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78 In Faith/ Life

Her Name is Montye

montye&girls

She is a beautiful and young mother of two young girls (5 and 3) and the wife of Chris.

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She is also a friend of friends, a blog reader, a woman who is walking in faith… and one who covets our prayers.

Last fall she was diagnosed with cancer {Synovial Sarcoma} and under went two major surgeries at the Mayo Clinic. Just a couple weeks ago she received the news that a very small spot in her lungs that showed on a scan in January has become several spots and a larger one near her heart and the medical oncologist thinks the cancer has metastasized in her lungs. They opted not to biopsy the spots at this time but do a repeat CT scan in June, but her doctor feels certain the cancer has returned. Her doctor has explained to her that this type of cancer does not respond well to chemo and if she opts to try it it will not save her life, only buy her time.

Montye has appointments with Dr. Gonzalez in NYC today and tomorrow and she is hoping and praying that he can help save her life. You can read more about him and her story on her blog.

We have emailed back and forth a few times and I asked her permission to share her story with you all. This is what she said, “I have felt the Lord’s Peace wash over me this week and I know He is by my side. I have decided that no matter what the doctors say that really in the end it is my Heavenly Father that decides how much timeĀ I have left on this earth… and I know He has great plans for me. As for the prayers, I will graciously accept them all. The power of prayer is truly amazing! No need to write back… spend that time with your precious little ones.”

So… my faithful blog readers will you please join me in going boldly to the throne of grace for Montye’s healing, and for the peace of Christ to wash over her, Chris and their families?

67 In Faith/ Life/ Recipes

Our Week & My Redeemer

hippobreakfast

Good Saturday Morning to you! It’s been a crazy week around here; preschool Easter parties, Mom & DaddyBoy in town, swing set building, baking, cleaning, healing craters, and lots of playing! The weather has been wonderful… sunny & low 80s, perfect for all that we accomplished this week!

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My MIL has a beautiful yard and she graciously watched JM so that I could attended Paige’s Easter party without him, when we got there he was so enamored with her flowers {who could blame him} I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures of his bed head leaning over for a little sniff sniff!

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I also have been meaning to make these for weeks and weeks and finally got around to it yesterday! We had some friends over to play and I should have known little ones would want all the coconut scraped off! šŸ™‚ They are devil’s food cupcakes,Ā  butter cream frosting {Wilton’s recipe}, and toasted coconut! I trimmed the tops of the cupcakes off so the “birds” could sit down in them!

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Our biggest feat of the week was building the 30,000 part swing set.Ā  I learned that building a swing set was good for my sanctification. We managed to finish it in 2 days and only had 148 parts left over! And of course, the kids love it! They’ve been outside since it was done and besides one fat lip, no blood has been shed!

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I was almost convinced that little man was too small to play on it … he proved me wrong in about 30 seconds when he climbed the rock wall and proceeded to go down the slide… all by himself.

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Morgan loves the swings.

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And Paiger loves the slide.

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And little man loves the “double swing thing” because he can ride while a sister pumps. I kept asking him if he was ready to get off and he would quickly reply, “Nooooooooooo!”

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All three absolutely love it and have already logged MANY many hours on it in the first week! And very soon I hope Rover will learn to not walk in front of the swings.

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Every time he does it I think, “that will certainly be the last time he does that” as I scoop him up off the ground and brush him off.

In other news, I dropped my phone in the pool yesterday. It was in my pocketĀ  when I leaned over the pool and then I watched it sink to the very bottom of the deep end. I fished it out, dried off, sat it in the warm sun and it’sĀ  still a goner. Justin thinks it was a secret ploy to get an iPhone, I assured him it wasn’t… but an iPhone does sound good to me. But my goodness those little things are expensive anyone know if you can buy them used? šŸ™‚

Also… I’m putting together the April sponsors POST… be sure to check back soon for details and specials they have to offer! I have a handful of fun new sponsors this month!

