Weeding...

So, you think this is going to be a blog about gardening?? Fooled ya!
I feel like a cheesy person writing this post, but it's on my heart.
Might be the fact that we spent a good 9 hours out in the sun yesterday running a garage sale ($528... yeah!!!) or just the fact that I've heard analogies like this in the past and they're all flooding back. But really, I do feel like I'm supposed to write this post... so if you're the one that it's for, will you (one of you four that read my blog) let me know with a comment or an e-mail or something because otherwise I might just feel like a fool.

So. Enough of that. We have this rose garden out front (Hang with me, no it's not about gardening). We moved into a home that used to be occupied by a 93 year old widow (read: a woman with a lot of time on her hands and much more gardening patience than the twenty/thirty somethings that moved in). The roses themselves really aren't that difficult to take care of, and they're BEAUTIFUL in the summer. I have friends who come over just to stand in the middle of the 35 bushes (when we moved in there were about 70... yikes!) and smell their sweet aroma. My favorite thing to do is take a mason jar of roses to a friend. Well, this year I've noticed they're a little more wilted and not as fragrant as usual. Yes, still beautiful, but not as beautiful as they could be. Then it hit me. Could it be the nasty weed invading the entire flower bed? MORNING GLORY. (As a side note, I always thought morning glory was either a flower, a pet name given to someone you love, a slow movie that looked much better on previews than it actually was, or just an Oasis album all my friends owned but I did not. Okay, did clicking on that link totally take you back in time like it did me!?)
In case you don't know, Morning Glory, aka Vine Weed,  is a vine-like weed that grows insanely fast and can cover a flower bed or lawn in days if not hours. At first, it looks harmless, just a few sprouts can pop up anywhere, but if you let it go a few days, it will soon cover EVERYTHING. The most frustrating thing it does is it twirls and wraps around the plants it's near to try to choke them out.
So yesterday, after standing out in the heat and having to stare at that nasty weed all day, I went Walker-Texas-Ranger on the Morning Glory. I spent about an hour clearing it out, pulling it out, and trying to gently rip its fingers off the beautiful roses. I felt like God. And before you think I'm being blasphemous with that last line, just hang with me. While trying to destroy this weedy spider-haven enemy, I was thinking about how sin is like a weed. It can grow so quickly, sometimes without us even noticing (I swear one day there wasn't any morning glory, and the next day it's all I could see). We're like the roses. Beautiful, fragrant, needing to be pruned and shaped in order to reach our full potential. Sin is like the morning glory weed. Looks nice, even like another flower. What harm could that pretty vine do? But, soon, it wraps around us and tries to choke us out. God is like the gardener (see what I mean), gently tugging (okay, so I was violently ripping, turns out I'm not a great illustration of this) away at the sin and removing it so that we can breathe.
One of (the many) ugly things about sin is that it creeps in to kill, it slowly chokes things out, and sometimes it takes casualties with it. My pile of weed debris was sprinkled with rose petals and even some roses that fell victim to the nasty plant.
So, although you might think this is cheesy for me to post, I'm doing it anyway.
It's a reminder for me.
Stay vigilant. On guard at all times.
Don't let sin in.
The enemy corrupts, steals and destroys.
Usually it's slow... little by little until soon I'm covered and can't see a way out.
Good news? I don't have to can't do it on my own.
He is here to help.
To guide, protect, and convict.
He is the Chuck Norris to my sin.
He'll remove it, rip it off if he has to.
It will hurt, but I'll be better because of it.
Because of His grace, He'll actually use it in my life to produce greater character, perseverance, and strength.
So, if you're like me, anytime you see a weed now you'll be able to have a little devotional time with the Lord.
God, don't let me be so lazy as to think I don't have to do a little maintenance on my soul. I may be a lousy gardener, but I can't afford to be a lazy follower of You.

p.s. After telling Matt about my parable of sorts, he said... "If you think Morning Glory is bad, you should see Kudzu." So, if you need to switch them out, go ahead.
p.s.s. After googling Morning Glory for some type of photo, I found that people actually plant this stuff. DON'T DO IT!! :)

First Father's Day!

What a fun day.
Matt went out this morning and got us Starbucks, and we hung out in Jason's room this morning chatting, playing, and opening presents. We went to church, BBQed at home (Matt braved the downpour to get the job done), played games, and had an evening to ourselves. We ate too much cake, laughed way too much, and spent about an hour babbling and making high-pitched noises in hopes of getting some good belly laughs (mission accomplished!). A perfect day.
Matt is such a wonderful dad. I always knew he would be, but he blows me away at how thoughtful, fun, caring, and protective he is of J.
I'm so proud of him, proud to be his wife, and proud of our little man!

