Lessons in Humility and Grace

I've been studying Luke in a Bible study that our church made for 40-days following up to Easter.  The last three days of lessons have been really been working on me and I want to share what Jesus has been showing me...also, I want to say some of these things to my family and friends to keep me accountable! 

First of all, I thought it was crazy (personal - from God) that two of the questions on Tuesday morning reflected new things in my life that I have just in the past 2 months experienced.  The scripture reference for this section is Luke 13:18-21.

The first was, "Gather a small seed.  Hold it in your hand and ponder its potential.  What process does it go through to get from seed to full plant?  How does that compare to God's Kingdom?"  Well, never in my life have I planted anything from a seed or even seen seeds of some of the things we are now growing in preparation for our garden.  I have a whole new interest in this "growing" than I ever imagined...I was just telling Ethan while looking through a Burpee catalog, "I could really get into this!" and he said, "Yes, I was thinking the same thing about you."  So, my answer was slow, steady growth with water, sunlight and nutrients...compared to growth in God's Kingdom where we have slow, steady growth starting with the seed of the gospel and God's Word that is nourished with prayer, faith and fellowship.

The second question was, "Look up leaven.  What is it and what does is do?  How much of it is required for it to work?  How does this play out as an example of God's Kingdom?  How much of "God's Kingdom" is required until it is all leavened?  Ponder this..."  Well, since we've changed our eating habits over the last 2 months, I have made home-made pizza crust about 4 times and I had never used yeast before in my cooking.  Leaven is both a noun and a verb...as a noun it means to "lighten" and as a verb is means to "raise" "to permeate".  I know it doesn't take a lot to do the trick...I only need 1/2 teaspoon or less for two pizza crusts and after 30 minutes of rest the dough is soft and easy to manipulate the shape.  So, I figure that just a little bit of "God's Kingdom" in a lump of dough (US!) just takes time in reading the Word and rest in Him through prayer to spread throughout all of us and make us more moldable to His desired shape. 

From Luke 13: 22-35...there is a paragraph written in our study that is really sticking with me.  I am thinking about how I can make the last sentence into some piece of art to hang in our house as a reminder for all of us. 

"Do you have to be first when you are waiting in line at the store, pulling onto the highway,

at your dinner table at home, picking up supplies at work,

getting picked to play on teams at school, etc...? 

What happens inside when you are not chosen first? 

Are you content with being last or giving someone else your place in line?

Take this day to put others before yourself at every chance you have."

Wednesday's study was on Luke 14:1-11...The Greatness of Humility.  "How does is strike you that Jesus continually finds himself in the presence of people who need healing?"  My first response was that it must mean a lot of people need healing...probably all around me too.  Then, after reading some more and finishing the study, I realized that is was also because of who Jesus chose to spend time with.  Jesus purposely spent time with people who needed Him...putting others ahead of Himself on all occasions to serve rather than to be served - this is humility...without pride, to put others ahead of myself.  "Jesus' life is a great paradox.  The Son of God, who has the right to be proud, was the most humble man of all.  Take some time to reflect on the humility Jesus shows us by continuing to walk in relationship with us day after day."  WOW - that really hit me in the gut!  He deserves the highest priority and attention but often receives a few minutes & a thought here and there throughout my day.  He is humble in not making demands, but always being available and willing when I ask and give Him time and attention. 

I really meant to make this post yesterday, but I didn't get around to it...then, this morning just went right along with the past two days and I made a commitment to God that I want to share with you all.  Luke 14:12-24...The Extravagance of Grace..."When was the last time I went out of my way to meet the need of someone in need?"  Our small group has talked about doing some sort of service project for 2 years now...I am doing to look in to 2 different organizations that our church has partnered with to serve the hungry and homeless.  "Reflect on the grace that Jesus has shown you, an undeserving sinner.  How does Jesus' grace toward us impact the way we treat others?"  I feel that is should reflect forgiveness and service to others - offering my time, energy, money and talents to others in my life - both family, friend, and stranger.  When was the last time I went out of my way to meet the need of someone in need? 

So, here is what this meant to me today.  I have been struggling with thoughts about my Arbonne business as far as how I can take the focus off of the potential income and having more and growing this business for myself and my family.  So, I prayed this morning and asked God to give me a vision for my life regarding Arbonne and this is what God laid on my heart.  I have been trying to figure out how I am going to use income I make to help others and be of service to those in need and today God told me to give away 50% of all of my profit to people, charities and others in need.  I have felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and an incredible excitement about working my Arbonne business because I now have a plan for what I am going to do!  I am sharing this with all of you because I feel that God is going to bless my efforts because I have made a commitment to Him to give it away...I asked Him specifically what percent...and the only number I could think of was 50...I don't want to put myself first and keep more than I am choosing to share. 



Hopefully there aren't a thousand spelling and grammar errors in this post...but I am out of time!  I hope you are all blessed by something God has shown me over the last few days. 

Spring has Sprung...at least for today!

Paden asked me if tomorrow is the first day of Spring...I said, "No, not yet...but this is a great Winter day, huh?"  Tomorrow is our first soccer game and we are planning on getting our garden tilled...we sure feel like Spring is here! 

