Pictures from Las Vegas

Yeah, so I saw a glimpse of the Chippendale's while I watched the View from the luxorious position behind the fencepost. And, I saw the two Davids from this year's American Idol, that I did not watch. I was pretty close to Sherri Shephard and that is an actual picture of Whoopi Goldberg standing very close to me. Daniel's conference took us on a dinner cruise to the Hoover dam. God's creation is glorious, see blog about flying. Mostly I walked >10,000 steps every day looking at the people, casinos, shops, and grande displays inside the casino buildings. (Yay!!) BTW, Nevada is running out of water too. The lake is at least 100 feet below the old normal (they don't expect it to go back to normal).

Broken in Las Vegas

So I have done several touristy things, but I have also been broken in many ways for the lost people here. This morning, I got up and went to see a live taping of The View. Then I went to the pool to people watch and semi-sunbathe. :) Then I went to lunch with my new Indian friend Sakthi. She just got married to Daniel's coworker, Mahendra. It is so strange to me - an arranged marriage. In Jamie-fashion, I've already found out why she eats meat and he does not. He believes it is a sin and she does not. They are Hindu. And, I cannot remember the city in which she is from, but it is not illegal to be a Christian there.

I prayed for the time I would spend with Sakthi before I left, but it wasn't a whole lot - I hope my Jesus was represented nonetheless. I am intrugued by her and Mehendra and the whole arranged marriage thing. It seems neat really.

Okay, so as I'm finishing this blog, I am already home again. Yes, I was broken by the people in Las Vegas, but the world is lost everywhere. I guess I was struck by the men giving away the tiniest of brochures about nude women you could have in minutes. The "brochures" were small like giving someone a "tract" with the gospel truth on it. And, I was thinking how much audacity does one have to hand out a brochure to a man with his wife in tow! They were not successful, but attempts were made nonetheless - in the day light, at night, whenever, by men, by women too. At first, I was a little angered, but then I just thought how sad that one feels like they must do this to earn some extra cash! And not only them, but the women secretly out there behind the scenes.

Prostitution is illegal there, but this is really no different to me - T-shirts that read, "Women to you in less than 20 minutes..." It is heart-breaking, especially knowing that our church is going on mission there at the end of the month. Because of this I know that these men and women passing out tracts may represent homeless children that are aided by a program called Surgance. What will our church teach their own children about these things and how to view them? I mean, there are barely dressed men and women posted as soon as you land in the airport, so...

I am just reminded that the mission field is wherever you are, with whoever you are with. So this is just a taste of all that I could write about Las Vegas - I haven't thoroughly thought through a lot of it.

Flying

I am in Las Vegas, NV, just me and Daniel and some of his co-workers. I have more to blog about my trip here, but first I wanted to blog about the plane ride.

There is something so mysterious about flying to me. I mean men were not created to fly. Yet a man created an airplane so that we could. I have not flown a lot, but maybe an average amount considering some have never flown. There is something thrilling about it to me. I'm not a roller coaster thrill seeker. But I do love adventure, and now, I am getting to taste a little of that adventure that I blogged that I was longing for. The trip to Las Vegas was the first time I have flown since having children, and it was a lot scarier this time. I guess I had more to lose this time than any other time. But because it is so exciting and mysterious to me, I have always envisioned the hand of God carrying my airplane to wherever I am going. I see His angels pushing and lifting the wings of the plane with their hands as they fly with their wings. As I was flying and wondering why it is that God allows us to get in airplanes and take off to different places, I was reminded of what I believe is one reason.

You know when the plane finally reaches its cruising altitude and the plane levels off. If it is still daylight, then you have quite a view. The view is magnificient, and this is why I believe God lets man fly - we can experience His creation in a way that magnifies His glory. I don't know how anyone can get in a plane and look down and not know that there is a Creator, a loving God. How deep and wide and long is His love for me (and you). He created all of these things for Himself but also for me. For me, so that I might recognize Him, be drawn to Him. In essence so that He might woo me to Himself, and I would bring Him glory, honor, and praise. It is as if your husband were to bring you a bouquet of flowers or take you to a nice restaurant or whatever floats your boat in order to romance you - God does the same for each of us. How magnificient! How awesome! How wonderful!

Silly faith

Yeah! I asked the "miracle maker" to fix my pedometer, and guess what, as odd as it sounds to ask for that, my pedometer is up and working, as good as new! I love when God works in some way like that. I was totally dancing and saying, "Please, oh please, great magic miracle worker fix my pedometer" in front on my husband and kids. Then I started playing with it, and hey presto, it was alive again. And as silly as it seems, I believe God gets the credit for that.

