Grocery Games!

As a stay at home mom, trips to the grocery store are sometimes the highlight of my week (I know sad...but true)! Usually I load up my 2 youngest boys and head out to the Wal-mart in the next town. But, lately I have been spending WAY too much at that crazy place! I decided it was time for something new!




With my add and coupons in hand we loaded up and headed to Corsicana to try shopping at HEB!

I know it is a little farther but really there are some days when a nice drive in the car is just what the doctor ordered...everyone is strapped in a seat and usually they are relatively quite. It is scary but some days that is as close as I get to having some alone time!:)

Ok...back to HEB! What you may not know is that I worked for HEB for 4 years while I was in high school and college. It was my first job and I really loved it ( I still have some vegetable codes memorized...I know sad). For some reason I still have some kind of company pride towards the store so I felt right at home there!



I saved about $30 compared with my last Wal-mart trip. But considering that I needed all of these high ticket items I felt pretty good about that savings!



I got these two items free with things I was already going to buy!



Each of these items was $1! (I know we eat SUPER healthy here)


Not sure if I will use HEB for all of our grocery needs but it was a nice change of pace!:)

Electrifying...

Kolson enjoys a little time on the trampoline!

Where it all started...

"...once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."
Proverbs 24:12

I had been reading about Africa through Katie's blog. My heart was stirred and I was touched but really that was all.

And then one night I stumbled on that verse and things changed. I heard a song by Brooke Fraser that said "Now that I have seen I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead". I knew then that He was calling us to action. My eyes had been opened and now I was responsible to do something about all that I had seen.

Yes, the Lord has called us to adopt a sweet African little girl. I am over the moon excited about it and I cannot wait to see her "God story" unfold as we get closer and closer to bringing her home. It will be a long journey with lots of opportunities to practice patience and to trust in God's perfect timing. But I am convinced that He has so much to show us through this journey to Kenzi.

If I am just honest with you it hasn't stopped there for me. God has continued to open my eyes to the needy, the lonely, the oppressed, the lost, the hurting. All the while, He has also been pulling back the layers that make up my life and showing me that "the rich young ruler" and I really aren't that different. He has shown me that time and time again I have chosen my own comfort and need for things over following Him and sharing His love with others.

Can I tell you that this has been hard and wonderful all at the same time. There is nothing sweeter than to sit at the Lord's feet and to allow Him to teach you and speak to your heart. But at the same time it has been so difficult coming face to face with all of the "stuff" I allow to get in the way of serving God and His children.

For so long I have not even been able to really blog because there is just so much going on in this crazy heart of mine.

Proverbs 27:20 says...
Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man.

I have found this to be true in my life. As our lifegroup teacher said today...I am kind of like a dog...distracted by anything shiny!:)

I know it is funny, but really I am. In my normal everyday life before God stared opening my eyes I wanted granite counter tops, matching comforters for the boys, beautiful Christmas decorations, name brand shoes, and of course I always want good food!

Now here I am trying to sort through it all. I find myself feeling guilty about buying decorations or pretty pictures for my house (not because I think they are bad) because really what is the good in having beautiful things if there are people dying because they have no clean water?

I know that I can't save the world and that God does not expect me to. But after reading Proverbs 24:12 I do know that He holds me accountable for my decisions and what I am doing with what He has shown me.

So that is where I am...I just want to honor Him with my whole life even if that does mean letting go of comfort and stuff. Would you pray for me that He will direct my path and help me to figure out all that He is trying to show me?

Blessings to you!

Reminding Me...

My God is a BIG God.

He is the God that created the world.
He is the God that parted the Red Sea.
He is the God that moves mountains.

I love the big things that God does for us, through us, and around us.

But lately I am so moved by the small things that God does.

The way He knows us intimately. He knows our struggles, our weaknesses, our strengths, the number of hairs on our heads. He knows our fears and what brings us great joy.

I love that He knows exactly what we need when we need it. I love that He took the time to write His story for us and that He made sure there where characters that we could relate to and learn from.

Today I find myself relating to Joshua. As I was reading the first chapter of Joshua I was struck by the fact that God reminds Joshua at least 4 times to be strong and courageous. Maybe God put that in there just for me or maybe, just maybe Joshua was a lot like me. Wanting to do the Lord's will, wanting to do what God called him to do but still struggling with fear. And God in His great mercy and grace, knowing Joshua's weakness stepped in and reminded Joshua time and time again not to fear!

Oh how He loves us!

What is He reminding you of lately?

Idle...

I should have known it was coming. After all, that is how God works in my life. I am so much like my children in the way that I usually need to be told something more than once before I get it.

