Strength arises as we wait upon the Lord. I am learning that more and more. We are focusing on "Patience" this week. I decided in order for my boys to get what these fruits mean, that we will have to focus on them one at a time in our home and in our family. I believe in order to raise boys after God's own heart that we do have to focus on these things. I am a theme person and it helps me not get overwhelmed with everything. Knowing that there are a million things I am to teach and help practice with my children before they grow up, has caused me to start working on these things one at a time. They are not just going to figure it out one day. They have to be taught, reminded and most of all told how to receive it. We are learning that practice is important and the biggest thing we can practice is showing them time after time how to ask The Lord to give them and us patience. Above all is the example they see in our home. Also, I want them to be familiar with asking for these fruits in difficult situations especially when they just want to blow up. We need the Lord to help us make the right choices and choose patience instead of loosing it and blowing up, throwing fits, and being impolite in hurrying others.
We as a family have been learning more about patience as a whole as we wait on answers from the Lord concerning us. We would not have chosen to wait and wait, but we have learned that this waiting has been neccessary to build patience in our lives. It has really stirred in me more of an importance for making sure my boys are intentionally practicing it. So since we have been focusing on it, we have noticed how every little thing requires patience!!!!! We as adults do not like to wait, but have you ever noticed how little kids DO NOT like to wait. This week has pointed it out to me even more. We are going to take next week to focus on it too. We need the extra week. This occurred to me as we were having a fun family day yesterday at "ITZ Family, Fun". It is a fun place with games, pizza, etc. Cruiser is only 3 1/2 and it is normal for kids to not be patient, but oh my, he showed me that we need to spend more time on this fruit. He doesn't like to wait for his turn, among other things. None of us really do, but we do have to learn how to choose patience in those circumstances.
I know that every day is a lesson. We are teaching our children as we walk, talk and play with them on a daily basis, but this REALLY focusing on one fruit at a time is helping me. It is giving the sense of accomplishment with teaching them. My sweet friend Cathy reminded me last week that inspite of our mess ups as parents, He blesses our efforts and DESIRES. We so DESIRE for our boys to grow up knowing who they are in Christ. Patience is a hard one for us all. For all of you with boys, I saw a book in the Christian book store that is called "Growing Boys After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George. Check it out. It's a kid's book to read to your children. The biggest thing I am reminded of is we have to be intentional with children and never check out. We only get one chance and the time is very short.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Our Visit With Jamie & Boys
The day after Cathy and Mary Brantley left, I got to see my sweet friend Jamie Ivey. What a great treat that was! I love that girl! This was the first time for all of our boys to play together. Her boys are adorable and my boys loved getting to see them. They keep asking about when they will see her boys again. I loved seeing Jamie, I would have loved to have had more time with her. It is hard to talk when we are both taking care of two boys each at the same time. I love that Jamie knows about my world with having boys. It is fun and ROWDY. ROWDY I say! I like the picture of Cruiser and Big boy picking out their snack. They got that big box down and started looking without us knowing. ha!
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Visit With The Maners
We began this Summer with such a great vacation. Then the week after we got back our friends from Huntsville, Alabama came to visit us. We had not seen them in such a long time. Cathy and Mary Brantley Maner are their names. We love their whole family. Mary Brantley was in our student ministry when we were on staff with Michael and Kim in Huntsville. Mary Brantley just graduated from Auburn. She is all grown up and such a great girl. We are so proud of her! We have so much fun when we get together with them. They were such a special part of our lives when I was pregnant with Coaster then had Coaster. We felt like we had a little reunion with them and the Smiths. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
We are Back
We are back!!!! My husband sure knows how to plan a vacation. It was truly the perfect vacation for us as a family. He has been wanting to take me to California for some while now. I love the Beach! Lance loves the mountains! The boys love the fast rides at the theme parks! So this was everything in one and we had such a great time. I fell in love with Southern California. It is breath taking with the beach and mountains and the great weather. I loved it!
We spent the first day cruisin LA. Then we stayed near Disney Land and spent the next two days at Disney Land. It opened at 8am. We were in line at 7:30am and didn't leave until 9:30pm each night. We were worn out by the end of the days, but we had a blast. When we first got there the first day at Disney, we started riding all of the big rides. The first ride was Space Mountain. Cruiser was just tall enough. My boys are so brave when it comes to rides. Especially Coaster. He rode the screaming roller coaster that went fast and upside down and loved it. He rode the Tower of Terror and loved it. This boy suprises me when it comes to rides. He is only seven! Lance and I looked at each other the first two hours and said "This is the best time for their ages to be here". Even though Coaster knows Mickey is not real and likes some older stuff, he still enjoyed it and got excited meeting the characters. Cruiser wanted to drive Mickey's car after walking through his house. ha! They both got chosen out of the audience on different days to go through the little jedi training. They have certificates saying they are jedis, so they feel really big. Cruiser was one of the youngest to go on stage and fight Darth. He was so funny! I could go on and on and I am forgetting so many things to tell you, but if I think of something, I will add it later. Oh I did get little girl fever while I was there seeing these little girls with their little princess dresses on. Then I reminded myself that my boys are easier for that kind of trip. They will go ride anything and not scared, so we were able to ride most everything together. A family of four worked well for us this vacation. It was nice! Boys also don't mind getting wet at anytime. They crack me up!
