Summer Time, Summer Time Fun!!!!

Summer time fun! We have been busy with our fun family time and I am amazed out how quickly the children are growing. Lydia and Marilyn got their ears pierced and Creighton continues to adjust amazingly well. We went to the beach in June for a family reunion on the beach...it was such a blessed time. We have been going to the Pool here at Fort Leavenworth all summer and enjoying our time at home. I have actuallybeen able to catch up on some house organizing and hopefully will continue a good thing through the fall and winter months. We have enjoyed our time together...and the fun summer months...God is good.

Spring...is here

Well...I just have a minute, but wanted to share.
A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to sing at the DB (disciplinary barracks)here on Post. What a blessing. When I first arrived with the group of ladies from the Chapel, the somberness and the seriousness of my surroundings made for a heavy heart. What brought these men there?...how long would they be there? and many similar questions filled my mind. Then I remembered the simple, but true fact.....no matter what we do ,God still loves us, HE can still use us. Even when we are broken He can make us new again and fill us.
We sang for an hour and a half. When I sang my solo...I knew God was singing it through me. I had learned that song when I was only 17. I liked the song then, but not until ten years later did God use that song to minister to me in my life and now twenty years after I first learned the song....God was using it to minister to me again and to the in mates who were in the DB. I pray God can continue to use me...and fill me up so that I may pour out more of HIM!

On the family front...things are going great! Lydia began soccer, Chapel is awesome...every time we walk through it's doors...we are blessed. We are so thankful! Marilyn is stll dancing away in ballet and Creighton's vocabulary is really taking off. He even sings the alphabet song...sort of :-) He knows the sounds...I don't think he knows what he is singing yet, but it's a good start! Michael is working hard in the IO /concepts of the Army and I am so thankful to be blessed to be mommy, wife and home maker! the Art auction is coming together wonderfully ..Praise God! Please continue to keep it in your prayers ( May 9th) so that all who are involved will be blessed , especially the orphans who are in such great need (wwwlovesreach.org ).
http://www.artbymarianthe.homestead.com/

full plate....

I have not been very good about blogging lately, but life is a "full plate" right now. As I said last time...my cup runneth over and now...I'm saying that my plate is also FULL . Every weekend we seem to have a party of some sort, wonderful family time after chapel on Sunday and our week days are busy with work, school, chapel,ballet, laundry and housework. Soccer season is coming up and Lydia is so excited!

We are also hosting a charity art auction for Love's Reach International (http://www.lovesreach.org/) . I am so excited, but my mind is constantly going over details and I look forward to see how God can use me and the art that will be donated. I am donating as many pieces of mine as I can and we also have several local and other national artist contributing their work. I have been praying for years that God show me a way I could use my art to help people. Prayerfully God will be able to use me through Love's Reach to help orphans who desperately need help. Please remember the auction in your prayers. It will be on May 9th .

Michael is working extra hard lately , closing out projects from one job as he begins another. It's actually the same job, but in a different building with a new boss. He is so diligent and determine to get the job done right. One of the many qualities I love about him!

Lydia is doing great at school and getting excited about her upcoming 6th birthday. She is recognizing words and is on her way to the wonderful world of reading. Favorite food -feta cheese

Marilyn's verbal skills have really developed lately and her vocabulary is getting very full. She hardly ever stops talking except for a quick breath. favorite food-garlic stuffed green olives

Creighton is also truly bonding with his sisters and Michael and I. He says " I love you" ,"dog", "uh-Oh" and a few other words. He loves to laugh and doesn't mind cleaning up his messes(...hopefully that one will stay with him!!!) favorite food-whatevers for dinner :-)

I've been busy with the planning of the art auction, painting some commission pieces and keep house and home as a Mommy of three.

I am so thankful.....God is so good!

let us...be glad!

