Keep It Simple, Sweetheart!

The title of this post reflects the name of the Bible study class I'm taking for the next six weeks, and yesterday was the first time we met. My mom is taking it with me, which is fun. I don't think we've ever done one together. I feel so blessed to be a part of this group and to sit under teaching of yet another amazing godly woman. I'm so grateful God keeps putting these people in my path! I would love for her to mentor me, but probably everyone that knows her asks her to mentor them, so I am not going to. But I'm still praying about a mentor. But anyway, the teacher is authentic, spirited, funny as heck, and passionate for God's Word. I'm loving it. The focus of this study is on simplifying our spiritual lives, and it zeroes in on the two greatest commandments God gives, to love Him and to love others. The first three weeks will focus on knowing and loving God through His Word and through prayer, and the last three weeks will be on loving one another. I'm already feeling pretty challenged. This study is not in book form, we are just studying the Bible how God leads and journaling our way through the various passages and topics He leads each of us to personally. For instance, as we focus on studying God's Word this week and next, we will choose something to study so that we can put into practice the studying-strategies that we learn. This is the most fun part, for me, because I love Bible study! But God is already surprising me with where He is taking me. I decided I would study a particular text and definitely not pick a topic to study. Nothing against topical studies, they're just not my favorite. It just takes more work to figure out the appropriate contexts for passages when you're jumping around to different passages. So I tend to lead more towards studying a passage that has a clear beginning and end. So anyway, I had plans to do that. But then God changed them. He does that a lot, I'm learning. The teacher had a little notecard that listed some topic ideas, and the bottom one caught my eye and made me say, "darn!" The topic was none other than "the tongue." Yuck. God has already been convicting me so much about that lately, and part of me resisted studying that further. But God starting working in my heart, and by the time class ended I knew I needed to choose that one as my topic of study for the week. If the Lord brought up this issue with me last week, then I better go ahead and go as far with Him down that road as possible and learn ALL that I can about it, so I can change and be done having to revisit the issue! And it's only been a couple of days of studying, but I am so blessed by what He is showing me. I love that He loves us enough to take the time to show us where we need to change so that we don't have to miss out on more abundant life with Him. Because of what I wrote last week about words coming from the heart, I've been looking more closely at the heart issues that spur ungodly conversation issues like complaining, nagging, etc., and these heart issues include selfishness, lack of trust, insecurity, and discontentment. Actually, there are sadly a whole lot more, but I'll spare you. And me! But it's been eye-opening to say the least. And incredibly exhilarating, because God never shows us something ugly about our hearts that He doesn't always have the remedy for. And His remedy always showcases His loving grace. So as I deal with those things with Him, and they are of course an ongoing process and time is involved, I know more of His amazing attributes and can have a deeper and sweeter friendship with Him. What a good God. I will try at least once a week to blog about this Bible study journey just as a way to think through what He is showing me and to remind myself of the important things. Just putting this stuff out there in blog-world is hard, but it is a form of built-in accountability that I know is good for me.

Only three more days until Jonah's birthday, and I am getting really excited. Today I made the icing for his cakes, and I've been working on last-minute details. It looks like almost everyone invited is going to be there, so we might have a little crowd on our hands. I thought it would be small just because I figured not everyone could come. Summer birthdays tend to be that way with vacations and all that. So now I have to be praying for good weather, because it would be really cramped in our house to have all those people. It's planned as a backyard party. So join me in praying please, because there's a chance of rain!!! And I have no clue what to do if it rains. Candy, Eric, Jen, and Ciera will be here tomorrow evening, and we have lots of fun stuff planned for their visit, even a trip to a waterpark! Yay! I'm so excited about that. Ready for them to get here. Well, that boy is awake from his nap and yelling "I want out" so I better go get him. And I need to see if I can come up with an alternate dessert for our community group's cookout tonight since I just forgot about the brownies in the oven while I've been blogging! Where oh where has my brain gone?!

