A New Diet. . . Not Just a Fad.

One of my favorite devotionals is Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. If you've never read it grab a copy and start! It's a great short way to connect with God each day and every person I know that reads it feels like each day is specifically written to speak to him or her in their exact situation.  You can even grab a copy and a cup of coffe and snuggle in your favorite blanket and read it cover to cover.  It's just good stuff. I was reading mine on Sunday evening (April 20)after a busy week and weekend and it just spoke to me. This was the passage:

"The media relentlessly proclaim bad news: for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A steady diet of their fare will sicken you. Instead of focusing on fickle, ever changing news broadcasts, tune into the living Word- the one who is always the same. Let scripture saturate your mind and heart and you will walk steadily along the path of life."

God doesn't speak out loud to me and he doesn't usually give me visions.  Sunday as I read I was I overcome by an overwhelming sense-feeling-thought that what I was reading was direct from him.  It was made crystal clear in my heart and mind that the "media" in the above quote was meaning doctors reports and scan results. And by crystal clear I mean like zero doubt about it.  As I sat there it was so boldly obvious to me. We are letting our security hang on each scan or doctor appointment. We go into each one nervous and anxious thinking "Is this the one? The one where she will be cancer free? How will we take it if it isn't the one? How will God still look good? Will there ever be a clear scan? Did he really promise healing?" We listen to a steady diet of ever changing scan results and they bombard us.  They fight each other until they are at the forefront of our thoughts and then they stand there screaming, refusing to be held back or contained.  They are in our face, unable to be ignored, fighting mightily as The Lord and I wrestle them into the captive thought bin.   And The God made it clear in next line of the passage that what we need to do in order to captivate those thoughts is for our lives to be saturated with scripture.  Tuned into the living Word, the one who is always the same. He wants our lives to be so soaked in the promises of an unfailing, eternal God (like a soaking wet sponge) that there is no room for the doctor reports and results.  He desires that they simply roll off of us and flow right down the drain. 

After having that revelation I had a very intense quiet time on Monday afternoon. It was completely unplanned and I sat down quickly to look up a verse in Isaiah to send to someone else. I ended up paging through almost 17 chapters with words leaping off the page . . . Intensely showing me what it means to be saturated in scripture. 

Isaiah

43:1 Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. 

43:15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israek, Your King. 

44:8 Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago?

45:2 I will go before you and level the uneven places; I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two. 

46:4: I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.

48:10: Look, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 

52:9 Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For The Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 

54:10 Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you and my covenant of peace will not be shaken, says your compassionate Lord.

55:6 Seek The Lord while he may be found; call to him while He is near.

55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways." This is The Lord's declaration. "For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

57:19 The Lord says, "Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him."

58:8 Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly.  Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard. 

58:11 The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry.

60:20 Your sun will no longer set and your moon will not fade; for The Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over. 

It was as if God was right next to me with his highlighter in his hand.  Bolding a word here, highlighting a phrase there, and underlining key parts that expressed what he has promised and encouraged me with in other parts of the Bible. Even if only for that specific day, April 21, 2014. 

Peace, comfort, seeking his face, love, his going before me, provision, healing, family, joy. . . 

Saturated in scripture. 

I know that this isn't necessarily how you are supposed to read and use the bible. 

It is just how God used it for me on Monday. To remind me to lighten my diet, lose the sickening, fatty doctor-scan report-result fare and indulge in deliciously-satisfying delightfully-decadent scripture. 

Daily. A steady diet SATURATED in scripture

Friends

Last week we had a long anticipated chance to catch up with our buddies! .  We had plans to take the littles to the trampoline park and jump our jiggles out!  The weather ended up being super cold and for some reason the trampoline park did not open.  Bummer!  Rather than turn around and head back home we decided to head for "old faithful." Tot time at the community center.

These three had quite the fun time!

They jumped.

 Rode scooters,

Ladies, beware! This one will break hearts someday!

