My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name

Today is a very busy day for us, and I have lots to do in the next few hours. However, I really felt that I needed to stop and reflect on some of what I learned this weekend at the Deeper Still conference in Atlanta.

First of all, my mom came into town with 2 of her friends to go with us, and I am so glad they did! I always love sharing these experiences with Mom and being able to talk about what we learned. Even days, weeks, or months later God often brings some key point back to mind. My friend, Robin, also went with us, and I know that the Lord really spoke to her about some things that she's been dealing with lately. I also believe that He was preparing her for an event that has come into her life this week. One of her good friends lost a child very unexpectedly, and I know that God will use what Robin learned at Deeper Still to help her be a support for her friend as she walks through this wilderness. Praise the Lord that Robin got that last minute ticket!

I went into the conference so excited about hearing all of the speakers again, and all of their messages were so timely and powerful. My favorite one, though, was Priscilla Shirer's message on Fri. night. She talked about the wilderness that we all walk through in our lives and how God meets us there and speaks to us, often at our lowest points. She based this message on the story of the Israelites' journey out of Egypt, through the wilderness to Cana. God asked them to trust and follow Him, and He promised to speak to them and allow them to see Him. He led them on a route to Cana that was certainly not the shortest, most efficient, or most pleasant. However, when they were right in the middle of their journey, at the furthest point from the Promised Land, He met them at Mt. Sinai. Although they had been so excited to hear from God, when the time came to go up the mountain and meet with Him, they were afraid. They sent Moses to get the word for them.

Priscilla used this to teach us that when God wants to speak to us, it is so much more powerful if we seek Him for ourselves and allow Him to speak directly to us, not just through our pastor or through a writer or speaker. This is the part that spoke to me today.

Many of you know about our struggle with fertility (I plan to tell the whole story on here at some point, but that is for another day). We have wanted another child for years. We had one miscarriage before God gave us Perry, and we've had 3 since then, all very early in the pregnancies. I have long considered this our wilderness, and I have gone through a huge range of emotions related to this issue. Last summer, after 2 back-to-back miscarriages, I was angry with God and went through a time of really not understanding why this was happening. Actually, Beth Moore's message at the Deeper Still conference in Nashville last fall helped me begin to admit that anger and get over my "devastation with God," as Beth put it.

I have since then felt some peace with the situation, although I still pray that it will happen, and we still desperately want to be blessed with another child. So what I learned this weekend is that through my wilderness, I have waited for other people to bring me my word from the Lord. I have waited for God to speak to me through messages at church, at conferences, in books I read, and even through my friends. He has been faithful to do that, too! He is showing me now, though, that He wants to speak directly to me, He wants me to spend time with Him alone and to be still and listen to His voice, to get to know Him more through His Word.

Kay Arthur and Beth Moore really opened my eyes this weekend to how much there is to learn about scripture. Wow! Every word in that Book is deliberate, intentional, and has meaning for us. Beth broke down John 1:14 for us and explained the meaning of every phrase, as she helped us memorize it. We had fun learning hand motions to help us remember each part of the verse and its meaning, but I was blown away by how much we can learn through studying the individual words used in even the most familiar verses.

Anyway, back to what I've learned. This morning as I prayed and read the Bible, I began thinking about my own wilderness (the fertility thing). I started thinking that the Israelites had really no idea what the Promised Land was going to look like. They had to place their trust FULLY in God, to lead them to this place that He promised would be perfect for them. In our journey, we must do that as well. We don't know what our Promised Land will look like. It may be exactly what we envision -- 2 beautiful, healthy children -- 1 boy, 1 girl. It may be 5 children (Perry did tell me recently that he wanted me to have quadruplets -- YIKES!). Or it may be a Land where our desire for another child is gone, and we are completely at peace with our little family. We have no idea what His plan holds for us, what that Land will look like. We only know that He promises to take us there. He promises to bring us out of the wilderness.

So, I will CHOOSE to say, through this time, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."

We sang that song on Sunday, and I actually sang the 1st verse alone. After what we'd learned, this "old" song, especially that verse, had such powerful meaning for me.

