Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Hymn on my Heart

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I want to share with you a hymn that's been on my heart.

Through the daily struggles with sin and temptations to sin, and at times feeling defeated by it, it's so comforting to hear the truth spoken in Lamentations 3:22,23

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

It's refreshing to my heart to know that God has shown his love upon me by rescuing me from myself nine years ago. He convinced me that I am a sinner, that I broke His law, that I had to pay for my sin and the penalty was hell. I was terrified. God requires perfection! But no one's perfect right? Well no human is! God then showed me what He did for me! God sent His own son to live a life I couldn't live, die the death I should have, and defeated death by raising from the dead to be seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven!!! Jesus paid the price for me. He is perfect and did not have to pay that penalty, but did it in love so that whoever believes in Him and repents (turns away) of their sin will have eternal life. Sounds simple huh? Still that doesn't make me perfect. I still struggle to please Him, but not so that I may gain eternal life. I do it out of obedience to him. You see we are all servants of someone or something, it's either the Lord or something(someone) else. You can't serve two masters. I'm so thankful to be serving the One who has the power and love to protect and care for me for all eternity and I have no need to worry!

He IS faithful, and His mercies ARE new each morning! There are times where I feel I'm not growing much in my walk with the Lord but just beyond those times I feel as though He lifts me up and carries me much farther, much faster than my previous slow turtle pace. He has shown His faithfulness MANY times to me, undeservedly! He is my Father. I aim to please Him, though I sin. I aim to pray more, yet I all too often let my quiet times slip by or cut them short. I desire to be more like Christ, but there are days when I couldn't be distinguished from the world. I want to be a good steward of the gifts He has given me (husband, children, possessions, money, time), still I frequently use them for my own selfish motives and not solely for His glory! As I reread those last few statements what stands out most to me is "I" "I" "I". I(again I know:-) 'at times' am much too focused on myself. Either trying to do good(for myself) or sinful actions(for myself). I say 'at times' because if it were not for God's saving grace that He gave me it would be 'all the time' as it was before I was saved. On occasion it's nice to look back to my former self and see how far the Lord has brought me! And I'm amazed each time I look! Sometimes because it seems I haven't gone but a step, yet others because I can't even see that road anymore. It's a daily battle and I strive to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for me." (Heb 12:1) God is faithful and His steadfast love never ceases!!! I pray that you would know God's love and saving grace in your life today!!!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

John Piper Audiobooks for $4.98

In addition to my last post Christian Audio.com is offering ALL John Piper audiobooks for $4.98 each, from Nov 1st-21st. This is a great deal!!

Some of the titles include:

What Jesus Demands from the World
A Hunger For God
Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce
Battling Unbelief
Don't Waste Your Life
Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
Finally Alive
God is the Gospel
John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God
Let the Nations be Glad
Pierced by the Word: Thirty-One Meditations for Your Soul
Spectacular Sins
The Dangerous Duty of Delight
The Future of Justification
The Pleasures of God
The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Free audiobook of the month

I received an e-mail this morning from Christianaudio.com that their free audiobook download for the month of November is Desiring God by John Piper. I haven't read this book so I'm excited to listen to it! Hope you get a chance to listen too! Click here to download!!

Wordless Wednesday

Cribless!!

It's a bitter/sweet day here at the Russell household.... You could now, if you stopped by for a visit, walk through the house room by room and would not spot a crib anywhere. For 10 years and 36 days we've had one inhabiting at least one if not two rooms in our home! A little longer if you were to count one being vacant until Braden's arrival!


Jake is officially a big boy now! Well as big as he can be yet still wet in his pants...that's next!!


Here is his new bed, opposite E's and across the room from his two oldest brothers, B and G's. He's adjusting quite well. To answer your question, "Yes!" He does get out but with a quick discipline and a talkin' to he responds well...so far! When we first moved him in with the boys we had his crib up in the room but after a night or two he began climbing out and getting into his big-boy bed to sleep. So after only one week we took down his crib ;-( and now he's one of the boys. No longer the baby, though he still refers to himself as "Mommy's baby boy" with a 'little' prodding! ;-)


For your delight I thought I'd share a couple of funny crib photos that I came across. I'm sure there is more but here is a few good ones!


