Ministry

I know God designed me for more. I know he designed me to do more than pass my afternoons away watching food network and perusing facebook. I know he designed me for more than shaking rattles, doing laundry and making dinner. It's not that any of these things are bad. And I'm sure there are times in life when that will be my highest calling. But right now I feel like there is more and I'm missing it. I just feel that there's a ministry that I'm not seeing. I wonder if said ministry is right in front of my face. Has God been showing me an opportunity this whole time and I'm missing it because I'm looking for something else? Or maybe there's some growth that needs to happen before it's revealed. I'm just not sure yet but whatever God has for me I'm going to try to be ready for it. I'm going to try not to stick my fingers in my ears and turn the other way if it's not what I want. I'm going to spend time praying and actually listening. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me. Praise the Lord because his plans are always best!

Beautiful Day

Well, today is a beautiful day. There's a lovely breeze running through my house and the sun is shining with all it's glory. There are a few clouds in the sky but just enough to make you want to lay on the ground and watch them and not enough to block the sun. The grass is green and our lawn is freshly mowed. I can hear birds chirping and the wind gently moving the trees. It's a beautiful day. Probably the most beautiful part of this day though, is the little boy taking a nap on the day bed behind me. He is gorgeous! He has soft, clear olive colored skin and long brown eyelashes that flutter as he dreams. He has dark, velvety hair that's thick and long in the back and gently caresses his neck. His lips are full, sweet and completely kissable and his nose could not be more perfect. God has used this little boy to add more joy to my life than I ever could have imagined and I love it! I want everyone to meet him so they can all know the joy this little child can bring. I LOVE being his mom. Praise the Lord for this beautiful day.

Lots of work!

So we bought a house about a month ago now and I can't believe how much work we've put into it! We spent a solid two weeks working on it before we even moved in (cleaning, spackling, sanding, priming, painting etc). Since then we've spent countless hours unpacking, putting on outlet covers, fixing the garage door, cleaning gutters, clearing out the yard and gardens, framing in a dishwasher, planting seeds, hanging pictures and doing anything else you can imagine. This week we decided to up the ante because we're sick of looking at unfinished stuff. We've been busting our butts and it's totally paying off! It's so nice to look around and not be completely stressed out by what we see. Tomorrow is the last day of the crazy efforts and we're going to try to be done by about 4 or 4:30 and I can't wait! It's going to be so nice to take a break. I can't wait for Sunday so we can celebrate the Sabbath by keeping it holy!!!!! AKA: Taking a day off to rejoice in the Lord and not work. I can't believe how much the Lord has blessed us. It's very humbling to see all that we have. I always thought that having nothing would be such a humbling feeling but I don't think I've ever been as humbled as I am right now. I guess now I realize that there is nothing I've done to deserve what I have and there's no way I can begin to thank the Lord for what He's given me. PRAISE THE LORD! His love truly is enough.

Cedar Point

So Nicole left her blog signed in. It's open now for mom to intervene. I must say that we had a blast at Cedar Point. Eric thought that it would be great if I wrote about this on her blog. It doesn't matter that Cedar Point isn't open yet. Other than that, I love that Nicole is my daughter, along with the other 3 awesome girls. God so blessed me with such wonderful women of God. All of which will be great mom's. Nicole has already showed her Christ centered ability to be a Mom after God's own heart. I pray often to be like it says in 1 Peter, a Godly woman that has a quiet and gentle spirit. The whole quiet thing, God is still working on in me, but I don't think God wants to take away my fun.
After raising 4 girls, I've inherited 2 sons and one grandson in a year and a half. Blessings continue to pour into my life in our family that I feel so humbled to be a part of it all.
Have fun following Nicole's blog.
Love you Nicole.
Mom

Ravioli

I'm at my mom's house today and we just spent all afternoon making homemade ravioli. It's the best! My grandma Aho used to make it when we were kids and we'd always look forward to it. We had it every time we visited. I feel kinda bad now that I know how much work it is because although we LOVED it, we never realized all the time and effort that went into making it. When I eat that ravioli it always brings me back to my grandma's kitchen. I can even remember her plates and glasses. It's amazing how many memories a simple thing like ravioli can bring back.

