Lillian

 This is Lillian, my one little girl. And really, this picture is her. I am so thankful for the life and laughter she brings to our home. She has the craziest sense of humor and finds the most bizarre things funny. Her responses are short and to the point. She is just so much fun. I sometimes struggle with having fun, and she teaches me about fun everyday. Her spirit is precious and I love to watch her learn and grow. She loves saying her Bible verses. She tells me all the time she wants to be an excellent wife. By God's grace she will be. She loves her brothers and is already a "little mama". We have to remind her that she is not the mama and to let us handle things. She wants to clean and is showing some interest in the kitchen. She is just special. I am thankful she is learning to hold her own and that she is tough but in a gentle feminine way. It's amazing to see that in her at a young age. I pray that I can teach her how to be a woman after God's own heart.

Father, Thank You for precious Lillian. You have made her beautifully in Your image and I see reflection of Your grace in her all the time. May she grow to be a woman after Your own heart, an excellent wife, and a mama who leads her kids to You. Grow her to love Christ and reflect Him in all that she does.

October 28 to November 3

6901. Getting out of bed
6902. Coffee
6903. Getting a little school done
6904. Reuben going to the store with Jim
6905. Free Chick-fil-A lunch
6906. Learning more about God's work around the world
6907. Hearing the different ways and the different places where God is working
6908. Kids doing really well with a long afternoon
6909. Getting homework done
6910. Being able to lie down for a little bit
6911. Jim making a yummy dinner
6912. Jamey and Lillian loving to learn more all the time
6913. Kids wanting to watch educational shows more than non
6914. Reuben putting Jamey's shoes away for him
6915. Hearing the kids sing Bible verses
6916. Listening to the kids singing about being changed
6917. Great Truths coming from Jamey's mouth on a regular basis
6918. Seeing the Holy Spirit at work in our family
6919. Getting to school early
6920. Time to look around the bookstore a few minutes
6921. Kids excited about class
6922. Kids having time to play
6923. Great class
6924. Hearing sensitive issues discussed in a Biblical manner
6925. God's goodness
6926. God making men and women differently and the beauty of that
6927. An hour to talk and share
6928. Getting across the street without drama
6929. Smooth bedtime
6930. Commercials that make me laugh
6931. Nice evening with the hubby
6932. Having a husband who seeks to be more like Christ consistently
6933. Growing in communication
6934. Everyone sleeping until 7:30am
6935. Getting out of bed not long after
6936. Coffee and Grits
6937. Talking with Becca
6938. Playgroup
6939. Hanging out with Gidget
6940. Hanging out with Caroline
6941. Silas playing with the other kids the whole time
6942. All of the kids playing well together
6943. Seeing growth
6944. Fun conversations
6945. Planning times to write with Gidget
6946. Getting excited about (hopefully) finishing my book
6947. Eating and drinking without issue
6948. Gabriel attempting to play in the playground
6949. Walking
6950. Eating lunch
6951. Drinking water
6952. Resting for a few minutes
6953. Getting a head start on the prayer list
6954. Working on some blog posts
6955. Being inspired to write more
6956. Seeking to honor God with my writing
6957. Emailing Ann
6958. Yummy tortellini soup
6959. Starting to get trip plans finalized
6960. Reading my chapter for Discipleship
6961. Being reminded of the importance of telling people about Jesus
6962. Becca brushing and braiding my hair
6963. Finding out friends are a day away from getting there little girl!
6964. Community Group
6965. A couple of the guys bringing Chicken pot pie
6966. Really yummy cookies
6967. Laughing together
6968. Planning dinners and testimonies
6969. Great conversation about Jesus and rules
6970. Great conversation about God's sovereignty
6971. Great time of prayer for each other
6972. Taking time to pray for those who lost their homes in a fire a block away
6973. Discussing how to step into service in each other's lives and outside community life
6974. Wrestling with expectations and where my heart is
6975. Getting out of bed
6976. Being able to do school with the kids
6977. Learning more with the kids
6978. Jamey asking questions about what we're learning
6979. Finishing My Father's Dragon
6980. Getting extra school work done
6981. Great discussions about Jesus
6982. Kids voicing that we will talk about God and the Bible before any other school work
6983. Resting with Jamey
6984. Finishing worker lists
6985. Getting some blog posts written
6986. Getting all of my story thus far typed up (I write long hand with pencil and paper)
6987. Getting all of my SWI homework done
