Little had a play date on one of her days off school.  This is the other gal in her class and they shared Valentine cookies and played hide-and-go-seek over and over.  They hid in the same places every time but it never got old.  I love that Little has a friend who gets her *smile*.

KB lost her first tooth and the family celebrated with the traditional trip for frozen yogurt.  KB chose a different place and it was freezing outside so we were all wearing coats, but it was still super fun.  The other two were more than a year older than her when they lost their first tooth and this really took me off guard.  It’s also the first tooth I have pulled, so that was a big deal.  I had a real emotional response to this event.  It just made my baby seem like not so much a baby.   Sigh.My mom sent this doll furniture up to KB.  It was my sisters and I think somebody made it.  I love this picture.  I love seeing KB sitting their with a big bow, doll furniture, and those filthy knees on her leggings.

We’ve been playing games!! Bubba has hit the ground running and he LOVES games.  When Memom comes to visit she is going to have FUN!

On Tuesday afternoons I have been helping out a friend by watching her two youngest for a few hours.  Her Honey has class at the seminary and she is a teaching assistant at the school.  It has been fun to get to love on these two and, by virtue of loving on them, love on their parents too.

Our friends, the Barbers, moved away.  April and Dan are long time friends and it was so very nice to share the last seven (?) years of life with them here.  There were lots of milestones in those years and it was great to share life with people who KNOW you.  The move is a great gift for them and a sad reality for us.  Miss ’em every day.

KB wants to wear make-up.  Memom gave her a little kiddy make-up kit for Christmas and that started the talk.  Now she is very interested when I put mine on  and asks repeatedly if she can have some too.  On this day I let her try mascara and – man – after seeing her blue eyes with mile long lashes it was settled that she will not be wearing mascara until she turns 18. . . or 30.  Thankfully, she disliked taking off the mascara so much that I don’t think she’ll be asking again for quite some time.

We are two and a half months into 2013 and I have done quite a bit of thinking already this year. I feel like there’s been more contemplation and processing in these weeks than in all of last year. The fact that I haven’t been blogging hasn’t helped though; typing out my thoughts usually helps them stick. Life is moving so fast that I have a real hard time using the discoveries to positively influence my family and the Kingdom. That has to change.

I feel like one of the main themes I keep being confronted with is “how shall we then live”. The year started with me doing what I love . . . taking extended time at McDonalds and praying and planning for myself and my family. I remembered my campus staff days and how all my planning was done in light of our ministry values and so I took some time to look at myself and try to be honest about the values my life reflects and what I truly hold dear.

I’m not going to cover all of the values here, but I did decide that CREATING is one of my values. It’s not just a fun thing I like but it is something bigger. It’s a way I reflect God’s image. It’s a way to worship. It’s more than just glue and paste; it doesn’t have to be crafty. I purposefully didn’t say that being crafty is a value.

We have been redoing our living room since Christmas. Honey painted the walls and we got a couple new pieces of furniture as gifts. It has been such a joy to go on Craigslist and find pieces of furniture that need some love and cost nearly nothing and then work with Honey to create beautiful pieces. It has been so fun to create art for the walls and to shop for lamps. (I am going to make the lamp. I am so very excited. The ones I found online that I just love were all $250 and that is not a Becky-friendly lamp. So, I searched ebay and a couple online sites and found all the pieces. I just need a pretty day so I can paint them and then, tee hee, I am going to build a lamp!) It has been fun to remember as we work that what we are doing reflects our God and brings Him glory.

It’s not just me, I see it in my friends too. My friend, Shelley, has a gazillion high school kids into her home each week for Young Life meetings. She creates a safe place with a loving atmosphere – she reflects His image.

My friend Coralie can write like nobody’s business. She puts words together to create beauty and in doing so refects His image.

My friend, Julia, creates in the kitchen.   I have never known anyone like her.  She never makes the same dish twice because she adds dashes of spices and leaves out things Dave (her guy) didn’t like.  She creates yummy masterpieces and, in doing so, reflects her own creator.

So, I’m committed to creating.  Yesterday I helped create order in KB’s closet and today I am going to finish a piece of furniture for the living room.  How do YOU reflect His image?

Since last summer the kids and I have been keeping journals together.  Let me be quick to say that we have not done this every day since last summer, oh no; we have done this 21 times since last summer.  I will write a verse in all the journals in the evening and the next day we’ll sit down together.  Bubba will read the verse first and then Little will read it through.  Lastly I will read it phrase by phrase and KB will repeat after me.  Next we take out the crayons and draw a picture that illustrates what God is teaching us through His word.

Yesterday the verse was 2 Corinthians 5:17 and this was Bubba’s page:

Usually we go around and share what we’ve drawn and explain it. . . so that I will know just WHAT the picture is, in some cases, and so I can make sure they hear the message one last time from me.  Before KB or I could finish our pictures Bubba turned his around and this is what he said,

“I used to live on that mountain of sin, but Jesus died and I am all new.  I will never have to live there again.”

Yep.  Seriously.  (If you don’t leave an AMEN in the comments, you’re just wrong!)
What a joy to hear my little man put the Gospel into his own words. Thank you, Jesus, for being at work in his little heart. Hallelujah, What a Savior.