thursday thoughts

Thursday already?

Anyone else with me on that one?

The week has flown by. 

We had quite a few rainy days this week and the boys were going c.R.A.z.Y! I decided some intervention was necessary for the survival of all. Hence, the pillow pile was created:

Crisis averted.

Zoe took a step (or two) this week. This may or may not be the reason I am late posting her 9 month update. I am just in denial. And I've been busy sewing weights into her pants.

Zoe also had her 1st time in the pool recently and as usual...she was fearless. I am noticing this trend with her. Jeremiah may just have his roller-coaster buddies in his daughters. 

I managed to make it out to Harris Teeter this week to take advantage of their triple coupons and did really well! I got $150 worth of groceries for $36! Its been a while since I've had that kind of a trip and I admit I was a little too excited. Check here for the best deals list.

Have you ever been totally and completely kicked in the butt by a scripture verse? 

Yeah, I have. 

This week. 

I have been silently struggling this week with feeling like I had absolutely no down time, no "me" time. And that everything I did during the day just had to be repeated the next day...which, can be a bit depressing to realize. 

And then...bam...Mark 8:34 "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me."

Deny myself. 

That can be such a hard concept to accept, to embrace. 

 If I am really honest I will admit that I am really really bad at it.

But in realizing that, in embracing it...oh, freedom. Relief. From myself and the limits of what I can do by myself.

I love how C.S. Lewis writes about this in Counting The Cost:

"The goal toward which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. That is what you are in for. And it is very important to realize that. If we do not, then we are very likely to start pulling back and resisting Him after a certain point. I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do. And we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone.

But this is the fatal mistake... The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us....

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you know that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself!"

Good stuff, eh.

On a completely different note, I taught Ella how to play M.A.S.H. this week. Anybody remember that game from middle school? Oh, the memories it brought back. How crazy is it that I have a daughter old enough to get that game? She ended up living in a mansion, with 6 kids, driving a limo, working as an author, and marrying "some boy" from our church. I am choosing to have "some boy" remain nameless for his protection from my husband. He is in denial that Ella will ever notice a boy, much less think they are worth talking too. 

We have a video of her agreeing not to get married until she is 52. Think it'll hold up in court?

Happy Thursday!

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