Happy Birthday Drew!

Today is my sweet baby's birthday! I can't believe Andrew is 4 years old!
How did this happen so fast?!

We woke up this morning to a "family birthday party". Michelle started doing this with her family years ago, but I just started with Ben's birthday back in August. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it for Drew too! I think it will become a tradition for us, too.


A couple of days ago, Drew told me that he wanted cowboy boots and a cowboy hat for his birthday! It was hilarious when he told me, because I had no idea he would have ever thought of that. I still don't know where the idea came from! So that's what we got for him! He was THRILLED! He looked so cute this morning when he got dressed up in his "cowboy clothes."

He loved his new "cowboy belt" too!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother! She has loved and cared for me with all her heart all of my life! She is a wonderful grandmother and an superior example of how to love your children. It is so special that she and Drew get to share their birthday's together! I wish we could all be together today! I love you, Mama!

The Initiator

This is an awesome passage which the author of Hebrews tells us is about the New Covenant that God establish through Christ. Notice who the initiator is in the passage...it's stunning how many "I will" phrases are in the text!

Ezekiel 36:22-31

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name,

So God is more interested in His name and His glory than anything else.

which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24

How does he vindicate the holiness of his name? Romans 3:21-26 tells us! It's through the shed blood of Christ that God can be just and justifier!

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.

How's your self-esteem doing?

32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.