Mothering Monday: My boys’ thoughts on Heaven

“MOOOOOOMMMMMYYYYY!!!!”  My middle son ran out the front door and ran into my arms.  What a great feeling!  I had just come back from a women’s weekend away.  One of the great things as a mom about getting away is getting to see your children’s excitement when you return.  My youngest came running out next doing the same thing.  “I missed you, I love you, you look pretty.”  Awwww, so sweet.  I walked into the house and my oldest barely looked up from his 3DS as he said, “Hi.”  Oh well, 2 out of 3 isn’t bad…

I went on a women’s retreat with my church.  We stayed in a hotel, ate together (but I still managed to lose weight this week!), laughed together, played games together, got to know each other more, worshipped together and listened to a speaker.  The topic was “In the Light of Eternity.”

Well in the light of “In the Light of Eternity” – that’s a mouthful, huh?  OK well in light of our topic, I thought I’d share some of the things my boys have said or questions they’ve asked through the years about Heaven.  I wish I could tell you who said what and how old they were, but frankly I don’t always remember, and no matter how many times people told me, “You have to write those things down” I didn’t.  So from the mouths of my boys:

Will there be video games in Heaven?  If Heaven is better than earth, then there must be video games, but I bet they are even more fun than the ones we play now.

Will we have to go to the bathroom in Heaven?

Will we ever sleep in Heaven?

If we get a new body when we go to Heaven, what age will it be?  Will we all be the same age?  Or will we be forever the age that we are when we die?

If we get a new body when we go to Heaven, what color will it be?  Will we be the same color we were on earth?  Will we all be the same color in Heaven?

I like my body now, I hope my new body looks just like this one.

If we all get new bodies, how will we recognize each other?

I hope there’s no green beans in Heaven.  I don’t like green beans.

How will I know who our other babies are in Heaven?  (Talking about the 2 babies I miscarried.)

You know why Heaven is better than earth?  Because in Heaven you will always be happy, but on earth you are sometimes sad or angry.  I know you won’t be sad or angry in Heaven, but wouldn’t it be funny to trick people there by pretending to be angry?  (My youngest said that just this morning as we were driving.  He’s such a jokester!)

The best part about Heaven will be God, right?

…and the one that as a Mom, pulls so hard on my heartstrings that it hurts…

Mommy, I know we’ll like Heaven, but I don’t want any of us to go there yet.  (Me too, baby, me too…)

Those are some of the questions and thoughts my boys have about Heaven.  I’ll admit sometimes my response would be, “Hmm, you should ask Pastor Gary that at church on Sunday.”  Because in all truthfulness, I don’t know the answers to most of their questions.  If you have any answers for them, I’d love to hear!  I’d also love to hear some interesting things you’ve heard from kids (or adults) about Heaven.

♥Becki


 

 

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Wednesday’s Wisdom from the Word: Pressing On

I’m overweight, my house is messy, I yell at my kids, I watch too much TV, spend too much time on the computer and too little time in the Bible.  I don’t exercise enough, I let folded laundry sit in the basket for days, my kids play  a lot of video games, I don’t stick to budgets, I pay bills late.  I’ve lied, gossiped, cheated.

I’m imperfect!

I’m learning to embrace my imperfection but not settle for it.  I know this side of Heaven, I will never be perfect.  However I refuse to remain complacent in my imperfection and choose to press on to be the mom, wife, friend, woman, Christ follower God created me to be.

Those are the words that I first typed when I decided to write a blog.  You can always find them on the link labeled “Press On?” at the top of the page.  I’ve been dwelling on them a lot lately.  I want to make sure that as I share my imperfections here with you, that I am clear about 2 things.

1. It is perfectly healthy to understand our imperfections, to confess our sins.  But it is not OK to let them define us.  It is not OK to just write things off as who we are.  We can’t just say, “When I get angry I yell at my kids.”  Instead we can admit that sometimes we yell at our kids, but then we need to press on to change our behavior.  For me, it means coming before Christ and admitting that without Him, I’m a mess.  That I need to live in His power to be patient and kind and gentle with my children.  That I need to live in His power to have self-control with my eating and how I spend my time.  That I need to live in His power to love that person who is being a real jerk to me.  That I need to live in His power to trust Him and be full of peace instead of worry and anxiety.

and…

2.  On this side of eternity, I will remain imperfect… no matter how much I press on.  But the beautiful,  fantastic, wonderful, amazing truth is that I live as a forgiven daughter of God.  When I confess my sins (yes, most of my imperfections are sins) to God, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)  I don’t need to dwell on my sin.  I don’t need to beat myself up for my sin.  I need to confess them, accept God’s forgiveness.  Forgive myself.  And press on, just as the Apostle Paul did.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4: 12-14)

I invite you to press on together with me.  I’ve been, and I’ll continue to share thoughts and stories from my journey and look forward to hearing about yours.

