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...

♥

Little Bits Of Joy

Okay so I know my last post was probably incredibly depressing as I got a lot of texts and emails regarding it. I'm sorry about that, but blogging has been very therapeutic I've found. I woke up the next morning and already had just a little more peace then the day before. I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. ☺

This week, my husband and I decided we needed to go out on a mini date just to clear our heads and try to just hear each others thoughts. So, an amazing friend of mine that I have only now known for about a year and her fiance watched the kids while we went out. She is not a mommy yet herself, but I am not kidding this gal is one of the most natural moms I have ever seen to this day. The kids absolutely adore her and her hubby-to-be. The even more exciting part is that this couple, whom we are proud to call good friends, have asked my husband to marry them next month. What an honor. My husband was just about brought to tears when they asked him, and actually they said that they would not have anyone else do it. It just reminds me that amidst trial and suffering as long as we are open to look, we can still find little bits of joy all around us. Thank you Lord.

So back to mini date night. My husband and I went out and got a lovely margarita and some tacos at a favorite spot. It is always such a strange feeling walking into a restaurant holding my husband's hand as opposed to a tiny two year old hand and we seem to always have to work hard to not only talk about the kids when we are out. It's always a fun challenge. After dinner, our date night brought us none other than grocery shopping. I know this sounds so silly, but we knew this was something that we needed to do, and honestly, just getting out and doing anything together was all we cared about. So Albertsons happened to be the store of choice.

We walked in and my husband took charge of the cart and I grabbed a box of cereal and was about to throw it in when he promptly stopped me. His next comment took me by surprise as he informed me that he was in charge of loading the cart and I was only allowed to hand him items. I absolutely cracked up and gave him a look of utter confusion. He then went on to explain to me that he needs to be the one to organize the cart and that he has seen how I load a cart and basically, my skills just won't do. WOW. In four years of marriage I don't think we had been grocery shopping together more than maybe a handful of times and here I was learning something new about my husband! I loved it. Let me tell you, he is ridiculous when it comes to loading a shopping cart! He then informed me that he sees how I load the dishwasher and that's bad enough. I have to explain that he was not telling me in a degrading way, and I didn't take it that way. It was a very serious comment made in a very funny way. I found it hysterical. Oh the little joys. I had no idea for four years of marriage that I had a shopping cart Nazi of a husband. 

So there we were taking our time shopping on our date night. I merely spoke things into the cart and he handled the rest. We even had discussions on oatmeal brands, his hate for pretzels, and I learned that he only will buy one kind of hotdog. It was quite the date night.

After shopping we headed home to release our friends from duty and I just took in the night. I loved getting away from the stress of life as we know it and just going back to the two of us. We were able to talk through the tough stuff and then just be goofballs that we are and enjoy spending time with each other. Little bits of joy. That was my lesson. Life is going to be filled with ups and downs and some of the downs are easily so tough that joy is literally impossible to see. But you have to be willing to look. To not give up. I love this verse on joy... "But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you." Psalm 5:11.

It's funny because as I'm thinking back to getting off Facebook only a few months ago, I find it very interesting timing. I felt the Lord telling me to separate myself from Facebook and put my focus on Him just in time for a major trial to enter my life. Like I have mentioned, I don't believe in coincidence. I believe the Lord has been preparing my heart and how awesome is that. Talk about a bit of joy.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33. ♥

Ugly to Beautiful

Today ended, without a doubt, one of the toughest weeks of my life so far. All week I thought of blogging and didn't know where I would start or what I would write about. Finding one positive thing to blog about was far too hard of a task at a time so bleak. I hope you all can respect me not going into detail about my situation, because let me tell you, it would take far longer than one post to explain, and secondly, I think the Lord has been teaching me a very important lesson recently and that is to guard my heart. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." 

Without going into details, I think I can basically explain that my life as I knew it was hit with a major curve ball. Now that is something I think everyone can relate to. Curve balls... basically they come out of nowhere and usually you are not prepared to bat at them. Instead an emotional response is usually the first to come about and let me tell you, that's what happened.

