Super Hero's

My husband loves comics. It was how he learned to read as a kid. Because of this he has introduced the kids to super heroes like Spider Man, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. For a harvest festival two years ago Katie dressed up as Wonder Woman. She still has the costume in her dress up clothes. Recently she and Eli were playing in her room
and then came into the office looking like this...
Eli now loves to play dress up and will go get the Wonder Woman cape and headband while Katie is in school. It's so cute. I guess November first I'll be buying some super hero costumes for Eli. Why November first you ask? 50% costumes! He'll never know!
I love having these two. They are always fun and creative! And best of all, they love each other!

Katie's Broken Bone

My beautiful, precious, girly girl has now had either 3 or 4 broken bones. We know the first was when she was 17 months, the second at 27 months and then we think she broke a toe in January time frame. Now she has had a broken elbow. She fell from some monkey bars at the park. When she was being casted she was given the choice of colors. She chose blue (a surprise to me when given the choice of purple, pink, green, etc.).
Recently we went to visit my parents. The kids were given Easter Baskets. Eli's was a Spider Man basket. As my parents, Rick and I were lingering at the dinner table Katie began to play with her Easter toys. Then she stood up and looked at my dad and said "Reporting for battle, sir" and this is how she looked...

Toilet Training

Elisha is almost 3 years old. His birthday is in less than 2 months. We began talking to him about going potty a couple of months ago and he thought the toilet was cool to play with, but that was all. Now if I even mention the idea of sitting on the potty he cries and runs the other direction. It has gotten so bad that when I asked him if he needed a diaper change this morning he said "no, I no need diaper change. I like my poopy diaper." Now I'm beginning to wonder if I need to buy stock in adults diapers so I can change his diaper before he walks down the aisle on his wedding day.
If anyone out there has a sure fire way to train your boys I'm open for ideas. The book I checked out at the library and the video Huggies sent me all basically say "when he's ready, he's ready". Rick and I would like to help get him ready. We're done with the changing game. The changing table is even ready for him to be trained...it broke when Rick put him on it the other day. :)
Thanks for any advise! Have have a wonderful day!

The Tea Cup

The Tea Cup

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over, and I yelled out, "Don't do that." "I don't like it!" "Let me alone!"
But he only smiled and gently said, "Not yet."
Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!," I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, quietly; "Not yet."
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet."
When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please, Stop it, Stop," I cried. He only shook his head and said. "Not yet."
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven.. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, "What's he going to do to me next?"
An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!!!"
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long without learning steadfastness. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the Potter and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressure of the right kind that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will. So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink," try this...Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

Isaiah 64:8
Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

If You Want Me To

As many of you know, I have Fibromyalgia. I was diagnosed 9 years ago last February. When I first started dealing with it I felt betrayed by my own body and honestly a little let down by God. I was only 26 years old; much too young to be in such pain. But as I spent time reading the scriptures and crying out to God for answers I learned one thing very clearly, Deuteronomy 31:6 is true...He never left me in the pain. He blessed me with more of Him in it.

Recently we went on a little road trip. I decided to pull out some older CD's to listen to. One such CD was done by Ginny Owens. In this CD she has a song called "If You Want Me To". I nearly started crying as I listened to the song. I remembered that God used that song to really minister to my heart when I was first sick. One on the lines is "This may not be the way I would have chosen, when You lead me through a world that's not my own. But You never said it would be easy. You only said I'd never go alone." It absolutely amazed me to think of how desperate I was back then. I question God and did not feel like a blessed daughter of the King. Now I feel so blessed I can hardly remember how I felt back then. God has always blessed me, even in the pain. I can confidently say that Romans 8:28 and 2 Corinthians 9:8 are absolutely true!

I found the song on YouTube to share with you. Please enjoy and remember that no matter what, God has a plan for your life! Trust HIM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNzOpKvPfw&feature=related

John Pipper post I love!

Mark 8:34-36:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Wisdom From Marlee and Me

Last night I watched a movie called Marlee and Me starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. It was a good movie for anyone married or seriously thinking of getting married! It really shows some of the pain and work associated with marriage and child rearing!
In the movie Owen Wilson's character says when talking about a fight he had with his wife "Don't end it, mend it." Good advise, right? I mean anyone who sews knows that when we fix a whole the stitched part is thicker and harder to pull apart. It's been "mended".
Then I started thinking about that statement and it reminded me of some of King Solomon's advise in Ecclesiastes "If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." We need that third chord to keep our marriage from being pulled apart. Right now with so many influences trying to take you away from your marriage commitment, we need to make a stronger commitment to tying that chord as thick as possible!

Easter Sunday

Rick, my husband, is the Worship Pastor at our church (www,ccmv.org). Every year we are busy at Easter time preparing worship music and having band practices. This always makes it hard to really instill in our kids the reason for Easter. They've never heard of an Easter Bunny, of course, but I sometimes worry they think Easter is when Mamma and Daddy become busy and distracted, instead of really celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior.
Two years ago I bought a thing called "Resurrection Eggs" in which each egg tells a part of the story of Passion Week with a symbol. For example, a cup for communion, a set of praying hands for His prayer on the mount of olives, a piece of leather for the whipping of Jesus, crown of thorns, rock for the tomb and so on. The final egg is empty because Jesus isn't there any more! We've done these eggs with Katie, but I wasn't so sure how much she was getting, until Thursday. She came up and said "Mom, Easter is soon, right? how come we haven't done the egg things yet?" I asked wheat egg thing she was talking about and she proceeded to tell me all 12 eggs! My daughter knew the Easter story and the true reason for our celebrating!
This year we are going to add one new element to the Easter celebration at the Riggan house. I found two recipe's that show the Easter story in a more hands on way. I'm not sure which we will do this year, but here are the links for you to try out, yourself.
http://homeparents.about.com/cs/eastercrafts/a/eastertradition.htm
http://homeparents.about.com/cs/eastercrafts/a/eastertradition_2.htm
If you want to get a box of Resurrection Eggs go to www.christianbook.com and type in resurrection eggs in the search. They are around $10, I believe.

Satan's meeting

Satan's meeting...Click the link below to view it now: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0edec55cb25411422efd&sp=2

I add to that...Satan wants to keep our kids too busy for family time, church or youth group by giving them more and more homework and more hoops to jump through before they can get into college or get a good job. Let's all take a step back, take a deep breath and reconnect with God and His body.