What do you Smell Like?

Tonight at church the pastor spoke about having the "aroma of Christ". It was really convicting to me. The passage he spoke on was,

2 Corinthians 2 :14-15
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

To have the "Aroma of Christ" we should:

-Be around those who "smell"
Surround yourself with people who challenge you and encourage you to be more like Christ. There are many of those people in my life, some whom I have never met. I have only met Christina through her blog, but reading her story and her response to God's will for her family encourages me to "smell" more like Christ. My dear friend Susan encourages me to reach out to new friends and to "smell" with my children. And Lola, through the ups and downs in her life I very rarely hear her complain about the circumstances God has brought before her.
So I proudly tell each of you that you "smell". Thank you.

-Consume God
We can read our bibles, pray, attend church, but do we allow ourselves to be consumed by God? I know I don't. We need to let God get our attention. During those bible reading times and prayer times give God more than a half a second to speak to you. We should wait on Him, have a conversation with Him.

-Live it
We need to put these things into action. Serve others. Love others. Aroma is the by product of activity. If we just sit around on the couch all day we wont "smell". Serving Christ will cause a change in your activity, a change in your life, and a change in your "smell".

Just like Christina is bold in her faith I want to live out my faith in all areas of my life as well. I want people to know that I "smell". I probably don't "smell" too bad yet, but I hope that in time I will be overcome with the aroma of Christ.

Bouncing Hurts

BigZabba got a small cut on her finger today. I put the band-aid in the spot where she told me it hurt, but then she told me I put it in the wrong spot.

I told her that the cut must not hurt too bad if she doesn't even know which spot really hurts.

She explained, "The hurt just bounces around."

8 Miles

The second half was a little shaky, but oh well. It is done...on to the next run.

More Pappy-isms

My Dad reminded me of a few more Pappy-isms:

When Pappy agreed with something you'd said he would respond with "Darn Tottin!"

Pappy loved good food and would express it by saying that he "didn't eat to live, but lived to eat." He ate bread at every meal, his "Pusher."

When he passed a cemetery, he'd always asked the uninformed in the car, "I wonder how many folks are dead in that cemetery?" The uninformed would make a quick estimate of head stones and offer a response to which Pappy would reply, "No, all of them!"

Hello Dinner!

Tonight I was inspired by The Pioneer Woman. My tummy is so happy tonight. I hope that you will make this and be happy too.

Enjoy!

Young Love

UPDATE - per Susan's request, here is lovely little me in 4th grade.

This is a love letter that I got while playing on the playground in 4th grade. There are still dirt smudges on it from my grimy little hands.

Enjoy!

They're Working!

I know that the photos aren't working. Actually none of my slideshows are working. I don't know how to fix it. Maybe DaddyZabba can come with an answer. Sorry.

UPDATE - they are working now! yeah!

10 miles

It's not super consistant, but I did it. My time isn't half bad either. I would like to complete the half marathon in 2 hours 15 minutes, so based on this run I just might make it. We'll see. The wavy line is my speed. It really should be straight, meaning that I ran at a consistant pace, but I ran at the beach and it was a bit windy, so it was hard to be consistant, plus I had a few walk breaks. Oh well, it is what it is.

Balance

September brings many new beginnings. BigZabba has started school, I have started a Bible study...everything is just starting. So why am I already feeling stressed? I think I am feeling like I am already juggling too many things. I am training for the 1/2 marathon in October, AllyZabba has been steady lately, getting BZ up, ready for school and arriving on time is getting draining already, plus all the "regular" Mom/Wife duties; laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, then Bible study, and trying to squeeze in social time for BigZabba's friends and myself. It is all good things, but I feel overwhelmed already. I had a great talk with Susan today and her suggestion was to set boundaries. I really want to do that, but I just don't know what those boundaries should be. Strict AllyZabba office hours? Fix lunches the night before? I am not sure. Maybe once we get into more of a routine things won't feel so busy. Any sage words of wisdom for me?

To top it off I went to get my hair cut on Wednesday. I know that I have short hair to begin with, but it was getting "long" for my style and it needed a trim. Well, my stylist was stressed and cut off alot! I didn't really notice at the time, but once I got home and showered I noticed that it was quite a bit shorter than I would have liked. So, on top of feeling overwhelmed I feel self conscious since I feel like I look like a boy. My hair is shorter than DaddyZabba's hair. I guess the good thing is that it will grow.

Thanks Lola

My buddy, Lola, on a whim took BigZabba for the afternoon. BZ ended up staying pretty much all day and had a fantastic time. Thanks friend!

(she is going to love that i posted this picture!)

His Laugh

A few of you commented that you would have liked to hear Pappy's laugh. Here is a clip of him laughing, as well as another harmonica tune!

Enjoy.

A Tribute

Pappy's funeral was a hard yet wonderful time. The service was honoring to him and his life, honoring to my Grandmother, their church and most importantly to the Lord. Pappy lived his life loving people and loving the Lord. That was evident in the stories that were told and by the people who came to say good-bye. He was such a wonderful man that it was/is hard to say good-bye. It really doesn't seem real that he is gone.

BigZabba helps me remember that we can be sad, but we should also be joyful. In her bedtime prayer the other night she prayed:

Dear Jesus, thank you for my fun day I had today. It is sad that Pappy died, but help us to have joy because we know that he had Jesus in his heart. Amen.

DaddyZabba put together a wonderful slideshow for Pappy's funeral. I wanted to share it with you.

The beautiful song is "Holy One" by our friend, Becki Ryan.

Enjoy!

Pappy-isms

We just returned from our trip to attend Pappy's funeral service. There are some things from the service that I would like to post, but those will come later.

While we were there we heard a lot of funny stories and it brought back a lot of memories. Here are some Pappy-isms that have come to me in the last few days...

