Bow Down!

Here we go again, sitting down to a blank, daunting screen with so much to say, yet so little that can be said. 

Thought 1:

Here's the deal peeps, I'm laying it all out...take it or leave it. :)

I was sitting in my chair preparing to teach a class at camp next week  on the sweet topic of joy. The only problem is that my heart doesn't feel so joyful. Instead heaviness seems to be pressing the life out of my joy lately, suffocating it. I awoke this morning feeling heavy and burdened. I spent the morning hours thinking of friends who were hurting, feeling that my job on this particular day was to press into the Lord, to speak on behalf of those who may also be feeling heaviness. 

But prayer has been my role more than I had planed. You see, we've had two people we knew pass away today. My dad's very close friend died in a tragic accident this morning and Brad's uncle went to be with Jesus this evening. 

Here's the deal though, joy is my choice. How will I handle these and other circumstances? Will I choose to cling to my knowledge that the Lord is the fullness of joy and in him, there is life?  

This has been my cry for months now. I have spent many hours taking my thoughts captive and making them bow down before the throne of Christ. Without this strong discipline, I've struggled.  I cringe each time the phone rings for fear that it might be dreadful news. I have to hold my tongue each time my husband leaves the house because I so badly want to beg him to stay, not to go for fear of something terrible happening.  

The funny thing is, it's not death that I fear. 

It's just fear in general. Fear of feeling an overwhelming emotion and having no power to change the circumstance.

The same fears have crept in and out my mind my entire life. I've spoke of it before, but the enemy knows my trap. He knows my thorn, and my thorn is fear. 

Yet in the fear, I know life is for living and not just living, but living to the fullest.  Jesus is the giver of life and joy and gladness.  And though I am pressed, I'm not crushed. I am not destroyed. I claim victory over fear! I speak out against Satan's attack on my mind, spirit and emotions. 

My greatest hope is that Satan would not rob me of present joy for fear of future grief.  I may be alone in this struggle. In fact, I hope I am. I hope Satan doesn't use this same tactic on others, I would love for every other person to be free from this burden, but I know that is wishful thinking.

Thought 2:

Hubby and I leave for one of the high school camps on Monday. I am really excited. We just believe so many students will encounter Jesus next week, we are anticipating it. I have the privledge of teaching a "girls only" class everyday. I love doing this; speaking to girls about my favorite topic: The Lord! I am blessed that my husband trusts me enough to do this.

The downfall to the week is that we are leaving the kiddos.  Six days is too long to be gone. But, my first delight is being with my husband and helping him serve in any way I can. My kids will be fine without me, I am the one who has a hard time. Last year I hopped on board with someone who was headed home early and I am secretly (or not so secretly now) hoping to do the same this year. Only time will tell!

Thought 3:

I made lasagna for dinner. There is no food better than lasagna done right. Lasagna done wrong, on the other hand, is pure nastiness. I'll share the recipe tomorrow. I actually got it from a blog I am giddy to tell about.

Thought 4: 

I am hoping to paint my toenails tomorrow.

I've had it on my to-do list for over a week. 

Tomorrow is the day, I just know it!

Thought 5: 

Dear people who do not live in the same city as me,

             Is it windy where you live? Please tell me we are not the only ones suffering from the terrible, horrible,  no good, very bad wind. I am so tired of the same forecast, windy and warm. Well, what good is warmth and sunshine if you look as though you've just drank a V8 each time you step outside. I cannot sit Kayt in the grass for fear of her tiny little booty blowing to Kansas. I was even gettin' all scripturized on it today. I was claimin' the commands of Jesus to stop the storm (or wind in my case), but it didn't work. Sigh.

Sincerely,

A Wind Blown Blogger

Thought 6:

I like late night t.v. 

It entertains me.

Da Wanch

We had a great, long weekend! 

I always anticipate the weekend and get really excited when daddy is home for an extra day. We had such an action packed, fun-filled weekend that I don't think I could tell you everything we did.