After spending time running and chasing we went to the play structure to climb.

 and  both  of us mamas found ourselves up in the play structure where the only way out is the big red slide!! Too, too, too fun!

We are so thankful for friends.  For them getting us out of the house.  For time to catch up and run, jump, and climb.

  These three (And their daddy/husband) are precious to us.  We understand each other on a level most people can't relate to.  Our boys have so much fun together.  See that big guy in the orange, he is a great big brother!  Leo isn't his real brother but he treats him like it.  Leo looks up to him and LOVES him.  Talks about him for days each time we are together.  Melts this mama's heart!  In the cold of this winter, which seems to be going on quite a long time, we are thankful for friends that make our hearts so full and warm!

Wheels

My little guy loves anything with wheels.  or tracks.  or blades. basically anything that moves.  This is what he is up to this morning:

That red bin is usually full of anything with wheels.  This morning it is empty.  Each car, truck and bulldozer is in use.

They are strategically placed after lots of thought.

And the helicopter is flying in at just the right moment to save someone's day.

And some guys are on their way out of town.

And he's thrilled about all of it.

He's off to find more guys or trucks or something. I better go before we get the whole toy shelf moved into the kitchen. . . Oh to peek into his brain. . . 

Catch Up

Time goes fast!  Add a toddler, husband, and a demanding medical issue and you get me.  The way behind, well meaning mama who wants to keep an updated blog but can't always get posts written on time.  So sometimes we just have to play catch up.  

After birthday celebrations, thank yous are a must.  In order to create said picture, a photoshoot must commence.  Birthday shirt is put back on, M&Ms are out and used for bribery for smiles and cheers and try as hard as you wish but some pictures just end up like this:

And because one photoshoot isn't quite enough for a day, you might try to throw a valentine's day photoshoot in there too because well, why wouldn't you?! Much of that photoshoot might be spent like this:

Because no matter how much you try to convince your two year old that he "wheelie wheelie wheelie"  loves photoshoots and smiling, he might just get distracted by the wheels surrounding him.  Or, he might spend an insane amount of said photoshoot practicing his winking:

Again, why wouldn't you!  And then because things are not quite crazy enough, your medical issue might decide to flare hugely and land you in the hospital for an extended stay.  Praise the Lord, Grandma and Grandpa were able to come hang with Leo for a few days:

Since my release from the hospital and current status of unable to drive, we have been spending a lot of time at home.  The picture below features two of Leo's favs.  Fixing with his tools, and his "buck jammies:"

And this one captures his other fav right now, DADDY:

When said medical issue landed me in the hospital, the social worker and one of my doctors were SUPER nice to Leo and brought him two stuffed animals as well as a bag of crayons, stickers, and coloring books.  He thought visiting mom and seeing her "big guy bed" and getting presents was great.  Therefore, Leo has some new "guys" he'd like you to meet.  From left to right we proudly introduce Henry, Toby, and John Deere.

John Deere was a build a bear whom Leo "filled up" due to a kind gift card from a loving family member!  Leo is a great "daddy" to these guys and gives the best snuggles lay-ons:

 Because we spend so much time at home, we read a lot.  Leo's favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla (which he "read" to me yesterday word for word all by himself!) and his Bible.  The bible is actually quite an obsession and I can only pray that his thirst for God's word is that intense the rest of his life.  He also spends quite a bit of time reading to the guys.  This time it was his other fav,  the farm book from Grandma, but they don't seem to be picky.   They tend to travel around in the basket in the back of the picture:

And he doesn't always need the guys to read to.  Many times he curls up just by himself to check out the books:

Things have been so busy around here lately that our diet has taken a bit of a hit.  We have found time however to test various flavors of doughnuts so that when cousin Mollie comes to visit we can pick the perfect one to share with her.  Wait, who are we kidding, we would never share like split a doughnut. . . We mean share like tell her which kind she should pick:

