Ephesians 5

For the first time in a long time, I had a quiet time reading my Bible the past two mornings. Time and time again, I find myself drifting away from the Lord. I get so caught up in MY life and MY world that I forget about Him and spending time with HIM! It never fails that when I drift from the Lord, I open myself up to the attacks of the devil. I find myself under spiritual, mental, emotional, and even phyical attack. It's like swimming and playing out in the ocean. You get caught up fooling around or beating the waves, and before you know it, you've drifted and then you find yourself trying to stay afloat in the ocean and you struggle and struggle and can't understand why you are going through all this trouble and getting nowhere. The ocean is no longer fun. It's drowning you. Then, you realize, "Oh, yeah, just put your feet down on the Solid Rock, Shannon." When I take my eyes off the Lord, it doesn't take long before I'm struggling. My wonderful husband helps me realize that I've taken my eyes of the Lord and gets me back to the Solid Rock. Jay is my helpmate, my best friend. I am so thankful that the Lord gave him to me. Together, we help each other and grow in our marriage as we grow in the Lord.

So, I was reading Ephesian 5 today. What an awesome chapter! The 4 main topics are: Walk in Love, Walk in Light, Walk in Wisdom, and Marriage. It hit me how we are to walk in love....total unconditional love just as Jesus Christ has shown us. He died for MY sin in MY place so that I can accept the FREE gift of salvation from our Father in Heaven. He didn't have to do that. God's Word, the Bible, says that the cost of my sin is death. Every mistake I've made, every rule I've broken, every commandment I've broken... God says that the penalty is death. Yet, Jesus took my place, paid for my sin so that I can not only have everlasting life and get into heaven, but so that I can have a RELATIONSHIP with the Lord. So many people believe that just by going to church or believing in a god will get them to heaven, but that's not so. There's so much more than just filling a pew or seat on Sunday. It's about relationship. We are to love God and be imitators of Him. In Eph. 5, it says to be imitators of God as dear children. As I think about that and I look at Jadyn, I think how she so openly and willingly loves people. She is trusting, nonjudgemental, and happy. Whenever I don't feed her soon enough or change her diaper soon enough or even spend enough time in the day with her, she still greets me with a smile and open arms. It doesn't matter to her if I look nice or smell good or have done great things. She still loves me....unconditionally. That's how I'm supposed to imitate Christ.

The next part of Eph. 5 says to Walk in Light. Jesus is the Light of the World. We live in such a dark and fallen world...I can't even watch the news anymore without being disturbed of all the killings and robberies going on around us. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light...finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." (Eph. 5: 8,10). Things we try to hide from the Lord by keeping them in the dark will become the next area of attack in our lives. When I have something bothering in me in the back of my mind and I don't deal with it, it continues to fester and grow and before I know it, at some point, it can become a stronghold in my life. "But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light." (Eph. 5:13). When I don't hide things from the Lord or even from my husband, for that matter, I don't leave room for darkness to grow. I turn it over to Him and where there once was darkness, the Light of Christ now shines. Not to say that the dark corner won't try to return, but as long as I turn it over to Christ, and then His Light will overcome. Think of how powerful a little match is when it is lit in a dark room...the Light of Lord is beyond measure of that! My mind cannot grasp that! Those who don't know the Lord, have not given their hearts to them, they walk in darkness. Many people don't even know it that they are walking in darkness...no hope, no light....they are a dead man walking. But Eph. 5:14 says "Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light". It says He GIVES you light...no strings attached! It is a free gift! Praise God! How thankful I am for the Lord's Light in my life. I pray that His Light shines through me that when people look at me, it's not Shannon they see, but Jesus Christ shining through me....

Then there's Walk in Wisdom. Walk in the Wisdom of the Lord. He gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us and give us wisdom. The days are evil, full of foolish men. We must be careful and walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, for the days are evil. "Redeeming the time".....How soon until the Lord's return? How much time do we have here on Earth. All you have to do is turn on the news and hear of global warming, wars, killings, robberies, earthquakes, fires, this and that and you wonder...how long do we really have? How long do I have to tell people that there is a God Who loves them and saves? Redeeming the time....