We spent one day at our friend's ranch; it was beautiful and relaxing. Noah has asked to go back to 'da wanch' everyday since, this was right up his alley.

                      
          Team Exploration                                                   Team Relaxation

                      

President of the Sand Eating Club                                     Mamma's Boys Academy

Swimming=Summer  and  Summer=Love

                  

              Ingram Dudes                                                        Ingram Dudettes

                                      

     The Reoccurring Thumb                                                       King of the Trampoline

                                      
              My Munchkin                                                           My Sweet Pea

This silly Blogger took so long to upload the pictures that I do not have time to write for fear of nap time ending without getting to spend some time with Jesus. 

So, chow for now!

Watch This

This video goes with this post. Happy Memorial weekend! 

A Journal. A Treasure.

 Journaling.

One of my favorite past times.

I delight in curling up on the couch, or sprawling out on the grass with my Bible, my journal and a mound of thoughts.

I can write and write and never tire of the feel of ink flowing freely from my pen as the words pour forth onto the page. I am sure journaling is pertinent in my love affair with the Lord, it's vital to the well-being of my soul.  I encounter the Lord on a blank sheet of paper. He speaks to me through words that don't even resonate in my mind until I step back and look at what has been written.

This very reason is why I journal for my children. A love for writing and a love for capturing memories, has spurred this urgency in me.

I do it for myself, to be reminded of all of the firsts, all of the milestones, and all of the small moments that bring me so much joy.  Even now as I look back, I am so thankful for the reminder of their beautiful development. I have already forgotten so much and if not for the words, I may not have so much detail to spark my remembrance of phases that are long past. 

I do it also for them. There will be a day when they will read the words and I pray they will paint a picture of who they were from birth. Maybe as they read their journals at a young age they will laugh at all of the silly things they have done. And as they mature, possibly they will read them as words far removed. They will not remember the moments I've written about and almost feel as though it is another child I wrote about. But as a parent, someday when they have children of their own, I pray that as they read the journals they will have a tender heart for who they were as a child, understanding who they are as adults. As they experience loving their own child, that they would have a tender heart for me and see that I loved them far beyond words. I loved them with my heart. I loved them deep in my soul. My prayer is that instead of looking at their life and seeing the mistakes I made, they would understand that their dad and I loved them the best we could.  We sought the Lord in cultivating their spirits. I pray that they will see similarities between themselves and their own offsprings. Through that, they will see the Lord's beauty in the passing on of traits. 

I do it for the Lord. I am being obedient in his calling of this from me. A friend told me of this habbit long before I even had children. She told me she felt as though the Lord asked her to share this with me, and I am forever thankful for her obedience. I do it to remind myself each time I write that my children are not mine. They are gifts. Gifts the Lord has entrusted into my care. It is a simple reminder for me to lay them at his feet, give them into his care and pray for them. Pray for their life. Pray for their health. Pray for obedience. Pray for salvation. Pray for their future. Pray for protection. Pray for provision. Pray for all of the things that I so desperately want to give them out of my strength, but know that I cannot. I don't have those things to give. Not to them, not to anyone. 

The way I have chosen to take up journaling for my children is not on a daily basis. It's not even on a weekly basis. I journal as the Lord leads. Often it's a time or two a month. Sometimes I miss a month...or two. I let Noah scribble on the pages when he wishes to. I simply date his artwork and go on with my writing. I let Kayt drool on the pages and I circle it and put a simple note of "sweet slobber" and her age.  I write what I feel. I write about how I feel towards them at that specific moment. I write down favorite words, phrases, toys, songs, activities and past times. I write down the dates of milestones. Often I write prayers, but more often I just let my words flow. 

In my life, these 2 books of paper and ink are treasures. In my husbands life, they are important. In my children's lives, they my be silly or meaningful. That isn't for me to determine. But someday, when I place them in their care, I will hand them over as precious jewels, worth more than all the money in the world.  I will tenderly and lovingly place them in their arms, knowing they actually belong to them. Though they are my words, they are their stories. 

