Life Amazing

It's been a crazy last 2-3 months.  Between dealing with Ian and his summer antics (for which he is now on track) and trying to keep the 3 girls occupied in this darn heat I was so ready for school to start!  I feel a little guilty for that, but let's face it; 3 kids running amok in our 1800 sq ft home is not anyone's idea of fun.  Or sane. 
We didn't get out for any vacations this year.  With Josh's schedule and my having to 'bow down' to a certain person at work, I wasn't going to dare ask for any time off.  The plan is to head back to NY next summer and spend a few weeks with family, maybe hit the NY State Fair?  I know my dad would LOVE for us to come back. 
I feel quite distant from scripture right now.  I miss BSF (which starts up next week!!!) and I have not found interest in the summer studies through church.  I haven't even read any good books since June.  I need to get close to my Bible.  I still pray daily, without ceasing.  The girls and I still talk about God, about Jesus and his impact in our lives.  Abigail warms my heart, watching her grow in her walk with Christ.  She has started to challenge her daddy in his belief, in a very sweet innocent but determined way.  I look forward to getting back into having the Word as part of my daily bread.
My Lord never fails to amaze me.  Whether it is in regards to my family or myself.  Just as I realize that I am trying to hard, focused to intently, not putting my life completely into His hands and letting His purpose take the wheel He amazes me.  Josh and I have been trying since September to conceive again.  A choice we made for ourselves, to grow our family.  We lost one pregnancy in February.  When I look back, I realized how intensely I worked to plan that.  God then turned around and showed me who really is charge.  Just as He gives, He takes away.  In June I threw out the thermometer, ditched the charts and said, "God, your Will and your time.  Only you know what is to be in our lives."  Well, on July 15 we found out once again what it is like to be parents all over.  We were giddy when we looked at the positive sign on the pregnancy test!  I had to hide it behind my back so we could see it together.  It was quite amusing, silly and young love all over again.  It reminded us just how much we love each other, why we love each other and how grateful we are to do life together.  Seeing the heartbeat inside our little fetus last week imprinted yet again, that when you let God...He will do amazing things in your life.  My dh may not believe in Jesus, but I am so very blessed to share with him my ministry, my testimony and 5 reasons to see HIM in all we have.

Oh Snap!

Well, I did it again. Holy ba-jeebas (?) batman! Look at the date on my last entry.  Yikes.

Ok, so it’s been a crazy hectic end-of-school-year-summer.  I honestly have been engrossing myself into some good books, keeping myself daily in the word and striving to be a better Christian example in my home.  Of course having the girls running amuck everyday doesn’t make things calmer. 

Hard to believe one of our kids is a High School graduate.  That is proving to be quite the transition. For us.  We were expecting a change in our parenting style when Ian turned 18, but failed to prepare ourselves for this transition!  He’s great and we love him but this boy is going to have to figure it out on his own.  The concrete is hard and cold, but he’ll do just fine.  I’m sure once the cash runs out he’ll be 1. Working more and 2. Finally enrolled in college. Better late than never, right?  Yes, he is still living at home…just thinks this is either Motel 6 or a frat house.

Few books to recommend:

Circle Maker (Mark Batterson)

Screwtape Letters (CS Lewis) if you haven’t already.

And always…Not A Fan (Kyle Idelman)

I’m going to move on to a John Piper heavy reader…I need some good sustenance to chew on.

 

I know this is short, but sitting here my eyes are heavy and I’m brain dead.  Kids went down without a problem so maybe I should follow suit.

 

In Him,Forever Blessed~

Jenny

 

April, the Diamond Month

I can't believe I've gone this long without a post.  Many a times I've been in the midst of a normal daily chore/routine and thought "I really need to blog" or I'm reading one of my books or in the middle of a great daily scripture lesson and gotten excited to blog about it.  Then I realize I really need to finish my lesson and well...you mom's know how that goes.
This month has flown by!  I'm going to try to retrace the month, so here goes:
We celebrated Keara's 6th birthday on the 9th.  She is such an amazing little girl!!  She has gone through quite a lot in her short years and has developed an amazing spirit of strength and endurance.  Despite being allergic to any and all animals, she still aspires to be a veternarian!! She loves Jesus and the fact that she will get to see Him one day in Heaven.  She is doing really well in kinder this year, reading better and works hard to improve.  She is our quirky girl, you never quite know what to expect after she has gotten dressed in the morning!!

