Another month gone by! I've not been a very good blogger this year.
A dear friend once told me, "The days are long but the years are short."
But lately, it seems the days are short, too.
The Lord is so good. I remember when I had all little ones. Nobody really able to really help. Day after day full of the same tasks. Little sleep. Diaper bill about as high as our food bill.
And I loved those days!!
And am soaking up every day I still have with sweet little ones under our roof.
Those first little ones are now big ones! Three teenagers now. One about to pass me up in height...and I'm 5' 10"! They are able to do many things as well or better than I can. And can even do some things that I can't do at all!
I love watching them develop the talents the Lord has given them. I find myself praying more and more for them.
The days are going by so quickly...they start early and end late and the weeks are so full.
Yet those sweet times of sitting by my man of almost 17 years, resting my head on his shoulder or holding his hand as we watch the children play....
sitting around the table eating a meal together listening to everyone happily chatter...
watching my older boys work outside and seeing them patiently allow the younger ones to "help"...
hearing weekly testimonies of those in our church and rejoicing over the work the Lord continues to do in their lives...
remembering where He has brought me from and how He will continue to work in me...
busy at home, working along my hubby with my children in our church and town...
I'm just soaking in all in. Feeling so blessed. So content. So undeserving. And so loved.
God is so faithful and so good.
In a nut shell, this past month flew by! Our Eliseo turned 4!! Our Rebekah turned 13!!
My hubby and I took a 4 day trip ALONE across the border. We had to go to Los Angeles to get our American born children's birth certificates apostilled. An 18 hour drive one day, paperwork in LA the next day, me coming down with the flu that night/the following day, and a 18 hour drive back the last day....
Well, some may not really think of it as that romantic...
BUT it was wonderful!
Hours to talk uninterrupted, a trip to Walmart :), picking up mail (yea!!) including lots of Bibles/books/Sunday School material for our church, and even when I was sick, I kept thinking how easy it was to just be sick and not have to cook :) ha! :) And now, Lord willing, all of our children will have their Mexican citizenship (dual) soon (no more visas...except for mommy).
Next week, we have our 7 year church anniversary and annual mission's conference. Our pastor from our home church along with Daniel's uncle are flying in for the occasion and, well, there is no lack of excitement around here! We're expecting 60-80 people from different independent baptist churches in Baja Sur to come as well, including the 2 missionaries that our church here supports.
We have several people signed up to open their home to house people and we are planning 3 days of preaching, fellowship, food. Praying for the Lord to increase our burden for the lost, increase our giving, and to send more laborers into His field.
Well, I've got a couple of boys with "nothing to do" :) I think we should go over to the church to visit/help Daddy and the big boys.
Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks :)
Okay....I just uploaded the pictures and "few" might not be the most accurate word.
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| A. Family....I tried to get Daniel to roll in the grass for you all, but he just stood on it...I guess our grass isn't good enough to roll in :) |
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| Letters from friends!! One of the BEST ways to brighten our day!!! :) |
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| That's Samuel saying, "Where's my letter, mommy!" |
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| He was super happy I let him hold the picture :) |
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| Some pictures of my sweet Sunday School children |
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| Extra hungry this morning, Samuel? |
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| No comment...I don't even remember the story on that one. |
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| I saw this little note card Noah put above his desk :) |
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| New Spring time decorations! :) |
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| Broken drier, but WONDERFUL clothes line!! |
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| Being with Daddy is the BEST....no matter where it is :) |
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| Helping make Beka's birthday breakfast |
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| New purse holder for the girls...since they have a few purses :) |
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| Happy Birthday, Beka Boo!!! |
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| My sweet, beautiful, bubbly, girl! You bring sooooo much joy to our home! |
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| Someone sent us more tracts! What a blessing! |
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| Sometimes, there are days where I pray for the bickering/whining to stop! And then there are days where my heart just melts to see how much they love each other. :) |
Oh how we love reading about your family! Thank you Jaynee! Those Sunday school children are just so precious (as are yours:))We wish you many blessings on the upcoming conference! My children are still just loving the Smockity Frocks video of all of you singing - I think our views alone are going to make it a you tube sensation:)- Sonya and family
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sonya! We are so excited about the conference and I just want the Lord to work in my heart, in the heart of my children, and our people here! That's so funny about the singing video :) We don't sound great, but we LOVE the Lord and love to sing!!
