Lately.....

Matthew 7:7

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Towards the end of 2009 I was yearning to learn more about God. Not just what other people say about him, or what I learn in ladies bible study, or lifegroup, what my pastor says on Sunday morning, not just John Piper insights, or stand alone scriptures that are all too often quoted and sometimes mis-quoted. I had a deep rooted longing to know for myself the true character of God. Who was he way back in B.C? How did he treat his people? How did he shepherd his flock? How did he love on, save, and redeem the Israelites even though they constantly turned from him? What was Jesus' heart like? In what ways does God constantly pursue his people from the Old Testament to the New Testament? Who am I to him? What does the bible say about reformed theology? I wanted God to write His Truth on my heart, and not let anything else influence my relationship with him. I decided that I needed to return to the basics - I wanted to read the bible straight through. Now I've tried this before on my own strength and failed miserably! I'll admit that in the past, I thought that most of the OT was a snore fest and even toothpicks in my eyelids couldn't keep me awake. This time, my approach was different - I begged God to give me a desire for his Word and He was obviously delighted to answer my prayer. He has been faithful to grow in my heart a love for even the seemingly "boring" parts. I am excited and confident that with His continued encouragement I will finish the entire bible by the time Ashley arrives. And I cannot begin to tell you the many ways in which he has opened my eyes to his goodness, faithfulness, and trustworthiness! It has been a joy to "know" God in a very real and new way!

But even though I will have 'read' the bible, I still want Truth to be written on my heart. I want to fight my sin with it, I want to teach it to my kids, I want it to impact the way I live my life, I want to encourage others with it, and I want to rest in it everyday! So a couple of friends and I are writing Truth on our hearts by memorizing scripture! We hold each other accountable each week to learn a new verse, one for each week of the year. I have already seen beautiful ways in which recounting these verses has turned my thoughts and my actions back to Jesus. It is a glorious picture of what the Holy Spirit can do in our hearts! If you're interested, here's the link to Treasuring God's Truth in Your Heart.

My super talented friend Joy has an etsy shop where she sells the coolest stuff! Recently I asked her to make posters for the kids' rooms with their life verses - it has been so good to have something tangible (besides the bible of course) for the boys to see and read with us at night. I adore the ways that their little brains work:

Me: Blane, your verse says "Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are mine."

B: Mommy, God is disobeying, we aren't supposed to say "mine"

Me: Well this is God's way of asking you to be a part of his family, he wants you to be His little boy forever

B: But I already have a family

Me: Yes you do. But Mommy and Daddy are also a part of God's family, and God wants you to be a part of his family too. What would you say if God asked you to be a part of his family?

B: (after MUCH thought) I would say yes!

Scott and I decided that we needed to liven up dinner time! While we love the silliness and laughter that comes from two little boys, we also want to be purposeful about family mealtime! So, we have included three dinnertime activities:

1. Christmas card prayer - We've actually been doing this for a while, but are more intentional about it these days - we choose one of our 2010 Christmas cards and pray for that person/family.

2. Tabletopics - When we are in need of good conversation we pull out some fun questions from the question jar. They are all really kid friendly, funny, and thought provoking. Even Gavin gets into it! My questions come from Focus on the Family and we adapt some of them to be age 3 friendly : )

3. Scripture Memorization - There is a really neat website called fighterverses.com and a great section on teaching kids memorization. When I started my scripture memorization, I thought it would be great to involve the boys too. So each week I print off their new verse, add it to the picture frame, and we practice it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here are the list of foundation verses for kids.

Ashley's room is not quite complete, but I decided to go ahead and share pics : ) Isn't this quilt precious? A sweet family friend handmade it to match her bedding. I just love it!

This mirror was part of my bedroom furniture when I was little. I took some frosted vinyl and using my Silhouette made this phrase look "etched". You can also see part of the beautiful chandelier that Scott bought his sweet little girl. I couldn't get a good picture of it, but it's large, antique, and just so sweet!

Although it looks lopsided, it's really not : ) I made this sign for Ashley's wall to remind us, and her, that God is in fact good, no matter what the circumstances

Ashley's life verse poster tucked into the bookshelf portion of this piece of my furniture from when I was little

A sweet canvas painting - a baby shower gift from a dear friend

Her crib : )

A better view of her room. The queen bed is still in her room for guests (or for late nights when I can't find my way back downstairs)

One of the biggest blessings has been the clothes that we've received! Thank you, thank you for the hand-me-downs! Hopeful that we won't have to buy her any clothes for the first year!!!