Giving the Gift of Humility

Sisters, it can be so hard to gauge our "realness" when it comes to the blogging world.  Even in our attempts to be authentic, we can still be seeking praise for our humility, or we can be painting a prettier picture than really exists of ourselves so as not to appear "too bad".  We can even be tempted to explain away our failings or struggles to make it appear that we are somehow justified in our sin.  I realize this may be a heavy topic, but I think it's one we need to talk about.  I believe, with all my heart, that one of the greatest gifts we can give one another, as sisters in Christ, is our own humility.  Do we bless a sister in Christ when we clean our houses to spotless perfection before they come over, after all we claim it's not to impress them, but rather to offer the "utmost in hospitality"?  Personally, I find it more of a blessing to see a sister's house in the midst of real life living.  It reminds me that none of has it all together all the time, and it becomes an extension of God's grace towards me.  So what about our blogs?  Are we painting romantic, "holy" pictures of our lives through pictures and words on our blogs in attempts to "bless and inspire", cleaning house so to speak?  Is that really where the most blessing and inspiration happens?  Or do most of our readers walk away from our blogs feeling less than us and defeated.  In our own insecurity, do we only ever put our best foot forward?  Or maybe we keep it shallow because we are afraid our deep ponderings might bring judgment?  These are all hard questions friends, and I'm still pondering them.  What I do know is that I am most drawn to blogs where people aren't afraid to be humble, to share their REAL  and current struggles, even when they haven't reached the hindsight place where they can see the big lesson.  I'm less drawn to blogs that make me feel like a schmuck because the person always appears to have it all together and always has the perfect, "holy" words to say.  As a writer, I know I've fallen into this trap too, so I'm preachin to the choir girls;).  It's tempting to write a good "story", to paint yourself and your life in the best light possible, but is that the greatest gift I can give those reading my blog?  I really don't think so.  Certainly, God gives me inspiring lessons to share, but honey, sometimes I'm wallowing in the muck and I have to ask myself why I'm not as quick to jump on my blog and share about it.  Don't get me wrong, we all need to have healthy boundaries here.  There are certain issues that have no place on our blogs because they could defame others, or perhaps they just need to stay private because that's best for one reason or another, but I would venture to guess that most of the time, we need to get some of that muck up here to be the greatest blessing to our readers and to get the accountability and encouragement that is such a great blessing to us.  We need to allow God to display His power in our weakness, to use even our struggles with sin for His glory as He draws readers in who can relate and then brings us all to a better place as we link arms in the journey and beg Him for healing, redemption, and wisdom.  In Beth Moore's book, "So Long Insecurity, You've Been a Bad Friend to Us", she talks about how that person who seems to have it together the most is often the one with the greatest insecurities.  When she tries to prove to others her "goodness", she's really trying to convince herself.  But it's GOD who's great friends, not us.  And His greatness is more evident when it's clear that anything good in our lives is from and because of Him, not from our own merit.  Girls, I'm asking you AND me to step out of our comfort zones and get a little more real.  God wants to use us in each others lives in mighty ways, this blogging platform is such a powerful tool and a gift that we've been given.  How are we using this gift friends?  To puff ourselves up or to display God's power and perfection in our weakness and imperfection?

2 Corinthians 12:9- "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

Romans 3:22-24- "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Proverbs 11:2- "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." 

So I guess it's time for some muck to come up. Let's pray about the struggles God may be prompting us to share and trust Him enough to share them.  Let's give each other the gift of our own humility and watch God's power be made perfect!