So I shouldn't have been surprised when he read the verse. I know that I have heard the verse before but this particular week after all that God had already told me the verse just hit home...or hit me over the head is more like it.

Rewind to earlier in the week when my tongue had gotten the best of me. No cuss words or anything like that but I definitely didn't use all of my words in the most edifying and uplifting way that I could have. To be honest most day I don't put as much thought as I should into what comes out of my mouth.

Enter God...

Since you know that God has laid adoption on our hearts I am very passionate about it and have been studying all of the places in scripture where orphans are mentioned. Of course that led me to James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world". It is a great verse that is very specific about what God expects us to do for orphans and widows. But since I am married to a preacher who always reminds me to keep things in context I decided to read the verses around it. Would you believe that the verse right before it talks about the tongue. James 1:26 says "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless". My heart sunk...I felt the Lord speaking straight to me. What I say and how I say it matters. I can speak up for the fatherless all day long and even travel across the world to welcome a sweet little girl into our family but if I can't keep my tongue in check it is pretty much worthless.

So fastforward to that Sunday morning with me in lifegroup as our teacher gets up to speak. He is speaking on apologetics and being able to defend our faith. But something really jumps out a grabs my heart. He begins by reading out of Titus 2..."In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and
soundness of speech so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

Did you catch it? Soundness of speech. But then there was more...the real kicker. As we talked about what soundness of speech actually meant I was struck when he read Matthew 12:36 "And I tell this, you must give an account on judgement day for every idle word you speak".

There it was the final blow.

I was sickened as I sat and thought about all of the idle words in my lifetime. All of the times I was nervous and just started talking because I didn't know what else to do (this has really gotten me into trouble before). All of the times I have complained or argued, or talked ugly about someone. Truth be told I would rather not think about it...it hurts too much to come face to face with my sinfulness. But I know that God desires for me to be more like Him and to purge my life of my old ways.

Words are powerful. But then again, shouldn't we already recognize that. Genesis says that we are created in God's image. In that same book it says that God spoke the world into being. If His words are that powerful than our must carry quite a punch as well since we are made like Him.

So I have found myself being much more aware of my words. It has not been easy and I know it is something that I will have to stay on top of every moment. I will be honest and tell you that I have thought about just not talking at all...but I don't see that working very long either!:)

My prayer is that I can learn to have sound speech in every area, in every conversation.

Done

Today I have decided that I am done!

What am I done with you ask?

I am done with potty training!

Now, don't get too excited it is not because my adorable almost 3 year old is miraculously trained and we no longer have a need for diapers, pull-ups and wipes. (Oh, how I wish is were so)

Today during nap time I heard Karter stirring in his room. Since he is a rather active child this is normal for him. He usually needs some time in his room to wind down and then before long he gets his much needed nap. But today was different. He seemed to be stirring a little too long.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I would find when I walked into the room.

I knew something was up when half way down the hall I got a huge whiff of poop! I opened the door cautiously hoping for the best! But instead I found a totally naked Karter holding a hand full of dirty wipes (I at least have to give him props for trying to clean himself up). Karter looked up at me and said "Mommy, there is poop everywhere"! It was not an understatement!

At this point I decided I could either laugh, cry, or yell! Fortunately for Karter I decided to laugh. I mean really, what are the odds that this would happen on the day Nathan is going out of town, and the builders have my laundry room completely torn up?

After using an entire bottle of carpet cleaner, a whole roll of paper towels and more towels than I can count I was finally able to get Karter cleaned up, into a DIAPER and back down for his nap!

I see a trip to Brookshires to rent a steam cleaner in my very near future!

So if you see Karter in a few years and He is still wearing a diaper you will know why!:)

And She Will Be Called...

This summer I told Nathan that she needed a name. She couldn't just be "little girl" or our daughter from Ethiopia. She needed a name...something we could call out as we prayed through this process.


So onto the important stuff! She will be named...





Kenziah Reigh Lorick




Kenzi will be what we call her most days!
Re is what we called my mother-in-law Maria who passed away in February... we knew if we ever had a little girl that we would want to honor sweet Re's memory with her name. My middle name is Leigh so we thought it would be pretty and kind of neat to spell her middle name like mine! When we finally get to see her and learn more about her I am sure we will include her Ethiopian name as well.

This week I saw an adoption quote that said "You didn't grow under my heart...you grew in it"! That is certainly true of our feelings towards Kenzi baby (as Karter likes to call her:).

Someday I will share about how we came up with her name and what it means.

For now I am continuing to trust that if we will seek God and His righteousness first that He will take care of the details!