little messes and little spoons

Morgan decided it was time to make her first mess -  I had an open bottle sitting next to her i turned around to grab something and next thing I here is a bang! sigh!  and the bottle was on the floor and she was looking around like what just happen...of course it was to cute not to take a picture of....and yes cleaning up milk on CARPET in the kitchen is just wrong...good thing Aussie likes to clean up anything that is dropped!

 She thought it was funny ..... we are in big trouble...she seems to love the things she should not play with already!

 Since it rained a lot in the last few weeks and every night it wasn't raining we had something going on or we were just relaxing the yard got a little out of hand.. Matt's mom and Step-Dad Mike we so kind to bring over there Zero-turning radius lawn mower for Matt to 'mow' he was one happy man, it only took 30 mins vs hour and half!! We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner with them and then headed to see his brother in Almost, Maine for the Prairie Repertory Theater and they enjoyed an evening hanging out with Morgan...

 She is starting to get this rice thing down!

  She is also getting the moving thing down...she needs a bigger pad to lay on! She can't wait to catch the pups!

Just Trust Him

A few weeks ago on the way home i was listing to life 96.5 and someone was talking about trusting God with 6 days and taking the sabbath to fully rest, and challenged listeners to ask God to do more with 6 days then with 7, (of course I only caught a small portion of the talk.) He referenced tithing and how when you give your tithe God will do more with it. This really hit home for me because I really struggled with tithing when we started attending our church, until we took Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey, he challenges you to tithe so Matt and I took the challenge even though we didn't think we had the money to at the time, and boy were we wrong, God blessed us tremendously! With the past proving to me that when I give what is asked God will provide more with less...just like he fed 5000 people with a few fish and loafs of bread. This past Saturday I was beyond lazy, dragging my feet, couldn't get off the couch and I couldn't figure out why i was so uncharacteristically lazy until last night when I got home I had so much motivation I accomplished about what I can accomplish in a Saturday at home.  God really put me in my place this week proving to me that he can do more with 6 days then I can do with 7 and its only day 5 since my beyond lazy day! I challenge you to ponder this your self and see what happens!

Here are some pictures to catch up on what has been happening around the Douglas house hold!

We had our friends Josh and Cammie over on Friday night for pizza and a fire Morgan didn't think it was as fun as the rest of us......

 It was getting to be a late night for Ellie and the dogs, Lulu Bell and Aussie.

 Morgan helped cook supper tonight, she likes to reach for all things on the side of her instead of in front of her she helped me measure out the pasta...shes going to be a great cook!

 We made tomato and broccoli pasta a recipe i got from our E-mealz list, this is super handy it prevents us from having the same thing over and over and when we can't decide what we want to eat we just resort to the list! Plus it helps prevent a overfilled pantry with nothing that really goes together! We had the portion control meal plan which use to be the weight watchers plan - we haven't had a bad recipe yet!!

 Morgan wasn't to impressed when we tried rice cereal again..she didn't get as angry as fast as the last time....i know she is only 4 months old but she has been eating 8 oz ever 2-3 hours so she needs something a little more then formula! We are putting a small amount in a bottle for now until we can get her to take more with a spoon!!

 here is our yummy dinner! I can not believe this came out of my mouth but I told Matt tonight that the steamed broccoli was very flavorful! (yes mom I said the broccoli was good!!) We did a 24 day Advocare challenge to get a kick start on our diet and it changed our eating habits so much that we enjoy healthy things...odd i know!  Matt lost 16ish lbs and i lost 4ish and a few inches!!

 Then it was time for bath...and to wash up all the rolls and places that catch milk!

