the new earth

There is a commercial for Travelers Insurance that Hudson really likes- probably because of all the animals. He'll stare at the image and make all the animal noises and signs as each new creature comes on the screen. It's pretty funny. You can watch it below:



When it came on the other day I actually stopped what I was doing to watch it. The reason it caught my attention more this time was because I'd just finished studying Isaiah 11. If you are unfamiliar with the passage, then you can find it here. I was specifically thinking about verses six through nine, talking about how predators and prey will lie down with one another. So after watching the commercial, I asked Kyle if he thought that the new earth would be like that. It's not that I believe that animals will be giving one another rides or splashing water at one another. I just think it's pretty cool that not just men but animals will be at peace with one another. That's an amazing thought.

When we visited the zoo a couple of weeks ago one of the zoo keepers was standing outside the cage/pen for the jaguar. The jaguar was pacing the perimeter of his area as if standing guard. I asked the zoo keeper if he still has the urge to pounce or attack prey even though he's fed on a regular basis. The zoo keeper told me that yes, the jaguar still has those instincts- they will never go away. And now, as I sit here and think about Isaiah's prophecy, I'm reminded that one day those instincts will go away. God created that jaguar to live in harmony with all animals, but sin destroyed that for the jaguar too. Sin didn't just mess up the lives of men, but the rest of creation as well. All of creation is eagerly awaiting to be redeemed, as seen in Scripture. That's pretty amazing.

I really look forward to the new earth. Not just because there will be no more sin or peace among men and creation, but because all of us who are in Christ will be doing what we were created to do. We'll be glorifying God and giving Him the praise He deserves. That's such an awesome thought- to be completely fulfilled, to not struggle against my flesh, to sing praise to my Creator without being hindered by anything. What a glorious day!!

marriage

Kyle and I have been married for about seven and a half years. When he proposed he used a quote from Martin Luther's proposal to his own wife to propose to me. It's actually taken from Acts 3 when Peter and John were walking into the temple. A lame beggar asked them for money, but Peter had no money to offer. Instead, he offered the beggar something that would last forever- Jesus Christ. When Kyle proposed to me he told me that he didn't have riches or gold, but he has a rich God. And we get to serve that God together every day.

Kyle recently completed some pre-marital counseling with a couple. They talked about the creation of woman, the helpmate of the man. She was put there to help the man bring glory to God. That's what Kyle and I are supposed to do in our marriage- help each other bring glory to God. The verse that is inscribed on our wedding rings is Psalm 34:3, "Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together."

I'm so thankful for this partner in ministry. I'm so thankful that I get to go through life glorifying God with him. We get to make disciples together- our children. We get to pray together, worship together, and read God's Word together.

Kyle, thanks for letting me be the one that gets to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

a weekend in graham, texas

We were able to go visit our friends Ryan and Kelli Bishop this weekend in Graham, Texas. Ryan will be serving as Senior Pastor at Graham Bible Church, and Kyle was able to participate in Ryan's installation service as an elder. It was also the weekend of their son's first birthday party. Caleb, Ryan and Kelli's precious little boy, met the Walker family for the first time. I think he thought we were awesome. Just kidding. I don't know what he thought about us. But I know that we loved him!

We forgot to take pictures until right before we were leaving. Oops! But here are a few to share.


Caleb loves balls, so he had a ball pit at his party. I think it was a hit!


I really like this pic.


The precious Bishop family.


Our happy boy playing in the grass.


Future best friends!


Goodbye hug.

We had a great time with you all, Ryan and Kelli! Our prayers are with you as you begin your new journey!

prayers with a toddler

We pray with Hudson every night as part of our bedtime ritual. We read a book, pray as a family, give goodnight hugs and kisses, then sing and rock to sleep. These are precious little moments we share together. Each night when we ask Hudson who he would like to pray for he responds with the name of a family member, an animal, or silence. Tonight he wanted to pray for his friend Emma, his Papaw, a lion, a rhino, a rabbit, and a monkey. It's so fun to pray with him about the things that fill his little heart with joy. I hope that one day his heart will be filled with joy when he thinks about Jesus.

