Our Sweet Nest

Look what we found! The kids and I were both terribly excited to discover this nest perched atop of the speaker that hangs in the corner of our back porch. I have been repainting the porch so the nest had to come down. We enjoyed getting to admire nature.
I am terribly sad to report that I don't think momma bird has been back. I haven't told the kids that but I think we got a little too close (and they were so careful to not touch). I am feeling a little guilty, but sure did love the chance to share this beautiful glimpse of God's creation with my kids.
This is a random picture that Trace took of Aidan. Aidan was sulking and Trace thought it would be funny to get out the camera and take his picture. Sure looks like it turned his spirits around.

A glimpse into my head

Random thoughts in my head recently:

1. Running 6 miles after not running in weeks is not a good idea, for any reason, especially in a hilly neighborhood. I am sure I will feel that even more strongly tomorrow.

2. Someone should follow me around with a video camera when I run. I am awfully jumpy and I am sure it would make for some great TV viewing. If someone honks their horn when they pass by I am totally and visibly startled. Today I literally screamed for my life when a dog ran up behind me, from out of nowhere, with no warning, and tried to smell my feet. I looked back to see the owner bent over with her mouth covered, not sure if she was laughing at me or not but I sure found the humor in it pretty quickly (at least after I realized I was in no danger).

3. I heard some very disturbing news announcements on the radio today. The first is that the morning after pill is available to anyone 17 years or older who would like to use it with no prescription at any drug store. Seriously...17? Most 17 year olds haven't even graduated form High School yet. I knew about the morning after pill but I had no idea it was so readily available. The second is that there has been a law proposed in the State of Texas to limit the punishment of a mother who suffers from postpartum depression and murders her baby during the first year of their life to a maximum of 2 years in prison. You can read more about it here. This article does discount the likelihood of this happening, but it is still disgusting to see that lack of value placed on our babies. It is truly disappointing to think that a mother would barely get a slap on the wrist for such a heinous crime. I realize postpartum depression is real and very difficult, but it does not remove all responsibility for actions taken. This is appalling to me.

4. I have been thinking a lot about repentance today. I have thought about the negative connotations that we place on the word repentance. That people often don't want to or like to repent, but I have been realizing what a loving thing this is. The Lord is gracious with us and oh so patient. It is His kindness that leads to repentance. We have been called out of darkness into light. We are no longer slaves to sin and in His mercy He allows us to repent and turn from sin and live in Christ Jesus. How is this a bad thing? The Lord has been showing me some areas of pride and a lack of humility. He has been nudging me to come to Him with a repentant spirit and turn from those things, to return to Him. What greater gift is there?

5. Rebecca, Andrew, and I spent some time looking for invitations and gathering supplies for Rebecca's Birthday in a few weeks. I can't believe she will be 4 and soon after that Andrew will be 2. It is simply crazy. I have no better words than that. I can still vividly remember coming home from the hospital with my fist baby and now I have 3 and the youngest is really more of a toddler than a baby! Sometimes it breaks my heart, sometimes I eagerly await the future, and sometimes I am able to just rejoice in the moment.

6. Aidan is almost done with Kindergarten. Enough said!

7. God moves through prayer in powerful ways. A few weeks ago I was able to spend some time in prayer with another woman, praying about her marriage, and her kids, and just life in general. It was a powerful time of prayer and I knew the spirit was with us. That time was amazing, but the more amazing part is the way the Lord responded. I can't go into details, but man is He good. What a privilege to see the hand of God move in anothers life in such clear ways.

8. Sometimes rainy days are good. The rain can force us to slow down and be together. I am loving this rainy afternoon!

9. Rebecca said the cutest thing the other day. I was in the other room and I heard her say "gross, Andrew bless youed on me" I thought that was simply precious!

10. Aidan told me that he wrote a song to God in his journal at school the other day and he told his class about it at share time. It was pretty deep. It went something like this..."I love you, God". Not sure he will be getting any contracts based on his unique song writing abilities but, it just melts my heart. I pray daily he grows into a man who loves God with all his heart. Childlike faith is such a beautiful thing! I love that he wrote this and that he was willing to share it with his class.

