God loves You!

This week has kind of been a rough one with everything that has been going on around me. Our nephew was born last Saturday with some complications do to swallowing meconium before birth so he is in a bigger hospital about an hour from home. At home there are 4 older children with 2 younger. So all in all this is taking a lot out of the family right now.
I also have a friend from high school who continues to fight for her life after some health complications. She is in the ICU while others take care of her two children also.
All this has come after a week ago talking about eternal perspective at church as I had posted before. Wow! I have just come to see how hard it is to keep an eternal perspective when so many things are going on.
The other night I was having a conversation on Facebook with another high school friend of mine about our friend who was struggling to stay alive. She was telling me about her day that day how she had been taking time to cry out to God for the sake of her friend and that He would let her live. This is direct from our conversation the other night ""i was just basically yelling at God,demanding that Brandi lives...
and how she cant die and finally after exhausting every possible plea....i just asked God to speak to me and it was at compassion pregnancy center there where i looked up and saw a statue of Jesus holding a baby and I just wept because at that moment God spoke to me and told me that He loved Brandi......
its because of prayer...and faith....and God loves Brandi more than we ever could.thats what I forgot and thats what God spoke to me.." These are taken directly from my conversation with my friend.
The huge part in this conversation was that "God loves Brandi more than anyone here on earth ever could." I was having a hard time feeling loved that night and this was all I needed to be reminded of. God loves Me more than anyone else ever could. I am still trying to completely wrap my head around that. GOD LOVES ME!
I just encourage you that if you are having a hard time just remember that God loves you more than any physical person on earth ever could!

Keeping an Eternal Perspective

I am going to be honest. I am struggling with this. Today we were challenged at church to maintain an eternal perspective with things in life. It has been a difficult day.
We were given an opportunity to pray for each other this morning. It was a great time of bonding between women with prayer, hugs, and tears.
It is so hard to see my best friends continuing to struggle throughout life. It just seems they can't catch a break, and to be honest it makes me angry to see them continue to be hit up one side and then down the other. First their car breaks down, then he gets laid off again, then there is constant sickness, and then guess what their new car they just bought breaks down again. My husband and our friend worked on it afternoon trying to figure it out. No luck, no ideas. It stinks!
We also received a call from my husband's sister who had her baby last night. The baby was born with complications. He has pneumonia because he had ingested meconium (newborn poop) into his lungs. Hard to hear, but I am going to believe that God will take care of him and heal him.
There were other things with today but mostly just struggling with how to keep an eternal perspective. I mean what does it mean to keep an eternal perspective. My heart hurts for all that has happened today. I pray that as I continue on through this week I could try to keep my eyes on Jesus and have more of an eternal perspective!

Dakota Update

Well on Thursday morning we headed to Ft. Wayne for Dakota's appointment with his specialist regarding his cleft palate. The doctor we saw was very informative and helpful. He was an ENT so he took a good look at Dakota's ears and saw that there is quite a bit of fluid on his ears, he says because of the large opening in his mouth keeps constant fluid build up that. I guess that would definitely explain the numerous ear infections we have been fighting in the last several months. So he told us that when the surgery is done to repair his palate he would suggest also doing tubes for his ears because of the fluid build up that is there.
We are being referred to a plastic surgeon who will look at Dakota and then do the surgery to fix his palate. We still do not have an appointment with this specialist but I would look for it to be soon. So for now we are in the waiting game once again.

I am Challenged......

This year I have been reading through the Bible chronologically. I have just recently started doing it during my baby's earlier morning feeding. Its a time that all is quiet and a time I know I will get it done. The other day I was challenged by a friend who is also reading through the Bible in a year, actually that is the reason I am doing it. She started a facebook group and we are all holding each other accountable to reading through it in a year. Anyway, so I have been really trying to focus on the words not just for mere reading sake but to also take it to heart.So I was reading this morning in Deuteronomy chapters 6-9, but I only made it through 6 and 7 before my heart started to be challenged.
First of all, in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is says.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

