Breaking Free with Beth Moore

I should be in bed, as I'm meeting some ladies to run in less than 6 hours, but. . .I love the study I am currently doing and wanted to share some bits that have really pricked my heart and/or convicted me.  This is from Beth Moore's Breaking Free:

-. . ."belief is not a feeling.  It's a choice.  We may live many days when we don't feel loved or lovely; but in spite of our emotions, we can choose to take God at His Word".

-"Why do we have such difficulty believing God could love those we perceive as good and those we perceive as bad with the same unfailing love?  Because we relentlessly insist on trying to humanize God.  We tend to love people according to how they act, and we keep trying to re-create God in our image."

-". . .the Word of God uses the phrase "unfailing love" 32 times, and not once is it attributed to humans.  Every single use of the phrase refers to God and God alone.  As rich as the love others can extend, only God's love is unfailing".  

Why then do I continually look to others to love me unfailingly and then become disappointed when they do not???  I must no longer have unrealistic expectations of my husband, friends, and family, but I must begin looking to my Lord and Savior, for the unfailing love I often yearn for.  By coming to the Lord to fulfill this need, not only will I draw nearer to Him, I will also strengthen and deepen relationships with family and friends.

The Lord is so good to give us His Word and godly teachers to spur us on to godliness!  Thank you Beth Moore for spurring me on.

Surfside Beach

Before I begin, I must give all the credit to my photographer. . .Courtney Windley. For those of you who read Jackson's blog, you may feel like this is deja vu. All of the below pictures were taken by Courtney. Thank you friend! My camera's battery died when we arrived in South Carolina and I had neglected to pack the charger.

Though we had every intention of making it to Surfside Beach by 10am on Wednesday, we ended up not leaving Wake County until after 10am. As Matt walked out the door to pack the car at 7am, he realized that his car and house keys were missing from his key chain. We searched for about an hour and a half before giving up (thankfully, our neighbor found the keys in our front yard while we were away). Then, as we were about to head out the door, Ryan catapulted himself off the couch. The back of his head landed with a thud on the edge of the coffee table. Blood immediately started gushing. Because of his hair and the pain he was feeling, it took a LONG time for us to get a good look at the wound to assess whether or not we needed to make a trip to Urgent Care (thankfully we did not). At 9:30 we finally made it out of the house, but because we were down one set of keys, we had to visit our neighborhood Lowes Hardware store to make copies of our house and car keys.

Once we made it down 95 and arrived at Southside Beach, we had a wonderful vacation. Sweet Vera was a joy to be around and Jackson and Ryan were as happy as could be spending day after day together. Like Courtney said in her blog, the best part of the trip were our times of fellowship. Once our little ones were in bed we were able to play games, chat, and laugh together as adults. Though Matt and I knew we would be exhausted for staying up late each night, we determined it was worth every yawn and bout of exhaustion we would face the next day. We are so grateful for good friends.

Here's a little aside. . .it has been a long time since Matt and I have gamed together and unfortunately, our competitive spirits got the best of us in the 3rd round of Chinese Rummy on Friday night (Bobby and Lanie, you know how it is!!! :)). A contentious "buy" sparked the "spirits". In the car on the way home, we re-visited the "buy", and though the conversation began with much tension, we quickly moved on. It is funny that that which attracts us most to our spouses can also be that which causes us the most tension. I love Matt's competitive spirit and liveliness. . .BUT not when he attempts to steal a buy from me in a round of Chinese Rummy. :)

As an aside, the food was great! Boy did I learn a lot about Southern eating habits. Who knew that people SALT their watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey dew? Have you ever heard of a PIMENTO-CHEESE sandwich??? Did you know that people eat zucchini and okra fried? Forget that, do you even know what okra is? And all I can say about boiled peanuts is. . .DISGUSTING (thank you Mike for this experience)!

My sweetie enjoys a pool of water dug by her Daddy. This little girl and her daddy spent special time together at the beach. Two days in a row they hit the beach while Ryan (and I) napped. This girl might be a beach bum like her daddy. Don't worry Grandma. . .she was well SPFed the whole time. :)

The two buddies enjoy the sand. Actually, more than enjoying the sand, they enjoyed showering each other with sand.

The boys loved playing in the water. Jackson is so fun to watch. He loves the water washing over him and easily recovers when his head goes under. It is a joy to watch these boys play together, enjoying friendship at such young ages. And their enjoyment of the water allowed Courtney and me to have some good fellowship.

