A Wise Woman...Have I Been?

I know I normally post family pictures and happenings here on this blog, but this morning the Lord is dealing with me on an issue and I feel the need to organize my thoughts and "get it down on paper" so to speak.  I thought there was the possibility of it helping someone else so here I am.

The other day I was reading in 1 Corinthians for my devotions.  It was one of those days that I didn't have time to really study the Word, but I was squeezing in a chapter between sending Hubby off to school/work and getting in some exercise before the kiddos woke up for the day.  

I read chapter 3, spent a few minutes in prayer, and went on about my day.  But as the day progressed I realized the Lord was bringing back a thought that I had read that morning.  The chapter is talking about each person having his own job to do - one is a planter, one is the waterer, one lays the foundation, one builds on the foundation, etc. and each will be rewarded according to the job he was given.  It goes on to say, "... But each one should be careful how he builds....his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." (vs 10b, 13-15 NIV)

The thought kept coming to me that this verse ties in perfectly with Proverbs 14:1,

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 As a woman and a mother my job that I've been given by the Lord is to build my home.  To me this means that the majority of the  responsibility of raising my children for Christ lies with me since I'm the one at home with them 90% of the time.  It means that it's my job to make sure I'm providing a home that's full of peace and joy that will be a blessing to my husband and family.  It's my job to make sure that I myself have a strong relationship with Jesus and a Christ centered life that will be a witness and an example to my children.  The thought keeps nagging me, "Have I been spending my time building my home or have I been more focused on frivolous things that will in the end prove worthless and maybe even tear it down?"

In my mind, I was putting these verses together and the Lord was making it personal in my heart.

A wise woman builds her house, but she should be careful how she builds it.  Her work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of her work.  If what she has built survives, she will receive her reward.  If it is burned up, she will suffer loss; she herself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

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Wow, right?!?  This is what has been laying heavily on my heart.  I am accountable to God for the job I've been given.  Not only to raise my children safely to adulthood and provide for their well being, but the quality of my work will be tested with fire and it has to be able to survive that!  The Lord reminded me that all the well written blog posts in the world won't matter in a fire.  Thrifty decorating ideas and new recipes won't withstand the flames.  Time spent on Facebook would burn up in a split second and be reduced to worthless ashes at His feet.  These are things He has been convicting me of because this is how I spend my free time, and sadly enough I'm guilty of doing these things in my not-so-free time.  Time that I should have been doing other things that would benefit my family.  (Maybe there are things in your life that wouldn't survive a testing by fire that He's speaking to you about right now.)  

These things that I enjoy - my blog, my Etsy shop, other people's blogs, and Facebook, are not necessarily wrong and I don't plan to give them up completely unless the Lord shows me I should, BUT...I do feel like I've been spending too much time doing things that would not stand up to "fire."  I need to focus more of my time and energy doing the job that God has given me and making for certain my home is Christ centered, and my children are being raised for Him and only Him.  Everything else is nothing in the end.  Yes, I might survive the fire but if my family is lost then I'm coming through it as one who is escaping the flames.  I escaped, but oh how utterly painful it was!

I want to make sure that what I'm building proves worthy on Judgment Day, and if that means less time spent on the computer and more time spent focusing on God, my home, and my family then that's what I commit to.  I don't want to spend my life on frivolous things only to get to the end and see it burned up as nothing.

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How about the job God has given you?  
Will the quality of your work stand up to the fires of testing on Judgment Day?

End of December

A couple of days after Christmas we got some serious snow fall, like as in 6 - 7 inches in one day!

The kids had so much fun playing in it.

I pulled both kids around the yard in the sled, and then when I would tire out and need a break Halie would take over pulling Burl around.  She is such a sweet sister to him.

He handled the whole freezing cold/snow thing much better this year than he did the last time we attempted it the winter before last.

On a Saturday Robert and I took them to the local park for some sledding fun.  I snapped this beautiful picture of the frozen pond with my phone.

Getting ready to go down the hill!

He was smiling until the split second before the picture snapped, lol!

Getting warmed up by the fire before another round of sledding.

We also finally had time to do the Christmas Rice Krispie train that Robert's parents sent us.

We each worked on our own train car.

Robert had the engine, and he made it a Ford of course.  : )

Burl's train car (with a little help from Mommy)

Robert's

Halie's

And I brought up the end of the train with the caboose.

They couldn't wait for it to be finished and pictures to be done so they could tear into it!  :D

New Year's Eve found us over at the neighbor's house for an evening of fun games and good food!

I made this Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake.

