bread and water

We just got back from a great vacation! I am so thankful and blessed! We have been saying for years that we needed a whole month off in the summer. Being in the ministry is draining in a way that you donʼt understand unless youʼve been there. This was only the second summer we have taken that much time off after 15 years of doing ministry as a married couple. In those early years we didnʼt feel like we needed a break because we were super young and excited and not very busy. As we began to have children we got tired a lot easier and as they got older we got busier. As we moved, traveled, had more children, planted two churches from scratch, and started a Christian school we were really needing a vacation. The church we were at at the time told us we could not take a month off. So we didnʼt. Iʼm thankful the church we are at now allowed us time off. If your Pastor asks for some time off please support him in that. They carry a great burden 24/7 and need time to rest and reflect. ...

Iʼm scared of the waves. I donʼt venture out deep and only like getting my feet wet. But my older boys have been enjoying boogie boarding in the ocean while we are on vacation. Just a little while ago my hubby took our eight month old baby without floats into the ocean and I stood and freaked out as they got hit by two waves. I looked like a crazy lady on the sand waiving my arms and yelling. A younger guy was laughing at something as I turned around (probably me). But our baby wasnʼt scared at all. He wasnʼt crying or afraid. He was safe in his Daddyʼs arms. After our baby sat in the shade with me awhile I walked him back down to the ocean and dipped his feet in the shallow water and he started fussing like he was afraid of the oncoming waves. It hit me that he was afraid that time because his Daddy wasnʼt holding him and he thought I was going to sit him down in the waves all by himself. I quickly picked him up and thought about how we can face storms in our life bravely if we re...

Do your children have your heart? What I mean by that is do you love being with them...leading them, discipling them, loving them? God gave you your children to disciple. If we serve everything else and neglect our children we are failing. Malachi 4:6 says: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Loving our children doesnʼt always come naturally. If it did God wouldnʼt have put it in the Bible in Titus 2. His Word says: Titus  2:4-5 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. My children havenʼt ALWAYS had my heart fully. There was a time that I was pursuing money and taking things in my own hands instead of trusting Godʼs provision and making sacrifices financially. When money was my...

What do you do when God says no? I donʼt know about you but I donʼt like to be told no. Especially if itʼs something I really want. But recently God has been telling me no about a certain thing...a big thing. I canʼt understand why He is shutting the door in certain ways when it seems to me like it would be a perfect thing to do or to have. Those are the times when I have to trust Him. Have you ever had to trust the Lord for things in your life? We sing about it in church...”Trust and obey for thereʼs no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.” Trusting someone is hard sometimes. But the more you know the person the easier it is to trust. The more youʼve seen that persons character and how they have proven themselves in the past the easier it is to trust them. God has proven Himself faithful in my life. He is faithful and true and He loves me more than anyone else does. He really does know what is best for me even if I donʼt like it in the beginning. The Bible sa...

I want my body back after having four babies. Letʼs just be honest. I used to have a four pack of abs and now I have four kids and maybe some flabʼs. But they are going away let me tell you. I am sitting here on my neon yellow exercise ball drinking an iced coffee protein shake after doing a 20 minute diastases recti healing workout still trying to catch my breath. It is so hard to find time to exercise when you have four kids who are at home with you all the time. (I had to pause the workout video several times because I got distracted. Some of that was me being squirrelly, not the kids but still!) Keep trying to squeeze those workouts in though! I think staying in somewhat good shape is important for overall health and wellness. It can also help stress and boost your mood. Yep. Get that blood pumpinʼ Before I got married I exercised at a minimum of three days a week if not 5 to 7 days a week. I also had time to lay out and get a great tan every summer. (You are probably think...

We all come into marriage with different expectations whether we realize it or not. I remember when I was learning all I could about godly dating and courting I heard someone say that you should have no expectations . I thought to myself, “That sounds easy.” Then I got married . I thought I had no expectations but I found myself frustrated that my new husband expected me to keep the cars clean (and the house clean). I grew up with a Dad who kept the cars clean. My expectation was that if I kept our home clean on the inside then my hubby would keep the cars and the outside of the house clean. But he grew up with a Mom who kept the cars clean, cut the grass and kept the house clean. Our expectations clashed and we had to either fight about it or communicate about it. What do you do when your expectations go unmet? You know, really itʼs not the other persons fault. Itʼs our own fault that we assumed something without discussing it and planning or compromising. The first step is to c...

Hey yʼall! I shared in a previous post about an envelope budgeting system where you write down an amount you are going to spend on groceries and an amount you are going to spend on Other/Fun/Spending. I knew the amount for groceries was going to be hard to stay under because with a new baby Iʼm not cooking from scratch to save money. I do make his baby food when Iʼm home but not while Iʼm out of town. The first week on the budget I was excited and I stayed under budget and proudly showed my husband. The second week I went over budget on groceries and spending and I was so stressed and discouraged about it. My hubby said he liked me better without a budget because having this budget envelope was all I thought about. I was writing down every time I spent money from buying stamps to dry cleaning to fast food etc. It became hard to keep up with because I would get behind and save receipts and then sit down to write all the receipts down only to find we overspent. So I would think I had...