Sawyer – Page 20 – The Bless Your Heart Blog

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Five years ago, I took a trip that would change my life in ways that I didn’t know were even possible. In the spring of 2008, I received an invitation to go on a missions trip to the Home of Refuge orphanage near Valencia, Venezuela. I looked at the dates of the trip, saw that it coincided with a state fair my husband was going to be judging and I immediately dismissed it. Nope. Couldn’t go. Already have plans. Plus, why would I want to go on this trip without my hubby (and he was already under contract with this fair)…the orphanage isn’t in the safest of countries (and I’m not much of a risk taker)…I wasn’t the biggest fan of children (or so I thought)…plus, I remember missionaries coming to our church when I was growing up and I was HELLBENT not to be one. (It just seemed so foreign, unglamorous and scary to me.)

And then…isn’t there always an “and then?” The Holy Spirit convicted me and made me realize that I wasn’t committed to anything during this time. Wrex was, but I was not. I was just planning on going with him to have fun and support him…and in that moment, I think I knew I was called to go, not to Indiana, but to South America.

After praying and attending an informational meeting, the Lord confirmed it to me through worship one Sunday using verbage our group leader had used in a previous meeting.

Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

It didn’t exactly whack me in the face when she said it, but that Sunday, He ministered to my heart regarding this trip and I paid in full to go. Can I just say, obedience is a BEAUTIFUL thing and that’s definitely what this trip was for me. Every ounce of my being was kicking and screaming “no” but the Lord was whispering “yes.” So glad I listened and obeyed.

The orphanage was run by an American man and wife who, too, were obedient to the Lord. Read about their AMAZING history here. (Seriously. Read it. The Lord’s faithfulness is astounding.)

As a team, we put on a VBS of sorts during the day, and at night we ministered solely to the older kids. The Lord had put that task on our leader’s heart as she planned our trip because there were a couple of students there that were 18 or were turning 18. They would soon be entering the world beyond the fences of the orphanage and we wanted them to be as prepared as they could be to stand firm for the Lord in a country that would be ready to eat them alive because of Him.

It was SUCH an anointed, majestic, holy time. The kiddos learned to give their testimony and how to lead others to Christ; they got to gain a deeper understanding of the Lord from a different set of mouths; they got to play games and have fun and be joyful and do creative activities apart from school; and most importantly, they got smothered in love.

There were so many sweeties there, it was hard to have a favorite…but there was a little girl that specifically caught my eye and attention. Her name was Eduangeli. She was around 2 or 3 and had the biggest brown eyes and the curliest brown hair…and she called me momma. I was sold. Smitten. Completely in love.

She loved being doted on and carried around and loved on and was so content just to sit. I’d sing to her and play with her hair and pray over her. We’d get out bubbles or a ball and she’d play, but she was so content just to sit and snuggle. And I was content to do so.

That’s what a lot of the kids wanted. We’d sit and “talk,” which mainly consisted of me trying to attempt a conversation in my simple, left-a-lot-to-be-desired Spanish. But they didn’t care. Smiles and laughter and self-deprecation are a universal language, yes? They just wanted to be included…to be wanted…to be known…to be loved…to be accepted…to be in…to be heard…to be in the presence of someone who cared.

Don’t we all? I’m so thankful that we have a Father that sees that need in ALL of us and should we choose to believe…should we choose to sit at His feet and be in relationship with Him…He adopts us into His family, forever.

The Lord did some major, life changing things in me on that trip. I owe a tremendous amount of who I am today and what my walk with the Lord looks like and what I believe as Truth to His doings (or, undoings) that occurred in a red, stucco orphanage in a communist country in South America. (So much so, that that will have to be another post for another day or you’d be reading all night.)

Leaving those kiddos – not my finest hour. My heart was, indeed, broken for the things that break His. I was a wreck; a complete, sobbing, ugly-cry, overwhelmed mess. Our leader reminded me in our last hours there as I struggled to pull it together and say my goodbyes, that there are some 150 MILLION orphans in the world and we got to know 60. As much as it felt like this was the end of the world, it was not; and though our time there DID make a difference there was still a lot of other children that were in need in the world. We couldn’t limit our vision to just these 60…because the Lord doesn’t.

