Taking God for Granted

My last post mentioned that Caleb took his first steps... to emphasize my infrequency of posting, Caleb is now running everywhere and daily our house is hit by Hurricane Caleb! He is such a huge blessing in our lives that we totally don't deserve, and I praise God daily for giving him to us.

I'm reading Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper currently, which has quickly moved into my "favorite books" list! She talks about the importance of repitition when it comes to speaking of God to your children, referencing Deuteronomy 11.19:

You shall teach [God's words] to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

She says: "[A] sign of God's wisdom is that, with enough repetition, the very activites, no matter how mundane they are, will trigger thoughts of God in our minds (p.35)." Even if you are single, or married without children, this totally applies to every one of us! And for me, I want this so badly! I want it to become so natural in our home to talk about God, in EVERYTHING we do. Even when I'm not at home and with my family (say at work or out shopping), I want it to be natural to talk with people I meet about the God I love. And I always want to exhibit that kind of lifestyle for Caleb any any future children. Noel shares this excerpt from one of her husband's sermons:

God does not like to be taken for granted. It flies in the face of his eternal purposes-that he be known and loved and praised and enjoyed. And it makes us superficial people... When the main thing is missing, what's left is distorted and superficial, whatever it is. If someone says, "Oh, that's just religion. You can't expect everything to be religion," I answer,"It's not religion. It's reality. God mde the world and everything in it. He owns the erth and everyone on it. He is the main actor in the world. He is guiding the history of every people and nation to their appointed goal. Everything, without exception, has to do with God and gets its main meaning from God. And not to show this, but to take this for granted, is to be superficial..." It is simply impossible to overstate the importance of God. And he does not like being taken for granted. The psalm does not say, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be taken for granted." It says, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." (Ps 96.4)
-John Piper

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be superficial and take God for granted. However I know that I too often do. This book has just been a great reminder of where I'm at right now and where I really need to be. I highly recommend you read it!

I pray that today you are reminded of God's greatness and His Sovereignty! 

pursue righteousness

I mentioned prayer in my last post...

Right around the new year, I was listening to the local Christian radio station on my way to work. Normally there are a lot of things that bother me about what the radio hosts talk about on Christian radio stations and I typically turn it off in-between songs. But this particular day, something that a caller was saying made me keep it on. She was sharing how the previous year, instead of a New Year's resolution, she had decided to choose a word that she would learn to live out through the year. Her word was "listen". She talked about what that had meant for her in various forms, like listening to others and listening to the world around her, but most importantly, learning to listen to God. She said that this past November her yearly mammogram was coming up and she decided to just skip it because she had been so faithful the years prior to get it done and it had always been fine. As soon as she decided to not have it done for 2010, she kept having this feeling that that was the wrong decision and every time she thought about it, her word "listen" kept running through her mind. She said she felt the Lord was really speaking to her to get it done. As you can guess, she finally gave in and the result was positive... they found cancer in its early stages. She went on to talk about how that one word had driven her so much closer to God over the past year and that she felt it had prepared her for the news she received at the end of 2010... her heart was filled with so much peace.

I've never been one to make a New Year's resolution, but this story really made me think about what word I would choose. Prayer has always been a huge struggle for me, so that's the word I finally decided on. The cool thing is that I had already signed up for a Seminary Wives class called "Lessons in Prayer" (which starts tonight!!), and for Christmas my in-laws gave me a devotional book on prayer. I've been going through that book since I chose the word "prayer" and the Lord has already spoken to me a ton. I know I have so much more to learn about this amazing gift that we have been given (being able to have that line of communication with God) and I'm so excited to see what happens!

"So flee youthful passions
and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace,
along with those who call
on the Lord
from a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22 [ESV]

...

Little Mr. Caleb took his first steps on 1.31.11!!! Here's the video (I'm so proud of him!):

seasons & prayer

Well, at the rate that I am posting, I will have one post for every season of the year! We finally have internet at our apartment now though, so hopefully they will become more frequent.

We stayed in Louisville for Thanksgiving, but Chad's parents and sister came to visit. I got to cook my first Thanksgiving meal and I didn't burn anything!

Caleb even had some turkey (from Gerber of course):

Caleb's first Christmas was so much fun! We were able to visit my family in Oklahoma and Chad's in Texas. It was a lot of flying and driving, but Caleb was a great traveler and it was so worth it! Watching Caleb "open" presents for the first time was so fun... although he was much more interested in the paper and bows than what was underneath them. :)

Caleb's first snow!

...:: we let him play in the snow with his nativity set to get some pictures ::...

...:: traveling to oklahoma and texas to see family ::...

...:: opening, eating and wearing gifts ::...

Caleb turns 10-months-old tomorrow: 1.26.11! I know everyone says it about their kids, but I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. He is 21 lbs and 28 inches tall now... he started standing on his own a few days ago (and he better take his first step when Chad and I both are there!)... he has 7 teeth... and he's discovering new things every day. I think the cutest discovery he has made recently is how to put a ball in a plastic container and how to reach in and take it out again (over and over and over)! :)

Chad has been in J-term classes over the last several weeks. He clepped out of Elementary Greek last week! I'm so proud of him!

I am truly blessed to have two amazing boys in my life! Chad is a wonderful husband and a great dad!

            Something that I'll blog about later that has been on my mind a lot lately is prayer... "What does it mean? How am I suppose to pray? Why do I not do it more often? How can I learn to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:16-18)" 

If your heart has grown cold,

it is because you have moved away 

from the fire of His presence.

