The Party Goes On

We got to party after all today!! Lincoln was completely well, but poor Noah and Jason were still a bit queasy. My personal birthday party style for the one-year-olds doesn't not consist of elaborate decorations and an extensive guest list. I figure in the coming years there will be plenty of room for that. My favorite is having just the close family for this special day! Noah knows and loves each and every one of them and it's just the right amount where he doesn't get too overwhelmed.

So today was perfect.

We ate cake, had some goodies and pizza, opened some gifts, played with toys, and hung out with the family. I wish we could all get together more often!

After his cake, Noah headed off to take his nap while the rest of us wrapped up the party (he was exhausted - probably from being sick, poor thing!)
Happy Birthday sweet little guy! You're pretty stinkin' special. :)

It's My Party and I'll, um, Puke...if I Want To???

Noah's family birthday party tomorrow afternoon.
Two mornings ago, Lincoln woke up covered in puke.
This morning, Noah woke up covered in puke.
Both these times were the only puke episodes and both seem to feel fine.
About 15 people coming to the house to party tomorrow.
Let's hope Jason and I don't wake up with puke all over ourselves.

Party pics to come. :)

Destin Dreamin'

Lincoln begged to go play in it...all morning.
We told him after his nap.
He woke up and the first thing he said was "Play in Snow!!!"
So that's what we did - I, of course, serving as the "picture-taker."
(He lasted about 15 min before he showed us his BRIGHT red hands and said "I'm cold. I wanna cookie.")
Here he is eating the snow. He hasn't learned yet to stay away from the yellow stuff.

Oh and the Bruce-in-the-snow pics I always seem to take. Mr. Bruce wasn't so sure of the magnitude of this stuff at first (2 ft.)...but soon figured out how to "run" - or leap across the yard. He quickly paved paths all throughout the yard, by which Benny then followed in and did his deeds. So thanks to Bruce, Jason didn't have to get out and shovel a path for our short-legged dog.
This is Bruce in one of his paved trails...he went over, plopped down, and rested his head on the snow pile like it was his foxhole. And that's probably what he was imagining/pretending, knowing our playful little guy.

Destin - I'm ready for you.

Love Story

I have always had a passion for cross-cultural missions. I've discovered over the years that this passion is rooted in my extreme hatred of injustice imposed on vulnerable people and their lack of hope...of a Rescuer.
I know this passion is created and sustained by God and I have been able to see over the years (and am still discovering these) the various skills/talents/desires He's also granted me to bolster this passion. I've been blessed to be a part of numerous missions opportunities both here and in other countries over the years, each of which provided me with different roles.
The last trip I went on occurred about 6 months before I found out I was pregnant with Lincoln. Jason and I plan on continuing this aspect of ministry when our kids are of an age where they can be somewhat dependent on the trips (I'm thinking about 6-7 years old).

Today I heard a song that is one of my favorites and never fails to flood my mind with memories of one trip I took with my college roomates in 2005 to Ukraine. The trip consisted of our small group living in an orphanage for an entire month under not-so-pretty conditions but with a couple hundred of absolutely beautiful children.

The song is Blessed Be Your Name. You've probably heard it. You probably know it by heart.

The night before we left on the trip, we were all at Rock Harbor Church together and the sermon consisted of God being your number One.

I remember vividly singing those lyrics and their impact on me at that time.


Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name



The concept is so simple. Praise God through the good times/praise God through the bad times. Seems easy, right?



Easy to say, maybe. But I find this to be one of the hardest things to live out on a day-to-day basis and I find it rarely seen.

I think this was easier to live-out before I got married...

"God, what will I do if something happens to my husband!!!"


And not to even mention adding kids to the mix!!!! How often do we cling to our kids like they're ours, or make them the very foundation by which we stand on?


I praise God for the people I know in my life who are such sweet examples of this song:


**the mother and father who recently lost their only child in a random car accident one night yet still praise their SAVIOR because they know their citizenship is in heaven? All of this to a point where the mother can stand at her daughter's funeral and WITNESS to the thousands who are in attendance of the love of Christ?

**or the husband who's wife has terminal cancer and was not expected to live past a few months, yet is going on year #2, all the while dedicated every hour to full-time ministry and making Jesus Christ known - still praising Him every step of the way

**Or the four families here in NWA who all quit their jobs, sold their houses, and moved their families overseas to an area of the world that is 99.9% Muslim for the sake of making Jesus known?


Their foundation is clearly Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection! The only thing worth boasting about!


You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will chose to say
"Lord, blessed be your name!!"


