Noah Asked Jesus to Live in His Heart!

Every night at bedtime we pray with Noah. We say, "Thank you for..." and he fills in the blanks. Then we finish off, and I always make sure I pray that Noah will ask Jesus to be his Saviour and live in his heart. Well tonight, after Noah thanked God for Mommy, Daddy, Adam and "me", I prayed the same thing again, and Noah asked about Jesus living in his heart. I asked if he wanted to ask Jesus to live in his heart and he said yes! So we prayed together. Noah prayed (repeating after me, of course!), "Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me. Please live in my heart and be my Saviour. Amen."

Then Noah wanted to tell Daddy about Jesus living in his heart! I know he's only two and this is a first step to a relationship with God, but I'm so thankful that he's on his way to knowing and loving Jesus. Ian and I made a big deal out of him doing this, and reminded him that now Jesus would always be with him. He went to bed very happy!

I'm thankful to God for allowing us to lay this foundation with our children. I just pray that both Adam and Noah will grow to be men of God, standing up for truth and standing strong in their faith. Praise the Lord for these first steps!

Our {Spiritual} Family Heritage

This summer, Ian's parents took us all to Jamaica for a family vacation. And by "all", I mean Stephen, Twyla, Ivy, Davis, Spencer, Wendy, Andrew, Heather, Graham, us and Locksley and Margo. What an amazing trip!

It is so amazing to see a country from the perspective of someone who was born and raised there. When you think of Jamaica, usually you think of the tourist-y beaches and hot weather. But Locksley showed us about the people. He took us on some tours of some amazing places there (still tourist tours, but amazing to see with him).

We are so fortunate to have been able to do this. Our boys are so lucky. I hope they will remember, though I know Noah is pretty small. I really appreciate that Locksley wanted to share that part of his life with us and show our boys about part of their roots.

It is so important to know our family heritage, especially being a child of God. We are heirs with Christ. God sees us as His children. We need to remember our spiritual heritage as well as our earthly heritage so that we will not become tangled in the things of this world. This is a lesson God has been trying to show me this summer (I say trying because I haven't been listening very well). But I think I'm starting to get it.

I find that during the summer, I tend to put God on the backburner because Ian's home and we're not in our regular routine. I've been letting busyness get in the way of my relationship with God. I need to get back to my roots and learn about my Family Heritage by spending time in God's Word and spending time with my Father.
What a treasure to have the whole family together.

{I've posted more photos here.}

On Motherhood

Wow! It's been awhile since I've posted. My mom was just visiting us from B.C. She left this morning. We were all sad to see her leave, as it was nice to see her. It's weird how much you realize you need your mom when you become a mom! The boys just love her too. She had special time with both of them, and I think it made them feel really important.

Adam celebrated his fourth birthday this weekend. Where has the time gone? He is no longer anywhere near being my baby. I can't believe he's starting preschool in the fall. Time really should slow down as we get older instead of speeding up! I really need to make sure I take the time to enjoy every minute I get to spend with my boys, especially since right now they still want to spend time with me. I know that will change, and then I'll wish they were small again and still needed me!

But for now, they're still my little boys who need their Mommy. I'll enjoy it while I can.

Patience and Poop!

Well, yesterday morning when I went to get Noah up, his diaper had overflowed up the back and there was poop all over his crib. What a way to start the day! He ended up getting a bath, and I had to wash all the bedding - sheet, pillowcase, bed cover, crib pads, etc. Fun, fun.

Well, I didn't think anything else of it until after nap time yesterday afternoon. When I went in to get Noah up from his nap, he had somehow managed to get all of his clothes and diaper off, and guess what? Oh yes, there was poop all over the place again, even on the walls! Well, Noah looked at me and said, "Bath!" Who'd have thought that a 22-month-old could be so clever? He loves baths, and he had discovered a way to get one!

Suffice it to say that it was more of a hosing off than a bath that time, and I was a lot less patient than I had been in the morning! Again I had the joy of washing all of his bedding again, along with the wall.

Oh, the joys of motherhood. I should have taken a picture, but I wasn't feeling very "capture the moment-y" at that time! (This photo is actually from last week, not yesterday.)

Hugged by God

I had the most amazing time of prayer this morning. It wasn't anything long or out of the ordinary. It has actually been awhile since I've had a good prayer time - I've been too "busy" to stop and talk to God, so I've been missing Him. (Of course, it's my own fault - I chose to do other things... why don't I ever learn?)

Anyway, I had a lot of dreams about my dad last night, and I was just thanking God for being my Abba Father, "Daddy God". I suddenly felt God hugging me. It was the most surreal, amazing, fantastic feeling I've ever had. I felt like I was just curled up on His lap and I could actually feel His arms around me. Does that sound bizarre? I just sat there and basked in His presence and enjoyed my hug from my Daddy. He really is the Father to the fatherless and the loving Father.

I just had to share my wonderful moment from this morning. I pray that I never forget that feeling or forget how much God loves me and just wants me to trust Him as my Daddy. What an awesome God.

My Birthday

Well, today is my 34th birthday. I have to say that this has been one of my best birthdays ever! My mom sent me flowers yesterday and we had a great chat on the phone.

This morning, I went out for a bit, and when I got home, this beautiful picture was in my mailbox. My sister-in-law, Twyla, drew this for me. It's a picture of my dad with Adam and Noah. Since he passed away ten years ago, he never got to meet my kids. I know he would have made a wonderful grandpa. I had tears in my eyes when I saw this. It's amazing how much my boys look like my dad. What a wonderful gift. I know we'll all see each other in heaven and my dad will meet his grandsons, but for now, this is a wonderful reminder of my dad.

Then at noon, my friend, Sherri, showed up with lunch for me and we had a great visit. Later, my other sister-in-law, Wendy, stopped by with a vase of lilies for me. She had decorated the vase with Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons! A woman after my own heart! LOL!

My boys actually slept this afternoon so I had some time to myself. Very nice!

When Ian gets home, we're all going out for supper. It will be nice to not have to cook!

All in all, a great day.

My Boys - Brothers and Friends

It just brings a smile to my heart to see my boys getting along. On Saturday morning they were in their "jammies" playing. They kept hugging each other, falling on the ground, laughing and wrestling. It was so much fun to watch, and it brought such joy to me! Although they do have their moments when they fight with each other, so far they seem to like each other.

This is such a relief to me, as my sister and I were never close. I remember even as a very young girl that I didn't want her around (how horrible is that?). My mom tells of a time when I was four and my sister was two, and she got lost at a store. While my mother panicked, I kept talking excitedly about how wonderful life would be now that she was gone. My mom did not appreciate that very much. I would like to just explain that I was not a Christian until I was an older teenager, so I didn't have a lot of Christian virtues!

As we got older, we tolerated each other. We played together, but we never really had much in common. I was the "brain" and she was the "jock", although we both did well in school and enjoyed sports (these were just the personas we adopted and our activity choices reflected this). I looked out for her as an older sister, but we were never really good friends.

When I became a Christian, we grew even further apart as she became involved in Eastern philosophies, New Age practices and an immoral lifestyle. The death of our dad also threw her into a tailspin and she pushed away from our family almost completely.

I really believe that without a common belief system, it is more difficult for siblings to really be friends. Of course I love my sister, but we don't understand each other at all. My prayer for my boys is that they would both come to know the Lord and grow close in their walk with Him. I pray they will look out for one another and be genuine friends. I pray that they will get along and help each other as they grow in their faith.