A few months later, we found out why we felt so impressed to really concrete some things with those older kids… On a horrible day in November, the government stormed the orphanage at gunpoint, seizing all the kids except the handicapped individuals. The ones that were 18 were turned loose on the street and the others were sent to state run jails and orphanages. Heartbreak and anger and confusion and unanswered questions and cries of injustice poured from our lips. How can they do that? Is there something we can do? What happened to Hector? Jesus? Eduangeli? Oh, how I prayed and cried out to the Lord! If someone could just find her and get her here, we would adopt her! Any of them! All of them! But it wasn’t to be.

I think of her when I see my own little brown-eyed, curly haired beauty. There aren’t too many days that go by that I don’t wonder where she is or what she’s doing. I pray that she’s cared for…that she isn’t scared…that she has enough to eat…that someone is showing love to her…that she isn’t being taken advantage of…that someone is teaching her about the Lord…and that somewhere, in the deep recesses of her heart, that she remembers the Jesus we talked about…the Jesus that rescued her once and that will do so again, some how, some way. Would you pray for her, too? For all of them?

Our church celebrated orphan Sunday today. We prayed collectively for the persecuted church and for the orphan everywhere; there are almost half a million children in our very own country that are not in a forever home. The videos are hard to watch and the statistics are hard to hear, but we can’t look away. We can’t protect our hearts and think someone else will do the work because it might just be too much for us to handle. Much perspective is gained by getting outside of our churches and living rooms and families; a God-sized perspective, a life-changing perspective…and not just your life.

The orphan is dear to the Lord’s heart. Pray for them today; for the ones in our backyards, in our state, in our country and in other nations. Ask the Lord to break your heart for what breaks His. Ask Him how He wants you to share His name with the orphan. And then? (See, there it is again…) Be obedient to what He’s asking you to do. If it’s go, go. If it’s pray, pray. If it’s support, support. If it’s adopt, adopt. If it’s build, build. There is blessing in obedience, this I know.

By the way, my heart has done a 180 on the missionary front. 🙂 There are longings in my soul to go and preach the Good News and to make disciples and to bind up the brokenhearted and to free the captives and to pass on knowledge of production agriculture to help change a society by feeding people for more than just a day. I just want to be a vessel of the Lord. Wherever. Whenever. With whoever. And if it happened to be somewhere with more brown-eyed, curly haired girls that decide to call me momma, I shan’t complain.

Trick-or-Treat

Happy day after Halloween! I hope you’re surviving the sugar crashes and runny noses. We had a good day together and I tried to make it fun for the littles, because they are only little once, ya know. I made these for lunch..

and Sawyer got a fun little dessert!

Marshmallows are one of the few sweets she'll eat — Marshmallows are one of the few sweets she’ll eat.

After lunch, brother took a short nap and sister thought she saw a “scary shadow”…which I think translates to, “I’m too excited to take nap.” 🙂 So, we got around, got dressed and headed into Grant to trick-or-treat at the businesses downtown.

Oh, yes, Cubbie bear got to go trick-or-treating, too! (More on that in a future post!)

SO cute...and sooooo windy! — Sooooo cute…and sooooo windy!

Sawyer holding hands with Craton - her self-proclaimed favorite part of the night. — Sawyer holding hands with Craton – her self-proclaimed favorite part of the night.

We did a little speed trick-or-treating down main because it was cold, at least to us. I’m starting to think Sawyer’s about as tough in the cold as I am…which means, she’s not. We hit all the main places and then decided we were just going to go on home and finish partying at our 3rd annual Phipps Family Camp IN. We always set the tent up in the living room on Halloween and eat a fun supper and watch Charlie Brown and just have fun together! She and brother fell asleep on the way home so our party started like this:

I woke her up for some pumpkin pizza but it never got too wild around here.

We did watch this…

You can't NOT watch this — The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

I just wish there were fewer uses of the word “stupid.” Sigh.