After DisneyLand, we had our beach day on Monday. We chose Coronado Beach because it was voted family's #1 Beach on the travel channel in 2006. It was gorgeous! It was a rare cool day and you know it had to be on our beach day, but that didn't stop our boys from having the best time. They went wild. Coaster was jumping the waves or something. Camden stopped and told me and Lance that he now had 3 names. They were "Jedi, Surfer Dude, and his real name". It was so cute. He is so hilarious! We went on an hour cruise of San Deigo that night. Um, I can't forget that we went to "in and out burger" while were there. It was awesome for those of you that have heard of it or have had it. Glad I got to experience that!
We went to Lego Land the next morning and rode a ton more rides. THat was a great place for our boys. They had rides that were different from Disney. So it gave them different ones. We then went to the Aquariam where they got to see some very cool fish. We played sharades with our boys that night in the hotel room. Again, Lance and I laughed so hard at those boys. These are such special moments we won't ever get back. I just want to bottle them up!
The last day was for The San Diego Zoo that was amazing. They took us on a bus tour where we rode on the top out in the open. Then we went on the sky line of the zoo. It was my favorite Zoo so far. After we had lunch we went to the Science Museum that had some pretty cool things. We also watch an IMAX movie there. Then we finished off the day with some mini put-put.
The next day we went to the Irivine Center which was the coolest shopping outside market. Then we got on our plane and headed to Hot Houston as Cruiser would say. We are so thankful for the time that we had together. I loved being able to make 7 days of new memories together as a family. We have been to Disney World when Coaster was 2. It was great, but I would choose Disney Land anyday if able because of the great weather( no humidity). I would definitly reccommend it!!!
Please forgive any mispellings, etc. I did this in a hurry and don't have much time to check it. Just writing down the vacation thoughts
We spent the first day cruisin LA. Then we stayed near Disney Land and spent the next two days at Disney Land. It opened at 8am. We were in line at 7:30am and didn't leave until 9:30pm each night. We were worn out by the end of the days, but we had a blast. When we first got there the first day at Disney, we started riding all of the big rides. The first ride was Space Mountain. Cruiser was just tall enough. My boys are so brave when it comes to rides. Especially Coaster. He rode the screaming roller coaster that went fast and upside down and loved it. He rode the Tower of Terror and loved it. This boy suprises me when it comes to rides. He is only seven! Lance and I looked at each other the first two hours and said "This is the best time for their ages to be here". Even though Coaster knows Mickey is not real and likes some older stuff, he still enjoyed it and got excited meeting the characters. Cruiser wanted to drive Mickey's car after walking through his house. ha! They both got chosen out of the audience on different days to go through the little jedi training. They have certificates saying they are jedis, so they feel really big. Cruiser was one of the youngest to go on stage and fight Darth. He was so funny! I could go on and on and I am forgetting so many things to tell you, but if I think of something, I will add it later. Oh I did get little girl fever while I was there seeing these little girls with their little princess dresses on. Then I reminded myself that my boys are easier for that kind of trip. They will go ride anything and not scared, so we were able to ride most everything together. A family of four worked well for us this vacation. It was nice! Boys also don't mind getting wet at anytime. They crack me up!
After DisneyLand, we had our beach day on Monday. We chose Coronado Beach because it was voted family's #1 Beach on the travel channel in 2006. It was gorgeous! It was a rare cool day and you know it had to be on our beach day, but that didn't stop our boys from having the best time. They went wild. Coaster was jumping the waves or something. Camden stopped and told me and Lance that he now had 3 names. They were "Jedi, Surfer Dude, and his real name". It was so cute. He is so hilarious! We went on an hour cruise of San Deigo that night. Um, I can't forget that we went to "in and out burger" while were there. It was awesome for those of you that have heard of it or have had it. Glad I got to experience that!
We went to Lego Land the next morning and rode a ton more rides. THat was a great place for our boys. They had rides that were different from Disney. So it gave them different ones. We then went to the Aquariam where they got to see some very cool fish. We played sharades with our boys that night in the hotel room. Again, Lance and I laughed so hard at those boys. These are such special moments we won't ever get back. I just want to bottle them up!
The last day was for The San Diego Zoo that was amazing. They took us on a bus tour where we rode on the top out in the open. Then we went on the sky line of the zoo. It was my favorite Zoo so far. After we had lunch we went to the Science Museum that had some pretty cool things. We also watch an IMAX movie there. Then we finished off the day with some mini put-put.
The next day we went to the Irivine Center which was the coolest shopping outside market. Then we got on our plane and headed to Hot Houston as Cruiser would say. We are so thankful for the time that we had together. I loved being able to make 7 days of new memories together as a family. We have been to Disney World when Coaster was 2. It was great, but I would choose Disney Land anyday if able because of the great weather( no humidity). I would definitly reccommend it!!!
Please forgive any mispellings, etc. I did this in a hurry and don't have much time to check it. Just writing down the vacation thoughts
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