Amidst this time of extreme trial, my husband reminded me of something absolutely vital. My husband explained to me that for Jesus, turning ugly things into beautiful things is autonomic...it's like breathing. When he sees something ugly He says, "how can I make that beautiful again?"  I've been holding on to this truth and trying to not get overly anxious, worried or defeated. But in my human nature it's a constant battle.

My husband's father passed away a little over a year ago. It was December 10th of 2009. I still remember the pain and despair like it was yesterday. We found out that my father-in-law had cancer on Tuesday morning, the 8th of December and literally two days later we were planning a funeral. It was the most mind boggling turn of events. We barely got to wrap our head around the fact that he had cancer and then two days later my husband got a call while at work and was told his father had 24-48 hours left to live. He died that evening. Talk about a major curve ball... to be honest I don't even like calling it a curve ball really because these types of situations are far too serious to be labeled with a term so casual.

Now it has been 15 months since the loss of my husband's father and we still have a broken heart, but the healing process has come a long way. The loss of someone close to you has to be one of the toughest situations a person can go through, yet the fact of the matter is that we are all going to experience it. It goes along with the fact that we all are living in a fallen world. Sin is all around us, pain and suffering is all around us. There is nothing we can do to escape it, but we do have a choice of how we respond to it.

In the last week I did not deal with a death, but the pain felt like it and still does. I turned to the word last Monday and fasted all day in hopes to try to ask God to reveal Himself and give me some wisdom. I learned a lot that day. Definitely not everything, that's for sure, but a small glimpse. The Lord kept directing me back to Proverbs and also to a verse in 2 Timothy. A few verses stood out and I will share them with you in hopes that maybe they may mean something to you as well.

"Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance." Proverbs 20:18.

"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart." Proverbs 21:2.

"All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord." Proverbs 16:2.

"For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7. 

I was also reminded of the story of Moses. Moses, for those of you who don't know his story, well he was a man that reacted. My study bible explains that throughout his life, he was at his finest and at his worst in responding to the conflicts around him. At one point in his life he actually fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian in defense of a fellow Israelite. Fleeing after this murder was a selfish move to save his own life, but as I have learned, God even fits our mistakes into his plan. When Moses fled God used this opportunity to start training Moses up. Moses' character began to change and although he didn't stop reacting to situations around him, he started learning how to react correctly. Don't get me wrong, even as Moses' character was being changed he still made mistakes. Personal greatness does not make a person immune to error or its consequences. No one becomes perfect because of following the Lord. In fact, in most cases more trials come upon us because of doing so. But back to Moses... God ended up using Moses to go back to Egypt and rescue all his people from slavery. He ended up being one of the greatest prophets and even was the one to record the Ten Commandments.

I think Moses' story is so encouraging. It reminds me that we are all going to make mistakes and that God can still fit those into his plan. I'm sure that the Lord looks down and sees all of us screw up all the time and must think to Himself that gosh, if we only made the "right" decision he wouldn't have to push the remap on the GPS all the time. The funny thing is that He already knows we are going to blow it and he is ready to re chart our path if you will. He makes it work into his plan. And in regards to tragedy that is outside our own control, well the same principles apply. Jesus is waiting to turn the ugly into something beautiful again. We must not forget though that our time line and God's time line are two very different things. God's time line is life-sized. ♥

Just One Sentence

It's been just about two months now since signing off the good ol' Facebook land. I think my zeal for no longer being a slave to the site has now settled. I do a few less cartwheels out of excitement, and haven't actually had a conversation about not being on Facebook in a little while now. I like this point. I feel like a weird chapter of my life has closed. I kind of went to battle to work on that part of my life and I feel good about where I'm at. Not a prideful good, just a peace if you will. It's like the desire is just gone. Thank you Lord.

I got a text last night from a friend of mine and it read: "ok I have officially followed in your footsteps... no facebook for me either!" She chose to get off Facebook for many of the same reasons I did. She told me that she was done with being a slave to it. That was the perfect expression. That's how I used to feel. So I stole her line for the beginning of this post. I love it when I see people make changes. I think change can be absolutely awesome and I wish her the best on her new journey.☺

Onto another subject, last weekend the pastor of my church, yes here I go talking about church again, did an awesome sermon as we are continuing to study the 10 commandments. Just so you all know, if you think the 10 commandments are outdated, oh man, I encourage you to check out a few of the sermons online from the past several weeks. I can certainly attest that they are in no way outdated. Anyways, a good portion of the sermon last weekend was talking about the idea of what our lives bear witness too. My pastor used a great example and explained that if you were to ask your five closest friends what your life bears witness to, or what you were all about, what would they say? Kind of like the question of when we die what is the one sentence that will sum up our lives. Wow. Not something I think about everyday.

