insignificant?

Have you ever had a bad day or been going through a tough situation and in an attempt to make yourself feel better about things, stopped and said some version of this sentence:

"There's always someone with worse problems than me."

I have no idea how many times I've told myself this. Or heard a friend say it. And I guess it is true. But even though that thought is supposed to help make my problem seem small in comparison to what it could be...it never really helps at all. It just always makes me feel worse.

Like I am completely insignificant and what ever I am going through isn't worth bothering anyone (including God) with. I can remember in college saying that sentence to a friend. It was the first time I ever heard anyone come back with an answer other than, "Yeah, that's true...". She said to me something to the effect of, "Yes, maybe so, but this pain is your pain. This is the situation God is walking you through and it is just as real in your life as someone else's problem is in their life."

That made me stop and think. I know technically that He knows when a sparrow falls (Matt. 10:29), and clothes all the lillies of the fields (Matt. 6:28), and yet He loves and cares about me even more and says I am worth "many sparrows." The Bible tells us that, right? But even the little stuff? The stuff that seems to fade compared to 147 million orphans in our world...or the number of people who are dying every day without knowing Him?

A couple weeks ago, I was reading another one of my favorite blogs and Courtney, the mom, who I really want to meet in person some day, talked about the same thing. I'm going to put an excerpt from her post here, but be sure to stop by and check out her blog. It's worth your time.

She was writing a review of the book "Where is God?" by Dr. John Townsend and said...

"I think at one time or another every Christian struggles to understand why God allows suffering. Even in our own difficulties we find it hard to see the hand of God. This book helps to answer those questions. Even as long as I have been a Christian, there are still things I do not always understand. I needed to read this book for so many reasons, but mostly to know that God is with me. He is for me. And that even in the hardest seasons, He is still good. Right in the introduction before the book even begins Dr. Townsend writes something so profound. It was like he had read my mind and wrote just what I needed to know. "To God, your experience matters. So it should matter to you as well. It will help you to move ahead on your journey toward healing if you focus on your experience and what it means rather than enter into comparisons. Comparisons distort reality. Even more, they get you focused on what is not helpful and distract you from what is helpful. Comparisons can minimize how severe your situation is, such as thinking , Lots of people in other countries have it much worse than I do, so I should stop feeling bad. That sort of guilt message isn't really helpful. Your situation is yours, and your pain is yours. Aren't you relieved reading that? I know I was. Because I do that all of time to myself. I am always telling myself how so many others have it worse than I do. Or that life could be so much worse than it is. Or that whatever I am struggling through isn't important to God because how could it be when there are people literally starving to death. Reading that took a huge weight off me. Because it does matter to God...."

It was such an encouragement to hear someone say once again that we don't have to compare and minimize our situation - whatever it is. We have a King and Father who cares about the big and small stuff and wants us to come to Him with everything, whether it is loosing your keys for the umpteenth time, or the death of a parent, or the loss of a baby, or a friendship that seems to be over, etc.

I am reminded of the missionary George Muller. My girls and I read a book about him in history this year and it was amazing. He relied completely on GOD for everything. He supported thousands of orphan children and several other ministries - on prayer alone. He never once asked anyone but his heavenly Father for money. And he knew that no problem or situation or needed item was too small or too big to pray about. He knew and lived out the fact that God cared about every detail of his life and ministry.

I guess the point is that what ever we are gong through, it is not insignificant to Him. And we don't have to try to convince ourselves that it is by comparing our own situation to what others may be going through. So the next time you catch yourself saying that sentence, rethink things for a minute and instead, take your problem - no matter the size - to Him. He's waiting. :)

"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

1 Peter 5:7

purple

If you follow my other blog at all, you have already seen this picture:

This is my friend, Laura, and her little girl, Leah. Laura was Shannon's friend first. They met in college. Then we were both bridesmaids in Shannon's wedding and hit it off. THEN I went to Laura's wedding...which is where I figured out that she was marrying a guy who I had known growing up - we were both homeschooled. I didn't know him very well...but his family's name was one that most people had heard of before. So since then she has moved here and we get to hang out every now and then. :)

Anyways, Leah just turned one last Tuesday and I got to go to her little party. Laura had everything set up and decorated SO CUTE!!! I am totally doing the food like this at my own child's first birthday party!

Teddy bear pb&j sandwiches, applesauce, raisins, crackers, goldfish, cheerios, fruit loops, bananas, and baked chips! So perfect!

Sand buckets with each child's name on it and little treats inside for "goodie bags". Oh yeah, and a balloon tied to each one too.

Since it decided to rain on Tuesday, Laura had Leah's water table set up inside their sunroom. The dress that Leah is wearing was SO CUTE too and is from Rebekah's website, DolkaPots. (Go check it out! A portion of each item they hand make and sell goes to support a family pursuing adoption.) Of course, since Leah loves to splash, the dress didn't make it too long before getting soaked! :) And one year olds are constantly moving so I never did get a picture of her straight on to get the full front of the dress... :}

Aiden was there to help celebrate and all the kids loved this bubble blower!

