My Barometer

This is my oldest daughter, Lilian Faith. She is the spiritual barometer in our family. I recently have come to terms with the fact that our Heavenly Father is using this child to impact our family in ways that we never dreamed. She has insight. She dreams dreams that speak to me. She doesn't exactly know it yet, and I haven't figured out how to tell her, but her dreams are either direct spiritual parallels to what is happening in our home or they are indications to me of what needs to be happening in our home. Sound crazy? Ask me months ago and I would have said that it was, but not now. She is being used to create change. I knew that the moment I met her almost 5 years ago this August. She was sent to us to be an agent of change - to shed light onto things that are too dark and need light. Like me. Like all of us. It was prophesied before she was born that she would always "look to the Light" the way a lily flower does - pointing its face to the sun. She does that. She longs for the light and the truth and for the Son. She longs for it so much that her dreams give indication of something blocking it - something that is keeping her from warming herself in the Light of the Son. I praise the Almighty for this. It can seem overwhelming at times, the sensitivity that she has, but praise his Holy Name for it!!! I pray that she never loses this. May the One who gave her this gifting, show her and her family how to mold it and shape it and use it for the good of the Kingdom. Amen.

Keep my sweetie in your prayers. She is being led by Him more and more and I know the enemy is mad. It's AWESOME.

"The 11"

This is the meal that I made for us a few nights ago. Sean called it "The 11". I normally don't toot my own horn, nor do I photograph the things I cook, but I made an exception because Sean made me. So, here! Enjoy the purdy food pic.

I am thinking I may have to start taking pics of the creations I make. I so enjoy cooking and baking and enjoy photography just as much, so we'll see...could be a new hobby for me, no?

If you love good food and great food photography look at the blog I follow called smittenkitchen - it's fabulous.

Summer Update

We have done a lot of fun little things this summer. We haven't taken a big trip or had anything super duper amazing happen, but we've had lots of little fun times. I am not one of those people that needs a huge summer. I know lots of you take vacations (which I, too, will do someday) and lots of you visit faraway relatives. Some of you busy yourselves with lots of creative time and I do get to partake in some of that, but mostly this summer we have just been thanking our marvelous God for each other. All of our extra money right now is being used for renovations and so we just hang around our town and our house and grill and play and paint and watch sunsets...and realize what is truly important in life.

Here are some pics of some great moments we've had together.

This is Lily holding a Monarch butterfly at the Butterfly Festival we went to in KC with Auntie Cass, Maasen, Leah, Cassidy and Mamaw. (oh, and those are Monarch wings Lily is wearing...we just had to get into the spirit of things :)

These are my bathing beauties in our ghetto pool set-up in the backyard. We might not have a super awesome pool, but we have a crocodile fountain AND a castle slide! Ye-haw!

These surprise lilies just popped up in our backyard near our stone wall. I know they're super common, but every time I see them I think of my Grandma Violet calling them "naked ladies". I miss her still.

This little guy is living at the base of our tree. I mistakenly took this shot with auto focus on, so it zeroed in on the plant, but I just had to include our little guy in his happy little home. And it's so cute when Mirah goes out there and yells, "Oh Toooaaa! Oh Toooaaa!"

This last pic is actually from the 4th of July weekend, but it's so lovely that I just couldn't leave it out. I love that the girls' hair is totally wispy and free. The look just kind of sums up how our summer has been. No frills, but lots of beauty.

As far as our spiritual growth is concerned, we have much to learn still, but we are walking in Spirit and Truth. God is showing us new truths each day that we can take hold of and begin walking in. We are building a heritage for our children that is lasting, sure and godly. He is so faithful and is also very intense. I am finding that when you begin to ask Him to show you things in your life that need changing, that need a re-working from the inside out, He begins to blow through the walls of your home, your heart and your life in ways you never thought possible. He is a jealous God that wants nothing less than all of us. Trusting Him to clean out my cobwebs, to go into areas that no one has seen - so much liberation! So much love! I cannot believe I have lived this long without this much freedom. Wonderful thing is, there's more freedom to be had each day.

Like I said in our very first post, we don't have it all together. Hope this doesn't sound that way. We aren't claiming perfection. We are claiming Him to be perfect and are asking Him to use us for His glory. "He who began a good work...will be faithful to complete it...".

Thanks for perusing our summer and sharing our walk of faith. May He have all the glory and honor and praise.

