Thursday Thoughts: A Willing Mind

I finally finished reading the book of 1 Chronicles this morning. Whew! It took me a little while to get through it because there are a lot genealogies and lists in it, but there were also some very interesing parts. It's mostly a history of Israel up through when Solomon is annoited king. I was wondering about something I read in Chapter 21. Verse 1 says that "Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel." Joab questioned David in verse 3 saying, "my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?" After the census had been taken, in says in verses 7 and 8, "And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck israel. So David said to God, 'I have sinned greatly, because i have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."

So, I was wondering, why was it such a sin for David to take a census in Israel. Most countries take a census now, don't they? So why was it a sin for Israel? Maybe I am missing something in the text, but I haven't been able to figure this out. Any thoughts?

I will leave you with a verse from chapter 28. David is speaking to Solomon in verse 9 and says, "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. if you seek Him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever."

I think that is something we should all strive for: to serve God with a LOYAL HEART and a WILLING MIND. That is difficult sometimes because we often already have our minds made up about something, just because it's what we've always been told, or what we feel comfortable with, but our minds should always be willing to let God teach us new things. We should be constantly growing. I once heard a preacher say it like this: "Christians are like trees: you're either growing, or you're dying."

Hope you're all finding ways to GROW this week!

Our Trip to Georgia:

So I am FINALLY getting around to posting pictures from our trip to Georgia! We went down the weekend before last to visit all our bestest friends in the whole wide world! We go visit whenever we get a chance. I hope that we all continue to get together at least a couple times a year. These friends are the good kind. :)

We decided to leave for our trip Thursday night around 8 (well, it ended up being more like 9, because we forgot some stuff and had to turn around and go back to the house.) We stopped on the road and got a hotel room that night, then left the next morning for Warner Robins! We took our time ;) and stopped at the Tanger Outlet mall on the way down there. We stayed with our friends, The Johnsons. Saturday morning we got up and drove down to Perry to watch the Lineberger boys show their pigs in the pig show. Izzy loved it. Here is a shot of her and her Daddy looking at the pigs before the show starts:

Before the ACTUAL show, they had a PeeWee round, where the little kids could go out into the ring with the big kids and their pigs and walk them around. Izzy went with one of the Lineberger boys (they are quads, so I'm not sure which one it was) into the ring. I was really suprised at how much fun she had. I thought she would be scared to go with him, but she loved it!

Hailey and Jack got to go around too, and they did great! You can see their pictures on Stacia's blog.

That afternoon, we had a birthday party at the church building for Noah. He's turning 5, and he had a cool "Star Wars" themed party. Here are the "boys" enjoying a kids movie before the party.

Here is Sarah a.k.a. Betty Crocker, making her little mini-burgers for the party. They were so yummy!

This is little Kirkley Grace. She is Amber and Aric's youngest one. She is just so sweet. Ben was doing a good job of making her smile.

Here is a picture of the birthday boy: (I stole this pic from Dawn's blog.)

Izzy really enjoyed herself at the party:

Here she is trying to take a whack at the Darth Vader pinata:

Since Ben's birthday was the Tuesday after we got back, Amber and Aric got him this cool "That's What She Said" t-shirt. (For those of you that don't know, that's a line from his favorite show, The Office.) The funny thing was that Amber put cotton balls in the bag on top of the shirt, so he had to dump them out to get to it. (For those of you that don't know, he HATES cotton balls. Don't ask me why, because I don't know.)

Me and my little sunshine: (When I saw this picture on Amber's blog, I thought, "I look kinda pregnant in that picture." Little did I know at the time that I really WAS pregnant! HA!)

The four amigos in the kitchen before the par-tay: Me, Sarah, Amber, Stacia.

After all the birthday festivities, we played a little Wii Rockband. I have to say, we were pretty awesome. :)

Izzy helping Daddy play the drums: (sorry it's a little blurry.)

Sunday night after church we all went out to Burger King for dinner. We got these cool "Pink Panther" sunglasses in the girls' kids meals. Aren't we cool??

We had a such a blast, and Monday morning came way too soon!! We got back in time Monday night to pick Zoey up from the vet. She had surgery while we were gone to remove a sore.

Tuesday was Ben's birthday, so he had taken the day off from work, but had to go and study then take some tests at school. When he was done we went to a Chinese buffet to celebrate his birthday. Just Daddy, Mommy, and Izzy. It was great.

Here's Isabelle trying on Daddy's sunglasses. She thinks she's so cool.

We tried to get a family shot by ourselves. We didn't want to disturb our fellow fine diners. This is the best we could do:

Here is a picture of a recent visitor to our house. I am not sure where this cat came from, or who it belongs to, but for three nights in a row, it has showed up scratching at our door wanting to come in. It was so cold outside, so we let the little guy in. I guess he has adopted us now. Then I found yesterday that he has adopted our next door neighbor too. He gets food from them, then comes to spend the night at our house. Sneaky little devil. He's workin' the system, he is. Isabelle loves him, though, and he has been really sweet, so I guess it's okay. :)

Well I had some videos I wanted to upload, but either blogger or my computer are not cooperating right now, so I'll try again later.