Birthday Week

This is going to be one fun, busy week! Five more days until my baby turns two years old! What a little man he is already. This last month has brought so many changes in terms of his speech, developing personality, and a newfound desire for some independence. He's recently started eating cereal with milk out of a bowl and with a spoon, and as if that isn't big-boy enough, when he finished eating today, he picked up the bowl and drank the remaining milk and didn't even spill! That may not sound like a big deal to many, but to this mommy, that's huge! I wanted to cry. =) I just can't wait for him to open his present from us. I already wrapped it, and Jonah excitedly anticipates the day he can open it! It's a really big box (because it holds a train set), and I asked Jonah this morning what he thought was in his present, and he paused for a minute and then confidently exclaimed, "A Red Donut!" Wow. I could have gotten off a whole lot easier with this birthday present thing if I'd known that was his big dream. I guess we'll have a birthday red donut for breakfast that day.

On Friday, my friend Melody (a college friend/roommate) came into town, and it was fun hanging out with her. Actually, it was a very encouraging time. She came over and had lunch with us, then she so sweetly joined me for an errand to Toys R Us, and we spent some good relaxing girl time at Starbucks. Good times. Later that afternoon, Joel and I took Jonah to the pool for his first swimming experience of this year. By the way, I cannot believe we haven't been able to go to the pool this year before June 1st! I think it's the first time I can ever remember that happening in Texas. But it was great fun! The water was still pretty cool, but Jonah loved jumping from the side of the pool into Daddy's arms. He sure wanted to be held the whole time in the water, but when Joel would let go of him, he'd realize about two seconds later that he was ok thanks to his floaties, and he'd get happy. Can't wait until we get to go again!



I'm so thankful for some new energy God has recently given me for a particular relationship in my life. I've been so burdened for someone I love, and I have been disheartened to see this person make some choices that I know will have very destructive consequences. I know that this person hasn't been anywhere in his/her heart that I haven't been, but I am just overwhelmed with gratitude that God did not leave me there and that He provides grace and forgiveness for everyone and LOVES to redeem messed up lives. That is His specialty. I want so much for this person to realize that and embrace a whole new life with Him. I've prayed for so long about my role in it, if it involves speaking out directly and/or a "confrontation" of some sort. Although I've wanted to speak up at times, God has kept me silent, never giving me confirmation that that's what He wanted. So I've just waited and prayed. And just this week, I sense that He's leading me to just pour out love on this person and to really nurture that relationship more. I didn't realize I had stopped doing that, until He pointed it out this week. I never stopped loving this person, but I realized that I had stopped opening up my life as much, I stopped inviting this person in, and I learned that fear of rejection was definitely playing a part. I had no idea. I have to be willing to keep trying, even when there is resistance, keep opening up my life and building a relationship in an effort to let Christ shine through. I cannot be a vessel of God's abundance grace if I close myself off or stop trying to erode the distance that is between us. So I felt refreshed, knowing that God wants me to stop thinking so much about what I can say and more about how I can find opportunities to once again invest in this person on a relational level and surround him/her with God's love. His love is the only thing that changes people anyway. And I will definitely have to look for those opportunities. They are not just coming my way; I'll have to be intentional. And He has already started leading me to some of those opportunities. But I am SO EXCITED about what God is doing in this situation! I realized a few days ago that if He were showing me all of this about how I am to respond to this person, He is STILL AT WORK. Why else would He even be showing me this stuff?! He is working in this person's life. And I may just get to play a role in expressing God's love, so I have to be willing to do that. But He's doing something! That I know for sure. And sometimes when you pray for something for so long and you haven't gotten any signs that change is happening or coming, it gets hard. My friend Kelli calls those signs "glimpses", and that's exactly what I got this week: a glimpse into something God is working on, and it brought hope and encouragement. I can't wait to see how He finishes it! (Phil. 1:6)

Heart Work

Ok, so the Lord has really been showing me a lot of stuff this week about myself. Hard stuff. Yucky stuff. But I am glad He's opening my eyes to some things. One of them is the area of needing to tame my tongue. There's someone in my life that I've always known and have always recognized that person's tendency to be very critical of others, and I didn't want to be that way. Although this isn't the first time God has brought up this issue with me, I am realizing anew my own tendencies to have a critical nature, and I hate it. He's brought conviction to my heart concerning this issue, but He's also given Truth to help combat sin. These are a few that I am clinging to this week, praying for God to make a reality in my life:

Proverbs 13:3 - He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

I want to be more conscious and careful of the words that come out of my mouth, being intentional in refusing words that are of a negative, critical, or condescending tone. Or just idle. My words should always have a purpose whose source is God, or they shouldn't come out of my mouth.