I realize that this little boy probably doesn't really understand what praying for someone (or some animal) means. I do know, however, that this little boy wants to talk about what he loves. And what a great way to teach him about prayer- to teach him to talk to God about the things he loves. I look forward to how our prayers will change as he begins to speak more. I look forward to hearing him tell Jesus that he loves Him. I look forward to the day that Hudson will know this Savior of ours intimately. And as we pray for him each night, I see my prayer life changing too. I find myself praying about even the little things that happen during the day because I know that they matter to my Jesus. I find myself praying that I will love my Savior more so that my son will see His love reflected in me. I also find myself realizing how little I know about raising a child. But we have an excellent example of a parent in our Heavenly Father. I just need to be more like Him.

if you give a toddler a popsicle

I'm tired and I want to go to bed. But I want to wait on Kyle, and he's still working. I'm killing time by blogging. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors that I may make in my sleepy state. I'm normally such a stickler, but I'm just too tired to care about it right now.

So here are just a couple of pics from Hudson eating a popsicle last night.



My, what good posture you have!



Love this one!



And there are my two boys, having a grand time together.

I love my family. We're beginning to pray for our brother(s) and/or sister(s) that will join our family one day. Who knows when it will be. But God hears our prayers. He knows our hearts. I'm so glad He does.

a sense of wonder

We took Hudson to the zoo today. We have season passes to the Fort Worth Zoo, and today was the first day in two months that we've actually wanted to go. It's just been too hot- but today was wonderful. The older Hudson gets, the more I enjoy going with him. Kyle and I have always loved the zoo, but seeing it through the eyes of our son is even more fun. Here are just a few pictures of his response to seeing things...



Checking out the rhinos and the giraffes.



Looking at the birds.



Don't know what he was looking at here. It was during the train ride.



Observing (or trying to observe) the turkeys and deer.

Don't you love seeing things through the eyes of a child? It gives you such a different perspective. Sometimes it's like seeing things for the first time all over again. I feel like reading God's Word can be like this. I really desire to see His words with fresh eyes every time, but it just doesn't happen that way.

Kyle and I are beginning the Radical Experiment. The first two parts of the experiment are to pray for the world and to read through God's Word in its entirety. Those seem like such small steps, but I know that they are huge. I know that I don't always pray with a sense of expectancy- like God's really going to do something great through my prayers. So as we pray for the world, I'm expecting that God's going to show Kyle and me where He wants us to go on a mission trip. I'm expecting that God is going to give us a heart for the unreached and undesirable. I'm expecting that God is going to show us where to adopt our next child. I'm also going to pray that I'll see the Scripture with fresh eyes. Can you imagine reading the story about Jesus feeding the 5,000 for the first time? I told this story to my students at church a couple of weeks ago. They had never heard that story, and their reactions were awesome. I know that God is going to do some amazing things in our lives over the next year. I know that there will be battles and challenges. But I also know that there is joy in the journey, and my Jesus is worth more than any battle wound I will ever encounter. I can't wait to experience this. I can't wait to meet Jesus all over again.

couponing for the glory of God

I'm not a couponer. Believe me, I've tried. I look on those websites of people who faithfully coupon and save a ton of money. I would love to be able to cut my grocery bills in half the way that they do, but I just don't know how.

But look what's on my kitchen table this morning...


