Parrot Posts

Sometimes God tells a truth to my heart so good that I just have to repeat it. It's usually where I can't write it down (shower, driving, etc..)

Today it was this: I see so many women (and men for that matter) striving to look so good on the outside by various natural and not-so-natural means, or having the newest, biggest, flashiest stuff or other forms of ego feeding. Unfortunately, it's not hard for me to recognize because I've been there myself. Now, it makes me sad.

As I was pondering this, God said to my heart, "What is the lust of a man or the jealousy of a woman compared to the love of God?"

Yes Lord! You are right! Why do we settle for scraps on the floor when God has a banquet for us? First Peter 3:3-4 says, "You beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Does it say we shouldn't wear braids or jewelry? No, it says our beauty shouldn't COME FROM those things.

Our society force feeds us the lie that we aren't worth anything unless we are beautiful and/or rich. God says we are beautiful to Him because He bought us with the most costly price, His own Son.


One day, God willing, we will all get older and our outter appearance will not be what it was, no matter how we fight it. It is good to eat right, excercise, bathe and be presentable? Yes! But what are our motives for these activities?

I often day dream of what I would wish for if I had three wishes. I know, silly as it is, it is fun for me. One wish that keeps resurfacing is that every person would turn inside out. By that I mean, their outsides would reflect their hearts. The only way to become more beautiful would be to grow in Chirst adorning ourselves with love, humility, and all the fruit of the Spirit. The closer we grow to Him, the less we will care how we appear to others. Wonder if that's how heaven will be?

Three's a crowd

http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-weekend-babypalooza.html

Baby shower

The shower for Dera will be on Sunday April 5th from 2-4 at my house! See you there!

More pics

Dera is even cuter than her pictures. She's just a tiny little lady. Luke asked to hold her and he didn't want to give her up. He asked on the way home when we could bring her to our house.

Dera's first pics

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Dera Marie Smithson. She was a little earlier than expected, but mom and baby are both doing fine. She weighed in at a heaping 5:14! Congrats Matt and Diane!

Punch some body!

Liam told Joel after soccer practice that he didn't like one kid on the team because he didn't follow the rules (Liam loves rules) and he would kick the ball out of bounds as hard as he could. When Liam asked him why he kept doing it, the kids said, 'because I'm good!' Apparently he's not good, but he's been told that over and over so he's a believer! Liam said he would like to punch the kid in the face and tell him that he isn't any good. But then he said, "but God says we're supposed to love our enemies, so I'll pray for him instead even though I don't want to." Joel and I are so pleased that he takes God's word and hides it in his heart. He's such a blessing to us!

before and after

Liam and Luke had their teeth yanked yesterday, 3 each. They both did great without even a whimper! Neither one of them had much pain afterwards either. God is good!

Sweet Liam

Liam and Luke are going to have some teeth pulled tomorrow. I asked Liam if he would like to pray and this was his prayer:

God I know that you will be with Luke and me when we have our teeth out tomorrow. I pray we have a fun time and a little bit hurting time. We know it might hurt a little bit, but we don’t have to be afraid because You’re there. We can close our eyes and just think about how amazing You are. Amen.

I wish that I had gotten IT like Liam when I was eight years old. We are so proud of him. He's going to be baptized on March 29th with his good friend Morgan. We pray he will be full of the Spirit his whole life though.

sleigh bells ring.... are you listening?

'Hats off' to my aunt Susan for having another wonderful Christmas get together at her house. Our adult gift exchange was a hat exchange. It was a riot! We decided next year we are going to do socks... I really enjoyed meeting my little 'cousin' Logan. He's the new son of my cousin Dustin and his wife Christy. What a smiley little booger! He was so happy all day. I also enjoyed my cousin Matt and his wife Melissa's little 18 month old foster daughter Olivia. She and I liked each other at once and she cried when I left which tore my heart out! Grandma and Grandpa really seemed to enjoy the family album book that I created for them. Several other family members are ordering one too. You can view the book at this link: http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/504645 You'll have to cut and paste it since I can't figure out how to add the link correctly. It was a fairly nice day outside, besides the wind, so the kids (big and small) played outside and went to the park. You can see by the picture that Matt really enjoyed his ride on the little girl bike!
Matt on the bike.
Stefani and Olivia
Little Logan

Luke's word of the day

This morning Luke asked me if he could watch the weather.

"Weather?!", I asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, you know, the meteorologist." He replied.

He never fails to surprise me with his vocabulary.....

Pete smiles

Finally I got Pete to smile for a picture! Do you know how hard it is to get a cat to smile?

Sooooooo long......

It's been so long since I've posted on my blog. So sorry! I've been busy with creating Christmas gifts and all sorts of other projects. My blog got neglected. Luke reminded me this morning that I needed to post something when I asked him why he was still sitting at the breakfast table instead of getting dressed (like I asked him to three times!). He replied, "Because I'm dating someone..." What a weird sense of humor! You NEVER know what is going to come out of that kid's mouth.

Fall Fest

Well, Joel has been gone about a week now...one more to go. I hadn't felt like pulling my hair out until this morning. I'm better now...Anyway, we had a great time last night. Liam won 3rd place for his Indiana Jones costume and Lily won second place with her nurse costume. Thanks to Willa Rae (aka Granny) for making both costumes. Our friend Shawn went with us. He was a convict...we hope he never wears the outfit for real!

Nora Schwieger

I am writing to let you all know that our beloved Grandma Nora finally got to go and be with Jesus today! She was so ready to go and Joel and I got to be right by her side until the end. What a blessing! I’m not sure when services will be, but it will most likely be next early next week. The family is all doing well, but they are sad of course. Joel is leaving tomorrow for Trinidad along with 4 other family members. Nora asked that they NOT cancel their plans because it was more important to do the Lord’s work than to go to a funeral. She’s a remarkable lady and has left an amazing legacy of which I am privileged to be a small part. I only hope that I can continue her ‘work’ and make her proud. I know when it’s my turn I will see her in Heaven and I’m filled with joy and hope. Xo, Stefani