Discipline Of Quiet

The devotional I picked up after finishing "The Discovery" is called "Dear Abba" by Claire Cloninger. This book has been awesome at helping me develop my prayer time. It is also full of practical applications and insights on what a life completely surrendered to God can look like.

Here is an excerpt that I read recently:

"Surrender requires letting go, and letting go is very uncomfortable. It flies in the face of everything we've been taught by this culture-this culture whose twin national anthems seem to be 'I Gotta Be Me' and 'I Did It My Way.' Most of us have been schooled in the art of being in control, living as captains of our own destinies, architects of our own life plans. Many of us find the old anxiety level rising sharply at the thought of being caught without a 'to do' list, without a mapped-out agenda. We feel much more comfortable with marching orders, job descriptions, and mission statements, so that little is left to chance. We want our priorities neatly listed and our lives tidily contained."

Ouch!

The coolest thing about this book is the habit it is creating in my life to sit quietly and listen to the still, quiet voice of God. The first time it said to "Sit quietly for ten minutes (or more) and listen for Him in your heart" I about had a panic attack, but I was determined to learn how to meditate on Christ and to sit quietly listening for His direction, His voice. The first 3 minutes were a constant battle of the mind to close out all the distractions around me, like the misplaced toys on the floor and my growing to-do list.

I actually look forward to this time now=) I would encourage all of you to try to find that time every day to just sit quietly and listen for that still, small voice.

If They Had It Their Way...

If the kid's could have it their way they would...

...eat cereal or mac-n-cheese for every meal.

...make blanket forts every day.

...watch worship videos on an hourly basis.

...drink their bath water.

...never wear socks with their shoes, or shoes at all for that metter!

...have appointed wrestle times scheduled throughout the day with daddy.

...wear their spiderman and princess costumes every day...all day!

...eat all their toothpaste.

...talk us out of naptime so they could "read" books by flashlight every afternoon.

...play on the top bunk.

...take apart all of Areyna's necklaces so they can play with the beads.

...tape all kinds of things ALL OVER THE HOUSE=)

...have so many bags to put things in that they couldn't keep up with them all.

...jump on the couch and beds.

...never want Micaiah to take a nap (whether we heard Cai's cry of protest or not).

...switch seats at the dinner table a dozen times in one meal.

...play with all of daddy's recording stuff and record their own band.

...get flowers EVERY time we are at the grocery store.

What would your kids do if they had it THEIR way?

"The Discovery"

I had just finished a devotional book and realized that I had never gone straight through Josh's book, "The Discovery". After a few months of sporadic quiet times for the fact of having a new baby in the house, and moving, and the holidays, and (my excuses were endless) I decided that it was time to get back into the "every day" swing of things. "The Discovery" is a 21-day devotional through the book of John. It's perfect for getting back in the habit of a daily time with the Lord. I mean, I know I'm a little bias, but this is a GREAT devotional and even though it is geared more toward new believers, or believers trying to figure out where to start with a structured devotional time with God, I truly learned a lot. Not to mention the dozens of times I practically rolled out of my chair laughing at his stories every day.

I sure love this man!

6 Months

Micaiah is 6 months today!

He is sick as a dog, can't you tell=)

We spent our yesterday in the Doctors office and ER.

He has RSV and Bronchiolitis (again).

He's lost weight so I'll post his weight after he starts eating normally again.

We're having to monitor his breathing closely but we can tell he is on the mend.

It's been 7 days and they say that he should be fine in another few days.

On a brighter note, here are a few NEW things Cai has done this month:

He started copying sounds and facial movements

He is sitting up for several minutes at a time before toppling over

To our dismay he started sucking his thumb this month

(we are just destined to have all thumb-suckers)

He is now a tummy sleeper

He no longer needs to be swaddled

(makes it a lot easier to lay him down, wherever, for a nap)

When he is playing on his tummy he scoots to his toys sometimes

Loves avacados, oatmeal and sweet potatoes (or ANYTHING food!)

He LOVES people! All the nurses and Dr. yesterday were making over how cute he was in spite of how terrible he was feeling. He smiles at everybody he sees=)

Happy 6 months of life little Cai-bo!

