Wives: Sweet Surrender

A couple weeks ago, Melissa posted about our Sunday School lessons on how to be a "Picture Perfect" family in the eyes of God. The lesson stems from Colossians 3:18 which reads:

"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord." - NLT
"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." - NRSV

When the topic first came up with the controversial "s" word, submit, some of the class was a little uncomfortable. For some people, the act of submitting represents be inferior, which is not the case. Christ himself submitted to God when he died for our sins. Jesus's act of submission gave us salvation. Jesus is not inferior to God, they are equal.

Below are a few of the highlights from the lesson:

• The wife who willingly submits to her husband's leadership glorifies God. It is completely a voluntary act and cannot be demanded. However, God doesn't mince words, it is expected.
• God simply wants you to respect your husband by submitting to his leadership.
• How you look at your husband will determine how you live with you husband.
• Every woman should as themselves one question before marrying: "Am I willing to submit to the spiritual leadership of this man?
• When the husband loves his wife, he's teaching his children how to handle people who are under them. when the wife respects the husband and follows his leadership, she's teaching the children how to be respectful and respond to people who are over them. You will never teach your children two more important lessons.
• The average wife doesn't understand how much influence she has over her husband. Guys don't like to admit this, but the wife can make them, or they can break them.

Wives are to Enable their husband's leadership.

I can honestly say that Melissa has put me in a position to make decisions and be the leader in our family since we were married. After Lillian was born, Melissa was even more amazing. She helped me to realize that I had to be the kind of husband and father that I would want Lillian to grow up to marry. I am the most influential person in Lillian's life of what a husband and father should be. Likewise, she will always look to Melissa to understand what a wife and mother should be. I can only pray that she can be as wonderful as Melissa.

Wives are to Encourage their Husband's leadership.

This goes hand in hand with the above. I can look back at some of the situations in our lives that I needed to make a decision that I might have been hesitant about, Melissa has been right by my side. She willingly puts herself in a position to fully support whatever I decide. We might not always see eye to eye, but she never never says, "I told you so" either. Its amazing though, the more I take the lead, the more I absolutely need her with me.

It is amazing how you can be living life and never even realize how amazing the people around you are. Melissa has put herself in a position to glorify God and has enabled and encouraged me in a way that allows me to better glorify Him. In doing so, we hopefully are teaching our daughter to live in a way that will glorify Him as well.

Thank you Melissa

Our After Nap Afternoon

WOW, three blog post in one day. But I couldn't help myself, the pictures I took of our afternoon adventures were just too cute. Lillian took a very late nap today and didn't wake-up until 5:00! I new that since she was waking-up late that she would probably go to bed late, so I thought it would be fun to play outside for awhile. After a quick snack of some yummy popcorn we headed outside to play. We ended up spending hours out there, and even decided to eat dinner on the back porch. Lillian loves being outside, like most kids do, and I had to bribe her with popsicle just to get her inside to take a bath!

Lillian noticed that Moxie didn't have any food in her bowl outside. When she saw the empty bowl she didn't say a word just went inside and opened the dog food and started scooping.

Moxie would starve without Lillian.

Lillian is very independent and will not let you do anything to help her. Here is a perfect example of her stubbornness.

Lunch With CeCe

I know it sounds silly, but one of my favorite parts of the stay @ home mommy world is having lunch with other moms and their kids. Usually lunch time is when the kids are their most quite and on their best behavior. They are so busy eating that it gives us moms a chance to have a conversation that isn't constantly being interrupted. Most of the time we will pack lunches and eat at the park or the zoo, but sometimes we brave restaurants. Monday, Lillian and I got out of Temple early for Passover so I went over to my friend Amy's house to play for a little bit and then go to lunch. Let me say, that we were pushing the envelope with the kids and their naps eating at 12:30 but they did great! Lillian LOVES CeCe and just wanted to hold her hand, try to feed her french fries and gave her a million kisses and hugs. She talked about her the whole way home, and later in the day brought me a diaper and wipes insisting that CeCe had pooped. I assured her that if she had her mommy would handle it. I have to say that seeing Lillian be so into babies gives me a little hope that having Baby Hays join our family this fall will not be too earth shattering for her. By the way Jackson's in Homewood is SO GOOD! If your ever in Soho and hungry go there!

Lillian actually took this picture. She kept saying, "CeCe cheese".

Shoes, Shoes and More Shoes

There is a very good possibility that Shaun is going to come home and take away my check card forever! Lillian and I went shopping today for sandals and some Keen water shoes- which were all approved purchases by Shaun himself- but then things got a little out of control. After Mommy and Me this morning we went to lunch with Alli and Eli, and our friend Elizabeth and her little girl Lila at Zoe's. Then I thought I would make a quick one stop shop at Sikes Shoes to get Lillian's sandals and Keen's. Well, I ended up buying two pairs of sandals and two bow hand-bands. They did not have the Keen shoes in the size or color I wanted so I headed over to Kicks in Patton Creek to check out what they had in stock. I drive all the way there, fighting nap time, and they had the color I wanted but not the size Lillian needed. However, Lillian did find a very cute pair of pink Mary Jane Crocs that she LOVED. I am serious, she had to wear them out of the store. So I guess we didn't walk away completely empty handed. Shaun was a little surprised we ended up with all that we did, but still gave the go ahead to come home and order Lillian's Keen's online. Who knew that a little girl would need so many pairs of shoes for summer....her Daddy sure didn't know that's for sure.

Big Sis PJ's

Shaun picked these PJ's up for Lillian last week. Sweet Shaun couldn't wait to show them to me when he got home. He is so excited about this sweet baby that will be joining our family in September. He tells Lillian everyday what a wonderful BIG sister she is going to be.





trying to play with her Play-Doh one last time before bed.

Stolen Pics...

Sorry Alli, but I had to steal these two pictures from your blog. Lillian loves Eli so much, even if sometimes it is a little too much. I am so thankful that they have each other to grow up with, I hope they realize one day how lucky they are to be so close. Seeing how close our children are also makes me extra thankful for the close relationship that I have with my sister Alli. It would stink if our kids loved each other and we hated one another.



even in our group picture Lillian has to be close to Eli.


Are those not some of the cutest kiddos you have ever seen?

Our Weekend

This weekend has been so much fun! Between the beautiful weather and getting to spend time together as a family for the first time in a long time, I do not think it could have been any better. Friday, we spent the morning playing and picnicking at the park with friends. Then on Saturday, Shaun, Lillian and I met Alli, Korey and Eli at the zoo. We got there at 10:30 am and the parking lot was already packed full! It was crowded but we had a great time, and Lillian loved riding the train and seeing the animals. Of course a huge perk to a fun crazy day at the zoo was the three hour nap that Lillian took that afternoon. Sunday Lillian had a hard time getting ready for church. She just wanted to play with her Daddy, which is totally understandable. We eventually got out the door and to church on time!

WARNING: MANY PICTURES TO FOLLOW....

miss Emma

Martina and Colton (he and Lillian had so much fun running around together)

@ the zoo Saturday

she loved those goats!

Shaun giving Lillian a quick lesson on her colors w/ side walk chalk.

this morning Lillian did not want to get ready for church. She just wanted to play with her Daddy under the covers/ her "tent".