Leviathan

Okay, so I'm supposed to be doing dishes... but I wanted to write a short blog.  This is really neat.  I love seeing the Lord so active in my life!

So in our study of Genesis we've been in depth about the whole creation story, and God's purpose for us, life, this planet, and eternity.  It really makes you look at the entire Bible differently when you can start at the beginning and see the POINT of it all.  This is the foundation of everything that happens, the basis for all that is to come throughout the bible and well into our future until Christ comes again.  So many questions have arose.  About 3 weeks ago, Keith and I were on our way home from church and somehow the mention of dinosaurs came up.  I had mentioned to Keith that there was talk of a Levaithan in the bible and that there is theory that these were dinosaurs.  I had glanced in his concordance while we were in the car, but didn't see the word Levaithan listed in there and couldn't remember off hand where it was in the bible.

We had just left an awesome message by Bill Wellons about Creation Day 3, and he had really elaborated how GREAT God is, and just how BIG!  The thought of us leaning on our own understanding is just ridiculous when GOD is all powerful and sovereign!  He had mentioned the conversation that God had with Job when He said "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know." (Job 38:4-5) This really stuck with Keith.  The feeling of having that question asked to you by God!  Wow, talk about feeling small... Keith mentioned wanting to study Job.  He has never really read it through.  So I flipped over to Job and started reading a bit through there.  I skimmed a few chapters to the verse where God is questioning Job and started to read... I came upon Job 41 and it's mention of the Leviathan!  How amazing that it was RIGHT there!  Just when we were talking about it!  Irony?  I don't think so. 

So this past week on our way into church, not sure why, but the thought again crossed my mind about the Leviathan.  I pulled Keith's bible out and started to read aloud through verses 40 and 41; all about the Behemoth and Leviathan.  How massive they are, and how our God commands all of them.  It had been a long time since I had read through these, but happy that God had reshown them to me. 

We got to church and Lloyd was teaching about Creation Day 5.  It is amazing how he showed how much Day 5 related to fear.  The culture at that time was terrified by things they did not know about or could not control.  Because they feared these things, they in turn would worship them.  Today I feel we somewhat do the same thing; worship our fear.  The things we fear are what fill our thoughts and a lot of times they are what our days revolve around. Think about if we feared GOD, and filled our thoughts and minds with HIM!  That is where our worship should be, and that is where our days should revolve!  How Moses was not only writing this as a creation account, but also in purpose to demolish the idolistic religion of that culture.  He writes that "God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves..."(Gen. 1:21 NASB) This was something that the culture feared and worshiped, and Moses' God, our GOD, had created them and is all powerful, over all things.  What a true and awesome statement!  God is powerful over ALL fear! 

At the end of the message Lloyd referred to a few places in the bible showing God's power in the description of these creatures that caused so much fear in that day, and how these things were so small in relation to God.  And of course, he told us to take some time to read through Job 41.  And wow, Keith and I had just done that on the way IN to church that morning.  Isn't it neat how God ties things together?

**UPDATE:  Keith just found this online today... CLICK HERE!!**

IT'S AMAZING!

I've had two more things come up today that dealt with adoption and families... and I think I finally know what my calling is in all of this.  Both of these things have tied in with my love for creativity and love of photos!  I can't tell you what I'm going to do just yet, but I think it is clear how my love for these things and also my desire to help and be a part of family has come together for this purpose.  I can't wait to blog about it, but you may have to wait till next year!

LOVE

Wow... I have to tell you, for the past week or so this has been heavy on my mind; babies, children, family. Let me first say, I didn't plan to blog about this. But it has been a recurring theme throughout the past week, and I just feel the need to say something.

