Warning: This is going to be a loaded blog post! I have been on a journey. This journey started last year. I was ready to go to Africa on a mission trip.....so I thought, and doors closed and I was able to go. But I was not ready. My desire to go on a mission trip was there, my faith was not and neither was my obedience. A year goes by and I learn more about faith than I ever have. So many things happened in my family that caused me to realize that I am not in control of things, that God is in control, and that I must have FAITH that He is. I have always thought I had faith, but when things were coming to light, I quickly realized that I was not living in faith, I was living through a false sense of faith. So I grew this year. The trip to Africa was no longer on my mind. One Sunday Pastor Kenn preached on Matthew 8:18-27 (You can listen to the sermon here: Kingdom Come - listen to January 20th) when the disciples follow him and Jesus calmed the Storm. Jesus is standing there and a teacher of law comes and says "I will follow you wherever you go." But then Jesus tells him that if he follows him, he will be homeless - the man backs up and doesn't respond. Another disciple said "First let me go and bury my father." And Jesus replies that if you follow him, you don't go when you are ready. You go when you are asked. He and the disciples got in a boat and went out into the water when a huge storm comes. Jesus is asleep and the disciples run and ask him to save them because they were going to drown. "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"The Lord said to them. Jesus gets up and calms the storm. Pastor Kenn preached on whether you are in the boat or you are out. When you are asked to follow him, do you first think of excuses of things that you need to do before you obey His commands. Through the whole sermon I kept thinking of my failed attempt to Africa last year and did I make excuses and let the convenience of Matt's work give me an easy out? So the sermon continues and we are dismissed and I stand up and talk to a friend who is sitting next to me. When we are done talking, I turn around and the sanctuary is almost empty! I quickly collect my things and Kim Hucks is walking straight towards me. I wish I could remember her exact words, but it was on the lines of - "So, do you want to go to Africa?" WHAT!!! After that sermon, she has the audacity to come and ask me if I am basically in the boat or not! Thoughts of Africa flood my head once again. I thought of the ifs and buts. I thought of the logistics of it. I thought of a whole lot of stuff. I mean I don't just get up and go....I leave 5 needy children and a husband who works full time and 9 days is a long time to be away. But then my mind kept going back to obedience. I was flat out ASKED to go. Not if I could go, but to go. Obedience. What a hard word. I expect my children to obey my every bark and command. I expect them to do the things that they don't want to do without a rebuttle. How often am I asked to do things by my Father? The easy stuff is easy. The convenient stuff is easy. But the major commands..... whoa, that is something I may have to think about! Matt and I talked about it. He told me he was going to push me in the boat. He is very supportive. Yes, it will be so very hard for us. We do not like to be separated. I have a hard time going to the grocery store when he is off, because that is an hour of our time together that I don't get to be with him. I am glued to his hip! And my kids?? Good grief. I have only been away from them for a week when I had my kidney stones, but I was on morphine, so I don't remember too much of anything, but I do remember that I wouldn't let Matt leave me. So a trip this big, alone, is a huge deal for us. So we go and talk to Kim 2 Sundays after that and ask her some questions. She tells me that she is going through each door way as it opens. She said she has been getting a few small things as she sees them, you know like individual wet wipes. We leave and later on that day we go to a friend's house and he hands me a box and right on the top of the box are 6 boxes of individual wet wipes!!!! A little confirmation?? :) So time goes on and I am still saying yes, but I am waiting for a reason to say no. Why do I try to wrestle God so much? Why am I so hard headed that I can't just obey? Then, I get an email from a friend about this fast that she is doing with her church and wanted to know if myself and 2 other ladies from Sardis would like to join her? WHAT??!!!! A FAST????!!!! HA, NOT ME!!! I felt funny inside and of course the email was bothering me the entire day! I kept thinking - hmmmm, interesting, but let me see how I could limit this. Let me see how I can twist it to what I would like that to be for me. Let me minimalize it. I mean, I have to cook for 5 kids and can't drag them through a fast - that would look real great when I take Channing for her 2 year check up in a couple weeks and she has lost weight :) I have never done a fast. And anytime it was ever presented to me it was a blanket offer to partake as a church. No one would know if I did it or if I didn't. But I was ASKED! This is what I keep playing in my head with this Africa trip. I was flat out ASKED to go. Is this the obedience that I preach to my children about if I try to think through these things? All day long, I tell my kids that when I ask you to do something, do it. I am not asking if you want to, if you feel like it, or if you could do it when you get a chance. I am blatenly asking you to do something for ME and I expect you to WANT to listen and obey and be helpful, whether this was in your agenda or not. I fall into the trap of adulthood freedom. I can eat, go and do whatever I would like and no one tells me what to do. I live a life that can be easy to follow Jesus Christ. I can easily refrain from vandalizing a park or from beating someone up in a parking lot if they take my space :) But when God ASKS me to do something, how obedient am I? I guess this is what God is working on me right now and of course he doesn't ask me to do easy things. I went from living at home with my parents to getting married and living with Matt. I didn't even go away to college, nope just commuted. I am in a comfort zone of family that is crazy and I am not even getting shipped off to Africa alone!! I will have some awesome people with me! Is it going to be easy for me to watch what I eat for a fast? Nope. I will still be feeding my family and won't have the freedom to leave the room while they eat. I will probably be spoon feeding my infant chicken wrapped in bacon on top of a slab of butter over a bed of pasta with a cookie on top :) I will be obedient and am prepared to be abundantly blessed through this life changing experience. So on Monday, I took my 5 babies with me to get my passport filed. And of course, this experience is going to be a learning one for us all. I am making them their own passports and we will be studying Kenya, Africa because Mommy is going there from June 21-30!!
