Happy Fall Yall!

It's Friday!!!! Family Day/Field Trip Day/ fill in the blank day. I LOVE Fridays. Travis is off work and we do fun things together as a family. Family is so important to us and I, for one, look forward to each Friday of the month. This Friday we took a trip up to http://lyndfruitfarm.com. What a blast we had seeing the kids running through the orchard eating apples and smashing all the rotten ones ;) Even little Judah was sucking all the juice out of the Melrose apples~





We started the morning out with the perfect fall tastes, pumpkin pancakes.....mmmmmmmm. So stinking good!  I found the recipe here http://www.marthastewart.com/271839/pumpkin-pancakes. I didnt have the cloves and couldnt find my ginger so I just added a tiny bit of apple pie spice and it worked just fine~ The kiddos ate them up! I HATE pancakes by the way, and I even had one :) Lovely way to start the day. Happy Fall Yall!

Best of the Best

   Kay Arthur is one of my FAVORITE authors for devotionals. She is real, honest, and so genuine I could scream. I had a hard time for years finding a devotional study I really loved and looked forward to doing. Then this woman came into my life. She is amazing. AMAZING. I have completed nearly all of her studies. Today, as I was talking with a young woman, I recommended the "Lord Series" by Kay Arthur and I remembered how much I learned and LOVED these. So I googled them and decided I was going to go through the studies again! I am incredibly excited. Will you join me?
                                                  


                                

Prayer~

Today I am grateful for the blessing of prayer. It has been a grey day here, rainy and cold. There are days I think I take for granted what a privilege it is to be able to pray to our God and to have Jesus Christ be our mediator! There are days I just don't even think about it and I pray. Not that I pray mindlessly but more that I don't grasp the magnitude of just what it is that is happening. Today, I was in and out of prayer throughout the day. I thought how exhausting for the Lord and I am just one measly little being! I was awestruck but His wondrous love and how he cares for my every last detail. What a comfort. What a God! What a gift prayer is!


Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

offering my sacrifice....

This week. Oh this week. This week will not end, yet all the time is blazing forward. I am tired and my list has not gotten any shorter even as I have crossed off item after item. Not once have I been in bed before 3am. This week has been nonstop laundry, trips to the store for necessary items that are outside of my budget, last minutes church needs and organizational 'musts.' I snapped at my babies one too many times and I have cried convicted tears to my Lord each evening. This week, being a stay at home mama to a full time ministry employed husband has been tough.
My mom has always said to me, in her own version of Elisabeth Elliot's wisdom, to remember as I clean the dishes for the fifth time, and wipe snot for the eighth, as I mop and sweep over and over, and as I fold their little laundry that never ends, that these are my sacrifices. These are my little offerings to my Lord. As I try and teach my children to love their Lord, with all their heart, their soul, and their strength, they watch me folding laundry, cleaning, and cooking. Am I doing this w/ a joyful heart, glad to be able to offer this as my sacrifice or I am throwing it back to God frustrated that no one appreciates this? This week.....
I opened my email today and from my mom, who lives away, and the message says, "a present for you today." I open the email quickly and end up in tears. This is what it read.

As you offer up your daily sacrifice, remember your momma's words (only better said by someone else here):"Children are the only test of character that you cannot get rid of when you are tired or stressed and go do your own thing. You can take a break from a 'ministry' but not from a whole slew of little kids. You are up to bat all the time. You never see the dugout, much less the locker room. But it is way down in the nitty-gritty, knee deep in the nuts and bolts of everyday life, that God makes spiritual giants. Laundry and phonics and recipes are the stuff of greatness. "Love you

Thank you Lord first for my amazing mother, who, even when I haven't mentioned to her my rough week, is prompted by the Holy Spirit to send this to me. Secondly I am thankful for the privilege to serve my family, even when it is a neverending week. Thank you for three healthy babies. Thank you for motherhood. And mostly, thank you for grace.

First Day of School!

Today my little love Noah and I started our first day of the first grade! How daunting of a task this is! I am so thrilled about the privilege to do this. We journeyed through kindergarten last year and we sure had fun. Listening to my two year old pick up on phonics and the pledge of allegiance were wonderful memories that I ponder often.

 I have such a passion for encouraging moms who are considering this to jump in with both feet. Even the greatest and most equipped teacher will never care for your child's outcome, education, and training as you will. You will cherish rainy days like we had today, snuggled up on the couch with fluffy blankets, working on first "readers." Your heart will nearly explode when you see the excitement and pride as they tackle something they have been struggling with for days. I am so excited about the journey of homeschooling my family is currently taking. It is an honor for me to teach him, and eventually the others, how to be a great citizen, a hard worker, a good man, a lover of God and people, a servant, and a husband and father. Where else in this world will he see the things Travis and I feel are necessary for his training? I look at it as though we are training our little soldiers. Fresh soldiers who havent ever held a gun, who have never been taught the concepts of combat, who don't know how to handle crises or attacks aren't thrown into battle. They are rigorously trained; their bodies and minds subjected to disciplines that  prepare them for the war. We take this job very seriously. We have one shot at this. We are raising tiny humans, equipping them for the war! I want Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Special Forces, the best of the best. Those things don't happen by accident. It is intentional. And that is why I urge you mama's to join in. Get dirty and train your little soldiers for the biggest war of their lives. They will be ever grateful you did. And you will be able to look back with little regret. You certainly will not be able to say you wish you would have spend more time with them. Your lives will be entwined, wonderfully, and beautifully.

Labor Day in the Woods.