Coupons. I'm trying again. Kyle and I have stripped down our budget to try and save money for mission trips and adoption. One of the areas where I'd like to cut back is groceries. I don't buy name brands. I only buy what we need. So the only other possible way for me to save money is to coupon. Kyle knows the struggle I've had with trying to learn how to coupon. I told him last night that this time will be different. I'm going to pray while I coupon that somehow God will be glorified through our family's use of coupons. I have a budget friendly cookbook that Kyle got me for my birthday. It talks about how to organize and use coupons effectively. We'll see how things go. I think the only way that this will work is by God's intervention on my behalf. In our weakness He is made strong- must apply to coupons, too, right?

a sealed envelope, a nutt, and one very tall baby

We really celebrate birthdays at our house. We celebrate the whole week leading up to your birthday. Normally for Kyle's birthday he gets one small gift each day. They're all hanging from a birthday banner, and each morning he gets to select a gift. Kyle hung small cards from the birthday banner this week. Each card had a clue which led me to a small gift (like pretzel M&Ms, yum!). Friday's card led me on a scavenger hunt through the house. I had to pack a bag, pick out some games, and then I would find our destination in the spice rack in the pantry. Well, the destination was in a sealed envelope that said, "To be opened at mile 30." So I had to wait until we had driven 30 miles before I could find out where we were going. I'm not good at being patient, but I'm very good at following directions. I didn't peek, even when I had the opportunity to look at Kyle's maps in his drawer. I didn't look- because I don't like ruining surprises.

At mile 30 I opened the envelope and found out that we were going to Granbury, Texas, and staying in The Nutthouse Historic Hotel. No comments, please, on the irony of the "Nutthouse" part. Kyle told me that he had read several reviews of the hotel and was looking forward to our trip. There was only one review that concerned him. It talked about experiencing paranormal activity in the hotel room. Specifically, the feeling that someone was watching the couple while they slept. Seriously?! That sort of thing freaks me out. You can read the review for yourself here.

The rooms at this hotel are decorated with early 1900 period pieces. And photographs, apparently. Photographs from this period are really odd to me. No one ever smiles. Family portraits look sad or angry because everyone is just staring blankly at the camera. I wonder what people will say about our family portraits one hundred years from now, though. "Why is everyone wearing white and khaki?" or "Why is that family standing in the middle of a field laughing?" or "Why is that bride standing barefoot in the middle of a barn by herself?" I digress. The first photograph that caught our attention was one of the very tall baby. Kyle immediately thought that was pretty creepy. He said that baby would make a pretty good ghost. Which one do you think is the most likely to haunt a hotel?


The very tall baby.


A happy family.


Another happy family.


I should have my picture taken like the lady on the right.


This lovely lady kept a watchful eye over our bed. Yikes!




I'll leave you with a photo of the way we ended our evening. It was perfect and heavenly and right. We enjoyed it. Twice. Yes, you should be jealous.










Come on, surely you didn't think I would post a picture of something else?!

how to begin a birthday week

The best way to begin your celebration for your 30th birthday is to make a memory. It helps if it is slightly awkward for all involved, that way it's memorable for everyone. I chose to kick off my birthday week wearing my old prom dress to life group. Yes, it was weird. It was hot outside, and wearing a long formal dress was not comfortable. Plus, it was pretty tight. I had difficulty breathing deeply. But you only turn 30 once, so why not make it interesting, right?



Walking into life group. I'm glad everyone laughed too instead of just staring at me.



Intimate prom pose.



Traditional prom pose. Plus Kyle's goofy grin.

sleepyhead

Gotta love the bed head.



I promise I didn't wake him up. He told me he was ready to get going. Maybe he's regretting his decision.



Maybe I'll just rest here a minute.



There are the puffy eyes. He gets those from his mother.

psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,
that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
May the people praise you, O God, may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, O God, may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

Kyle memorized this chapter of the Psalms. I'm still working on it. I think I've got about half of it done. It's pretty short, so it shouldn't be taking me this long. Oh well.

He pointed out to me the first word of the second verse, "that". May God bless us that His salvation may be known among all nations. My blessings are not intended for my own pleasure. My salvation, my house, my son, my blessings are all part of a much bigger picture. They are all intended to make God's name great. There is no one greater, no one higher, no one like our God! What a joy and privilege to serve Him.

where we are

After reading the book Radical by David Platt, Kyle and I have been making some changes in our lives. Some are big, some are small. We just got rid of U-verse. This is a small change, but it's big for us since it's almost football season. We'll be thankful for friends and family in our lives with televisions and cable once that season opener rolls around. We've decided to go on a short-term mission trip. We don't know how to make it happen financially, but we've made that commitment.

