Our weeks have been full of pool time, play dates, park days and staying inside to keep cool. But it has also been full of planning for events, rejoicing with new life, mourning with those who mourn, getting hit over the head with God's Word (thanks Beth), and having to relive some difficult times in my life!
It is truly amazing to watch God bring himself Glory through my past sin and hurt. I have a dear friend who is truly hurting right now. God has unmistakeably placed her in my life for such a time as this. Everything that she is and has been going through is exactly what I have felt, said, questioned and dealt with. The hurt that I have felt, the questions I have asked God, the uncertainty of my future and that gut wrenching feeling like someone is literally ripping your heart out of your chest? Yeah I have felt it, I have been there and it was the worst experience of my life!!! Now years later I have the opportunity to care for someone who is in that exact place. That God has used everything, every sin, every tear, every question, every hurt to cultivate compassion and truth that without my past, I would never have had. "In all things God works for the good of those who love him..."
Our God is faithful!! And in those moments when I asked
"God why?"....He answers me!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."2Cor 1:3-4
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Micah March 2009
It is truly amazing how God is working in the hearts and lives of each one of us and then when he brings us together it is an incredible blessing and quite a sight to see!
I have posted about our beautiful friends the Marshalls and how their youngest boy Micah Paul was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy back in December of last year. SMA is the leading genetic killer of infants. It is a terminal, degenerative disease that results in the loss of nerves in the spinal cord and the weakness of the muscles connected with those nerves. SMA impacts the ability to walk, stand, sit, eat, breathe and even swallow. The mind and spirit are no different from that of a healthy baby, but the body eventually fails. Typical babies with SMA Type 1 have a life expectancy of between one and two years and they require around-the-clock medical assistance and monitoring.
With all that said there is hope for a cure! The funds needed are still great but we can all do our part! We have been challenged to raise $5,000 by the end of November! With challenge in mind my friend Nikki and I are putting together a MARCH FOR MICAH walk...Sunday September 20th at 5pm up here in Ojai!
a blog has been created with all the information at www.micahsmarch.blogspot.com
Here is where you come in....We need walkers, those of you who want to register to walk the March. We are asking for a $10 registration fee and then for each walker to raise $100 in sponsorships (cake walk). We are looking for sponsors, if you can't make it but want to give please let me know! We need help getting the word out...Please post the link to his blog on your blogs, get posters or bulletin fillers from us to put up at your church, local coffee shops etc.. And someone who is good at making T-shirts for the event (hint Jodi?)
This is where the body of Christ comes together to support those in need.
Please help in anyway possible!
Let me know what you can do:)
Lets raise awareness and funds to fight for the families and children living with SMA!
For more info about Micah and his family visit at www.micahpaulmarshall.blosgspot.com
Thursday, August 20, 2009
3-year-old lesson...27-year-old heart...
John, here. Cristin has been on me to write on the blog from time to time and I haven't. No reason, I'm just not the blogging type. But God used a cicumstance with Caleb today, to teach a pretty valuable lesson that she insisted I share, so here it goes...
Caleb, Jack and I were playing in the backyard after dinner with their favorite giant blue ball. The game is pretty simple, I hit the ball as high as I can into the air, and they look on in awe and wonder. Caleb kept retrieving the ball and bringing it back to me, but Jack was growing impatient after a while that he didn't get to have a turn. So I purposefully hit the ball in Jack's direction, but as he was picking it up...you guessed it...Caleb was right there to rip it from his little hands. *sigh* This is usually where I would bark out "Caleb!" and give him some command pertaining to sharing. But something inside of me (call it wisdom, call it curiosity....yeah, wisdom sounds better), the 'wisdom' inside of me blurted out calmly, "Caleb, why did you do that?" And to my surprise, he very eloquently stated that Jack couldn't hit the ball high like daddy or Caleb, so he shouldn't have the ball. Hmm...I was taken back by two things, 1) The eloquence of my stuttering 3-year-old and 2) The obvious lesson. I had the opportunity to teach my boy that it's not about Jack's ability or inability to hit the ball high, but it's about Caleb's ability to love Jack. And I shared that, after all, Caleb can't hit as high as daddy, but daddy freely offers the ball to Caleb to share and enjoy. So why can't Caleb share with Jack? He freely agreed and the fun went on, with a happy Jack.
But I walked away convicted...I have to reflect on my own heart for all the snubbing I do subconsciously and (cringe) consciously everyday towards those who just 'don't get it' or who aren't 'worthy'. It's not about their ability to be worth loving, but it's about my ability to love the unworthy. After all, if I'm honest, God freely loved me when I was an unworthy brute, hostile toward Him and hating the good. So who am I to hold back what has been freely given to me? It's these 3-year-old Sunday School lessons that we claim to 'know', but do we really? Is it in our bloodstream and acted out daily? God's lessons are everywhere and I'm so grateful to Him for this one, in the most unlikely of places. "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Rom. 12:3.
