Neat Video

Y'all just might want to check out this video. Kinda neat to watch...very powerful. Reminds me that there is nothing that can separate us from God's love.

It's a sad thing...

Well, we weren't quite sure when it would happen, but one of our puppies died today. It's quite unfortunate. She was the runt and was born with a defect in her left hind leg. As a result and as hard as we tried to keep this from happening, she wasn't strong enough to fight her bigger siblings for her mommy. Survival of the fittest I guess... We tried to keep anything from happening to her so we brought her and Maddy inside so she could eat herself. Over the past few days, however, she gave up. She refused to open her mouth and eat even though her mother was right there with her all the time, trying to nurture her back to health. The puppy never left her side...wherever Maddy went her puppy went with her, and I mean everywhere. Maddy held her in her arms even, but the puppy simply refused to open her mouth.

I know this is kind of a gross story, and it's definately a sad thing for us (first time to ever experience this). But there is a special lesson for all of us to learn from this.

How often do we come to God and ask for Him to fill us without opening our mouths? It's a sad thing... We have these one-sided conversations that we disguise as prayer to a God who desires to do more with us in our relationship with Him. And it's interesting how we come to God with all our problems and all the bad things in our life, desiring to be filled with Him, because that's what every person who claims to be a good Christian wants, and yet we never open our mouths for Him to fill us! We don't listen to Him. And when things don't go the way we think they should we give up. We give up on ourselves and God. Psalm 81:10 tells us that God will fill us if we just open our mouths to eat. We are the ones who tend to starve ourselves to death spiritually when we come to God with our junk and don't give Him a chance to speak. And when we starve ourselves spiritually it has an impact on us physically as well. We don't feel. We don't care. We remain in self-pity. Again, it's a sad thing.

Please understand that I'm not suggesting that we don't talk to God ourselves, but rather that we start letting God talk with us...that we carry on conversation with God instead of just to God. He wants to hear from us and He desires to tell us something. What He has to say to us is valuable and perfect for us. We need to decide to listen to Him, and we DON'T GIVE UP!

The other side of the story that I haven't told you is this: just like Maddy never left her puppy's side while she suffered, God doesn't ever leave our side either. No matter what we're going through it won't cause God to leave. We all have heard that God is omnipresent, or, He's everywhere. Hebrews 13:5b says that God won't ever leave us or forsake us...that means that in pretty much everything and everywhere we go God is right there with us.

That should mean something to us. In our lives, those moments when we think God couldn't be farther away, we need to remember that He's still there by our side, holding us in His arms even when we suffer. Now it's your turn to move...open your mouth and let Him fill you. Check out the Bible...

Quick Wrap Up

Hello! Seems like it's been forever. Things happen in life ya know. Well, it has now been an entire year since we've moved out to Colorado. Seems a little longer than that with all that has happened in the past year. We still like it out here very much...especially the daily greeting from an awesome structure only God could create staring at us right when we walk out the door. Pike's Peak never ceases to amaze me every time I look at it. The sunrises and sunsets are just phenomenal! Even rain storms, the formation of the clouds around the mountain, running down the slopes are just crazy awesome!

Our Maddy just had another litter of puppies, nine females and two males this time for a grand total of ELEVEN!!! Right now they are two weeks old and doing their best to crawl around on all fours. It's actually quite cute to see them hobble around. Their eyes are open too. When one of them looks up at me its head just kind of wobbles around, I guess straining to get a better look at this weird tall creature. I don't know. They're a lot of fun.

Our youngest is walking around. The second is getting potty trained (not bad so far). Our first is almost four and is saying all kinds of words now and carrying on conversations with us. I guess I have to watch my grammer and language a little more around him since he repeats everything I say. Wake up call! It's awesome to watch our kids grow up and so quickly!

Let me know how you're doing sometime! God bless!

Puppies

Hey! I posted not too long ago about our dog having puppies...it was fun! But then there was a lot of work we didn't know would happen. They make a huge mess! Anyways...we'll let you mind wander about that reality...cleaning up and stuff...

Things are going pretty well out here in Colordado Springs. We really like it out here. The weather has been AWESOME recently, not going too much higher than seventy with a nice breeze. The air is a little thinner up here too. Running up and down the stairs can get tiring a lot quicker than it used to...then again, I could possibly just be out of shape. Nah...

Our third child just started crawling a couple weeks ago! Now all three boys are mobile and a handful. It's so much fun though! We love our kids so much! Sometimes, I have to admit, I wonder what it would've been like waiting to have our children until we were older...what kind of financial position we would be in, where we'd be living, what kind of cars we'd be driving, and what kind of profession we'd be in. I feel guilty even for thinking such things though. We have three great boys that are so wonderful and have taught us so much about life and wouldn't trade them for any of those "what ifs" that may pop into my mind. One thing I realized was that if we dwell on what we could have done in the past the future will look bleak and dark. Wishing that things could have been different doesn't do anyone any good but wastes time and energy. We live now and for the future. The past can teach us things about ourselves...the now and future can too. But these boys are the greatest! A lot of people just don't understand much about true love until they have their own children.

From a Christian's standpoint, Fatherly love isn't completely understood until you become a parent yourself either. One of the wierdest things to think about is Christian faith...that verse that people hold up in sport games...John 3:16. God gave His only Son so that anyone...ANYONE who believes in Him will have eternal life....live with God when they die. I have three boys and I wouldn't give any one of them for your life...so you could live with me forever. Sorry, but I'm not sorry. My boys are too precious to me to sacrifice for you. But God did it. That makes me feel loved by something so much bigger than me! Appreciation for who I am and my individual personality has never been more clear. God loves me because of who I am and it doesn't matter what I've done...He still sent His only Son to die for me...to take my punishment for me just so I can be with Him.

Another thing...I have to discipline my sons to do the right thing, like obeying what I tell them to do. Nothing is more painful for me than to punish them for doing something wrong. Training them can be difficult sometimes but if I don't do it I don't love them or want the best for them. Parents cop out of punishing or disciplining their children because they want the best for them. Then their kids end up being the ones in control. That's a bunch of crap. If we really love our kids we'll train them the necessary way: discipline. They're not going to die but learn how to be responsible and take care of themselves and their things.

God teaches His children the same a father teaches his. He is a loving Father and truly wants the best for us. We may not understand everything we are going through...but God does. He is training us...teaching us how to become all that we can be. Having faith in God is great...but we need to understand that things we go through in this life is all because God has faith in us as well. He knows the outcome and what we can become. We just need to learn to trust...be patient...endure a little longer...

God has faith in you.

Puppies!!!

Well, our Maddy had her first litter of puppies last night/early morning! She had a total of nine of them. They're so cute! One of them is dark and the rest of them are a lighter color. She started having them I think shortly after we went to bed (elevenish). Our son woke up around three for some reason. I had heard some noise, but it sounded like someone breathing heavily through not so cleaned out nostrils...that high pitch squeak thingy? Know what I'm talking about? Most people do it while they're sleeping. Turns out, the sound I heard was six little puppies whining for their mommy. When I went out to the garage, Maddy had her seventh puppy. When we got back up at 6 a.m. she had two more puppies...a total of 9. They all look great! And Maddy is very proud...and protective...

Anywas, thought I'd share some exciting news... Have a great weekend!