And as fear so often tries to set within my mind and heart, I know that I cannot live in fear. His word says in Eph. 5:20 "Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". I thank Him that in the midst of this fallen world, in the midst of the darkness around me...I have Hope, I have the Light of the world...I have Jesus Christ living in me and the Holy Spirit guiding me. And I know that this world may fall away, but the kingdom of heaven will not! I know that when the Lord returns for His Bride, the church (all those who believe in Him), I will be ready! That leads into the last part of Eph. 5...Marriage. God compares the church as a bride preparing for her groom. Jesus is the Groom and He will be coming for His bride...the church. Eph. 5 talks about husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, even giving Himself for her. And just as wives desire love, husbands desire respect. I need love and my husband needs my respect. I am to respect my husband. He is the spiritual leader of our family. Just as Christ deserves my respect as He is the Groom and I am part of the church, the Bride. I pray often that Jay will continue to seek the Lord and that the Lord will give him wisdom as he leads this family.

Eph. 5 has so much in it! I can chew and meditate on it for days and I think my mind would still be blown away at the Word of God. I know this is long, but it's my thoughts...jumbled as they are. I am thankful to the Lord for saving me. I am thankful that He is my Light and my Salvation. I'd be lost without Him....

Merry Christmas!

\]]We had a great time this Christmas spending time with our families. We woke up Christmas morning...surprisingly, before the kids! As we waited for the kids to stir (and the rest of the adults, for that matter, we enjoyed sitting around the table eating Christmas breakfast that Dad has made. For the first time in 8 years, all of the family woke up Christmas morning at my parents' house. It was a fun time.

Jadyn was all smiles as we began to gather in the living room! Before we began opening gifts, Dad said a prayer thanking the Lord for His Best Gift of all...His Son, Jesus Christ. We give gifts as we celebrate His precious Gift. Happy Birthday, Jesus....

















Rebekah and Josh, my neice and nephew, were very excited to start opening gifts!











Meet my brother and sister, John and Jennifer. John is 28 and a police officer and Jennifer is 23 and in culinary school. In this picture, neither look excited, but don't be fooled...they had a good time! :) I love my bro and sis and am so proud of each of them. It was great to get to spend Christmas with them.








My beloved husband...he never ceases to amaze me in his love and thoughtfulness. He was one of the best gifts the Lord's ever given to me! He is too cute! I love you, my one and only!









I love this picture of how Dad and Jadyn are looking at each other....You can see how much Dad just loves her and Jadyn finds him quite curious! :-) Love you, Papa!










I love the look of anticipation on her face as she starts tearing the present open. She didn't quite get fully unwrapping gifts this year, but she was definetely liking the sound of tearing paper! She got a cabbage patch in this present. It's a twin cabbage patch and her cousin, Rebekah, has the other twin. This is cool because each cousin has a twin cabbage patch AND they each have a twin mommy! :-)





The best part of Christmas is being with the ones you love...












I love this time of year!

Jadyn's officially walking!

Yesterday, Jadyn finally did what we've all been waiting for...she took off walking! We couldn't catch it on video until today. All of the sudden, she's decided she's done with crawling and walking's the way to go! It happened just like I thought it would...she would just decide to take off! And she has! Enjoy! We are very proud of her! :)

Hello again

Hello all our fans! It sure has been hard to find time to update this thing since going back to work! Sheesh! I miss blogging on a regular basis! :) Well, here's our update! I am now 12 weeks along in my pregnancy and am starting to feel better now that I'm at the end of my first trimester! Whew! 12 weeks already! I'm definetely wearing maternity clothes! At work, my students enjoy keeping track of baby Sappington's growth. Every couple of weeks, we measure out how much growth it has made. Everyday, several of them ask me how Baby Sapp is doing. It's very cute! :) We should find out around February whether Jadyn's getting a brother or a sister!

