Soccer Camp

Our church held it's first soccer camp the first week of August. Karis was actually a year too young, but they let her and some other 4 year olds do the camp anyway. She had a blast and is excited about playing soccer at the rec this year for the first time. Noah also had a great time running around and playing with the other kids. The camp was our first big outreach as a church, and we had a good turn out. Justin also got to share the gospel with the all the children and their parents the last night of camp.

Karis' first day of camp, minus shine guards.

She already has a great looking kick!

Karis and her coach.

Karis and Hannah going for the ball.

Karis already has drive to go for the ball, sorry Hannah!

Karis dribbling, or attempting to do so!

Playing a game with the coach.

Hannah, Noah, Karis, and Madeline sitting together the last night of camp.

Noah already working the charm on Madeline!

Noah and Madeline playing with the cones.

So cute, crazy boy!

ball head

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Karis and Noah are growing up so fast, and it is such a joy to see all that God is teaching us and them.

Sugar Anyone?

This is what I found when I got out of the shower before lunch today. Noah decided he couldn't wait until lunch!

No hiding his guilt, it is "all over his face!"

"Sugar anyone?"

This was a fun mess to clean up, it was caked to his face and the floor. Yes, you might asked the door was baby proofed, but the knob on the cabinet comes off easily.

Friday Funny - Hope you Laugh BIG!

Hope you enjoy, and that Noah's laughter is contagious. Have a wonderful weekend!

Love One Another

I have been overwhelmed lately by God's teaching me about loving one another. After going through the book of John on Sunday mornings and my own times with the Lord, along with our current series on the book of James, one theme keeps standing out, LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Why is it so hard for us to do that? What exactly does this look like in our lives and in the local church? Does is mean bringing meals to woman who have just had babies or someone is sick in their family? Does it mean watching someone's children so they can go to the doctor, get a hair cut, or run a much needed errand? Does is mean sharing our requests and praying for one another? YES, it means all of these and more! It means, "in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4). It means following Jesus' command in John 15:12-13 "love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." WOW! If we love God, we must also love our brother. Is my love for my church family selfish, desiring something in return, or is it pure and unselfish like Christ's love is? He laid down His life freely for sinners.

So many times in the past year, God has challenged me with this: "Are you loving your brothers and sisters in Christ?" Many times the answer is no, sometimes it is with wrong motives, and sometimes, only by His grace, I can honestly answer yes. Loving one another is a product of maturity in Christ, and if I really long to be more like Him, I will strive to understand and flesh out what this means.

A few things God has taught me is that, just as I teach Karis and Noah that they (people) are more important than toys or getting their way, I am learning that people are much more important than getting my "to do list" done everyday. If someone needs to talk, I need to be ready to listen. If someone needs my help, I need to be ready to try and do all I can to help them. If someone needs a sitter just to get some alone time, I need to be able to offer my services and pray that God will use each one of these instances to show my love and His love for that person. Our God gives us "sovereign interruptions" to our days sometimes. Sometimes they may seem like trials, but we should embrace them with joy and love for that person because that is what God commands us to do.

I am totally speaking to myself here, and am not there yet by any means. I know that sometimes writing out my thoughts and what God is teaching me helps me apply it better. Loving one another is such a grand command, and we can only do it with God help. Oh that He would help us love one another so that our church would display His glory to the world!

Fun with Friends and Each Other!

As you can see, blogging has not been high on my list of things to do this summer. I think I have been in a rut, and it is no surprise that sometimes, I don't even look at the computer for days. I think my rut is finally over, so here are a few pictures of what the kids have been doing this summer.
Awhile back, we watched the Brooks' girls for date night. The kids had a lot of fun, especially eating Popsicles.

Noah, Karis, Madeline, and Hannah

Wednesday during lunch Justin came home and watched the kids so I could get a haircut. I came home to a HUGE mess, toys everywhere (I am not complaining just stating the facts). The kids had been going to the store and buying bedding amongst other things so they could make beds to sleep in in Noah's room. They used my Harris Teeter reusable bags to make their purchases, it was a sight.

