The Macs » Blog

My boys and I started out this July praying for rain every single day. Levi would pray asking God to send rain to “help daddy’s corn grow big and strong”. It has been really dry here the past two years and it was starting to look like this year was going to be the same. I am learning it is really hard for a farmer to work so hard to grow his crops only to watch them shrivel up and die because there wasn’t enough rain. A year ago today Joel was actually harvesting corn already because of the drought…that is really early!

But this year has been so different. Those prayers we started praying at the beginning of the month have been answered abundantly. You guys, it has been raining like crazy here!!! So un-Kansas like. In fact last night many areas around us were flooding. So crazy how things change in a year. We are praising God for His provision and for the “big and strong” corn that is in our fields.

I am slowly learning that a farmer’s wife never complains about rain. The first few days were great, but (don’t tell Joel!) I have to admit I am growing weary of all the mud my boys are getting into (I told you I was learning slowly!). They can’t stay out of it!! The funny thing is that these pictures were taken before the rain started. Levi had turned a sprinkler on just barely and it ran all night without us realizing it. The next day when they went out to the garden to dig potatoes with their daddy the boys discovered the mud puddle of their dreams.

(Warning: If you thought my last mud post was bad this is way worse. Stop reading now if you can’t handle mud! :))

Griffin was having so much fun until the mud weighed down his pants so much that he couldn’t find his feet. That really stressed him out.

But mama came to the rescue and removed his muddy clothes. He realized his life wasn’t over and the mud play quickly resumed.

And that was the muddiest mess I have ever cleaned up in my life. These boys were covered from head to toe. And by the end I was too. I wish I could show you the pictures of them being hosed off. So funny. 🙂 We hosed them off and I gave them two baths to get them clean. And miraculously their clothes came out pretty clean too. I usually make them wear their swimming suits when they play in the mud but sometimes things just happen that you can’t control!

This July has been all about rain and mud and lots of baths. And while it has been a little messy around here, we are so very thankful for it all!

Posted in: family
sharepinTweet
Leave a comment

  • Marianne G. - Priceless! Won’t these pictures be fun for them to look back or some day?!?!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Jennifer Tucker - Looks like so much fun! Love it.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Vicki - This just makes my heart smile!! I love the one of Griffin sticking the top of his head in it:). What a good mama you are not to worry about the clean up and to let them thoroughly enjoy it instead!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Alice H - Love this!! Messy boys are the best! You definitely got quite a few “framers” in these pics you took.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Jennifer - Wow! And I thought MY 2 boys had fun in the mud. This would be heaven for them!!!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Tressa - You are an amazing mom!! Your boys will look back someday and these will be some of there favorite memories! I have 2 boys and they weren’t allowed to play in the mud 🙁 I wished now, I would have let them, they aren’t too old yet, 13 and 10, so we have some time! Thank you for showing us that it is ok to be dirty and be ok with it! 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Brenda - What a great way to start my day!! This reminds me of my 3 little boys who are all grown up with kids of their own now. Enjoy every single second because before you know it they are raising their own. I love your blog and can’t wait to see what those cute little boys are up to next.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Kelly Z - Those pictures are priceless! As an obstacle course racer I’ve come to love crawling through mud!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Heather - What a wonderful mama that lets her little guys get covered head to toe!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Mindy - I agree ! Just curious though as to how many outfits have been ruined ? Do you have something special you do to remove the stains ?ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • chrissi - you two are such good parents. loving that you let the boys have fun and enjoy something so simple as mud. the photos are priceless and will offer you years of joy.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • mandy houle - you should totally frame some of these and hang them in their bathroom. 🙂 LOVE them.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Andrea - SO Cute…priceless moments!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Donna T. - Boys are made for mud!!!!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Kimberly - This sure made me smile 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Mary Ann - So darn cute!! Sometimes you just have to let your hair down and get down and dirty!! Love the pictures – I bet they will remember “mud” day for a long time to come.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Stefanie - These pictures make me smile!!! Love them!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Abby - I love that you let them get all messy and I am excited to let my little boy do the same! You are an AWESOME mommy!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Nicole W - Oh my, I love it! We have had TONS of rain here in Western North Carolina too and my boys have loved playing in our nearby creek which has been full of water and mud all summer (not to mention salamanders and crawdads). Such good times! I love that you get down and take all these pics. I really need to do that more often! There’s nothing more fun than mud!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Allison - Love these pictures, they were having so much fun! You guys will have to install an outdoor shower if the rain continues!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Kim - LOVE this!!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

It’s hard to know where to start on a lesson that begins with circumcision. Kind of an awkward subject to discuss on a blog, right?! While it was so good for me to look at this outward sign of belonging to God in the Old Testament and how similarly baptism is a sign of our spiritual circumcision of the heart in the New Testament, I think I’ll just leave it at that. This was a little new to me and definitely something I need to study a little further to deepen my understanding.

