www.alwaysoutofmilk.blogspot.com

www.alwaysoutofmilk.blogspot.com.

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We grow!

time for a change....times are changing

When I started this blog, my kids were in fourth and second grade.  Now the twins are in high school, and Alex is in junior high. The times are changing and it's time for a change. The kids now post their own pics on facebook and so do I. Often, I feel like I am repeating what's already been said (or posted). So, in hopes to continue a family diary, as some would call it - I am changing things around a bit. I am starting a blog that will be devoted purely to life with my teenagers. It will be simple, short, and to the point, Because frankly that's all us mom of teenagers have time for. I want to welcome or rather, solicit your advice.  I need you. Hopefully we will encourage, stretch and grow each other. If you don't have teenagers, please, still free to comment. My hope is that we can become a running dialogue of wisdom! So here it goes.....www.alwaysoutofmilk.blogspot.com  ......here's to the journey of raising kids that love Jesus and being REAL!

good bye summer - hello school

This week marks some more milestones. Alex started 7th grade and Michael and Allie started high school!
Since this summer was the busiest summer we have ever had, I think all of us were anxious for routine again. So 6 new pairs of shoes (pe shoes and reg shoes) + 350.00 in school SUPPLIES(like paper and stuff) later, off they went for the first day.

Just watching them get out of the car and walk up the steps today, I was reminded of how fast this time is slipping out of my fingers. But as a wise friend reminded me today, even though things change when they go to college and move out, you always get to be their mom....that doesn't end. And if I look around me at the people in my life who have had good relationships with their parents in their youth, it seems they all have even deeper friendships with their parents now!

Alex - Age 12 and missing his last tooth to lose. :)
Michael - Age 14

Allie - Age 14

I am so thankful to Jesus for the relationships He has given me with my babies. It has brought me so much joy to have had such a wonderful summer of talking, sharing, crying, and laughing with them. It is with great excitement that I hope for what God has for them this year.

I'm a fan!

Tonight I got to cheer on two of my favorite up and coming baseball stars....Sawyer and Kacia! I have to say, some of the fans have my heart also! Yeah for baseball ("ball ball" - Lincoln) and Yeah for the Little Giants!!!

Michael and Allie graduate from Junior High....Yahoo!

I am so proud of  you Michael and Allie. Thinking back on your years of junior high, I am filled with so many memories of such huge steps in your lives. And while your accomplishments of good grades and awards were fun to clap for on grad night, what really made me proud of you was how your character shone through and Jesus' life and love has poured out of your hearts at school. I found myself thinking of how you started Roots, Allie, and how you are always recognized for your character on sports teams, Michael. 

 Michael and Allie, you fill dad and I's hearts with so much joy because you choose to shine the love of God that is inside of you with everyone you meet. We love you! If junior high has been this much fun, than I can't wait for what God has for us the next four years!

Luv, mom

Dream Changer

As I was sitting this afternoonI realized....

how my dreams have changed.
Not compromised, not deflated, not forgotten,
But truly changed.


I use to dream of living in the same house forever, of being Home.
Of taking exotic vacations with my family.
Of partnership in a firm
To stand in security
To be swept away by romance
To always know good health
For life to not change.
and of course to follow Jesus

but he is wise who gives up what He cannot gain to gain what he cannot lose.
And this is what I find myself dreaming of this afternoon...


How all I want to do is follow Him - really be sold out to His call on my life.
I want Him to be our home. I want our kids to feel most at home when they are spending time alone with their Savior.
I want to travel, but so I can meet the bride of Christ that lives outside of the walls of my country - I want to minister alongside of Pete, Michael, Allie and Alex and share Him with my world.
I want the only one who owns our lives, to be the One who paid for them.
I'd rather need Him, than be comfortable.
I want to see Christ's glory perfected in  my beloved....that is so beyond romance.
I want to be whole.
As life changes, and it will, I want to embrace His will, not question it.
And I want my Jesus to have so much more than my Sundays.


Oh, how He is changing me. He says He'll give us the desires of our heart,  but sometimes He has to change our desires first.


Prasie be to the One changing my dreams. In his chains, I am so free.

Meet A Boy...

This is a boy I met today. He rocked my world a bit. I took his picture for an adoption profile for a local adoption agency here in Redding. He had such an innocence about him for a boy whose world has been pretty messed up and anything but protected. He had such a drawing hope and joy about his eyes and I was completely drawn in to his little world. When I asked him what he wanted his new parents to be like he replied, " I want a mom who can cook good food and a dad who can watch tv with me."
It's got me thinking about a lot of stuff tonight....and how my heart was pulled by meeting this boy.

First Tournament of the Season. U-Prep Baseball/Softball March 18-20th, 2010

Michael...

Allie...

Alex...

And getting some cuddles on the sideline from one of their biggest fans...

Been Awhile

Yes, it's been awhile.  One of my longest blogging breaks in a LONG time.  A couple of reasons...1) When I get this far behind, I don't know where to start. 2) It has been a crazy month for me work-wise and that is good, but it has meant no free computer time. 3) This past month has been hard and when life is hard and God is speaking, I tend to write, but when life is hard and there seems to be a silence from God, I tend to be silent too.

The funny thing is, there hasn't been anything tangible/physical  that has been all that crazy hard; no major trials blowing us out of the water. But, the more committed and burdened we become for the church plant and people we are serving, and the more obsessed Pete and I become for the purpose of this family to be to glorify our God, the more it seems the enemy wages war upon our minds. So, it has been a month of dealing with fears, and lies, and putting to death the past and PRESSING on towards the goal which Christ has called me to. That said....sometimes life is hard even when life isn't hard.

Sooooo, today amongst car shopping, taxes, laundry,  ortho appts, a little website planning, editing, and an electrocuted dog,  I took a few moments, (detour) to be with some of those I love most, to one of my favorite places,  to do what I love to do....chill and shoot.

"The Lord is the everlastng God. The creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. The gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young man stumble and fall: BUT those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. " Isaiah 40:28-31

 AMEN

 AMEN