honey, honey

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

I was talking to my friend, lee about spending time in the Word, and i am not sure how, but we ended up on this subject. lee said she has known people that eat something that they really enjoy, chocolate for example, everytime they are in the Word. when they eat this treat, it causes them to desire the Word or brings to mind what they have learned from it. (lee is a lot better at articulating this, by the by.) she also knows of a family that the mom makes a sweet for family devotional times, so that the kids will associate the Word of God with a sweet, desirable thing.

one thing i remember, (the only thing i remember) from psyc. 101 my first quarter at tech- it was at 8 in the morning and i slept a majority of the time and made a D, but that is another subject for another time- is the teacher saying that if you eat doritos when you study for a test, that you would do better on the test if you eat doritos while taking it. could this apply to our study of the Word?

i heard ray vanderlaan speak about jewish children going to school in israel. he said some teachers place a piece of wax paper in front of the kids, then pour a bit of honey there. after the children are asked to taste it, they are told how much sweeter God's Word is. i love the picture, and i want to and i want my kids to desire the Word more than anything else this world can offer.

if we take the Word for what it says, we should savor it, enjoy it, endulge in it. this is my desire. i won't be disappointed, i'm sure.

do any of you do this or have any thoughts? just curious.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Psalm 19:7-10

things i've been enjoying lately...

of course we have been enjoying ellen! she is six weeks old today. happy birthday to her!

flowers from my boys for no reason. if we were rich, i would have flowers in every room. thank goodness that we aren't rich, so i can enjoy getting them from my boys. :) thanks, joel.

these skinny cow fudge bars are so yummy. they are small, but just the right size. i think that it is funny that a serving size is two fudge bars. if you eat just one, you feel like you have some major self-discipline. and that would be true.

if i have to scrub the tub, i may as well like the cleaner, eh? i really like this, and it is safe around the kiddos, which is why i bought it. i am having mixed feelings about my renewed ability to scrub the tub- glad that i can bend and reach to do it, but then again, wait a minute, i have to clean the tub. (thanks, joel for cleaning it for me until now)

chet told me about these a long time ago. graham cracker, cool whip, graham cracker. stick them in the freezer. yummy. i could eat this whole plate full in a day. not as bad for me as a box of donettes in one sitting , which is what we call post-natal progress.

i REALLY love this body polish from crabtree & evelyn. they have it in lots of flavors. i also have the mint, fennel and ivy flavor and like it a lot. the india hicks spider lily flavor is my very favorite. i love everything they have in this line of products. very summery beachy. too bad i am not at the beach right now. (last week, after using

this stuff, davis touched my arm and said 'mom, your arm is smoove.' we should do commercials.)

joel and i are memorizing philippians 2:5-11. our pastor, ray, has challenged us to do it. i am not enjoying that joel is better at memorizing it than me.

Philippians 2
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

the spacing on this post is driving me crazy, but my brain is to frizzled to fix it. sorry to any ocd readers out there.

new normal

i love ellen being here with us! our time together has been so sweet. i love summer and laid back evenings and eating dinner outside on the deck. having ellen here really causes me to slow down and enjoy life.

i have been doing well- so thankful to be feeling like myself again. i am amazed at the abundance of life i see in my kids everyday. God is so good to us. He has been teaching me a couple of things and i will share them, because i don't want to forget them.

first, to parent well. i really feel like i have a right to MY time- where do i get this idea? (now, i know we have to have time to take care of ourselves, etc. but that is not what i am talking about) i feel frustrated when the kids want me to do things with them or when they interrupt me when i am on the computer. i have mastered the art of parenting from the couch, never really engaging my kids and not being fully present. this is so wrong! jesus' example spurs me on to give myself fully to my family and give up my "rights".

second, to REALLY pray for joel and my kids. my friend vicki has challenged me in the past by saying "If you aren't praying for joel and your kids, who is?" God has given them to me- it is my responsibility to lift them up to Him. (a quick shout out to our praying parents, yo. we are thankful for you!) i have neglected to fight spiritual battles for joel and my boys in prayer. this has to change.

davis is doing well. he is such a funny guy.

-he makes up words all of the time. when challenged as to whether or not they are real words, he tells me they ARE real - in spanish.

-when i was wearing joel's shirt last night to tuck the boys in, davis said i looked like daddy, only with long hair and a different head.

-he is really into star wars. i get to play princess lea on a daily basis. lane is always yoda.

-he is constantly telling a "story" about him being a grown up with made up characters and situations. if he tells a 'tall tale' about something that has happened, and i say that it isn't true, he says, oh, mom- it is true in my story.

lane is getting so big. i used to think that davis was strong-willed. then lane turned 1 1/2. (hello, james dobson, if you are reading this, we could use your help. thank you.)

-he has turned into a big boy since ellen has come. he is bigger and smarter. i can't get over it.

-he doesn't say much at all, but he knows a lot. he is a lot more aware of things than we give him credit for. he likes to use this to manipulate us, in a sweet almost-2 year old way.

-he loves to play water guns outside and spray himself right in the face and then laugh and laugh.

-his favorite things are lightning mcqueen and diego. (or a - go, as he is known here at the parker house)

ellen is so sweet!

-she likes to eat! she is a good nurser, for which i am very thankful.

-she has slept for 7 hour stretches a couple of nights. we are hoping that this is the trend.

-she loves her brothers. they are at her beck and call- constantly bringing her passeys and toys to play with.

-she has been wearing lots of her cousin stahley's clothes. i tell you, that stahley has great taste!

-she has started giving the sweetest smiles, exactly when i need them. she is already an encourager. (she is really spiritual that way- even at one month old)

wow, this is long. thanks for tuning in.