♥Becki (imperfect wife of an imperfect man, imperfect mom of 3 imperfect boys, forgiven daughter of a perfect God.)

“Not that I already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12)

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Mothering Monday: Lessons from the seatbelt

Have you ever had to use a ratchet to take a seat belt apart to get your child out?  Well, yesterday I did.  My 11-year-old managed to get the seatbelt twisted all around him and then the seatbelt “locked” and he got stuck… good times, good times.

So here’s what happened.  Yesterday was Sunday.  Jeff and my middle child went to the early service because they were going to a Flyers game right after church.  My oldest was still sleeping, so I took him and my youngest to the second service.  On the way home from church, we stopped at Giant to pick up a few things.  My oldest hates running into stores, and like normal, he whined, “Awwwwww man, the stooooorrrrre, can I stay in the van?”  Since he’s 11, I often let him do this, so I said yes.  I let my 5-year-old stay too.  OK, before you get on your soap box about what a horrible mother I am, remember many 11-year-olds are babysitting so I figure 5 minutes in the van should be fine.  Well, apparently I was wrong!

I give them my normal, I’m leaving you in the van alone spiel, “Don’t get out of the van, don’t get out of your seats, don’t unlock the doors for anyone, if anyone comes to the van, even a policeman, tell them to wait for your mom who will be right there.”  And off I run into the Giant to pick up bakery bread, frozen pizza, and frozen vegetables.  I quickly go through the self-check out and head back to the van.  As I approach it, I can see that my youngest is upset, he yells that his brother’s stuck.

“What in the world?”  I think.

I was gone maybe 7 minutes, how can he be stuck?  What could he be stuck in?  So I open the door and I see.  He managed to get the seatbelt all twisted around himself and then it locked, so he couldn’t get any slack to get out of it.  At first I kind of chuckle, thinking it won’t be a big deal to get him out.  But then as I work at it a few minutes I realize that I can’t slide his arms through it to get it over his head, I can’t slide it down over his butt, even with him trying to maneuver out of it.  I start to get a little frustrated… OK, a lot frustrated.

I’m not worried about my son, because I know that I can always cut the seat belt and he’ll be fine.  I’m worried about having to cut the seat belt and then pay to repair it.  We already have one seatbelt in the back that is stuck so we don’t use that seat.  I don’t want to be down another seat.  And as I think about it, I start to get angry.

“How did you do this?”  “What were you doing?”  “Why weren’t you just sitting there like I told you to?”

From what I can piece together, here’s what happened.  He reclined the seat to lay down as he was playing his DS.  He then put the shoulder part of the seat belt behind him so it wouldn’t be in his face.  He must have rolled around a little.  He then decided that the seat belt was too much in his way, so he unfastened it.  But remember the shoulder strap was behind him?  So when he unbuckled it, it was as if he was inside the seatbelt, which he also twisted a little.  Somewhere in the time frame, the seat belt locked and so he could get no slack, and every time he moved, more of the seat belt went down in.

After realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to get him out, I had the “genius” idea that if we get him as close as possible to where the seatbelt goes in then maybe enough would go in to unlock the seatbelt.  So we maneuver him as close as we can, but instead of the seatbelt unlocking, he’s just closer to the wall with even less slack than before.  Great!!!!

As I begin to think that my only solution is to cut the seatbelt, I get angrier and angrier, and monster mommy makes her unwelcome appearance.  I start saying some really unkind things and I start yelling and I even dropped an “F” bomb – and I don’t curse, ever!   (Well almost never.)  Thankfully my kids don’t even know that word, so they didn’t know what I said.

