our little fish

We decided to get Nathan some private swim lessons this summer and I am so glad we did.  First of all, he has always loved the pool and isn’t really afraid of the water.  Before lessons he always wore his arm floaties except for rare instances when we would convince him to play with us without them for a bit.  He usually asked for them back after a short time which we always agreed to.  He liked jumping off the diving board and would put his head under the water and blow bubbles.  But now he is swimming with his head under water and coming up for quick breathes.  It is so amazing to watch this little 3 yr old swim and he is loving it.  He is so proud of his accomplishments.  His greatest feat is jumping off the diving board without any floatation device and then swimming to the shallow end without any assistance from us.  He can also retrieve things off the floor with his hands.  He’s so great with the pool as far as respecting it and knowing I have to be there with him to swim but I feel so much better knowing he can get to the edge if he were to fall in or jump in his case. 

Leaps and Bounds

In just one short month Lucas has really taken off developmentally. He is now pulling himself up while holding onto my hands into a sitting position and then standing as well. He's doing push-ups all the way up on his hands while lying on his belly on the floor and he's laughing outloud. He's holding objects in his hands while playing or chewing on them. He's so much more interactive this month it's amazing and so fun.

Baby shower

You may be guessing where this is about to go but just in case, I'll explain anyway. I have 2 friends that are pregnant and a baby shower is being given to John and Jackie this Sunday that we have been preparing for by discussing which gift to get and the details of attending. I explained to Nathan the ins and outs of a baby shower with regards to gifts, party, cake, pregnant lady etc. This Sunday as we were discussing the gift again, Nathan told Lee we were going to wash the baby. After a split second, I of course was laughing hysterically.

The empty container

I was nursing Lucas tonight just prior to putting him to bed while Lee was with Nathan accross the hall in our room. Through the monitor I asked Lee to have Nathan shut their door. They can get a little rowdy reading books believe it or not. After a few minutes I heard Nathan leave the room shutting the door behind him and then he came in to Lucas' room. He gave me a cute grin then sighed a big heavy sigh and said, "Mommy I just want you to brush my teeth." I quickly replied, "Yes dear, when I'm done I'll be there now go back with Daddy please" in an effort to keep things short and sweet. He left just as he had come and I began to smile as I thought about my effort to contain the noise. You see, the noise was contained while he was in the container (the closed room), but he left the container and even shut the container. It's funny to me that he truly has no idea that the door was shut to keep him and his noise contained. The container can only contain the noise if the noise maker stays in the container! lol!

The Power

It seems that when God speaks to us, it’s often repeated.  This is the third time that He has spoken to me about His power.  The first time was through a study with Beth Moore about the life of John.  She discussed the power of the Holy Spirit.  Then Nathan’s VBS week at church was titled the Power Lab and each day the theme was about power; like the power to be thankful and the power to help others.  The 2 that struck me the most however was on day 4 and 5. The theme was Jesus gives us the power to live forever.  The bible story was about Jesus dying and coming back to life and the fact that b/c He lives, we too can live forever through Him.  Then day 5 was about the power to tell others about God.  The bible story was about The Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost and that we are to go into all the world and preach the Good News.  The third time God spoke to me about His power was today at church.  Our pastor kept speaking about the power of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts.

My heart is broken about our nation, and how ironic that we are celebrating our freedom this weekend when in fact much of our God given freedom has been misconstrued in some fashion or another.   It astounds me that only 20% of Americans are in church; my heart aches over this fact.  I think people are really missing out on the joy that a relationship with God brings and the fact that our purpose in life is to spread the Gospel.  When people seek out the church to meet their needs, we (us, you and me) need to be there to love on them.  I know we can do this in ways other than being in church, but we miss out on so much by not being a part of this one entity.

Then our pastor also spoke about the KS senate opening prayer and this so hit home with me.  I’m downright fearful of what will happen when Obama takes office.  I know we have nothing to fear but fear itself and I am so thankful to know that my God is always in control.  It’s too bad you can’t hear the passion in my voice as I type this.

 

The Kansas Senate Prayer Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe on those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn children and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Christ. Amen. What awesome insight !!! With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called a Christian nation that fears the Lord!   As Paul said why do I do the very things I don’t want do and I don’t do the things I want to? We are sinners yet Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.  When we are at our worst, he died for us.  Not only that but then He gave us the greatest threat to Satan, The Holy Spirit.  Jesus didn’t just send His spirit to be with us but to live in us.  Think for a moment about our spirit, it makes us who we are right?  Well then think about the fact that Jesus sent His spirit to live in our sinful bodies just waiting for us to call on His power.  He is there waiting for our beckoning call to give us POWER and if He’s in us then he knows our thoughts without us even speaking them.  Wow! So we can’t hide anything from Him.  Nor should we want to after all He can deliver us from anything. According to 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.  We have the power to do so much more than we even know capable.  Our nation is torn and weary in so many ways.  We have the power to be faithful, to pray, and to love His people the way He did.  This is spreading the Gospel.