Taming the Tongue

I generally don't think of myself as a gossiper. Who does? But several weeks ago, my husband was confessing a specific incident where he thought he had painted someone in a bad light by a comment that he made about them. He shared that he thought that this was gossip and that he needed to follow up with appropriate individuals out of repentance, and be more careful only to speak words that build up. Mind you, I didn't even think that the incident he was referring to was gossip; it seemed to me that he was only re-telling about something that happened. The Lord convicted me though, that gossip is just what Josh had said-something that has the potential to "paint someone in a bad light." Whether or not it actually does that isn't the point. So...how much of my speech is gossip?

This quote by Spurgeon's devotional, "Morning & Evening," from November 27th gets right to the heart of it.

"Whether the report be true or false, we are by this precept of God's Word forbidden to spread it. The reputations of the Lord's people should be very precious in our sight, and we should count it shame to help the devil to dishonour the Church and the name of the Lord. Some tongues need a bridle rather than a spur. Many glory in pulling down their brethren, as if thereby they raised themselves. Noah's wise sons cast a mantle over their father, and he who exposed him earned a fearful curse. We may ourselves one of these dark days need forbearance and silence from our brethren, let us render it cheerfully to those who require it now. Be this our family rule, and our personal bond-SPEAK EVIL OF NO MAN."

Lord, help me to speak evil of no man today!

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Quick Life Update

This is probably not the best time to blog given that I've got water on the stove attempting to boil, a daughter who is nearing the stairs, and only a couple of minutes to spare. But I haven't updated in forever and I figure that if I don't update more regularly no one will read so....

Really quickly:

*Thank you for your prayers for my retreat! The Lord met me and I was refreshed in my soul as well as encouraged for this next season.

*Thank you for your prayers for Tali. We found out that she has a sinus infection & she is not feeling well but is hopefully on the road to recovery.

* I am storing up about a million posts in my head and I hope that at some point soon I'll have time to type them out. Until then, enjoy the Lord's all sufficient grace today!

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Retreat Day!

Today I am off for a much anticipated retreat. I would love your prayers for the following:

1) That I would have fresh affection for the Savior and His work on the cross for me.
2) That I would be filled with wisdom from the Lord to evaluate the specific priorities of my devotional life, my marriage, parenting, and managing the home.
3) That God would show me practical ways to pursue growth in each of the above areas, particularly as it pertains to this next season with a new baby.
4) For energy & focus, as I am lacking in both these days!
5) For Tali: she's got a horrible cold that may be turning into something worse.
6) For the Trainor family: they all have a terrible stomach flu. (Yuck.)

Thank you so much for praying! The Lord has been kind to give me this time and I want to maximize it for His glory. Apart from His grace, I know that I won't accomplish anything meaningful but I have hope that He will help me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Brush Those Teeth!

Tali signing "toothbrush."
Isn't she just so stinkin' cute???

p.s.-She hasn't had any tremors in the past 2 days so I ended up canceling her appointment. I think it's pretty likely that they are just big "shivers" from her getting cold. She has really horrible circulation (she wears 2 long sleeve onesies and a sweater most days but her hands and cheeks are still icy). Anyway, thank you for your prayers. We are grateful!

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One Year Stats

Miss Talitha showing off her new gloves & hat (that Mommy accidentally put on backwards!)
We took Little Missy in on Monday for her one year check up. She is a healthy, growing girl and aside from screaming and crying all throughout the visit, things went well. :) Below are some things that we learned about her current stats and other fun Tali facts.

Weight: just under 22 lbs (a little above 50th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (we think...we forgot to write it down)
Words: Ma Ma, Da Da, MahMa (Grandma), Bay-buh (baby), aye (hi), bye, wawa (water), bah (bottle), baa (bath), buh (brother), Puh (Pops), mayyy (mail)
Signs: Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, Baby, ball, eat, more, please, thank you, drink, bottle, star, light, car, sleep, rain, tree, play, where is it, (I can't remember what else)
Communication: Tali loves to let you know what she's thinking. Yesterday I was trying to give her a sippy cup with water in it and she kept frowning and shaking her head. She kept doing the "milk" sign to me until I finally said, "Do you want some milk?" She got a huge smile on her face and nodded her head, "yes."
Favorite Books: "Who's Making That Noise," "Sisters," "All Around"
Naps: It depends on the day, but she's still taking two (a little over an hour in the am, anywhere from 1-1.5 in the afternoon)
Bedtime: 7:00pm in crib and falls asleep around 7:30pm until about 7:00am (she does wake up in the middle of the night at times but is able to happily babble until she falls back to sleep)
Favorite Activities: dancing to music, spending time with Daddy, going to get the mail, seeing her friends, playing in her baby gate, rocking her baby, pretending to feed her baby, playing at Grandpa & Grandma's, drinking her vanilla soy milk
New Skills: is starting to stand without holding onto anything, has taken a couple of steps

That's the update for now! Have a wonderful weekend.

p.s.-We've finally generated two strong possibilities for baby boy names: Connor David and Joshua Owen. If we do Connor, we'll call him just that. If we go with Joshua Owen, we'll call him Joshua Owen. We'll probably just wait until we see his sweet little face till we decide.

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The Lord Establishes Our Steps

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

Well, a slight change of plans. Lord willing, I will be taking the retreat at some point before the baby is born but today is not the day. I am content in knowing that we can plan all that we want but ultimately it is the Lord who establishes our steps. When it's re-scheduled I'll be sure to ask for prayer again.

p.s.-So far Tali hasn't had any tremors in her chin. Thank you for the prayers.

