Some thoughts on Mother's Day ....

Just a little of my own thoughts on motherhood taken from a baby shower devotional I did a couple years ago. Thanks for letting me share a little window into my heart. Hope all of you mothers had a wonderful day.... I sure did!
One of our most precise goals of mothering is to point our children to Christ. He has not given us our children solely to fulfill our desires for a family, but r...ather He has given us our children for His glory in our lives and in theirs. Within the role of mothering lies the weighty and tremendous responsibility of sharing the gospel with our children not just in word, but in deed. Our first mission field as mothers lies within our own home and often our hardest mission field as mothers lies within our own home. Our children know well our sinfulness, weaknesses and difficulties. They can also know intimately our sorrow over our sin; our repentance and they can be privy to our humble heart in asking for their forgiveness. Within the heart of how we mother them we can encourage and instruct them to learn to live humbly, gracefully, in deference and unity, and with a sincere desire to serve others. This is not motherly wisdom imparted by words alone but most aptly spoken from the core of our day to day actions.
In the midst of diapering, cooking, nurturing, cleaning, matching socks, kissing booboo’s, discipleship, tears, laughter, taking the time to dig into the hearts of our children, grief over sin, another round of dishes, reading, providing discipline, late and long conversations, long hours spent in the car, and the countless other tasks required of a mother, we might not completely see the “measure of our work” right before our eyes, but it is there. It is there not only for us to see in this world, but it is there for eternity. These moments, multiply themselves one upon the next to produce the molding and shaping in the lives of our children both for here and eternity. Whether it is through a joyful heart in our daily tasks, a tender word in nurturing our children, forgiveness sought when we have wronged them, each of these days are occasions to reach our children’s hearts and they carry multiple opportunities to point them back to Christ.
I am reminded of the verse in Matthew regarding being faithful in the small things…. Matthew 25:23 says…. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
I can too quickly forget that thousands of routine moments in our days hold great significance in the lives of our children. Life is not always made in the grand moments. It is in my kind and gentle response in the little moments that are critically important to our children. If my way is tender and my heart desiring to serve in the insignificant times, then prayerfully I have a better opportunity to influence them in the bigger and more essential issues of life.
We desire first that our children would know Christ. We devote ourselves to them. We disciple, discipline and direct them. We share the gospel in word and deed with them. We pray fervently for them. We strive to be the mother God intends for us to be. We have high hopes and imagine all the marvelous things that our children will be and do. We look for God’s blessing on the lives of our children. We plan our work and work our plan. All of this is good. But, do we recognize that who they are and what they will become is already safely wrapped in God’s sovereign plan? In possibly our most important act of service, do we turn them over to the Savior for safekeeping? As they grow into men and women they will make their own choices. Despite our years of investment some will choose to live their life in faith and some will not. We must be reminded that we are just a character in the book of the story that God has written for their lives. Our role is significant and purposeful. Our season with them is a chapter, a beautiful addition to the theme of who they will become. But we did not write the story. There is only one Author of Life who crafted the beautiful narrative of their lives from beginning to end. While we get the privilege of being a part of God’s master manuscript for their lives, we must not hold the book too tightly. We must always be willing to relinquish not only who the character becomes but how the story ends into the hands of the loving and sovereign Author of Life.

Love, 

 

40

I feel a little funny writing about this, but at the same time I wanted to simply remember this day as a motivating factor for myself and hopefully for others.  No, I’m not turning 40… yet (thankfully I still have 1 yr, 8 months  and 9 days before that happens… gee no counting here! J ) but I wanted to mark another big 40 in my life …. 40 pounds… gone!  I started this journey in early April and I gave myself 1 year to lose 60 pounds.  Even though I knew I had been seeing results over these last few months, I was still surprised to realize early this month that I was very close to reaching the 40 pound mark.  At first my goal was to make it through the holidays without gaining anything but then when I realized I was so close to such a big marker, my motivation grew and I was able to lose this last little bit and hit my 40 pound mark this past Saturday!! 

It is strange to be in this deep on my journey.  I am a different person, with different cravings and different motivations than I have ever had in my entire life. I still LOVE food, I still LOVE to cook food, I still show MY LOVE to others with food, I just don't "live to eat" anymore; rather, I try to simply "eat to live".  I still enjoy all the food I make, just much less of it.  I can also recognize now that exercise and daily life can go hand in hand. Running is something I now desire to do, always.  I am perusing a book right now titled Run Your Butt Off and one of the writers describes being “hooked on exercise” in the following way. 

“For a while – a long time, it seems – we only appreciate exercise when it is over.  We feel virtuous for having done it, and we’re glad we pushed ourselves out the door.  Whew. Check that off the day’s to-do list. But there comes a point when the actual “during” portion of exercise isn’t so bad, either.  You’re out there and you start running, and it feels much easier than you anticipated it would before you started. You feel like you’ve got a good stride going. In fact, it’s downright invigorating. It goes by quickly, and you’re sort of sorry it has to end. “

 When I began running this spring, I remember praying that I would just stick with this, stick with something that could make a difference.   The Lord graciously answered my prayers.  Now it is not a matter of sticking to it, but the simple fact that as someone who initially detested running, I now truly enjoy it.  As strange as it seems to type it, I think I can officially say … I am a runner. I am not a fast runner, I am not a long runner, but I run. The beauty is that anyone can run.  One thing I have learned over these months is that my view of who a runner is has been skewed.  I have always thought of running as this elite group of people who must be super- human in their desire, motivation and skill. What I have learned is that there is a vast gamut of runners out there.  Very definitely there are your “super-human amazing runners”, but there are also your overweight, clumsy, absolutely NOT athletic, slow runners out there and everything in between.    Another very special factor is that those who are amazing runners are extremely encouraging to those of us who definitely are not. Wow.  It has been a very sweet journey for certain.    