I wasn’t worried about my son, because I knew physically he’d be fine.  I didn’t take anytime to console him.  I never once stopped to think how upsetting it must be to have a seatbelt twisted around you and getting tighter and seeing your mom get angrier and angrier.  I had no kindness for my 5-year-old who’s watching the whole scene and crying the entire time.

Did I mention that this happened right after we left church.  During which we had a beautiful communion service where I made sure my oldest son understood what communion was before I let him participate, only after he and I prayed together.  During which I sang songs praising God for who He is.  Right after I listened to my pastor read and talk about Colossians 3, including verse 8 which says, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”  I sat there, and nodded, and agreed.  But then I was put to the test less than 20 minutes later and I failed!  My pastor talked about how we need to be showing people more of Jesus and less of us.  Well, I certainly wasn’t showing my children Jesus.

In the parking lot, I confessed my anger to God and asked for Him to help me get my son out without having to cut the seatbelt.  I calmly went back in the van and looked at the seatbelt itself.  I saw how it was attached to the wall.  I was able to snap the cover off and saw that I would need a tool to unscrew it.  I decided to drive home, with my son kind of propped up on his side leaning against the wall.  Very unsafe – but we made it.

I’d like to say that all of my anger was gone after I prayed but pretty much the whole ride home I was yelling at my son, telling him he’d have to figure out which toys to sell to raise the money to fix the seatbelt if I couldn’t get him out.  Apparently I hadn’t yet rid myself of all those things!

We got home, I got our ratchet set out.  I found the correct size and began unscrewing the seatbelt from the wall.  I had my son hold the seatbelt right where it goes down into the wall and told him to hold it with everything he had and to not let any of it go down in.  We needed all the slack we could get.  I got the seatbelt unattached and he held on to it.  I then took hold of the seatbelt and there was enough slack for him to get his arms out and for it to go over his head.  Praise the Lord!  He was free and I didn’t have to cut the belt.

He thanked me for getting him out.  I reattached the seatbelt and went inside, again confessing my anger to God.  I apologized to my sons for how angry I got, and told them both that I was wrong to yell like that.  I also told them that I could no longer leave them alone in the van.  We ate lunch, took my youngest to a birthday party, then came home and I fell asleep reading on the couch.  A much needed nap after all that drama!

Thank you God, for enabling me to get my son out.  Please forgive me for how angry I got, and for the words I allowed to come from my mouth.  Please help me Lord to have a gentle and patient and kind heart when situations like this arise… but please, next time, let me learn from the pastor without needing a life lesson!

♥Becki, imperfect mother, and imperfect Christ follower

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Training Tuesday: Sunshine and shadows

On Saturday morning, I bundled up and headed out for a run.  It was cold and windy but sunny.  And it was early… well early to me (8:30), I would have much rather been home snuggled up in bed for a lazy morning.

When I run, I usually go to a local park that I run laps around.  Each lap is a 1/2 mile so I shoot for 6 laps.  On this particular morning, the bright sun was shining on my face for 1/2 the lap and on my back the rest.  When the sun was behind me, it was so cold.  The wind was also blowing in my face and every step was hard, even the steps that were slightly downhill.

At one part, with the sun at my back, I looked down at my shadow.  As I did, I let myself get frustrated with how “wide” my shadow was. I got down on myself for how poorly I’ve taken care of myself in the past, that I allowed myself to live so overweight.  And each step became harder.  I wanted to give up, to quit, to go home and crawl back in bed, perhaps after grabbing a donut from the Dunkin…

But then I turned the corner.

And the sun was shining on my face.  The wind was at my back.  Instantly I felt better, stronger, faster.  With the sun in front of me, I could no longer see my shadow as it was behind me.  I no longer was dwelling on my past failures.  I was pressing on, running towards the sun.  While running uphill, I actually began smiling.

But then I had to turn back away from the sun.  As I saw my shadow again, I started to ponder how affected I was by the sun.  And then my thoughts turned towards Christ.  And what I felt was a perfect analogy developed in my thoughts…

When I am going through life on my own, not running towards Christ, but running after my own desires, the course can be hard,  bitter and miserable.  When my eyes are on me and my short-comings and my past failures, I can be overcome with depression and defeat.

But when I’m running towards Christ, the course may still be hard, but I feel energized and equipped to face the challenges.  I am more joyful.  I “forget the former things” and “press on to the prize”.

