Spring Break

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of life in the last month, but I believe Ashlyn has the camera with the pictures on it and she is not where I am...so, no pictures this week. Brian's Dad and Mom have come down from Washington every year for the past 12 years, I think, and take the kids for the week. Ash, Ky, and Ju LOVE this time with their Grandparents. They are all at Angel's Camp, I am at home and will work, and Brian is at work through Wednesday and then will join the rest of the bunch on Thursday. Melody is traveling lots this week and doing homework.

It feels wierd to all be in different places for the week.

Maybe the kids will post pictures about what they are doing . (HINT, HINT)

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Treasure, Joy, Heart's Delight...Living Bread

The inviting smells of homemade whole wheat bread baking in the oven, draws me into the kitchen, just waiting for the timer to beep. As fast as I can manage, without dropping the loaf, I cut into it and spread some butter on a slice, and sink my teeth into the hot bread tasting the rich nutty flavor...not many things in life compare to this for me.

I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread. Job 23:12

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When Your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear Your name O LORD God Almighty. Jer. 15:16

What am I treasuring this day? Do I truly cherish and hold dear His very life giving words to me more than the food I put in my body, more than my vanilla latte, homemade bread, mint-n-chip ice cream? What measures do I go through to get physical food to satisfy myself and others? What about spiritual food? What am I willing to do to ensure nourishment of my soul, so as to be filled with the Living Bread, so others might want to taste and see that He is good?

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life and the Word. He is my sustenance and nourishes my soul so that I am fulfilled and satisfied and refreshed and energized, yet He leaves me with an insatiable craving for more of Him. I yearn with earnestness to feast on this Living Bread...today...everyday. The Lord's words are my joy and heart's delight, just as they were for Job and Jeremiah, because I have experienced the power, peace, and healing they are. His words are not idle, they are my very life.

Just as the Lord provided manna for about 3 million people every day for 40 years, bread that contained all necessary nutrients, so the Lord provides us with Himself, the Bread of Life. We have access to Him every second of the day and He is everything we need! The Israelites were allowed to collect only enough food for the day. This created a deep dependence on the Lord to provide every single day as they wandered from place to place in the wilderness. If they gathered more than a day's supply, by the next morning it smelled and was full of maggots. Rotten. The Lord wanted them to have the freshest heavenly bread, no leftovers. This parallels beautifully how the Lord provides for us spiritually. His Word is present and fresh and is wanting to speak to His children. We are utterly dependent on Him to provide revelation and nourishment to our souls as we journey and sometimes feel like we are "wandering" in life.

So today as I work at Chick-fil-A, I have a hundreds of reminders between 11am & 2pm, to pray for each person to come to know this Living Bread or feast on Him, because sandwiched between the chicken is bread...a buttered bun.

St. Patrick's Fun and Misc.

Hannah and I

This is the famous Julianne Downs. Some may know me and some may not have a clue who I am. Being the youngest of the Downs' clan I have a different sense of writing. My mom is serious, Dad's is just plan out of the blue (with the worst pictures of us), and mine is just stating things that happened in the past month. Writing about things that have happened to me may just be confusing to you because I write it like you were right there with me, you know all about my life, and you could tell me what my favorite color is. So excuse me if you get lost after the first couple of sentences.

Okay let's start off with talking about school. I hang out with a lot of different people and we have a bunch of inside jokes. Laughing is all you will hear if you come at least 20 ft from us. Okay I am a little dramatic but I love to express things a lot. So, Hannah and I have hung out a bunch this year. She is sorta shy but so much fun to hang out with. On the other hand I am so out going. We have a lot of little arguments. (I mean every relationship has those) Our strengths compensate for each other's weaknesses. It's that type of friendship. Well for our school St. Patricks Day Dance (I know what you are probably thinking... Jr. high dances... with boys... and dancing... in Jr. High... WHAT?), well yes it is all those, well tie-died shirts green then stenciled a shamrock with glitter on the front and the back. We bought four plastic bead necklaces and some bows that we also sparkled. We were all ready for the styling part. Anyways, the dance was fun, but not the best.

Hannah and I have just decided to start badmition. Yes following in Ashlyn's foot prints. Well I told Hannah that we would do it but she had second thoughts. We aren't really the sport type so we decided not to try it. After watching my sis' game we knew that not much talent would be needed for this sport. So we decided that we would try it and just have fun with it. Our season starts at the end of April and I am really excited.

Well that's all for now. If you have any questions or just want to say hi then email me at artcrazy.1@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you, but say that you read the blog so that I don't think someone I don't know is stocking me.

For those texters our there: ttyl

For normal people: talk to you later

Julianne

Highs and More Highs and a Low for the Week

Our family regularly sits around the dinner table and shares what has been a high for the day and a low for the day. The rule is that you have to have a high (there is always something to be thankful for in a day), but you don't have to have a low.

So here are the things that have made my heart soar and given me a chuckle and smile this week:

**Ashlyn is an official Clovis North High badminton player. She was so cute this week, or was it last week, when she jumped in the car after school and said, "Mom, you are going to die, I am going to play badminton as a sport." I can't wait for her first game! I think it will be "great fun" to watch.

**Julianne sat in bed with me last night and we watched "Super Nanny", which is a show about children who need a little and at times a lot of love and discipline. She said, "Mom, you and Dad are the perfect parents...you discipline us, but aren't too strict and you let us have fun." Now, I am sure I don't have to break it to you...we are so far from perfect, but to hear my 13 year old daughter share that with me did give me warm fuzzies and thankful that we have a sweet relationship with her. Shall I remind her that she told me that when she doesn't like something I have asked her to do?

**Brian challenged me today! I love when he does that. Definitely a high! I am teaching in a little over a week on "covenant" and I bounced downstairs and shared with him how much I am learning and-- how in the world am I going to fit it all in 45 minutes. He wisely said, "Keep it simple. Give me one sentence on what you are trying to get across." He sharpens me...I think I have my sentence...is it ok to use three semi-colons in a sentence? I haven't told him the sentence yet.

**I loved hearing Kylen play with Legos in his room today and yesterday. Can you picture his hand filing through his Lego bin trying to find the right piece? I love his creative mind. It still blows me away that he will make an elaborate Lego masterpiece only to break it apart when he is satisfied that it is complete.

**Melody shopped for "Taco Tuesday on Thursday". What a blessing!

**I am thankful the Lord was so evident in how He orchestrated some time with a neighbor this week and witnessed her hunger for the Word.

I am trying to think of a low...the only thing that comes to mind is that Charlie, our outside cat, has a permanant kitty cold that has lasted three months. This week he sneezed on me more than once and yellow boogies sprayed.

It has been a great week...I have a lot more highs than I stated, but would love to hear some of your highs and lows...Will you share them with the Downs clan?

Winding Down

10 days at Disneyworld is quite a bit to take in. In fact our son awoke to discover the ill effects of several days of lack of sleep, walking half marathons, subjecting one's body to countless motion simulations, and a diet compliled with any food item with a sugar content greater than 50%.

It's 4PM and we're just getting to the park today - Happiest place on earth!

The entire Downs party. If you count them there is 16. But if you asked us, there was 17...? 15 needed tickets but we bought 16 non-refundable...?

Yvonne always felt safer holding on with one hand. Of course she couldn't hold on with two - one you have to wave at everyone with...

That's my bride... she's been craving a turkey leg all day. I just backed away after taking this picture.

Disneyworld fireworks. 15 mintues of eye wonder for 60 minutes of feeling like cattle trying to get out of the park...moo.