Sovereignty and Responsibility

A couple of weeks ago, Jonathan’s status on Facebook was “contemplating God's sovereignty, man's responsibility, and excusing one for the other.”  This is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind as I have recently heard people say “I know I did (insert unkind action here), but God is sovereign and he will work through that for good.”  While I believe that to be a true statement, I feel like, at times, it has been used as an excuse.  I know that my small brain is not capable of understanding everything about our enormous God.  I’m pretty sure that I won’t ever fully understand how God’s sovereignty lines up with our responsibility.  I do know though that He is sovereign, but we are also held responsible and accountable for our actions. 

Each night we read out of “The Mighty Acts of God” a family Bible story book by Starr Meade.  I absolutely LOVE this book.  It may be a little over Kadynce’s head for a while, but we really have enjoyed reading a story from it each night as a family.  Kadynce holds her own little bible and looks at pictures while we read.  It’s so sweet.  Anyways, last night we read about how Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but God used it for good and for His purpose.  If you aren’t familiar with the story, Joseph ended up becoming a great ruler and helped provide food to the people of Egypt during a time of famine.  At the end of the story in this book Starr Meade sums it up this way “The Bible makes it clear that when people intend evil, as Joseph’s brothers did, it is wrong and God will hold them accountable for it.  At the same time, though, the Bible tells us that God is always at work in everything that happens to accomplish His purposes.” 

Do I completely understand exactly how everything fits together?  No.  Do I believe God is sovereign?  Yes.  Do I believe we will be held accountable for our actions?  Absolutely.  Most importantly I believe that God is good and He does good.     

Pumpkin Muffins

Last weekend I decided to try my hand at some pumpkin muffins.  The recipe I used is here.

You should definitely give them a try.  They were delicious and oh so easy.  

*Pictures compliments of my sweet husband :) 

Seeds

My wonderful sister in law, Susan bought Kadynce a set of these CDs for her birthday.  Let me just tell you, they are AWESOME!  It is just pure scripture set to fun and contemporary music.    

Not only does Kadynce love them, but Mommy and Daddy do too.  It is just such a great way to hide God's word in your heart.  Another really cool thing about them is that each CD comes with an extra copy to give to a friend.  So very neat if you ask me.  You can go here to check them out for yourself.

Bandwagon

With all of the sporting events going on these days we are seeing many people that are known as “bandwagon” fans.  These are people that are big fans of a team when they are doing well and winning and then the minute they start losing they decide they are no longer fans.  I think that this term can be used to refer to other things than just sports.  For example, you may be a huge supporter of a politician when they are making decisions that benefit you and make you happy, but the minute they make one mistake you pull your support.  The other example I can think of and the one I would like to talk about is the “Radical Bandwagon.”  I know many churches have challenged their congregation to read the book “Radical” by David Platt.  I have read the book and have even referred to it on my blog before.  Please don’t get me wrong.  I think it is a wonderful book that speaks truth and puts things in perspective, but I have to wonder how many of us are just bandwagon fans of the book?  I mean we preach “sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice,” but are we really willing to practice it? 

We have some good friends that are a great example of this.  Without going into a lot a detail I can definitely say that they have sacrificed for what God has called them to do.  They even gave up their house so he could continue to minister at the church that he was at.  He could have easily found another job, they would have been able to continue living where they were, and would have been able to stay comfortable without any changes.  This is not what they chose to do though because they knew God’s plan is bigger than their own.  They made the decisions that they did very humbly.  They did not flaunt that they were sacrificing.  They just did it because they knew it was right. 

On his way to submit his letter of resignation Jonathan got a phone call from a pastor at a church about 3 hours away.  He said they were in need of a worship pastor and would love for him to come interview and lead worship one Sunday.  Both mine and Jonathan’s immediate reactions were “thanks, but no thanks.”  I mean we like being close to family and we just bought our house a year ago.  We like where we are.  We are comfortable and not interested in changing that.  The pastor said ok, but he would still like for us to come visit if for nothing else, but the experience and the start of a friendship.  Jonathan told him that sounded good and that we would be looking forward to it.  After that God quickly began to work on our hearts.  We realized that this church may be where God wants us and we may have to make a few sacrifices, but that is what he has called us to do.  Here I had been leading our life group through a book about sacrifice, but was I willing to actually take that step of faith?  I want to practice what I preach.    

