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April 28, 2009

Who Are You and What Have You Done With My Two-Year-Old?

A friend of ours told us awhile back that the twos aren't so terrible, it's the threes that get you. We are now learning that he was right. It seems to Peter and I in this last week that Natalie went to sleep one night and woke up the next morning possessed by a creature who can only say "no" and "nope" in a high-pitched whiney tone. We even caught her saying no to her pacifier the other day. Yesterday after a tough night with the younger I was feeling quite drained, but was immediately tested by No Girl. I had to remind myself of 1 Corinthians 10:13 :). The No's were so plentiful and so impeded the morning routine that we weren't finished breakfast until 10 a.m.! After a few tears were shed on both sides and desperate prayers were prayed, God helped us turn the day around. I was able to have 1:1 time with both my girls, Natalie did very well at a "listening game" and we enjoyed her reward together at the end of the day.

Today I came across this verse:

"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." 1 Peter 1:22

Beth Moore points out the Greek word translated "deeply" means from within the heart. Who is in our hearts? The Holy Spirit. So that is where this amazing love has to come from. A good reminder of where I'll get the strength to love my "No Girl" right where she is and to channel that No where it belongs and encourage her to say "Yes" to Jesus.

Posted by Shannon at 07:29 AM | Comments (1)

April 06, 2009

Blurbs

It's been forever since I've posted, and I'm just bursting with so many things I'd love to share here...the amazing women's retreat Peter sent me on last weekend...the things the girls are doing...my frustrations...my joys, etc. I can't believe another week's gone by. I've barely checked email or facebook or anything because we've all been struggling with this "grundge" that's going around. Peter blames "Mommy Mondays" and says we just eat bonbons and complain about our husbands and ignore our kids while they trade snot! Just kidding ladies! I miss you so much!

So I've been busy wiping noses, holding Charlotte, and well...pretty much those two things! ha ha

I think sometimes weeks go by without me posting because I'm waiting for that extended and uninterrupted time where I can pour out my soul in a long and involved entry. So you know how often that happens :) I've decided I need to reset my expectations (story of my life!!) and just do little blurbs when the inspiration and opportunity strikes.

So blurb for today is a great thing I found since the retreat I went on...Beth Moore has a website where you can listen to her Bible studies. I'm sooooo pumped about this because I really do crave the Word but have been feeling so discouraged about minimal time to do dig into it. With these I can turn on the computer and listen even if I'm holding Charlotte for a nap and my hands are not free to flip through my Bible or write. I am not naturally an auditory learner, but God can work through anything. I just love Beth's teaching, and I'm really excited to utilize this resource. Check it out!

And in closing, I'm feeling proud that I got all my bushes pruned while Charlotte took a snugly nap and Natalie played. We followed the bush "haircut" with some jumps in last fall's leaves, and it was so so good to be outside and be warm and uncover some green poking up through and watch Natalie in her element. My grape hyacinth survived the winter. Thanks Doreen! I hope we do the perennial swap again this year.

Posted by Shannon at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)