Really, this picture is uneventful, as I'm pulling Madeline on a boogie board. But since I'm rarely in pictures with the kids, I thought I would include this one.

Jackson graciously shared his floatie with Ryan, and Mr. Mike taught Ryan how to ride the waves. As you can see from the look on his face, Ryan LOVES wave riding.

Madeline was brave in her attempt to ride the waves, but she decided that she would rather collect sea shells and dance along the water line.

How funny is this??? Ryan is attempting, with all his might, to pull his friend Jackson. Though the picture is a still image, this activity produced NO motion (I don't think Ryan understands the laws of physics and mass, combined with the fact that Jackson weighs a few pounds more than him).

The beach is never complete without a trip for ice cream! The memorable part of this ice cream trip is that we drove in a golf cart to get there. Though I love sweet Jackson, he really put a crimp in my ice cream "style". I am usually able to sneak at least a quarter of Ryan's ice cream onto my own spoon, but not on this trip. Each time I made an attempt to "help" Ryan, Jackson informed me that it was Ryan's ice cream, not mine.

I cannot get enough of this sweet face and smile. I love my girl.

Jackson and Ry enjoy some down time at the end of the day. Isn't it sweet how they sit together!?

Oh, I almost forgot. . .our first night at Surfside we went miniature golfing. Courtney and I golfed with the kids. If I had known this would have been an aerobic activity, I would have skipped my run that morning. We ran after their balls, chased them down rocks, coaxed them away from ledges, and ran from one side of the hole to the other, supervising their shots and keeping them from going to the next hole, where people were playing. Though exhausted by the end of 18 holes, we had a great time. The kids were so cute with their plastic clubs.

One of the greatest things about our church is the love, interest and care everyone shares for the children. It is so special and unique and such a great earthly demonstration of God's love for children. Matt and I are continually overwhelmed and overjoyed by the love that our brothers and sisters at the Bridge shower upon our children. It is a great earthly blessing. We love that our children are growing up influenced and shaped by these special "family" members.

A note from Matt about healthy eating.

I just wanted to say that someone needs to talk to my wife about this adding healthy stuff to our food kick. There are just some foods that need to be left alone. I don't eat pizza and hamburgers to get a little extra flaxseed in my diet. I think it is great to introduce our kids to healthy foods, but please, don't ruin our kids view of the good ones. I don't want our kids to have nightmares when someone asks them over for hotdogs or spaghetti; or to think that pizza has a bad oatmeal and wheat grain grittiness to it. I've tried to explain that taste buds do change. I eat things now that I never would have eaten when I was little (yes mom, I now eat hummus...and like it!). I am afraid that soon nothing will be sacred. We'll be having to add broccoli spears to our mint chocolate chip ice cream. Please, talk to her!

1st Urgent Trip to Urgent Care

Today our sweet boy introduced us to the world of Dermabond. As we cleaned up from church, the children ran around squealing and enjoying stroller rides from Ms. Jen. As I swept, I heard a loud thud and then I heard the crying. I knew it was Ryan. I ran to him and scooped him up. Instantly I knew we were heading to Urgent Care, as he had run into the corner of a metal doorway and I could tell that the wound was deep. Though it was emotionally painful to see Ry in such pain, it was a huge blessing that this happened at church. EVERYONE was so caring and concerned and calm and helpful. It helped me not to cry and make it worse for Ry. Thankfully, a pediatric urgent care is less than half a mile away at our Harris Teeter shopping center. After a quick evaluation, the two sides of our boy's skin were glued back together. Since the wound was deep and not wide, he did not need stitches. Though we will avoid the pool and wrestling this week, all is well. Matt is a little concerned that this is going to hugely affect Ryan's modeling career, but the doctor told us not to worry, the scar should be minimal. :)

Thank you friends for caring for our sweet boy today and being a great encouragement to our family. And thank you Jen for picking Madeline up and holding her on your lap. . .she REALLY needed it! We love you all and are so grateful for our Bridge family.

4th Fun

Aside from the wheat bran, oat, wheat flour, flaxseed, banana pancakes, we had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July. The day started with some great family veg time on the coach watching sports center and cmt with Daddy. Ryan buried Mommy with pillows, which Mommy loved. . .little did Ry Ry know Mommy was enjoying a rare mid-morning nap beneath all that stuffing. :) We then headed outside to ride bikes, play baseball and soccer, and garden a bit.

Our neighborhood had a fun 4th lunch. We enjoyed Randy's pizza, Subway subs, a moon bounce on the tennis courts, and neighbors. The only drawback was the scorching heat!!!

