Back to parenting 101.

As Luke and I discover what we feel we've been missing with Christianity in general, and learning to live IN Christ and in His glorious freedom, we are being challenged and stretched. We are learning that we've done a lot of things not according to how Christ would have dealt with things, and I don't simply mean W.W.J.D...I mean, I need to let the Christ IN me respond instead...my fleshly-ness will never be enough no matter how hard I try.

I know I've mentioned us reading "Loving Our Kids On Purpose"..it been a real eye opener and Luke and I are struggling through trying to make sense of the parenting style we've been practicing. One of strict obedience and punishment when said obedience isn't obtained. To be honest, I don't feel like our methods have been working. Sure, I may correct the issue for the moment, but we've learned once the authority is absent, the behavior continues which means, we have not accomplished anything other then showing our children "You do something we don't deem ok, and you will get punished for it.". Its really just about fear mongering our children into obedience instead of winning their hearts like the Father has won ours and knowing that in turn they will obey out of love..but even then, obedience shouldn't be the main goal of parenting, and to be honest that has always been how I've thought. Something I read really stood out yesterday when Luke and I read together..and its made me really think about how I'm approaching discipline.

Angry, fearful reactions to people's mistakes reveal that somewhere in our minds still lurks that fundamental belief of the Old Covenant, not only that people CAN be controlled but that they NEED to be controlled, and they need to be controlled through punishment. They need to experience the pain of our anger so that they won't make mistakes that cause us to feel out of control. We think: "I must control them so I can have some control over the quality of my own life."..

I am an admitted control freak. I hate feeling out of control or powerless, so this has been really hard to swallow.  But I know that letting go and letting Christ flow through me will be much more effective then the way I've been handling them.

We've been busy..!

We found renters a couple weeks ago and they needed to be in our house by the 27th...so we had to get real busy real fast. I barely had anything packed and had no boxes to even start with, but thankfully Publix supplied us with most of what we needed in terms of boxes. We also had to find a place to live! We thought there was soo much available till we started calling places..lots of the listings online were no longer available and some weren't vacant till January and so we were limited.We came up last Sunday and looked at a few houses we thought for sure would be great, and none worked out(one had a huge sink hole in the front yard, one was super small, and the other had a issue that we had a dog despite us telling them we had one the day before on the phone.) One house we ruled out because we couldn't get the owner to call us back, but after our meeting on Sunday our friend who happened to know the owner called him and he was at the house cleaning it up and we got to come and see it and its great! Though definitely smaller then our old house, it is just right for what we need right now and so we signed and moved in the following Wednesday.

Though Tuesday morning is when most of our stuff got moved since it was when a friend and my Dad could help the most..and I woke up having SUPER bad kidney pain and knew my body was trying to pass a stone. However by Wednesday I wasn't in pain really anymore..pretty sure I didn't pass the stone, which sucks cause it means its still there waiting to come out at some point, but I am thankful not to be in pain anymore.

A friend lent us a fake Christmas tree so we'd have one and we got all set up and had a great Christmas. It was lazy and wonderful...I REALLY missed seeing my family though. It was really weird cause this is the first Christmas ever I've not spent it at least in part with my family...but it would have been crazy to try and travel while having just moved and the such..so it all worked out and so glad I'll be able to see them this coming week for New Years since they are coming to me! :) I took 2 video's of them opening some gifts and then the camera got forgotten the rest of the morning, so I have none to share..sorry!

We also got snow 2 days in a row! It was so beautiful and we still have a snow man on our front lawn and a good bit on our back deck...enjoying the remnants!

Tomorrow Luke is working at a job here in Gainesville, so he won't have to drive over an hour to work..its so nice!

We let Olivia pick out a birthday cake today, she picked a Princess cake. Yeah you heard right..my little tom boy picked a Princess cake.Progress!!...Her birthday isn't far off and I can't believe she'll be 6! She hasn't had a real birthday party with friends in several years so we're going to do it up big this time. So excited that my Mom will be able to come this year! Hopefully we'll have a good turn out..

Oh you of little faith..