First picture as a Dad!!!

First outing with little J man. I can't believe this was 9 months ago!

9 months, Great Strides, & Live and See.

Well, here I am... late again! This is bound to be another marathon post for sure.
Our sweet boy is 9 months old. What happened?? Where has time already gone?
I remember when J was first diagnosed with CF. The week in the hospital and the following few weeks at home seemed to c r a w l. I was depressed, trying to figure out how to be a mom to a newborn, let alone a mom to a newborn with some special medical needs. The depression gave way to confidence which gave way to joy, and here I am 8 months later, fascinated by the providence of God and at how quickly these months have flown by.
Little J man is 18+ pounds of pure joy and hilarity! He cracks me up all day. We have one tooth, but are working on a multitude of others which has led to a bit of whiny-ness from the dear boy. He's started finger foods and can gum a Puff or Yogurt Melt with the best of them. He's mobile. He's not crawling, but if he's left on his stomach, he can scoot and twirl and spin. A friend of mine called him a "little ballerina" while holding him the other day. He was spinning in her arms, not trying to get away, but just wanting to MOVE! :) He's not babbling yet, but is definitely vocal. Shrill screams and excited noises escape from his mouth constantly, there is much conversation to be had!
Here's his 9 month picture... I couldn't keep him on his back, so we just went with it!

If these pictures can show anything, they can first of all show how much he grows month by month, and second of all show the extreme talent and great taste of our friends and family that made these special blankets for J! We love them!!

On May 21st, we participated in the Great Strides Walk to raise money and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We had about 75 walkers (!!!) and raised about $3500 for the Foundation!!! We are amazed at the support that we received for just our first year of the walk! We've decided this is going to be our annual CF event to really get into, and then the rest of the year we'll just live like normal folk. ;) Hope you can join us next year, here's a few pictures from the event!!

Jason couldn't come with us to the walk, but you're mistaken if you think that means that we didn't take the opportunity for a stinkin' cute photo shoot!

Our adorable nieces walking for Jason!

Some of our team!

More of our team! Lots of blue!!

The Heathers with their babes/big kids... :)

Matt working our tent!

Just a shot of our tent and some of our team.

It was seriously so fun. We felt so supported and loved. We had people on our team from ICS, Hungry for Life, Grant Elementary, friends from book club, friends from high school, friends from before high school, small group friends, even friends from our birthing class! Thank you to all of you who came and/or donated to our team, and there's soon to be a fun little postcard coming in your mail! :)

And life. I'll have more to update in a couple of days, but life always has a way of taking an unexpected turn. Sometimes being an adult is seriously overrated! :) At this time last year, I was doing a Daniel bible study and I remember the study was talking about trouble. How to handle life when you had trouble, what God can teach us through trials, and how to come out victorious on the other side of it. I remember not being able to relate. I felt like a fraud, who goes through life without trouble!? Seriously, who has had a life as easy as mine?? I began to question my easy-going life, wondering if I should go and seek out trouble so that I could relate to others. Silly, I know. I've come to realize I did know trouble, but I didn't realize it. Maybe that kind of trouble is worse. I had the trouble of low self-esteem (always working on that one!), doubt, shifting focus, etc. Now, a year later, I get it. Do people have tougher problems than me? Uh, most definitely YES!!! But, I now get that life is riddled with trials and troubles. This past week has been a roller coaster. I'm not trying to be mysterious here, but there are some issues that we're dealing with in the work and insurance realm of life (which has now become a very important realm in our lives). Last night, I started a study on the book of Esther with a wonderful group of women. I love how God gives us just what we need when we need it. And, I love that what we need is more of Him to sustain us, teach us, guide us, and most importantly work out His magnificent will through us! And He gives us more of Himself, that is the astonishing part. Here is quote from the Beth Moore study that really spoke to me through my study time this morning. I'll update you on a few nuggets of truth that I will undoubtedly glean through this study, so that hopefully this can all be an encouragement to you too!
"Life here is full of trouble whether in a sky-high mountain of small annoyances or an earth-splitting canyon of crisis. There's no escaping it until we escape these mortal bodies. But here's the good news. I also learned that in all five occassions where those same Hebrew words [wayhi bime aka once upon a time....] were associated with impending catastrophe, "the ending to each story is happy, but before that happy ending is realized, much grief occurs." I think we know the part about "much grief", but in the weeks to come I'm hoping for us to grasp that no life is free of troubles, regardless of religion, race, or nation. In fact, as Job said, every life is full of it (Job 14:1). When we trust our lives to the hand and pen of an unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending. And not just in spite of those catastrophes. Often because of them. Don't just wait and see. Live and see."
Ah, encouragement, I needed you.