Women's Retreat: Part 2 (Prayer)

The day before I left for the retreat I was so stressed out. I had been having a hard and very weepy week- just being a girly girl, emotional, and upset over everything. By the time Thursday morning rolled around, I woke up and felt like I'd been punched in the face. (Probably due in part to lack of sleep and swollen, tired eyes from all the crying.) I hadn't packed, hadn't cleaned up the house, was worried about leaving the boys Friday afternoon with a babysitter, and a friend was supposed to come over that morning with her little one so we could visit and go walking. I was a total wreck. I called her and was brutally honest with how I felt and asked if we could reschedule our visit. The poor girl- we're just starting to become friends and right off the bat she gets a taste of my intense sensitivity. But she had such understanding and grace with me. She listened to me and then before we hung up, she asked if she could pray for me. She completely covered me in prayer- praying for my mind, my emotions, my boys, my husband, my house, my weekend... total intercession. It was really, so sweet. And you know what? I felt so much better!

Then, Friday rolled around and I was headed off for the weekend with four other women. As we were driving out of Sherri's driveway, before anyone said anything, one of the ladies said we should pray and right then and there, she simply prayed over our drive and the weekend. And that was my experience for the whole retreat. Before we did anything, we prayed. If someone needed prayer, she'd be surrounded by people praying for her. It was really cool. I'm more of a small group prayer, than a big corporate prayer. For one, I don't have booming loud voice that can reach across a room of people. Also, I'm more of a shy reserved type. In times of corporate prayer, I am content to sit quietly and be edified by hearing the prayers of others. There are times I just love just listening to other people pray.

I love that a simple thing like praying is so powerful. Remember regular, ordinary Elijah had faith when he prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. I remember my mom teaching us that prayer is the most powerful thing you could do in any situation. So being a good little girl and heeding my mom's instruction, (hehe) :) in difficult times growing up, I'd always run to my mom and Becky to ask them to pray about it. Just knowing someone is interceding on my behalf is so encouraging.

Anyway, that's it. I was just reminded over the retreat weekend how grateful I am for prayer. It's so easy, simple and powerful. It edifies us. It give us peace. It connects us to the Father. It knits us together as His body. It's so awesome to go about my day in prayer- talking to Him about everything. He is, after all, my everything. :)

"...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints..." Ephes. 6:18

Visitors

We had a fun afternoon of visitors today- some worms, a tree frog, and cousins! Well, I'm not sure poor little Noey thinks of Mr. Tree Frog as a friend. :) Here's a video of the boys meeting him.

After we played with the tree frog, the boys' cousins, Rian & Ethan came over for a little bit. I love that my boys are growing up with cousins around. They have five cousins that live just an hour away, up in Beaverton; and this summer Rian & Ethan moved to Corvallis! I didn't grow up with cousins, and I so envied my friends who did. Hey, and maybe Eli & Noah will learn a thing or two about manners... Rian & Ethan are so calm and polite! How come my boys are wild animals?

Women's Retreat: Part 1 (My Everything.)

On Sunday I got back from the Women's Retreat at Applegate's Mountain Top Retreat Center down in Jacksonville, OR. It was beautiful... and the food- oh, my gosh! Delicious! The whole time was really good, and there are lots of things I want to share. For now, I'll just share one thing. It's really simple, but was so good for me to reaffirm this in my soul. During worship we sang My Everything. I just find it so cool to sing a song to the Lord that you mean with all your heart and want to live out in every aspect of your life. The words of the song just confirmed to me that, yes- I want God to be present in every tiny part of my life. (Well, not that I have a choice, He is whether I want him to or not. He knows my thoughts and sees my motives before I speak or act.) Especially in our family, we just want to take every opportunity to talk about God.

Remember Deut. 6: 4-9... "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

When I was in early high school I actually remember saying to someone, "Yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm not a freak about it. I still have a life." I may not have said those exact words, but the point was the same... I was claiming that I didn't let my 'love' for God consume me or my life. Ha! Oh, my! He gives us life! Life in Him is the greatest, best life we could have, and I was speaking as if it was lame. When we know what He's done for us, its a natural response to want His love to consume us.

Jesus isn't someone our children will only learn about at church or read stories about before bed or 'say our prayers' to... like a some custom/religion thing. He is real and alive in every part of our lives. He is on our minds, in our conversation, in our discipline, in our playing, in our learning, in everything!

For example...
"Yeah, cool mud puddle! Eli, remember the story when Jesus healed the blind beggar by putting mud on his eyes?"

"Wow! Look at that rainbow! Where does the rainbow come from?"

