Maternity Pictures 28 weeks

Our good friend Julia was in town last weekend and took pictures of our family. She did a great job. Here are a few of them.


"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

Peanutty Brownie Pizza

Mary did it again! This recipe is AMAZING!!!! You will love it and so will everyone else! I will post a picture at some point!

Ingredients:
1 package (19-21 oz) fudge brownie mix
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 pkgs (1.6 oz each) peanut butter cup candy, chopped
1/3 cup peanuts, chopped
2 bananas, sliced
2 TB chocolate chips
1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut a circle of parchment paper and place on a pizza pan. Prepare brownie mix according to pkg directions. Spread brownie batter onto parchment paper, spreading evenly into a 13-inch circle. Bake 15-18 minutes or until brownie is set (do not overbake). Cook completely.
Mix cream cheese, brown sugar & peanut butter until smooth. Spread over brownie to within ½ inch of edge.
Chop candy and peanuts, sprinkle over cream cheese mixture and top with bananas.
Microwave chocolate chips with oil on high for 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted. Drizzle over pizza. Cut and serve.

Thai Cucumber Salad

I found this recipe and tried it tonight for our neighbors! It was a hit and so easy and fast to put together! ENJOY!


Ingredients:
3 large cucumbers, peeled, halved
lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch
slices
1 tablespoon salt
1/4-1/2 cup white sugar (I did less sugar)
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:
Just add everything in a bowl and mix!!!! DELICIOUS!

Gratitudes

I can not believe Brian and I have not even been married a year. So much has happened in our lives since last year. We have so much to be thankful for. Brian leads a bible study on Tuesday nights that is flourishing by Gods grace. We are at about 17 people if not more when we are all able to be there. We started off with three of us and then moved up to six or so and people would come and go but now we have such a solid group. The ages are from 17-maybe sixties I believe. We have singles and married. All of us are growing and learning so much. The reason I brought this up so soon in my post is that, before we get into the word each of us goes around and has to say what they are thankful for. This helps us all to be more grateful and thanking God throughout our week. It is such a sweet thing for me because I would not have considered myself someone that was very positive for most of my life and this has challenged me to see things so differently. This last couple weeks I am incredibly thankful for everything in our lives.

Brian and I just ended a season of trials we were going. We really had no idea what the outcome would be but Brian was super solid and trusted God the entire time. I really struggled through most of the circumstance although I really thought things would go in our favor. God had other plans for our family. Plans I thought would completely change our lives and make things so hard on our family. As always God knew best and we are so thankful that what we thought would be best for our family turned out to be completely the opposite. It has been a sweet time the last couple weeks to put those things behind us. I have been praying God would continue to grow my faith and me in wisdom. As these trials in our lives come and go and God always works things out I am more and more giving things to Christ and allowing God to do what He does best. I thank God for the trials because they have grown us so much closer to Him.

We are incredibly grateful for our church body! Grace Church has been one of the sweetest blessings we could have ever prayed for. We are so thankful to be at a church with such solid teaching and a place where both Brian and I are being discipled by such a Godly couple we have grown to love so much more everyday. Brian has had so many opportunities to teach and lead praise. The next couple weeks he gets to teach Sunday school. This is Brian's passion and I praise God for His timing in bringing us to Grace! We have grown so much with the body and have made such sweet friends we call family.

Collin goes back to school at his moms in three weeks. We are really excited to see how God uses the time we did have him for school. I am so thankful for every moment. Collin and I grew so much closer and I just love that boy so much! He is a blessed boy and we pray God continues to grow him and soften his sweet little heart. We pray Collin will love Jesus and be able to get through the adjustments of all the changes he has had to go through. I cherish our time with him and am so thankful we will have him Friday through Sunday evening so we can have much more quality time with him. Collin is finally showing excitement for his little sister. He absolutely loved
watching her move at our ultrasound. He is going to be such a great big brother!

I had a doctors appointment today. My doctor is super happy with how I am doing and is such an encouraging man. I love him so much and feel so blessed God brought him to us. He has been delivering babies for over 30 years. I feel so calm and excited for the day Abby joins us. Pregnancy has been really sweet the last few months. I am in my third trimester now and slowing down a bit but I think a lot of that has to do with my sinus problems. I am blessed to be at home and not have to be working 40 hours a week. I love taking care of my family and being here when Brian comes home. I love cooking for him and I love spending time with Collin during the day. I am so happy Abby will have a mommy that is home with her. I pray God continues to grow Brian and I and we will always be Godly parents to our children.