And last but not least… I hope and pray that each of you have a wonderful Easter weekend to reflect on the goodness, faithfulness, and love of the Savior. I am reminded of the power of his redeeming blood that was shed for a sinner such as I… which gives me so much to be thankful for and so much to celebrate!! Thank you, Lord Jesus!

If you have time to listen to these powerful words, I think they would be a blessing to you!

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

My Redeemer Lives {This video has been around for a while but what a powerful picture of the love of a father for his son; a father pushes his physically disabled son in marathons and triathlons. And as I watched it I reminded myself that Jesus does all of this for us… he carries us when we can’t walk and the reality is he went beyond carrying us by dying for us!}

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter!

In Faith/ Life

forgiveness & grace

MandJ

I love her with every ounce of my being. You wouldn’t have known that on Sunday afternoon when I acted like nothing more than a wretch towards her. She wronged her sister. But she also wronged me, or so I felt. She colored on the front of Paige’s dress {a dress that I had spent countless hours making, a dress that was to be Paige’s Easter dress} with a very permanent dry erase marker because she was mad at Paige for doing something, still what, I am not sure. Instead of reacting the way that I should have, I reacted the way that I shouldn’t have. I acted like a child myself, telling her that she would allow Paige to wear her flawless dress on Easter, that she would wear her school clothes and proceeded to gather and throw away every dry erase marker in the house. Ugh, I’m almost brought to tears just thinking about the words, the sharpness of my tongue, and the condition of my heart as I reprimanded her. With my tongue, I took her down and then proceeded to rub her face in the dirt. And this is a child that I would give my life for. If only I had paused, calmed down, and taken a small breather.

MandJ2

We were quick to address her sin… but what was harder than that was addressing mine. Apologizing to my children is incredibly difficult…. but I do it, and I do it more often than I wish I had to. It pains me because it means that I have to recognize my sin and my sin is gross, selfish, and mean. It pains me because it humbles me to confess and repent my sin to my children {& the Lord}, my imperfections, my failures. As their mother, it pains me to ask for their forgiveness. In my flesh, I “reason” that they are the children, they are the ones who need to be instructed, apologizing, learning the ways of the Lord, aren’t I supposed to already know how to “act”? Yet, in my heart, I know what the Lord wants of me and that is to confessĀ  and seek their forgiveness. And every time, the response is the same, “Yes, Momma, of course, I forgive you…. and I’m so sorry too!” With each instance of my coming before them asking for their forgiveness, I am hopeful for it to be the last time, unfortunately… I know that since my oldest is only five we’ve likely only broken the surface of being forgiven by each other.

A few weeks ago in our Monday night study we were talking about brokenness and the song Take My Life {brokenness is what I long for, brokenness is what I need, brokenness is what you want from me}. And how some people find distaste in asking for brokenness; that the Lord surely doesn’t want us to be broken. But the reality of such a concept is that out of the brokenness of our hearts {whether it be over the grievance of our sin or the current situation we face} springs mercy, love, compassion, holiness, righteousness, and faithfulness. While I’m never delighted for the opportunity to apologize to my children, I am thankful, that out of it, I am able to show them that I need a savior just like they do. Just as brokenness brings holiness, I pray the confession of my sins brings sweet communion with my children.

From The Valley of Vision {a collection of Puritan prayers} on The Family {pg 113– if you, or in my case, your husband has it on your bookshelf}…

O God, I cannot endure to see the destruction of my kindred.
Let those that are united to me in tender ties be precious in thy sight and devoted to thy glory.
Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion, instruction, discipline, example, that my house may be a nursery for heaven,
my church the garden of the Lord,
enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting for thy glory;
Let not those of my family who are amiable, moral, attractive, fall short of heaven at last;
Grant that the promising appearances of a tender conscience, soft heart, the alarms and delights of they Word,
be not finally blotted out,
but bring forth judgment unto victory in all whom I love.

Just a few reflections and thoughts for today… comments closed.

Another post to follow…