Outdoor Water Play

We spent this weekend at my parents house to celebrate my dad's birthday. The kids always get alot of outside play when we're here. It is so nice. Yesterday, the hose was turned on for Heidi and she spent quite a bit of time playing with it and filling up buckets. Of course, once the boys saw the water, they had to join her. Mom and Dad's plants got lots of watering yesterday!

Baptism

Liam was baptized last Sunday evening at church. Jon went in with him. What a special time. We also gave him a full size Bible with his name printed on the cover.

We have a voucher for a video, so I am looking forward to getting that!

Beyond

It's Five Minute Friday time!!!! This weeks word is Beyond.

Beyond. My first thought is "beyond this life". The life to come is so unknown. Yes, when we believe in Jesus there are certain unchangable truths. Someday we WILL be with Him.  Someday we will not have to live by faith because someday God WILL be a presence we can feel, touch, experience. Revelation says that God will wipe every tear from our eye. Someday we WILL live in peace and wholeness and joy. And yet, while we live here and now, it remains Someday. Beyond the here and now. Beyond what we can see. And there are so many unknowns about the Beyond. And I think even with the truths and assurances we have, the unknowns can still be scary. I can trust that I will live in peace and wholeness and joy, but I still wonder what it will be like. What will it be like to experience a place where God IS the light? What will it be like to see Jesus face to face? What will it be like to have every innermost thought brought forth for all to see? It can be a little daunting and yet.....and yet it can be so thrilling too.

Craft Day

I have been wanting to schedule a Craft Day forever. I finally got one scheduled and today was the day. Sadly only Jessie was able to come, but I had so much fun that I am planning to do more---every two weeks or every month or so.
We did a couple of paper crafts using my plethora of scrap-booking materials and it really was fun. Here are all of our finished projects:

Here's my first. It's a house number door plate for our front door. Before was just boring old number stickers on the door. I like this much better (hearts are for privacy):

And this is Jessie's first craft, a poster for Allan (star bursts are for privacy):

For our next craft, we did the same thing, a flower petal craft based on this web site post. It was so much fun, I want to do another......Jon even wants to make one!!!! I want to try it with fabric too.....

PS...a huge thank you to my husband for letting me use his Iphone to take the pictures of my crafts. I have not been able to locate my missing camera charger yet...boo hoo. And thank you to Jessie for taking pictures of hers.

Five Minute Friday

This week's Five Minute Friday word is Enough. Here's my five minutes:

enough. that's the key word this week. Enough.
It can mean so many things. Like.....having had enough. Being frustrated with some part or portion of life. Or being enough, which in itself can have many connotations. Am I being good enough as a mom, wife, friend? Is a big question that pops itself into my head every so often.
DOING enough.......oh such guilt can be tied up in that!!!
And then, there's the enough that is contentment.
I have enough. Enough food, enough clothes, enough house, enough. 
I have enough. I am enough. God is enough. I like that way of using enough much better than making it a question. When it's a statement, not a question....that is when "Enough" is right.


....Limiting myself to only 5 minutes is a bit of a challenge. But fun too! Feel free to join in---the link's above!

Fun In The Tub

I lost my camera battery charger a couple months ago, and there's no way to get the pictures off Liam's camera without a special cord, which I do not have, so pictures are scarce right now. But I plugged the SD card from my camera (Liam's is a weird size and doesn't fit in the slot----believe me, I've tried a half dozen times) and found a cute set of pictures from.....the end of May.

If I remember right, the kids had been pretty squirrely....and I had needed something to keep them busy for a bit and needed it fast.

So, I got them all in their swim attire, filled up the tub and let them at it. It was pretty cute....

Story

So, I was recently "introduced" to Lisa-Jo of Tales of A Gypsy Mama through another blog I read often and she is such an encouragement to me! A God-sent blessing to me in so many ways. I've "known" her for maybe a week and I already love her.
Anyway, she does this thing on her blog called Five Minute Friday where she gives a subject, usually just a word from what I've seen, and people are supposed to write about the subject for 5 minutes. And then post it. Unedited...unscripted....in other words......Raw.

