Excessive Kindness



I'm doing a study on Ruth. You know the book in the bible?  (Did I tell you this already?) Originally I was going to do the study, and then I wasn't, and then I was again. Anyway, so, I'm doing it. So far it has been pretty good. God has already been speaking to me. But today, today he smacked me hard!

So The reading for the day was Ruth 2:8-9 (yup, only those 2 verses). It's the part where Boaz gives Ruth the right to reap in the fields beside his maids and drink the water that his servants draw and bring to the fields. Then there was this Personal Response portion: "Briefly write about a time when someone treated you with excessive kindness or generosity."

I came up with one pretty quickly, and then continued to ponder... excessive kindness. After an hour of thinking I could only come up with one other time in my life where someone had truly shown me kindness in excess. And that's when the Holy Spirit really spoke to me.

I NEED TO BE MORE WILLING TO SHOW EXCESSIVE KINDNESS ON A REGULAR BASIS.

The kind of kindness and, or generosity that hurts to give. If I can only think of 2 times, how many people can't think of any?

My Grandma-in-law fell on Tuesday. After a trip to the ER, we learned that she had broken her hip. She had surgery yesterday and everything went really well. Now we are praying for a HAPPY rehabilitation process.

Here's what we've been up to:

It rained! (like 2 weeks ago already, but still RAIN!)

Grandma and PawPaw brought gifts back from their trip to Colorado. Wyatt got a real piggy bank.

And Cady

Got her first necklace. She loves it and wants to wear it a lot!

While the boys were away the weekend after Father's Day, the girls and kids had a sleep-over.

It was tons of fun and eating and movie watching!

something spiritual...finally

Jake and I do a couple’s bible study… It’s not really a “bible study” in the traditional way, and it’s not every week. We just get together as often as everyone’s schedules allow. Usually, it turns out to be once a month. We (me, Jake, and the other couples) fellowship and eat, and then one couple is responsible for bringing the topic for the night. It can be anything. Then we talk. Some people share scripture that points the right direction. Some people share lessons that Jesus has taught them along the way… we all just share our hearts. It has really been one of the most amazing “studies” of my life. I get excited every time we get together because I know that God is going to speak to me. It’s wonderful!


Last week the topic presented was about how many things we do “In the name of the Lord” but there are selfish tones that underlie in it. Like helping with “so and so” organization, but partly you do it because it gives you a more prominent place in the community. Or, you give money to someone in need, but then feel the need to share the good thing you did with someone else. Or you tell someone that you will pray for them… I think FEELING GOOD about something that we do for God is part of His reward to us. But how often is the better part of what we are doing selfish? It really made me examine the things I do and say, and what I’m really doing them for.

No one likes to see themselves in a negative light. It’s hard to be honest with ourselves about the true intentions behind our actions; especially when those actions are for the Lord. But I know that I have been guilty of it; telling someone that I will pray for them (because it sounds good). I do pray for them, but why didn’t I take their hand and instead say, “Can I pray with you? Right now?”, OR if I didn’t want to do that then I should just pray for them and they don’t even need to know it!

I’m definitely NOT saying that everything that everyone does is because they are selfish. I KNOW that is not the case. AND, not everything I do is selfish. But the discussion did make me want to look at everything I do, and work to do it all with a pure heart. What Jesus has revealed to me is the importance of confession. Every time I see myself sinning in that way, I need to confess it out loud to the Lord, then capture the thoughts and give them to Him. Even in just this short amount of time I can see my heart changing, becoming more pure. God is SO good!

There were a lot more examples that people were bringing up that were stabbing me right through the heart. I would share them with you, but I can’t seem to remember the rest. I’m sure the Lord will bring them back to my mind at exactly the right moment…when I’m about to do something out of selfishness.

Conversation with a 20 month old

Cadence - "peppies!"

Me - "peppies?"

C - shakes head "yea"

Me - "What are peppies?"

C - "Peppies, mommy, PEPPIES!" Jumps up and down and shakes her snack cup (obviously frustrated by my lack of communication skills).

Me - "Are you saying pretzels?"

C -relieved that I FINALLY got it, "yes, peppies!"

I fill her cup with pretzels. She looks at it, unimpressed, runs to the pantry grabs a box, "foo poops!!!" (fruit loops)...

She's as decisive as her mother!!!
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Catch-up

I got sick last week… It was the worst cold I can ever remember having. It made me hurt all over, I ran fever for several days, I got sick to my stomach, my throat was so sore that I couldn’t hardly eat, and it has lasted forever. It started last Friday (like 11 days ago) and at first wasn’t all that bad, but got worse everyday for the first 5 days. Wednesday I had to call Jake and ask him to come home from work. I felt terrible having to get him to come home, but I physically could not take care of the kids...it was awful! It's better, but I'm still feeling it today. Thankfully my sweet doc called me in something to help. She said I should feel better by tonight. FINALLY!

