So, I am up late with nasty heartburn so I thought I would say "hello"! My heartburn is a little out of control! I had it with Max but it was nothing compared to this. This is like painful, curl up in a ball and cry heartburn. ICK! I plan on calling my doc tomorrow to ask if there is anything else I can do. I have been following all the "rules", doing the home remedies, and taking Tums.

Anyway, other than that life is good! My mom and sister are coming tomorrow or the next day so I am super excited about that. I LOVE it when they come to visit. And, not just because I have people to help me chase my son around! Although, that is a huge perk! Max loves his grandma and his "Emmie" so I know he will have a great time!

I guess I don't have much else to report! I am just trying to stay as cool and comfortable as possible! I hope everyone out there is doing well!

Walking as Jesus did

"3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[a] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:3-6

Thank you all so much for your responses! I got most of them through e-mail so I am going to just put all the responses here in kind of a list! Thank you all so much for your help and participation. Isn't it amazing the insight other people can have on a topic you already feel you have studied thorougly! I love that God uses our Christian brothers and sisters to teach us so much!

Ways we can walk like Jesus:

• give Jesus' unfailing grace to EVERYONE like he has given it to us
• Jesus spent time with sinners and believers
• Jesus was grateful, he thanked and praised God
• when he corrected someone, he used the word of God to prove his authority. he didn't typically accuse or blame, he taught & demonstrated
• he didn't JUST pray for some one, he helped them on a basic level, whether it was food or health or something else. he satisfied peoples basic needs in his ministry. he showed his love & then the people responded to his message
• Jesus spoke truth in love
• he had regular "quiet times"
• he asked for God's will to be done in all situations, even his death on the cross
• he fellowshipped with other believers and with non-believers, sharing meals, wine, and social things

Thank you all so much! A few of the responses were similar so I kind of combined!

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for all of the increadible women who responded to my little question. I thank you for their faith and ask that you would draw them closer to you. We love you so much Lord and we have such a strong to desire to walk like you did! Show us the areas where we are falling short and help us to change! Thank you for always desiring the best for us, Lord!

AMEN!

If you can't say something nice...

I know I am not perfect. I am not always the nicest person in the world. But, I really do try to be nice, positive, and encouraging when I talk to people.
Lately, I have encountered so much negativity that I cried this afternoon! It wasn't a big deal... Max and I were getting home after a wonderful morning with friends and my neighbor (who is always negative and nasty) comes onto MY driveway and says, "wow, you have so much junk in your garage you can't get your cars in". I know, it was rude, but not that big of a deal, but I am pregnant and it really hurt my feelings and made me angry! Yes, my garage is a mess right now... but it is because I have a huge pile of stuff I am sorting through because we are trying to donate everything we don't use or need to the Springfield Victory Mission or give to people we know who need things. Not that it is any of her business what I do in my garage anyway! It just kind of was the straw that broke the camel's back after having a lot negative comments from various people lately.
I just cannot wrap my mind around why people feel the need to be negative to people! If you can't say something nice you don't need to say anything at all!

No one mock my menu for this week! I am 8 months pregnant and it is hot outside... I am doing the best I can:-)

I am currently studying 1 John from the New Testament with my friend Christy. I learn so much when I slow down and take a part from the Bible piece by piece. Yesterday I was reading and came across these verses,
"3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love[a] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:3-6
I am working on memorizing these verses this week. But, as always when I am reading God's word I was felt like I was hit with a brick when I read, "whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." I claim to live in him. Does my walk look anything like Jesus'? I don't think so! I know we can't be perfect and our walk will never look exactly like Jesus', but that should be our goal. So, as I was taking notes I jotted a little thought, What does it mean to walk like Jesus did? I started making a little list of the things Jesus did and the way he acted.
So now, I have a favor to ask! I don't really know how many people read my blog! I have a few faithful commenters and I have several people tell me they read it from time to time. But, I would like to ask everyone who reads this post to help me with my list! You can either leave your thoughts in the comment section (annonymously if you want) or e-mail them to me and I will add them in later! KatieLRamsey@gmail.com.
I just started jotting down a few things like, speaking truth in love, praying for God's will and not my own, serving others, fellowshiping with other believers, studying God's word, not sinning...
I think sometimes I come across verses like this and I think, yeah, I should live like Jesus but I don't take the time and really think about how Jesus lived!
Thank you in advance for your help!

