A Sermon I listened to today..

If you have 20 minutes (and you probably do if you are reading this) take the time to listen to this message by Alistair Begg. Very challenging truth..

Just click on the link below...

Remorse or Repentance, Part One, B - Broadcasts - Truth For Life

Mommy Monday: Picture Comparisons...

The past few days I have finally organized the bazillion all the pictures of Evelyn I have on the computer. I am glad to have it done, and it was so crazy to look back on all of them. It is absolutely amazing how much a baby develops in the first year. I thought it was neat looking at Ev at different ages with some of the same objects :-)

Kick N'Crawl Gym @ 6 weeks

Kick N'Crawl Gym @ 9 months

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Bath time @ 5 weeks

Bath time @ 9 months

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Hanging with Sydney @ 8 weeks

Hanging with Sydney  @ 8 months

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Laying the crib @ 5 weeks

laying in the crib @ 8 months

standing in crib @ 9 months :-)

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Picture with mommy @ 13 days old

Picture with mommy @ 8 months

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@ 9 months inside...(YIKES!)

@ 9 months outside :-)

SO blessed by this sweet baby girl!

Mommy Monday: Perspective

Sometimes a fresh perspective can work wonders :-) It is kind of funny that my good friend Robyn posted what she did today (read it here!) , because I had a similar thought just this morning! I took Evelyn to the doctor's office this morning because Evelyn has had a cold for several days and its not really getting better and she osunds miserable and has been having trouble sleeping. Any seasoned moms reading this are thinking "Why did you take your baby to the doctor for a mere cold?!".  And I would say, "Cut me a little slack, first-time mom's are supposed to be naive and overreactive!", right :-) haha...I did feel kind of silly because the doctor can't really do anything for her, she just has to let it run it's course. First time mommyhood is basically trial and error, lol. But anyway, while we were waiting in the room I was looking at Evelyn sitting on the table in just her diaper checking out her new surroundings..and for whatever reason my mind was brought to think about those who have children that have/had any type of serious health issues and being in a doctor's office or hospital would be rouine for them (and for MUCH more serious things than the common cold!). I couldn't help but think about how hard it would be to see my child laying there with cords and moniters, in pain- and not be able to help them. Yet I know there are so many who are in or have been in that situation.... And I just thanked God right them and there for Evelyn and her health thus far! Why God has chosen to bless us with such a sweet gift is beyond me, and His loving-care for Evelyn is beyond anything I could ever have for her. And that is simply amazing!

Repentance and Hope

Read this: Psalm 51. Really, do it!

I love this passage. I go to it very often in my quiet time with the Lord. King David's cry to the Lord in the account is such a beautiful and tangible example of  a repentant heart. It also beautifully shows us the hope of restoration following repentance. I was listening to a sermon once and the speaker (I think it was James MacDonald?)  said something like this: "Regret always dwells on he past; always looks back. True repentance always looks ahead; looks forward and breaks through to hope." I don't remember the exact quote, but the concept has stuck with me since. When I am in a place where I need to repent, my attitude and heart-focus shows if I just regret and feel guilty about it, or if I am truly repentant. It is easy to remain in a place focused on self and the sin, instead of moving from there to action and focusing on the Lord's holiness and power over that sin!  Then breaks forth HOPE of forgiveness. HOPE of restoration. HOPE of change! We can have hope because if we are in Christ, we are free from the bondage of sin (looking forward). Repentance is an amazing thing the Lord gives us because it brings forth true joy and a truly restored relationship with the Father! I would say that is an AMAZING thing! We should desire it, and humble ourselves and do it when we have broken that relationship with our deliberate choice to sin. I am so thankful that He is able and willing to thoroughly wash (vs.2) me from my iniquity, and create in me a clean heart (vs 10)!

Video of Evelyn Laughing!

Yeah, I know- reeeeal original post title. I just figured if I titled it as such, it would get more people to come to my blog. Mwahahaha! No one can resist a laughing baby. No one with a heart, that is.  Ha! If I ever come and sit down in the room Evelyn is in, it is almost guaranteed she'll crawl her little self over to me, pull up, and just stand there and bounce and talk or continue climbing. Or lately- whine, whine, whine, because she wants up! This time she thought the faces I was making were pretty funny. She is the cutest! And the last video is of her current favorite noise to make...(P.S. Don't mind the laundry on the floor in the pictures..she likes to pull them out of the basket :D)

Perfect Love

"The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free. Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk." 

~C.S. Lewis

I am such a quote person and I have so many woven throughout my head that have just stuck , and this one came to mind tonight. Reading though the account of the fall in the garden of Eden is so huge; so intense. Created perfection, crowned with man and woman- beautifully and completely in communion with God. Their relationship was pure, unspoiled, unhindered. Then came deception. Through the serpent, Eve doubted God's word, and His very character. Her doubt of God's truth and goodness led to her choice to disobey. And just as God said it would happen, sin and death entered the once perfect world. Enter shame, blame, and broken relationships. And that is where the human race finds itself- in a broken relationship with the Father and in slavery to sin, by nature and by choice. But PRAISE GOD makes broken things beautiful again! I am so thankful that because of Jesus' work on the cross He has made a way to reconcile us to Himself. The relationship that was broken because of my sin is now made whole and alive through Christ and His love for me! But getting back to the quote... in conversation with my Youth Group girls tonight, the question was brought up "Well, if God knew they were going to sin then WHY did he give them the choice at all?". Go back up and read the quote again.Powerful, huh?! How deep, sweet, and fulfilling it is to have someone choose to love you. The fact that He gave us free will just shows how much our God LOVES us and DESIRES a deep intimacy with each of us. That is amazing! The quote is saying, think of the most passionate, fairy-tale, rapturous love between a man and a woman on earth.....that love is DULL compared to the love our God has for us, and the depth of it HE desires! What a humbling thought. Do you know the love of Christ?

Mommy (forgot to post on) Monday: Fall!

I love fall! Evelyn & I are taking full advantage of every nice day we have left before it gets too cold and we are cooped up in the house all winter. Here are some pictures from the nice day today -)

Happy Fall :-)