don't even think about commenting.

we heard yet another 

incredible,

life-changing

transformative 

sermon 

at church this weekend.

we are so blessed by the truth 

that is spoken at our church.

so, so, so blessed.

the words cut my heart 

(of course)

and have changed my mindset.

each time, 

each week, 

my heart is urged to point more towards Christ 

and to focus less 

on all the other things that that don't matter.

the things that i do each day 

to fill my heart and mind

that are not of God.

when we pursue anything other than God, 

we think we are being filled up 

but in the end, 

we are left 

wanting more.

desiring more.

wanting and desiring ungodly things.

it's this ugly monster that we feed.

that we feed to our hearts.

our pastor talked about our daydreams.

my daydreams.

where my mind goes when it has a free moment.

he talked about the 

security, 

affection, 

affirmation,

approval and

identity

that we get.

that i get.

from those daydreams.

from those other things

that are not God.

my love language is words of affirmation.

and i don't want to feed that monster anymore. 

i don't want to go anywhere else for my security.

anywhere besides God.

everyone is worshiping something.

i want to keep God on the throne.

and God alone.

and i want to be changed.

i think what we all want is a lasting change. 

i want to renew my heart.

i want to respond to Him.

i want my treasure and my value to be from Him. 

this blog is now going to be a comment-free blog.

i was so inspired by this blog.

i have thought for a few months 

that i should implement this to my very own blog.

and after hearing this sermon, 

i knew that i could not go one more day without doing this. 

and oh how i love your comments. 

i really, truly adore them.

and that is why i am choosing to say goodbye to the comments.

i just love them too much. 

i know that you understand. 

and you can always email me

{capturingmotherhood@gmail.com}

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel 

   after that time,” declares the LORD. 

“I will put my law in their minds 

   and write it on their hearts. 

I will be their God, 

   and they will be my people. 

No longer will they teach their neighbor, 

   or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ 

because they will all know me, 

   from the least of them to the greatest,” 

            declares the LORD. 

“For I will forgive their wickedness 

   and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34

816. a napping house

817. my purple scarf

818. our bare tree out front

819. snow on the mountains

820. the crisp, clear day

the dirt.

the other day, 

i let the kids play in the dirt.

it was mud, actually.

and yep, they loved every second of it.

but what kid doesn't?

i usually don't like things like this

(i'm not a kid)

but i bit my lip and let them go for it.

don't get me wrong, 

i did make them take off 

all muddy clothing 

before entering the house.

and i may have 

wiped their hands and feet 

before letting them come back in.

and i may have 

thrown them in the bathtub for a quick soak. 

but the point of this story 

is that i let my kids play in the dirt. 

can i get a high five for that?

811. clean booster seats

(thanks to my mother-in-law)

812. a cleaned out fridge 

(thanks to my mother-in-law)

813. the joy that dirt and water brings

814. L's love for our tree out front

815. sleep, sleep and more sleep

sickies.

it's {embrace} the camera day!

well, this photo is from last week.


and let's Praise God that it's not from this week.i sure have.it feels so good to feel good again.

806. catching up807. breakfast out808. how orange our cuties from tj's are809. leftovers810. the night off

picture me {im}perfectly.

i like things to be nice and tidy and organized

and when my children or my house are not that way,

(a.k.a. nearly all of the time)

i get distracted.

so distracted in fact that it takes me completely out of the moment.

i can't function if things are out of their places.

i can't see my son's great art design or

hear my daughter's new song or

enjoy my baby's new skills while on the floor.

it is really too bad.

and it's not one of those things you would mention in a job interview

when asked what one of your weaknesses are.

it's not something you could somehow disguise as a strength.

because it's not. 

and if i'm angry or really tired?

oh man... 
for some reason,

that's my "ideal" time to clean up the house.

which of course, makes zero sense.

but that's when i just can't deal with the messes anymore

and i must do something about them.
right
that
second.


but the ironic thing is, 

i generally get distracted from the things that are
really,
truly
important 
to me
and only 
half clean up
and half do
what i know i should be doing.
and in the end, everybody loses.
and my counter still looks like this:





picture me {im}perfectly

is a weekly project to reveal that we don't have it all together.

i will post a 

picture me {im}perfectly

blog post every wednesday 

where you will be able to link up to your blog

revealing that:

you are not picture perfect,

your kids are not picture perfect,

your house is not picture perfect,

your crafts are not always picture perfect,

let's 

encourage, 

inspire and 

remind 

other women 

that none of us have it all together.  