These last few months have also further revealed something special that I was aware of but have been blessed to experience to the fullest recently.  I am surrounded by encouraging and generous people who love me.  Family and friends who are generous with their words of love and encouragement and truly take joy in seeing you succeed.  WOW, what a treasure they are to me.  My biggest encourager has been my dear husband. God has used these last few years and in particular the last few months, to further reveal to me the depth of the man I am married to.   NEVER in all our years of marriage has he said a negative word about my weight, no matter where I have landed on the scale.  He has loved me as equally and fervently in recent years as he did almost 19 years ago when we said “I do”.   I cannot tell you the countless, (literally countless) times in the last few months that he has told me “I am so proud of you” as we kiss goodnight.  His words are true, honest and like gold to me. 

It is strange to be at a weight I haven’t seen in years.  To be in a size I haven’t worn since before Mitchell was born. This past Sunday I wore a dress, a full-fledged dress … something I haven’t done in probably 9 or so years….my girls were thrilled!  Over the years they have asked me why I don’t wear dresses and I simply had to say I didn’t feel comfortable in them.  I know I still have a bit of a journey left.  My initial goal of 60 pounds might change to 70, I don’t know.  I do suspect that these last 20 pounds will be harder than the first 40, but I am ready for the challenge.  Excel still more.

Love,

MARCH 2012

DECEMBER 2012

 (sorry for the crummy lighting)

PJ Ice Cream Run

... minus the oldest Man-Child ...  Mitchell was off having fun at his bud Joel's that night!

 

 

 

 



12 Years and Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Yesterday marked Isabelle’s 12^th birthday…..where does the time go?!? She started off with pop-tarts for breakfast, yes a special birthday treat, not a normal breakfast choice in the Honey home! We spent the afternoon at the lake and the evening eating very nummy food, of her choosing!  Her birthday dinner consisted of steak with the Zesty Flank Steak marinade, thick baked beans, baked artichokes with melted butter and homemade corn fritters with honey butter….yikes it was a delicious meal!! Oh… and I cannot forget, she got her first Mountain Dew!  Soda Pop is a treat here for the Honey children. You don’t get your first real can of pop till your 6^th birthday and then smatterings of drinks thereafter.  When you turn 11 you get a pop the first Friday of the month and Mt. Dew is definitely off limits until your 12^th birthday!  Per Isabelle style, she opened it, drank barely any, shared it with her big brother and the rest sits in the fridge slowly losing carbonation and becoming a sugary syrup undrinkable drink!  For dessert, she had chosen Pink Lemonade Cupcakes from this neat book …. Fun Stuff Cupcakes.  At first I was unsure as the frosting is a little different and it is intended to look “melted” hence the “lemonade drink” look but they turned out really quite well and they were fun and pretty simple to make. 

There are so many things to love about Isabelle, but here are a few heard around the table last night…. “ I love how she is always willing to play with me and play Little House and she is the best sister”, “I love how she lets me build the cabinets she needs in the red building for Little House”, “I love that she goes the extra mile and helps others”, “she is kind”, “I love her cheeks”!!! She is tender, kind, compassionate, giving, has a tender heart for things of the Lord, an excellent sister, an invaluable mother’s helper and a precious daughter.  She is truly a joy to our hearts. 

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

1 package white cake mix

1 cup water

3 egg whites

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup thawed pink lemonade concentrate, divided

2 T veg oil

5-8 drops red food coloring, divided

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

Fruit slice candies, straws

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18-22 standard muffin cups with paper baking cups

2.  Beat cake mix, water, egg whites, 1/3 cup lemonade concentrate, oil and 4-6 drops food coloring in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.

3.  Bake 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool cupcakes in pans 5 minutes, reove to wire racks to cool completely.

4.  Beat powdered sugar, butter and remaining 1/4 cup lemonade concentrate in medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add a pinch of milk or cream if frosting is to thick.  Beat in remaining 1-2 drops red food coloring until desired shad of pink is reached.

5. Pipe frosting over cupcakes, garnish with candies and straws.



Shots of Summer So Far...

With all the hours Mitchell is working at a local berry farm,

it is a blessing he got to join us for some time at the lake yesterday! 

I just love summer!

A Christmas Tea

Isabelle and Shelley were able to host a Christmas tea for a few of their sweet friends a couple weeks ago.  The girls and I had a precious time planning and preparing together for this special afternoon.  There was lots of tea drinking, sweet chatter and giggling ..... an event to remember!

I am thankful that even in the midst of difficult times we can purpose to create moments of joy ...this was one of those moments.