Prolife??

*This post is somewhat controversial, however, I am only writing what God is leading me to write.  I am not judging, only hoping to open your eyes to the truth of God's word.*

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3
"As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth." Psalm 127:4


Today, in my personal devotion, I was studying children.  How God sees all children as a blessing, and how the world thinks of them as a burden.  What about you?  Do you honestly feel that all children are a blessing?  Whether they were planned, or born with a disability? Do you feel that you are prolife?  We all know that abortion is wrong.  Murdering an innocent child does not solve any problem.  Regardless of the circumstances, murder only makes things worse.  If you have ever been to a NICU unit of a hospital, you can clearly see that a baby is fully formed with a beating heart, well before it is actually born.  A human is a human.  We were "nit together in our mother's womb"(paraphrase Psalm 139:13).  But are you REALLY prolife?  If you do any sort of family planning, than you cannot honestly answer yes to that question.  God calls us to be parents.  To marry another Christian, and to have children and raise them to love the Lord.  Children are a blessing.  God will never give us more than we can handle.  We do NOT know what is good for us more than God knows.  God knows what is best for us.  If we truly love the Lord, we should give ALL our life to Him, including our family size.  Any reason to not have children, or to use birth control or sterilization is selfish.  No matter how we look at it, it is not God's will for US to determine how many kids we have.  We trust God with our lives, with our money, with our salvation.  Why don't we trust Him with our family size?  Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say that children are a burden.  Jesus says they are a blessing!! (Look to the verses above *Psalm 127:3-4) Who will take care of us when we are old?  Our children.  If we only have one or two, what a burden that would be to them.  To have all of that responsibility on their shoulders.  When we die, who will be there for our children?  Their siblings!!  Siblings are a huge blessing.  The more siblings you have, the more support and love you feel.  Why deny your children that blessing?  Remember, I am not judging, only laying down what I feel on my heart.  I know some people cannot physically have children, I understand that.  If you feel convicted of what I am saying, pray about it, that God will open your heart to understanding His will for your life.  It is a very selfless thing to give God control of your family size, what a blessing to know that we are fully and completely in His will.  We cannot fully be in God's will if we are withholding some part of our lives from Him.  "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full", and no, it's not our job to determine when our quiver will be full.  We have all made mistakes in our lives, but the good news is, there is always a way to undo those mistakes.  You can throw out the pills, reverse the sterilization, turn your eyes toward heaven and do what God wants you to do.  I want to encourage you to look within yourself and to let go of selfishness and fear, and to give your whole life completely to God.  He knows what is best for us, and every child we have is a huge blessing.  I love each and every one of my children, I could not imagine life without them.  I want to have as many kids as God allows, and I am determined to raise them to love the Lord when they leave my home.  Once I feel the kick of a growing child in my womb, I become instantly attached.  What an honor to be blessed with a child.  What an opportunity in this evil world, to bring some salt and light to a dying world (Matthew 5:13-16).  The pure hearts of children are such a blessing (and also a conviction) to my own heart.  Raising godly children should be on top of our list of things we want to accomplish in our lives.  What better mission field, than in our own homes.  I hope you think about what I have said, and search the scripture for yourself to see what God says about children.  Then search within yourself and ask yourself. honestly, if you see children as a burden, or a blessing.

What is important to you?

I just heard news that a young man just died in a motorcycle accident.  A new friend of my sister's.  He left behind a young wife and, I believe, two young children.  It really got me thinking.  What is really important to me?  Does it matter where I live, or what I have?  Not in the least.  What matters is my family, my relationship with Christ, and the impact I have on those I meet.  Am I showing people Christ through my actions?  So many times I fail to be like Christ, but as I dig deeper into His word and I grow closer to Christ, I realize that I can be more like Him, if life is less about me.  If I am filling my life with serving others, there is no room for selfishness.  No room to feel bad about what I don't have.  The world wants us to be selfish.  To get what we can out of life.  But Christ has a bigger purpose.  What can we give to others while we are still here?  We can teach them about the free gift of salvation.  We can serve them, comfort them, be there for them.  It doesn't matter what we can accumulate, it only matters what we can give.  I hope that when I die, the people I leave behind will know that I am a Christian, and that Christ is number one in my life.  For those that I have been a bad testimony to, I hope they forgive me, and can see a change in my life.  A change to live less for myself and more for Christ.  What about you?  If you died today, what would people think of your life, and where will you spend eternity?  There are only 2 choices.  I choose Christ and life.  Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