Speaking of Jadyn, she is such the cutie! Her newest achievement is saying, "Yuck--kee!" Haha! Jay taught her that! She says it for everything! We've learned that she is allergic to dairy....at least to milk. For the past 6 weeks, we've been trying to figure out what's going on with her. It started when she woke up on a Sunday six weeks ago today, covered head to toe in a rash. Her skin color was also turning an orangish yellow. After several weeks and a few different treatment approaches, we took her to another doc who had us take her off all dairy and carrots. In a matter of 2 weeks, her skin is completely cleared up except for a few patches of excema and her skin tone is not so yellowish-orange. We take her in tomorrow for bloodwork (per our request). We want to make sure there's nothing else going on internally, as she's still a bit yellow. We are also going to schedule her for allergy-testing to find out specifically what she's allergic too. In spite of it all, she still remains her happy, bright-eyed self! What a blessing she is! We love our Pigtail Pie!!!

On an annoying note...maybe someone out there has advice. Our cat, Gretta, is 3.5 years old. About 2 years ago, we got another cat, and Gretta began acting out by peeing on our futon. We thought it was Squared, our other cat. The peeing increased when Jadyn was born and has gone downhill since then. She pees on the carpet (futon's been gone since shortly after we got Squared). We figured out that it was Gretta when we caught her in the act!! All this time, we'd been blaming Squared. We have tried EVERYTHING we can think of! We changed the type of litter, we added another litter box, we've cleaned the litterboxes daily, we've tried different chemicals to clean the spots she's marked as well as to keep her from going back to there, we tried foil, we've moved her food to those spots, and so on. Our latest endeavor was buying the litter robot (very cool invention, by the way). It will eventually pay for itself by saving in cost of litter. It is on a timer and self-cleans every time it's used, so the litter stays fresh. We are going to have to replace the carpet, no doubt. Our house STINKS!!! It's horrible! Gretta won't use the new litterbox and now defecates on the floor. Every day, Jay's having to clean up poop and treat that area, in hopes she won't do it again. Gretta's a part of the family, and we are not wanting to get rid of her. Jay jokes that we need to get the cat whisperer here! :) We are going to start looking into bids on stained concrete to replace the carpet. It has to go. Our house smells bad, and defiled! Gross! Sooo, any other advice!!???

We are looking forward to Christmas break! After Christmas break, we're going to Phoenix to visit family! I can't wait to see all our family, especially my grandparents and Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim!! :) My aunt Dorothy's turning the big 5-0 while we are out there too! whoo hoo!

Well, there's more to write, no doubt, but presents need wrapping and Christmas cards need addressed! :) I hope to update a LOT more on my Christmas break!

Love you guys!

Life of a 1 year old...and other things....

Well, my week off from work is now over. It didn't go quite according to plan, but I can't complain. I still enjoyed being off. My plans of visiting friends, coffee with my twin sis, making hairbows, and blogging all went down the tube as Jadyn and I have been sick all week. Tuesday, we both woke up with colds and have been trying to get over them all week. Now, both of our colds have turned into infections. I'm now on antibiotics and I have a feeling she soon will be too. But, praise the Lord for medicine! :) And, I wouldn't trade this week off with her for anything. I am so thankful for my family and for this gift God has given Jay and I. Jadyn is such a joy and happy little girl. She definetely lights up our lives. I can only imagine what joy the next little Sappington growing inside of me will bring. Sometimes I can't imagine having so much love for more than one child...but, I hear it comes naturally. :) God is so good to us.

Here, Jadyn sports her new ride...she digs it. She seems to like facing forward. She can definetely see what's going on around her. The cool thing about this car seat is it's a 3-in-1...which means it eventually converts to a booster seat that she can be in til she's like 8-9 yrs old. AND, it has received great reviews. It's a Graco Nautilus, in case you are interested. :)

I didn't really get any good pictures of Jadyn on her birthday. Note to self...at birthday parties, designate someone to take pictures...otherwise, you aren't going to end up with many. So, I put her birthday bib on her and took a picture of her with her birthday balloon. She's such a happy 1 year old!