This is just something that has been on my mind lately as I know many of us have been enthusiastic about making big changes in our lives and fully living for the Lord.  Are we just jumping on the bandwagon or are we in it for the long haul?  Are we willing to stick with it through the thick and thin?  Please be in prayer for our family as we try to follow where the Lord is leading us. 

Peaceful Tears

I know it has been a while since I have written a new post.  I said at the beginning of this blog that I wanted to be as transparent as possible.  We have been dealing with some issues the past month or so that couldn’t be shared in the open until now.  Therefore, I felt it best that I not blog because I wouldn’t be able to share my true heart with you.  Now I can openly share so here we go…

Because of the fact that I have been in church since I was just a few months old I have seen my share of church drama.  I have seen church staff and their families have their hearts broken.  Jonathan and I were told by our mentors that as unfortunate as it may be, being in the ministry many times involves getting hurt at one time or another.  After all, we are all sinners.  Just like anything though, you don’t really understand the extent of something until you walk through it yourself.

412 Community Church has been our home, our family for 3 years.  I would be lying if I said it’s been all roses, but we knew that God had us there for a purpose.  For His purpose.  We have always had a peace about where we were.  Even when I was unsure of how things looked on paper and the skeptic side of me would creep in; my wonderful husband would remind me Who called us to where we were.  Over the past month we have been tested more than we ever imagined we would be. 

James 4:17 states “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”   My husband and our family’s integrity has been tested multiple times in the past month.  What appeared to be the “easy” and maybe even the “smart” path for us we knew was not the “right thing.”  Every decision that was made and every conversation that was had was with the mindset of what was best for 412 and what was going to be most God honoring.  Our prayer as a family has always been that the Lord would make his will clear to us.  About a week ago God made it very clear to us that 412 is no longer where we are supposed to be.  Because of this Jonathan resigned as Worship Pastor on Sunday. 

The past month has not been easy and it has hurt worse than I could have imagined, but do I regret one moment of the past 3 years?  Not one bit.  Jonathan and I are not perfect and we have made mistakes, but I believe that our hearts have always been to glorify God and to love the people at 412.  Our future is uncertain at the moment, but only to us for God has it under control.  He has given us an incredible amount of peace and we are excited about what he has in store for us.  He has already opened doors that we didn’t even know existed.  Many of you know that I am a stay at home mom and may be thinking “what about finances?”  Please don’t worry about us.  We are taken care of in that area.  God is good.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post.  I just needed to share what has been on my heart for a while.  This was also one of the best ways I could think of to communicate with some friends and family that I may not have the opportunity to speak to very often.  I love you all and please feel free to contact me for clarifications about anything that was said.  

Animal Adventures!

A little over a week ago Jonathan and I were trying to come up with something exciting and cheap to do with Kadynce. I remembered that my mom and I had wondered into PetSmart with Kadynce one afternoon and she really enjoyed watching the dogs playing at their "Doggy Daycamp." So we decided that this would be a fun afternoon outing to do with our little one. Here are some pictures from our trip to the "Redneck Zoo" as Jonathan called it. :)

A few days later Kadynce and I ventured out to the real Zoo with some dear friends and thier kiddos. We were there all day. She did so good and I think she really enjoyed it.

This is my friend Heather wearing her baby, Logan in my new Moby wrap at the Zoo.

This picture was taken right before I was informed that another goat was eating Kadynce's shoe.

Kadynce with her lunch box and her baby ready for a day at the Zoo.

This past weekend we went to the aquarium with my parents (aka Nana and Papa.) My Dad was convinced that Kadynce would like it and he was wrong. She LOVED it!

Needless to say, I think we have an animal lover on our hands!!!

Eyes of a child

Kadynce started crawling last week and there is absolutely no stopping her now. She is all over the place. I love watching her explore our house (or wherever we may be a the time). This morning she discovered our glass back door. She crawled over to it, got up on her needs and watched outside with amazement. Every now and then she would look back at me smile, giggle, and then point to something outside. It was as if she were saying "Mommy, Mommy look! Look at God's beautiful creation!"

