All Girl Sprinkled With A Little Daddy Loving

My sweet little girl is just as much Travis and she is me! Oh sure, she LOVES to wear pink, put pretty bows in her long beautiful hair. She gets a kick out of painting her nails and wearing my make-up! She sings and dances like a ballerina whenever she gets a chance! But...she just likes doing all those things with a gun in her hand! She...in her own words..."got to protect her babies". She loves to play dress up and baby dolls, but she equally loves to play "hunt" with her brother! She loves Cinderella but loves Star Wars just as much! When she went to reenact Beauty and the Beast the other day I asked her if she was pretending to be Belle, the beautiful princess. She said, "No mommy, I'm the BEAST! RARRRRRRR!" So, my sweet little princess is ALL GIRL sprinkled with a little Daddy Loving!

He is God. He is Good!

Faith. What is it to you? God revealed to me this morning a new aspect to my faith that I had never considered before.

I have believed God in some pretty big areas of my life. At the age of 15, I felt God calling me to go to Africa. Alone. No family, no friends, but the calling was strong and so I followed. It was crazy scary at times. Just in the prepping time. I went with an organization called "Teen Mission International." Great organization and great trip! But it took a lot of faith for me. I had to raise 5,000 dollars in a little less than 2 months. God provided and I actually raised 6,000! Glory to God! But it was a moment that REQUIRED a lot of faith. So believing was actually easy.

Moving along...after high school my parents received a calling to pick up from our comfortable lives in the heart of the south and move to South Korea to teach and pastor in an international community. The decision for me was "do I leave my home, my friends, my plans to attend college and go with?" Or, do I abandon all the things I KNOW to be...and follow my family and serve overseas?" Well, honestly, that wasn't a hard decision. I knew God wanted me to go! And it was the most incredible experience of my life. I met and married my husband while volunteering in South Korea. God likes to do crazy, unbelievable things right in the middle of our abandonment to self!

But more faith was required when He called me away from my family to a life of an army wife. That I wasn't prepared for, even though I knew I was marrying a man in the army. I just didn't know what to expect. It was hard and scary at first...but my faith was strong and God helped me adjust and live joyfully!

The next HUGE step of faith came into play during my pregnancy with my 2nd child, Emmy Grace. My water broke at 23 weeks and I was rushed by plane to a hospital in Anchorage Alaska...b/c where we live now, in Fairbanks, didn't have facilities to help my situation. My faith grew leaps and bounds during the next 7 weeks of trusting God to do the impossible. I should have had that baby girl with the next 48 hours. But God decided to leave her in my belly, on bed-rest for the next 6 weeks. At 30 weeks gestational age, Emmy was born, not breathing on her own but thanks to technology and God-breathed life, she survived! After 5 days she came off the ventilator and grew stronger and stronger each day! Through that whole process, I couldn't help but trust God b/c I truly had nothing else I COULD DO! Sure, I could have doubted and feared...but I knew My Creator would bring this little life into being! And today, she is strong and healthy! Praise His Name!

But this morning, on my walk with Jesus, I asked HIm what am I suppose to be trusting HIm with now? Nothing huge is going on in my small world. We are living our days right now happily and care-free for the most part. The biggest thing to conquer right now is my laundry pile. The kids are all happy and healthy. Travis and I are thriving in our relationship. We serve in a wonderful church. Our friends bring joy and encouragement to our lives on a daily basis! My parents are just a few miles down the street and help us with the kids weekly! Life is truly pretty "easy" right now. Even mundane sometimes...just with the same kind of schedule week in and week out. So, I asked the Lord if something was wrong...b/c everything seems so "right" right now. What was I suppose to be trusting Him with at this moment? How as my faith suppose to be active right now?

And then HE SPOKE! I felt chills run up and down my body. He said "Be still My baby girl! You are right where you are suppose to be. I want you to trust Me in the common, everyday schedule of life. Trust Me to speak to you. Trust Me to heal your heart from sin and filth. Trust Me to bring the sunrise every morning. Trust me in this quiet time of your life just as you have trusted Me in the BIG WHIRLWIND moments that have crashed around you! Trust me!"

And do you realize, how hard that was to hear. How much harder it is to trust Him with the little, everyday occurrences opposed to the big storms that rage around us? I never thought this phase of life would require so much faith! Being still for this girl is NEVER an easy task! But I am gonna do it! I know He wants my obedience in the smallest of things just as He does in the biggest of big! And so, that was my revelation this morning! God is so good! He never ceases to speak to His children! He is God. He is Good!

8:00 o'clock!

