GOD Sized Faith

 

Wow, those 'little' boys pictured here...these are my babies.  My little men...those same that aren't so little any more.  Each day they learn a little more, leave another step to life that they've already lived, they grow a bit, and they reveal another touch of who our God has created them to be.  Each day is another day of chances to teach, opportunities to take, and life to live.  Yes, those are two of my dearest people....how I love them so!

 

Next to that tree, they look SO SMALL.  Next to the trains, SO BIG.  Even as they grow and walk in their lives, so much of what they see and what they believe will be based on PERCEPTION.  I pray I can instill in them that it should always be God and HIS word that they compare themselves to.  And never the world and it's ways....through experience and through others. 

 

And to teach them as I have been taught.....

That our faith will only be as big or as strong as our

perception of God is.

Let me not limit or dumb down how they see our God.

Let me not hinder the hearts of innocent faith.

Let me not be in the way of knowing and seeing the God that we serve for who HE is, not who any man says He is.

Let their faith be alive and be GOD SIZED FAITH....not man sized.

 

 

 

At the end of this Shriners Day, we have a boy with a brace that's now hinged!  He felt as if he was walking on the moon!  A new feeling.  Exciting!  ALIVE!

 

Let their faith be the same!

Let them always know and always see that each new place in their lives will require a NEW measure of faith.

At the end of each of those crises', those challenges, AND those blessings....will be a stretched heart, a new view, and an even deeper faith!!!

And still, it can never be as big or as grand as the one we serve!

 

Today I believe God and I let His light shine through 'being Mom'.  On my own, parenting gets messy, sticky, and even sadly disastrous at times!  Only by grace and through faith do tender hearts get what they need from me.  Thank you Jesus that your strength is made perfect in my weakness!  And yet again, I thank you for trusting these 3 to me!

 

Phonics drill time....he crawled into her lap and she would whisper her answers into his ear for him to say.  Now that's some great, spontaneous Pre-Schooling brought to you by Gracie!

 

And on another completely unrelated note.....this is the first of 2 legwarmers for my little teacher!

 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

 

And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 

Acts 3:16

 

What does the scripture say?  Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 

Romans 4:3

 

According to your faith be it unto  you.

Matthew 9:26b

 

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

 

 

Let them always BELIEVE You God...every day of their lives and with every test of their faith!

 

 

 

An Update On Our Boys

So we went to hospital appointments for both boys the other day.  When the appointments ended up overlapping, we had Tommy and Cass on one side of Shreveport and Aiden and I on the other.  But it worked out well with my Dad being in town to get Aiden for a week of Papaw fun.  He was able to shuttle us across town in time for most of Cass' testing and appointment!

Cass and Aiden

Some of you may remember and most of you may not actually know this because it's been so unnoticeable from a distance for so long.  Aiden was born with a club foot.  Our little trooper had 8 different casts on the first 11 weeks of his life.  Before they put the last one on, they 'nicked' the tendon that goes up the back of his heel so that it would allow his foot to continue growing in the new position.  Then he wore shoes with a brace for quite some time.  I called him my 'little houdini' because he was ALWAYS able to get out of them!  Then another single brace for a short time a few years ago.  And then we were good to go unless he started having problems.  Over the last few months, we've noticed him falling down alot if he's barefooted and his foot seemingly turning inward again.  That leaves for one worried Mama and another trip to the wonderful Shriner's Children's Hospital in Shreveport.  Talk about people knowing how to do what they do so well and even more, loving the child and family along the way!

After checking him out, we've come to learn that yes, his foot is turning more than it should and we will have to intercede with a little help.  The good news is that it's not in his bones, which means no bone rotation that would require hardware in his leg.  He's been fitted with another brace to wear inside of his shoe that will hold the position of his foot correctly, hopefully to help with the falling down and to prevent it from getting worse.  The not so settling news to our little boy is that he has to do this until surgery.  They will have to go in and lengthen tendons at some point down the road.  The object is to buy time right now with the brace.  The younger he is when he has the surgery, the more likely they'll have to go back in and do it again at some point.  So we go with the brace and in six months they'll check him out again and measure his growth.

Aiden needs alot of prayer with this.  When he hears surgery, he thinks about what I've gone through the last few months.  That's very, very scary for him.  As much as I try to comfort him with the fact that his surgery will be nothing like Mama's major surgery and recovery, my words don't compare much with the memories of our early summer.  And, we're talking about the kid who has MAJOR issues with needles and shots.  So please keep him in your prayers and ask that God prepare his heart and comfort his worries! 

And for our little Possum, Cass man, Casserole, Mr. Munchkin, red headed baby boy.....

By the way, he all of a sudden thinks he's a monkey.  Don't feel sorry for his expression of great worry here.  I promise it's not because he's afraid....it's only because he's been caught and knows Mama's coming to get him down!

Cass got great news from his Pediatric Urologist!  Tommy was able to be there for this visit and he did such an awesome job with Cass.  He has this calming effect with him that touches my heart to the very core.  Cass knew he was safe with his Daddy.  He didn't even cry when they put in his IV!  And he was an ideal patient, even when strapped down to the imaging bed.  Twice that day we were told that he was the best little one they've ever had to work with!  One tough little guy!  To catch you up with little man....he was born with a UPJ obstruction on each kidney.  This means that there's either a kink, a narrowing, or an obstruction on both sides where the kidney drains into the Ureters.  This leaves his kidneys holding fluid, which can cause damage if it leads to infection.  Praise the Lord, he's never had any problems and so far, we've just watched, worried, and prayed for him.  He had another nuclear imaging test (the Willy Wonka test) on his kidneys to show their flow and function.  Our kidney's ideally function equally, at 50 percent for each kidney.  His showed functioning at 49 and 51 percent.  Pretty great if you ask us!  His urologist said that we don't have to do this test again unless there's ever a problem or concern.  So, we'll just continue to watch the fluid level on his kidneys through Ultrasound every 6 months and thank God in advance for completely healing our little boy!

At one time, this amazing kid was my smallest baby boy! And he's forever my oldest boy!

And now that 'smallest boy' title forever belongs to this sweet, full of life little one!

I love my boys!  We've been very blessed with them both.  All of this will work out for the best and we love having them both in our lives!  I heard the other day that 'God's will is what we would choose if we knew all of the facts'.  Stop and think on that one for awhile.  I love you Aiden James and Cass Lee and I thank God every day that He allowed me to be your Mom!