TAG - You're It!

Jaime (from Unambiguously Speaking) tagged me! The rule is that I must list 5 reasons why I love Christ. After that, I must tag 5 other bloggers. I read Jaime's blog this morning and saw I had been "tagged". Thanks, Jaime! I've been thinking about this throughout the day, and though I could write so many more than 5 reasons right now, I'll stick with the 5! So here goes...

1. I love the Lord because He rescued me!

"He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God."
Psalm 40:2-3

2. I love the Lord because He has forgiven me of all my sins!

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us."
Psalm 103:8,10-12

3. I love the Lord because He has given me an amazing husband who is so patient with me and who is faithful to me and who makes me laugh like no one else can! Even when I'm in a funky mood like today, he has been able to make me laugh - and laugh hard!

4. I love the Lord because of His mercy. Because of His mercy I have been bound to Him in way I could have never achieved on my own.

"We...have passed into a new condition with regard to God. We were once, at the very best, only His subjects, and having sinned we were scarcely fit to be called subjects, but rebels, traitors, attainted of high treason. But now since grace has renewed us we are not only His pardoned subjects, but what is far better, wondrous grace has made us His beloved sons and daughters..." (Charles Spurgeon)

5. I love the Lord because He is good and every situation and circumstance He allows to happen in my life is for His glory and for my good. It's so hard for me to comprehend that, but I do know it is true. I can look back and see how even the darkest times in my life God has shone Himself faithful. One of my favorite songs is "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord". I have had the privilege of being able to sing that song in the best of times and through the saddest time in my life and, by God's grace, know the words are true.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord
Blessed be Your Name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your Name
Blessed be Your Name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your Name
Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in Lord still I will say

Blessed be the Name of the Lord
Blessed be Your Name
Blessed be the Name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious Name

Blessed be Your Name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your Name
Blessed be Your Name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your Name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your Name

So, here's who I'm going to tag!

Medana

Cher

Jenn

Tracy

Kelly

1, 2, 3, 4...
I'm Starting to Walk Some More!

Guess what, Daddy-O?!?! Sydney walked to her Mommy this morning!

A wobbly 10 steps she took all by herself and when she made it to me I cheered and she cried! She is such a funny little girl! Now we know her feet can hold up all those baby rolls on her little legs! It looks like before long we will have to find shoes that fit her cute chubby feet!

With Faith Like A Child...

The night before last I had one of those splitting-I-just-have-to-close-my-eyes-and-sleep headaches. When I woke up yesterday morning, it was about the same and on top of that my neck was hurting really bad. There was too much to do and two little girls to take care of so I knew staying in bed was not an option. The girls and I had to run a couple of early morning errands and as we were pulling up into the grocery store I just mentioned to Reagan how my head was hurting really bad. She immediately said "Mommy, I'll pray for you." She prayed that God would make my head not hurt and that I would be all better and that He would heal my body. By the time she was done praying my headache and neck were completely better. I was amazed! Steve was talking about it later in the evening and he just made the comment about how when we have a b00-b00 Reagan believes if she kisses it then it will be all better. Yesterday she believed that if she prayed for God to heal her Mommy, He'd do it! It has made me wonder, how many times do I pray because I know that is what I need to be doing but not because I am expecting God to move in miraculous ways? Yesterday the Lord used Reagan to build my faith. Now I am praying that God will give me faith like a child's!

CJ Mahaney - Testimony

CJ Mahaney began Sovereign Grace Ministries which our local church is a part of. This man loves and cares for us tremendously! Here is his conversion told in a few moments time. This is his story of God's electing grace. You can read a very kind review of CJ's book Living the Cross Centered Life (which includes more of his story!) at Monergism.com.

Swim Lessons!

Last Friday we finished up two weeks of swim lessons. A wonderful lady in our church has taught swim lessons for many, many years and this was Reagan's second year with her. The first day I thought we were going to be in for a rough time, but by day two she was wanting to jump in all by herself! Reagan loves the water and by the end of the second week she was able to jump in the deep end all by herself and with a little assistance make it back to the side of the pool! She loosened up so much this year and it was so much fun watching her have to learn patience as she had to wait for all the other little ones have their turn jumping in!

Just Precious!

Enjoying Today!

Well, I've just about come to the conclusion that Reagan is now beginning to be a little girl. She is getting taller and losing her "baby fat", she is learning so many new things, she loves talking on the telephone and this morning she asked if she could have one of her friends over to play! In so many ways I wish I could freeze time and keep her just the way she is right now (well, most days!), but on the other hand I look forward to seeing how she changes with each new day and what God has planned for her life.

So, today I decided I didn't want to just be the Mom behind the camera trying to catch all the little details, but I wanted to be enjoying the details with her! We've had so much fun playing in sprinklers and licking Popsicles and reading books and pretending to be in a band with our pianos and play drums! This morning I woke up looking forward to this summer day as much as I did when I was a little kid! It's so easy for me to forget on a day to day bases how fast these days are going to fly by, but when I do I so enjoy when I just take time out of "my schedule" and totally enjoy my little girls!

(OK, so I had to step behind the camera a couple of times today!)