DeleteWell, we think you all sound great and we give the highest remarks for enthusiasm and spirit!:) (Plus its so wonderful to have my children watch other children joyfully sing - it so motivates them!) We continue to pray for the "grandmother's" family and hope that they are more and more open each day to the Lord.
DeleteJust had to leave a comment tonight. It was so funny to be looking at all your wonderful pictures and then see Samuel holding a picture of my crazy nephews and sons. :) It just made me laugh....We need a purse holder like that. Perfect place for all those purses. :) Happy Birthday to your Rebekah.....hope it was happy. It looked like a lot of fun. :) I love your happy Spring dressed kitchen too. Very sweet..Sorry for such a rambling comment.
ReplyDeleteRambling comments are the best!!! :) And we love your crazy family! :) They are a big blessing/encouragement to us all!
DeleteI wondered if anyone would recognize the picture. :D It's some of the cousins and myself... pretending to get corn blown on us. For everyone's comfort, I deleted the picture of us pretending to be harvested. ;)
Deletelove reading your blog and seeing the pictures.
ReplyDeleteYou made our night :)! The kids just think it would have been better if Mr. Lockwood had rolled in the grass :). Oh, you made everyone's night but poor Leah who was ready to happily enjoy her evening meal while Mom checked in on you guys but then all the other kids huddled around the computer to see and poor Leah did not like that. The comments from the kids were hysterical ... we loved all the pictures ... the goofy young man putting his head into one of the pictures :). Nick wants to know if Abagail always cooks with a ball? Or what Rebeka did to her poor brother :)? We did notice his shirt said "Just Do It!" :).
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Eliseo!
I must run!!
Just one more comment though :) some of our kids want to move to your house when they saw how much Samuel gets to eat :) they figure the bigger kids get even more :)!
If you will all come visit, I'll make TONS of food and everyone can eat to their hearts content! :) No, Samuel doesn't really get that much food...but Timothy, he's another story! :)
DeleteI'm not sure why Abi had a ball and I seriously can't remember what happened to Nehemiah...if he did that or a sibling. I think Beka has the look of "oh dear" :)
I do remember asking someone to hose him off outside (gotta love 90 degree days here) and then giving him a bath in the laundry room sink to wash his hair.
Well, gotta get back to school...COME VISIT!!! :)
Your words and pictures make me teary and smile at the very same time....oh how much your children have grown...right along with the love in your home! I am always encouraged to be a better mother when I read here. Thank you for taking the time to post..even if just once a month:)
ReplyDeleteOh dear all that MUD!!! Such a lovely and encouraging post Jaynee! :)
ReplyDeleteHeyy Lockwoods! :) Just sat here for like the past hour catching up...love seeing all your pictures and everyone's smiling faces! :) Makes me miss all of you guys and remembering how much fun we had with y'all when you were here! :) Praying for y'all!
ReplyDeleteMuch Love!! :)
Anna :)
Anna!!!! We miss you, too!!! I'm soooo excited for Caleb and love it when I see your mom has updated! She takes GREAT pictures and when she shares her heart and what the Lord has taught/is teaching her, it ALWAYS blesses me so much!
DeleteI love and miss you all and think of you often! Take care and I tell you, that granite counter top would be a great place to sleep in the heat of the summer...it's nice and cool! :)
I just love reading your updates! Your sweet spirit shines through your writing! You are an encouragement to this mom of 5 boys!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures, family & blog!
ReplyDelete