sevenchicks

teaser . . . again

by photochick~ Just in case you missed it yesterday, you absolutely, positively, DON'T WANT TO MISS what will be happening on the blog next week!!!!!

Special announcement coming tomorrow. Be there or be square. (sorry, channeling a little 80's)

guest blogger

by photochick (aka, admin chick)~ It's been so long since we've had a guest blogger, I figured everyone might very well have forgotten that we used to even have such a thing. The idea was to get help from trusted, like-minded friends in providing with you with a little more inspirational content than what color our kid's diaper was that day, or whether or not we're happy about the goings on at this year's American Idol.

Don't get me wrong, we love the random ramblings, but occasionally, we thought someone out there might be in need of something a little more. And frankly, some days our busy lives keep us from having time to do much more than spit out the first thought that comes to our mind. (I know you don't believe that!)

So we opened up this outlet to other Godly women to share their personal journey that might be exactly what the doctor (the Great Physician, that is) ordered. And that's about where we left it. Finally, I'm proud to announce that we're back in business and I am honored to introduce this week's guest blogger as my beautiful cousin- miss music. Wife and mother to three, she's a part time executive recruiter by day and life juggler extroidonaire by night. See, I told you you'd find something in common. (For all of you Courts of Praise readers, she also happens to be the daughter of our Women's Retreat leader a couple of years ago, Betty.)

However, what I know her best for is matching french braids (if I had a scanner we would both be embarassed), clogging for hours in our tutus, singing in the pool, and the one human solely responsible for my LOVE of all things Judy Blume. Think Superfudge, Doublefudge, Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing. She was a couple of years older, so when I was in kindergarten she would sit for hours and read those side splitting tales to me. I don't even remember the stories anymore, but I do remember the laughing, and laughing, and laughing.

And I can hardly contain my excitement when I think of reading those tales to my Punkin one day. So for Planner and Baby chicks, you can thank her for your chicklets getting Judy Blume for Christmas last year. And probably for years to come! More importantly, she's a Godly woman who truly walks the walk. I know you will enjoy her blogs! So keep scrolling down for her first installment . . . I nearly drowned in the emotion ocean!

I nearly drowned in the emotion ocean!

by miss music~ Oh, I am SO excited about this! God created me with an inordinately high daily word quota, so I think this blog stuff is the best invention EVER!!! By the way, my man of few words hubby sends his thanks to you for providing this relief for him… umm, I mean outlet for me. Thanks to my super talented cousin “photochick” for inviting me to write every now and again.

I’ve followed your site on and off since its inception, and may I say what a great idea and what a great group of girls! I’m pretty sure I have met or am kin to all of you. :-) Thanks for letting me be a part of what you are doing to encourage each other to celebrate who God has made us all to be and to keep putting one foot in front of the other until we finally finish this crazy earthly experience.

They say (whoever they are) that there’s a first time for everything, so here goes…

Everyone knows that there are seasons in life, some easier than others. Lately I have been in a season of getting down to some hard work with the Father; the kind that excites you and exhausts you all at the same time. Though I know this earth is not my home, I am passionate about grabbing hold of as much freedom as I can while I’m traversing the rocky terrain this side of heaven. I’m also crazy passionate about seeing other people do the same thing, so I want to share a bit about what’s been going on in me lately in case it helps anyone else get hungry for something more with Christ.

Admittedly, there are few days when I feel like I really have my feet underneath me so to speak. But I know Christ is pleased with my efforts to grow nearer to Him even when it’s not the most graceful dance. And he is gracious to honor and reward my obedience, no matter how meager. My journey lately has been more like a fight… an all out battle really, to get a hold on these things coursing through every fiber of who I am… my emotions. Man, those little suckers jerk me around more than any carnival ride ever could… totally intangible, yet so real and surprisingly powerful.

I am realizing that I am much more of an emotional addict than a Jesus addict. I have depended on emotion to dictate my perceived successes and failures, my moods, my interactions with my family and friends and sometimes, sadly, my pursuit of Christ. How silly to place more importance on the creation than the creator, but I have been guilty of it. Yes, God created my emotions… but he never intended for me to be ruled by them.