When I run laps, I have to run with both the sun on my back and shining on my face… but when I go through life, I want to run towards the Son and not away from it.

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Thursday’s Thoughts on Home: The trick of baby carrots

“I never worry about diets.  The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.”  -Mae West

Unlike Mae West, the rest of us probably eat plenty of carrots, especially raw.  Raw carrots and cooked broccoli are the only vegetables that all 3 of my boys are guaranteed to eat without complaining.  So I, like plenty of you, would always pick up a couple of bags of baby carrots at the grocery store.

Then I read something that surprised me… and perhaps it will surprise you too.  Some of the baby carrots are actually carrots bioengineered and then picked at that small size.  But if you buy the petite carrots (the ones that I think taste better) and some of the other ones, you are actually buying regular carrots that have been peeled and chopped for you.  One smart farmer noticed that people wanted uniform looking carrots so a lot of “deformed” looking carrots were never bought and ultimately thrown out.  He then peeled and chopped his deformed carrots and sold them.  They were so popular that he actually sold them more expensive than the regular carrots.  He began using a potato peeler/slicer machine and our obsession with baby carrots began.

If you are like me, you might be saying, big deal.  I like the convenience of the baby carrots.  Agreed!  But just so you know… I’ve heard that they are dipped in Chlorine.  So I researched it a little and “Urban Legends” sums up what I found through various sites:

It’s also true that baby carrots are typically washed in a chlorine-and-water solution before packaging (as are other ready-to-eat fresh vegetable products, such as bagged salads).

None of this is harmful to your health, says Dr. Joe Schwarcz, professor of chemistry at McGill University. The whole point of washing vegetables with chlorinated water is to protect consumers’ health by reducing bacteria that could cause foodborne illnesses.

So even though it’s supposedly safe… perhaps we’d be better off without it.  So I’ve started buying regular carrots and (get this!) actually peeling them and cutting them myself.  I’ve found that it saves money (not enough that I’ll be taking a tropical vacation, but hey, every bit helps, right?), the carrots taste better (both raw and cooked), and they don’t seem to dry out as fast.  Plus my kids gobble them up – I’ve found that they also like the novelty of eating a full, peeled but not sliced, carrot.

If you’re not convinced… that’s fine… if you still prefer the convenience, I get it.  I will not judge you if you continue to buy baby carrots.  But, I’ll just throw in some pictures to show you my sliced carrots.  I took a 16 ounce bag, washed, peeled, washed again, and sliced them all in 8 minutes.  I think the amount of sliced carrots I got equals 2-3 bags of baby carrots.

And here’s a picture of a bag of baby carrots from Giant.  Notice that it says “Baby CUT Carrots”.  This tells you that the carrots were just regular carrots peeled and cut down.  And then even though they are organic, they were probably washed in the chlorine wash.

Convenient?  Yes.  But not as good or as inexpensive as buying them whole.  So that’s all for today… Nothing life changing or deep or spiritual… but just what I was thinking about today.

♥Becki

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Wednesday’s Wisdom from the Word: Loving when it’s hard

“What on earth was that?”  I thought to myself as I hung up the phone.  I had just gotten an earful about how I’ve wronged the caller.  As she went on and on, I tried to remain calm and to not say anything I would regret.  I tried to look at the situation critically and see what I needed to apologize for.  But, here’s the thing… I don’t think I was wrong, and she obviously does.  So how do I bring the situation to reconciliation?

So here’s what I did… I told her I was sorry that it upset her so much.  I told her that my intention was never for her to get hurt.  I told her that to be honest, I don’t know how I would have handled the situation differently, but if I was wrong, I am truly sorry.  But I don’t think it was good enough for her.  And to be honest, I’m not sure if completely agreeing with her, accepting full responsiblity, and apologizing would have been enough.  She was angry and wanted me to know the full extent of her anger.

So now I replay over and over the conversation and the initial situation that caused her anger.  And I pray, “God, show me how to handle this.  Show me where I’m wrong.  Show me if I need to accept responsiblity and apologize more.”  To be honest when I first started praying, it was out of a prideful heart that really didn’t think there was anything for God to show me.  But the more I prayed, the more I was open to the possibility that I may have been in the wrong.  Yet, as I pray and replay the scenario, I still don’t see my guilt.

