Suessibration at the Winston-Salem Children's Museum

A few weeks ago, Luke and I went on a Mommy Date to the Winston-Salem Children's Museum to celebrate Dr. Suess.  Luke was super excited to meet the Cat in the Hat but little did he know, he would have a ton of fun doing other things as well.  

Luke and I haven't been to a museum in several months and it was amazing how much more Luke was interested in EVERYTHING this time. Instead of me initiating what we played and built and explored, Luke led me around everywhere. By being a little older, he was more into pretending, building, creating, and interacting with other children. We had the most fun that we've ever had at a museum. 

Luke LOVES the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  When he was younger, I used to tell him this story at bedtime EVERY night.  So, when we visited the home of the 3 bears at the museum, Luke was in 3 year old heaven.  He tucked all the bears into their matching beds. He even crawled into the bed with them to give them hugs.  Then, he grabbed the Goldilocks and the Three Bears book and sat beside of me (with his tiny hand on my leg) and listened to me read the whole book two times.  He was so engaged - there were kids running around everywhere and Luke and I were both in our own little Mommy and Luke reading world. It was a mother's dream!  :)  During the second time that I read the book, Luke did the three different bear voices with me - it was adorable!  :) 

Here are some pictures of Luke at home with the 3 bears...

 And, a random picture of him riding the horse...

 After we left the home of the 3 bears, we went fishing. Luke pretended to cast his line and reel in the fish.  He was SO EXCITED when he "caught one."

 See that excitement? I love that face of pure fun!

In between exhibits, Luke had a BLAST climbing the huge beanstalk in the middle of the museum.  He climbed that thing SEVERAL times! He also climbed on the big twisty climber that the museum has.  He climbed and climbed and climbed.  I was tired watching him!

After story time, Luke had a chance to meet the Cat in the Hat and get his picture made.  While he was talking to the Cat and the Hat, he made sure to tell "him" that the "Cat in the Hat knew a lot about that."  (He got that phrase from the TV show.)

 More fishing....

 In one of the rooms, the museum had several Dr. Suess themed games.  One of the games was putting on a Cat and the Hat hat and playing freeze dance. He shook his hips with a lot of spirit.  :)  Check out the video....

 At one point, we went upstairs and played with all the props that go along with the letters of the alphabet. His favorite was the S prop - jump ropes to be used as snakes.  He wanted me and him to chase each other around the whole place with the snakes....so we did!

I love this picture of him as he looks at me wiggling my snake....

 More Cat and the Hat fun...

Playing in the T - for Turtle shell...

 There was a room with huge blocks and tubes. Luke had so much fun in this room. He quickly began building things.  He built a water fountain and then (with my help) built a fort.  Here he is sitting inside his fort BEFORE another little toddler knocked it down....his face was priceless as the fort tumbled.  He was NOT very excited!  I thought to myself - this is just a little taste of what is to come when his new brother/sister arrives.  Poor thing! :)

Luke also spent some time putting the scarves in the big tubes and watching them fly and he played in the large sand box for a long time. They had dump trucks and big buckets and shovels and there were several other little boys there too to help him dig.  :)

Our museum adventure was one of those days that goes in the book of highlights of a Mommy's world - it was simply perfect!  I can't wait until summer time - we will have a ton of these Mommy date opportunities! :)

Have a terrific Saturday everyone!  If you haven't read any previous blogs - you might want to keep reading - I posted some exciting news yesterday.

Toddy

New Life

I feel like I should share this....to help separate all the "egg and bunny" stuff from the true meaning of Easter, we explain to Luke that the reason we do fun things with egg hunts and see lots of bunnies is because Spring is here! We talk about how eggs are an example of the new life that spring brings to nature (flowers blooming, chickens hatching, etc.). Then we go on to REMIND Luke that Jesus' death and resurrection brought new life to us and that Easter is a time to celebrate this awesome expression of God's love for us. You see, Jesus is a part of our daily lives ALL YEAR so we celebrate Him daily, not just at Easter. So, will we die eggs and hunt for them? Yes, as a way to enjoy Spring and to enjoy friends and family. Tonight and all through the weekend, will we read the scriptures telling us about Jesus' death and resurrection? ABSOLUTELY - but, again, we read the Word daily! Are these fun spring activities and the resurrection of Jesus connected in anyway? Only one way - as we spend time with friends and family, we are sharing the love of Jesus with each other and appreciating God's beautiful creations. This is our thinking...as we continue to pray that The Lord lovingly guides and corrects us along the way if our thinking gets out of His will.  

