Psalm 73

Ps. 73, this morning rang in very true and encouraging to me. I get so frustrated when I see the evil in people around me prevail. Deceiving others, deceiving themselves, pulling me down with them. I ask God if he even sees, if he even cares, why do I always have to be the good one, the one to walk in righteousness, the one to love, when I get nothing in return, when evil threatens to destroy me, my family, my children. When I am fighting so hard for the approval of people, being my own defender, instead of God. That's the whole first part of this chapter, then comes verse 17, and the word until. Until I went into the house of the Lord, and I understood the end of this, the end of evil. Those things, those people, may prosper and "win" preceiveably everyday on this earth. But they will reach an eternal end and it won't be good. It actually will bring us to grieve for those people. To pray harder for them, give us the strength and courage to keep being Jesus even when everything in our flesh wants to fight against that. When the flesh wants to take over as our defender, when we must in this life "make it right, bring to light the sin". God sees even if no one else does, even if every person is deceived by the sin in peoples lives, and it hurts us, God still sees, he is still sovereign, he still is righteous, and he will and always does defend us. Verse 25 and 26, will be my strength in these hard days, hard times, in the middle of battle. "whom have I in heaven but you?And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart my fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Teacher Gift!

Every year I make these wonderful conference survival packs for everyone at our boys school. I wanted to share this idea with you, for all of that leftover Halloween candy that you may have laying around! :)

The first year I did this, I did it only for my boys individual teachers, but then decided it wouldn't be much more work to make more for everyone in the whole school: Teachers, staff, and volunteers. So each year I make 75 bags (little more than the number given to me by my office), and drop them off the first day of conference week so the wonderful Ms. Shawn in our office can hand them out to everyone. I know just by having 6 kids the week of parent teacher conference is exhausting, so the teachers I know feel it 1000 times more, meeting with 30+ parents for an entire week after they already have taught for a full school day. So to brighten that time, I give chocolate, which as we all know, makes any hard day, week, or year, just a bit better. :)

Here is a picture of my finished product:

Here is the card I make for the packs. Feel free to use this one, or if you want just make one of your own. 

I hope this encourages you to thanks those teachers for their work and love for your children! They sure do deserve it!

Week 34-39 52 week photo project

My favorite brother Silas came for a visit (He is one of the name sakes that I gave my son John Silas)! I love this man! It's been four years since we have seen each other, God is good giving us 3 days together, to catch up, to hang out, and just to laugh together! I really don't know where I would be if this man didn't help me through high school and encourage me to go to Ozark for college, I am guessing my life would look a lot different! We are just a year apart almost to the day, and I am grateful each and everyday that though we are not blood that God has created something deep and bonding in us as siblings! 

 Time for some camping! We set up some tents in the back yard, had our wonderful friends join us and started a huge new adventure. From setting up the tents to sleeping through the night, it was an adventure at every turn! We had smores, we got eaten by bugs, we slept on rocks, and we woke up cold, sounds like camping to me! The boys had such a great time and can't wait to do it again next year!

My handsome Ximon (photo taken by Shawn), I love this photo of him, one of my absolute favorites. Breathtaking is all I can say! 

It was a craft day in our house, theses boys were working for hours on these hats. I think they turned out so great! Each one so unique and awesome, just like the little men that made them! And of course nothing is complete with out a goofy face picture! 

Our great friends from California came for a visit. Adam, Lori and their gang of 6 kids (mostly girls) came and visited us for a week. We had such an amazing time, we (well ME) loved having some girls around (I got to do hair, snuggle, enjoy the awesome girly outfits). We so enjoyed catching up with our great friends, including this day out with Thomas the tank engine. These two amaze me on a daily basis, they have two sets of identical twin girls, + their two older children, Lori home schools this bunch and each and every day they conquer with patience, grace, and a mighty love of the Lord. They are a family that we admire and are honored to call friends! And I love that they join us in the full quiver club! :) 

Another great picture of this dude! Oh my Bryce, I think this is his mischievous look! :) Still and forever this little man makes me laugh!