The boys and I have had a great morning!  It is beautiful outside and we have been out back moving around our picnic tables, climbing toys, the play house and picking up sticks to add to our fire pile.  Paden and Henry are having so much fun driving their Escalade, a Christmas present from the Cole & Elkins grandparents.  Today was the first time Wyatt wanted to get in, so Henry and Paden took turns driving him around...he LOVED it!  He was dancing with the radio and enjoying the ride.  The boys want to eat lunch outside so I promise I will take pictures! 

Last Friday night, Ethan & I were getting the Bandit's baseball uniforms together and we had a box

leftover...Ethan left it in the living room wondering how long it would take the boys to find it.  I tried to take some pictures of them playing and you can see for yourself why it is so hard for me to take any "good" pics of them...they never stop moving, but this is our life! 

Healthy Living

I'm going to try to get some pictures posted here soon...I need to get into the habit of getting the camera out so I can share what we've been up to.  One day last week would have been a perfect picture opportunity...Henry was fully decked out in his cowboy gear in the morning and by afternoon had trasformed to Spiderman...mask and all.  That boy LOVES to dress up and both he and Paden go through about three sets of clothes everyday - is it too early to start teaching them to do their own laundry!?

About two months ago, I learned some amazing information about the foods we eat from a guest speaker at an Arbonne meeting.  She was sharing information with us about the awful ingredients that are in almost EVERY food we eat and how many behavior, auto-immune, and psychological problems are caused by and can be cured by what we eat...it was shocking to me!  Did you know that American's consume the highest percentage of calories from High Fructose Corn Syrup? 

Why is this a problem?  HFCS does not cause an insulin response which means there is no appetite suppression and we just keep eating!  The extra calories are stored at fat and results in obesity and diabetes.  So, it's not only HFCS, but sugar in general and it is in EVERYTHING from condiments, bread, lunchmeat, yogurt, etc... 

So, Ethan and I are committed to getting rid of HFCS, artificial sweeteners & colors and hydrogenated oils (trans fats) from our household.  We are not going so far to say we will never eat or allow our kids to eat these substances, but we are just trying to cut back by not having them in our house for daily consumption.  It has been quite a process!  Checking every food label while I shop for groceries and looking through items we already had at home...it takes time to cycle through a full pantry and refrigerator, but we are getting really close!  It's exciting to see Paden interested in eating healthy foods and asking about protein and growing his muscles...both boys turned down fruit snacks from both sets of grandparents - they told them, "that's junk!"

We are admittedly social eaters and we love to share meals with family and friends; so don't worry!  We aren't going to be the wackos who you have to worry about what to eat with us or what to feed our kids!

Ethan and I have taken things a step further by eliminating bread, cheese/dairy (for one month), and "foods in a box" with the idea of cutting out fast food/eating out weekly and to clean out our system so that we can better fuel our bodies.  I definitely have noticed an increase in energy levels and have lost 5 lbs...the last of my belly-baby fat and Ethan has lost over 12 lbs!  We are eating chicken, fish, and occasionally red meat along with whatever fruits and vegetables we want, brown rice and brown rice pasta and protein shakes...we are not on a diet...this is a new way of eating and a lifestyle change!  We are excited that we are saving money and that we can now use "eating out" for social reasons and dates rather than for convenience and laziness!

We are both really happy with the decision we have made and have also noticed others around us searching for information and wanting to eat/live healthier lifestyles too.  We just had a converstion this past Monday at our weekly "Family Night" dinner about purchasing a cow to split the meat and farm-fresh eggs and milk.  WE didn't bring this up...but, people are taking notice of the way our food is prepared and are starting to fight for their health - I love it!!

BTW...our garden effort has started.  We planted seeds and have set them up in our mud/sun-room for some warmth and sunshine.  We are so excited!

The Beginning

So, I am going to attempt to record some daily funnies and general "stuff" we go through as a family...I hate to admit I've done a terrible job keeping up with my boys' baby books and photo albums.  I guess I'm hoping this will be an easier way to document our life and share it with our family and friends. 

As I try to enter this first post, Wyatt needs a diaper change, Henry is playing with Ethan & my least favorite "loud" toy, and Paden is begging me to play on the computer...one of his favorite things to do right now.  In a way it's neat that he can spell the website for disney, pbskids or sproutonline that he likes to play, but that also means he is really growing up...he can get on the internet, type in where he wants to go and use the laptop mousepad with no problem.  That reminds me, I need to sign up for information about kindergarten registration...I can't tell him or he will be asking me multiple times a day until August when school starts; he is so excited to go to school! 

As Spring approaches, I'm sure many adventures await as we've been told by neighbors that we will find we need things we never imagined we would want...such as a snow blower, a post driver and other fence equipment, a riding lawn mower, I have a "work" coat - that I love! and we have plans for the beginning of a large garden!  Last Friday the boys and I picked up sticks from the front yard for about 45 minutes and used our John Deere wagon to haul them to the backyard.  Later in the afternoon I shoveled and raked a pile of dirt to even out the grade around our septic tank cover and Wyatt followed the boys everywhere they went.  It seems there is always going to be some project to be done outside for general maintenance...and don't even get me started on all of our indoor projects!  This is exactly what we wanted...a place to call our own that would keep us busy so we don't feel the urge to move when we've done all we can to the place.  I don't really see that we will ever reach the end of the list of things we would like to do here...it seems to go on and on and we continually add to it! 

We should have plenty of pictures and stories to share of all these upcoming projects and our day to day life as we go along.  The best part of it all is that we are doing it all together...we are so thankful for our family and friends and feel truly blessed that you are all in our lives!