Aiden, being the typical boy, just HAD to check out how that thing worked! :) That's exactly what Mr. Happy would have done at his age.

This little girl thought Dave (Jonathan's dad/Shannon's husband) was just fabulous. She helped him study his cell phone for a while. The little cutie on the right reminded me of another friend's little girl when she was that age - blond curly hair, sweet chubby baby face...cute!

Jonathan found this doll stroller/walker and decided it was a mower. He "mowed" the carpetgrass for minutes going around and around the coffee table. Then, when he decided it was break time and needed some fruit loops to munch on, his mower turned into the perfect size chair! :)

Next it was time for cake! A pretty purple cake made by Miss Leah for Baby Leah. (Conversations tend to get confusing when both Leah's are around!)

This is what Leah thought about cake:

1~ Hmm...what's this?

2 ~ Um. There's stuff on my fingers...

3 ~ GETITOFF GETITOFF GETITOFF!!!

4 ~ Not so sure what I think about this stuff.

5 ~ Ah! I know!!

6 ~ Yup. That's better. Now get me down from here!

I think she had a great time at her first little party overall! She loved this musical Elmo card...those glasses stayed on about 2.5 seconds - just long enough for me to get a quick picture. But that tiarra stayed on for a very long time! Impressive. :)

Oh, and don't you just love her baby rolls on those little chubby legs?? :)

Happy birthday, Leah! Thanks again for letting me come help celebrate, Laura! :)

names

To keep a little bit of privacy here on my blog, I don't usually put the names of my kiddos. I have wanted and needed to come up with names for them that are better, more descriptive, more fun and creative than "my oldest", "my middle child", and "my baby/toddler". BORING!! I love my friend, Mrs. T.'s nick names for her kiddos - Einstein, Peace, Love, Spunky, and Thunderbolt! But I just could never come up with the right names for my kids.

Until I recently took some of my toddler's clothes over to Leah. I ran across one that used to be one of our favorites - first of all, it was so soft and comfy - the perfect shirt to snuggle up in when a random summer bug hit. My toddler called it his "happy shirt" ...because it had Mr. Happy from the Mr. Men Show on it. Did you ever read those little books?? There are so many of those characters, it just hit me last night that there are three of them (ok, so really there were many more and Wendy, if you go here and scroll down through the list, you'll know which other ones I could have picked for which child...! lol) that could easily fit my three children! So...for all future reference to my three, here are their nicknames!

What do you think?

aiden downtown

Today I showed Leah and Aiden some of my favorite spots downtown. Our first stop was at the UT Gardens and Leah asked if I would take some pics of Aiden while we were there. This is just a sneak peak at the photos... :)

He's such a cutie!! :}

Thanks for a fun afternoon, Leah! Next time we need to do it with the guys.

april fools!

My kids think April Fools day is great! Last year I did a lot more than this year. This year I had a random cold and had zero energy. But we did do a couple things.

This was the note I found on the kitchen table when I came down in the morning. It was the first april fools that my middle child came up with all by herself.

Very clever. :) Except that it sounded like a heard of elephants was running around upstairs above my head.... ;)

This is what I let my kids have after lunch...

I found this idea here...one of my favorite go-to sites for fun and easy crafts and ideas. My kids thought this was hilarious. It's really just a wrapper you print out and put around a box of Reece's Pieces. :} They couldn't wait to show mommy and daddy when they got home.

This next one was one I had seen on the above site but wasn't planning on doing...until I realized we had just a bit of chocolate left over from making our Oreo balls.

Spilled chocolate in the kitchen...oh no! Oh wait...! :)

April Fools!

seven

Sunday was my oldest's seventh birthday. She was two when I came.

Such a cutie! And she still is. :) Here are seven pictures from her seventh birthday photo shoot...it took place over a couple days...and if you follow my other blog, you've already seen a couple of them. :)

YYY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUTIE!!! YYY

st. patrick's day

I'm still catching up on things around here! Still have a few more posts to write. Here are some of our pics from St. Patric's Day... :)

Lunch: "orange-ish" chicken nuggets, green mashed potatoes, green sprite, white plates = the colors of the flag of Ireland. (Other foods added after this pic was taken...)

Decorating our fun cake...if you didn't see the picture of the inside...click here!

Trying on the funny wig we get out every year. He thought it was hilarious.

She thinks it's itchy. It kinda is.

Leprechaun masks! $1 ea. at A. C. Moore!

And our very decorated entryway! :) Look closely at the flowers in the arrangement in the bottom left - do you see the one with eyes?? Cute!! :} The rainbow went all the way to the upstairs - Wendy made it. Not me. I do not sew. :-p But it turned out great! :)