Saturday, July 19, 2008

This is Sitting, This is Standing......

.......Just like Bob the Tomato (sorry for those of you who are not Veggie Tales fans.....you should really watch them at least once). Ok...and a little crawling in between.

I thought I would share some pictures of Sadie Beth in all of her most recent positions. She is not staying in one place for very long these days (which is making it difficult on Mommy to pack and move in less than a week).

Locked up in the hall with Mili while Mommy is hard at work (ok....taking pictures but what did you expect.....the camera is always ready to be used and abused).



Always cheering on big sis!!!



Our next to last visit to the play yard at the mall (we will probably eat there one last time on Friday night before we leave on Saturday morning EARLY to drive to Arkansas).







More hallway time.



Sadie laughs the whole time Mili is calling her to come to her. It is so sweet! Music to my ears!



Mili is making Sadie chase her. Too Cute!!




We have some really big drum fans in our house. When we house hunt maybe we should go ahead and request a sound proof room. (Thanks Mr. Mike...the drummer at our church.....our girls LOVE him).


This looks more like a surfer. That is a hog on her shirt for you Razorback fans.




Let me OUT!!!




My girls with glass between them. They had so much fun laughing at each other through the glass at the play yard at the mall.


I hope to post pictures of Mili "helping" us pack soon.
Love to ALL and will see many of you SOON (one week).

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

WALK the TALK!!!

Tom Davis is an author of several books (Red Letters, I am reading now and you will hear more about later) and CEO of Children's HopeChest. I have mentioned him many times on this blog. He wrote an article on beliefnet that is something that could have come straight out of my mouth in fact, I have said some similar things to friends and on my blog recently. You see, I was one of those Christians that SUCK (you read that right). We are SO hypocritical in the churches today. I am very sad to say that this article described me perfectly just a few months ago. I hope that now I am starting to live a life that matters to my "neighbors" and to Jesus. We are so good at the TALK but very seldom follow through with the WALK. Let us make our ACTIONS show the world we LOVE Jesus AND our neighbors who are hurting, lonely and sick, instead of just using our words that never really amount to much in the end! Jesus SHOWED people He cared, He didn't just talk to them or at them.

Please read the article above and visit Tom Davis' website often to see how you can help.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Sadie's Baby Dedication

We don't believe in baptizing babies, however we do believe in dedicating them or us as parents to raise them to LOVE the Lord with all their hearts. We dedicated Sadie on June 29, 2008. It was a bittersweet day for us since we know we have to leave this wonderful church family. We know that our church will still be praying for our family way after we have gone from here. I can't even express in words what these people mean to us. I am tearing up right now thinking about it. It is going to be extremely difficult to leave our only "family" we have had here.




Mili couldn't wait to stand with Mommy and Daddy on the Big Stage.



The church body recites what is on the screen in this picture.


I am a blubbering mess after a hug and kiss on the cheek from PT (Pastor Tim). He is going to be out of town on our last Sunday and so I had to say goodbye to him this last Sunday. NOT EASY at all!!!! Mili didn't want to leave the stage, she wanted to stay and clap with everyone else. She was amazing on stage....the best three year old I could ask for.
We hope to raise both of our girls to LOVE Jesus with every ounce in them. We hope to model that for them but fail so many times. I hope that we can let them know when we fail so that they know not to follow that path and learn from our mistakes. My prayer is always that they would love Jesus more than we do and their children will love Jesus more than they do.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our sweet church family who has been our FAMILY here. You will see another post about this family at some point when I have more time and am maybe not so emotional (yeah right).

Saturday, July 05, 2008

For the Soldiers

Dear Soldiers (in the US and over seas),

You don't know me nor do I know you but I LOVE YOU!!! Thank you for putting your lives in danger (and many of you losing your lives) so my family can be free. Thank you for putting your lives in harms way so I can worship my Heavenly Father with freedom. Thank you for making the United States of America the best place in the world to grow up and raise my family. Thank you for the freedom to stand for what I believe is right. Thank you for the safety I feel when I am out taking care of my daily tasks. Thank you for leaving your spouses, children, parents, girlfriends or boyfriends to fight for freedoms that are definitely not FREE, not knowing if you will return. Your bravery inspires me!!!

