As I said in an earlier blog I am going through Proverbs 3 during my Bible study time, trying to get every bit of insight God gives me on these verses. Tonight I went back to the first four verses. It is amazing how the truths of God weave themselves all throughout His Word. Before Proverbs I was studying Deuteronomy and the message that kept showing up in those verses were to remember and keep God's commandments. Over and Over again in those verses Moses was reminding the Israelites as they were getting closer to entering the Promised Land, that they were to not forget the commandments of God. And not only that but were to pass them on to their children. Here again in the first few verses of Proverbs 3 the same theme is revealed. The verses read:
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments ; 2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. 3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. (NASB)
What God wants from us is obedience. His desire is that the teachings in His Word are so ingrained in our hearts that they define who we are. When His commandments are written on the "tablet of your heart" (vs. 3), every aspect of our lives are governed by them. Too many times people "accept Christ as their Savior" but never step beyond their conversion and become a true follower of Christ. God's commandments are not merely suggestions, but they are guidelines for which we as Christians should be compelled to follow. And as in Deuteronomy, along with the command to follow God's Laws is the promise that following those commands bring a reward (vs. 4).
But first in order for us to be able to keep God's commands the driving force in our lives, we must know them. Not only with a head knowledge but a heart one also. They are to be so ingrained in our heads and hearts that when faced with any situation we will be able to stand firm knowing that our actions are a result of godly wisdom and understanding and not our own sinful self. I pray that God's commands will be the driving force behind everything I do.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Zoe Update!!!!
I figured since Zoe is already three months old I need to update on her growth. She is such a sweet little girl and a good baby. At her two month check up she was 12lbs 15ozs. She is definately my biggest baby. She loves her brother and sister and just gives them a huge smile when she sees them. She has dimples and those fat cheeks just like Hannah, which makes her smiles all the more sweet. For the most part she is a happy baby. She gets fussy only when she is hungry, sleepy or just wants to be involved in the rest of the family activities. She is starting to do a lot of cooing. She will carry on a nice conversation with you. She is gaining core strength and loves to sit up with help of course. She can grasp onto objects and is starting to pull them towards her mouth. She likes a pacifier to go to sleep but is discovering that her hands taste pretty good. She is sleeping all night long. I usually put her to bed about 8:30pm and she sleeps to about 7:00am or so. I have been very blessed with all of my babies sleeping well through the night.
Zoe has been such a special addition to our family. With all I went through after her delivery, I do not take any day for granted. Even though she was an unexpected gift from God, she has given us so much joy. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful girls and one handsome little boy. I pray that God will continue to guide Craigan and me as we raise our children under His loving hand.
Zoe has been such a special addition to our family. With all I went through after her delivery, I do not take any day for granted. Even though she was an unexpected gift from God, she has given us so much joy. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful girls and one handsome little boy. I pray that God will continue to guide Craigan and me as we raise our children under His loving hand.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Trust, Wisdom and Understanding
Right now in my quiet time I am absorbing Proverbs chapter 3. It has those well know verses "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (verses 5-6; NASB). These verses are my life verses right now. I know trust is an issue in my life. I want to have control over what happens in my life and it is hard to let go and trust God in everything. So, I am holding onto these two verses and trusting that God will lead me to a place where I can trust Him fully, without reservation. It is not that I don't trust that God can do anything it is that I wander if He will. It's the "all your heart" part that I have trouble with. I have a very bad habit of worrying about things I can't control and that is what leads to the problem with trusting God with all my heart. So today and everyday afterwards I will start my journey of trusting God with my whole heart, not just the things I can control. I know that it in order to do that I have to change my thinking. I have to choose not to worry and trust God. I know the more I let the worry go the more I will trust Him.
Today's Happenings
Today was a pretty normal day at the house. It started out at about 7:30am with Cayden and Zoe waking up. Hannah spent the night with her Memaw and Grandaddy. We normally end up with all five of us in the bed in the mornings but Craigan had to go get tires on the Montero so it was just Cayden, Zoe and myself. I got some cuddle time with Cayden. I love it when I get to spend some one-on-one time with my kids. Today it was Cayden's turn. He is such a sweet little boy and loves to cuddle. He is so cute when he drinks his milk (which is the first thing he ask for in the mornings and will not stop asking until he gets it) he loves to be cuddled up in your lap while he holds your thumb and he wants you to hold his foot. Too cute. Zoe took a nice nap this morning after her bottle and short awake time. This gave me the opportunity to spend the time with Cayden.