Fun Facts For Friday - The Fun Picture Kind

It's been a while since I've done a Fun Facts For Friday

and I had some pictures I wanted to share so without further ado...

1 - Micaiah will only nurse while holding his toes like he is in this picture=)

2 - Is Areyna really old enough to do this by herself now?!

3 - This is the look that ALL of us have when feeding Micaiah, ha!

The funny thing is, I remember my mom doing this too...

I guess it's a natural instinct=)

4 - This is what my kids got for me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago...

Apparently Zeke has picked up on my obsession to clean

Areyna was in the kitchen when this terrible event occurred.

She was thoughtful enough to replace it!

5 - Wow. Check us out! This was the fall after we got married.

Hope You Have A Great Weekend!

What Did You Say? - Some Good "S"

Tasha: "I just got rid of all of Cai's clothes that I really don't like because I don't ever dress him in the stuff that I don't like."

Josh: "That's the same with us."

I THOUGHT he said: "That's some good 'S' "

So I'm thinking: "Uh...really? I had no idea you felt so passionately about the kid's wardrobe, ha!"

All Mixed Up

You know it's bad when...

you keep mixing up your 3 1/2 year old son's clothes with

your 5-month old son's clothes=)

It's even funnier when Josh accidentally puts Micaiah's

shirt ON Zeke...and it actually fits!

The Life We Live

Josh and I feel very strongly about teaching our children that all good things come from God. But we also feel very convicted to show our children that life isn't always easy and we want them to know that God's answers to our prayers aren't always the "yes" we're seeking. That God is good ALL the time, even when our circumstances aren't always the most pleasant.

This practice is one of the hardest things to live by. Especially for the emotionally-driven girl that I tend to be=) But alas, it is a necessary step in our spiritual walk, I believe.

With that said, I want to tell you a story of God's provision in our lives from this past week.

In our line of work, we don't get a consistent pay check. We strive for a salary but we never really know how much of it we'll actually get. It is a life of faith we have chosen to live by as we follow the Lord's direction for our family and ministry. We have NEVER been in need. He always provides for us and we don't doubt that, but sometimes we wonder just how in the world He is going to pull it off, you know?!

Well, it was time for us to cut our next paycheck and we were about $800 short of our alloted salary. We also had a youth retreat in Richmond, VA and we didn't know where we were going to get gas money to get there. We didn't even have our ministry credit card for backup because somebody stole our credit card number...AGAIN!!! The bills were piling up but I was mentally preparing to rejoice in all circumstances. I was trying to think of a creative way to show our kids that we were going to surrender our lives through this and live in expectancy of God's provision.

Then, I went out to our mailbox (one of the highlights of my day!)...

Inside was an envelope that said "Josh and Tasha Via for whatever" It had $60 in it. We were able to mail off our newsletter, put some gas in our car and go out on a date (don't worry, it was a FRUGAL date. We only spent $10 all night long and even racked up on some FREE groceries in the process;).

Then I opened up another envelope that was for almost $400 on a medical bill that we had overpaid! I have NO idea how that happened because I very carefully run every bill by our insurance explanation of benefits and call the company before paying the balance. I won't argue with them though!

I opened another envelope from some dear friends of ours. God had laid on their hearts to give us a $250 donation. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Then I opened yet another envelope for over $100 from Covenant Eyes. We partner with this organization to help promote internet accountability and we had so many people sign up under us that they PAID US!

God is SO good! I was prepared to rejoice with little, trusting that God knows what is BEST for us. I think that's it though, the willingness to rejoice in all things and living in the great expectation of God's ways!

You'll have to excuse me now, I have to go to the grocery store because we're out of milk, bread, cereal, tortillas...

Deliberate Kids

Josh and I started a new family devotional with our kids a few weeks ago. Our kids absolutely LOVE it! Not only does it have awesome family discussion questions for each lesson but it has a song to go with the main theme each week. It is called "The Deliberate Kids". The kids request to listen to that CD on an hourly basis. Zeke had the words memorized to the whole CD before I even heard them all.

You know Phil Joel from Newsboys? Well he and his wife have done a phenominal job putting this together. Phil composed a children's album and then his wife wrote a 10-week devotional to go along with each song.

If you are looking for another family devotional book, or even another CD that will get your kids singing about God's truth go check it out and get your own copy!