God Takes Care of Our Needs

Matthew 6: ²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." 


I was reminded of this passage this morning. God has used this Truth over and over in my life. For example, when I moved to Seattle and was going to be working at Starbucks I was anxious about having enough money to live. God continued to bring me back to this passage and invited me to trust Him. 

The result? I had plenty during my time working at Starbucks and would have missed out BIG time if I would have doubted and not moved here.

The other day I went for a walk with my friends Jodie and Kristie. Kristie has three kids; her youngest is boy is just over two years old. She mentioned that she just took a bunch of his baby clothes to Goodwill. She said she often feels like she's smothering me and others if she offers the clothes, so she instead gave them away. 

Ahhh! Inside I thought, "No way! Bummer." I encouraged her that she can always give us baby clothes and never feel like she's smothering us.

That day, feelings of completely missing out kept overwhelming my mind. I was so disappointed to have missed out on receiving free clothes! But God kept inviting me to give it to Him and trust Him with Braydon's needs.

Those feelings were totally robbing me of joy and life. (Not only that, but some person was going to be blessed to buy them for a great price at Goodwill. I was also reminded of how often my selfishness leads me to self-pity rather than thinking of others.) 

Romans chapter 8:31-32 says,
31"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" 


I don't have to worry about it. God sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins, to pay the great price for our sins against God and I'm worried about missing out on free clothes for Braydon! 

Hmm. I love how practical God is and that He's involved in all the details. Often times I try to keep Him out of the details but it's in the details that I really need Him!

This came up again two days ago. My step-sister texted me about a daily deal for 50% off a sippy-cup leash; $11 plus shipping. I was planning on buying it and then forgot. Blast! I missed out again. I was feeling bummed but decided to browse Amazon to see if they had it; $5.99 plus shipping. Ha! God, you're funny. 

Thank you, Jesus, that in You we don't miss out. In You we have everything we need. In You we have hope, unconditional love and a Father who gives us everything we need. 

The passage at the beginning of this reminds us to not worry about what we're going to eat or wear, but that God knows we need that stuff. He reminds us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness and all those things will be added to us. I'm continuing to learn what that exactly means, but it sounds like a good deal to me!

Grief Over Baby Clothes

I am sad thinking about some favorite outfits that Braydon will never wear again. It's fun to think about the significance and memories clothes offer! I've been storing and organizing last week and was thinking about his newborn onesies that I just loved.

For instance, he had this green one with a little dinosaur on it and it said 'Lil Stomper'. So, we often referred to him as our Lil Stomper (and still sometimes do).

He had a cute monkey one from Sarah, a cute one with owls, one with doggies, a fun Christmas fleece one...sigh. I even remember the outfit we put on him when we took him home from the hospital!

Bryon bought him a green pilot hat while we were still in the hospital to wear since it was cold. It was so cute! We referred to him as a little pilot...but it doesn't fit anymore :( That was a sad day when we realized it was too small. (Yet, of course, there are great blessings with his "growing up". I've gotten more sleep and sanity, for one).

They are all just adorable and even more, he was adorable in them. And he was so small!

I've been walking through some grieving as he continues to grow out of clothes that I've grown attached to. And there's so many more years to come!! But, onward we go.

Summer Lessons

Since we work for CRU (new name for Campus Crusade for Christ), there's a good chance we will always be away from home for most of our summers.

This summer we were in Lake Tahoe, CA from June 1-July 14 and knew we wouldn't be back home until August 7 after other travels we needed to do, too. Telling the women in my Seattle mom's group about our plans, they were all baffled. "You're going where? For how long? With (at the time) 6 month old Braydon?"

I must admit, it's a bit out of the ordinary. If I had the choice, I would never do it.

I like our home. I like that we have 2 bedrooms-one for Bryon and I and one for Braydon. I like that we wouldn't have to figure out what to do with Rylee, our dog, or spend hundreds of dollars shipping her across the country to family members. I like my washer and dryer. I like our community and I like Seattle-especially in the summer. I like all my pots and pans. I like our changing table for Braydon. (I think we changed Braydon's diaper ten times on the ground in parking lots).