Check out this little patriot. This was actually supposed to be a picture of Ryan and Madeline, but someone was a little grumpy. . .

A picture of our sweet girl after she fully immersed herself in the pool for the first time.

Madeline and Chase were sweet buddies in the pool yesterday. They kept swimming away together, chit chatting as they went. They even encouraged each other to put their faces in the water.

I see Ms. Courtney, Pastor Mike, Mr. Andy, red hair (:)), Madeline, Ryan, Chase, and Ian.

Ry swims to Daddy with no floaties. The boy is about to start swimming on his own. I have a feeling that he will be swimming before Maddie. Yesterday he discovered how fun it is to go all the way under the water. Captions too be continued. . .

Mr. Andy twirls Ty and Jacob around and they squeal in delight.

Mr. Tim sneaks up on Madeline and gives her a scare.  Madeline LOVES Mr. Tim.

Jackson, one of Ryan's bestest friends, is crazy in the water.  The boy has no fear in the water. . .hence the vest.  Perhaps 16 years from now we will be watching him in the water at the Summer Olympics.  Knowing Jackson, his event will be the high dive.  What do you think Courtney? :)

Our sweet friends.  Check out Jackson floating on his back!  And there is Madeline attempting to swim to Daddy without floaties.

Ty and his Daddy, Mr. Tim.  Yes, Ty is actually standing on his Daddy's hands.  Ty, also one of Ryan's bestest friends, LOVES the water and is already somewhat swimming.  I'm actually really grateful that Tim and Anna are still friends.  As I was playing with Ty in the water and helping him swim to his daddy, Anna told me to go ahead and let go.  Duh?!  What was I thinking.  Of course Anna was joking, but I did not realize it and I let go of sweet Ty.  Thankfully, it was momentarily and thankfully, Anna was very forgiving and Ty had no idea that Ms. Lauren almost abandoned him in the water. 

Where are Ryan and Daddy. . .oh wait, that's them under the water!!!

Ryan now loves going under with Daddy and coming back up.

Healthy Eating or Crazy Momma?

I may be going (or have already gone) off the deep end, but I'm getting great enjoyment out of lacing our favorite foods with healthy "stuff". This week I made apple, flaxseed, wheat bran muffins. I added beans to pasta and made a meatloaf with spinach, carrots, oats, and wheat bran. And this morning we had pancakes made with flaxseed, oats, wheat bran, and bananas. I figure that anything covered in syrup tastes good and Madeline and Ryan seemed to enjoy them (I have a feeling that Matt will miss his white flour pancakes when he finishes his workout and comes up to the kitchen, but my honey will eat anything to keep food from going to waste. . .I hope I'm not exploiting him :)). The meatloaf was not the greatest success, but I discovered that left over meatloaf can be placed between buns with a slab of cheese and ketchup to be disguised as a cheeseburger--Madeline and Ryan loved their cheeseburgers (and so did Matt and I :)).

I'm all for enjoying food--everyone who knows me knows my sweet tooth. . .especially when it comes to ice cream. But I feel like it is so easy to constantly eat food that is empty of nutritional value. Most children live on goldfish, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and pizza. And then we wonder why American adults are overweight and eat poorly. A love (or even an appreciation) for healthy food is not innate, just like manners do not come naturally to children and exercise is a daily discipline. It is something we must teach ourselves and our children if we hope for them to grow up and live healthy lifestyles. I know I'm on my soapbox, but I feel so passionately about living and teaching a healthy life style, and I'm frustrated that wherever I turn, my children are inundated by food choices with no health value, but that taste yummy. So, I will continue to sneak in my powerhouse nutrients and offer them fruit and yogurt for snacks and insist that they try everything on their plates at each meal. My hope is that they will learn to appreciate good, healthy food and then enjoy a blizzard or two at DQ each week or a Big Mac and fries at McDonalds.

Blueberry Picking

Yesterday, we made our 3rd annual trip to pick blueberries with the Shields' Family. Though the ripe blueberries were scarce and the field was filled with red ant mounds, the fellowship was wonderful and the kids had a fantastic time (when they were not recovering from red ant bites:)).

Ms. Laura and sweet baby Keegan.

Ryan and Riley had a wonderful time running through the blueberry bushes after each other.

Mommy and her pretty princess.

Madeline and Ryan had quite a trip riding in the Shields' new car. Not only were they surrounded by some of their favorite friends, they also got to watch a movie while we drove. And thanks to the movie, Laura and I got some special connect time. . .though interrupted often, it was still adult conversation!!!