You'll Never Know

I had a friend text me the other day out of the blue to catch up a little. I truly appreciated hearing from her and our little text convo made me smile. She said something to me throughout the course of the convo that made me think and it was simply this: miss reading ur blog. That was even the exact type that came through. I responded with a short excuse as to why I've been slacking lately, but that comment hasn't left my mind since. My lack of blogging definitely hasn't been because of a lack of thinking or learning over here. I guess sometimes I start thinking too much and wondering how much I really should share with the entire internet about my life and who really cares anyways? We all are so busy, we all have crazy things happening all the time..right? Well, the truth is that we really never will know the extent that we touch someone else's life. Whether it be in a good way, bad, or whatever. Something I might share that I find perfectly pointless or overly simple might really reach someone on a different level. My daughter and I were sitting on her bedroom floor and having a tea party a few days ago and I decided it would be a perfect time to teach her the song "I'm A Little Teapot." It seemed so silly at the time and guess what, now it's her new favorite song and she sings it to almost anyone that will listen. Of course, this relates only slightly to my point that you don't know how much you will touch someone elses' life because she is my daughter and an absolute sponge, but still, maybe just a very small example. Anyways, I think you all will start seeing more posts from me again... thank you to that person that texted me. You know who you are. ☺

Today just so happens to be my cousin's birthday. She is actually my cousin's wife, but cousin-in-law is too long, so cousin works just the same. When I think about her on her birthday, many memories surface, but one of the things I think of the most is that she and her husband (my cousin) were the ones that brought my husband and I to church what will be 6 years ago this fall. I know that most of my posts are about the Lord and scripture and whatnot and I just have felt like I wanted to share a little bit more of my story, because trust me, I have not always dreamed of writing a blog to bring glory to the Lord. lol. Anyways, my now husband and I were dating at the time and both of us come from different backgrounds when it comes to beliefs and church. For the sake of your poor eyes reading all this text, I'll keep this very simple and feel free to email me for more details. haha. My husband was raised Catholic and was an alter boy up until the point that he outgrew the uniform. I'm not sure if they call them uniforms, but we will just go with that for now. I, on the other hand, grew up in a Christian home. I went to church camps all through high school, but it wasn't until I was 19 that I decided I really wanted to find out if what I believed was because of the home I was raised in, or if I really believed what I believed for myself. Well, from about 19 until 23 years old when my cousin dragged me into the church I am still a part of to this day a lot of things happened in my young life. I won't go into details, but let's just say my idea of a perfect little future was shattered in many ways. I think we all get hit with this reality at some point in our lives. Some sooner than others.

I'd love to ask my cousin if she remembers how many times she asked me to come to church before I actually did. I do remember the day we went, I remember the topic that was addressed and I remember my husband and I both leaving utterly convicted. When I say husband now, we were just boyfriend/girlfriend at the time. It was as if the preacher was speaking directly to us. Thankfully, we both wanted to respond to the message in the same way. We wanted to change our lives. I remember leaving that sermon and it was so different. It was as if my eyes were opened for the first time in a long time. We didn't have many words as we left. There was nothing to fight about. There was nothing to ridicule the preacher for. There was nothing we wanted to do except change and you better believe we were back to church the next weekend. It was odd. I remembered leaving church in my young 20s when I was going through a phase of searching out my true beliefs and the first thing I would think about when I left was, "gosh, I wish there were more cute guys at this church." My sister can attest because we would both talk about it the whole way home. So funny how things change. Now I was going to church to actually learn about God and this guy Jesus and because I wanted to change my life for the better. Who was in the audience was of little interest to me. Another funny thing, well not so funny at the time, was that right after we started going to church, my husband and I probably went through one of the most difficult years in both of our lives. I thought going back to church was supposed to make things easier! Ya right. If anyone ever tells you that it is an utter lie.


"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4.  

Looking back, and even at the time, I still tell people that God in his sovereignty completely had everything in control. I know that if I did not have the people in my life, the church, and the new relationship with the Lord that at that time of extreme trial I would never have made it out alive. Okay, maybe alive, but definitely not sane. lol. I'm sure you all can relate to times that you feel so incredibly helpless. This is life. There is a lot of beauty, but at the same time there is a lot of pain. It's part of living in this fallen world full of imperfect people. Being able to still have hope and knowing that the Lord will not forsake me despite the tidal waves around us is what I now live for.

