Standing in Faith and Conviction in a Worldly World

Life is hard these days.  For most of us anyway.  As children, we knew a world of happy thoughts, no worries, just getting up every day, playing outside, going to school, playing sports and going to bed at night. No bills, no responsibilities, and we always knew that we were taken care of.  Actually we knew no different.  It was all taken for granted.  Oh those days.  The world was good in our eyes, because our parents saw fit for us to know no different.

As we age, we find out that growing old and becoming a responsible adult is hard.  It is a blessing, but hard.  We wonder if even things were really "different back then" and if the world has gone crazy, or if we just knew no different.  Well, with that being said,  I do believe that things were different back then.  The good old days have come and gone.  We now live in a world where a majority of our country choose to go with the flow and "accept" the things that go on now.  For example, homosexuality, divorce, immodesty, and respect only to name a few.  The devil runs rampant.  We live in a world where the "majority" chooses to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to believe, follow, or whether or not to believe any of it at all.  True Christians, or disciples of Christ are a minority.  There are those who take the bible, twist and turn it to make it say what they want it to say, when it doesn't, and those who claim to be a Christian and support certain lifestyles, because well, "that's just the way it is now."  So, were just supposed to take the Bible and throw it and what it says out the window?  No, I don't think so! 

When we allow such acts, lifestyles, and practices to go on, against the commandments of God, we are allowing our country to fall to the deepest of the deep. Moral standards that our grandparents would be rolling over in their grave over have no just become "accepted."  We make excuses to make things right.  I am NOT pointing fingers, because I too am guilty of ignorance.  I am just stating what I truly believe as fact.  You may call it an opinion, but these are my true feelings.  Some stand by what they were taught and some do not, and the ones who want to stand firm in their teachings are being persecuted, taking flack, if you will for holding to these convictions.  As a Christian, wife, and mother, I am thankful for my convictions. If I had no conviction, I would sincerely question my relationship with the Lord.  Am old fashioned?  You bet I am!  Sometimes I am overly "old." ha!  I won't apologize.  Lately, I feel as if we've been beaten over the head with the overly defensive stick.  Sheesh!

 Dear Lord, thank you for convicting me in times of wrong and question to your commandments.  I am not perfect. I am a sinner.  Thank you for forgiving me and loving me no matter what.  Dear Lord, direct our path as parents and show us the way; Your way.  Thank you for reminding us that YOU are in charge, when we go astray.  Lead us.  Help us to direct Mills down YOUR path.

I am a strong-willed mother of a strong-willed child.  There.  I said it.  Mills gets his strong-will and temper honestly.  Gotta love the gene pool.  I have to admit that when I get my mind set on something, I tend to not let up on it.  With that said, I always try to pray and ask for God's will to be done.  His direction is most important.  I try my best to not question God, but pray for his hand in direction.   Do I always follow God's direction?  No, unfortunately not, but he is real quick to whip me back to where I should be.  I am thankful.

We have a lot of decisions to make in the future as disciples, parents, and husband and wife.  We will do our best to do what is best for our family and will pray for God's direction.  We will be persecuted for many of these decisions I'm sure.  As a matter of fact, we already have been in some ways.  I will not let anyone or anything lead me astray, especially if God leads us in a certain direction.  I am sure that some of our decisions will be offensive to some.  We will take flack for doing what we believe is God's will for us.  Our decision to send our son to a Christian school has been one that we have prayed and prayed about.  I'm not going to lie.  At times, the devil will get a thread on me and pull me away to the "worldly" reasons to send him elsewhere, but God very quickly slams His hand down in front of me.  "No!" he says.  We both know that he can "get the Bible at church and at home." That's what we continually get thrown to us...but I'm not that good.  I do my best, but in all honesty, I know for a fact that those people across the street from us are much better at teaching the Bible than we.  I'm just being honest.  You can't have too much Jesus.  It's not a "public vs. private" issue.  It's much deeper than that.  It is a personal decision with conviction and we have faith that God is leading us in that direction.  "Well, they don't have sports."  No, they do not, yet, and maybe they won't ever.  I can assure you that sports are not at the top of our goals in life.  Education is, and that is another personal decision.   Our public schools here have wonderful teachers!  You are awesome and a blessing to those whom you touch and teach every day.  I admire you, respect you and am thankful for you.  Teaching is a hard job and not every one is cut out for it.  Teachers are special because, I for one, am not cut out for the job and am thankful that our children have those who are.  

