Financial Freedom

Ok, so if I thought yesterday was a big day at the Phipps house, I was completely and utterly wrong.  Today’s events have been much, much more significant.   Are you ready for it??

Outside of our home loan, we are 100% DEBT FREE.

That is something to celebrate, people!!!  I’m going to get pretty personal with numbers here…and I feel no inhibition in doing so.  This has ALL happened at the hand of the Lord so to Him, we give every ounce of credit and glory!

When Wrex and I got married, we had a little over $100,000 in debt between the two of us.  Yes, you read that correctly.  $100,000.  YIKES.  (That honestly makes my stomach quiver now…)

How did we have that much, you ask?  Well….

  • We both had vehicles that we were still paying on…
  • He had bought a trailer house to live in during senior college, that promptly lost over half of it’s value once it turned 10 years old…
  • We both had student loans…some of which were for out of state tuition, which isn’t cheap…
  • We both had credit cards that had been used frivolously and whose balances were at their max…
  • We had signed up for a buyer’s club of sorts that was designed to rob young adults of membership money under the guise of savings lots of said money as they made big purchasing decisions…basically, an incredibly unwise decision…
  • We were simply living beyond our means…and had been for a few years…

I distinctly remember our breaking point…and it was ugly.  It came on the heels of a bad weekend anyways and it only got worse.  Long story short, Saturday night we ran to McDonald’s to get a quick supper, only to have our card declined.  Yeah.  It was that bad.  We couldn’t even afford to eat off of the dollar menu.  We.  Were.  Broke.  And?  Wrex still had to get to work Monday morning with a diesel truck that was sitting on E.

The Lord provided even in the midst of all of that reckless living.  I had won employee of the month at my job for the past two months and had been rewarded with “Downtown Dollars” – money that could be spent at any downtown business.  Thankfully, there was a Safeway grocery store downtown and we purchased gift cards with my “Downtown Dollars” and took those to a different Safeway that had fuel.  It wasn’t a very fun weekend.

It was, however, the turning point in our financial situation.  Wrexy had lots of windshield time between driving to work and driving the tractor, so he had been listening to Dave Ramsey quite faithfully.   (He’d been listening to Dr. Laura, too, but that’s another gag-inducing story).  He had come home several times telling me about the “debt snowball” and he thought we could do it, or should at least try.  I was quite hesitant because our situation just seemed plain hopeless to me.  I hadn’t even been tithing regularly because “we couldn’t afford it.”  (I remember conveniently leaving the checkbook at home on multiple occasions because the thought of handing over even more of our paycheck was terrifying).

After a lot of Scripture reading and a lot of pushing from Wrexy, we decided to do it.  What did we have to lose at this point??  I remember sitting in the pickup and listening with him one day.  On Fridays, people get to call in and tell about how they got debt free and they get to scream, “We’re debt freeeeeeeeeeee!”  I bawled at all of them because it seemed like such a wonderful goal…but one that was so far away…

To get started, we sold his old gooseneck trailer for $800 and paid off one of our smaller credit cards and then the snowball started.  We reigned in our spending and eating out and started tithing regularly…and it felt GOOD.

We moved soon after we started this process and the people he was working for provided our housing and utilities as part of his pay.  With this new situation, we opted for living off of my paycheck and paying off debt with his.

The Lord was soooooo faithful during this process!  Some things were cake to pay off and others felt like we were working for years…and we were.  We were dealing with the consequences of years of irresponsible living.  It hurt to think of all of the things that the money we were paying out towards debt could’ve been used for…

We took a break from our debt snowball when I was pregnant with Sawyer.  We only had Wrex’s largest student loan left and we went back to paying minimum payments for a number of reasons.  We had private health insurance and at the time, since we had gained enough financial freedom for me to quit my job and start the journey as a stay at home mom.   The state of Colorado didn’t require private insurers to cover maternity claims, so ours did not.  We knew a $10,000 – $20,000 hospital bill would soon be staring us in the face in a few short months.  (The Lord TOTALLY provided but that’s another story for another day.  Are you seeing a theme here??)

