Hearts at Home and my religious ruts

This past weekend I went to a Hearts at Home conference. I look forward to these every year and know that I will come back with great ideas and insights. This year was the same as usual although I did come back tired which I guess is to be expected in pregnancy. I learned some great new things and also heard things I've heard before but for some reason I need to be reminded every so often. There are always amazing speakers but what is always so amazing is how the Lord speaks to me at conferences like this. Sometimes it is even small things, for example, I was sitting in a workshop and the speaker was talking about how she loved a clean house (as do I) but she didn't want to feel like she had to be cleaning all the time (as do I) so she set one day to get ALL of her cleaning done. A couple of years ago I prayed about how to keep things in balance and I felt led to start cleaning part of the house each day but this HAS NOT been working lately. When I heard this woman talking I felt the Lord saying to listen and do what she was saying. It was then I realized that my life is very different from what it was 4 years ago and God is changing my plan for keeping things in balance. Four years ago I had 1 child, living in a small apartment, without too many extra activities. I now have 2 children, 1 on the way, living in a house with a yard, homeschooling, in charge of a Moms Group and VBS along with some other ministry things. I see in this simple and maybe silly revelation I received how sometimes I can turn the smallest things into legalistic religious ruts. I want to be open to whatever the Lord says even when He changes things. This year we have decided to let our kids go Trick or treating around our culdesac and then come back and pass out candy along with tracts. I really don't like halloween and all the gore and just plain evil that it is associated with it but the Lord convicted me that I was missing out on a great opportunity. When else do you have kids you don't know coming to your door and asking for something. While we will be handing out candy I am also going to hand out something about a relationship with Jesus. I want to be ready for whatever God changes in my life.

I have also been focusing on just enjoying my kids and having fun. We always have great family times but last night was a blast. We decided to play charades. Josh found a program online that actually gave you the words. It was hilarious to see Liah play this game. Blake was awesome at it, much better than Josh and I. It was a fun time and I realized that things were perfect even though the house was (or should I say is) a mess. Sometimes I need to be reminded that this is just a season in life. There will be days down the road that I will have all the time in the world to clean my house because my children will be grown and gone. And though I'm excited to see what my kids turn out to be and see how God uses them I don't even want to think about them not being kids anymore.

This is the day the Lord has made

While I still feel like I'm not getting as much done as I should I think I am FINALLY starting to feel better! This has been such a fun and exciting day. The work has finally begun on fixing our drainage problem in our yard. Or at least they're bringing in al the equipment today. When we bought the house we knew we wanted to have this fixed so we could actually make the side yard into a Real Yard. I never thought this would be happening only a year after moving in since we still have other things to finish but it is. The reason it is happening is because the city said they would fix the problem since it is the drainage easement for the neighborhood on this side of Blair Hills. Did I mention that this is being fixed FREE OF CHARGE to us!!! This is the reason this is being fixed now and not years down the road. The company that is coming out is very friendly and has even agreed to pull out a stump and bushes quick before they leave with the big backhoe. We will still have to dispose of all that stuff but who cares. This is going to save us a good two weekends worth of yard work. I will be posting pics soon. Josh was like a kid at Christmas! We also have started carving our pumpkins which was a fun project and we will finish them after Josh and I come home from Date Night.

I think it's amazing

Sometimes you just find those things that make you wonder "How did God do it?". If you have a weak stomach you may want to quit reading now!

This morning as I was throwing up my 5 strawberries I had just eaten I couldn't help but be amazed at how little I put into my body and how much can come back out. This has always baffled me. I remember about a year ago Blake had a little stomach bug. He seriously ate 3 bites of chicken noodle soup and the mess that I was cleaning up about 5 minutes later took 2 full size towels. God made our bodies so unique and crazy!

OK I better stop talking about throwing up or I'll have to go up to the bathroom again. I am past that much awaited 12 week mark in pregnancy and I'm still sooo queasy. I feel my energy coming back but my stomach hasn't decided to cooperate. Each day I tell myself "Tomorrow is the DAY!" That day has to be coming, right???