We will be continuously praying for God to lead us down His path for us and that our family, especially Mills will be ridiculed for attending a certain school, or not being allowed to play sports on Sunday or that interfere with church events.  I know how this world is and as parents we are going to be truly tempted and tested.  I hope you will pray for us to stand strong when we are tempted and pulled by the rope of rebellion.

 Dear Lord, Help us to do what is personally right for us but only as you direct.  Pray for us to be an example.  Help us when we are persecuted to remember who we belong to, you, Dear Lord.  Help us to stay strong when or if our son questions our decisions.  We know that we have a hard road ahead of us, because of this worldly world.  We ask for your guidance, conviction, faith, and most of all your arms to hold us up when we are weary and tired.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Mills at 3.5

This post is simply for record keeping.  I have been slacking on writing down funnies and achievements, as well as Mills' status in learning etc.  I should have made an "all about Mills" book, but have not.  So, for my record keeping, I am choosing to note "all about Mills at 3.5" on our blog.

1. At 3.5, you weigh 36.5 lbs.
2. You wear 4T-5T in most shirts, 2T-3T in most pants and shorts, and wear a 8.5-9 shoe.  Your foot is finally beginning to slim down a bit.  Thank goodness!  Those trips to Collierville for shoes were getting pricey.
3.Your vocabulary is incredible, you are like a sponge and come home from Mimi's with words that your dad and I never use.  Not bad words, just words.  Last week, when it was warm out, you told us that is was "totally" hot out.  Totally?
4. Your favorite colors are orange and blue
5.  You love to watch Bubble Guppies, Curious George, and Team Umizoomi.
6.  Your favorite Bible story is "Daniel and the Big Wions." (lions)
7.  We are working on your "L", "Th" sounds.
8. You love your new big boy bed and sleep with only about 1000 animals at night.
9. You have learned to work mom's laptop.  You're a pro at the mouse.  You can work my iPhone better than I.
10. You can read very small words by sounding out letter sounds.  Last week you read "bad" and "cat."  Good job!
11. You love going to the doctor.  (sure didn't get that from your mom)
12. Your favorite songs are "What Makes you Beautiful" (you know most all of the words and it cracks me up, you like Mumford & Sons, and Hillsong United.
13. You are extremely coordinated when it comes to dancing.  I am very impressed!  I can't imagine who you get that from?  hmmmmm
14. You told me the other day that when you grow up, you want to be a "firefighter, farmer, and construction."
15. Fully potty trained! YAY!  And for some ODD reason, you like to do your "deed" at 8:30 every night...I can't imagine why.  To get out of bed, maybe?  A-ha!
16. You know all of your colors, letters, numbers, and can count to 30.
17.  You love fruit!  Cucumbers, tomatoes, macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, and chicken are your favorite foods.
18.  Independent.  Oh so independent.
19.  VERY strong willed.  I am hoping that is a 3 year old trait that will pass.  If not, we're in trouble.
20.  You test us like I've never seen a child test before.  3 year old trait?  I hope.
21.  As far as dressing, nothing I pick out is what you want to wear.  I can't believe we've started this already.  Appliqued shirts are "baby" and you refuse to wear them.  Mom does NOT like this, but what to do?
22.  This will be the last year I will be able to put you in the classic, southern etiquette based, toddler clothing.  No more smocked for you and it hurts my heart.  I'm getting my final fix with your adorable plaid two piece Easter suit, complete with knee socks and white shoes.  Go mom!  Get ready though, bow ties, vests and suspenders are in your future.  Again, go mom!
23.  You still nap every day.  Mom and dad believe that you NEED your rest, especially at 3 years old.
24.  Bed times are around 8pm.
25.  You have started using the words seriously, actually, awesome, cool, are a pro at telling random people in Walmart that, "we don't say dat word!" when they say a word you have been told not to say.  Mom is going to get beat up.  I just know it.
26.  I am proud of you because you have started carrying you plate to the sink when you are finished eating without being told.  As a matter of fact, I don't think we ever told you to do that in the first place.  You are also great at pushing your chair to the sink and washing your hands by yourself.  Good job!
27.  You do not care much about coloring, but have started attempting to write you letters with your fingers on the foggy shower door.  You wrote you name this morning when I wasn't looking.  I was shocked, surprised, and oh so proud!
28.  Music to mommy and daddy's ears:  "I wuv you mommy and daddy!"