Hmm...blogging / walking

I am constantly thinking of blog topics. Right now, I have several, but I never have enough time to actually post all of them! :) I have no idea if anyone actually even reads these blogs other than my sister and my husband, and I am okay with that. They make me happy. :)


I have started walking on a regular basis. A few weeks ago I got a new pedometer, which I loved and was very excited about. It has already met its death, as it got placed in the washer. :( However, as I used it, I quickly learned that unless I go for a walk or go to the mall, which I'm rarely able to do with both children, I do simply do not get in enough steps in my day. The average is 5,000 steps a day, and I found myself to be below average, even playing with kids and doing housework. So now, as part of our routine, we walk in the mornings after breakfast, at least 3 days a week, or that's my goal anyhow, and then we try to go for a walk in the evenings after dinner as a family.


Wednesday we went to Veteran's Park and walked around the walking track and then went to the park. This was my first time to experience their walking track, and I loved it. If anybody is interested and wants to start walking on a regular basis with me, please let me know. I want to make it a weekly if not more often occurance.


E, though, does not care for strolling. Sadly, he has been on less outings than I took A on in the stroller. But as we've gone on more and more walks, he has started to settle down. A's favorite part of the walk is when we let her walk Gizmo the rest of the way home.

First steps

I'm so excited. E just took his first steps on his own!! Mind you it was only 4, but it was the beginning.

Gardening

This year I decided to test out what the bible says about pruning. I am not an avid gardener yet, so I am just learning as I go along. The past couple of years my husband has done most of the yardwork because I've either been "with child" or had a little baby to care for. This year, for some reason, it was more manageable to do some gardening. Anyhow, I decided to prune one of our butterfly bushes, and Daniel pruned the other one. I think they could both use a little fertilizer for next year, but here are the results.

Day Lily

Gerber Daisies (I love daisies)

Little bed by house - pink carnations, dianthas, & one whose name I am forgetting right now.

Gardenia - smells very delicious

A's flower bed - she & I actually planted this one together.

The butterfly bush Daniel pruned.

A flower from the butterfly bush I pruned.
The mailbox flowers: verbena, lavendar, and aster. Best plants we've put in that location yet.
One of our beautiful roses.

The butterfly bush I pruned.

Captivated by God

So I haven't posted lately because we've been busy with VBS this past week. Thursday evening we went to visit the new baby, and then the next morning A woke up with a fever. Today we went to visit my grandparents, and it is just such a sad situation of which I wish I knew a solution for. I can now understand why people contemplate euthanasia, not that I want to exercise that route. It's just that things aren't always as black and white as they seem to be when you are young. (I once wrote a term paper on euthanasia in high school). And before we left Cordova, little E got a fever. A only has a cold, so we just kept her around my mom and kept her & E mostly away from my grandparents.

Now that I have kids I read multiple books at once. I do actually finish them, but with kids it can be slow reading. Anyhow, I started reading, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" by Angela Thomas. It talks about how God created a woman to yearn to be beautiful, and it speaks to my soul. How much of our lives are shaped by how we view ourselves when we are younger and the words or the silence that is spoken to us. I finished the first chapter yesterday, and I'm doing the bible study with it. She quotes John Eldredge from his book "Wild at Heart" in saying that women yearn to be sought after, to be thought of as captivating, to have some adventure. These words ring true to me.

I just joined facebook this week, and so many people are living in new and exciting places, some are missionaries, some are not, some are married, some are not. But at first glance, yes, I felt kinda jealous, mainly of the adventure that each of them appear to be having, while I'm in Alabama raising kids. My adventure is an adventure too, but very different from how I thought things would be. I thought earlier in my life that I would be single forever, with nothing holding me back from traveling wherever I wanted whenever I wanted other than God. But it is God that called me into the adventure I am own, and that is something I had to remember. See, there is nothing, no child, no husband, no journey quite as captiving and rewarding as being pursued by God eternally. How awesome we are created as women! The temptation however, is to have eyes that only see temporally instead of eternally. If there is one thing I can know it is that God is never going to let me down - my part is just to seek him, to pray for the things I yearn for, to be obedient to His leading, and watch out for the fun. And just to be clear, I would never really want to trade this journey with my precious kids and husband for anything!

New Baby

My friend had a beautiful baby girl. Here I am meeting her for the first time.

Quiet before Him

I am trying to revitalize my quiet time and I know that God is alive and active because He did not allow this webpage to work until I was finished reading His word. In this post, I was thinking about busyness and our world. My quiet time went along with that, so I thought I would share.

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

"...so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Luke 5:15-16

So much of our problems arise when we are not genuine with God or do not give moments of our lives to Him in prayer. God has the ability to speak in a loud voice, in a hurricane or earthquake or something of the sort, but many times, He speaks in a quiet whisper. How often do we fail to hear Him because we are too busy or too loud with our own lives? See 1 Kings 19:9-13 or 1 Samuel 3:1-10. God rightly deserves our time and our stillness. Without Him, we can do nothing on our own (John 15:5).