   What a beautiful day we had! Today I began the day snuggling with every person in my home all piled into my bed. Love snuggling with my favorites. It is the best way in the world to awaken. Travis made the kids breakfast and I got everything ready to go. Off we went :)

   We drove up to Prairie Oaks and buckled our life jackets, hopped in the canoe, and the guy pushing us off looks at me, with my 8 month old between my legs, and says, "You re gonna paddle with a baby?" I said "Sure thing! Here we go!" and as he pushes my family off, I realize what an absolutely, horrible idea this was! The wind begins to blow, and the canoe rocks, and I get, well, a little terrified! What a catastrophic situation this would be, my little two year old FREAKS out in the water, and my 8 MONTH old! oh my. I told Travis, "take me back!"  He laughs hysterically, and maddens me! HA! Well I got over my mom moment, and looked around at the nature all around, and then just took a breathe. I looked at my babies and their little smiles as their tiny fingers dangled in the water and it was a beautiful moment.What was even better was hearing my 6 year old imitate me to my dad as he recalled the entire event this afternoon! HA! Oh from the mouths of babes :)

   Next up was the Critter Display. Down at Darby Creek there was a lovely display of creatures from the park. There were live freshwater mussels, crawdads, tadpoles, toads, turtles, snakes, water scorpions, walking stick bugs, fish of all sorts. Love seeing my children enjoying God's creation. What a fascinating earth we have been given. What an extraordinary God we have.

Estella Ruth Designs

SOOOO excited! I have new photos of little sweet girls wearing my pieces! I had Judah in late December of last year and between homeschooling and then summer, I really wasnt doing much with the hairpieces I had been working so hard on last year! Well....I am back! I have tons of new ideas and designs that I will update on here as well as my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Estella-Ruth-Designs/454258987918920. This AMAZING infant and children's photographer has given me lots of beautiful photos to promote my pieces. http://kimmyhowardphotography.com/ Trust me this woman's work is unparalleled. I am picky, really picky, and she is fantastic. She was booked when I needed little Judah's newborn pictures so I wasnt able to get them but flip through her blog and you ll be amazed. Meanwhile here's one of my pieces on her photo....

Recipe of the Week

www.onceuponachef.com/2011/03/asian-slaw-with-ginger-peanut-dressing

WOW. WOW.WOW.

This is a salad to die for. Travis and I LOVE ethnic foods. Thank you to my mom and dad for never taking us to Applebee's or Longhorn, or any "regular" places to eat. More like Zaytun, The Grapeleaf, Mirage etc. We love our fresh hummus, and lamb kebabs, with grilled vegetables all seasoned with exotic seasonings from the Middle East. We love the tea from the stores that are a little terrifying to enter. Anyhoo, this recipe is of asian influence and I found it looking for Travis something because of his love of all things peanut'y.' TRY it. It seems a little long but I promise you, it is well worth it. Even my littles ate it right up.

Proverbs 17:22

"A joyful heart is like a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

This week this verse has been coming up over and over and as my family has been down one by one with a virus, I couldn't help but take note! Oh for a medicine that will kill a virus! When I was a teenager, I went through Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. (more about that here www.blackaby.net/expgod) Blackaby always mentions that when a verse continues to come up around you, PAY ATTENTION! Well, its come up at least five times over the past week. Soooo, I have taken heed! We all know about being joyful but do we all live it? What in the world does that mean?

Children are fantastic models of joy. I am amazed at how much my children daily teach me about being more like the Lord. Forgiveness, joy, helpfulness, cheerfulness, love, and I could go and on! Last year while beginning our homeschool journey, I was searching for some music with substance and found this: www.songsforsaplings.com. Wow. My kids picked up on these verses and truths so quickly. One of the songs is none other than "A merry heart does good like a medicine, Proverbs 17:22" So simple. So easy to understand. So childlike. Yet so hard sometimes for me to remember! I decided to sing in my heart this song whenever I felt myself having an ugly heart....and it has helped so much! So if you are around me, and I start whistling a little tune, know I am just reminding myself and my babies to practically put into our lives, God's word.

Weights~

     So as I am sitting here thinking and praying about our upcoming school year, I am realizing the enormity of the task I am beginning. I have always looked at motherhood and marriage differently than most I feel. As a younger person, I, like many females, looked forward to marriage, home ownership, and babies. I didnt think too much about it. But as they began to occur in my life, my views on them began to shift. 

     Let me explain. I read, alot. I read devotionals, and blogs, and missionary stories and obsure books many would find "boring" because I always find treasure and gems within these stories. The Lord has entrusted me with a husband. If I ponder that statement for a moment, I should feel the weight of it. He has allowed me the great responsibility to be a man's helpmate. I have the privilege to help Travis, pray for him, sharpen him, serve him, feed him, give him a place to rest, love him, listen to him, friend him, praise him, encourage him, and push him closer to our Lord. The weight of that is heavy, really heavy. I am really strong girl, I promise. I mean, my sister and I are pretty proud of how strong we Greenwell girls are. But the weight of that is immense. Because one day, I have to stand before a holy God and account for how I have helped him, and "wifed" if you will, him. This is why, even though at time, I really could throw him to the curb, :), my promise of til death parts us, will stand firm. I also now, have three littles who watch me. They see in my and Travis' relationship, a picture, be it not perfected mind you, of Christ and his love and relationship w/ the church. So not only do I have to account for my actions with my husband, but also how I have modeled this to the littles with whom God has entrusted me! Talk about heavy!

    This week as I have been reading, several devotionals have reminded me of the great privilege it is to help my husband, the amazing opportunity I have to mother these babies. More on that in another post :) But today, I can take refuge in the promises that my God has given me in his Word. He is a good God. He is a sure God. He is a steady God. The enormity of my tasks is nothing to His broad and strong shoulders. I am only to listen to His words, and obey them. He will carry the weight of the rest.