Now I'm slightly losing my thought process here and I'm not sure where I was or am going with this post. Not too surprising. Probably because the kids are about to wake up and it's about time for me to put on one of my most important hats that I wear theses days and that's my MOM hat. I think I'll end this before rambling for too long, but more to come. Happy birthday to my cousin that I will always thank for planting that seed and bringing me back to my faith. Something I just want to continue to remind myself is that you just never know how much your presence will touch someone else. Makes everything you do... and say... and text... and post seem just a tad more important doesn't it? ♥

June Blur

I was realizing that my first post for the entire month of June is on the last day of the month. I'm honestly not surprised. June is an absolute blur in our family. We have lots of birthdays, Father's day, wedding season hits so work is busy, June is just a blur. I wanted to share a few photos from the month. ☺

My little girl is now 3!

Her request was a pink birthday cake with a bicycle on it.
My first attempt ever at a birthday cake.

World famous mud run at Camp Pendleton!

We survived!

Miss Penny our newest family member.

What happened to my baby boy?

Aloha Spirit

Busy. I'm not really a huge fan of the word busy, although it seems to run my life more often than not. Recently, I wished my cousin farewell as he was going to spend a year living in the Cook Islands. He met a wonderful girl out there while on a surf trip and is now heading out to live there and work. I went to his "good-bye for now" party and in talking with him felt overly convicted about my busy life. He was packing up, heading out and going to get a simple job and just enjoy life in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I couldn't help but feel a tad jealous. As I was sipping on my glass of wine in his parents backyard in Rancho Santa Fe I just had this feeling come over me that I truly admired what he was doing and it made me think about my own life. Simplicity was not what came to mind.

I lived in Honolulu, Hawaii for a year for school. I moved out there on a full cheerleading scholarship and I had never even visited. Some people thought I was crazy, others were stoked for me and my family... well they were happy, but leaving them was one of the hardest things I had ever done. I will never forget the tears as they dropped me off in the hotel room that housed students. I was staying there for the first few weeks of school. It sounds strange, but it was the norm out there. Anyways, I fell in love with the state. The weather.. the beaches... the cars driving 50 mph on the freeway...the laid back vibe that they like to call "the aloha spirit." I got to wear my bathing suit under my clothes and drive my moped (yes moped) to the beach between classes. My only draw back was not having my family there to experience it with me. I felt like I missed so much back on the mainland and ended up packing up only after a year. I always told myself if my family would move, I'd go back out there. I remember coming back and holding on to my Hawaii drivers license as long as possible. I put a pink sticker on my little, white Tacoma that said "island girl" and although my friends ridiculed me for it and still bring it up on occasion, I kept it on for probably a year or so. I truly loved Hawaii.

Anyways, fast forward to the weekend of my cousin leaving and I couldn't get Hawaii off my mind. I just started feeling like maybe we aren't always supposed to live in one place our entire lives.. I mean.. God put so much beauty on this earth that I just would love to experience other places than San Diego county. Don't get me wrong, San Diego is full of beauty and I have a lot of blessings right here, but sometimes I think some of us get that itch to maybe search somewhere else out and in many cases that itch could very well be God's calling for our lives. I mean, don't they need spray tan technicians in Hawaii? I could hook up with the hotels.. spray all the tourists...give the hotel a cut... LOL. Oh man.. this is how my brain works I tell you!

So I started doing some research on the good ol' Aloha State and it's tough. The schools are not highly ranked.. the cost of living is not much different than here... possibly worse. But sometimes I just wonder if sacrificing some things for a "way of life change" would be worth it. I spoke with one of the pastors at my church who just so happens to also share my love for Hawaii and informed me if they could, they would be on the next flight, but that isn't God's calling at this time. He said something that convicted me. He said we need to be the "aloha spirit" right here until it's time to go. He's so right. I think sometimes we can get caught up in the idea that a new place may have all the answers and will make things so much different. When in reality, if I don't work on simplifying my BUSY life here, what makes me think I'm not going to end up doing the same thing out there regardless if the community is more laid back. It's a life style change I need to work on now.