After my doctors appointment today I was heading down the elevator when this sweet, elderly, gentlemen started talking to me. His name is Russell and he LOVES Jesus! He prayed for our family and my delivery in the parking lot. He was also able to share with me about his health condition. He has no idea how long he has left here but this man was SO FULL of JOY! I was truly blown away and could see his love for God. Pray for Russell and his family as he flys to Minnesota to see why he keeps having strokes. I love these divine appointments from God! We both praised God for bringing two Christians into the elevator so we could encourage each other in Him!

What are you grateful for? I pray that even if you are going through a hard time you can stop and praise God that you know Him if you do and if you don't I pray HE would soften your heart and you would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Love Sus

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11

Christ centered blogs for women

Hey Ladies,
If you ever want to check out some great blogs written by Godly women here is a link:
http://counselingoneanother.com/2011/07/20/7-solid-blogs-for-women/

I also wanted to add this great blog I read this morning.
By Julie G at http://bc4women.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Milestones and Memories
My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad; And my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. Proverbs 23:15-16

It seems only yesterday I began this journey of motherhood. I was a young and foolish woman without God yet I wanted to raise my son's right. "Right" meant to be a good person, live a good life, follow the Golden Rule, don't steal or cheat. I was regenerated when the oldest was a baby but I had no idea then what it meant to truly raise my son's in righteousness.
Our youngest turns 19 today... my how time has flown. It seems that only yesterday he was an infant in my arms. I must have blinked a little too long, because now he joins his brothers in adulthood. On this important day in our family, I look back on how I did as a Mother. What did I get right and what did I get wrong over these past 26 years as I helped raise these 3 boys into men.
Why spend the time to evaluate this on my blog you ask? Because many of you are just starting out; you have babes in arms and you want to hear from someone who has been there and done that so you can avoid the errors I made.
If I had to go back and change anything, it would be (hands down) how I talked to my children about Jesus. Yes, they learned Bible verses and went to Vacation Bible School, and Awana but that wasn't really talking about Jesus. I did not talk enough about His sufficiency, sovereignty or supremacy. I would have taught them to depend on Him more, trust Him more, cry out to Him more. I would have taught them from the moment they were able to understand that He is enough.
I would have taught them about what biblical salvation is. It is not "pray a prayer and ask Jesus into your heart." It is not walking an aisle, raising a hand, or "getting saved." I would have made sure they understood Ephesians 1 and 2. I would have taught them more about sin; specifically their sin. From that foundation I would have taught them about God's marvelous grace.
I never would have pushed any of them to pray a prayer or be baptized. I would not have acted as the Holy Spirit in their lives. I would have trusted God more and worried less about their spiritual condition.
In spite of my failings, God has been faithful to do what He has intended to do in the lives of His children.
I think I did plenty of things right along the way, and this is by His grace! I home schooled them, investing in their lives every day. Those are years that I cherish in my heart. They were by no means easy years, but I do not regret keeping them home and teaching them myself.
Once I learned that it was biblical to do so, I began admitting to my kids when I sinned against them and learned to humble myself by asking their forgiveness.
Our children talked to us, and we listened to them. There was no subject off limits and no question too silly to be asked.
I cooked dinner nearly every night of the week. Going out to eat was a luxury, not a way of life. This was an important thing for our children; they learned the value of family around the dinner table. They knew Mom was always there, and they grew up with a biblical model of family life.
As I think back on all these things I have to say that my heart is full. I am a woman richly blessed by God with a fantastic husband, and wonderful sons. God has added to our family beautiful daughters-in-law and I suspect some day soon there will be more little children in our lives.
Take the time to live the simple life ladies. Cherish each day, raise your children with love and guidance and an understanding of who God truly is. I promise you will not regret it. Oh...and don't blink too long, before you know it they are gone. "

I Wish I Had a Child Like You

Another great blog sent to me by my hubby!


July 29, 2011 | by: Jon Bloom


As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)

Whatever this woman meant when she shouted this out, it’s clear that she thought Mary had a sweet deal. You can almost hear in her words, “I wish I had a child like you!”

What, do you suppose, was behind her cry?

Maybe she had agonized over infertility or maybe she grieved the death of a child.