And....keeping with my thoughts of new life...here's some exciting news....our little family is celebrating new life - the blessing of baby Bumgarner #2 due mid-October. We are so excited to grow from a family of 3 to a family of 4. Praying daily for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.

"Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began." Psalm 139:16

Mud, mud, mud!

Here's a video of Luke and William helping each other out of the mud!!!  They did this over and over and over!

Gotta love boys!

Have a great week!

Toddy

Luke's BIG Words

Happy gorgeous Saturday! While Luke is snoozing I thought I would type a few of the BIG words that Luke has said lately.  He has always had QUITE the vocabulary and the older he gets, he continues to amaze me at how he uses grown up words correctly in conversation.

Here are a few examples...

"Mommy, I am INTERESTED in what you are doing."

"Soku is PITIFUL when he's sick."

"This drink is EXPENSIVE."

I say to Luke, "Find the letters in your name" and Luke says, "I can't, it's too COMPLICATED."

"Digger is CONCENTRATING so much on his flipping that he doesn't see Biggs or Soku."

"I need to UNHOOK these strings."

"Let's make an OBSTACLE course, Mommy."

"Boomer and Rally were acting FOOLISH today."

Landis and I asked Luke a question at dinner one night and he looked at us and said, "Um...I don't know. That's a tough one."

"Daddy, that's TACKY. Mammaw says that when you throw all your toys in the floor, then that's tacky."

As Luke moved his truck characters around and talked with them, he told us that Rally told Biggs, "Just give me some PRIVACY to rest and then I will play."

Some other cute moments include: 

One morning we were dancing around the living room, and Luke said, "Mommy, let's do a spin move."  I said, "Show me a spin move." Luke did this break dancing donkey kick like move and then shook his hips - it was adorable!  

After turning in circles a ton of times, Luke tells me, "The house is moving." :) 

While playing with Luke's barn, Luke tells me, "Mommy, reach your hand in here and touch the wolf that is hiding." So I did and I jerked my hand back and said, "Ouch, the wolf bit me."  Luke then sticks his hand in the barn and says, "He won't bite me. If he does, I will knock his teeth out."  Oh me!  

He often sings to himself while playing. His favorite words to sing are from a contemporary Christian song that say, "Take this world and give me Jesus."  I LOVE it! 

I love to watch and listen to Luke use different voices as he pretends to be the trucks.  He is usually quite sweet to his truck friends.  He hugs them and kisses them often.  :)  (Matter of fact, one truck was broken just today and Papaw Dale fixed it for Luke. As soon as it was fixed, Luke gave it a kiss and hugged it.) 

This kid keeps us smiling EVERYDAY!  What a joy!  

Enjoy your weekend. 

Toddy 

Jesus - the Unshakeable Foundation

Like anyone else, I have times where I have mental struggles - I experience times when I get frustrated with life, I get impatient, I began to feel as if there is a distance between me and God.  Is this God pulling away from me? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  This is my flesh allowing the enemy to plant seeds of untruth in my mind. At times like these, I pray and ask God to help me and often times, I present myself before the Lord at church and allow Jesus to work through our pastor to help me - give me a message, heal me, whatever I need.  Well, all last week, I faced mental battles - distance from the Lord, a feeling of a lack of love in my heart and in my household - the enemy was attacking and he was not letting up. So, on Sunday, I asked Pete to pray with me. I knew that God knew what I needed - I needed a revelation of His love once again.  When Pete prayed with me, the Lord spoke this message - He told me that I haven't seen anything yet (when it comes to His goodness); however, in between point A and point B, I would be shaken.  The Lord reminded me to KNOW on whom my foundation is built.  To some people, this message may have frightened them or worried them.  Not me - I was thankful. I was thankful for several reasons - (1) I KNOW the Lord's promises will come to pass so if He says He is planning awesome things for me, I can't wait for that to come and (2) I KNOW that even when I am shaken, God is grooming me, growing me, sanctifying me, so that I can grow closer to Him and also so that I can share my experiences and help and encourage others.  And, that is where I am this morning...

I feel like I have a message on my heart and I ask the Lord to help me write this message according to His will so that it may accomplish His purpose...help me, Jesus...here it goes...

