Date with my artist!

 We were FINALLY able to escape for a couple hrs. and go on a little date.  The one-on-one time I get with my kiddos on these outings like these - priceless.  I've been wanting to take Mya to the Painted Plate (below) to paint pottery.  She is my little artist.  I know it must be the Sullivan in her, because the Arias' drawings = stick people and horses that looks like characters from The Chronicles of Narnia.  ;)  I love watching her work.  My normally bubbly, giggly, bouncy girl, becomes very focused as she quietly works on her masterpiece.  Art is no laughing matter to her.  She expects nothing less than perfection and I have had to wipe away many tears due to art projects gone wrong. Thankfully, there were no tears yesterday!

We left Mya's little monkey there to dry and will pick it up in a couple of weeks.  Can't wait to see the finished product!  :)

Spring!

 Spring...

                                                                  ~Mya and her friend Addison~

 Enjoying the warmer (notice I said warmER)  ;) weather!

 And so it begins...  :) 

 

 This past weekend my lil' sis and her man came to town!  :)  The kids loved having their auntie Sandy and tio Matt around!  Matt whipped up a delicious feast, enough to feed a small village, which I forced ;)  myself to consume.  It was a difficult job, but hey, someone had to do it.

!

 Sandy and I were able to squeeze in a little "sister-time" while they were here.  It wasn't long enough...  but I am very grateful for the our little excursion!  Love you Sandy!

 We arrived back at the house just in time for the feast!

                        Love these 2 and the little life growing inside my sister's belly SO much!! 
I am blessed...

Fieldtrip to the fire station

This fieldtrip came at the perfect time.  My mom and I were tossing around the idea of organizing a fieldtrip to a fire station so Slaeter could see the  fire trucks.  I really wanted to make it happen because my son adores cars and is fascinated by anything with a motor.  :)  I was so surprised and excited when my friend, Amy, called me up the NEXT day and invited me to join them as they toured one of San Antonio's fire stations!  The kids had fun, asked questions, answered questions... and learned what to do in case of a fire. 

Sizzlin'  ;)  I ended up being the "model" and wearing the 20lb hat.  I don't think the kids, especially my kids really got the point.  haaaaaa

Checking out the inside of the truck

They received a call while we were there.  The kids watched in awe as the fire truck pulled out of the garage, sirens blaring.  :)

My kids really enjoyed this... 

Our excellent tour guide Nick!  He has a couple of his own kids and was great with all the kiddos when teaching them about fire safety.

The trip was a success!  The kids had a blast!  Thank you Amy for the invite!

Matter of the heart.

As in water face reflects face, so a man's heart reveals the man. Prov. 27:19

                       Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Prov.4:23

"We need a new heart to know God.  Cause and effect, not the reverse.  It's not, know God to have a new heart.  No.  We need a new heart FIRST.  It's from God.  A gift.  God is life. "  Mark Driscoll

