3 Month Photo Session

We had our 3 month photo session w/ Marquette a few weeks ago (Harper was just a little over 3 months old). I can not say enough about how talented Marquette is, and I am very thankful we did her baby plan... Great way to preserve memories! If you live in the metroplex and need pics, her website is http://www.simpletreasuresphotography.com/. And, you can follow her blog to see all her latest work- fun! But, here is a preview of Harper's 3 month shoot. Excuse mommy's double chin- give me a break, I'd just had a baby about 12 wks ago in these pics!! Here is the link, and the event code is "harper3":
http://web7.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/harper3/base.asp?ig1=ig&ww=1214&js=1

Family: If you are interested in placing an order on any of these, let me know.

"Not Me!" Monday

Last Wednesday on our way home from Kansas City, in frigid temperatures, I did not push our cart full of luggage through the rental car parking lot uphill with a backpack on my back and a diaper bag on one arm and a purse on the other while Jim Bob laughed at me as he watched me do this from the warm temperature of the waiting room as he held sleeping Harper and NO bags, nope, Not Me!

We did not pack 7 pieces of luggage for 2 adults and 1 baby, nope, Not Us! And, I was totally prepared that traveling with a baby now meant having to pack the whole house, so we'd be prepared :)

I most certainly did not almost pee on myself as I was laughing so hard while pushing this luggage and watching Jim Bob simply watch me, no, Not Me!

I did not keep from peeing on myself by visualizing myself having to ride all the way home on an airplane while nursing and holding my child, freezing in my wet urine smelling pants, nope, Not Me!

I do not have a fear of peeing on myself because it's something I used to struggle with all the way up into high school anytime I laughed too hard, and in junior high school I was most certainly not nicknamed "The Pee Queen", nope, Not Me!
*You would think someone would have taught me those great Kegel exercises we learn in pregnancy yoga earlier on in life!!*

I did not put Harper in his swing this week so that I could eat some of my delicious coconut milk ice-cream and use both hands to do so, and I most certainly did not finish off the entire tub of deliciousness all on my own in one sitting, nope, Not Me!

I do not have a pile of dirty cloth diapers laying on a trash can lid in my halway because I am too lazy to get the trash can and put the liner in it and the diapers in it, nope, Not Me!

I am not doing all my laundry at my mom's house this week because my washer is broken for the second time this year, nope, Not Me! And, I most certainly didn't break it by loading it too full and allowing a knob to break off for the second time, nope, Not Me!

I did not catch myself thinking, "Just move him to play elsewhere, it'll dry, he'll never know." when Harper peed on Jim Bob's side of the bed this week, nope, Not Me!
*And, yes, my conscience got the best of me and those sheets did make it to the wash at mom's! JB is so lucky I am honest to a fault!*

I did not explain to my sister's new boyfriend (of one week) what a "froobie" is, nope, Not Me!

So there you have it, I love reading the "Not Me! Mondays" so this week I decided to jump in and participate... Kids give you TONS of material to work w/, especially in our busy house. I hope you'll pop over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ and participate too... I promise you'll live to tell about it, and I'll enjoy reading it :)

Besides, I needed to blog because I know you all miss me when JB is on here being all spiritual :)

Answering my cry....

At church this morning during worship, one of the praise team members shared this verse with us and I wanted to pass it on to all of you because it touched me so much because it was so true to where I am with my Jesus right now.

"Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever."Psalm 28:6-9

My favorite part of that passage is the second sentence: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped" That's one of the most profound pieces of scripture I've read in awhile. It basically sums up this past year for me. God has brought me through alot this past year. I've been at the very top, feeling like there was nothing God couldn't do through me, and I've felt like I was at the very bottom...wondering if God had forgot about me but trusting Him that His word is true and that He would never "leave nor forsake me". God has been teaching me about the strength of my faith in Him. He's allowed me to be tested this year harder than I ever remember being tested. But I have learned after all this year that my God is faithful! He is my strength and my shield and nothing the enemy throws as me can prosper with Him as my front and rear guard.

I am humbled by what God has shown me and what He has accomplished through me. I know that I don't deserve any of what I receive but because of the blood of my savior I can stand boldly and make my requests to heaven. What an absolute honor!!!!

