30 Days of Intentional, Active Gratitude

In years past, I've used the month of November to count my blessings.  Each day, I've listed one thing I'm grateful for and tried to focus on all the blessings in my life.  But this year I want to do something a little different.  Don't get me wrong, counting your blessings is a wonderful thing, but this year I want to bump it up a notch.  I don't just want to count my blessings, I want to share my gratitude.  I want to be intentional in this season of busy.  I want to live life with eyes wide open.  I want to see others living and laughing and those who need a little love.  I don't just want to wake up to say "Today I'm thankful for a kitchen full of food" and then go about my day and miss the people who go hungry, or worse, not even try to extend my gratitude to them.  I don't want to say "I'm thankful for friends and family who love me" and then never take the extra step to actually tell them how much they mean to me.  I want to be intentional and active with my gratitude. 

To kick start this off, I'll be spending the next week writing 30 Thank You cards to Veterans I know. These men and women not only have completed their branch's rigorous training program but have stood by, both stateside and abroad, ready and willing to fight for our country's freedom.  They have dedicated as least 4 years of their life to this country, they have completed hundreds of training scenarios, have wondered what the future holds, they have moved their family around the country. They have gone to war (some multiple times, some for multiple years), earned Purple hearts and a Bronze star, they have missed the birth of their children, one friend of mine had his wedding day over the phone, another lost 3 limbs, others know what it's like to be so use to bullets flying about- they just fall asleep to the sound of gunshots. They have come home to be thanked, and others spit on.  Some had a parade upon Homecoming and others came home to a country who hated them. Some went years without anyone shaking their hand and telling them that their service meant something, that it was worth it.   But all of them, no matter when or how or where they served, know the pride that comes from being in the United States Military.  Once a year, our country sets a day aside to say thank you.  So that's what I do.  I send a card and say thank you.  It's a small gesture but from what I've been told, it makes a pretty big impact.

So here's to a month of passing on the gratitude! Let's see who we can bless today.

He Loves You

Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth -- Ephesians 4:14-21 (NLT)

¹⁴ When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

²⁰ Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

I've read this passage several times in the past, but tonight,....tonight it hit me a little differently.  Tonight I read it in a different version (the New Living Translation) and for some reason, it just hit me in the gut.  I read over and over again.  Each time sinking deeper and deeper into conviction.  Each time, tears coming closer and closer to the surface.   Oh how I want the world to know how wide and how long and how high and how deep God's love is.  Oh how I want to know.  How badly my soul longs to fully grasp it.   Because the truth is, our world's view of love is broken, my friends.  We base our view of love on earthly things: circumstances, desires, situations, past (and present)  experiences.  And we live in a broken world with broken views and we say "God can't love me" or "God can't be love" because of this thing or that.  But God's love ...it's perfect and it's not of this world.  I can't even understand how perfect it is.  The fact that He sent His blameless Son to die in our place, to teach us what we need to know in order to live this life for God and then to be wronged, to be betrayed, to be tortured and killed in a horrible way, to be sacrificed and conquer the grave all so that you and I can spend eternity in the presence of our Almighty God... simply astounds me. Like, words cannot even express how crazy amazing that is to me.  I cannot grasp it.  In all my human understanding, I cannot grasp that kind of deep, sacrificial love.  I can only be grateful for it.  So, so grateful.  And all I can think to do is shout it from the rooftops (or the blog-o-sphere, whatever...).  How badly I want the world to know.  How badly I want my friends and family and facebook stalkers :) to know of the love of Christ. To say to anyone who might stumble upon this silly little old blog that Christ LOVES YOU. With tears in my eyes and my heart a wreck, He loves you.   He loves you with a love you can't understand but only need to accept.  You don't need to work for it.  You don't need to prove that you're good enough. You don't need to figure things out first.  You just need to accept it. Accept that He loves you with a love that you can't understand and certainly don't deserve but He.LOVES.YOU. It's like I can't even type it enough.  Right now, right where you are today.  Whether you've been a Christian all your life or you've never heard of this guy named Jesus...He loves you and He wants you as His own.  This was Paul's prayer and it's my prayer too.  That we all would know the deep, deep, love of Christ.  That Christ would make His home in our hearts as we trust in Him.  That our roots would grow deep into God's love and keep us strong.  And I pray that today you and I will experience the love of Christ.

ahh Sweet Forgiveness!

