The label I always forget..... (and some adorable pics!)

So, I have not been on my blog for a while, nor have I read any of my "regular" blogs for a while.  But, I 'allowed' (as he puts it....!) Shawn to play his video game tonight, so it gave me a chance to do some catch up on the computer.  What should I be doing right now?  Hmmm..... probably some menu planning, ordering some pictures to be developed, updating quickbooks, designing my Christmas card address labels (yes, I have already been thinking about Christmas!), or about a million other things that I "should" be doing.  But instead, I am reading blogs.  Something I love doing, by the way.  And I sincerely wish that more of my friends would dive into the blog world!  I have so many friends that are hilarious story tellers and lead quite the interesting lives, but I can't seem to convince them to write about it.  I can't even remember how I started blogging.  I knew absolutely no one who blogged. 


Anyway, getting back on track here...... as I was reading one of my favorite blogs, she had the most amazing post that touched me so much!  It was as though she looked into my brain, gathered all the mumbo jumbo-ness of a mess in there, put it down in an organized way, and then answered my insecurities.  The answer seems so obvious, but it's amazing how quickly we forget.  Before I confuse you any more, click HERE to go read the blog post I am talking about.  (don't worry, it's a short one!)

Isn't she amazing?!?!?  I love the end, where she says "God's intention was never to let my circumstances define me. Rather, they were intended to refine me. He thrust me into the fire not to burn me, but to melt me and mold me into what He created me to be."  This is so true, but yet so easy to forget.  Whatever circumstances you have been put into, you have been put there for a reason.  It's not WHO you are, but you are in that circumstance to be molded INTO who God wants you to be. 

My circumstances include this:
I am a stay at home mom in a town I am just getting to know with very few people I know.  I have left everything that is familiar for everything that is foreign.  I am no longer the hard working college student, working full time to pay for my schooling, while planning for a wedding and becoming a wife.  Nor am I the full time pregnant employee, planning for a baby and decorating a nursery.  NOR am I the part time employee, full time mom, pregnant with a second child, decorating a nursery and figuring out how to manage two babies. 

I am a stay at home mom in a town I am just getting to know with very few people I know. I have left everything that is familiar for everything that is foreign.  But as scary as that circumstance is (for me), and no matter how much I NEVER thought that's where I would be in life 5 years ago, that is where I am.  But my circumstances don't define me.  They REFINE me.  How amazing is that!?!?!  They are molding me into who God wants me to be and who He created me to be. 

It makes me think about what I heard on the radio last night, as I was listening to Family Life on Positive Life Radio.  I love that segment!  I only got to listen to it because Shawn and I decided that we need some DQ and so I went on a late night run for some soft serve ice cream!  Yum-O!  I haven't had soft serve in years!  Anyway, during the Family Life segment, they were talking about raising kids, and the frustrations that parents can sometimes feel (though I feel mine A LOT more than just sometimes...... haha!)  They reminded me that the children are not my own.  They are God's children and I have been entrusted to care for them and be a part of their "molding".  They are not obligated to make ME happy all the time.  As long as what they are doing is for the glory of God, I shouldn't stress out.  I shouldn't cringe at the end of the day because of how they behaved that day.  I shouldn't say on the "good" days that I love being a parent and the opposite during the "bad" days.  My children deserve a much greater love than that.  Which is why I am SO glad that they are children of God.  Children who are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Children who matter 24/7 and are loved unconditionally by our Father in heaven.  I am not made to give that amount of love, no matter how much I would ever love to! 

But I also need to remember that I am also a child of God, who is fearfully and wonderfully made.  God doesn't have good days and bad days when it comes to loving us.  His love is unconditional.  It's amazing.  And you should never forget this either!  For you are also a child of God!

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In other news........ we went to the Hop Festival in Moxee last weekend...... I have posted a few pictures from the weekend.  I have also posted some amazing pictures that my cousin's wife, Dawn Wilson (Dawn's Digital Photography) took of the girls. I was scheduled to have their pictures taken on Monday for their 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year pictures, but hers were so great that I have cancelled the appointment and I will be framing the pictures she took! :)

Here are the pictures Dawn took!

This weekend is the first weekend in I don't know how long, that we had absolutely no plans!  It has been great so far!  We took the girls to Rocky Reach Dam today to play on the toys.  Only problem was that it was so hot outside that all the toys were super hot.  Luckily the fish observatory was open and we were able to go in there and watch the fish for a bit.  Then we cam home and I got the special treat of barbequed hamburgers!!  In case you didn't know, I love BBQ'd burgers, but only get them when other people come over for a BBQ!  So Shawn was a super nice husband today and made them for dinner tonight!  The girls' first hamburgers, since we didn't have any hot dogs, and I don't think either of them liked it! haha.  That's the first thing Hannah hasn't really cared for! (food wise)

Well, I need to head to bed.  I am starting to fall asleep aas I write this, so I will have to upload the other pictures later.  Sorry.  But have a goodnight!