A Few Snow Pictures

She liked it!

The cake was a success! Happy Birthday baby girl!

Happy Birthday!

It is so hard to believe that my baby girl is now One! How fast this year has gone. We have been so blessed by this little girl and we thank the Lord for her daily!

Here is her Butterfly cake that I made for her birthday. You can go here to see how to make this cake- or a different pattern.

Baby things!

Here are two sites that have great baby things!! The LBS site has all handmade things from someone I went to college with. The Etsy site is all handmade as well.


 Little LBS. Design

 This site has great things for babies and children. All of it is so cute.

                                  

Etsy -Cocoon Prop Swaddle Wrap Blanket

These are so cool! I wish I had known about them when my babies were infants. There is always next time!

Baby Picture

I am going to brag a little. Abigail was chosen (along with 19 other babies) to have her picture on the wall at Parkridge East Hospital. The hospital remodeled the labor and delivery area and picked 20 babies to have their pictures taken by a professional photographer. If you live in the Chattanooga area you can go and see my baby on the wall!! She is close to room 130- which happens to be the room that we stayed in while we were there with Ezekiel. 
                                                           So here is her picture!!!

Three Years and Counting

Yesterday was our anniversary. We have been married three years! It seems like only yesterday. God has shown me so much in these past three years...I will save that for another post!  

My love gave me three different sets of flowers! 

Terrible twos....I think not

I always have heard about the "terrible twos" as if it is something that we are just to accept and allow in our children's lives- it is normal. How your child will pitch fits, say no, and act completely crazy as they break away and form some new independence that they did not have before. Well to all who believe that behavior is acceptable and normal I have something to say. NO WAY!!!

I would like to label these "terrible twos" for what it really is SIN! I feel like today was WW3. I love my baby boy and for the most part he is very compliant, but today we had a battle. To start things off he did not have a nap- something that is always needed and enforced daily. From there it just got worse. As I was in the middle of what seemed like a never ending crying, screaming, discipline, eternity- God spoke to my heart.

I have learned so many things about the character of God from being a parent. I have also learned to depend on Him for everything. Some things that I learned today- or was reminded of I should say are:

1. God places people in our lives (and uses suffering) to form us more into the image of Christ.
Through the book study I am doing, I read last week about how the suffering in our lives makes us more like Christ. That has really been on my mind. Christ had to suffer and did suffer for God's glory. He suffered with His family, friends, and everyone else. So why should I expect anything different in my life. I can see how different people are in my life to make me more like Christ. He uses it all for His glory. Even enduring a day I never wish to have again. (Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:18, Philippians 3:8-11)

2. God is so gracious to sinners who are found in Christ.
My sin is so great and His grace is even greater. (Romans 5:18-21)

3. I am in my "terrible twos" and will be until I am glorified.
I am a sinner. I sin all the time and am in need daily of grace and mercy.( Romans 8:22-25)

4. God never stops loving His children.
No matter how much I blow it and sin, because I am His child, I cannot be separated for Christ.
(Lamentations 3:22-24, Romans 8:31-39)

5. We must be broken to be made new.
(Psalm 51)

6. God disciplines His children because He loves them.
It is not always easy to discipline my children, but I do it because I love them. I do not want to leave them in their sin. I am to teach them and bring them up in the instruction of the Lord. That is the same thing that my Heavenly Father does with me. ( Ephesians 6:4, Hebrews 12:7-11)

I did it!

I made my first baby food! I had wanted to in the past, but we did not have a food processor. We got one when I was pregnant (it also can make milkshakes!!) and have finally made some food. It is not as hard as I thought, nor time consuming.

I am sure that many out there have done it. This is my first. I knew it would save money...so here is what I did.

I got a one pound bag of peas for $0.88.  I made a cup of peas (with plenty left over for later) and put them in the processor. One cup filled up half of an ice-cube tray.  They are now in the freezer ready for when I need them. I only made a little just to experiment for right now. One cube should be enough to feed her at each feeding so I have 9 meals ready to go. I just hope she eats the peas!!!

