The Smell of Strawberry Lipsmackers Part 2

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Monday, June 27, 2011 at 11:02 AM

So, I had settled that Maggie Beth's room really just smells like Strawberry Lipsmackers, because it just did and I could not figure out why, so I had decided that either I just kept smelling Lipsmackers because it was on her face or it was hiding somewhere. 

Well, the latter was true, I guess I as a parent have not learned my lesson.  Lesson being that Lipsmackers must never be played with by a 3 year old by herself, that a parent must be present while little one is playing with Lipsmackers.  So perhaps now I have learned.  Because what I found behind Maggie Beth's door was smeared Strawberry Lipsmackers.  Lovely huh? 

Guess what.......she had to help clean it up! 



Eli's Art Work from Art Camp

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Friday, June 24, 2011 at 10:30 AM

Here is our gallery for Eli for his work we could post up on the wall.  He went to Art Camp at Brevard Art Museum this week.  He had fun being his little creative self.

Above are some of his pieces that were on display out in the gallery.

Here he is at work with his little class and his wonderful art teacher.



Declaring War on Ungratefulness and Grumbling -- I think I do not get a star...

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 12:29 PM

One verse that you will hear a lot in our house is:
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the Word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing (Philippians 2:14-16)

So, if children in my house do things without complaining (grumbling) or arguing (I include whining here).....they receive a star.  Or if they do things without us having to tell them they receive a star........on their star chart. 

Well,I have a challenge before me, because I have failed in this area (just read the below teaching).   I think that I need to do better at modeling this teaching.  Not just by word, but model it in my actions and words.  I do not think I deserve a star and that is what God is challenging me in these days, to not grumble, to not slander, but to love.
It's hard but I am challenging myself to be kind and grateful.  Because I have felt justified to grumble........but I have no right to grumble.  Hmmmm........... 

Another thing I sing when my children are not being kind to one another is, "Be kind to one another and build each other up, build each other up, build each other up, be kind to one another and build each other up....up, up, up, up, up!"  So, I have justified to myself so and so is not nice so my thoughts go way to the dumpster........stink I am huh?  So am I modeling being kind in my thoughts?  I will answer that for you........."NO!"  So..........my other challenge here is be kind and let my thoughts and words be to build another up, not tear them down.  Hmmmmmm.............

Growing pains.....for good measure!


Declaring War on Ungratefulness
and Grumbling

From my earliest Christian years I've heard questions about Jesus' comment concerning Judas Iscariot: "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70).

What did Jesus mean? Was Judas genetically a devil and not a man? (Jesus didn't say Judas had a devil; He said he was a devil). Can a devil actually live among people as a human? While I am no scholar in ancient Greek, I think truth is better served reading the literal translation of this verse. The word translated as "devil," diabolos, is the same word translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "slanderer" or "malicious gossip" (see 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3).

When Jesus says that Judas is a devil, He is saying one of you is a "false accuser," a "slanderer," a "malicious gossip." Judas could not keep his negative perspective to himself.

Remember, just before Judas delivered Jesus to the Pharisees, he was offended that Jesus allowed a expensive ointment to be poured upon His hair. Judas indignantly complained: "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?" (John 12:5). His words spread strife among the other apostles as well (Matt. 26:8).

Judas said, in effect, Who permitted this thoughtless luxury? Well, it was Jesus. The woman had anointed Him for His burial. Yet, to Judas this was an extravagance that Jesus shouldn't have taken. In the angry mind of Judas Iscariot, here was justification to go to the chief priests. He had grounds to break ranks with Christ (Matt. 26:14-15).

God Has a Problem With Grumblers
Betrayal is never a sudden thing; rather, it is an accumulative response to the unresolved anger and disappointment one feels toward another. The offenses we do not transfer to God in surrendered prayer inevitably decay and become a venom we transfer to others through gossip. In the process, we embrace slander, but we feel justified. We become malicious gossips, but in our minds we're only communicating a "truth," a character flaw, that we self-righteously "discerned."

To understand Judas' betrayal of Christ, we must unearth its source: Judas Iscariot was a grumbler. When we lose sight of the many things for which we should be thankful, we become murmurers and complainers, increasingly darkened by a thought-life engendered by hell.