As for big changes, here they are. We're going through the process of being licensed to become foster parents. We've turned in our application. We'll see what happens from here. We've also decided that we're going to adopt internationally. That is definitely a big dream for us financially speaking, but we believe that we've been called by God to do this. As Christ-followers we're called to defend the cause of the fatherless. There are around 133 million orphans around the world. Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned because of HIV or AIDS. In Ethiopia 1 in 10 children is an orphan. 1 in 10. That's heart-breaking. Everyday 26,000 children die from starvation or preventable disease. The statistics are mind-blowing, but I'm sure when you look into the eyes of one of the dying or the orphaned, it becomes reality. We're praying that we'll see with Jesus' eyes.

Please pray for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives. It's exciting to not know what our family will look like in five years. Who knows? We might have five kids by then!

our little reader

That's right. Our boy loves to read. I walked into his room and caught him with this library book in his lap. This is definitely a joy of parenthood.

someone's listening

My friend Manda gave me a cd of some children's songs about Jesus. I've been playing it in the car while Hudson and I run errands. I know that he loves music, but I discovered today that he's actually listening to the words. A song came on that talks about all the animals and guests that were in the stable where Jesus was born. One of the lines says, "Baa, baa says the sheep. Baaaa!" Hudson heard that line and then started saying, "baa, baa, baa." Later on a song talked about the flowers that God made, and he made the sign for flower.

Turns out that someone's actually listening to what's going on, not just idly sitting by. Guess I'm going to have to make sure that my words are constantly edifying!

rainy day

Today we had a morning rain shower. It was a perfect opportunity to introduce Hudson to rain. I try to teach him signs to use until he's capable of speaking, and he picked up the sign for rain pretty quickly--probably because he was experiencing it! It's funny, rain is normally something that makes me feel kind of mopey and melancholy, but this rain shower made me feel so invigorated. I guess you forget how invigorating a rain shower can be when you don't take time to play in it.

I'm glad that so far I'm letting Hudson learn by experiencing things. I don't want to hold him back just because it might get messy. I guess this kind of goes along with the idea that we want to be "safe." Jesus doesn't call us to a "safe" life. I really want to be completely spent up at the end of my life because I've been passionately pursuing my God. I hope this for our son, too.

playing ball

This was written two weeks ago:

Last night Kyle and I had the joy of playing catch with the football with Hudson. Kyle had worked later than normal, so we let Hudson stay up a little later. We had him pass the ball back and forth between the two of us. He laughed and smiled and clapped for himself the whole time.

There's something so incredibly fulfilling just playing with your child. I never knew that tossing a little sponge football could be so entertaining. God has truly blessed us with this inquisitive, busy little boy.

copy cat

Today I noticed that when I opened the fridge, Hudson looked in and bent over, put his hands on his knees, and peered inside. I thought that this was really funny. I mentioned my observation to Kyle and Lana, my mother-in-law. They both laughed and told me that I do that when I look in the fridge. I guess Hudson's progressing just like he should be. Check mimicking parents' actions off the list!

After a cold and windy weekend it was so nice to be able to play outside with Hudson today. We walked out the front door, and as we were walking away, Moses started scratching at the window. I decided that Moses should be able to enjoy the front yard, too. So Hudson and I went inside and grabbed his leash. I never expected Hudson to enjoy this so much.

I'll add pictures later, but it was absolutely priceless. Hudson held onto the red handle and laughed and laughed. He was practically running down our sloped driveway. I must confess I was a little nervous that he was going to fall on the pavement. He did, but that's okay. He has a little bump and scratch on his head, but he's tough. He cried for a few seconds, then he got back up and started running with the leash again. Moses was a good sport. We'll see if Moses' patience continues, because I'm sure that Hudson will want to do this again.

flowers, learning, and growing

A couple of weeks ago I cleaned out the front flower beds and planted some pansies. Yes, I am aware that pansies are cool weather plants and we're headed into warm weather. They were 75% off, and I am terrible at keeping plants alive. So, better to try something cheap then blow a lot of money on something that I'll kill. Anyway, the pansies are thriving quite nicely. I even remembered to water them today. Shocker!

