retreating

So, this week has been a little hectic getting back into the routine of things. Why?? Because last weekend I went on a retreat with my church. First off let me say that i have a love-hate relationship with retreats. I love them bc I get to get away and be with friends. I hate them because I am away and most of the time I'm around a lot more people that I don't know, than people I do know. So, when I initially said yes to go on this retreat I felt a little talked into it, but was excited and apprehensive all at once. Then as we got closer I began to dread it. Knowing all the prep I would need to do before leaving and then just the being gone and carpooling and all that jazz. Then it was as if the Lord heard me...bc then I asked a good friend if she was going, she hadn't decided...about a week before the retreat I asked her again and she made arrangements to go! YAY! And we were roomies! Then I was a little stressed out about the carpooling situation because I didn't want to leave as early as everyone else seemed to be leaving. I couldn't take my car because we only have one vehicle that car seats fit into. So then a friend from church just offered up her extra vehicle. YAY! So I drove my friend and I to Ridgecrest, which is just outside of Asheville. The theme was "On The Move" and our speakers were a mother/daughter team who are both missionaries. Let me just tell you that our church is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance...so our primary focus is the great commission...so all of our speakers were missionary wives...and all of them were wonderful. Anyhow...all the sessions were fabulous and I had a few take away nuggets. The first being that the mom speaker was at least old enough to be my mom...she had been a missionary to Brazil for 30+ years and you could just tell she absolutely loves Jesus and LOVES the people she served all those years...she talked about life, following Jesus and how she still blows it almost daily in the areas of trust, obedience, her temper, etc. The normal every day things we all struggle with and the things I really get down on myself for! My take away...if this woman who has served the Lord twice as long as I have been alive and has been a missionary for more than half of her life, doesn't have it all together, then why on earth do I expect myself to have it all together? I am so hard on myself and really need to spend some time in deep meditation on the grace and mercy of God. My other take away is when she was talking about her father...and how growing up her dad considered the little conjunction "but" as back talking. He didn't want to hear it and there were consequences for using it. So when we say "but" to God, we are in actuality back talking the Lord of hosts. The Almighty. The one that the scriptures say "the hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord." The one who opened the ground and something like 600+ sons of Kora fell in and died bc of their disobedience. And the one who poured his wrath out on Jesus so he didn't have to pour it out on us. WHOA! Zip my lip!!!!! When God asks me for my attitude, I can't say "but that person made me mad." When God asks me for my time, I can't say "but I have so many other pressing things to do." When God asks me for my mornings before the rest of the fam is up, I can't say "but I'm tired." I mean I CAN say them, and I DO say it...but not without consequences. So, I don't give Him my attitude and I wallow in my anger and feel pain in my body and lose sleep. So I get my to do list done, but not usually without bitterness. I sleep in an extra 30-45 minutes but then have trouble seeing God in the dailyness of life. I wouldn't say I learned a whole lot...but what I did learn was great! I also learned that I can trust my husband to respect the schedule and keep the girls on it. I knew he could do it before I left, but I didn't know if he would do it. He had all the dishes done before I got home, the girls were happy and Delia even had pigtails for church that morning. Amazing! I also learned that it is fun to interact with new people for an entire weekend and I laughed alot. Would I do it again...heck yes! One of the best parts is that a widow who has been on my heart for months was on the retreat, I got to interact with her just a little bit so she knows who I am and I invited her over for Easter dinner and she said yes! This retreat was totally totally worth it! God is good. All the time!

groundhog day!

well, i have to say that i feel like our lives are not boring, but i do feel a little like the movie groundhog day. we don't have much variety in our lives. we eat breakfast at the same time, snack at the same time, nap at the same time, milk at the same time, dinner and bed at the same time. a bath thrown in here and there and maybe a trip to the park. since we were all sick life has gotten back to normal. delia has her alphabet down pat (uppercase...she still gets confused on some of the lower case) and her numbers 1-10 too. zannah is a scootin machine and is getting up on her knees and starting to rock. she has definitely discovered the cats and this is serious motivation to get across the room as quickly as is possible. our main news is that delia is no longer in cloth diapers. the first straw was that i was having trouble getting them fastened tight enough around the legs so that she didn't have huge pee leaks. we were having accidents almost every day at least once. this is very frustrating bc i would have to change her clothes and her diaper wasn't as wet as it could be, but needed to be changed. so my laundry was nearly doubling! laundry is one big bane of my existence. i don't mind doing it if i had a folding fairy, but i don't. so i really despise doing laundry. the final straw was when we had a warm spell here in NC...it has been a long long time since it has been warm here! we've been in sweat pants and jeans and long onesie pajamas for months and months and months! so we had this warm spell and put on shorts. well, the legs seem to gap open on her and one night she comes walking over to me and hands me a little round nugget of...POOP! uh...gross! she had pooped and it came right out the leg hole. i thought this was maybe a fluke but then it happened again and she basically knelt down and all the poop rolled right out of her leg holes! i changed her diaper and put a disposable on her and that was that. i have such mixed feelings about this. for one thing...this was my main contribution financially to our family...saving us money by using cloth. but it is a lot easier to only have half the number of diapers to wash every day. i know i need to potty train her, but i just envision being in the grocery store with her and zannah when she announces she has to pee. zannah is NO WHERE NEAR walking...having to wrestle them both in to the bathroom and help delia get her pants down and do her business while trying to hold zannah...uh...no thanks. i think i will wait until she can walk. ugh. is this the right thing? i don't know. but for now it is.

other than that we are still praying for chris to find a job in franklin that can support our family and just watching the girls grow. i have been cross stitching christmas stockings and am about 2 hours from finishing delia's and then i can start suzannah's. at this rate i should be able to finish all 4 by christmas this year! as soon as i am done, i will def take pictures and post. but for now...here are a few of the girls!