True Beauty

1 Peter 3: 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Slowly but surely, since the day I found out I was pregnant, my waistline has been disappearing and although I know I'm pregnant at this point it feels like I'm just gaining weight. My clothes have stopped fitting me comfortably and most of my maternity clothes are still to big. So I just need to hang out in this awkward stage for a few more weeks. I have found my thoughts drifting more towards "how do I look?", asking Chris "Do I look pregnant or fat?". My wise husband has gently pointed me back to 1 Peter 3:3. I am so thankful for a Godly husband and God's word. It is wonderful that in a society/culture that is all about obsessing in making your outward appearance perfect I can look to God's word and find that it's the inner beauty that is precious in his sight. And it's in cultivating true beauty that I need to give my attention to.

A dream come true....

Well Chris announced last week that with some of our tax money we could take it and invest in a new digital camera. Within a day we had one picked out an ordered on Costco.com. At first it looked like it wouldn't make it in time for his birthday but thankfully it arrived the day before! I just have to share some of our photo's. I am so pleased with this camera! It's a kodak Z750.


We never got such clear color with our old camera!

Trevor had no problem digging into his cake!

My little birthday man!

Happy Birthday Little Man

Yes it was one year ago today that my firstborn son was welcomed into the world. I remember arriving at the hospital the night of the 15th in labor. Actually "labor" began the day before but I remember thinking how nice an epdiural would be after dinner and figured that was my cue to head to the hospital. It was 10:30pm and I was beginging to wonder why my children like to make there appearances in the middle of the night. 4:30am Trevor Stuart was born with a very simple delivery. Yes it has been an amazing year! He is a wonderful, sweet, very active, little boy!

God's Grace At Work

Last weekend we had a women's seminar on Loving Your Husbands. It was a wonderful time and there were some areas of sin in my life that was brought out. One being my attitude when Chris arrives home from work. My attitude has been "Oh good your home, now you can help me". Being pregnant has only amplified my struggle. I have been more sick with this one than with the other two. Nothing to terrible but I have had bouts of nausea, mostly in the evening, and major fatigue. The conference helped me so how selfish my attitude has become. Especially since the Lord has called me to care for the home & children not Chris. Now having the wonderful loving husband that I have he comes home from work eager to serve me & the kids. But I need and want to have that same eagerness in serving him when he gets home. So... I had a perfect opportunity this week to embrace my call as a wife/Pastor's wife and joyful take on the full load of work while he traveled to Maryland to take a class with our Sr. Pastor at the Pastor's College. I have been a little anxious for this particular trip because of how sick I've been feeling. But in ending my 13th week, I have hardly felt nauseous and the Lord has graciously sustained my energy. He also graciously brought some help along. It has been a fun week with the kids & I've even gotten to some projects in our house that have been in need of my attention. Yes, God's grace was there but I do eagerly await his return tonight. And this time with a God-glorifying attitude!

Jars of Clay and life...

I went to a Jars of Clay concert Tuesday night with performances by Derek Webb & Sara Groves. It was outstanding! I was really excited to see Sara Groves as she has quickly become my favorite female artist! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Jars of Clay- there songs bring back a lot of memories.

I still remember where I was when I heard there first single, Flood, 10 yrs ago. I quickly made a purchase of their CD and became a fan. I remember the breakup of a guy that I had been seeing for three years off and on and listening to World's Apart, confident that this breakup was the Lord's will. I remember Chris and I's early dating days and driving home late at night, don't worry kids it wasn't too late, listening to their new CD If I Left The Zoo. I can still recall the feeling of driving on the freeway with the windows down and heat on during the month of December wondering if Chris was going to purpose soon, while listening to No One Loves Me Like You. For Taylor's birth I made a collection of my favorite songs to be played while I was in labor and she happened to be born while River Constantine was playing. Then while Chris and I made a fresh start with our lives in Maryland two years ago at the Pastor's College they came out with their Who We Are Instead album. This CD as well as the song Sunny Days will always remind me of the PC. And my most recent memory happened a few weeks after Trevor was born. The sleep deprivation started to kick in one Sunday afternoon and I had just gotten both kids down for a nap. Those of you who are moms know what a miracle it is to get both kids down at the same time!! I took the God given opportunity to lay down myself and just as I started to drift off Trevor woke up crying. Knowing that Chris should be home any moment and feeling on the edge of a breakdown I took my bible and the IPOD outside to compose myself. I sat on the front porch but my new child had a great set of lungs and even with music and the door closed I could still hear him crying. So I moved to the van. We had just purchased Jars Redemption Songs (their best yet in my opinion) CD so I played that in the background. I listened to I Need Thee Every Hour and God Will Lift Your Head while reading the Psalms and had a good cry. Chris' car pulled up next to the van within five minutes. He looked over and saw me crying and has this look of "What in the world...?" He kindly went inside and cared for Trevor while I sought the Lord.

All that to say I had to laugh when they announced at the concert that they will be coming out with a new CD this summer. Just in time for the birth of our third child in August!

Not quite getting it....

We have noticed a lot of complaining coming from our daughters mouth recently. Comments like " I have no one to play with me" or " I'll never get to do.." whatever it may be that she wants to do. In our training efforts we have had her memorize "Do Nothing with grumbling or complaining" as well as some role playing with her. We sought counsel last week on this issue at our Pastor's Care Group and as always we received much wisdom. One idea was that when she complained to have her say one thing that she is thankful for. Here are some of the responses I've gotten,

Me: Taylor honey God's word says to not grumble or complain but instead to rejoice always. I want you to tell mommy one thing you are thankful for.

Taylor:" I'm thankful that we are going to nana's tonight"
me: " Ok that's good Taylor. You can be thankful for nana's but we are not going there tonight.

Taylor: " I'm thankful that we are going to Disneyland next week"
Me: Um... You can be thankful for Disneyland, even though you've never been there, but we are not going to Disneyland next week"

Taylor: "I'm thankful that we are getting a dog"
Mom growing a little impatient: "You're not getting a dog Taylor"

Yeah, I don't think she's quite getting it yet :-) But she will!