Getting Older

Sadly everyone does it. My mom is now taking care of her parents, my granny and my papa. My PaPa had a stroke last October and has needed a great deal of care since then. My granny has been declining in health for quite some time, so she could not take care of him when he came home for good from the nursing home in January (I think). So my mom has become their caretaker. Only, she does not live with them. She visits them several times throughout the week and makes their meals for them. For a long time, my PaPa could not have truly solid foods - only blended or mashed foods, but now, he can eat most things safely. Anyhow, the past few months there has become more and more of a need for full time care of my grandparents. My mom is single and retired, so to speak, so she can help them. But then she doesn't have anyone to relieve her, and it is a thankless and tiring job that she does for them. She would really like to spend more time with my kids, but she is not able to do that as much. When she does visit me or my sister, I think she probably does it for her sanity even though maybe she should stay all the time with my grandparents. My dad passed away 3 1/2 years ago, and her brother has to work. At times, my mom, a widow herself, needs a lot of help she doesn't get either (yardwork, home repair, etc. - whatever happened to taking care of the widows). It seems very hard to do the things you should do in today's world because it is so busy.

My grandparents have not responded well to sitters, and their money will run out very quickly if they had to have one regularly. It is just a sad situation that there is not something to help out aging people to be able to afford the nursing home or assisted living or something. Sunday, my granny fell and broke her hip in one place and pelvis in two places. I just think they will definitely need constant care now - maybe my mom will move in with them or something. When you are thinking about how many kids to have or how to save what precious little money you have, you need to think about what you will do at the end of life too. I guess I don't know a good answer for this situation and wish someone knew some good thoughts about it.

Friends

A loves her friend, B, who is 2 years older! We went to their house for dinner last night, and the two of them proceeded to get into Vaseline and had to have a bath together afterwords. Then, Miss A got to wear some comfy jammies home! This pic is the two of them after the bath.

If I could really say anything to the rest of the world

it would be that I am a horrible sinner that totally needs God each and every day. I am so thankful that I know the Lord Jesus Christ and that he has saved me and continues to save me each and every day.

Today we went to Wal-Mart - the whole family, and by golly, going shopping of any kind is down right HARD these days. I came home flustered and frustrated and full of stress. I guess there are seasons with the kids that are harder than others. I am in a hard season right now. E is the best baby, but not when we go shopping. He fusses and squeals and screams. A always has some sort of fit, and well, I actually want to be a parent, so I have to fight the fight, instead of giving into her desires. This is challenging, as it would be so much easier and peaceful (which is something I'm seeking) to just give in. Ah - but it is the lazy way. It is during these times of frustration that I feel so alone, small, and overwhelmed. Alone because I want some help and somewhere to scream it all too all at once and because it is the mom's job to take care of everyone and everything else. Yes, I have my hubby, but I still feel all alone, as if I must do it myself with no help. But, then I am reminded that I am not alone. I have a BIG God to help if I would just be mindful of him. And, I can bare my deepest fears and frustrations to Him - He longs for this. He is a God who cares about my frustrating trips to Wal-Mart, and somehow this gives me the peace that I long for. I can write it down in my blog, and even though no one may ever read it, God sees and knows, and I am comforted by this.

Thank you, O Precious God, for a love so deep and so wide and so long that it covers over everything I ever do or think or desire. Help me to always be mindful of you and place all of me at your feet! In Jesus, Amen and amen!

Reading?

I think A read her first word today - "Psst!" is the title of one of our library books, and A picked it up (we've never read it) and told me the title, and I really don't know how she knows it, other than she possibly read it. Silly I know, but that's all I can come up with.

Beach trip

We went to the beach this past weekend from Sunday to Tuesday. The kids had a blast - they are both water babies. As usual we did not take enough pictures, but here are a few.

A & E both got in the ocean to swim or float for the first time. A has played in the sand several times now, but it has never been warm enough to swim. They loved it, even though it was a little rough at first. I was surprised how much E loved the waves. He also loved the sand like A does. He was a beach bum and took a nap on the beach! How cute! A got to sleep in a bunk bed - the bottom one - all by herself. This is the first time she's ever slept in a big girl bed, and she did great!! We were so proud of her. It was nice when we had Grandma to help us get to the beach because the next day we were all alone (just the 4 of us), and it was HARD work taking 2 babies and all our stuff to the beach!!

Gonna have a baby

No, not me again. At least not yet, if ever. :) No, I mean my friend Lindy is going to have her first baby. We had a shower for her this last weekend. She is almost 33 weeks and has been having contractions for a while. Pray that she makes it to 37 weeks, at least. What a joy it will be to have her little baby boy. I know she has been looking forward to him for quite a while. The bible says that "children are a reward." There is so much to learn from them - mostly they make you a better person, and remind you to be childlike yourself.

Lindy and I at her baby shower. There's a baby in that belly.