We cut Wyatt’s hair. Well that’s not really true – JAKE cut W’s hair. I held him and cried. It was time. SOMETHING needed to be done about his crazy “toupee look”. It was hard to watch that sweet little baby hair fall onto the vanity in our bathroom, so soft and fluffy. Is it against some unwritten parental law that you aren’t supposed to cut your children’s hair until they are “X” old? I hope not, because if there is, then we broke it. We still have not cut Cady’s hair…and I don’t plan to EVER! Here are the before and after of the cut.

I knew it was going to be short (he is a BOY after all) but I wasn’t thinking this short! He looks BIGGER now (I didn’t even know that was possible) and now that I have had a few days to adjust, I do think it looks better.

Sunday was Father’s Day… So we did it up right. I got up with the kids Saturday morning so that Jake could sleep in, and then when he woke up I made him the omelet he had asked for earlier in the week. Then Sunday morning Cady gave him his present –

a new travel coffee cup!

Then inside the cup was a set of hotel reservations and

a ticket the Rangers game for this coming weekend.

That’s right! We are giving Daddy the weekend off! The hope is that it will be a relaxing weekend with my dad and brother-in-law; kid and wife free. Wasn’t that nice of us??? Yea, I think so too. Especially since he is already going to be gone on business all week. I probably would have picked a different weekend to send him away if I'd have known in advance that he would be in North Carolina all week... Oh well.

 Here are a few more pics of what we've up to...

Spiritual Conversations

As a Christian I am constantly looking to other Christians for guidance. I want to know what is going on in their world, what God is teaching them, where they have been, where they are going. I think it's important, these conversations. We can learn so many things from each other.

There is something so precious about hearing the testimonies of other believers. Not just, "I am so thankful to God because of the many people at church today". I mean I too am glad that so many people came to church, but what really pierces me is the real, difficult, learning experiences that Jesus is bring people through and what that person sees coming forth from that. It's just so precious. I'm not using that word meaning "cute"...I'm using it to mean "of great value".

One of the things I am struggling with right now is that there don't seem to be many people who have these conversations...at least not on a regular basis. I just wonder why? Recently when I have tried to have these conversations with other believers they QUICKLY changed the subject, or tried to correct me. It’s just so frustrating! If we, as Christians are seeking the Lord diligently then don’t we have much to share?

Every once in a while I hear or read the testimony of other believers and my heart just rejoices at the transparency that person was willing to have in that moment...something God called them to do, or a struggle He has brought them through, or has called them into. Jesus teaches me thorough others all the time. You can click here to see an amazing example that I read the other day.

I guess I’m bringing this up to tell you I’m about to take this blog to a whole new place. I still plan to share the silly stories and photos of my family. But greater than all that, I want you to know how Jesus is currently working on me and my family, and what we are doing to seek His face.

Good Morning...

From all of us here at the Hamilton House.



I LOVE VBS

We had VBS at our church last week. It was a crazy, busy week! Our theme was 'Big Apple Adventure'. Here is a pic of Cady in her shirt.  

The shirt was about 5 sizes too big, so we did a little work on it so that she would wear it throughout the week.  

Here she is drinking out of her "Big Apple" cup. She LOVES it. I think it was her favorite part! She cracked me up during worship. When all the kids would scream, she would cover her ears! I laughed every time!

In my class there were 30 kids. Thankfully there were 4 adults to help get everyone where they needed to go. For the whole VBS there were 449 kids. Isn't that amazing!

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Side note-

Last week we bought Cady a pool. You know, just the little $10 one. It made her ubber happy. She loves playing in the war-war and using cups and pitchers to dump and pour. She also thought it was a blast to slide down into the pool.

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 I think the week made Wyatt tired...

He did not take being waken up each morning very well. This is what he looked like every morning before I would wake him.

After our wild week of VBS was over we headed to my parents for a family reunion on Saturday and Sunday. 

This is what the kids did. As for the adults, I'm not really sure what they did...

Another Month...

Wyatt turned 5 months old today. Amazing, isn't it, how time just keeps moving right along?

He just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Many of his 9 month sized clothes are already getting too small. 

He is wild and crazy, 

sometimes very serious, 

and a pretty good sleeper.

We have had nights recently where he slept from 9:30 pm until 5:30 am

(it makes his Momma SO happy)  :)

AND he loves his momma.

That's the best part!

20 months!

Can you believe that this little girl is 20 months old today?

I sure can't. It seems like only yesterday...well, you know. I guess everyone feels that way about their children. I'm sure I'll feel the same way 15 years from now.

I mean, we are no longer in the teens of months, we are in the twenties of months!

We are getting ever closer to...2!!!

Sometimes I wonder what this sweet little girl will become.

What amazing life will the Lord call her into?

Maybe she will be a great decorator and bring Life into all the places she touches.

Or maybe she will be the person people look at to create the next fashion trends ;)

Maybe she will become a business woman and share her faith on the phone with people everyday.

Maybe she will become a dentist...

 and share Jesus with the world, one smile at a time.

What ever it is that she becomes, I'm sure it will be wonderful.

I'm just so glad that Jesus gave her to me!