"My grace is sufficient"

I've always wanted three kids. I never really minded whether I had a boy or a girl, but after Harrison and Henry, I felt like there was someone missing.  When Hallie came, our family seemed so complete. She was to icing on the cake, and the sweetest blessing. Since she's come, I have been encouraged and delighted by her presence in our family. Everyone fits. Everyone has their own room. The boys are best friends, and the sweetest older brothers. Our family was exactly where it needed to be.... Or so I thought. It was a cloudy day in May that I had just finished feeding Hallie. I set her on the floor, and I sat next to her with my laptop. Henry was coloring, and I was finishing up grading some papers, when I felt it. The first trimester sick. Medal taste in my mouth. Nauseous...and I ignored it. There was no way. I had a 5 month old. So I kept grading, and Hallie played with her floor toys. Henry asked for a glass of water. I got up, and felt it again. Immediately, I looke

I love the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They could have lied and denied God as their own, but they instead stood up to Nebuchadnezzar, and were forced to go into a furnace that was turned up so hot, the guards who threw them in, were burnt. Miraculously, they survived the fire, and were even seen being protected by a fourth figure. When I was 19, I couldn't go a day without seeing the beach. If my day wasn't filled with going to work, and school, and doing something fun, I felt unsettled. I loved to travel; Hawaii, Mexico, Jamaica, New York...I was always looking for the next best thing. I am not going to lie and say that those things don't matter. I love to travel. And I love the beach. But as I have gotten further along in my walk with Jesus, I am learning to value other things in life. I don't need to be filled with a constant high of doing something exciting that day. I am learning that sometimes when life brings storms, and when the day doesn't

"My grace is sufficient": Let us consider one another to provoke to love. : "More than any king before him, Ahab son of Omri did many things the Lord said were wrong....He did more things to make the Lord, the G...

"More than any king before him, Ahab son of Omri did many things the Lord said were wrong....He did more things to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry than all the other kings before him" 1 Kings 16:30 and 33. I knew a powerful person once, who was a Christian. He told me that he believed strongly that as the salt and the light, Christians should mostly be examples of God's goodness. Unfortunately, instead of showing God's love and compassion, the man (in my opinion) did more damage than good. He was quick to point out weaknesses of others, and instead of working to understand someone and hear where they were coming from, made judgements about them. I can speak from experience to say that his pride and ignorance got in the way of his message. There is a fine line a Christian walks. While we are led to love others, and witness about Christ and His compassion, we also carry the burden to reveal the truth about sin in this world. As sinners ourselves, it is impos

When Harrison was born, and I was scheduling his feeding (3,6,9,12...), I remember the one hour period a couple times a day that he would cry. Because I knew that it would be easier to have a scheduled baby in the long run, I withstood the tears. It broke my heart to watch him cry, and to try everything: pacifier, blanky, walking, stroller. There were times that nothing worked. But suddenly, 5 days later (and almost every day of his life after that), Harrison was on schedule; eating only at the times that he was scheduled to...on the hour. He slept through the night better, and it was easier to ween him of his nighttime feedings (I would take away 12, then 9, then 3am, and soon, at 3 months, he slept through the night). The same was true for my other kids. It was like tearing out my heart to listen to them cry, but after they were scheduled, I always could do my best to predict what was wrong; if they were full, and well slept, then I could count on a fit being teething, or needing m

I notice pretty quickly, that I can start to throw a pretty awesome pitty party for myself. There is a lot of pressure in life. The week happens, and I begin to uplift my own labor. I put myself on a super high pedal stool: I work from home, watch the kids, clean the house, do the yard work, taxi Harrison around town, feed the baby, try to get a work out in, make breakfast, clean breakfast, make lunch, clean it, then dinner (by the way, Jon rocks because he takes the load off the laundry, and makes dinner most nights- this is a picture of my inner dialogue, not a clear depiction of the actual #truth...hashtag truth...)...and if Jon gets home, and he is having a bad day, I often start to desire strongly to not listen to his stress, but instead, I want so badly to compete. I have an evil, natural wanting to place my burdens on him. I'm really dramatic about it. So not only has Jon had a bad day, but I want him now to experience my stress. Even if it's not as bad as I can make it