Wake up It's been 2 months...!!

So where in the world have I been?! I'm sure my readers out there were really concerned, all two of you :)! The truth is a rather wide variety of things have taken my time. Life has been full of exciting surprises which have caused me to once again press into deeper depths of the One who remains constant, namely Jesus. The promises and truth of God's provision for His children have been a steady sail in the midst of some recent storms.

These past few months I've realized its one thing to say a hearty, "Yes, God is Provider." But quite another thing to actually BELIEVE that He is provider so that Joy is still found in all moments of my day. How can I have a peace and joy even when our house remains on the market hundreds of miles away month after month, our 1 functioning car has it's engine smoke-out on us leaving us with no means of transportation, and then even my computer is going capoots (is that a word?) on me; thus the 'no-blogging-brigade'.

The pushes, tugs, and pulls of life can come raging in at us from all angles some days, or months, or for some even years. Like a tsunami wave the cares of this world can consume us to the mercies of its total destruction.

I have found myself tempted to run to the false savior of possessions, comfort, money, and health. If only I had more of this, that, or the other thing; or if only I looked this way or that way THEN life would be all good. Troubles gone.

Oh so wrong.

Thankfully there is a foundation that goes deeper than what the world promises to provide or lies to me to believe. I don't have to look to this world for provision because Christ has already provided everything I will ever need. Christ has met the deepest longing and need my soul has.

Salvation.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." Ephesians 1:3-4

"Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?" Galations 4:8

Quote from "Gospel Centered Life"

"Forgiving others really isn't possible unless we are living in light of God's forgiveness ourselves... When we say, "I just can't forgive that person for what he did to me, " we are essentially saying, "that person's sin is greater than mine." Our awareness of our own sin is very small, while our awareness of another's sin is very big. Our underlying feeling is that we deserve to be forgiven but the person who offended us does not. We are living with a small view of God's holiness, a small view of our own sin, and a small view of the cross of Jesus.

But when we embrace a gospel perspective on our own sin, we recognize that the sin debt God has forgiven on our behalf is greater than any sin that has been committed against us. And as we grow in our awareness of God's holiness, we begin to see more clearly the distance between his perfection and our imperfection. As the significance of Jesus' work on the cross grown in our consciousness, our willingness and ability to seek restoration with others will also grown. After all, if God forgave the massive offense of our sin against Him, how could we not forgive the sin of others--which, though it my be severe, pales in comparison with our own guilt before a holy and righteous God?"

The Gospel Centered Life- Bob Thune and Will Walker

February 2012

This month has been full of excitement already... Here are some hi-lights:

Feb 1st- My husband came home with a handful of surprises to celebrate our 'dating/engagement' anniversary. After our kids were tucked into bed we were sitting on the couch talking over our day when he sweetly asked what color I think of when I picture the month of February. "hmmm, white because of the snow outside our window or red for valentines day" was my reply. He then said, "I think of blue." "Blue?" I said. He pulled out a card with a blue envelope and said, "yes blue, because I would be oh so blue without you in my life, Happy February 1st." (laugh and sigh). So cute. The card was sweet enough, but it didn't end there. He then proceeded to pull out 3 more gifts one at a time which continued the 'blue-theme'. A frozen yogart gift card to "Blue Spoon", a boutique gift card to "JT blu" in Leavenworth, and blue wrapped silk milk chocolate candy bar. Awesome. It was so fun! And so thoughtful!

Feb 10-11th- We had our Gospel Community leaders retreat. It was a special time of team building, vision casting, and praising God for His works of grace in our lives and those in our Gospel Community Groups at GCC. I am so thankful for the church family I have and the Gospel Community group we are living life with. I've never had the need for the gospel be so pressing, or the thankfulness of the gospel be so tangible. Daily living as a sent people on mission with the gospel is the toughest way to live and yet the most rewarding way to live. All because the One who sent us, is the One who went before us, and is the One who goes with us.

Feb 12th- My mom had her Birthday and spent the day in our neck of the woods! Nani and Popii came to our house for dinner to celebrate. And yes, Niyah made some 'pupcakes' as she sweetie requests for any birthday party! It was a fun time to visit and have them visit the kids. The dinner from garlini's was a delicious favorite for mom (and us all) to enjoy too!
Today also marked the 9th month birthday for our lil' man Silas! He is such a sweet boy. He has a very tender heart and is learning the ropes of life vertically as he loves to spend most of the day standing alongside our couches and cruising from one to the other. He loves his sister, and I swear he is saying her name "Na Na Na"(for Ni Ni) the last couple days, or he could be meaning Ma-ma." Either way, it's adorable. He can raise his hands into the sky when we say "so big!", and he can clap his hands, and wave. We are working on pleases and thank you's via sign-language. So we'll see how that goes. :) He is a delight and a continual blessing to our family.