The Call

Today's Oswald Chambers quote:
"Once someone begins to hear that call, a suffering worthy of the name of Christ is produced. Suddenly, every ambition, every desire of life, and every outlook is completely blotted out and extinguished. Only one thing remains - '... separated to the gospel...' Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him. Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you."

Psalm 2:11-12
"Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are those who take refuge in him."

Fear = reverence
Kiss the Son = surrender fully

My prayer is that I can serve Him with reverence and a healthy fear of His greatness. I want to be fully surrendered to Him. No plan B. I only want to live smack dab in the middle of plan A... with Him. I take refuge in Him because He is all I need.

Today's Nuggets

Here is a quote from Oswald Chamber from my devotional book:

"The one passion of Paul's life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason - these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of God."

I don't pray for an easy life anymore. I pray for a life totally centered on God. Then I ask Him to help me really mean that prayer! :)

Psalm 1:3
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

God calls Himself "living water". I want to be planted wherever He is. He is ALL I need. There is no good in me apart from Him. Any fruit seen is only because of Him. I only want to make Him happy... that is TRUE prosperity to me!

Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

Proverbs 1:8
"Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching."

I pray that I have a healthy fear/respect of who He is. I don't want to be flippant about Him or what He does.

I pray that my children will have soft hearts towards Him. That they would learn and obey His voice. I pray that their hearts would be bent towards obedience and wisdom. I pray their obedience begins with us! :) I pray that we can be the parents God desires us to be.

Sad But Not Defeated!

*** I found this tucked away in my "draft" folder from December.
I felt it was time to publish it. ***

Before I begin, I want to say 2 things:

1.) Some choose not to share their "valleys" but only their "mountaintops". That is their choice. And I must admit that I don't share every one of my valleys on this blog, however, I am definitely sharing them with my close friends around me. There is something special about our "valley" times. For me, God draws me close there. Control is relinquished. Chains are loosed. Freedom is found. Relationships are reconciled. Marriages are healed. Passions are discovered. Faith is built. Refinement is welcomed, dross is scooped away and character is stretched. My prayer is that in our valleys, our eyes remain fixed on the only One that matters. And that leads me to #2...

2.) I fully recognize that my current path has been walked by a huge percentage of women...more than likely most of you have walked it yourselves or know someone who has. Although the situation may look similar on the outside, I believe we all walk it a little differently. God has specific things to show each one of us. God has purpose in ALL things. It is up to us to dig in deep and find it...and Him.

Two weeks after returning from a life-changing trip to Cambodia, we learned of another adventure coming our way...I was pregnant with Baby #3! We were all excited...and nervous...but mostly excited! :) Even though Shaefer is only 3, she understood that she would become a big sister. Because Trey is 8, he REALLY understood. I had him read the 3rd pregnancy test. He read it and said, "I don't know what pregnant means!" I smiled at him and said, "Remember what you told me you had been praying for?" Instantly a light went off, his eyes got HUGE and said," THERE IS A BABY IN YOUR BELLY! Mom, I am SO excited I might cry!" He cried and giggled. I cried and giggled. We all cried and giggled. With in a day or so, all the family was called, best friends were notified and the news began to creep around our network of friends. Everyone was thrilled!

Alf and I began to feel a freedom that we hadn't felt before. We always thought we were a 2-kid family. That was our plan. That is what we felt comfortable with. That is what made sense. We began to dream...and giggle some more! What did God have in store? What would this 3rd child be like? Would they be more like Alf? Or me? Or a really good mix? What would they do for the sake of Christ? How would they make His name great?

The Sunday after Thanksgiving I began to spot. Knowing that this can be normal in early pregnancy, I casually asked some friends to pray for me and for the baby. By Monday I had begun to bleed pretty heavily. We still prayed and hoped. By Wednesday we made the call to head to the ER to get me checked out. Within 5 hours it was confirmed that I was miscarrying our 3rd child. Having been down this road in 2005, this valley had been walked before.

If you could see my journal over the past few weeks, it would probably seem pretty bi-polar. I struggled with, and continue to struggle with, the tension of wanting to trust and honor God in ALL things and the desire to hold this child in my arms in July. I believe we all experience this tension. It may not be about children, but we all feel it.

I do not want fear to dictate what my family looks like.

I am sad but not defeated.

Fall is Finally Here!