I think we all get caught up in it. Too many playdates, saying yes to too many events, just too many commitments. For me every time I get to the point of too much on my plate, my body tells me so. I throw out my middle back. Didn't I just blog about that about 5 months ago? You betcha. It was called Back In Business. Well... it happened again. Tells me a lot. I may have stopped Facebook and tried to work on my time wasters, but honestly, now maybe the truth is that I need to work on some of my even positive time commitments. I don't want to be the mom that never stops.. is never caught up... and in return is crippled every five or six months because of doing too much. I look at it like God's reminder to me... something has to give... slow down... It's amazing how humbling hurting your back is. If you have, you know what I'm talking about.

An awesome point was made at church this past weekend. My pastor spoke about how people usually finally decide to make a change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain it is to change. I absolutely love that statement. It's so incredibly true. I can relate to it on so many levels, but for the sake of this post, for me, the pain of my back literally being thrown out now three times in the last 10 months to the point of me not being able to walk or take care of my children without help is much worse than the pain it will be to possibly let some people down by saying no to a few events.. playdates..working a few less hours...

I want to have the aloha spirit here. I don't know if the Lord will ever bring my family to Hawaii or any other place, I'll be praying about that, but in the meantime I'm going to keep reminding myself that simplicity is only what I make it. You can't escape your own bad habits. It's a change of heart that needs to ultimately take place. ♥

A Penny Saved

This last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. First of all, we decided to have a garage sale at our home and even got our awesome neighbors to join in the fun. Well, it turned out to be a huge flop. lol. I guess Fallbrook is a bit far for people to travel for a garage sale and the fact that we advertised LOTS OF BABY STUFF definitely narrowed down the onlookers. I now have learned my lesson. Giving stuff away is so much more fun! So if any of you are in need of some pink baby items just let me know! hehe. When I had Addyson, who by the way is turning 3 tomorrow and I can hardly believe it, I was so thrilled to be having a girl that I bought everything in pink and brown. Painted her room that way... everything from swings to carseats to strollers was in pink. Well, I didn't exactly think that one through because then when Sawyer came around I had to invest in almost ALL new items. I just wasn't willing to put my boy in a pink and brown stroller with flowers and paisley print. Can you blame me? Anyways, now I have learned my lesson and I bought everything in neutral colors for Sawyer just in case we happen to have another one in the future.☺

Okay, so anyways, garage sale was a bust and as the day was winding down my husband decided to run to Walmart with Addyson and a good friend to get a few things. Not long after he got there I got a call from him. Actually, no that's not what happened first. I started getting picture text messages from both my husband and his friend of them holding a small puppy. Then another one of the puppy in Addyson's lap. I rolled my eyes, gave him a call and told him to not forget the cat litter and basically disregarded the photos. Well they kept coming. haha. Okay, for a bit of back story. I am a dog lover and grew up with dogs but I have not been ready to own a dog myself. My husband has wanted a dog for quite sometime. My opinion was that this would just be another baby that I would be taking care of. I think people either start with having a baby or start with having a dog and for us it was the babies. So.. back to Saturday... then I decided to ask my husband a few questions about the puppy in the picture... she was a australian shepherd mix... 9 weeks old... last of the litter... FREE... had her shots... the most mellow so the last to be taken... etc. I decided to talk to my mom.

My mom is a pet sitter on the side. She is amazing with animals of all kinds and knows so much about training dogs and different breeds she should be Cesar Millan's sidekick. So, I got on the phone with her and she told me it was a good age actually because I would have the chance to raise a wonderful family dog from the beginning... that was if I was ready. She encouraged me to get the phone number of the seller and think it over. I agreed. The next phone call I made was to my husband and as he picked up the phone I distinctly remember his words were, "Do I have a green light?" My response back was for him to get the lady's number so that we could call if we had questions, etc. He jumped off the phone rather quickly and I didn't think twice about it. Fast forward to the Honda Pilot pulling into the driveway and I see the puppy curled up in our good friends' lap in the passenger seat... WHAT?!?!?