Habakkuk 1:5 - "Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
I am ready to be amazed! I am ready to see what God is going to do in my life. Through this fast and through this trip to Africa. This is going to be a banner year in my life and in my family's lives. We are on a voyage together. I will teach my children what I am learning and teach them through my crazy failures. The Lord is my portion and I am His child! We will be obedient to what the Holy Spirit leads us to. Thank you Lord for asking me to do things that are extreme to me, but they are only extreme so that you can show me how you are extreme!! I know that I am going to see amazing things......I serve and amazing God!!
Trip Info: June 21-30 to Kenya, Africa. I will be going to 2 main villages and then going into 2 schools a day and teaching the children (I love how I will have completed my teacher license renewal program in May and will be still certified for 5 more years) in the schools - kind of like VBS (which we will have just finished the week before at our church). There is a construction team that is going with us and they are going to be building a church in the villages where we are. They are trying to build relationships between the church and people in the community, so we are going to the schools. I am going with another church from Tennessee with Miracle Power: Miracle Power and the network that is putting the trip together is from Church Missions Network
Please pray for my family as we dive into this journey together. Pray for each person that I come in contact with that I will be filled with the Spirit and know what they need to hear. I have FAITH that we will be abundantly blessed and will see God work in mighty ways! The trip is expensive and we haven't even discussed that fully, but we have no doubt in our minds that it will all come completely together. I am loving this feeling of being out of my comfort zone, because when we are out of our comfort zone.....we are in HIS comfort zone of showing us WHO He is!!!
It finally snowed here on Saturday night! We actually didn't even know it was supposed to snow until that morning, so it was a wonderful surprise. I have a few more pictures I will try to add later. The kids ended up making 3 snowmen. I stayed outside with them for a while. It took Matt 2 hours to get home from work, so when he got there, he was ready to play. I warmed up the little ones and put them to bed and the big kids just enjoyed every minute of it.
One thing about snowmen in the south, they are always dirty!!
snowballs!
cute!
When they finally came inside, they were ready to sleep on the couch with the fireplace on. Harper was out within minutes. The girls quickly followed. It was so beautiful out and they had so much fun. Snow is just magical!
This was just a super funny picture. She came down stairs with all these things for me to put on her. She looks like a Pepto Bismol model!!
The kids were so excited for Valentine's Day this year. They had been working on Valentine's for a month. Carly even had to go put mine under lock and key in the lock box. We had to go all out and give them something special! So I got them all a balloon and tied it to their chairs. I also got them sprinkled donuts for breakfast, in their heart bowls. Matt and I stayed up until 11:30 pm the night before crafting up some Valentine cards ~ now that's love!
I think they were a little excited!
We went on a field trip that day with Nick, our neighbor, to see a magician downtown. The kids were so happy to have him with us (he is homeschooled too) The kids were really into the magic tricks and it tied in so well with our Bible stories lately about miracles. We got to do a lot of talking about the difference between magic and miracles and the power of our Almighty God! It was fabulous! Matt and I finished the evening with a date with our friends Courtney and JT. We loved laughing and relaxing with such wonderful friends.
The girls are getting so big! They had their first friend sleepover (they have had Kaitlyn and Emma spend the night, but this was the first neighborhood kid). They had so much fun playing. It is crazy to see them giggling and getting silly with a friend. I do like this age a lot, but why must they keep growing?! I want to put them in a box!
Channing went and had her first hair cut a couple of weeks ago. She just got a trim, but don't you love my great picture taking skills?? I didn't take a single picture of the first cut or after!! She was wiggly so I had to entertain her, but still, wait to go MOM!!! This is the first one Matt didn't go to. He is usually on camera patrol, but when you are number 5, you get things done when Mommy and Daddy have a chance.
She had to try out every car in the place. She actually got the cut in this car and then she ended up on a couple others afterwards. She was the only one in there so she had to test them all!
Spunky!!! She is just full of herself and I love her cute smile! She keeps me on my toes everyday! I am so lucky to have the big kids as helpers with this one. She requires eyes on her at all times!
We had a DUSTING of snow and these die hards were determined to make a snowman out of it. They gathered up enough snow to make this cute snowman! They loved seeing some white stuff finally. It didn't snow at all last year!
Look out world.......here they come!!!
These two are so close. I love finding them snuggling together. I am so glad they are close in age!
This boy and his girl! He loves his Channing Hope to pieces. I love seeing him take care of her. The blondies have to stick together!
On New Year's Eve Channing got the gift of panties. The time had come for the little one to turn into a big girl!
She loved her hand me down underwear!