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

I also love the part that says, "my heart will CHOOSE to say, Lord, blessed be your name."

That's it, y'all. It is a choice. When He gives and when He takes away, we have a choice -- to turn our backs or to trust that He is our holy, loving Father who will meet us in the wilderness and carry us through to the Promised Land.

I have lots more to say, but I will stop here for now and go get some stuff done.

My one little blessing is dying for some attention right now! He is not seeing the glory in the fact that I am on the computer and not reading his new baseball cards to Him.

Thank God for that little distraction. I am so grateful that we have him.

More pictures, as promised!

Dreamin' of a trailer on the lake

I have lots to share about the past week! Shall we begin?

We spent a few days last week on a little getaway with our wild, wacky friends. Kim graciously invited us to spend some time with them at her parents' lake house. We had a fabulous time! The house is amazing, and we had a great time enjoying long talks with friends and the beauty of God's creation.

And having other kids around to entertain our one and only was a real treat!

I'll go over some highlights, but I'm going to post a slideshow of pictures. There are just too many good ones, and I know you wouldn't want to miss any of them!

The kids really loved fishing. No matter what other fun we were having, someone was always asking when they could go fishing again!

Perry caught his first fish! Eric even cooked it up that night, so they could all have a taste.

Jack's birthday was Wednesday, so, of course, we celebrated him!

Tubing was also a big hit.

Thumbs up means "go faster." Perry and Caroline did that a lot! They were our little speed demons.

We took a long boat ride on Thursday afternoon, and on the way back, this little miracle happened.

I must say, I very much enjoyed that moment with my baby. It doesn't happen often anymore that this big boy falls asleep on my lap. With him there sleeping and us out on the water enjoying the perfect weather, the lake, and the beauty all around, I was so thankful to a God who loves us enough to give us all of this! Blessing upon blessing.

That big boy did get heavy, though. Once I laid him down on the seat, all of us adults enjoyed this.

That's all of our kids, all conked out on the boat. We sat in the back and chatted as we watched our angels sleep, and, I'm telling you, it was Heaven on earth!

So I asked the hubby to buy me a trailer on the lake. I don't need a fancy lake house, just somewhere that I could lay my head and where we could enjoy the rich family time that comes with getting away from it all. With a trailer, a boat, and some fishing poles, we'd be living the life, I'm telling you!

Someday my dreams will come true. Dreams of a double-wide on the water in Alabama. Wooooo weeee, y'all!

Enjoy the slideshow of the rest of our fun!

I'll be back later with more. After we got back from the lake, I had the awesome experience of attending the Deeper Still conference in Atlanta. We heard some amazing teaching from Beth Moore, Kay Arthur and Priscilla Shirer. And, of course, I LOVED the worship time with the fabulous Travis Cottrell and team.

I'm not even sure where to start, but I'll try to string together some coherent thoughts.

Why I enjoyed cleaning my bathrooms today

Method all-purpose cleaner from Target -- Cucumber scent.

Now, as many of you know, I am certainly not one of those strange people who usually gets joy out of cleaning. I will admit to getting some joy out of organizing (though summoning the energy and setting aside the time often alludes me), but certainly not cleaning.

In fact, my mom may have fainted after reading this title. And if she ever figures out how to leave a comment, I'm sure she will confirm for you all how I've never loved to clean.

My best friend, Shawn, used to clean when she was upset. When we were roomies, if I came home and the apartment was sparkling, I knew it was time to pick up some ice cream and maybe a box o' wine.

Anyway, back to the cleaning enjoyment I experienced today...

I was walking through Target this morning (I know, it's so hard to believe that I would be shopping! And at Target, of all places!), and as I passed the cleaning aisle, I recalled a post I read on Bring the Rain a while back. She mentioned her love for Method Cucumber cleaner. I knew that I had a good bit of cleaning to do today, so I thought, "Why not try something new and different?"

When I first picked it up, I hesitated a little because somewhere I saw something like "natural cleaner." Well, I'm all for natural in most areas of my life, but there are some things that seem to call for a little chemical assistance. So for the same reason that I've never tried natural deodorant, I wasn't so sure about cleaning bathrooms with natural cleaner.

