The Lord is Worthy of Praise

With the recent natural disaster tragedy that struck the communities of Central Arkansas and other parts of the south, many recent Facebook posts have questioned God. A friend of mine asked "Does God control the weather? or the devil?".  

First of all, there is nothing that the Devil can do without God allowing him to do it. Secondly, the Bible speaks of a God who is a jealous God and who is a disciplinarian. He also, obviously, puts forth the most amazing Grace and Mercy too. 

Homes destroyed by Tornado in Vilonia, AR on April 27, 2014 

We are born with a sin nature. This already makes us imperfect to God. We spend our lives surrounded in sin. This eternally and completely separates us from God. We are not worthy to be in his presence; We are not worthy of his time, or his compassion. Yet, he showed us the ultimate Love by sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins, so they he could pay the penalty for all of our sins and we could be made perfect in his eyes and be received and acceptable in his sight. 

As a Christian, how then can I say that I did not 'deserve' having a tornado hit me just as much as the next guy. We should all spray paint on our roofs "Thank You Jesus" for sparing us EVERYDAY! God indeed gives and takes away. Read the account of Job...all the terrible things that God allowed to befall on him and he says in Job 1:21...

Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 

How lucky we are that he shows us mercy and gives us anything! He brings us into the world...some for a short time, some for much longer. He knows us before we come, and he has a plan for us. We are blessed to have any good things come to us. I believe that God does control the weather. He is in control. He has a purpose and a plan and we have to trust Him. We might not understand the reasons for everything but we aren't suppose to. We are just suppose to trust Him. 

Another issue I wanted to address was the fact that many who start questioning God, start to bring religion into the issue. I want to make myself extremely clear. If you've spent any time in the Bible, you will see that Jesus is not a fan of religion either. Religions are man made sets of rules that try to establish spiritual well being. Give me a break! They are filled with disgusting additions to God's Word and have no place in the same sentence with God. Jesus came to call men out of religion and to become followers of Him. (Note: This does not mean that you should not be a part of a local assembly of called out believers i.e. Church. True Churches are not Religions)

The only way to know the Truth is through the original Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible. (see Iamkoine.org). If you must find a Bible at the bookstore, the best widely circulated translation is the New American Standard Bible. The ultimate way to understand is through an accurate translation of the Koine Greek. Find a pastor who knows and studies the Greek and it will help you tremendously rightly divide the Word of Truth. 

My heart breaks for Vilonia and Mayflower and other communities rebuilding after the storms last week. It's hard to understand and see the big picture when tragedies strike. We must remain strong and trusting in Jesus. He will pull you through. Praise him in hard times and in happy times. He is worthy of praise. 

We always be Royal

We've been going to Royals games since we moved to KC. We did go before we moved here too. I remember thinking how amazing the weather was at the first Royals game I attended. It was way back when Jason was interning in Garnett during a summer in college and my Dad drove me up so I could visit him. It was July, and there was a breeze, and we were outside and not sweating at a baseball game. Can I get an 'Amen' from any of my Arkansas friends?

Anyway, but we moved here when I was preggo in the fall and so I have not attended many games without kids. 

All Ready For the Game!

Attending a baseball game with small children is similar to trying to hold on to a fiesty trout you've just pulled out of an icy stream. It's very excited at first...calms down a little, but then it's rearing to go and you finally throw it back in. 2 and under can go about 3 innings. Food is involved. The more food you have, the longer they will sit, although that's not always true. Potty trainers will give you a workout. Be prepared to go at least twice an inning. Cotton candy is great but leads to tummy aches. My kids, however, depend on the fruit snack supply. If you can feed them one fruit snack every 2 innings (bribing), They might sit there for a bit. 

This past weekend my 2 year old and 6 year old made it to the 5th inning!!!!! Do you know how long I've waited to sit until the 5th inning? ....6 years

It took 2 fruit snacks each and $10 (for two bottles of water). On a related note....can you believe it's $5 for a bottle of water at a Royals game? I mean, seriously.

Sitting in the seats

#1 Fun Run Guy

We walked around for 4 more innings and stayed for the Fun Run. On Sunday afternoon games, they let kids down on the field to run the bases after the game. Sluggerrr's club gets to go first and of course we are members! 

The kids had a blast but it wore us all out. Sitting still with small children for 5 innings will do that to you.