A new heart is a gift from God.  A gift of life.  I'm almost embarrassed to say that this is the first time in almost 30 yrs (almost embarrassed to say that too haaaaa) that I realized it is a GIFT.  Sure, I grew up hearing about "God's GIFT of eternal life..." and I knew it was a gift, but I don't think I really got it.  I think in the back of my type-A, first born, achievement oriented mind, I kept striving to know God better because I thought "if I do ABC, THEEEEEEN I will have more wisdom, a purer heart, desire God's will, a more joyful outlook on life".  Read more bible, read more books, listen to more sermons....all  good things.  Still, it grieves me to say, legalism.
Legalism = rearranging of the flesh  Never thought I would ever accuse myself of being legalistic?!  But I have been.  "Soft legalism" if you will, because it still had to do with me.  I.  I. I.  If only I do this or that, then I will be closer to Him and He will then give me wisdom...  Last night, it finally sunk in.  It doesn't how much I do!  God must first give me the gift of a new heart.  Then comes my desire to know Him!  Not the reverse!
I hope I'm making sense.  Now, I am not claiming to be a Tulip Calvanist (maybe a 2 or 3pt). ;)  However, I do believe that it is not about what man does, what I do to "love" Him, but what He has done to CAUSE me to love Him.  He first loved me...  He chose to give me a new heart, which I accepted and now which I must guard.  Why he chose to give me this "new heart" is beyond me and extremely humbling.  All I know is that because of this heart, I desire Him. 
I realized not having a proper understand that simple truth can rob me of my joy.  As I said before, I end up slowly drifting and slowly falling into legalism.  I cannot know Him deeper by merely doing righteous things.  He must reveal.  I am totally dependent on Him to claim me and incline my heart to His truths.  I'm sure I have heard this preached before, but I just didn't quite fully grasp that it is ALL a gift.  I don't know... I feel like I'm talking, or rather, writing ;) in circles.  Forgive me if I sound confusing.  My heart is full with thankfulness today because God chose me!  I'm thankful He called my name, chose to reveal Himself, and speak to my heart.
 I am reminded of the importance of praying as the Psalmist did, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Ps. 51:10  He alone can remove the scales from eyes and cause man to see his need for a new heart.  He alone is the giver.

However, the fact that God chooses us, does not let us off the hook.  God commands us to guard our hearts, "for it is the wellspring of life" for a reason!  We must not become calloused.


Amen!  Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!  Thank you Lord, for revealing my "soft legalism" and giving me a clearer understanding of your precious gift!

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Jn 7:38

Luck of the Irish

 It is said that the number 3 was a sacred and magical number to the Irish.  Here's to hoping that this latina's 3 little part-Irish babies bring her some of the "luck of the Irish" this year! ;)   

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Green toenails

Sullivan boy and his ball  go together like peanut butter and Jelly, can't have one without the other. 

The kiddos snacked on Rainbow Goldfish, Skittles, and Starburst flavored Jelly Beans as I told them the story of Maewyn Succat a.k.a St. Patrick.  3 different treats for 3 very different children.  I planned 3 activities.  Art, dress-up, and history lesson guess which was their favorite?  :)  We talked about Patrick and how he used the Shamrock to explain the Trinity. 

We had a wonderful day and hope you aren't green with envy! ;)

Say CHEESEball! It's a party!

 

Yes, another birthday party.  :)  I guess it's the latin in me?  ;)  Work hard, play hard is my motto.  As long as the school work gets done (Notice I did NOT say house work haaaaa), I am all for socializing and partying with our San Antonio peeps.  We've got lots of activities planned for this week - yay for spring break! Slaeter's 2nd cousin, Tucker, turned 6yrs old this weekend.   A birthday party, I'd say, is the perfect beginning to a fun week!   

Gotta love those bright red curly locks and adorable freckles!

Jen explaining the game, "Find Perry", to the kids. 

It's always a party when you are with the Conants.  :) 

 

And they're off...!

Audrey is the "more jungly one" (as the Sullivan boys would say) of our family.  She is pretty fearless and will climb anything her chubby little legs will allow.

Did someone say cake?  ;)

Grandpa Villa (Jen's dad) with Luke - I thought this was too sweet (no pun intended haaaaaa)!  

Mya is my social butterfly and if it's fun, you'll find her there, smack dab in the center.  I don't know where she gets it from? ;)

I can always count on Jen (one of the most crafty women I know), to give the traditional, same ol' same ol',  a creative twist.   This time it was the goody bag.  The kids enjoyed filling their own bag with treats of all sorts. 

Good times y'all

Bringing up Boy

So I have been reading Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson.  I need help!  Being the eldest of 4 girls, I am pretty confident I understand girls, women, emotions, and hormones. ;)   Having daughters felt natural and didn't scare me in the least.  Please don't misunderstand, I will be the last person on earth to brag about my parenting skills and have made many mistakes with my girls already (Lord help me!)  However, when it comes to girls I don't often wonder "Am I doing this right?" My son, well, that's a different story.  I find myself asking myself this question all the time!  "Am I guiding him well?  Disciplining as I should? Should I wrestle with him more?  If so, for how long?  Is it coddling to kiss his "owie" and let him cry over a small invisible cut? Or should I tell him "Awesome!  Be brave.  Brush it off."  Do I let him play dollhouse with his sisters and make them play cars with him?  How often should we wrestle?  Sigh...  I have no earthly idea.  I have no brothers.  I never had a lot of guy friends.  My guy cousins are quite a bit older than I.
What on earth am I doing?!

