Birthday
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Family Portraits
Out of the mouth of Babes!!!
Ok, so let me welcome you in to a glimpse of a day in my life...
Last Wed. night I was on Praise Team at church. Selah stays at Dad and Mimi's and Carson goes to church (he refuses to stay with Dad and Mimi anymore, which we don't understand, but we think it has to do with the "new dog" in town). Typically he's fine going to his class, but wasn't having any part of it tonite. I told him he'd have to sit very still and not talk (unless spoken to) until I got done singing. He said, "ok, mom I'll be still." I attempted to convince him to sit towards the side of the sanctuary, but he wanted to sit on the front row, directly in front of me (one pew over from Buddy Gray, our pastor).
So, he wiggled and squirmed, which was expected, but was being good. We sang a couple of songs, prayed, sang another song...I looked down at Carson flipping through the hymnal, content and quiet. I was relieved that things were going well.........
Buddy gets up to do the welcome and starts to talk. Suddenly, Carson (still looking down at the hymnal) decides this is the part in the service that his solo debut should be and burst into "A, b, c, d, e, f, g..." in his best singing voice! Oh laudy! (Now remember, I'm on stage in front of everyone, and they can see my every movement and facial expression...)
As I'm beaming death rays through my precious 3 yr old's body, he gets to "l,m,n,o,p..." and Buddy stops talking, turns and looks at Carson with this puzzled look as if he's thinking, "why in the world is this child singing and why is he in church by himself?" I've now switched from sending death rays to Carson to praying to God that Buddy doesn't say anything to Carson because he's sooooo tenderhearted I knew he'd burst into tears. Buddy didn't say anything (Thank God) and Carson finished his song! I guess he finally felt the burn of the death rays, looks up at me and realizes he's done "wrong," hangs his head and mummers, "sorry, mom."
So, we finish singing and I walk off the stage explaining to Carson he better be glad I didn't jump off that stage and bust his butt...later on, I saw the "humor" of it all.
Anyways, the next day I talked to him about it (because I was too angry and tired to talk to him that night) and asked him what made him start singing when he did, even though no one else was singing. He said, "you did, mom." My heart started to melt and ache from thinking back on the pure innocence of his triumpiant singing. I said, "what do you mean, Carson?" He then began to explain to me that I was singing my song and he didn't know my song, so he was singing the song he knows...(and he also noted that he knows all the songs, "Abc's, Bingo was his name, itsy bitsy spider...)
It was in this moment God revealed something truly simple to me...we ALL have different songs of praise we sing to God. They all sound different. Some are more musical than others or may even be unpleasant for human ears. All that has no weight to the idea of praising God in our own unique way! God's ears are pure and holy and hear only the shouts of praise coming from us in a moment of worship. He doesn't get caught up in how we sound, how we look, or what's socially acceptable. His only concern is how the worship sounds to Him and that we are worshipping Him and Him alone!
Carson was simply praising God in the best way he knew how at that moment...even though it was against the norm and socially unacceptable, he felt led to sing out anyways. Sure, he probably doesn't realize any of this "deep thought" stuff, but God used the simple ways of a child, my own blessing of a child, to speak to me in a magnificant and simple manner.
I hope you'll realize what it really means to praise God by this anecdote and instead of seeking out the "bad" in things, to stretch and yearn to see God's blessing in any and all things. Who is God using to try to get through your thick skull today? Are you hearing them and caught up in the things of this world, or are you seeing the chance for an encounter with God and His glory? In the great words of Buddy Gray, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever...in EVERY circumstance and challenge.
Are you striving to be who you want to be, what the world wants you to be, or who God needs you to be?
Last Wed. night I was on Praise Team at church. Selah stays at Dad and Mimi's and Carson goes to church (he refuses to stay with Dad and Mimi anymore, which we don't understand, but we think it has to do with the "new dog" in town). Typically he's fine going to his class, but wasn't having any part of it tonite. I told him he'd have to sit very still and not talk (unless spoken to) until I got done singing. He said, "ok, mom I'll be still." I attempted to convince him to sit towards the side of the sanctuary, but he wanted to sit on the front row, directly in front of me (one pew over from Buddy Gray, our pastor).
So, he wiggled and squirmed, which was expected, but was being good. We sang a couple of songs, prayed, sang another song...I looked down at Carson flipping through the hymnal, content and quiet. I was relieved that things were going well.........
Buddy gets up to do the welcome and starts to talk. Suddenly, Carson (still looking down at the hymnal) decides this is the part in the service that his solo debut should be and burst into "A, b, c, d, e, f, g..." in his best singing voice! Oh laudy! (Now remember, I'm on stage in front of everyone, and they can see my every movement and facial expression...)