It's easy to bless His name when He gives. But why do we bless when He takes away? Because He will never take away the one thing we would die without - Him. How amazing that Christ gives us Himself...that He secures our citizenship in Heaven when we abandon all and follow Him.

For me, I am in the ever-circulating process of discovering what the "abandon all (take up your cross) and follow Him" means in a practical manner.

I think in the past I've assumed it just means "believing" in Him...going to church...praying...doing some good deeds for people every now and then...avoiding what's "bad"...

And what I'm learning is it's so much more.

My desire is to truly fall madly in love every day all over again with my Savior (that's my favorite name for Jesus if you haven't noticed!).

The kind of love where He can take EVERYTHING away from me and I'll still rejoice in Him claiming:

"Blessed be your name!"

Happy Birthday Noah!

Holy Cow he's ONE!!!! I've been reminiscing today about a year ago when we were at the hospital inducing with this little fella.
There were the anticipating moments of his arrival throughout the day...
The scary moments when he came out blue and not crying (ok - freakout moment!)...
The joyful moments when he did start crying and got to lay in our arms for the first time...
And the continuous fun, and blessed moments ever since.
Our little Noah.

When we refer to Noah, us (and most everyone who knows him) refer to him as "sweet, little Noah..."

And that's because he is.

He's soft-spoken, easy-going, and he's just a little shrimp.

He's still not walking yet - though this seems to be on the brink now (finally!), and we just started switching him to whole milk this week. He is not a fan (I call him the milk snob) which is funny because Noah is a HUGE eater and has not been picky toward anything up to this point.
So I've been mixing in a tad of whole milk with his formula to ease into this transition. I am SO ready to be done with buying formula for a while!!

He still sleeps like a champ. He takes one nap during the day for about 3-3.5 hours, and sleeps from about 8:30-9:30 in the morning.

He is finally getting in about 4 teeth at the same time which makes his cheesy smile freaking adorable.

We have his check-up tomorrow morning to find out if he's inched passed the 10th% on everything...we'll see!

Today we are just doing a little immediate family party during the Superbowl. We have some cupcakes and I'm cooking a yummy dinner, then we'll open a few little gifts. Next weekend is the actual party with all of our family.

What gift we still have the pleasure of enjoying, teaching, and loving!!! God gives good gifts, huh? :)

Happy Birthday little munchkin.

No More Snow Please

When Lincoln knows it snowed, he calls it his "surprise". He gets crazy excited for the snow (would probably play in it all day if we would let him) with his 2 favorite snow activities being (1)building "frosty the snow man" and (2) making balls which he particularly likes to throw at mama, dada, and Bruce.
Close behind snow days, another love of both Lincoln and Noah is "playing couch". We do it at least once everyday...most times 3 or 4, however. Basically, if you come to visit, there is a 90% chance our couch will be bare with cushions all over the place, and crazy toddlers jumping, bouncing, and squealing.
But seriously, how fun does this look?? :)


Lincoln also has a particular pair of pants he goes and gets out of his drawer when he sees that it has snowed. And this time he insisted of putting on a scarf like daddy.

Last time we put Noah out in the snow and he broke out screaming. So this time we left him behind...and he still broke out screaming. Make up your mind little Noah!! :)
Thankful to spend time with daddy on these days, but I'll be honest - I'm SOO over the snow and extremely excited for warm weather!
We have some big things coming up in the next few months:

(1) putting our house on the market March 1st (by owner) for a super low price in hopes of selling it in 3 months. So if you're in the market, let us know cause ours will for sure be the cheapest in our neighborhood.

(2) Baby Cole being born around the first of May

(3) Baby Jack (nephew #2) being born 1st of March

(4) Big family Destin trip this summer

All of which is sprinkled with countless park days, neighborhood pool days, walks/runs with the double jogger outside, finishing up basketball season, and WARM WEATHER!

It's funny because most would think I would be excited when season is over and things calm down a bi, but I get super sad thinking about Tiger games coming to an end this season. I'm weird yall. I LOVE it. And so do the boys. Lincoln went to practice with them last Saturday morning and was so giddy excited to be able to "workout" with the Tigers. It's precious.
Enjoy the rest of the snow days!!!!

What a Disappointment

Mmm...the smell of deliciously fresh-baked cookies...then not only do you get to smell their greatness, but you're now offered one. As you take a huge bite into the chocolate-chip gooeyness, ready to savor the flavor, your taste buds abruptly tell you it's in fact raisins - not cholotae chips.

A great disappointemnt.

