fun times

It was so nice to spend some time with some good, encouraging friends. We were able to have dinner and fellowship with Todd and Nancy.

We met Todd and Nancy while attending our old church. We spent many many months together meeting in our home on a weekly basis praying and discussing the search for a youth pastor. They shared in our joy and excitement when we announced to the youth pastor search committee that we were expecting our first baby...that was over 4 years ago!

Todd is a serious and thoughtful man who is always thinking while Nancy is fun-loving, kind, tender-hearted, caring, and young-at-heart. Together they know how to be real and genuine. They know how to encourage others and how to laugh and have a wholesome good time.

Our kids think they're pretty fun too!

Although we don't get to see them too often and talk with them on a regular basis any more, we are thankful for their friendship and to know that they are always there.

For the fun of it...

...Ivy, Owen and I made a tent out of blankets and chairs the other day which turned into our reading tent. We sure do love our books!

shopping spree

For Ivy's birthday present, her Grammy Lou and Auntie Lily took her on a shopping spree. In planning this shopping trip (which occurred directly between Ivy and Grammy Lou), Ivy convinced Grammy Lou to take her to her favorite place to eat - Old McDonald's - for a happy meal and to play on the playground (which Ivy even went down the yellow tube slide for the very first time!) before heading off to the shops.

Ivy had been saving a special outfit to wear on her shopping trip. Take a look at our shopping diva...


Ivy was definitely SPOILED with ALL of the gifts she got which included anywhere from shiny pink Dora shoes to clothes to hair and clothes accessories to Snow White and Cinderella toys to a DVD to a very special breakfast treat Lucky Charms. (I don't think Grammy Lou even knows how to say that big word NO! to Ivy!)

Ivy had a blast getting to hang out with her Grammy Lou and her Auntie and getting to shop until they dropped. Thank you so much, Grammy Lou and Auntie, for being so kind, generous, and giving!

when it's just a little too quiet...

tough

Recently, Nathan and I have had to make one of the toughest, if not THE TOUGHEST, decisions we have ever had to make not only as church-going believers in Christ but as parents. Realizing our decision could certainly turn our little 4-year-old daughter's world upside down, this decision was not reached out of haste but from a time of examining the issues at hand and seeking the Lord's direction through prayer and through Godly counsel.

An incident happened within the church where the church elders made a decision to not report a crime committed to a minor by another church leader. The church elders were charged by the local police of this crime and now face trial. For a few months before this all came about, Nathan and I have been feeling some unrest and started to question whether we should be attending the church any more due to some other decisions and actions the church leaders had made. Those decisions weren't exactly wrong, but they weren't how we would have. This final incident was the thing that the Lord used to put our decision into perspective.

BUT...

Our little girl is 4 years old. She has been going to this church for the past 4 years. She loves going to Sunday School, to church/junior church, and to Pioneer Club. Church is HER WORLD. Her friends are there. She wakes up in the morning and asks if today is church day or if that day is Pioneer Club. Our little girl's world is being turned completely upside down all because of a heinous act done by a church leader and because of a poor and stupid decision made by four other leaders in the church.

Nathan and I have tried so hard and thought we were protecting our children as much as possible...who would have ever thought that the actions of 5 ADULT men who know better would hurt and disrupt our little girl's life so much! We felt that the Lord was leading us to leave the church.

If anyone out there reading this post is close to these issues, please know that I am not writing this post or using this blog as a sort of soapbox in which to judge or condemn anyone or to sway anyone's opinions in these matters as I know that the Lord has us all in different positions and areas in our lives and works in us in different ways. As is the main purpose of this blog, I am merely writing this post for the purpose of preserving a part of our children's history, and we consider this decision a very significant part of our family/children's history.

Now that I am editing this post over a year later, I must say that to read over ALL that I had originally written and the raw feelings I felt and wrote about was something (and I must say that I eliminated a lot of what I wrote). Although I don't think I will ever understand everything that occurred and why decisions were made the way they were and although the many many months following our decision to leave the church were SO HARD, I know that the Lord was at work in it all and still is working in it. I see that God had other plans for us and was seeking and still seeks to test our faithfulness and obedience to Him. I am encouraged and feel so blessed to know that the Lord still is at work in my life. I also know that everybody's walk with the Lord is so different and He works in us and uses us in so many different ways. In no way do I want my words to make others feel differently about their decisions and in the way the Lord led them in this situation.

May I leave you with a verse that has brought encouragement and a sort of closure to this whole thing for me...

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the eart, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. ~Isaiah 55:6-11

a special date

About a week ago, Daddy and Ivy planned to have a "special date," and today was the day! First, Daddy and Ivy made their specialty - supreme pancakes - for breakfast this morning for the whole family. Since Mommy doesn't like pancakes, Daddy made her some eggs and toast. Ivy insisted that today was Mother's Day (even though we kept telling her that it wasn't), and Ivy insisted that Mommy needed to eat her breakfast in bed (which actually turned into being the couch). I certainly wasn't complaining about the special treatment today!

Later, the duo went "shopping" at the dump store and at the local thrift shops, while Mommy and Owen enjoyed some special time together.

Before Daddy and Ivy left for their shopping trip, Daddy nonchalantly grabbed his gun to put in his pocket as he normally does before leaving the house. Ivy noticed this action and asked, "Why are you bringing that?" Daddy replied, "Oh, I just take it with me." Then, Ivy remarked, "Oh...just in case a lion jumps through our window." :-)