Shooting Lightning!

I HAD SOOOO  MUCH FUN TONIGHT!!!!  I was finally able to get out to try to shoot lightning!  For real, I have had some great tips from friends!  It was fantastic.  Amazing to see that GOD does all of this...creation is sooo amazing!  I can only dream about capturing a part of it!

Here are a few of my favorites from tonight!

My first lightning strike capture..EVER!!!

I just really like this one!

I love how the tips of the fingers on the left are blue!

 My FAVE  of the night! 

I can't wait for another chance to get back out & try some more...always fun to learn something new!

Justice & Mercy

I recently heard the song "Courageous" by Casting Crowns.  There was a part in it that really stuck out to me.  They sing "Seek Justice, Love mercy, walk Humbly with your God."  I knew this was from Micah 6:8...I have loved this verse for awhile.  Steven Curtis Chapman has a song based on this verse as well called "The Walk" (I believe..actually I did double check) Anyway, when I heard this song the other day, it really made me think about ALOT!  Mostly, I'm sure because of recent circumstances in my life.  So the more I think about it, I got to thinking how contradictory these words sound.  How can you "seek justice" and "love mercy" at the same time.  It seems so opposite!  So I went back & looked it up in The Word, and then I went to dictionary.com to find some definitions of the words!

So here it is Micah 6:8

⁸The LORD God has told us

   what is right

   and what he demands:

   "See that justice is done,

   let mercy be your first concern,

   and humbly obey your God."

And for the words defined....(there were several listed for each..but I picked the one that made most sense to me)

jus·tice n.

the administering of deserved punishment or reward.

mer·cy 

n.

compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward anoffender, an enemy, or other person in one's power;compassion, pity, or benevolence

So...how do we administer deserved punishment, but be compassionate or kindly show forbearance toward an offender....anybody else's head spinning??  It's like a big circle...I could talk this around for hours...but, I don't wanna keep you that long.  

Anyway, the first thing I think about is the fact that I wonder how many of us really understand "justice & mercy."  For instance, we all want "justice" when we feel like we "know" someone has done wrong...take for instance the Casey Anthony trial...I didn't follow it enough to come to a conclusion on my own, but I gathered by the reaction via the news & social media that "most" people were convinced that she killed her little girl.  So "we" wanted justice.  On the flip side of that we all want "mercy" when we have done wrong.  Same story, I'm pretty sure (guilty or not) the Casey was wanting mercy.  

For me, this presents an inner struggle of what I want vs. what I know I deserve!  I know that when I do wrong to God & others, I WANT mercy, but I know that I really need justice.  The beauty that I have come to realize is that the two can only coexist.  When it comes to the plan that God designed, they are not separated!  God is just & will always be, but he sent his Son to take our place & provide mercy for us!  Romans 5:6-8 paints a great picture of this!

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." (The Message)

It's so AMAZING to be on the receiving end of mercy, but lately, I have experienced how great it is to be the mercy giver.  A few weeks ago, my Aunt told me I was showing mercy, I didn't quite understand what she meant.  But the more I think & ponder on these verses from Micah, the more I think I understand & the more I want to be the mercy giver in all situations of life! A huge lesson I have learned is that the more mercy I show, the more mercy I realize that I need in my own life.  I am so grateful that Jesus continues to work on me & my downfalls. 


This brings me to the last phrase of the verse "walk humbly with your God." Maybe the most important part.  Knowing that I can neither seek justice or show mercy without walking alongside of God is the point.  It's all about Him & not about me.  Again, so thankful that His Truths are revealed to me each day, through trials & through joys! 


I mentioned a couple songs at the beginning of this post, but I'm only posting the second, because I found this super sweet live version & SCC just totally plays his guitar!!!

Praying & Believing

^11" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13


Praying & believing that He is in control!  Knowing that He loves me & wants to take care of me.  Trying to patiently wait for his timing....yep, I said "trying."  This is always the hardest part.  

Wyoming trip & fun stuff!!