Or how about hot summer days welcomed with refreshingly sweet banana pudding? Only you take the first bite and discover it's made with - none other - than banana pudding mix - not vanilla! (Okay - I understand I may be alone in my analogy here).

A great disappointment.

These past few months, whether it be through books, speakers, or just spirit-filled people God has crossed in my path, my eyes have been opening to a refreshing sort of existance. I am intentional in saying "opening" here because I am in the caving middle of sorting through truth and God's will, searching for meaning and its pertinance in my own life.

What type of existance?
In summary, one that is spirit-filled.

Have you ever really sat down and searched through Scripture to fully understand and know what it means as Christians to have the Holy Spirit living inside of you?

I have just begun this journey and already I am amazed, ashamed, regretful, thankful, excited, and proabaly many other emotions I find it hard to pinpoint.

I know that when I became a Christian at a young age that God's gift to me was the Holy Spirit's indwelling in my life. And through that he offers conviction, guidance, and counsel.

But I have neglected a huge portion of my life in allowing the Spirit to fill me...did you know that when we are filled with the spirit that we are then capable of doing extraordinary things through the power of Christ?

So this is where the shame and regret can seep in for me...

When I think back on my life...back on all the missed opportunities...back on the times where I was "Melissa-filled" going about my own lame agenda...the times where I let my kids fulfill me...Jason fulfill me...my friends fulfill me...money fulfill me...and you get the picture.

I particularly think of gobs of missed opportunities to make God's love known in high school and in college. It's sickening to think about how "me-focused" I was in those times. How much time I wasted. How much I neglected letting the Holy Spirit fill me so that God could do a great work in those around me.

Don't we exist for more than having fun with our friends...getting married...having kids...going to church on Sundays...tithing our 10%...keeping the house clean and family fed...?

I guess nowhere in Scripture over these past few months have I come in contact with passages where Jesus trains the disciples, then tells them:
"Now go back home, keep your house clean and family happy, go to church once a week, try not sin, pray to me every now and then, and try to lead a good, moral life."

Not even close. It's much more radical than that. He tells them to GO; to then make disciplies themselves of all nations; to sell all possessions if necessary; to forgo earthly treasures for the sake of the cause (which is Jesus)...

To sit at home and not share your treasure is to waste it.

I was recently convicted of this in a new light. Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, I find I do not have as much contact with hurting people like I did in my profession. I used to (When I say this, I mean last month!) make the excuse that "My kids are now my full-time ministry...when they get older, I'll get back to ministering to God's people."

I was recently convicted that this was an excuse.

That God's people still need ministering to.

Would I have to get creative with two little kids? Yes. Is this my strength? No. Praise God it's not all about me. :)

I realized that, especially in winter months, we sit in the house and play...all morning and all afternoon. Behind closed doors. While this isn't bad, and my kids need to see the love of Christ through me, we can do so much more through a spirit filled life!!! I waste most of my days in the name of having 2 toddlers!

I've been throwing around some ideas back and forth with another fellow mom (who lives in Portland!) about ways to make our days count for Christ...our HOURS count for the Kingdom of God (with 2 kids in tow!). I might share some of those at a later date (we're still brainstorming).

But for now, I challenge you to examine parts of your every day where you either are/are not claiming those hours toward advancing the Kingdom of Christ and making Him known. Our mission is to GO. Not to just try avoid doing wrong...and be nice.

I want to leave you with a passage from John Piper that I found griping. Hope it can impact you, too:

Sometimes I use the phrase "War-time lifestyle" or "war-time mindset." The phrase is helpful but also lopsided. For me, it is mainly helpful. It tells me that there is a war going on in the world between Christ and Satan, truth and falsehood, belief and unbelief. It tells me that there are weapons to be funded and used, but that these weapons are not swords or guns or bombs but the Gospel and prayer and self-sacrificing love (2 Cor. 10:3-5). And it tells me that the stakes of this conflict are higher than any other war in history; they are eternal and infinite; heaven or hell; eternal joy or eternal tourment.
I need to hear this message again and again, because I drift into a peace-time mindset as certainly as rain falls down and flames go up. I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do , not what God can do.It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mindset.

So going about my day...tithing once a month, loving my husband and kids, church on Sundays, fun times with friends, avoiding bad choices as best as possible, being nice to people...but never seeking the heart of God through ALL that I do (how I spend my money, free-time, day-to-day interactions, even through my words and actions on this blog!).

That, my friend, is what I will consider, if I were to die in this state, the wasted life (wasted on how I can do good and have fun and not on what GOD can do - cause it's SO much more!).

And with the wasted life, this will ultimately be...

The great disappointment.