I loved that moment. I love seeing things through the eyes of a child. The excitement, the wonder, the awe. I think it is so refreshing and so needed in today's busy world. I praise the Lord every day for blessing us with our sweet Kadynce and reminding us of the beauty of his creation

Spaghetti Squash

I had read several places that you can substitute Spaghetti Squash for the pasta in spaghetti. I decided to give this a try. I told Jonathan that if we did not like it we could order pizza ;) If you've never had this type of squash this is what it looks like once the seeds are removed and the flesh it scraped.

So we tried it. We put the noodle type squash into a bowl and put spaghetti sauce with ground meat on top of it. I am happy to report that it was a SUCCESS!!! We have already made it again since. The texture is more crunchy than pasta and Jonathan said he actually likes that better.

I am also happy to report that my new system for doing housework is working out quite nicely. I am getting much more accomplished and it feels great!!!

Changes

I have realized that when I make a decision about a change I want to make in my life the more people I tell the more accountability I have. I think accountability is a wonderful thing and therefore I am going to share some decisions I (or we) have made we you.

#1 change took place this week. We decided that we were watching entirely too much TV in the evenings and not spending enough of our time just enjoying each other. Because of this we have not been turning on the TV in the evenings until Kadynce goes to bed. This may sound simple to some of you, but to us this has been huge. I still allow Kadynce to watch some of her Sesame Street, or Praise Baby during the day when it's just her and I, but the evenings are family time and I love it. We have even cancelled our satellite. It's been very freeing.

#2 change that I desire to make is I would like to be more organized in my house keeping. I am one of those people that tends to freeze up under stress. It seems that the more housework that needs to be done the less productive I am. I am going to try to make a list of things that need to be accomplished each week and assign them a specific day to be done. This way I will be taking things on in pieces and won't get so overwhelmed looking at one big long list. This will be totally new to me so we'll see how it goes.

So those are the changes going on in my life right now. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I will leave you with this cute video of Kadynce watching Bella from her highchair.

We'll call it Rotel Chicken Soup

Per Jonathan's request I have decided to blog about a soup recipe that my mom and I came up with about a month ago. It is delicious and healthy! Jonathan says it's one of his favorite meals (even with this 100 degree weather). I got the idea while eating a soup at a restaurant who will remain nameless. I realized that the ingredients seemed simple and thought that I could probably make it at home. So here's the recipe, please enjoy:

Ingredients (This is for about 4 servings)

• 3 boneless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
• 5 cups of chicken broth
• 1 can of rotel tomatoes
• 2 cups of cooked brown rice
• Garlic salt to taste
• 1 avocado peeled and diced
• tortilla chips

Directions

Mix together chicken, chicken broth, rotel, rice, and garlic salt in large pot and let cook on low heat for 30-45 minutes. Serve with diced avocado and tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Mac and Cheese!

For a little over a month now I have been really working at serving our family more healthy and wholesome meals. I have come to the realization that eating right is not just about counting calories, but it has more to do with the nutritional value of the food you put into your body. I have learned that it is important to make sure you are getting enough protein and whole grains as well as fruits, veggies, and dairy in your daily diet. I am trying to stay away from processed foods and high fructose corn syrup as much as possible. No worries though, when eating out or over at friend's houses it is not as big of a deal to me. I just want the food that I serve in my home to be as healthy as possible (while still amazingly yummy of course).

With that said I wanted to share what we had for lunch today. I don't believe that to be healthy you have to give up all of your favorite foods. For example, I made some brownies the other day using whole wheat flour, applesauce, and honey. They were yummy and definitely not lacking in flavor. Ok now back to lunch.... I love macaroni and cheese. I always have. I knew there had to be a better alternative to the boxed stuff so I searched online and found this quick and easy recipe. Stove-top Macaroni and Cheese I made a few modifications such as using organic whole grain elbow macaroni and I cut the sauce recipe in half (several of the reviews said it made too much using the whole recipe). I also used skim milk and light real butter. It was a success. Jonathan and Kadynce both loved it. It does have a little different taste and texture than what you may be used to, but it was still delicious and so much healthier.

