Pray for our trip!

If you think of us this week and weekend, pray for us. I am leaving to go to a conference in Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon to return Saturday night. I am SO excited!!! My kids will be going with Chris on Wednesday night and returning to me Sunday after church. This is kind of their Spring Break. I am already dreading that part and missing them before they're gone!! Chris is planning to take them on their first camping trip (good luck!!! HA!)

Two years ago I went to this same conference with some dear Christian women (Jenni, Julie, Jennifer and Amber). It was truly (not to be overly dramatic) life-changing. The idea of how we teach our children about God was a new on to me, one I hadn't considered much. One seminar that stood out to me SO vividly was the session called, "Teaching God-Esteem in a Self-Esteem World." What a concept that was to me!! So ever since, the phrase, self-esteem is a dirty one! We need to teach our children that they DO have worth, but only really because of who made them and who they are IN Him. No other "esteem" is valid or even beneficial the studies now say.

SOOO...all that to say, I am SO stinkin' excited to go again this year! This time we have a group of 11 ladies going so it is even better. To see their website, go here. To see who is speaking (I'll give you a hint...John Piper!!!) go here. To read more about the Children's Desiring God philosophy, go here.

We are now using their curriculum at church and it has been such a blessing. One of their main emphasis is scripture memory. Just FYI- when we caught on to this whole philosophy a little over two years ago, I started teaching Benjamin (then 2) memory verses out of this collection they called "Foundation Verses." This week B will be finishing that packet. People, that is 76 verses!!!! Do you know 76 verses? I bet you didn't when you were 5!! I know I didn't. I just love the idea of pouring scripture into their hearts and minds when their heart is tender and mold-able and then give them a grand view of the Almighty God (as best as we can to our understanding and limitations as humans) and then point them to Him again and again sharing His beautiful gospel.

Wow, now I'm really getting excited!! Just wait till I get back and want to tell you more!!
Pray for our trip and pray for my kids that I will be at peace and they will be safe while not with me. Thank you!!

Quote of the day

With this in no way intended to be a pity party, I have to admit something. Right now, life is hard. I struggle daily to BELIEVE what I say I believe about God. I'm reminding myself with every opportunity I get to tell myself the truth. Have you ever hard someone tell you to talk to yourself rather than listen to yourself? When you listen to yourself you can can in big trouble. But when you speak truth to yourself all day everyday, then things seem to go much better for you.
Well, when talking to myself, I try to review scripture in my mind that is very comforting and brings peace. I also review things that I know to be true about God, such as...

• I believe He's in control.

• I believe He has a plan.

• I believe His plan cannot be thwarted by one of His creations.

• I believe that He loves me.

• I believe that He wants good things for me.

• I believe that He is working in me both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

• I believe that the struggle...the valley...the darkness are all what He has sovereignly chosen for all of us in different seasons of our lives to sanctify us.

• I believe that it would be SO WRONG to grumble about the Almighty God loving me so much that He wants to make me more like His precious Son Jesus. So what if it hurts, right? It's worth it!!!

All this said...I am not fully sanctified yet. I am still a sinner. I will never trust Him fully and rightly this side of heaven. I will try, with His grace, but I will not always succeed. These past few weeks have been hard. I have felt physically ill, so it makes the trials I am going through so much more prevalent. I shared my struggle of late with my sister and she sent me this quote. It's so good that I want to cross stitch it for my home...well, I don't cross stitch, but maybe someone will do it for me!!!

"We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we
are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

I want to do what is right and what is right is to trust Him who made me and takes care of me. So I will trust that if what is best for me happens to be painful (like it is right now) then I will pray for more grace to bear it and bless His name in the midst of it. And I HAVE to remember...that He doesn't give us the grace for something before we need it!! So, I need to stop myself when I fear the future and ask for grace to trust Him that He will give me what I need when I need it. That's all.
I pray that we all will be able to do just that in our day of trial...and there will be days of trial. It's part of the plan, and it is a good plan. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Benjamin's Prayer

Today at lunch I asked B to pray. This is what he said...

"Dear God, please help all the people who's eyes don't work. And please help all the people who are missing legs, especially pirates. Thank you God for our food, Amen."

My girl

My baby girl is sick today and I'm not with her. I think I might be sick at that reality. Please pray for her and for me. This is hard!!

Friends!!

Friends, friends!
We had friends visiting this weekend and OH what fun we had!!! My friend Christi and her 4 precious children came on Thursday evening and just left this morning on their way back to Nashville by way of Louisiana. We had so much fun laughing and talking and doing life together for 4 days. It was so sad to see them go today!

We can't wait for your next visit guys!
We LOVE you!!!

Bluebonnets!

I have wanted to take my kids' pictures in the bluebonnets since they were born, but never have. Why I have never seemed to make that happen, I have no idea. But this year I planned ahead. YAY! I spotted this perfect patch of bluebonnets on a not so busy road and thought it had a nice backdrop as well. Just thought I would share!


My favorite girl!


My favorite boy!


They look sweet here, but you should have seen the shock before. They were just recovering from a sibling scuffle!







Dancing in the bluebonnets



Here is Benjamin wearing my sunglasses and correcting his sister on the form of her curtsy. Here he demonstrates a proper one. Notice that he is also holding his "dress" up!!


