Keeping it Real

I still have many cute photos from Easter to post, but that seems so insignificant right now in light of what our state (and others) have been through this week.  Our family is so thankful to be safe and unharmed, but we are heartbroken over the loss and devastation so many others have endured and will continue to endure in the coming months. 

In light of all of this tragedy, there is hope.  That hope is in God's amazing grace that he demonstrated for us through Christ.  Just keeping it real, the last few weeks have been very hard for me.  I had my first panic attack when I heard that (Cover)ed's March fundraising family was at 86 towels and counting.  This is no joke.  It was a Friday and I was in the shower, getting ready to head out and buy towels and supplies, when I felt my chest tighten and my heart begin to race.  That number seemed huge at the time and I knew that it was going to continue to grow.  I started taking deep breaths and praying.  I got through the panic attack, but I was still very concerned about how Casey and I were going to get them done within a reasonable period of time.  I also knew that we had committed to hosting the church egg hunt at our home and a lot of work needed to be done for that.  God is faithful!!!  The very next day, I had complete peace about our situation.  Not just I feel better about the situation peace, but that peace that passes understanding peace.  On Sunday night, we had several volunteers get together to help cut out the designs for our towels.  We also had sewing help for the first time.  We worked for about three hours and got everything cut out for the 86 towels.  We also got 17 towels completely finished (minus the final wash)!  God is faithful!!!

A few days later, I began to worry again and become overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done.  I was tired and weak and Satan used that opportunity to attack...and I allowed him to lie to me instead of listening to truth.  Before I knew it, I felt hopeless.  I felt like a failure in so many areas of my life.  It wasn't even about towel making anymore, but about all of my past failures, mistakes, etc.  I felt so ashamed and embarrassed that I couldn't just snap out of it and get it together.  That was exactly where Satan wanted me. 

Thankfully, things began to look up this week, but they became glorious yesterday.  I was sitting in the doctor's office yesterday reading a book about grace.  The concepts were not new to me, but boy did I need reminding of them right at that very moment.  As a believer in Christ, we are the righteousness of God! "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:21.  I memorized that verse years ago in college, but usually just associated it with salvation, not daily living.  I love how the verse says become the righteousness of God...not just for your salvation experience, but every single day!  Hallelujah!  (I wanted to shout that in the doctor's office.)  This means we CANNOT disappoint God.  God is not more pleased with us when we are in a "good" place.  He is not more pleased with us when we have daily quiet times.  He is not more pleased (or displeased) when we do _____ (fill in the blank with whatever you struggle with).  I listened to lies so much that I forgot the truth.   I am very hard on myself and don't show myself a lot of grace.  Satan loves this, I'm sure.  I don't remind myself of God's indescribable, unfathomable grace every single day.  Even though I don't doubt my salvation, I still allow Satan to lie to me and tell me that I'm not good enough or what I'm doing (or not doing) doesn't measure up.  This is not the life God wants for me or you!

I want to wake up each day and remind myself throughout each day that as a believer in Jesus Christ, I am the righteousness of God, through Jesus Christ.  No matter what, the Lord sees my righteousness.  If you are a fellow believer, I hope you will join me!  If you do not trust Jesus Christ for your salvation and would like to know more about him, email me.

Church Egg Hunt

We hosted our church egg hunt Easter weekend.  This was our second year to do this.  We had lots of fun and the weather was great.  Last year there was a major thunderstorm about 20 minutes into the hunt.  We were very thankful for a beautiful day.

I would love to know what he was thinking.

This is one of two rose bushes in front of the barn behind our house.  These roses were planted by Darren's grandmother. They are usually beautiful every Spring and are great for cut flower arrangements. 

This is one of our cows, Winn Dixie, and her new calf.  The calf was born a couple of hours before the egg hunt.  It was perfect timing because we had a hay ride at the egg hunt.  We are probably the only church that does a hay ride at our egg hunt. 

These weeds have made my heart happy this spring. 