Onto the latest in Isabelle news. She has started doing two new things now. One of them good, one of them not-so-good. The good one is that she has finally learned to say "thank you". She says "tink-oo Mommy" whenever I do or get something for her, and sometimes for no reason at all. When I was rocking her before bed the other night, she kept saying it over and over again just to hear me say "you're welcome, baby." I am not naive enough to think that this will last forever, so I'm loving her sweetness and soaking up every second of it. How did I make such a sweet little girl?? (and I guess her Daddy should get some credit, too. lol.)

On the flip side, she discovered yesterday how to climb out of her crib. I put her down for a nap and waited till I thought she was asleep, then got in the shower. While I was in there, I heard a big "thump" and hopped out of the shower to listen for crying, because I figured that if she fell over she would be crying. I didn't hear anything, so I got back in the shower. A minute later I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, but I thought it was Zoey. Then suddenly there is a little figure standing in front of the shower door saying "mommy, mommy" and I open the door and there she is, smiling at me!! That little stinker! Not only did she get out, she figured out how to do it without getting hurt! Either that or she's just really tough! What am I going to do now?? Is it time for a toddler bed?? Oh, the adventures of parenthood!! :)

JUST a random video...

Here is short little video that Izzy wanted to share with you all:

I guess she really wanted you to hear her say "turtle"! ;)

Happy Birthday to My Wonderful Husband!

I am not going to try to list 28 random facts about my husband, but I did want to do a little post to wish him a Happy 28th Birthday!! I love you so much! Thank you for letting me be a part of your life, and for being such a wonderful husband to me, and a loving father to our daughter. We are so blessed to have you!

18 Random Facts about our 18 month old!

Isabelle turned 18 months old this week! A whole year and a half! Time flies when you're having fun I guess! In honor of this occasion, here are 18 random facts about Isabelle (These are in no particular order):

1. Her due date was exactly 5 years to the day from the day that Ben's Father passed away. How cool is that? God is so good!


2. She was born 1 week early, on August 1, 2007.


3. She has always been a good baby. She started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks old. (Thank you, Babywise!)


4. She has now lived in 2 different states, and visited 7, and she's only a year and a half old.


5. She has been to the emergency room twice, and she's only a year and a half old. (What does that say about her parents??)


6. She loves to make pancakes with her Daddy on Saturday mornings. They make heart, star, and bear-shaped pancakes.


7. When Isabelle says "bear", it sounds like "beer". So at 8:00 this morning when she woke up she was asking for "beer". I think she needs to calm down a little.


8. Ben used to dangle her on his forearm when she was a baby, and she would fall asleep there. Because of this, one of the kids at church gave her the nick-name "monkey baby". I think the name fits pretty well because she climbs on everything now.


9. She has all of her baby teeth, and she's only a year and half old.


10. She loves her doggy, but can't say her name exactly right. Instead of "Zoey" she says "Zosy".


11. She loves to go outside and dig in the dirt, just like her Mommy.


12. She loves to read books. I could probably just sit around and read to her ALL DAY, and she would be happy.


13. She talks to herself. She tells herself "good girl" after she does something she was told to do, and she asks herself, "You okay?" , then says "yeah, it's okay" when she falls down, so I'm not sure what she needs me for.


14. She likes baby dolls. She tells them "shhh" then kisses them and puts them "ni-ni". (night-night)


15. She knows the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Not the whole song, just the verse that says "up above the world so high". She says "up abo so high". Close enough for an 18 month-old.


16. She loves her extended family. She gets so excited about going to see Meme, Nannee, or any of her other grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.


17. She loves to laugh. If she hears other people laughing, she will start CRACKING UP, even though she has no idea what we're talking about.


18. Finally, she makes life so much more fun! Even though there is a lot of work involved in being a parent, the rewards are so much greater! We can't even remember what life was like without her!

We love you Isabelle, and love watching you grow!

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

Blogger's block?

You've heard of writer's block, right? When writers just can't come up with anything to write about? Well, I was wondering....is there such a thing as blogger's block? I haven't blogged in over a week, and that just feels like a LONG time to not post anything to me. I'm babysitting three days a week now, so that makes me a lot busier during the day, and I just haven't been stopping to take pictures much lately. But, I'm going to try to be better about that. My baby is 18 months old today!! I just can't believe how fast she is growing up...it seems like she went from a baby to a little girl with her own personality overnight, and I want to capture every minute of it! I don't want to forget anything! I'm hoping to take a few pics of her tomorrow and do a post just for her 18 month "birthday", even though it's technically today. Also, I painted my lovely 1960's bathroom this weekend, so I'll be posting "before and after" pics sometime this week.

So, there's a little preview of things to come! Hope you all have a wonderful week!