Absolutely NO control

This weekend was interesting. It was a lesson learned for this Mommy that likes to have everything planned and to feel in control. Our weekend usually start on Fridays because Jonathan has Fridays off. It is normally "family day" since Saturdays are usually pretty busy with some sort of event. We were looking forward to all that we had planned this weekend. Friday we were going to go to the Dallas Museum of Art to see a display that I have been wanting to see all summer. That would be followed by our traditional relaxing pizza and a movie night. Saturday we were going to meet my mom, dad, and brother for lunch and to hand off Kadynce to her Nana so the rest of us could spend the rest of the day at the Brad Paisley concert. All the plans were made and no worries.... I had it all under control.

Kadynce woke up Friday morning with a temperature of 102.3. No museum for us. Don't get me wrong I love taking care of my baby more than anything, but I was still a little disappointed. We took her to the Doctor and he diagnosed her with a childhood virus that causes a high fever and very painful blisters and the throat. Our relaxing evening quickly turned into an evening of trying to comfort a very upset and hurting baby. It is just heartbreaking when they are in so much pain and there is nothing you can do.

Plans were still on for Saturday. Kadynce seemed to be feeling a little better and I felt good about leaving her with my mom. She loves her Nana very much and after all, who took care of me all the times I was sick? While getting ready for the concert my vision in my right eye seemed strange. Everything was squiggly and I just didn't feel right. In a matter of minutes I was experiencing the most intense pain in my head and nausea that I have ever felt. I was having a migraine. Only the second one I've ever experienced. It was miserable and scary. My mom quickly came to stay with Kadynce and I while Jonathan headed on to the concert. He had really been looking forward to it and I didn't want him to miss it. Thankfully after a few hours of rest I was feeling much better and was able to make it to the concert before Brad Paisley came on stage. I was still able to enjoy the evening with my dad, brother, and sweet hubby.

The Lord definitely reminded me this weekend that I am not in control. I don't think it is a bad thing to be a planner. I just need to work on not being upset when things don't go as planned. After all, we were created to glorify God for His purpose and not ours.

New Hobby

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to learn to sew. So, I bought a sewing machine and everything else the internet said I needed to go with it. A wonderful friend that has experience in this area offered to show me basics and I greatly accepted her offer. The above picture is of my most recent project. It is a skirt that Kadynce probably won't really fit in until she's three (I meant to make it a little big, but I went a little overboard). That's ok though, maybe she can wear it to ballet class or something. I made this skirt to practice for her birthday outfit that I will be making soon. I just can't believe our baby will be a year old in two and a half months. I already have all of the material for her skirt and to appliqué a shirt. I am really excited and I think it will be super cute!

Making Disciples

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

This is a verse I have had memorized probably since the age of 7. I remember we would recite it every Wednesday evening at GA's. I can honestly say that I have "studied" this passage many times, whether in Sunday morning worship, bible study, or on a mission trip. I have heard it broken down into the steps of first you bring people to Christ, then they are baptized as a public sign of what has occurred in their hearts, and lastly you teach them about God's word. Ok, so I'll witness to people and if they accept Christ I'll point them in the direction of baptism. Then if they are interested I'll give them information for bible study classes that they can attend. I've done my job, right? WRONG! I know I've had the true meaning of discipleship explained to me in the past, but I don't think I've ever fully understood it until now. Making disciples involves building relationships and being a teacher. Teaching does not necessarily mean sitting in a classroom and holding a lecture, but it can be teaching by example and equipping others to go make new disciples. Being a teacher of God's word is not something that a select few are called to, but it is something that we all, as Christians are commanded to do.

I am so very thankful for the wonderful people in my life that truly understand the meaning of discipleship. Thank you for investing in my life by loving me and teaching me by example.

