Just another day at the office!

Some of you may wonder what a mother of four does all day.  Recapping it may make me violently ill so I will just show you...

Why am I scrubbing so hard?  You can only imagine!














And why am I wearing a little black dress and pearls?

Because my supervisor, my Father in heaven, probably likes my on-the-job attitude to give Him my best since He has blessed me with every good and perfect gift.  So that's my best... scrubbing a toilet in pearls!  A mother of four doing my best with all that comes my way.  Today and I am thankful, I have a heart to praise Him in these moments.  God help me in the very next minutes and tomorrows!

A hymn: My Jesus, I Love Thee
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine, For Thee all pleasures of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou; if ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now.

I'll love Thee in life, I'll love Thee in death, and praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath; and say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow, if ever I love Thee, my Jesus 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright; I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow, If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus 'tis now.

I hope all of your 'tis nows...no matter what they are, you will remember Jesus.

All for Him!

Gigi You Are A Princess!

My Genevieve Rose turned 5!  I hope to always remember your silly expressions, your exuberant Gigi dance that makes everyone laugh, your wittiness, love of toads and bugs and animals and mostly your sweet love for Jesus!  Love you Gigi Bear!!!

Perfectly different in Christ

Do you feel different?  Different as a believer in Christ living in this world?  Do you notice it sometimes, all the time or is this the first time you have thought about it?  What makes you sense the difference?  Do people even sense something is different about you?  They should...

Notice anything different about these pictures?  Hair color, location, baby girl, baby boy?  Lots of things right?  But what is different about the inside of me?  Got any proof?  Only you would know to interact with me, read what I write, how I react, how I live.  I am different.  WAY different.


I think I feel different so much more these days.  But it's a good different.  We are called to be different says Romans 12:2.  "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world."


It is natural for me to say "Praise the Lord" for a lot of things.  I say it in public, in private and my kids say it too.  But when I am in public and say "Praise the Lord" I get a reaction from people that tells me, "wow that's different."  But I really mean it, PTL!  As I grow in my walk with Him and I realize that He is the one blessing, directing, protecting and teaching me.  I want to praise Him all the more!


Praise Him!

Psalm 148

 Praise the LORD.
       Praise the LORD from the heavens,
       praise him in the heights above.
 Praise him, all his angels,
       praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
 Praise him, sun and moon,
       praise him, all you shining stars.
 Praise him, you highest heavens
       and you waters above the skies.
 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
       for he commanded and they were created.
 He set them in place for ever and ever;
       he gave a decree that will never pass away.
 Praise the LORD from the earth,
       you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
       stormy winds that do his bidding,
 you mountains and all hills,
       fruit trees and all cedars,
 wild animals and all cattle,
       small creatures and flying birds,
 kings of the earth and all nations,
       you princes and all rulers on earth,
 young men and maidens,
       old men and children.
 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
       for his name alone is exalted;
       his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
 He has raised up for his people a horn,
       the praise of all his saints,
       of Israel, the people close to his heart.
       Praise the LORD.

Paralyzed!

Our dog Bailey is 10 years old but acts like he is 2 when it comes to his energy level.  If you leave for 10 minutes and put him in the basement, when you open the door he jumps on you, licks you as if he hasn't seen you in years!  Every single time!

Until the other day.  We were gone for 3 hours and opened the door to find a s-l-o-w movin' Bailey with his head kind of down and he didn't jump on me.   My very first millisecond reaction was, "He's finally learned not to jump!"  Then, "What's wrong with you?  Did we have a power outage and your dog fence collar shocked you?"  What in the world?  He was shaking too when we talked to him and so I googled "shaking dog".  Why was I googling that?  I was in shock obviously!


