For God's Glory

Isaiah 43: says
"...For I have created him for my glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him"

how many times have you wondered...what is my purpose for living? it's funny because i actually wrote this poem when i was in my freshman year of college it was called "what is the meaning of life"

it started out,
what is the meaning of life?
to love? to love what?
to love something and lose it...even though you never really had it

and on and on it went. i had a relationship with Jesus, i knew i was saved, but i was still confused. i guess i hadn't learned this verse yet.

aren't we a little too obsessed sometimes with the thought of, what am i supposed to be doing? or where am i going to be in 5 or 10 years? what IS MY PURPOSE?!?

one thing i love about God is how simple he makes things. the question that we as humans have spent countless hours pondering, worrying, fretting, and stressing about...God answers in one sentence. here it is:

"I have created him for my glory..."

what? it's that easy?

oh life.
oh sometimes meaningless, nonsensical life.
we just miss the whole point, don't we?
we spend hours of time to make sure we look good,
hundreds of dollars to make sure we have just the right matching bedroom set from pottery barn,
and hours of time worrying about what that girl is thinking about us.

then we spend 5 minutes reading God's Word to make sure our attitude looks good, 5 dollars on some missionary somewhere, and 5 minutes of time caring about what our God is thinking about our.

if i was constantly thinking.
"i was created to bring God glory. How am i doing now?"
i would start thinking differently, and the outcome of my life would sure look different!
that's my challenge. i am taking it myself! i am going to write that question out on a 3x5 card and carry it with me. i am going to read it 25 times a day. i am then going to see how different my life will be.

wouldn't it be foolish to spend my whole week looking at a keurig and wondering and questioning what the purpose of it was? all i would need to do is see the instruction manual and find that it would produce liquid happiness (haha...joking of course...kind of ;)) with the simple push of a button?! things would sure get a lot easier.

if i was a betting woman, i would say the same thing would be true with the challenge i just presented. your life would be easier in so many ways if it started performing the actions that it was designed to!

i dare you to try it! double dog dare ya :)
oh, and feel free to share any results!!

birthday boy

yesterday was aj's 9th birthday. i can hardly believe that he is that old? i don't FEEL that old!!

he started the day by going out to breakfast with my parents (they started this tradition of taking the grandkids out on their birthday a long time ago)
apparently he ate a TON...not surprising! that explains the increase in our grocery budget!

we took the day off from school (it is a holiday, after all!) and we let the boys just relax.

we went to game stop, so he could spend his gift card from aiyah, and then had subway for lunch.

when we got home, we let him open his birthday present from us. he always closes his eyes when he opens his gifts...



he was surprised and very excited with what he got



so a little side note about the gift. aj had seen pictures of a nba basketball lego set. the cheapest i had seen them go for was 199. um. ya. not even close to an option. so i googled "basketball legos craigslist". i found this basketball set AND a soccer set for a total of 25.00. but it was in california. so i emailed and asked if she would be willing to ship. she said she would, but thought that a guy was missing so she would only charge 20.00 plus shipping. CRAZY! i was so excited, and couldn't believe that i had found such a good deal. honestly, normally this would probably cost a total of 350.00 and i paid THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS!!

aj was so thankful.

then we let both the boys open the soccer one.

we had a great day that we ended with the four of us going to the porch to watch the celts.


a few of MANY things that i love about my 9-year-old

1. he is very sensitive to the needs of others

2. he is incredibly gifted athletically

3. he is so much fun to be around

4. most of all..he is very godly. after i put him to bed last night, he realized that he had forgotten to read his Bible. he got out his flashlight and read. i love that about him. a great start to his year already!!

ry's new bike

last year, riley got aj's hand-me-down bike. that's just how life works sometimes. this year, we bought him a new one.


it was so sweet to see his face just light up when we told him we were going to take him to pick one out!


he picked the orange one. :)

remember when...

remember when your biggest fear was the dark?

remember when your saddest times were when your chocolate bunny broke?

remember when your biggest money concerns consisted of wanting enough for a candy bar?

remember when you just spent hours outside playing?




why are your fears keeping you from trying something new? Jesus has not given you the spirit of FEAR, but of power, of love and of a sound mind!

