Luke and School

We have been blessed with a very practical school time for Luke. He is now joining his Dad three days a week at work! Patrick collects soil and water samples for a research project (details I will leave out b/c I don't understand them all :) The large of it is that Luke is learning just by being with his Daddy....and God has honored our prayers and requests in fulfilling the scriptures in Deuteronomy chapter 6:

[Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:4-9]

Children are suppose to learn about their Heavenly Father first from the their OWN Daddy.....how are they doing this if Daddy is never around??? Thanks Papa for hearing our hearts cry!

Luke's opening day Tball - Gainesville Reds

Where do I begin?

Sooooo....It's now April 19, 2010 mmmmmm and I haven't posted since P's bday???? Can we say....BUSY? I have felt recently like the cycle never ends....laundry, vacuum, clean bathrooms, cook, dishes, clean boys, run after them.....and then do it all over again!!! I became so overwhelmed last week that I said, "Ok God, I'll vacuum again, but really what's the point??? I'm just going to have to do it AGAIN next week :)????????" In my frustration and exhaustion I gave it up to him, really just giving Him a piece of my mind....cause I know my amazing Papa that He is really does care, and let's be real....He knows our thoughts anyway right??? Well.....I was gently reminded by His wonderful Holy Spirit to take heart, My Sweet Child....your ministry unto your children is really unto the Kingdom of God! It is for an eternal purpose......loving and teaching your children and keeping the home is the MOST humbling job!!!

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. [Colossians 3:23-24]

Yes! And I know this...I would never have it any other way!!!

Other exciting news on the Moran homefront.....we are seeking God's face in whether to move?????? We have a prospective home.....we would be moving at the end of July, please keep us in your prayers on this decision.

I've also just recently let this knowledge drop from my head into my heart "yada" in the hebrew......I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^{g]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[g]} And by him we cry, "Abba,^{h]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[h]} Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:12-17

Something about how God can ONLY call us his own IF we are WALKING and being HIS OBEDIENT children! Oh....well....maybe that's why I couldn't hear him for so long :)

Love you all!!!

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Our family is being refined. Just as the Bible speaks of his children going through the refiner's fire to be purified as silver and gold...we have felt the fire...and now we come through with hopes that our Maker can see his reflection in us!

I've been going over some verses lately...and transformed...yes! In 1 Thess 5:23 the Word says, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice here the order these are written. First SPIRIT, then SOUL, and BODY is last. Have you noticed the world puts the body first...we eat all kinds of rich and delightful foods, we obsess over our body images, we focus on the appearance of ourselves - what we will wear! I've come to grips that I have also fallen short in this area...whoa.

Then Jesus speaks about this very issue in Matt chapter 6.....

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.



I believe these things of the flesh, the food, the clothing, the drink....they can cause our relationship with the almighty Father to become murky, distant, vague....

When was the last time you gave up a meal to become LOVESICK with the Father of Creation?

Patrick's 35 Birthday

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Surprise!

Paintball...the best gift ever!

Luke's version of paintball!

Nevan & Luke

These brothers are now actually starting to play together! I love to see how Nevan watches every move Luke makes....learning always! I continue to tell Luke he must be a great role model for Nevan!

Our sweet little Thanksgiving

We had the honor of sharing this precious time with our neighbors, friends, and well....family! Beau, Marcella and Baby Gabriella Rightmeyer invited us to have a wonderful thanksgiving with them! We had a marvelous time...two turkeys...Patrick deep fried one, and Marcella baked one! And all the sides you can think of!

Marcella made indian headdresses for all the kids! Sooooo cute!

After dinner we all went over to Station #2 to celebrate dessert with Ed and Sherie and their fam! We had so much fun there, where Ed was giving rides in the basket of one of the fire trucks! It was sooo much fun!

Grandpa Moran & Joan visit!!!

The Boys...and Joan!

Grandpa discovers diapers make cool hats...

Let's learn to do some push-ups!

Marbles anyone?

Happy Happy all the time!

Thank you Grandpa!

We had a very special time with Grandpa Moran & Joan! A fun filled weekend...with going to a baseball game, playing baseball at the park, receiving gifts....and going out to eat! What a fantastic, sweet time of visiting with them that we will never forget!!

Tuesday is Mommy Playgroup Day!

Every Tues we have a little playgroup at our home. We have Olivia & Baby Gabe, born Sept. 3 09, Marcella and Baby Gabriella, born April 13, 09, and a new one on the block, Melissa with Baby Ryan born just this Oct 14!!

We have so much fun hangin with the babes!

Sukkot - Feast of Tabernacles!

This year our family celebrated one of the Lord's Feasts, The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot! It's a time to remember how faithful our God is...that He is our provider and to remember when the Israelites were freed from slavery from the Egyptians...and how God "tabernacled" or "dwelt with" his people during the 40 years in the desert. We also remember Jesus Christ's birthday, as it is thought to be the more accurate time-frame, that during this time He was born in Jerusalem...again we remember God coming to "dwell" with his people! A time of JOY and thanksgiving!

We made a "Sukkah" on our front porch to resemble how the Israelites tabernacled with God for 40 years in the wilderness. It was a time of great challenge...but God was their provider! Their shoes never fell apart nor their clothes, and he provided their food from heaven, manna! The tradition is to build a Sukkah to remember the times when our ancestors "roughed it" in the wilderness...but yet we exalt God because he remained faithful to provide for their every need! Well... I decided to go on a palm branch hunt in our empty lot behind our house. I was determined...but it had gotten dark, so Patrick decided to take the truck and shine the headlights in order to find some palm fronds. Well....because of my stubbornness...the truck got stuck. I mean...really bad! We had a dear friend come help us pull it out! Of course the Moran's always have to have a funny story to go along with their "firsts" in life! So there it is!!!

Here's a link in case you want to look up more info on Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles.

http://www.messianic.ws/sukkot.htm