"He must become greater; I must become less" Journaling our quest to give thanks and bring HIM the glory in all that we do.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday
16 lawn bags full of leaves. 8 large trash bags of our clothes dropped off at Families Helping Each Other. Two kids full of fresh air. One Four hour napper. One fridge totally cleaned and wiped down. One new pair of little girl shoes. Four growing feet. One interview complete. Two applications filled out. Loaded with grace. Wednesday.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Seeing Stars
"Two Men looked out through prison bars; one saw mud and the other saw stars."
Lord, help me to see the stars.
Lord, help me to see the stars.
Monday, March 28, 2011
1,000 Gifts
29. For friends who borrow books, thanks Becky for "Calm my Anxious Heart"
30. For unemployment coming through. His provision never fails.
31. For our Gather Around the Table group from Church and a great time of fellowship last night.
32. For playlands
33. For time with Daddy who "can't go to work anymore. Why won't they let you come to work Daddy?" We are making the most of his time off.
34. For my parents and unexpected gifts in groceries. Generosity and hospitality gifts abounding.
35. For sweet Gabby and Gods hand in her birth. Praying for her to start eating on her own. Praising God for her life.
36. For my in-laws loving on our kids while we were away last night. We love you Grandpa "Keef" and Grandma Pat.
37. For fresh fruit season approaching.
38. For my childrens health. Blessed.
30. For unemployment coming through. His provision never fails.
31. For our Gather Around the Table group from Church and a great time of fellowship last night.
32. For playlands
33. For time with Daddy who "can't go to work anymore. Why won't they let you come to work Daddy?" We are making the most of his time off.
34. For my parents and unexpected gifts in groceries. Generosity and hospitality gifts abounding.
35. For sweet Gabby and Gods hand in her birth. Praying for her to start eating on her own. Praising God for her life.
36. For my in-laws loving on our kids while we were away last night. We love you Grandpa "Keef" and Grandma Pat.
37. For fresh fruit season approaching.
38. For my childrens health. Blessed.
Our past few weeks
I've been a little MIA here recently. Seems all of us have been sick the past three weeks or so! Started with the kids and I getting a cold, then it lead to Kevin getting sick and then Liam ending up with a sinus and ear infection. Poor guy. Topping it off was a strange fever that's been coming and going for Miss Sophia the past three days. Today was the first day that everyone has been healthy and its been great! :-)
Little Liam just broke my heart being so sick. He is normally the most snugly and smiley guy you could ever meet. But being sick he was either sleeping, crying, or throwing himself on the ground in fits of frustration. It was hard to know how to comfort him. It was also hard for me to know at the end if he was still sick or stuck in the pattern of fit throwing. But thankfully it is over and he is back to being my funny little man.
Some of his favorite phrases right now are:
-"UH-HUH, I DO!!!" This is no matter what you ask "Liam, should we go outside?" "UH HUH I DO!!!" "Liam are you hungry?" "UH HUH!! I DOOOO!" "Liam, do you want to play with trains?" "UH HUH, I DO!!"
-"I'll do it" Anytime you ask anyone else for something he jumps in yelling "Ill do it!!" Too cute!
-"Yah, OKAY!" He walks around repeating over and over "yah, Okay! Yah, Okay!"
-"We'll see, maybe!"
He is just repeating any phrase he hears. It makes us giggle. I post too many Sophia pics and stories and so I included the picture of our sweet Man this morning. Ready for Spring and the Twins to start! Go Twins!!
Flourless chocolate cake
I've made this cake a few times now and been really impressed. I made an almond chocolate ganache (Chocolate, pure almond extract, cream, and butter) to put on top and then added strawberries. It was great! This recipe would be fabulous with fresh raspberries or a homemade raspberry sauce over-top. Its incredibly rich and dense so I'd recommend that you would cut your slices very thin! Enjoy!! :-)
- 4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Yes I deactivated my facebook a week and a half ago. Yes, I have been meaning to type something up as to why. For now, I'll just say that Im a workin' on time management, self control, and priorities. Spending time with people in real life, investing myself into my kids, husband, home, and others, devotion times longer than 15 minutes, slaying the laundry monster ect. Will I come back? Maybe, someday. But, its kinda nice. Find me here, at my phone number, and email khill8@gmail.com if you need me. Will try to add more photos here too as requested. Love to yall!
