it's his favorite book. When he retells the story he gets himself so worked up with excitement that it's totally entertaining to listen to him tell it.

Convicted about missions more and more.

Lovingly shared the gospel with a client yesterday while I cleaned. What a sweet moment it was to share with her. Be careful who you hire to clean your house!

Excited to start doing Keepers of the Faith with our kids.

Praying for Haiti in the midst of their quake devastation.

Focusing on confession and adoration in prayer lately. Praying God's will not ours.

Working as hard as we can to be faithful in all things. Taking what work we can find and pressing on to provide for our family and do all that we can to honor God in our choices and honor convictions.

Excited about the future and the ways that God has for us to serve Him for His glory now and in the future!

You Lose

Spurgeon:

"You cannot sin so much as God can forgive. If it comes to a pitched battle

between sin and grace, you shall not be so bad as God shall be good. I will prove

it to you. You can only sin as a man, but God can forgive as a God. You sin as a

finite creature, but the Lord forgives as the infinite Creator."

I would seek God

"But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number." Job 5:8&9

"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty." Job 5:17

"You will know that your tent is secure, for you will visit your abode and fear no loss." Job 5:24

spurring on from children

Our children from time to time will write down a verse of Scripture and leave it on our bed for us and I'm always taken back by the verses they choose for us. Jon left one a few weeks ago and Emilee left one last week. Both spoke volumes to our lives right now and I'm thankful that God chooses even our children to minister to us and encourage us.

Jon left us:

"The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results." James 5:16

Em left us:

"Whatever happens dear friends, be glad in the Lord." Philippians 3:1

happy birthday to you....♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♪♫♪

A little someone turned one years old today. She's got big brown eyes, kissable cheeks, and an adorable personality.

mmmmm, this taste surprisingly good!

Fiona enjoyed her birthday cupcake and all her presents.
We love you sweet baby! Happy 1st birthday! ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫

random Christmas pictures

we tend to be a little over dramatic when we open gifts....

more random Christmas pictures

more random Christmas pictures

the Mexicans

When we were opening Christmas gifts with my side of the family and Jon opened a gift from my sister, her husband, and their baby Fiona (who all recently moved here from Mexico) he yelled "THANKS MEXICANS!"

We all got a good laugh. My sister isn't Mexican at all and they do have first and last names but I guess he decided to start referring to them as "the Mexicans" because now it's stuck. Any time the adults are talking about their family now we refer to them as "the Mexicans".

We Love Books

I was thinking about books today and so I updated our book lists.... on the sidebar under the bookshelf (books we are currently reading) are two links. One link is to books that we've read and really like a lot and the second link is a list of books that we would really love to read in the future. Books that we've read and not liked are not listed on the book lists nor on this post. Our sidebar bookshelf shows what we are currently reading (minus books that we are reading but do not like nor agree with.)

If I had to choose the most life altaring (spelled that way on purpose) books (other than the Bible of course) we've read over the years....here would be a few in no particular order:

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man by Ken Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Family by Ken and Barbara Hughes
The Exemplary Husband by Jim George
A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George
Life Management for Busy Woman by Elizabeth George
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
Created to be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl
For Woman Only by Shaunti Feldhahn
For Men Only by Jeff Feldhahn
Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Financial Peace Jr. by Dave Ramsey
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
The First Years of Forever by Ed Wheat
Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss


Some good recent reads:
How Do You Know The Bible is From God by Kyle Butt
The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartion
The 5 Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni
Do Hard Things by Alex Harris
Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges
Damsels in Distress by Martha Peace
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Chancey and McDonald
Kitchen Table Counseling by Cook and Volkhardt
Biblical Womanhood In The Home by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan
101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto


Books to be read soon:
Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp
Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make us Holy More Than Happy by Gary Thomas
Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands by Gary L. Thomas
Eat Fat, Lose Fat: Lose weight and feel great with three delicious, science-based coconut diets by Mary Enig
The Most Effective Natural Cures On Earth by Jonny Bowden

hit and miss

I might be hit and miss on here for awhile because I'm trying to work on turning our previous blog (The Things We Say) into a book. I slurped it about 2 years ago and worked on it a few times but 2 computer crashes later I had ignored it. I started working on it again after Thanksgiving and I really want to be faithful at putting some work into it every week. Which means less time blogging.

I'm also working on developing a new website for my blog using wordpress. (Shhhhhh, don't tell blogger.) That will take some time as well since there is a bit of a learning curve being that the software is new to me and since I'm so picky about creating my own headers. .....well and since time is something I have little of lately.

I'll be here but most likely not every day for awhile.

the global puzzle

this monster of a puzzle is finally done! Emilee did a ton of work on it. She loves puzzles. Grandma A helped us work on it when she was here as well. Then mamma spent a few hours one evening working on it.

We started with the border. Then we formed the countries a bit which was hard because the pieces were mostly cut like their state shape or country shape so they didn't interlock. So then we worked on the ocean which was a challenge but thankfully the ocean was filled with facts about each country in alphabetical order which really helped.

precious drawings by Emilee

Top left clockwise: Me and My husband in the pool; Me and My husband buying a house; Me and My husband having a baby, twins, girl and boy; Me and My husband on a date.

I hope he knows some day how looked forward to he was!

Themes and Hopes

Themes of 2009

change
unemployed
no unemployment checks
family time
refreshment
relief
trust
deepened friendships
family drawing close
forgiveness
letting go of things
waiting
testing
discipline
pain
comforting one another
church change
new adventures
unexpected gifts
gratefulness
uncertainty
spiritual growth
new realizations
eyes opened
refining fire
struggle
patience
hard work
provision
faithful giving
schedule adjustments
credit card free
hope

Hopes for 2010

closer to debt free
find ways to be more frugal
pursue more natural ways
permanent job
permanent home
foster care
character growth in all of us
perseverance in trials
quality family time
balanced time management
kids take on more responsibilities
trust God better without worry
physical health
healing
opportunities to serve God
a church home to call family
to keep up better with missionaries
faithfully pray