How Church History Can Enrich Our Faith

Brent showed me the article that I'm about to link you to. I'll admit I was a bit leery of thinking I'd find it interesting. I'm terrible. I say that I think history is important, but I'm often not a fan of reading and to get me through a history course was grueling to say the least. I'm growing into the desire to read. My mom said that I'd probably like it when I grew up...I guess I'm still growing up, but getting closer none the less:)
After reading this article, I am motivated to learn more of church history...something else to put on my plate. Hope Malachi likes to listen to it because it sounds like this will enter into our reading list together:)

Check it out:
http://www.rickandsusanna.com/2010/10/6-reasons-to-love-church-history.html

new wave of urbanization

"The human future is an urban future. In one of the greatest social shifts of all human history, over half of all living humans now inhabit cities...
Will the church rise to this challenge?"

“The twenty-first century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by the city,” writes Parag Khanna of the New America Foundation. “In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities rather than states are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built.”

As this occurs, how and where does that impact our lives of ministry, our responsibility to reach the lost and the distribution of the gospel? The following is a great, thought provoking article.


http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/10/mission-and-metropolis-the-church-and-the-city/

"The grass is always greener...where you water it"

While we've all heard the saying, " the grass is always greener on the other side." How does that correlate to marital problems? It's kinda obvious that one could look at it as the rampage of and problem with our society's infidelity. Today, however, Brent and I were discussing ways to strengthen our marriage, how to better communication when times get rough...i.e. he's on call and there's minimal time to communicate. We thought of and we found some good questions to frequently ask our selves and each other to reflect on our marriage, our attitudes and state of our hearts.

One point we read was similar to the cliche phrase previously quoted, but this time it said, "The grass is always greener where you water it". This is common sense and we know this in a concrete sense all too well. Here, in Texas, the blazing heat can take a tole on the yard!! If you neglect the grass for just a few days it quickly starts to brown, die, become weak, unfruitful and the battle to strengthen it is a hard one. This is similar to a marriage. If we neglect to water or care for our marriage it too can become weak quickly. It's so true that we must be continually proactive to pursue, love and work at our marriage. Marriage is a wonderful gift, a deep responsibility and a blessing to be able to cherish. I love Brent so much and I'm thankful that he continues to pursue me and want to continually enrich and work at our marriage. I am blessed.

This is one of the more common sense points, but I thought it was a good reminder and stated creatively. If you want to see the point and questions to ask yourself and your spouse, check out this website. It's a good, quick read:

http://www.crossway.org/blog/2010/09/the-problem-of-kingdom-in-our-marriages/

Why all Good Christians Should Celebrate Halloween...

You're probably thinking that I've lost my mind since I've moved to Texas:)
I read an article with the above title. One of it's main points was

" The reason I propose that good Christians celebrate Halloween and stay home from the “Christian alternatives” is that Halloween is the only night of the year in our culture where lost people actually go door-to-door to saved people’s homes . . . and you’re down at the church hanging out with all your other good Christian friends having clean fellowship with the non-pagans."

It's a catchy title and it's made me think...How am I being intentional with relationships? Am I just hanging out with fellow believers because it's comfortable and not feeling I have time to explain & share the gospel to those that wouldn't agree? Am I getting inward focused and only thinking about my busy days, my family, Malachi, my friends? Or, am I concerned/broken hearted over the lost? I sadly find myself often in the prior. As the title is eye catching, it was a good reminder for me to step beyond what's comfortable and reach out to the lost around me: my neighbors, co-workers and those at the gym that I see consistently, but never really take time to see where they stand and invest in those that too easily slip by.

You should leave my blog and go to the following article that I referred to:

http://betweenthetimes.com/2010/09/28/why-all-good-christians-should-celebrate-halloween/

I hope it challenges you to be creative and invest in those around you too.
Blessings~

He's getting to be such a big boy!
Malachi is showing off how he's starting to push up with his arms.
studying with daddy
coffee house date with mommy & daddy
showing off the cutest little dimple I've ever seen



I've failed again. I can't seem to stay consistent at this blogging thing. In, efforts to keep family or even friends updated with sweet Malachi's life while away from everyone....I'm going to turn into that mom...that person I never thought I would...
I now baby talk. Not only baby talk, but I do it almost all day. I even find myself doing it to Brent. Or, worse off, I find myself baby talking to Malachi in first person only as I'm really talking to Brent...even more confusing. I've even accidentally taked baby talk on the phone to a couple friends...woops! sorry! (that's when I realize I really need to get out!)
I'm also realizing that Malachi is most of my life. I love him, love his smile, love his coos, his milestones that he's conquering and the excitement that entails!
I'm also that person that I never thought I'd be...I'm turning this blog into a blog pretty much about Malachi and our daily events since that's really what's going on. So, as I've heard many people say...many think it's crazy when a mom just blogs about her kids, well... I'm that mom.
I have found that I love reading other mom's blogs about their kids!! It's a weird bond almost I have found comfort in. I love reading of their victories, funny sayings and seeing them grow. So, if you're not into that...I think this blog will soon be very boring:) Just thought I'd warn you:)

