Multitude Mondays

Gratitude is spiritual warfare.

1003.  worship practice before church this last Sunday....teaching Cheyenne, Natalie & Barb the motions for Days of Elijah....laughing, out of breath, worshipping God with everything in us including our joy and smiles....how blessed I am by this team God has placed in my life to love
1004.  worshipping with the body on Sunday, doing the Days of Elijah with motions and catching everyone off guard, but God sending one white haired man to say to me afterward that everyone loved that song and he was wishing we'd do it again....thank you Lord for that encouragement..... it reminds me of 2 Samuel 6:22 "Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes."
1005.  our first night of teaching guitar to the Grice men....Jake G. made me crack up because once he got a chord, he'd announce, "Okay got it." and sit back to wait for his dad to catch up.. while Steve would just give us a look of desperation and say, "My fingers are retarded."  It was so much fun!  It brings back all my memories of when I began to play and how uncoordinated I felt and I remember thinking 'I'm never going to get this!'  I was determined to teach myself back in 2008 while the boys were on a mission trip for a week....when they came home I was so proud of what I'd done and made them sit me playing 2 songs (we videoed it and still laugh at it!)
1006.  gotta list being able to watch Addison on here....my children just love her!  Isaiah and Madeline are first in line to hold her at any moment, even under the threat of spit-up.  Jake and Nate are just fascinated with her tinyness, her sweetness and Ben can be counted on to sit next to her and keep her entertained, love also how she finds her thumb, rests her blanket against her cheek and falls asleep.

1007.  last night - having no one to spill the junk that was circling in my head out on - at first it made me more sad, but then I grabbed my bible and turned my attention off myself and onto Him, until I drifted off to sleep
1008.  husband who loves me
1009.  God-loving cousins for Jake and my children who model and come alongside them
1010.  Jake's desire to serve at T.E.C. and dropping him off Thursday night...seeing the insecurity in him....but also seeing the dying to self in him so God can use him on the Wheat Team
1011.  going out to Culver's after dropping off Jake with Charis & Steve....laughing....sharing heartaches....silly conversations about farts, "I Remember Mama", burping, puppets and fart spray
1012.  trying to save my seat for my quiet time by leaving my bible in my spot, only to come back in the room and see Annie curled around it anyway

1013.  Nate's sweet journal entries.....all about Addison

1014.  being with Bakers at co-op, giggling and laughing

1015.  friends sharing ticket to circus and having a girls' night out with them

1016.  going to TEC and being blessed by a room full of teenagers who are in LOVE with the Lord and show it to each other and being able to sing Days of Elijah with them
1017.  Jake, pure and simple, how he holds me at bay thru anger and then in a quiet moment, without my pushing, shares his struggles and how God speaks to him in it - so reminds me of myself....Lord, if it's possible make him stronger than I ever was
1018.  Noah going to TEC this time and Chaney, sweet Chaney, leading Jake on the Wheat Team, sharing her testimony snd how she desires everything to line up with God's will for her, even the difficult things that are painful to go through and her decision to not date.

1019.  HUB body having fun in their worship with motions for Days of Elijah.....so cool to see!
1020.  Nate's way of asking if he can feed Addison - "Can I milk her?"  made us all laugh

1021.  BSF....God's Word...time in van with kids and we're all talking about how good it is, how beautiful the Bible is
1022.  sweet neighbor friends and traditions....going out for each of our birthdays to someplace mexican, margeritas, and catching up - Happy Birthday Kristen!!  33 - You are a babe (as in young!)!!!!
1023.  having fun dressing a little one in outfits tooooo cute!!!

1024.  talking with boys about the foolishness of this world....dating in middle school & high school, so thankful they look to God's desire for them above anything else
1025.  God's Word....simply brings beauty into my life....This past week I've been soaking in Isaiah 40 vs 6-8

"A voice said, "Shout!"  I asked, "What should I shout?"  

"Shout that people are like the grass.  

Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers of the field.  

The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord.  

And so it is with people. 

 The grass withers and the flowers fade, 

but the word of our God stands forever."