I always wanted brothers (I was so excited when I found out I was marrying into a family dominated by boys hahaaaaaaa  Little did I realize...  just kidding).  I always wanted sons.  I also didn't anticipate the circumstances...  I feel like the poor boy needs a brother!  Do I just keep having kids until he gets one?  My luck (excuse the sarcastic tone, but I dread the constant vomiting and nausea!)  I'll have a 7 more girls before we get another boy and then they'll be so far apart in years it won't matter!  I know, I sound like such a downer right now and probably stressing over nothing.  I just really wish Slaeter had a brother!  Especially when I hear of all the fun memories Nate shares with his brothers and cousins.

Slaeter loves to play dress-up with his sisters, so I bought him a Spiderman outfit.  :)  Now, when they play, he is the super-hero who rescues the damsels in distress.

Trying to cling to his manhood in the midst of the pink and tutus.

"According to Dr. Carol Gilligan, professor at Harvard University, there is another critical period earlier in life - one not shared by girls.  Very young boys bask in their mother's femininity and womanliness during infancy and toddler hood.  Fathers are important then, but mothers are primary.  At about three to five years of age, however, a load gradually pulls away from his mom and sisters in an effort to formulate a masculine identity.  It is a process known as 'disconnection and differentiation... It is typical for boys during those years, and even earlier to crave the attention and involvement of their dad and to try to emulate his behavior and mannerisms."  (Dobson)

I have REALLY seen this happening of late.  If we have boys over, he wants to be with the guys watching b-ball.  If there is a guy singing on the radio or cd, he doesn't want to the girls to sing and shouts "No!  My song!  Boy song! Boy song!"  He wants to be Superman, Batman, Spiderman and calls out to his princesses in his lowest deepest tone.
"Masculinity is an achievement...  The crucial years are from one and and half to 3 years old, but the optimal time is before age twelve. " (Dobson)


I am so grateful to have my dad around.

I admit, there are days I worry and stress about Slaeter not having his daddy around to wrestle and play cars with.  I know these thoughts are just from the Enemy.

I must not fear.  My dad used to always tell me, "Satan tries to bring down the father of the home, but he is just as aggressive towards the mother.  He knows how much influence she has over her husband, children, and the overall atmosphere of the home.  If he can bring her down..." and so he attacks through fear, worry, anxiety, insecurity, instability...  her emotions.  My emotions.   John 10:10 says, "like a thief", he is out "to steal, to kill, and to destroy".   A thief! He is cunning, very deceptive and wants to lure my children away, my heart away from the will of God, steal my peace.  John 10:11- 14“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
   ¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
What a comfort!  How deep is His love for us!  I have to remember, my love for my children is but a small fraction of the love He has for them. 

I love all my children.  They are so unique!  However, I have to say, I felt an intense connection to my son while he was still in the womb.  I can't even put it into words.  Maybe it's because I know God began to blow off the spiritual dust that had collected on my heart "clean house" and draw me back to my First Love.  I didn't even realize it at the time, but I see it now.  He has challenged me, brought me to my knees, and continues to work (OVERTIME hahaaaa) to bring me closer to Him.  Slaeter's middle name is Joshua which means Jehovah is generous. Jehovah saves.  Jehovah is salvation.  God rescues.  When I chose his middle name I didn't realize what a blessing, a walking (sometimes shouting) reminder of God's faithfulness Slaeter Joshua would be.  Praise God!


Here are few pics from a this past week.  Slaeter is so into Cars.  I know he is going to be ecstatic when he gets to see the new Cars movie!