Preschool Easter Party

The Thursday before Easter Nate had an Easter party at preschool.  I actually remembered to take my camera, but didn't get many pictures. 
I am very thankful that we decided to let Nate go to preschool this year.  He has really enjoyed it.  It's been a great year.  We did have an issue a few weeks ago involving a couple of boys scratching Nate's face and neck.  Thankfully Nate wasn't that upset about it.  It did, however, break my momma heart.  

    

Day out with Dad

I'm way behind on blog posts.  To say that things have been busy at our house lately is an understatement.  Our (Cover)ed fundraising family ended up selling 105 towels!  We also hosted our church's Easter egg hunt last Saturday.  There has been lots of sewing, cleaning, and yard work going on at our house the last couple of weeks. 

A couple of weekends ago we were planning to go camping.  There were severe storms predicted for the weekend and we decided that being in a camper probably wasn't the best scenario for stormy weather.  Darren had already taken the day off so he and Nate went to the McWane Center. I took their picture before they left and Nate was not cooperating at all.  My camera also didn't cooperate and this picture is a little fuzzy. 

Since this post is already about my two guys, I have to share that when I started this post Darren was lying in bed with Nate.  He does this every night.  They usually just talk, but tonight Nate wanted them to sing Colder Weather, a country song by the Zac Brown Band.  (Darren and I went to their concert when we were at the beach).  Few things bring me greater joy (and laughter) than hearing them sing together.  And, speaking of this song, Nate loves to ask "Why's he stuck in colder weather?"  It's pretty hilarious.  

Easter posts coming soon.  

Tumbling

Nate started taking tumbling in January.  I finally remembered to take my camera this week.  We're not wanting or expecting him to become a gymnast, we just thought it would be good physical activity and be good for his coordination, large motor skills, etc.  Nate has always been a very cautious child, which has been a huge blessing because he hasn't had many accidents.  Some things were a little intimidating to him for the first couple of weeks and "scary."  We solved that problem with MMs.  If he tried his best and didn't say "I can't do it" during class we could stop and get MMs after class. (He also couldn't pick his nose, because he was in a major nose picking stage at that time.)  I understand that things seemed scary and that there were some things that he couldn't do, but I wanted him to try his best and give things a chance before deciding he couldn't do something. 

All the kids gather around their teacher after class to get a sticker and a sucker.  They also say a prayer thanking God for keeping them safe.  It's really sweet.

This picture does not do the cuteness of this justice.  After sticker, sucker, prayer time; all the kids roll up the mats together.  This is Nate's favorite part of class. You may notice that he's the only boy.  All of the girls love him.  They attack him with hugs when he arrives and chase him around the room. 

Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago I got together with Haley to take pictures of Dax and Kepler.  I also took a few of Nate.  I didn't get the "perfect" spring picture, but I did get a couple of cute ones.  The super cute pirate shirt is compliments of Haley (Dax).  Nate loved wearing it because he loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It's a cute show on Disney channel based (loosely) on Peter Pan. 

Ahoy Matey!!!

Are these three cute or what?  I think Dax was more concerned with eating popcorn than smiling.

Weekend Getaway

A few weeks ago Darren and I went to the beach for a weekend getaway.  It was a birthday present for both of us.  His birthday is March 14 and my birthday is March 19.  We had a wonderful weekend.  We got plenty of rest and relaxation, had lots of great food, and the weather was perfect.  The highlight of the trip was seeing the Zac Brown band.  I thought it was a great concert, but I don't have many to compare it to.  I've seen New Kids on the Block, Reba McEntire, Tommy Petty, Pearl Jam and Counting Crows.  That's quite a mix.    

I didn't take a lot of pictures because Nate wasn't with us. :)    The last night of our trip, the moon was gorgeous reflecting on the water.     

Can you guess what this is?

BEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darren noticed a swarm in our orchard today.  In just a matter of minutes they formed this bee blob on one our our peach trees.  They will supposedly move on in a day or two - according to my dad, the bee expert. :)  Seeing all of these bees made me think of the American classic movie, Tommy Boy.  There's a pretty hilarious scene in the movie involving the police and a fake bee attack.

I have lots more that I need to post, but I have been crazy busy making towels.  Our latest fundraising family has sold 86 towels...and counting.