A few weeks ago Joey and I went away for the week to a church planters conference.  I realized during that week that I had not laughed as much as I did that week.  I also realized that I had lost my passion for Christ because it came back that week.  Since I have been home it seems to have gone again.

This past week at Life Group  Sherrie ended with leading us to Revelation 2:1-7.  The end of verse 4 is what lunged at me, “You have forsaken you first love.”  I realized again that I have lost my first love.  Since Wednesday I have been trying to figure out how not to loose my first love with the daily stresses of raising three boys and the different stages of life they are in.  We are in a difficult season with our boys.  I have even thought about  my friend who hates her job and is only working for the money.  How does she not lose her first love?

On Thursday I got on Facebook yet when I pulled up the site it was on Joey’s account.  I noticed that one of his friends commented that she was at swimming lessons with her kids and reading a book called Crazy Love for the third time.  I have been wanting to find a new book to read and her comment sparked my interest.

Last night while on the Internet I remembered about the book and looked it up on Amazon. This is what the back of the book says:

Have you ever wondered if we’re missing it?

It’ crazy, if you thinking about it.  The God of the universe - the creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor - loves us with a radical unconditional, self-sacrificing love.  And what is our typical response?  We go to church, sing songs and try not to cuss .

Whether you’ve verbalized it yet or not  . . . we all know something is wrong.

Does something in deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo?  Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our work with tangible, even radical, solutions?  God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself.  Because the answer to religious complacency isn’t working harder at a list of do’s and dont’s - it’s falling in love with God.  And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same.

Because when you’re wildly in love with someone, it changes everything

At this point I realized God is trying to get my attention.

If that wasn’t enough, Chris Tomlin wrote in the Forward

I encourage you to face up to the convictions of Crazy Love.  I know your heart and spirit will be stirred again for your First Love.

I am pretty sure I now get what God wants me to know!

We’ll see where this leads

PS: I shared all this with Joey this morning and he said, “This is the topic of his sermon this week.”

The pictures in themselves tell the story.

After saying no, turning my back and a few minutes later:

Jonah was supposed to going to sleep but instead I heard, “Somebody help, I’m stuck!”  I went up the stairs ready to give him a lecture but instead I started laughing when I saw him.

I actually feel bad now because I can see the tear in his eye

Today is my Jonah’s birthday!  I tell Jonah that he is my “special one” because his little brother is Josiah and that makes him special.  I also tell Joshua that he is my “special one” because he is the the oldest brother.  I am waiting for the day when they compare notes and all three see that they are my special ones.

Three years ago today was a Sunday.  I was at home waiting for the hospital to call to say they had a bed open for me.  The previous week I had been having A LOT of contractions they would start and stop.  On Wednesday of that week my OB decided to send me to the hospital to have my water broken. I waited by my phone until Sunday at 12:30 to receive the call that they had a bed open for me.  I had to call Joey home from church to take me.  They broke my water at 2:30 and he was born at 5:30 pm.

Jonah gets his middle name from his grandfather Richard and it fits him perfectly.  He and Joey’s dad are a lot alike.  Both were/are risk takers and they both have/had no fear.  One of Jonah’s love languages is touch.   He gives and wants hugs and kisses.  He loves for me to pray for him and sing to him.  You can read my previous post about that here.  His current song list is Sanctuary, Hiding Place, Jesus Loves You and Nighty - Night.  He (and also Joshua)  just recently has been asking  me to play Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi over and over while in the car.

My prayer is that we will raise Jonah to be a guardian for Josiah.  I am thankful that God knew best by having Jonah and Josiah so close.  My prayer is that they will have a special bond always.  I often still rock Jonah in the glider.  I talk with him how special it is that when I rocked him as a baby in that chair Josiah was in my belly.  That he use to lay across my belly when Josiah was still growing.  That he and Josiah had a special bond even before Josiah took his first breath.

Joey and I are away at a church planter’s conference and not able to be with Jonah today.  So, I thought I would show you some pictures of my Jonah from the past three years.

If you can’t tell, Jonah enjoys wearing hats and playing dress up/make believe.

Happy Birthday Jonah Bear!

I heard someone say today that women are the worst at evangelism.  We just don’t do it.  We push away those little nudges from the Holy Spirit.  I heard an amazing story today that has forever changed me.  I am going to leave her name out for privacy reasons.

She said that at one point in her life her and her husband were selling microwaves.  One day he came home and told her he wanted her to spend the next week at the Fair selling the microwaves.  She laughed and thought he was crazy but then realized he was serious.  So, the next week she sat in her booth selling microwaves.  There was a man not to far from her booth giving hot air balloon rides.  He would send customers to her telling them they could get free food at her booth.  She would do food demonstrations with the microwave.  At one point she started to get irritated with the man because it was costing money to give all that food away.  She was getting a lot of customers because of him.  Near the end of the week he came over to her booth and introduced his brother and nephew to her.  Later that night he came back and said to her that she seemed like she was different to him.  He asked her if she was a Christian.  Yes answered, “Why yes I am.”  He told her he wanted to become a Christian and ask her to help him.  She said her mind starting running a mile a minute and her mouth fell open.  She told him that she was not good at that and would mess it up.  She told him to come back in the morning and she would bring her husband who was much better than her to help him.  His nephew tried to encourage her but she again said she would mess it up.

As she drove home that night she cried.  When she got home she told her husband what had happened.  He reminded her what he had always told her what to say in that situation.  He said that they should pray tonight and go see him in the morning.  That morning on the way back to the Fair they heard on the radio of an accident on the highway.  The man, his brother and nephew had an accident with the balloon and all 3 died.

