Weeds, Baby Bump and Lent

This afternoon the sun came out and it was really nice outside.  I had to almost beg Jase to go outside with me.  With the cold and rainy weather lately we have not been outside a ton.  We started out on the swing set; Jase on a swing and me and Allyson on the teeter-totter.  Our swings face the back of our house and I could not help but notice all the weeds in our flower beds . . . it was terrible.  We also have a stone pathway and grass/weeds have taken over in between the stones.  Shawn did not get around to mowing/weed-eating before he left, so our yard is in need for some TLC for sure.  Those clovers just have taken over the yard and flower beds.
Anyway, I decided to go over there and pull some weeds while the kids were playing.  I went in the garage and got some of Daddy's work gloves and went to town.  After standing up after squatting for like 10 minutes I was completely dizzy and thought this is not going to work, so I went inside and got a stool.  At this point, I took a break and the kids got on their bikes and we went for a stroll around the block.

It was nice to get outdoors and get some exercise for a change.  After we got back to the house the kids played for a few more minutes outside, then they headed inside.  I made them some water and I went back out to tackle the weeds.  I left the front door locked, but both back doors were unlocked so they could come outside anytime.  I periodically checked on them to make sure they were not getting into trouble in there.

Long story (like 2 hours long) short I pulled all the weeds our of the right flower bed and all of them out of the stone pathway.  I got a garbage can to put all the weeds in and I couldn't even pick it up after it was full; I had to turn it in circles to move it.  And I'm not huge pregnant, but I am definitely going to be sore in the morning.  After the first 30 minutes I am asking myself "what in the world did you just start??" I really do not like to start and stop a project, so I was at least going to finish the stone pathway and the ride side.

I swept all the dirt back in between the stones, but it is definitely not even with the stones.  Hopefully my kids don't break a leg on the craters I have created!! When Shawn gets home we'll have to get some gravel or dirt or something to fill in the gaps where I pulled all the roots/dirt out.  And all those rocks to the right in the picture above were completely covered up with grass/weeds.  You can see the rocks on the left side of the pathway are like that.  I can't wait to do that side . . .

I think I used every muscle in my hands to try and pull every little weed out I could.  Next time I will get some gloves that actually fit, that way I won't have an extra 2 inches of gloves at the end of my fingers to get in the way.  I'm glad I got out there and did it . . . it definitely needed it.

Ok, so don't laugh.  Well, go ahead and laugh . . . I did!!  Taking self-portraits in front of the mirror is just not my thing, not my thing at all.  Well, after coming in today I thought "you know, I don't have a belly shot of me yet."  16 weeks and not a picture one to show my progress.  Within this past week or so, my stomach feels like it has grown 5 inches, not kidding.  After about 40 pictures, this is the best I could do to show my little baby bump ! :-)  Oh, and I also included some of my fine photography skills of my hand soap and towel holder!

The season of Lent is upon as tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  I know that other religions outside of Catholicism participate in Lent, but it is really not spoke about it a whole lot at our Baptist church.  And I'm not saying that members of my church do not participate, I just do not hear a lot about it publicly.  Shawn and I started talking about it last week and both agreed that we wanted to participate this year.  These 40 days (actually 46) during Lent symbolize the 40 days that Jesus went into the desert before he began his public minstry and fasted without food or water and prayed and seeked the Lord's will.  During this time he was tempted by the devil, but God provided all of his needs.  Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and through his grace I have eternal life, so if he gave his life, then I surely can sacrifice something for 40 or 46 days.

For the past couple of days I have been thinking about what I am going to sacrifice during this time period.  I kept going back and forth on sweets, chocolate, dairy, pasta, but then I realized what I needed to give up during this time period . . . my time.  I need to sacrifice my time and grow closer to the Lord through reading and memorizing his word.  I will do this by giving up Facebook until Easter.  I have only been on FB for a little over a year, but it has became very addicting and very time consuming for me.  Some days I do not get on it all day, but then there are other days where I get on it way too much and it is just unhealthy.  I deleted the app off my phone and will be praying for strength to stay away.  So, if you see Shawn N Jessica commenting on FB, it should not be me!

Today I began a Beth Moore bible study on the book of James with a group of ladies from my church, and I am really excited about it.  I am looking forward to devoting time to it each day and committing myself to the word.  KSBJ also started a challenge yesterday to memorizing 10 bible verses in the next 10 days.  2 days down and so far, so good.  I taught yesterday's verse to the kids and had Jase quote it to Daddy on the phone this evening.  We love him, because he first loved us.  1 John 4:19

As a family, we are also committing to cutting back on the junk, primarily the sweets.  Jase would eat cookies or candy all throughout the day if I let him.  He will also drink chocolate milk for every meal if I let him.  I spoke to him tonight about Lent and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made (and he knew) and that we too need to sacrifice something.  I told him that he would not be drinking chocolate milk everyday and that we would be cutting out most of the sweets as well and he agreed and understood.  In the morning I will be throwing out all of the leftover candy from Valentine's that is still hanging around and tempting us.  Praying for God's wisdom, strength, and guidance during this time.