The Fruit of the Spirit

"But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galations 5:22-23a)

That's a tall order if you try to take it all in all at once. So I'm going to break it down for you... more to come!

We have a crawler!

That's right! Grace is crawling! We were hanging out in her room the other morning while the boys and dogs were still sleeping, and I saw that she was trying to move forward, so I scooted back and encouraged her to come to me. Slowly she made her way into my arms! I was so proud of her, and of course, cried my heart out while squeezing the breath out of her! It's bittersweet to see them achieve their milestones. On one hand, you're excited and proud because they're growing up, but on the other hand, you're sad because they really do grow up way too fast!

Anyways, after Patrick woke up, I told him. Later that day, we just HAD to buy a new video camera, using Grace's new trick as our excuse :) If you want to see her in all her glory, click this link: www.jenniferjabbour.com/personal/crawling.exe

I've been bad

...but I've been busy. I keep thinking about posting and then never do! I have so much to talk about, but just haven't had the time to sit down and write. I need to become friends with the "save draft" option.

I finally finished reading my book, A Woman's Walk With God by Elizabeth George. I just love George! I've read several of her books and keep going back for more! I get so much out of her writings and really feel like I can relate to her. I'm now journaling about what I read, and want to start putting my writings here, to share what I've learned.

I just wanted to revise something that I have over on my sidebar. I wrote, that life is meant to be more than just working, cooking and cleaning, or something like that. But, maybe not. Maybe I'm right where God wants me to be. Working full time, and when at home being a housewife and a mom. I don't know what my life was meant for other than pleasing God. And to please God, I need to be thankful for what I've got (a job, a family, a home, etc) and be faithful with it (doing my best with what I've got). Because she who is faithful in the small things will be faithful in the big things :)

That's all for now....

A Little Bit of Everything

You know how they say that there's good stress and bad stress? Well, stress is still stress, right? Right now, there's just a whole lotta everything going on. Nothing real bad or anything like that, praise God! But just lots of things that make me feel like my goal for simplicity is unrealistic. I just feel that it's so far out of reach and everything that happens in my life seems to push that goal further away.

I'm just busy. Busy doing what???? Oh, you know, the usual - taking care of the kids, the dogs, the house, working full time, trying to lose weight, trying to be perfect... ha! Maybe I'm just foolish to think that I can have a fairy tale kind of life. The kind where by 7:30 each night, both kids are sound asleep in their beds, the house is clean (laundry is all folded and put away, the kitchen sink is empty and shiny, and everything is put away in it's proper place), allowing me to sit down and work on things that I enjoy doing (not that I don't enjoy being a mom and a housewife). But I do have other interests, you know....

So I spent a couple hours last night prepping meals for the week. Hopefully, this will ease some of the burden of getting dinner on the table. I feel that the more prepared I am, and the more I follow my routines, the more in control I feel and the more I am able to accomplish.

Ok, sorry for whining. Now, here's some news on the kids:

Grace - She's just about crawling! I keep expecting her to just take off. She's been getting up on all fours and rocking for about a week now. She even got up on her knees to look into a basket the other day! She does get around by rolling, but she gets angry because she can't seem to go in the direction she wants to go. She scoots backwards on her tummy, but I know she wants to go forward... It's funny to watch her get frustrated, but I know she'll figure it out soon enough. Tomorrow, she goes in for her 7 mos checkup and shots. I hate shots!!!! It's heartbreaking to see them get poked.

Noah - He's doing really well in preschool lately. No more getting into trouble. Apparently, he had an imaginary "friend" that was causing him to be bad. Unfortunately, "invisible Hunter" died. But Noah has stopped getting into trouble ever since! Noah is very proud of himself these days because he can recite the Pledge of Allegiance perfectly! It's sad that I stumble over it and he has to help me to get the words right.

I'm excited because Patrick bought me a new bike! It's an electric blue Diamond Back Insight 2. I really like it. A couple weeks ago, Patrick's cousin gave us a bike trailer. Now I can actually go bike riding and bring the kids along! No more excuses..... I'll get Patrick to take a picture next time we go out for a ride.

Ok, that's all for now... I need to come back and post about what I've been learning at Journey this month. The whole month was about living dangerously with a dangerous God. Yesterday's message was the one that really got to me. Is your God a "safe" God or a "dangerous" God??? Think on that and I'll be back soon with more details.

Just Grace

Here's a photo, as promised. I will add more later.

Ok, I know I have not posted in over a week. And I'm sure you're all wondering where those daily photos are that I promised to start posting.... well, to be honest, I still haven't gotten the hang of it. I did take some photos the other day of the kids in the bath, and I do intend to post them. Usually, my intentions are great and well thought out. But, I'll let you in on a secret about me.... my follow through sucks! But that's a part of me that I'm working on - one day at a time.

So, instead of a daily photo, I'm going to strive for a photo each week. I hope to get up to doing a daily photo soon, but let's not set the bar to high... okay?

Thanks for your comments, everyone! It makes me feel that I need to keep posting. I hope this blog can be a blessing to my readers! God does amazing things in my life and I just want the world to know!

Here are some examples of some of the amazing things that happened to me today, thanks to God:

• I got to lay next to my sweet baby Grace and husband all night long.
• I got to see Grace's smiling face this morning.
• I made it safely to work.
• I got to have lunch with a friend

I'm looking forward to more amazing things happening - hugging Noah and Grace when I pick them up today, hugging Patrick when he gets home from work, and spending quality time with them tonight and all weekend!

New year, new me?

Happy new year to anyone out there reading this!

By the way, have I mentioned that I love comments? So if you're reading this, please leave me a comment :)

It's so easy to fall into the trend of coming up with a long list of new year resolutions. Even when I don't make a tangible list, I still tend to make a mental list of the things I'm going to do once the new year begins. That's basically what I've done this year. But I'm really trying not to set the bar too high. It seems that most of my new year resolutions fall by the wayside after the first couple weeks. So, my goal is really to improve the areas of my life that I have been working on all along.

The main theme of last year was to simplify all areas of my life. So, that is my theme going forward this year. But to be more specific, these are some things I want to do/accomplish in 2009 that I feel will make my life more fulfilling:

• Read my Bible each day
• Take a photo each day
• Exercise each day
• Drink 8 cups of water each day
• Play the piano at least once a week (before I forget how to play!)

By the end of 2009, I want to be:

• Closer to God
• More like Jesus
• 25 lbs lighter
• A better photographer
• A better mom
• A better wife
• A content person, knowing that I made the best of my life with the time God gave me

I'm going forward with the outlook that everything I have is from God and I must honor and respect that fact. He has given me life - so I need to take care of myself. He has given me family - so I need to love them and care for them. He has given me a job - so I need to do my best when I'm there. He has given me talents and skills - so I need to continually improve them and use them to glorify him. He has given me a home - so I need to keep it clean and organized.

I am going to do my best to blog more often. I will start writing about what God is teaching me in my daily reading, and posting my photos that I take each day. Maybe I'll even record some piano music once I get back into practice :) I need to rediscover me. As a child I created everyday. As an adult I think about creating and then never find the time. Hopefully, as I continue to simplify my life, I will find that time to do the things I love, and maybe pass some of that love for creating onto my children.

So, here's to a successful and happy new year! Have a great 2009!