I really wish someone could have got my face on camera because I think it was as if I saw the latest horror film. The funniest thing was that then my husband saw my reaction and his face mimicked mine! Let's just say we had a slight puppy miscommunication! LOL. My husband honestly believed that I was giving him the "green light" and told me that he got the lady's number like I asked in case we needed to ask questions. I could see in his face it was an honest mistake. And as one friend of mine put it, a very cute mistake. They handed me the puppy in an attempt to change the look of horror on my face and she curled up under my chin and rested her cute muzzle on my shoulder. I must admit, as much as I wanted to say take her back, I just couldn't.

I put a lot of thought to the whole situation that day and decided that I was going to take this pup on. For me getting a dog was for some people like having a baby. Let me explain.. I know some of you know people or maybe you are one of them that feels like certain things have to be in order before entering a new phase. For some people it will NEVER be the perfect time to have a baby. I honestly think that the same would have gone for me with getting a dog. I'm fairly certain that I would have been able to make a very legitimate excuse for not getting a dog for probably the next 5-10 years. But, that wasn't the plan for this family. This "accident" happened, as many "accidents" do with families and I now couldn't be happier. The joy this little puppy brings my kids is priceless. It will be an event they will never forget and as they are growing up they will be able to learn responsibility as they will help care for her.

And I know what you are all thinking... sure...let's see how positive she is as she's trying to housebreak this puppy... and I'll be honest the first day was an utter nightmare. But I think I have a much better outlook now that I have mentally switched over from shock to "let's do this!" And I already promised my husband that I wouldn't be blaming him when things got hard. LOL. We are now in this together.

I'm halfway through Cesar Millan's book How To Raise The Perfect Dog and I'm learning so much. I think that although I didn't feel it was a great time for a family addition, the Lord did. Don't they say if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans? Now I'm the one laughing. It's actually not a bad time at all now that I think more about it. My youngest is now 14 months and rapidly exiting the "baby" stage and there are no babies on the way. So before we decide that we might want to think about another human baby, I think it's the perfect time to train up a furry one.

So here she is, our newest family member... Penny. ♥

Simple

Today I want to post just two different scriptures. My prayer is that they may touch someone else out there as they have touched me recently.

We all endure our own suffering of many kinds. And even if you aren't in a season of trial and suffering, I'm sure just scrolling through your phone would bring a few people to mind that are... Suffering is something that we all endure in this life. No one can escape it. But how we choose to respond to this suffering is what truly matters most. I will blog fully at a later time, but this post I want to just remain simple. And in this same post I want to post a few pictures that bring me joy. Because despite suffering, I never want to lose sight of the blessings that I do have.

"But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God." 2 Corinthians 1:9

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

Sound Teaching, Sound Living

Tuesday. For some reason I really like Tuesdays. They are kind of the turning point for the week in my opinion. Usually Mondays are a day of non-stop catch up, but Tuesday is the day I take my daughter to gymnastics, which I think is probably more exciting for me (ex-gymnast mom) than her at this point, and then I come home to nap the kids and get ready for a Bible study that we host at our home each week. Our bible study is a sermon based discussion group and about ten of us meet up and go over what we learned on Sunday and dig deeper into study questions and analyze different verses and apply them to our own lives. Of course the typical Tuesday night will bring us on to other random topics as well and sometimes those nights are the best yet.

Anyways, in doing my preparation for tonight's study I came across a verse in 2 Timothy. Okay, now to back up just a tad. I think I have mentioned before that I fully believe in the Bible. I believe it is solely a God inspired book. I don't believe anything should be added to it and I don't believe anything should be taken away. In the words of one of my pastor's: "It is not man's opinion of God, nor is it a co-authored partnership with God, but it is God's inspired message divinely and mysteriously penetrating into our meager life on earth." With that said these are also some other truths I believe about the Bible. I believe it is our final authority. I believe it is used to confront our sin, especially our worship of self. I believe it disciplines us so we can change. It keeps us focused, with our eyes on Jesus, not on ourselves. I can go on and on about what else I believe about the Bible, but that was not the intention of this post so I'll move along.☺

