Well, I have been trying for almost two full weeks now to get to Peltzer Farms for a fun couple of hours in farm life and those precious family pictures among the pumpkins. But, my kids have single-handedly come up with various reasons (including sickness and sleep) to thwart my efforts upon every attempt! Don't they know that its supposed to be a blast with pig races, petting zoos, and tractors to view? I'm just trying to be that wonderful mom who exposes her kids to all sorts of little adventures and the beautiful varying aspects of nature that come with each season! I'm doing this for them!...or am I? The selfish motivation began to rear its head when I felt the boiling emotions of disappointment and frustration overflow into an agitated and impatient person--my gracious husband gently reminding me that we can try again another day. Well, we were still getting a pumpkin I determined after the 2nd time of actually changing our plans en route to Peltzer Farms. So what if Audrie has started to cry in her car seat...Jake and I were going to pick out a pumpkin at a local grocery store. Isn't that terrible!
Lately, I have been undergoing a lesson or two in flexibility and, as you can see, have yet to pass the course. In fact, my perfect plan for the day has been so difficult to maintain that I have even considered hanging up a schedule in the crib for Jake to thoroughly acquaint himself with the next day's events beforehand. Don't worry, I haven't gone that far--yet. But honestly, I thank the Lord at the close of the day for His faithful work in my life. It has been said that if you want to rid yourself of selfishness, get married and if you want to learn to die daily to self, have kids. But I am thankful for the beauty that both my husband and children bring to my life. And, I am glad God is continuously working out flexibility in this girl who is most comfortable with a planner in one hand and list of to-do's in the other. Perhaps I shouldn't share this shameful secret, but I have been known to even add an item on the list after it has been completed just so I can have the satisfaction of checking it off.
Well, we have one more day to try and make it out to Peltzer Farms but after all of my persistent efforts I think I can honestly say that my disappointment will be under control this time around. After all, I still have my pumpkin!...kidding!! "A fool vents all hes feelings, but a wise man holds them back." Proverbs 29:11. And, "He who rules his emotions [is better] than he who takes a city." Proverbs 16:32 Also, I am on the lookout for my selfless motivation becoming a selfish ambition. Its amazing how small a step it takes to cross over!
Here are a few pictures from last year just in case this year doesn't work out!

A Limerick or two!

Fall is here and the time for reading poetry in front of a fire has arrived! Here are a couple of fun limericks to whet your appetite...

There was a young fellow named Hall,
Who fell in the spring in the fall.
’Twould have been a sad thing
If he died in the spring,
But he didn’t - he died in the fall.

A right-handed fellow named Wright,
In writing "write", always wrote "rite"
Where he meant to write right.
If he'd written "write" right
Wright would not have wrought rot writing "rite".

Encourage the young women to love their husbands

While celebrating the 10 minutes I was able to steal away and freshen up in the shower, I was contemplating the topic posed by my good friend (though he doesn't know it himself) Dennis Prager on loving your husband, or wife, with the same devotion as your pre-marriage dating days. Now he was certainly not suggesting that your love was at its best in those romance-filled days of love's early blossoming. Instead, that we are much in danger with the progression into married life of losing the consideration to self presentation that we, and I mean especially us as women, made sure to not forget when seeking to allure our mate. And I find this especially challenging with the busy days of child-rearing where baby spit-up and mashed broccoli are more like to be seen decorating my appearance than a pretty necklace paired with a crisp white dress and high heels. Good luck seeking me gliding about our home chasing Jacob in those heels while Audrie strangles me with the necklace. Not a pretty picture even if the dress did manage to stay white! But I began wondering if I shouldn't be putting in more of an effort to keep up my personal presentation. In fact, I became convinced that I should be striving higher than I had been to become a beautiful women and thereby love my husband more. This didn't necessarily mean walking in the high heeled shoes of dating days for my routine home life, but putting on a fresh (child-friendly) outfit at the start of each morning and pulling out that lipstick and sweet-smelling perfume before he gets home from work. Certainly part of loving my husband is continuing to show him that I care enough about pleasing him that I will take a few moments of each day to look pleasant. It also involves striving to eat well and exercise to keep my body healthy, active and more attractive to my husband. But more importantly, as Prager too was emphasising, the outward appearance alone falls short of the beauty we should be striving after. Daily we should be striving to present an attitude that is pleasant, encouraging, gracious and godly to our husbands. I'm sure that I put my best foot forward when Michael was considering me as a potential wife--I wanted him to trust that I would make a beautiful women to be his wife and the mother of his children. Now that I am his wife and the mother of his two children, how silly of me to let that same devotion to drawing those beautiful qualities to the surface fade to the background in the busy chaos of diaper changes and menu-planning. Perhaps the Hollywood emphasis of love simply at its earliest form (if that) has done us more damage than we realized. I, for one, have fomented a new passion and dedication to loving my husband in such a way that, with the deepening of our love after four years of marriage, the girlish desire to be modestly attractive and pleasing to my husband is not forgotten!

Big brother is doing well!

Here is how beautifully the boy is doing with adjusting to his little sister! Yes, Jacob is just as goofy as ever.

Audrie Grace Shelton

Audrie Grace Shelton was welcomed into our family on July 17th at 6 lb 3 0z and 19.5 in!

Preparing for Life!

It is a resolution of our family to be ever preparing for life...the life which is promised to those who claim pilgrimage and acquire the name of sojourner while on this earth. With a world about us which parades the temporal in our face each day and night, we must be determined to see the eternal--a vision which is granted by our Lord to those who follow hard after Him. It is my hope and prayer for our family that we use this earthly stay to prepare for the life eternal with our beautiful God, to be about His business each day. This determination insists upon the hard work of taking up our cross daily, rightly dividing the word of God's truth, loving others, and loving God with all our heart, soul and mind. May our Lord give us the grace and strength needed to always be preparing for life!