6988. Having a very productive day both with the kids and individually
6989. Reading my Bible
6990. Jim meeting with Cory
6991. Jim making a yummy dinner
6992. Watching some of the World Series
6993. Talking with Jim
6994. Growing closer together
6995. Sleeping until 8:30 and feeling mostly rested (the second part has been such a struggle lately)
6996. Coffee
6997. Gabriel throwing up on my so I got a few minutes alone with God in the shower
6998. Being reminded of the need to purposefully worship God everyday
6999. Learning more about God changing our minds to match His
7000. Doing what we needed to do even with a kink in the morning
7001. Kids playing outside in the rain without complaining
7002. Getting most of the school work for this week done
7003. Getting a decent amount of cleaning done
7004. Hot dogs
7005. Having conversations with Becca throughout the morning
7006. Cool weather
7007. Getting blog posts written
7008. Finding decent pictures
7009. Productive afternoon
7010. Pancakes with chocolate chips in them
7011. Water aerobics
7012. Good challenging conversation
7013. Great exercise
7014. Being in the water
7015. Mocha Frappacino
7016. Meeting with Becca
7017. Finding out Becca goes to Sojourn!
7018. Potential for continuing accountability
7019. Encouraging conversation
7020. Being able to speak into each other's lives
7021. Being challenged in knowing the Gospel well
7022. God helping me to learn and wrestle
7023. Time to laugh
7024. Jim's kind words and assurance
7025. Jim's patience with me as he listens to me voice wrestlings that sound crazy
7026. CSI:NY on Netflix
7027. Sleep
7028. Donuts for breakfast!
7029. Getting ready for Women's prayer
7030. Great time of prayer
7031. Remembering the persecuted church
7032. Meeting someone else having similar struggles
7033. Eating a whole sandwich and chips at lunch
7034. Great conversation
7035. Good rest time
7036. Taking a nap (apparently I needed it)
7037. Black bean casserole for dinner
7038. Gabriel eating a lot
7039. Watching Jamey and Reuben play and wrestle together with laughter
7040. Jamey and Lillian acting out movies together
7041. Listening to my kids' imaginations
7042. My kids growing up together
7043. Kids asking to play outside!
7044. Smooth bedtime
7045. Getting 703 words written in my book
7046. Typing stuff up
7047. The ability to write and type
7048. Watching a movie while working
7049. Great productive evening
7050. Sleep
7051. Not having any funky dreams!
7052. Snuggling with Jamey
7053. Gabriel moving to the kids' room
7054. Having a low key day with the kids
7055. Playing outside with the kids
7056. Productive rest time
7057. Writing 1324 words today
7058. Getting a clearer picture of how I want my book to end
7059. Laughing with the kids
7060. Using every opportunity to teach my kids
7061. Reuben "saying" Roman's 3:23
7062. Reuben singing "Jesus Loves Me" on his own
7063. Kids growing in Scripture memory
7064. Growing in Scripture memory
7065. Learning how to seek God in all things
7066. Yummy dinner
7067. Fun conversations
7068. Laughing
7069. Jim getting lunch for tomorrow together before work
7070. Having a great husband who works hard in all things
7071. Jim getting an extra hour at work tonight
7072. Getting some things done
7073. Helping Bec with her speech
7074. Getting word counts uploaded on the NaNo site
7075. Growing in gratitude
7076. Becca getting to go to the women's conference today
7077. Learning to change perspective
7078. Becca being here to help with sick babies
7079. Hopefully getting a little extra sleep tonight
7080. Jamey and Lillian sleeping until 6:30 (I realize it was 5:30 with time change but this is a blessing)
7081. Getting to sleep most of the night
7082. Movies to turn on
7083. Jim being able to stay home with the sick boys
7084. Jim getting a little extra rest
7085. Being able to take Jamey and Lillian to church
7086. Sitting with Alia
7087. A great sermon on the Holy Spirit
7088. Jesus promise that the Holy Spirit would fill His people
7089. Being encouraged to trust and call out to the Spirit
7090. Catching up with Ann
7091. Thinking of questions for developing advocate teams
7092. Yummy lunch
7093. Reuben and Gabriel doing better
7094. Becca getting pictures taken for class
7095. Jim and I going to the missions cookout
7096. Meeting new people
7097. Hearing about more ways of living on mission
7098. Asking questions about schooling overseas
7099. Praying for workers
7100. Hot dogs and chips
7101. Really good pie
7102. Catching up with Natalie
7103. More emails for women's prayer
7104. Meeting more women interested in learning and talking more about childbirth
7105. Leftovers
7106. Fun family evening
7107. Playing and wrestling
7108. Feeling some little movements
7109. laughing and talking
7110. Smooth bed time
7111. All 4 kids going to sleep around the same time
7112. Movie night with Jim
7113. Being together
7114. Low-key evening
7115. Always learning