Malachi, I'm so proud of you!! You have one proud momma that LOVES LOVES LOVES you sooo much!
You started making eye contact and smiling at us at about a month... the exact day I'll have to edit in later. You cried a lot at the beginning, but then one day, you woke up and smiled at me for over an hour! You'd never done that, but then all day between every nap you smiled at your momma for almost an hour. It was one of the best days of my life!!
You started raising your head during tummy time at about 7 weeks, but last week, at 10 weeks, you have started pushing up with your arms and bringing your arms in front of you!!! Your momma and daddy squeal in delight, cheer, clap, smile, say "yaaaaay!!!!!" constantly when you do! Seeing you push up and smile never gets old!
You also can bear all your weight and mommy & daddy just balance you. That started at mid week 9. I'm afraid you want to skip the crawling stage and just start running:) You are too cute!
Your smile makes your mommy melt! You are tricky in that you have learned to often smile, wink and flirt when put down for a nap to wooo your mommy into picking you back up. It is tooo cute, but unfortunately mommy loves you too much to do that all the time:) You take about an hour- hour 1/2 nap between feeds and typically stay up between feeds once during the day.
The coo-ing and sounds are precious! That started about week 6 and has been more and more fun every day!
Diaper changing time and right after feeding is the most hysterical time as you are so verbal! Those are mommy's favorite times of the day! You are so full of smiles that sometimes your nose twitches and your right cheek gets a dimple as your smile is so big and lasts for so long.
I love you soooo much Malachi!

Right now, he's taking a nap. He was a good boy as he had his first babysitting today for about an hour from one of my girl friends. She watched him as I signed back up to work some in the ER again. I'm not sure how long I'll work for, but I signed up for a week so far:) It was good to see everyone at work, but at the same time...the smells, the psychiatric meltdown from the lady behind me, the lady hearing voices and screaming back at them around the corner, the terrible smelling urine on the counter beside me, backed up waiting room and flem-filled smokers/TB/pneumonia/ nasty hacking cough of the man I passed just didn't fill me with glee either....
Who knows...but we're going to try it again and see how working a little here and there works out:) Fortunately, Brent is so sweet and supportive that he is behind me either way and encourages me also to stay home with Malachi, so...we'll see in a few weeks how that turns out:)

A few pics of what's going on:)

My days with Malachi are full of feeding, changing diapers, changing his outfits after messes, one way conversations, singing songs for which I realize I typically only know a couple of lines so I either make up the rest or just repeat those, lots of crying fits (totally not my favorite part of the day!!)....and taking lots of pictures of him. The first couple days of his life, he would get startled almost every time he heard the camera click. Now, it doesn't phase him a bit! Poor guy is going to think that the camera is just a part of me. I think Malachi may be getting cuter every day. Here's a few from yesterday as we were waiting for his daddy to come home.

It's been about 3 weeks since Malachi has been born and about that long since I feel like I've had my head on straight, had more than 3 hrs of consecutive sleep, or known at what time to brush my teeth since I no long her have a "night" or "bed time" or normal "meal time" or really any time of my own. (don't worry, I still brush my teeth 2 or more times a day...I just have to figure out a time to do it or how to do it while holding a screaming baby. Oh, the skills I have already learned!).
His birth day was eventful to say the least. I believe I was told it was about 4 1/2 hours of labor. I'd say that was enough for him and me. He didn't like my over active uterus from which his heart rate decelerated several times and I didn't like the crazy contractions, but both worked out beautifully. His heart rate would bounce back every time the staff would run into the room, throw an oxygen mask on me and make me get in all sorts of interesting positions. The doctors were wonderful and of course Brent was the best supporter, coach, encourager, husband EVER imaginable through the whole thing. I knew Brent would want to be a strong supporter through it all and would try his best, but as he always does, he did better than I could have ever asked! It's true that you do kinda forget about the pain and I'm glad of that. I do remember saying " Brent I'm never doing this again! This is too much. I'm seriously never doing this again!"...but I think I would. I never thought I could fall so in love with a little baby so quickly. Malachi, even in his crying fits, is such a blessing. Malachi, you are simply an adorable, precious little boy!
Things that I love about him right now...
-That he's sleeping:) so I can type a blog real quick
-His pouty lip that he often follows with the cutest little grin ( I think that may get the best of me later)
-How cute his fingers and toes are
-How every time he wakes up he goes through a several minute stretching routine to wake up...Seriously, it's adorable and soooo funny.
-How he can pee all over as I'm changing his diaper and it for some reason it makes me laugh (especially when he does that to his daddy as he's changing his diaper before running out to work!)
-That he's starting to make eye contact with us and interact with us a little more

So we could go on and on, but that's where we are today. Thank you for your prayers throughout the labor and encouragement since! I'm excited for you all to meet Malachi! He says hello too!