Tonight we dressed our kids up in costumes and went trick or treating!!

Now some of you may find that offensive, and at one time I would have as well.  A few years ago Brian and I thought of Halloween and our involvement or non-involvement choosing what our family would do.  In the years before kids we thought that to be involved with Halloween was to celebrate evil.  If you think about it there is not much in the holiday that honors the Lord and most of it is quite the opposite!  So we would leave our house turning our lights out and be the sad house on the street that gave out no candy.  Then kids came along and we were a little older and more experienced in our living in a neighborhood/community and all of a sudden things looked a little different!

I had a friend tell me, when Addie was young, that when they went trick or treating it was one night they actually saw their neighbors and talked with them more than any other night.  So we decided to give it a try.  That year we dressed Addie and Emma up, and because they were so little we did not need to do a lot of explaining to them about what we were and were not celebrating, and we walked the street going from house to house.  To my amazement we were invited INTO not one but two houses where we chatted for a bit before moving on.  We met neighbors we had never talked with before.  We enjoyed seeing kids in costumes and enjoyed adults excitement over our own cute little costumers.  So after that night we decided it was something we wanted to continue!

Each year since we have enjoyed being out with everyone else on our street, the only time of the year when so many are out walking and talking.  Last year we came to a house where they were grilling hot dogs to give out free to the adults (and kids if they wanted – but they didn’t- they wanted candy!!) , and they had a Christian radio station playing.  What a great idea, just being out being a good neighbor.  This year we saw tons of the girl’s school friends and for awhile we walked along with one other family whose daughter is in Addie’s class.  We have found it to be a great way to be involved with the people in our neighborhood.

Now that A and E are older we have some interesting discussions about our involvement in Halloween and what we are and are not celebrating.  They seem to understand it well and  respect our convictions about things our family will not be doing – such as dressing as a witch or a devil for instance!  It has been a fun family tradition – and when the night is over and the girls are asleep Brian and I get to sneak some candy from their stashes

We will have fall pics up soon on the gallery, so check back if you would like to see the pumpkin patch pics, carving pumpkins and the costumes!

I love the fall!!

In a couple of weeks I will have the opportunity to teach on prayer again, and the topic will be “How He Answers”. Since the book we are using jumps from passage to passage there is not a specific passage of Scripture that I am to teach from. So that leaves me with seeking the Lord and the passage He lays on my heart. I am not sure on that area yet, but what I have been pondering is how to discuss when God answers our prayers with “no”. I personally know several people who have prayed very good things that you would think the Lord would long to answer with a yes and He did not. How does one handle that? How does one wrap their mind around and all knowing, all good God who does things differently than what we think is good? So that is rolling around in my head these days.

In Beth Moore’s book David, that I said I have been using for my personal time with the Lord, I found an encouraging approach to this subject. On day 80 Beth talks about a difficult event in David’s life when God responds differently than we would expect. She gives these two thoughts we sould consider when in these sittuations: 1. We do not know everything about the situation 2. We need to remember what we do know to be true about God. These seem simple enough to say and hard to actually do when faced with the hard stuff. It is true we do not know everything about every situation, even though we can think that we do. We can never know all the rippeling effects of things we ask of the Lord in our lives and in others! It is also true that we have to remember what we do know about the Lord. God describes himself over and over as being faithful, true, steadfast, holy, gracious, and merciful to name a few. In times when we do not understand what is going on we must cling to what we do know of God revealed to us in His word. That brings me back to one of my favorite things to think on – how thankful I am that we have the written word of God. It truly is amazing! We do not have to guess about God’s character!!! We can trust who He is and therefore find strength to live with His “no”s.

So ponder with me this wonderful, mysterious thing we have in prayer and answered prayer as well. I am looking forward to what the Lord will teach me as I prepare for this next lesson.

Have a great week trusting the one who knows it all and is faithful and true

Over the last several months I have been working through Beth Moore’s David 90 Days With a Heart Like His and I am excited because I am about to finish. I don’t know what it is but I get a thrill from finishing things There is just something about completion that is encouraging.

I have enjoyed working through this devotional on the life of David. I have always respected the way that Beth handles Scripture and she does the same great job with this book. I must say though that Brian mocked me greatly for carring this book with us on vacation and on our summer youth trips, due to the size of the thing. It is a large awkward book (it is designed to look like an old book with torn pages and lots of room on the pages – which does not make it a great traveling book)!

So why did I like it:

1. It was a great walk through David’s life. It was encouraging to see him in both his times of triumph and defeat. Beth has a great way of drawing applications out and referencing other areas of Scripture.

2. I loved the Scripture inspired pray at the end of each devotion. Most days this is where I found myself really challenged, and it was great to read and ponder some verses I was not as familiar with.

3. Each days devotion took me about 15 minutes. Now normally I would love to spend a lot more time, however with the current ages of my four children it is hard to find time!! So having a book that helped me go through Scripture and was doable while who knows what else is going on in the house is SUPER important!! So on those crazy days I could still do something, and on the relaxed I have an hour days it was a good way to get my time started.

And now on to something else I love – picking where and what I am going to read next for my personal time with God. I always get excited about this as well. Who knows what the Lord has in store to teach me. I have two thoughts in mind of what I will choose between but I am waiting to see and asking the Lord for direction.

