VBS

We have been at VBS all week long and the kids have had a blast! I'm a little tired because I am doing photography for them and had to have all the pictures done and back to them by tonight so I've been burning the midnight oil sorting and editing some of them. But they are done and now I can relax. Here's a few photos from my sweet kids having a fun time this week:

Dallas loves to sing his heart out!Asher finally was dancing and doing all the movements by the second dayI noticed the Boston wasn't sitting with his whole groups row but in a row by himself. When I asked him after the first day why he said, "Mom I needed more move to dance and do all the motions." By the second day he had recruited Grant back to his "dancing row"
Sydney loved her room and never once cried when I dropped her off. She is such a sweetie. And she had her first goldfish here at VBS and loved them so much she would steel from her neighbors

Dallas and his group at Rec Time


Boston in the sheet being pulled.
Asher at crafts with his fav volunteer

Dallas cool New York Attitude look

Dallas is written in The Book

Today was a big day for Dallas.

Today he asked Jesus into his heart.

After a devotional together at the dinner table he had a lot of questions. The topic of the devotion was on Satan. For months Dallas has been asking a lot of questions about God, Heaven, the Holy Spirit, Satan, etc. And I always make sure to add that as long as you have Jesus in your heart you will go to heaven when you die. His big concern usually when we talk is what happens after you die and where do people go. Over and over again he would talk about it. And always afterward I asked him if he wants to have Jesus in his heart and he used to either answer "I'm not ready to have him in my heart" or "I'm not ready to die!" That's the Aspergers in him, very literal. But after so many months of trying to really understand it all last night it clicked. Without me even asking he said, "I'm ready to have Jesus in my heart." So we prayed the prayer and then he asked me "Will he come out?" with this sweet sweet voice cracking over the smile and joy coming from within him. He was so excited he was jumping up and down. I reassured him that He would never come out but be with Him always. With the biggest smile and loudest voice he said "YES!!!!!" Then he told us he was so happy he needed to scream and he screamed so loud I'm surprised the glasses in the kitchen didn't break.

I told him that when he was ready he could get baptised to show everyone that he had asked Jesus into his heart. He said that he wanted to do it right now! Sean told him we would have to wait and do it at church. Then he asked when we would be going to church. He had an urgency to proclaim the change that had happened tonight. I told him we should celebrate and have a party. So we ate the Easter cupcakes we had and enjoyed popcorn and a movie.

Thank you Lord for Dallas sweet heart. I told Sean the other day that Dallas sweet, gentle, kind, loving heart will do big things for the Lord. I can see Him using him somewhere in the ministry someday. A couple of days ago Dallas came into the kitchen and said that after he was reading his bible (which he chooses to do on his own a lot) he talked to God. Sean asked him if God said anything back and Dallas repied,"No Dad. He never does. Why not?" Then we tried our best to explain.

So tonight I smile and thank God for another saved soul, my precious son Dallas.

30 day revival

Last Wednesday as I was having quiet time with the Lord (something that rarely happens lately) I realized that if something was going to change within me, if my attitude was going to make a shift, if my outlook on life was going to be positive I have to have Jesus in my day...all day....every little minute. I have to be daily filled with the Holy Spirit or I'm giving into my sinful nature and dwelling on what is bad and not what is good.

Romans 7:17-20 (New Living Translation)
So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.


And the Lord spoke to me. Clear as day he gave me the greatest of ideas. It was to devote 5 minutes out of every hour to focus on him. I have The One Year Bible (New Testament) for Busy Moms. It's broken down the New Testament into 365 5 minute readings. I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to read for 5 minutes every hour. Then I figured out if I take 12 hours and read 5 minutes out of each of those I will have read the New Testament in 30 days!!

Since Asher and Sydney are at home with me I have been reading to them outloud and it's amazing how Asher runs over to me each time I say I've got to read my bible and he jumps in my lap to listen.

Want to join me in a revival of your walk with the Lord? To show Him that no matter how busy your life is that you still acknowledge that He is the Lord of it all and you so desperatly need Him. How much time do you spend on emails, facebook, twitter, text messaging, blogs, phone and other unimportant things that only effect this life? Wouldn't it make since to devote time throughout your day to your eternal life?

Feel free to join me in this journey. You are welcome to use the logo I created as well.

God's strength keeps me running

My house is quiet right now. It's rare, especially on the days that Asher doesn't have school in the mornings. But God knew how desperately I needed at least a few minutes to myself of peace and quiet. Usually I get that on Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Asher is in school and Sydney naps, but yesterday Boston was home with strep throat so I spent the day tending to him - and don't get me wrong, I LOVE taking care of my babies when they are sick. But by the end of yesterday I was exhausted.