With love,

Megan 

Working on Trying

How do you encourage your kids to try?

Fear is a very real thing. For my kids, it's intense. They are related to me and as a kid I was the exact same way. There is very few things I will jump into without considering all possible outcomes. As a kid, it was probably more intense because I had no experience to trust in. My kids are the same. 

So we are constantly encouraging trying. Try this, try that....food...activities...social interactions...you name it. Lately, we've had problems with Wyatt and his swimming and baseball. 

With swimming, it's a fear of drowning, but he can swim. Now he's afraid of deep water. With baseball, it's getting hurt. And I say, but he has a glove.

I'm truly looking forward to the day where something clicks with him and it won't matter if he's afraid because he loves it too much.

But the number one thing that helps with dealing with fear...

I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. (Psalms 34:4 NASB)

Happy Face Pancakes

I'll leave you with a picture from Pancake Night...no one is afraid of pancakes...unless you have a gluten, egg, or dairy allergy. 

With love,

Megan

Making Rice

Everyday in Kindergarten, Wyatt gets a new "book". They are mini books the teachers print off of www.readinga-z.com. Thursday (the last day before Easter Break), Wyatt got a book to bring home titled "Making Rice". The book goes over a little bit of the importance of rice to China and its people. Then it shares how to cook rice and how to cook Chicken Fried Rice. Wyatt and I thought we'd give it a try:

Chicken Fried Rice

Wyatt enjoying his Chicken Fried Rice creation!

Ingredients

• 5 green onions
• 1 large chicken breast (boneless)
• 4 cups of cooked, chilled rice
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1/4 teapsoon of pepper

Chop green onions. Cut chicken into small strips. In one small bowl, beat eggs with a fork. In other small bowl, measure out sauce ingredients and mix them together. 

Heat oil in frying pan. Stir-fry eggs until scrambled. Add green onions, chicken, and peas. Stir them over high heat, until chicken is cooked through. Add rice and sauce, and stir for 2 more minutes. Add pepper and salt if needed.

Here's our special variation:  I usually cook 2 cups of water per 1 cup of rice but the book said to cook 3 cups of water per 2 cups of rice. Whatever! But I wanted to follow the recipe because Wyatt was watching, so we got 6 cups of cooked rice (2 cups uncooked). The recipe only calls for 4 cups so I kind of doubled it. We used 6 green onions, 2 chicken breasts, 6 cups of rice (that

was most definitely warm and not chilled), 4 eggs, 1 cup of peas, and olive oil. We doubled the sauce recipe. It was delish! I've made chicken fried rice before but it wasn't that good...like restaurant good. But this recipe delivered...I think it was the sesame oil. I've never used that before....and it made it good!

After our meal, Wyatt added a few pages to his book about American Rice.

With Love,
Megan

Great Easter Gift

The Easter Bunny came last weekend and delivered his goodies to our children's Easter Baskets. He didn't go extremely crazy this year...or as my 6 year old put it, "he didn't bring a movie." However, he did bring non-chocolate goods. Each kid got a beach towel, tshirt, and book. Practical, that Easter Bunny is, for sure.

Wyatt (the 6 year old) had been eyeing the new Angry Bird books series (Have you seen this? Have you heard about this?). The Easter Bunny, obviously, researched these and decided it was a good thing to try out. He got the Angry Birds Playground: Atlas: A Global Geography Adventure (Angry Birds Playgrounds). (You can purchase here on Amazon).

The book is divided up into Continents. The birds bounce around the pages commenting on the cool facts that each page brings. Wyatt LOVES it. I even learned a thing or two. For instance, did you know that in the winter months Australia's biggest threat is cyclones? They are like hurricanes except they spin in the opposite direction. They also have mazes (Wyatt asked if he could write in the book) and comics to keep their attention. I think we'll try out some more in this series soon. 

With Love,
Megan

New Blog

Hi! This is 4 Wheelers & a Dog! (Disclaimers: We do not actually own a 4 Wheeler)
I've been wanting to blog for the longest time (Check out About Me for more on the "I" part). I think I always have, since I started "Tiger Times", my made up newspaper, when I was around 8. So here we go....and yes, I hope to have more than just me contributing. Look for guest bloggers, 1 Wheel and 3 Wheel. I doubt 4 Wheel can type yet.

With Love,
Megan