A Stolen Moment

Just a few fall pictures for your viewing pleasure:). We've been busy around here, between Emma's school schedule, Chloe's preschool co-op, worship dance on Fridays and all my nesting and normal homemaking activities, I've found it hard to make time for blogging lately. The deep thoughts are brewing, but it seems to be a time for quiet. I love this season , Autumn truly is my favorite time of year, spring being a close second. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying! I'll be 18 weeks on Sunday and we're just a few short weeks away from our big ultrasound and finding out if we'll be meeting a little girl or boy come February (the ultrasound is on Oct. 7th). I've been having lots of "it's a boy" dreams, but I'm not making too much of them since some of them are SO off the wall. I'll go ahead and spill the beans on our name choices as of now. If it's a girl, her name will be Autumn Mae. If it's a boy, he will be Grayson Lee (Lee after Travis's dad). Here's a bare belly pic taken at 16 weeks, I know I'm brave;).
Now this picture just cracks me up! Sawyer has this Mr. Cool face on when there is frankly nothing cool about his appearance. When you're sporting underwear, a camo shirt and your sister's princess helmet, cool just isn't a word to describe you. But cute? Oh yes my son, so cute I want to eat you up!
Here's our little Roo all coordinated in her pink and purple. She's been having fun with her new birthday bike, she feels like a much bigger girl than she did on her big wheel.
And finally, here's a shot of my three darlings enjoying a nice fall dinner on the back porch. We'll soak in as many of these evenings as we can before the snow flies.

Until the next stolen moment...

80 Years

We had the privilege this past Friday to celebrate my Grandpa Dick's (my dad's dad) 80th birthday with him here in CO. This man makes 80 look good, let me tell you! I teased him all weekend that I really hope I inherited his aging genes. He shares a birthday with my dad (who went to be with Jesus when I was sixteen), which was always special for them over the years. Looking into his eyes, his smile, all his expressions, I was able to see glimses of my dad all evening, which made the day all the more special. Thank you, Grandpa, for setting such a great example and passing on such a legacy. We love you and hope we get many more years with you this side of heaven.(78 years between these two handsome men!)

First Grade...YES!

There was a little song I made up when I was a little girl as I anticipated going to first grade. It went like this:

"First grade never, first grade never
I like to go to school
But I don't like my friends
who don't play nice,
all around the town."
I sang this song to Emma probably a year ago and of course, she got a kick out of it and wanted to learn it. About a week ago, I asked her if she remembered my first grade never song and this is what she said, "yes, but I want to change the words." This is the song she came up with:
"First grade YES, first grade YES
I like to go to school
But I don't like my friend
who don't play nice
all around the town."

This one little word change tells me the world about Emma's attitude towards school. She's excited to be there, to make new friends and learn new things. She's much braver than I was, and for that I praise the Lord, because I remember many a shed tear over recess as I sat in the very spot my mom dropped me off, missing her in the pit of my stomach.As we drove to her first day of school today, we prayed. We prayed for God to remind Emma to do the right thing, even when others do the wrong thing, that she would be a light for Jesus to her teacher and her classmates, and I finished by praying for bravery and comfort if she feels sad or scared. After we had said "Amen", Emma informed me that she wouldn't be sad, but that she might be a little nervous and her tummy might hurt. We quickly added a prayer for her tummy not to hurt and that God would remind her that He's always with her, even when mommy and daddy are not. As I hugged her good-bye while she was sitting in her big girl desk, a surprising lump began to form in my throat. I thought I'd be okay today, we did this last year after all. But as I drove home I realized that it will never be easy to say good-bye to my children, for any reason under the sun. But I have to let them go or they will never learn how to lean on the God who never leaves them. These times apart are gifts because they teach both of us to trust the Lord with each other and our own hearts. They are little journeys out of the nest where they can encounter the world and then come home to process and learn and grow from what they've experienced. It is my prayer that some day, when the time comes for a more permanent flight from the nest, that each of our children will have genuine walks of their own where they depend on the Lord over anyone else. I pray that they will know how to encounter the sin in the world and the sin in their own hearts with the truth of God's word and the reality of His presence. Emma Grace, be courageous as you cling to your Savior at every turn! May this school year draw you closer to Him and may He equip your dad and I to teach you and point you to Him through every experience.

Love, Mommy

The Summer in a Nutshell

It's long past time for a post, but once again, the beautiful living of life has gotten in the way. I don't feel guilty for not posting in so long, because I know it's the result of right priorities, but I love it here, I really, really do. Writing here is such a little oasis for me, a refreshing for my soul that feeds a deep seeded need in me to share my heart and life through writing.