10. Our mission trip to Mexico this summer got canceled due to the violence that is occurring around the border and I am terribly bummed. I do want to make wise, safe decisions, but I am still sad that we won't be going back this year. I was looking forward to the trip for so many reasons. I was so confident that the Lord had this trip for us but I guess He has other plans. I am looking forward to discovering what those are.

Our Visit with Bob and Gran

I mentioned that we were able to spend some time with Trace's parents over Spring Break. It was such a wonderful treat for us to get to have both Trace mom and dad here with us and to invite them into our home and our life for a few days. This was the first time that Trace's dad has been able to make the trip to Tyler. I know it took a lot of effort to get here but we sure enjoyed having them and the kids loved the extra attention. Most of the time we just sort of hung out around the house. Rebecca loved having Gran here to push her on the swing, Aidan got to show off his bike riding skills, and Andrew played hard like always. We played some games, ate out several times, and we got to take Trace's parents to church with us. I think they liked it. Here are a few pictures from their visit:

And our special trip to Chucky Cheese:

They played some games

Aidan was the only one brave enough to take a picture with Chucky
Riding some rides

And doing a bit of dancing.

Thanks Bob and Gran for a fantastic visit! You are welcome anytime! We LOVED having you here.

Breaking the Silence

WOW! This has to be the absolute longest I have ever gone without posting. I don't know if I can even call myself a blogger anymore? I don't even have a good excuse. We have done a few projects around the house, hosted my in-laws for a few days, and have just felt busy, but more than anything I just haven't had much to say. And once I got out of the habit of making time for this blog it has been super hard to pick it back up. I guess writing is just like anything else for me and if I don't do it for a while I loose my momentum. So this is my attempt to break the silence and jump back in. I hope to become more regular again.

We have lots of potential changes that I would love to share with you and I have many things on my mind...if I can just gather the words to write about them. The kids are good. Aidan is starting up soccer again and LOVES to spend time outside riding his bike. Rebecca is into drawing and writing random letters all over the pages and Andrew is...well, Andrew is into everything! We very rarely have a dull moment around here and there are many emotions felt during the course of a day. Well, the silence is broken. I plan to post again soon.

Oh ya, Happy St. Patrick's Day. Cheers to you all!


Here are the kids with Green Milk in honor of St. Patrick's day.

Thoughts on Prayer

I wrote a while back about how the Lord is pressing on my heart to be more intentional about prayer. It is an area of focus for me this year. I started a prayer journal for me to have a place to go and write down my prayers so that I can come back later and look at the Lord's faithfulness. One of the very first days in my journal I remember praying and asking the Father to teach me how to pray. I have tried things before and have always struggled because there are so many people and things I want to pray for and about. Soon after asking the Lord I felt him press upon me a desire to make some list. I asked him to show me what and who to include. I soon had a list of people I wanted to remember to intercede for regularly as well as ministry opportunities and personal requests I wanted to pray about. I don't try to pray for everyone and everything daily. I work my way through the 6 separate lists and I pray for the next thing on each list. Other than that I trust the Lord to press upon my heart other things I need to specifically pray for that day. He has been faithful to do this many times already.

As a mom of three kids, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a daughter-in-law, a sister in Christ, and a light to unbelievers, I have many roles to fill and many opportunities to be an ambassador on Christs behalf, but I can go days and even weeks without praying specifically about these roles. I have ideas about the type of mom I want to be but I often forget to ask the Lord for His strength, grace, patience, kindness, and servant's heart in this role. I forget at least until I feel stretched and spent and I am soaking in doubt of my ability to be a mom. I know the type of wife I desire to be but I don't pray about that nearly enough. Just wait until I am hurt, isolated, harsh, and resentful in my marriage and all the sudden I am on my knees begging the Father for his help. This is true of all the roles I listed above. I desire to do the work of the Father, to live my life in a way that gives glory to His name, but I fall short over and over again. I know in my head I will fall short if I try to go it alone, but I still try until I prove to myself once again that I am nothing without Christ. I have to have Him daily intervening in my life and I need to pray and ask for that intervention.

