Scuff Marks

This afternoon I decided to tackle some touch-up painting that needed to be done for a project Robby is working on in his closet.  On my way in the house and up the stairs to his closet, I noticed there were quite a few scuff marks on the walls.  We've painted very little in our house so far, so most of the walls are still the builder's off-white.  Since I had the paint out, I figured I'd just touch-up some of those scuff marks.

It wasn't until after I'd started painting that I noticed just how many scuff marks there were.  How could I live in a house with that many marks on the walls and not notice them?  As I painted over mark after mark, I thought about how all of those marks could have gotten there.  Some I could identify exactly how they got there.  I could see little finger prints.  There were places where small ride-on cars were driven into the wall.  In one place there was even the damage from a 20-month-old and a pen.  Some of the others were just the result of having 4 people living in the house. 

 

It was as I was working my way down the stairs that I felt the Holy Spirit whisper to me, asking how often my life looks like these walls.  When I stop to look, do I see scuff marks that I didn't even realize were there?  A bad attitude, an ugly word, a bitter heart.  Some recognizable, some not. 

How often do I seek forgiveness for the little things?  It's obvious when I have a big spill that it needs cleaning up immediately.  But how often do I ask the Master Painter to get out His paintbrush and re-paint the walls of my heart?  Probably, not often enough.

The Crazy One

This is my Abigail.  My ham.  My nut.  My CRAZY ONE!  She is sweet and precious in every sense of the word.  Feisty, too!!!  I anticipate many notes from her future teachers saying that she can't sit still, can't be quite, and tries to entertain the classroom.  She is a joy.  But, wow, does she keep us hoppin'! 

It blows us away that a child so young can be so silly on purpose.  For months now she has been our supper time entertainer.  She knows how to make us laugh and enjoys doing it.  I only look forward to more as she gets older. 

 

And her uncontrollable hair only seems to make things worse (or better, however you want to look at it!).

The child is a blessing in every way.  She tires me out until I'm counting the minutes until bedtime some days, but life would be ever so dull without her.  Her sister adores her (even though she can be a pest!) and they are already the best of friends.

I am so thankful for my girls and so thankful that they have each other!

Earrings

Quite a while ago, maybe even a year or so ago, Emma started asking questions about my earrings.  She's had a couple of pairs of clip-on play earrings, and loves them.  I told her that my ears were pierced and that one day she could get hers done too.  When she was ready and as long as it was OK with her daddy.  I was fine with her getting them done whenever she wanted to.  So for some time now, when we would pass by Claire's at the mall, we would stop and look at all the earrings through the glass wall and I would ask her if she wanted to get them done.  She would always say, "Not yet."

Well, on Saturday of this past weekend, she went to a princess birthday party where one of the favors was a set of play jewelry, with some really cool clip-on earrings.  

 My princess at the party

As soon as we got in the car to head home from the party, she told me she wanted to wear all of her jewelry to school this week.  I explained that it was play jewelry and she wasn't allowed to wear it to school.  And that the only kind of jewelry she could wear was if she had her ears pierced.  She really didn't say much in response, and we drove on home.  We were almost there, about 15 minutes after our jewelry conversation, when she said, "Mama, one day will you take me to the mall so I can get my ears pierced?"  I had no idea that the whole ride home she was thinking about what I'd said and had made up her mind that she was ready to get her ears pierced.  Well, I told her that would be fine with me, but she needed to ask her daddy's permission.  

With a smile, Robby told her, "No way!"  But when we talked about it later, he said he really didn't care.  I told him that I had no intentions of driving the 40 minutes to the mall just to get her ears pierced when I wasn't sure she wouldn't chicken out.  I figured we would revisit the situation again at a later date when we were making a trip to the mall for another reason.  Boy was I wrong!

All she talked about for two days was getting her ears pierced!  On the way home from church Sunday she said, "Mama, what are we doing tomorrow?"  I told her I didn't really have any plans, to which she replied, "Maybe you could take me to the mall to get my ears pierced!"  I discussed it with Robby that evening and we figured since it was Valentine's Day, I'd give it a whirl and the earrings could be a little Valentine's gift.  

So off we went on Monday morning.  I had prepped her several times about what was going to happen and that it was going to hurt, but she could not be deterred.  When we got to Claire's, the girl working there told me that with a child as young as Emma, they like to do both ears at the same time so that the child doesn't get one ear done and then chicken out before the second one.  Made sense to me, but the girl wasn't going to have help for another 2.5 hours, so I told let's just go ahead with it and we'll see what happens. 

