Wordless Wednesday

I cannot believe that it's already been a week since my last post....which was wordless Wednesday :) They are just too easy not to post! I promise I will post something with more words before next Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

Try and figure this out.... :)

Amazed

Often times, I sit back and just think of the Lord's goodness and grace upon my life, and I am simply "amazed". Truly, I am! His faithfulness sustains me through the good times and bad times. And this is what spurred that though on. This morning I was reading about a mother who slipped into a coma after delivering her baby, who she had prayed for for seven years. Many thoughts ran through my mind as I was reading this. I was first so very thankful to look over at Noah playing in his playroom, and Brayden sitting in his high chair laughing at his brother. I then asked, "Why Lord?" And at that moment, I was reminded that the Lord IS faithful. ALL things will work together for good and most importantly, for His glory. That is so hard to fathom when you are in the valleys, but over the ages, that one truth has remained.

So let me share with you how the Lord has been faithful in my life.

* I was born into a home with parents who love the Lord and who have loved me unconditionally. They may not be perfect, but they have shown me and taught me that trusting in the Lord is the only sure thing in this world.

*I became a believer in Christ at an early age of 7, and at that moment, the Lord bestowed his grace upon a wicked sinful heart. I was then a daughter of the King, and the Holy Spirit began a work in me that is yet to be completed.

*Through the years, the Lord has placed believers in my path who have challenged me in my walk with the Lord.

*I was able to attend a college where I was taught to incorporate the truth of the Word within the world where I worked.

*I was privileged to teach at a school with hurting children surrounded by a faculty who loved them, prayed for them, and educated them.

* The Lord brought my Godly, caring, servant-hearted husband to me all the way from North Carolina, and he is so much more than I had ever dreamed for in a husband.

* Only 3 months after I married that man, the Lord began creating a little life inside of me. He is now a smart, funny, and energetic little two year old named Noah Lee Chandler.

* Only 18 months after that, our second little bundle of joy was born, who is currently pulling up and looking at me over my chair. He is a true picture of sweetness and contentment, and his name is Brayden Samuel Chandler.

* I chose to be a stay at home mommy, and this has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. The Lord's faithfulness is written all over this with His ability to provide patience and financial stability.

* Our family is a part of a community of believers at Gospel Community Church who want to live in true community with one another, by practicing the "one anothers" of the Bible. This is incredible!

I could go on and on and on. Wow...

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15

Doin' Work!

If you know me, you understand that if there were a time period I could live in, it would be the pioneer days. :) I could think of nothing more satisfying than living off of the land and being completely self-sufficient! That idea is becoming more and more appealing these days... Well, Cory and I decided that we needed to plant a garden. We decided this about a year ago, but just now got around to doing it! So, on Labor Day the first Chandler garden began! It is September, therefore we had to plant a fall garden. But seriously, are there really, technically seasons in Louisiana?? I think not, so we planted some fall veggies and threw in some other non-fall veggies as well. We are calling this our trial run garden. I am not afraid of failure, so if it fails, well I'll be sad, but I will hopefully learn how to do it better next time! Here is what we planted: mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, corn, squash, and zucchini. I LOVE my garden. Noah and I walk out to check on it several times a day! It has been so fun to watch it grow! I am ready to hopefully put some yummy veggies in a pot, skillet, or on a grill soon!!! Here are a few pics of our labor. :)

Here is Cory tilling the area we had designated for our garden. Gotta love a hard workin man!

Good soil!

This was not the fun part...making the rows. Cory did most of them, I just had to get in there for picture purposes. :) I did get one done though! It was HOT that day!!

And two weeks later....WA-LA! We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor!

Here is a close-up of our squash! I am hoping to see some yellow soon!

Needless to say, planting a garden has been very gratifying so far. We plan to have a garden for every season! What a fun way to help provide for your family! Thank you Lord for the rain, sunshine, and nutrients you have given us!

Happy 130th Labor Day!

