my monday morning in pictures

happy monday!

family photography love

i am so lucky to have a sister-in-law that i would honestly be close friends with even if we didn't happen to be married to brothers.
she is amazing.
she has 2 boys.
she is beautiful.
she is funny.
she wants to please God.
she loves photography.

perfect. just perfect.

anyways, in spite of the fact that i had literally been the sickest i had ever been in years, i had made a promise to do some family shots for her when we met up in virgina.
a promise is a promise.
so i got ready, dragged myself downstairs and got to look at this beautiful little family.

and it was totally totally worth it.
i love this girl and her family.

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girl time

with a house full of boys, it is nice to get a little bit of girly time!
ron, bobbi and lilla came for a visit after christmas

and we sure enjoyed having lilla around!

christmas part 2

having a photo shoot on the 23rd, and another on the 24th made for a little bit of procrastination with going through my own christmas pictures!
but here is the rundown of the chase family christmas

my grandmother is visiting this year from texas - WHICH WE LOVE! and the  wamplers were here too!
me and mel decided to get our grandmother a manicure so we all went together.
we had such a great time!

christmas eve we always have the boys open one present.
it's pajamas. always. and they know it.
but we wrap them anyways.

then christmas morning starts with opening stockings, then eating some food
(my mom is amazing in the kitchen. she is always whipping up some new delicious dish! this one is a pampered chef recipe that you can find here although it calls for ham too...she did not add that)

then reading the christmas story

then opening gifts!
i think the boys are trying to get cal into legos already!

 the boys were pretty pumped about their new jerseys!

gram came up huge with new lego sets for the boys!

aj loves his new bongos from zach and ruthie!

we buy the boys 3 gifts each year for christmas.
this year, one of those gifts was a combined gift.
a new tv for their room!

i think they liked it.

then we have an older lady from our church come over for lunch. she doesn't have family around, so she enjoys celebrating with us.

always a good time!

the next morning, we started our trek to virginia.
we stopped at my sister's house for the night.

and for some reason?
i got 2 pictures.
what is up with that.
anyways.
phewwww...that was a lot of pictures to upload!
and that was my very merry christmas.

oh, and i'll have more pictures of when my brother and his family came the day after we got back from virginia!
but not yet.

why not?

so it's the beginning of a new year.
normally, i hate the thought of new years resolutions.
it seems pointless to make unrealistic goals that you will most likely not keep much past march. tops.
but this year, i thought...why not?

why not decide that i am going to memorize a verse from every book in the Bible this year?
(with my sisters and mom joining me. i haven't told them they are a part of it yet)

why not decide to make sure that i make specific "us" time for me and adam?

why not choose to make monday my prayer day?

why not?


so maybe it only lasts through march.
won't that be better than nothing at all?
won't those few dates with my husband help my marriage to be even stronger?
won't those few weeks of prayer time make a difference?

and what if...

it lasts longer than a few months?

it will definitely be worth it then!

so now i will ask you

why not?


make a decision to go to church every sunday.
ok...you're saying you've never been to church a day in your life?

decide to go one sunday a month for starters!

make a decision to say one nice thing about your husband every day.

would that be so hard?

come on...
why not?

what is your decision going to be?
i would love to keep you accountable!

let's do this together!

why not?

christmas in reverse

chase side family christmas

christmas cookies

i have no idea why, but i have not been feeling it lately when it comes to baking.

or being festive.

or doing anything wife...ish. like, i should be enjoying making holiday stuff, right??

ugh.

anyways.

adam said that one of his favorite Christmas foods was suguar cookies.

just like his mom used to make.

so i bit the bullet and made up some sugar cookies.

i think it was the right thing to do.

ya know, to show adam how much i love him.

and i enjoyed eating them too.

it's nice when being nice...

can be nice for you too.

a little bit of this and a little bit...more of this

do you ever feel like you are 
just
not
getting
it?


today i read 2 corinthians 10:5.
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"


i have read this a million times. at least.


let's break this down.
what is an argument and pretension that would set itself up against the knowledge of God?


the ESV calls it lofty opinions. 
what would those be?
well, for me...they look a little something like this:


*i deserve to be treated with respect all the time
*the fact that i don't "own" my own home means that i have not quite arrived yet.
*what my body looks like determines who i am
*i can do things my own way, not God's, and there will be no consequences.


do any of those look familiar?
maybe you can add your own.


i know where to find the knowledge of God.
His Word.
i know that i am told to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus...but what does that look like?


i'll tell you one thing.
it never looks like me thinking that i know it all!
and it almost never looks like what my feelings are at the time!


what it does look like is:
*reading and studying God's Word.


*it looks like spending time with people who are challenging me to do right and constantly helping me to grow.


*so i guess it would therefore also look like not spending time with people who are not even doing right themselves, so are of course not challenging me to do right!


*it looks like being diligent. hard-working. fighting to do what's right. not allowing my own "knowledge" to become higher than God's!


so here's the deal.