I had taken off the collar to see if it was hot or his neck felt hot.  Nothing.  Then I was googling and Alysse said "Mom what is this black stuff on under his neck?"  I said it was probably dirt and then she empatically said noooo come look at this.  So, I did and rolled him over to see under his chin was the biggest tick I have ever seen or googled in my life.  We were in total disbelief and disgust!  We all started itching immediately when we saw it moving.  Yuck!  Alysse ran upstairs to get the tweezers, Gigi got a napkin and I had to do the dirty work.  To pull it out!!!! Ahhh so sick when I didn't pull hard enough the first time.  I took him over to the vet for a shot and get antibiotics for possibly Lyme disease.  He has all the symptoms of very slow, almost arthritic and wouldn't eat.  He had been doing this for several days not coming all the way up the stairs at night but I thought he was getting eyesight problems all the sudden.  The doctor said it was probably there for 3-4 days already.   So, Alysse was the hero!  She cracked the case!


Vibrant, eager and all totally gone in a matter of days from a blood sucking parasite.  I used to have a few of those parasites in my day so to speak.  Those parasites were my bad friends of sin, justified sin, habitual sin, self destructive sin and secret sin.  Literally they crept up on me and sometimes I didn't know I was even being attacked.  I didn't even notice them at first until it nestled into an unprotected area of my life that I either felt I had control over or didn't give control to the Lord.  Either way I had some things that were sucking the life of the living God out of me.  You finally realize it when you are paralyzed with your head down and sick.  God was gracious and put people in my life who shared truth to me and over time I was healed of the destruction!


What is paralyzing you?  Pray to the Lord to reveal it through His Word the Bible or ask someone who honors God to pray for you and give you wise counsel.


1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 


All for Him!


P.S. Here are some great sermons from our church series about spiritual warfare and satanic attacks.  It will help you identify some of those parasites!  Click here: http://www.hbclz.org/Blog.aspx?site_id=10048&blog_id=23347

Giddy Up Horsey!

Love my creative and forward thinking kids!  Noelle who is 3 saw Daddy's snowmobile trailer sitting in the yard.  She probably heard us discussing that we want to move that trailer...for the past 4 years!  It moves from the driveway to the garage and back and all the while we don't want it anywhere but we haven't found a safe place to store it when it isn't in use.  We are technically in violation of our subdivision covenants with it being in the driveway.

Noelle thought she could solve this problem....three year old style!  Giddy Up Horsey will fix it!

Bummer it's still out there in the grass today!  Good try Noelle!

It reminds me of sin in our life.  We don't want it there and we move it around in our life.  It shows up as various forms or excuses.  We try to let wordly advice, willpower, trying to convince others it's really not that bad and guess what it's still there and the Lord knows it.  It's His Word that washes us white as snow and the Word that transforms our mind.

All for Him!

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white assnow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."  Isaiah 1:18.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:2 

Lunch by Gigi

Gigi is our no fear, take life by the horns child.  She has been using her gift of hospitality since she was 2 years old.  She decided today to make lunch again for Noelle, Blake and I.  She got everything out herself and even took some creative license.  Don't you love that happy faces are the norm at this age?

She has only chosen the sad face once to express her feelings recently.  She was unhappy after being scolded by Daddy that she wasn't doing what he asked.  He told her she wasn't getting a treat because of it.  He was presented a very sad 4 year old drawing of a sad face.  She bawled handing it to him and it was this tiny drawing the size of your thumb.  He held back chuckling and she said she was very sad not to be getting a treat.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

To blog or not to blog?

I feel like I talk to myself all day long and it seems like I am keeping track of my days but I am really not.  They are flying by!

Adam and I just finished dinner at a new Asian restaurant since Hannah is here to watch the kids.  It was a nice time but boy do we sense how quiet it is when we are alone without the 4 kids!  We really enjoyed talking about the sermon this morning and then we started to plan our summer vacation plans with the kids.  We are planning a 15 hour road trip out East to some historical places.  So if you have a "must do" please share.  We want to visit Jamestown and Williamsburg.  It looks like we will stop at the Creation museum along the way to break up the trip.  I told him that I will need some noise canceling headphones for the car ride!  Blake is still at that age of complaining while sitting for too long in his carseat.  We may try to travel in the evening to see if that helps ease the traveling pains with an infant.  It will be an adventure I am sure!