Colossians 4:6 - Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Key word: always. Not just when people aren't bugging me. =) I've realized that when encountering negative, complaining people, I tend to respond by complaining about their complaining! Crazy. Sometimes it's just in my head. Other times, it is in words. Either way, it's not from the Lord. It makes no sense why I do that! I need desperately to learn to respond to complainers with positivity and grace. (Side note: a book that I plan to read soon is Living With Eeyore, How to Positively Love the Negative People In Your Life. I'll let you know how that one is.)

Ephesians 4:29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

How often I neglect the latter part of that verse, which commands us to only say what will edify others and help meet their needs. What need do we all have? We all need Christ. Thus, my words should only point others to Him. What would happen if every word out of my mouth was focused on building others up in Christ? Can you imagine the kind of ministry we'd each have if we really lived with an intentional purpose of using our words to help others know more of intimacy with God and more of His personal, healing touch? Wow. I am disgusted by living purposelessly in so many areas of life, but it's so easy to think that my tongue belongs to me and I can use my words however I'd like. Not the case. God has a purpose for them. He has given them amazing power to play a role in others' spiritual progress. What a gift and privilege to get to participate with Him in something like that. I just need to train myself to stay focused on the purpose of my speech.

Philippians 2:14-15 - Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

Again, another way our speech plays a role in something big that God wants to do. He wants to use us in a compelling way with unbelievers and make us stand out to them, shining like stars in the universe. This verse has everything to do with God's desire to make us look different, for a reason. Not because of what rules we follow but absolutely because of our attitudes. If anything will capture their notice or help them to know more of Him because of how we live, it's our joy. Words are one of the biggest tools we have at our disposal to communicate our joy. Complaining, arguing, and as one translation puts it - "grumbling" will rob us of the ability to demonstrate that joy, rendering us ineffective in God's plan to make us "shine" in such a way that He gets more glory and more people's love. I must keep careful watch over my words to guard against a complaining spirit. For me, it's so addictive. Once I let myself complain about one thing, it's so hard not to complain about a whole lot! I must stop it at the very first sign of complaining. Lord, help me.

Proverbs 31:26 - She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

This description of the famously virtuous "Proverbs 31 woman" has really caught my attention this week in a different way than it ever has before. I am reminded that the way "she speaks" does not have an on/off switch. It is a characteristic of her that remains constant throughout daily life and is not just reserved for certain people whose spiritual gift is teaching or women who are teaching a Bible study or speaking up in one. It is for all of us, all of the time. As one who happens to have been given opportunities and passion for teaching God's Word to other women, this personally speaks to me concerning my consistency with wisdom-speech. I really believe that I will only be as effective in leading or teaching a Bible study as I am with my everyday speech with friends, family, or anyone that God brings my way anytime. I pray to stay motivated by that truth.

Proverbs 16:23-24 - A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

I love the thought of words being sweet to the soul and to the bones, though I'm not sure if that means to the soul and bones of the word-giver or the word-receiver! I'll have to look that one up later. Perhaps it's both. But anyway, the first part of the verse has been a perfect reminder of the source of wise speech. It has everything to do with the heart. I know that's where words originate. So if I want to have a radical change in my word-habits, then I must embrace the very necessary heart activity that must be done first. And what does that look like? It means sitting at the feet of Jesus more often. It includes reflecting on the grace He's given me and cultivating a heart of gratitude for what He has done on my undeserving soul's behalf. If I stay in that place long enough, my words will be words of life. I so want them to be. If I am swimming in His grace for me, then it will be so natural to think about others through the lens of grace as well. I will not be critical or judgmental or merciless towards others, because I will be thinking about how amazing His grace is for both me and them. I want to be in that place.