As I watered the pansies, Hudson watched from his view from my hip. We were both still in our pajamas, so I didn't want to put him down on the sidewalk in just his sock feet. I love that Hudson has learned his sign for the word flower. He crinkles up his nose and sniffs. It's really cute. Most days when we walk out the front door, he bends over with his little bottom up in the air and proceeds to sniff the flowers. I enjoy watching him do it every time. I think I'm even a little disappointed if he doesn't. So I guess being a stay-at-home mom has encouraged me to "Take time to smell the flowers." Bad joke, I know.

It's so amazing to watch children learn. They're like little sponges just waiting to absorb whatever is surrounding them. I loved these sponge/light bulb moments as a teacher, and obviously as a parent these moments are even more thrilling. Today when Hudson and I were looking at one of his picture books I asked him, "Where's the flower?" He in response signed, "Where?" and then his eyes scoured the page. His little hand reached up and tapped the picture of the flower. He's done this before, but it was such a blissful moment for me as mom/teacher. I could ask him about several objects, and he could identify them all. Well, at least until he got bored with that page and needed to move on. That's okay, though. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

We had several "growing up" moments today. I told him that we needed to wash hands before he ate lunch. We walked back to the bathroom, his little hand in mine. He dipped his own spoon into his container of applesauce at lunch. He can go look for his shoes when I've told him to get them so he can go outside. He talks to me all the time, even though I have no idea what language he's speaking. (I think the language is derived from the letter d, though.) He's truly a little toddler now, not a baby. What a precious gift and great responsibility, to experience life with a moldable human being.

That child-rasing responsibility can be scary and overwhelming sometimes. Kyle and I pray that Hudson will grow to love God's Word. As I study the book of John is BSF I am reminded over and over again that if you love God, then you'll love and obey His Word. But how can I love and obey His Word if I don't spend time studying it? And how can I expect my son to love God's Word unless he sees it reflected in my own life? Yes, Hudson is a precious gift because he brings us joy. But he also has been a part of the awakening for the need for abundant Scripture in my own life.

So, hopefully we'll have many more days like today. Days where I see learning happening. Days where I see my son growing up. Days where my son causes me to reflect on glorifying God in my own life. I love being home with Hudson. It's absolutely worth it.

Reason to blog

Hudson's first birthday was Sunday. Most people say things like:

"I can't believe it's been a year!"

"Time has just flown by."

"It just doesn't seem right that he's already a year old."

Kyle and I smile and acknowledge these comments. There is definitely truth behind them. Time has flown by, and it's hard to believe he's one year old. But, we've seen a lot of growth in Hudson this past year, and it would be odd if he wasn't one year old!

As I rocked him to sleep the other night, staring at that precious face and sweet little mouth, I reflected on the various events of the past year. And I must confess I became a little sad and guilty. Not because I want him to be a baby forever. Not because I miss him being a little "wad" that curls up in my arm (even though I do). I was sad because I didn't remember as much of it as I wanted to. Everyone tells you to take pictures and record video so you can remember. And most new parents think, "That won't be me. I won't ever forget what this new baby is like." And then it happens to you. You don't remember each little sweet sound that comes out of that precious mouth. You don't remember where or exactly when each "first" took place. You become the parent that you thought you wouldn't be.

So after thinking about this, I decided that I must become a more active blogger. Not for the world to read about my precious little boy (even though he's quite amazing), but for me. And for Kyle. We need to document these seemingly insignificant moments because they have brought us so much joy.

So, here's to more blogging. Here's to remembering. Here's to chronicling our lives as we now know them so that we'll have something to refresh our memory when we're old and gray.