Sound Doctrine

During my quiet time this afternoon I came across this in 1 Timothy and it has totally had me thinking!
1 Timothy 6:3-4
"If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing..."

I think this scripture is so important to our lives as Christians today. We live in a society where everywhere you turn people are ready to give advice. We have mounds of information packed into our brains and it can be so easy to forget the source. I often find myself getting of giving advice that is not biblical and I am realizing how dangerous this can be. I never intentionally lead people astray but ocassionally someone will ask me for advice and I will look back and realize that even if it wasn't "bad" advice, it might not have been Godly advice and as someone who openly professes Christianity I need to make sure people know where my advice is coming from. I know when I was a very new Christian I assumed any advice I got from a Christian was biblical advice and I was very often led in the wrong direction. Many Christians have given me advice on marriage, parenting, handling money, etc. that I later found to not be in line with the word of God.

So, I guess I am realizing some very important things today during this quiet time!

• as Christians we must never give advice that is against God's word
• if we are giving advice on a subject God is silent on we must be straightforward about that and explain that we are only giving our opinion and that the person should pray about it for themselves... we can't lead our brothers and sisters into sin!
• we need to know God's word so that we can help others

Father God, help all of us Christians to be true to you. You are so gracious and loving to provide us with truth on so many aspects of our lives. You know how you want us to live and you give us the wonderful gift of fellowship to help us learn from other believers. Help us to never malign Your word under any circumstances. Help us to lay down our pride and not always feel the need to be an expert on every subject but to always turn to you, The Expert on everything! We love you Father! Help us to glorify you and to lift one another up. Help us to be especially careful when talking to people who do not yet know you or new believers that we will not lead them away from who you really are! Amen.

A shortish rambling

Wow, we have had a busy week! We have had something going on everyday! It makes the week really fly by! But, it can make it difficult to get much done! We do something fun in the morning and then by the time we get home and I put Max down for his nap I am exhausted and end up resting or taking a nap myself! Hopefully this weekend will be fairly restful. We don't have any big plans so that should be nice!

I think the biggest thing on our minds these days is that Sophie's arrival is about a month and a half away! I can't believe how fast being pregnant has gone by this time! Part of me is so ready for her to be here and another part of me is just savoring the one on one time with Max! I am definetly starting to get nervous about having two! But, I know that it will be wonderful at the same time!

I am very excited that Max and Sophie will be so close together in age. I always wanted that for my kids! Although, I have a feeling it will be a couple of years before I appreciate it! At least, that is what I hear from moms with kids about 2 years apart.

Let's see... what else has been going on in the Ramsey house? We have been doing a little "church shopping" lately. It has been difficult but really good for us at the same time. We love Northside so much and so many people there are just like family to us. But, with gas prices so high and time a precious commodity with small children we have been looking a little closer to home. It takes us about 40 minutes to get to Northside and we were finding ourselves avoiding serving and special activities because of the drive. We have spent quite a few Sundays at James River Assembly and we have really been enjoying that. Nick and I both never thought we would go there but have enjoyed the preaching and seeing God totally on the move through that church. Plus, Max loves his classes so that is a huge blessing to us. We are also hoping to try LifePoint in Ozark sometime soon. We are still attending Northside off and on as we have prior commitments to serve throughout the summer.

I guess that is about all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying summer! Can you beleive it is here already?

A Week Away

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile! Life has been kind of crazy! But, oh, so good!

Max and I are spending some time in St. Louis this week with my family. We got here today (Tuesday) and are staying until Friday. I was a little nervous about making the drive by myself but it went great. Max stayed awake the entire time but he was such a good boy and just ate his snacks and watched his videos. The portable DVD player was definetly a good purchase!

He is having a blast being at his Grandma and Grandpa's. He especially loves all of the animals to play with. His favorite is Grandpa's pigeons. Tonight Grandpa got them all out and let them fly around and Max thought it was pretty awesome. He has also had a great time playing with all of the new toys Grandma insisted on buying him as soon as we got here. He is a little spoiled... but I wouldn't have it any other way!

I think tomorrow we are headed to the zoo. I am very excited! The weather wasn't good enough to go last time we were here and I think Max is old enough to enjoy it this time. Then I think on Thursday we will probably go over to my Aunt Heidi's house and swim in her new pool. It will be Max's first swim of the summer! I am very excited! (Less excited to get into a bathing suit myself!) Then I think we will head home Friday so we can enjoy the weekend with Nick!

I hope everyone else is having a good week!