Bliss

I could look at this all day.

Cookie Jar Moments

April 14th my father in law turned 70.  If you have ever met Ray, you would have never guessed that was his age.  He runs circles around all of us, and that's not just because he forgot what he was doing in the first place.  My sister in law, Shannon, put together and planned a very fun party for him the day before Easter, and we hosted it at our house since everyone would be in town.  Here is the amazingly wonderful, blessed family that I married in to.  As my momma says, there are all my "in-loves".

 In honor of his mustache, we had to whip some of our own out.  The kids loved them!

Since we were all together, the Easter bunny made an appearance and hid s few goodies for the kids.  Sneaky fella.

 Oh my darling … Easter morning, had to wear her hot pink shoes handed down from her sweet cousin AK.  

 I was so thankful my parents got to join us for the best day of the year, praising our risen Savior.  

 At Kirby's MDO Easter egg hunt, she was more excited about the 1 starburst she found than she was about the 4 whole eggs she snatched up.

 A few days ago Kirby found my race # from our 5k, had to wear it and her fastest running shoes while we took Daddy lunch in the field.  She did not make it too far, but brother could not wait to see the "tract-tooor" as he says.  

 April 21st every year is Aggie Muster.  If you have never been, you are missing out.  I love our very small, intimate club.  We heard the bulls and the coyotes all while out there for dinner and answering "here".  This year it meant a little more for CR than most; he answered for someone that he grew up with and recently lost.

 So this is one of those moments I was talking about earlier … gotta make more time to get to braid.  It just is the most darling thing you ever did see.  Ever.  

 This is Patton's newest thing … well actually he used to do this and stopped, and now recently when I say, "aaawwwww", he does it.  

 This weekend was Disciple Now at our church.  Kirby and I made 5 dozen Pioneer Woman Malt Chocolate Chip cookies for the youth and the helpers.  This was such a wonderful, teachable moment about serving others.  Then she looked up and said, "what's a disciple?"  I began to explain it and she said, "oh, like our mission friends."  Yup, you gotta.  Thank you Lord for the amazing men and women who volunteer their time in Sunday school, children's church, choir and Mission Friends to teach all these beautiful minds and hearts about what Christ is all about.  

 The days have been super hot this past week so we have been waiting to go outside much until the evening.  Thursday evening we played outside and got dirty after supper and before bath time.  Patton has not taken over the driver's seat and is hauling sister around.  

 Friday I had some photography business to take care so mini me and I tackled it together.  With a small pit stop at Whipped Up in Calallen.  

 Then we headed to the church to serve some more with Disciple Now.  Mimi was kind enough to give Kirby a job, and she took it very seriously. 

 Then we met up with daddy and Patton for a friend's 1st birthday celebration.  Love our sweet friends and the new ones we made.

 Happy 1st Birthday Hunter!

Which we did his 1st birthday photo shoot the other day ….

 and little man got to go with me!

"As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another."  Proverbs 27:17

