praying scripture

i love to pray scripture over people. there is something incredibly powerful about using God's Word to speak to Him! there are some people that i have specific verses that i pray every day. there are others that i choose different verses for different days. (if you want to know if you have a personal one, you can email me :)) lamentations 2:19 says "pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children..." sometimes i just lift up my hands and pour out my heart over my boys as they are sleeping! i believe with everything in me that prayer works!! a passage that i love that i am praying over them currently is in colossians. my prayer would go something like this...Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that Aj and Riley would walk worthy of you, Lord and that they would be fruitful in every good work. God, please help them to increase in the knowledge of You every single day! help them to be strengthened with all might according to your glorious power. give them patience, longsuffering, and most of all JOY!! Thank you Jesus!!

another one of my favorites is in Ephesians 1. this one would be...
God, i pray that you, Jesus Christ, our amazing and powerful Father would give Aj and Riley the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you! Help the eyes of their understanding to be enlightened, so that Aj will know what is the hope of his calling. So that Ry will know the hope of his calling. Help my boys to know what the riches of the glory of YOUR inheritance are. help them to completely understand the EXCEEDING greatness of YOUR power toward them...because they belive!! according to the working of your incredible power. Thank you. amen.

i have another one i love for adam and the boys too. i'll put that in another post :)
pick a passage and pray it over the ones you love! and be SURE...that your fervant prayer will avail MUCH!!

indoor soccer

both the boys are playing indoor soccer this year and i was so excited to bring my camera and get some good close up shots of them in action...this is what i actually got


awesome.

sisters

i am so lucky...

i homeschool and only have 2 kids...

just a confession today. here we go. (and it's not about my super-awesome book corner that you are seeing in the picture!)
sometimes i feel like i am not taken seriously, and my homeschooling, or child-raising almost "doesn't count" because i only have 2 kids. seriously, going to any place that has homeschoolers, and it's like they are looking behind me wondering where the rest of my kids are! i get comments a lot when i am out in public about how well-behaved my boys are. (course, i have a lot of people who love to say that i was so "lucky" that my kids were so good!! oh ya...total luck. had nothing at all to do with the training!!!) but then i will talk to people with more kids, and it's like...well, if you had more kids it would be different. i am not in any way denying that having more kids is more difficult!! of course it is! but regardless, raising kids is hard work...if you have 1, or if you have 13!!
i was just encouraging a friend of mine (with a 1 1/2-year-old) to remember that harder work now, makes for less work later. disciplining your kids takes work. it is always "easier" to give in at the time. but it is always HARDER 5 years from now when you have taken the easy way out! make the effort to be consistent now so that your job will be easier later.
i STILL have to make schedules for my kids. i still have to write out assignments, i still have to do laundry, make meals and the same things everyone else has to do!

so there's my confession. thanks for listening!
the point is, if you "only" have 1 or 2 kids - be a godly, hard working, and CRAZY FUN mom!! and if you have 13 kids, do the same!! i love deuteronomy - one of the best books in the Bible - it talks about teaching about God's love and faithfulness ALL THE TIME!!! no matter what you are doing. sometimes i just start singing a bible verse that i made up. sometimes when i hear a great praise and worship song i just grab the boys and start dancing. i want to show my boys that Jesus is not just a part of my life, he IS my life!! i admit that i'm a little crazy, and i love laughing. i want that to be a big part of my family's life. in God's presence is FULLNESS of JOY!!! let's act it, no matter how crazy or calm our life may be!!

how do you say you're a homeschooler?

question. what do YOU do when someone asks you what teacher your child has in school? Or if your kids have the day off from school? i feel like i have been in many situations lately where i am faced with this. what should my response be??? i don't ever want to come off as better than anyone, or snobby about it. but at the same time, i am not ashamed of it, and i have no regrets at all! i am trying to be a light. that's what i am called to be. i don't want to say "oh...IIII homeschool!!" could you sense my tone of voice there? :) i also don't want to say "oh i'm a total dork. we homeschool"
i'm not apologizing for homeschooling and i am grateful that i can, i also wouldn't send my kids to public school. again...not judging, just saying what my husband and i have chosen. so how do YOU respond? do tell.