Caleb, Jack and I were playing in the backyard after dinner with their favorite giant blue ball. The game is pretty simple, I hit the ball as high as I can into the air, and they look on in awe and wonder. Caleb kept retrieving the ball and bringing it back to me, but Jack was growing impatient after a while that he didn't get to have a turn. So I purposefully hit the ball in Jack's direction, but as he was picking it up...you guessed it...Caleb was right there to rip it from his little hands. *sigh* This is usually where I would bark out "Caleb!" and give him some command pertaining to sharing. But something inside of me (call it wisdom, call it curiosity....yeah, wisdom sounds better), the 'wisdom' inside of me blurted out calmly, "Caleb, why did you do that?" And to my surprise, he very eloquently stated that Jack couldn't hit the ball high like daddy or Caleb, so he shouldn't have the ball. Hmm...I was taken back by two things, 1) The eloquence of my stuttering 3-year-old and 2) The obvious lesson. I had the opportunity to teach my boy that it's not about Jack's ability or inability to hit the ball high, but it's about Caleb's ability to love Jack. And I shared that, after all, Caleb can't hit as high as daddy, but daddy freely offers the ball to Caleb to share and enjoy. So why can't Caleb share with Jack? He freely agreed and the fun went on, with a happy Jack.
But I walked away convicted...I have to reflect on my own heart for all the snubbing I do subconsciously and (cringe) consciously everyday towards those who just 'don't get it' or who aren't 'worthy'. It's not about their ability to be worth loving, but it's about my ability to love the unworthy. After all, if I'm honest, God freely loved me when I was an unworthy brute, hostile toward Him and hating the good. So who am I to hold back what has been freely given to me? It's these 3-year-old Sunday School lessons that we claim to 'know', but do we really? Is it in our bloodstream and acted out daily? God's lessons are everywhere and I'm so grateful to Him for this one, in the most unlikely of places. "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Rom. 12:3.
Interactive Thursday!
Okay so I've been a little hesitant to do this cause well lets be honest my style is weird to some of you:) I bought a table and two little chairs for the boys at a garage sale for $6 and decided to do an overhaul!
Fun find right?
So I got them out and worked on sanding them down and primering them this week...with the help of my adorable assistant! who lets be honest just got in the way....but he's cute!
So here is where my weird taste comes into play...I have some fabric that I would like some opinions on. I would like to cover the top of the table as well as the chairs! Let me know what you think. I'd like you to pick two : one for the table top and one for the chairs:) chances are no one will respond to this post or I will have too many different opinions that will leave me even more indecisive and that will make me just go with my gut, which lets be honest I dont tend to trust!!
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let me know what you think!
Fun find right?
So I got them out and worked on sanding them down and primering them this week...with the help of my adorable assistant! who lets be honest just got in the way....but he's cute!
So here is where my weird taste comes into play...I have some fabric that I would like some opinions on. I would like to cover the top of the table as well as the chairs! Let me know what you think. I'd like you to pick two : one for the table top and one for the chairs:) chances are no one will respond to this post or I will have too many different opinions that will leave me even more indecisive and that will make me just go with my gut, which lets be honest I dont tend to trust!!
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let me know what you think!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Daddys Day Off!
Daddy had the day off friday and we had been talking about packing up the kids and goin campin for a while. We looked up some places and talked about it but with Johns crazy weekend schedule we thought it would be more rushed and stressful then relaxing so we decided to enjoy the place where we live OJAI!
That morning we packed up the boys went to the store to let them pick out a lollipop and told them we had a surprise...so they waited patiently on the curb (thank you lollipops) until the fun pulled up!
We took the trolley to downtown ojai to have some lunch and walk around:) Caleb was on cloud nine! And they were also really excited about the color of their tongues:P
after lunch we walked over to the Ojai museum and took a tour. They were doing on exhibit on MAD magazine artist Sergio Aragones! It was super cool! He was there and spent sometime showing John his work and talking with him about his inspirations etc.. John felt very privileged.
Then stopped for a little soft serve ice cream and waited for the trolley to pick us up!
the boys fell fast asleep on the Trolley
we got home and had a super fun BBQ (the only pic I got from the bbq:) but I thought the boys would like it)
That night our hope was to pitch a tent in the backyard and have a campout but the smoke was really bad in ojai from some local fires so we decided to bring our campout "IN"!
we stayed up late watching the "Sword in the Stone" by 11pm we were all fast asleep. So much fun and we didnt even have to pack up the car:)
That morning we packed up the boys went to the store to let them pick out a lollipop and told them we had a surprise...so they waited patiently on the curb (thank you lollipops) until the fun pulled up!
We took the trolley to downtown ojai to have some lunch and walk around:) Caleb was on cloud nine! And they were also really excited about the color of their tongues:P
after lunch we walked over to the Ojai museum and took a tour. They were doing on exhibit on MAD magazine artist Sergio Aragones! It was super cool! He was there and spent sometime showing John his work and talking with him about his inspirations etc.. John felt very privileged.
Then stopped for a little soft serve ice cream and waited for the trolley to pick us up!
the boys fell fast asleep on the Trolley
we got home and had a super fun BBQ (the only pic I got from the bbq:) but I thought the boys would like it)
That night our hope was to pitch a tent in the backyard and have a campout but the smoke was really bad in ojai from some local fires so we decided to bring our campout "IN"!
we stayed up late watching the "Sword in the Stone" by 11pm we were all fast asleep. So much fun and we didnt even have to pack up the car:)
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