There is no such thing as

coincidence with God.  I have been in (and am currently still there) a season of prayer about my time and where it needs to be spent.  Last summer when I had a (little) down time from my photography business, I laid things out and prayed deeply about the direction of my business.  I prayed about how many shoots I could take on as a mom of 2 and a wife of a farmer (which is a completely different world).  I prayed about what to take on and why.  These are all things I prayed about from the get go, but I lost touch with my answers and let pleasing people take over pleasing the Lord.  The next 3 Bible studies that our church did all brought this back to the forefront, including the current one we are doing which is Nehemiah by Kelly Minter.  The other 2 were Breaking Free by Beth Moore and A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George.  If you have done any of these you may be thinking, "Lauren, that is nothing what I got out of those books", this is probably true.  The Holy Spirit reveals different things to different people, and what may apply to me and be revealed to me through a study may be different than what you see.  It all depends on the circumstances and season of your life and heart.  But these 3 studies have each brought up time and where ours is spent at one point or another.  Where is your heart?  What do you wake up thinking about?  What is God purposing in your heart to do right now?  Every time my answer in some way is "my husband and my children".  In fact, while I was working through my Nehemiah lesson this morning, Kirby was at the kitchen bar painting with water colors.  I had a direct view of her from my bed where my Bible and book were perched on the pillow beside me.  I looked up every once in while to make sure she was not repainting our counter top, and loved the deep concentration in her eyes.  She was very quite as she painted.  Then all of a sudden she started verbalizing what she was doing right as I came to the question, "Have your priorities ever gotten out of whack?"  As she realized and shouted, "green and purple make …. brown" in the most excited voice I have ever heard from her, this question burned in my heart.  How many mornings have I rushed out the door to meet a client instead of letting her help me make breakfast?  How many evenings have I put on a show for her to watch so that I could edit a session instead of snuggle with her on the couch?  When I stick to what the Lord has laid on my heart to do for my business and family balance, it works amazingly and I have time for more of these moments.  But when I let my business over run way past what God has purposed me to do, everyone suffers, including my relationship with the Lord.  It is no coincidence that during this season of prayer for time that our ministry leader chose these studies to do.  It is no coincidence that I have other friends going through similar struggles that I get to talk with and then I say to myself, "maybe you should take a dose of your own medicine sister".  It is no coincidence that a business bootcamp I took part of for 6 weeks guided me through the same decisions the Lord was placing on my heart.  It is no coincidence that I also read a book (Hands Free Momma) that talked on each of these issues during this time.  It is no coincidence that a friend who I respect and hold her advice highly suggested something that we were already strongly leaning towards for our daughter's future, without even asking her about it.  God places people in our lives sometimes to be that push that we need.  Yes, you need to make sure that what they say lines up with His word, but you know,  sometimes we are so dumb and blind that we literally need to be knocked upside the head with the answer.

I write this as an encouragement to you … that even if you aren't going through the same exact struggle as I am, that you realize things in your life aren't coincidences.  Much of the time it is the Holy Spirit grabbing and tugging at your heart from any angle he can get to.  Slow down enough (like I am trying to do) so you can see and hear clearly whatever it is he is trying to tell you.  This is part of that medicine I am needing to take ….

Until I am 100% certain of where the Lord is directing me with my decisions, I am not going to talk about it just yet.  Just like in Nehemiah, he did not share his plan to rebuild the wall until he had all his ducks in a row.

"The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."  Proverbs 16:9 

A church is more than a church ...

we are the body of Christ.  Romans 12:3-5 says, "3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."


When CR and I first moved to Bishop, I dug my feet in the ground and said that I did not want to join his church just because that was the church that his family went to.  I wanted to join it because that was where we felt led, if we did.  I wanted to shop around first.  Well, I never made it to any other church than River Hills Baptist Church.  I knew from the beginning that was where God wanted us, but dare I tell CR that right away.  While "trying on" River Hills, I also read the book Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris.  If you have never read that book, I highly suggest it.  You will be humbled flat to your face if you have a heart beat.  Anyhow, the book had me start looking at what was great and amazing about the church instead of what was wrong with it.  Ya, they sang old old hymns, but I began to see that as a blessing, and now those are my favorites to sing amongst the worship music we do now.  I began to see how I needed to marry a church - River Hills.  Not soon after finishing the book, CR and I walked the aisle to join the church and then a few Sundays later I was baptized (because I had never followed the Lord in that discipline thus far in my life).  That fall was really hard on me being so far away from my family, and I joined the "older" women's Bible study.  Best decision of my life, well next to accepting Christ and marrying my husband.  Those women taught me so much, even though I don't think they knew they did.  The leader was so brutally honest, something that I did not often see in some of the Christians I knew growing up.  We were studying Old Testament material and bringing it to life for today … and I saw all these grey haired wise women sharing struggles and sins - blew my mind and I loved every day of it.  I grew so much and I am so thankful that I can still call those women my friends today.  Who cares that we have 20, 30 and even 40 years between us, we serve the same amazing God. 