 All prepped and ready to get her ears pierced

The girl got Emma's ears cleaned and marked where we wanted the earrings, and then it was time... and she did great!  When the first earring when in, Emma did cry and told me it hurt, but she sat very still and got the second one done with no hesitation.

 The remnants of tears right after she got them done

She recovered very quickly and within minutes there was no sign that she'd ever even cried.  She is so glad she got them done and loves having earrings--especially ones she can wear to school!  Ha!

All smiles just minutes after getting her ears pierced

I just can't believe she's grown up enough to decide something like this on her own!  I guess it's just the first of many things that my children will decide for themselves.  At least they start with issues that are relatively insignificant and carry no eternal weight.  Gotta start Mama and Daddy out small! :-)

The One That I Love

One thing I haven't done yet on this blog is write about my husband.  I figure Valentine's Day is a pretty good day to start doing that.  

After 10 years together, I only love him more.  

Just a few of the reasons I love him...

...he works hard for his family

...he makes me laugh

...he is an amazing daddy

...he puts up with his crazy wife

...he is frugal but generous

...he is smart

...he uses his gifts to serve the Lord

...he likes having a stay-at-home wife

...immediate and extended family are important to him

Back in December when I was put on bedrest, Robby stepped up and took care of this family.  For those of y'all that know him, you know he is does not enjoy domestic activites. :-)  So taking over the role of mama AND daddy was not exactly in his comfort zone.  But not once did he complain.  He saw to it that things were taken care of so that I would have no reason to get off the couch and do anything.  He was stricter on me than my doctor was.  He clothed, fed, bathed, changed, played with, and met every need that our girls had.  On top of what he did at home, he still had to go to work.  (Of course there are several people who helped me when Robby was at work, and I wouldn't have made it without them either!)  By doing what he did, without complaining, and without me having to direct his every move, I was able to stay down and not stress about the things that needed to get done.  It wasn't easy to sit for so long, but he definitely made it easier.  

I am so proud of my hubby.  And I could go on and on about why I love him, but I'll just leave you with a few pictures of him and our girls.

Halloween

 Putting out reindeer food on Christmas Eve

Showing the girls the falling snow

Thank you, honey, for taking care of this family in so many ways.  All three of your girls love you more than we can say!  Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart!!

Christmas in February

What do you do when you find half a bag of Christmas M&Ms in February?  

You make these...

Holly Jolly Peanut Butter Cookies

...and then you try not to eat them all (4 dozen!) in one day!  Yum!!

Faithfulness

What does the Scripture say?  

"Abraham believed God, 

and it was credited to him as righteousness."  

Romans 4:3

Romans 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  What an inspiring tale it tells.  It talks about Abraham and how he was credited with righteousness because of his faith.  It does not say Abraham was considered righteous because of the good things he did or the way he walked closely with God.  Those things were a result of the faith he displayed in the Father. 

This week the fruit of the Spirit we are studying in my Bible study is faithfulness.  I've only done the first day of lessons, but I am already so encouraged by this aspect of our Spirit.  The only way we can hope to display faithfulness in our Lord is by recognizing how faithful He is to us.  And we either choose to believe Him in everything or in nothing.  Our God is not faithful only some of the time.  Psalm 33:4 says, "For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does."

God sent Jesus to prove His faithfulness.  Because of our sin, mankind had no hope until Jesus Christ fulfilled his role on the Cross and provided a way for us to be restored to the Father.  The verses I chose as the heading of this blog showed up in my study this morning :

For no matter how many promises God has made, 

they are "Yes" in Christ.  

And so through him the "Amen" 

is spoken by us to the glory of God.  

Now it is God who makes both us 

and you stand firm in Christ.  

He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, 

and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, 

guaranteeing what is to come.  

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

God's love and faithfulness to us will never end (Psalm 117:2).  His word tells us this over and over.   Does that mean we can have the same kind of faithfulness to God?  No, we're sinners and Satan sure does love to plant those seeds of doubt.  But we ought to try.  I don't want to believe in a God that can't be faithful 100% of the time.  So I choose to have faith in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who created this universe.  I'm not just going to believe in God (even the demons do that!), I'm going to believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  And when I do start to doubt, I'm going to pray that God will increase my faith.  Because without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)!