I took this message that I received from the Lord and I began researching verses in the Bible that taught me about the foundation in Jesus. There are SEVERAL verses that refer to Jesus as the rock or as the corner stone.  Here are a few:

Ephesians 2:19-20:  "So, then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Himself as the corner stone."

This verse clarified what I already knew - Jesus is the rock on which my foundation should be built.

I went on to find these verses:

Isaiah 28:16

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth will not make haste."

That is the King James Version (which I refer back to often). This verse is describing Jesus as our foundation and corner stone and reminds us that Jesus was a "tried stone" - which, to me, is a reminder that He went through trials and temptations and difficult times - he was tested and tempted by the enemy but he remained steadfast, stable, and unmovable - ALWAYS doing His Father's will - ALWAYS KNOWING His Father's will.

The last part of that verse says, "He that believeth will not make haste." I looked up the word "haste" and it means to not move easily.  Many Bible translations will write the word unshakeable.  So, if I build my foundation on Jesus, then I will be tempted and tried and experience difficult days and seasons but if I continue to trust in Jesus, I will not move from my strong foundation.  God will protect me - see me through my struggles and the end result will be for my good.

The next verse I studied was Matthew 7:24-28:

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock.  The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn't collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!"

All of these verses reminded me that Jesus is the only foundation that will stand when trouble comes my way and that Jesus is the only foundation that will get me from this life into eternal life with God, the glorious Father, but then I ask - How do I remain on the foundation of Jesus?  The Lord gave me the answer in Philippians 3:3.

Philippians 3:3 says this, "For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh."

You see, we build our foundation on Jesus through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God - we don't rely on the "flesh" to build our foundation.  To me this means that we don't rely on one preacher, one teacher, one devotional book to build our foundation - those are all things of the flesh. We MUST build our foundation of Jesus through a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus and an independent DILIGENCE to study and meditate on the Word of God.

In our society today, so many people go to church every Sunday and they take notes on what their pastor/preacher says and that is their "Word" for the week.  They take it for granted that the preacher is telling them the Truth - that the preacher is giving them a message from God.  But, I ask you, how do we know that the message is the Truth if we don't (1) access the Holy Spirit so He can search out the Truth and (2) KNOW the Word of God ourselves to make sure we bear witness to the message from God.

My heart is burdened by what I see happening in churches all over our country and I speak from experience - I have visited all types of churches - matter of fact, just this past weekend, I attended three different church services. And, I was so thankful for the power of the Holy Spirit at each one - He quickly reminded me of when I was hearing the Truth and when I was not.

Gang, I love all of you and God loves you. He loves you so much that He is warning me and you.  He is warning us that we can NOT rely on what someone else says ABOUT Jesus and the Word of God. When we do this, we are building our foundation on the sand - not the rock! That means me too - don't just read my blog and take it as Truth - go research it, question it, allow the Holy Spirit to search it for you and reveal the Truth to you.  God wants to see us build our foundation on Jesus through a PERSONAL relationship. To do this, we must....

(1) spend time with Jesus through the Holy Spirit - seek Jesus, love Jesus, worship Jesus - we must spend time in God's presence so that we can recognize His Spirit of Truth no matter where we are. A strong foundation is not just knowing ABOUT Jesus but KNOWING JESUS through a relationship with Him.  The relationship begins with accepting His salvation and then continues with the studying of His Word - learning how He lived, how He reacted, how He responded, how He instructed and how He loved!

Think of this analogy - have you ever heard someone talk about someone else and you knew that person's name but you didn't know much about them? Well, the other person could tell you all kinds of things about that person and you wouldn't know whether or not they were telling you the truth or not. However, if someone started talking about your best friend and they began telling you things about that person - you would be able to KNOW whether or not what they were saying about your friend was true or not and you could even correct their misconceptions if they had any. This is how we need to be with Jesus. We need to KNOW Him so well that we can recognize when the Truth is being told.

Gang, the Bible tells us that in the last days, the deception will increase - people will claim to know the Messiah and even claim to be the Messiah but, of course, they will not be.  Matthew 24:4 says, "Then Jesus replied to them, 'Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Messiah," and they will deceive many."

Because I love you - I pray that no one reading this is ever deceived.  I pray that you come to KNOW Jesus personally.

And, so, what is the 2nd step to developing this relationship?

