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.

Our Thankful Tree

Thankfulness is a big deal to me. I definitely want it to be a big deal to my kids as well. I heard about the "Thankful Tree" several years ago. I finally got my bootie in gear this year and made it happen. I want thankfulness to be a habit around the Evans Home, not just around Thanksgiving. As parents, it is OUR job to teach it, encourage it and model it. It doesn't hurt if there is paint involved too! :)

I know what you're thinking: "WOW! I've never seen purple & blue leaves before!" You guessed it! Shaefer's favorite color is purple so she INSISTED on purple leaves for all of her "thankfuls". And you know Trey, if Shaefer gets purple leaves, then he HAS to have blue ones! I love it!

We had a great time with this craft! I look forward to keeping the leaves each year to see how their "thankfuls" evolve as they grow up.

Most importantly, we are thankful for Jesus! He is our everything!

We are nothing without Him!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

Thanks Amanda for another AWESOME idea!

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?!?!

My Boy is 8!!

I CANNOT believe I am a mom to an 8 year old!! It feels like yesterday I was swaddling him and rocking him to sleep. Sometimes, on a rare day, Trey will curl up in my arms and ask me to tell him all about when he was born and what he was like as a baby. I LOVE those days! I cherish those days! Walk down memory lane with me:

We lived in St. Louis when we got pregnant with Trey. We were youth pastors (on a tight budget :)) so one of our youth girls offered to take some pregnancy pictures for us.

Here I am, 9 months pregnant! Later that afternoon, we met some friends at a local pumpkin patch. I have a picture of Alf pushing me around in a wheelbarrow. My belly fit right in! Trey was born 1 week later!

Alf was feeling left out, so he thought he needed a belly pic too! :)

The boys showed up with gifts!! We had Mountain Dew flowing like a river in our hospital room!! And of course, Trey received his first set of jumper cables from Uncle Matt.

Baby Trey, one day old.

He is being held by an old co-worker, Joni. I had two co-workers claim to be grandmothers so they could get past the nurses. It worked!

I was SO blessed by all the visitors!

Who can resist baby feet?

Our first family portrait!

We have LOTS of sleeping pictures!

Trey - my big 2 year old!

Trey - my big 2nd Grader!

Trey was born on Halloween night, so we always have a great time! Up until a few years ago, he thought all the festivals, costumes and trick-or-treating were all for him! We spent this weekend celebrating with family and close friends. Trey is such a blessing! My life is forever changed for the better. He makes me want to be better.

Golden Goodness

The Chronicles of Narnia movies are some of our favorites around here. We've seen each one numerous times, sometimes daily! :) The kids enjoy the story, the characters and the animals. Alf and I enjoy those things too, however, we are in love with the story of Jesus Christ (as Aslan the Lion) that is told through each one.

Once we decided to homeschool, I KNEW these books were first on our reading list! We are on book 2 of 6 right now. Trey and I are enjoying reading through these together. He is always quick to point out where the book and the movie don't match up! :) I told him that they can't always do everything the book says or else the movie would be WAY too long. Luckily, that answer was sufficient! The awesome thing about reading these books out loud to each other (besides the obvious reading practice) is that we can talk through it together. Even more importantly I can explain why some passages stick out to me or make me cry when I read them. Because the stories are ultimately pointing to Jesus, I've had more than a few emotional reading sessions. I've included one section below that really struck my heart:

"Both the children were looking up into the Lion's face as he spoke these words. And all at once (they never knew exactly how it happened) the face seemed to be a sea of tossing gold in which they were floating, and such a sweetness and power rolled about them and over them and entered them that they felt they had never really been happy or wise or good, or even alive and awake, before. And the memory of that moment stayed with them always, so that as long as they both lived, if ever they were sad or afraid or angry, the thought of all that golden goodness, and the feeling that it was still there, quite close, just round some corner or just behind some door, would come back and make them sure, deep down inside, that all was well."

The Magician's Nephew (Book 1) by C.S. Lewis

Trey looked concerned as tears rolled down my face as I read this section to him a few weeks ago.

"Are you sad?" Trey asked.

I said, "No sweetie. These words struck me because this is how I feel about Jesus. I am nothing without Him. There is no good in me without Him. From the second I asked Him into my heart many years ago, He has never left me...and He never will."

It was such a sweet time with my son! I love sharing these times with him!

Mommy of the Year Award

I'm just prepping myself for all the judgemental looks and comments I will be receiving in the morning as Trey and I are at Walmart at 4:00am. I am going to join the ranks of all the stellar parents out there that drag their little ones around at all hours of the day and night. I can't wait!! Here's how it all started:

Last Thursday, Trey's teacher calls and begins the conversation with, "I don't want to worry you, but..." I absolutely LOVE his teacher, but SERIOUSLY...I was instantly worried! :) She called because Trey had a mild seizure during class that afternoon. This had never happened before! I got off the phone, picked Trey up from school and quickly called the doctor. (Keep in mind that Trey doesn't remember a thing and is his normal, hyper self.) Upon talking to the nurse, she said it sounded like Trey had a Petit Mal Seizure and the next usual step would be to have an EEG done. Once the test was approved by the doctor, they called to schedule the test. So tomorrow at 3:00pm, Trey will have a Sleep Deprived EEG done on his little brain. He is so excited! Not so much about the test, but the fact that he gets to stay up with daddy until 11:00pm tonight. :) He's not going to love it at all when he sees my smiling face at 4:00am tomorrow morning! The trick will be keeping him awake until his test tomorrow afternoon.

I am trying not to worry. Every parent wants their child to be completely healthy all of the time. I know in my heart that God is totally in control of this situation. I know in my heart that God loves Trey even more than Alf and I do. I know in my heart that God's awesome glory will be seen in this. The battleground is my mind...I have to keep my mind in check...under submission. I cannot allow it to go to the darkest of places. That is when I go back to the truth in my heart!