Beware when your anger toward another Christian has led you to gossip about him or her, especially if you are embittered and are now sowing criticisms about him to others. Yes, beware: you are no longer being conformed to Christ, but are actually becoming more like Judas than Jesus.

Grumblers Everywhere
Of course, this grumbling attitude was not isolated to Judas' betrayal of Jesus. Many would-be disciples and Jewish leaders were also infected with murmuring. Consider: there were miracles everywhere and Christ had just fed the 5000 when a very large crowd of His disciples began to find fault. Yet, even though Jesus warned, "Do not grumble among yourselves" (John 6:43), still the crowd persisted. Remember, these were Christ's disciples, and they were not grumbling at a sinner, but the only sinless man who ever lived.

"But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this," asked, "Does this cause you to stumble?" (John 6:61). And then, the grumbling spirit continued until "many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore" (John 6:66). Incredibly, Jesus Himself suffered a type of "church split."

Grumbling caused people to stop seeing and appreciating miracles. It caused disciples to be offended by Jesus' teachings and stop walking with Him.

As it was then, so it is today. Grumbling will ultimately cause you to stop walking with Jesus. It is a killer. You see, not only were the Pharisees and Judas Iscariot critical of Jesus, even His closest apostles grumbled at times. Heaven itself was manifest in their midst, yet all they saw was what they perceived was wrong. That's what a grumbling attitude can do.

This poison of ingratitude is prevalent in the church today. Paul warned that "in the last days . . . men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips" (2 Tim. 3:1-9). You get the point: "men will be . . . malicious gossips" or devils. They will be given to destroying one another with their words.

The Thankful Heart
Personally, I've declared war on grumbling. An unthankful heart is an enemy to God's will. Can you join me in this? Can you crucify a murmuring spirit? We have received too much from God to allow ourselves opportunities for ingratitude and unbelief! We have received too many gifts and privileges to allow grumbling to disqualify us from our destiny.

The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities to grow. My prayer is for each of us to possess the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. I want to drive that little, ugly, grumbling demon away from our hearts and replace it with a living awareness of the goodness of God!

Paul warned,"Nor let us . . . grumble, as [Israel] did, and were destroyed by the destroyer" (1 Cor. 10:9-10). The "destroyer" (called Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek) is actually the prince over the bottomless pit of hell (see Rev. 9). Listen well: the moment we open ourselves to grumbling, we simultaneously open up to destruction.

Thus, Paul tells us to fix our minds on the things above (Col. 3:1). Elsewhere he says,
"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable . . . is right, whatever is pure . . . lovely . . . of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things" (Phil. 4:8).

Remember, Paul was writing to people in the ancient Roman world. It was full of evil, full of injustice, full of reasons to grumble and be upset; but instead, God calls His people to a higher realm, where we dwell on the things that are above.

You say, "Who then will point out all the things that are wrong with life?"

Oh, there are plenty of volunteers for that task. Better to ask, "How can I attain the blessed life Jesus came to give me?"

You say, "But the world is wicked. We need to decry and defeat evil." Yes, and I totally agree. I often decry evil myself. But I must live and offer a better life if I am going to defeat evil. God doesn't want His people to be grumbling about the difficult conditions of existence. He wants us to be mercy-motivated, redemption-orientated, prayer-empowered ambassadors of Heaven.

If we are merely complaining about what's wrong with the people around us, we should beware: we may actually be more like followers of Judas rather than Jesus.


Passing Down a Food Tradition

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On at 10:11 AM

What's for lunch?

When I was little my mommy made me bologna and chip or ham and chip sandwiches with mustard.  I remember coming home from kindergarten and having a sandwich with some Mike Sell's potato chips watching the Bob Braun show. 

So the other day I was eating my ham and cheese crossiant with potato chips on it (that is how I like it, but I do not often have potato chips).  Hezekiah our in house foodie, was quite interested.  So he asked if he could have one for lunch which snowballed into Eli asking for one too.

It's the new house favorite!  Thanks Mom!  I call it the Grandma sandwich!




I smell somefing

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 6:28 PM

This girl of ours is a character.

Yesterday we were driving down to Sebastian Inlet and she sniffs and says, "I sink I smell somefing."

I say, "What is it Maggie Beth?"