I am very thankful for Labor Day Weekend every year because I know that a few things will be involved- family, friends, games, and FOOD! So before I wrote this post, I got to thinking about the what, where, and when of Labor Day. So I did a little bit of research. The first Labor Day was on September 5, 1882. So this is our 130th labor day in this country. We celebrate this holiday to honor workers in this great country. "It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." I found this quote from the United States Department of Labor website. I am so thankful for those who have come before us who made this great country what it is. I am pretty sure that those hard working men and women would be appalled to see what work ethic has become today for some (maybe most) people in our nation. I hope that as a parent, I will instill good work ethic in my children. I also hope that the majority of America can wake up and see that sitting and doing nothing all day long will get you nowhere quick! ( I think I have been watching a little too much of the RPN) :) Anywho...Happy Labor Day all you hard workers of America! I appreciate what you do, and how you contribute to taking care of my family's everyday needs.

On Chandler household notes... I hope the sickness has fled from our household from sheer terror of me! I am not a fan of being sick, but I am REALLY not a fan of my boys being sick. The only one who did not get sick was Cory. Thank goodness! So we are on the mend and business as usual can resume...whatever that is :)

Brayden still cannot grasp the concept of moving forward with his body. He IS a little crawfish. It is quite funny to watch him.

Noah is getting in the stage of doing and saying things that make me chuckle. He isn't meaning to be funny, but it is! I think that's the best kind of funny.

And I, mommy, am ready for a date night with my hubby. I love that man and am ready for some QT with him! We will have to make that happen soon.

OH! And we just had a hurricane pass through. It was the slowest hurricane I have ever experienced. We waited and waited, and I think it might have hit this morning. Or that could have been a thunderstorm....I don't know. The point is that we were not affected by it, but that is not the case in other parts of the state. My heart goes out to the families who will have to once again try to re-coop and re-build. This is a time for thanksgiving in my heart that we were not affected.

What a crazy and random blog post! Guess that is what happens when you go a week without blogging, but I am happy to keep you updated on life! Hope everyone enjoys each other this weekend and stay safe!

LOTS of change going on!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am now a stay at home mommy. I am so happy that I am getting to do this. I really am enjoying the quality time spent with my boys, and just being able to get things done around the house on a daily basis. This is a HUGE change for my family and mostly for me. I have been working since I was 16, and this is the first time I don't have a job to go to. So it has been very difficult for me to understand that my family is my number one, full time job. What a huge calling this is for women, and a tough one at that! I am learning so many different faults about myself, but I am tankful that these are being revealed to me and that the Holy Spirit is teaching me about the process of sanctification that we as Christians go through on a daily basis. I cannot thank the Lord enough for my husband and my two little boys, and now my opportunity to serve them on a full-time schedule.

Now, let me explain another change I am going through. During the pregnancy of my first born, Noah, I gained 80 pounds. Obviously this was not a good thing, but it happened. While in the process of trying to lose this weight, I became pregnant with our next child, Brayden. I did not lose all of my previous baby weight from Noah, and then gained some with Brayden. So the result was me gaining 2 precious boys and whole lot of unwanted pounds! I have begun to take nutritional supplements from Advocare due to our involvement as distributors, and this has given me a BOOST for my weight loss. Today I started a 6 week boot camp at CrossFit in Alexandria. The class is an hour long on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am hoping to live until the end of it :) It is INTENSE, and a huge change for this out of shape body! I am excited though about the results I WILL get at the end of the 6 weeks. Pray for me!!!! :)

If you know me, you know that I don't do well with change. I'm kind of "set in my ways" as some would say, but I know that change is inevitable, and I do believe that these two changes are quite good ones! Reminds me of this verse: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13.

I will leave you with a few pics of some cuties :)

Thankful Thursday

My sister-in-law blogs very faithfully, and she is good at it! I am always excited to read her thankful Thursday blog. It is encouraging for me to read, and I am sure it's encouraging for others to read as well. So I am going to do my very first Thankful Thursday! Hope yall enjoy as much as I will!