As I'm beaming death rays through my precious 3 yr old's body, he gets to "l,m,n,o,p..." and Buddy stops talking, turns and looks at Carson with this puzzled look as if he's thinking, "why in the world is this child singing and why is he in church by himself?" I've now switched from sending death rays to Carson to praying to God that Buddy doesn't say anything to Carson because he's sooooo tenderhearted I knew he'd burst into tears. Buddy didn't say anything (Thank God) and Carson finished his song! I guess he finally felt the burn of the death rays, looks up at me and realizes he's done "wrong," hangs his head and mummers, "sorry, mom."
So, we finish singing and I walk off the stage explaining to Carson he better be glad I didn't jump off that stage and bust his butt...later on, I saw the "humor" of it all.
Anyways, the next day I talked to him about it (because I was too angry and tired to talk to him that night) and asked him what made him start singing when he did, even though no one else was singing. He said, "you did, mom." My heart started to melt and ache from thinking back on the pure innocence of his triumpiant singing. I said, "what do you mean, Carson?" He then began to explain to me that I was singing my song and he didn't know my song, so he was singing the song he knows...(and he also noted that he knows all the songs, "Abc's, Bingo was his name, itsy bitsy spider...)
It was in this moment God revealed something truly simple to me...we ALL have different songs of praise we sing to God. They all sound different. Some are more musical than others or may even be unpleasant for human ears. All that has no weight to the idea of praising God in our own unique way! God's ears are pure and holy and hear only the shouts of praise coming from us in a moment of worship. He doesn't get caught up in how we sound, how we look, or what's socially acceptable. His only concern is how the worship sounds to Him and that we are worshipping Him and Him alone!
Carson was simply praising God in the best way he knew how at that moment...even though it was against the norm and socially unacceptable, he felt led to sing out anyways. Sure, he probably doesn't realize any of this "deep thought" stuff, but God used the simple ways of a child, my own blessing of a child, to speak to me in a magnificant and simple manner.
I hope you'll realize what it really means to praise God by this anecdote and instead of seeking out the "bad" in things, to stretch and yearn to see God's blessing in any and all things. Who is God using to try to get through your thick skull today? Are you hearing them and caught up in the things of this world, or are you seeing the chance for an encounter with God and His glory? In the great words of Buddy Gray, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever...in EVERY circumstance and challenge.
Are you striving to be who you want to be, what the world wants you to be, or who God needs you to be?
Amazing Devotion!
...taken from Oswald Chambers book, My Utmost for His Highest
The Voice of the Nature of God--January 16th
"I head the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'" ~Isaiah 6:8
"When we talk abou tthe call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely the nature of Him who calls. There are many things claling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and other s will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God's nature, not ours. God povidentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God's voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person's opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The call of God is not a refletion of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope this enlightens you to a newness of God's work in your life as much as it did me...read it a couple of times until it truly sinks in with you and then act on what God's telling you!!! Fear is NOT of God, and sometimes the scariest things in my life are when God's telling me to move. He will catch you if you'll leap in His faith and NOT your own!
The Voice of the Nature of God--January 16th
"I head the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'" ~Isaiah 6:8
"When we talk abou tthe call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely the nature of Him who calls. There are many things claling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and other s will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God's nature, not ours. God povidentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God's voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person's opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The call of God is not a refletion of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope this enlightens you to a newness of God's work in your life as much as it did me...read it a couple of times until it truly sinks in with you and then act on what God's telling you!!! Fear is NOT of God, and sometimes the scariest things in my life are when God's telling me to move. He will catch you if you'll leap in His faith and NOT your own!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Ella and Carson
My great friend, Beth, and her 2 kids, Ella (2 1/2) and John (3 months) were in town from Boston for the month of December. We really enjoyed getting to see them and visit, and these pics are from one night when they came over to hang out. Beth and I were pregnant "together" this time around and were due a week apart! John and Selah are 9 days apart (I think). I don't know WHY we didn't get a pic of them together, but John has the biggest prettiest eyes! We miss them and hope one day they'll get to move back "home" to Alabama!!!
Yes, Carson has on a racoon mask and earrings, but when you're dealing with a strong-willed child, you pick your battles! :) In case you didn't know, that's not really a racoon mask (in Carson's mind)...it's actually a batman mask (and I guess the earrings are radars to hear the bat phone when it rings?).
Santa!
Here's the Santa pic for the season. We didn't attempt the mall Santa this year, but this one worked out well at Patton Creek.
I think this is where he told Santa he wanted a gas-powered 4-wheeler!
Out by the Fire Pit
Ok, so I'm TOTALLY behind on posting these pics, but I figured better late than never! This was back in Oct/early Nov. We decided to "eat out" and grilled sausages, hot dogs and lit marshmallows on fire...fun stuff! :)
Carson makes "scarey" look cute with his "firefighter axe"...
Boys will be boys! Like father like son...It was pretty cold outside, so I put Selah in her carrier and zipped her up in my jacket.
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