When I do this, I will have much practice handing treasures over. I practice everyday.

I hand my family over to Jesus. My precious jewels, worth more than all the wealth this world could buy...they are His. Though they may be my children, they are His creation.  Though I may orchestrate their daily schedule, He orchestrates their lives...they are his story.  I tenderly and lovingly place them into His hands, thankful that he as allowed me to journey as their mother. 

And someday when I'm gone...I pray that the mere sight of my handwriting makes their heart leap. I pray they know that their daddy and I loved them as much as a parent could. 

I would like to know how other parents document their children's lives. Many people journal, I know I'm not alone, but are there other ideas? What has the Lord put on your heart? I would love to hear from you and possibly adopt your ideas. 

Come with 2, Leave with 2

Do not stay out late!

Do not stay out late!

Do not stay out late!

We did it. We stayed out way too late last night and Noah was up until an hour that begins with a double digit. I won't tell you which one for the sake of judgement. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when he awoke early and appeared to be quite chipper. I was very impressed! And then...and then....and then after I talked to a very lovely lady named Deborah at poison control, I realized we really had made a mistake.

He swallowed an entire handful of Kayt's teething tablets. They are tiny, white, dissolvable tablets that do resemble something enticing, some sort of candy. Much to my relief, Highland's Teething Tablets are not too harmful. Thank you Jesus for homeopathic medicine because other than having excess caffein and possibly causing an upset stomach, there was no harm done. Whew!

The number to reach my new friends is 1.800.222.1222. If you are a momma and do not have this number programmed in your phone, I recommend doing so right now! Stop. Put the number in your phone. You never know when it will come in handy. And after it's too late is not the best time to be looking up the number...trust me!

After this commotion we were off to Mother's Day Out, or school as we call it. My typically compliant, excited child decided about half-way to school that he would rather not go today. His insistence grew with each passing mile and by the time we reached the parking lot he was quite determined that he did not want to go to school today, and he did not want to play with his friend, and he did not want to play on the playground, and he did not want to sing songs with Ms. Eloise, and he did not want to read a Bible story and he definitely did not want to color a picture.  After a bit of the distraction technique (which I must say I am quite good at), we walked hand-in-hand into his classroom. He was great! Until I said goodbye...and then, his little lip began to tremble and he ran over and fell into my arms sobbing. It was quite dramatic.

Needless to say, I pulled into the parking lot with 2 children in the back seat of my Toyota and I left the parking lot with 2 children in the back seat of my Toyota. 

But right now, I am enjoying an extra tasty cup of coffee and some peace and quite.  I have two snoring, extreemly exhausted, napping kids.  

Lucky for me, we had such a great time last night with our dear friends that I will take this mornings commotion with a smile on my face and an extra cup of coffee. Or two.

But after today, I will try to remember...

Do not stay out late!

Do not stay out late!

Do not stay out late!

BS Material

I must start off by saying that I am really not on an ego trip. I hope I did not come across wrong on my last post...I just thought a poll would be fun!

One fun thing about the comments was that there were several people I had forgotten had blogs or didn't know had a blog. It was fun to catch up with most of them.

I have a question.

Not an ego-affirming question this time :)

I am planning to start a high school girls bible study this summer and do not yet have material.

Does anyone have recommendations?  It will, of course, be geared towards teen girls. I have a few in mind, but nothing that I felt the Lord has confirmed. 

Do you know of any good material? Have you done a study in the past that sticks out in your mind? I'm not afraid to go 'old school'!  Even if you've just heard of something, pass it along and I will check it out. Give me your best bs'n material!

Lemme Know Peeps.

Thankya.

BlogFlakes

I feel as though I should grant an apology for being so flaky in blogging over the past few weeks. I am not sure who the apology is directed to, maybe the blog itself. I was always bad about displacing feelings onto inanimate objects when I was younger. Growing up, I was always very afraid that one stuffed animal would have its feelings hurt if I chose to cuddle or play with it's friend. To solve the problem, I tried to keep all stuffed animals at a distance. And since that made/makes perfect sense to me, so does directing an apology at a computer or rather, a website. 