Pass on any tips you have!!!

So Funny

He had so much fun with this. He did not need any presents!

something to ponder

While on vacation I was thinking a lot about keeping my children safe. Anytime we are in a new environment I am always in that protective mom mode. You know.. watch for cars, little things they can get into, staying out of the water/ocean (when a hurricane is coming!), just about anything. I want to keep my babies safe and protect them from anything that would harm them.

But it struck me. What I need to protect them from most is themselves! My son was into a lot of things. Being almost 2 (on Wednesday) he never stops! But his sin is what is doing the most damage right now. Not climbing on things or falling. We always want to focus on this external things, but it is the heart that needs to change. 

It is not always easy to deal with. Especially when he acts like he has never heard the word NO. But if I am to protect him from the most harmful thing it is not going to be easy.

Updated Pictures of my Babies!

They grow up so fast. I know that they are still babies, but time goes by so quickly.

Abigail is almost 4 months!

Ezekiel is almost 2!!

New Furniture!!

Well, we have been married almost three years now so we decided to get new living room furniture. All of our other furniture was mine that I had accumulated over the years and most of it did not match. We wanted to get something that was ours!! We had some extra money and decided to get new furniture. It came yesterday! Here are a few pictures.

Helpful Reminder

I listened to this and thought I would share it with all the wives out there. Very simple, but how true. Click here and listen or read what John Piper has to say about "How can wives encourage their husbands?".

Beach Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of our vacation.

Pray for Your Children

Like most parents, who are believers in Christ, I want to pray for my children. I especially want to pray scripture over them. There are many books out there that can help you do that- but I am not promoting any book. I did come across this article that I found encouraging. The Bible is full of scripture that we can pray over our children. I am not talking about the "health, wealth, and prosperity gospel" prayers. I am talking about scriptures to pray for their souls, thoughts, dreams, protection, maturity, obedience, and attitudes.

Many of these are the same scriptures that we should/could be praying for ourselves. We should pray not just when our children are in trouble or need, but daily pray for them. I just want to encourage all parents to pray for their children. You will have to change the wording a little and include your child's name- but pray the meaning of the scripture for them and over them. 

Here is an example: Colossians 3:20 "Lord please help____ to obey us in everything for this is pleasing to you. Help him to want to please you in all things, especially through his obedience to us. He is struggling with ____. Please change his heart and guide him into obedience."

I have listed a few scriptures below to help get you started.

Obedience:

Ephesians 6:1

Colossians 3:20

1 John 5:1-5

Love:

Deuteronomy 6:5 

Deuteronomy 7:9

Romans 8:28-39

1 Corinthians 8:3

1 John 4:7-12

1 John 4:21

Other:

Ephesians 4:29

Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 1:17-23

Romans 6:12-13

Colossians 1:9-13 

Vacation

Sorry not to be posting, we just got back from vacation! Here are a few pictures of our fun time in Florida. I have more pictures but they are not downloaded yet. I will post those later.

Hi turtle!

splash

Happy 4th of July

Grandpa and Abigail

Grammie and Abigail

Pictures of Abigail

Here is our precious baby girl in my baby dress. That dress is almost 32 years old!! I forget to post updated pictures here. We have another blog that we only post about our babies- so forgive me for the delay.

Updated Pictures

Here are some updated pictures of my babies! 

Great New Children's Books

My husband just gave me some great books that I thought I would share. They are amazing. The series is all titled: Big Thoughts For Little People. Joey Allen has written books for children on the Trinity, the Gospel, the Mission, and the Scriptures. It is hard to find books that teach children Doctrine and he has done an excellent job of communicating difficult doctrine so that children will understand it (with the help of the Spirit). 

I would highly recommend that if you have young children you should get these books to read with them. On the bottom of each page he gives scripture references that you can look up and talk to your children about. Each page is jammed packed with truth.

Others have reviewed them here .

You can look here to see the books.