serving an amazing God

The last time I blogged, I had just got my two nieces for the weekend. 

The first night and following day were GREAT.  In fact, by the end of that first day, I was thinking, "I can DO this!  Four kids ages 2 and under is busy, but NOT bad!".  I kinda felt like super woman for the day :). 

But...pride does in fact come before the fall.  Yikes.  

That evening (after the babies were sleeping, praise the Lord!) my oldest niece got the stomach flu :(.  Full blown, 12 hour, nasty flu.  She was so tough though and got through it only to be running around the next morning just fine.  

BUT the bug didn't stop with her.  It hit me about 5am and lasted all day long the next day.  I COULD NOT get out of bed without puking :(.  SO, Chad and my brother cancelled their plans and took over childcare for the day.  I was soo thankful for them!  

The next week, Livie, Chad, and my sister got it too...so it definitely swept through.  But I think we're clear now.  

Call me immature, but I love these pics of my brother reading to Liv and Adalai :).

Haha :).  In the second one they look a little unsure of that book!!  But rest assured, Livie LOVES that book...she's quite fascinated by it actually.  Silly girl.

Oh, my crazy Livie.  Always chattering and on the move.  

And she's always talking like this:

"My have to go potty."

"My tired, mom."

"My hungry...my belly hurts."

"My don't want to color anymore."

"Her sleeping." (referencing Emma)

"Her wants some food." (Emma again)

She can't quite figure out those I's, she's, and he's.  And she's always concerned about Emma's well-being.  OR she just wants to take care of her!  I think it's pretty cute.  

But Emma lately just wants to take care of herself!  I've stopped trying to feed her baby food cause she'll just spit it out.  Something about being spoon-fed?  She's perfectly happy if you put little puffs or pieces of banana on her tray for her to feed herself.  But try to feed her mashed banana on a spoon and it ends up on me or on the tray.  Which is fine...really...my only concern is she doesn't have any teeth yet.  Going on 8 months and no teeth!  So, yeah, can't really give her many different fruits or veggies as finger food.  Her diet definitely is lacking...but at least she nurses good.  

I think she's still getting enough, don't you??  :)

Last weekend, Chad, Emma, and I went to a wedding in Indiana (for my good friend and old roommate Kristen...woohoo!)  SOO excited for her.  Seriously, it was one of those weddings where I was just SO HAPPY for the couple.  Great to see her, celebrate with her, see some other friends from Indy, and be away from normal life for a bit.  I know it was a sacrifice for Chad to make the trip out, miss a day of working on the house, and miss some 80 degree fishing weather in Illinois...but I GREATLY appreciated it :).

One smart decision we made was to leave Livie here with Chad's parents.  Here's a few of the pics they texted me while we were away.  

She was living it up at Norris Lake!!  In MARCH!!  I think in the first picture, she was carrying a little minnow around her neck.  Haha :).  Funny girl.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the LORD and not for men" Colossians 3:23

This verse has been really convicting for me with the house in the past couple of weeks.  I've realized that I've been fearful of what other's think a lot during the building process, and losing focus of why we are building this house.    

Chad seems to always have the right focus though.  I'm SO thankful for him...for leading us as he does...keeping in mind the bigger picture...serving God...and holding things with such an open hand.  

So, what's our bigger picture?  And why are we building right now?  Our generic answer is for the glory of God.  What better answer is there to give?!  All we have belongs to Him.

Now, of course we would love to live there, raise our kids there, and use it to serve others as well.  

More specifically though, we see it as an investment.  God has given us the talents and resources to build a house like this at this time in our lives.  Maybe we will live there 5 or 10 years.  Maybe we will live there just a few months!  

Truth is, we would LOVE to do full time kingdom work someday.  Right now, we have no idea what that would even look like.  The how? where? when? what? questions have yet to be answered!  But we trust God with our future.  He's always got a plan.  

Currently though, we have other responsibilities filling our time.  The business and our young girls being primary.  And we truly see those as our main ministries at this time.  

But if God would desire us to turn around and sell this house to a perfect stranger THIS summer...so be it.  We would sell it with open hands and hearts.  God's given us A LOT of grace to accept that possibility!  (And I'm sure if that did happen, it would be a lot harder to part with the house than I can even imagine right now.)  I try to just not think about that ;).

So, as we build this house, we try to keep ALL that in mind.  For me, it's been hard to not get lost in the details, not to get attached, and to remember that bigger picture.  But when I remember the Lord and all He's done for me...for US...it's a lot easier to surrender it to Him!  We serve an amazing God.