Words. It's one of the ways we use to communicate with others. There are so many words that can be used to be of encouragement to others. And then, there are some people who don't quite know how to use words in a nice way, but, in a way that can be hurtful to others. Sometimes I know that we say things and don't realize that they may hurt someones feelings and sometimes we say things in the heat of the moment. And sometimes we may mean to say something one way, but when it is delivered it comes out another way that can hurt someones feelings. But we have got to really make sure we watch what we say and how we say things. God wants us to make sure that when we speak that we are uplifting each other and not tearing each other down. Ephesians 4:29 says "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." So as you speak today, please be mindful of what is coming out of your mouth.
Well, this Friday is definitely turning out to be a much better day than last Friday! I took Lacey to the pediatrician this morning for a weight check. We have been following the GI specialist diet change for Lacey and Praise the Lord...she gained a pound! She is now 8 pounds 14 oz. Woo hoo!!! She has responded so well this week to this new diet and has spit up way less than what she had been. We are so thankful that this "easy" fix that the GI specialist thought would work IS working. We have to do another weight check next week Friday and then will meet with the GI specialist again on the 25th. Josh and I just want to say a big thank you to those who have been praying for our Lacey! We love you very much!
Today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It falls on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this forty day period of prayer and fasting.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of believers as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. (Palm Sunday is the Sunday when Jesus rode through Jerusalem on a donkey, before he was crucified that Friday. The people praised Him by waving palm branches)
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An example of one expressing one's penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (vv. 5-6, KJV) The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26).The prophet Daniel pleaded for God this way: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39). There are many examples of Godly people who fasted and prayed and put on ash to show their regret from sin or to petition God for an answer.
For us, today, we get ashes on our foreheads to honor Christ as the ultimate sacrifice, the fulfillment of the old testament law, the replacement to animal sacrifices. But really, those ashes on our foreheads symbolize that WE are the living sacrifice, that we must die daily to ourselves so that Christ can live in us. As living sacrifices, we have to ability to crawl off the altar. We have to willingly place ourselves back there every morning when we wake up. (Warren, The Purpose Driven Life). Fasting and repentance is a fantastic way to do that. You offer God a huge piece of yourself everyday, thus dying to your flesh and becoming that living sacrifice. If we starve the flesh, we will feed the spirit....and God will fill that starving flesh with Himself...the greatest gift of all. Over the next 40 days, give something up everyday to remind you of God's sacrifice or something that hinders your walk with Him and watch Him do a mighty work.
Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this forty day period of prayer and fasting.
Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of believers as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. (Palm Sunday is the Sunday when Jesus rode through Jerusalem on a donkey, before he was crucified that Friday. The people praised Him by waving palm branches)
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An example of one expressing one's penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (vv. 5-6, KJV) The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26).The prophet Daniel pleaded for God this way: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39). There are many examples of Godly people who fasted and prayed and put on ash to show their regret from sin or to petition God for an answer.
For us, today, we get ashes on our foreheads to honor Christ as the ultimate sacrifice, the fulfillment of the old testament law, the replacement to animal sacrifices. But really, those ashes on our foreheads symbolize that WE are the living sacrifice, that we must die daily to ourselves so that Christ can live in us. As living sacrifices, we have to ability to crawl off the altar. We have to willingly place ourselves back there every morning when we wake up. (Warren, The Purpose Driven Life). Fasting and repentance is a fantastic way to do that. You offer God a huge piece of yourself everyday, thus dying to your flesh and becoming that living sacrifice. If we starve the flesh, we will feed the spirit....and God will fill that starving flesh with Himself...the greatest gift of all. Over the next 40 days, give something up everyday to remind you of God's sacrifice or something that hinders your walk with Him and watch Him do a mighty work.
My church began revival Sunday and boy has it been good!! I feel so blessed to attend a church that accepts people of all races and all backgrounds. The spirit has been moving so much through praise and worship and through the messages. There have been at least 5 people saved each night, many rededicating their lives to the Lord, and last night we had a young lady come forward to be annointed by oil. Sunday night our preacher preached on Jonah. About how the Lord called him to go to Ninevah to preach the gospel, but instead he fled because he was afraid. I thought about how this applied to my life in so many cases. I know the Lord is calling me to believe and trust and go, but becuase of fear of the unknown I often turn away. Thankfully, we serve such a merciful God that he does not turn his back on us. He persues us until we give in to his command. I haven't ever been put in to the belly of a whale, but I too have experienced times in my life where darkness and dirtiness surround me and I have cried out to the Lord to help me. It often takes going through that nasty belly to see the bigger picture. However, God will bring us back even stronger because of what we have gone through.
