Wednesday- Wise Words for Wallys

Funny post title. When I was carrying all our children before their birth we called them Wally 1, Wally 2, and Wally 3. The name has stuck and as I was having my quiet time with the Lord this morning I thought of how Wednesdays can be our days of sharing the Wisdom we are gaining through spreading joy. 

So the wisdom that we shared this morning before daddy took all of them to have donuts was how God takes everything and makes it good for His glory. It is hard to imagine this when we are hurting, cancer strikes, a job gets lost, or your child does not take on your faith as their own. However, God has shown our family we can stand firm in His plan that he knows what today brings, he forgives what happened yesterday if we messed up, and he holds tomorrow in his hands. His mercies are new everyday for us. What FREEDOM!Today's Wise Words for Wally's is that our response to having no one we know in class, having a teacher we do not click with yet, rejection, physical pain reveals if we really believe the Truth from God's word. So as we walk through this week we are asking ourselves, "Do I live as though I believe God works in everything to bring out the good?"We are claiming Romans 8:28 for ourselves this week. In our kitchen I have a plate where I write the verse we are gaining wisdom from. I also love fresh flowers because the make me smile!

Having this wisdom helps me go through my to-do list asking what is His purpose this week. So here is my list of all the things I want to do to bring Him glory to join Him in working good out of everything:

• Write a note to a friend who is hurting
• Have coffee with a new friend
• Call another new mom and invite her daughter to Kathryn's bible study.
• Kiss my kids more
• Not just ask how their day was, LISTEN.
• Take more photos of what they are doing each day...reading, playing Stack the States, Homework.

• Pray for my husband's busy schedule that he would be sustained.
• Ask my husband, "What can I do for you today?", DO IT.

This was on our Honeymoon. Wow we were young! 

• Pray the verses all my couples bible study friends are claiming to overcome this week.
• Pray for the women in my new bible study.
• Make a menu for all the food I bought from my favorite places so we can have dinner together.

• Do not listen to the LIES that distract me from doing His good.
• Listen to my favorite Praise music each day.
• Go to the gym to continue getting STRONGER for the family He blessed me to have.
• Love those around me, be willing to say YES Lord....

How do you encourage your family to grow in Wisdom? Please share the wisdom you are growing in this week.
Thankful for His Wisdom,Shari

Tuesday Tidbits

I had a dear friend, Holly Johnson, post about my blog the other day and I wanted to share what she said because she captured exactly what Joy is to me:

Joy is not who you are,
Joy is not where you are,
Joy is not who you are with,
Joy is not what you are doing,
Joy IS what you think about all the above.

This is so true and exactly what led me to start a blog. I think it is so critical for us as moms and wives to think about the JOY in our lives. The joy that we can extend to others and the joy that is extended to us. I have been so grateful for how starting this blog because it has slowed me down in my life and made me become aware of all the little gifts and what I think of the joy they spread. Here are a few of them from our past Labor Day weekend.

 

Kathryn and her best friend Cora playing Trouble. We had so much

rain that we had to find things to do inside. These smiles bring joy!

 

 

Aaron's buddy Evan spreads so much joy because he loves to

do things other than play electronics. They have old-fashioned fun

together.

 

Emma spent time looking at Olivia's new photography blog. She

also spent hours under a blanket reading.

 

 

This moment spread joy to so many 5th and 6th graders.

One of Emma's dreams came true when she performed with

a praise band on Sunday for church. She knows how to

connect with God through music.

 

OK so it brought me joy that we rode our

bikes as a family to a local outdoor mall for lunch.

The funny of the day was Aaron's pedal kept

falling off. He brings such joy with his calm attitude.

 

 

Kathryn learning to make herself eggs in the morning.

This gives me such JOY that she will

be a great Mom some day.

 

Here is a list of the rest of the ways I think we had JOY....

 

• Aaron finally grew enough to ride his "Big Boy" bike.
• Emma and Kathryn spent time crafting.
• I talked to a dear friend and encouraged her that her daughter would begin to find peace with school.
• Prayed for all the women who are in the study I am helping lead.
• Took a walk with Mark and Sadie (the dog) while our kids read their books in bed.
• Mark and I cleaned the garage and made our lives more organized.
• We all laughed so long at a funny movie we watched together.
• We had so much awesome family together time.
• Mark and I had good talks about the kids and growing them to be more aware of how they pick their friends in a way that they are encouraged to stay thinking about J(esus) O(thers) Y(ou).

Thanks for stopping by to catch how we spread joy,

Shari

 

 

 

 

 



Where we spread joy and found joy this week...

This week was the first full week of my kids back in school. It is always bittersweet for me when they go back to school because I miss them being here but I know they are where they are suppose to be. I have yet to write my "About Me" section that tells you where the Go Spread Joy came from. It started when my husband and I felt led to send our kids to public school. We felt led to send them into the community where God had placed us to spread joy to those who might not know Jesus. How they have done that ten-fold and we are always amazed at how God continues to stretch us to do the same.

So as this blog develops I would like to share each week how we have gone and spread joy or how we have witnessed it being spread to us. So here is one of my favorite ones this week. Kathryn is our middle daughter and she started 5th grade this year. Fifth grade is a new school where our district combines all 5 elementary schools into one school. So the chances of you getting friends from your elementary is slim to none. We had hoped, we had prayed she would get someone she knew. Well God had a different plan. She got no one she knew well in her class or lunch period. She is a two friend kind of girl so this was going to be hard. She began to get to know two girls in her class and by the end of this week she already had a play date with each of these new friends. Most importantly, I was brave enough to take my "Go Spread Joy" motto to heart and call one of the girls mothers not even knowing her name. Now this little girl will attend the bible study I am going to lead for Kathryn and her friends and the mom will attend the prayer group I help lead for the schools. GOD IS SO GOOD and his timing is always right. This mom was so thankful I called and reached out. There is my Go Spread Joy moment for the week.

Here are a few of our moments from the past week and a half that I am thankful for:

Daddy and little man before the first day of school.

First day of school with the girls. Yes it was dark because they catch the bus at 6:45 am.

One of my favorite things to do spread joy to my kids with
special treats when they get home.

Emma today noticed that the trellis this clematis is growing on is from a
bench they sat on when they were toddlers.
I love how Mark is training this new vine to grow up,
just as God is training us to grow up in Him.

As Kathryn and I sat on the back porch last night we saw a Blue Moon.
Kathryn finds joy in creation...thanks God for this after a long week.

Thanks for stopping by to see how we are Spreading Joy,
Shari