Karis is her newly furnished bed, pretend napping.

Noah just waking up from his pretend nap, as you can see toys all around. I don't imagine either of them could really sleep if all those toys were in their beds.

Karis loving her brother.

I have soccer camp pictures coming and more fun things ahead. Most of our summer has been spent at the pool, but pictures aren't possible this year as Noah doesn't like floats and he has to watched constantly, he liked to jump in. Hope everyone is having a fun summer.

Bye Lisa, We will miss you!

A few weeks ago, we had a "sending off" church party for my friend Lisa. She is in Virginia now doing her training to go to Russia. I, as her friend, am so excited for her and encouraged to see how God has worked so carefully in her heart to give her a love for these people to know our Savior. I am also so excited about our church sending her off. What a blessing for our church to share in God's love for all the nations. I got to make the cake for the party. As Karis said, "here is the BIG green mass."

Menu Planning Again

Well, August is upon us, and July is over. After a long month and going way over the budget, my parents were here for a week and we went on vacation, I have seriously decided that I WILL, NO MATTER WHAT STICK TO THE BUDGET THIS MONTH. I don't know why I have such a hard time, maybe my planning is not good or I just get in a rut for meals and don't want to cook what I have planned for that day. So after much deliberation, I plan on doing this for the month, making each day a certain type of food, except for next week, because we will be at soccer camp from 5:30-8:00pm everyday. The kids will have to eat before we go, and I will have to have something. I will also need some snacks for when they get home. Anyone have any suggestions? I can always use the help.



Here is my strategy this month:

Monday: Italian

Tuesday: Mexican

Wednesday: crock pot

Thursday: grill

Friday: pizza/new recipe

Saturday: leftovers/grill

Sunday: leftovers/ out to eat

We shall see if this helps. This week we are having a soccer camp, so the menu will be out of commission, but I will start hard next week. I stocked up on fruit and veggies for snacks and dinner. I am planning on making a few big lunches this week in place of a big dinner since we will have to be at camp by 5:30 every night. I have also planned a budget for my grocery budget. I am going to try and spend only $150 every two weeks. This gives me a little extra at the end of the month and for months that are longer than four weeks. Hopefully this will help. It is the 3rd and I have already spent $130 on groceries, however, I did get all of my meat and most everything else, besides milk and fresh fruit and veggies for next week. I have $20 left to spend next week.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday, off to laundry.

Beach Vacation 2009

We went on our family vacation to the beach on Sunday after church. Our time together was wonderful and we spent a lot of time just enjoying each other's company and having Justin with us for three full days, uninterrputed.

Sunday after we arrived, we walked on the beach after dinner. The kids couldn't resist getting wet! Monday, after sleeping in and eating breakfast, we headed out to the beach, loaded with all our beach gear, only to enjoy the cloudy sky and cold water for about 3o minutes until the rain came. We decided to sit on the covered porch, watching the rain, while the kids had a snack of fruit snacks and a capri sun. After playing, lunch, and a nap (which only Noah and I took), we took our chance again and headed out to the cloudy beach, again only for about half an hour.

Tuesday it was for casted to rain all day, but we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. The high was only 85 degrees. Again, we headed out to the beach with all our gear ready to spend the whole day there, which we did except for a brief lunch back at the house, a good five hours enjoying God's creation, building sand castles, playing in the waves, reading (me mostly), and just being together. After a good nap and dinner, we went to feed the ducks. Noah has his first encounter with a very hungry goose, and he got bit on the finger. Poor thing, he wouldn't let me put him down after that. We saw a lot of deer on our golf cart ride that evening, and then we were off to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream!

Wednesday I spent cleaning up while Justin took the kids riding on the golf cart. Justin said Noah was silent the whole ride until he saw the geese and he said, "bite." Children have such good memories.

