real business

"The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer.  Wherever God puts you in circumstances, pray immediately, pray that His Atonement may be realized in others lives as it has been in yours.  Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact with now."

Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest (June 20)"

Too often I get confused by my "real business"... what is my job, my passion, my direction in life?  And too often my business becomes about doing and convincing and pushing.... and not allowing and abiding.  Hardly anyone likes to sit and just let life happen.

We worry that should we sit too long we'll never find the motivation to leave our plush seats.  Soon we'll find that we have taken on the characteristics of the comfy chairs we have sat in. We become plush and comfy and inactive just like our chairs.

So the pendulum swings the other way and we reject the comfy chair and we get busy doing life.  We do life at fast pace.  We "catch" our breath when we sleep and we enjoy each other through social networks.  How often have I "caught up" with a good friend by looking at her pictures on Facebook? "Oh! You went to Europe? Looks like a great trip." I never even communicate to said friend I let my fingertips and eyeballs do the communicating while never actually inconveniencing myself.  Can't look at all the pictures? No problem, I'll just pick and choose what happens to be easiest for me.

So we're in a bind.  Either we become comfy couches snuggled under our blankets of "relaxing" or we become a social piranhas with 700 friends and no one near to talk to.

Don't get me wrong, I like relaxing.  I consider 7:05PM "my time" after the Love Bugs have gone to bed and 99% of the time end up on the couch.  It's wonderful and restful.  Sometimes "my time" ends up connecting with long distance friends through Facebook.  Now that my friends are having babies and working full time hours, I feel guilty calling late at night because of the time differences.  So hear me out, I like relaxing and I like Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

But what I really like were Oswald's thoughts above because it struck me as the perfect chord played in a harmony of connecting & abiding.  When we stop to pray for someone we are connecting with them in a higher sense than we could ever hope to connect via Facebook.  A true test of friendship is whether I am willing to get on my knees and offer up prayer on behalf of that person.

It's also abiding in the Lord because we are talking to Him and hearing from Him. Too often I take to the Lord my issues and then sign off and get on my way.  But I need to learn to hear from God.  I've heard it said that you can hear from God in the midst of chaos.  Which is good because my life can be chaotic.  As I write this I stare at the mess of a lifetime mocking me from behind.  I literally step-slid in avocado chunks to get to the computer to write this. Lord, speak to me in the chaos!

Now, don't take that as your excuse to make your life chaotic but take heart if you can't help but feel like you're treading water in life right now.  When God gives you slow seasons, take them, wallow in them, enjoy them... sit at a coffeeshop and read. read. READ. But then when God gives you busy seasons and messy avocado seasons, enjoy those and as you're tiptoeing around the crazy mess you call life still ABIDE. Pray and give thanks!  The cool thing about praying is that it can be done anywhere at anytime by anyone. Awesome! Changing diapers? Pray! Alone with the Word at a coffeeshop? Pray! Listening to screaming kids? Pray! Lunch with a friend? Pray!

Wherever you are in life, don't underestimate the ability of prayer. 

"do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" Philippians 4:6

"be constant in prayer" Romans 12:12

"pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17

10 & 11

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything about the Love Bugs recently.

I haven't been consistent in my posts on their growth and I really wanted to be able to track them this whole year. However we had some hiccups in the past two months of pictures so the following will have to do. :)

Here's the ten month shot! I can't believe the girls are so close to a year! They are such precious little babes.  

Li Li aka "Lils" is getting so active.  She used to follow in her sister's footsteps but recently has started to lead her own way.  She's so close to walking! She loves sucking her thumb, playing with buttons, throwing her head back to laugh, and standing up.

Belle is right behind her sister in progress.  She will not be overshadowed.  She loves to feed herself and will even spit something out that I have fed her to put it in herself.  Her Grampa was the one who discovered what she was doing when she does this.  It's cute.  She loves to drink from her sippy cup but tries to spit out her drink ... this leads to a very very wet shirt on our little Love Bug. She is usually the quicker one to smile and give her affections to new people.  I think I have a social Love Bug on my hand with her.

Lils is just as affectionate but is particular about who she shares her love with.  If you can win Lils heart you've made a friend for life.

The closest picture I could get at 11 months with "Aslan"... 

The girls are sleeping well at night, they travel well and are just a delight to all who meet them.  They eat "regular" food just as long as it is cut up in small bite size pieces!