My pastor encouraged us to decide on a truth and base our life around it. Kind of like write out that sentence now and make the choice to live to achieve it. I thought that was such an awesome idea. I love setting goals and achieving them. I think it goes back to my days growing up as a competitive gymnast. I had a coach that was all about goals. We had to write them out, I believe monthly, if I remember correctly. At first the process seemed tedious, but I grew to like it. When I coached high school gymnastics I also had my girls do this. I had them write short term and long term goals and at the end of the season I would always pull them out and remind them where they had come from. Ever since then I've always set goals for myself. Maybe not always in writing, and definitely not monthly, but I've always felt if I didn't have a goal or an idea of what I was working towards then what would be my purpose? Now those things have changed from learning a new skill in the gym to growing closer to God, helping others, bettering my parenting, being a Proverbs 31 wife (haha got a LONG way to go!) among others.

So I did write down my sentence. It was kind of scary in a way because an underlying fear in writing goals is well...what if we don't achieve them? Then what? Are we a failure? I remember in gymnastics I would feel silly writing a lofty goal down at first. I almost would even talk myself out of it! You can't do that... who do you think you are? That's WAY too hard... you aren't strong enough.. etc. The lies can go on forever and as soon as we start putting our faith in those lies it's done.

The same coach that made me write goals, I also remember for another very interesting activity. He made us all write down on a piece of paper "I CAN'T." The whole team put all of our I CAN'Ts in a shoe box and we had somewhat of a ceremonial burial. Yup, we buried the box of I CAN'Ts. From that day forward we were not allowed to use the words "I CAN'T." We could replace them with, "I'LL TRY," among other positive things. I bet that coach had no idea that 15 years later I would still remember that incident.

As I think over the I CAN'T burial, I remember something my parents told me as well. They will be happily married for 30 years at the end of this month and you can be sure that I will be using things they have taught me over the years many times in my posts. My husband and I just hit 4 years and we were so excited, but 30 years.. amazing... In our society, that's a darn good record. Growing up, whenever we got on the subject of them being married for so long and what made it work, they of course mentioned that the marriage had God at the center, but they also mentioned that they made a decision long ago that they would never use the D word. Divorce. I found that fascinating. It's like at the beginning of their marriage they buried that word. I absolutely love that idea and gladly stole it from them. ☺

This reminds me of the passage in Luke 6:45 that reads: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." If we give breath to these words like "divorce" and "I can't" it will be so much easier for them to become truths. 

Speaking of goals, I have another little goal that I set at the beginning of the year...well, my sister half way set it for me, but we decided to sign up for the mud run in June. Let me just tell you that I have never been a good runner. No matter how many back handsprings I can still do, I have never been able to run. I honestly don't think I could run a mile right now if you told me I would never have to do another load of laundry again if I did. Okay, maybe I could if I honestly never would have to do another load of laundry... but I think you understand what I'm saying here. haha. Notice I am carefully writing this as to not say "I can't." haha. Endurance has not ever been a strong point for me. There. That sums it up. Anyways, this little mud run in June is a 10K. Once again as I told my sister I would do it I laughed at myself a bit because wow, that was one lofty goal. I had 6 months to get ready. Well, let me just confess that the closest I have done to starting to train for this race is by downloading the Couch To 5K app on my iPhone. Yup. Ran my fingers around a bit and that's it. Oh, and didn't I mention this is a 10K, not a 5... haha. Gotta start somewhere.

The race is set for June 5. Exactly 3 months from tomorrow and I am determined to be ready. This blog post is me writing my sentence. Now I have every reader out there to hold me accountable. Yes, I'm scared, but I'm going to choose to not let the thoughts take me captive that I am totally crazy. I thank you for reading and keeping me accountable... and I encourage you to ask yourself.. what truth are you basing your own life around? What is your one sentence? ♥