Mills, We love you to the moon and back!

Back in the Prevacid Saddle...Again

We're back home after a brief doctor's visit, lunch, and car shopping.  Turns out that what we thought was a stomach bug, is not in fact the stomach bug, but a nasty acid reflux. 

Mills has been randomly vomiting in the middle of the night, and anything acidic, for example, tomatoes, oranges, etc. have triggered this awful thing. If you will remember me saying that it always happens on Saturdays, it does, but this week, it happened on Tuesday night! ha!   Mills had it when he was a baby.  Of course, ALL babies have reflux, he just had it to the point of projectile vomiting, resulting in the use of prevacid every day.

After two separate events this week, we knew that something just wasn't right.  He would yell to us in the wee hours of the morning to let us know he was going to, or had vomited.  Tuesday night's event happened after our tomato loving little fellow ate a whole tomato like an apple.  Hey, at least it wasn't chocolate, right?  See? I even caught him on camera!  I am proud that he likes tomatoes.  I hated them as a child.

So, Dr. Owen has given us instructions to begin prevacid on a daily basis, and no tomatoes or overly acidic foods for two weeks until the prevacid gets into his system.  I also made the decision to start him on probiotics and activia yogurt this week, as well.  He has been on it for three days and so far so good.  He loves both.

Thanking God today for an easy diagnosis and that it was nothing serious.

Easter Morning 2013

We had a day celebrating the Resurrection.  Here is our Mills with his new upside down bunny, decked out in his new Easter suit, ready for church! 

 

Mills had a visitor.  He woke to a shiny Easter basket and a new set of garden tools from the Easter Bunny.  He loves to help me in the yard, so the tools were so perfect for him.

 

 

Mills showing Joey the "goods."

 

 

 

 

 

This child has been begging for me to order him some "Stompeez."  I am so glad the Easter bunny thought of them!

 

"Happy Easter Curious George" = another great pic.  Mills loves this book!

 

"God Gave Us Easter"

Mills also has "God Gave Us Christmas," so this was a nice addition to the collection.

 

Very pleased with his new roaring dragon Stompeez!

 

 

 

 

 



 

Good Friday and Easter Eggs

Our tradition is to dye our Easter eggs on Good Friday, and that is what we spent the morning doing.  I pretty much let Mills have free reign of them this year, since he is a bit older.  Of course, I had to prevent a few mishaps along the way and help a great deal.  We definitely ended up with a vast array of eggs.  What he wanted, he got. 

 

 

2 dozen eggs.  

 

12 colors

 

 = a happy boy!

If you wonder why we have so many eggs, its because we have a rambunctious 3 year old and we always end up with a few broken ones.

We had an issue with the dye this year.  Not sure what happened, but our eggs turned out marbled.  Oh well!  They're still beautful.

 

 

 

Talking to Jesus

Mills and I spent the afternoon outside.  The weather was beautiful.  I had just finished spraying round-up on a few stray weeds and when I turned around, he was on his slide praying.  I am thankful that I had my phone with me, because I would have missed the opportunity to catch this awesome moment.  I managed to sneak over to catch the end of his prayer. 

"......thank you God for my friends, for Jesus, and for the cross, and for Jesus, and for Jesus' birthday.  In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."  I only melted into a puddle or two. 

This is a mother's or should i say MY most important goal in our son's life.  Making sure he has the opportunity to know Christ and hopefully, just HOPEFULLY accept him as his Savior when he is old enough to understand.  There is nothing greater or more important than that, and that is why we have had him in church since he was 8 weeks old.  I am thankful, excited, and ecstatic.  Hopefully we are doing something right.  I will greatfully hit our son over the head with a bible! LOL  No apologies.

