Building a Brick Wall

If you will picture with me a brick wall, a completed brick wall. One thing that we take for granted is its strong foundation at the bottom. We don't think about everything that goes into building a structurally sound wall. There are a lot of things that are very important. Where you build the wall has to be just right. The ground must be level among many other things. Once the actual construction occurs, you must have the right amount of space between each brick. There must be enough mortar between each brick. Each brick must be placed perfectly level. Where and how the bricks are placed effect all the other bricks.






Where I am going with this? I have seen that learning Spanish for me is very much the same as building a brick wall. I know the picture is the completed brick wall (learning Spanish well). However, as I am learning the foundational things of Spanish. It is critical to get the foundational things right. Each brick needs to be placed just right. However, my desire is to worry more about the completed project. I understand completely the need to make sure the foundation is right and that it happens one brick at a time. I don't want to fret about each and every brick. I want to focus on the prize at the end.



My attitude to this point has been really relaxed about not quite understanding everything I have been taught, because I knew it will come. I am focused on the big picture!

Okay, here is the truth..... That is not like me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have always wanted to be the best at everything or at least to do it very well. God to this point has given me a relaxed attitude. I am so grateful for it. So, please pray that God would continue to give me this attitude.

This is a VERY intense program. A lot things are taught in a very short amount of time. Things are coming at us very quickly. I don't want to get worked up about things. Don't get me wrong I want to do well. But not to fret about not getting A's! The object is to learn to speak Spanish! And that is exactly what I want to do.

Brain Pain

Yikes!!!! College was definitely a few years ago for me. Now I have to at a much older age, listen intently in a classroom for 4 hours, study 3 hours per night and be able to remember how to ask how someone is in another language. When my spanish battery is running low I can potentially ask someone how their mom is when I want to know their name. And when they ask me how I am my response is only gracias. You just have to laugh at yourself sometimes (and for me much more than others).

Days of our Lives

Our schedule dramatically changed. We went from 120 miles per hour to about 2 miles per hour. Once I finished putting the house together there really wasn't much to do.

In the morning we would spend time in the Word. Then we would eat breakfast, wash the dishes, sweep the floors, do laundry if needed. Then the girls would play until lunch then we would go through the same routine of cooking and cleaning. Then the girls would take a nap and Ryan and I would check our email. Hoping to hitch a ride on the neighbors wireless. Then we would look at each other and say "what do you want to do?" By 3:30pm because of boredom I started making dinner. So we would be finished with dinner and dishes by 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Then what? It is pretty funny to go from sooooo busy to hardly anything. Whoa, what a change.

Speaking of change, starting next week we will start our classes and we will wish for the days of having nothing to do. Our orientation has been very informative. And one of the things that has been made very clear is that this will be the hardest year of your life. One lady on staff, who was also a former student said while she was learning Spanish at the Language Institute said it was the hardest year of her life and she had 57 other years to compare it to. Oh my gosh!!!! Wowee, hold on for the ride. And know that God is still on the throne.

Trusting God

Ella is still have troubles sleeping at night, so as a result mama is have troubles sleeping at night. As I was up with her last night, I was praying to God to help her sleep. And feeling a little panicked about how I would be able to go school, sit in classes all morning with little sleep. I was frevently praying that God would change Ella's sleep habits so I can get some sleep. Then the thought occurred to me that I can trust God with everything and should trust Him in everything. Even my sleep. He knows what I need, all of what I need. I just need to trust Him.

White Tile

We have white tile throughout our house. Oh my goodness does it ever get dirty. Every day I have to sweep. One day as I was sweeping, I thought the floors are very similar to my spiritual life. If I don't clean up every day by spending time in God's word it get's very dirty and it is very obvious to anyone walking by. My floors sure look clean when they are clean, but it takes a lot of work to maintain it's cleanliness. I have to be disciplined to stay on top of it.

Chastening

I just happened to be reading "My Utmost for His Highest", (which I have not made part of my daily routine for a long time), and was blown away by this entry for August 14th.

