My Little Recycling Inventor

Kristofer loves robots. He thinks, eats and sleeps robots. If he has tape or glue what ever little objects he can find will be turned into a robot. Lately he is saving my recyclables and is using them to create his one of a kind robots. The one above is made from a juice bottle, bubble bath bottle, water bottle, soda can, spout off the water bottle and a brownie box. When he is not building robots he is making his own robot costumes (see below). His creativity and excitement to build and create is awesome! He amazes us all the time with his latest creations.

Holy Kids

My little man Eli! He has been begging me to pull this tooth out since May! Seriously! He hates being last for stuff like this. His twin sister Sara lost both of her top teeth this summer and he has felt a little left out. Today his big brother yanked it out. He came screaming into the living room, "Mommy it's out!" and then came the worried voice..."Will the tooth fairy find me?" I reassured him that if he put his tooth under the pillow he was sure to find some treasure under it in the morning :)
A dear friend, Deanna, posted this under this picture I placed on Facebook with the same title, "In more ways than one! They are being raised in the ways of the Lord." I agree with her 100%. I am not perfect! Never have been and never will be. But what I do know is that we are doing our best to instill faith in God and teaching our kids about His ways and how important it is to pray daily. To be thankful for the little things and rejoice with their siblings when something good happens and be compassionate and want to pray for each other when things are not so good. The Bible tells us to "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Prov 22:6
I pray that all four of my kids when they get older will serve the Lord. That doesn't I want them to go into ministry. That is an individual walk. Sometimes you hear people say, "Jonny will one day take over the family business." That is not something I am forcing on my kids. Yes I want them to serve the Lord but they don't have to be a pastor to do that. I am also not saying that I would discourage them from full time ministry. It's a rough job, consists of a lot of sacrifice but is SO WORTH IT! So for now we will keep teaching them God's ways, teaching them what the Bible says and keep praying over them daily.

"What is your Passion?"

So many things have been crossing my mind. Not even sure which way to turn. My mind is full of thoughts and dreams. Of which right now I cannot share. A couple of weeks ago during a job interview I was asked, “What is your passion?” First of all that question completely took me by surprise! It wasn’t a question I had even considered being asked, not for this job in particularly. I’ll be honest I was like a deer in head lights and if you have even seen a deer in headlights, of which I have seen way too many times, they do not move! Thankfully I have been very blessed to have never hit one (praying that stays that way too!) Anyway, I was taken off guard and it may have cost me the job. But I don’t think it is by coincidence that I was asked this. I truly believe God orchestrates everything even questions like this.
So for the last few weeks it has weighed heavy on my heart. I honestly for a while couldn’t answer it. Which is sad! But honestly when I look deep inside I do know what my passion is. I have just been too scared to face it. Why?! I have no idea! But my dear friend, Michele, helped me today realize that I do have passion for something. She also helped me come up with some ideas on what I can do to work that passion into a career. THANK YOU MICHELE!
I am excited about what is coming next. A bit overwhelmed but excited. I know God is going to use this as a catapult and throw me into the center of His ultimate plan for my life. I can say it will help our ministry eventually! :) As the days move forward I will share more as I learn more. Many steps have to be taken but I have something to be excited about!!! YAY!
Oh and today Sean got called for two jobs! YAY! Tomorrow he will be going for an interview for a position working with troubled teens. If they offer him the job he is going to take it :). If not he will go on Thursday to start the process of working for Nestle, the factory here makes Hot Pockets…yum! :) Either way God is going to provide for our needs!
Let me close this post with this ~ What is your passion? As my friend said to me today, finish this sentence ~ I am the happiest when I am ....? I hope you know what your passion is and if you don't I hope you find it! I have known what mine is, it just got lost in the shuffle of life and put on the back burner. Well sorta...but that is for another post at a later date :)

Randomness

As we settle into this new home, new community, new routine we are enjoying this time of rest. As pastor's of a church or on staff often times I have not been able to sit next to my husband during a sermon or stand near him during worship. I am SO LOVING being able to do that again. I know it's only for a short time. We are believing that God is opening a door to ministry here. What do i mean by ministry....a church, a pastoring position in a local church. We will know something by the end of Sept possible not until sometime in Oct. (we think). Should this door not open then He has another plan. We are also as I have stated before waiting for jobs to open. Which is really tough but know God has a plan and we are standing on His promises to provide for our every need. If He provides for the little birds and provides for the spider below then how much more will He provide for us!This lovely garden spider is still residing in our front garden. Some children came over yesterday and tried their best to knock it down and kill it...but it was survived.
In our back yard we have a HUGE pear tree. I have never seen nor picked a pear from a pear tree. This is such a nice surprise and blessing. The other day I was outside picking pears and had to take this shot. These pears are the SWEETEST pears I have ever taken a bite out of. We have had such an abundance that someone came and parked his truck on the other side of the tree and removed all the pears at the top. Which honestly does upset me that he didn't even come and ask for permission...he would have gotten it anyway...but seriously isn't that considered stealing? Needless to say there are no more pears. :( Something that is pretty cool about having the tree is that we have a bunch of butterflies. They have been attacked to the many rotting pears. The kids have LOVED seeing all the different kinds of butterflies.
Butterflies always represent new life...and we believe without a doubt that God brought us here to breath new life into us but also into this community. We know His plans are great and we are excited about what He is going to do!
Last but never least...this was the first day of school for our diaperheads. They are not so little anymore! 5th, 3rd and 1st grades...geez...sometimes I wonder what happen to the diaper toddling years...oh yea I was loosing my mind with 4 under 4 in diapers! :) oh how I miss those days!

Waiting

Waiting....waiting...waiting! If there is one thing I hate to do it's wait! I do not like to wait for anything. Oh I know the cliche "The best things in life are worth waiting for!" Yes I do agree with that. I waited what seemed to me like a long time for my husband to come into my life...now sitting back and looking at things I realize it wasn't a long time to wait. I have a dear close friend who is waiting for hers and she has most definitely been waiting much longer than I ever did!
Right now we are waiting! Waiting on God to open the right doors that are a perfect fit for us and our family. We are also waiting on the open doors for ministry. I tell you right now it is like right in our grasp and to be honest I do have feelings of doubt that we will obtain what is in front of us. Will it hurt...maybe...just more disappointment to be honest. Will it stop us from serving our Savior...NO! Will it make me curse God...no! I will stand firm on what I know and that is that HE HAS THE PERFECT plan for Sean, our family and me. Until He opens the door we are staying in a constant state of prayer, reading His word, preparing for when the door does open. For we know it is coming soon! Where that door will lead we don't know. But we do know He is in charge and we will be moving forward in Him no matter what!

My Boys (the 4 legged ones)

Oddie being a little stinker! He found a new hobby that isn't a great one that is for sure but he sure was having fun digging to China...LOL! He is so small that when he fell in you could barely see him.The the boys, Bentley and Oddie, found Sara's ball and well as you can see had a grand ole' time. What a way for Sara to learn to put her things away! LOL! She was pretty mad at them but understood it was her fault for not putting them away.
I love my two 4 legged boys! The irritate me to death sometimes but they are so stinkin' cute and always want to be near me and loved on that I just can't stay mad at them for long. Thankful God has blessed us with a home that our pups do not have to "stay" outside and can snuggle with me on the couch or in my bed. They bring us all so much joy!