why are you allowing finances to clutter your mind? Jesus watches the sparrows. Are you not more valuable then them?

what has changed? Jesus hasn't! Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever!

spend some time outside today. look at the world from the eyes of a child. a child who totally, completely, with no fear...trusts his Father.

stir not up...

i feel like i am constantly trying to distract my boys from inappropriately dressed females. now before you start judging me for taking my kids to victoria's secret with me or something (which i DO NOT)...the times i am doing this the most is AT CHURCH! WHAT???
are you serious??
um. yes.
ok, i guess i am having a little conversation with myself.

i came across this verse not too long ago:



do you understand what this means? it is repeated 3 times in Song of Solomon.
the females today are waking something up early...the innocence of our boys. how many moms of boys are with me right now?? shouldn't we be able to go to the park, or go to the grocery store, or GO TO CHURCH and not have to fear that the innocent thoughts of our boys are being stirred up by girls - of all ages?

this emphasized truth in the Bible bears repeating, and i think it is put so well. it is explained in a way that i never really thought of.

this desire that a man has for a woman's body is very beautiful, natural and holy. however, it is meant for marriage only! it is not meant to be discovered by my 8-year-old, who can not have a complete understanding of what it all means. it is not meant to be awakened and stirred up yet! it is supposed to be...i guess the opposite of awakened would be dormant? defined: temporarily in abeyance yet capable of being activated so it is temporary, but it is necessarily so!

you moms who have girls, and you moms yourselves...can you help those of us with young boys out? can you choose to wear a tank under your low shirt? can you teach your girls the importance of modesty and the fact that attraction is from your inward qualities? see, that is what i, and so many other moms are trying to train our boys to look for...inward qualities.

don't get me wrong, i am all about style. but here's the thing. you can still look cute and be modest! it might mean making a small adjustment here and there, but it is worth it!

i pray every night that my boys will stay pure. in their thoughts, and in their lives. i also pray for my boys future wives. that they will keep themselves pure. that they will not let their adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."

keep lifting your children before God's throne. God promises that they will be POWERFUL and EFFECTIVE!

awana (brag alert)

sorry. i am just so proud of my boys.

my little aj

finished his awana book!

and my little ry

finished his too!

proud night in the chase house! :)

next part of the trip

we left the currier's on wednesday at about 1:00. perfect time for travelling, right? WRONG. the seven hour trip too nine and a half! wowzers. anyways...the boys were great, as usual and we got to mel's at about 10:00pm. we slept sooo good!!
we had a great morning of just relaxing the next day,


and then planned to leave at about 12. we ended up leaving a little later, and mel and chad were leaving to come to nh for easter anyways.

long story short, we ended up meeting at subway in connecticut - it was so fun! and a great stop. the boys got to stretch and throw the football around for a little while.



and we enjoyed a good meal

don't let his look deceive you. he just loves being with his in-laws! :)
we made it home in pretty good time.

the next day we all went into boston and had an awesome time together. it was a great weekend.



and of course...any place


is a good place

for football!

the rest of virginia

the last day we were in virginia, we went to a place called maymont
it was beautiful and the weather was perfect




and this picture just makes me smile every time i see it.

i know, i know...he needed a haircut. it is one of my pet-peeves when parents let their boys hair hang all up in their eyes!!

this picture makes me happy. because even though there is almost a 4-year age difference between these 2 boys...

i love that i can trust them when they are together. i am not at all worried about what cam might be saying to aj, i just love that. i love the friendship they have. aj has always loved cameron so much, and i hope that their relationship continues for years to come.

then i took a picture of all the kiddies...


here is my sister and her happy big family




and here is our happy little family

little break from the vacation for my thoughts...

for those of you who know me the best, you know that i always have something to say. i could ramble on and on at any given moment. i am passionate about a lot of things, and i enjoy talking about those things.
today, i am sitting outside of The Porch enjoying the gorgeous weather, and just praying for the people of this area as they drive by. i have been thinking about how many people are in bondage and don't even realize it.