I love being a twins mommy! It's probably one of my favorite "hats" that I wear in life.  Don't get me wrong, it's hard but it is a delight too.  I am always laughing at my Love Bugs and discovering life through their eyes.

Can't believe it's almost a year. It really gets better and better with each new season.

a tour...

Hello everyone!

I wanted to write and give a little tour of my blog so that if you are here and confused, you won't feel so unsure of navigating the pages, links, etc.

First off, is the "pages area"... If you click on any of the pages you will be redirected to those posts which can tell you a bit more about me and the series of Moms in Ministry.  I wanted to add the M.I.M. links in case someone was trying to find them all in one location. Voila! The pages section!

Next, we have the categories or "tags" from my post.  Hubs has told me in recent feedback that he thinks these are confusing.  For now, I'll just let you know what each tag means and hope that might clear up some confusion.


Inklings
This is where I share my deep thoughts and meanderings through life.  It's lovingly stolen from the literary group with the same name that met in pubs to discuss their own writings.  Members included my hero C.S. Lewis, fictional genius J.R.R. Tolkien and mystery phenomenon Dorothy Sayers.  Click here for more.

Home & Heart
I tag this when I write about things dear to my heart pertaining to the home.


Upward & Onward
Another Lewis reference.  In the book, "The Last Battle" those who have ventured into Aslan's Country to "move higher up and further in" or as I have taken the meaning to be "deeper into Aslan"... it's kind of my "battle cry" for God's spirit working in me and revealing things to me.


My Colorful World
Any post I consider colorful. Mostly pictures!


Over & About
My posts regarding Japan; either while in Japan or upon returning home and reflecting on my time spent there.


Life's Little Moments
Sometimes I write about the littlest things... laundry, baby moments, etc.  The little moments that if I weren't looking out for, might slip by and go unnoticed (and often do).


twenty.eight
When I was 28, I attempted to do 28 things.  And then I got pregnant (which was one of them) and did about 5. ha ha ha!! It's a list of things I gathered from myself, Hubs and family members encouraging me to do more.  I love the things I learned from the stuff I did do and let it serve as a reminder to continue trying new things.

If you look below that you'll find, Looking For Something... perhaps something you read on my blog? Enter a couple keywords here and hit search!

Then there are the blogs I love to read and people I Am Blessed to know.  If you like things you read here on Cultivating, you will love some of these.  They update and change order as the author updates their posts!

Finally, Subscribe so you can get updated when I update the blog. Since I've readily confused to being a sporadic blogger (oops, sorry!) I think this would be the easiest way to stay tuned in to read Cultivating.

Grab My Button! If you have a blog, go ahead and grab my button so you can let others know where to find me.  It's convenient, practical and just so darn cute!


Well, hope that helps you find what you might be looking for here at Cultivating and if not, don't hesitate to leave a comment below and let me know.
With love!

sporadic

Sooo... I have been MIA for awhile.  I'm sorry to not be very consistent on this blog.  Is there anyone still out there?  I sure hope so.  I read a blog about writing blogs (ha!) and it said that one of the keys to having a successful blog is consistency.  So I'm sorry if my sporadic posting is annoying you or keeping you from wanting to read my blog.

I happen to love this little blog and although I think of it often, I can only find time to give it loving attention in sporadic moments.  Sorry little blog.  Don't be offended. I still love you.

Now that we have that out of the way I wanted to show you why I wasn't able to able to write very often.  Hubs and I had an extended stay with family.... and now, let the photo bombing begin. Enjoy!

We enjoyed snacks with our cousins! 

Swing rides with family!! 

Both Love Bugs learned to climb the stairs! 

We went swimming in a fun river! 

Although some of us enjoyed it more than others!

 We battled an ear infection by snuggling!

We worked on our table manners!

We got ready for mountain climbing... this trip diaper boxes! Next trip, 14ers with Grampa!! 

 We were invited to lots of parties!

But although we had a lot of fun, there was a lot of work to do, too! 

Whenever we got an owie, we had our cousin to help us. She is really good at getting splinters out! No joke! 

We had some piano lessons!

We love Colorado! 

"Goodbye! So long! See you again soon!"

So you see? We were super busy enjoying a wonderful stay with family.  Too many pictures to post now but maybe over time I can share more!  What a blessing it is to have family so close.  Only a two hour plane ride.  After living overseas I will never complain about domestic flights again.  Thank you Lord for allowing us this trip!

Thanks to our family for letting us stay in their homes!!

And I promise to post here more often, if even sporadically!