When we would wake up in the morning he would say "How did you sleep?...With your eyes closed?"

When in the car waiting to turn onto a street he would always help out by telling you when the traffic was clear, he would say, "Nothin' Big"

One of Pappy's favorite jokes was, "What's blacker than a crow? His feathers are. A crow's not black, his feathers are!"

Pappy loved Marvin Martian and his Space Modulator, from Bugs Bunny. He would walk around and every so often you would hear him say, "Kaboom!" just like Marvin Martian would.

When eating or drinking something he really loved he would say, "That's powerful!"

March 31, 1915 - September 9, 2007

Today Pappy went to be with Jesus. He was surrounded by his wife and daughter when he passed into glory. My Mom recited the 23rd Psalm during his last moments and then they said good-bye. He was a wonderful man. He will be missed.

We love you Pappy!

Question of the Day

BigZabba was playing with her anatomically correct horses and she says:

Mommy, do horses get married?

No they don't get married the same way that people do.

Well, how do they get their babies then?

Hmmm, how do they get their babies? Well, (avoiding the question..)they just have babies.

Oh, well, why don't they have dances?



Whew, that was a close one

Baby Pictures

Here is Baby V!

Baby V

Baby V is here!
September 7, 2007
12:40pm
7 lbs. 15 oz.
20.5 inches long

Pictures will come later.

Documented Behavior Problem

We went to the children's dentist today. They couldn't have it set up better for kids. A movie on in the corner, video games attached to the wall, Disney characters on the wall, all the dental chairs are facing a big TV, stuffed animals and toys everywhere...it is almost paradise...if you can forget you are at the dentist. So, everything is going great until they call her name. Then the slow walking begins. Then we go over to the chair where they take x-rays...this is when the lip came out. When she was told to climb into the chair the soft crying started. When I "encouraged" her to get in the chair the wail came out. So, the nurse decided that the doctor could decide if x-rays were needed. Great idea. Now we tried to get her to sit in the dental chair and watch a movie. No. Ok, how about the swivel chair and play with some legos. No. All the while we are listening to the wail. So the dentist comes over and asks me, "What happened to her at her other dentist to make her so afraid?" Nothing! She then commented that normally when kids act like this they have had some sort of trauma at their previous dentist. Let's just say that everyone in the office was gawking at us. We must have been a sight. BigZabba wailing, LittleZabba crying because her sister is, and Me trying to smile it all away. Where is Calgone when you need it!? She is supposed to go back in 3 weeks for a cleaning. I am really looking forward to it. As we left I saw on her referral form it says "Reason for referral - Documented Behavior Problem". Nice.

First Day of School

Today BigZabba started Kindergarten! It is so hard to believe that she is going to school. I am pretty confident that she will not have any separation issues, but you never know. I thought Pre-School was going to be a breeze, but remember how that went. She did have a great day. She was super excited when I went to pick her up, but the most details I got about the day were that they drew a picture, had a snack and played on the playground. There was also something about getting stickers and prizes for being good. I am not quite sure what that really is, but she was very exciting about trying to win a poster, but wasn't sure she would get it because one of the other kids liked the same one she wanted.

Fun times!

Joke of the Day

My Cute Girls

My kids are just too cute to not share their photos.

Enjoy!

Fun at the Fair

This weekend we went to the fair with some friends. BigZabba had a blast with all the rides but especially loved the horses. It was hot but we managed to have a great time anyway!

Enjoy.

Sending a shout-out to DaddyZabba for putting together our little video. I dig the inspirational music. You really should do this for a living. =)

Trials of Parenthood

Who would have thought that going to the dentist could be so traumatic. BigZabba had to visit the dentist this morning. In the past she has had trouble so we played it up a lot. If all went well she could go out to the restuarant of her choice with whomever she wanted for lunch today. She chose Islands with her friend, Lola's daughter. (if you note the time of this posting you will get a sense of where this is going) When it was her turn the meltdown began. The lip, the tears, the trembling lips, then the wail. The dentist quickly saw that this wasn't going to go smoothly and tried everything...do you want to sit on Mommy's lap? just stand in front of me...i just need to look at your teeth...i am not going to touch you just look in your mouth...all the while she is standing in the corner like a scared cat. From the look on my face she could tell that I was not pleased. So, we made our way to the exit. At this point she realizes that the fun lunch with a friend is not going to happen and the wail becomes even louder and she starts yelling about how it "hurts her feelings". Oh the drama.

This is the 4th time we have tried to take her to the dentist and this is pretty much how it goes everytime. The dentist said today that she needed to go elsewhere now. Poor guy..he really tried his best. We have an appointment later in the week with a children's dentist. I can only pray it goes better. I am not sure my nerves can handle another episode.

Pappy

Pappy is going back to the hospital. His pain is continuing to increase. I am not sure if I mentioned before but he has vascular disease which causes poor circulation in his legs. His legs are not getting enough oxygen because of the decreased blood flow, so he is losing function in his legs and it is quite painful. My Mom explained that the pain is like his legs are screaming because they don't have enough oxygen. He went by ambulance to the hospital this afternoon so they can help manage his pain and get him stable. There are various other system problems that are all adding to his discomfort. With his legs not functioning anymore daily activities are becoming more and more of a challenge. As he declines he is becoming more and more confused. He knows who some people are but when asked who he is he rattles off his military ID number and at times he does not know where he is. These are sad and difficult times for my family. Please keep my Mom and grandmother in your prayers. It seems as though his passing will come soon, but only God knows for sure.

Here are some favorite photos of Pappy. Enjoy!

On LittleZabba

BigZabba says,

"Our little baby is growing up. She is growing just so fast. She can already reach the crayons now."