Soon after, Wrex left his job in an obedient leap of faith and we were soon jobless and homeless so the minimum payments continued.  Then, we found a job, found a house, made lots of improvements, had another baby and never really finished….until today.

The Phipps’ are DEBT FREE.  And?  You better bet your bottom dollar we’re calling big Dave on Friday! 

I’m not sure I can fully express the freedom that comes from owing no one.  The Bible talks consistently about the borrower being slave to the lender and it is so true.  When you are strapped for cash and saddled in debt, you can’t do the things that the Lord calls His people to do!  We love to give, and give abundantly, but when the money’s not there because you owe so many people, you can’t do that.  You can’t stash away for emergencies…you can’t bless people on a whim…you can’t afford a car breakdown or birthday gift or a broken leg…you just can’t.

But when all of those unnecessary expenses are gone and you budget and live within your means, you’re able to save for the future and you’re able to give in abundance and you’re not blindsided by unexpected expenses.  Your whole lifestyle changes!  Your thoughts shift from your bank account and “how in the world am I gonna pay for that??” to “what is the Lord asking me to do with this excess now?”  Financial issues are one of the top five reasons for divorce but when there is financial security, there is FREEDOM.  You don’t have to think about money all of the time…you can think about each other.

The benefits to being debt free far outweigh the sacrifices you have to make to get there.  Of course there were times when we just wanted to throw in the towel and call it good enough and just go buy a new car or go on vacation…but we knew we didn’t want to go back to living like we were that fateful Saturday at McDonalds.

The Lord’s heart for His people is FREEDOM…and that includes financial freedom.  He took our measly efforts and our $800 trailer check and helped us blow the door wide open on our debt.

I’m so thankful for my husband’s obedience, yet again.  Getting out of debt has changed our family forever – we don’t even own a single credit card – and we are MORE THAN FINE WITHOUT THEM.

I say all of this one, to brag on the Lord.  It is only by His hand and His provision and His prompting that we are here and two, to encourage you!  If you have a mountain of debt and it feels insurmountable, may I just say that IT IS NOT.  We have unburied ourselves from over $100,000 in a little over seven years (thanks to that two year sabbatical).  It can be done. 

If you have questions or want to know more or want help with a budget or a plan, call me, message me, track me down – we are more than willing to help!  Financially free IS the only way to live…

Next goal?  Ten year house payoff – ow ow!

Now show us some debt-free love, would ya!?  WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!

How in the World Did We Get Here: Part 3

*****Ok, I lied – Part 4 is my favorite part!  There was too much to tell so here’s Part 3…or you can call it Part 2.5 if that makes you feel better…*****

Our time in Texas was HOT and, well, that about sums it up.  Good gravy…we’re still not convinced we could hack it down there as a permanent dwelling.

We lived with Wrex’s boss for three months while he learned the ins and outs of this plant.  He traveled to sales and watched and learned and calculated how to bid on cows and then got to follow them through the slaughter process to see if they made or lost money.

To be a cow buyer, you have to be able to evaluate livestock and, based on their weight and body condition, guesstimate how much they will yield (how many pounds of lean product the animal will produce), thus telling you how much you should buy one for, while also accounting for freight to get the animal to the plant. The cows have to fit the bid given out by the head cow buyer of the company, which he bases on several factors – how much meat is trading for, how much meat the plant has on hand, how much they need, where they could get it cheaper if your barn is high that day, etc.  You also have to know what your competitors are willing to spend and how far to push them to make them pay more so you can pay less.  It’s quite complicated really…and FAST.  They sell a cow about every 30 seconds, so you have to be on your game!

Around October of that year, they felt like he’d learned enough to be turned loose on his own.   For the last month, they had all strategized and come up with a list of sale barns that he would be responsible for buying at.  We would then need to find a place to live that would be a somewhat central location for him to travel from.