House

I can't wait to get this house sold!!  We FINALLY got the price to list it, so we are praying for a quick sale!  That house has been nothing but a money pit for us!!  Of course, now that we fixed everything, it's a great house, but I just can't wait to unload it.  I hope someone buys it quickly.  It really is a great house, and a nice big yard.  I will miss that much about it.  I like how it was in the country, and you could do whatever you wanted pretty much (bonfire, shoot arrows. . . ) I wish we could find something like that here, but I know that is very unlikely.  We will be renting Nathan's parents house for a year, while we get everything back in order, and we figure out what city we want to live in.  I am very excited to close that chapter of our lives.  It has taken so long just to get the price for it.  I hope that was the long part, and now it will go quickly from here.  I will keep you posted.  I am ready to move on :-) 

Update

Not much has happened this weekend, which is a good thing :-)  We went to MOSI and IKEA on Friday, which was fun.  Yesterday we went on a date, since Nathan is in NC this weekend.  I am no longer babysitting, which I'm sad about, since I love the little girl, but I'm glad to get a few weeks rest before starting my new "jobs" helping out with the kid's program Wed. nights and leading the 0-4 classes on Friday's.  We should find out this week if we get a price to list the house or not.  It feels like it's taking forever, and it is, I guess!!  We are looking forward to having my sister's family come in a few weeks, as well as Marissa's birthday.  My kids are growing too fast!!  Sorry there isn't much to the update.  I hope that soon we will be able to get a camera, so I can add more pictures.  I am still waiting to get pictures from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium from a certain someone ;-)  Maybe I can post them before the "Dolphin Tale" movie comes to theaters!!  Anyway, I have a mellow few weeks, and then it's crazy til Oct!!  I'm looking forward to it!!!

My husband

Why he makes me laugh. . . .

Enough said!

Tough situations

My sister, Rachel Coyle, just wrote something after a horrible experience she went through that really touched me.  I feel is so true to life.  She said, "Sometimes we have to go through situations that test us and stretch us like a rubber band, just before it snaps.  Have you noticed that when a rubber band stretches that way, without breaking, it seems to grow a bit?  It gets more flexible, less stiff and rigid...may I say, set in its ways?  It seems to me that’s what happens to us.  God knows just how much pressure to put on us to cause us to grow without breaking. Through those situations, so long as we seek Him and His truth in the midst of it, we learn to relax a bit and trust God more.  It’s not fun to be stretched; it’s usually a little (or a lot) painful.  But the things we learn and the changes God brings about through the process couldn’t be accomplished any other way.  For that, we can learn to be thankful."  I hope whatever your struggle is, that you are using this time to trust God and to seek His purpose for your trials.  Rachel wrote a booklet on the subject of women struggling with an addiction to pornography.  Her booklet is listed on the side of my page, and you can catch a short interview with her here: http://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/books/review/help-shes-struggling-with-pornography .  I think that what she said is so true, we can use our struggles to learn, change, and grow closer to God.  That right there makes the struggles we face worth it in the end.

