Growing So Fast

We moved into a house at the beginning of August. It has been great. It has 3 bedrooms and a nice fenced in backyard. Abigail will be 14 months in 5 days which is crazy for me to believe. She loves playing with her big brother and copies him often. She likes giving hugs and has started saying, "hi," recently. And if you tell her to go put something, like her diaper in the trash she can do it! I have started doing some preschool with Samuel and he is picking up on things very quickly. He is able to recognize almost all of his letters, he can sing the alphabet song, he knows his shapes and he can count to 10. This past Thursday BSF started up again. This year we are studying the book of Acts and some of the books Paul and Peter wrote. I've enjoyed reading the Word a lot more this year than any other time in my life. I am looking forward to this study and the discussion I will get to have with my BSF group. Samuel really likes going to his bible study class. Last week after his class he asked me if I knew Luke was a doctor. Here are a couple quotes from Samuel the past month:

While looking up at the sky at a small plane he said, "How can a person fit in that small plane?"

While walking in downtown Cody, he said, "Did you know those buildings are called scraper skies?"

For the Sake of Love

I love the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I sometimes feel like the Holy Spirit is the most forgotten. The Body of Christ forgets that He is still as much alive today as He was when the disciples experienced His power in the book of Acts. I recently started to do a study looking at scriptures in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. Here is some of what I found.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your rememberance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

Jesus told his disciples..."It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you...He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." (John 16:7, 13)

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

It's an adventure living for the King. You never know where His Spirit might lead you. It could be to pray for a woman at the grocery store. He could lead you to buy lunch for a co-worker. Or He could lead you to move to a state that you have never been to before. We don't need to be afraid to step out and follow Him. He is a good leader. His leadership is perfect. And as we step out in faith when we feel those little nudges He will speak to us more.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14)

In the above passage Jesus says that anyone who believes in Him will do greater works than He did through the power of the Holy Spirit! And He says whatever we ask in His name He will do. He wants us, His Bride, to know that we have authority in Him. And ANYTHING that we ask in the name of Jesus that is according to His will, He will do it. This is our inheritance. He is giving us an invitation to partner with Him. He doesn't want us sitting on the sidelines bored with the pleasures that the world has to offer. He wants us in a real relationship with Him. Moving where He moves. And stepping where He steps. He desires to see His Bride stepping into the fullness of the calling He has for her.

The Lord wants us to move and walk in the Spirit today. He desires to see believers loving the people around them. Healing the sick, setting the captives free, and loving the unloved ones. Do we desire this kind of relationship with the Lord? How far are we willing to go for the sake of love? How abandoned are we willing to become?

If we give ourselves whole heartedly to the Lord, give up the idols in our lives and allow His Spirit to consume us like a fire than He will move through us in ways we never could have imagined. There are people in the Body of Christ that have a calling on their lives to do great things for God but because they are not willing to become fully surrendered in every area of their lives the Spirit is not able to do these "greater works" through them. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is dwelling inside of us. Are we willing to surrender everything to partner with Christ and watch Him change the world one person at a time?

Oh Lord, I give up the idols that I hold onto in my life so I can have the fullness of what you have for me. I want your Spirit to move without limits in and through me. That I wouldn't care what I might look like or what others might think of me. I want my heart to be humble, lowly. I want to be a vessel used for your glory. That many might be saved, delivered, and brought into the fullness of your Kingdom.

Love,

Jess

Abigail 13 months

A Prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.

Flood my soul with your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you, O Lord!

Stay with me, then I shall begin to shine as you do; so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Lord, will be all from you; none of it will be mine; it will be you shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you.

Amen.

-John Henry Newman

(One of Mother Teresa's favorite prayers, said every day by the Missionaries of Charity)

We Are Family

It was a huge blessing to spend the past 5 days with my family. My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, sister, brother-in-law and 3 month old neice Miko all came to see us in Cody, Wyoming! On Tuesday we celebrated Abigail's first birthday and my sister-in-law Tara's birthday. Abigail was born on Tara's birthday-July 26th. My friend Laura made Abigail's birthday cake. It was delicious. On Wednesday we went to Yellowstone and saw Artists' Point, the Mud Volcano, Norris Geyser and Old Faithful. While they were here we had a wonderful time hanging out, watching the grandkids play and just had a great time being together. Thank you all for coming! We love you all and miss you already!

Samuel's

1st

kite

My

big

brother

still

knows

how

to

make

me

laugh :)

Happy

1st

Birthday

Abigail!

Tara helped Samuel cut out things to become "Samuel the Chef."

Samuel's First Bug

Samuel was so excited when he found this little guy in the grass one morning. He asked me if he could keep it as a pet. So we found a plastic bottle, poked holes in the top of it and started to put dirt, grass and twigs in it. He had fun talking to his new little pet during the day. Later in the afternoon he wanted to take the ladybug out of the plastic bottle. So we took the bug out and a few minutes later I hear him crying, "Mommy, it's biting me!" It turned out this was not a ladybug after all. I looked them up online and they are called Asian Lady Beetles or Asian Ladybugs. I'm glad that Samuel had fun taking care of this new little pet, even if it was just for one day.

Yellowstone

On July 4th we went to Yellowstone. You never know how much wild life you will see on any given day, but this time we saw a lot of animals including 2 moose. My favorite part of the park is the Lower Falls. The following picture with the rainbow was taken there. Reminding me that the Lord's mercies are new for us every day.