-i wake up in the morning.
-i make a conscious decision to spend the rest of the day actually fighting this battle of life that i'm in. not pretending that i'm not even in one.
-i make an intentional choice to spend time with God: hearing from him and talking to him.
-i make a choice to remember that with everything God has done for me? the least...very least i can do is try to please Him. 
-i remember that just like i want my friends to love and care about me? that's how my God wants to be treated too.


then?
then.
i do it.
that's it!


because my problem comes in here...
if i'm not paying attention. 
if i'm just cruising along in life, with the redundancy of life...not paying attention to any of the darts being thrown at me.
then before i know it...my knowledge is all of a sudden ahead of God's.
and i start believing it!


how stupid can you be??
i guess pretty stupid!


so maybe i need a little bit of this...
and then a little bit more of it.
and then some more...
ok. you get the point!


and i can't say enough how important it is to surround yourself with friends who are living to please God the way you are.


because when you are spending the majority of your time with people who aren't taking God's knowledge seriously? 
pretty soon...
you are allowing their thoughts and opinions to be set up before God's!


we need to demolish those things!
that means 
destroy
ruin
tear down
wreck


them's fightin' words!
and that is exactly. the. point.


we are in a battle here.


so what arguments and pretensions are you allowing to be set up against the knowledge of God?


fight it!
hard!
get rid of them.
take those stupid thoughts captive, and make them obey God.


once and for all.

happy monday

this is what i am looking at today

i am so fortunate that i get to spend every single second of every single day with these boys who make my life so amazingly happy....
i can not imagine it any.other.way.

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love Christmasssssssssss!!

ahhhhhhh!! i just love it!

I love listening to Christmas music, 

i love eating christmas cookies

and I love the calming, peaceful feeling that i get when i'm in front of the tree!

We got a small tree this year, and the boys decorated the whole thing.

i am totally not a perfectionist, and i do not care how they choose to decorate it, it just makes me happy to watch them put the ornaments on.

i always love going through the box of ornaments each year and being reminded of where they all the came from!

some were made by the boys when they were younger,

some were gifts,

some were made by me when i was in the first grade!!

hard to believe they have been around so long..i know!

oh, and this little reindeer has always been my favorite since i was little. i don't even know why.

while some parents are going to school concerts at least twice a year, i haven't been able to see my kids in a concert since aj was in kindergarten!
riley is in a music class at our homeschool co-op this year, and his teacher was adam's 2nd grade teacher!! 
isn't that just wild??
she is great, and riley had a really good time in class.
they had a christmas concert on tuesday and i was that obnoxious mother with a video camera in one hand, and a regular camera in the other.
yep.
that's me!
(sorry boys, i don't think i'll get any less embarrassing as time goes on!)
oh, and i think i did a couple whoop whoops at the end too.

he is so cute i can hardly even stand it.

your holiday, your husband and your happiness

So it's the Christmas season.
It's that time of year when schedules get crazy, finances get tight and relationships tend to get...
strained.

You know what I'm talking about.

It's supposed to be the time when everyone is smiling and happy, drinking hot cocoa and sitting in front of the christmas tree reminiscing of all the years of happy memories while listening to Frank Sinatra, right?

Here's the thing.

You have to know what kind of obstacles are going to be in front of you so you can be prepared to fight them.
And a big obstacle right now? Is keeping our marriages strong!

It's no secret that marriages are under attack right now.
I think one of the biggest problems that we have, starts out as
a good thing!

Putting your kids first!


Doesn't that sound so...
self-sacrificial?
loving?
thoughtful?

But here's the problem.

It's the wrong first focus!

I've talked about this before, but we all have the following relationships in our lives:

*Parents

*Husband

*Children

Two of these relationships are designed to be temporary
One of these relationships is designed to be permanent


We were designed to grow with our parents, and then eventually get married and move out.
We were designed to marry our husband and stay with him forever.
We were designed to have children and raise them to eventually move out.

But, what happens in our every day lives, is our kids can tend to take over.
We have to get them up, feed them, clean up after them, bring them to this game, and that party.
It can take over.
Then...whatever we have left at the end of a long day (which may be NOTHING) we put into our husbands.

The ONLY relationship that is supposed to be permanent


See how that is all wrong?

I am encouraging you this Christmas season, to just stop for a minute.
Ok. Maybe a few minutes.

And just refocus

Maybe you have forgotten what your role as a wife is.
I wrote about that here, last christmas!

Don't let yourself fall into the trap that is lying to you and telling you that everyone's marriage is struggling...
and this is just the way it is going to have to be.
Don't settle for less than what God has for you!

It is not the way it has to be!


While you're refocusing, remind yourself that you do not have rights that deserve to be met
that you do not need to spend more time taking care of yourself...
see.
That is also part of the trap!

The book of Proverbs tells us that only by pride comes contention
gulp.

Is there contention in your marriage right now?
Is there stress that you are getting overwhelmed with?

Put your pride aside.
Get a friend you can trust who will be consistent to pray for you.

Start enjoying your marriage the way God intended it!

It may be super hard the first couple of steps, but it will get easier and easier,
and your life will be better as a result of it!

So go and make some hot cocoa,
put on the Sinatra and ask your husband to snuggle in front of the tree with you.
Work hard on that permanent relationship!

Make this holiday be the best one your marriage has ever had.
It can start with you, and it will be totally worth it.