How Blessed Am I...

God has blessed me so many times in my life with amazing friends!  For a few years after we moved, I really had not ONE!  I prayed for just one!  I had the phone to catch up with "old" friends but not one that I could see face to face or have coffee with.  I felt so lonely!  It was a time of leaning on God as a friend and my relationship with Him grew into something that was so amazing!  He was my friend...He showed me His heart and I desired to have His heart!   I am so thankful for that time!  How blessed am I!

Now, after years of praying for a "friend"  God has abundantly blessed me!  I have some people that he has placed in my life for this moment and this time that have been EXACTLY what I needed!  I have learned to continually run to God first but I also now have some ladies I can share my heart with and they love me just the way I am.  I feel so privileged and honored to be in their lives!  They have become my sister's and we have the same Heavenly Father and we share the same heart...to have the heart of our Father's!  How blessed am I!

Over the years, my mom became a friend to me.  I realized she knew WAY more than I thought she did!  I began to share my love for God and she shared her love for Him with me.  ALL the time by living it and I observed it knowing I wanted what she had!  She passed that longing for God down to me and it grew in my heart.  That is where it all began!  I could NEVER repay her for that!  It is why I live and breath!  How do you thank someone for that?  I can't even begin to show her, but mom...thank you!  Because of you, mom...I want so much to have the heart of Heavenly Father!  How blessed am I!

My daughters are also becoming my "friends"!  They are 17, 15, and 13 and growing up!  It is so fun to share the things of God!  We cry together, laugh together and yes, even have those little moments of 'ARGH..." with each other but it is so very precious!  I wonder can your daughter's be your sister's in Christ?  I think so!  What a joy to discover that and after all the years of raising them, you begin to see the rewards!  I have pointed them to God and now...they have the heart of their Heavenly Father!  How blessed am I!

My husband is my BEST friend and words cannot express the love we share!  I am overwhelmed at the way he loves and accepts me and how much he has sacrificed for me!  I can tell him my deepest longings and dreams!  He does not laugh at me when I talk about things that sound crazy.  He just sits and listens and nods his head in agreement.  He has seen my joy and my tears and loves me with a love I never thought I would find on this earth!  He is my friend and we share one desire...to have the heart of our Father!  How blessed am I!

My heart is overflowing with joy because He has given me the gift of friendship in so many ways!  Not because He had to but because He has choosen to and He knew it would bless my heart!  Friends who point me to Him and the cross!  I hope I can be the friend God has called me to be and when this life on earth for me is through, I will have blessed other's because I have had the heart of my Heavenly Father! 

To all of you I have considered my "friend" through all these years...thank you, I am honored to know you and so thankful God has given you to me!

How blessed am I!

What little girls do...

It's been about 10 years since I have had a chance to watch a little girl mother a baby doll. 

Oh how I have missed it! 

Our baby of the house is SO into dolls and caring for them and she is just shy of 18 months! 

 It is so very precious! 

 Sunday morning before church, she was in her room putting her baby "nigh nigh" then wiping her nose and putting a blanket over her. 

For some reason she thought the blankie was to go over the doll's face but hey...you gotta start somewhere! 

 I have come to find out through the years, this nurturing for little girls is inborn and such a joy to watch! 

 I just had to share our morning with you, I know you will be saying, "Awwww, how cute!" 

 It would be impossible to think any different!  Enjoy!

Mommy with the REAL baby!

She spy's HER baby

She is in love

 Yes...kisses

 Putting on the final blankie

 "Mommy, are you sure that it goes on her tummy?"

 She thinks it goes over her face

Ending it with a final kiss!

It's just what little girl's do!

 



Foto Friday ~ annual "Turning Hearts" picnic

Over Labor Day, we went to the annual "Turning Hearts" picnic at the Bontrager's home. It is to remind us the purpose God has for families...to have our hearts towards our homes. Father's leading, loving and sharing the love of Christ with thier children so they can go out and spread the Word of Christ with others. A Godly heritage to pass on to the next generation. Mother's learning how to encourage, support and share also in the responsibility. It is FILLED with big families and kids EVERYWHERE!

The Bates family from "United Bates of America" show on TLC, were the guest speakers. They were also there last year and once again, Gil Bates did an amazing job reminding us that our job at home cultivating our children's hearts is more important than ANY other job we will ever do.

Besides the Bates, who have 19 children, we won a prize for having the largest family there! (However, there was a family there who had 11 and we gave them our CD because we are nice like that!) :) My HUGE complaint and ONLY complaint was the heat! It was pushing 100 degrees and humid! I made it hour by hour and after my kids kept telling me I could make it, I made it 7 whole hours! :) I don't regret it a bit! Here are a few pictures to share our day! If you are ever in good ol' Iowa next year, I HIGHLY suggest you come to the picnic!

First view of a cow

Stare down

sitting by the rural "sky scraper"

(my 4 year old said it was a "weally talllll sky squayper)

Yes, the cows were the hit of the day for our boys

Farmer wanna be's!

I myself, prefer the Bates Family over cows

enjoyin the show

new friends

great friends

using a leaf blower to inflate the bounce house

(quite a creative idea in my opinion!)

We did locate some of our "old" friends also

ice cream was a HUGE hit of the day

yep...watching the cows still!

more friends and ice cream

boys playing football

And just plain FUN!

 

Malachai 4:6

And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers...