One thing I love about our church is that although it is probably 900 members or more, we go through things together.  All together.  Young and old, new member or seasoned member, we take the idea of the church being one body very seriously. 
I have a video to share, but first to tell you a little bit about this ... the woman that is in the black and white striped shirt with a hat on her head has been battling cancer for about 3 years now.  She was a woman in my original Bible study 7 years ago.  Last week the doctors gave her the latest test results and told her they had done all they could, there was nothing else to try.  She has a son who is in the youth group and they have decided to move to California to be with her family, so that they can help take care of her.  Today was their last Sunday with us, so a fellow sister in Christ grabbed her and her family during invitation time to go pray with Brother Bill.  Slowly and completely unplanned, others joined in to pray with them.  I could hardly hold myself up under the weight of everyone behind me, but I don't think I have ever been so moved before.  God is good.  Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.  Thank you Jesus for my church home and all the many life long friends that I consider family you have placed in my life, near and far.
Here is the video of After our church sermon
I am not sure if you caught what Brother Bill said, but when he said it I thought "hit the nail on the head."  He said, "Thank you church for, well, being a church."  Amen.

People often ask me, "How did you do it Lauren, how did you move far away from everyone you knew except your husband?  How did you meet people and get involved?"  Simple answer: I found a church body and dove in.  If you are moving, or have never joined a church, I highly suggest you find one and get both feet soakin' wet.

And on a lighter note, here is our sweet Kirby and her choir friends blessing us with a few messages in song:   Joyful Noise 1      Joyful Noise 2

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"  Isaiah 52:7

To my son ...

Dear Patton,

You had my heart at "it's a boy" from the lips of your daddy.  I prayed for a boy since I was about, well, as long as I can remember.  Growing up we didn't have many boys in our family.  Cousin Ryan was about it - I have 2 boy cousins on your grammy's side, but we never got to see them.  When I did get to see Bubba and Johnny, I never left their side … pretty sure I annoyed the crud out of them!  I always wanted an older brother, and tended to befriend guys quicker than girls.  There are so many things I love about having a boy, but yesterday you really did a number on my heart.  You were crawling around and came across a family picture from mine and your daddy's wedding day.  You said, in the cutest lisp that you have, "whats this?".  So I came over and sat down next to you, and told you each of the names of the people in the picture.  At the end I said, "and there is momma" … you leaned over and ever so gently kissed my face on the picture.  I immediately scooped you up and hugged you, with small tears of a touched heart running down my face, when you then proceeded to hug me back and lay your head on my already touched shoulder.  I love that you love to cuddle.  I love that you love your momma.  I love that you love, even at just 15 months of age.

Some other fun things you started doing here and there …
whispering
trying to walk on one knee and crawl on the other
signing "more"
saying "thank you" every time someone hands you something
sharing
singing and dancing at the same time
bouncing
laying on the floor, wherever you are, and going "nigh nigh"

I love you, you know,
Momma

"He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD." 

Psalm 113:9

Standards

CR and I are just catching up on some DVRed shows we enjoy.  Last Man Standing is about the only thing I will watch with him anymore.  I really enjoy it.  Every episode something is said that really speaks to me.  This recorded episode was no different.  The teacher of the main character's daughter said, "Everyday I drive over (some name) bridge.  Back and forth, back and forth.  And everyday I pray that the bridge was built and engineered by people whose teachers taught them math the way I do."  You see, the mom had gone in to complain to the teacher about how hard she was on the kids.  Basically asking to help her daughter go from the C she was earning to the A she wanted.  This is one of the reasons I so easily walked away from teaching.  Unfortunately, I felt like we were constantly being asked to lower our standards in our classroom to meet what was coming in.  Instead, I feel like our teaching should meet them where they are, but then take them up to where they should be.  I know, I am old fashioned and should have been born in the 50s.

Plop … plop … plop …

That was me getting off of my soap box.

 Say hello to my little friends ….

 This morning the kids and I participated in a 5K walk/run that was at Calallen Middle School.  They had a blast, and I sure enjoyed getting to run and walk again.  Gosh I miss it.  We ran into many sweet friends, including precious Kealynn Grace.  Kirby wanted to hold her hand as we walked.