I love being a mom... I love raising Jack. I look forward to see where God's will takes my life, and I hope it is a life with more children and more family! Keith has been talking about baby number 2 for some time now, and it has also really been on my heart lately. The question is WHEN? When is the right time for me, for us, for Jack...but more importantly, when is GOD's timing, and have we asked Him? Then at CBS (Community Bible Study) we have been studying our lineage. It is so interesting to see where we come from and how much we are all in God's perfect plan and design. He had our heritage so detailed and organized from the beginning, as well as He has planned it out into our future. My sister and I had conversations about dreams, and children, and adoption. My husband even shared an emotional video with me about a small child this week. It is OVER AND OVER that this theme keeps coming up. Well, tonight it is yet again brought full circle by our sovereign God. Nothing is chance, nothing is coincidence. It is amazing to live each day open to Him and allowing Him to just take it and move it to where it is to be.

So, something had brought me back to Katie Davis' blog this past week. I was so touched by this adoption story. I immediately wanted to share it with Keith. My timing was bad and he didn't have a chance to read it right when I mentioned it. Throughout this week I had read the entry a few times, emailed it to family, even told my sister about it and copy and pasted the text to her in an email since she is unable to open blogs up at work. Again, yesterday, I asked Keith if he had read it. We have been so busy, and he had a lot going on and didn't have a chance. We both decided on just spending some reading/blogging tonight. And about an hour into our own "digital" worlds, it came to me and I asked him again, "Have you read the Amazima blog yet?" He goes "Ok! I'll read it right now." So then, a few minutes later, he goes OH MY GOSH! I know them! That's Mandy's brother! You'll have to read about the Mayernicks or Katie's blog to understand, (and yes, there are links all over this page... *hint hint*) but here the adoption story is about Keith's childhood next door neighbor and his wife! He had known about this story through reconnecting with Mandy, the sister, who is also in the midst of an adoption from India. It's such a small world. We have been so touched and challenged by Katie's message, and even posted it all over our Project Disconnect blog and facebook page. And here, in the midst of it all, it comes full circle as Katie's close friend is married to Keith's childhood neighbor.

It is truly amazing how God intertwines our lives and brings us right to where he wants us to be. Keith contacted Mandy, and now it looks like we will get to meet Mandy and her new little daughter Mia who should be here in TN at Thanksgiving.

So THIS has been on my heart. Children, family, adoption, LOVE. I have that, I long for that, and in some way or another God will provide that. He is sovereign, He is Love.

Finally, A COSTUME!

So, I finally decided what to do for Jack's costume. Since I didn't want to spend the money, I started thinking about what I had here at the house. I found a baby robe that he recieved as a gift, but never used. It's ADORABLE, but I just never knew a good time to wear it, besides for a picture or something. I decided to make some adjustments to it myself, and turn it into his costume!

I already had the blue pants and socks... we have SO MUCH BLUE! I took the robe belt and cut it into 4 peices. It was already attached at the back, so I used that as a starting point and hand sewed the pieces in a star like patern. It makes a cute "rag doll" type tail.

Then I lined up the front by overlapping the "wrap" part of the robe, and sewed right up the seam. I left the top unsewn so I could slip the whole thing right over his head!

I then removed the belt loops, and VOILA! A cute little puppy costume! I tried it on him just to see how it would work, and he happened to be wearing blue pjs. I think I may even dress him in the pjs, like longjohns, under the costume to keep him warm. He loves this lil outfit, and it cost me $0!!

POST

So, it's 1030, and I'm about to write a long, overdue post, and feeling kind of tired to do so. (which can be expected these days) But I will! Because I want to try and update you all on what has been going on these days!!

