On the lighter side...

My son is developing quite the sense of humor. For example, Dustin talked about Nate getting his PANTALONES (we like to speak Spanglish) on, and Nate cracked up. He could not stop laughing and yelling, "Pantalones!" which sounded more like "Pantaloney!"

And when we watched a little more videos (on Zoodles) than normal this week, due to his being sick, I discovered that he thought this was just hysterical. It's not exactly the same signs I learned for all of these words, but, well, Mr. Nate thought it was hilarious.

Especially the nappy change. Wish you could all stop by and watch my son watching this video.

"You sign."

180.

"It's Good." "It's Hard." It's both. And hard to communicate!

The early part of my Christian life, I'd say I erred on the side of not sharing my sin and struggles. You know? Putting on my happy face, because after all, J is for Jesus, O is for Others and a Y,I,I,I,I,I,I is for you, you, you, as the happy song went. Now, I sometimes feel like I've "grown" in this area, and yet, now, I'm tempted to lose balance. For example, in perhaps aiming to be more transparent, I know I can sometimes grumble, gossip, whine, etc. I know we don't have to be "hard, but good" all the time people, you know when you constantly just say, "It's hard right now, but it's all good." Although there's definitely truth in that. But I need to flesh that out a bit more before I say it, without really, really meaning it. Really believing it. God IS at work in THIS, whatever this might be. Right now.

Anyway, I think Mr. Altrogge is on the right track in this article I just read. I really want to chew on this, and ask the Lord to help me in this area. I just find it tricky, and I get confused on what kind of speech and openness honors the Lord without turning into a grumbler. I'm always running from one extreme to the other, if I'm not careful. Anyway, my rambling aside, this article is a short one, but worth your time:

Bringing God Into the Equation

P.S. An afterthought here... some of the most godly people I know, who love God's Word and read it a whole bunch and love their Maker and pray to Him a whole bunch, do this really, really, really well. And suffer trials way harder than I've ever, ever, ever been asked to suffer. And they never read this article. :) I'm so thankful for models who have done this well in my life. Think about it. Don't the godliest people you know seem to strike a balance in this? They don't act like they have it all together, but they don't utterly despair when trials come. They bring God into the equation.

Thoughts?

Fear of Man

Fear of man is such a part of our human fabric that we should check for a pulse if someone denies it. (pg. 17)

Regarding other people, our problem is that we need them (for ourselves) more than we love them (for the glory of God). The task God sets for us is to need them less and love them more. (pg. 19)

-Edward Welch, When People are BIG and God is Small

A looooong time ago, when I blogged more and read more, I posted thoughts on another book on the topic of pleasing people/fear of man. They are still floating around the Internet here and here.

Baby Brudder Tee-um (as Nate says)

He's getting sooo big, but he's still my baby.

 

Barabbas: Jesus is Alive - Shai Linne

Barabbas: Jesus is Alive - Shai Linne

Nate's New Favorite Song

HT: Blake White - Thanks, friend!

Strength for Weary Moms

"The harvest won't come today. And it won't come tomorrow. Maybe not even next year or the year after that."

Keep reading MORE here and be encouraged!

And, if time allows, read each article in the series. The first one on the Gospel, for example, held a convicting reminder of what I need the MOST in this season, and every season:

Without a steady diet of gospel truth our souls will shrivel and our strength will wane; but a steady diet of gospel truth will give us power to persevere, even in the most tiring of times.

Friday Links

If my friend Erin still blogged, she'd have all kinds of fun ideas for you. I feel selfish keeping all of her tips to myself sometimes, so I thought I'd share a few today.

With Timmers taking 3 naps a day, (and much more successfully at home) we are home quite a bit. She recently helped me brainstorm some fresh ways to keep Nate entertained and busy, enjoying home and learning, etc, etc.

She pointed me to the following:
Sensory Balloons (looks cheap and not too hard, hope to try soon),
Zoodles (we just use the PLAY GAMES section which takes you to a spot where you can watch a few short videos here and there)
and even Healthy Meatloaf (I used bread crumbs instead of almond flour)! Well, the Meatloaf was more a project for me than Nate.

And, I just skimmed this article on moving to a new spot, but hope to read it more later.

That's it for now! Thanks to Erin for some great resources to help me keep my little man engaged and a new, yummy, healthy recipe to add to the mix. Easy, too!