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Prayer Requests

Tomorrow I'm taking a personal retreat to spend time being refreshed in God's Word and to evaluate the different priorities that God has given me for this season of my life & the season when the baby is here. I would love your prayers! Would you pray for the following:

1) That I would have fresh affection for the Savior and His work on the cross for me.
2) That I would be filled with wisdom from the Lord to evaluate the specific priorities of my devotional life, my marriage, parenting, and managing the home.
3) That God would show me practical ways to pursue that growth in each of the areas I'm seeking to evaluate.

Thank you so much! Also, on another note, I would love prayers for Tali. She has been having this weird tremor-like thing happening with her chin. It started out happening when she would first wake up from a nap and now it is getting longer and happening much more frequently. We mentioned it to the Dr. at her one year appointment and she said that it's probably just an immature nervous system. But, as her mom, I'm concerned that it might be something more given that it's happening more frequently. Please pray that the Lord would heal her and that He'd give her dr. wisdom when I take her in on Monday to double check on things.

Thank you for your prayers!

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Worshiping Him Alone

We talk a lot around Sovereign Grace Ministries about loving the Gospel (Christ's dying work on the cross on our behalf) above all else. We want to bow our hearts to Jesus alone. As David Powlison puts it (and this is a paraphrase), we all worshipers and we all worship something. If we're not worshiping Jesus, then what are we actively worshiping? What is ruling our hearts, what are we bowing down to at any given moment in the day? If we're not bowing to Jesus, then we're worshiping an idol, a false god that will not satisfy.

My idol of choice tends to be love of ease. I want things to be easy. I want life to be a resort. Essentially, I want every day to be like my beautiful honeymoon in Maui with my wonderful husband: warm weather, bright sun, the ocean, falling more & more in love, no responsibilities, no worries, no laundry, no cooking, no tiredness, no messy house to clean. You might think I'm nuts to want this and you're right, I sort of am. But be honest, don't you want life to be like a resort? How do you respond when it's not?

My response is usually to complain or to get angry when things aren't easy. I'm bowing down to the idol of ease, worshiping that instead of worshiping God. Lately my temptation has been to do this complaining more inwardly than outwardly, but it still shows that I'm worshiping something other than Christ. It's true that it's uncomfortable to be 8 months pregnant and bending over all the time to care for my sweet one year old. It's true that I'm tired and I don't feel like cooking. But none of that changes the fact that because Christ died and saved me from my sins, I should be the most grateful and joyful person in the world. My heart should be bowing before Him and not the idol of ease. I am forgiven and loved by God! I am not condemned and separated from God any longer! I am reconciled to God because of the blood of Jesus. He alone is worthy of my worship. I want to bow down and worship Him, not my idol of ease that will never satisfy.

Even the warm sun in Maui is only a fleeting satisfaction. The joy of living for Christ is eternal. Let's bow our hearts to Him today and not to the false idols that cannot satisfy.

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Thank you, Pops & Grammy!

Dear Pops & Grammy,
I love the pretty birthday flowers that you sent me. I am having so much fun sniffing at them and playing with them. They are so bright and beautiful. Thank you for loving me and blessing me on my birthday! Love, Tali

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He Is Always At Work

Once the baby is born, my time in God's Word will be shortened for a while and I want to seize the opportunity that I have now to dig a little deeper into scripture. This morning, I was debating what to start studying and the Lord brought to my mind a great resource that I was given on Esther. I am always struggling to trust that God's sovereign plan is actually a good one (especially when what He's doing doesn't make sense to me or I can't see His hand at work) so I know that the book of Esther will be instructive for me.

Today, I read the following in Iain Duguid's commentary on Esther & Ruth:

"...we may well have no idea what God is doing. He may seem hidden and remote, refusing to answer our prayers and to give us what we so earnestly ask of him. Wait! The end of our story has not yet been told, and who knows how the pieces of the jigsaw that at present seem to have no logical connection with one another will ultimately come together? Even though we cannot see God acting, it does not follow that he is not doing anything. God's work is not all slam-bang action; sometimes it is a quiet faithfulness to his promises in the seemingly ordinary providences of life, bringing about in the hearts of his people what he has purposed."

Whatever our circumstances are today, God is acting. We may not see what He's doing or understand the "why" behind it, but He really is at work. And when God is working, He always works for our good (Romans 8:28). I'm greatly encouraged by that reminder and hope that you are as well! May we look for His active work today and trust Him even when it's not clear what He's up to.

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Happy Birthday, Tali!

Enjoying her first sugar rush ever

Yesterday was our sweet girl's first birthday. It is hard to describe the varied emotions and range of thoughts that Josh & I experienced as we celebrated our daughter turning one. There has just been so many changes in her over the course of year! The time has gone so quickly and each month has been filled with more fun and more gratitude towards God for the gift of our baby girl. We never deserve any of God's blessings but I feel even more undeserving when I consider the blessing of Tali. She is just such a gift to us! When I look at her, I am reminded of God's undeserved kindness on our lives. Not only did God choose to save us from His wrath by pouring it out on His Son, He has richly blessed us with so many good things.

Next week she has her one year appointment. I'll update then about all the new things she's doing. Until then, happy birthday, Tali!

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Little Pumpkin

A couple of Mondays ago, Josh & I took Tali to a very small (and I mean small!) pumpkin patch. She adores anything that she can stand up against so she loved the pumpkins. She especially enjoyed trying to eat the small gourds. :) Unfortunately, it started to rain not long after we arrived, but we were able to snap some pretty cute pictures before that happened (but no pics of the gourd eating).

Have a wonderful weekend!

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