 

How do you know....

I have been taking note lately just how amazingly awestruck I am with my life with MANY boys!  Day after day, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the things I hear, say and do with all the "activity" from testosterone floating, jumping, and hitting me in the face!  (Pun intended!) 

I really have discovered that I must learn to laugh at it all because if I did not, I might go find a hole and just lay there for a few years in panic!

So......
How do you know when you have many boys in your home?
Here are some clues:

• there are baggies of bullet casings all over your home, car, and possibly your bed
• you find yourself on the phone with the plumber asking him what will happen when a stick of butter is lodged in your toilet and if it's ok to flush
• all broken electronics end up being taken apart and then pounded with a hammer after all the screws and pieces are dissected
• you look out your front door and someone is flinging an earthworm around like a lasso because it stretches when you do that...and then you might be asked if that is funny
• you hear giggling from the shower and RUN to get there knowing something is not right if something is THAT funny and then find out they have discovered that if toilet paper is wet and you throw it, it will stick to the ceiling, walls, and yes...mom!
• a closet shelf becomes a new climbing adventure and the contents of the shelf remain on the floor
•  you have a variety of boys underwear to pick from and no longer know which ones are truly yours and you really don't care if they are yours or your brothers you are just thankful there are clean ones to put on
• actually, you really don't care much about the clean part either
• your brother will be first to speak up on all your your failures and mistakes but you can't remember a thing that you did wrong!
• food is used to eat but also LOTS of fun to throw!
• when you break any 10 of your fingers, mom no longer takes you to the doctor...she just buddy tapes it and tells you to go run and play
• the oldest brother was potty-trained at the age of 2, your youngest one is 3 and mom is just not worried how and when it will happen
• when you are the baby sister, all you have to do is stand and scream and everyone either runs from you or runs TO you depending on the situation
• you find yourself ducking and flinching because there are things flying through the air many times a day
• you begin to think NFL players are part of the family because their names are brought up as much as cousins are
• neighbors look in your yard and just assume that any extra boys in the yard are yours too
• you find yourself wondering why you even have a toilet in your home...they never use it and if they do...their aim is so bad that you have to clean the floor  multiple times a day
• you start wishing they would just go outside and go relieve themselves because it would save on cleaner
• by the end of the day, mom has an entire dandelion bouquet on the kitchen window sill
• mom walks into church after all the boys with the fire alarm going off and while everyone is frantically running around trying to figure out what has happened, mom begins to quickly put the pieces together that one of her innocent little ones has set it off and must admit and apologize to one of the elders!
• The next week, 2 of the boys are standing at the alarm with their hands on it looking at you with a smile on their faces pretending they are going to pull it...you run towards them lunging in fear and they run
• you spend MANY more hours than you normally would on your knees knowing it is the only way you can survive the next day!

I would not trade my life for ANYTHING and although my many boys have increased my grey hairs immensely, it is worth it all!  The other day we were at our local bowling alley and I could not figure out why 4 of the boys were digging in their pockets and intently staring at a certain game.  Eventually the 10 year old came running over to inform me that they put their quarters together to try and win mom a necklace!  My heart skipped a beat knowing they wanted to use their hard earned (or stolen money from their sister's billfolds), to get mom a gift!  I smiled and told all of them thank you but please next time, save their money and make me a card!  It blessed my heart and I realized that someday, this will all be a memory and I will look back and laugh and then cry because I will miss it!

Boys are somethin' and they do keep me on my knees but I think that is where God wants me anyway and what a joy to be given such a gift as He has given me in my boys to get me to that place of surrender! 

I'm so thankful for my boys!  (And my girls too!) 


 

Promiseland...

Saturday, we entered 'Promiseland'...

AFTER all of the complaining!

Alllll morning I heard,

"When are we going to be there?

When we will leave?

Why is it taking so long?

How much longer?

I don't want to wait anymore!

What will we do when we get there?

I want to go NOW!"

I got a teesy weensy taste of what God went through hearing the Israelites complain all of those 40 years!

I went through it for about 3 hours and about lost my mind!

Our Promiseland was a bit different I am sure but we did have fun!

Our weekend consisted of lots of music, people sharing the true Word of God, and LOTS of fun!

We first started with a picnic...

Then we all grabbed a chair...

And watched the 3rd strongest man in the world,

AKA~ Big Bubba,

 blow up a hot water bottle with his OWN lungs

 and give an AMAZING testimony of what God has done in his life!

The kids LOVED riding this...

and climbing this!

We watched 'Big Bubba' play tug of war against 6 other guys

Firehouse Children's Ministry was there to share the love of Christ with the smallest of the crowd

And to cool off, there was a HUGE water slide

(I did take part but REFUSE to show pictures!)

I prefer that you all return to this blog!

There was more of this...

and this...

Then some singing and praising

 And more cooling off

(The dark clouds in the background, stayed there all day but never came towards us!)

There was also some of this by the little one

 After praising there was praying! 

I love seeing those little heads bowed talking to our Savior!

I enjoyed the scenery!

Those are lily pads in a pond all in bloom!

There was frisbee

and I'm not sure what they are looking at...

And LOTS of friends, fellowship and love!

The Promiseland Fest was an amazing time of seeing God's love pouring out and overflowing!

Many lives were touched and changed by the moving of the Holy Spirit!

Can't wait to do it again next year!