Thanksgiving

Although we are encouraged to have a thankful heart every day, here in the US we have a holiday that focuses on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of those days dedicated to taking a deep breath, sitting back and reflecting on the goodness of our God!  A day in which, gratitude hopefully fills our hearts instead of desires,  wants and worries. 

Upon reflecting on this subject of  thankfulness, I decided to spend some time meditating* on scripture that is focused on having a heart of gratitude.  Below are a few addresses that I spent some time focusing on. 

 Psalm 95:1-6
"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." (KJV)

 Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever." (NIV)

 1 Chronicles 29:11-13 
"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name." (KJV) 


I have so many things to be thankful and grateful for:

My husband (how we met and that God had him chosen for my mate all along). 
My son (he is the light and joy of my life)
My family-
  ~My parents, who have been a great example and are a huge support
  ~My grandparents, who are both incredible and bless my heart every time I see them. 
  ~My brothers, their love and humor that cracks me up.
  ~My sister-in-law, she is a beautiful, compassionate, caring wife, mother and friend. 
  ~My in-laws, they are such a huge blessing and have brought joy and fun into my life.
  ~My extended family, I am so blessed that everyone, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces,     nephews..are all believers in Christ!  We have the honor and joy of sharing that deep connection and nothing compares to that. 
  ~My cherished friends, whom God has brought into my life over the years. 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!  
 
 
*Meditation
I am not speaking of Eastern Meditation, I am speaking of the Meditation the Bible speaks about, and yes there is a big difference. I focus my mind, thoughts and emotions on Christ and His Word, I do not try and empty my mind.
"⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.." (NIV)  

Advent Bible Study

Good morning! I am really stoked because I found this Advent Study on another blog I follow and it is for women--both stay at home momma's and working momma's.  This 4-week study can be done in a group or individually and it begins Monday, November 26th, 2012!

If you are interested in joining the study this year, you can go directly to the Good Morning Girls site by clicking here. 

Or, if you prefer, you can head over to one of my fellow bloggers to read what she has to say about this study. You can head her way by clicking here

How to get your own free eBook: 
You just subscribe to the GMG website to get email notifications. On the bottom of your first email, there will be a link to the FREE eBook! Print it off and you are ready to go!

The GMG Advent Study eBook includes:

• Weekly devotions
• Assigned Scripture Reading
• Daily Family Activities (optional)
• Recipes
• S.O.A.P. Journal Pages     

I hope you choose to join the fun!! 

Annual Beach Trip

Every year since Doug and I were married we have celebrated our November birthdays by traveling to some where on the Coast, i.e. Long Beach/Ocean Park, Washington, Seaside, Oregon and this past week, Cannon Beach.  

Last year I was 7 months pregnant with our little boy, and we spent much of the time inside, keeping warm, and relaxing. This year we had such a fun time bringing Josiah (10 mo.) with us for his first official trip to the ocean! 

 
The weather was gorgeous with bright blue, kite filled skies. We went during the middle of the week, so there were a minimum amount of tourists which was really nice. And, we stayed in a cozy little beach cottage and spent much of our days outside walking, playing and enjoying the sun.  Josiah seemed to really like the wind against his face, and especially loved the sand. For a few moments we took off his shoes and let him place his feet and toes in it and he let out a few giggles. He liked the sand so much that he wanted to crawl around in it.The joy of a child experiencing something new is delightful!  

Most of our evenings were spent inside, keeping toasty warm by the beautiful fire. On our final evening, we spent some time outside star gazing, enjoying some of the breathtaking sights of the captivating night sky our God created. 

It's amazing to think that the next time we visit the coast, Josiah will be walking and running all on his own.We are already looking forward to our next trip and the family memories that will be created. So thankful for our little family.
 

Moral Compass

Tis the morning after the presidential election and America has made her choice. About 2 months ago I knew that Obama was going to be re-elected.  No secret knowledge, just a feeling deep down inside. Many Christians (including myself) and Mormans have put their faith in one Republican candidate over the past few years, hoping he'd bring change to this crumbling nation. Praying and believing that he'd get nominated.   

He did not.  And, you know, I'm okay with that.  Because although sometimes I may think I know it all and see the entire picture....I don't.  I am human. I am finite and my grasp of the overall scope of life, is quite limited.

However, one thing I know for sure is that God (let me be specific here, God-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) is in control and He sees the entire portrait and has allowed this to happen for reasons that we do not and cannot fathom as mortal humans.  As Isaiah 55:9 states, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my [God] ways higher than your ways and my [God] thoughts than your thoughts." So, what is there left to do, but find refuge under his wings (Psalm 91:4) and place my complete dependance in Him alone.  

Yes, it is true.  The moral compass of America has been on a steady decline, really since her founding.  But that decline has increased exponentially over the past 50 years or so.  In my own limited scope I see that that decline begun to increase after two things, 1) prayer was taken out of our schools in 1962 & '63 and 2) 1973. Roe vs. Wade (the legalization of abortion in our country).  