So now I’m praying that God would soften her heart.  That her anger would subside, and she would be able to look at the situation critically and rationally.  And more importantly I’m praying for my heart…

That I would not become angry and bitter and spiteful towards her.  That I would not gossip about her.  That I would not think more highly of myself than I ought.  That I would rest in God’s love and assurance and be confident that even though people will fail me, God will not.  That I would still be able to love this woman and show her God’s love.

Because my imperfect, human heart wants to get all angry and yell back and tell everyone I come in contact with about the situation and wish horrible things on her…

But to what end?  It serves no purpose.  And Christ has called me to more.  Here’s what God said through the Apostle John in 1 John 4: 7-21:

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

So I will battle my imperfect human desires and pray for Jesus to fill me with love and show me how to love.  Hopefully I’ll learn quickly and this “lesson” will be finished soon!

Do you struggle loving someone?  How do you love those “unloveables” that God has put in your life?

Pressing on with you…

♥Becki

 

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Mothering Monday: When I’m not there

When my oldest son was in 1st grade, we decided to let him watch Star Wars Episode 4 (the first one with Luke Skywalker).  It was a big deal.  Before that we thought he was too young and not ready for it.  Up to that point the majority of his video viewing was Blue’s Clues and Thomas the Tank Engine, so this was a big jump.  One night when his 3-year-old brother was at Grandmom’s and his 1-year-old brother was in bed, we popped some popcorn and introduced him to a “Galaxy Far, Far Away”.

As he fell in love with Star Wars, it became impossible to shield the younger two from it. So although our oldest waited until he was 7 to watch it, our youngest was watching it before he was even 2!  It’s so hard to stick to your guns some times.  But for the most part, as parents of young children, we get to be their filter.  We decide what they watch, what they wear, what they eat, who they play with, what they are allowed to play with.  Well, like I said, for the most part.  But as they grow, we begin to lose that control.

As a mom of school age children, I can control what they are allowed to watch on TV when they are home.  But when they are at friends’ homes without me, I’m not there to say, “Turn the channel,” or “Turn that off.”  I’m not on the play ground at recess to say, “You can’t play that game where you’re pretending to kill each other.”  I’m not in the cafeteria at lunch to say, “No you can’t buy ice cream today.”  I can talk to my children at home about the choices they are making without me, but I am not with them to make the choices for them.

And sometimes that can scare me.

Not so much for now, but for when they’re older.  I won’t be in the classroom when they are tempted to cheat.  I won’t be in the store when they are tempted to steal.  I won’t be at the movies when they are hanging out with friends and are tempted to be disrespectful to adults.  I won’t be at the party when someone offers them the opportunity to drink or do drugs.  I won’t be on the date when they are alone with a girl and they are tempted to “display their affections” physically.  I won’t be with them when they are on a computer, or tablet, or iPod, or phone and tempted to view something pornographic.

I won’t be there.

But I pray that our (my husband’s and my) words will.  I pray that the foundation we are setting with our boys will hold firm in their hearts, and that the lessons we’ve taught them will ring in their ears when they are faced with temptation.  I pray that they will be so rooted in our love that they will choose to do what is right.  And when they don’t, I also pray that they will know that our love surpasses any wrong choice they will ever make.  But more importantly, I pray that they will be rooted in Jesus.

Because I won’t be there, but Jesus will always be with them.

And so my deepest prayer is that my boys will decide to trust Jesus as their savior and to follow hard after Him.  That when they are tempted to cheat, steal, be disrespectful, drink, do drugs, be sexual, or view things that are inappropriate, they will hear Jesus speaking truth into their hearts and through his power they will choose to do what is right.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.  

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.   Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  

And you may have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, 

how wide,

how long, 

how high,

and how deep his love is.  

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  (Ephesians 3: 14-19)

So of course, you can imagine the joy I felt seeing my oldest son, at 11 years old, choose to be baptized yesterday.  He stood before our church and said that his desire is to follow Jesus.  His father baptized him and his grandfather prayed for him, and I did what every mother would do, I cried.  And so I pray just as Paul prayed for the Ephesians that God would empower my son, grow his roots deep into God’s love and keep my son strong as he walks through his teen years.  I pray that my son will spend each day knowing how wide, long, high and deep God’s love is for him.

And I pray that for you and your family too!