what keeps me going...

the first thing...





the second thing...





the third thing...

my big sister

Happy Birthday to the BEST big sister a girl could ever ask for.

some of the reasons i love my sister -

*she loves the Bible as much as i do

*she is an incredible example of how a godly mom should be

*she never ever acts like she's better than me, or like my problems are less than hers, even though she has 4 more kids than i do!

*she is almost always smiling

*she is a great listener

*she loves coffee

*she sometimes fails, and is not too prideful to admit that

*we could literally talk on the phone for hours and probably not have one milisecond of silence

*we have the same standards for raising our kids...and i honestly don't think there is another human alive that i could say that about!

*she knows how to multi-task

*she loves my kids

*she loves to ask for my fashion advice

*she is always thinking of others

*her love language is not words of affirmation, so she won't even need to read this post :)

i could go on and on all day long, but i will stop for now.

*the one thing i hate...

she is WAY too far away from me right now!!!!!

i love you erika, thank you for being such an amazing and wonderful sister and friend. i feel so proud to have you as my sister, and i honestly feel bad for everyone else in the world who doesn't get to have you as their sister. hope you have a great birthday.

those darn feelings...

i was just talking to adam on the way home from the conference yesterday about how crazy feelings are.
i was reading through philippians (a great book when you are lacking some joy and strength) and i looked a little deeper at the words in chapter 4 verses 6-7. (with the help of my beloved e-sword, which i recommend EVERYONE gets!) and this is how it goes
i know most of us have heard it a million times, but verse 6 says "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Then verse 7 says "and the peace of God which transcends ALL understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus". the word guard keep means
be a watcher in advance, that is, to mount guard as a sentinel (post spies at gates); figuratively to hem in, protect: - keep (with a garrison).

so, God is hemming in...protecting, guarding...wait for it....
your heart. BUTTTTTT....i looked up heart, and it means the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed).

did you get that??? your FEELINGS!!! why am i so driven by my stupid feelings?!?!? i can either be a total go-getter, or a total lazy bum...same person, same circumstances, different feelings! it's so weird!! but...God promises that he will hem in, guard - like a man on gaurd, protect my feelings!! isn't that what we need??? for our stupid feelings to have a guard just standing there pushing away and fighting off all the sadness, worry, fear, doubt??? anyone with me here??? God's word is so good. so relevent, so NEEDED!! my prayer today is that we will let God be the guard of our hurting, needy hearts and minds. i know satan is throwing those darts at us all...i don't think any one of us is in the place where we don't have a hurting heart, in one way or another. maybe it's not overtaking and consuming you today, but maybe it will be tomorrow. let's hold on - till our knuckles are white - and never let go!! (thanks for the mental picture mel, of holding on!!)
keep holding on!!!

change of plans...

adam and i are going to a pastor's conference in new york, which we had planned on for about 2 months. i would not feel comfortable going without the boys unless they were with someone i completely trusted. melanie is a better mother than i am with the boys :) and she was more than willing to take them for a few days. well, we left sunday afternoon to get to nj that night, then planned to leave monday morning for the conference that started monday night...we thought. monday morning, me and mel went out for a bagel and coffee (sigh. i sure do miss her!!!) and when we were there my dad called. he said. um...the conference doesn't start until tomorrow. well, my dad is jokester, so i thought he was joking - NOPE!! so, that was our change of plans. it was actually a beautiful day, so me, mel and the boys went to a little pumpkin farm nearby, and went shopping. could a day get any better?!?!? we had a great time, and i am so thankful for the extra day i got to spend with my mel. we are leaving in about an hour to make the 3 1/2 hour trip to ny.
here are some pictures of our amazing day yesterday.