Boston woke up and informed me his throat hurt bad. I took one look at it and knew it was strep again. He had just finished his antibiotics a couple of days ago, but we missed a couple of doses in the midst of the 10 days. So my morning consisted of dropping Dallas off at 8, taking Boston to the Dr at 8:30, taking Asher to school at 9:15, going to get prescription for Boston and Dallas nose that is infected, racing home to get Sydney down for a nap. Then the dr called to schedule an appt for later that day to see Sydney to clip the flap under her tongue because she, like Asher was, is tongue tied. By the time I got all the homework done with the kids and made dinner and sent Dallas off to baseball practice with Daddy I was spent. Completely and utterly exhausted! And I had a huge pile of papers to go through. I literally almost fell asleep in them. Anyhow.........

Today, after listening to Asher whine and cry most of the morning I was ready to pull my hair out, call a babysitter and escape to Starbucks. But since all my babysitters (aka grandparents) are out of town I had to suck it up, which meant putting him in his room and banishing him from the rest of the house until he stopped. He stopped .....in his bed....fast asleep.....HEAVEN. I love my sweet, adorable Asher but this stage extreme learning of rules, discipline, how to act that revoles around 3 year olds is exhausting. I know it's just a phase and he's learning his boundaries and this is the big year of parenting on my part, but I also know there's only so much patience piled away in my storage bank. And God knew this too.

I had a nice quiet time with the Lord and He directed me to an amazing verse which will be my anthem for a while:

Colossians 1:9-14 (New International Version)

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[a] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption,[b] the forgiveness of sins.


I prayed for this strength that I might have great endurance and patience and I joyfully thank Him for this strength for it is only through Christ Jesus who strengthens me that I am able to parent 4 kids, love a hard working husband, run a busy household, cook homemade meals and keep this house clean.



I acknowledge the thoughts of overwelmingness, failure, desperation, loneliness, pride and unworthiness are not from the Lord but straight from the fires of hell. He comes so that he can kill and destroy and he loves to wreck havoc on mothers because they control the emotional well being of the house and when he kicks them in their knees and keeps them away from their Lord he will succeed in destroying the rest of the family.



So I stand here today ready for the fight. Because I am armed with the great armor. I have an army of angels on my side and I'm not afraid!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's the crazy part about this post. Right after I finished typing the word "afraid!" Asher woke up crying. He came in, climbed up in my lap with tears running down his face. I asked him if he felt bad. He said, "Yes mommy. I have strep throat and I need to go see Dr Yarckin now." He was very insistent. I thought maybe he was just saying that since Boston has it but he kept crying and telling me to call, call right now! So I called and they said I could come by right now and get a strep test on my way to pick up the big boys.

I woke up Sydney, drove to the the Dr and sure enough he has strep! What a smart little guy. No wonder he was so whiny and tired this morning. Ugh, now I feel bad for being frustrated with his incessant whining. He got extra hugs today!

Then I was off to the car pick up....back to Publix pharmacy for free antibiotics.....racing home to cook dinner........and the energizer bunny went on and on and on because she had God's words of encouragement.

Faith like a passenger

Faith.

It's a little word with big meaning.

Especially during times when you don't feel God. Or your eyes are so focused on the day to day events in your life that you don't see Him. When you are facing struggles and feel alone. It's in these moments that your faith is truly tested.

There's been many times that I feel I failed the "faith test." Situations that I look back on with a heavy heart because I had a great opportunity to lean on my faith in the Lord and know that He would take care of me but instead chose the cheap way out. I chose to wallow in my pain, feel sorry for myself, and only see the down side to the situation.

But there are also those times I trusted Him and I leaned on Him. The times He carried me through the storm and made me a better person because I survived. And with each challenge my faith has grown. I see Him at work in my life and daily I have a choice to make. Am I putting my faith in You today Lord or am I going to try and do it on my own today. I don't always chose the best one, and those are usually the days I added 8 more grey hairs to my head and need a long hot bath at the end of the day. Those grey hairs are reminders in the morning as I brush my hair...."Choose Him today Cricket". He will get you to your desination on a much easier path than you will choose.

I once heard a story that paralled putting your faith in God and His perfect plan for your life. Pretend you are flying on a plane headed for San Francisco. If you have ever flown into San Francisco you know that as you desend all you see is water. As you look out your little circular passenger window you don't see the runway or the land that is coming. It appears as if you are about to crash right into the water. But the pilot is looking out his spacious, front view window and knows what is coming ahead. He knows exactly where and how to land the plane. You trust him because he's the pilot. God is our pilot in life. He knows exactly what is coming and what it will take to get you there safely. We only see life through out little circular eyes as the passenger in this thing called life. We can't see what is coming or how we will get there or what obstacles and struggles we will face. But we can have faith that God knows all this and He prepares us, He equips us, and He watches over us. The passenger knew he was destined for San Francisco but wasn't exactly sure the route, the speed the plane will fly, the altitude, or the amount of gas it will take. If you have the Lord in your heart you know where you are going. The details on how you will get there may be unclear but that's not important. What is important is that your ticket is purchased and the destination is set. Let Him pilot you there because He knows the perfect route!