God's provisions

This week has been another roller coaster for us.  First, our car stopped working, out of nowhere!!  Luckily we were able to get it towed (thank you AAA!) and it wasn't too expensive to get it fixed.  Then I was told I could help with the kids Friday classes, which means that I got one kids tuition for free!!  Which was a blessing.  Then I heard some bad news about our (old) realtor, which was very sad, but I'm glad we have a new realtor now!!  Then we found out tonight that they are just about ready to move on with whatever comes next on the house, so we have to fill out a ton of paperwork and get it sent over TONIGHT!!  YIKES!!  Then I just found out that the Co-op, where the kids will be taking classes on Friday's, wants me to be the Childcare coordinator, which will pay for almost all 3 of the kids to go for free!!  What a HUGE blessing that is for us!  Since I am *mostly* a leader type personality, I think it will work out fairly well.  I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited!!  God has totally been showering us with blessings, even through our struggles.  We always give praise to God whether we are having good times or bad.  He is ALWAYS good!!  I can't believe how much our lives have changed in such a few short months, but I am in awe of how much God will guide us if we just are determined to follow His leadership and guidance.  You can end up somewhere you never would imagine.  As long as we are doing our best to better God's kingdom, we will have peace in our lives!!  I am so thankful to have that peace in my life :-)

So excited

I know this is cheesy, but I am so excited because today my dad and I are going to sign up at Sam's Club.  I love that place so much!!  I think I could spend all day there :)  Since we are moving soon, I want to check out some of the furniture they have there.  We were blessed unexpectedly by a friend that gave us a dresser (it was my sister's originally.)  So now we have most of our stuff replaced.  We just need a master bedroom set (we had to leave our whole set in NC) and a living room set (and a TV/DVD).  Other than that I think we have most everything.  I am really happy to be here at my parents, it has been really fun, but we are getting anxious to get to a place of our own (well, actually we'll be renting Nate's parents house, but still).  We are looking at November so we can get settled before the holidays.  I hope we can get all our Christmas stuff from my sisters house in NC, but we'll see if that happens or not.  We are traveling a lot already, and I'm not sure if we'll be able to get there this year.  I am so thankful to God for how He has grown us and how much He has taught us this year.  It's been crazy, but also amazing!!  Well, off to Sam's.  Have a great day :)

Busy again!!

Just when we thought we were getting ahead, we had to drop $500 on transferring everything to FL (DL, tags, etc.) It seems like every time I try to plan where our money will go, God reminds me that only He is in control of our finances!!  On a good note, I got an awesome haircut today so my picture turned out MUCH better than my NC one LOL Oh, and I also look REALLY tan in the picture, which is really funny, because I am not tan AT ALL!!  But at least it looks like I am in the picture!!  We also took Ashley out to eat tonight to congratulate her on  passing her 6th grade final exam.  Where has the time gone!!  We went to a homeschool meeting last night and we are excited to get the ball rolling this year on all the things we are doing to fill up our calender!  So far it's going well!  There aren't too many free nights in the next few months.  I hope to get a camera soon, so I can start adding more pictures.  Hopefully before our trip to OK, so I can show you what the middle of nowhere looks like!!

Moving forward??

Ok, so we decided to short sale our house, and we're FINALLY getting to head into phase 2 (of 4 sigh!)  It has only been about, oh . . . 4 1/2 months or so.  Yikes, this is taking forever!!  Anyway, we got rid of our useless realtor and got a new one that only works on short sale negotiations.  Hopefully she will be able to help and move things along and our negotiator at BofA is wonderful, even though she talks faster than anyone I have ever met before!!  It definitely has been a crazy few months, but I am PRAYING that we can get this all behind us soon.  VERY soon.  If we can get the house sold before our trip in Sept, that would be amazing, however, if we can do it before Christmas, I'd be happy!!  So that is what is going on with our house.  I wish I had better news, but hopefully that will be the case soon enough :)

Happy 5th birthday Dylan!!!

Today is Dylan's birthday.  I cannot believe my baby is 5 years old already!  He had a really fun time seeing his cousins, and the rest of the family :)  Here are some pictures of his fun day:

My handsome boy

Pizza time

Present time

Present time

Cake time

Blow out the candles!

This is what happens when you give a Norton sugar!

 We had a lot of fun today, but now I need a nap :)  Happy birthday sweetheart!!