 Learning Verse: "Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body" Proverbs 16:24

When I picked the kids up from school the other day, Rylee told me she got in trouble. :(  When I asked her about it, she said she used unkind words towards another little girl, Brooklyn,  and got in trouble for it (which actually was just a gentle reminder to use nice words instead of mean words).   So Rylee and I talked about our words and how they can hurt people and I reminded her of times when other little girls had said something mean to her and how that made her feel. We went over what God says about using our words and how powerful our words can be.   I ended with saying that everyone makes mistakes or says things that come out icky (even mommy and daddy and Jakey.....etc) and how important it is to say your sorry (which she already had done).  I told her that sometimes, when we say something that hurts someone else, that it's nice to write them a little note or draw a picture to give them.  To which she responded that we should go and get Brooklyn a toy to say our sorry.  When that didn't suffice, she offered to give Jake to Brooklyn as a peace offering.  :) 

We finally agreed that a drawing would be just fine. :) And this morning when she was dropped off at school, she gave it to Brooklyn and said sorry again and they hugged. :) :) awww it was SO cute!  Forgiveness is so sweet!

Brooke Update: 6 months

A couple weeks ago Brooke turned 6 months old!  Aren't you happy that I'm totally on top of updating this blog? ;)

So here's some fun 6 month photos and video:

She sits! 

And she now bathes sitting in the sink. Hopefully I'll get a photo of that soon! :) 

She eats! 

She has a random freckle on her toe. :)

She has not one, but TWO teeth! 

They are coming in at the same time and she is NOT liking it one bit!

She's a blue bonnet water baby. :) 

*This photo is from our recent vacation, which I'll post about soon!

She crawls!! 

*Please excuse Mr. Under-roo.  You should be happy that he at least has under-roos on! :) 

and last but certainly not least...

She says MAMA!!!

*Disclaimer: I understand she's not really calling me mama.  She just learned to say the syllable "ma" over and over again.  But hey, I'll take it! :) 

Sibling Protection - it starts young

This was the conversation in the car this morning as we were driving to church:

**Backstory: Jake has a "girlfriend" from school named Kayla.  He talks about how awesome she is and even said her name while he was dreaming. :)  Our good friends, The Fedlers, have a daughter, Kate, who is slightly older than Jake.  They're friends and we continuously tease about arranging a marriage between Jake and Kate.  


Darrin: Jake, so you get to see Kate today at church. Are you excited you get to see your GIRLFRIEND at church today?
Jake: NO, Kayla's my girlfriend!  Not Kaaattee!
Rylee: Why not Kate, Jake?  Kate's nice! 
Jake: Nooooo Kayla's my girlfriend.
Rylee: I don't like Kayla.  She shouldn't be your girlfriend. Kate should be your girlfriend. She's nice.
Jenn: Rylee, why don't you lke Kayla?
Rylee: Because Kayla's mean to me.  She gets angry. I don't like her.  She shouldn't be your girlfriend, Jake!
Jake: YES! Kayla's my girlfriend. I like Kayla!

lol wow -- the sibling protection starts early, huh?  It was a fun (and kind of sweet) conversation between the kids.  :)

Crating Brooke!

My mother-in-law, Cindy, once told me that when she had Justin, her 3rd child (in less than 3 years, mind you), that he practically lived in the playpen to keep him safe from his siblings.  This weekend we took that advice and set up the pack and play in our living room. 

So now we're crating our daughter.  You know, like a dog.....but a kid....but kind of like a dog.

Since Brooke is now rolling EVERYWHERE and on the verge of crawling, I can't keep the floor small-item free enough.  Plus, her two siblings like to get in her face....a lot. They also like to give her things and roll her over and try to pick her up and move her in "girls only" quarters adorned with princesses, pillows and blankets.  And then fight over Brooke and the fact that she's in a girls-only area and a little brother wants to play too. *sigh* It starts so early, huh?!   So we thought she'd be a little bit safer rolling around in the pack-n-play.   "Brookie-only" quarters, I like to call it. {sidenote:  Notice how I didn't say baby-only quarters.  This is because then I would have a 4 and 2 year old whining like a baby so they can be allowed in the pack-n-play.  See, I'm a smart and think about things like this! :) }

So far, so good! 

It's another place to put her other than her exersaucer/bouncer and a little bit safer than the floor!  Hopefully this will last for a while, then I'm sure we'll be onto the next thing to keep her, well...you know...alive.

Brooke eats cereal!

Newest Brookie-boo milestone: Cereal!!!  Well, technically oatmeal but you know...  To be honest, I'm pretty lazy about it since I know that she doesn't really need it or anything, plus it's a whole lot easier and faster to just nurse her when it's time to eat.  But it's still a fun milestone and it's a great time for mommy-Brookie bonding. :)  PLUS, check out how adorable she is with all that cereal smeared over her face!!