i heard a knock on the door the other day. it was 2 men in suits. guess who?? haha..it actually honestly made me laugh. i thought. for REAL??? this is the house behind the BAPTIST church!! what part of BAPTIST do you not understand?!?
i have never had a conversation about spiritual things with a jehovah's witness, and here was my chance. i was searching everywhere in my brain for memories of the advice that john yates from fbi (seriously. if your church doesn't offer this, you need to) had given about what they believe. i started right out with john 1:1. how hard could this be. The Word was with God and the Word WAS GOD. not "A god". ok. he didn't really go anywhere with that one. so i mentioned something about Jesus being God. ohhh yaaaa...when i saw his reaction, i realized this was one point we slightly disagreed on! so i continued. Jesus is God.
is not.
is too.
is not.
is too.
just kidding. we didn't do that last part. :)

he tried to explain to me that this was not humanly possible. for example, he said, i am a father, and i have a son. it is not possible for us to be the same person. i said. um. a lot of things about God aren't humanly possible, that's what makes him GOD.
he said. "so you're trying to tell me that you can't understand things about God?"

i said "ABSOLUTELY". God says in the book of Isaiah "your ways are not my ways, neither are your thoughts my thoughts".

he said. "that was Isaiah talking"

i said. "um. No. it wasn't. i JUST read it. (i really actually did, at least within the last 90 days, because we just finished reading through the Bible in 90 days!)

i said "there's a lot of things that don't make human sense. i mean, does Jesus being born of a virgin make human sense?"

get this. HE SAID YES! ok. that conversation is for a different time, buddy!

he said "well, have you looked into the hebrew language? i mean. if you study this out, December 25th couldn't even have been the day Jesus was born"

WHAT????

i did remember john yates saying...they will try to get you sidetracked, but stick to the gospel.

so...i watched the guy he was with, who i assume was being trained. and i started thinking. ok, my goal is just going to be to quote scripture and put some doubt in this guys mind. God's Word won't return void, right?

so i did. i quoted john 3:16. i quoted ephesians 2:8. i said that i had actually walked this very road myself handing out Bibles. the REAL Bible. not a man-made one. but it was NOT so that i could get into heaven. it is by grace through faith ALONE that i was assured of my eternity.

the guy talking was clearly flustered, so i just stopped him. he asked if he could give me some information.
i told him i didn't want his literature in my house. (adam told me later i should have taken it all to throw it away. oh well)

i was shaking so bad! i don't even know why, but it was such a great experience. it made me see even more the importance of being ready always to give an answer. for me AND for my boys.

i spent a lot of the morning with aj and ry going over their awana verses.
as aj was quoting john 10:30, he said - ooohhhh...that would be a good one.

i said, for what?

he said for those jehovah's witnesses! oh ya!! "I and my Father are one". doesn't get more clear than that!

i honestly teared up. i thought, here is my 8-year-old using the Bible to stand firm in his faith.

for those moms out there who are raising your little ones to love God. make sure they love their Bible. make sure they KNOW their Bible! also, i think it is so important to know the basics of what other religions believe. i do not want to come across as ignorant. i want to learn about their beliefs, so i can know how to reach them.

i don't know if anything i said will make this man start thinking differently. but i can pray for his heart. i can pray for the people i drive by, and the people i know are unsaved. so can you.

together, we can make a difference.

getting sad...

it's actually kind of sad posting things about my visits with my brother and sisters. it just reminds me more and more of how much i miss them. it's weird, because i think that part of me just always thought that we would live near each other, ya know? now that we are all living far apart, well. it just stinks.

anyways...monday was a rainy day in virginia.

we started the day with school. i had brought the boys work, and they seemed to enjoy a little different way of school!




so bri, erika and me all went shopping. it was really fun. bri got an easter dress, and me and erika got some new clothes too :) then we all went to the ymca and the kids and adam played some basketball then got to go swimming for a while. they had so much fun!






alright, i may be getting days messed up. i really can't remember.
i will just leave you with this.


can you even STAND it???

next day in virginy

sunday morning we got up and had a nice breakfast




and then got to go to church with the curriers. it was great to be able to go to church and just ENJOY it!! we didn't have to be running around, working on the power point, getting ready to teach sunday school, adjusting the mics or anything! we had a really great time and enjoyed the day.