This section of scripture has always been a challenge to me. I just didn't remember where to find it until now. We are to love God with all that we have. He has given his Word to be written on our hearts. The only way to write God's Word on our hearts is really to take time and KNOW his Words. To know his Words we need to spend quality time in it. I read most of the time for the sake of reading it, but this morning I allowed myself to be challenged. Here we are challenged to have God's Word/laws living through every facet of our lives. We are to teach our children about God throughout our everyday life. He is suppose to be present at all times. We are to take it with us wherever we go.
I am going to be blunt and honest, I do not live by this standard that God wants us to live by. It is not a choice that I have personally made. I know that it is a choice I should make. But to be honest I know that as hard as I tried I wouldn't be faithful to doing it all the time. So I guess the challenge in this for me is to learn how to instill more of God in my everyday life so that it spills over into my boys' life. I want this, I just don't know how to do it. One of the ways I am starting to teach my oldest is by starting to teach him Bible verses and read his children's Bible. That is some ways that I can be faithful to teaching him.

Take me forward to my reading in Deuteronomy 7 and there was again another verse that stuck out to me. Deut. 7:6 says "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. " The part in this verse that really sticks out to me is that we are "his treasured possession." I have so often beaten myself down in the past and still do to this day. I know that it is talking about the Israelites here but we can definitely apply this to our own lives. I am chosen by God because He loves me. I am his treasured possession. I have such joy at this moment in time knowing that I am his and his alone! This too is often hard for me to constantly remember in my life but I am also up for continued challenge and growth in this area of my life.
So know that you know what my thoughts were from my reading this morning I hope it can be a bit of challenge to you. When you get in the Word to read it, try to dig deep into it and see what God has for you in it!

Sunshine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was another one of those beautiful days we have been having here in Indiana. It is amazing to me how March has hit and we have had nothing but sunshine. I have completely and totally loved all the sunshine over the past couple of days, well lets see six days! There is something about seeing the sunshine days in a row after having the dark gloom of winter that does something for your spirit and soul.
Today we has the opportunity to go take some of that sunshine in at the park with my boys. We parked at a place we don't usually park because the road to go to the park is closed right now due to construction. So we walked across a little foot bridge over the river and onto a muddy, muddy path to get to the park. It was so fun to watch my boys play, especially my oldest who was willing to go about the play area by himself to find the slide and come down himself. I was standing there with my baby in his stroller and my two almost 3 year old seeming so independent. I can't explain to you what this did to me. The tears came to my eyes to see his independence. My big boy is really, really growing up. He is becoming more and more independent everyday. It is fun to watch but also has me realizing how quickly this will past.
I also had the opportunity to put my 7 month old in a baby swing and let him swing away. The smile on his face was beautiful. I was once again reminded how quickly they grow up and how quickly they change.
So as I draw this day to a close I am so grateful for the time I had with my family enjoying the sunshine and seeing my babies growing up so quickly. I was just reminded once again how quickly time passes and I don't want to take one moment for granted that I have with them.

The Innocence of a Child

I meant to write about this earlier, like last week when it happened, but I didn't get a chance to.
I was putting my 2 almost 3 year old to bed the other night and we usually pray with him before we say our final good-night. So he has a routine things he likes to pray for, you know his mommy and daddy, his little brother, his best friend, and her family and the children of the world (still not sure how to totally foster the children of the world for a toddler). So I asked after we were done praying if there was something else he wanted me to pray for. He looks at me and says "walls mommy, pray for walls." At first I looked at him and laughed and immediately I was filled with this feeling of what are you doing. I felt God convicting my heart about this. I looked at Jabez and I told him "yes we can pray for walls because God has given them to us as protection."
I am amazed at how God uses a child to remind you of things that we so often take for granted. I love my son, I thank God for his innocence in this time in his life. I pray that as his life and heart continue to be formed that God will continue to keep my eyes open to opportunities to pour into his life.

Dakota Update

Well I know that it has been awhile since I have written about my little guy and all that is going on with his cleft palate. First of all, we have received some funding that will help pay for whatever medical things we need to do to take care of Dakota's cleft palate.
We also have an appointment set for March 18 with his specialist in Ft. Wayne. I think it will probably be just a consultation and figure out where we go from there. As I look to this appointment my mind and heart are a bit uneasy. I am trying to chose to trust God through this time in our lives. I know that he will take care of us through this time its just the thought of everything that is on my mind and heart.