Giving them a choice? Nothing wrong with that!

I have been asked on several occasions when and where my children were baptized. To my surprise the response I get when I say that they are not, is one to get a persons nerves roweled up. "How do you raise your kids that way?", "How do you expect them to have a relationship with the Lord?", "Well don't you pray and go to church?", "That's wrong, they should be baptized!" 

(Disclaimer: Not all responses are negative, but 95% of the time people are a bit confused)

Since when does a child being baptized define their relationship or belief in the Lord?

 Today many churches sprinkle infants on the head and call it baptism. This is not the baptism of the bible! When the bible speaks of baptism, it tells us of adult men and women who make a deliberate choice. They want to obey the Lord Jesus and be baptized.  

Before Matt and I were married and had children, we made a commitment to each other to strengthen our bond with the Lord. With that, came the decision to include our children in our walk. What kind of parents would we be to practice such a life and not share all the wonderfulness the Lord brings to our life with our kids? We made the decision to have our kids dedicated rather than baptized for one simple reason-that reason being that our children's relationship with the Lord  is something sacred and should be for them to decide. In dedicating our children we promised to teach, acknowledge, and honor God in our children's lives. We cannot tell them who to believe in, how to practice that belief, or even whether it is right or wrong. Our job as parents is to guide and teach our children what we feel is right. And what is right in our mind may not be right in theirs (when they are old enough to decide that), and that is fine.  We want our children to make that decision when they feel they are ready. 

We want them to feel excited about their decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I understand what we believe is not the same for everyone.

I do believe that as long as our children grow up in home filled with love for Jesus Christ that the chances are they will follow down the path that was planned for them all along. 

A little change is good...right?

As some of you may know, I have decided to venture into "home based business"-hood. 

I will be a Thirty-One consultant. 

With this decision came another, to change the title of my blog from "I do a lot of things, none of which generate an income" to "2183 life...with a sprinkle of EVERYTHING". The numbers represent Matt and I. Our jersey numbers in high school sports were 21 and 83. And the sprinkles represent everything else, kinda like the icing on the cake. You can't have one without the other and I wouldn't be complete without my other half. 

I wanna say a special thank you to all my family and friends who have supported me in my adulthood journey. I've had some ups and downs, but I have truly found my calling. With a lot of faith, grace, prayer, and undying love...I have truly learned to enjoy the little things in life. 

I am excited for my adventure and the new year. The sky is the limit and I am reaching for the stars!

14 things I'm gonna change in 2014

With the new year rapidly approaching, I have started thinking about things that I would like to change in my personal and professional life. So I have compiled a list of 14 things I want to change about my life in 2014.

• Seeing the good. Since I made my last "resolutions", I have found I need to revisit the idea of "things ALWAYS could be worse". I feel that this outlook on life is working for me, but still a little bit of hurt sinks in every once in a while.  I need to keep an optimistic point of view and trust in God to just let the amazing happen. 
• My extra load (weight). I definitely don't need that! Just because I am married and have kids does not mean that I need to get lazy! I've made a few major changes and my progress is showing, but I need to stay focused. 
• Drama. I can always ditch the people who bring drama into my life. But someone always sneaks in an attack. While I understand that drama brings a little entertainment to some peoples lives. I realize I don't need nor want it in mine, it really is unnecessary. 
• No junk food! maybe less coffee and soda too...
• Clutter!!! I don't like or need it!
• Negativity.  I do not need people who are negative in my life, whatsoever. Negativity is infectious... It is way too easy to spread. It already takes a ton of effort to try and be optimistic! I definitely do not need someone hanging around me that makes that outlook even harder!
• Debt. We don't have much, but I don't want any!
• Over-committing. I have my hands dipped in too much. I need to start saying "NO!".
• More crafting. I guess everyone goes through changes... but I miss crafting. I just need to find the motivation and inspiration. 
• Speaking of inspiration. I need to purge my bookmarks. I HAVE TONS. 
• Procrastination. Let's just say that...I don't do it often, but when I do, my days seem to get all messed up lol
• Praying. I need to spend more time with God. I have the tendency of trying to do things on my time instead of relying on God's time. With lots of prayer and grace, I will soon be on the right track ;)
• Less time on social media!!! No explanation needed.
• Time with my husband. I love that man of mine dearly. I want to spend as much time with him as I quite possibly can.

We can all use a little makeover in our lives. What things would you like to change? How will you go about eliminating or adding them into your life? Remember you're never alone in your walk, you just gotta find the right people to walk with you :)