I won't be mediocre anymore.

Having a family so strong in Christ is awesome but sometimes it's hard to match up to. I LOVE JESUS. There's no doubt about that. But sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough (don't get me wrong... I know I'm undeserving no matter what)... But I feel like a go-with-the-flow, American dream, church-go-er that talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. It's hard because all three of my sisters have a faith in Christ that I admire and a relationship with him that I long for. My parents are an incredible example of what it means to live for God and my grandparents have lived a life of faithful servanthood to our Savior. That being said, I feel inadequate. I feel guilty that my husband has a normal job, we own a house, have a baby, have two cars, love sports and scrapbooking and do all the other "American dream" sort of things. I feel like instead of walking the path Christ has laid out for us we are just walking the path that society has laid out. We work (I at home and Eric at his job), we do laundry, make dinner, watch some sports on TV, try to figure out how to pay all our bills, play with our baby and go to bed (usually way too late). Oh, and when we lay down to bed we pray as we try not to nod off while squeezing God into the last few moments of our day. I know "life is busy" but it's just no excuse... Life is always busy. We want to have 4 kids! I'm going to have at least one baby in the house for like the next 10 years! (Lord willing) After that I'll have kids in school, pre-teens, high schoolers, graduations and college kids. Anyone I know that has kids in those stages will be quick to tell me that we have it easy right now. If you're reading this, please pray that the Lord will light a fire under our butts and draw us as close to him as we've ever been. It's so hard to have a close relationship with Christ when life gets predictable. PRAISE THE LORD for loving and forgiving my pathetic self!

Eric's Birthday

It was fun celebrate Eric's birthday this year as parents. I think it made us appreciate the miracle of life more now that we've experienced it first hand. We had a great time. In the morning Eric and Zechariah got to sleep in a little bit. I made eggs, sausage and pancakes from scratch for breakfast. Yummo! Then we went down to Henry Ford museum for the day. We had a blast but I was terribly sick. I can't wait to go back to the museum when I'm not sick! While we were down there we got hot dogs (Eric got a Texas dog and I got a Chicago dog). After that we came home and were going to have a steak dinner but I forgot that we didn't have the grill set up so I skipped dinner and Eric had some eggs. Next we went to my parents house. We were going to have a bon fire but the lawn was too mushy so we didn't. Instead we watched some sports on TV and just hung out. I made a peanut butter cake frosted with peaunut butter and sour cream ganache. It was SO rich and delicious. Denise made apple cobbler too which was awesome. After dessert Eric opened his gifts (Zechariah got him a monster drink for the next time he keeps us up all night!) Happy Birthday Eric!!!

Love him!

Right now Angela is sitting in the living room with Zechariah and playing a little baby cd player toy for him. He keeps singing along to the songs. It's awesome! He's getting to be such a little chatterer. This morning my dad stopping by for a minute to pick up some tools he left here and he sat on the couch for a while and Zechariah just talked his ear off! It was neat to see them bond like that. I think he looks a lot like pictures of my dad as a boy. I think they have the same eyes.

TeeHee

Today my mom came over and was tickling Zechariah on his thighs... He LOVED it. He's laughed before but today was the first time that he just kept on doing it. He actually sounds like a boy already! His laugh was low and joyful. It was so sweet. I think the sound of his laugh is the most beautiful sound I've ever heard before.

I had to start a blog

because I looked over on the couch and saw my husband holding my son and talking about how much he loved him and it moved me so much I had to write it down. It's such an amazing thing to see the two men I love the most sitting together and looking so alike and knowing they both love me.

I guess that's the great thing about being a family.