She says, "I smell somebody's candy bar!"

I say, "Well, ummm I don't see any candy bars."

She says, "I sink it was up on one of doze twees." (I think it was up in one of those trees).

Page, the boys, and I all started cracking up!

She is a hoot!




Other candid photos

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 1:09 PM

Here are some other candid shots that Page got after our little princess had to leave the ball. 

There are lots more pictures, but thought I would share the ones of some people we know.

Enjoy!



Limo Pictures DD Dance

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On at 1:02 PM


While Page and Magpie were busy dancing I took some pictures.........all except one of the above pictures I took......how did I do? 



A Little Daddy Time

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On at 12:11 PM

Last night Page and Maggie Beth had a little time together at EGFB's Daddy Daughter Dance.

Page was helping take pictures, so we took Magpie up for awhile to spend time with him. 

I overtook taking shots while they spent a good hour together.  The boys, Hezekiah and Eli, were a bit over it - so I promised them ice cream from Sonic.  I guess it is not a boy thing. 

It was a lot of fun and I think they had a splendid evening in Central Park.  They even got to dance to Maggie's favorite song, "Stardust," that Page sings to her each night. 

Happy Father's Day!



Bottom of the Barrel Housekeeping

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Friday, June 17, 2011 at 6:04 PM

When it comes to being busy somethings start to slide.  Like laundry, washing dishes, tidying up in general, couponing (ha ha ha.......which no, I do not do - I mean I try, but wish secretly someone would do for me).   I kind of know when times are getting a bit tough.  It's when my daughter is wearing a black t-shirt that says "Mommy's 'lil Sweetie," with a trick-or-treat candy corn in the middle of summer.  Or when there are no more spoons in the silverware drawer to eat our morning yogurt or forks for waffles.  Or when the liquid soap dispensers are all out of soap at the same time.  Or when there is a thick layer of dust over all furniture.  Or when you make bath time the same as pool time.  Okay.....you get the idea!

Maybe these should be things on the slacker list or really I should say I am just busy (which is true).

But I know my housekeeping gets to be a bit  bottom of the barrel at times.  It's not like me, I mean seriously my favorite verse is Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."  And so, I appreciate that when others do things with all of their heart. 

Sometimes though I just have to accept my imperfection and house keep at the bottom of the barrel.  I guess as long as everyone knows they are loved, I am doing what I am suppose to! 



The Smell of Strawberry Lipsmackers

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Monday, June 13, 2011 at 6:56 AM

Since Saturday when I had to call poison control, I have been smelling strawberry Lipsmakers.

I had been cleaning the house and went by Maggie Beth's room and smelled something kinda fruity.

I knew what it was immediately, her make-up!

It was nap time so I only could imagine what she had done with her Lipsmaker contraband.

She had glitter blush all over her face and she told me she ate some when I asked.

So we called poison control and they said she would be fine, but I asked her again if she ate it and she said no.

So it's hard to know if she did or did not eat it, but it was all over  her pretty little face.

So, like I said I still smell strawberry Lipsmakers everytime I went near or into her room.

Just now I figured out where else she had put Lipsmaker chapstick.........all over her dresser.  I couldn't see it because her dresser is brown, but once I got closer I saw the waxy smear of Lipsmakers all over her dresser.  So now it is clean, no more pink waxiness for her dresser but I still smell Lipsmakers.   Probably because it is all over her lips, I mean around her lips kind of clownish style. 

She said, "I am pretty because God made me that way." 

Oh, Maggie Beth, I pray you know you are beautiful inside out and I love how God made you baby girl. 

No makeup is even necessary little one, but have fun.....have fun and I will let you put glitter blush all over my face little one. 



Little VBS Friends

Posted by Unknown | | Posted On Friday, June 10, 2011 at 5:53 PM

Maggie Beth had a wonderful time this week.  I heard a lot about an old but then again new friend to her. 

This afternoon we went swimming at the pool and all I heard from Maggie's mouth was her little friends name!

Oh, they are just too cute!

Here are some more pictures from our last day at VBS. 
I have some little ones who are very sad that VBS is over. 

I think they wish it could gone on forever.

I am just super happy they had a blast at Beach Blast!

It is really neat to see Hezekiah loving the music and motions.

He had a good time with his little crew!