Yet, God has called us to work with CRU and this is part of our job. Not only that, we get to be a part of seeing God transform the lives of college students. To see God rescue them from lives of seeking their own glory and living lives leading to destruction, to living lives loving and knowing Jesus and being set free from all the things that don't satisfy. We get to help them see Jesus...to know and experience that life is found in Him.

When we arrived in Lake Tahoe, I learned that we had a one bedroom condo. Ugh. However, I learned that there was another family there with 4 kids living in a 2 bedroom condo. Hmm. I suppose our one bedroom with one baby is sufficient.

We made it work. Braydon slept in his pack n play in the closet...a make-shift second bedroom.

When we left Lake Tahoe, we stayed in a dinky hotel room in Ely, Nevada. Since Braydon's bedtime is 7:30pm mountain time, after he went to bed we were left with very few hang-out options. So we put on his noise maker, covered 1/2 of his pack n play with a blanket, wore head lamps around the room and watched a movie with no sound and subtitles. Success.

From there, we went to Grand Junction, CO and did the same thing as we did in Ely and then got a one bedroom hotel room in Breckenridge. It was awesome to watch tv and hang out with lights on and Braydon sleeping peacefully in the bedroom.

Currently, we're staying with friends in Bozeman, MT and our friend Charissa has graciously let us 3 stay in the master bedroom.

8 days and counting until we return home to Seattle.

Reflecting back on the summer, if we chose no to do it, we would have missed out. I wasn't excited to be gone all summer and have less than desirable sleeping arrangements....but you know, we made it work and God's grace has covered us. It hasn't been perfect. Braydon no longer sleeps through the night, but he only wakes once. I'll take it! We were able to build deeper friendships, be a part of God's sweet work and grow in our relationships with the Lord.

Summer lesson: it's ok. We'll figure it out. It's worth it to be stretched and out of our comfort zone and to make fun memories. God's helping to loosen me up and to believe that He will take care of us. I'm grateful, too, that God provided me a great husband who cares for Braydon and me and will do whatever it takes to take care of us.

Daddy Time

Daddy reading to Braydon from The Big Picture Story Bible.

A Sunny Saturday in Seattle

Saturday was GORGEOUS here! It was almost 70 degrees and sunny. So we, with our good friends Corey and pregnant Casara, went for a walk and got some frozen yogurt. It was delightful.

Braydon had a first on our walk, too. He finally got his thumb in his mouth! Up until then he was only able to suck on his fist with his thumb hiding underneath all his fingers. Bryon and I were so proud :)

San Diego

A week and a half ago our family flew down to San Diego for a new staff conference/retreat with Campus Crusade for Christ. I am technically the new staff and was pessimistic about my getting to even be able to be a part of the conference with taking care of Braydon.

However, it turned out great. Bryon and I were able to rotate taking care of Braydon and often he got to join in on the sessions. One time, one of the older staff men held him as he fell alseep on him for an hour! So, both Bryon and I were able to participate in an activity. It was great!

I think the highlight of the week was just surviving the process of flying down there and back and surviving the week away from home with Braydon being 4 months old! Phew.

The retreat was totally an unexpected ministry to my heart. We got to know 9 other new staff in our region and had some awesome sessions. We stayed at a condo right on the beach and just loved being in the sun! We don't have much of that in Seattle right now :)

Big B and Lil B

I took my little guy on a 'daddy date' this past Sunday. We went for a walk together in our neighborhood-a few blocks away to the beaver pond. We talked along the way until we came to this cool little wetland area with boardwalks, streams, and trails to explore together. We also were able to learn about the ducks, geese, and other animals that we saw there. Looking forward to more adventures together!

God Speaks

Saturday was a hard day.

Bryon went snowboarding with a bunch of UW students and Braydon and I hung at home. Braydon was up most of the night and I was sooooo exhausted.

In the morning, I had Braydon in bed with me nursing. In the midst of that he pooped and it shot up his back and through his clothes onto my hands. Awesome.

I walked over to the changing table to clean him up when he had a major spit up all over himself and all over me. Awesome again.

I had given him a bath the night before but figured the little guy needed another one.

Nonetheless, the morning got off to a great start.

Braydon Scott

He's here! Born Tuesday, December 14th at 4:18 am at a whopping 8 lbs 6 oz. We love him a lot. More to come soon, but thought I'd post a picture.

Our 2010 Christmas Tree