It is amazing that as I pray for my heart to be more servant-like I find ways and opportunities to be a servant in my everyday life. As I seek the die to myself more I realize that when a sweet little boy wants to be held and I need to sweep the floor and finish my to-do list so I can relax, that I can choose to die to self and snuggle with that child. I can find God in the midst of the mundane and I can follow Him more closely. I have experienced greater fullness of God as I have found ways to set aside more time to pray. I have learned the pleasure of interceding on behalf of my kids, husband, other family and friends. And the greatest treasure is that I have learned more and more about why I must depend on Him fully and pray more regularly. It has been a joy filled journey of seeking the Father through prayer this month. There have still been days when I oversleep and don't get that extended time of prayer, or I try to pray at night and drift off to sleep. Even with more intentional prayer my sin still creeps up and I get frustrated with my kids and snap at my husband. I still can be critical of others and judgemental, but I can tell a change. I really believe that prayer is largely about changing me, shaping me to be more Christ-like. It helps set my mind on the things above. It focuses my priorities and it helps me to live in the hope that is before me and that Hope is Jesus Christ.

Lord, take this year and make it my greatest year of prayer yet. Please keep me faithful and diligent to seek you and spend time with you through prayer. Help me to be more disciplined in the way I choose to live so that the things that creep in, the busyness of life, won't quiet my hearts desire to pray and the ability to actually find the time to devote to prayer.

Red, and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight

This week is the sanctity of human life week. As a mom of three living children, who suffered the loss of a miscarriage, I believe in the sanctity of human life. I can remember being in the hospital, going through a delivery and then and holding a small basket on my lap with Trevor in it. What could I do but to cry? I cried and I grieved for many days in the months that followed his birth. Just recently we were driving through Lubbock (which is where I lived when I lost this baby) and we drove by the doctors office where I was told that there was no heartbeat and in an instant my mind went back to that moment. I could feel the feelings I felt that day, I could remember conversations that were had. It is a very real loss of a very real child! It is a child that never lived outside of my womb, but as I gazed into that basket I knew the loss of a child.

The only reason I share this is because the Lord has changed my heart on this issue through my life experiences. I can remember having conversations with those around me and coming to the conclusion that a woman has the right to choose. It is her body and her life. I now believe that each and every child is formed by the very hands of God. I believe that each and every child is precious in his sight. I believe that these babies have no voice. When a mom claims to have the right to choose, her voice is heard but the baby must remain silent. It is an atrocity. It is wrong and we, as a society, turn our heads the other way and allow this to continue while we say and do little. Every year in this country 1.5 million babies are aborted. That is a startling statistic.

I am very uncomfortable writing these words. I know that there may be people reading this who have made that choice to abort. I am not passing judgement on you! I believe that we serve a God who is both righteous and forgiving. I believe that we serve a God who wants you to seek Him about this issue so He can forgive you, so He can love you, and so He can comfort you. He offers grace and mercy and I pray that my words are also seasoned with mercy. If you are struggling the pain from a past abortion please look into this study and look into the healing the Lord has to offer you and if you are willing to share this with me I would love to pray with and for you. Please feel free to email me privately at christahagler223@hotmail.com.

Please join me this week and throughout the year in prayer for Our Nation and Our President on this issue. Melinda is asking us to commit to praying for President Obama's heart on this issue every Monday morning. She will post a scripture on Sunday night so that we can pray over this topic in unity. Will you consider being a part? I will leave you with this short video...

A New Look

My blog just got a total revamp thanks to my sweet, creative, talented friend Brianna. The old header was replaced by more current pictures that were taken recently when we visited the Saban family. Brianna is a great photographer and I get super excited whenever she takes our pictures! Too bad she doesn't live closer, but if you are ever in the New Mexico area let me know and I will connect you. It would be worth it!

Brianna made the header for me and I love it, however it made the old background look funny so I changed it. I like this one much better. Change is good from time to time. Brianna has some more pictures of our family posted on her blog. Go check them out if you would like and while you are there take a look around and tell her how much you like her work. We all like to get our feathers fluffed every once in a while and she deserves it! You Rock Bri!