Ethan (2.5 at the time) thought it'd be fun to clear out Madi's closet, or at least the things he could reach, and let her play with them in her crib!! I wonder how many of those shoes hit her in the head. :-( Poor girl! And you can't see it but she has a hanger up around her left shoulder!






We had gone to the zoo and after we returned home I laid Jake down for a late nap. He was a bit crabby that day and was being very stubborn about going to sleep. I let him cry it out for about 10min or so and when I went in to check on him, well there he was pressed up against the side of the crib on his knees! Too cute!!



Here Jake is on his computer pillow!

Here is Ethan's first night in his convertible toddler bed/crib! I know, I know he's a bit old(almost 3) to be moving him from the crib. But I was holding out as long as possible to keep my sanity by having him contained! He did such a great job of obeying mommy and staying in his bed, well for a couple nights at least!!

He's getting comfortable in his new 'big' boy bed

Sweet grin!

And we're cribless!!! ;-) ;-(

Picture Day!!!

Last week I noticed there was one day in the next 10day forecast that was going to be nice(above 70). I had wanted to get out with the kids to take their yearly photos so I made the decision the night before to go and had to scramble to be sure their clothes were clean.

As some of you know I got a new camera a little over a year ago and haven't had much time to play with it. I've been searching for tips, took a 3 hour photography class on the basics, and practiced here and there but not enough to really know what I was doing! There is more to it than meets the eye!!! (pun intended) So as I've been reading more lately and practicing at home I was excited to attempt to take my kids' yearly pics! I mean if all fails then so be it, that's the beauty of digital, no loss!

I was actually concerned with combining, trying to figure out settings on my camera and keeping my kids under control and happy during the shoot! We did have fun though. I'd let them play and call them aside one at a time to get individual shots. The group ones were extremely difficult!!! Mainly because of our youngest, Jake!(case in point see above pic!) But on the rare couple of occasions in which I was able to get him to cooperate AND smile then Madi wouldn't sit up, or smile, or even be in the picture!! So we had some obstacles but I still wanted to make it enjoyable after all I wanted them to look happy in the photo!! I didn't succeed in getting all the shots I wanted but we got many and I was very pleased! I didn't get very many of one of my kids (poor middle child always forgotten) well he wasn't totally forgotten, I just had more shots of the others to choose from and I'd like a better one of him, ya know with that smile that he has all the time that wasn't captured in the most of the pictures! So I might try to get a couple more of him and maybe one more of Braden but other than that from two hours of snapping shots I think I have plenty to chose from! (as my photography skills aren't that great I took a LOT just to get a few!!)

Here are a few of my favorites!! Hope you enjoy!!

Jake age 2

Madi age 4

Look how long her hair is getting!! Hope her brother doesn't cut it off again!!


Ethan age 6

Look at that missing tooth! Love it!


Gabe age 7

Crazy teeth! Love it too!


One of my favorites!

Braden age 10





Thanks and praise be to God Who is the giver of all good and perfect gifts, including those above! May His grace and mercy be showered upon us all the days of our life!!!

Wordless Wednesday!

Win Free Groceries

Enter here for a chance to win free groceries for a year!!

Our day at Memorial Stadium!

My brother Jeff was in town and mentioned that maybe we should go down to Lincoln and check out the sports facilities. They allow the public to walk through certain areas on a self-guided tour. We took the older three boys with us and headed out! The boys and my brother graciously let me know that I was not wearing Husker Red but in fact I had on Oklahoma Red! So I was out of place all day! After a great dinner at Runza in Lincoln we headed down the street to Memorial Stadium!



We proceeded to go through a self guided tour of the Stadium. We walked around took some photos and were able to go in the SE gate to go in and see the field and while in the lobby the team was walking through the hall from practice to dinner.
The Linebackers coach Mike Ekeler stopped to say hi to the boys. After a bit of small talk he said "Hey guys, wanna see where my kids' favorite spot in the stadium is?" of course the kids said "yes". So he took us up the elevator to the 6th floor in the press box! We took a couple pics and he let the boys yell "Go Big Red" through the stadium microphone! Too cool!!