Just a quick note to say that we have updated some of our family photos. A few new albums…Owen at 7 months, Owen at 8 months, Addie’s Soccer Team Fall 2007. Enjoy

Well since this is the second week in a row that I have failed at getting my post up on Monday, I am starting to wonder if I should rename it Mandy’s Whenever I Can Get To It No not really, I am still keeping it Mandy’s Mondays and hoping future blogs will fall on the correct day of the week. This week sickness got in the way again, only it was Addie who had to come home from school early and then be cared for., and not myself that was under the weather.

I taught at Study & Share this week on Journaling. Unfortunately I was unable to record the lesson so it is not available to listen to.

When we were talking through the curriculum for Study & Share we were asked to pick the chapters from the book we wanted to study. One that I chose was on journaling. I have loved journaling over the years and have done it in several different ways. In getting ready for teaching I pulled my journals all together and looked them over. I found 17 that span 17 years. Now that makes it sound like I have one for each year, I don’t. Sometimes a journal took me more than a year to fill and other times less than a year.

So what do I journal about? It all started with my high school missions trip to Mexico when we were required to keep a journal to be able to make a copy to give to our sponsers. And then came college when I had a prayer assignment for a certian amount of hours of prayer that I need to do for this one project. I thought how will I ever pray for more than 5-10 minutes!! I decided to write my prayers out and my prayer journals were born For many years this was the main way I prayed and I loved it! Although I still do so at times it is not my main way of praying these days. Instead, today my journal is what I use in my devotions, in my personal time with the Lord. I usually read a passage of Scripture and while doing so find a verse or more that sticks out to me. It may bring encouragement or it may be a great challenge to me, but for some reason I desire to ponder it greater so I write it out in my journal. Then I just write my thoughts and questions and finally use that as a springboard to pray for the day.

In preparing the lesson for Study & Share I decided to take a look at David and his journaling in the Psalms. He was such a man of emotions and convictions. In II Samuel and I and II Chronicles we get to read the history of David’s life and times, but in the Psalms he wrote we get to see his inner turmoil and struggle to grow in his walk with the Lord. I know most of these Psalms he wrote, if not all, were written as songs but I believe that is a form of journaling! David was a journaler

An article I read said the greatest reason to journal is to answer the question “what is God doing in my life?” And I would have to agree!! It is amazing to read past journals and see how the Lord has worked. And it is so refreshing to write my thoughts and emotions down right when I am thinking and feeling! It helps me process it all and think more deeply about the Lord. And that is something I want to do.

So journal with me find a way, a time, a style that fits you! Don’t think you have to do it like anyone else, even in frequency!! Brian says he is a “sporadic journaler” and that fits him well. Give it a try and see what God is doing in your life

Props go to my Father-in-law, Ronnie, who sent me a link with this youtube video! I laughed out loud!! I can so identify with the morning routine she includes as well as other things, and I know the other stuff (get off the phone, stop texting, and I will add let me see your facebook) will be just around the corner. So sit back and enjoy, and if you are a Mom I know you are laughing out loud at this one!!

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13.34-35

I came across the video below based on this Bible verse. How does a Christian understand the reality of a place called hell, of which Jesus talked a lot about, with loving others? I think that instead of the approaches shown in the video below, we should be about loving others with God’s love so that they may experience the fullness of life in him instead of the eternal death apart from him.

Watch the video and share your perspectives on this!

Because the video would start every time someone came to the website, I have taken it down. But if you would still like to see the original video, click here.

This morning as I was sitting in my high chair being fed sugar cereal by my sister Isabelle, and I started to think how much I love my sisters! Especially when Mom showed up and took the lovely yummie cereal away!!

I have three sisters, ya know and I love them each for the things that make them special.  Let me explain:

Addie is my oldest sister and she likes to read books to me.  I really enjoy it when she lets me have the book and then I get to chew on it   Who needs reading when you can chew!

Emma is my second oldest sister and she is my Bud, or at least I think so because she always calls me “O Joe Buds”.  I am not exactly sure why but I think it has to do with my name being Owen Josiah and that I get called Buddy from time to time.  I figure she just put them all together.  Emma likes to hold  me even though I am getting really big these days.  And she is great at talking and singing to me a ton when I am crying.  Sometimes she gets to feed me and that is always fun!!

Then there is Isabelle and she really brings spice into my life!  Sometimes when Mom does not know it she will come and wake me up.  She first turns on all the lights then crawls into bed with me, turns on my mobile and we lay there giggling.  I like it when she plays peek-a-boo with me!  She runs up to me and says “aaahh-boo, aaahh-boo” over and over, and it just makes me laugh!  But I must say it is great when she sneaks me some food that Mom is not ready for me to try yet, like the sugar cereal.  It is just our little secret.  Sometimes as payback I let her have my passy, but usually I protest when she takes it!  This morning after the cereal was taken away, Isabelle decided to decorate my face with pen marks.  I did not like the application, but once on what is a little ink in a boys life?  Although, I don’t think Mom shared the same opinion!

Aren’t my sisters GREAT!  For now I am sitting around planning…planning how I can love on them back once I get more mobile!  It is going to be great!!