Jesus in Joshy's Heart

This morning as I was spending time with Jesus I heard Annie leading Josh in a prayer. I smiled to myself & thought "how cute!". Little did I know it was THE prayer that would change Josh's life forever! Quickly after they said "Amen." they ran into the living room & proudly declared that Josh asked Jesus into his heart. I investigated to see what that meant & he understood what he did.
I am one proud Mama for many reasons. My son gave his life to Jesus today. My daughter led someone, her brother, to Christ. The things I desire MOST for my kids is that they'll follow Jesus forever. And not just the "I'm a Christian" label so many sport, but a real, growing, life & world impacting RELATIONSHIP with Jesus---the ONLY one who will ever make us truly happy and secure.
After we talked about what he just did, Josh expressed himself in true Josh form----he grabbed my neck, squeezed really hard & said "I already feel so happy!".

4 Orphans Helped

The results are in from all of the lemon-aid stands kids from our church held last week. All together the children of our church (preschool-6th grade) raised $630 dollars....enough to finance 4 orphans in Cambodia be placed in loving Cambodian homes! It was truly a rewarding experience for our family to be a part of this. It also was encouraging to see the families in our church work together on such a noble thing! We are truly blessed!

Tootin' My Own Horn

I'm venturing into the world of cake decorating. Most of the time the creations I see in my head do NOT turn out to be the creations I actually make. Usually they end up like Emily's barney birthday cake--where barney ended up looking like he had cookie-monster's head.

But this weekend was different. I hosted a bridal shower for a young lady at church this weekend & made the cake. It actually came out better than I planned. So celebrate with me!

Lemon-Aid

Our church is learning about the poor & broken in our world this month. We're learning that there are over 1 MILLION orphans in the world and many others are traffiked for terrible purposes. The hope is that JESUS cares for these broken children...even has a special place for them. He promises to put the lonely in families.

Because we want to care for the things God cares for Shawn challenged the kids of our church to hold LEMON-AID stands this weekend where all of the proceeds will go to help orphans in Cambodia be placed in loving Cambodian homes. It only costs $150 to see a child placed into a family, so our church's goal was to help 3 children.

The kids all brought thier offerings to church today & we'll find out this week how many children were helped. As a family, our kids raised $31.05 in just 1 hour!

We are working with an organization called "Children in Families" and we know one of the case workers. Bethany will be able to send us pictures of the children we help, so our kids will really be able to see the fruit of their labor.
As sad as the situation is, I am so thankful we attend a church that encourages Adults & kids, whole families even, to not just be sad for people, but to TAKE ACTION and help. Not because it's their civic duty, but because JESUS cares for the orphans. My kids know they can help NOW--not just when they're grown up. Lord, let this truth be written on our hearts & our lives changed forever!

Snaggle-Tooth Annie

Annie lost her first tooth last week. It had been a very "wiggly-jiggly loose tooth" for about 2 weeks & she finally pulled it on Friday at school. She proudly displayed her new snaggle-tooth grin when I picked her up from school. She was going camping with Dad & the 5th & 6th graders from church Friday night, so the "tooth-parent" was able to slip $1 under her pillow in the tent! Unfortunately her tooth found it's final resting place somewhere around the campsite.

Carrot Shooter

At dinner a few nights ago Emily was eating matchstick carrots. They're much easier for her to eat and she also learned they are the perfect size for shoving.....up her nose!
She discovered this by gently sticking one little carrot up her nose and we quickly redirected her with a firm No-No and brief explanation that carrots are for eating, not shoving in your nose. A few minutes later we heard Emily's sweet voice say, "Oh No! Uh-oh! Nose!" I looked over at her as she was pointing to her nose with a very concerned look on her face. As I was trying to figure out what had happened she got that 'I need to sneeze' look on her face. Then she sneezed 3 times with a small matchstick carrot shooting out of her nose on the 3rd sneeze. Guess we'll put that on her resume some day!

Sister Prescriptions

So we're driving home from picking Annie up from school today & Josh is being his typical boy self.....making some kind of noise over & over again. As we're all enduring this noise Annie asks me the following question, as serious as she could be:
"Mom, do you have any chill pills?"
If only I did!