Spammed!

I realized that it has been too long since I blogged!  Since I have not recorded the funny things in my life, it makes it seem like the reality of the past was dull.  I know plenty of funny and sweet things happened the past week but since I didn't write it down it's seems like I would summarize the past week as boring.  So I will now have to try to remember and I am really bad at that task these days.

What I do remember is today I was spammed, swindled...big time.  I saw someone, who I would trust, post something that they purchased.  So I clicked on their posted link.  Yeah, laugh....it was for teeth whitener.  Ok, truth is I already own awesome teether whitener from the dentist.  But my mother-in-law has mentioned she would like to try it some time.  Well, my perfect opportunity to try it if a friend just bought it.  Too trigger happy I guess.  So, in goes the credit card number and let the mega spamming begin.  3 texts of spam, a call to the cell phone of spam, 2 emails of spam.  I was not going to wait until they shopped at Neiman Marcus so I canceled the cards.  I can't believe what a fallen world we live in.  Just sickening.  That was part of the evening prayer that the Lord says "to save a little wrath for me."  Little does that company know what is headed their way!

Oh ya...it was fun to update my FrameChangers blog with all of the Valentine ideas that came in.  I was a little star struck when I was "chatting" with BeBe Winans publicist.  I even got the chance to tell her that his music was one of the seeds that was planted 5 years before I accepted Christ when I was in high school.

More on that story tomorrow...

May the Son be in your eyes,
Jen

Serious Multitasking

Sunrise:
What a difference more hours of sleep makes!  I feel so refreshed today after going to bed before 10pm.  


I get such a laugh most days from these lil' campers of mine.  Gigi is a resourceful child with a spiritual gift of hospitality and helps.  How do we know that, you ask, since it's hard to discern what an adult's gifts are?  Well, when she was 2 1/2, she would get out of bed before we did and get orange juice out of the fridge and pour all of us a morning drink.  She would get the kid cups out of the drawer and somehow pour juice into those awkward small openings without spilling.  Yep...not even 3 years old.  We would come downstairs not knowing what we would find!  When visitors come to the house, she barrages you with questions like, "Can I get you something to drink, to eat....what can I get you?"  So sweet since I am still developing that gift!  


Gigi is developing some serious multitasking skills at the moment.  After breakfast, Adam and Alysse were off to work and school.  I asked her to put the Cheerio boxes away in the pantry.   I had a feeling this would be funny so I grabbed the phone to capture this for the record.  This is my silly Gigi...  

Notice she has her stuffed hamster, two boxes of Cheerios and her wallet is at her feet since it was the only thing that fell!  Now that is some serious multitasking!  Wonder where she learns that from????  


Sunset:
So let's see if you can play along with this one.  What do you call a small book where usually girls write down their private thoughts and then lock it up? A blog...no...it doesn't have a lock... A journal...no...you're close.  Well if you are Gigi after she found the little silver heart lock loose in the minivan you would say, "ohhh I found the lock to my diarrhea!"  Alysse tries to correct her..."Gigi it's not diarrhea, it's diary!"  Oh, we had a great laugh with that one!


May the Son be in your Eyes today,
Jen  


*meaning of the blog name found on the first entry*

Sunrise and Sunset

I noticed that my post yesterday started one way and ended another.  I said a few things in the morning and later in the day added more of what happened throughout the day.  It occurred to me that this theme of "sun" has its very own natural beginning and end too.  So,  I will have two parts to my daily blog entries:  Sunrise and Sunset.  


I have the best and worst memory so this will help me when I am 80 years old to remember the sweet everyday things that happen throughout the day.  


SUNRISE:
I woke up thinking about how last night ended and how gracious the Lord is and hears our prayers.  We always pray at meals and usually we throw in a request for God to protect us.  Sometimes it feels a little mechanical in nature but it's an important request.


