Houston, we have a problem!

So, when your kid is quiet and you think she has gone back to sleep, CHECK THE MONITOR. She is probably up to no good. So I guess we have a new skill, she can take her pants and her diaper off. Luckily it was just wet. This is not a good skill to have!

Daddy and daughter

Madelynn has this little lamb that hangs in her crib for white-noise. Well the batteries finally died so they decided to fix it the other day. She was sooo helpful.
Not sure if she was helping here or stabbing the lamb. Bruce was so patient with her and just enjoyed having her "help".

I was thinking about me and my dad and how I loved to help him in the garage. I know there were times he would just get frustrated having me under his feet, but he was so patient and would answer all my questions. We were fishing once and he spent the entire time untangling my line and was getting very frustrated. Then we realized that he had had his whole life to fish and now he was fishing with his daughter and he just had to relax. That must have been his moment that he realized things had changed. He was the best at living for us and putting us first, even if it meant he didn't get to fish and he just drug us all over the lake on skis. I can see that starting to happen in Bruce. I am sure this was the first of many projects to come.

Me? June Cleaver?...I think not

When I picture June Cleaver I see a beautiful woman in her apron tiding an already tidy house, preparing dinner at 5:30, pressing the clothes, checking on the kids and their homework, and awaiting the arrival of her husband and I think, "Where in the heck is Ward to help her?"
I have often found myself griping or merely stating that if Bruce had to coordinate this house he wouldn't even know where to start. I tell him when the baby needs to eat, when there are appointments, what the plans are for next weekend and who's taking Madelynn during practice. The list goes on and at times I begrudge him the he just gets to ease through his day and just do the things he is told. Why doesn't he have to worry about what's for dinner and who can watch the baby so I can go to Zumba and have an hour to myself. We both work (and I love my job so I don't see myself staying at home anytime soon - not feeling that calling) and I think running the house should be a shared job.
Well, I had a bit of an eye opener the other day. Proverbs 31:27 (good old Proverbs 31 Woman to set me straight with my duties as a wife) says "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." I read more that a home is to be built with wisdom and realized that it is my job, from God, to take care of these things. Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not men." I don't have to be "June Cleaver", but I do have to have a heart to serve the Lord at what He has called me to do, even if I work during the day.
So I realized that building a home does start with me and God has called me to this place in life. Not that Bruce is not to help me - and he does - but I can't complain as I am watching over the affairs; it is my job and I need to have a joyful heart about it. So, June Cleaver - look out!

Check out my skill Lydia....

Ok, I have a very talented sister-in-law (in fact her blog is listed on mine and is called Fade into Bleu) so here is my little project to show off and I think she will be proud. I got this table from my grandma with the ugly gold seat covers on them. I decided it didn't look that hard and I could probably cover them myself. Well, as any project goes it was a little more challenging than I thought, but I like the way it turned out and if I ever did it again it would probably go faster because I already made plenty of mistakes I could learn from.

BEFORE

AFTER


I had some extra fabric so I decided to make one of those ribbon boards. I think it turned out pretty good. It really wasn't that hard, once I worked th kinks out.

Lydia does much more complicated projects than this, but I think I am on the right track. The bad thing about projects....you always think you are going to save money by doing it yourself, but I swear it ends up costing more than you thought. It was still worth it and I am very proud of my new dinning room set. It is even more special because I know I have my grandma's table and some special memories to go with it (yes, special memories at Grandma Fern's).

Goals for life....mine vs. God's

As the beginning of the school year begins I find myself thinking about goals. I always have "goals" I want to achieve for the summer with my time off. Cleaning and painting the baseboards, yard work, crafting projects...and the list goes on. Sometimes I achieve all of these and other times, like this year, I am only able to check off a few. As I was thinking about goals I found this piece of paper that I wrote in middle school at a 4-H camp (We stayed over night at UNM or was it the fair grounds? are there dorms there? and I was scared, but I did it and had a very good time). Well, this piece of paper has been in my wallet for almost 20 years. As you can see I revised my goals at some point.

Apparently when I was in Jr. High or High school when I revised these, this is what I set as goals for myself. As I was reading the Bible this week I got to thinking about God's goals for my life. Does God set goals for our lives? Does he have a little progress sheet up there that He evaluates from time to time to see if I am making AYP (addequate yearly progress)? How am I doing? Am I proficient or at beginning step?

So, as I continued to read I tried to figure out what God's goals would be for my life.

*To grow in Him by learning, studying and spending time with Him. (1 Peter 2:2)

*Serve my family through time, love and energy (Proverbs 31:15,30))

*Touch the lives of other - serve others (Colossians 3:23-24, Ephesians 6:7)

*Leave behind a legacy by being more like Christ (Romans 8:29)

I am sure they may be other goals God may have for my life, but these were the over-arching ideas that kept standing out to me as I read.

I know it is important to have goals or little accomplishments I would like to achieve in life, but I realized my focus should be how my report card with God is looking. Do I have a bunch of "U's" for unsatisfactory. I hope as God evaluates me that I am at least progressing in each goal He has for my life.

Too often I think I have been focused on my goals for my life and I haven't put enough thought into God's goals for my life. I hope that my little steps that I accomplish in life will mirror what God has set for me.

Just something I thought of while I was reading and I thought I would pass it along.

Remember each day is a new day and it is the Lord's (Nehemiah 8:9). So I will ask myself, "What does God want me to accomplish today?"

Going down the slide...all my herself.

We were at the park and I put her on the slide. I tried to hold her hands down it and she just pushed me away and did it herself. It is kind of a slow slide so I think that helped. It was so cute. I can't believe she can so it on her own. My little girl is getting so big....

(This was taken with my phone with is a cheap, old fashioned flip phone - yes, they still have those - so the quality is not so great, but you get the idea)