Sunday Snapshots

Getting a picture with all of us looking at the camera and smiling a genuine smile is just not happening these days. But, it is what it is. I love having pictures of Jack and Claire dressed up on Sundays. So......it is what it is. :)
Claire now says "Cheese" everytime the camera comes out, but the tricky thing is she closes her eyes at the same time.

I told Blake today that Claire's outfit consisted of Mae Wood's shoes (thank you, Claire), Abby Hill's dress (thank you, Melissa), and a hairbow made my Heather Ward (thank you, Heather).

I thought this was a cute picture of Jack and Abby. This is his last Sunday as a three year old!! He looks so big here!! Love that Jackers!!

Tonight, Blake and I went back to church to watch "Courageous." Neither of us had watched it before, and I used a whole box of Kleenex. It was such a great movie.

After Christmas, Blake and I bought the Resolutions for Men and Resolutions for Women books that go along with the movie. I finished mine the other night, and it was one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. It really made me think about my role in the home as a wife and mother. I recommmend this book to all of my friends!

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

Another Book: Shepherding a Child's Heart

I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago. Excellent book. It is divided into two parts, the first talking about faith based parenting; the latter discussing actually shepherding a child through infancy, childhood, and adulthood. His whole premise talks about how a parents job is to not only correct a child's misbehavior, but to also get to the heart of the matter, the sinful nature of our children's hearts. Our job as a parent is to lead them to not only behave and make good decisions, but to turn away from their sinful nature.

82: Book Worm

I love to read. Always have. I have been making time to read more, since I really enjoy it so much. The only problem is...once I start reading, if I get really into the book, I can't put the book down. For example...Redeeming Love, GREAT book. So good, that even though my children were all asleep, I stayed up until 2:30 the other night, actually morning, to finish. If you love Christian Fiction, I highly recommend this story. The love story paralells God's love for his children, and is based on the book of Hosea. It is now on my favorites list.

I also read 29 Gifts. This book is about learning to life a lifestyle of giving to others, and follows a lady that starts living this lifestyle for 29 days. It was a good, quick, easy read, and made me really think about intentional giving to others. Not necessarily monetary gifts...a note, giving of your time, baking cookies, or just doing favors for people.

I am now reading Shepherding a Child's Heart.

42: Bringing Up Girls

Friday, I finished reading this. It was a great read, and also gave me the urge to not let Claire ever leave our home until she was about 24, and dress her in Gymboree clothing and large hair bows until her 18th birthday.

3: First Cardio Workout and A New Book

Today, I did my first cardio workout....in my neighborhood. I hope I can get out of bed in the morning...

I also started doing morning devotion time with Jackson (and Claire, too). We are using The Jesus Story Book Bible.http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com I won it in a blog give away at The Happy Brown House (see sidebar) last year. I LOVE this book. Today we talked about all of the places that God shows His love to us. One thing I also like about this book is how the scripture is paraphrased so that it is easy for little ones to listen to, and understand.

"The Heavens are singing
about how great God is;
and the skies are shouting it out,
"See what God has made!"
Day after day...Night after night...
They are speaking to us.
Psalm 19:1-2 (paraphrase)

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The Jesus Storybook Bible