His Will

I have attempted to post some hilarious videos of my kids doing hilarious things. For example, I have a video of Lily playing the Nintendo Wii at my grandparents house. She totally busted a move and won the hula hoop game. It was awesome! And my other video is Lily listening to music on my parent's computer. Mirah decides to dance and then high-five everyone for how awesome she is. LOVE it! So, be patient, these videos will come. I am having to figure out how to lessen the quality and size of the video so it will fit. My computer savvy husband would be helping me, but he has been up to his elbows in bathroom remodeling (at which, btw, he is totally amazing!). So, I'm on my own and I'm going to get them to you soon. Promise.

But all hilarity and super cuteness aside, things have been "going on" in our house. Things that are very important and very deep. God is blowing through this place like a Mighty Rushing Wind. He is showing us all some very deep corners of our lives and minds that were not handed over to his Holy Spirit at the time of salvation. This is working our faith out. If it were "one and done" then we'd all be set, wouldn't we? There would be no challenge. No "seek and ye shall find". No "knock and the door will be opened". We would have no need to seek or knock. I thank and praise the Most High for calling us out of darkness and into his Marvelous Light. He is the Author and Perfecter of our Faith and I want him to keep scouring us. I want him to take us through the refining fire - this is his will for my family.

I have much to share about it, but as far as details go, they just keep happening. They just keep pouring out. So, I will journal about this in my notebook and write it all out so that no little thing that the Lord has done or will do will go un-praised. I want Him to get all the glory. I will share details with you...another promise for another post. Right now, we are fresh and raw and are laid open on the operating table of God. This is no outpatient surgery. This is reconstruction. There will be a time for sharing...it's not time yet. Keep us in your prayers. He is about to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we ever dared to ask.

On second thought here is one detail...

I am PRAISING. Did you catch that? ME! Once choked by shame, I'm praising! Once held by pride, I'm praising! Once riddled with anxiety, I'm praising! Once shaking with fear, I'm praising! And you know what!? Things are changing. Not just a little housework or cobweb cleaning going on. We are talking full scale redemption here, folks. I want you to know that if it can happen for me, it can happen for you. I once was lost...but now I'm found.

Give Him the Glory!

More later. Much love to all.

The Running Over

This is when my cup runs full. Days like these, with all of us together makes my heart burst. To see my kids run into the arms of their loving relatives is more than enough to make me tear up. I am such a blessed Mom to have Godly relatives committed to maintaining a Godly atmosphere in which my kids can be nurtured, even when away from their hometown. What a huge blessing it is to have a spiritual family and a natural family that's intertwined.
Here are some pics from our 4th of July weekend. We had so much fun with Grandaddy, Grandma Signe, Mamaw, Papaw, Unkie Sam, Aunt Cassie, GiGi, Papaw Bill, Aunt Faith and William. We love you guys!

This is a pic of Grandma Signe with "her people" (as she likes to call her girls).

These folks are the infamous Unkie and Aunt Cass. Here, they are trying to steal their nieces (who look real sad, right? ha!)

Papaw with his new bike (lookin' good, Dad!) and Sam with his Sugar Scoot. May the best hog win.

For Good Measure

Well you can't start a blog and just keep people waiting for pictures. Plus, I have a really really nice camera that my super wonderful husband got for me for my 30th birthday. Ahem. I'm almost 31. It's time to share some pictures.

So, here are some from a few months ago. I know, I know. I'll get more recent ones, I assure you. But for now, these will have to do. My parents came to visit and we walked around the capital building here in good ol' Jefferson City. Aren't those girls just the bee's knees?

Thanks

A "thank you" needs to go out to two people. First, my sis-in-law, Cassie for urging me to start blogging again and pleading with me to see pics and read stories about her nieces. I needed to start this about a year ago, so thank you.
A second thank you to my Mom. She came up with the title...although she's not aware of that fact yet. She always says this to my daughters and I when she sees us. It's become something we count on and look forward to when we see her. We love to hear her say she loves us, "big as the sky."

We are the Cochrans. This is where you will find us. We will tell you what we're learning, how we're growing and hopefully you will learn and grow with us. We don't have it all together and we feel that "normal" is just a setting on the dryer. We love our God and His people and are committed to knowing both more deeply and serving both with gladness.

This is who we are. We have much more to say, but nap time is almost over.