Birthday Videos

This is the first attempt to make a birthday video for daddy...i couldn't remember the birthday song, so i just kept singing what i knew...

And this is the final video...Sally started crying because she wanted to hold the camera, but i just continued...i finally remembered the song and i wasn't gonna let anyone, not even sally's crying stop me from singing to my daddy!

I love you daddy!!!

WesleyGrant

My Great husband is 33!

We celebrated Stew's birthday tonight at UCHI's...a Sushi place here in Austin. We had a great time with the Ford's! Thank you Jason and Jenny for making it such a fun birthday! Happy Birthday, my great husband!! I love you!!

Happy Birthday DADDY!!!!

Thursday was daddy's birthday and I helped mommy make his favorite dessert! I drew him a poster and made a birthday video for him! (coming soon) It was a great day! And now i know that after daddy's birthday comes MY BIRTHDAY! I'm already telling mommy and daddy exactly what kind of a birthday i want!

WesleyGrant

The Crawford's came to Austin!!!

The Crawford came through Austin and spent 5 days with us! It was so much fun!! We were so thankful to get to spend some quality time with the Crawfords. We got a babysitter and got to just talk with Wes and Melissa and hear what God is doing in their lives in Monterrey, MX. Melissa and I got to talk about parenting. Thank you Melissa for your support and example to me as you were here. We love you Crawfords!! It is TOO quiet and empty now that you've gone! We found Claire's pacifier! so funny! Love you guys!

Sally's Walking!

Sally likes to try and do summersaults with her brother

Finally, Sally decided to take her steps all by herself. She still likes to crawl, but i am going to just write it down in her babybook that she is walking at 14 months! =) Yeah, Sally!!

" What do you do all day??"

3. And finally, mommy quits talking and just shows us how to love. We call this hug, "filling up our love tanks" And that about covers what mommy does...

2. Then once mommy begins, we decide we must apply what we are learning....Wesleygrant- hands on with everything! (like his mommy) Sally- hears and dreams (like her daddy) of how she can apply it all! And then teaches others how to apply it. Really, we are just doing our own thing while mommy tells us how we are suppose to love one another..."yes, mommy, after i am finished doing what i want to mommy..."
1. Before mommy begins the school of life, we must begin with our hats on....WesleyGrant- sally's skirt...Sally- a mexican hat....we are ready to learn!
I've got this question from some people recently...not asked out of questioning my job or role as a mother, but out of pure curiosity...sometimes asked by those without kids who want to connect with my world and other times out of desiring a real good answer to help them with their own children...I can't say i can ever give them a real "good" answer, but it has been fun to talk about my "job" and what i do as a mother with my children. It has also helped me to reevaluate things and keep the good, do away with the bad and add the new. I thought i would post just a few highlights of my day today....(actually taken all within 10 minutes of each other, but you get the idea)
I've found that the greatest thing about my job, is how it is teaching me about my own life...about the gospel...about love. I was not qualified for the job of being a mother....but as I seek to parent them to know God, He provides everything. I'm being taught as i teach my children. To trust and believe God. To obey Him b/c I love Him. To think of others more than myself. That discipline is a means of rescuing a child to a protected place...to a right place under my authority...as God disciplines me back under Him. I'm learning how God views me...He doesn't shame me to win my obedience...He disciplines me out of love b/c of His jealous mission to bring me back to Him Prov 3:12, Heb. 12:6. I'm learning that nothing can separate me from God's love... Rom. 8. I'm learning to forgive. I'm learning self-control. I'm learning to give grace. I'm learning to give. I'm learning....I teach, not b/c i am a teacher, but b/c i am a learner dependant upon God to "counsel me with His eye upon me"....and He does.

IRRESISTIBLE REVOLUTION by Shane Claiborne

One of my mentor's gave me this book. This is another "fork in the road" of my walk with Jesus. There have been times in my walk where God puts something in my life to give me such a clear picture of Himself that it causes me to say again, "YES! I will follow YOU!" and this is one of those books. It is a must read. But beware...it will mess you up!! It is all about believers needing to be followers of Christ, not religious people...and how God is found in the poor, the oppressed, the dying and outcasts...It tells his story of what God is doing in His life and the life of others. He serves in an innercity in Philly. the simple way ministries

Stew and I's heart has been absolutely wrecked with God's truth and call to serve the poor in the last 3 months. We are seeking to adjust our lives to reflect that...We want to stop talking and meeting about being Christians and start being followers of Christ! Their is a stirring going on in our body at the Austin Stone....who knows what God is doing in Austin! It may not be safe, but we know it will be good!

"We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours....I had come to see that the great tragedy in the chruch is not that rich Christains do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor." pg. 113