Pictures of this past week edited slightly:
Pictures just for fun (un-edited):
Thursday, April 24, 2014
This Week!
Yesterday I was doing school as usual. The Littles were sleeping, it was nice and quiet. *surprised face* Such a peaceful afternoon. Until.... Alexa comes bolting up the stairs (the girls' bedroom is downstairs). They were cleaning their room because it was a disaster. My mom was upstairs in the kitchen cleaning and Alexa is screaming. She is yelling, "MOM, THERE ARE 2 SNAKES DOWNSTAIRS!!!!!!!!!" I just thought to myself. OMAGOSH! NOOOOOOOOO, not inside.... I mean, comon' really?!?!? Isn't that what the pest guy is for? He always is coming to our house every month to check up on our lovely neighbors. No, not people. Mice, termites, and ants, OH MY! So...thoughts are popping into my head. My mom is trying to think of a plan to fend off the snakes in the girls room until my dad gets home from work to save the day. Well, turns out they were OUTSIDE. In the window well. (the thing you climb up in case there ever was an emergency or fire downstairs) Why oh why did I listen to Alexa? She is the biggest drama queen and exaggerator. All I could do was laugh while Alexa was crying. The funny thing, there were only like what...just shy a foot long. Maybe 2 cm in diameter. Not big at ALL! One was brown (which I'll tell another story about in a little bit) and the other one was striped with red and black markings. Now that one looked like I should be running in terror in the other direction afraid for my life. After my dad got home from work we told him to get them out of the window well. Oh, another funny errr...story was Wednesday night Alexa had a dream about snakes in our house. Luckily that part of her dream wasn't accurate. So, back to my other story. *snap out of it Jerica, stay on track* In the process of opening up the window to get to the snakes downstairs my dad and Alexa broke a picture frame. So, not only did we have to get some snakes we had to clean up broken glass. Then my dad went back upstairs and got some gloves. Mind you, most of us kids were watching from above, AWAY from the snakes. The snakes were both lying on rocks so my dad quietly but quickly sliced the first snake's head clean off. (the brown one). Blood was everywhere. It was gross. I didn't expect him to chop its head off. I thought he was going to set it free. But he didn't want to risk it being a dangerous snake. After that he grabbed a nearby stick that one of the boys threw down the window well and picked up the head-less snake. My dad said, "Watch out, here comes the snake." At first I just thought my dad was just being a jokester (as usual) But then all of a sudden here comes a head-less snake flying through the air. It landed on Alexa's foot because were watching below. And we all screamed. The snake was still moving and Isaiah thought the snake was still alive. Haha! Isaiah picked up the snake by the tail and kept swinging it at us. It was kinda gross. I made sure he washed his hands before he came near me. :) Now, for the second snake. Like the first one it's head was going to be chopped off again. But, it got away. It's still downstairs in the window well. I don't think my dad even touched the blade of the knife with it. The snake was hiding underneath some rocks. So we got some shovels for my dad and he went searching for the snake. We still haven't found it but when we do, we will take it's life, for good this time. :)
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Grow A Little Deeper
If you don't have good roots your faith won't survive.
-Jeremiah 17:7-8-
"But blessed is the man who trusts in
the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the
water
that sends out its roots by the
stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
Imagine a newly planted flower in the ground. It isn't very big, is it? But when you keep on nourishing it with food and water it will grow taller and stronger. It will blossom into the most beautiful pink rose you have ever seen. It's roots will grow deeper and deeper into the ground. But first, they start as a single root. So small that without it the plant would die. Don't let the weeds suck up the nutrients and life from you. For the weed will get it's way and kill you.
We, as Christians are that newly planted flower. God and his Word is the food and water that nourishes us. But he's more than just plain water. He's Living Water. And the roots? That's our faith. At first you don't have any roots because you are dead to sin. But after Baptism you are alive with Christ Jesus! Your roots start to grow and your flower blossoms. Every day your roots get stronger and go deeper into the ground. And every day Jesus is calling out your name. He says, "Jerica, go dig into my Word and let your roots go deeper." But you know what? Not all the time your roots grow. Sometimes they die. That's when the Weed comes along and tries to pick your roots. It's trying to take away Jesus and his Word. It's trying to destroy all the roots. It wants to take your faith away from you. It wants to uproot you and not let you be able to grow anymore. That's when the Living Water comes along and waters you. It reminds you to keep on growing. Yes, we are sinful people. Yes, we will miss the mark on a bull's-eye. Yes, we might step over the line but that's when the Living Water steps in and says, "No". Don't ever stop reading God's Word. Plant yourself deeper and deeper into the nutrient-rich soil so your roots can go even deeper. Make 'em go so deep that the Weed won't ever be able to uproot you completely. What do I mean by completely? Like I said before. We are sinful so the Weed will get its way and pluck a few roots here and there. But the Living Water always wins and makes them come back. It isn't a matter of days before your roots are safely restored. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, and even years. If you want your life to be fruitful and multiply you must get rid of the Weed. Do whatever your little plant-self can do to ward of the Weed. You know it wants complete control over you and your life. Don't EVER let that happen. Turn away, don't get plucked. Resist the Weed, fight, don't go towards the Weed. Even if you think it will be perfect. Indeed it is not.
So next time you are in a tough situation just remember what God's Word says. Its written throughout the Bible. Take time and read God's Word daily, it will make your faith grow.
-Jeremiah 17:7-8-
"But blessed is the man who trusts in
the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the
water
that sends out its roots by the
stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
Imagine a newly planted flower in the ground. It isn't very big, is it? But when you keep on nourishing it with food and water it will grow taller and stronger. It will blossom into the most beautiful pink rose you have ever seen. It's roots will grow deeper and deeper into the ground. But first, they start as a single root. So small that without it the plant would die. Don't let the weeds suck up the nutrients and life from you. For the weed will get it's way and kill you.
