Talking to our kids...

Ian is almost 4. I am truly loving this age (well minus the tantrums and getting hit). He is so fun to talk to and understands so much!

Today somehow we got on the topic of heaven. Ian made the statement that everyone will go to heaven. I decided to take a moment and try to explain to him that sadly not everyone will go to heaven. That you have to believe in Jesus. He followed that with "well, I believe in Jesus. You believe in Jesus, daddy believes in Jesus. Does Owen believe in Jesus?" I just told him that I hope that someday Owen would. 

He then asked how we get to heaven, like can we go now. I told him that we have to die first. He asked how to do that. I told him we just wait till God wants us to come to heaven and that He would let us know when. :) That seemed to satisfy him. 

Then somehow we started talking about how when he gets to heaven he will be able to hang out with Christy (our baby that we lost last month). He was so sweet and seemed so excited. Then he remembered how I had shown him a picture from a pregnancy website of what the baby looked like before we lost her. (we don't know if the baby was a boy or girl, but since he named the baby Christy, I refer to her as a girl) 

I just love having these moments with my kids. Owen is really starting to talk more and I can't wait to be able to talk to him about God and heaven and how to get to heaven! 

Thank you LORD for my beautiful boys. 

Another thanks to Pinterest...

 I love Pinterest! Do you? I probably have a list of a million things that I want to make. I did however accomplish something today and I am pretty proud of it. 

Ian made the pool (bottom right of map) and a tree (bottom center of map). The other thing we made is a marble shoot. We pretended like they were snowballs falling into the city! We had a good time playing with these new toys. Thanks pinterest!

 

Heaven is For Real...

Have you read the book? The book titled "Heaven is For Real"? I just finished it and all I can say is wow! I cried, a lot. Poor Justin kept pausing the T.V. until I finally told him I was probably going to cry off and on so he need not pause it every time. :) 

I should mention that if you haven't read the book and don't want it ruined for you then stop reading this post and go get the book! Try your library, local book store or your neighbor! Get the book and read it. Okay, now onto my thoughts...

There is just so much to take in after reading this book. For me, one of the most amazing parts was the part about how he met his sister in heaven! Having just gone through a miscarriage myself I am comforted about the fact that we will meet our child someday in heaven.  We had a little laugh, being thankful that Ian chose the name Christy and not something like Dinosaur. I would just feel so bad for my little one running around heaven with the name Dinosaur! This has nothing to do with the book, but another way God has made me smile is that sometimes when I am alone I think to myself "I want my baby back" and suddenly a sad thought turns into a smile because the next thing I think of is the Chili's commercial "I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...Chili's baby back ribs, I want my Chili's baby back ribs. Bar-B-Q sauce." Then I laugh and want ribs. Thank you LORD for humor and ribs! :) 

The other thing that I began to think about while reading this book (I should mention it took me all of one day to read this book) is that I need to tell people about God, about Jesus and about the Holy Spirit in a child like way. Meaning, not caring what they will think of me or how they will react. God is real people and we need to tell others about it! As Colton, the child written about in this book, put it "Jesus told me he died on the cross so we could go see his Dad."

It is that simple people. We try so hard to sound "grown up" when we talk about the Bible and what Jesus did, but is it really that hard to tell? Can we not just ask people if they know who Jesus is and what he did? I won't lie, it is tough for me to talk about this with other people. Sometimes I don't even know where to begin. I want to pray more and I want to pray that God will give me the words to say and the times to say them. I want to be unashamed. I want to be unafraid. I want to be bold. Join with me. Will you?

weekly to do list...

It is official, Ian is no longer taking naps! I want to be clear here, this is not our first choice. If it were up to Justin and me we would have him taking naps every day! However, on days that he does nap we have a horribly difficult time going to bed come night time. So our choices are to either have him take a nap and go to bed later or not take a nap and go to bed at the same time as Owen. We are going with the second choice! What can I say, Justin and I like our time together, even if we are just laying on the couch watching T.V., which to be honest is what we do most nights! 

I am going to miss taking naps. So what am I going to do with all this new awake time? I decided I should make a weekly to do list! I love lists, I love to cross things off my lists! 

Today I already cleaned out Ian's closet, with his help of course! Now to make my official list. It has to include things that Ian can help me with, at least most of the stuff.  I'm thinking things like laundry, clean bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen. 

Wish me luck!

Give away results...

The winner of the Go Fish Guys CD is (drum roll please)

Commenter #3 - Liesl said... Those boys are so cute, dancing at the Go Fish Guys concert! D's current  favorite CD is Sing Over Me, an awesome worship lullaby CD. I think he'd love Go Fish Guys.

Thanks to all who entered my first give away! I hope to do more in the future, so keep coming back to see what there is! 

Oh and thanks to my wonderful husband who pick the winner out of a hat for me :) I love you babe!

What Works for Me and a give away...

**This give away is now closed**

Do you like the music that your kids listen too? I won't lie, I love the music my kids listen to! Why? Because it consists of A) Go Fish Guys or B) Praise music! And sometimes the Go Fish Guys are singing the praise music!

This weeks Works For Me is Go Fish Guys! Their music is great to listen to. We also just had the opportunity to see them in concert and they were awesome! I don't know who was more excited, me or my kids. :) If you ever have an opportunity to take your kids to one of their concerts I would highly recommend it. It is worth the $10 (or whatever price it is). I am linking this to Works For Me Wednesday, click here for more great posts!

Here are a few pictures and a video of our concert experience. Also, below the pictures I will post info about a give away of one of their CD's! 

Now...onto the give away!!! I am so excited to be hosting my first give away! I believe so much in the ministry of Go Fish Guys that I would like to give one of you readers a copy of their CD Kickin' it Old School!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post and tell me what your kids favorite music is right now. If you don't have kids, tell me what your favorite music is right now! I can't wait to hear all of the answers. I will pick a winner on Friday night and announce who it is by Saturday night. This is open to residents of the US only. Sorry to those outside of the US.

Ready, set, go...

**I should mention that Go Fish Guys don't know who I am and they are not responsible for this give away.**

lesson learned...

Sometimes I just want to tell God that I get it. I have learned my lesson and he can stop trying to teach it to me. Do you ever get this way? Do you ever just wonder why frustrating things happen one right after another?

I really feel like God is trying to teach me this: not to lean on my own understanding of things, but to trust that God understands it in a different way and he will provide. 

What is God teaching you lately? Or even better what is something that God taught you a long time ago that you can share with others to encourage them?

A letter to my baby...

Even though I never got to hold you in my arms and kiss your little face, I loved you. I picture that you are in heaven, being held by a childless woman. You have now made her a mother. I know they say there are no tears in heaven, but I can't imagine her not crying as she holds your body in her arms. I imagine you are playing with the other babies who have not met their earthly mothers. 

I have a peace about not meeting you, however it doesn't make me miss you any less. I miss getting to feel you kick, hear your heart beat, finding out if you are a boy or girl. So much I am going to miss experiencing with you. 

I trust I will get to see you in heaven some day. So this is not goodbye, but see you later. I love you so much!

Love,

your mommy

Always, Really?...

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Philippians 4:4