Don't Make A Living, Make A Life!

So a few years ago our Pastor preached a sermon about living in freedom and living "un-caged".  It was a great sermon, he had this amazing hand out with all these sayings.  I'll list them below:
Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.
Set God size goals.
Pursue God ordained passions.
Don't let fear dictate your decisions.
Don't take the easy way out.
Don't maintain the status quo.
Stop pointing out problems: become part of the solution.
Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention.
Expand your horizons.
Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can.
Live today like it is the first day and the last day of your life.
Burn sinful bridges.
Challenge all assumptions.
Blaze new trails.
Quit playing defense.
Quit making excuses.
Don't stop making mistakes.
Don't try to be who you are not.
Don't make a living, make a life.
Don't let what is wrong with you keep you from worshipping what is right with God.

I know that was a little lengthy, but tell me those aren't GREAT!  I hope my children read this for years to come and reflect on these points.  One of those points really stuck with me this morning as I was cleaning up my room and making my bed.  DON'T MAKE A LIVING, MAKE A LIFE!  I'm pretty sure it was God's way of getting me focused on what's important....and here's where the story begins.  So yesterday I picked Spencer up from his friend's house.  It is a beautiful house!  Fabulous floors, beautiful kitchen, blue pool, gorgeous pavers and all perfectly decorated for the season.  I have to admit that I felt a little jealous.  I'm not typically a jealous person, I mean I'm sure we all want what we don't have, but I'm not "overly" jealous.  As I drove Spencer home, I was feeling very insecure.  I felt sad that we couldn't provide that beautiful home for him and the other kids.  Now don't get me wrong, we live in a nice 4 bedroom house with tile floors and a remodeled kitchen, 2 blocks from the ocean. Which brings me back to always wanting what you don't have.  As I drove home I questioned the decisions that Mike and I have made...did we spend too much on this or that?  Should we have invested differently for the kids?  When I got home I pulled into our driveway (we no longer have a garage, we have an Ella, haha!)  I noticed that on my front porch alone was an ATV, 2 bikes, 2 scooters, 2 skateboards, a chair, a pair of roller blades and several pieces of baseball equipment.  So I started to feel even worse about the condition I keep our house in since this other woman's house was SPOTLESS!  As I walked through our front door there on the ground were shoes....lots and lots of shoes.  Everyone kicks their shoes off at the front door.  As I walked through the house stepping on nerf darts and Barbie clothes and kicking bouncy balls I felt even worse.  Now don't get me wrong, our house is in no way dirty at all, just lived in.  So I picked up some toys, made dinner, and went on with our nightly routine.  All the while thinking about Spencer's friends perfect house and perfect life.  So fast forward to this morning when all is quiet in our house and I actually have time to think.  As I'm cleaning up my room and making my bed I notice the water color picture of a house that is taped to my bedroom wall in place of "real" artwork.  Next to it are 2 picture of Smitty and Scott from Disney's Imagination Movers which Blake has colored and tacked to our wall.  As I made my bed I picked up a sippy cup and stinky baby and put them in their places.  Then I moved on the rest of our room and noticed the white board Blake had drug in to practice his cursive writing on, he's so proud!  Ella's "Wanda the Washing Machine" book which I set my coffee on this morning is laid on my desk instead of neatly tucked away in a bookshelf.  Seeing all this was almost like God speaking to me and saying "Courtney, don't wish for things that others have.  Don't make a living, make a life".  I started thinking about this other woman's house and how there was no sign that children even lived in her house.  Her carpet was perfectly white.  I look at my carpet and there are stains from where Ella has spilled something because we were tickling her, or where Blake accidentally drew on the carpet or the table because he was coloring us a picture.  I have a different outlook this morning because of all this.  I don't need pavers and a state of the art kitchen to make me happy.  I need a husband that provides, I need children who love me more than Africa, and more than anything...I need a God who quietly reminds me that I don't need to make a living, I need to make a life!

I want EVERYTHING!

