Gratituesday

Gratituesday: Every Tuesday at Heavenly Homemakers is Gratituesday. So what are you thankful for today? I'm especially thankful today for such a fun filled summer. I'm thankful for a summer filled with giggles and swimming and play dates and luaus and sunshine and most of all 3 healthy children that I got to spend it all with. So here are a few pics of the last couple of weeks of summer.

SG chillin' at the pool while the big girls have swim lessons.

                                     Swim lessons with Ms Julie

Peek A Boo!

 

                                                         

 A special thank you to our friend Jamie for letting us borrow her pool for swim lessons!

SG playing with the toy Bean let us borrow 

 Walking with that toy obviously unassisted...

Bekah insisting that she needs help...

                                                     All ready for Brittany's wedding!

Now the count down to fall is truly on... Happy Tuesday everyone!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

He Cares!

My two older girls couldn't possibly look more different. The oldest has dark brown curly hair and hazel eyes and looks more like my side of the family. The second daughter has straight blonde hair and blue eyes that are the exact shade of blue as my husbands mother. So when we found out we were expecting a third girl I jokingly said wouldn't be funny if we had a red headed baby? And then I actually started thinking about it and really decided that I thought it'd be really neat if 3 children from the same parents looked completely different. I mean what better way to showcase how amazing our God is than to have 3 children with the same genetic make up have different genes expressed? 


So I earnestly prayed that God would use our children to showcase his awesomeness in this way! I believe that God uses nature to reveal himself to us daily and it's the little things like this that totally make my day! Well wouldn't you know it, our third little girl's hair has a slight tint of red to it. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't born a carrot top. But when the sun catches her hair, it definitely glows red. And her eyebrows look red. Recently my father in law commented that he thought her hair was coming in red. My heart jumped with joy when he said this because it reminded me of my prayer. You see even if her hair isn't red, just the slight hint of red, I know that God hears my prayers and loves to give us the desires of our hearts. He loves to give good gifts to his children! This might seem so insignificant to you. But I could tell you probably a hundred stories just like this where I prayed for something seemingly mundane and the Lord answered my prayer. 


What's so awesome about this is that on a day when I'm feeling low or unloved, I can remind myself of these little things that God cared about and know that He cares about the bigger things in my life too. And I know that I don't have to try to overcome by myself because He's with me always! Be encouraged friends... He cares about me and He cares about you too! 

Matthew 7:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The Middle Girl

Warning: Bragging about my kid about to begin! :o)


I haven't posted about our middle daughter, Rebekah yet because she is such an interesting girl that there isn't one facet of her that accurately captures her little personality. At 4 yrs old she is by far our most spirited kid. She is up first thing in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. She helps when she wants to, smiles when she wants to, eats when she wants to... you get the picture? There is no amount of discipline or coaxing that will convince her to do anything that she doesn't want to do. Some days it drives me crazy, other days it makes me proud of her, every day she makes me laugh! Recently someone pointed out to me that while her bossiness/stubbornness is aggravating at this age, she'll be a great leader when she's older. And that accurately sums up how I feel about her. She (prayerfully) won't be the teenager who's does something just because her friends are doing it. She'll be blazing her own path! She is such a sweet and loving girl most days. I'm definitely proud to be her mama! 





Here she is at Christmas. See what I mean about she participates when she wants to? Truthfully I wouldn't have wanted to wear those stupid antlers either! 




Recently she has started taking pictures. She loves it! Every day she begs me to let her borrow my camera. I wanted to get her a "kiddie" camera to take pics with, but she's doing so good at it that I'm planning to get her a real camera of her own. I love that she's taken an interest in something and hope to really cultivate this talent. I fully believe that even young kids can show talent for art and I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a great love of art for her.  


So here are some pics from the world of Bekah: 

SG

 One of about 20 pics of the tv. I guess she couldn't get the exact angle that she liked...

Her toes... which she told me was to showcase that she needed her toenails repainted!

My beautiful photographer!

As I write this she's currently calling to me from her room saying "I'm asleep mom. Can I have my computer fixed now?" Man am I blessed to have this girl as my daughter!

We've got Spirit! Yes we do!

Can I get some spirit fingers up in here? 


I've been realizing recently that I don't do enough cheerleading in my life, especially to my husband.  My natural inclination is to always point out what he's doing wrong rather than to build him up in the areas that he's doing well. Every weekend I work 12 hr shifts on Friday and Saturday nights and he wrangles our 3 girls.  Usually when I come home from work the house is a disaster and I feel overwhelmed by being tired and by what I know waits for me on Monday morning. And everything in me wants to complain and point out to him everything that he didn't accomplish while I was away. But recently I've asked the Lord to remind me of just how fortunate I am to have a family and a home to come home to. And of course He's faithful to do just that! 


I need to give John credit for the work that he does while I'm away, he's not lazy, we just have different priorities. You see he's a "projects" kind of guy. He loves to clean out closets, exchange clothes for the season, organize things (things that I usually say I'll get to it eventually...) So in the mean time dishes pile up and laundry baskets get full. This last weekend he hung up new curtains in our bedroom and went back to school shopping alone. Two tasks that I was definitely happy to see him take on. 


So Sunday morning when I came home I was actually able to over look what hadn't been done and appreciate what he'd done.  The Holy Spirit was faithful to remind me that I have a loving husband who willingly helps with projects that I'd rather not do and does it well. He reminded me that I have a husband who is a loving father and takes great care of our girls. He gets the girls dressed on Sunday mornings for church and I think he does an awesome job! He works 10 hr days during the summer in the heat and still comes home and helps around the house. He is a Godly man who's constantly seeking ways to draw our family to Christ, as well as serve our church body. 


Now that the HS has reminded me of just how great my man is, it's up to me to act on that and tell my hubby just how much I appreciate him and all of the hard work he does. So John this blog post is for you. Thank you for being who you are, and for loving me in spite of me. I wouldn't want to do this crazy life with anyone else. I love you sweetheart!


Friends I encourage you to do a little cheerleading to the special people in your life this week! Tell them just how much you appreciate them and how special they are. You might just be surprised of the outcome!


^{1 Thess 5: 11} Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. ¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.