Maybe she was the mother of a disabled child and her cry came out of deep anguish, thinking herself or her child cursed by God (John 9:1).

Or maybe her own child was wayward, breaking her heart and shaming her family with a willful, defiant, destructive life.

Or maybe her children were unexceptional and an envy burned deep inside her against mothers whose remarkable children caused people to remark on how they must be exceptional mothers.

Whatever prompted the cry, Jesus graciously corrected her wrong thinking. She had, like many of us, located the blessing in the wrong place. The evidence of God’s blessing is not in being a parent of an impressive — even a holy — child. The evidence of God’s blessing is believing what God says.

Assessing God’s blessing on us (or others) by what our (or others’) children are like is tricky business. We often get things wrong because God’s purposes can actually be opposite of what they first appear.

Think of the many mothers of brilliant Pharisees and Sadducees. No doubt they were counted blessed by relatives and friends. But Jesus called their children “hypocrites” and “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27).

Then think of the man born blind in John 9, before Jesus healed him. I doubt many mothers thought, “I wish I had a child like you.” Or that many women pined to be the mother of Zacchaeus or Mary Magdalene. And what about the mother of Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth? His status, education, and achievements were likely not impressive material for the family newsletter.

Yet God gave these disabled, disobedient, and undistinguished children more important roles in redemptive history than the brightest stars in Jerusalem and Rome.

We must fight the temptation to boast in or covet children. How gifted or successful or even holy they become is no sure evidence of God’s blessing on us. Neither are disabled or disobedient children evidence of God’s disfavor.

God’s blessing rests on the one who “hear[s] the word of God and keeps it.” Belief is the evidence of blessing.

Time in the word... So good for the soul!

Another great blog my hubby sent me!


July 30, 2011
Tending to Your Soul

by Josh Thiessen

When my wife and I bought our first home this past year, it came with a spot tilled for gardening, so we thought to ourselves, “Why not have a garden this year?” We thought it would be a great experience together. So we planted in the spring and waited. My first reaction was one of amazement. How could life come from something that looks so dead? Yet, that is exactly what happened. From the seemingly lifeless seeds, sprouted green plants.

But then something else happened. As the plants grew, weeds began to crop up and crowd out the other plants and then pesky critters began nibbling away at the plants. In one case, our beans didn’t even produce. So I began to learn that I must vigilantly tend to the garden. It wasn’t going to produce a lush harvest if I didn’t come in and take the weeds out and even shoot (scare) off the bunnies in an Elmer Fudd kinda way.

If I was diligent, my lettuce and other plants would flourish unharmed by the rabbits and weeds. But if I forgot to tend to it for a few days, sure enough there would be traces of rabbit fur and no lettuce or strawberries left. Both the weeds and rabbits posed a daily threat.

This is not unlike our own spiritual life. Christians face a different but similar daily problem: sin. It crowds out godliness and spreads like a plague. Then slowly, we tend to the sinful weeds and begin to grow again until we again forget to tend to our souls and the weeds creep back in. How do we avoid this as Christians? The truth is that we can’t completely avoid it, but the Bible does gives us the tools for tending to our soul. This tending is tedious and is so easily neglected that we must remain on guard at all times.

I remember thinking as a younger christian that people were legalistic when they would tell everyone that they must read their Bibles and pray every day to be godly. Now I realize that it wasn’t so much that they thought you could earn favor with God by doing it, but that experience had taught them without the consistent pruning effect of Scripture and prayer , no one will ever grow spiritually. The bottom line that I was trying to avoid was that those people were right about one thing: godliness takes hard work. Paul put it this way:

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come (1 Tim 4:7-8).

The idea here is that it is going to take effort. Realizing that even sanctification is a work of the Spirit (2 Thess 2:13), we are charged in Scripture to train ourselves towards godliness. Remember training for a sport or music concert? It took determination and dedication towards a single goal. For a Christian the reward is a life pleasing to God that is characterized by godliness and one day hearing those amazing words “well done, good and faithful servant.” The flip side is living a lazy spiritual life that leads to uselessness in the here and now and holds little hope for reward in the life to come.

I don’t know about you, but I want to have a life characterized by the former. Even if it means getting up earlier and staying up later. The hard work of tending to a garden or to your soul will reap a bountiful harvest. And the daily tending to your soul through the disciplines of reading the Word and praying are worth it even if it costs blood, sweat and tears. But then again, discipleship always does (Lk 9:23).