I don’t know about you but this story brought tears to my eyes.  I can’t tell you how many nudges I have ignored.  I have had a nudge for a week now to send a card to someone who I had a conversation with last week.  This person is not walking with Jesus.  You better believe I am going to send her the card tomorrow.  I will never pass up a leading from the Holy Spirit again after this story.  You may be the last chance they will have to hear of Jesus.

One of the ladies in the room encouraged her that Jesus would honor that his heart was searching.  The fact the he asked her shows he was searching.

We have not had a family fun night since our St. Patrick’s Party.  This week Joshua and I planned our kick off for summer vacation with a Summer themed family fun night.  The best part is the fun and food cost $12 for five people.  I used a BOGO coupon for Papa  John’s and got two large cheese pizza’s for $11.  He had three summer movies to pick from: High School Musical 2, Camp Rock and Hermie Goes to Camp.  He chose HSM2  which cost me $1 to rent for five days.  I must say Family Video is AWESOME!!!!  So we sang along with the movie and filled our bellies with pizza . . . now reality comes back and it is time to do laundry :(  The best part for me was watching Josiah shimmy when he was dancing.  He loves to dance!

I am sorry I don’t have any pictures.  I forgot to take any.

I realized this morning that it has been several weeks since I have written a post.  So, I thought I would tell you what I have been doing instead that has prevented me from writing.

• I had a wonderful Mother’s Day!  The boys fixed breakfast for me and Joey took me out to dinner.  We had not been on a date since Valentines.
• Joshua turned 6 on May 12th and it seemed like he had a week long birthday.
• Jonah hit Joshua with a wooden train tack piece and when I got to Joshua he had blood pouring down his head.  We spent that afternoon in the Emergency Room.
• The next day Jonah wouldn’t eat breakfast and threw up in the car after dropping Joshua off at school.  However, he did take a four hour nap that day.
• The day after that was Joshua’s preschool graduation but he missed it because he threw up that morning.
• The day after that Josiah was acting very lethargic.  His legs were shaking when he tried to stand up.  Joey spent the afternoon with Josiah and Dr. Bill.
• That night Joey was up sick and he had a wedding to do the next day.
• Joey spent Saturday and Sunday in the bed except for the wedding.  At some point I came down with a cold.
• Josiah is officially walking now.  Unless he is sleeping in his bed I have to be near him at all times.  He gets into EVERYTHING.   He also bit Jonah on the face this morning.
• School ends tomorrow so, we are in the party zone at our house.  Joshua has his party today and Jonah will have his tomorrow.
• I have spent the last three weeks reading the Twilight Saga.  Joey would probably say this is the main reason why I haven’t blogged.  I have had my face in the book any chance I get.
• I will now spend the next few days getting my kids ready for Nana camp next week.  They will be with my parents Mon-Fri while Joey and I go to a church planters conference.  I have never spent more than one night away from kids . . .I am a little nervous.

I am sure I will have lots to write in the coming weeks with Summer Vacation starting tomorrow for the boys

This past December I was invited to a ladies only Christmas party.  The host had us fill out a little questionnaire about ourselves and then used it to play a get to know you game.  One of the questions was, what is one thing you would change about yourself?

I have always wished that I was blessed with a professional singing voice.  I would love to have a voice like Christy Knockels, she sings in the Christian group Watermark.  I love to listen to music and sing.  I constantly have a radio or CD playing in the kitchen.

I have recently brought myself to realize that I will never be good enough to sing on the stage with Donny but I do have a fan base.  Every night ( and this week at nap time too)  Jonah begs and somtimes cries until I sing to him.  He usually has a list of three songs that he likes for me to sing.  Here is his list in the order that he requests them:

1. John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
2. Jesus Loves Me ( I sing to him Jesus Loves You)
3. Nighty, Night (a song written by my mom and yours truely)

At least I know that I have one fan out there!

I can’t tell you the number of times that I have heard Joey speak to high school youth on leaving a legacy.  He would often ask them, how are you going to make a difference in your school?  How do you want your teachers and peers to remember you.  Well, since Spring has arrived I have been experiencing a legacy that someone has left behind for me.

Last month a lot of plants started sprouting from the ground in our yard.  It has been fun playing a guessing game of what they are.  I have always wanted a yard with lots of plants and flowers but we have never been in the place to spend the money on any landscaping.  We have huge/gorgeous hosta in the backyard, a peony bush on the side of the house (which I have always wanted one of my own - their blooms are beautiful) and I have three rose bushes in front of the house.

A few weeks ago we had a weed pulling party weekend with my parents.  I had a lot of fun working with my mom in the flower beds.  One of the flower beds had become a weed bed.  We pulled all the weeds up, planted hosta and laid out some bark.  The best part was my dad and I watching my mom run the tiller.  We weren’t much help but she sure did work hard.

Last Monday I was driving home from a doctor’s appointment.  I was on the phone with my mom and when I pulled in our driveway I noticed that one of my roses had a bloom open.  My mom told me that the rose was meant for me.  Interestingly enough, yellow roses were Joey’s mom’s favorite.

So, I am very blessed and thankful for the person that took the time to make a beautiful yard at 132 Rhyne Court.

A friend wrote this to me this week.  I have been clinging to the words on the paper.  Maybe you need to hear them too.

He has covered you -

He is faithful!

He can be trusted!

Nothing escapes Him!

Every tear, every sign, every unspoken word -

He already knows and will make a way -

God Loves You!

He has covered you!