Compelled

2 Corinthians 5:14 says

"For Christ's love comples us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

The next quote is what My Upmost for His Highest says about the above verse:

"This total surrender to "the love of Christ" is the only thing that will bear fruit in your life. And it will always leave the mark of God’s holiness and His power, never drawing attention to your personal holiness."

Are you compelled for Christ's love? Are you drawn with magnetic force? Or as Paul puts it, are you held as in a vice? Convicting, isn't it?

I am including our family photo that we had taken at church a couple of weeks ago. I hope you are having a good week and that this verse speaks to you as it did to me.

I will make a scene!!!

Last night my aunt and I went to the amazing store Real Deals for an open house and sale. It was fabulous. We are very much alike and I love her. I am one of those shoppers that go through the store, pick things us and then put them back. I talk myself out of buying things, it is just who I am. Well, last night we had put our things on the holding rack while browsing more. When she picked her stuff up to go and purchase I said, "I am leaving mine there, act like they arent ours and walk away."

She looked at me funny and said, " You are not going to pull a Cheryl (my mother, her sister) and put this stuff back, I am buying it for you."

I put my hands on the goods, she put her hands on the goods and I said, "Let go, let me just do what I do."

She replied, "No, I am buying these, they are mine (refering to my items)."

As we both stood there locked by my purchases I looked at her and said, "Let go or I will have to make a scene."

She said, "Let me get it, they are mine now." At this point the people behind the register are looking at us like, 'ladies we have more of those if you are going to fight over them.'

Without hesitation I raised my voice and said, "Please dont touch my breast!"

My aunt looked at me in horror and said, "Oh!" as if not knowing what else to say. The woman behind her looked around and said, "Well, I thought this was a home decor store." To which we burst out laughing. We explained the situation to all involved and of course they sided with her. So anyway they told me just to let her buy it and I eventually did. Needless to say we wont be going shopping together anytime soon. I rolled at how funny I am. She thinks I am funny too. The people behind the register also paid me the compliment of saying that I looked like I was in highschool. Thank you very much that was just the cherry on the ice cream for me. Good times!

25 Random Things

1. WHAT CITY AND STATE WERE YOU BORN IN?Kennewick, WA
2. CATS OR DOGS?Definitely not cats!!!
3. HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU HAVE?three
4, YOU PLAYED WHAT SPORT IN HIGH SCHOOL?Volleyball, swimming (2 weeks until I got to sick to swim, cold air wet hair and I do not agree), track, and in desperation cross country.
5. YOUR COLLEGE ROOM MATE DROVE YOU NUTS BECAUSE...I never had a college roommate.
6. DO YOU EAT MUSHROOM SOUP?No, but I would
7. IF MARRIED, WHERE WERE YOU MARRIED?My hometown, Kennewick, WA
8. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE PICTURES YOU TAKE?We stockpile them in the computer until we print the. I am quitting the scrapping though and doing photobooks after I finish 2007
9. FAVORITE FLOWER?orchid
10. HOW MANY BROKEN BONES IN YOUR LIFE?none
11. SPOUSES OR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS NAME?Chris
12. FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME?The Bible, The Schack, anything Janet Evanovich in the Stephanie Plum series
13. SURGERY???Eye....too many to list
14. HEELS OR FLATS?generally flats, but if Chris is lucky....heels, lol
15. PARTIES OR QUIET NIGHTS ALONE?I used to say parties, but my house always sounds like a big party. So, now it's a night alone.
16. FAVORITE PART OF CHURCH?Worship (music), small group
17. HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU FAIL YOUR DRIVERS TEST?None, I only missed two points baby. I didnt have to parallel park b/c it was so windy it kept blowing the cones over. Yeah for the tri
18. DO YOU HAVE ANY ALLERGIES?Why yes I do. Dust mites, cat, a few trees, bees
19. YOU DRIVE A...05 Kia Sedona
20. HOW MANY CAR SEATS ARE IN YOUR CAR?Four, yikes!
21. FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPINGS?Sausage, black olives, onion, mushrooms, green pepper, etc...the cowboy pizza from papa murphys
22. FAVORITE JEANS?Route 66, K Marche
23. A PAID VACATION, YOU CHOOSE TO GO WHERE?Kauai, do you need to even ask?
24. HOW OFTEN DO YOU EXERCISE? WHAT DO YOU DO?Once a week, hula. Lame I know I need to do more, too cold and too cheap
25. YOUR FIRST CAR WAS A...69 slug bug, pink

