life lately...

life has been a tad busy... but the boys are napping and i have a few minuets to catch up on what life has been this month... 

we finally Got the green light to move! for those who weren't int he know... Philemon has been hired as a live in building manager for a condo place on Kitsap way... God has his perfect timing! 

We are looking forward to all the souls there... ready to harvest! 

Pray with us that we will be a light, and a blessing to these older neighbors, and to the staff there. 

if anyone has boxes or newspaper we could use some...the plan is to move next Friday/Saturday. 

Philemon has also started driver as of this past Tuesday... 

he is very excited about this opportunity, and is loving every minuet of driving for UPS! 

we are so blessed that God has given us these jobs with the ability to work the condo place around the UPS schedule.  WE are looking forward to the ability to help more people with what the lord has blessed us with. 

James has been doing so well with potty training... he is telling me every time he has to go, and just today has gone #2  on his potty 3 times! and has kept his underwear dry for this whole week! even midst our packing things,a nd his playing, and running about... our next hurdle will be training to go while we are out, and nap time dryness. 

His favorite thing is praising himself  "Oh good job!, I get candy!" ... ("candy" is really dried fruit, which makes him go more;) 

though life has been busy, stressful, and a little rough, God has given us many blessing through it all! 

What a God we serve! I pray we may continue to be used and continue to grow. 

9/11

While I am so very thankful to those who died and served and sacrificed on this day.... 

I am reminded of what america as a nation did on this day.... We prayed... 

I pray that America will remember this... 

That we will remember to pray... and turn from our wicked ways. 

May the Lord heal our land. 

whos training who...

most of the time my answer to this question is, i am training my children... but in the case of potty training... 

yep, they are training me... 

teaching me when, and how they go.

teaching me to be patient... 

and they are making huge strides this week!

today James has been in undies all day.... (just undies hehe!) 

James, has figured out how to tell me he doesn't have to go, he just says, no... 

so i wait... then make him go a little later... (he hates to leave what hes doing to go)

well, today, he has been dry! all day! even through nap time!  

he had also been occasionally taking his undies off and running to me. i then would ask him if he had to go, and he would go... he figured out he has to do this before going... so hes been taking his pants off and running to "show me" he has to go..

i finally just decided to leave the door open, and he decided to go on his own! , then! get this! 

he took his undies off again, ran to me, then rushed to the potty and POOPED! yippie! 

i know its pretty silly, but im sooo excited... he is basically teaching himself, and Jonathan is close behind him! 

we have had issues with Jonathan pooping in the bath, every time he bathed! 

i told him hes to go on the potty, and not int he bath... 

today, while this was messy... he realized he had to go, and climbed out of the bath, but didn't quite make it to his potty... but, i will take what i can get... 

this is why the bathroom is bleached at least every other day! heh! 

im super excited to be rid of diaper very soon!

His ways are higher...

Jonathan will be keeping his crib after all... 

The lord knows best... there can always be an next time... 

3's a crowd? i love crowds!

Build up, or tear down...

First , i do not claim to be perfect, or better than anyone in this area... it has just been on my mind lately... 

Im just going to cut to the chase... 

It seems that today, women, sometime unknowingly, are tearing at their husband's self worth and confidence in what God made them to be. 

It comes in the little things, like, "he cant cook" or  "when mom is gone, the kids are a wreck, and the house is trashed"...

I hear it so often lately, and mostly in a joking manner... but it makes me think of when I was first married... 

I wanted my husband to be and do all these things... comparing him to other men,( :O yes, I did that!).

Joking about all the things he couldn't do, and never bragging about his attributes... who he was.

 I didn't realize that it was a huge blow to him... 

He was not the man I wanted because I was not encouraging him to be him, to be who he believed God wanted him to be... I was expecting him to be what I saw in others... 

I was convicted... I asked the Lord to help me encourage him to be what he was made to be... 

It started with the kids... I would ask him to do something with the boys, then intricately tell him how to do it, or leave instructions...   Then the lord pricked my heart, and said... "He is their father! " and I thought... If God gives me the things I need to BE as a mommy, he would give Philemon the things he needs to BE the daddy... right?  I can say, Philemon blossomed as a father when I put away all my controlling concerns, and let him to with them as he saw fit, as he followed the Lord's will in raising them... and he is such a good father to them! 

So they don't have matching clothing all the time, or maybe they had dessert before dinner... 

What my husband needs to hear, is that he makes sure they love the Lord, and they are fed, and that he did a great job doing the dishes and keeping them alive!  

You have to admit, its hard to keep a house clean, with toddlers running around... and WE are with them all day....  but i digress... 

I have found that my husband will pay attention to those little things I ask of him that make being mommy easier, if i am bragging about, and thanking him for all the things he is doing right... It stroked his inner need to be the man he should be...the man God wants him to be.

Proverbs 31 talks about the husband being known in the gates... How do I want him known... How is he feeling he is known... Am I making him a leader? or am I forcing him to be...

Yes we joke now and then about those kinds of things together... but think about it... how would you feel if all you ever heard was how the house isn't up to so and so's standards (even though we do this to ourselves anyway)... or how you just don't know how to be a mommy....You are encouraged to be the woman God wants you to be when you husband builds that up in you....

This is not to say that I never ask him to do things, that i normally do, a certain way. Or that I am perfect in what I am thinking about now... 

This was just a thought and has been on my heart to change in me recently..... 

Let's build up our husbands, to help them be what God wants them to be...