When I first found her last week I thought it was a fabulous idea. This week, I am joining in. Not sure I'll make it every week, but I will try.

This week's subject is: "Story". Here's what came out.....

Story

I used to write stories. When I was a teen ager I wrote and wrote and wrote.

Now I hardly ever write….fiction. Oh, I blog occasionally, but it seems to happen less and less.

The stories still swirl around in my head. Usually at night….when I can’t sleep. That’s when I let them out. Let myself dream a little and bring a fictional reality to light.

And it’s fun. I like making up worlds and characters and lives that have little to nothing to do with the one I live every day. I like using names I would never name anyone in real life, putting together a character I would never be…..

My stories are an extension of me…..of my thoughts and feelings, some of my dreams and aspirations. Sometimes they are just fancy. They are always entertaining.

I should write more. If only to let out some of these stories swirling around in my head. But I seem to always begin and never end a story these days. I never seem to be able to get to the point of “the end”.

Faith---the assurance of things unseen

I was recently ridiculed for stating some things I believe in. Publicly, if comments on another's facebook status can be called publicly. And while it hurt, and caused no small amount of soul searching, I feel like I have come out on the other side victorious.

Because I know the truth and I am not ashamed of it.

The truth that my God is a God of Love, Justice and Grace.

The truth that before sin entered the world, everything was different.

And even the truth that the words spoken written to me were said out of a hurting and confused heart, from someone refusing to let God be God and because of that, I can forgive and pray for the speaker.

.....I just read the "Articles of Faith" from the Mormon community. There's a lot I agree with in there, some stuff I don't. But it got me thinking....what are my articles of faith? What is inherent to my spiritual life? What are the things I believe in absolutely, without a doubt?

1) I believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, a Trinity, three in one.

2) I believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Holy one. Man and God together. That He was crucified for the sins of all and that on the 3rd day He rose from the grave, and is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father. I believe if we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts that Jesus is the Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that there is no other way to God but through Him, that we will be saved.

3) I believe that God created the earth in 6 days, rested on the 7th and that everything was good and right and perfect.

4) I believe that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience, that death and brokenness and separation from God came with it and that only through Jesus can we return to the relationship with God that He desires to have with us. That through Jesus comes everlasting life.

5) I believe that the Bible is God's message of hope and redemption and instructions for proper living. I also believe it holds examples of how sin has changed humans and the world from perfection to brokenness and is a warning to us lest we wander from the Lord. I believe the Bible is the key God has given us to better understand the past, present and the future.

6) I believe that Jesus' commandment to take the gospel to all the earth should be the goal of every Christian in one way or another.

7) I believe that Jesus will return some day and restore what once was. That there will be a new heaven and a new earth and God will reign over all.

8) I believe that God gave us instructions to rule over the earth and everything on it, and that He meant us to steward the earth and take care of it.

9) I believe that the highest commandment God gave us is to Love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

...there is assuredly more, but I think that is a pretty good list to start with.

Daisy....errrr....Clover Chain

We had fun playing in the sunshine at my parents house yesterday. I made a chain of white clover. It was fun, I haven't made a flower chain in years!
Technically, I made it for David, and he's the one wearing it in this collage, but the rest of us took turns with it too!

fun times + Picmonkey

We've been having some fun times lately. My mom sent me info for another online photo editor, since Picnik is no more, and they recently added the ability to make collages! I am such a happy camper right now! Picmonkey is alot of fun....and free to boot! So, I tried out the collage options and made these pictures of some of our fun times.....

This first one is from when we went to my parents to house sit in April. We had a ton of fun. This is just a little smattering:

And this set is from a trip to the park a couple weeks ago:

I have more pictures to share from more recent things, but haven't got them on the computer yet. Soon.....