<a border="0" href="http://capturingmotherhood.blogspot.com/search/label/picture%20me%20%7Bim%7Dperfectly" target="_blank"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_TEajznl6Lw4/TTTZOgmZkqI/AAAAAAAAHAw/NH8EssqyeZc/s144/pictureme8.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />

add my button to your blog post

until next wednesday

and link up to your direct posting

and feel encouraged. 


801. the little boy whose rolling body sweeps my floor daily
802. medicine that takes fevers away
803. delicious smelling candles burning on a rainy day
804. freshly cut flowers that stun
805. brown sugar. 
plenty of brown sugar.

her outfit.

my little girl loves to dress herself.

and i'm all for it.

especially if it saves me a few moments when we are scurrying around on any given morning.

even when her outfit does not at all match.

even when she has two shirts, a dress, a jacket, a skirt and pants on.

but sometimes

(just like me)

she needs a little help in the wardrobe department.

actually, that's not true.

i need a lot of help in this department.

she just needs a little.

case in point.

her baby's playmat is firmly attached to the tutu she is wearing underneath her dress.

but you know what? she didn't seem to mind.

so i won't either.

796. L's word "uh-oh"

797. rain and fireplaces

798. tons and tons of new little leaves on the trees in the backyard

799. watching a movie with just D

800. extra help

hallucinations.

last week, my days were filled with

reading,

resting,

relaxing and

recovering.

oh wait.

that must have just been me hallucinating.

my days were really filled with

coughing,

wiping noses,

aches,

getting rid of fevers,

tears.

we were all sick.

oh, so sick.

and everyone needed medicine at different times. 

oh goodness.

but, we've made it through it. 

still some small remnants of the colds remain

but for the most part, 

we are doing well.

really, really well.

and i earnestly want to thank you.

i need to thank you.

for your prayers.

his new medication seems to be working.

really, really working.

and we aren't seeing any side effects.

and,

L has been sleeping through the night 

for a couple of nights now and 

he is sleeping better than he ever has before. 

ever. 

so thank you and 

Praise God.

Ask and it will be given to you; 

seek and you will find; 

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; 

he who seeks finds; 

and to him who knocks, 

the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

and a happy, happy birthday to my sweet sister!

791. a serving mother-in-law

792. sunny days

793. good, good sleep

794. the view of the moon that took my breath away

795. healing

so here we are.

you all remember L's big seizure in january, right?

of course.

well, after that event, 

we had to get a brain wave scan and meet with our neurologist. 

she wanted to start him on anticonvulsant drugs 

as she thought that he would most likely seize again.

probably within the next month or two.

i refused the drugs,

 because i didn't want him to be taking something 

because he just "probably" needed it.

and to be honest, anticonvulsant meds scared me.

they really scared me.

even more than a seizure.

well, 30 days on the nose later,

L had a very short seizure (15 seconds long)

but the biggest bummer about this was that he had had two little strange things

one in september and one in december

that could have been seizures,

but none of us were really sure if they were or not.

so they were both discounted by our team of doctors 

because like i said, we weren't sure what we saw.

so when L had the short one earlier this month, 

the other two short ones instantly counted.

so his seizure count immediately when from two to four.

and three short days after that, he had yet another longer seizure.

yuck.

but yet again, God woke both B and me up in the middle of the night 

and at this point in time, 

we are fairly certain that we have not missed one.

L's seizures were becoming more and more frequent.

so now, i knew that we needed the meds.

we needed them.

the things that i was so scared of,

i was asking for,

demanding, actually.

but it still makes me

sad and scared

when i think about it.

which is nearly all the time.

so last week, we started down a new path.

a path that includes anticonvulsant meds.

the most incredible thing about the meds though 

is that on the information sheet it says:

"it is not known how the drug works to prevents seizures."

but it does.

how cool is that?