I am grateful for your sacrifice and wanted you to know it. Again I LOVE YOU and I don't even know you!!! THANK YOU!!!

Love,
Alice

Thursday, July 03, 2008

What will you do about this......?????

I saw this video on Angel's blog and thought it was worthy of watching. Please take a moment and watch this video, it will make you think but please don't let it JUST make you think. Let's take some action....

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

If we are really GETTIN' REAL

My blog friend Angel has challenged us to post a blog about what really happens in our lives from day to day. I love her honesty and openness about her life. I try to be honest on this blog however I don't know if I have accomplished that or not.

Let's see, where to start??? When we moved to Maryland and started attending the church we go to here we saw people being very open and honest about their feelings and about where they were in life. That attracted Brian and I to the church because it seems in the South, that is not what really takes place (we have talked to others from the South and they agree). I used to go to church with my "church face" on (no matter what just happened at home or on the way to church). I knew that I had to teach or serve in some way so I needed to suck it up and do my "job" (just what it was sometimes). At the church we attend now I have seen people be very real about many things and I hope that I have changed and now come to church "as I am" and not with a "church mask" on. Brian and I have learned a lot from teaching the marriage class at church. We know that no one wants to be preached at about how they should act so Brian and I have tried very hard to share details (many intimate) with our class to let them know that they are not alone. We have shared family backgrounds and basically all the baggage you can think of in order to help others see that there is hope that they can love each other again in the way they did when they first married.

At home my life is FAR from perfect. The laundry is usually a mess and if it is clean it may stay in a basket for several days. Many days I am on survival mode and the kids are fed but that is it and on those days they have way too much TV/computer time and not enough Mommy time (which then makes me feel like a lousy Mommy...just being honest). My children usually stay in their pj's all day unless we have some place to go (what am I saying....I do too). There are days when I literally want to run away because of all the fussiness (teething) from a 10 month old and questions that have to be answered from a three year old. On top of all that at the present time I feel really useless because I am trying to pack with two small children at home who unpack everything I put in a box. There are many days that I raise my voice when I should be more patient and concerned for their needs. I spend way too much time on the computer on most days and not enough time with my sweepeas. My daily quiet time with the Lord is sporadic many times. I do try to get dinner on the table before Brian arrives home but many nights I don't make it and you know what, THAT'S OK. I neglect Brian many times because I am so busy with children and the house that he gets the back burner because I think he understands when really he needs my time too. That leads to, some days I feel like I am the Mommy or Wife and NOT Alice. When this happens I have to get away and spend some time with out someone needing something from me and then I am rejuvenated and ready to take on the task at hand again. I used to think this made me a bad mom or a mom who couldn't handle everything in her house but I now understand that it makes me a better wife and mother when I get the time away.

Spiritually I go through ups and downs. I am starting to realize that I have only shown the love of Jesus to people that I know or would like to know instead of to the people who need Him most.....hurting, sick, and lonely. I am learning many things I have done wrong along the way. I hope that I am gradually changing this but many times I am still selfish with my money and time. I still don't know what God wants me to do with all this "stuff" I am learning from Angel's blog, Red Letters Campaign, Dangerous Surrender, Red Letters, and the book of Acts study in our small group. I know that God has a plan so I am trusting that He will show me what my role is in all of this at some point, however I am being impatient about it.

In our marriage we are, of course, not perfect but LOVE each other anyway. We used to fight unfairly (and still do on occasion) but have learned how to take care of our difference and sometimes learn to agree to disagree about small things. We were married while both full time college students and acquired A LOT of debt because we were not smart with our purchases. We are still paying for this debt in two ways (paying the actual bill off soon, PTL and still paying in the way of waiting on buying a house until we are more financially stable). We are working toward being debt free but it has taken a lot of sacrifice and patience to get to this point. We have done without A LOT and have barely squeaked by many months in terms of budget but God has been faithful to take care of ALL of our needs. When God forgives us our sins He does forget them but that does not mean the consequences of our sins are gone as well. We live and learn!

I hope that this post has helped someone know that you are not alone in life. We are imperfect creatures striving to be more like Christ everyday. No one said it would easy and we are on this journey together. We should help each other along the way.

Love to ALL!!!