All in all, a good Halloween. I encourage you to show grace to the littles today, mommas. They probably had too much candy and not enough sleep, but love will cover a multitude of sins. Love is patient, love is kind…it keeps no record of wrongs. They are only little once… Next week, you’ll look back on the halloween festivities with fondness and it will have been worth the tears and meltdowns and incessant disciplining you might be experiencing today. Don’t ask me how I know… 😉

DIY: Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins

Each week at Cubbies, one of the little cuties is responsible for bringing back the cookie bucket full of, well, cookies for snack time. This week was Sawyer’s week. (Don’t tell me you’re surprised that I signed up for a fun week…) You don’t have to bring cookies so we decided to make Rice Krispie treat pumpkins and they turned out really cute!

You’ll need:

3 Tablespoons butter
1 package of marshmallows
5 cups of Rice Krispie cereal
orange food coloring
15 mini Tootsie Rolls

1.) Melt down your butter and marshmallows over medium heat.

2.) Add in the food coloring and then coat your Krispies.

3.) While these cool, unwrap your Tootsie Rolls.

4.) Coat your hands in butter and shape your Krispies into a ball of sorts.

5.) Make a well and insert the Tootsie Roll in top. We curved ours for a little character.

These are super easy and super cute! Are you seeing a theme here regarding the kinds of projects I like? 🙂

Help My Unbelief

I’m currently doing a Precepts Bible study on Joseph with my church and it is SO good. Man alive. So good. I love these studies because they use the Word to prove the validity of the Word. How can ya beat that?!

The end of last night’s homework had us examine who God is and it’s one of the most well-written lists of His attributes I’ve ever seen. The writer said,

You need to know, in order to trust Him.

So true, yes? I want Sawyer and Wryder to get an accurate view of the Lord. I want them to see Him for all of these good things that He is and oh, how I want them to trust Him! As their mom, I have to 1.) believe those things of Him myself and 2.) act like Him. For a while now, I’ve realized that my view of Him isn’t entirely accurate. I’ve listened to the lies of satan and have succumbed to the (not) fact that He’s a mean, punishing, vengeful, better-be-on-your-best-behavior-or-I-will-kill-you-off, game-playing kind of God. (Just reading that sounds APPALLING. How in the world is that love and how in the world would I ever love Him in return??!?!) Working on that. Because if you search His Word that isn’t Him at all.

When we speak of God’s attributes, we are speaking of His essential being or character. His character is a composition of all His attributes. In other words, when we talk about one of God’s attributes, we are not talking about a part of His being, but rather His whole character. For example, God is love…but not just a part of Him is love. Love is the essence of His being; however, He is also wrathful. One attribute does not contradict the other, rather they make God who He is. Therefore, whenever God acts in any given situation, all His attributes are used simultaneously in perfect harmony. He never suspends one so He can use another.

Great explanation, yes?! Now I just need to drill it into my head and drop it into my heart.