Jamey

 I am thankful for my firstborn, Jamey. This boy surprises me all of the time. God has truly blessed me with a son who is smart, quick, loves to learn and challenges me everyday. Jamey loves to play, wrestle, build, read, spell, add, write, watch TV and movies, act out TV and movies, imagine, and figure things out. I am so blessed to have a child who loves to hear God's Word and memorize it. He loves to sing Bible verses and songs that talk about God, who He is and what He has done. Jamey is always surprising me with deep Truths. God definitely talks to this boy. I am so thankful for his openness to God and His ways and that He desires to know Jesus and be like Jesus. 

Thank You, Lord, for Jamey. Thank You for Your grace in His life. Please continue to reveal Yourself to him that he may know You and follow You all the days of his life. Bring him to Jesus and teach him the deep mysteries of Your amazing ways. 

Jim

I have the best husband in the world! Really I do. :) No he's not perfect, but he is wonderful. Why? Because he strives to grow in Christ-likeness everyday. He desires to seek God's best and direction in everything. He loves me unconditionally and does not give up. He desires to lead our home in a Godly manner. He plays with our kids and gets down on there level. He invited my sister to live with us so she could attend school in Kentucky (yes, it was his idea). He cooks dinner everyday, yes everyday, for our family. He plans all of our meals too. He is patient with me in my shortcomings. He values and respects my opinions and ideas most of the time. He is willing to listen. He is growing in leadership in our community group. He is supportive of the ministries God has led me into. He teaches our children God's Word. He talks through Spiritual issues with me. He allows me to wrestle with God and teaches me in a loving manner full of grace.

I could go on, but you get the idea. I am so thankful that God has given me Jim as a life partner. We were blessed to be married young and to grow up together. We have learned to do life together. What an amazing gift. It has not always been easy, but by God's grace we have persevered. I am excited to see where God will lead us in the next 50 years as He grows us closer to Him and together.

God, thank You so much for Jim. He is such a precious gift and I pray that I will not take it for granted. You knew what You were doing when You placed us together. May we live long lives together serving You together on earth before You call us home to Your side.

I'm Thankful For God

This might be an obvious place to start, but when I think about thankfulness I realize without God I would have nothing to be thankful for. God is all that I have. I'm so thankful that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for me, to save me and call me His own. I am thankful that because of what Christ has done in me I have His Holy Spirit living inside of me to teach and guide me as well as convict me and help me grow. I am so thankful that sin and death have been conquered by Jesus death on the cross and resurrection 3 days later. I am so thankful that He has created me and my family and has given me all that I have. I am so blessed that He refuses to leave me where I am, but instead grows me in Christ-likeness as He leads me each day. I am thankful He has forgiven me of all my sins and views me as clean because of Christ. I am thankful that He has given me His Word, the Bible, so I know who He is and can learn more about Him. Thank You, God, that You have saved me! You are all I need!

