I am blessed..

Those are the words that were flowing through my mind as I saw the mess that my 3 year old, Justin, and 18 month old, Benjamin, had made. Now I know the main culprit was the Justin but I have to think about all the bad habits that he is teaching Benjamin.

Housework is highly overrated. It seems as though Justin knows exactly when I’m immersed in something and just not paying attention and that is when he strikes. This latest fiasco occurred in the kitchen. I was putting a couple loads of laundry away and I guess Justin decided that he wanted a drink. What kind of a drink he was going for is still a mystery to me. His “drink” involved a dozen eggs (yes, a dozen eggs), milk (thankfully there was only less than a cup left in the milk jug), and Hershey’s Syrup. MMMMM….sounds so yummy! Oh let’s not forget the eggs and syrup on the floor.

On the counter was my new book by Connie Cavanaugh “From Faking it to Finding Grace”. Well the book found itself stuck in this miry mess. And for once my oldest son was doing what he had been told to do and was completely oblivious to what was going on in the other room. Gabe missed his bus this morning so is at home doing worksheets for the day.

Another fun day in the Smith household….in case you’re wondering, I’m able to write this because my trouble maker is laying in my bed right behind me almost passed out. The little booger…leaves destruction in his path and passes out.

....Love....

I Corinthians 13

¹ If I speak the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  ³ If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 

⁸ Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will never cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  ⁹ For we know in part and we prophecy in part, ¹⁰ but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  ¹² Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then shall I fully, even as I am fully known.

 

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

 

 

And the greatest Love is that of Christ Jesus.  He came and lived a sinless life and died on the cross for me.  For all the wretched things that I have done---He died for that.  He could have called ten thousand angels to take Him up to heaven, but He didn’t.  He chose to die so that I could spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

 

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Every time I think of that I stand awed by my God’s love for me.  I can’t imagine having one of my children die to save some wretched people.  What an amazing and awesome God.  It is my desire to walk daily with Him.  I want to lead a life that tells others that I have Jesus.  What a waste of my testimony if others around can’t tell that there is something different about me.  My God is good and He is good ALL THE TIME. 

 

I hope today that you reflect on the love that Jesus has for you.  And that you can share His love with others.  What an awesome thing to do on Valentine’s Day---share with someone the love that can save their life.  Happy Valentine’s Day. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

I got this from a friend and I just had to post it! Enjoy!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and have noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: "http: I Thought You Loved Me.html" and try to download Tears 6.2 - and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a particularly bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.

These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and New Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck, Tech Support

Molars!!!

Now I know it might seem crazy to some to get excited about a molar, but nonetheless I’m excited.  Benjamin is 18 months old and he has had seven teeth for the past 4-5 months…No other teeth want to come through.  So imagine my surprise when I felt in his mouth last night (looking for the 8^th front tooth) and found a molar that had jumped through!  Things started making sense…like why he has been so stinking grumpy the past couple days.  I had been giving him his Tylenol and Teething Tablets so I’m sure that helped but even still.  So he has now hit the 8 teeth mark but there is still no front tooth.  I guess I can’t have it all. 

...Still no School....

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and school is cancelled again. Jasmine is upset because she is missing her party at school so I have to make tomorrow special for her and the other kids. Hopefully Brad will make it home from his business trip tomorrow. I’m missing him. I’m also thinking that since school is cancelled the roads must be bad so I’ll probably cancel Benjamin’s doctor appointment and not go anywhere at all! I hate getting out in this weather!!

I tried walking outside tonight in Brad’s snow boots (since I don’t have any of my own). That was a mistake. We had sleet today for the better part of 5 hours. CRUNCH….CRUNCH…I almost fell at one point. That would have been good. All my kids in the house and I’m lying on the ground stuck and freezing because I decide to go “check things out.” I won’t be checking things out anytime soon now.

I’m listening to this song sang by Amy Stephens and I just want to share it with you because it is beautiful.

Your Grace falls on me
Like a hard pouring rain
And I’ll never no never
No I’ll never be the same

You give a peace
That I need so much
My troubles you ease
With your softening touch

So I fall on my knees
And I face the Son
And with all that’s in me
I cry out to the Holy One.

I carry a burden
I no longer can bear
So I place it at your feet
And I leave it there.

If you like it you should check it out… www.myspace.com/amyjstephens I was blessed enough to go to high school with Amy. She kept “bugging” us to go to church and I’m so thankful that she did. It was because of Amy that I started going to church and eventually came to a saving knowledge of Christ. I would have nothing in my life that I do now if it weren’t for the Grace of God.

I think in the chaos of life I am "allowed" to believe the lie that there isn't enough time to read my Bible or sit down and pray. If I just make it a point everyday to start my day right with Christ then it goes so much smoother. I feel as though I have somewhat of a peace when I'm dealing with the kids (especially the 3 and 6 year old) when I do start with Christ. It's so easy to say "I'll do it later...I don't have time right now." And then I will find myself sitting down to watch the tv. It's a shame. I find that even when things are going bad I don't neccesarily run to Christ first. I want to be in control and do it all myself. It isn't until I am so exhausted and on the brink of tears when I say to myself, "Maybe if you just pray and search the Scriptures things will get better." And for me once I start reading the Bible and praying my anger starts to diffuse and that peace that passes all understanding begins to wash over me.

With all that said, my heart's desire is to really know God. My heart's desire is to love MY Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I want to relinquish all that I have to Him, but to do that I have to totally trust in Him. Not just say that I do but really believe. And that's so hard when I want control.

So for me it is a daily battle to be more than a "Serial One-Night-Stand." (see Is Jesus Nothing More than a Serial One-Night-Stand? ) That is not the relationship that I want with My Savior and My Lord. This is something that 5 years ago was not an issue. I let life adjust my relationship instead of allowing my relationship to mold and adjust my life.

Today we are trapped in the house. It is sleeting right now, but no fear more snow will be on it's way in a couple hours! WHOO HOO! We are getting about an inch of sleet an hour. The kids want to go out but it's just not gonna happen. It's too cold and nasty. I'll be happy when Spring gets here.