It needed to be somewhere in this general area...
It needed to be somewhere in this general area…

The company gave him a week off to travel and find the community and home in which we’d like to live, so we loaded up and headed north.   For as big of an area as this appears to be on the map, there aren’t a ton of communities in all of that off-white goodness.

Before we started looking in person, we had narrowed it down (based on distance alone) to six primary towns.  We also knew that we really wanted to rent a house.  Once we were married, we had accumulated over $100,000 in debt between the two of us (student loans, cars, credit cards, etc.)  Yeah, THAT’S a post for another day, for sure.  The Lord totally spoke to us regarding our debt, as did Dave Ramsey, and we had spent the last four years of our marriage getting out of debt and we weren’t really ready to jump in again with a big ole house payment.  Plus, we weren’t completely sure this was where we’d permanently be for more than a year, so it just seemed like renting made the most sense.  Those two things were pretty much the only qualifications we had for the Lord…rent and close to the chosen sale barns.

We started our journey in Wray, Colorado where some friends of ours lived.  They did their best to find us some places to look at but we learned there, and moreso as the week went on, that there were very few rental properties in the area and the ones that were available, were for sale at the same time.  We weren’t completely excited about that because we’d have to hit the road when they wanted to show the place and then find somewhere else to move if it did sell.

We looked in several communities in Nebraska and a couple in Kansas, none of which had much to offer.  Everything we did find that was empty was for sale, so we started shifting our thinking a bit.  Quickly, renting didn’t even seem to be an option….so….what next?

I remember going back to our room that night and just being shell-shocked.  Buying a house hadn’t even been on our radar.  I thought we’d find decent enough rentals and just have to be picky on the community, sign the papers, pay some money, go get our things and move in.  Not exactly.  We just continually asked the Lord to show us the place…the town…the house…the plan.

On our third day in, we felt a little defeated.   There were no rentals out there and of the towns and houses that we had looked at that were for sale, none of them feel right.  I remember leaving this cute little place in Bird City, Kansas and thinking, I guess I just never imagined giving someone directions to my house and it being in town.  Yet, I never asked the Lord for anything different.

The only place on our list of six that we hadn’t looked was Holyoke, Colorado.  The day was drawing to a close…it was going to be a little after 4:00 pm when we pulled in, so we debated even going.  The friend we were staying with during this house-hunting expedition needed a transfer needle from the vet clinic and has asked if we could pick one up while we were out and about.  We hadn’t done that yet, so we figured we could drive into town, get a needle, take a peak around, feel confused/defeated and then head home to regroup…again…

How in the World Did We Get Here: Part 2

We tossed the sheets in the wash, locked the doors and headed eight hours south to Booker, Texas.  One of our good friends from college worked as the head cattle buyer at the plant and had told the owners about Wrex.  With the drought hitting so hard in Texas, they knew cow numbers would soon be short and that they’d need to expand their buying circle.  They wanted to get a northern buyer trained and in place, but weren’t in just a huge hurry to do so; they wanted it to be the right kind of person.  Unfortunately, the cow buying business has it’s fair share of crooks and traders and this company had worked been working for a few years on cleaning up their buyer staff.

There are several owners and shareholders and only a few of them live around the Booker area.  As the Lord would have it, Wrex got to meet several out of staters, including a fellow Nebraskan.  That pretty much sealed the deal!  HA!  Kidding…but I’m sure it didn’t hurt.  Those Huskers gotta stick together…  It wasn’t a formal interview, but he was there most of the morning; a good four hours or so.  We ate lunch, said our goodbyes and then continued on to visit my side of the family.

For years, we’d talked about the possibility of him buying cows for an outfit; it’s a job that he’d been groomed for his entire life.  We didn’t have any doubts that he’d enjoy the work and he felt like things went well, but we left not knowing exactly what they were thinking.

