she really does listen

So this afternoon I was busy making lunch and Lizzie decided to take almost the entire contents of the diaper bag and put them on the dining room floor. I did not notice until 20 minutes later or so and when saw it here is the exchange:

Me: Elizabeth Mary, did you go in the diaper bag and take all that stuff out?

Liz: Uh, huh. "I eat bugs."

Now to a random listener that would sound funny, but you have to know that I keep stashes of snacks in the diaper bag, just in case, and it just so happens there were bugged shape graham crackers.

Me: Hunny you cannot go in the diaper bag unless you ask permission from mommy.

Liz: Daddy?

Me; Yes you can ask daddy for permission too.

Fast forward a few hours later. I ran out to take dinner to some friends. While I was gone the following conversation occured.

Liz: Daddy, you in diaper bag?

Daddy: Huh?

Liz: Daddy, you go in diaper bag?

Daddy: You want me to put you in the diaper bag?

Liz: Uh, huh.

Daddy: You are weird.

So when I came home I was told about the question because he had no idea what she was asking. I knew right away and I told him she was asking permission to go in the diaper bag. Lizzie looked at him, smiling from ear to ear, and nodded.

How to I get her to listen that well all the time? LOL

Crazy Dream

Here is one thing I am dreaming for:

I fall asleep to the sound of quiet. I sleep blissfully and wake up at 8:15 am to the sound of quiet. As I lay there wondering why I was able to sleep until 8:15 am, I wonder aloud is Claire ok? I ask Todd, did you get up with her? He says no and then we both hear the sound of rustling and a cooing, happy, baby waking in the next room. I am elated to find that my baby slept the whole night. I would be equally elated if this happened every night thereafter. Just wishing...

Again

Best Use of my Gifts All Day

Spiritual Gifts Part 2

I have been thinking a lot about spiritual gifts and how to use them. This past Sunday our pastor taught on spiritual gifts again, but this time he talked about God given desires. How God places desires within each of us that, if we are truly following him, will bring such fulfillment and joy to our lives. This week I also read something in Oswald Chamber's my utmost for his highest.

"We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunder's of God's power (the fact that we are dejected proves that we do) and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us. If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes when we learn that it is in the commonplace things that the Deity of Jesus Christ is realized."

When I read that it jumped out at me. I was wondering what do I do with my life for God and all the while God was saying here is your life just do it for me. I remember being a senior in high school and praying that God would do what he wanted with my life and all the while I was hoping he wanted this for me. I was hoping to be a mommy and a wife and secretly hoping to be Todd's wife. LOL Tonight as I was reading to Lizzie before bed it struck me. I am living out my heart's desire. Praise God for planting that in me. He wants me to do this for Him and I am humbled by this call. It is so big, yet so commonplace. I have been entrusted with the hearts and minds of two precious babies and been given the opportunity to take care of Todd, who is one of the best men I know. I do not always do this well. In fact most days I am pretty sure I am only doing a good job at best, but I know that when I rely on Jesus he does this through me and I cannot think of a better use of my gifts than to serve this wonderful family and home he has blessed me with.

Snowed In

I know I am not the only one feeling it. It is generally a michigan thing this time of year. I feel so trapped. I want to go outside, play with the kids, open the windows. I would be happy just to not put on a dozen layers to walk out the door. This year I am especially feeling cabin fever. In years past I may have gone to the mall or just target to escape the trapped feeling, but it has been extremely cold for most of this winter and with both kids it is so hard to go anywhere by myself. We usually stay in unless it is absolutely necessary. So I am feeling the winter blahs and wishing for an early spring. Can't global warming at least give me that? LOL.

Spiritual Gifts

Yesterday our pastor preached about spiritual gifts. It was a very good sermon. A reminder of how all gifts were created to be used within the body of Christ and if we seperate our gift from the body it is like we are taking a chain saw and cutting off our foot. It will severely impair the body and the foot will be dead. It was a good reminder and it was nice to actually hear a sermon. We have been on the search for nearly a year for a church home and during that time it was very difficult to put our kids in a nursery. We were not even sure if we were staying at a church half the time and we did not know anyone at most places we visited. Since about October we have been going to a Life church and we are very excited about the possibility that this might be a place we can plant ourselves for more than a month. So we finally, ( we as in I, Todd was ready a while ago) decided to leave the kids in the nursery. They have gone three times and I was able to hear two sermons. (Last week I was in the nursery the whole time.) It is immensely nice to sit in church next to my husband and listen to the word of God being taught. I miss it. But back to my thought on spiritual gifts. I know that God gifts his people with special "abilities" so they can serve the body and glorify him and I thought in the past I may have known some of my own gifts, but it leads me to a thought I was having pretty much the whole time he was teaching. I was thinking about my kids. I was missing them and wondering are they ok? Is Lizzie still crying? Is Claire getting fussy? I know that the Bible is very clear about a woman's role when she is a wife. She is to love, care for, meet her husbands needs, care for her home and children. I also know that God calls all of us to preach the gospel. He calls all of us to lift up the name of Jesus. To point others to the redemption that he brought by sacrificing himself on the cross. But what does that mean for someone like me? What does that mean for anyone? Most of my day feels so mundane and far from extraordinary, how am I using gifts to glorify Him? Or is it in the mundane that he is glorified? Is He glorified by, living life connected to him even amidst diapers, spit-up, crying, timeouts? I know all of us cannot spend hours a week "serving" at church? What do you think?