I spent some time recently being very unfocused in time with the Lord. Studying His Word was not a priority, I lived in a cloud of emptiness and just plain blahness for a few weeks. Halfheartedness never works. And I stayed there too long. I am so thankful for His grace that begs me back and once again makes intimacy with Him such a fabulous thing. It's been so good to be back in the game this week, and I am overwhelmed by all of the things He's pouring into me, even the lessons that are hard to learn like this one. So, this is the journey I'm on right now, aiming to stay walking in grace with Him so that it will be reflected in guarded, purposeful, edifying, life-giving speech. I welcome accountability.

Back in Tejas

We just returned tonight from our visit in Bartlesville, and it was so wonderful! It was really nice getting to stay an extra day, because we usually have to leave on Sunday. We really had a good time. Jonah loves "Homa" and is already ready to go back! Thankfully, we will see Candy, Jeanifer, Eric, and Ciera in 11 days, when they come for Jonah's birthday weekend. Jonah has such a sweet little bond with them and plays non-stop with everyone from the second we get there until we have to practically drag him out the door to go home. Speaking of hard good-byes, I got tears in my eyes watching Jonah say good-bye to Uncle Eric when he had to leave. Jonah kept hugging Eric, and when Eric picked him up one last time to say the official good-bye, Jonah just laid his head on Eric's shoulder for a few seconds because he was sad. It broke my heart. Eric and Jen and Nanny are three of his favorite playmates! Below is a picture of Jonah and Eric making "tall wagons." Heehee. This is what they did for the majority of their playtime the last four days:

On Friday night we went to Kiddie Park, which for those who don't know, is this amazing old-school kids amusement park that opens on the weekends in the summer in Bville and costs 25 cents a ride. Seriously, they don't make them like this anymore. Concessions are like 50 cents. Incredible. Just simple fun rides that are still the same as when Joel would go as a little boy. Jonah was pretty proud of himself for riding all of the stuff he did, although he wasn't crazy about the roller coaster. And the train ride had been built up way too much I suppose, he was bored on that one. But he loved everything else! He had no time for socializing though. He would get off one ride and march over to the next one. There was no time to mess around or talk to his family. He was serious about his rides!



Yesterday afternoon was great....Amber, the oldest niece on Joel's side, graduated from high school this week, so the entire family got together for a cookout at Candy's to celebrate. Well, cookout isn't exactly right. The plans for outdoor activities got canceled due to rain. But we had so much fun anyway. All of Joel's siblings and nieces were there. Everyone hadn't all been together in a long time. For the past year at least, we've been missing one person every time one of these events comes around. So that was fun. It's amazing how fast all of the girls are growing up! See Jonah with his beautiful older girl cousins:

And, congratulations, Amber:

Thursday night, when we got to Oklahoma, everyone went to the graduation except for me and Jonah, since it would be way too late for him to stay up. So my friend Courtney came over for a little while with her two punkins. Her son Jackson was Jonah's first little friend....they were born two weeks apart, and they played together lots during their first 14 months of life (and in the womb, they just don't know it). They just seemed to pick up right where they left off, like they remembered each other as long lost friends! They were being really silly together. Jonah mentioned Jackson at dinner tonight. It was cute seeing them together again. And Courtney's baby Creighton is an angel. Jonah called her "crake-un" and wanted to shower her with kisses. I'm thankful that Courtney stopped by for a visit even though we didn't have much time this weekend to hang out. Watching her carry her almost-two year old on one hip while carrying the baby in the car seat carrier on the other side convinced me that she gets the Rock Star Mom Award! The real Tony Almeda and Jack Bauer:


Other than all of that, we went to church at Grace, and it was good seeing friends there. This morning I met Cindy MacIlvaine, my friend/pastor's wife from there, for coffee and had the best time chatting with her. She is such an amazing woman, and just spending an hour with her today reminded me of one of the sweetest blessings God has given me: the time I spent with the ladies on the Women's Ministry Leadership team at Grace in Bartlesville....those women are jewels. I consider that year with them such a precious experience.