Dinner time was a little late last night since we had probably a few too many snacks and Adam was working off our vacation at the gym.  


In order to be able to cook, I keep all 4 kids busy playing.  I put Blake in the living room with the new barn animal set and the girls were playing hide and go seek.  Earlier in the evening, the girls were all playing with money.  The night before they were warned sternly to keep it put away since it could be a choking hazard for Blake.  They obviously forgot the warning and they were hiding it and placing it all over the house without me knowing it.


After getting the food started, I went in to play with Blake.  I like to surprise them often by jumping out of places like a tiger but something in my spirit told me not to this time.  I crawled up to Blake from a distance and he smiled at me.  I was making goofy noises and such and noticed he was chewing on something.  Looked  like he had gum which I knew he didn't but as I approached I reached to get what he had and it was a PENNY!  AHHHH....  I could not believe it!  


Confusion, anger, gratefulness, and that sinking feeling in your stomach washed over me.  


In the midst of getting down to the bottom of how it ended up there, Adam called saying he ran out of gas in his car!  Ahhhh....  The day can end much differently than it began.  Maybe yours did too.  


But I can tell you that the verse on our kitchen table that gets read every morning was a sweet reminder today.  Psalm 90:14 MSG version "Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long."  It's a love that the Lord gives us one more day to live for Him and take care of what He has entrusted us with.  


With it being cloudy today, I think I may have subconsciously dressed my Gigi like sunshine today.  She said she was daydreaming...

I pray for your protection and ours until we meet again at "Sunset".... check back later.


SUNSET:


It was a much nicer finish to the day than yesterday!  Smooth sailing to bedtime before 8pm.  


Seriously funny blog here: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/  I am laughing so hard right now.


I am actually off to bed before midnight....  

May the Son be in your Eyes, 


Jen
*the meaning of the blog title "Sun in my Guys" is on the very first post*

The Sun is in My Guys

Is the sun in your guys? What? Yes, that happens to be my favorite phrase at the moment and the name of my new personal blog.

It's a saying I hear from my loving and darling 3 year old Ellie. She has this little Southern accent of sorts and she obviously says things a little wrong. But who has the heart to correct her?

What she is really saying is, "the sun is in my eyes."

It's sunny today. So the sun has been in her guys this morning.

What it means to me is literal and figurative for me... I look into meaning in everything, even it it is a stretch by all accounts! So to me it's a reminder if the "Son is in my eyes." Yes, I love the Son that saved me and has brought me so far. I woke up singing a praise song to Him and so the Son has been in my eyes even before they were open.

I wanted a place to capture everyday Jen life. Not serious (maybe sometimes)...all annoying, fun, crazy, break neck speed of a life. One life I owe all to Jesus.

Stream of conscious writing which means it makes sense to me and hardly to others.

I think like a spider making a spiderweb. If you can follow then you are most likely a fellow spider. A web of thoughts that cross over at various places and you can keep on one thread forever going round and round or you can jump off to another strand too. You just just have to know how to weave and follow.

Now, I sit across the room with my rearranged couch (which took 2 years to accomplish) facing the front room, as we say. I can see Gigi playing on their computer, Ellie making playdough ice cream and hamburgers. Here she comes with a masterpiece ice cream that looks like a mess of cuteness for me but I have to save it for dinner she says. We have treats around here but "after dinner." She says it's "milla" which I assume is vanilla. Reminds me of Milly Vanilly?

Anyway, now I must jump........onto another task like cleaning up.

Loved this cute clean up today... That's an Oreo gotee for sure!

I also was a very repentant mommy after I lost my marbles when that inspirational 3 yr old got too busy playing and got to the bathroom on time but in her lengthy process of trying not to touch the toilet basically flooded the place.  Ohhhh.....cleanups good and bad.

Did you clean up anything good today? What small thing made you smile?


I hope the "sun will be in your guys"......always.

Blessings, Jen