Bitter or better?

Can I just say that Job's strong and fearless faith is what I want.

He was such a GOOD man. 

Follow along at Job 1-2

(By the way, this is the Bible I have and I love it!)

Job had...

7 sons

3 daughters

7,000 sheep

3,000 camels

500 yoke of oxen

500 donkeys

A large number of servants

He had a lot of children, animals and servants!

The Lord and Satan had a conversation about Job and how there was not one person on earth as blameless as him who fears God and shuns evil.

Satan believed that if everything he had was taken away he would curse the Lord.

Didn't happen. 

He lost everything!

Still Job worshiped the Lord and said...

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

~Job 1:21

Wow! 

Then, Satan and the Lord spoke again about how Job continues his integrity.

Satan believed that if Job's body was harmed, then he would curse the Lord.

Still, it didn't happen. 

Job had painful sores head to toe.

Even his wife was shocked that he wasn't cursing God.

"Job replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said."

~Job 2:10

So true! 

We are expected to have good and difficult times. I believe that during troubles is when our faith can be strengthened. If we only had good and no trouble, how could we strengthen our faith? 

We can choose to become bitter or better during those troubles. I want to choose to become better!

Continue to read Job, it's good!

Jamie :)

A beautiful song!

Hey friends!

1.) You need to watch the video above!

It is an AMAZING video on YouTube posted by this lovely young lady named Molly Kate Kestner. It is called "His Daughter." I won't give away any of the details but you need to watch it! She tells her life's story through a beautiful song. What an amazing testimony she has! It brought tears of joy to my eyes. I pray for that beautiful young lady to continue following the Lord's big plan for her life! Her voice is going to take her far! Check out the rest of her videos, too.

Oh and she'll be on Good Morning America tomorrow May 14th. :)

Jamie :)

Top 3 favorite things right now

It's beautiful in MN right now!

 I'm so grateful, too. Because I was more than ready for some spring weather. 

It's been a loooong wintery winter.

This last Friday was my 29th Birthday! Time flies by! I had a great Birthday. My hubby got me some thoughtful gifts, Subway for supper and a lemon cake. Lemon is MY favorite. It was so delicious. The kids were so cute and sweet to me, too. 

Now I'm getting ready to celebrate my big boy's 6th Birthday. This Saturday we're having an "Angry Birds" Birthday for Austin. I'm praying the weather is going to stay nice because there will be a lot of boys and they've got energy :). Lots of good energy! We're currently working on building a giant slingshot!! I'll be sure to post photos after the party.

Here we go. Some of my favorite things right now...

1.) This candle smells amazing. Think summer ;).

2.) This shirt I am in love with. I paired it with some light turquoise cropped jeans and it was super cute and comfy. It's a nice light color which I really like. With a long necklace and earrings it can be dressed up.

3.) These TOMS crochet shoes are just lovely. I just got the deeper purple color but couldn't find that color online to show you. Here's a lilac color that is also darling.

Happy day to you!
Jamie :)

Top 5 best things about our Vacay

We went to Florida earlier this month and we had such a wonderful time. 

Family time is so special to us!! 

The weather was so beautiful--around 70-80 degrees. Perfect~!

#1.) I loved spending time with my sweet hubby! Total joy it was! The kids loved spending time with their Daddy, too! I also loved spending special time with the rest of our family who went. We are so blessed to have such an amazing fam!

Driving on the beach! I was SHOCKED that you can do that! It was so much fun! #rebels ;)

#2.) The views were fantastic! Seeing God's beauty was breath--taking. Really. I could sit on the beach and just stare at the ocean and sky for hours. I can see why one would want to live on the beach!

3.) The Alligator Farm!! Oh. My. Word! This place! It was the coolest thing. The boys were in their glory! Never ever did they think they'd see so many alligators!

An Albino alligator! So cray!

Getting ready to HOLD an alligator! They were both so excited at first...but once it came time I think A  & T were a bit hesitant. Can you tell?!

Troy did NOT want to help hold it. 

He was happy to just sit and watch his big bro do all the work.

#4.) Swimming! 

This boy was all about the water. He just wanted to boogie board over and over! #fearless

I even went out for a long time with him and had a total blast! It was obvious by our faces and shoulders being sunburnt. Woopsey! 

He actually cried the last time at the beach because the waves were too fierce to boogie board. Poor boy! 

And T boy wanted to try, too. It was so much fun! He had fun playing in the sand. The rest of us were content sitting on a blanket watching and taking it all in. 

5.) Boating was so refreshing :). We also stopped somewhere for Austin to swim. He loves to swim! 

The day after we got back it snowed. And this little cutie asked me all morning to go outside. He's happy in the sun or in the snow :). 

Hope you're having a great week!!

Jamie :)

I feel like there are always dishes to wash.

And that's ok. I'll get them done. Other things are more important. 

< Thank God for a dishwasher > 

I spoke about not crying over spilt milk or dishes piling up on my last post. Check it out here.

