Friday, February 26, 2010

Bye Bye Hillcrest House

We closed on our Hillcrest house on the 24th. It was very bittersweet. We are praising God that it sold in this market! But we were so sad to say goodbye to our precious little bungalow. We had such sweet memories there...when we bought it, it was in need of a lot of love. We scrubbed the walls, repainted, added crown molding all ourselves. Then we hired a guy to redo the kitchen, add in a bathroom and move some walls for us. It was our first remodel project together. It was our very first house we ever owned! We brought Baker home there, and I loved his nursery so much! Bear was conceived there too. That little house will always be home to me in my heart. We really had hoped that the Knoll Ridge house would sell so that we could move back into our cottage, but God has other plans. Now things really seem to be unfolding for us to join a couple in Honduras on the mission field. This experience has been a huge dying to self for me. It didn't work out the way I wanted, but I know it's the way God wants it, and His plans are far better, greater and more perfect than I could ever hope or dream. So I trust Him and rely on Him to comfort me in saying goodbye to our little home on Hillcrest.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Forgiveness

WOW! Is all I can say. Jesus blessed me so much today at the Ladies' Day Away at church. Jackie Kendall was the guest speaker, and I was overwhelmed in many ways. I just wanted to write the things that God revealed to me through her witness. I am blown away with the freedom that awaits us all in forgiving everyone for every single offense we've ever kept record of or experienced. Truly meditating on the fact that Jesus, as He hung on the cross, experiencing separation in His Spirit from the Father, STILL resisted the temptation to hold it against any of His mockers and murderers. He not only forgave them, but interceded on their behalf, asking the Father to forgive the, for they didn't know what they were doing. Amazing! Only the Son of the Living, Holy God could ever do something as radical as forgive His murderers before He died, while they mocked him, laughed at Him and tortured Him. If Jesus can forgive my evil, twisted, selfish sin, then how much more should I forgive those that do me wrong. I have no right to keep any record of wrongs nor hold any grudge. We should be forgiving immediately, over and over and over again. If we don't, we fall into sin because our hearts become filled with self-pity, self-righteousness, anger, bitterness, resentment, hatred and our love grows cold. When we offer forgiveness, we are truly reflecting the image of Christ. But the most radical thing is that God not only wants us to forgive each other, but He wants us to speak blessings over others, even if they never ask for our forgiveness. She shared a story of her friend who discovered that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend. As the transgressed woman sat in her car full of anger, heartbreak and brokenness, she was obedient to Jesus. She forgave him, and spoke a blessing over him that he would be reconciled to his estranged son. Immediately, she felt a heavy weight fall off her back, and she was set free! Even though we forgive someone, we will still have the memories of them hurting us, so every single time we remember the offense, we need to forgive them and pray a blessing over them. The greater the offense, the deeper the hurt, the more times we have to forgive until it is finally out of our spirits and we have God's love in it's place for the one that wronged us. I am so amazed at God and how precious He is. He loves us too much to leave us where we're at, often in our own self-made hells.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bear's Meltdown












Bear Jackson was being very dramatic, and I had to catch it on film! I was trying to feed him, and he just wouldn't have it! So he decided to cry and cover his sweet little face for added dramatic effect! Then he gave up and just wouldn't look at me, and I actually got the shot...he's too funny! I think it made him even more upset that I was taking his picture and not giving into his tantrum. He reminds me so much of Baker, who used to do the same thing. Hmmm....now that I think about it, Baker still does this! I'll have to grab the camera and try and get him when he's breakin' down! I can't wait to show all these photos to them when they're grown up! I love my little boys!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Snow!















The boys had so
much fun the last
two days! Baker made his very own snowman. We made snow ice cream and colored it blue with blue sprinkles, and Bear had purple. YUMMY! Today was Bear's first time in the snow ever. He loved it! His froggy boots kept falling off, and his socks got wet, but he's a Coleman! Which means..."keep on keepin' on!" Little Scout adores Bear and gave him a kiss on his cold baby Bear nose. It was a lot of fun. The dogs were snowball targets, so was Daddo! Mommy was the photographer, so I had immunity!



Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Baker's learning to serve others


We were putting the boys to bed tonight, and Carter asked Baker what he did today at Miss Barbara's. He said that he did bread cutting and that he got to use Miss Barbara's toaster! Then he cut the bread after he toasted it, put on just a little honey and some butter and shared it with the other boys! Then he cleaned up and got everything ready for the next boy that wanted to cut bread. So I said, "Wow you are really learning to serve! That's like when Mommy makes dinner. Do I make dinner and eat it all by myself?" He replied, "No you share it with us!"
We LOVE Baker's montessori school, but his teacher is the reason. She is quite a jewel. I told her and everyone else that I feel like he gets to go to his Fairy Godmother's when he goes to school. She is very gifted and blessed in what she does with the children.
It's supposed to sleet tonight! Baker thinks that means that in the morning there'll be 3 feet of snow and we can have a snowball fight. Awww....the sweet thoughts of a four year old.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

My True Love!











Carter and I celebrated our 16 year anniversary February 5th! I can't believe that we've been so happy in love for so long! I was only 18 when we met, and I love him more today that I did then, which I never thought was possible! This July will be our 10 year Wedding Anniversary. I married my Prince Charming, he is the most amazing, perfect man I've ever known. I am so blessed!! It's incredible to me that God made us just for each other. I just have to brag on him! He has such a love and devotion for God, and that spills over onto our relationship and the boys. I always feel so loved and adored by him....how in the world did I get so lucky.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Welcome to my blog! This is my first blog ever, so I'm really excited about it! My amazing husband helped me get the templates all set up, and here I am.

My verse for the week is John 17. Just knowing the our precious Jesus prayed on behalf of us all is incredible and so comforting to me. I've been meditating on this verse for about 3 days now.

Little Baker is learning: "Obey the first time, every time," along with the Bible verse "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." Colossians 3:20
Kind of a hard concept for a little 4 year old, but he's getting it!

Little Bear likes to follow Baker everywhere and grab him from behind and give him a huge ol' Bear hug! Then Baker proceeds to walk around with little Bear holding onto him laughing, then they fall down...still laughing! Baker really can't wait for Bear to turn one, he thinks that on Bear's 2nd birthday that Bear will instantly be able to speak like a 4 year old! Not likely.

Bear's 2nd Birthday will be at the end of May! I really can't believe that it's been that long. We are planning a Teddy Bear picnic party! I'm taking advantage of the bears theme as long as I can! One day he's going to be so sick of bears, I just know it!

XOXO ashleigh