Lord, search my heart and make it clean. Break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I have for your kingdom's cause.

JB

Now I Understand..

The past few months have been a wirl wind and a blur to me. Cindy and I have never known when to slow down and when to say "No", and then we had Harper in October and it's been busier than it ever has been. I always remember growing up and asking my Dad questions about things he was doing or talking about and he'd always say to me, "One day when you're a dad you'll understand." I always thought that was such a cop-out answer for not dealing with the issue or answering the question I asked so it always made me mad! I was always a curious kid (imagine that!), and I always loved to learn so I always thought he was blowing me off. But now that I have Harper, I think I understand my Dad on a level I could've never imagined before.

My Dad is one of the hardest working men I've ever met (next to both my grandpa's). We grew up (like he did) farming and ranching so there is no such thing as 8:00-5:00. You work until you get done and if you don't, you keep working. And all the years growing up, I never heard my Dad complain, at least not to me. Maybe he did to my Mom behind closed doors, but to me, he never complained about how hard he worked, or that he didn't get to make it to every tennis match or every shooting competition because it was planting season and they had to get done. He worked hard so that I never had to worry about a thing growing up. We weren't rich, but we never had to wonder if we could afford anything either. My parents did a great job with their money, especially for as little as they knew about it. My Dad wasn't necessarily the saviest business man and he'll tell you himself that he missed some big opportunities to invest in some ventures that shot through the roof, but he made up for his lack of business knowledge with hard work, honesty, and integrity. The thing I always remember and never forget is when he used to take me with him when he'd go to work. It didn't happen alot when I was younger because he didn't want to bother me on my days off, but when he took me around with him....I loved the way people in town responded to my dad. I was always so proud to go into "Walker's Auto Parts" and "Graves Implement" and "Franklin's" with him because every where we went, EVERYONE liked my dad and everyone respected him. My dad is a pretty quiet guy (I must've got mine from Mom!!), but when he talked, people always listened to him.

I'm really hard on people because I expect alot out of people, mainly....because I expect more than that out of myself. And I've realized that even though my dad isn't perfect and hasn't been perfect all the time....neither have I. I think I've been too hard on him the past few years and because of that I've held him at arms length to protect myself from either me not measuring up to what he thought I should be, or maybe to protect him from not measuring up to what I thought he should be to me....I don't know. What I do know is I am who I am today because of the things my dad has taught me. I plan on passing these lessons on to Harper:

1. Honesty: My dad was always honest and taught me that there is never an ok time to lie. Because of his teaching, I'm honest to a fault sometimes. When guys got in trouble in school, the principle (my best friend's dad) would bring me in because he new I was never scared and that I'd always tell him the truth no matter what. In this world you're not rewarded for being honest anymore, you're rewarded for the opposite...sad really.

2. Work ethic: My dad worked his tail off for us and that's what I'm doing for my family now. Laziness was not an option for us growing up which helped me to learn how to work hard. My dad was a bit of a workahaulic, which I unfortunately have inherited as well so that is one part I hope to not pass on to Harper, but I'm glad that he'll know how to do a good days work and be proud of what he's accomplished.

3. Confidence: Dad taught me to have confidence in the things I was doing and to believe in myself that I could do anything I wanted to. He taught me that there was nothing out there out of my league if I wanted it bad enough.

4. Never, Never Quit: This has gotten to be such a cliche as of late, but to my dad and I this is sacred. No matter what I did growing up, dad taught me to give it 110%, and to never, ever quit on myself, no matter what happened. I was never the most athletic guy on the team or the smartest kid in the class all the time, but I would out work everyone else to get the job done.

God has blessed me on so many levels and continues to do so every day, and he is teaching me areas I need to grow and showing me new areas I need to surrender to Him, but one of the greatest blessings I have, is my Dad and the lessons I've learned.

So this is for my Dad......thank you, for everything....past and present. Thank you for working so hard for us all those years with no thanks. Thank you for always being at my games and showing up for stuff I did. Thanks for all the shooting lessons out back in the yard. Thanks for supporting me and Cindy and Harper. And I'm sorry, for all the times I haven't appreciated you, you deserved and still deserve better. Here's to the years to come...cheers.