From about 11:00am to about 2:00pm I was in the kitchen either cleaning or cooking. I got on one of my cooking binges, which is where I decide to cook several things at one time so that I don't have to later. Earlier his week I bought some chicken breast on sale for 89 cent a pound which is about as good as it gets for bone in chicken breasts. I got two packs and I needed to finish using up what was left. I had three left so I deboned two and split them in half. I put some garlic salt and pepper on them then brushed them with mustard before coating them with breadcrumbs and baking them in the oven. I them put them on sub bread (wheat of course) and put provolone cheese and a mayo mixture (mayo, scallions finely chopped, cilantro finely chopped and garlic). I them Heated them in a pan on both sides to melt the cheese. I had also cooked some potatoes as a side. Ended up being a pretty good lunch. At the same time I was cooking lunch I started on Chicken noodle soup. I had one chicken breast left and I had saved the bones from a few other ones I had deboned earlier in the week (I put them in the freezer in a bag labeled "For Chicken Stock") I put them in a pot along with some water and veggies I had been saving in the freezer (everytime I cut onions, celery or carrots I save the parts I would normally discard and put them in the freezer in a bag labeled "For Stock") I added salt, pepper and italian seasoning and let it cook until the chicken was done and the stock tasted good. I then took out the chicken and strained the stock to remove all of the veggies. I then used the stock and the chicken to make my chicken noodle soup. All I needed to do was cut up some carrots, celery, onions and garlic and soften them in the post with some olive oil then add the shredded chicken and stock back to the pot then when it was time for supper I just added the noddles and cooked some cornbread and supper was done. And it was good if I do say so myself.
I also made what I'm gonna call a chicken gumbo. Last night I cooked five of the chicken breast in a pot with onion, carrots, celery, garlic and mushroom to which I added some chicken stock, a large can of crushed tomatoes and some italian seasoning and salt & pepper. I let it simmer until the chicken was done (about an hour). I had some of the chicken left over and a lot of the liquid which I didn't want to waste, so I planned on making some veggie soup. However as it developed it kinda turned into a chicken gumbo type dish. I took the leftover liquid and put it in the pot with some cabbage frozen greenbeans, peas and okra and let it cook until the veggies were done. Because it was kinda thick I though about gumbo and added the leftover chicken, leftover rice and some cajun seasoning. This will probably be either lunch or supper tomorrow so I will let you know how the family likes it.
The rest of the day was spent feeding Zoe, changing dirty diapers, trying to get Hannah and Cayden to clean up their room which was a total disaster and giving Zoe a bath.
We had a nice supper together at the table. Until lately we have been eating in the living room in front of the TV. However, I am determined to change that. Tonight we all ate at the table and it was such a nice family time. We even had dessert (fruit salad with whipped cream and cookies).
About the trying to get Cayden and Hannah to clean their room, After a couple of hours of Craigan and me telling them that they had to clean their room or they would loose their toys, Hannah finally started cleaning when we bought the trash bags out to take the toys away. Cayden however did not want to clean and lost some of his toys which he was not too pleased with. Hopefully next time he will understand that we are serious when we tell them to clean up.
Well that has been my day. It ended with me putting Hannah and Cayden to bed because Zoe needed some daddy time. Then me putting Zoe to bed. They are all so sweet and such a blessing from God. I am so thankful for the wonderful family that God has given me.
I hope I didn't bore you too much, but I am using this to keep up with everything I do even the recipes I make. I don't normally write them down but now I can keep up with them on my blog.
Time to put myself in the bed and get ready for a new day.
From about 11:00am to about 2:00pm I was in the kitchen either cleaning or cooking. I got on one of my cooking binges, which is where I decide to cook several things at one time so that I don't have to later. Earlier his week I bought some chicken breast on sale for 89 cent a pound which is about as good as it gets for bone in chicken breasts. I got two packs and I needed to finish using up what was left. I had three left so I deboned two and split them in half. I put some garlic salt and pepper on them then brushed them with mustard before coating them with breadcrumbs and baking them in the oven. I them put them on sub bread (wheat of course) and put provolone cheese and a mayo mixture (mayo, scallions finely chopped, cilantro finely chopped and garlic). I them Heated them in a pan on both sides to melt the cheese. I had also cooked some potatoes as a side. Ended up being a pretty good lunch. At the same time I was cooking lunch I started on Chicken noodle soup. I had one chicken breast left and I had saved the bones from a few other ones I had deboned earlier in the week (I put them in the freezer in a bag labeled "For Chicken Stock") I put them in a pot along with some water and veggies I had been saving in the freezer (everytime I cut onions, celery or carrots I save the parts I would normally discard and put them in the freezer in a bag labeled "For Stock") I added salt, pepper and italian seasoning and let it cook until the chicken was done and the stock tasted good. I then took out the chicken and strained the stock to remove all of the veggies. I then used the stock and the chicken to make my chicken noodle soup. All I needed to do was cut up some carrots, celery, onions and garlic and soften them in the post with some olive oil then add the shredded chicken and stock back to the pot then when it was time for supper I just added the noddles and cooked some cornbread and supper was done. And it was good if I do say so myself.
