I was born to ride

A couple weeks ago, I got the opportunity to ride a horse. Not on a trail, not with someone else holding the reigns, but really ride a horse. His name is Hank (Spanky) and he really wants me to come back and ride again, or so his owner tells me. I knew that when I went to ride him I would get the full shabang as far as safety, care and instruction from my friend Stacia. She is very organized and I would have expected nothing less from her. I thoroughly enjoyed cleaning the horse shoes, brushing him and just being around. I even got the confidence to move Hank to a trot. I later paid for that with my rear end being horribly sore. I know I was not doing it right. I was bouncing up and down in the saddle. Hopefully I will have more opportunities to get better with that.

During the ride Stacia asked me what I thought. I told her, " Have you ever done something and then realized that you were meant to do that?" That is what it felt like to me. Not that I would ever be a great or professional rider, but this is something that I have always wanted to do and now that I have gotten to do it, it just felt right. I had a perma-grin on my face that evening and it was amazing to ride all over these 56 acres and watch the beautiful sunset. Thank you God for the opportunities that you bless me with and the people you put in my life!

Catcher in the Rye

So, I am compulsive about some things. I have known it for a while. I have wanted to blog it for a while, but when I sit down to do it, I have forgotten about the topic. So here it is. In the 90's there was a movie called sling blade. If I remember it correctly (I could be confusing this with another movie) the main character had several quirks about him. One of them was that he could not walk past a copy of the book, "Catcher in the Rye" without buying it. I am that way about paper and pens. I love the back to school shopping sales because I can indulge myself for a cheap price. I went and bought 16 spiral notebooks for myself to last me until the next year. Of course I dont use all of it. Some will get used by the kids. Some will be used as a birthday gift coupled with back to school crayons or markers (cheap but effective) and inevitably I will misplace some. Today I also got a pack of pens for .09 cents, some highlighters for .49 and legal pads for .19. I know I am easily amused. When I got home the girls and I got all my stuff out and I showed them how to write things and highlight them with my new colors. Ink first and then highlight. Chris may not have married me had he know about this quirk. But let me just say that I can induldge myself for about $5 a year. Not a bad obsession to have.

New Bible study

Chris and I are getting ready to kick off a new Bible study for Crossview Community church. We are really excited about this and have spent much time in prayer about what we should study first. We really love the Mark Gundor series, "Laugh your way to a better marriage" but not sure if we should lead with that. I think that the benefit of leading with that would be that it would give all members of the group a comedic take on marriage and might break the ice for this very sensitive and important topic. The downside is that I dont think there are a lot of scriptural references in all the segments. We might need to supplement the study with Bible verses that apply. I am happy to do that, just need to get prepared if that is what we are doing. ** Sidenote, for anyone out there that has not done the Mark Gungor series, do it, lead it, benefit from it. So great!***
We also just celebrated our 10 year anniversary on the 1st. It was a fun night as Chris won a free night at the Red Lion and it was a suite none the less. It was beautiful and definitely bigger than our first apartment. Also, we had our own balcony with a hot tub on it. I just sat there and thought, we dont deserve this, but thank you God. We had a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms and a seperate bedroom. So cool. Also, we got breakfast for free the next morning and that always tastes better when it is free.

Weiner

Yesterday I had a playdate with a friend who has three boys and a little girl. As most of you may know I have three of the opposite. So, while she was changing her youngest son Leilani meandered over and watched. My friend made some comment about her being confused by the weiner. Leilani said, "Weiner, can I see it?" Being the straightforward person she is, she said sure and undid the diaper for my daughter to get a quick peek. Not the approach I would have taken, but effective and I guess innocent. The mother continued with, if I have my way you will marry my son someday and be seeing a lot more of that. So funny!!! So our word for yesterday was weiner.

I got some pictures I thought you might enjoy. Leave me a comment...please.

Impurities

Matthew 5:20 says:

But I warn you-unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all!

In my upmost for his highest this morning it says that it is not enough to be doing right, you have to be being right. You cant just do what you think the world would see as right, your motives must match your heart for anything good (that comes from you) to count.

As a Christian, if something in my life is not right (with God) I can feel it. It is like having sand under my fingernails. I can try to ignore it, but it will still bother me. God has forced the impurities in my life to feel like a fetter weighing me down. Until I bring those things to light I cannot feel at peace or free.

All that said, Chris and I recently saw this analogy put into practice and all I can say is that God is good. I dont deserve it, but yet He gives mercy and I am grateful!

What do you do all day?

The above photo is one of Lou zooming down a slide in Richland while we were waiting for daddy to finish his triathalon. It flipped her over backwards and upsidedown.

Recently Chris asked me this question in jest. I know he was joking, but there was a certain element of seriousness in the question. I told him if he really wondered what I did all day I would not do it tomorrow so that he could see what I do. He quickly recanted and admittedly appreciated what I do all day. Today, if I had let everything go, he would have come home to some poop on the carpet. That is right people, I cleaned poop off my carpet today. That is what I choose to do with my day. Here at Littrell Inc., it doesnt matter that I am the house CEO, I like to get in the gutters with everyone else and do the dirty work, wait I am the only stinkin employee***free employee***.
On a seperate note, I was really encouraged about our move to Crossview last night. We visited one of their small group Bible studies and got a feel for what they are about. It was nice getting to know the people. The leader asked me a question, " How has your growth in Christ changed since having kids?" Not prepared for the answer, I really feel that Christ spoke through me. I was able to say all the things I had inside and had not really put into words before. I said that it became ever more important. I have to be the Christ-like example for my children. I have to show them His love and pray that they too will accept Christ when they are accountable. When I had children a huge responsibility was put on my shoulders. By no means am I attributing their salvation to anything I can do, but that it is my responsibility to plant the seed and introduce them. I said that the shear fear of my God on my judgement day asking what have I done to further His kingdom is enough. I had better be able to answer that I raised them with the knowledge and love of Christ or I dont even deserve to be standing before my Lord. I feel a huge pull to minister to young couples/ marrieds, but my first ministry is to my family. Wow, thats a lot.

Same stuff different name

Mom is in Vegas this week. I am so excited for her. She deserves this break and time to get away from the stressors of life. She is there with a childhood friend named Berta. Today she is going to ride the deuce to Freemont street. They are having a blast and winning a bit too.

Me, I am taking the kids to swimming lessons this morning and then following it up with our daily trip to Walmart. Chris needs a couple of things. I tried to get X2 and Xmen 3 yesterday but wouldnt you know, they only had the third one. Bummer man. I wasnt going to watch the thrid without seeing the second.

On the menu for tonight, I will be making enchaladas. Chris loves mexican food night and would have that every night if I obliged. I could put the same ingredients together in a different order and he would call it a different meal. For example, tacos are hard shells, beans, beef, cheese, lettuce, olives and sour cream. Burritos are tortillas, beans, beef, cheese, lettuce , sour cream and olives. Nachos are chips and the above ingredients. Silly man.