Work that matters
Sometimes I fall into a trap. Its a trap that I set up for myself by looking at parenting blogs or peeking into others lives. I see that their grass appears greener and I try my hardest to keep up. Did you see the curtains she made herself?! Look at how organized their school room is! Their kids sound so brilliant and obedient. I scrub the floors a bit harder, try and make extravagant meals by 5:30 every night, and try to micromanage my childrens behaviors, especially in front of others. Sure, my kids are asking me for the 100th time to play a game or snuggle on the couch but kids, I am busy cleaning for you! I will be right there, reallly, I will. In the end I just feel like I can't keep up and have failed.
In the end, no one will notice (or care) how often my floor has been scrubbed. My family will not starve if we don't eat until 6. But the time I invest in training those little lives means everything. That is my job. I may have to sacrifice my free time. Put down the book. This stage doesn't last forever and I need to make the most of every minute I am given as Sophia and Liams Mama. When I am investing the time in eternity, I feel like a parenting failure much, much less of the time. Because, its worth it. Is it easy? No. Is it pretty? Sometimes not. But, it is required.
Here is an excerpt from "Loving the Little Years" that really spoke to me.
" Dry erase boards and chore charts are all well and good, but it does not change the fact that what you have on your hands is children, not an organizational problem. When Scripture says to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, it is not talking about finding the most effective way to organize them. This is a very easy trap to fall in, because the more children you have the more difficult it is to keep them clean and clothed and fed. Just the basics of life are a full time job. It is also easy for parents to fall into this sort of lifestyle because cleaning and sorting makes you look and maybe even feel like you have your act together,even if you seriously don't. What you are doing is finding a way to contain your children, control them, and keep their sin from making you look bad. But you are not actually dealing with anything....
The more children you have, the more you need to be pastorally minded. Look to each of their souls and their needs. If you are focused on upkeep of the house and the schedule, as long as your child is not interrupting that, you don't worry about it. If you are being a parent who is pastorally minded you will stop whatever it is that you are doing to go see how your daughter is doing up in her bedroom.Be a pastor to your children. Study them, Seek them out. Sacrifice the thing you were doing to work through minor emotional issues. This is why you may have known families who seemed to have it all together. Everyone to his own bunk. Dinner from the crockpot at 6:00pm on the dot. Family worship in the living room. Children quietly doing dishes afterward. Then as the children hit their teen years, you start to see that alongside of all that organization was some serious neglect and hurt. It is possible to organize your children right out of the church. So while your children are little, cultivate an attitude of sacrifice. Sacrifice your peace for their fun. Your clean kitchen floor for their help cracking eggs. Your quiet moment for their long retelling of a dream that a friend of theirs allegedly had. Prioritize your children far and away above the other work you need to get done. They are the only part of your work that really matters."
In the end, no one will notice (or care) how often my floor has been scrubbed. My family will not starve if we don't eat until 6. But the time I invest in training those little lives means everything. That is my job. I may have to sacrifice my free time. Put down the book. This stage doesn't last forever and I need to make the most of every minute I am given as Sophia and Liams Mama. When I am investing the time in eternity, I feel like a parenting failure much, much less of the time. Because, its worth it. Is it easy? No. Is it pretty? Sometimes not. But, it is required.
Here is an excerpt from "Loving the Little Years" that really spoke to me.
" Dry erase boards and chore charts are all well and good, but it does not change the fact that what you have on your hands is children, not an organizational problem. When Scripture says to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, it is not talking about finding the most effective way to organize them. This is a very easy trap to fall in, because the more children you have the more difficult it is to keep them clean and clothed and fed. Just the basics of life are a full time job. It is also easy for parents to fall into this sort of lifestyle because cleaning and sorting makes you look and maybe even feel like you have your act together,even if you seriously don't. What you are doing is finding a way to contain your children, control them, and keep their sin from making you look bad. But you are not actually dealing with anything....
The more children you have, the more you need to be pastorally minded. Look to each of their souls and their needs. If you are focused on upkeep of the house and the schedule, as long as your child is not interrupting that, you don't worry about it. If you are being a parent who is pastorally minded you will stop whatever it is that you are doing to go see how your daughter is doing up in her bedroom.Be a pastor to your children. Study them, Seek them out. Sacrifice the thing you were doing to work through minor emotional issues. This is why you may have known families who seemed to have it all together. Everyone to his own bunk. Dinner from the crockpot at 6:00pm on the dot. Family worship in the living room. Children quietly doing dishes afterward. Then as the children hit their teen years, you start to see that alongside of all that organization was some serious neglect and hurt. It is possible to organize your children right out of the church. So while your children are little, cultivate an attitude of sacrifice. Sacrifice your peace for their fun. Your clean kitchen floor for their help cracking eggs. Your quiet moment for their long retelling of a dream that a friend of theirs allegedly had. Prioritize your children far and away above the other work you need to get done. They are the only part of your work that really matters."
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