Living an Intentional Life
These guys. Their sole job is to break stuff. Seriously. All they do is demolish and bust. It must be great anger management for them.
Today their job was to get rid of all the cabinets. Tom had to keep an eye on them so they didn’t bring down the retaining wall (a minor detail).
Look at all these before pics!
You get a feel for the foyer, living room and kitchen. Soon to be completely different!
Go Monty and Tom team!
Stay tuned!
A few weeks ago, Daddy did a lesson on prayer.
After watering our plants daily (with prayer) it seems as if the cups of seeds are growing. This is showing Tatum that those who pray, grow their hearts, grow in love, and grow closer to God. It sure shows; Daddy’s lesson is producing!
Tatum’s is growing the most. That is a great picture of our walk with Christ.
(Sadly the person who doesn’t know Jesus is not growing much at all).
Upon all this science fun, we were to paint our front door. You see, the HOA mentioned my door was looking a bit drab. (in other words, paint it or get fined). I decided to paint it.
Tot helped of course!
Tape up the parts which were NOT to be painted and go!
VOILA!
Not bad for us amateurs. I hope Daddy doesn’t hire us to do the McCormick house. (wink wink).
He is RISEN!
Tatum woke up to an Easter basket at the front door. It was a taste of the excitement to come.
We headed to church and enjoyed a beautiful service. The sermon was an analogy to taking a train ride. Some are still at the station (checking out Jesus as a teacher or prophet). Some have arrived and are experiencing His forgiveness and LOVE fully as Savior and Lord. We are not to judge where one is on the journey; it’s between them and God. Tatum enjoyed the service with us.
I made a lovely meal for my mom. Daddy, and Tot. First, an Easter egg hunt. Daddy and I hid the eggs last night and documented all of it so we wouldn’t forget any of them.
She had no problem finding all 10!
Next year, you’ll have to be better hiders, Daddy and Mommy.
Apparently so. Mama and Daddy took some nice pics before brekkie.
They are ready to eat now. Here is the menu:
Maple Turkey Blueberry Sausage, Avocado Deviled Eggs, and Coconut Flour and Vanilla Cream Cheese Hot Cross Buns. Fruit and coffee of course.
Dearly delicious and delightful. I love spoiling my family! But more importantly, I love to celebrate our Savior. We opened the last egg today and finished our Benjamin’s Box story.
The last egg which is white is….
EMPTY. He has risen and the tomb is empty.
Praise JESUS!
Tatum helped me in the kitchen all day. I wanted to make a special meal for my mom, Doug, and Tot. It required lots of prep!
Tatum and I decided to make our own version of Hot Cross Buns with coconut flour and vanilla cream cheese frosting. She helped frost them after a few taste tests. Ha!
We also made maple blueberry turkey sausage patties. DELISH!
Avocado deviled eggs and fruit to finish it off. You’ll see pics tomorrow..
We also made Easter cookies. They were symbolic of the death of Jesus and His resurrection. Her school gave her this recipe, so we decided to try it.
We pounded the pecans to signify His brutal beating.
Then she smelled the vinegar to signify the sour taste of his death.
Then the salt to signify the salty tears he shed for us.
None of this is very appetizing yet. But then…The SUGAR! The sweetness of the Lord’s death and His love for us!
Now we beat until we have peaks forming.
Add in the pecans and drop the mounds on the cookie sheet (with wax paper). These are the tomb. We then put them in the oven (which has been preheated to 300 and then turned off)
Seal the oven shut. (the tomb is now blocked)
The next morning, we unseal the tomb and look what we have!
They are hollow inside like the empty tomb. They also are delicious meringues!
Glory to God; He has risen.
More on the breakfast in the next blog!!
Daddy took Friday off so we could all experience this special day together.
We had a full Friday planned. First, gym of course, then we would come home and pick up our bikes. It was going to be the hottest day of the year so far, so we wanted to finish our bike ride early. We decided to play frisbee because it would be a way to get our wiggles out and it was free! Fun, free, frisbee and Friday. Yes!
When we are on the bike path, only everyone comments to her as she toots by. “Go GIRL! Look at her go!”
We arrived at the park and stayed in the shade. She is getting it down! Go Tot and Daddy!
We worked her hard; actually she worked us as she might have missed the aim a few times (wince wince)
Time to go because guess what? We have to cycle home and that is a bit far and we weren’t about to carry her home on our backs. (bike and all, right!?)
All ready!
We headed to SBC after this to go through the stations of the cross for Good Friday. The theme was “TIME.” There is a time for mourning, weeping, joy, and death .(Everything). (Eccles 3). We got there about noon as it shows on this sundial.
The path through the process of His crucifixion was so special. It started with many forms of famous artwork. This was especially memorable.
Through the path, there was a point where we could lay down and feel the cross and the idea of lifting it up.
We understood the brunt to this day, and at the end we also expressed our overwhelming gratitude for His sacrifice. How can we use our gifts for GOOD? How can we magnify HIM in all we do and say? Easter will be a time of celebration,.
Later that day, my honey worked on the patio door. It is literally falling off the hinges. Guess what was hiding in our patio?
Wait for it….
A bunny! He was looking for the quickest escape. He needed to get ready for Easter, I suppose.
What a fabulously fun, but focused on HIM Friday. We are definitely ready to celebrate His resurrection on Easter morning because our Lord is a GOOD GOOD Father who loves us immensely (John 3:16).
Thank you Tot and Daddy for an amazing day. I love you both.
Tatum has gone through the whole book box at school. These books were the readers which have all the sounds she has learned. She’s “graduated” to books of her choosing!
Well, tonight, she picked the book about Joseph. She was sad about how his brothers treated him. (she knew the story).
Now she’ll read all of it to me. I’m so enjoying her rhythm and pace. She has so much feeling in her read!
I’m so proud of you, Tatum!
It’s important to match for our weekly meetings, you see. Hay Happens shirts!
Now that we are dressed properly, we can focus on our mission statement.
Daddy then asked us a multiple choice question: Would you like to hear a Bible verse, go on a field trip or conduct a science experiment?
Tot answered correctly: SCIENCE, Daddy!
He talked to us about why we pray. Prayer enlarges our heart and grows our relationship with God. It’s a way we can get closer to Him and a way to grow in LOVE.
We are ready, Daddy, for our experiment. Let’s open the lab now.
He had us write our names on these cups, and then we had a fourth cup for a person who doesn’t not know Jesus (yet!)
Then we added soil and seeds to each cup.
Now, a prayer cup filled with water.
Tatum added water to each cup, but did not add water to the cup for the person who didn’t know Jesus. (and therefore doesn’t pray).
Without prayer, it’s hard to grow. We will watch our cups sprout as time goes on. What a great lesson. The goal here is discussed in 1Thess 5:15. We shall pray without ceasing, but at the same time, rejoicing and thanking God ALWAYS. He grows our hearts as we keep our focus vertically.
I decided to make a BLESSING BOX for our home to make this stick and to remind us to stay focused on our blessings, but also to remember our prayers and see HOW God will answer them.
The yellow cards are for blessings:
Blessings include: our family and family dinners! Tot is grateful for Mommy, Daddy, Mama and Coti.
Prayers are on the orange card.
We’ll keep track of our prayers and write down when they are answered. This is a way to memorialize our blessings and prayers. It’s so important to keep track so we can stay grateful, remembering how GOOD GOD IS. (despite our circumstances).
Thank you, Hay’s, for a great meeting.