Okay. I know that it's been Fall for a while now. It just took me longer that usual to "fall" out the house. Every year, like clockwork, my BFF Amanda and I decorate our homes NO LATER than October 1st. She usually beats me to it in September, but I'm NEVER far behind! Fall is one of our favorite holidays! We even have some of the same decorations. I know...it's crazy...but it's a GOOD KIND OF CRAZY! :)

This year threw me for a loop. The loop was good, but a loop nonetheless.

Alf and I returned from Cambodia on October 26th. I don't think I woke up until October 28th. Seriously. Trey's 8th birthday party was scheduled for October 30th. And my house was still NOT decorated for Fall. What the What?!?! That has never happened! My dear friend and soul sista, Brandi, came to my rescue. She showed up on the 29th and helped me clean and decorate my house in a matter of hours. We had a blast!

Here is what we came up with. I definitely went simpler than most years. I also brought in nature items from my front yard. It warmed up the room and...it was FREE!!!

After years of having a cute scarecrow hanging on the front door to greet everyone as they enter our home, I was ready for something new...dare I say more mature looking? :) I found this tutorial and headed to Dollar Tree. I loved the look of the square wreath!

Nice, simple shelves. Love the pine cones and acorns the kids and I collected! I made the hurricanes from vases and candle holders from the Dollar Tree. I LOVE me some thrifty crafts! Here is the tutorial.

Nice, simple sofa table. Oh look! More free pine cones! :)

I fell in love with the wood-grassy-picky things in the corner!

Another Dollar Tree find!

This frame in one of my all time favorites! Amanda has a matching one all the way in Austin! As you can see by how young my kids are in this picture, it's been a LONG time since we've been to the pumpkin patch. :(

More Dollar Tree vases! Grabbed these berry picks at Hobby Lobby this year. Simple & lovely!

And of course...the children!

They are by far my FAVORITE fall decoration!

Cute Gappy Trey

Sunday night ended up being a big night at the Evans House! We were sitting around the overstuffed table with family and friends eating spaghetti & meatballs...and Trey's favorite...garlic bread. The next thing I know I hear Trey say, "MOM!! My tooth is coming out!!" At first he was a little startled by the whole experience. It probably didn't help that he had at least 8 pairs of eyes staring at him, all waiting for the "big event"! Because being the center of attention makes Trey extremely nervous, he and I excused ourselves to the bathroom. By that time he thought all the blood was cool! :) I was getting my "tool" ready (my mom always used a washcloth to pull our teeth), when I heard Trey say, "Look mom!! It's out!!" All he had to do was push a little with his tongue and that cute little baby tooth came right out. I guess it was ready! I know Trey was WAY ready!

He made SURE I took some pictures and immediately asked if I was going to post them on Facebook. He told me, "This is a big deal! Everyone needs to know I lost my 1st tooth!"

HA! Kids these days! :)

Did I mention he was EXCITED and PROUD?!?!

The 40 Day Challenge

Exactly 4o days ago my husband challenged me, really us, to drink water as our only beverage for 40 days. This may not be a big deal to you, but to me it meant no more daily (sometimes hourly) doses of this...my FAVORITE DRINK:

or this

That's right friends! ONLY THIS:

In the days leading up to our conversation, I had begun to notice that I was depending more and more on the caffeine to get me through the day. I had also begun to notice that my memory was slowly getting a bit fuzzy. After some research, I found studies that link Diet Coke's key ingredient, Aspartame, to memory loss. So needless to say, by the time Alf threw down the gauntlet, I was totally up to the challenge!

Let me be completely honest and confess that those first few days were BAD! REALLY BAD! I was SO CRANKY! So much so that Alf gave me an instant out if I wanted it! HA! Nope! I knew it would pass in a few days...and it did.

There were definitely days when it would have been easier to grab that "quick fix". However, I was determined to actually finish something. No matter how insignificant only drinking water is in the grand scheme of things, this goal was a big deal to me. I don't think I've ever done anything outside of my roles of wife and mother for 40 days straight. It was time to push myself. I felt and feel great! We spent less money the few times we went out to eat. This may just be something that I continue with or without another challenge.

So today marks day 41. The challenge is over.

We sat down to eat lunch after church and my mouth began to "water" for that cold Dr. Pepper that I knew was in the "man fridge" outside. My family watched intently as I gingerly poured the sweet nectar into my glass. I took that initial sip and fully expected angels to sing! You know what...it didn't taste good! Not one bit! I was SO disappointed yet excited in a way. My body doesn't need it anymore. My body doesn't like it anymore. So as I sit here typing, with a HUGE HEADACHE, I think I may just go back to this:

No more of this:

or this

I need a nap. And an Alieve!!