JB

"Is it really that difficult?!?"

I had breakfast with one of my really good friends this morning (shout out to my boy Ben!) and the two of us were just hanging out, talking about different things God had been doing with us lately and had been teaching us and areas He had been growing us in. One of the things we talked about for awhile was how backwards we all have everything. Because our culture is so "Fast Food", and "Give me what I want when I want it, exactly how I want it...". Because we're given everything without having to work for it or suffer because of it. Because we've been blessed beyond our wildest dreams but somehow have come to expect it, and even worse...feel entitled to it somehow....we've made everything way too complicated.
Take our health as an example (Since this is what I teach and deal with on a daily basis). Everyone wants a formula for their health. "Doc, tell me what to do to ______ (you add it in...be healthy, lose weight, gain muscle, get pregnant, be smarter, be stronger..etc)" We've totally missed the point and are making everything way too complicated. There are only 2 reasons why we get sick...only two. Because God has PERFECTLY created the body to handle every circumstance and every contingency....only 2 things can happen: 1. Toxicity or 2. Deficiency
You either A: Become toxic in things you shouldn't have in your system (toxic thoughts, processed foods, caffeine, smoking, artificial sweeteners, plastics, xenoestrogens, etc) driving your perfectly created physiology away from normal function, OR B: You are deficient (lacking) in things your body has to have to function (water, nutrients, rest, stress-relief, exercises, spinal motion, essential fats, etc) and that in turn is forcing your body into a state of sickness and illness in order to adapt to whichever of the two (or both) that's happening in our bodies. So if we can figure out which one of the two are happening and correct them naturally and allow our perfect bodies to return to perfect normal function, then our bodies can correct what's gone wrong. That's not to say that there is a point of no return at times because of the damaged caused by years of abuse and misuse.
What about with marriage?? We now have availabe every kind of marriage program under the sun to try and give us a "formula" for having a great, productive, godly marriage. "Respect him so he'll love you and he'll love you so you can respect him!" "Tell your wife 3 things good about her every day..." "Tell your husband all the ways you appreciate him exactly 5 times a week.." And on and on and on and on. Isn't marriage supposed to be a mirror image of Christ and the church?? So if we as couples and husbands and wives focus on God and His love and listen to His direction, and then put our spouses needs and desires before our own all the time....where's the difficulty??? I'm not saying Cindy and I have this perfect set-up, or that we have it all figured out because we don't and we're human and learning just like everyone else...but God has been teaching us and guiding us lately on simplifying everything about our relationship with Him and every other aspect of our lives because most of our stress comes from the complexity we try to add in to each of our situations. Maybe marriages are hard because of selfishness, I don't know. I know I was extremely selfish when Cindy and I got married and with God's love and help and her patience, I grew in that area and because I love her more than I love the air that I breathe, I'll do anything and everything to make sure that she is taken care of and cared for and loved on not because I expect anything in return, but because THAT'S THE WAY GOD DESIGNED IT!!! Doesn't it say "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."????
Weren't the two greatest commandments that God gave the disciples 1. "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, and soul." and 2. "Love your neighbor as yourself"?? What does this tell us about God? THAT'S HE'S SIMPLISTIC!! Everything comes out of our love for Him first, and then our love for other people over our own agendas or wants and desires. If we ultimately love God as much as we claim we do and as much as He commands, then out of that the only reaction is to love everyone around us like He does because that is a natural overflow of the love of Christ inside you. And if you're loving everyone around you, you CAN NOT be selfish at the same time!! Think about a world, no wait, think about a Church that lived this way and worked off of these principles and just imagine all that God could and would do through His people!! You can't imagine it because the possiblities are described by only one word: Miraculous!
I don't know everything, but I've learned alot, and I'm continuing to learn more everyday as I do because the Spirit continues to reveal His heart and His direction to me and I strive everyday to deny myself and say "Yes" when I hear Him because I know that when I do things under my own power, I always mess it up. I'm tired of not doing things right because I'm selfish and want my own way...I'm ready to see what God will do with a broken, open vessel that's listening for for his voice and ready to step forward in faith into all that He's chosen for me and my family.

JB