I read a book last week

and I cannot stop thinking about it. I highly recommend it. It's called Same Kind of Different as Me. (Click on the link and you can read the synopsis.) It was just one of those books when you put it down, you sigh and say "Wow, that was sooo good!". It didn't just make me laugh and cry, it provoked my heart to understand more of what the Lord has for me. He has called each of us to care for others, to love them as we love ourselves. What exactly does that mean in my small, small world? Am I passing opportunities by to share the Love He has so mercifully shown me?
Okay, so go buy the book or check it out at the library and let me know what you think. I would love to get your opinions!

Video

Seth was a kind man today. He made me a movie of some birthday clips from yesterday. (By the way, when you see Josiah bending over to blow out his candles and I say "Oh Gosh. Wait a minute.", it's because there was a long string of spit ready to drop right on the cake. Yep. Thankfully, I caught it before anyone tasted the "essence" of Josiah.)

Josiah's Birthday

The weather could not have been more beautiful yesterday. I hope when I am older and the kids have grown, that I will never forget days like yesterday. Spending an afternoon with family and friends. The smell of grilled chicken wafting by on the wind. Watching little munchkins running around in the freedom they so love. And then, when it's all over, piling back into the car. The kids with their sleepy eyes and the contentment of having played their little hearts out. The parents trying to keep tired meltdowns to a minimum.
As much as I want to recall the rainbow colored moments, I also really want to remember the storms that bring those rainbows into existence. The panicked feelings of "did I forget anything?". The tantrums of a 2 year old who feels the injustice of not being allowed to dip his finger in the icing again. "You let me do it before, LET ME DO IT AGAIN!" The whining of a 5 year old who has reached his limit of allowing most of the attention to be directed to his little brother.
All of it creates "a day in the life of" and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. It was a good day...

Enough of the rambling, here are some pictures.
This is my first attempt at a decorated birthday cake. Final verdict? We buy them from now on!

Birthday Boy. Nothin' cuter than a little boy in overalls.

Partay consisted mostly of our care group friends. They're awesome! Grammy and Papa let us have it at their house because they have a bigger yard. The kids appreciated that.

Mr. Dan teaching the fine points of lawn croquet.

Highlight of the party. Papa's neighbor insisted the kids get a tractor ride. So fun!

Best thing about this? The entertainment was free =)

Someone Turned 2 Today!

Yep, it's true. Josiah is a full-on two year old. All the joys and frustrations wrapped up in one cute Josiah man! He gets his own little party on Saturday so I will definitely post pictures from that...

I Can't Stop Laughing

You guys have to read Seth's new post here.

It's pretty darn funny.

Please tell me...

...how someone can wake up in the middle of the night with hiccups! That's right, last night at approximately 1:15 am, I woke up with full-on hiccups. How weird is that??

Vision

"I know the God who speaks. I want to know the God who acts".

One of the teachers at IHOP, Allen Hood, spoke this a few months ago. It pretty much sums up all that Seth and I have been feeling lately. When do we get to see the "greater than these" signs and wonders that Jesus spoke of? How long do we have to wait to walk in this power and authority?
The Lord has placed us in the midst of a people who are ready. Ready to contend for the things we have only dreamed of.
I love our home group. I mean, really love the community the Lord has placed us in. Our group is one that consists of strong leaders. Leaders that you can truly see the Lord do amazing things through in the future. But, for now, He has put us here. Together. For a reason. Most of us are around the same age. Young couples with young children. The Lord has, in His wisdom, also placed older couples in the group for balance. And there are many times where we can perceive His wisdom through these couples' experiences. These last months, we have really concentrated on building relationships with each other. We have shared meals. We have laughed and laughed. We have prayed each other through difficult circumstances.
Now we are ready for that next level. Last Thursday we spoke of this "prompting". A plan was formed. God has placed each of us in different environments, different mission fields. We all have situations where we would love to see the Lord break in. So that is what we are going to concentrate on. Praying specifically each week for each situation...the salvation or the healing or the miraculous provision. Focusing our week on this and expecting the Lord to give us all words of knowledge, dreams, and Scripture to encourage the one who must step out in boldness to carry out the Lord's plan.
I am so excited because I know I am finally going to see the things my heart has been longing for.
There was one concern during our discussion of this. "Will we still have the dinners?" Absolutely. Because the Lord has placed in our group some really, really good cooks! =)

Easter Sunday

What a great day! We celebrated Easter with lots and lots of friends today. A wonderful couple from our home group invited us all over for brunch and an Easter egg hunt. They have a beautiful home with an amazing 1.5 acre backyard. Perfect for 8 children, all under the age of 7!
This was Josiah's first "real" Easter egg hunt. I'm not certain he has the concept yet but he sure was cute...


I even managed to capture one more picture before the batteries in my camera ran out. This is Josiah's cutie-patutie friend, Elise.