April also brought us a first~ Prom!!  Heritage High School celebrated A Night In Paris at the McKinney Cotton Mill. It is the inaugural event as this class is the first (charter) graduating class!!  Senior 2012 all the way.  We are looking forward to June 2, 2012 as Ian walks across the stage to accept his High School Dipoloma, well deserved and hard earned.

 

 Ian and Meagan Daniel

Finally, I enjoyed my first ever Christian women's conference Pink IMPACT hosted by Gateway Church, Southlake campus.  The music ministry with Kari Jobe rocked!! I loved the poet, she brought goose bumps.  Anything ballet or piano just makes my heart swell and weep tears of emotion.

I must say, seeing Beth Moore live and in person was awesome!! I really enjoyed her message, learning that of the 6 makings of a healthy child of God, I'm lacking in about 4.  It was/is an interesting spin on the area's of your life you are most impacted and the importance of having someone who "fleshed" those out to you.  Most noteably: Grandma Templar is my (1)nurturer, always was from day 1. Miss her dearly, hope to see her again one day.  My dad is by far my (5)Encourager.  I believe I may have just come across 2 wonderful ladies who are (6)charging me to walk worthy.  Traci and Julie, I wish you both had come along sooner, but God's plan is definitely the best plan to follow.

I love how Michele Cohen nailed the point of becoming broken to truly walk with God.  *God allows us to be broken in order to restore us to health, to arise. She spoke on Genesis 32:31 where God dislocated Jacob's thigh so he would walk differently.  We should ALL walk differntly when we are in Jesus. 

I also loved when she pointed out that in Ephesians 6, God never tells us to take off the aromor of God.  It also does not protect our back side efficiently; bu t we should be charging forward in battle, not running away.

Holly Wagner insightfully reminded us that if we are not in a battle, if our life has no battle to wage and it is an easy, comfy life= then we are AWOL from Gods army.  Not an army I want to desert, how about you?

As for Andy Andrews:  If you EVER get the opportunity to hear him speak...DO IT.  He is profoundly enlightening, a great speaker, funny and yet gets to the heart of the scripture and following Jesus. 

I love how far I have come spiritually in these last 2 years.  To think it has taken this long (being reborn October 2007) to finally have this wisdom is saddening to me now.  I wish I had been this far into it in my 20's, but life and circumstances would be so different, and God planned for all of my life to happen...it's all in His will, His timing. 

I leave you with this:

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

 

Yikes..

I've got so much I want to say!! I dove into a bit of scripture study, life is busy and today is day 1 of Pink Impact.  I am really looking forward to what I will hear these next few days, especially from Beth Moore tonight.  Keeping my expectations in check; I've been so engrossed in the word, I'm craving some really deep insight.  I promise to update after this weekend since Ian also has PROM SATURDAY!!!!  Loving life and all it's business.

Listening and Doing

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (James 1:23 NIV)
How many of you attend church services regularly?  How many of you are involved in a life group/home group?  How many of you walk each day with the mindset of "who can I help today, who will cross my path?"  James is telling us that regardless of our faith, regardless that we have been given salvation in Jesus Christ by grace, we must be LIVING the Gospel in order to complete our faith.  It is not merely enough to listen or even to read the scripture if we are not going to live the scripture.  We must be looking at our neighbors (anyone we come in contact with) to help fill any need they may have, whether tangible or spiritual.  We must be speaking the truth and spreading the Gospel.  How is it we can speak of all the needs of this world only to turn to our favorite TV show and forget about those who will go hungry tonight?
This passage convicted me.  It made me look in the mirror and make the concious decision to DO for others, follow Jesus and help the poor.  My neighbor mentioned restarting a food pantry at our church, I am excited!  I told her I WANT to help, it's a topic that weighs heavy on my heart.  I had written the church about it before, but no response...until now.  I am excited to see how our vastly superficial community will reach out to those in need.  Those that, surprisingly, our in our very own backyard.
Let's all do as James instructed us...which is exactly as Christ commanded in Matt 22:39 "...Love your neighbor as yourself"