* I am thankful that at this very moment I am looking at my youngest, Brayden, sitting on the floor, as happy as a lark, and playing with toys. I am thankful for this because it is 11:30 on a Thursday and I am at HOME watching this. :)

* I am thankful that my oldest, Noah, is a little sponge. I do love to teach, and he makes it so fun for me because he is such an eager learner!

* I am thankful that my hubby is a good listener, and that he brought me some beautiful flowers home yesterday. :)

* I am thankful for the Lord placing us in a community of believers at Gospel Community Church where we are encouraged, loved on, and challenged spiritually.

* I am thankful for grace. Without the Grace of God, I truly don't know what life would be like, because let me tell you, "life under the sun" is TOUGH! But the joy of my salvation trumps ALL!!

* I am thankful for what the Lord is teaching me now. I am so full of sin, but through the process of sanctification, I can repent of these sins, and then learn and grow from them.

* I thankful for the fresh bag of multi-grain chips that were in the pantry and the hummus that I enjoyed along with them. :)

There is so much more that I could write about, and I encourage each of you to focus on your blessings during times of trouble. We can ALL find something to be thankful for. The Lord is good...always. I hope this finds you well on this Thursday!

Can't really think of a good title...:)

Every time I decide to blog, I have to do two things. First, I have to figure out how to get to my blog. This means I have to remember a password, and this is never an easy task for me. So what do I do? Thats right, I change it...once more! This blog has had way too many passwords for so few posts....HA!
The second thing I have to do is see where life was when I wrote last, and I always have to chuckle to myself, and then take a trip (short trip due to few posts) down memory lane. Once again, life has changed immensely since the last post. Let me just update you now.

1- We have a added a new member to our family, and I must say it has been a sweeeeeet addition! His name is Brayden Samuel Chandler, and he has stolen his mommy's heart. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Noah Lee Chandler, but he is an all out daddy's boy. Brayden loooooves his mommy,and I don't mind one bit :) He was born on November 22, 2011, so that means he is now 8 months old!!!

And that is sweetness at its sweetest!

2- We now have a 2 year old in the Chandler household, and the good part is Cory and I still have our natural hair color! yay! No grey yet! If there ever were a strong-willed stubborn child, Noah is! (don't know where in the world he would get that from) :) What I do know is this, the Lord designs us all so very uniquely, and He designed Noah in this way, and it is BEAUTIFUL! We pray daily that the Lord will draw Noah closer to Him, and teach him how to be obedient to us. Our job is to show Noah that we are being obedient to our Heavenly father by disciplining him and teaching him His ways. We are currently going through "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp. It's incredible, and so very much Biblically founded. We love that boy with everything in us, and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him! He can now say is ABC's, and knows the sound recognition for each letter, as well as count to 15. Smart little booger!

This was taken about a month before he turned 2.

3- I have decided to become a stay at home mommy!! I am very excited about this!! The Lord recently, within the past year, began to change my desires of being a 6th grade ELA teacher to being a full time mommy. Teaching is my absolute passion, and I will very much miss the classroom, but at this time I am going to redirect my passion for teaching towards my own children. I am excited to teach them educationally, but more-so excited to raise them in a Godly manner. 

4- Cory is still teaching at Grant high school, and will be returning next week. We have so enjoyed being able to both be stay at home parents this summer! I am sad that he has to go back. Our goal is to one day both be stay at home parents!!! I know you are thinking, "How in the world are they going to do that?" This is where I tell you about our newest endeavor. In March of this year, we made a decision to become independent distributors for Advocare. Advocare is a 19 year old nutritional supplements company that has absolutely blown us away! Not only has it allowed me to begin my weight loss journey, but it also gave me the financial freedom to be able to be a stay at home mommy. We are extremely excited for where this company is going to take us as a couple and family. If you are EVER interested about learning more about Advocare or purchase world class supplements, please let us know! Here is our website if you want to check it out.www.advocare.com/120321641

My goodness! That was a lot of typing! But once again my goal is to keep this updated. I enjoy reading other people's blogs, so maybe you will enjoy reading mine...I hope! Please leave comments so I know who is reading it :) Love yall!

-The Chandlers