Now you all may have already conquered this Mount Everest of lessons, but I am still in the throes of navigating this one! Remember when you were a kid and you had a favorite stuffed animal, and you drug it around behind you wherever you went. For much of my life I’ve been the stuffed animal and my emotions have been the fickle child dragging me from one sticky puddle to the next. I’ve been in bad shape here girls!

Well, I've finally had it. Over the past few weeks God has allowed me to completely tire myself out and He has waited patiently for me to get a clue and call out to Him for help. He has also been kind enough to speak to me in my own language. I love it when He does that!!! For those that don't know me, I am a major music lover. If life were set to a soundtrack, I would be pleased as punch! One of my favorite artists, Ronnie Freeman, has a relatively new album out called God Speaking. I finally made a stop at the Christian bookstore last weekend to pick it up. As a good southern belle friend of mine here in Birmingham would say, “My glory stars!”  This album is a Godsend. Quite literally I think! Indulge me while I share some lyrics…

“It’s a long and winding road on the way to freedom. It’s a rough and rocky hill to climb, sometimes. It’s harder than they say and tougher than they think it is, to get to the other side… So Jesus, thank you for patience thank you for grace. Thank you for interceding and pleading for my case. Thank you you’re committed to doing what it takes, to get us to the other side… your love makes me want to fight for the other side.” 

Love this one too… “That’s why He came, wore the crown, took the pain – all to pay the price for our freedom. So we could have life, real life, real hope for the future… not just now but forever. So get desperate… get hungry… get tired of… get angry, and breakaway... breakaway. Say goodbye to yesterday… swing the hammer… crush the chains… and breakaway.”

Is anyone else jumping up and down on the inside yet, or am I the only one?!? I feel like my insides are jumping wildly and with waving arms yelling, “Me! Me! I want to swing the hammer! I want to crush the chains that hold me back!”  We all know deep down on the inside that we were created to be free! Some days the fight feels like an aerobics class. (If you ever need a good giggle, come check me out in any kind of organized exercise torture session. Think spastic chicken. Truly inspiring!) Other times my Spirit knows my place in the fight is sitting quietly at His side, being still and knowing the He is God.

I’m still a novice at governing these emotions God has so abundantly blessed me with :-), but by gum I’m hammering with all I’ve got… and one day I will look back and see that I was able to breakaway... mostly from myself... and rely on His Spirit to lead my every move. By God’s grace, and through Him alone I will continue to embrace new heights and depths of freedom as long as I live.

So girls, what are your chains? What do you often think about as, “well that’s just the way I am”? Where have you lost hope? God wants freedom for you even in those things. Though the circumstance may never look different, Christ can change and strengthen you on the inside… strengthen you to swing that hammer until one day you are free… free from worry and fear and confusion… just plain free.

Christ has already paid the price for our freedom and as long as we keep fighting, we cannot lose. Just as William Wallace in Braveheart, my heart is screaming FREEDOM!!! And I for one have decided I will not stop until I have it. Funny how letting go of yourself and grabbing onto God can feel an awful lot like a fight and a free-fall all at the same time. I’ll leave you with a little more from Ronnie Freeman, just because he says exactly what I want to…

“… with sword and shield in hand, by word and faith – I fight… I’ll fight ‘til the last day of my life. And I won’t stay down if I fall down, no, no, no. I’ll fight, I’ll fight… get up and fight.”

Recommended listening:  God Speaking by Ronnie Freeman

Recommended reading:   I Second that Emotion by Patsy Clairmont

light at the end of the tunnel

by socialchick~ So I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tiny slept from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. That my friend is 8 hours. Then after that bottle she slept until 9:00 a.m. Miss Priss started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks so hopefully Tiny will follow in her foot steps.

I think God was trying to give me a little rest so that I could deal with Miss Priss today who screamed for 10 minutes because I couldn't get a baby rattle to come apart. "The rattle doesn't come apart." Then there was more screaming. "Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth! It can not come apart!" Sorry I didn't make the stupid rattle and right now I wish I could meet the person who did and tell them to make them so that the top of the rattle will come off of the bottom. These people are real geniuses. Don't they know that a 22 month old will want it to come apart one day. Work with me people. Better yet if I was Super Mom I would have big muscles and be able to do all things. Yea not happening.