♥ Becki

 P.S. You can watch a video of his baptism here.  Enjoy!

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Thursday’s Thoughts on Home: Top 10

We’ve been in our home for almost 7+ years and we are outgrowing it.  Things are breaking.  Trees need to be trimmed.  And instead of loving my home like I used to, I find myself seeing everything wrong with it.  So, in an effort to remind myself what I like about it, I’ve created a top 10 list.  This is mostly therapeutic for me, so if you don’t feel like reading, I get it… but perhaps if you find yourself complaining about your home, you should do a top 10 list too…

Top 10 Things I Like About My House

10.  The roof – my husband, brother-in-law and a friend worked really hard tearing off our old roof and putting on a new one.  It was a hot, hot week 2 summers ago and Jeff carried all the roofing materials up and down the ladder.  I was so proud of my artistic husband stepping out of his comfort zone and being a handyman.   And now, on days like yesterday, when the rain is pouring down, I no longer worry that the roof will start leaking.

9.  The color of my bedroom walls – White on the bottom, white chair rail, light blue on the top, and an even paler blue ceiling.  It always feels peaceful, especially when the room is clean (which I’ll admit is rare), but I love it… so much better than the mauve color it was when we moved in.

8.  The location – I love where we live.  We have a sidewalk lined street that I feel comfortable letting the kids play outside without me.  We can walk to the Kindergarten Center where my youngest goes to school, to the library, to a strip mall with an Acme, Hog Island (which has the best cheese steaks that I’m not eating right now), a True Value, a Chinese place, a nail salon, to the town park where there is a fair in May with carnival rides, to downtown where there are restaurants, ice cream places, parades, street festivals, and most importantly to friends’ homes.  And if we get in the car, within an hour we can get to the city and the Phillies, within 2 hours we can get to the beach and the mountains.

7.  The attic – We have pull down stairs which lead to an open attic over the whole house – tons of storage with easy access!

6.  The colors in the living room and hallway – When we moved in the walls were all white and so I decided to go bold.  The living room is a deep reddish-orange color and the hall is a beige-ish green.  It’s a small space and everyone said painting it dark would make it seem smaller.  I don’t think it does.  I’ll admit it’s difficult to make it feel bright and cheery with the lighting, but it always feels warm and comfy to me.

5.  The Kids’ “Cubbies” – I wrote about this before (click here to go to it).  I love the system I came up with for my boys’ coats, shoes, and back packs since my home has no foyer and a very small hall closet.  It also serves as an area to seasonally decorate.

4.  The Porch – We don’t have a basement, garage, dining room, or second family room and the porch serves as all of these.  It becomes a dumping ground for bikes, balls, shoes, winter stuff, beach stuff, toys… but it also serves as our dining area when we have too many guests for our kitchen.  The kids store most of their toys there and when it’s warm enough will play out there.

3.  Our Backyard – Although it’s not huge, it’s a perfect size for the 4 boys (which includes my husband) to go out back and play soccer, baseball or football.  Or to set-up a slip and slide or small pool… the kids have spent many, many hours out there.

2.  The heat is working – Several weeks ago I wrote about when the heating guy was here. He was able to get the heat working again for less than $200.   Praise the Lord.  We will need to switch over the heating system which will cost mucho bucks!  But we can take our time, and research and do it wisely instead of doing it out of desperation.

1.  It’s where my family is – It’s where we snuggle up on the couch together to watch a movie, it’s where we eat our family dinners, it’s where my boys do their homework, it’s where my husband comes home each day after work, it’s where we’ve celebrated births, birthdays and many, many firsts, it’s where we laugh, it’s where we cry, it’s where we feel safe and loved.  It’s home.

♥Becki

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Wednesday’s Wisdom from the Word: Swim suits & church

My husband and my 11-year-old will both be wearing swim suits to church on Sunday.  No, we aren’t going swimming at the Y after church.  They actually need the suits for church.  No, they aren’t in some cool skit.  But, they will be getting in a pool, right there in the middle of church.  I’m sure some of you reading this know exactly where I’m going with this.  But I’m sure others are totally confused.

My husband, Jeff will be baptizing our oldest son, J on Sunday.  Someone said to me, “I don’t understand what that means.  Is it a confirmation?  It it a communion? Wasn’t he baptized as a baby?”  So I thought I’d use today’s post to explain why our son is choosing to be baptized.