The recipe was new to me and it was a bit time consuming, but lemme tell ya...it was SO worth it!  Dee-licious!!!  It had an Oreo crust, a soft as silk layer of cheesecake, a layer of chocolate mousse, topped off with chocolate espresso ganache!  Even Robert liked it and he usually won't touch anything coffee flavored.

I could not even believe this little man stayed up the entire evening!  I took along his PJ's and blanket fully expecting him to wear out and need to lay down at some point, but he never did.  He went full steam ahead the entire night!

That finishes off December and I am once again woefully behind.  : (  

But...better late than never, right?

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Robert's boss was nice enough to give him Christmas Eve off so that morning we slept in just a little bit,  we each ate a bowl of Christmas Crunch cereal that my mom sent us, then we set to work cleaning up the house.  I told them I wanted a clean house for Christmas so we all worked together and had it done in no time.

Daddy and Halie making the cake

We spent the afternoon making our birthday cake for Jesus, and getting things ready for dinner on Christmas day so that I didn't have to be stuck in the kitchen all day.

Then, in the evening we took a drive and went out to see some Christmas lights.

When we got home we set out our cookies and milk for Santa, and put Fred the Elf nearby so he'd be ready for Santa to take him home.

We let the kids get their blankets and pillows and stretch out by the tree for awhile.  They were so incredibly cute with their excited whispers and abundance of giggles.  They put on quite the comedy show for us as they laid there.  Then Gretchen decided she needed to join in on the fun and laid down between them.  She would get really close to their faces and just stare at them....and they would stare back...and they'd sit there like that until one of them caved and giggled and then Gretchen would cover them with wet kisses.  Then they'd start all over again.  It was the cutest thing ever!

Halie actually fell asleep there by the tree, but not Burl.  He was still wired up at 9:30 so we put him in his own bed and carried Halie to hers so that "Santa" could come.

The tree before Santa's visit.

And after!

Since we didn't go anywhere for Christmas this year it wasn't spread out like it normally is, going to one family's house and then the other's.  Between presents from us, both sets of grandparents, and an Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, there were a LOT of gifts to be opened.  :)

Stockings all stuffed and ready to go.

She still loves Alex the Lion so she was VERY excited to have Alex shampoo!

Another train for his Thomas set.

He pulled this out of his stocking and yelled, "Mater soap!!"  You can tell he was excited about that. :)

And of course, Gretchen had to have a stocking, too.

A family stocking from Nana and Papaw Delamarter.

I had to get him his own Pez dispenser because I knew otherwise he'd be stealing all of the kids' candy from theirs, lol!

Cute new slippers from my Hubs.

After stockings were opened, we took a little break and I got breakfast in the oven while the kids played with their stocking stuffers.  Then we read the Christmas story and finally it was time to open all those presents!

Halie bought Burl a gift with her own money and even wrapped it herself.

She got him a loader, which he loved.  :)

I forgot to get a picture after she opened it, but this was a living room set for her doll house.  She only asked for 2 things for Christmas and this was one of them.  I figured I could just pick one up from Toys R Us no problem, but they don't sell them anymore!  I had to frantically search eBay at the last minute and hope hope hope that I won it (because there was only one that had the pieces she wanted) and that they would ship it quickly.  Thankfully, it all worked out and she was SO excited to have it!

Any kind of trucks/equipment gets Burl excited!  He's all boy.

A funny sign from my smart alec brother-in-law.  :D   

You'd think I hate to dust or something.

A new princess outfit for her doll. 

Halie has been wanting the Nemo movie for months and months and I thought surely I would happen across one at a yard sale this summer, or a thrift store or something.  But I never did, so I ordered them each a movie from eBay.  They were two very excited kids over those!

The last present they opened was the big one tucked in the back, a joint gift for the both of them from Meemaw and Papaw.

A piano that they can walk on.  So much fun!

I was so busy having fun watching them unwrap gifts and just soaking in their happiness that I missed a lot of pictures.  But that's ok, I think sometimes it's more important to have the memory stored away in your mind rather than missing the joy of the moment because you were trying to get the "perfect shot."

I thought it was funny that after everything was opened, Burl was playing with Halie's toys...

and Halie was playing with Burl's toys.  : )

Here's our birthday cake for Jesus.  I can't take much credit for this.  Robert and Halie baked it (from scratch I might add!), and Robert frosted it (with homemade icing as well).  All I did was make the white chocolate letters and help put the sprinkles on.  

They did a great job didn't they?

We put it on one of my Granny's Cape Cod serving platters.  It brings back lots of memories of her home and of staring at her large collection of these dishes when I was a child.

We each picked out a candle to add, and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Then the kiddos blew out the candles and we enjoyed a slice!

Even though we very much missed being around family, we still had a great Christmas and made lots of good memories together.