Inspiring...humbling

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

A life truly dedicated to service.

Repost from Pastor Mikes Blog

I loved this post today. I had to share.

The Story of Us: My Man

The Story of Us: My Man

Don't really know what I am doing with the blogging thing still...thought I knew how to re-post something but apparently not so here is a link to an old post instead. Enjoy!

An update in pictures.

Spring has sprung and we have been out having fun with more Zunigas! Mark and Joanne had the kids over for fun and fancy Easter egg decorating while Steven and I got out on a date! Yay! Thank you so much for that special treat! The kids and the parents were very happy campers!

Gregory is growing soooo quickly! Just in time to take on the role of BIG Brother!

He is 17 months and catching up to Jaclynn! He still feels like my little baby though. I am sure in just a few short weeks he will look like a giant compared to our newest little boy.

Showing off their creations.

These kids are super snugglers! Jaclynn calls him "My Baby" all the time! It is pretty cute! He loves her to pieces too! Sometimes I wonder if he is confused about who his real mother is! Between the kisses and hugs he gets from Sydney, Jaclynn and myself, I am sure he questioned it a time or two. The new baby is sure in for an adventure! Hopefully he's fond of hugs and being held constantly. I doubt I will be able to pry him from the arms of all the others! 

I have heard some make the argument that the more kids you have the less attention they get. Not too sure that it's possible in our family of homebodies! We spend all day everyday together. Something tells me this baby will end up begging for some alone time as he gets older! We will see!

We also had some more Grandma Joanne and Papa Mark time recently at the San Diego Zoo!

They were troopers! Steven, Mark and Joanne were pretty brave making the day trip with four little ones and a very pregnant Mama. They were the best zoo navigators ever though! If any of you know this zoo you know it has HUGE hills to climb, often. But, the three of them were so wonderful and meticulously mapped out a route which included very little walking for me and virtually no hills by foot, thanks to the airway tram and the tour bus! The trip was so much fun and the kids had a great time.

We ended the evening at the best Italian restaurant ever! With the best pizza ever! It is called Fillippi's in San Diego.

I have been craving their Margheritta pizza since we had it that night. It is simply not fair to give a pregnant woman a meal like that and not have the ability to retrieve more at a moments notice! I have seriously considered whether or not the drive is reasonable or not just for pizza.  Any takers?

This peacock is literally right in front of the kids. They spent a very long time just watching each other. They were even able to pet its feathers when he walked by them and spread them all out. They thought it was pretty neat. :D

Jaclynn looks as though she is snuggling with this fox ( which she would totally do if she had the opportunity) But there is actually a glass wall between them. :D

Checking out the gorillas. Or as Jaclynn put it, "The Granolas"!

Hopefully there will be more up dates soon. And I am seriously hoping to announce the birth of our 5th little blessing sooner than later! It's in God's perfect will the day and time our son will be born. Can't wait to find out what that is! He will be the tie breaker too for the blondes VS the brunettes. We have two of each, which is so funny to me. Will he look like the 2 oldest or the 2 youngest? Can you tell I am super anxious for this baby to be born!?! :D

Happy Resurrection Day

"What a love, what a cost. Christ became sin for us. Took the pain, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross..."

What a day to celebrate.

Thank you God for your resurrected Son on this day. Thank you that He became sin so that we might have You. Thank you for accepting us through Him. Thank you that His blood was enough. Thank you for delivering us from our sin through a precious little baby who grew into an perfect, blameless man who bore the wrath of You for the sake of us. Thank you that He is all we need. Thank you for choosing me. 

Attempting to post at Recycling Reformation again...

Go here to check out the most current updates on Sydney's recycling adventures. We truly hope there will be more posts soon. :)

Ann Voskamp

I am loving this blogger/ writer!  Ann Voskamp blogs at Aholyexperience.com. Very encouraging and deep. I epecially love  her recent posts about love and marriage!

A big thanks to Tina for sharing this with us!!!

Convicting...

Watch the video, then reflect on what the Holy word of God says about the poor and needy. 

"And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgments, show kindness and mercy towards one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." Zechariah 7:8-10

"Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13

"Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors Him." Proverbs 14:31

"She opens her hands to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31:20

"Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse."

 Proverbs 28:27

"Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor." Proverbs 22:9

"Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy." Proverbs 31:9

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, ' Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly,I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For i was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they will also answer saying, 'Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And those will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 25: 35- 46

"Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with treasure in the heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:33-34

"My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one in fine clothing and say, 'You sit here in a good place, ' while you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there,' or, 'Sit at my feet,' have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?" James 2:1-7

"But if anyone has the worlds goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth."