I'm so glad I tried it, though. It worked great, and that fresh cucumber scent is just lovely!

I even cleaned my bathtub for the 2nd time this week, just to freshen it up a bit. I wouldn't want my big, fabulous tub to feel bad when the rest of the bathroom wore a fresh cucumber scent and it was stuck with the smell of Comet with bleach.

Anyway, next time you're at Target, pick some up. You won't regret it.

I might mop my floors with it later.

The After

You may be wondering why I haven't posted for a few days.

DIDN'T YOU READ MY LAST POST??? I have so much to do!!!

Seriously, we have had a busy week, which included this...



YES! It's finished!

And LOOK, there's even furniture!

That's our yellow lab, Beau, standing guard. He hasn't quite decided if he likes this new floor situation. It's much too slippery for him, I think. We had to get him to lay down for the first pic because he kept sliding around when he tried to sit!

Don't you love a finished product? We're tired weekend warriors, but we're quite pleased with the results of our labor.

The other excitement that kept P and I busy last week was Backyard Bible Club. I was going to write a post about it, but my friend, Kim, who hosted the whole shindig, did a fabulous job telling all about it on her blog. So I figured you could just read about it here. I had the joy of leading the music. This group of kids had so much fun singing, and I loved every minute of it! The theme, as you will read in Kim's post, was all about service -- to God and to others. Great stuff!

I am dedicated, I am motivated!

So I have many goals for things to accomplish around the house this summer, you know, since I don't have to work again until August and all. I have been starting to feel as if I had not made adequate progress, and I needed some motivation.

And today I saw an answer to my prayers on BooMama! She is hosting a "Before and After" extravaganza, and it is just the motivation I need to GET ON IT!

Below you will find my "to do" list. Then MARK YOUR CALENDARS for July 25 because you will not want to miss the before and after pictures of all of the wonderful projects that I have completed!

I hope you can stand the wait. The anticipation may be too much, I know.

THE LIST

• Completely finish basement flooring. Add rugs and return furniture, etc. to its place. Do not return anything that is junk -- THROW IT AWAY! (This one WILL be finished by the end of this coming weekend, in preparation for guests next week.)
• "Spruce up" master bedroom, including window treatments and decor to match our new bedding.
• Choose and install new ceiling fan in living room. ***Disclaimer: the timely completion of this one does depend on the hubby's time availability and willingness to take orders.
• Clean out and organize 2 storage areas (1 inside, 1 in garage). Clean out other closets and GET RID OF SOME JUNK.
• Plant flowers by mailbox.

OK, I think that's enough for now. I do have to leave myself some time to lounge by the pool, shop, read, and, oh yeah, spend time with my kid! : )

Be sure to check out BooMama's EXTRAVAGANZA for yourself!

A Day for Dad

On Fathers' Day, I would like to pay tribute to all the dads in my life.

First of all, I know everyone says this on Fathers' Day, but I am so thankful for my man! God really blessed me with the best husband anyone could ask for, and he is such a great daddy to our son. He loves us with all of his heart, and he truly enjoys spending time with us. I love watching him play with Perry, hearing him read bedtime stories at night, and seeing the true joy that P brings him.

So THANK YOU, Eric, for all of the personal sacrifices you make for us. Thanks for getting up in the middle of the night when P has a bad dream, for playing Backyard Football with him (because I DO NOT understand that game!), for putting him to bed every night, for coaching his baseball team, for laying flooring on Fathers' Day, for smiling for a million pictures, for enduring mobs of screaming children at countless birthday parties, for putting together all manner of toys and gadgets, for listening to me and laughing with me, for working so hard to provide a wonderful life for us, and for being the example of a man who loves the Lord and strives to live an honorable life. You are the best!!!

And now, some photos...

Of course, the older generation deserves a big shout out as well.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY to...

my dad (Big Daddy)

my step-dad (Grandpa)

and Eric's dad (Buppa)

You are all so special to us! Thanks for being the great fathers that you are.

WE LOVE YOU!!!