"Eli, does it please the Lord when you push your brother?" :)

"Do you hear that siren, Noah? Lets fold our hands together and pray because someone might be hurt."

My friend, Brea, was here the other day I was laughing with her because I'd like to just be able to say, "Eli don't throw that Frisbee in the house. It can hurt someone. Remember, it pleases the Lord when you obey your parents." and he would obey out of reverence and regard for God's Word. (And respect for his mom.) Although I do say that, for some reason "Eli if you want a piece of gum after lunch, please don't throw that Frisbee in the house!" has a much greater effect. Hey, he's only three. I'm praying it will sink in later on in life. :)

Cross Country Meet

Jonny is coaching the middle school cross country team this year, and yesterday was their first and only home meet. It was such a nice day, so I decided to take the boys. We had to make a stop at Target first, which is sorta out of the way. Well, completely out of the way- its in the opposite direction, so instead of taking our usual route to Jonny's school, it was quicker to jump on I5 and take the S. Jefferson exit. Eli freaked because he thought we were going the wrong way. He's so funny. He has such a good sense of direction, and knows his way around so well. He knows how to get back to our house from anywhere in the neighborhood, he's familiar with how to get to Albertsons, church, Winco, Target, the bank, etc. So he started kicking his legs and crying when we got on I5, saying, "No. You said we go to Daddy's school. This way is Aunt Amy's house! I wanna go to Daddy's school." I tried to explain that this was just another way, since we didn't leave from home, but he was certain I was going the wrong way. He is right, I5 does take us to Amy's house, but once I took the exit and we got on a familiar road in Jefferson, Eli knew where we were. When my friend, Telena, was in town she was telling me she thought Eli was a city boy. She was laughing at how Eli knows all these 'city living' terms that her five and seven year old don't- like the street sweeper, the freeway, exit, crosswalk, etc. :)

Anyway, we made it to Cascade and had a great time. Eli played with his soccer ball in the grass for a long time and Noah climbed up and down the bleachers. Then they both just sat and watched for awhile. I was amazed how easy of a trip it was. Well, there was one set-back. Eli got his first bee sting. He screamed, but after about five minutes he told me, "I'm not sad now, Mama. I'm a happy boy."

Eli was exhausted from playing soccer, and Noah was busy eating his gold fish.

Handsome

Sometime at the beginning of the summer Eli decided that he is not cute anymore, he is handsome. He says that babies like Noah are cute, but big boys like Eli are handsome. Now, every time we say he is cute we get corrected. The other day at TJ Max a man standing in line behind us told Eli he was cute. Eli's face turned red and he shyly put his face against me and whispered, "I'm not cute. I'm handsome."

Cleaning

I am exhausted! We've had a busy couple of days, with friends of ours in town and a trip to the zoo yesterday. Our company left this morning, and everything was going well. I put Noah down for his morning nap, put a movie on for Eli, and started on my 'To Do's' for the day. I made all the calls I needed to make, and started folding some laundry when I heard Noah talking in his crib. As I approached his door, I got a whiff of poop. Oh no. Noah is becoming notorious for his poop incidents. I walked in and found my adorable little son covered in poop. Serious. I'm not exaggerating- he was covered. His crib and blankets were also defiled. I was in shock. I cried, "Oh my gosh! Noah! What happened?" I think my shock and horror scared the poor little guy because he burst into tears. (He's so darn sensitive! Who does he get that from... oh, wait... okay, me.) Anyway, I managed to clean everything up- only to find Eli in the other bathroom practicing his swimming in a very full bath tub and a very, very wet bathroom. He splashed everywhere! After I cleaned up that mess, I found Noah with crayons in his mouth and crayon juice dripping down his bare belly. Then, a little later, Eli decided he wanted to hang his drawing up on our bedroom wall with a pair of tacs. Oh yeah, but that was after he decided to try and make apple juice all by himself. So yes, I'm exhausted! I've been cleaning all morning, and although cleaning was on my list of 'To Do's', this isn't the cleaning I had in mind! :) My grandma always says, "My mother told me there would be days like this, she just didn't tell me how many."

Okay, the boys are both napping, and I have two loads of laundry to fold. On the other hand, I think a nap sounds so nice right now. :)

Here are a few pics from the zoo...

Cheese & writing.

Eli wrote his name for the first time this morning! There was no prompting or encouraging him to try- he just did it as if he's known how to do it all along. I was so surprised! I guess he's seen me write it out so many times, he just figured it out.

Oh yes, this is what Noah does every time the camera comes out.