The big thing for me this week was what I learned about God and how I can be confident in His love for me.

I can so relate to Nancy’s description of how we doubt and define God’s love for us based on our circumstances:

“We’ve determined what God’s love should look like in our lives. And rather than allow him to define love, we have decided that we are the reliable judges of what true love should look like, and if God does not express love for us on those terms, we find it hard to believe he truly loves us” (p184).

Honestly, growing up I did not struggle with doubting God’s love for me. I’d heard about God’s love all my life and easily accepted it as truth. But my childhood was pretty great and my life was pretty easy. Even into my adult and married years, my life was unfolding just like I had planned. Except for the whole becoming a farmer’s wife thing but that was just a bump in the road, right?! 😉

And then Cora died.

All of a sudden my mind was filled with doubt of God’s love for me. I began to wonder if I really believed what I had always said I believed. Questions started lingering in my mind like:

If God loved me, he would have answered my prayers and healed my daughter.

If God loved me, I wouldn’t be going home to an empty house with empty arms left to decide what in the world I was going to do with my life now. Cora was my life.

If God loved me, he wouldn’t have left me to wade through grief and fight for my marriage to not fall apart when it felt like my whole life was falling apart right before my eyes.

If God loved me, he would give me another baby girl.

Tragedy hit my life and my eyes were opened to family and friends who were battling through some really hard things as well. I questioned this God who said he loves me. Is this really what love looks like? It was at this point in my life when I realized I had a very shallow and distorted view of God and his love for me. I was basing God’s character and his love for me on my circumstances and feelings. That was dangerous. If you think about how often our circumstances and feelings are changing, you can guess that this definition of God’s love that I had conjured up in my mind wasn’t working out so well for me. I felt lost and abandoned.

I am so thankful for the grace God gave me during those dark days despite my doubt and disbelief. I began to realize that I couldn’t depend on my feelings or circumstances that were changing all the time. I had to depend on the truth of God’s Word and allow God to define his love for me. I began clinging to Truth even when I wasn’t feeling it. Truth that was firm and secure. Truth that was an anchor for my soul even through the storms. And even now on those days when I’m just not “feeling” God’s love, I have to go back to Truth and what I know to be true about my God who loves me.

Looking at these chapters in Genesis and Abraham’s life I saw once again that:

I know God loves me because he’s marked me as belonging to him.

I know God loves me because he’s kept his promises to me.

I know God loves me because he sacrificed his son for me.

It is that last one that has come alive to me through this story of Abraham and Isaac. I too often take for granted what Christ did for me on the cross and detach myself from understanding the magnitude of what God did by sacrificing his son for me. His son. His only son. The son whom he loved. There is something about putting myself on that mountain and watching Isaac bind up his son and raise that knife, fully trusting in his God even though there was nothing that made sense about what he was about to do, that wrecks me. Can you even imagine? And then putting myself at the foot of the cross. Connecting what Abraham and Isaac were spared from to what God willingly gave up by sending his one and only precious Son to be scorned and beaten and nailed to a cross…to die for me, an undeserving sinner, so that I can have eternal life with him. That completely wrecks me. How can I ever doubt that he loves me?

“My friends, do you want to know how you can know that you are loved by God? It is not by looking at your circumstances. You must come to this mountain and look up at this cross. You must see that God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up” for you (Rom. 8:32). Only then can you say, ‘Now I know. Now I know that I am truly loved, because you have marked me as your own, you have kept your promises to me, you have sacrificed your only Son for me'”(p198).

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Now I know you love me.

Your turn: What was especially meaningful to you from this lesson?