When Wes was little, we taught him how to tell time...well, we taught him what 8:00am looked like on the digital clock! That way, we could tell him to stay in bed until 8 and he would understand! We were VERY happy with this set-up! B/c he knew he wasn't allowed out of his room until 8:00am! And as Emmy got older, we taught her the same thing. It was fabulous! It gave me, Mommy, a couple hours in the morning all to myself! And I could plan my morning around the fact that I KNEW my children would not get up before that clock turned 8!

I am a scheduler. I put my babies on a schedule from the beginning! People have given me MANY reasons why this is absurd...but it worked gloriously for this family! (I give much and almost all credit to the book, BABYWISE) So, in scheduling my children's routine, I plan for the morning to begin at 8am. Luke's "clock" doesn't wake up until 8 as well. Not every day is this true for our little guy...but most days he won't start talking in his crib until this very hour. I LOVE IT! But, the only downside to this wonderful theory, is that when Saturday morning dawns...and we have stayed up entirely TOO late the night before...as soon as that clock hits 8:00am, I hear the pitter-pat of feet running down the hall to inform me of the time and that they are ready to start the day! So, as much as I love our "rule" six days of the week...I miss my Saturday morning sleep-ins. Oh well, one day I will probably miss the pitter-pat of those feet. So, I am trying to remember to enjoy the phase of life I am living in now:)

So Tired...

I never imagined being a stay-at-home mom would be so busy! But my day seems to never end. There is ALWAYS just one more thing to do. I have finally realized that there must be a time to stop! B/c chores will always be waiting for me...they may be finished one day, but they will be recreated the next! But as I fall into bed after a whirl-wind of a day, I close my eyes and smile up at my Lord. No matter how many loads of laundry I do, no matter how many diapers I change, no matter how many dishes I wash...no matter how many amounts of "stuff" I do for my family...I am an amazingly blessed girl! I have a husband who allows me to stay at home and teach my children! I get to spend every moment watching them grow and learn and become the people God created them to be! I don't have to miss out! And I have 3 beautiful children who are so full of life and love and joy! And I have been blessed with friends and family who encourage me and lift me up! The list goes on and on! And as I lay there, drifting off to dreamland, I will GLADLY live my days "tired" but joyfully happy!

Time to Change a Few Things:)

Yesterday, Travis and Wes went out on the snow machine (as you can tell from past posts) and had a glorious time. Emmy, Luke and I stayed home cuz Luke was feeling kinda yuck and it was pretty cold out. Later that evening...Wes and I were talking and here is how the conversation went...

"Wes, I need you to come help Mommy please. Emmy has been helping me all day and now it is your turn:) You have been out with Daddy having all the fun today." I asked ever so sweetly.

Wesley's reply..."Okay mom, but men are SUPPOSE to be out having all the fun." He smiled at me like he had it all figured out.

"Hmmm...okay, but then if men are SUPPOSE to be having all the fun, what are the women SUPPOSE to be doing?" I was intrigued to hear his answer.

Wes answered VERY matter of factly..."They are SUPPOSE to be home taking care of all the children."

Travis Anderson had better change a few things in this Anderson household!

Pretty Faces

Are these faces not the cutest you have ever seen? Ever?!?! I just love them! I was going for a cute shot but Luke has learned to crawl and he WON'T sit still anymore. So, Travis got some shots as he kept crawling closer and closer to the camera! Stinker Pot!

Easter 2010

So, we had a wonderful Easter this year. Although, Wes decided to wait and be baptized at a later date. Mommy was disappointed but tried not to show it. It is HIS relationship with Jesus...and I am proud of him for doing what he felt led to do, opposed to what Mommy or Daddy wanted. I think it was a bit of nerves...he loves Jesus with all of his heart and I know that he will obey the call to follow Jesus in baptism...(he just says maybe when he is six:) We shall wait and see. Until then, he will just keep practicing in the bathtub:)

But all week we celebrated the resurrection. During our PlayGroup we did a little Easter egg hunt with the girls...it was a lot of fun! Here are a few pics of our day. Enjoy!

A Hungary Bear!

This is what happens when waiting for the snowmachine to cool down, in the middle of the woods, with a video camera:) Adventures around every corner:)

Alaskan Survival Skills at an Early Age

Wes learned basic Alaskan survival skills at an early age yesterday. The snowmachine got too hot while Travis and Wes were out in the white mountains (basically a wilderness area). Well they lost all the coolant in the snowmachine and had to turn around and stop every 5 minutes or so to pack the engine with snow and ice to keep it cool enough to get back to the truck. Fun times.