I love all the stages that my kids go through....ok, that's a lie, but I do love 85% of them.  Blake and Ella are in the "Oh Mommy, I want that!" stage.  Every single commercial that they see for a toy they make sure to scream at me and make me run into the room to see the commercial and the new toy that they just can't live without.  Blake has decided this week that the toy that he "really, really, really" wants is a Mickey Mouse train that is designed for 18 month old children.  I tried explaining this to him, but he's just not hearing me.  Ella wants a game called Red Rover and she makes me watch the entire commercial every time she sees it.  This is the first year that I'm getting REALLY excited for Christmas for them.  Michael and Spencer are old enough now that all they want is money or clothes. So shopping for Blake and Ella is super fun!  I've been really missing them being babies, which has made me realize that I need to appreciate every day so much more.  I can't believe how fast the last few years have gone.  I laid down with Spencer the other night and the kid's almost as big as me!  I was snuggling with Blake in his bed last night and it seems like just yesterday that I was laying him down in a crib.  When did he grow up????  I love seeing the two little ones together.  It makes me sooooo glad that they have each other.  Ella cried when I dropped them off at school because Blake jumped out of the van first and didn't wait for her.  She loves her big brother so much and I don't even think she knows it sometimes.  Back to wanting everything...I know that we're not the weathiest people in the world and it usually doesn't bother me, but I love my children so much that when they say "I want...."  it makes me want to buy it, immediately :)

Step Mom????

So this is fairly short, but I HAD to write this down because I never ever ever want to forget this.  I picked the little two up from school today and we went straight to Target to get Halloween costumes.  Blake decided on Iron Man 2 (which doesn't really differ much from his Iron Man 1 costume from last year) and Ella decided on Ariel.  After years and years of her LOVING Ariel I finally got her to pick the Ariel costume....go Mommy!!!  Anyway, after checking out we were on our way home and Ella had gotten in trouble for being bad in Target, which really is nothing new or different.  Blake said "Mommy are you mad at me like you're mad at Ella?"  He hadn't behaved very well either.  I said "No Blake, why?" and he said "Because I was bad, but I worked it all out right?" and I replied, "Yes Blake you are fine and I'm not mad."  Then he says, "Mommy, do I have a step mom?"  Of course I replied, "No, why do you ask?"  He said, "Because I wish I had a step mom, then I could say that you are the best Mommy I ever had!"  It was so cute!!!  He is sooooooo sweet!  On a side note, today was also "walk your child to school day" so I got up VERY early and got the kids ready to walk to school and they had a blast.  I'm so glad I got up even when I didn't feel like it so that I could make a memory and start a new tradition! 

Get off your butt even when you don't feel like it!

So we have a pretty busy day to day life.  Not the busiest, but pretty busy!  Sunday's are usually a crazy day for us because either me or Mike have to be at church by about 8:30am.  This past Sunday I had to be there at 8:30am and I had worked until 1am the night before so I was soooooo tired.  I got up and got ready to go and Ella wanted to go with me early so I got her ready too.  She was so good during band practice.  She sat in on the floor and used the pew for a table and colored us all pictures.  Mike left church a few minutes early because Blake had baseball practice.  So we came home about 1pm and I cooked lunch for everyone and then picked up a half hour of OT at work. I got done working at 2pm. Ella had been asking me since Saturday to take her to the park.  So I had put it off as long as possible (which is the point of this post).  I'm usually not a lazy person, but I was just so tired.  I really just wanted to stick the 2 little ones in front of the TV and go to sleep.  But Ella was insistent on this whole park thing, which is literally 2 blocks from our house.  So we took Michael to work at 3:30pm and came home.  Blake and Ella had decided at this point that they not only wanted to go to the park, but wanted to ride their bikes to the park.  So I caved and off we went.  Mike stayed home to hang out with our friend David.  So we got to the park and the kids were so excited that they managed to ride their bikes and park their bikes at the bike rack.  We spent about and hour and half at the park and during that time they walked through the nature center, colored pictures, played in a sandbox, fed the turtles and played on the playground.  While they were coloring pictures in the nature center the cool air was blowing and I started thinking about how glad I was that I brought them. Blake was coloring his little picture and singing "This is the day that the Lord has made"  It was a moment I hope to never forget.  I was so sad for Mike that he missed it.  Blake's picture got hung in the nature center by the nice lady who works there and he was so happy!  I was so mad at myself for almost not going to do this little thing that made them so happy just because I was tired.  It got me to thinking....  We only get a few years like this with our kids.  We only get a few years for them to snuggle with us in bed, or to eat lunch at their school, or to hold their hands when they walk.  Why in the world would we worry about being tired????  I can be tired when my kids are grown, but for now I choose to be wide awake and enjoy every moment I can.  Because in all reality, how do we really know how long we have with them?  So....get off your butt even when you don't feel like it!!!  Below are the pictures from our trip to the park :)