We had an AMAZING trip to Wyoming & Western Nebraska.  Such an encouraging time to meet with friends & former youth group students & some parents.  I don't think there is anything more encouraging than to see former students who are all grown up & still living faithfully for Jesus!!!!! I'm so thankful we had a part in their lives & now we get to partner again with them in ministry!  The trip was also very fruitful for our fundraising efforts. God is truly blessing us!!!! ALL PRAISE TO HIM!!!

The boys traveled so well!!! Poor Lincoln did get cars sick on the first day of travel.  This has never happened before!  It was so ridiculously windy!!! This made travel very....swervy!!  Poor little guy!  But he slept it all off once we arrived at our friends house!  YAY!!!!  But other than that, they traveled great...I think we logged about 1700 miles by the time we got home!  I'm so thankful that they did so well!!!

We returned home to very warm weather & this pregnant girl was a little grumpy thinking the Northwest Kansas had decided to skip spring all together & jump straight to summer :( But no worries...our AC works just fine!  Ha ha!!!!  So yesterday, Mike was watering the lawn & the boys discovered the sprinkler!  THEY HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!  We grilled steaks & then later toasted marshmallows over the grill!!!  I love these boys so much & I'm so blessed to have them!

SPIDER - MAN!!!

Earlier today, I was downstairs printing some pages that I needed, when all of a sudden, I heard what sounded like about 8 boys jumping around the living room!  Well, when I came upstairs, Lincoln very excitedly said, "mama, look at what I got!"  I said, "let me see."  He showed me a dead spider!  I asked him where he found it and he told me it was walking across the floor right over there!  I said what did you do?  He told me that he jumped on it like this!!!!! ((jumping up & down...sounding again like the 8 boys)) Made me giggle!  So I sent him to flush it down the toilet! Then I proceeded to boost his male ego & tell him that killing a spider was a super tough manly thing to do & that he was a hero to girls everywhere!

Then when Mike came home for lunch, we got to tell him the exciting story all over again!  I LOVE LIVING WITH THESE BOYS!!!!!!

A little catch up....

Two weeks ago today, we got our first support letters all printed & folded. Then I had a team of jr/high school girls & their mom graciously offer to help me stuff all the envelopes & put the labels on.  I wish I had taken pictures of this fun time, but I didn't!  Next time I will remember!!!  Then on Monday, I finished up sealing them & stamping them & got them in the mail!  So exciting to mail out over 450 letters about our exciting ministry!  And so far, only 1 has returned to me due to a wrong address!!  So, not too bad so far!  I have been waiting & cringing in fear that everytime I open the mail box that it could be full of blue envelopes with wrong addresses....so I am very thankful!

But, in more exciting news, we have officially received 2 pledge cards returned!!!! YAY JESUS!!! We have had several verbal commitments also.

On Saturday we will leave & head for Wyoming.  Mike will be preaching at First Christian Church in Wheatland, Wy (church we served with before moving to Norton the first time).  Then we will make our way around the state visiting some of my family & lots of friends & former youth group students.  This will be a very exciting trip for us.  Please pray for the boys as we travel...it will be lots of van time for them!

Please keep praying for us as we look for a house, & continue our support raising!  We are having so much fun!!!

Late post...really late!

Ok, so for those of you who only keep up with me on this blog...I apologize!  What I am about to tell you has been public for about 2 months now, but a friend recently reminded me that I needed to blog about this!

Yep, that's right!!! BABY SANDER #3 will be joining us mid-October...we are ELATED!!! This is such an exciting time, for us!  So much going on already & this is the best, most exciting news!  The boys are excited also!  Lincoln keeps changing his mind about whether this baby is a boy or a girl...who knows!  We like the anticipation of waiting until the moment he/she arrives, so you will all have to wait as well!  In the mean time...I am now 16 weeks & finally starting to feel my energy that has escaped me for some time now.  I still get tired, but not all the time exhausted.  I can't complain though...all of my babies so far have been very gracious to me.  Only giving me slight nausea (except Justice...I did get sick once) and fatigue...but that beats the alternative...I'm sorry friends who had/have terrible sickness.

More later....