We had a good time seeing my parents and brother and then traveled further south to see my mom’s extended family.  We don’t get down there often enough just because of time, money and distance, so it was nice to be able to have a few extra days with them.  It’s hard to have “time off” when you help run a farming/ranching operation so this was, by far, the longest visit we’d had with them since we’d been married.

They were all so sweet and were scurrying around trying to find Wrex a job down there, which would’ve been a-ok with me, bearing I could hack that heat and humidity.  I have gobs of incredible memories tied to their little area of Texas.  At the time, my grandma had already been moved into an assisted living facility and her house was on the market, as she wouldn’t be going back.  We got to stay there for what would be the last time – an incredibly bittersweet thing for me.  Talk about memories being bound to a place…we spent every Christmas and summer there since I was born and Wrex and I were married on their acreage.  It was hard to leave and at the time, every fiber of my being was just screaming for a job there so we could buy the house and keep the place alive, but it wasn’t meant to be.  I’ll always cherish that piece of our trip and I most definitely view it as a sweet little gift that the Lord gave me in the midst of an erratic time in our lives.

Once in Oklahoma, the Lord was so faithful!  We were really beginning to wonder what our next move was.  We knew we had to go back to Colorado for a few days, but then what?  He just showed us time and time again that He wasn’t absent from the process.  From people calling with words (rhemas) for us or the message at church we felt led to attend one Sunday morning that was titled, “What to do in the time of transition.”  Yeah.  That was us…and He was with us.

That Monday, Wrex got a phone call that ended in a job offer from the packing plant in Booker; they wanted him to come on as their northern cattle buyer.  He’d train in Texas for three months and then move up north and establish himself…somewhere.  They would give him a set of barns he was to buy in on a weekly basis, but he would be able to determine the specific community in which to settle.

After a day’s worth of prayer, we felt full release for him to take the job!  It felt so right and like a huge, heavy weight had been lifted off of our shoulders.  They settled on a start date, we hit the road back to Colorado to tie up a few more loose ends and grabbed a few little necessities out of storage – like a crib and a bed and a kitchen table – so that we could make ourselves at home in Texas….again.

****Part 3 is my favorite – stay tuned!****

How in the World Did We Get Here: Part 1

Our little, ole farm house is all tucked snuggly under a blanket of snow this morning as fresh flakes are starting to fall again.  Let it be known that I don’t mind that one bit.  In my book, if it’s gonna be cold it might as well snow.

Not a creature was stirring...
Not a creature was stirring…

We’ve lived here two and a half years although it doesn’t feel near that long.  Earlier this morning, I was reflecting on how exactly we got here.  It was all Him, friends.

Wrex worked for a family company in Denver that had their fingers (successfully) in quite a few niches; ear tags, farming, purebred cattle, show goats, horses.  He had an active role in each of those endeavors and thus worked A LOT.   The situation wasn’t ideal and became less so after Sawyer was born.  A lot of mornings, Wrexy left before she was awake and came home after she was in bed and that was definitely not how we wanted to raise our family.  It would’ve been different if it was our land or our cattle or our company and we were investing this time and energy into something for our future generations, but that wasn’t the case.

So after lots of intense prayer and discussion, we knew that the Lord was calling us away from there.   On his 29th birthday, he gave his one month notice and we stepped out in faith…no job lined up, no place to live (as we were living in company supplied housing), no idea where to go…we just knew that working there was no longer obedience, but that stepping away was. 

We spent our evenings together praying and job hunting and packing.  Our house was nothing fancy but we had made a lot of special memories there.  It was the place we celebrated our first five anniversaries…the place we brought our first baby home to…the place where we hosted friends who became our roommates for a season…the place where we threw card parties and goat dehorning work days and family get togethers.  Even though we knew that our leaving was the right thing to do and that it was what the Lord was asking of us, it still stung a little.  Obedience isn’t always easy…

W spent his days tying up as many loose ends as possible.  By the end of the month, the contents of our home were moved into a storage container and we?  We were jobless and homeless…but not hopeless. 