So where did I leave off? I think I was mentioning Jack's possible tooth coming in, and our ministry being unveiled! Well, it turns out that Jack's "tooth" still has not completely poked it head through his gums. I can still see it under there, and now his two front ones are visable, but still no hard proof! I hope that it isn't causing him too much pain, as it seems that these "teeth" have been "coming" since he was 4 months old! At least that is when the doctor first noticed them and said they were "on the way". Can you believe Jack is 7 MONTHS OLD?? He turned 7 months old yesterday. It is ridiculous to me that it has flown by so fast. He has started to kick , scootch, and pull himself across the floor, so I can see crawling in the near future. We stopped up at Target and bought some outlet covers yesterday as we noticed him reaching for an uncovered outlet in the nursery. Wow... I love it, but I miss the "little" guy. We're getting to "big boy" territory. Ya know, that leaves me with a small predicament. Halloween costume. I'm torn because a) Keith and I don't have any big plans or desire to spend the extra cash on a costume for Jack. but b) he won't be this tiny forever, and by next halloween he will have outgrown the cute infant costme stage... I'm not sure what to do. I'm afraid by the time I decide, all costumes will be sold out anyways.

So our bible studies have been going GREAT! On a whim, I volunteered to fill in for the worship leader the DAY OF at our Community Bible Study. Well, a week later, the DAY OF, I got a call asking to fill in again. It turns out they now have asked if I wanted to do it FULL TIME, and I agreed! So after a year of not playing, or singing, I now have a full time music gig, and with realatively no preparation. It's awesome! God has put the one thing I really thought was missing from my schedule, right into the middle of His plan, and on top of it all, it is WORSHIP! I've never done worship music, and besides a one time duet performance at 4 years old, I have never ever sang at church. Isn't that unreal? I can't hardly believe it, but it's neither here nor there at this point. I can't wait to start writing again!

Our Community Group on Thursday nights has been amazing! There are 6 couples including us; 3 pregnant (well, one has a week old baby now!), one with no children, and one with a 1 and 4 year old. That is amazing because 4 of the 5 children are in 6 month age increments. That means they will grow up with each other, and have birthday parties together! Oh, I'm really looking forward to this! (ok, must be a mother thing... I feel really cheesy... or maybe it's because it's now almost 11) We are pretty like minding in what our passions are, and what we want out of meeting each week. We all are wanting to GO OUT, and DO SOMETHING! It's awesome.

Keith and I started up Project Disconnect. It is our pledge to live IN the world, but not OF the world. We are making a stand to put the money we would otherwise use to pay cable companies to fill our homes with garbage, and use it to GIVE AWAY and glorify HIS kingdom! We are looking at hosting some workshops to show people how to go about "cable-free" life. Where they can help donate, but also how they can use their TVs without the high priced monthly bill attached. This is something that is really on our hearts, and we look forward to seeing and hearing the others that are impacted by this stand.

Keith and I have attending a few charity type events this month. We went to a benefit concert that was put together within a week of the tsunami that hit Samoa. The Katinas (5 brothers, and also a music group) hosted this concert with some of their local friends in order to raise money for a relief effort in their homeland of Samoa. Their "friends" included Michael W. Smith, Natalie Grant, Melinda Doolittle, Calvin Nowell, Jeremy Camp, ColmanBlue, and Michael O'Brien. We are so blessed to live right in town with these artists... Wow, what an amazing concert. I have to say, from an artist point of view, Natalie Grant and Jeremy Camp BLEW ME AWAY! Wow... they were INCREDIBLE!!! We also have been able to serve with our local ministry Grace Works here and there. We helped out with a food drive by handing out need lists and also collecting food at the Kroger up the street. It was great how many people donated! Almost everyone walking out had something to put in our basket, even if it was one item! Every bit helps! We took Jack with us to both of these events, and he has been really loving his time with dad in his baby Bjorn. He is MESMERIZED by music, and never makes a peep. Just stares in awe, or bounces and shakes his arms around. He was also a hit at Kroger hanging off his dad. he's quite the flirt with the ladies!

Well, I'm sure there much more to share, but I must go to bed! Tomorrow is Monday, and a new week begins. I love our busy schedule, but I also enjoy my sleepy nights. I will post some recent pictures below.

The three of us at a wedding in early October.

Jack dressed for the occasion.

Playing outside in the fall breeze.

Sitting like a "big boy" in his stroller!

SO MUCH TO SAY!

but so little time.... A blog update is to come!