Giving God Glory
Jesus is Forever King & Forever Constant ~
Especially in Our Season of Transition & Change!
Especially in Our Season of Transition & Change!
Forever King! ~ Philippians 2:8-11 ~ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Forever Constant! ~ Hebrews 13:8 ~ Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Josiah made the crown above in Cubbies, and I was grateful for the reminder of how Jesus is the forever King as we celebrate His birth. It also came to my mind how He is forever constant in the midst of our season of transition and change since He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I had anticipated that our family would be feeling settled and in a groove by this time after moving cross-country in August. However, the Lord continues to keep me feeling a little unsettled and daily dependent upon Him, which the dependence part is good, but the unsettled feeling is not fun. I have asked others who have moved how long it took to feel settled, and many of them have said around a year. So, the Lord is adjusting my expectations and growing my patience for feeling settled and established, plus helping me appreciate His constancy more.
Marriage Memories
With all the Christmas fun festivities & also opportunities to serve, Wes and I enjoyed multiple dates together this month!
Having fun Christmas shopping for our boys & just being plain silly with trying on various hunting apparel ;)
Ready to serve :) * Enjoying dinner together with Heartland staff before serving underprivileged youth with food, fun, and gifts
Heartland Staff Christmas Party
Human Farkle Game :)
Family Fun
Fam fun hanging out and game night on New Year's Eve :)
J & Mom came to visit, and we took them to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo. We all had a great time!
Our fam * We also met up with Buzbees ~ good times! :)
Let the renovations begin! ~ Our boys got antsy on a cold winter day and asked if they could start taking off the wall paper that had been peeling. They turned work into some stair-sliding fun! ;)
More renovations ~ I tackled taking off the mirror tiles on the bedroom hallway wall
Several 1sts in Ohio ~ 1st good snow, 1st snowman built, 1st time sledding
Also 1st time celebrating Jesus' birth in Ohio! ~ Singing Christmas songs together * Christmas Eve pjs from More Papa & Great Tache
"Happy birthday Jesus!" banana bread "birthday cake" * Opening gifts
Celebrating Christmas with fam in Wisconsin ~ cousins photo :)
Abby - 7, Joey - 5, Caleb - 3, Josiah - 4, Brayden 6, Noah - 7, Samuel - 1, Camren - 10
I think I'm pretty close on all their ages ;)
Fam game night fun on New Year's Eve :)
Noah News
7 years old
Continued prayer that the Lord would graciously save Noah at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.
Praise for Noah growing in loving and being grateful for Josiah, since Noah has the typical older brother provoking going on at times. - ex.
During our Bible time together one morning, we were memorizing John 1:1-3 for AWANA and thanking God for one thing He created. Noah - "Thank You, Jesus, for creating Josiah and that he is my brother."
I asked Noah what he would like loved ones to pray for him, and he said to continue to pray, "That I would be kind to Josiah."
During our Bible time together one morning, we were memorizing John 1:1-3 for AWANA and thanking God for one thing He created. Noah - "Thank You, Jesus, for creating Josiah and that he is my brother."
I asked Noah what he would like loved ones to pray for him, and he said to continue to pray, "That I would be kind to Josiah."
Josiah Joys
4 years old
Continued prayer that the Lord would graciously save Josiah at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.
Praise for God's grace in helping Josiah hide His Word really well in Josiah's heart and spontaneously making connections of verses to daily life situations. Even leaders and helpers at Cubbies have commented on Josiah's love for the Lord and His Word and how he is a blessing and encouragement to them. Others that have spent time with Josiah at church have said how they think the Lord has an extra special plan for him because of his tender heart to things of the Lord. We completely agree! Please pray that Josiah's spiritually tender heart would continue, that he would understand all the verses he is hiding in his heart, and that he would bear much spiritual fruit for God's glory and kingdom (Matthew 13:23).
Praise for God's grace in helping Josiah hide His Word really well in Josiah's heart and spontaneously making connections of verses to daily life situations. Even leaders and helpers at Cubbies have commented on Josiah's love for the Lord and His Word and how he is a blessing and encouragement to them. Others that have spent time with Josiah at church have said how they think the Lord has an extra special plan for him because of his tender heart to things of the Lord. We completely agree! Please pray that Josiah's spiritually tender heart would continue, that he would understand all the verses he is hiding in his heart, and that he would bear much spiritual fruit for God's glory and kingdom (Matthew 13:23).
Samuel Sentiments
21 months
Continued prayer that the Lord would graciously save Samuel at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will.
Praise for the joy of starting to see Samuel's personality starting to shine, and he definitely has one spunky personality! - ex.
Noah and Josiah had a class together throughout the semester in which they learned a song - "Jesus is My Superhero." They practiced at homeschool co-op, sang it at home, and seemed excited to perform at our homeschool co-op's 1st semester celebration night. However, they both got stagefright and emotionally lost it right before it was time to go on stage. Guess who asked to put on the superhero costume and join the group?...Samuel! So, I took Samuel on stage. He stayed in my arms during the song, but they had a "freestyle time" at the end, and Samuel asked to get down. He quickly stole the show with all his superhero moves and antics and had the audience laughing along with him. The kids started to exit the stage, and Samuel kept right on going with his superhero entertainment. It was something else! I eventually picked him up in order not to create too much of a scene. That boy has always had the nickname of "Super Samuel" to us, but I think he just took it up to a whole new level and is now "Super Spunky Samuel." ;)
Noah and Josiah had a class together throughout the semester in which they learned a song - "Jesus is My Superhero." They practiced at homeschool co-op, sang it at home, and seemed excited to perform at our homeschool co-op's 1st semester celebration night. However, they both got stagefright and emotionally lost it right before it was time to go on stage. Guess who asked to put on the superhero costume and join the group?...Samuel! So, I took Samuel on stage. He stayed in my arms during the song, but they had a "freestyle time" at the end, and Samuel asked to get down. He quickly stole the show with all his superhero moves and antics and had the audience laughing along with him. The kids started to exit the stage, and Samuel kept right on going with his superhero entertainment. It was something else! I eventually picked him up in order not to create too much of a scene. That boy has always had the nickname of "Super Samuel" to us, but I think he just took it up to a whole new level and is now "Super Spunky Samuel." ;)
Superhero Samuel in my arms during the song * Samuel continues showing off his superhero moves (right) as the kids exit the stage (left)
Bro Bonding
Snuggling bros (Noah tried to hide from the camera) * Superhero bros
Noah & Josiah building * Noah & Samuel sledding
Josiah & Samuel sledding
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