Servant's heart

Our God is an amazing God.  He made the world, so of course He knows what will make it run the best.  I tend to find that when I am less selfish and have more of a servants heart, I am much happier and more content.  When I am feeling selfish and that the world revolves around me, that is where trouble happens.  I feel depressed, I do things I shouldn't because I was "wronged" or because "I deserve it", and feel further from my husband, my kids, and my God.  God never said we wouldn't have trials, but how do we handle them?  Do we think "poor me" or do we use our experiences to help others?  Do we put other people ahead of ourselves, or do we have a "me first" attitude?  The world is teaching us to do what we want.  Do what will benefit us best, no matter the cost.  If your spouse is holding you back, leave them.  If you want to have nice things, use credit.  Noone in the world tells us to wait to be gratified.  To put others first, and to have longsuffering.  Well, Jesus tells us those things.  Jesus was perfect, and the perfect example of how we ought to live.  When I am having a bad day, and feeling down, I need to remind myself that life is not about me.  It's about Jesus, and what He did for us.  How he taught us to live, and His sacrifice He made for everyone.  How He rose again and is preparing a place for all who will believe.  Life is not about me, what I want, what I "deserve".  Life is about Jesus.  How we can SERVE Him, how we can LEAD OTHERS to Him and how we can live FOR Him!!  I am so full of filth I am glad that the world doesn't revolve around me.  If it did, we'd all be in a lot of trouble!!  I deserve nothing more than hell for my sins.  I need to be reminded of that when I start to feel sorry for myself.  What about you?  How are you living your life today?

So much to do. . .

Man things have been so chaotic lately!!  I hope I can get back into my routine quickly.  I love to cook, but I haven't in like a week!! Tonight I'm making stuffed peppers with homemade marinara sauce, so hopefully it'll turn out good and inspire me to cook more.  I really love it, I just don't feel like I have the time to do it.  I also REALLY need to get a camera soon.  It's been months since I've taken good pictures of the family.  I need to get back to that as well.  So much to do, so little time :)

Mturk

Well, it's official.  I am now an mturk.  It's actually pretty fun.  It wouldn't pay enough to live off of LOL but it's a nice way to fill in my free time :)  I like to do surveys anyway, so this is a good way to have fun and get paid.  Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. If you don't know what an mturk is, it's where you do surveys or write papers or other things and you get paid for it.  Between $0.01-$10+.  Most of the surveys I do only take a few minutes and the pay about $0.50 each.  It's not much but you never know.  Every little bit helps.  I think in 2 days I have made like $12 LOL.  So it's not really something you would want to do long term, but I am enjoying it for now.  It's always nice to have a little spending money!!  It hurts my brain after awhile though because you REALLY have to pay attention.  They always throw things into the survey to to throw you off and make sure you aren't slacking LOL.  It keeps you on your toes, that's for sure!! 

Getting organized?!

Well, since the summer is wrapping up, we are starting to get organized for school.  I got all . . . or most of the school supplies, including schedule books for the kids.  I have all of August planned out, which is a HUGE deal for me since I'm normally so disorganized!!  I was hoping to get it scheduled out til Christmas, but THAT didn't happen.  I guess doing one month for 3 kids is almost the same as doing it for 3 months!!  I think I have most of their school books as well, just a few more that are ordered and need to get here.  I really am glad that we have a huge bookshelf just for school stuff.  It really helps to keep everything in order, and the kids each have their own shelf which is really nice as well.  This summer just flew by so fast!  I can't believe it.  The kids are going to a co-op on Fridays starting in a few weeks, and I think the girls will be doing Keepers at Home one night a week.  It's like Christian girl scouts, but WAY better :)  They still get badges and do crafts and all that but it's teaching them Biblical responsibilities as well.  So it looks like our weeks will be pretty full.  I am wondering if we will end up getting another car within a year or so that gets a lot better mileage.  I doubt my gas guzzler will be a good thing to drive all over every week!!  We'll see how it goes, but I have a feeling we'll be adding some sort of sedan to our car crew in the not too distant future!!  Oh well, one thing at a time I guess :)