Posted in: bible study , nancy guthrie
sharepinTweet
Leave a comment

  • Mary Ann - It is always so easy feel God’s love when things are good. It is when life gets challenging that the real test begins. I admire your strength even in those darkest hours and days. You have shown many of us how trusting God and living him can heal us….save us, really. Thank you for your wisdom and character, showing us with grace how to overcome a hard and most challenging test and heartache. Thanks for inspiring us to draw closer to God.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Sarah Damaska - You know, I’ve been thinking about the story and how God left no room for questioning that this was HIS plan and HIS love for Abraham. When I was reading Nancy’s teaching chapter, it occurred to me that Abraham and his family had no idea what circumcision was. They had no medical advice to go with it. For all they knew, they could’ve blown all chances of anyone in the family ever having children again. And yet, they obeyed. I find that astonishing.

    I’ve been struggling with stuff this week, so there are lots of big stars and underlines throughout the chapter– my favorite was on p. 192 “If Abraham ever wondered in the years to come whether God was truly committed to him, he need only look in the laughing eyes of his son and see that God was faithful in his promises. Abraham received the promises of God not because he and Sarah worked up enough faith on their own to believe God’s promises and hold on to them. It was grace given to them in spite of their doubt and disbelief . . . The good news of the gospel is that even though we fail in keeping our promises to God, he will keep his promises to us.” I needed those words . . . I still need those words.

    Thanks, Jess and Nancy. 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

So you all probably know by now that I love to throw parties…or maybe I should say I love to decorate for parties. The food part of parties I will gladly hand over any day. Cooking is not my gift. That just might be why this particular party was so great.

My brother-in-law got engaged a few months ago and he and his new fiance are back in the United States for the summer. (Levi always says…they live in China and China is VERY far away). I have been praying for the perfect girl for James for a long time. I was beginning to think it was hopeless (Sorry James, I was!)…then all of a sudden he started talking about his friend, Liz. I knew she was special just by the way he talked about her. And now they are engaged! Liz is so great and I am thrilled for them. What a blessing to have another sweet sister-in-law!

This was definitely a good reason to throw a party. Joel’s parents hosted, Joel’s sisters took care of all the food, and I got to just show up and decorate. It was awesome.

The engagement party was the weekend after July Fourth so we went with an Americana theme. It seemed fitting since they were back in the United States for the summer. So here is a peek into the night of the engagement party.

Aren’t they cute??

It was great night of celebrating a very special couple. Now we are counting down the days until the wedding!!

Invitation, food signs, chalkboard poster & sparkler favor tags all designed by Lauren of Lauren Haddox Designs. Thanks so much, Lauren!!

Posted in: celebrate , family
sharepinTweet
Leave a comment

  • Mallory - Congrats to them!

    I have a kind of weird question. You and Joel seem to have so many siblings a piece that I forget who is whose actual blood sibling. Could you do a family tree type of post or something or just write that out about the people you talk about on here? It’s okay if you don’t want to, I just thought it couldn’t hurt to ask.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    Mallory-I probably won’t write about it, but Joel has one brother and three sisters and I have one sister and two brothers. Joel’s siblings all have dark hair like him…they are pretty easy to recognize! 🙂

    [Reply]

    • Jess - Mallory-I probably won’t write about it, but Joel has one brother and three sisters and I have one sister and two brothers. Joel’s siblings all have dark hair like him…they are pretty easy to recognize! 🙂ReplyCancel

      [Reply]

  • Heidi - My kids had so much fun at the party and I am glad I had the chance to meet Liz that morning! She will be so blessed to be a part of your family!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    Heidi-I loved meeting your kids…so glad they could come. They were so sweet!

    [Reply]

    • Jess - Heidi-I loved meeting your kids…so glad they could come. They were so sweet!ReplyCancel

      [Reply]

  • Cara Levasseur - I love the drinks dispensers! Where are they from and what is in them??’!!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    Cara-The barrel looking ones are from Dillons (our local grocery store) and the other one is from TJMaxx. They were filled with water, cherry limeade (Pioneer Woman recipe) and iced coffee (Pioneer Woman recipe).