Heavy hurt heart

Another great chapter this morning: Ps. 39. Oh how our Lord speaks to us! 

I have been having some horrible conflict with someone close in our life. I am attacked, slandered, hurt beyond compare, named called, just taking as much nastiness as some can throw at me. Yet I am silent, the hardest thing for me ever (even though I have slipped up from time to time in this) I am silent to just take it all, endure it all, creating a terrible heaviness in my soul and my heart, weeping, crying out to God to listen, to bring relief.

 All of that to say, I'm thankful for chapters like Psalm 39! God calls us to silence sometimes (no not always, but sometimes), so we don't sin and cause more harm than good(I know from experience), even though we boil inside, even though we are so sorrowful. God still hears, God will bring justice. We then can take that boiling, that sorrow inside and lay it before the feet of our Lord and watch him work, watch him do what he does best, comfort, listen, and yes even be our defender, maybe not today but some time in the future those things will be brought to justice.

We in this life are to error on the side of grace, no matter how hard that may be, no matter what people will throw in our face, no matter how wrong they are. We show grace and we keep silent. We continue to Love, to show mercy, to give to those what they don't deserve. Which in us will teach and grow us to be more like Christ. I know for me, that's so hard, to show kindness to those that spit on you. That ability only comes from the Lord because in us is the desire for self preservation, for self defense, but I know that by having mercy that I am dying to self and becoming more like my Lord. 

So for my friends and family out there today, hang tight to the promises of our God, he is Good, nothing gets past him, and error on the side of grace if you are going to error, love always, show mercy, and pray, none of those will ever be the wrong choice.  

Week 33 52 week photo project

The many blessings in my life! 7 of the most awesome things the Lord has given me! I am a very lucky women and count those blessing each and every day! It's a new year of school which means new beginnings, new worries, new struggles and so many new joys. I look forward to what this school year will bring and can't wait to see each of my boys grow more and more! I am so proud of each of my little guys, each one overcoming so much, working so hard and just being such great little Jesus soldiers in the small ways each and every day. They had the most wonderful first day of school, over came some nervousness, made new friends, helped old ones, and as always loved on their teachers with help, compliments and just being them! Thank you Lord for these little ones, please equip me each and every day to be the mom they need me to be and the one you have designed me to be!

Side note, here are their grades for those of you trying to keep up :)
John, and Ximon 5th grade
James 4th grade
Ezekiel 3rd grade
Corban 2nd grade
Jordan 1st grade

Week 31 and 32 of 52 week photo project

Ahh my silly guys! These two can never take just a normal picture, but I love it! They make me laugh each and every day! This is just a great everyday kind of photo, which I love about it!

What a great day! Possibly my most favorite picture of the whole year! Today James was baptized! What a great day in our house, another reason to rejoice, to celebrate, to be thankful to our Lord! I am so proud of James and what this commitment will mean to his life in the years to come. And we can't wait to see what more God has in store for him! My heart overflows!

Week 28-30 52 week photo project

 Ahh Friendship! There is nothing better! We are so blessed to have these two wonderful couples and their families in our life (Of course it does give us 12 kids to wrangle when we all get together)! God is so good to bring people into our lives to encourage us, call us out, cry with us, laugh, and best of all serve with at church! Thank you Lord for these awesome people who grace us with their lives, children, and just friendship each and everyday!!

 Coupon class! Oh what a blessing it is to coupon and an even bigger blessing to teach others to do the same. This was my second class, but I had so many more women come and learn. I was honored to teach these 10 ladies how to save and hopefully knock their groceries bills down to almost nothing. I am excited to have another class in September and to see what God is going to continue to do in this little ministry.

Me and the precious princess Lillian! My newest niece! Yay! A girl, the first girl on the Reinsel side, we are so excited to say the least, especially Grandpa and Grandma!! We were excited to have Lilly and her parents come for a little visit! Already everyone loves and is spoiling this newest little one, the boys are of course super excited and also a bit sad that they missed this visit! :( But many more visits are coming and we can't wait!!