Heaven

Joei was putting on a puppet show last night in the infamous box we got the other day; man, give a kid a box and it will occupy them for hours - anyway. A friend of ours sent Lily a gift in that box. It was some outfits, a blanket and 2 of the angels that say the "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer when you push the belly. Joei has taken the angels for herself, which I think one was for her anyway, so no matter. Well she was putting on a puppet show last night and this is the convo that ensued:

Me: Hello angels, what are your names?

Angels: (AKA Joei, although every now and again she can be an angel, but more often than not, I want to call her the opposite!)

The girls name is Selah and the boys name is Travis.

Me: well hello Selah and Travis, where do you live?

Angels: in heaven

Me: Oh so you live with Jesus?

Angels: Yes.

Me: who else do you see in heaven?

Angels: I see Joei's Grandma and your Grandpa.

Ok, she got me there. She did not even skip a beat, did not even have to think about who was there. She instantly said that her Grandma (Joey's mom) and my Grandpa were there. It just touched me. She really does pay attention when we explain these things to her. I did not think she fully comprehended that, since she has never met either of them. I assumed she would not grasp that concept, but in her little 4 year old innocent mind, she gets it. She gets it.

Oh to have that kind of understanding...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I try to be thankful on a regular basis, I know that my life is wonderful and I never want to take it for granted. The little things that I gripe about are so petty in the scheme of things, thank you Lord for your goodness. Thank you for the mercy you bestowed on me. Thank you for calling me your daughter.

I'm thankful for my family; that I have such a great husband and healthy girls. I'm thankful that one of my sisters is here in town. She is so helpful to us, and a great pal. I'm thankful for my friends that are really family...I have quite a few friends in that category. What a blessing!

A few years back, I was talking to my mom about something and I remember her saying to me, " Jen, you have a nice life." Well if you know anything about my childhood, you would know how much she meant that statement. And she is right, I do have a nice life. Thank you Lord.

What are you thankful for?

Come on E, sing it

Isaiah 30:18 has become one of my favorite verses, I wanted to share it here:

" Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to show you compassion."

That amazes me. God. The same God that created the world; the same God that breathed life into my mothers womb; the same God that saved me from the destructive path that I was on, that God - He longs to be gracious to me. TO ME. It amazes me. It really does not get any better than that.

No matter what you have done, or have not done. No matter where you are at in life, no matter what you may think of yourself...I have news for you; God longs to be gracious to you...and that's not all; He rises to show you compassion.

God is not up in heaven with a baseball bat ready to knock you upside the head for any wrong you have done. He is not up there saying to the angels "yep, look at what Jen did now. Can't she ever get it together?" No. He longs to be gracious. He wants nothing more than to bestow grace and mercy on our tear stained souls. He is a gracious God. He is a merciful God. So merciful that he sent His only Son to this earth, to become man, to take on the sins of this world, so that He, God, could be gracious to us. Amazing. It really, really does not get any better than that.

And the rival continues

I asked Joei if she wanted Jaden to stay the night (we are watching her Friday night, and it will be past bedtime) and Joei immediately said, "No, I will fight with her over something and then she will want me to get in bed with her and sing her a lullaby." All the while with her arms flailing about in the most dramatic flair possible. Just now, I asked her if if she loved Jaden and she said, "Yessssss," with a rather annoyed tone that I keep asking her that. Ok. Fine. I will never ask you again. I will wait until you are both in high school, and will drop you off in front of the school, where I will proceed to yell to both you and Jaden, "I have pictures of both of you in the tub together...naked." Don't make me do it girls, don't make me do it.

Joei & Jaden. Arch enemies for life. On Sunday, when Joei found out Jaden would not be at church, she was so sad that she would not have Jaden to play with. Rewind to two days earlier and Joei was pushing Jaden into the coffee table. Go figure.

A smile is worth a thousand words

I think I have mentioned before how much I love Lily's smile; it is so sincere. When she smiles, her entire body smiles! I especially love it when I go in her room to get her from a sleep. Her arms and legs flail about as if independent from her chubby little body! She wakes up around 6:30 every morning and I generally can leave her in the crib for a good half hour before I know that she will begin spewing profanities at me for ignoring her. Alas, I go get her. I don't want to be cussed out by a 6 month old. Besides, that's much to early in the morning for such language.

Anyway. I had a thought the other day, (yes, scary when that happens isn't it) it was about the similarities of parenting and God. I have heard so often about God's love toward us being likened to how we love our own kids, but I am seeing it all the more now that I have my own children. Now follow me here, (good luck with that by the way) when Lily wakes up, she just hangs out and talks until I come in there. I try to appease her with the paci every 10 minutes or so; poor thing gets her hopes up that I've come to rescue her but no, I'm just trying to buy a few more minutes of sleep. However, no matter how long I have left her in the crib, when I finally do go in and talk to her, she is beyond thrilled and is smiling like she has just been given a million bucks and a slice of chocolate cake. She is not mad at me, hollering at me for leaving her there for too long. She is not saying to me "hey mom, you should have come the moment you heard me, you took to long to answer me." No. She just hangs out, fully trusting that in a few minutes, mom will hear me. Mom will hear me, and she will answer me...I'm just gonna be patient. And wait.

Following me? It can be hard to follow me, I know. But isn't that what the Lord wants us to do? Just chill out, wait for Him. He will come. He will meet the need. He has not left us or forsaken us. He just operates on His time is all. The Bible tells us that all things work together for the good to those that love God right? Right. So if that's the case, I'm just going to trust God, trust Him that His ways are higher than my ways. The answer to my prayer that I think I need, well, that just may be the wrong answer. Or it might be the right one, however point A has to match up to point B until that answer can be delivered. God has it all in hand. Isn't that amazing? Just chill. Just hang out, wait for God to move. He will. Just like every morning, Lily knows that my face will eventually peek over her crib and her needs will be met. Like Lily, every morning I can rest assured that God will be there, ready to meet my need. And also like Lily, I'm just going to lay there, and talk to myself =)

Pray for our kids!

If you click on this, you will be directed to a wonderful blog that I have recently stumbled upon. The writer has listed scriptures/prayers that we can use to pray for our children. It's really cool that she has taken the time to do that; she has asked that readers spread the word so I wanted to share it with you.

Truth

I have been reading in the book of Proverbs lately...sad to say I have not been in my Bible all that much these days though; life with 2 kids has gotten me off track. I need to find that track though, because I truly sense a difference in myself when I'm in the Word consistently. Anyway, for the past month or so, when I do pick up the Bible, I read proverbs. I saw Joey reading in that book for quite some time so I thought I would peep it out myself.

I don't have a particular scripture that comes to my mind, just this thought: I think it is so cool how the Bible is applicable to our everyday life. It fascinates me really. I can read a particular verse at just the right time in my life, and it will totally change a situation I am in. What is so cool is that someone a hundred years ago very well may have been in a similar situation, read the same verse, and again, something miraculous may have happened for them too.

Well I reckon that's why Hebrews 4 talks about the Word of God being living and active. Alive. It is the only book that when you read it, it reads you. I love that! That is why the same scriptures that folks read wayyyyy back in the day, and that they lived by and were encouraged through, can still do the very same thing for us. It's really quite mind boggling when you think about it.

How cool of God to leave us with the Bible. I take it for granted sometimes. That is, until I pick it up, and read a verse that so points to where I'm at in life...and I'm yet again back in awe of what an amazing God we serve.