    [Reply]

    • Jess - Cara-The barrel looking ones are from Dillons (our local grocery store) and the other one is from TJMaxx. They were filled with water, cherry limeade (Pioneer Woman recipe) and iced coffee (Pioneer Woman recipe).ReplyCancel

      [Reply]

  • Amanda - I think need something big and important to happen in my life so you can throw ME a party 😉 You’re the best at it! Looks like such a fun night!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Amanda-Well…you can’t get engaged or married again. Thirty has passed and forty is a long ways off. So…maybe another baby?? 😉

    [Reply]

    • Jess - Amanda-Well…you can’t get engaged or married again. Thirty has passed and forty is a long ways off. So…maybe another baby?? 😉ReplyCancel

      [Reply]

  • Sue - Well done on pulling off another successful party! They are a gorgeous couple and I wish them a lifetime of happily ever afters!

    Sue XReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    Sue-Thank you! Yes, they are a perfect couple!

    [Reply]

  • Jennifer - Your home and backyard are so precious! Makes me want to just jump right into your life. Very inviting! 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    Jennifer-This was actually my in-law’s backyard…but thank you!!

    [Reply]

  • creole wisdom - You do such a good job with every party you post about, Jess! I love the way you decorate… it’s so chic and homespun at the same time 🙂 Congrats to them, I’m glad you never gave up praying! I think God’s timing is always perfect when it comes to marriage (or so I like to tell myself… ha!) I know what you mean about food (I don’t love that part either). I think my favorite detail is the American flags in mason jars… perfect!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

    Jess Reply:
    July 26th, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    Creole-Thanks so much! Yes, God’s timing is always the best. Keep waiting on Him!

    [Reply]

    • Jess - Creole-Thanks so much! Yes, God’s timing is always the best. Keep waiting on Him!ReplyCancel

      [Reply]

  • Jody - Love it, Jess! Now maybe since you don’t have to pray for James’ spouse anymore, you could pray for mine. 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. Genesis 15:1

I loved reading through God’s promises to Abraham and thinking through how God expanded and clarified those promises throughout his life. “We see in Abraham’s experience that God kept his promises. But they certainly didn’t come about in the timing or the way that Abraham and his offspring expected” (p159-160). Can you relate?

I identified with the person who Nancy describes as plucking a promise out of the Bible and claiming it with little thought to the context of that promise (p160). Have you done that? I know I have. She says,

“We become so focused on God’s fulfilling his promises in the here and now, in physical ways we can see and feel and enjoy in this life. In the process we diminish and discount the spiritual and eternal nature of God’s promises. Often the spiritual and eternal nature of God’s promises seem to us to be somehow less than, even a copout on God’s really delivering on his promises” (p171).

That’s me. Especially as I struggled through Cora’s cancer and death. I wanted God’s promises of healing and blessing to apply right then and there. And they did, but I was looking at God’s promises in a self-gratifying here and now sort-of way. His promises weren’t unfolding in my life as I expected. Instead, I didn’t feel like I saw any evidence of God’s power or His presence in my circumstances at all. And honestly, I felt a little let down and confused. I am learning that when I know God I can be confident that He will always act according to His character…even when I don’t understand. Our God always keeps His promises. We see that here in Abraham’s life and we can be confident of it in our own lives as well. This chapter was a good reminder to read God’s promises in the perspective of His bigger story, to not diminish the spiritual and eternal nature of these promises, to take hold of these promises now, to use these promises as an anchor for my soul in my current circumstances, and to wait expectantly for the day when Christ returns and all His promises made to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled for all eternity.

“God is in the process of bringing about fulfillment of all his promises. And he is so good to give us tastes and glimpses of what is to come. These tastes and glimpses are meant to nurture our longing for the day Abraham longed for, the day when faith becomes sight. This will be the answer to all of our deepest longings; this day will deliver our greatest joy. This will be the day when Christ comes again” (p167).

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

A day worth waiting for.

A day worth longing for.

Lord, thank you that we are made righteous and justified solely through putting our faith in Jesus and because of that I can stand firm on your promises. Nurture my longing for the day when Christ will return and all your promises will be fulfilled for all eternity.

Your turn: What was encouraging or challenging to you as you studied the life of Abraham and God’s promises to him?

This is an online study of The Promised One by Nancy Guthrie.

You can find all the study information here and here.