As Austin was getting ready for school this morning he said "I feel bad for Mom." I asked him why he felt like that? He said "Because you have dishes piled up in the sink. You have so many dishes to do." :) I told him it was okay and that I'll get them done later. He was genuinely worried about me. What a sweet boy!

Yesterday I felt like I did so many dishes. And in the evening, the supper dishes piled up and the pot and blender from the sweet potato/carrot/spinach puree I made. I froze the puree in ice cube trays and then put all of them in a freezer bag and stuck it in the freezer. I got the idea from my sister. I put a cube in our creamy chicken noodle soup last night....and no one suspected a thing ;). I have to be sneaky like that. But, back to the dishes. Last night I knew I had them piled up but...the kids needed to get ready for bed. And when they were in their beds after being read to and prayed with it was time to have a date with my hubby. It had been a long time since we were able to sit down just the 2 of us to watch a movie. It was fun!!

The dishes can wait!

Jamie :)

I don't cry over spilt milk anymore

Milk or water gets spilt regularly in our household.

And I just don't get frustrated about it anymore. 

It's an accident.

 Life goes on. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

There use to be times where I'd say "Now, how'd that happen?!" or "Ughhh! What a mess!" Because if you know me, you'd know that I use to like things to be neat and orderly. 

But since having the boys...that idea flew out the window. And it's good! :) I think God blessed me with those boys to break me of that. I'm not saying it's not good to be organized and clean. Because it is a good thing to an extent. I try the best I can. But, if there are toys all over the living room...it doesn't really matter. And if my dishes have piled up in the sink...it's going to be okay. And if there are 3 piles of laundry waiting to be folded...I'll get to it. And if I need to clean up spilt liquids on the floor...that's alright.

Positive thinking.

Is key!

Picture this--> You just pour your sweet 3 year old a nice n' cold glass of milk at the table with lunch. He starts to bring the glass to his mouth and drops the cup. Milk is spilt on the table which is dripping onto the chair and his cute little outfit. The milk then drips downnnn onto the floor leaving a big puddle of milk surrounding the glass. Woops!

How do you respond?!

This happened not too long ago for me. 

I looked into my adorable son's big brown eyes staring up at me.

And I smiled and said "It's okay. Accidents happen." He then smiled :). I helped him take a bath to get cleaned up and thought "He needed a bath, anyways, tonight."

And I started cleaning up at the table.  And I thought to myself...the table and chair needed to be cleaned up anyways and the floor was getting dirty. Now I was able to wash the floor up cleaner than it was before the spilt milk. That, my friends, is  how I try to react to these situations.

Example #2

The bed linens get wet from an overly wet pull-up.

I say to myself "I needed to wash the bed linens anyways." 

Find the positive in any situation, you'll be happy you did.

Because there are much bigger things going on in the world than spilt milk.

God cares about the little things, too

I want to teach my kids that God cares about every.thing. 

Not just big things but the little things, too. 

A couple weeks ago, Austin really wanted to find his Mario Kart 7 DS game that had been lost for over a month. He had been searching in his room for it for over an hour, like he had over the past month. 

But this time, he was determined to find it. I went to his room and I heard him say "Please God help me find my Mario Kart 7 game!" I smiled to myself at his trust in God and determination. I then prayed with him to help us find it. I helped search through his room. Under the dresser, in the closet, in the dresser drawers and under the rug. I then started looking under the bed and I found MANY different books and toys ;) that were lost.  But....low and behold.....I also found the tiny little Mario Kart 7 DS game under the bed. Austin was so happy! :) Right away, I told him "Lets thank God for helping us find this game." I reviewed the story of the 10 people with leprosy in the Bible whom were healed but only 1 came back to thank God. We prayed and thanked God. I had tears in my eyes because I saw how happy Austin was and what an AMAZING opportunity this was to strengthen Austin's faith in the good Lord! 

Last Saturday I worked. And after work I went to Lifeway Christian bookstore, Target and Costco. It was a busy time getting the last minute stuff for Easter. I am a bit of a procratinator :).

 So anyways, I finally got home around 7pm. The kids were all so happy to see me! But, it was time to get ready for bed. I was going to have them just brush teeth and get jammys on but then decided they should definitely take a bath since the next day was an important day in celebrating Easter! So it was bath time. Troy was really cute in the tub. He wanted to lay on his back and float in the water. While he was on his back I noticed something in his left nostril. Something shiny. I thought "What is in his nose?!" So I looked closer and realized it was definitely a foreign object. It looked like a circular battery and those are dangerous! But it wasn't that. I called for Billy so he could help. I got tweezers and was getting ready to pull it out. Troy was a little scared and resistive. 

I then felt the sudden urge to pray out loud. So I quickly said a prayer for God to help us get it out. After a few minutes it was out. It was up there pretty far. Praise the awesome Lord! It was a scary time! I thought we'd have to bring him to the ED. Was it a coincidence that I decided to give the kids baths? I think not. God was the one who urged me to give them baths. If I hadn't listened, that foreign object could've gone up further and been more severe of an issue.

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."

-1 Peter 5:6-7

Jamie :)