The job part never really concerned me for several reasons.  One, I knew that we were walking in obedience so I had no doubt that the Lord had something lined up for us; He wouldn’t call us away and then hang us out to dry.  Two, Wrexy has more skills in more different areas than any person I’ve ever met.  I often tell him that he’s handicapped me as a do-er.  If something breaks or isn’t quite right or needs a little finesse, I don’t even try anymore – I just wait for him to get home because he’ll fix it in a jiffy and in a way better manner than I ever could.  Plus, he’s the most loyal, hardest working, social genius on the planet.  And three, I knew that if he had to, he would work two jobs slopping hogs or serving french fries before we ever went hungry.  Before we ever left, he was offered two different jobs, but neither of them had the stamp of the Lord and as hard as it was to say ‘no’ to them, knowing that if we said yes we could stay in the same area, ‘no’ was what we said.

During that first week of our new found homelessness, some of our favorite friends were on vacation and they allowed us to stay in their home.  This was such a huge blessing to us as we finished taking care of last minute business things and fully getting a plan in place for what was next.

We spent a lot of time in the quiet together that week.  It’s a weird feeling, especially for a type A planner to not have a plan…but to know that THE plan was to be obedient to the Lord. There is blessing in obedience – I’ve experienced that richly! I’ve also experienced the consequences of disobedience and I didn’t want to venture there again.

We prayed continually that the Lord would make our schedule for us and that He would provide us with the job that Wrex needed to say ‘yes’ to…wherever that may be.  We knew that He knew our hearts in wanting more family time and He knew our hearts in wanting Wrex to have a job that was rooted in agriculture; a job that wouldn’t find him stuck behind a desk and a job that he enjoyed.  This whole process had happened so fast and was so outside of ourselves that we had no other option but to have hope; confident expectancy in the goodness of God.

As the week was coming to a close, we made plans to visit my family in several parts of Texas and then Wrex’s sister and grandma in Oklahoma and Kansas before heading back to Colorado to finish out a ministry event we were a part of.  We had cleaned up behind ourselves and packed what we needed for a few weeks on the road with a 10 month old, when Wrex got a call that we needed to stop at the tip-top of Texas before we ventured further south; a meat packing plant wanted to meet him and see if he was a fit for their company.  Maybe, just maybe, this was it?

A Biggie and a Boy Baby

Sawyer has always had a pretty intimate prayer life, especially given her age.  She is always quick to pray if she knows someone is sick or needs help or if she’s feeling really grateful.  As a parent, it’s been an incredibly cool thing to watch and foster.

This past week, she’s gotten to witness the Lord answer two prayers – how cool is that?!

The first was a biggie…a friend of ours from church was on a missions trip in Africa and had a pretty major health complication while he was there.  The church sent out an email and our family prayed loyally for him, Sawyer included.  He had a small procedure when he was there, came home early and has had follow up appointments with specialists in the area.  His wife reported yesterday that yet another doctor was stumped as to why he didn’t die while he was gone.  We all know why…because he had a multitude of people storming the gates of heaven for his health…and the Lord heard and acted.

On an incredibly (no really, a waaaaaaaaay smaller, less significant note) we’ve had a missing person around our house.  Sawyer got a dollhouse for Christmas and it came with two infants, which she named “Girl Baby” and “Boy Baby.”

Boy Baby
Boy Baby

Last week, Wryder had “Daddy” in one hand and “Boy Baby” in the other and was scooting all over the house…and then…Boy Baby went missing!  Sawyer had been quite distraught as we had looked for him EVERYWHERE; trashcan(s), diaper genie, wipes container, toy box, under the TV stand, under the chair, in the couch cushions, in the laundry – seriously, EVERYWHERE, with no luck.

Today, after searching some more, she declared that Boy Baby must be in heaven with Jesus and that we should pray for him.  Wrex told her that the Lord knew where he was and that we would pray indeed.  So we offered up a prayer of protection over Boy Baby and we asked the Lord to help us find him.  (Why didn’t we do this sooner?!)