 I must say this was the longest 5k ever for me as far as time goes, but when you are pushing about 60 lbs and have not run a mile in over 6 months, you take what you can get.  And it was fun.  And my kids made memories.  And I cherished every second of it.

 Then my mini had to get her run on.  When I woke her up this morning she immediately asked for her fastest running shoes.  She knew exactly what she wanted, too.  I brought her what I thought she was talking about, but she had to exchange them for a pair that Anna Kate had handed down to her.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  Hebrews 12:1

Catching up

in pictures and a few words.  LIFE … SLOW DOWN.  TIME, STAND STILL.  I realized last night when I logged in to blog that it had been over a month.  I do blog posts in my head throughout the day as things happen, and then I forget if I ever actually sat down to put my mind to paper (or I guess I should say computer).  In the morning when the sun comes beaming in, I find myself saying "Good morning, Lord, but already?"  I used to pop out of bed at 5:30 every morning, to sit and enjoy the quietness and coffee, and then my precious Word.  To suck in no noise.  To look around and enjoy the beautiful mess that may have been left out the night before.  That was before two sweet blessings, a husband that has to work long into the evening, a home business that I don't get to attend to until the littles are in bed, and before one of those littles decided every night at some point to come put her toes in my ribs.  I love all those blessings and can not imagine our life without each piece of the puzzle, but I do miss waking up early, just to be the only one up in the house.  Now I try to sneak out quietly in the mornings and 2 minutes later, the cutest little curly headed, blue eyed darling comes walking out of the room rubbing her eyes, asking me why I left her.  So instead I lay there with her, smell her hair, and pray while I let her sleep in just a little longer ….

 We have had some really pretty days in between some really nasty days (Spring weather, I know).   Patton has decided he loves, loves, loves being outside.  The boy is fully coming out in him.  He ends up in water pans, rocks in his mouth in .2 seconds, and trying to ride sister's bike.

Patton had his 1 year out of brace hip check up; everything looks pretty good, but one of his little ball things (that goes in the socket) is smaller than the other, so we are going to watch that to make sure it is growing and eventually catches up.

 I think it is really fun to say that I quit my full time job as a teacher and in that time have paid off a car, sold it and cash flowed to pay for the replacement, and paid off 3 of 4 student loans.  The last one will is on track to be gone by the end of the year.  I do not share this to gloat or to say look at what we have done, but to say look what God has done, can do and will do when you allow him to.  Luke 16:10 says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."  When you are faithful and diligent with submitting your money to Christ and where He desires it to go, He will bless you with more opportunities to do the same.  He does not want me (or anyone else for that matter) to be burdened by debt.  That was the thing holding me back from quitting my teaching job 3 years ago, but He is faithful to his word and to his promises day in and day out.  I heard his command,  he provided a path, and I followed.  Thank you Lord for this journey and testimony.  It is not easy, but oh so worth it.

 I had a wedding to shoot in Montgomery last weekend and this little gal got to come along as my official helper!

 It's that time of year again.  Pray for rain!

 Oh my darling, oh my darling ….

 Some days we are blessed with the opportunity to take daddy lunch in the field; she decided she was going to walk his lunch out to him.

 Kyleigh , E , Bray and mom got to come down during their Spring Break, so CR put Kyleigh girl to work on the farm.

 First big tractor ride!

There you go, there is our month of March in pictures …. whew, just looking back I am worn out all over again.  Thank you Lord for blessing me with a life that can get worn out, for I know there are many out there praying for this very thing.  I was once there and know the longing.  I love this life and would not trade it for anything.  

To update on Patton, his talks up a storm.  His favorite thing to say is "what's this".  I clearly heard him say "what's this mommy?" yesterday.  He also likes to walk around saying cows, tractor, geese, mommy, daddy, go, eyes, byyyyyeee byeeee.  By walk I mean crawl and walk along the couch ;).

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:7