30 Days of Thankfulness

I have wanted to do one of the 30 day challenges since I started reading about others doing it. Until now, I really have not known what to do and have not been in a great place to accomplish such a challenge. After seeing my dear Sister Ashley's 31 Days of Blessed Chaos I realized how much this is about thankfulness and that is what God is really pushing in my heart right now; how to be grateful for all things. So I will be doing 30 days of Thankfulness in November. I'm excited about where this may take me, and it may even go over 30 days (I realize how much I have to be thankful for). I will continue my Sunday lists for my everyday blessings, but am looking forward to highlighting things God has brought to my mind. So join me this month as we prepare for Thanksgiving and share what you are thankful for.

October Evaluation

Spiritual

• Read through the entire Bible in a year following a chronological reading plan- I'm off by a lot, by God's grace I will finish by the end of the year.
• Memorize a verse a week (for full disclosure I am starting with verses that I have previously memorized but have lost full memory of)- Not really doing this, but working on verses with my kids and believe this is where I need to focus my Scripture memory right now
• Spend 30 minutes daily concentrated on prayer and Bible reading- I managed this a couple days a week, but not as often as I was wanting 
• Continue to record daily blessings to cultivate thankfulness (Goal is 10,000 things)- Still doing this you can see this months blessings here, here, here and here
• Praying throughout the day for specified things (still developing lists and plan for this)- this did not happen this month, sadly

Personal

• Read a book a month apart from SWI matrerial- Not this month
• Journal 5 days a week- No
• Write (working on books) 5 days a week- No
• Finish my first fiction book- Still seriously behind where I hoped to be at this point- but I am planning to do novel november and hoping I will finish (by God's grace)
• Write 3 blog posts a week- I got about 2 a week. That was success for October
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- Yes! Last Saturday was so encouraging
• Have one day a month for personal retreat time to pray, read the Bible and write- Yes (Thank you God for SWI requirement to be able to do this)
• Complete Level 1 of Rosetta Stone Russian- Hoping to get back into this, we are forgetting to much of what we have learned and I really want to learn another language now
• Begin working on a Christ-centered prenatal/delivery/postnatal education- Had my first class in September and starting to plan for the next as well as a book and blog

Marriage

• Go on a date once a month- Yes! We have actually had a few!
• Go on one overnight trip away- Done in May
• Read together for 30 minutes once a week- Not this month
• Discuss and plan the week to come on Sunday afternoon- Yes

Kids

• Take each child on a "date" once a month- Right now it's the grocery store, but yes
• Spend individual time with each child at home once a week (at least 20 minutes)- Sometimes
• Work on memorizing Psalm 23 with Jamey and Lillian- Yes! Both have it memorized as well as Psalm 67 with most of Proverbs 31:10-31 and Psalm 1. We are now working on verse with the school curriculum
• Finish current Pre-K curriculum with Jamey and Lillian- Plugging away with K curriculum
• Continue going to playgroup on Tuesdays- Yes
• (I need to develop more educational goals, so I guess a goal for this year will be learning to do this for next year)

Homemaking

• Begin a garden planting at least tomatoes (hoping to do more)- Our garden is coming to an end as it has gotten cooler. God blessed us with more than I expected
• Try 1 new recipe a month- We tried 1 or 2 this month
• Keep up with cleaning calendar- No
• Develop general cleaning schedule- Did not work on this

Health and Fitness

• Exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 days a week- I've gotten back to water aerobics once a week
• Lose 30 lbs- This is on hold until May

Ministry

• Continue hosting Women's prayer once a month- Yes, still praying for more people to pray
• Email workers once a month- Yes
• Send 2 encouraging notes a month- No, still hoping to catch up and improve in this area

October was also a blur. The first full week of October was Fall break, which was refreshing, but not long enough. I am very much looking forward to our 2 month winter break. This is just a busy semester, but God has been faithful to us in the midst of it.

How was October for you?