Back to 2 Timothy. I came across this verse while doing a study on the words "sound teaching." It reads: "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." 2 Timothy 4:3. I found this verse very interesting. Sound teaching... when thinking about what that means to me I find it to be one of the most important factors in faith. How scary it can be to have faith in something that is not sound. That absolutely petrifies me. For me, if I am going to 100% put my trust in something I want to know it is 100% safe. Like, roller coasters for example. My husband and I both have no interest in riding any roller coasters that move around from state to state on a regular basis. (Sorry if any of you are carnies reading this! LOL.) I just don't trust equipment that is constantly being broken down and put back together! I want something solid. Never changing. It's funny that I even mention roller coasters because I can't even recall the last time I have been on one. The last time I was at Disneyland I was actually pregnant and snuck on to Indian Jones, yup, hid my belly under my sweatshirt. I'm sure some of you are thinking I was a horrible pregnant mother and that's ok. I also drank coffee from time to time and was known to miss a few prenatal pills! Yikes! There you go, maybe too much honesty. haha. So Indian Jones..that ride was quite jolty (is that a word?) and I decided I better keep it to It's A Small World after that. But I love that railroad roller coaster. I can't wait to go back now that there are no babies on board.☺

Okay, so back to sound doctrine! I hope that my analogy made some sense. I don't want to trust a book that man has written. Because I don't trust man. I trust God. I think it's interesting though how easy it can be to fall into that statement of "those with itching ears... looking for teachers to suit their own passions..." I can remember just about 6 years ago before the Lord brought me back to my knees that I was that person. I was the typical "buffet christian." If you haven't heard that term, it's one of my favorites. It's for those of us that pick and choose what we believe to be true and what we want to live by in the Bible. For example... maybe we strongly have a conviction against adultery, but fail to acknowledge the verse in Matthew 5:27-28 that states "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." To break it down, I imagine a buffet Christian with certain verses highlighted and other pages just blacked out. Or maybe they say, "that was not intended to be taken literal." Because let's face it, some things in the Bible are much easier to follow than others. It's easy to not "commit murder", but what about "loving and forgiving our enemies?" Now that's tough. That's why this buffet idea of picking and choosing what we want to live by sounds so much better. But it's not how we are intended to live.

I am fully aware that many will not agree with me on this and that's okay. That's why it's Heather's 365 Days Without Facebook. lol. All I can say to those that reject some or all of what I have to say on this subject is that I have been there. I am an incredibly skeptical person. But going back to my mindset several years ago, I also think that under the same topic of "buffet christian" is the type of person that can find certain verses in the Bible to support what they are doing no matter what. This is so dangerous. I have since learned that it is not all about a single verse out of context when looking for biblical wisdom. It's about what does the Bible say as a whole on that subject. I've also learned that wise counsel is the counsel of many.


I also find it necessary to be absolutely clear that although I believe 100% in what I believe I am not expecting everyone to agree with me and I am not calling you ignorant for not doing so. I encourage you to question what I have to say. Do your own research. I am telling you what I know to be truth and it's your decision to decide what to do with that information.

There is a man by the name of Lee Strobel. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of him, but he is the author of a book called The Case For Christ. His story fascinates me. He was a journalist at the Chicago Tribune for 14 years. Oh and let me also make mention that he was a full blown atheist. In an effort to prove Christianity wrong, he set out on a two year journey to investigate evidence for Jesus. Well, in his search to prove Christianity to be false, he found himself to be a believer. What fascinates me about Lee Strobel is his effort. He was not going to take anyone's word for it, he wanted to study and find out for himself. For some of us, this is not necessary, but for Lee what an amazing testimony.

I also know that sometimes people can get a bit off track and worry so much about doctrine and trying to explain their truths that they can then fall into another term. Legalistic. Living out the Bible is just as important as knowing it and believing in it. Sound teaching is extremely important, but if your lifestyle depicts that of something different what good is that knowledge? Sound teaching goes hand-in-hand with sound living. Of course this is a daily struggle. Not one of us is perfect, but that is not an excuse to not try in my opinion. All I can say is that I am incredibly thankful for a loving and forgiving God.

Well, I'll end on that note. Back to getting the house ready. Back to enjoying my Tuesday. Gotta plug in my new Scentsy warmers! I am so hooked on these things! Oh and I totally forgot to bring up the family pictures! Ugh. Okay I'll post a couple and more to come...Juneberry Photo deserves a post of her own! ♥

Slacker No More

I have been such a slacker. I am posting this so that I am forced to get back on here soon, and I mean soon to update my blog.

So much to talk about... family pictures to post... lots on my heart...

This mom without Facebook will be back...

♥