Days 1-7

by socialchick~ I had mentioned in my last blog that I had started a Bible Study called Jesus 90 Days With the One and Only by Beth Moore. I finished my first week and I thought that I would share some things that really hit me this week. Sorry that it is 2 days late.

Day 1- Read Luke 1:26-33

When the angel of the Lord spoke to Mary and said that the Lord is with you, it was the first time that it had been spoken over a woman. This phrase suggested a unique presence and power for the purpose of fulfilling a divine kingdom plan.

Jesus. The Greek spelling is Iwsous, transliterated from the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua). This was a common name and although others may have shared His name, no one else would ever share the role.

Day 2- Read Luke 1:34-38

The Greek word for "come upon" is eperchomai, meaning "to arrive, invade, resting upon and operating in a person." Only one woman in all of humanity would be chosen to bear the Son of God, yet each one of us who are believers have been invaded by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Day 3- Read Luke 1:39-44

God puts people in our lives for special bonds. Just like Mary and Martha. One too old, the other too young. One married to an old priest, the other promised to a young carpenter. But God had graciously given them one another with a bond to braid their lives forever.

Day 4- Read Luke 1:46-55

Mary's song tell us many things about her. Her excitement: "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Her love of Scripture: Mary's song reflects twelve different Old Testament passages. Her humility: "all generations will call me blessed" was not voiced in pride but shock. Her experience: She was plain simple and extraordinarily ordinary.

Day 5- Read Luke 2:1-7

Many places int the Bible talk about celebrating. God commanded celebrations and festivals commemorating His faithfulness. Like in Nehemiah 8:10 and Esther 9:19. SO why not celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Beth Moore wrote, " No, I don't believe in Easter bunnies, and I don't have much of an opinion on Santa Clause, but I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to celebrating Christmas, the birth of my Savior."

Day 6- Read Galatians 4:3-7

"The time" God ordains everything! His timing and his purpose is always complete. God caused a census to require everyone in the Roman world to return to the place of his or her family's origin. Luke 2:6: "While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born." The time. The time toward which all "time" had been ticking since the kingdom clock struck one.

Day 7- Read Luke 2:8-14

God first proclaimed the good news to the Shepard's because He seems to enjoy revealing Himself to common people rather than to those who feel most worthy. He often uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1Cor. 1:28)

I also found that if we would witness (bring our good news) with great joy it would be far more effective.

teaser

by photochick~ Fun things are coming to the blog next week. You don't want to miss. Seriously.

Did I mention you don't want to miss it?

my weekend!!!

by plannerchick ~ My weekend was a very enjoyable one. Saturday was 2 birthday parties, and then dinner with friends. Sunday was church, then shopping with baby chick, ending with dinner at Long Horn with our college and career group from church. It was a fun filled weekend!

The only problem with all of the weekend hoopla was that I left myself pretty much no time to clean house and get ready for my week, and this week is a doozy, we have something every single night, sigh........

I cleaned a little Saturday morning before I left the house, so to the naked eye it looks pretty clean right now. But I know about all of the clean laundry piled in baskets hidden away, and the dirty laundry awaiting washing. The dishes that are awaiting unloading and the dirty ones in the sink. The bathrooms are both in desperate need of a good scrubbing. What can you do, I will try to do a little each night this week, but I'm not sure how far I'll get!

Add to all of this, our genius idea to have a yard sale on Saturday. It's not really a for fun, let's get rid of some junk kind of sale, it's a -if we don't clean out this room and get rid of a good amount of crap our tiny baby is not going to have a bedroom - And with me being the "planner" and all, you'll understand my desperate desire to get things in order, he will be here in just 17 short weeks. That may sound like a long time, but we still have to paint, redo some trim, buy a crib, all of that stuff! I must have this sale, I NEED to have this sale!

For today, it's go home and try to clean a bit at lunch, then after work it's over to chicklet's ball game, home by around 7:30-8:00, and then try to get ready for tomorrow. Am I a bad parent for hoping some kind of crazy weather erupts, and it rains like crazy tonight, thus the game would be cancelled?.....I'm just sayin.

a lot but not enough

by socialchick~ I have sat down numerous times this week and tried to write a blog and nothing sounded good. I have had a lot to write about but not enough for a blog. I decided to write all blogs in one post. So here are the things I sat down to write and didn't write.

