The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.- Galatians 5:22

At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I am going to begin a (hopefully!) weekly Bible study on my blog. I am starting it specifically for some girls I, along with my friend Kristina, discipled at Emmanuel (our old church), but anyone is more than welcome to participate!

Here is the format: I am going to take a fruit of the Spirit each week and get YOU to study that particular fruit. That way, we can each learn what God wants us to learn! When you have completed the study for the week, post your responses as a comment. That way, we can all learn from each other! Then, at the end of the week, I will comment on everyone's responses and add some thoughts of my own.

So here we go for the first week:
Go to crosswalk.com and look at the top right corner. Enter the word "love" (Or whatever the topic of the week is) in the search engine where it says "Search the Bible." I used the New International version, and got 496 results! After this, choose ONE verse and then, go to your own Bible and read the entire chapter that includes that verse. For example, the first that came up is Genesis 20:13, so I would go to my Bible and read Genesis chapter 20. BUT since there are 496 results, each of you choose your own!

Then, comment on this post (you don't have to be a blogger to do this, just check the name/URL option and type in your name) and answer these questions:

1)Was the love talked about in the chapter you chose speaking of God's love towards man, man's love towards God, or man's love towards another person? Briefly summarize what the chapter is about, since we're all reading different ones!

2) What can we learn about love from this chapter?

3) What have you learned from this chapter that you need to apply to your life, concerning love, or anything else God wants you to learn?

Since this is the first week, I will do an example under the comments section. Try to have your responses in by next Thursday (August 7) and by then, the next topic should be posted! I am so excited about this! E-mail me if you have any questions!

Random Child thoughts and actions

I love having children- they really do say and do the cutest things. For example, one day Landon and Ben were talking about God. Landon said, "Where is God? I want to go to his house. I want to hold him and hug him and give him five!" That just melted my heart. And it made me think- how badly do I want to go to God's house (in this instance, I'm talking about Heaven, not church), and how happy am I in my current home (earth)?

Allie is getting her own personality, as well. She just loves her baby dolls and.... her toothbrush! That's right. She will carry that thing around as long as we let her, and screams when we take it away. So she has one we let her carry, and one we brush her teeth with. Now that is not to say she doesn't get the good one, and Landon's, and mine, and Ben's whenever she has a free chance. She will drag Landon's stool around just so she can reach up on the counter! So if your toothbrush goes missing, check the Hays house!

I would love to hear cute things about your kids, or kids you know, say/do!

July 18th: a bittersweet day

July 18th. This day always brings mixed emotions for me, and undoubtedly I will cry, at some point, on this day. You see, today is the anniversary (3rd this year) of Landon's life-saving surgery that he had at teensy, tiny seven weeks old.

At seven weeks old I handed him over to a nurse I had never met before, kissed my precious baby good-bye, and walked out into the waiting room- where I would sit, stand, talk with the 30 friends and family members that travelled to be with us on that day, cry, and even laugh a little. Mostly, though, I stared at the photograph of Landon I had carried with me. I still have it, and it is wrinkled from my carrying it around all day- nine hours to be exact. Nine hours. It was within these hours that our life's course was determined, I feel. If Landon had not had biliary atresia, we probably would have been released from the care of Texas Children's, and Houston would by now be a faint memory of Landon's first year.

But he did. Sometimes I want to scream, "God, you could have chosen a different way to get us here! We would have obeyed whether Landon was sick or not!"

But, where would our connection be? (although my grandmother received excellent care at MD Anderson, I never actually had visited the Texas Medical Center before Landon was a patient) It makes so much more sense for us when explaining why we came when we tell them how we fell in love with Houston, because of the great care Landon received here.

So, yes, today is a bittersweet day. Bitter because I remember the heart-wrenching grief I felt as a new mother, trusting our wonderful surgeon, Dr. Wesson. But it is also sweet, because it enabled me to have the adorable, fun-loving little boy that I have today.

Thank you God, for modern medical technology.

I love my son.

**The first picture is the one I carried around all day with me. The second is Landon now! Praise God

Friends

We are so blessed to have great friends in our lives. Here are some pictures of Landon and Allie with the children of our good friends Ronny and Kristina. The baby is Emily and the toddler is Bethany. We were so happy to spend time with them this week at camp.

We miss all our friends from back home!

Beach Bums

Yesterday, we went to Galveston to pick up my sister, Lindsey, and her hubby, Alan from a cruise (jealousy inserted here!) While we were waiting for them to arrive, we took the kiddos to the beach. They LOVED it. We had so much fun just playing in the water and sand for hours. Landon and Allison were laughing the whole time (until Allie fell asleep in my arms!)

I love living only an hour from the beach. It reminds me, above all other of God's creations, of his magnitude and greatness. Can't wait to go again!

What reminds you of God's greatness? I would love feedback!

**Thanks to Daddy for the great pictures!

God's ways, not ours

So I have finally decided to join the world of bloggers. Hey, I was an English teacher for a while, so why not write? I also figured now is the time to start... new city, new church, new life, new blog.
So far I am loving Houston. Not loving that I miss my family terribly, but I know that we should be here. Period. God is opening some amazing doors for our church and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us.
Before the move, I started the study "Experiencing God." It is an excellent study, and today I read something I wanted to share. Henry Blackaby states, "Human reasoning will not give you God's perspective." So simple, yet I forget it so easily.

• EVERYTHING in the medical center is SO expensive... but God knows that
• There are so many people to reach, so few of us... but God knows that
• I, personally, am scared to death... but God knows that

In His infinite mercy and grace, God has chosen us to be here at this time. It may not make sense humanly speaking (2 country folks in Houston!), but God's perspective is so different than mine. It is my prayer that my persepective becomes more like his.