He is omniscient. God knows all. He has perfect knowledge of everything that is past, present or future. (Job 37:16, Psalm 139:1-6)
He is omnipotent. God possesses all power. He is able to bring about anything that He has decided to do with or without the use of any source beyond Himself. (Job 42:2, Psalm 33:6-9)
He is omnipresent. God is present everywhere, in all the universe, at all times, in the totality of His character. (Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24)
He is eternal. God has no beginning, and He has no end. He is not confined to the finiteness of time or to man’s reckoning of time. He is, in fact, the cause of time. (Deuteronomy 32:40, Revelation 1:8, Isaiah 57:15)
He’s immutable. God is always the same in His nature, His character and His will. He never changes, and He can never be made to change. (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)
He is incomprehensible. Because God is God, He is beyond the understanding of man. His ways, character and acts are higher than man’s. Man only understands as God chooses to reveal Himself, His ways or His purposes. (Job 11:7, Romans 11:33)
He is self-existent. God depends upon nothing for His existence beyond Himself. The whole basis of His existence is withing Himself. At one time, nothing but God Himself existed. He added nothing to Himself by creation. (John 1:1-3, Exodus 3:14, John 5:26)
He is self-sufficient. Within Himself, God is able to act, that is, to bring about His will without any assistance. Although He may choose to use assistance, it is His good pleasure, not His need, that governs that choice. (Romans 11:36, Psalm 50:7-12)
He is infinite. God has no limits or bounds whatsoever in His person or dominion. (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 145:3)
He is transcendent. God is above His creation, and He would exist if there were no creation. His existence is totally apart from His creatures or creation. (Isaiah 43:10, 55:8-9)
He is sovereign. God is totally, supremely, preeminently over all His creation. There is not a person or thing that has escaped His control and foreknown plan. (Psalm 103:19, Daniel 4:34-35, Isaiah 40:23)
He is gracious. God is a God of grace and always operates on the basis of His graciousness. (Exodus 34:6-7, Luke 2:40, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
He is righteous. God is always good. It is essential to His character. He always does the right thing. Ultimately, since He is God, whatever He does is right…He is the absolute. His actions are always consistent with His character…which is love. (Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 110:142)
He is merciful. God is an actively compassionate being. He responds compassionately toward those who have opposed His will in their pursuit of their own way. (Psalm 62:12, 86:15, 106:44-45)
He is long-suffering. God’s righteous anger is slow to be kindled against those who fail to listen to His warnings or to obey His instructions. His eternal longing for the highest good for His creatures holds back His holy justice. (Numbers 14:18, 2 Peter 3:9)
He is wise. God’s actions are based on His character. His wisdom causes Him to choose righteous ends and to make the most fitting plans to achieve those ends. (Isaiah 40:28, Daniel 2:20)
He is loving. God’s love moves Him to give Himself for another, even to the laying down of His own life. His love causes Him to desire His creatures’ highest good. This love is not based upon the worth, response, or merit of the object being loved. (Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:8, Ephesians 3:17-19)
He is good. In His goodness God gives to others, not according to what they deserve but according to His good will and kindness toward them. (2 Chronicles 5:13, Psalm 106:1)
He is wrathful. There is within God a hatred for all that is unrighteous and an unquenchable desire to punish all unrighteousness. Whatever is inconsistent with His holy standard must ultimately be atoned for or consumed. (Romans 1:18, John 3:36, Revelation 15:7)
He is truthful. All that God says is reality. Whether believed by man or not, whether seen as reality or not, what God has spoken is reality. Whatever He speaks is truth. (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, John 17:17)
He is faithful. God is always true to His promises. He can never draw back from His promises of blessing or of judgment. Since He cannot lie, He is totally steadfast to what He has spoken. (Deuteronomy 7:9, 2 Timothy 2:13)
He is jealous. God is unwilling to share what is rightfully and morally His with any other creature. (Exodus 34:14, Isaiah 42:8)
He is holy. God is a morally excellent, perfect being. He is totally other than man! His is purity of being in every aspect. (Leviticus 10:2, Job 34:10, Isaiah 47:4, Isaiah 57:15)
He is just. God is fair in all of His actions. Whether He deals with man, angels or demons, He acts in total equity by rewarding righteousness and punishing sin. Since He knows all, every decree is absolutely just. (Psalm 89:14, Numbers 14:18, Romans 9:14)

I want to get this and to believe this. Not just say it. Not just memorize it. Not just agree with it. Not just type it out on my blog. I want to believe it. I want to have confidence in the fact that this IS who my God is…and I want to live in a fashion to reflects that. I want my children to be witness to a mom that loves the Lord and who tries her best to mirror His attributes; a mom who is loving and trustworthy and merciful and gracious and long-suffering and truthful and wise; a mom who lives under the authority of the One who is perfect in all things and in all ways and who loves her despite her shortcomings and who desires GOOD for her; a mom that trusts Him explicitly…..because He’s worthy of our trust…and He’s worthy of their trust.

There it is, your immutable God who never changes. His character can never be altered – nor His response; God never acts contrary to Himself. What peace, what security, what confidence this should bring to your heart and mind. Therefore, anytime you meet a biblical doctrine that you cannot fully understand or explain, or anytime you come across a situation in life that is difficult to understand, run to the shelter of the character and sovereignty of your God and rest quietly in these solid, immutable, eternal truths. Rest and order your affairs accordingly.