But who's to blame really?  When we have a society that largely believes that one little microorganism might be cause to say there is or was life on Mars, while at the same time stating that the fetus with a heartbeat, brain and fingernails is not life.  When the general consensus is that life has no value, which is really what's being taught if it is legal to kill a human being inside their mother's womb.  No wonder our country is so screwed up.  We have let our hearts stray from the true King. 

I close with this final thought.  God's grace is sufficient and at the same time He is like a roaring lion.  He defeated sin at the cross--PRAISE GOD!, and there will come a day that He will come back with a Holy vengeance. On that day (and from now until then) I will praise God!!!!  

                                 

Date Night~Part 1

 We have been in the process of moving the past couple of months, so our date nights have been placed on the back burner (and they have been missed), however beginning in December we are once again going to start monthly date nights...yippie!!! 

While the concept of having a date night every so often has been around for several decades, the idea of a husband and wife intentionally setting aside one morning/afternoon/night each week/month to spend some quality time together (without the kids, or pets, or anybody else), is a relatively new idea.  It is a time of intentional focus on one another. A time to engage in some good conversation with each other and a time to be able to check in a see how your spouse is doing (spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically). This intentional dating applies to newlyweds as much as it does those who have been married for 50 years or more. Some things may change (you most likely do not have children at home any longer, but it is just as important to invest in your marriage now, as it was when you first said those vows.

A date night doesn't have to cost at lot of $$, nor does it have to be a big extravagant production.  In her blog, Christian Stay at Home Moms, Heather states, "
You can easily have a fun date night at home just spending time together. My husband and I have been known to have a fun time just sitting on the couch doing a crossword puzzle together." 

The key to an effective date night is three-fold (1) Be intentional (2) Lay aside anything that may distract either one of you...including your iPhone, iPad or other cellular device (3) HAVE FUN!!!!

Now, for those of you who live in the Northwest, more specifically the PDX area, I will be posting some date night ideas that I hope inspire you and your mate on your next date.  

Halloween 2012

Last night was our son's first Halloween (last year at this point, we were about 6 months pregnant with him), and we decided to attend our church's annual Harvest Festival.  Every year for many, many years our church has hosted a Festival for the kids of that community.  It has been an awesome way to meet some of the parents of a few of the kids that attend our Children's Ministry on Sunday mornings. This is one avenue of outreach our church has chosen to do each year, and it seems to be very affective.

 We dressed Josiah up like a little pumpkin when we went out to eat beforehand, and then put a pea pod outfit on him when we attended the Harvest Fest.   

Josiah was too young for many of the games, but Momma did a few just for fun, and Josiah and Daddy did one together. Josiah had to grab one of the ducks and there was a number on the bottom and that is how many pieces of candy we won.  He chose a duck with the number 2. We just took one piece of candy though and I must say, it was quite tasty.  

 Although we usually don't celebrate this holiday, it was fun, memorable and pretty stinkin' cute watching Josiah as he put up with his parents dressing him in his little costumes. 

My New Blog Button

Here is my new blog button...yippie!!. Here is how it works. If you have a blog and would like to place my button on one of your pages (like I did for some blogs in my "Blogs I Like" section, right click on the box with the code and copy and paste it into your blog. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment.  Thank you for stopping by! God Bless!

<a href="http://motherhoodacallforthebraveofheart.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Motherhood A Call for the Brave of Heart" src="http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag40/Jessica_McGrew/Motherhoodbutton.jpg"/></a>
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I also wanted to take a moment and thank both Smashing Magazine and Jonathon M. from Canada for the beautiful blog header art that I am using. This piece he created is called "A New Day".

Moments of Sweet Bliss

Tonight, as I rocked our son to sleep in his bedroom--darkness cocooning us in like a blanket, lime green shapes of stars lighting the walls and ceiling (from his nightlight), puffs of warm air hitting my neck every time Josiah exhaled--a feeling of cozy, peaceful gratitude rose within my chest. I cherish these moments...as I'm sure most momma's do. The simple moments of sweet bliss...they are intoxicating. 

The last 9 months have flown by so fast, and as Josiah was cozy in my arms, my thoughts traveled back to those first weeks and months of his life.  I spent many moments in tears and mourning the fact that I was unable to breastfeed my own son.  As I have mentioned in the "About Us" tab at the top of this blog, I have P.C.O.S. (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and unbeknownst to me, a possible side effect is the inability to produce milk after childbirth.  I wish I would have known that sooner, as finding it out the first week after giving birth, was extremely difficult. With all of the pressure of society to breastfeed, it was crippling that I was unable to. I found myself dealing with feelings of inadequacy, frustration, depression and anger. Why wouldn't my body do what it was created to do? Why couldn't I give my son what he needed? Was I a failure?  Would he be ok...healthy if I couldn't breastfeed?These are just a few of the questions that my mind wrestled with. 

We are so thankful though! Our son is healthy and has been extremely healthy, and the Lord is so much bigger than any issue with him receiving sustenance from his Momma. He has done great with formula and is continuing to grow and is such a happy little guy.  And, I am blessed that I have such an amazing, thoughtful and caring husband that encouraged me throughout this journey. 