I feel so very thankful ...and "my cup runneth over" . Even when I'm so very tired....I know I am blessed. We are blessed as a nation. Even in times of financial difficulties we are still blessed. My mind stores memories of Agra ,India outside of the huge walls of the Taj Mahal and the shacks built from cardboard boxes and sticks. I remember being in Kenya and visiting a Masai village where the village consisted of a circle of mud huts that surrounded the cattle at night and the calves would sleep inside the mud huts with the family because a families animals were considered their "wealth". My mind is filled with many memories of places that may not have had material wealth, but still were able to find joy. In all the places I have visited I could still find smiles and joy. God was there. Our modern day conveniences are such blessings, but we all can see if we look at our nation that they don't bring joy or happiness. What brings us happiness and contentment? Perspective. I have always felt this way, but yesterday I saw a video of a young man that is living proof of what being thankful truly is. He is such an inspiration. His name is Nick Vujicic from Australia, here are a couple of his videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6OluBxGtM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlJWJ_WfA

they both truly touching and moves a persons soul. It truly puts things in perspective to see how God can still bless a persons life, even in the most difficult circumstances.

How blessed we are and my prayer is that every day when I wake up I will remember and say:

"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

All about Love...

Creighton is adjusting amazingly well....and I thank God everyday as things seem to be as if he has always been here with us. I am so thankful that Creighton is such a good sleeper and eater, it is a true blessing. He doesn't have tantrums as often we have not allowed them to continue. Every time he would start one, we would lift him up off the floor and direct him to another activity, toy or any distraction from whatever was upsetting him. I wasn't sure if the temper was from him being two or from a result of him being adopted, regardless they are not acceptable and had to go away(praise God). Marilyn is growing so much and is finally talking more and more. She remains our little "sunshine" and loves to laugh. Lydia is also growing so fast. I can truly see her personality developing a long with her imagination. They grow up so quickly.

Michael has changed buildings with his job again. They are restructuring information operations and he is chief of a "new acronym"( CIDDID , I think). I have just finished a commissioned piece and I am working on several more. God has laid it on my heart to host an charity art auction in May(http://www.lovesreach.org/). I would truly be grateful for your prayers for the auction, as all the details continue to unfold. I'm really excited to see what God has in store!

Our Valentine's day was a blessed one. Thankfully the kids chocolate is almost gone, so I don't have to be the "chocolate warden" much longer. I don't like them to have too much chocolate at once, so I give it out little by little until it's all gone. Michael was especially thoughtful and truly touched my heart with his acts of love,kindness and thoughtfulness,but honestly...he does that all year long.

Valentines day is a day that our society sets aside to think about love, but honestly , most of us know.....everyday is about love in someway. The love of family and friends and special people in our lives. We were reading together in our devotion this morning :

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

My first observation is that LOVE is used as a verb first. Then my thought was, I wonder what the interpretation of the word "know" is directly from the Greek? I think ( and this is entirely my thought, not for certain until I investigate further) that it means " to understand love " or "to have experienced it". A person can use the word love and not know what it really means. A person can say I know God but not have a relationship with Him, or understand who HE really is or know the relationship that they can have with Him. What I guess I'm trying to say is, I believe what the passage is saying is,if we have experienced true love we then understand what a sacrifice it was for God to send HIS son to earth for us. If we have experienced true love we know what a true gift it is. The warmth it brings our life, the fulfillment in our hearts, the way God intended it to be.

I remember when I was growing up, my sweet Daddy would tell us stories of my grandfather who died in Greece during the War in the early 40's. Now when my father would speak... you could hear the love in his voice, you could see it in his eyes as the tears streamed down his face. I remember thinking , he sure does talk about him a lot even after he has been gone for so long(as I was a goofy teenager at some point). Now that I'm older and a little wiser, I find myself remembering my father, sharing my memories of him with my children and still getting choked up at times , 14 years after his death, the love has not faded. I still love him and still miss him everyday. Even with Michael, I am more in love with him than I was on the day we married, but at the time I didn't believe a human could be more in love. I believe that only that kind of love must be from God. It doesn't die when we do or fade with time. I am thankful to God, because I KNOW that these relationships were gifts from HIM.

"God is Love" Love is not god.....God is love. So in my mind, my interpretation of this is, there are many types of love in the world, there is the love of flesh, the love of wealth and many kinds of superficial loves, but without God in the midst of the relationship, the hearts the true love, the "fullness" of love can't be accomplished. What I'm saying is......God created Love, He is love then wouldn't it make more sense to say HE should have a part in our hearts so that we can love to the fullest.

