Belt Test

When Daniel woke up this morning the first thing he wanted to do was put on his uniform for his belt test at 1:00!  At my house that's not good because no matter how many times I vaccum, there is always some black dog hair. So I finally convinced him that he should wait to put on that nice white uniform!  We are so proud of how much he has accomplished since he has started in Taekwando.  Nathan hasn't seen him in class for a long time and when he saw him today, he couldn't believe how he has improved.  During class on Friday night his Master came up to me and said that he just loves how hard Daniel works. He said he has so much heart while he is there and he is so proud of him.  After passing the test today, he is now a High Blue Belt!

Catching up....again!

It seems that I am always catching up, but hey, thats my life right now!  I realized that I never posted pictures of Nathan's last playoff football game and Daniel getting his blue belt! 
Nathan's game was great, but they lost in the last seconds of the game:( They played their little hearts out.  We were all so sad that they didn't get to win.  Now, Nathan is looking forward to tackle football next year.  Needless to say, I am NOT, but he loves it and to quote him, "It is in my blood, Mom."  How can I refuse that?

He was a flag pulling machine this year!

Yes, he caught that one!

Daniel is still enjoying TaeKwando!  It is amazing how he is improving with each belt.  He just recently earned his blue belt and is really excited about it!  During the test, he actually broke 3 boards at once! We have it on video but I can't figure out how to load it on here! His Master comes up to me often to tell me how proud they are of him.  He is a hard worker.

Broke 3 boards on the first try!

Also, Nathan's friend got tickets to WWE and he and Michael went last night.  I am not sure that I have seen Nathan that excited in a long time!

Well, I think I got it all!  

Expectations

Last Thursday night, Ashley and I had a long talk about some things she was really struggling with.  The more we talked the more I could see that I struggle with those very same things, just on a bigger scale.  I have thought about our conversation all week.  I won't share the details but it comes down to the expectations of others and even more, the expectations we place on ourselves.  There are certain things I am wrestling with right now that are true to me but are not necessarily "true".  What I mean by that is we can believe something about ourselves and it becomes the truth to us.  What we don't say in words, we ultimately say in our actions. 
I was studying John the Baptist this morning.  I was reading in John 1:19-31.  John confesses freely that he is not the Messiah, so they kept asking him who he was.  In verse 22 they asked him, "What do you say about yourself?"  His answer was that he was not Elijah the prophet and he was not the Christ.  He said he was a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, proclaiming Christ as his leader.  He understood that his life had value not through what he could do but because of his life's connection to Christ.  He understood that it wasn't about what he could do but how he could serve Christ.  For John the Baptist is was public and everyone could see what he was doing, but for many of us we are behind the scenes and not many ever see our service and that is okay because it's not about us, it's about HIM.
If we are all honest with ourselves, we all struggle with our value being connected to what we can do.  Our culture puts so much emphasis on us to do, do, do.  Not only do we get caught up in it, we stick our kids right in the middle of it. We sign them up for this class and that class in hopes that they will find what they are good at.  I have been asking myself these questions this week:  Do I want my kids to find their identity in some great talent they might have or do I want them to find their identity in the One who gave up His life for them- Christ.  Am I filling their time with activities for themselves or providing them with opportunities to serve others and ultimately Christ? 
I am not saying our kids shouldn't be in activities and I know some will be offended by this post and that's okay, but these are questions I am searching out for myself.  I hope that someone can take away some bit of encouragement!

This morning as I was reading, I came across this verse.
 
Isaiah 58:11
 The Lord will guide you continually,
      giving you water when you are dry
      and restoring your strength.
   You will be like a well-watered garden,
      like an ever-flowing spring.

There are many times when I am dry in my faith.  I am so thankful that during those times, HE is faithful and never gives up on me.  Sometimes it is so hard to face our neediness.  We want to feel like we are in control and by sheer willpower, do everything without acknowledging our need for Christ.  Something I needed reminded of is how He places me in situations where my strengths are of no good and my weaknesses are extremely evident. If I let Him, he draws me closer and closer to Himself.  I am learning to thank Him for the hard times I go through, knowing that it will be used to accomplish the Lord's work.  I am thankful that He restores my strength daily.

Daniel's Birthday

Today is Daniel's 9th Birthday! He came down the stairs this morning smiling so big!  He asked me all week if he could have the day off from school because it was his birthday but I was the mean old mom and made him do school anyway.  He was wonderful about it and did it without any complaints.  I did bribe him a little bit with telling him we would go pick out his cake when he got finished!

Daniel started a tradition when he was 5 or 6 that he would hide the birthday present and then make a map so that the person could go find it.  Now, they all do it for each other.  So here is a picture of Ashley's map for Daniel's present.

Here is Nathan's:

And here is Daniel, excited to go find his presents!

After opening his presents, he picked Sir Pizza to eat for dinner. Then we came home and ate Ice Cream Cake! Yum!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIEL! You are such a blessing to our family and we all love you so much!

Peace

Last night before bed, Nathan and I were praying for a very dear family that we know that is going through a very scary time.  After we finished, he looked at me and said, "Mom, is there really a purpose for everything we go through?"  I could tell that it just really bothered him that this family has to go through this trial.  I am so thankful for his tender heart toward people. I shared with him that just because we know Christ, doesn't mean we will be free of pain.  That is until we get to see HIM face to face! After our talk, I went to bed really thinking about the questions that he had and asked God to help me explain it a little better. 
While reading today, I came across this verse.....Colossians 3:14-15. 

¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Peace is the main mark of the authority of Christ.  A sense of peace will always accompany His will even when it is not our personal preference.  Christ is the Prince of Peace!  We can have peace because HE is peace. 

 

We carve pumpkins every year, and last year we forgot to buy them:( The kids were no very happy with us.  So this year I made sure not to forget!

And the best part.......they did them all by themselves!  As true to tradition, we separated all the seeds and baked them. YUM!

Our youth group served hot chocolate, coffee and cookies to trick-or-treaters inviting them to our church.
They had a great turn out and everyone was so shocked that we would do all this for them.  The youth kids all dressed up as different color M & M's!

Nathan at Tyler's house! I am so thankful for their friendship:)

They each carved a pumpkin.....one had a "T" and the other an "N"!