Vegas and God

Last week Cole and I went with another couple (Pat and Michelle) to Las Vegas to celebrate her 40th birthday. It's not the first place I'd pick to go, but it's where she wanted to go and we knew we'd have fun. I was looking forward to the 4 of us spending time together, without kids. I was also looking forward to being a grown up for a while. It was my 3rd time going, and I think it was my favorite. I was not shocked by the city and barely noticed the bad parts. We enjoyed ourselves as friends. There was something funny that kept happening though. I get a bible verse on my phone every weekday morning and sometimes they are relevant to my day, sometimes not. I know that God is with me all of the time, but sometimes I forget. It's hard to imagine that He is in Vegas/Sin City, but I know He is. This is what He did to keep me laughing and focused on Him...

Monday morning was our first morning there. Sunday had been very hot and sunny, and I woke up Monday thinking about how we were going to stay in the shade and that we needed to go buy a bunch of water. This was the verse I got that morning...

The Lord will guide you always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land. Isaiah 58:11

I laughed and shared it with everyone. I was so tickled that God cared enough to remind me that he was with us, even in hot and sunny Vegas!

Tuesday morning I woke up not feeling that great. We had stayed out late on Monday and had a couple too many lemon drops. It wasn't terrible, but I could have felt better. I seemed to have lost the verse from that day, but it was something about how He will always be there and care for us, no matter what, and that we were not forsaken. I was glad to know that He hadn't forgotten about us, despite the fact that we were in what many perceive as a "God forsaken land".

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed out. Even though we all had fun, we were happy to be headed home. As we were sitting in the airport shuttle, pulling away from the curb, this is what came over on my phone...

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us in to the kingdom of the Son. Colossians 1:13

Oh the joy of knowing that He was with us the whole time!

Is your hand in His?

I heard an interesting story on the radio tonight while driving home from work. It was about a little boy who wanted to hear a certain preacher preach. The boy was dirty and homeless and the preacher was talking way across town. The boy wanted to see him so bad that he did everything he could to get across town. Finally, after a lot of hard work and tirals, he made it across town to the church that the preacher was at. He ran up the steps only to find a man there, beside a closed door. The man asked the boy what he was doing there. The boy told him that he had come very far and worked very hard to see the preacher preach. The man told him that he was much too dirty and would not be allowed in. The boy walked away and looked around for another way in. The windows were all too high and there weren't any other doors. He went back to the front steps, sat down, and cried. Soon, a big car drove up and out stepped a man with a top hat and large hands. The man asked the boy why he was crying and the boy explained that he had come so far and worked so hard to see the preacher, but was not allowed in-even after trying so hard. The man put his big hand out and said, "Put your hand in mine." The boy did without question, and they walked toward the previously closed door. The door was flung open wide and they were permitted in. They walked all the way to the front where the man with the big hands had the boy sit in the front pew. Then, the man walked to the pulpit and started to preach. He was the preacher the boy was coming to see!

This is a beautiful illustration of Heaven and how to get there. You can't get there by trying hard, or your good works. You can only get there by placing your trust in Jesus. He will walk you in. Is your hand in His???

Toddler concentration

I was doing some picking up while Justin and I were home with Gavin at preschool. Justin got the box of games that Gavin and I play from. It has bingo, tick tack toe, dominoes and some others. Gavin and I play with them at the table before Justin gets up from his nap. Anyway, Justin got the box and said, "Play table." He wanted to sit right where Gavin sits and play the games with me. He's 2 and really won't get most of them, but I sat down with him and we decided to play with the dominoes. We made a train and some towers, and had a fun time together. My favorite part was just looking at Justin and watching him think and work. I spent some time thanking God for him and basking in the peace. These pictures don't begin to capture what I saw as I was sitting there, but they are close enough. Little kids concentrating are just so cute! The last one was of him asking me to stop taking pictures.

Signs that he's growing

Gavin has had a tooth that has been hurting him for a while. I looked at it and touched it and realized that it was loose. I didn't tell him to see if he would figure it out on his own. This was a month or more ago. Since then he has stopped eating bagels, apples and carrots. He doesn't complain or question his tooth. It just is. So yesterday I looked at it again and mentioned that maybe it was getting loose. Gavin's face lit up so bright! He got really excited that the tooth fairy would be coming soon. Since then he will spontaneously break in to a dance and laughing because his tooth is loose. He can't wiggle it with his tongue because, "My tongue is too slimy" but can move it with his fingers. He doesn't like to move it though because it is sore. I remember when I was bummed that he was getting teeth because I loved his toothless baby smile. Now he's loosing those very teeth. I swear that was last week!

I'm so impressed with the person that he's turning in to. Such a wonderful son to have. Recently we tried a new church. I was almost sick with all the butterflies about how the kids were going to do in the nursery. Gavin didn't want to go and Justin had no idea what we were doing. After signing them up and talking to Gavin, we walked him to his area. I mouthed to the workers that they may have to hold him while he cried (he's 5 and that would not be easy), but he walked in to the area on his own. He was not happy about it, but he didn't cry! I was so impressed that I almost lost it and started crying myself. When I handed Justin over he had caught on and was saying, "Mama come too. Mama come too." He cried, but we expected that. Apparently he cried for a bit and was then very cautious. He perked up and was happy after a cookie :-) They both did well and had positive things to say. Gavin didn't want to go back unless he gets to play on the slide the whole time, but too bad buddy, we went again and all went well (with a little crying from Justin). Gavin said that he wants to ride the church bus next week. They have shuttles from remote lots and we'll give them a try.

My boys are so awesome! They are very different and I love it. They have taught me the value of silence and that patience is always the right choice. They are growing so fast!

I hope he gets it eventually

One of the things that my mom used to tell us was that there is no trying. You either do it or you don't. It drove me crazy when she told us this. She would demonstrate by asking us to make a fist. Either we did or we didn't. There was no in-between. I still don't totally believe in that and I think there are circumstances where something is a "try" and not a failure. I think she would agree, but sometimes you need to be black and white with kids. Even though I don't totally agree, it causes me to think and I certainly learned from her teachings.

Lately, I've been talking with Gavin about how there are times when he chooses how he feels. Or, actually, he chooses what to do with the feelings he has. When I ask him to pick up the toys and he misses part of Sesame Street because he was dilly dallying, he says that I made him angry. Well, he may be angry because of the consequence of his dilly dallying, but in his eyes it's because I asked him to pick up. In that moment, it's ok to feel the anger, but he can decide how to act. That just makes him madder. I have the feeling that this will be one of those things that he remembers as an adult. Just like I remember the trying thing with my mom.

My struggle is to model the behavior that I am preaching! I don't always demonstrate the best choice when it comes to my frustration. When I let it take over, I do take time to talk to Gavin later about how I could have acted differently and that it's normal to feel the emotion, but we need to continually work to display it in a way that won't hurt others. I hope that when he looks back and remembers the things that I told him that drove him crazy, he'll also realize that he learned something from them. He doesn't have to completely agree with what I'm trying to teach, but at least he'll have something to ponder.