I was laying on the floor playing with Wryder during this whole scene and, I kid you not, about 20 seconds later, I rolled over and looked under the TV stand, as I really felt like that’s the only place he could be (even though we’d already looked) and guess who I saw?  BOY BABY!

A lot of hollering and jumping and praising of the Lord commenced from all of us!  Not because Boy Baby was just that precious or important, but the lesson learned was.  He cares…even about the small things…and He will come to our aid when we petition Him.

These two things have resonated with her greatly and I know they have increased her faith, just as they have mine.  Talk to Him today, friend.  He IS Jehovah Shama…the God who hears.

The Storehouse

We woke up to a beautiful, snowy masterpiece this morning.  Everything is covered in a thick, soft blanket of white, as if all tucked in comfy cozy.  I love that snow makes everything look clean and crisp and pristine.  It has the ability to brighten even the most rundown/filthy/decrepit of places and makes you forget their original state, as it covers the dirt and grime with its cleansing grace.

Since the roads were supposed to be a little nasty up this way, Wrex left after his evening sale last night to head to his Friday sale in Wyoming.  We watched the radar and it looked like he could beat the snow and be safe and sound in town and not have to rush in the morning, so I sent him off at 10:00 last night – not my favorite thing on so many levels – but it was the wise choice.

A dear, dear friend of mine called to pray over me since I’m not the biggest of fan of being out here in the sticks without my protector/snuggle bunny here with me at night.  As she was praying, she acknowledged the Lord as the “One in control of the storehouses of snow” and that just brought such immediate peace to me.  I got such a vivid image of these big, long, white sheds with little fasteners on them and then Him excitedly opening them as beautiful, fluffy flakes fall out as blessings.  Little, crystalline drops of His love and His mercy and His grace and His goodness falling straight from the sky.

In those moments, I forgot my fears and worries; His sovereignty and favor covered them, much like the snow outside covered the ground.  My thoughts shifted to the Giver (Him) of these gifts (snow, hubby and kids) instead of my feeble attempt at controlling their well being. Just as He controls the falling of each flake and dispenses it upon the earth, He dispenses all I need…and in that moment, it was peace…and peace He brought.

I am so thankful that He brings gentle conviction so that I can open my hands and give Him back the things He has so graciously bestowed upon me.  I am so thankful for sweet friends who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who are unafraid to pray and who bless me by doing so.  I am most thankful that He has chosen to cover my rundown, filthy, decrepit, ramshackle, haggard attempts at righteousness with His perfection and holiness so that I can appear spotless before the Father…as white as snow, in fact.

Today, I find myself going back to the storehouse, back into His presence, back to the foot of the cross for more of His provision.  Fridays usually find me tired and a little weary and in need of more of what He has to pour out, so I can pour it out, too.  Lucky for me, the shelves are never empty.

I do hope you take the time to revel in His splendor today…

IMG_3681IMG_3684IMG_3682IMG_3683and take freely from the storehouse…there’s good stuff there.

Not Where We Store the Lawn Mowers

Dora the Explorer and I have a love/hate relationship.  Sawyer used to really, really like watching her and it brought me joy because it brought her joy, but she has slowly grown out of that phase.

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Halloween 2012 – Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora!
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She’s that super cool exploradora…

I mean, it’s sort of a cute little show; Map is adorable, as is Boots…they always have a goal, a place in mind that they have to get to…but I’ve noticed an increase in the number of times I have to get up and shut it off because of witches or wizards or other crazy characters casting spells.  As a Bible believing family, we’re just not going to support that kind of stuff, especially in children’s programming.  Same for the overly dramatic, whiny, disrespectful characters that are in way too many shows.  Aint nobody got time for that!

As a parent, it is my God appointed responsibility to act as a gatekeeper for my kiddos.  Our eyes and ears are two huge camps of infiltration and our babies don’t have the full capacity or discernment yet to know when something is trying to come in and inflict warfare on their hearts and minds.