(2) I've already mentioned this several times but I can't emphasize it enough - KNOW the Word of God - check everything you hear in church and from anyone else claiming to know the Word (including me) by referring back to the Bible - research the Bible - use different translations (check the translations with the King James Version or even go back to the Hebrew/Greek words), make sure you understand the Word - ask God for wisdom and revelation and He will provide it to you - God will teach you and guide you in His Word. As you get more and more of the Word inside of you, the Word will come to life. You will find yourself craving God's words - wanting to learn more and you will find God's words coming up in your mind and your heart when you are faced with daily life and struggles.  God protects His Word - He looks after His Word - get His Word in you and you will have confidence that what the Lord tells you through His Word WILL come to pass - all of it!!

We can't take bits and pieces of the Bible and believe what we want to believe. All of the Bible is TRUTH.  People may tell you that certain parts of the Bible aren't important and pertinent today - that's not the Truth. Even the Old Testament is important for us to read so that we can learn about God and His ways. And...the Old Testament is FULL of prophecy that is still to come!

READ, READ, READ the WORD OF GOD diligently - study it, research it, thrive on it and at the same time, spend time with our precious savior - get to know Him and His ways - that is how we build a foundation that will not be shaken!

Our country and the world is going to see difficult times like we have never seen before and I believe these times are not too far off. My heart is burdened that many people will not have a foundation that will withstand the deception and the fear of what may be to come. For me, I'm taking this message that the Lord has laid on my heart and will continue to apply it to my own life DAILY.  I pray that you will do the same. God loves you and He wants a relationship with you.  Draw near to Him.

I have a Bible Study coming up at my house next week. At this Bible study,  I will share the Gospel of Jesus. If you are interested in coming, please email me at bumgarnernatasha@gmail.com.

I love you, gang! Thanks for reading! May God bless you, keep you, and His face shine upon you.  

Toddy

Let me say this before I close - I've heard people say that they realize they need to know more about the Bible and they need to spend more time in prayer with Jesus but they claim not to have time. We have to begin to think - when will that "time" come or will "time" run out first?  We can't keep putting off for tomorrow what God wants us to do today!  Today is the day!  Love you!

Circus

Well, yes, finally, I'm posting some pictures of our family adventure to the circus. We had a really great time. Before the show began, we visited the elephants, lions, and tigers at the pre-show. Luke was amazed at how big the elephants were and thought it was so cool how they scooped up the hay with their trunks and put it in their mouths.  We stood next to the elephants and watched them eat for quite awhile.  :) 

Luke's next favorite part of the circus was the souvenir that we bought him before the show began.  It was a light up motorcycle that twirled and twirled.  He held this light and watched it turn for most of the circus.  Luke also enjoyed the popcorn and the cotton candy! 

Now...as far as the entertainment actually taking place in the arena - there were parts that Luke loved and there were parts that Luke didn't understand enough to care too much about. Landis and I, however, were amazed at everything!  Luke enjoyed watching the funny shows that the clowns did in between the larger performances.  Luke loved watching the elephants stand on each other's backs and walk around and Luke really liked the part of the show that had small and large poodles doing all kinds of tricks. Later, when we asked Luke what his favorite part was he said "the fire" - I said, "What caught on fire?" His response, "the clown's back - that was funny."  :) 

From the look on Luke's face, I know that he always liked the human cannonball and the trampoline act. I had to agree - both of those parts were pretty awesome.  

Overall, it was a great night of family fun.  Landis and I enjoyed hanging out with our little buddy. He always brings us so much joy.  

Because we were all intrigued by the show, I didn't take too many pictures. Here's a few that I got...

Daddy and Luke amazed! 

 Watching the elephants eat...

 Looking at the horses...

 There's his favorite toy! He is still playing with that thing.

 Pretty elephants...

This hat is what Luke's cotton candy came in....after eating the cotton candy, we had fun playing peek a boo with the hat during intermission.

 Silly man during intermission.

And, before I go....here are some pretty pictures of our old gal Madi. Now that we know that she has a cancerous tumor on her side (but we opted not to due surgery), we are treasuring everyday that we have with her. Miraculously, her tumor has NOT increased in size since we found it.  God cares about the small things in our life - including our dear pets. :) We sure do love this sweet girl!  

That's all for now....my Spirit has been stirred MANY times in the past two weeks to start a blog post about all the different ways God is growing me; however, each time I think I have a message, I find myself caught up in another lesson from my awesome God. I can't wait to see what message ends up coming out of all this - I'm sure it will be a message of LOVE that has a purpose of reaching someone, somewhere. Check back soon!  

Love you all, 

Toddy