We will believe, Lord…me and my children and my children’s children and to a thousand generations…we will believe and we will live like we believe.

**All quotes and list of attributes are from the Precept Upon Precept study on Joseph – Keeping Your Focus When Your Dreams are Shattered**

One Little, Two Little. . .Indians

After a friend sent me this overly adorable costume for little Wryder (thanks, Emily!!)

This is not Wryder. ;) — This is not Wryder. 😉

I knew I wanted Sawyer to be an indian with him. Our church’s harvest carnival was this afternoon and we found her costume…….yesterday. (Phew.) Nonna let us borrow one she had and I was just gonna take it and add a little fluff/beads/fringe…until Wrexy came across this little number at the thrift store.

It was PERFECT (and needed no extra work, mind you!) I threw together a head dress, painted a couple of stripes, threw on a bow and arrow……and the CUTEST little indian I’ve ever seen made her debut!

I thought the carnival started at 3:00, so we ate an earlier lunch with the thought that the kids would still get a decent little nap in before we had to leave. I fibbed (oopsie!) and told Sawyer that Mr. Russ (our pastor) said that all the kids had to take a nap or they couldn’t come to the carnival, so she snuggled right down! Then, I decided to check the official start time. Good thing I did! It started at 2:00! So, no nap for Sawyer. We got up and got around and dashed out the door. As we were driving, she said, “Will you still tell Mr. Russ I slept good?” HAHAHAHA Oh, geez.

Pretty sure anybody would let this face into the carnival.. — Pretty sure anybody would let this face into the carnival, nap or not.

Daddy fixed Wryder’s costume so I could wear him in the baby bjourn but have it look like an actual papoose.

He was thrilled - really! — He was thrilled – really!

I love these 2 little indians... — I love these 2 little indians…

Sawyer played A LOT of games and got A LOT of loot!

ANY game with Kenyon is fun in her book!

She won a root beer! IS there a better prize? Not in her world!

She got to help drive Mr. Koop’s horses, Rose and Ruby!

Super fun time with super fun people – how do ya beat that?! Thursday, we’ll head back to Grant to trick-or-treat downtown and then head home for our annual Phipps Family Camp In! Until then, we’ll attempt to get a little rest under our belts…

I’m a Puddle

I’m calling this one a “win” for the mom column!

Click on the link below for a cuteness overload…

IMG_2866

Sawyer’s first word was “moo” (totally not kidding) followed by “dada”…and then, 3 months later, “momma.” (Hey, at least she said it!)

ALL day today he’s been murmuring it over and over and not just when he cries. I’m a puddle.

It’s Sick Season, Eh?

Yep. It’s here. In full force. Ugh.

Sawyer had a runny nose this week, but we didn’t think to much of it…until she woke up crying Wednesday night saying her chest hurt. By Thursday morning, she was ILL. Poor baby has a pretty nasty case of bronchitis. Having a sick kiddo is really hard on a momma’s heart.

We let little miss snuggle with us yesterday morning because she was flat miserable and struggling to breathe. She ended up falling in and out of sleep and I snapped this picture as I clung to the edge of the bed for dear life. (How do such small things take up so much space?!?)

This one of many reasons we don’t allow kids in the bed. HA!

If you read this, pray for her healing and for protection for little Wryder Roo.

Sickness flee, in the name of Jesus! Breathe Your breath into her, Lord.

Wascally Wabbit

Sawyer has REALLY gotten into texting these days. Maybe I should say “texting.” She’ll ask to send daddy a text while he’s at work and so I’ll let her type something out and “hit the blue button.” It usually look something like this:

Dsdddvddffgffffffffffttggggygggfffr

And then she’ll tell me what it means. Yesterday, it meant this: “Bring me home a real animal rabbit present and a real goat and a real slug sock. Eww. Or a pheasant.”

Ahem.

Well, lo and behold, our animal loving, highly connected, petting zoo keeper of a dad brought home a “surprise” for Sawyer. (Have I mentioned that she’s got him good? Oh, I have? Good.)

He’s seems quite cute and content…until you go to pick him up. Then, not so much. We’ll have to work on that.