On another note...Jay and I went to put Jadyn to bed the other night and this is what we found! Looks like Jadyn's not the only one who uses the changing table. Seems Gretta has found a new place to relax. :)

Jay and I became offical participants of Black Friday. We got up at 3 a.m and were hitting our first store at 4 a.m.! It was a really fun time! We joined my dad, Sara, and Fidel and all the early bird shoppers catching GREAT deals! Suprisingly, customers and employees of every where we went were nice and even had a sense of humor. I was impressed. Now, I'm curious to know how it was by the end of the day. :) Jay and I were able to get most of our Christmas shopping all done. I am definetely hooked on Black Friday! It was sssssawwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Until next time...

Happy 1st Birthday, Jadyn!

Our Pigtail Pie is officially ONE! I can't believe it! This past year has flown by in the blink of an eye. I am so thankful to the Lord for this precious gift! Jadyn means "God has heard". The Lord heard my desire to be a mom, and He answered. I am blessed beyond measure! From the day I knew she was growing in me, I couldn't wait to meet this precious one. Then, finally, the day came when she made her entrance into this world...and she's had my heart eversince. I love her with all my heart. It's amazing how true it is that you would give your very life for your child. And then I think how the Lord God did that for us, His Children...He gave His Son so that we can have everlasting life...to have a relationship with Him. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my child. I am amazed at this little being that the Lord created. What plans does He have for her life? What does He have in store for her? What will she grow up to be? ("For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11)

I love watching my husband be a father to her. It's one of the most endearing qualities about him. I love how he prays over her and me in the mornings before leaving for work. For Jadyn's birthday, he brought her home a bouquet of flowers. Her face lit up when he said, "Here you go, Jadyn. Happy Birthday!" It was priceless! My husband is the sweetest, most caring man on this planet! :-)

For her party, Jadyn looked so cute in her little matching crown, onesie, and tutu. Surprisingly, she even kept the crown on for the most part! She didn't quite know what to do with the cake, but it didn't take her long to make a mess! :-








Jadyn, one year ago....

To Jadyn, now...

I love it when her face lights up in a smile...my little Bright Eyes. She can light up a whole room! I love you, Bright Eyes....Happy 1st Birthday, my love.

Love, Mommy.

Thank You, Lord, for this precious gift You've given me....

Melody Hope and Madison Joy

Our dear friends, Jason and Vanessa, welcomed and said goodbye to their precious twin baby girls this evening. For those of you who don't know the story, go check out their blog, Good Times Delgado Style. When Vanessa was approximately 20 weeks along in her pregnancy, they found out she was carrying conjoined twin girls. The girls shared a heart and a liver. Jason and Vanessa have been an AMAZING witness of the Lord through this entire journey. The outpour of support they have received and will continue to receive in the upcoming days to follow is a testament of God's love. Madison Hope and Melody Joy were born via c-section around 6:25 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2008. And they passed into Heaven a little after 7 p.m.

Tonight, as I held those precious baby girls who were no longer living on this earth, I was amazed at God's creations. Amazed at these perfect baby girls who were blessed to have such a loving family. I am in awe of God's sovereignty and am reminded of King David who pleaded before the Lord without ceasing to save his infant son from death. When the infant passed away, David rose up from the floor, cleaned himself off, and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped. (2 Samuel 12: 16-23) David continued to give praise to the Lord. Even though God had not given David the answer he had hoped for, the Lord had answered him nonetheless by taking the child to be with Him. God's answer may not always be what we want to hear, but He is faithful and He is Sovereign. He is our great Comforter and Healer. I find comfort in knowing that Melody and Madison are in the arms of Jesus and wait for their family and for the family in Christ to one day join them as we worship our Heavenly Father. They have forever touched my life...

A song that kept coming to mind throughout the afternoon and evening was this...
God is so good
God is so good
God is so good
He's so good to me

He answers prayer
He answers prayer
He answers prayer
He's so good to me

God is so good. I will praise Him at ALL times. His praise shall continually be on my lips. In all things, I will give thanks unto the Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for Melody and Madison. The love we have for them can't even compare to how much you love them... May Your comfort and peace envelope and surround Jason, Vanessa, Destiny, and all their families and loved ones...

In the words of our friends, the Delgados...to God be the glory. Amen.