Here are some pictures of our trip, along with some music, hope you all enjoy!

Necklaces for All!

I don't know what to say about my lack of blogging, except that I have been in a slump. Nothing seemed worthy of blogging, and I just haven't been that crazy about my computer lately. We are having a great summer, lots of swimming at the YMCA pool, playing, grilling, and just recently a wonderful visit from my parents, (more to come on that later).
One morning before we went to the Y, Karis decided to make everyone, including Calvin, a necklace. She and Noah sported theirs to the Y, and Calvin wore his all day long!

Strawberry Picking, Sort of

About a month ago, we took the kids to Dean's farm, a local farm in Wilson, that has all kinds of produce. They have a huge strawberry patch, so we decided to let the kids pick some strawberries. We didn't get to pick for more than 15 minutes because it started to rain on us, but we enjoyed our small bucket of strawberries, and the kids had fun.

Mommy showing Karis which ones to pick.

Noah jogging down the aisle, not sure what is going on.

Karis did a great job picking big juicy strawberries.

Noah reaching for a green one...

and eating it!

The Many Faces of Noah

Posing for his picture with his "ruck" on. He now likes to only wear shirts with "rucks, dars, or rains," on them, that would be trucks, cars, or trains.

Noah smirk, wrinkling up his nose.

Being silly at the table after all the guacamole is eaten, of course he is wearing most of it.

Hope everyone had a great week, and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Early Mornings and Rain

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain, which usually causes me to turn over and go back to sleep. Rain has this effect on my body that makes me want to sleep no matter what. However, with God's help, I threw off the covers and rolled out of bed. What a sweet time and fellowship I had with my Savior, reading the Word, confessing sin and praying for others. God reminded me of His presence in the early mornings, and how I should long for it and desire it. Rising early is so vital for my days to go well, for me to have confessed sin, prayed for strength, patience, and thankfulness no matter what the day holds. Rising early allows me time to be with the only One who can give me peace throughout the day.
Rain, what a blessing from God. He takes care of His creation by providing rain to do so many things. Just when I am tempted to worry or fret about something, God sends rain to remind me that no matter what He is in control of all things. I am thankful that God has opened my eyes to see my need for this Savior, the One who holds all things in His hands.

Texas Spring Trip 2009 Part II

We had a wonderful time with my family for the next week that we were in Texas. We took the kids to the Houston Zoo, celebrated my dad's 64 birthday, had a Rehms' family reunion, played some slow pitch softball, and just hung out. I always enjoy my time with my family and it always seems to go by way too fast. Here are some pictures of the petting zoo, Houston zoo, and all the cousins. I am glad that Karis gets to play with her cousins, if only for a short time.





More pictures and posts to come of our fun summer activities. I also got to go see my dear friend, Mandy's new baby boy, and he was a cutie! I am glad we got to visit Mandy if only for a little while.

Texas Spring Trip 2009 Part I

So this post is a little late in coming, but better late than never. The kids and I went to Texas at the end of April for ten days to visit our families. We spent the first few days with Justin's family in Orange. The kids had a lot of fun with Aunt Courtney and hanging out with Pop Pop and Grammy (I am not sure why I never seem to get any pictures of Grammy in here, sorry Grammy, I will try harder next time).

Noah eating his first ice cream by himself, thanks to Aunt Courtney. Let me just say, AHHHHHH! It was a BIG mess, but he had fun and enjoyed himself.

Me, Noah, Karis (making her famous monkey face), and Mamou

Aunt Courtney letting Noah and Karis look out the window in Papou's room at the hospital. I am very thankful that we got to see him before he passed away.

Courtney decided to take us to a petting zoo in Beaumont. The kids had a lot of fun.

Karis petting a rabbit.

Noah pointing to the kangaroo.

I have more pictures to come of the petting zoo and the time we spent with my family. Stay tuned.

