Never Gonna grow Up!

This week I celebrated my 32nd birthday! Woohoo!! 
I love birthdays.  Every year I always want to do something different, amazing, fun, out of the ordinary.  This year was no different.  But what should I do, skydiving, circus school, trampoline jumping... Nope, something cooler.  How about a scavenger hunt!  I will gather all of my friends and they have to collect things about me (it is MY birthday after all).  Why not act like a kid for one night?


So I decided, I don't want to grow up!
Grown ups have to wash behind their ears, eat lots of green veggies, and pay bills.  They have to act responsible and use manners.  Grown ups have to wear socks that match and brush their hair.  One day out of the year shouldn't we be able to be silly and goofy and not have a care in the world? Shouldn't we be able to eat as much cake as we want?  Don't you wish that you don't have to worry about bills, and car payments?


You know Jesus was a little like this.  (He didn't have bills to pay, well expect for our salvation!) He wanted the little children to come to Him.  He tells us to have a child like faith.  Believe in Him no matter what.  Forget about our worries, our bills, our problems.  Give it all to Him.  Be silly for God.  What better way to get Jesus in your heart then by acting like a child.


For one day remember what it feels like. Remember when you would run down the street arms failing, feet pounding, heart racing. Pretend for one day that we don't have to wear matching socks, eat as much cake as you want, and act like a child of God!

I'm a Mess!

This weekend I took  a much needed road trip with my best good friend Rachel.  We drove five hours one way, no radio, no movies, just good old fashion girl talk, and boy did we talk.  Have you ever had a friend where you can just sit in silence and not be uncomfortable?  Well.... this was not a time where there was any silence.  When there was silence, we were just catching our breath!

We saw Lysa Terkeurst.  AMAZING....  She talked about many things that were powerful.  One thing that stuck out to me was that we do not have to be perfect (I know..no one is.)  But don't we try to be?  Don't we always pretend to have our lives completely intact?  Think about it.  In blog world, don't you show everybody the good, the clean, the perfect kids?  On Facebook, you don't put the pictures of you fresh out of bed; you post the ones in full make up, nicely dressed, great hair.  We show everyone the perfect husband, the perfect wife, the perfect kids, the perfect life.  Why?  What are you afraid of?  God did not intend for us to be perfect.  There has been only one person to walk the earth that was perfect...drum roll please....Jesus!  Why do we put up a false wall? 

OK...here it goes.  I am going to spill the beans.....Here are just a few flaws I have. 

My confession to all of blog world!
I'm a Mess
I don't like to clean.
I often have a pile of dirty clothes higher than my two year old.
My children usually have snot dripping out of their noses.
I yell.
I am not a good cook
I always have dirty dishes in the sink.
I don't take a shower everyday.
I eat chocolate right before bed.
I color my hair
My kids often have food on there face.
I let my 3 year old eat potato chips for supper.

There I did it! Now you know just a handful of my imperfections.  It is now out in cyber world for all to judge. 

 But,  before you judge me make a list of your own flaws.  Then at the bottom, put these words.
GOD STILL LOVES ME!  If we were all so perfect,  had everything together and in place, would we need to fall to our knees and pray? Would we really fully rely on God everyday? 

We are all imperfect, broken people.  We are all a mess.  In the wise words of Lysa, God sent a MESSiah.  It is not by accident that the first four letters spell MESS.

Unplugged!

So, I have a friend who is fasting from excess.  She got the idea from a crazy book  called Seven.  The mom in the book gave up one excessive thing every month for seven months.  She chose media, food, clothing, spending etc. She did this in order to rid her life of things that got in the way of her relationship with Christ.

Wow! How disciplined, how spiritual, how...wait, what?  Did I just agree to do this with her?  Quick, change the subject, maybe she didn't hear me....Oops, too late, the words are out of my mouth. 
So here it goes...For the month of February we will be unplugged....
I decided that for my family two days a week would work best.  I mean, let's face it the TV is very helpful in a house full of little people. (Don't judge me, it's just how it is). At first Tyler really did not want to give up his DS. We talked about how things keep us from focusing on the good in life that God has given us.  Like spending time together.  We as a family needed to be reminded.
On Thursday, our first day of being unplugged, the sky's opened up and blessed us with sunshine and warmth.  No need to be inside thinking about Pinterest, and Facebook.  It was a beautiful day.  We played outside most of the day.  God is good.  He knew that we needed a boost to get going. That night instead of winding down with TV and angry birds, Andy and Tyler actually built a volcano.  How cool! 

 Now Andy and I are excited about Tuesday and what we will do.  We may just dust off the puzzles and board games.  Or build the biggest volcano with smoke and fire and real dinosaurs....ok, maybe not dinosaurs, but fire would be cool....

Why not be unplugged for one day?  What are you afraid of?  Comfort, silence, stillness?  See what God is trying to tell you, but because of all of the noise around you, you can't hear Him.

Share a little spit and dirt....

One of my many favorite stories of Jesus is when he healed the blind man.  It is such a simple but profound story. 
 Jesus was in Bethsaida, people of the village brought him a blind man and asked him to heal the man.  Jesus, in true Jesus style took the man out of the village, you know, where there are less paparazzi.  Incognito.  There Jesus spit...OK...did you hear me...He SPIT!  Time out...this is what baseball players do, and little boys (all of the time, so much so that we have a rule at my house that you can only spit outside or in the bathroom sink, I'm not kidding!)
The Son of God spit on the ground.  I am sure the disciples were like, "Hey Jesus, do you need some water or something, how about a nap, I think you are too tired to think clearly right now".  If I were Jesus I would be grinning, thinking, "just wait boys, something cool is about to happen."
Jesus was not too tired, he did not need water, he knew exactly what he was doing, I mean it's Jesus for crying out loud!  It's Jesus spit! He rubbed the ground and made mud.  I can only imagine how long this took.   (Remember, I have little boys, It takes a while, trust me! )
 From that wonderfully gross, wet, soothing, mud something amazing happened.  Jesus spit a miracle!   Jesus rubbed the blind mans eyes and he could see.  Just like that! A miracle out of some of the dirtiest, grossest stuff; spit, dirt, mud.  That is all Jesus had.  That is all the Son of God needed.
Think about all of the resources we have.  What could we do! The possibilities are endless.  With just a little spit a miracle could happen. 
Spit on something and see what you can do!