Children: a blessing from the Lord

There was a very elderly man sitting in the booth backed up to ours tonight at Perkins. When we walked up I said to him, "I sure hope we aren't too loud for you." He smiled and replied, "Oh no sweetheart, you could never bother me." We ended up talking while we were waiting for our food. He found out that we have 4 kids and laughed and mentioned to me that there was a bar over there in case I needed anything. Ha Ha. I asked him if he had any kids and he said that his wife passed away in 2007 and that they didn't have a lot of money when they first got married and decided not to have any kids because they didn't want to have them without a good amount of money. Then he said that when they had the money there were too old. It made me sad. This poor old man had no one.

No wife

No kids

No grandkids

No great grandkids

He was all alone eating dinner. My heart ached. And it made me feel so blessed for my 4 blessings. We might not have a lot of money because we had 4 kids very early in our marriage, but I'll take a handful of kids over a big house and money in the bank any day!! Thank you Lord for many arrows in my quiver!

Boston's prayer for Logan

When Boston was in Kindergarten there was a boy in his class named Logan. During show and tell one week Boston brought in his Bible man costume. He was so proud of this costume! But when I picked him up from school that day he was sad. I asked why and he told me that Logan made fun of his costume and said it was stupid (a very bad word in the Whitman household.) I said that Logan probably doesn't have Jesus in his heart so he doesn't understand how great this costume is and what it stands for. I said the best thing we could do was to pray for Logan that he would see that light in Boston and someday come to have Jesus in his heart too. Boston prayed this some two years ago.....

(picture of Logan and Boston at Green Meadows farm in Kindergarten, Oct 2008)

At Boston's last basketball game this year he played another team that had Logan as one of its players. Boston was excited to see his old classmate again. Then Tuesday night at the last basketball get together of the season they had a Harlem Globetrotter speak and at the end he explained what is was to have Jesus in your heart and then prayed the prayer for whomever to join in. Finally he asked if anyone prayed that prayer with him to come forward. Well wouldn't you know that the third person to walk up was Boston's old classmate Logan. Boston was over sitting with his team and he quickly turned around and smiled at me, pointed and said, "Look mom! Logan went up!!!" Afterward he couldn't stop talking about the fact that Logan had asked Jesus into his heart and how great that was! He remembered that 23 kids made a confession of faith that night and is stil talking about it. I'm so proud of my little boy! I told him that because of his love and his prayer for Logan that he helped Logan get to where he is now in his faith. What a great thing that at this young age in his life he has already seen the power of prayer in moving someone's heart to Jesus. Praise God!!

Are you there God? It's me Cricket

Do you remember this kids book? "Are you there God? It's me Margret" I feel like I keep asking God this question.

• Especially on hard days when the minutes seem to pass by ever so slowly and I feel like I'm trying my best to be the best mommy I can be.
  


• Especially on those days when I wake up with no energy and gulp down a coke and eat some chocolate to get my engine running.
  


• Especially on those days when Dallas starts the day out with a tantrum and Asher is screaming "NO!" at me.
  


• Especially on the days when it feels like there's total silence on the other end.
  Are you there God? Are you tired of my pleas for help? Are you tired of me trying to do it all on my own?

Grace.

It's the most beautiful word in the English language and I've just recently really started to understand what it means.

• It means that when I cry out to God, to him it sounds like a beautiful song.



• When I feel like I'm failing, to Him I'm beautiful and perfect.



• When I get angry at the kids, they forget about it totally and look at me like I'm supermom.



• That I can go to Him, even if I haven't read my bible or prayed much in days, and He's right there waiting for me with no judgement.



• I means I can sin and He still wants me to come to Him.



• It means I'm forgiven, no matter how bad I mess up.

For a busy mom I feel guilty because I don't have time to read my bible or pray or do devotions daily. And when I do the devil even sneaks in and tells me "you didn't read enough, you didn't pray enough." I heard some good advice that said "His grace is sufficient." Its not WHAT I do that makes me closer to him.

It's my heart. It's the relationship. It's the faith.

I often used to look at my relationship to Jesus much like one here on Earth. If I didn't put in the effort He wouldn't want to talk to me because I wasn't trying to make the relationship work. In my mind this made since. But Jesus is so much bigger than me. He love and grace mean that it doesn't matter how much or how little I come to Him, he STILL loves me the same.

I recently heard the song "Better than a Hallelujah" by Amy Grant. Wow. It speaks volumes to me.