Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Little people and more:

First of all:


HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Hope you all had a great day, and are very thankful for all the wonderful things you have. :-)

Next,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIANA!

My little girl just turned four!!!! We had a princess party for her last Friday, while her grandparents were here, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Thank you, Beth for making her cakes!

I'm running out of time, so, quickly, here's a couple of pictures of the little monkey - thought you might like to see what he looks like these days! :-) He'll be one year old in just a couple of weeks it's hard to believe! Still, he has no teeth, and isn't overly interested in walking as of yet, so it doesn't seem as if he's trying to grow up too fast on me. He likes to talk to us, chase balls around the house, and push around his tractors and cars while making motor noises!

"Hi, Mom! What's that thing you're holding? Can I have it?"

'Who, me? I'm not doing anything - just sitting here hoilding my train. What makes you think I'm up to something?'

Just thinkin....... (again)

"If you heart takes mare pleasure in reading novel, watching tv, going to the movies, or talking to friends rather than sitting with God, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever in His presence...if you're not ecstatic about Him now?" -Keith Green
(recently posted by my brother - thanks, Sherwood!)

Kinda makes you think, huh?
Reminds me of a verse -

Psalm 37:4, Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of your heart.
How much time do I spend 'delighting' myself in the Lord?
Do I spend time with Him because He's my best friend and I can't wait to be with Him, or because I have list if things that I 'need' to ask Him for?
It's kind of like someone marrying someone they have never met, or met only once or twice - people don't usually do that, because in general, you don't choose to spend the rest of your life with someone you know nothing about.
So why would I choose to spend eternity with Someone I know nothing about?
Just as we took time to get to know our spouse before we married him or her, we need to spend time with God, get to know Him, before we go to spend forever with Him.
Is it wrong to ask Him for things? No, the Bible says to 'make your requests known'. But do we spend more time asking for things, or just stopping to chat - and taking time to listen?
Besides, I think if we spent more time 'delighting' in God, we might begin to see more of our requests coming to pass.

Just my thoughts - you can take 'em or leave 'em!

Conversations with a 3-year-old

Today, we were sitting on the back porch, watching the clouds go by, when Juliana all of a sudden says,
"I can't see God's face."
I explained to her that God lives in Heaven and we won't see His face until we get there.
Awhile later:
Ju: Where does God live?
Me: In Heaven.
Ju: How do we get to Heaven?
Me: Well, you either have to die, or wait until Jesus comes and gets us and takes us there.
Ju: I'm not ready to go to Heaven.
Me: The only way to be ready to go to Heaven is to ask Jesus to come live in your heart and help you to be a good girl.
Ju: But I AM a good girl!
Me: But you have to ask Jesus to live in your heart.
Ju: Ok. I will. (mumbles) heaven...Come live in my heart, Jesus. ok, I did it!
Later:
Ju: Who's that fella that lives in Heaven?
Me: God?
Ju: No, the other one.
Me: Jesus?
Ju: Um, yeah. No, Lord.
Me: The Lord?
Ju: Yeah, now we have wait for the Lord to come and get us!
:) Guess she's ready to go now!


**Update**
Not only was she ready to go, she went and found her favorite barbies, then came and told me it was time to go. I tried to explain to her that we can't take anything with us when we go, but she informed me that she 'just needs her dolls'. She also wated to know if God had a potty she could use when she got there, and where she was going to sleep, and if God had jammies, or did she need to take hers?
These are not questions that are answered in the Bible, folks. :)
Of course, she was very disappointed when I told her that we probably wouldn't go to Heaven today. Tomorrow, then?' she says.
'It might be tomorrow, but then it might not be until you grow up and get old.'
'Oh, then the next day.'
Then she came and informed me:
"I don't want to see my God today."
Why?
"I just want to go to MooMoo's and get my dolls. We'll go see God another day!"

Sounds like she's got it down - Lord, I want to see you, but wait until I do all the things I want to do first, and then you can come back!
Later on she decided that she wanted to go to Heaven today, after all.
How do I explain to her?
I tried to tell her that the only way you can get to Heaven is either to die, or wait until Jesus comes back; she doesn't want to die (she informed that 'boys die, girls don't'!?!), so she said she'd wait for Jesus, but she doesn't understand why He's not here yet!
But wait a minute- isn't that how we're all supposed to feel?