Monday, June 4, 2012

A poem by C.T. Studd worth reading

I was reminded of this today...let it be Lord!

“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Perfect Love...

I will start with some photos from the recent past...I just finished taking photos of lots of dancers at 3 different dance studios!  It was exhausting to say the least, but I get to have a lot of sweet moments with hundreds of little girls in hopes to touch each one of them with God's love and kindness.  They are so precious.  But I am really glad it is done for the year :)  Before we took the photos, I needed to practice with the white background...so I have three in house models!  Here goes.












On another note...there are so many things swimming around in my mind that the Lord has been faithfully showing me.  He always puts His finger on specific themes that He is faithful to repeat.  Some themes that have been stirring in my heart lately are "Expectation" "Love" "Character" and "Giving yourself away".  I could take apart each one of these in detail, but for lack of time tonight I just thought I would add a quote and a link for any of you to read.  The link is to an out of print small book that my friend, Lucretia, just told me about.  I have been devouring it and already know that it will be one that I reread again and again once I am finished.  I hope you are encouraged...

"May the everlasting love that came from heaven to die and suffer and wrestle for our souls; may the everlasting love that can wrestle through the feebleness of human words to win souls entirely to Himself, come amongst us and take possession and make us wholly God’s!"

"Let us remember that. If we have been trying to learn the lesson, I think God will teach us more and more that love means giving; and giving all. We sometimes give a little, but not all. To give all—that is love! What did the Father do to the Son? He made Him heir of all things. The Father let Christ share in everything. God gave Him a seat in His Throne; He gave Him a place in the worship of the angels; by Him He created the world; He gave Him all His glory and all His love. "

Love Made Perfect by Andrew Murray

Monday, April 16, 2012

more for me...

I wanted to post a quick quote that I stumbled upon tonight...I wanted to post it to encourage all of us in prayer, but it is honestly more for me... so I don't forget it!

"The greatest barrier to intercession is that we take ourselves so seriously and come to the conclusion that God is reserved with us; He is not.  God has to ignore things we take so seriously until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child." Oswald Chambers

Matthew 18:3 "Become as little children"

Thursday, April 12, 2012

some little dude pics...not a ballerina :)

I realized that there were not any Judson photos on the previous post...and I am proud of that.  I mean...I will not be dressing him in any ballerina attire at any point, so any of those post, you can count Judson out!  So...here are some manly pictures of him playing with a ball on the couch the other day...






Wednesday, April 4, 2012

dance examples...our beauties...

There is simply so much to say about all that is going on in our lives...and I am so overflowingly thankful (is overflowingly a word?)...Anyway...I am photographing dancers at the end of April and beginning of May...so I had to use some sweet models for some examples...how precious are these people?













Sunday, March 18, 2012

here i go again...

I knew this was coming...but, I thought I would let you guys know that most of this week I am phone fasting again!!!  Hear a deep sigh, sense a lightness as my shoulders relax and imagine a simple smile beginning to take shape :)  I love the quietness of this.  I hope you all have an amazing week!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

super girl...from my view...spring break in full swing

This will absolutely be packed full of pics and random thoughts...I can't stand the thought of losing and of these sweet memories, so though they may not be the most exciting phone pics...they are precious to me in many ways...here's why!                                   
 I had a few moments yesterday to journal and catch up...I felt like the Lord almost asked me the question..."what makes you happy?"  That was easy...these people in these pics.  They are marks of God's grace in my life.  They are demonstrations of grace, joy, mercy, hope, life, and peace.  Really.  There is an old song I used to sing that goes like this...
"When I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how he raised me, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost, how he healed me to the uttermost, When I think about the Lord, How he picked me up and turned me around, How he placed my feet on solid ground, It makes me wanna shout,“Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!” Lord, you’re worthy of all the glory, And all the honor, and all the praise." 

I really believe this...He really did do all of these things for me...each and every one.  And He continues to do these things for me as I get to know Jesus more!  And when I look at these people it makes me want to say all of these things again and again...marks of grace.

So, here's some of the fun we've been up to...