I also made what I'm gonna call a chicken gumbo. Last night I cooked five of the chicken breast in a pot with onion, carrots, celery, garlic and mushroom to which I added some chicken stock, a large can of crushed tomatoes and some italian seasoning and salt & pepper. I let it simmer until the chicken was done (about an hour). I had some of the chicken left over and a lot of the liquid which I didn't want to waste, so I planned on making some veggie soup. However as it developed it kinda turned into a chicken gumbo type dish. I took the leftover liquid and put it in the pot with some cabbage frozen greenbeans, peas and okra and let it cook until the veggies were done. Because it was kinda thick I though about gumbo and added the leftover chicken, leftover rice and some cajun seasoning. This will probably be either lunch or supper tomorrow so I will let you know how the family likes it.
The rest of the day was spent feeding Zoe, changing dirty diapers, trying to get Hannah and Cayden to clean up their room which was a total disaster and giving Zoe a bath.
We had a nice supper together at the table. Until lately we have been eating in the living room in front of the TV. However, I am determined to change that. Tonight we all ate at the table and it was such a nice family time. We even had dessert (fruit salad with whipped cream and cookies).
About the trying to get Cayden and Hannah to clean their room, After a couple of hours of Craigan and me telling them that they had to clean their room or they would loose their toys, Hannah finally started cleaning when we bought the trash bags out to take the toys away. Cayden however did not want to clean and lost some of his toys which he was not too pleased with. Hopefully next time he will understand that we are serious when we tell them to clean up.
Well that has been my day. It ended with me putting Hannah and Cayden to bed because Zoe needed some daddy time. Then me putting Zoe to bed. They are all so sweet and such a blessing from God. I am so thankful for the wonderful family that God has given me.
I hope I didn't bore you too much, but I am using this to keep up with everything I do even the recipes I make. I don't normally write them down but now I can keep up with them on my blog.
Time to put myself in the bed and get ready for a new day.
Something New!!!
So today I have decided to start using my blog more. If you take a look at my blog you will see that I am sporadic with my posts. Part of the problem is that I don't make the time to write and the other problem is that I am not that technically savvy so trying to manage my blog takes me forever. I am currently trying to figure out how to remove the huge picture of the beach at the beginning of the blog. Don't get me wrong I love the picture and wish I could be looking at that scene right now in person, but the picture is way too big and I would like to replace it with another one. Perhaps soon I will figure it out and get some new pics up soon. Anyway, today as I was in the kitchen doing some cooking and cleaning I decided that I was going to take advantage of my blog and use it as a way of keeping up with everything that is going on in my life. There are always things that happen during the day that I don't want to forget but I never take the time to right them down. That lead me to the conclusion that my blog would be the perfect place to keep up with all the small details of my life that I don't want to forget, especially the growth of my children. So I am going to use this space as a way to remember those things I don't want to forget. I figured that with all the clutter I am trying to organize in the house (a task that does not come easy for me) the blog would be a way to organize my life without cluttering up my house with more papers or books. If you follow my post I hope you don't get too bored with the everyday routine of our life, but maybe you will find something that interest you or maybe helps your life become a little easier. More importantly I hope that you will see God being glorified through the life of my family.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Random Thoughts
These last few weeks have struggle for me mentally, emotionally and spiritually. September 14th was the second anniversary of the date that I lost my mom to a brain anurisim. It still hurts to know that until I go to heaven I will not see my mom for the rest of my life. Sometimes I still can't believe that she is gone. I think what hurts the most is that she does not get to see her beautiful grandchildren (my two and my sister's one) grow up. And they do not get to experience the love and spoiling I know she would have given them. Hannah got to be around her for a short period of her life. She was 14 months when Mama died. Mama loved her so much and was so very proud of her. I do think that it is neat how Hannah looks just like Mama. I get comments all the time about how much Hannah looks like her Nana. I know she would be of Cayden and Parker too. She never got to have a little boy and I know both Cayden and Parker would have melted her heart, just like they do their mother's hearts. I know it is selfish but there are so many days when I really need my mama. It doesn't matter how old you are you always need your mama. I miss being able to call her and tell her about my day, or go shopping with her, or ask her advice about something. All of those things you take for granted when they are here with you. So for those of you who still have your mother's around make sure they know you love them and that you appreciate everything that they do. But if you are like me and have lost your mother, cherish the memories and live your life in a way that you know would make her proud. And if you know that she had a personal relationship with Christ as well as yourself, take comfort in the fact that the seperation you experience on earth is only temporary and one day you will have a grand reunion as you both worship and bow down before the awesome God who loves you and created you.
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