Respectable Sins

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges was both convicting and encouraging. It was convicting because it opened my eyes to many sins in my own life, and it was encouraging because it reminded me over and over that Christ, my Savior, died for these sins and will and has forgiven me.

Bridges gives us five helpful directions for dealing with sin:
1. We must address our sin in the context of the gospel
2. We must learn to rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
3. While depending on the Holy Spirit, we must at the same time recognize our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sins.
4. We must identify specific areas of acceptable sins.
5. We should bring to bear specific applicable Scriptures to each of our subtle sins.

After Bridges gives us these practical steps of dealing with our sins, he writes a chapter about each one of these acceptable sins: ungodliness, anxiety and frustration, discontentment, unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, lack of self-control, anger, judgemental ism, envy, jealousy, sins of the tongue, and worldliness. Wow, this is a long list, and to be quite honest, I found in my own heart that I had to deal with almost all of them. God was gracious to continue to remind me that my sanctification is a process and it takes time. God is slowly and graciously helping me put to death these respectable sins in my life, it is a life long process, and I am grateful for this book. It opened my eyes to sins that I didn't even realize I was committing.

I would recommend this book to everyone. It woke me up in many areas of sin in my life and reminded me again of "my need for the gospel everyday of my life." I am thankful that my Savior is not through with me yet and that my sins yesterday, today and tomorrow are already forgiven. Why wouldn't I desire to please and honor Him by doing everything possible to not sin against my Precious, Loving Savior?

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Thanks to a recipe blog that I visit often, my family and I enjoyed these muffins for breakfast.

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Tablespoons softened butter
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup plain low-fat vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup sugar
heaping 1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup coarse sugar
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
(I left both of these off the recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place butter, eggs, bananas, yogurt, sugar, and peanut butter into a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine. Place all dry ingredients into a separate large bowl and stir to combine. Slowly add wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until combined.
2. Scoop into muffin tins lined with paper cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and shredded coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 servings.

These were very tasty and filling. I would defiantly recommend to anyone who likes muffins, it is going to be a stable in our house from now on!

Noah and Noah

Karis' doll house figures that she got for her birthday really do look like the family, especially Noah's except for the red hair.

Here is Noah the doll, with his bottle and pajamas on.

Here is Noah, holding Noah, with his "bottle" and blue pajamas on. See the resemblance.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday, God is good today. I am thankful for His saving grace that saved me from my sins.

We love you Papou!

Justin's Papou, JC Childers, passed away this morning. Please lift up his family in prayer. Justin will be flying to Texas in the morning, and I am sorry to say that the kids and I will not be able to go with him. Our hearts are with you Justin, Mamou, Dad, Susan, Courtney, Canda, and Mike. Wish we were there too!

Papou was a delight to my children, he always offered a smile and hug. Karis said she like playing "ducks with him and watching Meerkats." I am sorry that Noah will not know his Papou better, but I am thankful for the time we have had with him. May God comfort you guys in this time. We love you Papou!

To My Dear Mother on Mother's Day!

Mom-

Thank you for

being patient with me and nursing me back to health as a baby,
teaching and modeling modesty to me,
encouraging and supporting me in sports and school,
being my biggest cheerleader on the sidelines,
grounding me in Christ,
teaching me how to love the home and do all the daily chores with a happy heart,
offering forgiveness after I failed,
teaching me that sometimes being the best means being last,
knowing that only chicken and dumplings can heal my sick body,
spurring me on as I love, train, and discipline my own children,
simply being the best woman I know, my best friend and my mom.

I love you Mom, miss you already!

Texas, We are here!

Just wanted to let all of you know that the kids and I are in Texas right now. We arrived yesterday with a pretty easy flight, and will be spending the next few days with Justin's family. We will then head to Magnolia to be with my family and have the yearly Rehms' family reunion. I will post pictures as soon as I can, as long as I remember to take some! Hope everyone is doing well.