With all of the rain, we decided to make a tent one morning.  It was stellar... Packed with tea parties and pretend sleepovers and taking care of their "babies".  Too fun. 
 And then there was a pretend wedding...no, make that at least 20 weddings in a row.  The scene was perfect, our living room equipped with folded clothes waiting to be put away, a box of wipes and random toys scattered throughout.  Everything was on hold for the wedding event! 
   Jada has been asking for me to get my wedding dress out for a long time now.  So, why not?!  I married Brian over and over again (and I really would!:) ).  Judson was the ring-bearer, Kiva was the flower girl and Jada was (of course) the maid of honor who insisted on straightening my train over and over again.  It was really precious.  Every time I turned the corner of our hallway to walk down the "isle" Jada looked at me like it was really happening and would act like she was catching her breath at my beauty :)  Although it was hard to breathe in my dress after four pregnancies and almost 10 years, it was well worth these precious memories.  We would insist on having dance parties after the ceremony which made it even more fun.  I LOVE these pics.  They are traces of what really matter...

My handsome groom and ringbearer!  
And yes...that is a euro-hawk that you see...sometimes his hair just curls up...so funny!
 Clearly, the flower girl needed a hug in the middle of one of the ceremonies...
One of the dance parties :)
 Onto other princess tales...Piper and Zoe made a playdate appearance last week and they were in pretend-world almost the entire time.  Check out these princesses in their finest dress up moments and possibly the most awkward smiles of the day...

And from princesses to super girl...Kiva is steadily cracking us up.  She especially loves her super-girl jammies.  When she puts the cape on she has this serious look on her face and she takes flight.  Flight in this super-girl attire looks something like this...

And when I can get super girl to be still for a moment, she giggles at herself and then takes flight yet again.  Kiva's run is especially cute these days.  She says almost everything with great enthusiasm and usually says "c'mon dayda (Jada)" about everything.  She is eager to help me do ANYTHING for about 2 minutes then is off enthusiastically to the next thing. Every time Judson wakes up from a nap she stops what she is doing, exclaims after a deep excited breath "Goodmorning Ja-Ja.  Hi broder"  She is the definition of delight.
  
One of Kiva's favorite things to do is play in the car in the garage.  She and Jada both love doing this.  It is like it's own playground of sorts.  (The car is not on and the windows are rolled down...didn't want anyone to start worrying :)  Always after they play, the next time I get in the car to go somewhere I can expect windshield wipers to be on or some strange setting on the a/c.  
Well worth the fun! 

And then there's this little guy... the little man who is as chill as they come.  I am convinced there isn't a nicer little man in all the world :)  Some of my favorite things about Judson in this season are:
  • He LOVES being a baby.  He isn't motivated to roll, or crawl or anything like that...he is perfectly content being a baby.  He loves being held, sitting in my lap watching his sisters, being carried in the bjorn at the grocery store.  I LOVE that he loves being a baby.  He is giving me more time to soak him in before he gets too big :)
  • He sleeps in our closet.  Yep.  In a crib in our closet...but it is our closet none-the-less.  So, when I pick him up after he is asleep we walk by our bathroom mirror.  He looks at himself every time (with his cheek pressed against mine) and smiles the sweetest smile!  I treasure that every time!  
  • He really likes food of any kind so far.  Any veggie and any fruit basically.  He is just easy.  This week we put some frozen fruit in this little thing that he holds with a strainer on it...I have NO idea what it is called, but either way, he LOVED it and got so crazy messy too!  He also started holding a baby mum-mum and totally went after that.  And of course, the sippy cup has him interested!
  • Judson really loves his sisters.  He smiles and giggles at them all of the time.  They really love him well.  Jada talks to him with such sweetness and in her motherly way, loves tending to his every need.  Kiva gives Judson her Elmo blankie every day at least once.  This is a true sign of love.  No one else in the world gets a share of it...just Judson.  And he gladly receives it every time as it usually goes straight into his mouth. 
From my view...Judson's favorite spot


 He loves the swing!
 absolutely attacking the baby mum-mum!

 And Calem Guerra came over for a visit.  Look at this precious man!!!  He was asleep on my legs just like this...I could eat him up.  He made me realize how big Judson is already!  Kristen is such a good little mama to this guy!...he clearly has stolen her heart :)
 And finally, our Blair.  I could probably post something daily about how Blair has become such a precious part of our family.  She is a delight and a servant.  My girls ask for her often in their own quiet moments.  If Judson could speak, I'm sure he would have his own requests too...I am spoiled by her!  Really...another mark of grace.