Pruning

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away ; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches ; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing . "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love ; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:1-
During BSF this semester, we have been studying John and just recently studied John 15. We talked and learned about how God prunes us. I’ve heard and studied this passage before, but the Bible really is “new every morning” and this time I really got it. This was a huge eye opener to me and my prayer has been that God would help me to see the moments that He is using to prune me. We learned that the pruning that Jesus is talking about sometimes refers to areas that seem good in us. Even though these “parts” may be good qualities and not necessarily unhealthy ones (such as bad language, anger, etc.) they still get pruned away so that we can look just like our Lord. One character trait of mine that seems good to be is my independence but I can see how He has pruned this away over time. I’ve also tried to be aware of how Eleri not sleeping or taking her naps well has helped in this pruning process (not that she is screaming at the top of her lungs in her crib right now refusing to take her nap on my birthday or anything;)). At this moment or season of life, I can’t exactly see the fruit of the pruning, but I know its happening, or that I at least have the choice of allowing God’s pruning away to shape me to look more like Him. I’m trying to be aware of it, and sort of embrace the daily difficulties of babies not sleeping, dishes not being put up, fits, tantrums, disrespect from my big girl…all as ways that I can choose to react in ways that please God and bring Him honor and take on His characteristics. Certainly not always easy, but knowing that all these minor trials have purpose certainly makes the endurance part easier! Thank you Jesus for pruning me in this past decade.

My Day

Beth recently wrote this post, and encouraged me to do the same.

My schedule (on good days, the past two days have been bad days, i.e. Eleri waking at 5:37am and then 5:45am today)

6:45am-Wake up, drink coffee and work on my bible study and quiet time. Get dressed if I have time.
7:30-8:00-Girls wake up. I cuddle with them both on the couch for a little bit. Change Eleri’s diaper.
8:30-make breakfast. Feed Eleri yogurt/oatmeal and “encourage” Mali to come eat.
After breakfast and by 9:00am-Eleri dressed, Mali encouraged to get dressed/brush hair/brush teeth. Leave the girls to play “together” while I go get dressed.
9:15ish-do some sort of chore. Cleaning up after breakfast, unloading dishwasher if Eleri isn’t around to climb on it, or starting laundry. Go to Wal-mart on Days we need to.
On THURSDAY-Rush to BSF (Bible Study) until 11am.
10:00-attempts to play/read/spend time with girls and simultaneously clean/pick up. Check mail and maybe spend time outside if the weather is nice like it has been lately.
11:00-lunch time. Get lunch made for girls and eat myself. Enjoy a nice, big glass of Dr. Pepper (or rather Dr. Thunder).
11:50-Tuesday, Weds, Thursday get girls rounded up and in the car.
12:00-leave the house to take Mali to preschool.
12:10-12:15-drop Mali off at preschool. Sometimes take Eric his lunch he has forgotten.
SOMETIMES Eleri falls asleep in the car…this is a problem because she ends up not taking a good enough nap. So….
1-2pm- I clean the house and pick up if Eleri naps. If she doesn’t nap, I spend time trying to play with her and multitasking. We might even spend time outside.
2:45-get Eleri in the car to go to preschool.
3:10-pick up Mali!!!! Come home and give the girls a snack. Spend some time talking to Eric if he happens to come home between school and practice.
3:45-About two days a week, a babysitter will come and I will go see a client until 4:45pm. Also, if Eric has in town games we go to these at 4:00 once a week.
5:00-start making dinner.
5:30-eat dinner. We eat SOOOO early, Eleri would really eat at 4:30 if I would let her.
6:00-right after dinner, I take the girls straight to the bath. I let them play for a while in the bath. After bath, we lotion, dress and brush teeth.
6:30-7:30ish-playing and having fun as a family. If the girls are playing together I might go clean up the kitchen.
7:30-7:45-rock Eleri to sleep.
8:00-Spend time with Mali cuddling on the couch or helping her pick up her room.
8:30-Read books to Mali and then it is Mali’s bedtime.
8:45-9:00-clean up the kitchen. I “shine my sink” and start the dishwasher if I need to. Sweep and mop.
9:00-9:30-work out with the Wii
9:30-I shower. After I shower, Eric and I do our “Night Light” devotional. Then I go to bed as soon as I can…maybe by 10 or 10:30!