Family Video

Usually Seth posts our family movies but since he has decided to spread his posts out, oh like a couple months apart, I am going to go ahead and post it on my blog. This last year's turned out really cute. Hope you enjoy!

Still At It

Apparently our feathered friend has not taken the hint. As I type this, I hear "Plink, Plink, Plink". What happens to a bird's ability to think when its head is thrown up against a hard window over and over again? I mean, it's not like he had much to begin with!

Looking Back and Walking Forward

Yesterday I had to hunt through my old journals to find an entry I wrote a few years ago. As I read through my writings from 2004, I was just amazed at what we had to walk through that year to get here to Kansas City. It was so difficult yet it was so full of the Lord's grace. We walked step by step while instruction was given only one direction at a time. Circumstances with family and friends drove us, not away from the Lord but straight into His heart. Desperate not to walk in unforgiveness. Determined not to let bitterness take hold. As we received nourishment every day from His Word, His beautiful and kind Word, it strengthened our resolve to follow His will.

3 years later and I am still amazed by our story. Only because it was written by a Hand who always knows the very best. Moments of bewilderment of why the Lord moved us here to Kansas City are becoming less frequent. Because we are beginning to see. We are being established in friendships. We are being given glimpses of our destiny. And it looks so much different than we pictured it 3 years ago, 5 years ago. As we grow in Him, this view will undoubtedly change again and again. Because our destiny is less about us and so much more about a stunning King who will have His Bride. An utterly abandoned Bride who thinks nothing of what man can do to Her. A Bride with a focused gaze, listening only to His Words and walking in His will.

We have so much to look forward to because we have looked back and recognized His goodness and His faithfulness. He never changes. And that is just so comforting!

He May Not be a Smart Bird...

but he knows what love is.

This last week we have heard a strange "Plink, Plink" sound every day, all day. It starts early in the morning and lasts until late afternoon. At first I thought it was the construction from the new houses being built across the street. But I realized quickly it was not construction. Then I thought it might be some birds tapping the drain gutters outside. After 4 days, Seth announced that he discovered the reason to the constant noise. He was working in the basement and heard the sound. He looked up at the very small window in our basement and saw a bird. This bird stood innocently outside of the window until "Plink", he flew straight at the window! I had to see this for myself so this morning I crept into the basement and watched our new little friend just fling himself at the window, splat against it, and then jump up again for round 250. Seth thought he was a male fighting another "male" but when I saw him, he had a clump of straw in his beak. Like he was trying to build a nest. The lover boy thinks he is romancin' a lady! Apparently his reflection is one hot birdie. He is so persistent, it's almost sad there won't be any of his offspring flying around this year. Maybe that's a good thing...survival of the fittest and all that...

The Macchis go to the Zoo

The Kansas City Zoo is pretty great. It's huge! Parts of it need some major updating. It's always difficult to see large tigers and monkeys in cages that look like they were built in the 1920's. But signs did say that they are making changes soon. We had a great time, minus all the Springtime animal hanky-panky. And that's all I am going to say about that.

There are elephants, kangaroos, giraffes, zebras...just to name a few. We happened to just take pictures at the chimp house because of the camera/battery fun. The boys enjoyed the close encounters with their distant relatives =)

Resemblance? I'm just saying...

Blogging

I have officially become one of those boring, once-a-month bloggers. I will attempt to step it up a bit. Unfortunately I am working with a digital camera that has decided to completely drain 2 batteries every time I pick up the camera. It's quite annoying. I sit down to upload new pictures and I have to replace the batteries. I take 5 pictures and must replace the batteries.

I love technology...

Can Someone Please 'Splain?

I think the next time Grandad comes to visit, he and Eli need to have a talk about police business. Elijah put on his police outfit this morning and ran out of his room to "go catch those bank robbers". He shot most of them with this tinker toy gun but he did arrest one of them. He brought the suspect back in his bedroom where I was and asked me what we should do with the criminal. "Mom, what should we do? Should I slap his cheeks or something?" Sure sounds like justice to a 5 year old!
Later, he ran out and caught a whole group of criminals. The process again became a little skewed when he proceeded to "throw them in the books". Literally. No due process around here. Just 10-15 years reading classics such as "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" and anything Richard Scarry.

I Live Where!?!?

Yesterday it reached 72 degrees in the afternoon. Today, I look out the window and there are little snowflakes floating in the wind.

Go figure!

What do you Want?