So blog my friend, I am truly sorry for my absence. 

After all, apologizing to a person would imply that someone actually reads this blog and taking this a step further, actually cares that I've been absent. Or maybe absent-minded would be more appropriate.

I have been distracted though. I cannot pinpoint exactly what my distraction has been, but some of them include:

-Housework.

-Rain. Since it has rained on one more than one occasion over the past week, I've been in a rainy 'funk.'  You know the rainy funk? It's that extra sleepy, I need to rest feeling you get when the days are gloomy and your thoughts just do not seem to come into focus. It is a good thing I don't live in Seattle. I would never get anything accomplished and I'm pretty sure they don't accept 'the rainy funk' excuse with any credence. 

-Our internet has been a royal pain. No kidding, I've about had it up to my eyeballs with Clearwire. Wind=doesn'twork  Rain=doesn't work  Clouds=doesn't work   Urgently Need to Look Something Up=doesn't work

-I'm a mom.

That's all I can come up with. 

This brings me to point number two.

Who does read this blog? I know I blog stalk from time to time (not saying you are) and I do have a few favorites that I will tell you of in the near future, but who are you?

Let me know.

Peace Out.

Catching Up

 Well, hello.

Long time no talk.

As I was uploading the pictures from my camera, I realized there were several memorable moments that I felt like sharing.

Dating back to the 16th of April, we rang in Noah's birthday with donuts on the front porch. And of course, no birthday is complete without a tennis ball companion, duh.
Then, our dear friend, Jody, helped sing-in the birthday song as Noah blew out his candles. 

My birthday boy and munchkin. She always has her thumb in her mouth. I love it!

      ~thanks to my super cool friend, Lezlie, for taking great birthday pictures~

Girls weekend.

Great friends, great times.

My brother and I went to the Carrie Underwood/Josh Turner concert, (hubby had to work) which was fabulous. My brother is so great. He treated me to dinner at the steakhouse from the land down under. I love spending time with my brothers! 

Baby Dedication.

I love this time in my children's lives. What an honor it is to be their mother.

                                   Do you notice how Kayt is pulling my hair? 

Aunt Tara, Uncle Clay and our favorite cousin, Tyson came to visit last weekend. Fun, fun, fun!

I just love the picture of them all in their p.j.s. They, obviously, had just woken up and still have sleepy eyes.

My grandparents also came to visit last weekend. They are precious people.

Hope I didn't bore you terribly. I have to remember that my purpose in blogging is to capture life's most precious moments. These top my list! 

 

Day O' Mamma

I'm not usually big on videos, but this is talent.

Check this out. Happy Mothers Day!

5.7.05

It was a fun morning to wake up to anniversary memories. With thunder rolling in the distance and raining heavily falling to the ground, I was able to lay in bed and reminisce over the past three years of being Mrs. Ingram.

What a ride it has been (some pun intended)!  From the threshold of our first apartment to the nurseries in our current home, our journey has been action packed and full of love. 

We've owned 2 homes, moved 5 times, spent 6 months my in-laws, and loved it all. 

I've been pregnant for almost 2/3 of our marriage. 

I have spent all but 3 months of the past three years either pregnant or nursing. 

On our first anniversary, we had a 3 week old.

On our second anniversary, I was 20 weeks pregnant. 

On our third anniversary, we have an energetic two year old and a giggly 7 1/2 month old. And no changes in the near future :)

My favorite things about being married are:

-having someone come home at the end of each day

-getting to pick up the phone any time of the day just to call and say hi

-sharing things. our closet, bathroom shelves, loofas, toothpaste

-lounging in his large, comfortable t-shirts

-mail that has both of our names on it

-carrying his last name

-having his babies

-watching him mow the lawn

-knowing the no matter what time it is, if I use my sweet voice, he will get out of bed to get me a drink of water

-watching my husband be a daddy

-learning to balance finances together

-having someone to cook breakfast for 

-having someone make me coffee

-knowing his s.s. number

-being told dinner was so great

-taking walks

-talking in bed till wee hours of the morning

-getting a goodbye kiss on the forehead each morning while I lay sleeping

These are simple and silly, yet they are great delights in my marriage. 