And Leo seems to have gotten over some of his fear of snow!!  He has spent quite a bit of time outside this week.  Shoveling and pushing snow with his skid steer.  Check out his equipment:

The days might seem long but we are learning that the years are going way too fast.  We are trying to live in the moment and capture fun on a daily basis.  I'm glad you stuck with us as we caught you up on what has been happening here lately.  We are thankful that God continues to provide and calm our hearts in unfathomable ways.   We are extremely thankful for an excellent medical team and their ability to help us tackle whatever issue comes up.  We never know what tomorrow might bring but we know that we have an ever loving, always providing, faithful God who loves us and wants what is best for us.    And all the while, we get to learn about what it is like to experience life through these eyes:

Right Now

I have other posts to write and pictures to share but this is what is happening outside my door right now:

It is 6:36 and Ryan was out shoveling.  Leo asked to go play outside.  So I said sure.  When I peeked to see what they were doing I spied a little boy trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.  Zoom in to see the  tongue:

Snow much fun:

Leo's Birthday Part 2

The weekend after Leo's actual birthday we had Leo's Birthday Round 2!  Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kim, and Auntie Kari came to help us celebrate.  We went to the Children's Museum and had tons of fun.

Leo showed Grandpa the animals in the water:

He and Grandma painted a picture and then used a paintbrush hooked up to a drill to mix up all the colors:

Of course he found the one broom in the place and proceeded to sweep:

And at times I wasn't sure who was having more fun, Leo or the adults:

Leo loves his Aunties and was so thankful they could come play with him:

 Leo loves Grandma and Grandpa too:

He showed everyone how to mix in the kitchen.  Nevermind that he was using laundry soap:

When we got home it was time for presents:

And pizza and cake:

Leo picked out his very own cake (funfetti) and also chose the electric blue frosting.  It was so fun having Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kari, and Auntie Kim here to celebrate Leo!  

Leo is 2!

I can't believe I never blogged about Leo's birthday!  Oops!  Better late than never, right?!

Leo turned two on January 10.  I don't know where the last two years have gone but it is so much fun being this little guy's mama and it was fun to celebrate him and make him feel special.  

We spent most of our day at Grammie and Papa's house.  He got to open his presents in the afternoon.  He got a car carrier:

 A semi hauling a skid steer and a roller:

 A bible that he is absolutely OBSESSED with:

 and a tricycle:

I think we made the right choice in gifts:

                                      

We decided to have one of Leo's favorites for dinner.  Hamburgers!  Here are the boys:

And the girls at the Golden Nugget: 

                                      

They brought Leo a birthday dessert.  He thought he was hot stuff.  Here he is trying to blow out the candle:

He was pretty sure he was going to eat it all himself:

Leo is an active guy!  He loves to run, ride his bike, shoot hoops, read books, color with markers and crayons, do stickers, play play dough, and play cars/trucks.  He is super verbal and amazes us with the words he knows and things he remembers.  Leo says so many words that I couldn't even estimate how many words he knows.  He knows his colors, most shapes, and can count (one, two, five, seven, eight, ten). 

Leo you are an absolute joy to be around. We are so blessed that God chose us to be your parents. You bring laughter and energy wherever you go.  We love you like crazy and we know that God loves you so much more than we ever could.  We love your strong will and know that even though it is frustrating at times right now, we will appreciate it as you grow.  We pray that you continue to grow and learn and that you someday choose to make your faith your own. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Leo Christopher!

How to Eat a Cupcake

Yesterday was Papa's birthday!  We made him cupcakes and I showed him how to eat them!

First, you lick a little frosting, just to make sure you like it.

 Then you bite a little deeper.  This lets you get cake and frosting in the same bite.  

 Then you simply start to shovel it in.

 The more you get in there at one time the better.

 Chew.  Chew.  Chew.

 And don't worry about getting messy.

 You can clean up when you are all done!

 Happy Birthday Papa!  Thanks for celebrating with us.  Love, Leoeo