I'm not trying to preach or rant on and on. I'm not saying I have it all figured out. I am just sharing as I seek God in my everyday. I am not able to blog everyday with my busy and blessed Mommy schedule, so it has turned in to more of a way for me to share my heart with tid-bits of our everyday with our friends. It's like a random glimpse into my journal....my heart and my thoughts. The glimpse may not be riveting, but it is open and honest.

Twenty Years From Now....

I've started visiting my face book page more lately. Michael and I both have added many new "old" friends to our pages. I also joined my high school reunion group on face book since my twenty year reunion is this year....even still as I type it, I can't believe it's been twenty years. I'm amazed at the journey called my life and what the last twenty years has brought. For Michael and I both.Good and bad it's been amazing. The very fact that we arrived where we are, together with three amazing children still takes my breath away. Even though I do feel older and wiser at the same time I still feel a lilttle like the young girl who graduated with so much possiblity and hope for the future. I still have hope for my future, but since my priorities have changed I see myself evolved from someone who as a young 18 year old often does, thought I was the focus of my life. As I'm older..and wiser....a little grey and more weather worn I know the focus of my life is not me. What I mean by this, is not that I should ignore me and my needs, I just should not be so focused on them that I don't see the big picture, what's important. Just as soldiers don't focus on just themselves, they focus on the mission and what is best for the mission. So I guess you could say I have discovered my mission, my focus. Christ is my focus. I see HIM in Michael and the kids. I see Christ in my friends and my family. Christ wants us to have a relationship with Him first so that we can have better relationships with others. He will love us through eachother. Hopefully this is coming clear , as I'm sharing my heart. I feel I've seen a glimpse of the larger picture of life. My perspective is limited therefore I must rely on my faith to see me through and guide me.Today in our morning devotion Rick Warren (purpose driven life author and pastor) wrote....The fact is, God is not limited by time. He’s able to be in the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. Think of it like this: if you were in the Goodyear Blimp looking down on the Rose Parade, you could see the beginning of the parade and the end of the parade all at the same time.

So here I am thinking through my day, my mission, my focus. I'll do the dishes and the laundry because it is needed to help run our house, but that will not be my focus. I will not stress if I don't finish the laundry or my todo list. I know that in twenty years I won't ask myself "Why didn't I wash and fold more clothes?" So thinking on these terms, I decide to read to the kids sometimes when I should be washing...because in 20 years they will no longer be little and I don't want that part of the "parade" to pass without me truly noticing every detail that I can, every wave and smile and laugh out loud.

So twenty years from now where will I be? Prayerfully growing old with my sweet husband and family in the center of God's will!

The photos above are of our fun lately in this "parade" we call life! Just like any parade do your best not to step in the horse poop if you can help it!

This is the day....to dance

This is the day....God has made. Everyday begins with this! The possibilities are limitless. So many days in the past, I know I have woken up and not realized what that day would bring. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. What I have to keep reminding myself is that...God made that day, what ever happens, HE has allowed. How exciting to know our days are overseen by the designer of the universe. The really cool thing about it is that eventhough HE is almighty, He allows us a choice to choose how we spend our time, our day. He didn't want robots He desired relationships with us. I'm not trying to be "preachy". I've just been praying for the Saunders family a lot and of course when something so devastating, such as a house fire, happens to such precious people everyone always has that thought " Why did God allow this to happen?????". I truly believe there is a purpose for everything and God allows these things to happen for reasons we can not see today, but in the days, months and years ahead it will be evident what good came from something seemingly so bad.

Romans 8:28 says: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The Saunders family...are without a doubt a family of God, they demonstrate God's love everyday in their lives. God has a plan, He has a purpose.

So today....the Snyders purpose?????...we should all know....we have one. Today I see my purpose, three sweet little one's are depending on me. One handsome soldier looks forward to coming home to dinner and his three "high volume" children :-). My most important purpose I know...is to allow the Lord God to LOVE through me. ....and right this minute it's time to get Creighton and Marilyn fed and dressed and to Marilyn's ballet class.... I guess this is the day to dance!!!!!