My Living Room, My Heart, My Faithful Savior

I put on my Happy Shirt today after my shower, seriously, I did. You'll see why... I decided I'd clean out the girl's bedroom while they were away at MMO {Mothers Morning Out} and preschool... you can see my tiny helper above. Really it was my selfish desires that sparked the overhaul. Morgan continues to pick out very "summery" clothes for preschool and the only way I could think of preventing it from happening was to get the summer clothes out. It's hard when it's still 85 degrees outside to put up summer clothes. They really are more appropriate than most of her fall clothes, especially for those trips outside to the playground. Anyway...

I pulled every article of clothing from their dresser, floor, beds, underneath the beds, the closet, and went through it all. Oh my goodness, we are blessed beyond measure! I've never in my life seen so many clothes. Most of them were given to us by our cousin Ava. She's an only child and 10 months older than Morgan so all of her clothes are handed down to us! And her Mommy knows how to shop.

I seriously could have used my super organized anal friend Anne C. for a few hours today. I get overwhelmed when it comes to organizing. It doesn't help that little man had to poop and until he poops he screams. And time was of the essence. I wanted it all to be done before Justin walked in the door.

If you enlarge the picture of the piles you'll see our laptop in the background. I brought her in for moral support. And was she ever supportive. In fact, not only did she pull me through, she encouraged me, taught me, blessed me, strengthened me, sharpened me, and I'm sure that's not all.

You see, I have a friend {that I wish I knew better} named Amy. She is extremely gifted. I've heard this before about her but today I got to experience it in full effect. Amy is the director {that may not be her official title, but I'm sure it's close enough} of our local CBS {Community Bible Study} which is kind of like BSF. I've never participated in CBS but I've heard nothing but praise for what is taught and how it's conducted. Amy has started a blog and has added her weekly CBS lectures to her blog & iTunes. Today, instead of having hours upon hours of dialog with myself... which would have been extremely dangerous considering I was facing what seemed to be an insurmountable pile of disaster, I opted to tune in and listen to Amy teach. I listened to 5 of the 7 lectures and y'all this woman is gifted!! She will make you laugh, she will make you cry, she speaks the truth and is evident that the Lord is using her for His glory. I got goosebumps so many times I had to shave my legs when I was done.

I told y'all that I lived on Diet Coke this summer. It was a nasty summer. When I am out of fellowship with my Savior & other people who love Him, every aspect of my life will suffer. But you know what I'm learning {slowly but surely} that He is faithful to his children. In spite of myself and my stupid antics, He still loves me. He made me... I am his baby. He loves me more than I love my children. I can't understand it. How he could. But I know He does. There's nothing I could or could not do that could ever separate me from his love. As I dug through those clothes today, slowly making my way to the bottom, folding them, organizing them and storing them away {while I listened to Amy} I was reminded {once again} that this is what the Lord is doing to my heart. All the crap is laid out before him and he takes it all to the cross so that I don't have to. He took my crap, my pride, my anger, all my sins and put them on the cross with Jesus in my stead. He he took my sin, paid my debt and set me free.

Since most of y'all are pretty hip and know how to operate iTunes... search for Amy Edge {she pops up #5 on the list} and download her lectures to your iPod. Then I suggest you take her for a walk with you, to the gym, to carpool, on a road trip, or let her come hang out with you while you sort through all your stuff... I know you will be blessed if you do. If you can't figure out iTunes you can download her lectures directly from her blog. She'll keep you great company while your children are napping. She speaks the truth and I love it! Amy, thanks for spending the day with me today! We accomplished a lot... my living room, my heart & my faithful Savior!

ps- There's a really sweet mother of 4 in Ohio named Jennifer. She cried earlier this week when she packed up some things that belonged her boys. I cried tonight when I got them. Thank you, Jennifer! I can't believe ALL the clothes! We may have a lot of girl clothes... but we cerntainly don't didn't have as many boy clothes! I had fun digging and ooh and ahhing and the girls had fun in the BOX! They love their books too! I'll be sure to snap some pics of "Martin Boy" as the girls are now calling him in some of his "new" things! Thank you!!!

It's the biggest pile of the cutest little boy things you've ever seen... and some with tags still attached!!