She quickly tried them on and proceeded to run around the room like a crazy girl! She has been in panties ever since! She did so great. She was actually the easiest of all of them to train. I can't believe it when Finley will come down stairs to announce that she has taken Channing to the potty and everything is all good! Yes, my 3 year old takes my 1 year old to the potty! Finley loves to help in anyway with Channing. So I guess Channing completed her New Year's resolution first!
Trying out the Wii Just Dance 4 Game with Aunt Gina......we were totally exhausted!
Harper so proud of his excavator construction from Grandma Kay and Grandpa Eddie!
Uncle Kris and Aunt Gina bought them a trampoline! It is a fabulous cage! They just go in and zip up the side and they jump all afternoon! They love it!
Purple anyone?! This girl pretty much wears this outfit EVERYDAY!
I straightened her hair to see what it would look like! She looked so much older! I made her quickly get in the shower and wash her hair after that.....I don't think I can handle my Finley without her wild mane!!
Christmas morning was so fun. The kids just love opening presents. Especially the ones that they buy each other from the Dollar Tree. Every year they make sure that those are the first ones everyone opens and then the ones that they bought everyone from the AWANA (Bible club) store. It took us half the morning to just open those!
We also couldn't forget the Tooth Fairy! Carly had to make a tooth out of paper to put in her box since she swallowed it. She was very upset she didn't have the real thing, but thankfully it all happened during the Christmas Eve commotion that she didn't get too worked up about it. But the Tooth Fairy did make her presence and left her a golden dollar! She was so cute Christmas Morning coming in with her note.
The crew ready to make their way down the stairs for presents (I think this is one of the very rare occasions that my girls didn't have matching socks - this picture totally bothers me!)
Finley on her hand me down bike! She sure doesn't look like she cares! We pieced Carly and Chloe's old bikes together (the functioning parts) and then bought her some streamers. She was more than happy!
Harper always puts his stocking on his head!
They were all so cute opening their stockings..... I love these kids!
Pageant face Cha Cha! She stopped at the stocking with her sunglasses and gold fish crackers!
One priceless present!
Finley checking out all her loot. Her lovey, Hippo, got a tutu for Christmas. She loves that he got a purple tutu just like she did. She got the leotard and of course had to change into it immediately and wore it all morning.
I love this picture. I love the background of my smiling husband and his daughter draped around his neck. He is such an amazing Daddy and his children love him so much......more than looking at her new Christmas presents!
Harper and his Craigslist Leapster!! We wanted the same one the girls had so the games would work on it, so we just looked it up and found a great deal!
Finley and her Barbie house. This has a story. Matt and I were wrapping presents one night and checking inventory of who got what. He kept saying he wanted to get Finley a big doll house. I was not willing to budge on this one. I didn't not want to spend all that money on a house (they are ridiculously expensive). So he agreed. The very next morning he was driving to work and he saw something on the side of the road near some one's dumpster. He quickly did a U-turn and pulled into their driveway. It was a doll house. He didn't want to sit out there and inspect some one's trash, so he quickly through it into his car. That night he pulled it out and we inspected. It was an authentic Barbie house in wonderful condition!!! It is perfect! He got exactly what he wanted for his girl and the exact price that I wanted!! She was so thrilled and loves playing with it. It was a wonderful Christmas to say the least! Matt's parents and brother also came over that evening to celebrate and we had a lot of fun. Christmas 2012 complete!!
Can you believe how big these kids are getting??!!! They are such beautiful kids and I love them each to pieces. Finley and Channing were still taking their naps so they weren't included in this one, but I love to just look at how special these kids are to me. Anyways, Christmas Eve was held at our house. We ate and were merry, went to church, and then came home for presents. The excitement level in the house was sky high!
Channing and her Grandpa doing trot trot. She loves sitting with him and I love watching my Daddy's face when he plays with my babies - pretty awesome!
All the kids with Oma. Opa wasn't feeling good, so he stayed at home.
Just missing Opa, Nichole, and the spouses (they were all doing the picture taking) I love how Finley is just a big blob of hair in this pic!
The bows were just as big of a hit as the gifts!
Connor rocked the ribbon bow all night!
Channing inspecting Uncle Paul's new gloves. She had to make sure they were Boston worthy so he wouldn't freeze!
Again with the bows!!
Harper inspecting Finley's karaoke machine. I can't believe I didn't have a picture of her on this gift. Grandma and Grandpa gave it to her and she had the thing on full blast and she sang the entire night. It was rather cute, but super LOUD!! It was another year of craziness, loudness, screams and laughter and I loved it! Spending time with family is great!
It finally happened.....Carly is now a big kid!! On Christmas Eve, Carly was playing with Kaitlyn and she told her it looked like her tooth was gone. Sure enough, the girl had swallowed her first tooth! She was pretty upset, but luckily it was Christmas Eve and she had alot of other fun stuff on her mind. We made one out of paper for her to leave out for the Tooth Fairy. She was pleased with that. I was so sad my baby has crossed over into the big kid world. I don't want them to grow up! You can't even tell she lost a tooth, because her permanent one was right there already. It was pretty exciting!
