Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Icky Sicky

Well tonight I am tired and smell of Lysol! This is a marked improvement from the smell of spit-up from Noah and flem from Ethan that I reaked of earlier! TMI you say well I am functioning on little energy so no filter...this could get interesting! We have all shared this fever, snot, cough, and more snot business for over a week now! I am over it and thankfully I think its coming to an end. Ethan, as usual, had it worse than anyone else! If there is something to catch he will get it and keep it for a while! Its interesting that he can keep up w/ germs and lose spiderman! Its amazing to me how much more calm you become with each child. Never would we have let Hannah have a fever and "let it run its course". I offered to put Dr. Koons on our family calling plan when she was a baby! Now by child three it just easy going. I remember once when Hannah was a toddler she got some of the car washing water in her mouth. She was really trying to help Sammy with the car, and he was so excited and then terrified!!! He wanted to call poison control because she could have ingested brake dust or something! Too funny!! Now the boys well lets just say they have tried all kinds of new found things to eat, drink, and ingest! Kind of nice being calmer...kind of weird for those of you who know me! Well off I go to the next task and talk to you all soon! I hope the next time it will be from a vantage point of wellness and smiles! Night all!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Just an Update

Well its been a while! Since the last post much has happened in our little family. We have moved back home and we love it. You really don't realize how much you love a community until you leave it. We feel most at home in Shawnee and we love being back. I will say this though, God really taught us about joy in all circumstances. What else?

Well, Noah is six months old. He is sitting up, rolling, scooting, and threatening a crawl at any time. The idea of three mobile is a bit scary, exciting, and sad. Noah is laid back just up for whatever and happy most all the time. He is a smushed together version of Hannah and Ethan, and I think he looks the most like me.

Ethan Randall just turned three and he is a big boy now! He loves boy stuff of all kinds; dirt, bikes, bugs, junk food, and jumping off stuff! He gives me a run for my money daily and keeps my prayer life very active and for that I am thankful! He is passionate to the utmost and loves his family!

Hannah Paige is still as sweet as ever and loving the Lord. She accepted Jesus on the fourteenth of April, and to quote her "He has changed my whole life"! She is on fire! She tells everyone she can about the Lord and its been the greatest delight of our parenting journey so far to see her grow in the Lord!

Sammy and I have been a changin', as they say! We started praying to live a life that is in total submission to Jesus and all the way pleasing to Him! He has taken us on quite a journey of falling out of love with ourselves and more in love with Him! He has given us a stronger marriage and more joy in this process than we have ever known. We are excited to see what is next and so glad He popped our bubble.

Next.....well I guess other big stuff is that God has opened our eyes to the homeless. Man o man there are some people hurting all over this place. In our community 69% percent live below the poverty line and we have some major needs for housing in Shawnee. I thank God daily he opened our eyes to this. We have been partnering with Shawnee Rescue Mission to minister to these sweet people. If you are reading this please pray for this organization and the people we minister to. We need it! We have some fundraising to get underway to receive funding from a matching grant and I feel God working already! These sweet people who by our standards have nothing have taught me generosity like I have never known, and loyalty to friendships like I have only dreamed of. God's blessing to us through our service is amazing!

Last and final we have made a decision on school (drumroll please) its the Ehtisham Academy. Homeschool it is! Those of you who know us know we have been back and forth and pretty much undecided. Well, after much thoughtful prayer, the Lord has called us to this! We are nervous and feeling inadequate in our flesh, but our spirits our encouraged! By "we" I mean me, as usual Sammy's faith far exceeds my own and he has completely given this to God and is expecting great blessings. I am chugging along and praying a lot! Prayers for this would be great too!!!

Read something pretty cool the other day and I am going to share it now!
"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life." John Piper

This is my hope with this blog, and all else I do, to glorify Him! There is joy in a life in Him and my prayer is every part of life is evident of His presence! Thanks for reading ! Be blessed!!