God is so much bigger than science. 

the other thing is that L has officially been diagnosed with epilepsy.

our neuro believes that he will not grow out of the epilepsy

and that he will always need meds to help raise his threshold for seizures.

always.

so there we are.

so here we are.

our new reality. 

and, as my always positive husband says,

(just like my always positive dad) 

at least the docs know what he is experiencing 

and they know what to do to change that.

and he's right.

he's absolutely right.

there have been far too many things about L that have stumped doctors. 

things that gigantic medical centers have never.

ever.

seen.

before.

ever.

but this?

this isn't one of those things.

it's strange because L's the same little guy as he was early last week

even though he now has a new life-long diagnosis 

attached to his ever growing medical list.

he's the same and so is our God. 

speaking of stumped doctors, how about this incredible story?

we know that God answers prayers

and have seen His mighty hand at work

and have experienced His blessings over and over again. 

so i humbly ask for your prayers.

we have so much faith in Jesus and know that He is being glorified by little L's life.

will you please pray: 

-that these meds work

-that we don't have to increase the dosage

-and that they will provide L with a healthy balance of 

protecting him from any future seizures 

while not experiencing any of the side effects.

-and can you also pray for his sleep?

-he has not been a very good sleeper in his twenty months on this earth 

and these meds are considered agitators rather than sedatives. 

so we are trusting that God will pour His peace over L while he sleeps. 

so that we can all get some shut-eye around here. 

thank you, thank you. from the bottom of my heart.

And the peace of God, 

which transcends all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:7

786. answered prayers

787. His forgiveness

788. fluffy, white clouds against a blue, blue sky

789. His Word which we can cling to

790. His rest

the sun is shining.

it's {embrace} the camera day!




it's been pretty dreary around here lately. 

we've all been sick.

the kiddos are all well now, but my cold 

has turned into some sort of sinusy thing. 

yep, that's some official medical talk for you.

i finally feel like i'm on the mend 

and for that, 

i am so grateful.

so grateful 

to God.

so now, the sun is peeking into our dreariness.

and i am soaking it up.

one ray at a time.

isn't it so lame 

that you never really appreciate 

how good it feels to just feel like yourself 

until you feel simply miserable?

so lame, indeed.

let me not take that for granted ever again.

there has been a lot going on with L these past few weeks.

much of which i will shed a light on tomorrow. 

and i will be asking for your prayers.

so get ready.

781. the branches on our tree fluttering quickly

782. all three children napping (and a momma too)

783. ear thermometers

784. a friend knowing she is right where God wants her to be

785. the sun breaking through the clouds

picture me {im}perfectly.

my life's not always

filled with gorgeous days

inside and out of 

my home and my mind.

real life is riddled with tough decisions and heartache.

and the tougher life seems to be, 

the closer i get to God.

it is really incredible how He designed that to be.

this dreary photo is a reflection of 

our window in our dining table

and a reflection of 

the dreariness i am currently experiencing. 

picture me {im}perfectly

is a weekly project to reveal that we don't have it all together.

i will post a 

picture me {im}perfectly

blog post every wednesday 

where you will be able to link up to your blog

revealing that:

you are not picture perfect,

your kids are not picture perfect,

your house is not picture perfect,

your crafts are not always picture perfect,

let's 

encourage, 

inspire and 

remind 

other women 

that none of us have it all together.  

<a border="0" href="http://capturingmotherhood.blogspot.com/search/label/picture%20me%20%7Bim%7Dperfectly" target="_blank"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_TEajznl6Lw4/TTTZOgmZkqI/AAAAAAAAHAw/NH8EssqyeZc/s144/pictureme8.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
add my button to your blog post

until next wednesday

and link up to your direct posting

and feel encouraged. 

we also rejoice in our sufferings, 

because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 

perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, 

because God has poured out his love into our hearts 

by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:3-5

766. movies almost all day long for the big kids

767. a second chance to celebrate valentine's day

768. dreary days

769. the perfect red flower right outside my window

780. a sweet, sweet husband who makes everything better