I have tried to come up with another 30 things in 30 days but I never could think of 30 things to list. I wanted to do 30 things that I would do if I got a large sum of money. 30 things I would do if I had the time. 30 places I want to visit. 30 things I want to do in my life. As you can see none of them got posted.

Next I was going to blog about the explosion we had Tuesday night. I'm sure any of you who have kids have had this happen. Mr. Social was bathing Pris in the bathtub when I heard Socialchick come here. I ran into the bathroom and saw turds floating in the water. Miss Pris had pooped in the water. Mr. Social began cleaning it out as I sat there and thought to my self why did he need me, he has it under control. I think that he wanted me to watch the mess that he was cleaning up. I asked him why he needed me and he said he needed me to watch Miss Pris because she was scared. I guess that it scared her to see her own poop floating in the water. I wanted to take a picture of it and post it but Hubby said that would be nasty. I thought it would be funny. Plannerchick said that I should of because she would of laughed. Oh well, you get to hear about it and not see it. lol!

Miss Pris has entered into the terrible two's. Instead of calling them the terrible two's I'm going to call them the challenging two's. Why because I have began to pray that things change. I know times will be challenging but I can't deal with the terrible crying and wining. I'm trying to have a positive attitude towards a negative situation. She had begun to cry for no reason. She will point to something and say that she wants it and then when I give it to her it isn't what she wants. Bottom line is she doesn't know what she wants and neither do I. So it is going to be challenging but FUN figuring out what she wants and needs (in terms of punishment).

I have stopped nursing and I'm OK with it. Tiny nursed for 7 weeks and that is all I'm going to say about that.

Thanks to a great friend I have been able to start tanning. I have only been 3 times but I already feel so much better. I'm finally getting some color. Like I said chunk looks better tan than white. lol! A new do and a little color to your skin can make you feel wonderful.

Last but not least I have started a new Bible study called Jesus 90 Days With The One And Only by Beth Moore. It is so amazing how much she sees in the word of God. I have already seen and learned so much and I have only been doing it for 7 days. Check back on Sunday for some of the things that I enjoyed reading and studying.

So sorry to board you with this post but I thought it was time that I write one and this is all I could come up with. I hope you have a great weekend! Thank God for the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

little man

by singerchick~ They brought you close to me minutes after you were born.  As I gazed into your tiny beautiful face I fell in love.  Over the next months and years I would fall in love all over again almost daily, but this first moment between the two of us I will always cherish.  You looked at me with those chubby cheeks and plump red lips and I was gone.  Forever in love with my new tiny man.  I only thought I knew what a mother's love is until I had the privilege to love another little guy.  I always like to say that your brother is my first love (as a mother) and you are my second first love. 

I thought I had things under control.  I mean I had already done this once, right?  Wrong!  You were placed in my arms and I thought "Oh no, what do I do with him?"  The task of being handed a newborn to care for (with no instruction manual mind you) can be so overwhelming, but we did it for the second time and instinct just kind of took over.

Big brother wasn't too sure about the whole thing:

But he quickly fell in love as well.  And now the two of you are lost without each other.

You are my little man, my baby and I'm really sad that this tiny guy is turning two this weekend. 

 

*The photos above were taken by none other than photochick.*

You are and forever will be mama's little man.  My prayer for you as well as your brother is that you love God with all that you are and you love your neighbor.  And that you never compromise in your beliefs and purpose.  You are fearless, daring and full force.  God made you that way for a reason.  I love you and am blessed to have you call me mommy!  Happy Birthday!!             

whooo hoooo!

by photochick~ I am unreasonably excited about the fact that I was just chosen as the winner of a photography contest!!!!!! Whooo hoooo! It was just a little online contest, but that I can remember, I have NEVER, NEVER, NEVER won anything random in my ENTIRE life. I realize this is not really random, and yes I won a basketball state championship, scholarships, etc., but apparently those things hold no joy in comparison with a $150 prize from an on-line contest! Go figure.

Click HERE to see the full entry. The theme of the contest was to "capture the chronologically gifted having a blast . . . living life . . . and loving it!" This is one of my favorite photos so I was so happy to be able to enter it.

Whooo hooooo!