Even though she only gets to watch a (heavily regulated) show a day, there is still sooooooo much stuff all around us that she’s exposed to – radio commercials, stories from other kids, loud phone conversations, pictures that pop up in Google search results (when only searching for “silly kitties”), attitudes and words from neighboring diners in restaurants, magazine racks at the checkout line, spending time with other peoples’ children – the list could go on and on.

At this young and impressionable age, if other peoples’ kids are treating each children disrespectfully (including yours) or don’t get disciplined (or get disciplined poorly or not in love) or have issues with physicality – don’t subject your kids to that!  This can be so hard, especially if you really enjoy spending time with the parents of said children, but it’s just not worth it.  One, they need to be in a place that feel safe and secure and if they’re getting beat up or verbally assaulted every time they “play” together, then they aren’t safe and secure.  Two, they’re gonna bring that stuff home and we can’t be (or at least I’m not) willing to let that happen.

It’s my job to protect my babies from some of the things they’re just absolutely too young to think on, and to talk through and counter the rest with the Truth – the Word of God.  I’m not saying you need to shelter them their entire lives and then just throw them to the wolves one day when it’s time to leave the nest, but I am saying that we have to be intentional about what and who they surround themselves with, even at age three.

We have to act with purpose by planting the wisdom and truth of the Lord into their hearts. Unfortunately, it’s not just going to happen on it’s own.  We have to take an active stance and it’s going to take some (more) of our precious, dedicated time.  (Have you ever had to die to yourself so much in your entire life?!?  Yeah, me either…)

But?  They will be better for it (and so will we).  They will be well equipped with truth to combat the hundreds of lies thrown at them by the world every day.  They will have a firm foundation of the Word of the Lord so that they can begin to navigate these things for themselves.  They will be filled with the wisdom and discernment that comes from being saturated in Him…and they will begin to see themselves and others through the lens of the Lord and not the the lens of the world.  Their hearts and words and actions and thoughts will bear the fruit of the Spirit – it will have no other option!

Guess what all of that means for us as parents?  We have to do those same things for ourselves, too.  We have to be cognizant of what we’re seeing and hearing and thinking on.  We have to be led by the Spirit…we have to be full of wisdom and discernment…we have to be basking in His Word or else we won’t be able to give it away to the littles.

This post comes on the heels of 1.) the Grammy’s, which I did not watch but too many of my friends and their kids did (and I wished they wouldn’t have…see above) and 2.) an overly embarrassing episode in our home last night.  As I was putting a spoon in the sink, our glass, dish soap holder fell (loudly) in the sink and scared the daylights out of me!  (Me?  Jumpy and high strung?  Never.  Ahem.)  Before I had even uttered anything except a small scream, Sawyer said, “Oh, shed.”  Yeah.  Isn’t that nice.  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t referring to the little building where we store the lawn mowers.  Apparently, ahem, I have a habit of saying a semblance of that lovely phrase often enough for her to notice.  I mean, we don’t go too many places for her to pick this language up, so I’m gonna have to call dibs on this one.

I turned around and asked what she said and she replied, “Oh, shed.  That’s what we say when we drop something.”  Nice one, mom.  Dora should be the least of my worries, eh?

So, we then got to have a talk about how imperfect mommy is and how I don’t always say things that honor Jesus, but that I need to work on that.  We talked about how out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks and that I need to do some work on my heart so that my reactions when I get flustered or scared are more righteous.

So now that I’ve completely outed myself (embarrassed, flustered, red face, queasy stomach and all), I hope to practice more of what I’ve preached here.  Lord, help me.  And I’m hoping you’ll still let your kids come over – I really try to make a point not to use curse words, really, I do.

The point is, evil/vile/sinful things, thoughts and words are all around us vying for a piece of our allegiance.  We have to do our best to protect the gates of our homes and the gates of the homes of our souls – our hearts.  Let us love righteousness and hate sin…and watch less Dora…because that’s probably good for everyone.

