Choosing Joy

Have you ever had to choose joy? I went to a Women's conference last weekend and one of the messages was on choosing joy. I've had to choose joy a lot this week, to let the God that is in me be stronger than the weight of this world. I've had to renew my mind, to reposition my focus on Who HE is and What HE can do when my obstacle appears to be so much bigger. I've had to claim joy for Joe as he still struggles to find joy when physically he feels worn out. What a concept, choosing to be joyful despite the circumstances that surround.

This week Megan Joy has decided to exercise her freedom to use the word "no." She is stubborn, and is emphatic with her "nos." It made me think of how stubborn we can be to the Lord. He cries out, "trust me" - "no" ; "give me your burdens so I can carry them" - "no" ; "come here and just sit with me" - "no." How often do I cross my little arms, throw on my pouty face and declare "no" to Him. So when He asks me to "choose joy", "just laugh", "enjoy the ride" - maybe I'll answer "ok!" and see how that goes!

Tomato soup and ritz crackers

Megan wanted to join in on the soup tonight. She asked for soup and then asked for crackers. I crumpled the crackers into her soup and then she spent a good couple of minutes making sure they were crumpled just right. She was so cute and so determined. Then she enjoyed every bite and declared, "I like soup!" I love passing on crazy traditions, like tomato soup with ritz crackers!

Ice Cream and Cake

Erin's favorite part of the ODU game is by far the Ice Cream and Cake dance done by the cheerleaders. All joy breaks out across the arena when this dance starts and Erin joins right in!

Conflicting Emotions

Have you ever done something you didn't necessarily want to do, but felt the Lord telling you to do it. Completely an act of obedience, yet still trying to hold onto some control of it? We are attempting to sell our home. Last year, didn't really think it was an option or a need. This year, felt the Lord telling us we needed to put it up for sale. Don't know at this point if He just wanted to see if we would do it, or He really wants us to move. That's the waiting part, that's the hard part. I'm trying to detach myself from this home and think of all the things I don't like about it. Just when I think I'd be thrilled to move on, that little voice inside tells me that I will actually be heart broken to leave this home.

Which brings me to the point of this post. We are holding an open house at this very moment and several people have come through that absolutely love my home. Makes me wonder(and them) why I want to leave it. One lady just said she can feel love in this home and she didn't want to leave. WOW, someone else may soon be loving my home the way I thought I always would. Am I really ready and willing to let that happen? To be honest, I just don't know. Many conflicting emotions, many tears...but in the end, obedience will win. Faith will prevail...He didn't bring us this far to let us go and He knows exactly where He wants us. Our home is where our family is and when we are together we will fill any space with love and warmth.

Tutu and Boots

Who couldn't love this one of a kind girl? A tutu and boots...and she's saying "yeehaw!"

Happy Birthday Mr. Washington

Anna is a history buff in the making. She fell in love with Washington D.C. this past Summer and asked for the Washington Monument for Christmas. She has 3 W.M. figurines, a book about D.C., a photo book from our trip which she counts among her most treasured possessions. We couldn't let President Washington's birthday pass without a celebration. It was crazy hat day at school so we created a hat with all her favorite D.C. monuments. She was also leader at school so she was able to take her books about D.C. and show them to her classmates. In the afternoon she watched Charlie Brown goes to Washington D.C. while I prepared all of George's favorite foods for dinner. We had fish, green beans and cornbread. We threw in some mac n cheese because we're sure he would have loved that too! We topped it off with cherry crunch and vanilla ice cream since we all know he loved cherries. It's a small thing to do for the joy that it brought to Anna. You would have thought it was her birthday! We love our little history girl!

This is not a mistake....I am blogging!

Oh my, oh my...where can I even start? It has been exactly 9 months since my last post. I don't think I intentionally decided to stop blogging, it was kind of a slow fade from this world. I guess with the popularity of facebook and being able to tell hundreds of people what I was doing within seconds, I lost the desire to actually think about what I wanted to say and maybe have some purpose behind it. For the last few weeks though, I've felt the urge to resume blogging. Seems like many people felt that same urge as I've received several notifications of friends who have resumed their blog.

I guess I treat my blog like I do many other things, if I can't do it well, then why do it. But, I don't think it has to be like that. This is merely my avenue for doing something I enjoy doing, writing. I try so hard to journal, and I've come a very long way, but I can't seem to make myself journal the day to day ins and outs that I so desperately want to remember. The moments that bring me such joy that all to quickly fade from my memory. So with that intention in mind, I am attempting to resurrect my blog. I want to capture more than my feeble mind allows me to. I want to share what the Lord is doing in my life on a daily basis. Even if no one in this present day reads this., I hope that one day my children will and they will find a little piece of me and a big piece of them that brings them great joy! So Erin, Anna, and Megan, my precious angels, this is for you.....