Past lessons can be found here: lesson one

lesson two

lesson three

lesson four

lesson five

Posted in: bible study , nancy guthrie
sharepinTweet
Leave a comment

  • EricaG - Abraham’s story offers many challenges. Next week will be a doozy! But aside from the issue of Isaac’s near sacrifice, I find the most challenging part to be God’s call for Abraham to leave his family and his home with very little instruction beyond that. God doesn’t give Abraham the long-range plan. His promises are seemingly vague. The plan rolls out step by step in God’s time, and Abraham (we!) must take it as it comes.

    In 2011, my husband and I felt God calling us to a new job 1000 miles from our home and everyone we knew. At the time we had two little boys and a brand new baby girl. We had been surrounded by family our whole lives, and we were nervous about starting a new life alone. (As an aside, modern technology allowed us to connect with family and friends through Facebook and Skype. Abraham’s good-byes would likely have been for life.) We trusted that God would provided everything we needed. Not just work, food, and shelter, but also community support, friendship, and a church family. How could we have doubted His care? He provided in amazing, even miraculous ways! BUT…here we are–not even two years later–and a job has been provided near our family again. This month, we made the move of 1000 miles AGAIN, and I am struggling with trusting God again. Sure, we have our family nearby, but we cannot afford our own home until our “new” house sells. Living with in-laws is challenging. We’ll have to find a new church and homeschool community, but these things do not come easily. I feel afraid, confused, and anything but “normal.”

    This week’s lesson challenges me to be trusting in uncertainty, to rejoice in God’s presence even when I don’t know what He is up to! I’m thinking, too, of last week’s point about significance. I realize that I find significance in my role as mother and homemaker. Now that we are not in our own home and all of our routines are disrupted, I feel frazzled and disconnected. These two weeks of study are pushing me to settle in Christ alone. So hard!!!!!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • EricaG - (I must add that my husband’s parents are AMAZING people. They are endlessly generous, supportive, and kind. I’m grateful that they–and my own parents–have taken us in, but the situation is challenging nonetheless.)ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Deb - I was encouraged to see how very patient God was with Abraham. It helped me to realize that God is patient with me too. That I don’t have to “have it all together”… He will be there to guide and help me.ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

Our Fourth of July in pictures…

a little late, but at least it is still July!  😉

We started the day at the fireworks stand. It was the boys first time buying fireworks. Levi was so excited as he picked up all the different fireworks thinking they were all candy. Big letdown when he found out you couldn’t eat them!

In the evening we hosted a Fourth of July party for Joel’s family. We had a gourmet hotdog bar just like we did at Griffin’s first birthday. Hotdogs are always a hit around here…I’m glad because hotdogs are easy.

There was lots of fun with cousins.

And even some brotherly love. It was a good day.

The older cousins were squirting the adults with water guns while we were eating. We made a “no water guns inside the boundaries of the tiki tourches” rule. The oldest cousin made a sign to make sure all the other cousins obeyed the rule. It was all his idea. So funny.

James and his fiance, Liz, got to join us for Fourth of July this year. Yay! This was our first time meeting Liz and she is just as great as James said she was. I am so excited to have a new sister-in-law. How did I get so lucky to have so many fun sisters-in-law?!

Levi isn’t a fan of loud noises. He was a little worried about the whole firework thing, so he played it safe and wore his “ear plugs”. 🙂

Uncle James always gets lots of attention when he is home!

We finished the evening with s’mores, a few more fireworks, jeep riding, and sparklers. And then we made it to the fireworks in town just as they were beginning.

I love July fourth. It is one of my favorites!

Posted in: family
sharepinTweet
Leave a comment

  • Amanda - It looks like it was so much fun! You are so blessed to be able to live around your family!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Michelle from Australia - Do I spy you making S’Mores with Reece’s pieces? YUM YUM YUM!! Our kids were introduced to S’Mores over a firepit at the Yosemite Ice rink last November. Master 6 STILL talks about that night. God Bless America! M xxReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • creole wisdom - How fun! Your sister-in-law to be is so pretty. Who wouldn’t want to marry into your fun and faithful family!? I have a feeling that the 4th in small town Kansas is super patriotic. 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Kristina - What a fun celebration! Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup s’mores are my favorite!ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

  • Kelly - Hi There! Love your blog!

    Just a question — did you and Joel make your chalkboard wall in your kitchen? I am absolutely LOVE it and would love to do something similar in mine, but just wanted to see how you did it!

    Thanks 🙂ReplyCancel

    [Reply]

« PREVIOUS NEXT »