Feed the Kids for Summer

Last night a few of our life groups as well as our youth decided they wanted to volunteer for a local program called "Feed the Kids for Summer." This is a ministry put together by a network of churches in the area for children that are on free or reduced meals during the school year. The local school nurses have said that many of these children return to school in the fall very malnourished because they have not had proper nutrition during the summer. Our church held a golf tournament as a fundraiser for this program back in May. It was both awesome and heartbreaking at the same time as we helped last night by stuffing bags full of food to be passed out to children around the community. It was awesome watching people joyfully serve together for such a good purpose. It was awesome listening to our friend's 5 year old and 4 year old fill the bags with such enthusiasm knowing that they were helping children less fortunate than themselves. While I wanted to be happy knowing we were doing a good thing my joy was overshadowed by the pain I felt in my heart for these children. We have heard a few negative comments about the program such as "how do they know that these families are truthful and really don't have the money." I know some people may also think "their parent's have the money and just spend it on drugs or alcohol." While this may be true in some cases, who are we to judge? Either way the children are going without food and that is not ok. After we had all of the bags filled I was discussing with a friend how much food each child was going to receive. What was supposed to last them a week would last many of us two days at the most. I realize that I have been blessed beyond what I deserve. I am often not as grateful as I should be for what we consider "the little things." There are children (and adults) all over our the world and in our backyard that don't know where their next meal is going to come from. Please pray for them and pray for what you can do to help. I know I will be.

9 month update

Kadynce had her 9 month check up today. She is 19 lbs 10 oz (75th%) and 29.25 inches long (94th%). The doctor says she is doing great! She got two shots and a toe prick and was such a big girl. She is not yet crawling, but is learning to get around in her own way. Dr. Daniels called it the monkey crawl. She sits on her bottom and uses her arms and legs to move around like a monkey. It's actually pretty funny. He said that her speech is pretty advanced for her age. She says Mama, Dada, Ada (all done), Ana (Nana), Hi, and Ella for Bella our dog (she actually yells this at all dogs including her stuffed one). She is eating more and more table foods every day and has just learned to pick up small pieces of food and put it in her mouth. I praise the Lord each day for blessing us with our sweet Kadynce Lynne. He has entrusted us with a huge responsibility and my hope is that we raise her in a way that brings all the glory to Him.

Perspective

My baby girl is growing up too fast. She rarely lets me rock her anymore because she knows it'll put her to sleep. She is quite the social butterfly and doesn't like to miss anything. I used to rock her to sleep all the time. I would worry that I was creating a habit that would be hard to kick, but I didn't want to miss that sweet time with my baby. I knew she wouldn't stay so small for long. On this past Monday she fell asleep as I was giving her a bottle and I just rocked her for a while trying to soak up every second. Things have really seemed to be put into perspective lately. A mother that I know has had to say goodbye to not only the love of her life, her husband, and the father of her children, but her youngest daughter as well. My heart breaks for her. I just can't imagine the pain that she is feeling. I pray for a peace for her and her older daughter that can only come from our heavenly Father.

I have been thinking a lot about this verse in Matthew 6 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where are our hearts? Aur we focusing on the things that will someday be gone in the blink of an eye or are we focusing on things with eternal value? My prayer is that I will focus on the things that God treasures and not the treasures of this world.

My Heart

I have tried to start a blog many times before. I thought that recording our activities as a family would be a great way for our family to keep up with what we are doing and how much our sweet little Kadynce is growing. Each time before I have failed because I always find something that I believe takes priority over writing a blog. This time I believe it will last since my motivation for blogging is a little different. While I do intend to write updates on our family and about what is going on in our lives, the main purpose of this blog is going to be to share my heart. I believe that God has really been reshaping the way I think and the way I live my life. Over the past few days I feel that he has convicted me to not just keep these thoughts to myself, but to share them with others. I will be the first to admit that writing is not one of my strong points so please try to ignore any errors in spelling or grammar that may occur. My desire is to share what the Lord is doing in my life and in my heart.

With that said, here we go. Our pastor has been encouraging us to read the book Radical by David Platt. I had been told not to expect coming away from reading this book the same as I was going in. I knew that it has drastically changed the lives of many people. I am on chapter 3 and already believe that to be true. I have been burdened for a while about how we live in America, but have I done anything about it? No, nothing other than complain. We live in a society in which I believe has their priorities totally and completely mixed up. We are too comfortable in the lives we live. We will spend who knows how much money on whatever tickles our fancy, but yet we shudder at the thought of sponsoring a child who needs shoes on their feet and clean water to drink. We look at those that don't even have food to eat, or worse yet don't know the Lord and think "oh somebody else will take care of them." What if everyone says that? Who is going to take care of the needy then? A change must be made. What does that look like for my family? I'm not sure yet, but I know it must happen sooner than later.