That's a start, I guess....

On Wednesdays I make the kids clean their rooms because we have high school life group over here on Wednesday night. Camden had been working on his room for over an hour and had come out several times to talk to me about star wars, his knight toys, the story behind his superhero name...you know all that stuff that just CAN'T wait until his room is clean. The fifth time he came out of his room, I let out a big sigh and said, "Camden, you HAVE to get your room clean." He said, "I'm sorry." I said, "No, you're not. Sorry means that you wish you hadn't done it and that you're not planning on doing it again." Without even stopping to think for a second he said, "Well, Mommy, I'm trying to be sorry, ok."

hardy har har

We were in Kohls today and Hope said, "Look at that lady on that picture." We look up to see a huge picture of a lady with the biggest, frizziest hair I've ever seen. Blake says, "Look, Christina, your hair is in-style." Hilarious isn't he? yeah...

Like Mother, Like Daughter....

I hear Camden calling from the back of the house, "Hope, Hope!!, HOOOPPPEEE!!!! " I yell from the kitchen, "Hope! ANSWER YOUR BROTHER!!" To which she yells back, "But I know he wants to talk about Star Wars and I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!!!"

Note to Self:

One day I'll miss my living room looking like this....

Awakening

I have been contemplating the future of our country the past few weeks. Wondering how I can remain alert, prayerful, and informed, without becoming fearful. I have discovered that I have trained myself to not think about the growing Godlessness of our nation to protect myself from panicking about what's ahead for my children and future grandchildren.

In History right now we are learning about the background behind patriotic songs. Today we learned about the song "AMERICA". I know I have read the second verse in the past, but it really touched me today as I read it to the kids and sang it with them afterwards. This is what it says:

Our Father's God, to Thee
Author of liberty
To Thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!


Several weeks ago I was praying for our nation. I prayed specifically that God would put His hand back on us as a nation and His blessing would flow once again. I felt Him ask me, "And if I did that, would I be recognized? Would they declare that I was the ONE that caused this nation to once again begin to prosper or would that honor go to another/others?" Oh, my I was pretty sure I knew the answer to His question and it grieved me. I am grieved that our Nation has forgotten that it is HIS freedom that is our light and only by HIS might will we be protected and that HE alone is the author of liberty. We have become so blind, prideful, ignorant, and hardened against the truth. How His heart must long for this nation to return to their father's God. I wonder if our only hope is for the blinded eyes to be open - the eyes His church and the leaders of our nation. I cry out for another Great Awakening! What will it take to wake us up, though? God, be merciful. Soften our hearts so that we turn to you and recognize our desperate need for your hand on our nation before even greater devastation completely destroys us.

Incredible Day

One of our greatest blessings here in Brownsville has been Chris and Donna Barnard. They have a boy and girl not much older than our's and then they have one in Jr. High, one in High School, and one that is 20. Its great because we have kids that have a lot of fun together but at the same time they have a wealth of wisdom from having three older ones. They are fun, encouraging, and REAL!!!! From the beginning Blake and I have said to each other, "I hope they don't decide we're too young to hang out with! We love being with them and look forward to continuing to get to know them. Today they took us to Port Mansfield on their boat. We fished and caught catfish, crabs, and some other stuff, played on beautiful white sand and clear turquoise water, hung over the boat and tried to touch dolphins, ate each other's picnic lunches and talked and laughed a ton. I kept thinking today that "this is better than Disney World!" I feel like today was a blessing straight from the Lord...one that he has been waiting and anticipating giving us. I am so grateful.

Here is a picture of us trying to spot the dolphins and get close to them.



Here is a picture of my hand as I hung over the boat trying to touch the dolphins. I never succeeded,but I was still overwhelmed by this amazing experience.




I have been off the boat now for five hours, but I still feel like I am rocking. Hope keeps telling me she feels weird....I think she is feeling the same thing. We are all burned and tired, but it was SO worth it! These are the memories I will have forever...the look of delight on Hope's face all day long, Camden racing up sand dunes and catching hermit crabs, Blake in his usual quiet way savoring every moment and making sure that the kids and I were all enjoying ourselves, for me... standing up and holding on with all my might as the boat flew across the water getting completely drenched with salt water, seeing sting rays, pregnant crabs, and dolphins inches away, and overflowing with gratitude AGAIN to God for bringing us here.

Have I said Thank You?

One week ago, if you had asked me whether or not I had strict parents, I would have given you a resounding "yes!" I could give you a list of things that I was not allowed to do that drove me batty. Like walk to the mailbox in my socks, or eat my fast food in the car, or watch anything more than a G rated movie when I was 14! But I had a conversation with a friend last week that gave me a completely different perspective about my "strict" parents.

This friend of mine has some amazingly wise insight on parenting with grace. She has talked to me about it on at least three occasions. I have been praying and contemplating how I can incorporate her "teaching" into my own parenting. This past conversation, however, made me think, not of my own parenting, but rather, about how I was parented. She talked about how important it is to NOT have a set idea of how each of your high school and college age children should go about entering adult life. She said that it is common and popular belief by most all parents that a child should graduate from high school with a diploma, immediately enter into college, graduate with at least a Bachelor's degree and then go on to their career. Where is it written that this is the only plan God has for every young person? She has five children and her desire is to encourage them to do exactly what God is leading them to do. She said that she does not care if others look down on her because her child is not doing what the world expects of them. Her only desire is to see her child lead the life they were born to live.

When she said that she didn't care what others thought, I began to think of my Mom and Dad....They let me drive all around Angelina County months after getting my drivers license with three other teens in my car teaching Bible clubs, often in the bad part of town. They let me skip out on some of my home school work in 10th and 11th grade to pursue other things that I was passionate about. They let me graduate one year early and get my GED and go two hours away to a University when I was seventeen. After one year at college they helped make a way for me to come back for a year and teach first grade at a small Christian school. As college graduate Baptists, they were behind me all the way as I left the next year to attend an uncredited Charismatic Bible College. They gave me their blessing when I got married when I was nineteen to a boy that was eighteen!

How could I for a second, not believe that my mom and dad parented me with more grace than I can ever imagine. I am in a place in my life right now that is a dream come true, and I am humbled to realize that I would have never gotten here if they had not let me live my high school and college years "outside the box." They trusted the Lord with my life and didn't allow what others thought to cause them to parent me any differently than what their convictions and love for me lead them to do. I hope and pray that I will bless my children the same way. My desire for them is that they do not miss ONE thing that God has for them because of my own ideas of what I think is best for them. God, help me follow in my parents footsteps and be for my children what my parents were for me. They have always believed in me, always prayed for me, always listened to me, and always made me want to be everything God wanted me to be - nothing more and nothing less. Thank you Mom and Dad. I love you!