So many of you know what it is like to be married to a godly, loving, strong, humble man.  It's so important for me not to forget the gift I have been given in my husband. The petty things don't matter. Loving my husband does.

Happy Anniversary My Love!

I Wonder

As I sit in my over-sized chair and stare out the window in my living room, all morning I've gazed at the elementary school across the street with wonder. 

I wonder what it will be like when I walk my chubby-cheeked  boy and big-eyed girl to the door of their elementary school. Whether the school in my view or another, the day will come. I will walk these souls to the classroom of a school and leave them to be entranced by the knowledge they will inhale, though taller and wiser and more fluent in speech, they will still be my babies. My precious, captivating, miraculous babies. 

I may be able to put it off for a year. Maybe two or three, if I can convince my husband that home-schooled kids are NOT freaks, but inevitably they will fly from my coup. 

I wonder what my life will be like when I don't wake up to the sound of small feet running wildly on a hardwood floor. Or walk into a pink room only to find a wide-eyed beauty on her tummy, elbows locked, anxiously staring over the black and white paisley bumper awaiting her morning rescue. I wonder what I will do to fill my time when I'm not rolling on the floor with my sweet girl just to get a giggle from the deepest pit of her belly, or reading book after book after book, or folding tiny socks and pajamas. 

I wonder.

I cherish when the little body sitting beside me in our chair wraps his fluffy, creased arms around my waist and flails his yogurt-covered face into  my lap and says I Yuv You as I lean down to kiss his uncombed head of hair.  What will this wild, dirty-blonde haired boy accomplish in his life? I wonder.  

My prayer is the verse his daddy has claimed from the Lord to be our sweet boy's anthem. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.  How will he come to know the Lord and what kind of ride of mercy will he take? What nations will he reach and how will I trust the Lord in using his life? I wonder.

And I wonder what sounds will bring me as much joy as those that come from my munchkin. My princess, who tugs on my sleeve as she sits propped by the big, over-sized pillows of our chair with all her effort focused on gaining my attention.  The sounds that spill from her mouth delight me more than the most beautiful of melody pouring from a stringed quartet.  i love the giggles that escape as I nuzzle my nose into that squishy belly and watch her hands flap aimlessly in the air. And the coos and squeals that shrieks as I work to take in all the kisses her slobber covered neck hold and work my kisses to her tooth-less grin. 

I wonder what moments in my future will allow me to see the goodness of God in such a tangible, evident way. I wonder. I wonder how she will experience God's richest goodness in her life and what type of outpouring she will choose to give back to him. 

And I wonder how tall Noah will be. 

Six foot two like daddy or will he surpass him? 

I wonder what shade of brown Kayt's  locks will appear as the sun bounces off of them while running through the sprinkler. 

Will we let it to grow long and beautiful, or keep is it short and manicured?

I wonder.

I wonder where all the tears I will cry as I drop my babies off at some elementary school will fall. Surely they will be plentiful enough to bring moisture to the tulips in the dry west Texas spring. 

But as God has increased my territory over the past few years and brought more delight and blessings to my life than my mind could ever have dreamed, I wonder what he has in store for the future. 

I wonder. 

I know with all certainty that there will be one, if not a thousand, moments in my life I will long for the chair-sitting, wondering days back. But sometimes, don't you just wonder?

Warning: Blow Dry at Your Own Risk!

I've checked my blow dryer. Can you check yours? 

My ConAir says nothing about all of the hazardous warnings. It cautions about electrical shock from exposure to water, but says nothing about premature aging  due to stress. 

 There is no warning of increased gravity.

Nor is there a warning of soggy children.

I am positive it say nothing about forcing us to try and attain new heights. 

Do you think I can sue for failure to inform the user of all possible effects?