Mark 12:30-31

The NIV says:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

We have been using these verses in partenting a lot lately because we are faced with the questions of : "why do I have to be nice, they werent nice to me", "why cant I say that her breath stinks, it does?," "why do I have to include her?" Stuff like that. The girls are constantly challenging us and this is one of the many key verses in our church. We have been trying to emphasize the importance of this and it has really spoken to the heart of Alli. Here was a conversation between her and I last night: (A=Alli, M=me)

A-Why does God want us to love each other?
M- (summary of the above verses and general conversation)
A- Why cant we call someone stupid?
M- B/c we wouldn't be loving our neighbor as ourself would we? That would be hurtful.
A- (violent crying) I dont want to tell you somehting I need to tell you...(more shrieking)
M- Calm down, I cant understand you. Just tell me what is wrong.
A- I dont want to say.....(pause and cry) I called someone stupid (sobbing)
M- Calm down, just tell me who you called stupid. You are not going to get in trouble, but we are going to talk about it.
A- (barely able to understand) I sometimes call Daddy stupid after I get in trouble...(more crying)
****Translation, After disipline she goes to her room and secretly slams Chris. I laugh on the inside a little and cry at the same time. I laugh b/c part of me thinks, "Is there no where this child can express her anger?" I cry b/c she was so distruaght with the sin she had committed that she needed to reconcile. It was physically difficult to admit her sin and possibly accept a punishment. But, that was far more important for her than to remain quiet. She wanted reconciliation with her father. What an amazing picture of us struggling through our flesh and "coming clean" with our Heavenly father.*****
M- I am not going to punish you for this, but you will have to tell your father what you did. We dont call people stupid because it would hurt them and then we would not be loving them.
A- Will you stand with me when I tell him?
****Jesus is our intercessor, our person standing with us submitting to our father. The amazing thing is that Jesus covers us so that all God sees is made clean. I thank God for this application of salvation in our everyday life****

I slept in this morning and when I got up, she had already come clean to Chris without me. Come to find out (this makes it a little worse), she actually calls him stupid when going over her prayer cards at night. I assume she only does this when she has been in trouble that day, but who knows. Using her prayer card as a little voodoo doll is what Chris and I picture. Morbid I know. Oh, children.

Blessed

I went out with my hula sisters last weekend for lunch at Shanghai Restaurant. It was fabulous. They gave us so much food that I took it home and had another meal out of it. Anyways, I love being with these women. They are so much fun. The lady that looks like she could be my hawaiian mother I call mom. All in attendance were Bonnie, Judy, Lani, Me and Trudy. We stopped for lunch before going to a fellow sisters baby shower. Amy is having a girl later this month or early next month.

In other news, we are getting ready to redo our flooring. We feel really blessed that we have the financial means to do such a project. Chris has never done flooring before and is doing it alone (so far) the end of this month so you could send up some prayers for that if you think about it.

I am loving my week this week. I have stayed home with Leilani. The term stay at home mom is relative. We are constantly on the go, but a couple days this week we literally stayed home and I loved it. I scrapped, she watched movies or I cleaned and she played "kitchen". She is so cute and I am loving this phase. Thank you God for my family!

Black Eyed Mary

So, this little gem was left in our bathroom a week ago after a game night with some of our friends. She is called black eyed mary because she is from the dollar store and some of the paint around her eye is too low, hence looking like Joesph gave her a black eye. I have also heard her referred to as domestic violence Mary. So funny. Anyways, this figurine gets passed around from person to person in our church. When she is left in your home you have to proudly display it for two weeks and then pass it on to the next family. Last night a couple in our group said they would not be inviting us over until we have passed it on. Oh, it was also attached with the Bible verse Leviticus 18:23. I am not going to post that, I will let you look it up for your reading enjoyment. I love my friends!

New Toy

So, for those of you who know Chris and I, you know that we dont live on the extravagant. Not to toot our own horn, but we are pretty frugal for the most part. Saving for the next big thing. Well, we had some Christmas money burning a hole in our pocket yesterday and so we went out and bought our first game system in years....a playstation and Rockband. We love it! I forsee hours of fun playing with the girls. Anyways it is going to be fun times at the Littrell house.