It's hard to believe that Lacey turned 2 months old on Friday. It has gone by sooo fast! Anyway, this past Friday morning Lacey had her 2 month doctors appointment and first set of vaccinations. When we got to the pediatricians office they weighed her. She only weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces. This was a little concerning to them. Lacey has had a hard time keeping down her milk. She had been spitting up a lot and so Josh and I had been trying to find the right formula that would work for her and her tummy. Anyway, they were so concerned about her weight and the spitting up that they decided that we needed to go see a GI specialist. They just wanted to get a jump start on figuring out what the cause of this was from so we could come up with a solution. Josh was out of town with Echoing Angels, so, my parents went with me down to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. We met with Dr. Marcus and he was so very kind and wonderful with Lacey. He seems to think that she has reflux. And quite honestly, it's funny because our furry baby Gracie has reflux as well. So I guess it just runs in the family! LOL! Anyway, We have come up with a plan of action and are starting with the first step. And hopefully this will work and so far has worked. If for some reason it doesn't work then we will move on to step 2. But, we are praying that this easy fix will be the ticket for Lacey. We are not increasing the amount of milk we are giving her but we are adding rice cereal to her diet to give her more calories and to also thicken up the liquid so that the stomach feels full. And like I said, so far her spitting up has reduced GREATLY! She's keeping probably 98% of it down and hopefully putting on some weight. We go back to the pediatrican on Friday to do a weight check, so we'll know more then on if it is helping her gain weight. But, the specialist said that she wasn't fussy, seemed like a very happy baby and felt really good about this plan and thought that this would help.
She didn't leave the specialist office though without leaving her mark. They had me get her undressed so they could get an accurate weight on her and after they got the weight I went to pick her up and there she went just started peeing all over the scale. It was one of those slow motion moments where you see it happening and there was nothing you could do. They didn't give us one of those pee pads to put around her like they do at the pediatricians office. So there was nothing there to catch it. LOL...oh well. I'm sure it's happened before and probably won't be the last time. Anyway, that's how Lacey spent her 2 month birthday...visiting several doctors, getting shots, poked in the butt and peeing all over the scale. I guess she got the last laugh.
This weekend has been extremely productive for me. This has been the first weekend in a long time that I haven't been really busy or out of town. On Thursday, Neil headed to Nashville with EA to meet with management and then off to North Carolina for a concert with EA. This month their CD comes out, so they have many meetings and preparations for the release. I am so excited! We are so ready for this album to hit stores!
Since I am home by myself this weekend, I have been able to get so many things done. On Friday after work I made my first pound cake. Being a woman from the South, I think it is important I know how to cook. I have always grown up with my mom and my grandmother cooking big meals and baking. My mom always had a pie, cake, or cookies in the house! With my teaching job the way it is, I rarely have time to cook or bake anything because I'm never home. I got my new Southern Living Magazine in the mail and saw a recipe for a key lime pound cake. I knew I had to give it a try. It took me about 2 hours to complete the whole thing- bake time and all, but it turned out delicious! I swear- it looks straight out of a cook book. I was very proud of myself. You can ask Neil- I have had my share of kitchen disasters, so when this cake turned out pretty AND edible, I was stoked!
Today I cleaned the house a bit and then filed my taxes. I dread filing my taxes every year, but I'm glad I went ahead and got them done. One less thing to worry about!
Tomorrow I'm off to another performance with my company girls from the studio. I really couldn't ask for a better group of girls. They all work so hard and are so positive. I love teaching them! Last weekend we had our first dance competition. They did really well- I feel like a proud mother! I am so blessed to get to do what I love for a living.
Here is a picture of me and my Sr. Company girls from last weekend:
On top of the performance tomorrow, I have to start choreography for our June Show. I'm really excited to get started on choreography for this year's recital- we start on Monday. It's always a big deal when we start choreography- we reveal the theme for the recital and the girls get to see the costumes. It's such a fun week!
Well, I'm off to bed so I'm ready for my day of dance tomorrow!
Today is Friday, although it doesn't feel like Friday for me. I am in the middle of a very long work stretch. 148 hours in 14 days. I work all this weekend and next in addition to my regular work weeks. I am trying to take one day at a time and not look ahead because it overwhelms me a little. The biggest bummer is that I will once again miss going to the church at Callaway Gardens. The band plays there quite often and the church has become like family. The wives all usually go, and I am the only one who has never been. The pastor is getting married next week and I will miss it all. But I know that the Lord has provided these weekends so that we can catch up financially so I am trying to remember that. Trey was in Nashville the last two days and is headed to Dunn NC today. My mom has the kids all weekend since I am working. Thank you mom! I do get off work at 5 today and 3 on Saturday and Sunday. I have tonight and tomorrow night to myself and I am looking forward to it. I think I need it for my sanity. I am getting a hair cut this afternoon and there is a get together for my work later tonight that I'm going to. I miss Trey and the kids already and its only been 1 day. Here's to having a job!