So what have we been up to, in a nutshell? Well, summertime, that's what:). Lots of time outside, which by the way has made it harder than usual to stay on top of the inside chores. But in the winter, when I have ample time for inside tasks, I know we'll be longing for more time outside...so I take each season in stride, knowing that just around the corner is change. I'm FINALLY feeling more myself as I near the end of my first trimester, I'll be 12 weeks on Sunday...I can't believe it! My stomach has grown very obviously already, which doesn't surprise me. I'm anticipating a fair share of stretch marks when all is said and done:(. My poor garden is overrun with weeds, but when the heat makes you ill and you're tired most of the time, weeding just doesn't land very high on the priority list I'm afraid. Amazingly though, we are getting a good harvest of yummy veggies this year.

At the beginning of the summer, the girls had swimming lessons, then each of them went to their own dance class at different times during June and July. Emma's class was called Tappin Dumplins, Chloe's was called Magic Wand. They each had a blast! We celebrated Emma's 6th birthday and my 31st in July. We also went on a fun camping/fishing trip with Auntie Kim and Uncle Tyler at the end of July, complete with roasting the catch of the day over an open fire. Most recently, we went on a little family vacation to Salt Lake City to visit old/current friends who were like family during our time there. It was such a blessing to see them all again and take the kids to our very first apartment in married student housing at the U.

Now we're back and gearing up for the school year ahead. Emma is starting first grade, which seems so surreal, and Chloe, Sawyer, and I will be doing a preschool/homeschool co-op with some friends of mine from church. It will be a busy year no doubt, lots of driving and the need for organizing and being purposeful with our time. But I'm excited! I can already smell fall in the air and am loving the cooler evenings and mornings. Today is Chloe's forth birthday, so I'm busy getting ready for her little party tomorrow. Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl, you've blossomed so much this year, inside and out. We had our 12 week ultrasound yesterday and brought all the kids along to meet baby sibling. It was such a treat to see more baby this time, all the little kicks and rolls and waves, be still my heart! We used the nub angle theory to try to guess the gender and right now, I'm thinking girl if the theory is right, but we'll find out for sure soon enough. Wheh! Okay, back to work for me. My goal is to get some pictures of all the said events up very soon. Thanks for your patience, and all my love to each of you! I do read your blogs whenever I see new posts:).
Love, Sarah

Morning Snuggles

No words!

News to Share!

Once again, I feel SO behind and neglectful towards this blog and I will once again blame it on facebook. But I have something exciting to share that deserves more than just a facebook announcement...I'm PREGNANT!!! I'm eight weeks along and due Feb. 27th, 2011. Many have asked us if this was a surprise and the answer to that one is no. This baby was just as planned and prayed over and wanted as the others. After Sawyer was born we were on the fence about the size of our "quiver". Some days, I felt like we were complete while Travis wasn't so sure. Other days, the table was turned. But the bottom line was, we just didn't have a true peace about saying for sure that we were done. Now, I realize that some believe God wants us to have as many children as He would allow our biology to produce. For the record, we are not in that camp, but that's a topic I really don't want to get into at the moment as I fear it's one of those that has a tendency to divide instead of unite. That being said, this decision certainly didn't come easily and we know full well that God could have and still could say "no" even if we decided "yes". Here's what this baby represents to us in a nutshell: Faith! It is when we feel incapable that God can show up and be glorified as He enables us. It is when we feel like we can't that God shows up and proves to us that with HIM all things are possible. It is when faulty logic douses the God-initiated desires of our hearts that God asks us to trust Him, even when it's scary. That's what this "decision" was, a trembling, slow-moving, heart-racing step of faith. After seeing a little baby with beating heart last Thursday, the first flood of blessing came over us as reward for this step...and the trembling in fear was replaced with trembling for joy! As the saying goes, "we know not what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future!" We are under no romantic notions about bringing a forth baby home. We know there will be hard moments, just as there have been with every adjustment we've had in our lives, but we are excited to see what God has for our family as this new little child becomes a part of it. Please pray with us for a healthy baby and pregnancy, and thank you to so many who've given us such kind and uplifing congrats. We are so blessed by each of you!