He then said "wanna see my kids' second favorite place'? Of course, Yeah!! So he then led us down to the field and said "Now boys... you can't walk on the field....you have to RUN"!!!! So we proceeded through the tunnel walk and the kids ran down the field to the end zone! We took pictures on the huskers' bench, at mid field, and captured the view of the stadium from the field!!







On the way down to the field Mike had grabbed a couple of Sharpies from the front desk and gave them to the boys. He told them that the whole team would be walking past from the practice field through the stadium in to the cafeteria for dinner and we could get some autographs!! The kids' (and my brother's) eyes were huge with delight!! So after we played on the field we were able to meet a lot of the team and some of the coaches including Mike Ekeler-Linebackers Coach, Ron Brown-Tight End Coach, James Dobson-Head Strength Coach, and Bo Pelini-Head Coach! God had it perfectly planned that the boys would each bring a Husker hat and each of them different!! So we got out the Sharpies and the team was extremely gracious to delay their yummy smelling dinner to sign the boys' hats!! Some of which include Alex Henery, Roy Helu Jr., Adi Kunalic, Zac Lee, Ndamukong Suh, and to top it all off Bo Pelini. Their hats are covered and they were so excited to have been able to have this kind of access! We were bummed we didn't get a pic of them with Mike who was so kind to give the boys a look around! Thank You Mike and all the Nebraska Cornhuskers for giving my boys and experience they'll never forget!!!

An Extra Digit!

Looking up at daddy!


Braden at 7 months

I'm a little late on this one but we have had a busy time lately!!

We have an added digit to our family! It is bitter~sweet for me to announce that Braden is now 10 years old! And he couldn't be more excited about hitting the big 1-0 milestone!! I'm so thankful to God for his gift of Braden to our family! It's sad and also scary to think our time with him in our house, under our authority and influence, is half over. It seems just like yesterday we were finding out our first baby was a boy!! We were thrilled! Both of us wanted a boy first to protect his little sister that we thought for sure would be next. But God (i love those two words!) had in His plans to give us two more boys after Braden before we'd get a girl!

During the latter half of pregnancy I was having Braxton Hicks Contractions and terrible back pain. I remember having to go to the physical therapist to learn some exercises and stretches to try to alleviate the pain. They gave me this belt that put pressure on my sacrum to try to help the bones stay inline. Due to a hormone that's released when you're pregnant your ligaments soften and allow the joints in your body to become loose, for obvious reasons. Well it was so bad in my back that at times when I'd step my back couldn't support me and my leg would collapse. I only had one incident in a parking lot where I twisted my ankle a bit, other than that it was just painful. So nearing the end of my pregnancy I was READY to be done. As I mentioned I was having contractions and about 3 1/2weeks before my due date I was having them about every 3-5minutes. We decided we should go to the hospital and see if this was it! Once we arrived they started an IV before they even checked me. The nurse that was trying to get my IV in wasn't doing very well. She kept poking me and couldn't get it in. Then I started bleeding a lot and turned pale. I remember Ben running to get a wet washcloth for my forehead and I just laid back and tried to snap out of it! Such a wierd feeling. So after all that they checked me, I hadn't changed from my appt and didn't change the few hours I was in the hospital so they sent me home. Ugghh! All that pokin' for nothin'! So a week and a half goes by and on Labor Day (of all days) I go into labor (real labor). I had some contractions all day off and on and at around 8:30 we decide to go into the hospital. I was contracting but not progressing too quicklly so they broke my water and promptly had an epidural soon after. It didn't take so well, so I could feel pain on one side but not the other. The anesthesiologist had to come back in and re-place my epidural. After that I could feel nothing and it was only about a half-hour from then that I was complete and ready to push. Thankfully I only had to push through a few contractions (9minutes) and he was born. At 6lb 10oz(almost our littlest) our firstborn, was here!! We were thrilled and enjoyed showing off our new gift to family and friends!!

It was on 9-9-99 when we walked out of the hospital with our new little one, and I remember thinking "how could they just let us walk out of here, we don't know anything about a tiny baby" We were on our own and so excited about the journey of parenting that lay before us! Oh what a journey it's been! The joy that comes with parenting is indescribable and the struggle to be self-sacrificing is well, still a struggle. I love my Braden and all the gifts that came after him and am ever grateful that God has called me to be their mother!

Braden and his best bud and cousin!