"Depise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him." Hebrews 12:5. It is very easy to quench the Spirit; we do it by depising the chastening of the Lord, by fainting when we are rebuked by Him. If we have only a shallow experience of sanctification, we mistake the shadow for the reality, and when the Spirit of God begins to check, we say - oh, that must be the devil.
Never quench the Spirit, and do not despise Him when He says to you - "don't be blind on this point any more; you are not where you thought you were. Up to the present I have not been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now." When the Lord chasens you like that, let Him have His way. Let Him relate you rightly to God.
"Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him" We get into sulks with God and say - "Oh, well, I can't help it; I did pray and things did not turn out right, and I am going to give it all up." Think what would happen if we talked like this in any other domain of life!
Am I prepared to let God grip me by His power and do a work in me that is worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me, and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly.

The Final Countdown!

Five days left until we leave for Costa Rica. Wow, I can't believe it is finally here. For a long time it seemed so far away, but now...OH MY GOSH!!!!! There is a lot do. With all the craziness going on, everything has gone really smoothly.

What's left to do is pack up, clean up and say some final goodbyes (or see you laters). It's a long list of things but it will get done. And what doesn't...oh well!

The girls have been troopers through all this craziness. They would go to the other house and play, watch movies while we were purging and cleaning. They are getting carted here and there and just going with the flow.

They are still having rough nights. They aren't sleeping well. But that will pass (which I'm very excited for). I'm sure it will help to have more of a routine back in our lives.

It was difficult on Sunday to say goodbye to so many good friends. God has truly blessed us. But to me it is also very exciting because I know, because I have experienced it, that we will gain more great friendships. So we are gaining, not loosing!

Operation Potty Training Part Two - Successful

Whooohooo!!! We have success! Praise the Lord. Ella is doing GREAT! She has had no accidents in 7 days. It was a little rough at first, but she is doing great now. Thank you for praying.

Potty Training Again - Oh boy!

We are going to try again to potty train Ella. She is now 2 1/2 years old , which experts say that is the magic age for potty training. She certainly shows more signs of being ready. We have decided to use the method "Toilet Training in less than a day". My sisters kids did great with this method. So we are going to give a whirl.

One thing that is exciting about this method is once the child is successfully potty trained there is less chance of regression with a big change or event. Which is good since we have a big event and move coming up!

So I will keep you posted... to be continued...

Good Morning

One of my favorites things in the morning is when Ella wakes up. She walks out of her room, walks down the hallway and says "hello, is anybody there?" We are usually sitting in the kitchen. I can usually hear the door open and then I just wait because I know it's coming in the sweetest little voice ever. What a precious memory for me.

I know this picture is not of Ella waking up, but it sure is cute!

My Trip to Colorado

I had the incredible opportunity to spend Memorial weekend with my best friend Julee of 25 years. She arranged a hotel for us in Vail, Colorado. So we both left our husbands with our kids and went and enjoyed the beautiful mountains of Colorado.

We had such a great time! We endlessly talked, laughed, cried. What a refreshing time we had.

When we first accepted Christ, we would read our Bibles and share what God was showing us. Well that is how we spent our mornings in Vail as well. What a wonderful friendship. We both have nothing more important in our lives than Christ. I am blessed beyond words to have a friend that is also passionate about living for His mission.

Discipleship 1

I have successfully discipled my girls (at least in one area). We were leaving the house the other day, gathering all the things we might need, diapers, snacks, water and a LIST! I always have a list. So what do you think the girls were wanting before we left? Their own list... I almost fell out! So here they were in-tow, with their own purses, babies, cell phones (pretend phones) sunglassess and their LIST! Too cute!

Avigail and her Imagination

Avigail our 4 year old, has an incredible imagination. I have troubles keeping up. She will pretend she is the girl in any and every movie (examples: Ariel, Susan or Lucy in Narnia, Fern in Charlotte's Web, Princess anything, etc...). She will interchange between characters quite frequently. I will be going through the routine of the day, asking her (Avigail) to come brush her teeth and she respond by saying, "no mom I'm Fern" and then proceed to tell me she needs to take care of Wilbur before she brushes her teeth. Once "Fern" brushes her teeth, then when we brush her hair she will be somebody different and low and below so am I. Now I am Susan from Narnia and she is Lucy and we need to find Aslan. I am not an imaginative person so I have to stay on my toes.

Singing in Spanish

Wowee! I had another opportunity to sing in Marco's class in Spanish. This time it seemed much more comfortable. This song I understood everything that I was singing so I could sing it with more passion and feeling. For me I don't want to just sing; it has to be with expression about God. I can't wait become more and more confident in my ability to sing in Spanish.