My husband and I, and our church practice what is called a believer’s baptism instead of infant baptism.  What that means is that the individual is responding to their decision to follow Christ instead of the parents making that decision for them.  When all of our sons were born, we presented them to the church in what is called a baby dedication.  In this ceremony we, as their parents, vowed before the church and God that we would raise our children in the church and teach them about God.  We were recognizing that our children belonged to God and He had entrusted them into our care.  But ultimately the decision whether our children decide to accept Jesus as their savior and to make Him Lord of their life by loving, honoring, obeying, trusting, and following Jesus lies with them, not us.

We are extremely excited that J has made that decision.   J wants “to be closer to God” and knows that by being baptized he is demonstrating this desire.

So what will happen on Sunday?  Jeff and J will get into the pool at church.  J will confess that Jesus is God, died for him, and that he desires to follow Jesus.  Jeff will physically support J as he goes backwards fully immersed into the water.  Then, Jeff will bring him back to a standing position.  Everyone will probably clap and of course I’ll probably be crying.

Why do we do it this way instead of just sprinkling water on his head?  Because that’s how they did it in the Bible times.  Several places in the Bible, baptisms are described and they are all full body immersion, usually in a river.

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. (Mark 1: 9-10, emphasis mine)

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.   As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”  And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.  (Acts 8:34-39, emphasis mine)

We believe that entering the water is representative of Jesus dying for our sins and being buried in the tomb and that rising out of the water is representative of Jesus rising from death.

J is 11 and has decided to be baptized, not because that is the age you get baptized, but because he wants to follow Jesus.  There is not a specific age for a believer’s baptism, because there is not a specific age that people make the decision to follow Jesus.  Jeff was baptized at 14, I was 25ish.  I’m sure on Sunday there will be men, women, and children of all ages being baptized and I can’t wait!  I’ll probably right more about it next week and post pictures!

 ♥Becki, proud mama!

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Training Tuesday: No more Coke Zero

Oh, Coke Zero, it’s been a week since we we’ve seen each other.  I thought I’d miss you, but honestly, I don’t.  Although I’ve always loved you and used to drink 24 or more ounces of you a day, I’m finding that water tastes much better.  I’m not promising I won’t come back to you (in  moderation), but for now, I’m keeping my distance.  Because, honestly you haven’t loved me back.  You’ve filled my body with all sorts of chemicals and crap.  You’re also a waste of my money… $3 for a glass of you at a restaurant… ridiculous!

For the first time ever, I’m giving something up for lent: chemical preservatives / additives / sweeteners / emulsifiers in foods, grains that have been refined or bleached, and basically non fruit desserts.  It’s actually been easier than I’ve thought, so far I’m not craving anything or having to use great restraint to keep from eating something.  (I am still feeding my kids semi-normally though.)

So why am I doing this?  To be honest, it’s a spiritual thing.  When I read the bible, I notice that oftentimes there are 40 day fasts mentioned.  I’m pretty sure in those times when they did a 40 day fast, they spent the day praying, not going about their normal routines of taking care of children, laundry, homes, going to work, whatever.   So for me, I don’t think a true 40 day fast is realistic, so this is my version.  I’m fasting from something that I’ve grown accustomed to, something that I’ve felt entitled to.   I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and saying, “God, I need you more than I want those things.”

But I am ultimately hoping this time will be full of health benefits as well.  I’m hoping that it will “cleanse” my system.  I’m hoping that it will give me a jump-start on what has become a stagnant weight loss journey.  I’m hoping that it will help me feel good.  I’m hoping that it will help me develop life long habits and find new foods that I like.

So for now, I’ll go finish my lunch… a glass of lemon water, a tuna wrap (chunk tuna that was packed in water only, carrots, red peppers, drizzled with fresh lemon juice, rolled up in lettuce), a handful of sweet potato chips prepared with sunflower oil and sea salt followed by raisins to end with something sweet.  Who knew that I’d find this lunch so absolutely delicious… me, the girl who used to (you know, a week ago) prefer her tuna mixed with mayo and relish on a good roll or bread with potato chips that were probably fried in partially hydrogenated oil, followed by a few Oreos, all while drinking a coke zero…

♥Becki

 

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