I’ve Been Thinking About Jesus

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but Sawyer has ministered to us on several occasions and in several different ways.  It always catches me off guard…I guess I’m not used to that quite yet…but it’s such a sweet, sweet thing.

Friday, before we left, I went to wake her up from her nap.  She was already awake and I could tell she was whispering/talking.  She said, “Mom, I’ve been thinking about Jesus!”  (Words a momma delights to hear, let me tell ya!)  And then…

She pulled me close to her and she laid her little hands on my head and just kept saying, “God is powerful and mighty.  He is always with us.  I love our God and He loves us. He is good and what He does is good.”  Just over and over.  At one point I kind of leaned up and she pulled me back down and continued speaking that over me.  It was such a blessed, anointed little moment.

I assured her that what she had heard and what she was speaking WAS indeed truth and that it blessed me…immensely.

I pray that she always lends herself to the Lord…that she listens for His voice and shares when she’s supposed to share.  I pray that she follows Him all the days of her life.  I pray that everything that she puts her hands to will prosper.  I pray that she will never feel ashamed of sharing His news, His story, His word…she can change her corner of the world by doing so.

She blesses my heart…

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I am the Nativity

My “adopted mom” wrote this a couple of Christmases ago and it might just be my favorite thing she’s written…and I have a lot of favorites when it comes to her.

These words came pouring from her heart as a prayer one morning and it is goose-bump inducing beauty.  PLEASE (yes, I’m begging!) take a minute to slow down and soak in the pieces of the Christmas scene.  It will be well worth your time.   ***click on the green link below***

http://www.jeanierhoades.com/i-am-the-nativity/

Jesse Tree

Sawyer is such an amazing little girl, if I do say so myself.  She has such an inquisitive nature and has always been really interested in learning.  On top of that, her memory is absolutely incredible.  She’s been memorizing scripture ever since she was about 18 months old and she has well over 50 verses committed to memory right now.  We are careful to foster these things in her and to fill her mind with things worth remembering – thus the Jesse Tree.

Our "tree" part isn't so pretty.  I'll work on that for next year - ha!  This was the we gotta get this ready to go by December version...
Our “tree” part isn’t so pretty. I’ll work on that for next year – ha! This was the we gotta get this ready to go by December version…

The Jesse Tree is our version of Christmas advent calendar.  I love this season as much as anyone and while I’m completely game for baking cookies and making ornaments and having fun experiences, I also want her to really get WHO we’re celebrating and WHY.  So, while we definitely do those things, we attempt make our main focus JESUS.

Each night, we take an ornament piece, a person in the lineage of Christ, and learn about them and how they are tied to, and point to, Jesus.

These are pretty easy to identify, yes?
These are pretty easy to identify, yes?

Jesus was promised by God to His people long before He was born.  In Isaiah, we read that Jesus would be a “shoot,” like a new sprout that grows on a bush or tree, from the family tree of Jesse.   Jesse was the father of David, a great king of Israel, and Jesus was born 1,000 years after Him.  The tree starts at creation and points to the coming of the Messiah with each story.

There's a rich history on this board...
There’s a rich history on this board…

I feel like she learned quite a bit last year, but this year she has just amazed me with how much she’s taking away from every scripture.  And?  It’s good for her mom and dad, too.  In a world that has watered down the true meaning of the mass of Christ, it’s so good to reset our focus on HIM.

You can find quite a few different versions online if you want to do this at your own house – which I highly encourage.  We got this pattern from a woman at our old church back in Denver and it has served us well so far.

I pray you keep your minds and eyes and ears and hearts attuned to One whom we celebrate this season..the shoot of Jesse, that bears new fruit…

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    He will not judge by appearance
    nor make a decision based on hearsay.
He will give justice to the poor
    and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
    and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
He will wear righteousness like a belt
    and truth like an undergarment.

In that day the heir to David’s throne
    will be a banner of salvation to all the world.
The nations will rally to him,
    and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.