The Truth #8

Truth #8 from Lies Women Believe is that the blood of Christ is sufficient to cover all my sin. There is no sin I have ever committed and will ever commit that is not covered by Jesus's blood. 1 John 1:7 "..and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

This doesn't diminish the significance of my sin. Instead, it should leave me broken and humble, desiring to obey Him and fear Him. Psalm 130: 3-4 "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sin, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared." Romans 3: 23-25 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood." This is such glorious news. Even though I am a sinner, Christ has already purified me.

Milwaukee, Part 2

The best thing about our trip to Milwaukee was Monday afternoon when Jay was one of the main speakers for the meeting. He and 2 guys from his office (Paul Foster and John Tripoli) did a panel discussion for 10,000 people. They did this talk when we were in San Antonio this past February for the regional meeting and they did such a great job that Northwestern asked them to do it again. The 3 of them are all young agents who are doing very well, so they had lots of advice and perspective to offer other agents. I am so proud of Jay!

They all look so serious. I think they were pretty nervous.

Jay on the big screen

Jay and his dad...2 of Northwestern's best!

Milwaukee, Part 1

We just returned from our trip to Milwaukee for Northwestern Mutual's annual meeting. We had a great trip. It is always so encouraging to be with our Northwestern family, and enjoying the cooler weather in Milwaukee was nice too. They do such a great job making this a family event.

On Sunday morning, we all participated in the Roots and Wings race. Marcy (Jay's mom) pushed Catherine and Will in the stroller for the 5k while Steve (Jay's dad), Jay, and I ran the 10k. Catherine was so excited about being in the race. She kept saying, "Faster, Mimi, faster." Baby Will, however, wanted to stop mid-race and eat some cheerios.

On Sunday night, they host a Garden party at the Milwaukee Zoo. They have tons of great food and entertainment and you can visit everything in the zoo. Catherine and Will especially enjoyed the carousel.

We took a little train ride around the zoo too. We thought we would see all of the animals on the train ride, but all we saw was a butterfly and a duck. Apparently the train ride is just to enjoy the train!

Catherine was looking ever so stylish with her sunglasses and name tag. She thought the name tags were a great accessory.

Probably the most fun kid's activity we did was go to a children's museum. Unfortunately I left my camera in the hotel that day, so I don't have any pictures. But it was a blast. They had a huge Mr. Potato Head exhibit, a grocery store, hospital, theater, backyard, post office, and other play activities. We were there for 2 1/2 hours and didn't play with everything. I think Greenville needs one of these. Maybe I'll work on that in my spare time!

Good Times, Good Friends

Just thought I'd share a few pics from recent play time with friends.


Catherine and Olivia reclining and reading a book together.

Will and Pressly played well together too. I think Will even inspired Pressly to crawl some.
Last week we went to the zoo with our good friend Eddie. It's difficult to get a picture of all 3 of them together, so this was about the best we could do. I think they're watching the alligators.
Catherine and Eddie--so sweet. He's totally fascinated by her, and she carries around pictures of him. It's precious.

A Happy Place

My kids love playing by the front door, just looking outside. I'm not sure if that means I need to take them outside more or if they just find it a happy place to be.

Will and Eli, just watching for birds or butterflies or the grass grow...I really don't know. But Will loves being with Eli these days. Earlier today he was even sharing his pacifier with him.

Perfect sunshine by the window for story time.

"Will she ever let me out of here?"

Catherine was playing like she was going to church (with my shoes on), so going out the front door was only logical.

The Truth #7

Truth #7 from Lies Women Believe is that God's grace is sufficient for me. I will never face a circumstance that exceeds God's grace for me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 reassures us "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Grace is such a complex gift to understand. When you accept God's grace and grow in the knowledge of his grace, you continually learn how much more and more you need it. Thankfully God has plenty of grace to give! And it is sufficient to deal with anything from my past, anything I'm currently struggling with, and anything I may deal with in the future. At times when I've heard about people dealing with very difficult circumstances (death of a child or spouse, terminal illness, etc) I've thought that I wouldn't be able to handle something like that. But as someone explained to me once, God gives you the measure of grace you need when you need it. Right now I don't need the grace to deal with those situations because that's not what God is giving me to trust Him with. I need the grace He's giving me to live my daily life right now. And that's encouraging to me.

So I'll leave you with this prayer of 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17 "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

The Truth #6

Truth #6 from Lies Women Believe is that God doesn't make any mistakes. This can be hard to even comprehend because we (or at least me) make so many mistakes. How can God really never mess anything up? How can everything fulfill his perfect eternal purposes? It's beyond my comprehension, but He tells us that so I believe Him. Isaiah 46: 9-10 "I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me...I say 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

People often doubt if God made mistakes about how He made them, why He made them, why He placed them in certain families/circumstances/locations/etc. But He reassures us that He has been our God before we were ever made. Psalm 139: 13-16 "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place; when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

So rest assured that God created you exactly the way He wanted to. He makes no mistakes with His creation. And if He lovingly created you, He will take care of you on this Earth and there will be no mistakes here either. Nothing can touch our lives that hasn't been filtered through His hands. As one author stated "God's will is exactly what we would choose if we knew what God knows."