This is a question I have heard deep in my heart in the last week. It's amazing how one question can rock your world to the point of speechless. For years now, Seth and I have sought the will of God. We can honestly say that we believe we have heard Him many times and have obeyed even in the midst of hardship. The Lord's hand has been very heavy on us. We have given up on any planning because it seems to us that whatever road we think we are to walk on, God screeches us to a halt and sends us on a totally different path. The longer we walk His road, the more we see His goodness and His mercy in sending us His direction and not our direction. But a 5 year plan? Yeah, right! I am so amazed at how some people can, from a very young age, say they are going to be such-and-such. 20 years later and that's exactly what they are doing. They say "I want to be director of this or leader of that" and that's exactly what happens. It leaves people like Seth and me wondering what in the world we are doing wrong.
But I know we really are not doing anything wrong. We are walking our own journey, our own destiny written before the beginning of Time. Isn't that amazing to think about?
The year 2007 has been a specific time for us. The Lord gave us a specific invitation for fasting certain things this year. Giving us specific direction to Simplify and Focus. It was exciting when we heard from Him and it's actually exciting to be walking in it because we are already seeing some results.
But this one question, "What do you Want?" has resonated in me like nothing has before. It's like this year, after years of preparation, He has brought us to a place where when we come to a conclusive answer...it's going to sound a lot like what the Lord wants for us.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

I have this hunch that we have entered a "turning point" year. One where we might look back and remember when we were asked a Question that turned our lives completely inside out. Yeehaw!

I am so Outnumbered!

Elijah has been attending preschool now for 2 years. Occasionally I have asked his teachers about his behavior in class and both teachers have just gushed about how polite and well behaved he is. Until Friday. Eli's teacher, Ms. Jessica, walked him to the car and mentioned that I might want to have a talk with Eli because he had spent the day hitting and elbowing another little boy after he was told not to. I was a little embarassed for him but Elijah, upon hearing his teacher, tried to melt into my side. We had a talk and when it all came out, my conclusion was...Elijah is a boy. There was no undercurrent of emotional issues, no crazy reason for his behavior. He simply acted like a boy and disobeyed his teachers. I think Elijah learned his lesson. When I picked him up from school today, Ms. Jessica gave a glowing report on his behavior. Good boy!


"Mommy?" "Yes, Josiah". "Mommy?" "Yes, Josiah". "Mommy?" "What, Josiah?" "Bla Bla".

This, my friends, is a sample conversation I have had every day for about a month now. "Bla Bla" could mean absolutely anything. It's the all-purpose word that fills the holes in a small vocabulary. The boy's vocabulary is expanding slowly but surely. Hey, I'm just thankful there is a regular usage of the word "please", pronounced "peeeaaa". I still can't believe that in a couple of months Josiah is going to be 2 years old. Elijah scrambled out of baby-world so quickly, it's actually kind of nice to have Josiah take his time. Even when there are days where I am completely exasperated, it's a blessing to slow down and cuddle with the "Baby"!

Le Artiste

I walked into my room today and found the little J-man with a forbidden pen. I've gotta hand it to the boy- I could have an orginal work of art on my walls as I type this but Josiah went for the more "personal" approach. And for that I am truly thankful!
As I walked up to him, he just melted to the ground. He knew he was in for it. I took the pen away and told him "No". He waited the appropriate 3 seconds, looked up at me while lifting his shirt and just said, "Woh".

Weekly Update

Allrighty, well apparently nothing can be done short of deleting my whole entire blog and starting over again to get Macchiville and Sarah Does Smile to separate. What God has joined together, let no man put assunder.
Plan B- at least get a picture going of the both of us and change up the profile a bit. I have to confess, I'm a little tired of seeing Seth's big face on my blog!

In other news, I have had quite the crummy weekend. Seth came home from his D.C. trip on Friday. The boys and I were very excited to see him. I swear there is nothing cuter in this world than seeing a couple of boys see their daddy for the first time in a week. Huge smiles, big hugs, and munchkin voices saying, "Daddy!". All's right with the world...
Friday morning, I woke up feeling a bit unusual but didn't really think much of it. Until the big wham-mo pain-o hit Friday afternoon and lasted into Friday night. Where did I end up Friday night? Yep, you guessed it- our friendly neighborhood ER. We had no idea what was going on. The pain was literally nauseating. A bit much for this girl who can take a bit of pain.
So the Dr. did an exam and declared an ovarian cyst. Never had one of these before. So I ended up in bed all weekend totally drugged out. The pain still has not gone away so I will be going to see my lucky GYN doctor tomorrow.

These strange and out of the ordinary assaults have happened to me quite a bit over the last few years. I'm not quite sure why. But this time, I have had such a sense of peace. Yes, it could be the high dosage of Vicodin. But it goes beyond that with a full thought of "God is good." He's always good. And He loves me. I haven't experienced a miracle of instant healing yet but I do keep an eye out for His hand in these things. Like Friday, for example. Seth came home and was able to take care of me and the boys. If the attack had happened a day earlier, it would have been a whole 'nother story! For some reason, I have the voice of an older Jamaican man in my head saying, "God is good. When is He good? Always."
Amen and amen.