The reason I am writing this post, is for any Momma who is or has gone through something similar. I am here to let ya know that the sting of not being able to breastfeed, does decrease with time. I'm also writing this for anyone who hasn't gone through this, my word of advice is to be sensitive and try not to judge if you come across a Momma who isn't breastfeeding her child.  Odds are, you don't know her entire story and the choice may have not been hers.

Finally, although it took me a good 6 months to work through some of the emotional ripple effects of not being able to breastfeed, I have begun to find peace.  The Lord has again and again placed His peace and comfort over my aching heart, like a calming and healing balm. Tonight was just one more of those balm covering moments.  Sitting there, cuddled up with my beautiful son, him breathing steadily on my neck, caused me to take a moments pause, inhale and embrace the sweetness of it all.  

Storybook Time

While I was pregnant with our son, I read many studies, online articles and had a plethora of conversations with other momma's that all unanimously stated the exact same thing...that it was very important for us to begin reading to Josiah as a young infant. Now, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical, I mean, really, how much assistance in development could reading to our newborn have? Would sitting and holding our 2 month old and reading him story books seriously help him to begin loving books as a young child? I'd have to say that the answer is a resounding, "Yes"!    

He loves the green frog in this book.

At the beginning, I'd describe what we were doing as reading "to" Josiah, but within the past couple of months it's begun to transition into reading "with" Josiah.  He is 9 months old, and is increasingly showing interest and enthusiasm when we read with him, not to mention his attention span has increased in leaps and bounds compared to even a few months ago.  Which is so exciting, especially for two parents who are avid book worms and dream of someday winning the Lottery so we can have an entire room in our home devoted to floor to ceiling bookshelves stuffed with what? Well books of course! 

Learning a key component of reading, page turning.

So fast forward to just yesterday, when our son had his 9 month check-up at his doctors, the Nurse Practitioner spoke to me about the importance of reading to Josiah not just one or two books a day for 5 minutes, but more like 2x/day for up to 20 minutes each time.  Gulp! We can do this! A new challenge has been placed in the lap of this momma and beginning yesterday we started increasing our Storybook Time.  I know that patience and just having fun is the key.  So we will start out slow and see how it goes.

As you may know, reading with a 9 month old is a fun adventure! Josiah and I take turns holding the book, when momma holds it, it gets read, when Josiah holds it, it gets eaten.  However, what is so amazing is that even at his tender young age he  has a favorite book, some of you may already be able to tell which one, just by the pictures shown. His current favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle.

 So, go grab a book off that shelf and snuggle up with your little one(s) and help them develop and peak their interest for reading and using their imagination. If you have more than one child, use your imagination and creativity and begin a family reading time.  Reading together is not only productive, but it helps in creating a healthy bond with our children.

Philoteknos

October 25, 2012

Q. What does God's Word (the Bible) say about being a Christian Momma?

A few days ago I had a conversation (on Facebook) with one of my cousins about this very subject and found what the Bible has to say pretty encouraging and insightful. So, if you are a momma, a soon-to-be momma, or if you have the desire to be a momma some day,  I highly encourage you to take a moment and read further. 

Although there are many examples of how to be a godly woman spread throughout God's love letter, there seems to be only one address that speaks directly to the special love that a mother has for her offspring and a very crucial role that God has bestowed and blessed many women with.  In the New Testament, in Titus 2:4-5, this is what it says, 

"4Then they (older women/mothers) can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God." 

Now, although there is a lot in those two verses we could unpack, we are only going to focus on the first half of this section. The word 'love' that is mentioned in this scripture derives from the Greek word, Philoteknos (pronounced fē-lo'-tek-nos). This word expresses a specific and unique kind of "mother love". The idea that this word brings across, is that when we as mothers care for our children--nurturing them, teaching them a biblical word view, playing with them, embracing them affectionately, being available to them, and as gotquestions.org states, "tenderly befriending each one as a unique gift from the hand of God", we, as momma's, are walking in obedience before the Lord. Now if that wasn't the biggest run on sentence, I don't know what is? :)  You get the point though right?  Our kids are special...really special, and they are a unique display of God's abilities to imagine and create. 

One more thing, from what I've read, the Bible never states that every single woman on the face of this planet should be a mother.  Some have no interest, some physically cannot, however, for those women that God does bless with children (whether biological or adopted), we need to take that responsibility seriously.  We are assisting in the shaping and molding of that human life.  

If you want, check out some of these other address that have to do with raising kids. 

Availability-Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Teaching-Psalm 78:5-6; Deuteronomy 4:10; Ephesians 6:4
Training-Proverbs 22:6; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12
Disciplining-Ephesians 6:4; Hebrews 12:5-11; Proverbs 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14
Nurturing-Titus 2:4; 2 Timothy 1:7; Ephesians 4:29-32

Lord, 

Thank you for our son, thank you for the joy and life he brings to our lives. Please teach me to be more available and nurturing.  Let me see him through your eyes and please give me wisdom, discernment and patience in raising and teaching him about the big and small things in this adventure we call life.                                                        ~In Jesus' Name, Amen