One funny story....the other night, we were eating dinner and about halfway through, Joel reached over to cut up some more of the ribs on Jonah's plate. Jonah said, "More pray" and bowed his head. We all laughed. And then we realized he meant it, so we all stopped eating, bowed our heads and thanked God for the remaining pieces of meat that Jonah was eating. This boy is big on mealtime prayers, I guess! So sweet.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last night, my aunt Joy and uncle Joe took me and Jonah to the Rangers game, and it was a blast. Jonah LOVED it! He did so well. Which is more than I can say for the Rangers so far this season. =( But we had such a good time. When we told Jonah to yell, "Go Rangers!", he said it and it came out, "Go raisins!" We laughed at him so much. He also tasted his first cotton candy, which he refers to as "hot pink" for some reason. He's so silly. We left during the bottom of the 7th, but not because of Jonah. He would have stayed there all night. I was so glad he liked it....I thought we'd be taking turns walking him around the stadium, but it never got to that. He understood that he needed to stay in his seat....well, actually in our row of seats. He was much more into the game than I expected, watching to see if the "mans" would hit the ball with their bat. Daddy would be proud. He made some really fun memories, and I loved sharing them with him and, as always, spending time with my wonderful aunt and uncle. We went back to Athens after the game and spent the night at their house. This outing only got planned yesterday morning, so it was a fun, spontaneous trip to make. Jonah was really wired when we left the ballpark. It was 9:30 when we left, and I thought he'd go right to sleep as soon as we got driving. Oh no, he was so wound up and excited, he didn't go to sleep until 10:30. Maybe it had something to do with the cotton candy! He would be really quiet for a long time and then start talking about stuff from the game. You'd hear him sleepily ramble on about the "ballgame." He especially liked the Dot Race, and he understood that he had the blue ticket, so when the blue dot won, he kept saying, "I won! I won!" Guess we've got a little competitive one on our hands!

Doing the wave:

Reupholstering Chairs

Well, I'm halfway finished with the chairs project. Joel helped me last night and we recovered three chairs. I'm so happy with them! You don't understand, the home improvement projects that I'm told are really simple to do are always disasters when I attempt them. (i.e. wall-texturing). But anyway, these are not perfect, but they are definitely not disastrous. I'm pretty excited. I totally forgot to take a picture of the chairs before we touched them, so I'm posting a picture of the ugly, old, dirty material that was on them previously, so you have an idea:



And here is the finished product:


I'm hoping it's ALL done soon! Jonah has been so sweet, he's gotten his play hammer and "worked" on the chairs with us the whole time.
In other news....I'm a brunette once more.

Doing Laundry With My Boy

Ok, I just can't resist telling you about Jonah helping me with the laundry this morning. It was so funny, I don't want to forget it. He said some hilarious things. I had a massive pile of clean clothes that I needed to fold. I tried to get him interested in something else. It didn't work. He kept telling me, "I clean up, Mommy," as he pulled clothes out of the basket and handed them to me on the couch. He's started saying "Mommy" in or at the end of all of his sentences as if to say, "I'm talking to you. Don't ignore me. You need to respond, Mommy. I will keep saying the same thing until you acknowledge what I have said." Seriously. He follows through with that too. So, Jonah was very determined to help. And he did help, he put things where I told him to and followed directions really well. I cannot believe how long he stayed focused on the task. He did this with me until the very last item of clothing, and I'm telling you, there was a LOT of clothes to fold. He has been initiating the use of "thank you" more, just not really in context usually. For instance, he handed me an article of clothing and sweetly said, "Thank you, Mommy." He kept saying things like, "I like this," and "I like green shirt," as he pulled out one of his green shirts out of the basket. (You can tell he's spent a lot of time shopping with his mommy in his two years of life! He's picked up on a few of my "shopping" comments!) Then, he pulled out a pair of my underwear and said "panties!" which I'd never heard him say before. It sounded so funny, I started laughing. But then he said, "Mommy, I like panties." No kidding! "I like red panties, Mommy." I was rolling. It only got better when he referred to a pair of Joel's boxers as "Daddy's panties"! HEEEHEEEEHEEEHEEEHEEE! I love this kid. How did he end up so funny?!
More Jonah talking stories to come, I'm sure.