Eleventh Anniversary

It's time to play catch up, again....

Erik and I celebrated our 11th anniversary 3/16/13.  The two of us did our traditional wedding anniversary over night get-away and enjoyed every minute of it. 

We headed out on Friday around eleven o'clock, stopped for a quick lunch and headed down town to our usual destination, The Peabody, for an early afternoon massage, just before heading over to our favorite hotel, the Madison.  We love staying there.  The rooms are comfy, and nice, and the staff there is always so friendly and helpful.  We always go to the rooftop, which has a nice river view, but unfortunately, it is currently under renovation.  The plans for it are awesome and we are looking forward to visiting again, when it reopens in April.

 

 

We had four hours to kill, so we hung out at eighty3, watched a little bit of television, and walked up Main Street just before showering and heading to bluefin, another fave!  We were lucky enough to be there when one of the cooks set of the smoke alarm, forcing everyone to evacuate, thus resulting in three different Memphis Fire stations taking the call.  This time, Erik got to watch. (ha!)

 After dinner we always walk to The Peabody lobby to listen to the piano and "people watch."  Too fun ;)  I wanted to visit the roof top and see the ducks in their newly renovated home, so we hopped on the elevator with a few friendly folks, a lo and behold, we got stuck on the elevator between the first and second floors with a singing little man and Si Robertson's twin.  Yes, it was lovely.  No, kidding aside, they were all nice people.  Luckily two men pryed the doors open from the outside after we set the alarm and the call button (I thought they would never respond) and we climbed down safely out of the elevator and hopped another. 

 

It was a nice, relaxing, kid-free, anniversary night, and I am looking forward to next year, when we do it all over again.

 

Happy 11 years sweetheart! 

Second Time's a Charm

I'm back at work today after the dreaded stomach virus struck me yesterday morning.  So, for this week, today is my Monday.  Lots to do, a lot to get caught up on.

Today, I officially registered Mills for Pre-K3 again.  This year, in August he will officially get to start.  All of those little things that kept him from starting last fall, after he was already enrolled, are all behind us.  I have checked that off of my list.  He will be a full-fledged, potty-trained, preschooler, going five days a week to begin his "learning career."  He's a smart one, so I'm sure he'll do fine.  We owe "Mimi" a big thank you for working with her children and learning every day.  It has given Mills a great start.  So, its off to our first year of two at preschool.  He can not wait!

After informing him that I officially resigned him up for school again, he said, "Yipee!"  Can' we go get me a lunch bag, back pack, and who is my teacher? 

I'm Breathing...finally.

I laugh as I typed the title to this post.  I just finished reading my friend, Kate's last post entitled, "A Day to Breathe."  I laugh, because I mean that literally.  After more than 24 hours of a severe sinus issue, I am finally lying here in my recliner and breathing.  We've all had it.  Between the stomach and the sinus, I don't know which is worse.  The weather changing from warm to cold over and over again is not doing us justice.  Tennessee weather, enough said.  Oh, and I can't wait until the pollen starts floating around.

I was a bit of a complainer this morning as I realized that we would be missing church....again.  I hate missing church.  It is my "go go juice" for the week, and things are never the same without it.  However, I can not and would not put Mills in the nursery with either condition, and singing in the choir is not an option.  I haven't been able to taste a thing, and have felt like someone has taken a hammer to my face.  No kidding.  Erik has been cursed with it too.

This, by far, has been the worst year I/we have ever endured with what I have labeled, "Saturday sickness."  It only happens on Saturday and by Sunday night, its downhill from there.  I wrote this morning that Satan has a sick wand that he waves to keep us from going to church on Sunday.  Ugh that devil!

Hopefully, by tomorrow, we'll all be sprinkled with feel good dust.  As for tonight, a tiny bit of air, a sleeping child, a staring dog,and a bit of light music on the TV are keeping me company while I prepare for bedtime, with Mills' humidifier....again.

Sickling

Our little bug has a bug. Waking at 7 and not feeling well, he has spent the morning sleeping in our bed with a bucket beside him and a glass of water.