This week has been crazy and busy and emotionally overwhelming. As much as I want this change, its not always easy to make the step when the time comes. I'm so ready for our move to be over with and then done so I don't have to worry about it for a while. Last night was particularly rough..I'm having a really hard time letting go of having my usual ideal Christmas(with tree..), but also just all the chaos and having to sacrifice when it comes to housing.

As I was pouring out my emotions on my sweet loving husband, I was immediately reminded of when the disciples were out on the lake when suddenly a storm came up and they were scared and worried and afraid. They went to wake Jesus and he was so NOT concerned with the storm. He said "Oh you of little faith, why are you so afraid?"...but instead of getting on to them further, He rebuked the storm and it was completely calm. I feel like one of the disciples. I can see me there conferring with the others about whether we should wake Jesus..I can see the fear, I can hear them crying "Lord save us, we are going to drown"..and I can see their awe when the waters stilled and they said "Who is this man, that even the wind and the waves obey Him"..

My wind and waves may happen, but I'm so thankful for a Lord who rebukes the storms for me when I forget how to myself..

Weekend in Gainesville..

Some friends from Gainesville were going out of town this weekend and offered up their apartment for us to stay in for the weekend and we decided to take them up on it. It was pretty interesting trying to entertain the kids in a house that isn't necessarily super child friendly...but we made it work and only one minor mishap happened while there and so thankful our friends were gracious to us. We got to spend so much time with everyone and fellow-shipping with our fellow believers. Went to a fun ornament exchange party, enjoyed a couple dinners together and just interacting with each other throughout the couple days we were there.

Our meeting on Sunday was AWESOME. We were given assignments to do with a partner(I got one of the sweet older ladies in the group) and were given elements to have the Lord reveal how He was that element to us and what He wanted to say. Me and my partner got "Rest"...in the beginning I was totally intimidated by the project and kept thinking about all the ways I needed to present it just so to the group come Sunday, but by mid week I just got an awesome revelation about how WE are Christ's rest and several other things that are just too much to all type out on here...it was so awesome listening to what everyone else got and how the Lord spoke to them that week..I left so refreshed and encouraged and can't wait till next week!


We had a couple look at our house last week who really wanted it but then found out their lease wasn't up till February(wouldn't someone remember that??) and might like it then if its still available, but I'm hoping it won't be. We'll be showing it this evening to a lady who is pretty interested as well, so we shall see. Its going to take some drive for me to get everything unpacked, and spotlessly cleaned before 5 today when she comes though..we left our kitchen in quite a wreck and then just the usual unpacking mess that ensues. But it has showed me how much I can accomplish in a day if I set my mind to it! Only thing thats bothering me about having our house on the market is that I don't feel like I can decorate for Christmas. I want to give people the impression we are willing to leave quickly so I haven't put anything up yet..but I may soon if no one agrees to rent just yet. I can't fathom trying to do Christmas without at least SOME decorations. :)

Sorry...

I don't normally like to go long periods between posting but a lot has been going on. After months and months of prayer, Luke and I have decided to pursue moving north to be closer to Gainesville and the body that we've been meeting with. This decision wasn't taken lightly because I feel like our life is crazy enough without having to add this and now that my parents are moving up I hate being any further from them then need be, but we just have the most awesome sense of peace about moving. We are not trying to sell our house right now due to the economy so we are trying to rent it out....so this past weekend we did an overhaul on the house and painted, cleaned like there was no tomorrow, and purged/packed stuff. We know that it could be on the market for months or weeks, and living in a "can we show the house in an hour" state isn't fun when you have 3 small children and pets that make endless messes. But it will all be worth it....its only an hour away thankfully!

Showed the house today, sold some old toys on Craigslist which is nice cause I  needed some funds for a few Christmas gifts for the kids, homeschooled Olivia, comforted several boo boos and made several meals. I'm SO ready for a down day where we stay in pj's and eat cereal for dinner. :)

Luke and I just started reading "Loving Our Kids On Purpose"...its SO good. Its really really challenging how we've parented thus far but in a good way. One can never arrive and feel like you can't improve as a parent....