1John 3:17-18

"Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! ' For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or, who has given a gift to him that it might be repaid?' For from him and to him and through him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Romans 11: 33- 36 and 12:1-2

And the list of scriptures could go on and on.

I ask myself often if I am caring for the sick or poor or oppressed. The answer is no. Not like I am called to as a believer in Christ. Are you?

Resolved2Worship

Wrote this a while back but never posted. Might as well now, right?
I was checking one of my favorite sites and almost didn't read her current post. ( obviously I want you to read that so go and do that first ) It looked too long and I don't have much time to sit at the computer and read. For some reason I changed my mind and dove in. Her honesty is refreshing. She is open about her struggles and I admire that. Although I don't relate directly to the sin issue she talks about in her post I felt it was convicting and true. Keep in mind she is a home schooling mom of 7 ( update: now pregnant with #8!) who struggles with judging others who look similar to herself. I think it is an interesting point to bring up. Judgement comes in all forms. The "christians" judging the "non-christians", and vice versa. The people with lots of kids, the people with just a couple, those who home school, send to private and send to public. EVERYONE is guilty. Anyway, I like her honesty. Main idea... keep yourself focussed on your relationship with God. Where you stand in Christ. How you live and who you are living for. What does your heart truly reveal? Self examination is scary. It reveals a whole lot if you can be honest with yourself.

We must learn to love.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. this is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Matthew 22:37-39

Excerpt from Family Driven Faith Chapter 3 "Learn to Love"  by Voddie Baucham:

"Thus Jesus, referencing Moses, comments on the essential nature of loving people as well as loving God. Therefore, to limit this chapter to learning to love god would have been insufficient. If our homes are to reflect our position as the people of God in the midst of the opposition of a pagan culture, we, like the Israelites, must learn to love.
Our homes must be rife with the aroma of love. Those who visit us should notice immediately that they have left the world of self-serving, egocentric narcissism and have entered a safe harbor where people value and esteem others above themselves. Outsiders should enter our homes and never want to leave. Our neighbors should find excuses to visit us just to get another whiff of the fragrant aroma of love. The brokenhearted should long to be near us. The downtrodden and abused should seek us out. Families on the brink of disaster should point to us and say 'Why can't our home be like that?'
Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Far too often professing Christians  in our culture don't love better, more deeply, or longer than the pagans who surround us. At times we bear more of the stench of this world than the fragrant aroma of the people of God. That's the bad news. The good news is that things don't have to remain as they are. We can learn to love. The first step is to rid ourselves of the ineffective methods and ideologies that have led us down the current path."

Imagine what the church would be if we truly clung to what the verse in Matthew 22 is saying. Imagine how we could impact the world for Christ.

The Child Training Bible

Stop by my friends new blog! She has created an amazing resource for training up our little ones! Or, I guess I should say she is using what God has provided, The Bible, and made it very easy to navigate scriptures that pertain to different heart issues that need to be addressed during the training of our precious little ones! I made one of the child training bibles and I love it! I think it is also fair to call it a Mom training bible!

A vision for motherhood.

I saw this on another blog this morning and loved it. Just had to re-post here.

"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller

My dear friend's blog featured on Ladies Against Feminism!

My friend Valerie's blog and a piece she wrote about whether or not we are actually pro-life was featured on the site Ladies Against Feminism! She writes beautifully about this topic and doesn't hold back and yet is sweet and gentle with her words. Go check it out. I think it may not be what you would expect. =)

He's walking!

And falling then walking again then falling again. It never gets old watching your babies go through all the different stages. Gregory is just as fun as the rest of them were. I can't believe he turned one already! I'm still in shock! Anyway, his first year has been great. He is a joy and usually has a smile on his face. I am very happy that he is finally toddling around. Although completely walking all the time would be nice seeing as how he is sooooo big and heavy and I am exhausted carrying him!

By the way, my exhaustion is likely from the fact that I am almost 15 weeks pregnant! I know most of you know but I keep getting a very shocked look here and there so I guess formal announcements are still necessary even when announcing your 4th or 5th or so on. =)

I am due July 11th. Exactly opposite of our fall/winter babies. It will be weird to have a summer baby but I am excited! God is good and he has blessed us again with a very special gift! We are thankful and can't wait to meet this new little one. We would like to find out what this one is so look for a post in the coming weeks for the results. I am thinking boy but we will see! The boys room is already set up and ready for a third. If it's a girl I will have to get creative in the girls room. Of course Sydney and Jaclynn are convinced this baby is a girl and Calvin is sure it is a boy. Steven and I have no preference and look forward to the day we look straight into this precious blessings eyes and say I love you. Then, introduce him or her to the rest of the group and the sweet chaos we call life!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!