Looking Like What You've Been Through

I have often watched people in different walks of life and seen some that look like life has been hard on them. They truly look like what they have been through. I started really thinking about this about myself and my past (as dark as it is) and wondered if I look like what I have been through. Now with Christ in my life I do want to look what I have been through.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai in Exodus 34 glowing after being in the presence of God. Ex. 34:30 "...the skin of his face shone..." I want have a glow because of being in the presence of God. I want to be noticeably different.

Feeding the Ducks

One of our favorite things to do with our days is go to Loose Park (known to my girls as the "Duck Park). They love to feed the ducks. The pond is beautifully made and kept. The edge has always been a little scary for me because it just drops off. So I have always watched the girls carefully when they are by the edge. And really have played through my mind what I would do "if" one of them were to fall in. Would I jump or dive? Certainly I have never needed to worry about it until...this past Wednesday.

We were feeding the ducks and all of a sudden Avigail was in the water. I didn't see it happen. I tried to reach her from the side and couldn't, and without another thought jumped in to pull her out. Praise the Lord I was close by when she fell in. I am not always, because I am usually watching Ella, because I have always been more nervous about her adventurous side.

Avigail was very shaken up by the situation, understandably. One thing that was very interesting to me was how grateful she was. I mean grateful. That little girl must have said 10 times on our way home "thank you mommy for saving me. I love you!" And throughout the rest of the day many more times. It has faded now to every couple of days. And I'm sure it will go away completely.

Do you remember your salvation and how grateful you were? I do. I was SO grateful and never wanting to stop telling Him "Thank you, and that I loved Him". I didn't want to get away from saying how grateful I am to Him for saving me, but I have. But this situation has brought back the words to my speech. I am so grateful to Him for saving me from the pit I was in. May I never get away from saying it.

Power of Prayer

I am Praising the Lord for the prayers of people. It is so awesome to enlist prayer warriors about the issues of life and to watch the prayers being answered. I know people are praying because supernatural things happen when they do. Wow! Thank you for praying!

My Time with the Lord

I have been reading in Hebrews the last couple of days and have seen some really awesome things. Hebrews 5:8 "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." What? Wait a minute, I thought Christ knew it all! Christ "learned" about obedience through His suffering. I crossed referenced this verse because I was so curious. Philippians 2:8 was one center column reference "...and became obedient unto death..." and the cross reference for that is Matthew 26:39, which says: "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Christ's ultimate desire was not to go through death on the cross but was willing if that is what it took. Obviously, this made me feel relieved to know that even Christ the Son of God had to learn obedience also. I am more than certain it didn't take Him as long as it does for me during those times of "suffering".

I can think of several areas of my life currently that I struggle through. But am so encouraged to just obey. I need to always to be focused on the end not on the current struggle. Isaiah 1:19 "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land."

Daddy Daughter Banquet

Ryan and Avigail went to a Father /Daughter Banquet

February 2006 - What an amazing thing to have Avigail taken to a ball with her daddy. She was beaming when daddy put a beautiful locket around her neck before taking her to the ball. She was so proud to have a special date with daddy. What a tremendous impact this will have on her whole life. They had a great time along with 250 plus other dads and daughters from the church. What a huge success it was.

In the Midst of the Storm

I have had some of the toughest storms lately in regards to discipline with my girls. Resistence to obedience has been great lately. But it comes with no surprise because I had been praying that God would teach me how to truly experience Him as my refuge. He has given countless opportunities to seek Him and experience Him as just that. Wow, what peace came in the midst of each battle. I was able to see God's Word played out in the script of my days.

Psalm 46 says "God is our (my) refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." God has been my help in the "trouble" I have faced. I had a super natural strength to continue with the discipline and yet balanced with a deep love.

v.2 "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth shall be removed, and though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof..." It did seem at times lately that the earth was being removed and the mountains shaking. But....v.5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: (again the promise) God shall help her, and that right early."

In all honestly, I am working on the "fear" part of things. It was difficult to know the possibility of waking up the next day and facing the same battle again was not something I looked forward to. But I have begun praying that God would continue to grow me by increasing my faith in Him.

His promises were and are true. I've always known that, but lately have really been able to see it at a greater depth. I have always prayed that my dependence for Him would grow more and more. I know sometimes that comes from the difficult times.