We, as Christians are that newly planted flower. God and his Word is the food and water that nourishes us. But he's more than just plain water. He's Living Water. And the roots? That's our faith. At first you don't have any roots because you are dead to sin. But after Baptism you are alive with Christ Jesus! Your roots start to grow and your flower blossoms. Every day your roots get stronger and go deeper into the ground. And every day Jesus is calling out your name. He says, "Jerica, go dig into my Word and let your roots go deeper." But you know what? Not all the time your roots grow. Sometimes they die. That's when the Weed comes along and tries to pick your roots. It's trying to take away Jesus and his Word. It's trying to destroy all the roots. It wants to take your faith away from you. It wants to uproot you and not let you be able to grow anymore. That's when the Living Water comes along and waters you. It reminds you to keep on growing. Yes, we are sinful people. Yes, we will miss the mark on a bull's-eye. Yes, we might step over the line but that's when the Living Water steps in and says, "No". Don't ever stop reading God's Word. Plant yourself deeper and deeper into the nutrient-rich soil so your roots can go even deeper. Make 'em go so deep that the Weed won't ever be able to uproot you completely. What do I mean by completely? Like I said before. We are sinful so the Weed will get its way and pluck a few roots here and there. But the Living Water always wins and makes them come back. It isn't a matter of days before your roots are safely restored. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, and even years. If you want your life to be fruitful and multiply you must get rid of the Weed. Do whatever your little plant-self can do to ward of the Weed. You know it wants complete control over you and your life. Don't EVER let that happen. Turn away, don't get plucked. Resist the Weed, fight, don't go towards the Weed. Even if you think it will be perfect. Indeed it is not.
So next time you are in a tough situation just remember what God's Word says. Its written throughout the Bible. Take time and read God's Word daily, it will make your faith grow.
Written with love,
JericaS
JericaS
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Prayer request
Dear friends and family,
It's been a while since I've blogged. Life has been extremely busy, but good. Josiah and Kendra seem to finally be adjusted to their new lives and our lives feel somewhat normal again. Not sure what normal actually is, but normal. Josiah has started speech therapy and Kendra should begin sometime in April. We are hoping that they both will benefit from it. Poor Kendra wants to talk up a storm but struggles with making sounds. Josiah would just prefer to be quiet and never talk to anyone. Those 2 are complete opposites!
We are asking for your prayers for our little Elijah. He has struggled with stomach issues all his life but things were getting worse after the new year. We found a new pediatrician and she has been a tremendous help. We are starting to get answers and to the bottom of his problems. Monday he had an upper GI done and it all came back normal. He did not like it one bit but the dr got the pictures he needed and we were on our way. Today he had 3 biopsies taken (esophagus, stomach, and intestines) at Children's Mercy in KC. He had to be put under for it, which always freaks me out. He did NOT do well. I have never heard him scream and cry like he did today. I felt like I was traumatizing him. We need answers but putting him through that just hurt this mama's heart! His pediatric gi doctor is suspecting he has Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. After reading all the material she gave us, we believe that is true. In short, it's in the migraine family and the migraine manifests in the stomach instead of the head. He's had a great month and hasn't had any episodes since March 3rd. Not sure if it's because he's been gluten free or we've gotten lucky! So now we are going to start eliminating things from his diet to see if any help. The first suggestion is MSG. It can cause migraines in many people. Although most of our food is homemade, one never knows if it's snuck in something. Label reading is going to be more crucial now than ever. So please join us in prayer so that we can help Elijah the best that we can, that his biopsies come back normal, and that we can figure out how to control his episodes.
Sorry I don't have any pictures from you tonight. Maybe I can get my personal photographer, "Jerica," to take some more and post them soon!
This mama is physically and emotionally exhausted so good night to all!
Trina
It's been a while since I've blogged. Life has been extremely busy, but good. Josiah and Kendra seem to finally be adjusted to their new lives and our lives feel somewhat normal again. Not sure what normal actually is, but normal. Josiah has started speech therapy and Kendra should begin sometime in April. We are hoping that they both will benefit from it. Poor Kendra wants to talk up a storm but struggles with making sounds. Josiah would just prefer to be quiet and never talk to anyone. Those 2 are complete opposites!
We are asking for your prayers for our little Elijah. He has struggled with stomach issues all his life but things were getting worse after the new year. We found a new pediatrician and she has been a tremendous help. We are starting to get answers and to the bottom of his problems. Monday he had an upper GI done and it all came back normal. He did not like it one bit but the dr got the pictures he needed and we were on our way. Today he had 3 biopsies taken (esophagus, stomach, and intestines) at Children's Mercy in KC. He had to be put under for it, which always freaks me out. He did NOT do well. I have never heard him scream and cry like he did today. I felt like I was traumatizing him. We need answers but putting him through that just hurt this mama's heart! His pediatric gi doctor is suspecting he has Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. After reading all the material she gave us, we believe that is true. In short, it's in the migraine family and the migraine manifests in the stomach instead of the head. He's had a great month and hasn't had any episodes since March 3rd. Not sure if it's because he's been gluten free or we've gotten lucky! So now we are going to start eliminating things from his diet to see if any help. The first suggestion is MSG. It can cause migraines in many people. Although most of our food is homemade, one never knows if it's snuck in something. Label reading is going to be more crucial now than ever. So please join us in prayer so that we can help Elijah the best that we can, that his biopsies come back normal, and that we can figure out how to control his episodes.
Sorry I don't have any pictures from you tonight. Maybe I can get my personal photographer, "Jerica," to take some more and post them soon!
This mama is physically and emotionally exhausted so good night to all!
Trina
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