Our attempt at a group shot

What love is and is not

Laurie and I are meeting on Monday nights (as often as we can) when I don't have the kids. We are reading through a great book together and then discussing it when we meet. We are reading,"Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health" by Donald S. Whitney. I was introduced to this book at our ladies retreat last year when we were asked to read the first chapter as to be able to participate in one of our discussions. It is a compact little book, but it packs quite a punch! For last night's discussion we read the chapter, "Are you more loving?" This question is expounded on in the chapter and he lists many scriptures as well as poses several heart-probing questions to help you diagnose the state of your heart and soul.

One section of the chapter was so good, that I just had to post it here.

"Love is the badge and character of Christianity. A Christian may advance in many areas, including the ability to witness, teach, or even preach ("Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels"), or biblical insight and knowledge ("And though I...understand all mysteries and all knowledge"), or faith, service, ad giving ("and though I have all faith...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned"), but these mean little ("I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal...I am nothing...It profits me nothing") without growth in the most important Christian distinctive--love (I Corinthians 13:1-3)."

"When love grows colder, our sin increasingly manifests itself and we look more unlike Jesus. We lose patience easily, whereas I Corinthians 13:4 says that "Love suffers long." Unkindness becomes common, yet love "is kind." We become sinfully envious of the advantages and privileges of others, perhaps even of those in our own family; conversely, "love does not envy." When challenged about our lack of love, we quickly and quite confidently list all th sacrifices and other proofs of our love, and yet "love does not parade itself, is not puffed up." As our hearts harden against love, we become less courteous, specially to those closest to us, in contrast to love which "does not behave rudely" (I Corinthians 13:5). We begin to consider ourselves and our "rights" as more important than others and their needs, whereas love "does not seek its own." When love is in decline we are more easily angered, but love "is not provoked." A lack of love is often faultfinding, and it mentally keeps score of offenses, but love "thinks no evil."


OUCH!!! I hope this might encourage all of us to love more and deeper and better in the days to come.

Cutest kids ever Winners!!!

My sister Danyel got the kids' pictures made last week. These are some of the proofs (...and don't worry I'm not going to print them illegally!) and I just had to share them with you. Are they not adorable?? You had to see how Mia is growing and becoming more adorable everyday!! See what I got to kiss on this weekend at the lake house? These precious cheeks!!




Mr. handsome with a little bit of silly thrown in!


What a guy!!!!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter Sunday! After church we went to the Hamms house for lunch. What fun! The kids made these neat little Easter lilies from their hand print. We used them as the centerpiece for the table. We had fajitas for lunch and then Jeff read a summary of the Easter story to the kids. We talked about how this is the most important Sunday of the year. So in celebration of that, the kids made their own ice cream sundaes! They had a blast! The adults celebrated with homemade pear pie and vanilla bean ice cream. YUMO!!

Fun, fun afternoon with our dear friends. Thanks Hamms!

The boys...Benjamin, Luke and Joshua


The girls...Cait and Rebekah


The kiddos...this picture would've been taken in the bluebonnets today if it hadn't been 50 degrees outside! Yes that's right! Notice that my kids are not wearing sweet little spring outfits, but rather long sleeves, sweaters and winter tights!


The boys showing off their big muscles!

Who is she?

Who is this precious little girl? Is it Cait? She does have the same piercing blue eyes, but "no."
Is it me when I was knee-high to a grasshopper? Well, same eyes and curly hair, but "no" again.
I think the closest guess would be my sister Danyel. If you cover up the lower half of this little girl's face, it is identical to Danyel as a child. But yet again, the answer is "no."

This angelic little face actually belongs to none other than Claudia Diane Bennett Kemp...my mom.
Look at her in that precious little pink dress. I'm certain that my grandmother made it for her as she did all of her clothes. And look at that expression on her face. What could she be thinking? I'm not sure, but I think she had to have been a shy little girl. One thing I do know, she is very pretty. I think Cait, Danyel and I all look a lot like her, if I can say that without sounding like I'm boasting. I wonder if baby Mia will grow to look like her as well? Such a sweet heritage.

More than inheriting my mom's looks I hope to inherit her character. And what character! Mom is a woman who loves her God! She is humble and loving and kind. She has strong convictions and she sticks by those like no one else I've ever known. She is so quick to find the good in people. She actually used to have a nickname that some of her old co-workers gave her..."Claudianna" (as in Pollyanna). I think they intended it as a mockery, but I always saw it as a high compliment that they were paying her. She likes to find the good in situations and in people. Wouldn't you want to be the friend of someone who always gave you the benefit of the doubt and saw the good in you? Or rather, wouldn't you like to be the daughter of one such as that?

Mom is a hard worker! She is the person I can call when I need help with something, and I could put her straight to work. She loves to work, serve, help and get things done.
Mom is a wonderful example of a helpmate to her husband. My mom loves my dad so much! She respects him and serves him and speaks highly of him. She has made mistakes in the past as far as submission and respect goes towards my dad (she is human), but she has confessed those sins to God and to others and is so humble about it. I am learning from her example as well as from her mistakes!

What a blessing to come from such a heritage! When a woman realizes that she can pass on to her children either a blessing or a curse by how she lives her life, she then knows what an enormous impact she has on generations to come. One generation after another will follow in the heritage lived out before them. I'm so honored to say that my mom certainly has passed on a blessing. She has lived out a life of a godly example.
God, help me to do the same for my little angel in a pink dress.