Little Offerings

	I have decided to call the blog Little Offerings  because life is about the little things, the small offerings we have to give to others, areas what we are strong in and where others are weak, each person brings a little offering each day to life, to their family, job, the people they say hi and smile to at the store. I hope to have little offerings with my blog that can help others in their lives. I got inspiration from a friends blog who writes about her life and often times I feel like she is writing about my life, her offering of sharing her stories help me realize I am not alone in this world and I need other peoples little offerings and life stories.  Below is a blog that was emailed to me by a different friend and where I pulled the term 'Little Offerings' came from. "Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great."     Motherhood as a Mission Field
	Jun 16, 2011 11:00 am  |  by Rachel Jankovic
	There is a good old saying, perhaps only said by my Grandfather, that distance adds intrigue. It is certainly true — just think back to anything that has ever been distant from you that is now near. Your driver’s license. Marriage. Children. Things that used to seem so fascinating, but as they draw near become less mystical and more, well, real. This same principle certainly applies to mission fields too. The closer you get to home, the less intriguing the work of sacrifice seems. As someone once said, “Everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help Mom with the dishes.” When you are a mother at home with your children, the church is not clamoring for monthly ministry updates. When you talk to other believers, there is not any kind of awe about what you are sacrificing for the gospel. People are not pressing you for needs you might have, how they can pray for you. It does not feel intriguing, or glamorous. Your work is normal, because it is as close to home as you can possibly be. You have actually gone so far as to become home. Home: The Headwaters of Mission If you are a Christian woman who loves the Lord, the gospel is important to you. It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church. There are a number of ways in which mothers need to study their own roles, and begin to see them, not as boring and inconsequential, but as home, the headwaters of missions. At the very heart of the gospel is sacrifice, and there is perhaps no occupation in the world so intrinsically sacrificial as motherhood. Motherhood is a wonderful opportunity to live the gospel. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Motherhood provides you with an opportunity to lay down the things that you cannot keep on behalf of the people that you cannot lose. They are eternal souls, they are your children, they are your mission field. Faith Makes the Small Offering Great If you are like me, then you may be thinking “What did I ever give up for them? A desk job? Time at the gym? Extra spending money? My twenty- year- old figure? Some sleep?” Doesn’t seem like much when you put it next to the work of some of the great missionaries, people who gave their lives for the gospel. Think about the feeding of the five thousand when the disciples went out and rounded up the food that was available. It wasn’t much. Some loaves. Some fish. Think of some woman pulling her fish out and handing it to one of the disciples. That had to have felt like a small offering. But the important thing about those loaves and those fishes was not how big they were when they were given, it was about whose hands they were given into. In the hands of the Lord, that offering was sufficient. It was more than sufficient. There were leftovers. Given in faith, even a small offering becomes great. Look at your children in faith, and see how many people will be ministered to by your ministering to them. How many people will your children know in their lives? How many grandchildren are represented in the faces around your table now? Gain What You Cannot Lose in Them So, if mothers are strategically situated to impact missions so greatly, why do we see so little coming from it?  I think the answer to this is quite simple: sin. Discontent, pettiness, selfishness, resentment. Christians often feel like the right thing to do is to be ashamed about what we have. We hear that quote of Jim Elliot’s and think that we ought to sell our homes and move to some place where they need the gospel. But I’d like to challenge you to look at it differently. Giving up what you cannot keep does not mean giving up your home, or your job so you can go serve somewhere else. It is giving up yourself. Lay yourself down. Sacrifice yourself here, now. Cheerfully wipe the nose for the fiftieth time today. Make dinner again for the people who don’t like the green beans. Laugh when your plans are thwarted by a vomiting child. Lay yourself down for the people here with you, the people who annoy you, the people who get in your way, the people who take up so much of your time that you can’t read anymore. Rejoice in them. Sacrifice for them. Gain that which you cannot lose in them. It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not. You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive. God loves the little offerings. Given in faith, that plate of PB&J’s will feed thousands. Given in faith, those presents on Christmas morning will bring delight to more children than you can count. Offered with thankfulness, your work at home is only the beginning. Your laundry pile, selflessly tackled daily, will be used in the hands of God to clothe many. Do not think that your work does not matter. In God’s hands, it will be broken, and broken, and broken again, until all who have need of it have eaten and are satisfied. And even then, there will be leftovers. Rachel Jankovic is a wife, homemaker, and mother. She is the author of "Loving the Little Years" and blogs at Femina. Her husband is Luke, and they have five children: Evangeline (5), Daphne (4), Chloe (2), Titus (2), and Blaire (5 months).  I promise not all post will be this long. I don't think I can write that much!