Paradox of Parenting

This is the paradox of parenting. These days things are so difficult and I feel like I'm going to barely make it through the day, but these days are so wonderful and it brings me so much joy to tuck my babies in to bed at night and I look forward to seeing them in the morning. Eleri is in the get-into-everything phase. I try and tell myself that she is learning, but I also tell myself now is not the time to give up Dr. Pepper. I shot these videos yesterday, after church. These are all the messes that Eleri made/got into in about 7 hours. And in the middle of cleaning all of these messes up, I also managed to make soup from scratch, get the laundry done, and drink a Dr. Pepper that my loving husband brought to me! I LOVE my girls and LOVE being a mommy and LOVE being a stay at home mom, but it is also sooo hard some days! Cleaning up messes can be very taxing! And truthfully, Dr. Pepper does not sustain me but God is who really sustains when the days are hard, the tears are frequent and the messes are plentiful.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sandies for Life

A while back I had asked for prayer for our family as me made some major decisions. The life of a coach is always interesting. In December, our head coach at Amarillo High became the district Athletic Director. Eric was hired by Coach Thiessen for his first job as a coach and followed Thiessen here. Along with all of the coaching families on staff, we were concerned about what this would mean for our future with a new head coach coming in. Every time this happens, there are many possible outcomes, some which are great and some that can be devastating. We fell some where in between for several weeks. At the end of this whole hiring process, we are proud and thankful to let everyone know what we are Sandies for life. Eric will be keeping his job at Amarillo High and we plan on staying here indefinitely. I'm trusting God and that He sees the future and that Amarillo is where our girls will flourish. I'm very thankful that I don't have to keep the house picked up and spotless in order to sell it and thankful that we will remain right across the street from Mali's elementary school that she will attend.

Jesus, Jammies and Donut Stop

Last Wednesday was "wear your pajamas" to school day! Mali enjoyed wearing her new jammies and slippers from Nana and Grandpa. She received SOOO many compliments and questions every where we went about where her boots came from and she replied "they came from Dalhart from my Nana and Grandpa". That morning, we also went to meet with one of the children's pastors at our church to discuss Mali's decision and future baptism. Of course, the not usually shy Mali clammed up and when she was asked if she had heard any stories about Jesus replied "no". That girl! When we got in the car, she told me "I was just kidding" and then shared with me that she wanted to be baptized because she wanted everyone to know that she had asked Jesus into her heart. We are still going to take the decision "slow" but every day she is asking me if today is the day that she gets to be baptized. It makes me wonder if this is the child like faith that Jesus wants us all to have. Yes, she may not know all the answers to who Jesus is or even stories about Him, but she KNOWS Jesus. Isn't child like faith supposed to be simple? Won't she spend the rest of her life learning about who Jesus really is, and through each circumstance learn a new character trait about who He is to her then? I know that I certainly have! This week in BSF, we both learned about how Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Mali and I have had some wonderful talks about Jesus because of this. She is able to really identify with this "name" of Jesus. We have talked about why Jesus died on the cross for us and if he was scared and how He wanted to obey his dad and how much he loved us by doing this and how it was God's great plan from the beginning. I really love and treasure the simple moments when we have these precious, eternal conversations...and they have been really frequent lately! I love this and know that these conversations push me into God's word more and more! I need to have His truth fresh on my mind to be able to answer her!
After our meeting and our little trip to see the baptistry, Mali, Eleri and I went to the Donut Stop and indulged in some yummy donuts. Mali had two pink with sprinkles donuts and Eleri certainly indulged in her choice of 10 donut holes!
And, aren't Mali's eyes beautiful in this picture? I didn't even do any photoshop editing for this one! Lately her eyes have just sparkled and been so brilliant!

Prayer

I just wanted to ask for prayer as our family begins making big decisions. That God will lay out His plan before us and that we would obey. And that the plan would be clear and would work at according to what God has for us!

If you come to my house...

-The toilet paper roll will be on the counter. It is supposed to be right there. Let Eleri in the bathroom for 2 seconds and you will quickly see why.
-You probably will not have a place to sit. Mali's stuffed animals will probably be having a picnic, slumber party or some other party.
-You will be locked in. I always lock and deadbolt the doors, it is just a "mom" habit.
-You will probably kick or trip on a toy. Just beware is all I can say.
-The dishes will be in the sink.
-The beds will not be made
-Mali will be wearing dress up clothes and will change at least four times while you are here.
-All I have to offer for snacks or drinks are puffs and diluted apple juice. (Unless you count the Dr. Pepper, but that is precious and will only be shared with friends who are getting little sleep as well!;))
-Someone will cry at some point
...and lastly, if you come to my house don't go in Mali's room!

I would NOT trade this stage and absolutely love it, I just have to laugh at how our home is!