Oh what fun!

I'm so thankful for my phone and the ability to take pictures on it. And I'm so thankful for a blog to be able to keep pictures of my sweet kiddos organized and up to date. Pictures are so precious to be able to look back upon.

Here are my sweet little people this past month!!!

Grace is growing so much and her personality is really starting to shine!

She is so sweet and funny!

We signed Ethan up for little league tee ball this year. The season starts April 11th, so we are getting ready!

Ethan is getting very excited!!!

Here is Sam at the St Patrick's day parade in Des Moines. It was fun, and chilly!

Cookies! Thank you Grandma Lorna for the cookie press!

Look who is standing!!

Grace having fun at my mom and dad's house!

Then she almost fell asleep!

First bath with all 3!!

By the time we were done, it was as though I was in there with them! And that mostly because of Ms Gracie! Lol

Oh my funny boys! They are so sweet and seem to get more silly all the time!

Sam and his goofy poses!!!

You make me smile little one!

                            
      oh Ethan! Funny little man! I love your            smile!!! They just thought this was                                         hilarious!

My sweet cutie pie!

New headband!

I'm having fun having a daughter! It's really sweet!

Sam and another ham pose!

Love love!

Her eyes I just adore!

I just wanna kiss her and snuggle her up!

Attempt to get everyone in, sorry Sam!

Love these faces!

Being goofy with Grace!

Oh Sam! Sooo funny! He loves the guitar, and apparently Mr potato head's glasses!  Sooo funny little man!

I do indeed love being a Mother and am so thankful for my children, but even now, 5 years in, there is nothing that has tested and refined me more...and this undoubtedly will continue. The Bible says, "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," proverbs 27:17. This is mainly speaking about friendships, but God is sure using my little ones to sharpen me...to make me a vessel of noble use and a sweet instrument in His hands;

Which is what I desire.

In mothering this far, I feel like I've come to the end of myself-over and over and over, where I then begin to see and know and experience Jesus in deeper ways as I seek him through the end of myself.

My death and Jesus becoming greater in me is, in the moments hard, but, so precious.

I feel all too familiar with repentance and the need for such humility before the LORD, and my children and husband. 

But how sweet that the Lord gives grace to the humble, and won't reject a contrite heart.

So, I seek to guard my heart in all things, and keep a quiet heart in all things, trusting God and letting my spirit be gentle and quiet before Him.

"...in your hearts honor Christ the LORD as holy..." 1 Peter 3:15

A Christian Mother

Motherhood is indeed a blessing and wonderful and brings great joy. In a lot of ways, this is similar for believers and unbelievers alike. It seems as though simply having children is a common grace.
However, motherhood is a spiritual institution. And, as believers in Jesus Christ, we go beyond delighting in this common grace, eventually to come about its fullness, and we see the spiritual side of motherhood; in its entirety: We lose our lives, to find them- In Christ.

 God is purifying us and our faith. We do the hard work of teaching and training our children in the ways of God-- we see and acknowledge that Satan is right there too, wanting to kill, steal, and destroy us, our homes, our kids, and our relationships. So we put on the armor of God to fight this battle in the unseen world. We stand, as mothers, always on guard against sin- our sin and the temptation toward it, we train ourselves here to be godly. We pray, we seek God, we're broken down but He builds us up. We seek God's face, heart, wisdom and peace for motherhood, every step of the way. We rejoice, yes, but we do not stand unaware of the spiritual battle for our homes and the children within.

When, I say when, trials, testing, training ground, and temptation come upon us mothers, we're not surprised as if something 'strange' were happening to us. Rather, we Christian mothers have been keeping watch for such events and we're prepared.

Furthermore, undoubtedly, God will use motherhood as a training ground to test and prove the genuineness of our faith.

So, yes, we delight in and rejoice in our children and motherhood, but at an even greater depth than the non-Christian, and we fight the good fight of faith, and run, run the race marked out for each one of us as God has portioned and assigned. We don't compare our 'lot' or portion with another's, no, we fix our eyes on what is before each one of us, and run toward Jesus.

We mothers are being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and we are, in all our strengths AND weaknesses, acceptable to God through Christ! Amen!

Because I believe one's thoughts should always stand up to the word of God:
1 Peter 4:12 & 19, 1 Peter 2:4-5, 1 Peter 1:7, Matthew 16:24-25, John 16:33, Philippians 4:19,  Ephesians 6:12-13, Hebrews 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 2:11, proverbs 22:6, 1 Timothy 4:7-8, John 10:10-11, 1 Peter 5:8-10, 2 Corinthians 10:12, proverbs 4:25-27, psalm 87:7, Romans 14:4, James 1:2-4

Enjoy Him!

I hope to log this here to look back upon when my flesh and heart seems to fail me; for it has before and will again. But God will remain the strength of my heart forever. Psalm 73:26