She loves him, can you tell? She was seriously so excited. The magic text worked!

We fed him some hay and petted on him quite a bit.

She introduced him to all of her kitties and then they all danced together. I’m pretty sure 90% of all of our animals will need a shoulder replaced before they die…

He doesn’t have a name yet and even though I keep referring to him as “he,” I’m not even sure of that. She wanted to name him “Pick-up Truck.” We’ll see if that sticks.

Moral of the story: if you’re cute and sweet and send your daddy texts during the day, he’ll bring you home a rabbit! (I guess I can be thankful it wasn’t the slug sock…)

Weekend Update

I let this happen…

Paint the cat got to come in the house under the condition that she didn’t let him go. And she didn’t. Poor cat. They did do a little snuggling in bed, to which he purred quite contentedly.

Wryder ~~had~~ got to play dress up with sister. This is her rendition of King Wryder. I think he looks quite dashing.

I learned that I need to be a little more specific about what it means when I tell Sawyer to put her cup in the dishwasher. I couldn’t get on to her, because she DID put her cup in the dishwasher…

We checked out a school auction on Saturday and came home with some fabulous finds, including quite a few old-school, pull down maps for $1!

And we got 36 of these beauties (for $0.11/each!) that can’t WAIT for me to paint them some fun, vibrant color.

WD looked quite dapper sporting orange and blue for the Broncos. His auntie got him this CA-YOOT vest and we broke it out for the brisk fall day.

We did a little makeup. And a lot of lipstick. A looooot of lipstick. Thankfully, momma spared Wryder from this activity.

I celebrated a #10 showing for the Red Raiders in the BCS standings! They’re playing some really good ball right now! I can’t even begin to tell you how glad I am that Kliff Kingsbury is back in town as head coach. He played for Mike Leach in the air raid glory days and he’s putting his spin on that style which seems to be working well for us. Plus, he’s not too bad to look at it…

We mourned a Bronco loss. 🙁

I’m not worried about them regarding their standings the rest of the season, I just really wanted Peyton to have a little taste of redemption.

All in all, a really good weekend! We have a CRAZY, busy week and then this weekend………I get to celebrate my bestie and her sweet baby girl!

Can’t wait to see her/them! Why-oh-why can’t Denver be in my backyard?! And why-oh-why can’t the weekend last all week?

Fun, Fuzzy Surprise

We woke up to a really fun, fuzzy surprise! Out of habit, I peaked out the kitchen window to see if the baby calf had made it’s way out of the womb and into the world…and turns out – he did!

Isn't he adorable?! — Welcome to the world, little guy!

Sawyer and I ran to the bedroom to get daddy and we all threw our shoes on and ran outside. All of the other ladies came to dote on the new baby along with us.

Isn't that what WE do with a new birth, too? — Isn’t that what WE do with a new birth, too?

His momma is a little ~~snarly~~ motherly. This picture was her charging at me for the umpteenth time. She did NOT want me anywhere near him and was prepared to take me out.

I was armed and ready with my sorting stick…and a fence.

Not a big fan of being walloped. — Not a big fan of being walloped

Daddy got her away and got iodine on the baby’s navel and off we went to church! He had sucked before we’d even gotten out there this morning but showed us he knew how just so we felt even better about leaving him. She seems a little embarrassed about nursing in public (note the ear) but she stood for him.

New life of any kind is an absolute miracle and man, I need life. This world is so full of injustices; injustices that are hard on my heart. Satan’s on the warpath out to kill, steal and destroy and as hard as it to comprehend, the Lord allows some of this to happen. In His sovereignty, He could stop it…but for whatever reason, He doesn’t always. In our little world alone, there have been moms and babies taken too early, cancer found too late, kids in the system who end up in abusive homes, brain tumors that are growing – and those are just the biggies (in the past WEEK, mind you) that have been weighing on our hearts and minds. I’m the first to admit that I.don’t.get.it. I don’t understand…and maybe I won’t this side of heaven. So I have to turn to what I believe as true. I have the Word. And it says the He comes to give life and life abundantly. Lord, I need that life…and I needed to see this little life this morning. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.