[Beth Moore]

autumn breeze and baby teeth

The leaves have changed colors here and they are gorgeous! That's one thing I love about Kentucky... they are very vibrant colors here. Someone told me that the leaves are normally brighter, but there was a drought this summer. I can't wait to see what they are like next fall! A lot of the roads here are blacktop, which makes the raining leaves even more gorgeous when they blow in the wind. Here's a few pictures I took at the seminary...

Caleb had his 6 month check up with his new Dr! He weighed 19.9lb and was 26 inches long (and it was actually closer to 7 months than 6). Dr Laney said he's right where he should be and that he's a very healthy baby. He said that by his 9 month check up that he will be crawling... I said "already there!" He said, "oh... well then by 9 months he should be pulling up on things!" It amazes me how fast he's changing and learning new things. He is such a blessing and brings so much happiness to our lives!

Caleb also has three teeth now... his two front bottom teeth and one to the right of those! So cute :) He's crawling everywhere (the "army crawl") and causing us to keep our house really clean and hazard free! Our big boy is also eating baby food now... his first one was bananas, then we moved to peas, and he is on applesauce now. I love watching him taste something for the first time. Here's a few more recent pictures of him:

Michalin Man took a bath

Helping mom do the laundry

Passed out!

"On that day it will be said, 'Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him,

and He has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him.

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

...::Isaiah 25:9::...

Here's a few pictures from the month we spent visiting friends and family before moving to Louisville...

Our first stop was in Tulsa... my mom watched Caleb for us while we went to dinner and a Michael Bulble concert!          It was our first date since Caleb came into our lives. We had so much fun!

 

 

 

This is Caleb in Odessa, TX when we went to visit Chad's parents. This is one of his first times to purposefully grab something!

Nana bought him is first wagon!

Playing "school" with Nana.

This is the way Caleb traveled for 3,170 miles... he was a trooper!

Then we headed to Biloxi, Mississippi to see John and Julia Powell.

Julia bought Caleb his first bathing suit!

Caleb's first time to the ocean! I think he thought it was just a bath... so he didn't really care, but I was pretty excited :)

Barefoot in the sand

Blueberry pickin' with the Powells!

Gammy reading to Caleb back in Tulsa

i

Finally!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!

Those are just a few of the pictures we took! We loved getting to travel and see people before moving. 

I was offered a job this past week and I am so excited about this position! It's on a Medical/Surgical Telemetry floor where I'll be working with heart and stroke patients. It's going to be a huge learning experience for me, which I am very excited about! I'm also getting to take a class at the Seminary in the Seminary Wives Institute and it has been such a blessing. It is taught by several of the professors' wives and I am learning so much from them and meeting a lot of great seminary wives! 

We joined Ninth & O Baptist Church last Sunday and we love the Bible Fellowship Group we have been going to... meeting a lot of young couples with children!

To finish this post, let me just say that we LOVE the community at Southern! SBTS spoils seminary students and their families. They had a Fall Festival last night that was huge - carnival rides, skydivers, free food, music, and games! We had so much fun! 

Caleb at his first fall festival... holding a "Southern Seminary" bottle of water! Seriously.

first month

Today marks one month for us in Louisville! 

We love it here so far... Louisville is a great city. 

The first week here we were blessed to be able to stay at some friends' apartment while they were out of town so we were able to look for an apartment of our own and check out the wonderful city. We finally found a two-bedroom apartment and we love it! Chad's mom got to spend about five days with us the week after we moved in and we had a ton of fun with her... and Caleb loved it too :) 

Chad has kept pretty busy since we moved, first studying for a week-long course he took at Southern over Church History, then going to class from 9-5 for a week. 

He started his fall semester classes last Tuesday and loves them so far. 

Caleb and I have kept pretty busy too... He has learned to roll over from his back to his tummy and he's on his forth day of trying rice cereal. I'm not sure that he's actually eaten any of it and he doesn't seem to know what to think about the way it tastes, but we're working on it. He had another round of immunizations yesterday and he weighed 18.5lbs and was 27 inches long. He's just below the 90th percentile still! Big boy!

I've been applying for jobs like crazy! 21 jobs at 3 different hospitals here in Louisville. I've had one interview and a second one for that same hospital tomorrow. 

We are just praying and trusting the Lord in that area right now.

I think that's the biggest thing that I've been convicted of this past month and a half... trusting the Lord in all things. Paul says ...I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am... In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret [of being content] - whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.  

(Phil 4:11b, 12b-13 HCSB)

I've never thought of myself as a materialistic person, but I've really struggled. When we first started packing up and  moving everything, we decided to get rid of a lot of things so we'd have less to move... It was this huge inner turmoil for me to get rid of things. Nothing of sentimental value really, just stuff. And it made me sad to know that it was so hard for me. It wasn't just getting rid of things either... once I had accepted the fact that I had to "let things go", we came to Louisville without much money and no prospects for jobs. I struggled knowing that we'd be living on a super strict budget. I don't want to hold on to possessions so tightly or desire to have them so much. In any and every situation, I want to be able to have joy... knowing that Christ is our sustainer and provider. He is! He is the only thing we need! I also don't want to only  turn to God in the hard times. I want to praise Him and acknowledge Him even in the times "of plenty". Like Paul, I want to learn to desire Christ more than I desire the material things of this world.

I'm writing this first post while sitting on a white bench underneath a gorgeous tree on the Southern Seminary campus. It's a beautiful day... so peaceful. Caleb's sitting here next to me in his stroller, loving being outside. If this last month gives any clue of what Life in Louie is like... I think we're going  to LOVE it and I'm SO excited to see what God is not only going to do with us here, but also to see how He's going to change us.

Goal for next post: stories and pictures from our month of traveling before Louie.