Hey Pastor's Wife...

You've got it all together, right? No way! I'll tell you what, nothing could feel farther from the truth right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas...both beautiful reminders of my Savior and all He has given me. It's not the holidays that go wrong, it's me that goes wrong in the midst of the holidays.

I've been busy. We've got tons of stuff going on at church with no signs of slowing down, we've been traveling, I've been decorating, there are parties coming up, more traveling, friends are having babies, the house is a mess, oh yeah, and there are those two little people running around my house "re"-decorating and making a mess, needing to be fed, clothed, bathed, entertained, loved on, etc. Y'all, I'm overwhelmed! This doesn't come naturally to me.

I always assumed I would be a wife and a mom and as I have matured (and am still maturing) in my faith in Jesus and have learned more about God's plan for His creation, being a Godly wife and mom is what I've wanted to be more than anything else in life. But, like I said, the stuff in the job description doesn't come naturally. I'm not an organizer, not a cleaner, not a great multi-tasker, or money-handler, or meal-planner, I'm not super creative...the list could go on.

To the praise and glory of God, I'm getting better at some of these things, but it's still hard. And when I get busy, I seem to lose the things that matter most and just function. For example, my Bible intake has declined big time over the last few weeks. I've read books about God and how to better live for Him. I've attended church and been fed through the preaching of the Word. But, when I'm not spending time in the Bible and in prayer regularly, I loosen my hold on Jesus...and I feel it! I NEED HIM!

He is life for me and not only life everlasting. As my husband and pastor so committed to the Gospel and God's word, so lovingly reminded us this last Sunday, Our living Savior gives us life NOW, not just for eternity. As a follower of Christ, I have the power of the Living God at work in my life. When I dwell in Him, He will dwell in me and help me be the wife and mom I need and want to be for Him. He doesn't , "poof", make me perfect at all those things I listed before, but He gives me the strength to grow in them and thrive in spite of them. Praise God that I am not on my own!

I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:1-2)

So...today, first thing during nap time is the Bible! The bathrooms can wait, the floors can wait, the dishes can wait. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope (Psalm 130:5)!

More Videos

Since we're home, I thought I'd go ahead and add a few more videos. Hope everybody had safe travel and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

This first one is of Piper. I caught her really into Sesame Street one day and she was dancing and waving. I didn't catch the best of it, but at least you'll get to see a little bit of my cutie!!



This next one is Piper also...the other side of her personality, though! I was trying to capture her awesome bed-head after her nap one day. She obviously wasn't feeling up to being on camera!



The last video I have for you today is of both of my little ones. They were playing with some extra keys they found. I thought you might enjoy one of the peaceful moments between the bouts of sibling rivalry that tend to erupt sometimes when they play together! (Notice Charlie's attire - it's his favorite. And, nevermind the fact that Piper keeps putting the keys in her mouth!)

The Next Video Installment of The Cavni Kids

Here's a couple more videos for your viewing enjoyment! This first one is funny. It's of Piper running "laps" around our living room. She does this ALL THE TIME...especially at night time. It's like this is how she winds herself down for the day! And, this usually lasts a while! Hilarious!



This next one is of Charlie. I went to his room one day and this is what I found. It's just, well, it's Charlie! :)



More to come!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, everybody!

Giving videos a try

Okay, so I finally decided to take the time to figure out how to get videos from our relatively new Flick camera onto the computer. We've got some videos dating back from this summer so I thought I'd post a couple every day or two so that you all can catch up but I don't overload you with videos to watch! So anyway, here's a couple of videos of Charlie and Piper from late summer that I thought were cute. Enjoy!

This one is just me and my sweet little girl gabbing and playing. (Please disregard the mess in the background!)



Now a video of Charlie - Piper was with us too, but she was in the stroller. This one is from our trip to Dinosaur World on a "dollar day". (Otherwise it's crazy expensive to walk around on a sidewalk and look at a bunch of surely-less-than-accurate dinosaur statues!) Note: Charlie had just recently received an "accidental" buzz...thanks to his daddy!

Great Deal for Bloggers!!

Hey everybody! My cousin let me in on a great deal for bloggers: Snapfish is offering 50 free holiday cards if you'll make a post (such as this one) endorsing their holiday products. I don't mind doing this at all because I LOVE Snapfish. They offer great deals all the time and I love having a place to upload our photos and being able to share or print them and have them sent right to our home.
Snapfish has some super cute products for the holidays this year. I love their holiday card designs. They have so many collage designs and also some with cute holiday decor like poinsettias, Christmas trees, etc! We've got to get a picture taken so that I can start picking out our cards! We like to send cards so that, since we've moved, we can still show how we're doing and how our kids are growing to those friends and family we don't get to see much anymore. (And, 50 free cards is going to be a HUGE help!!)
You can check out Snapfish holiday products like:
Holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery
holiday invitations to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-invitations
Christmas ornaments to http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/pewter-ornament
So go see what they've got and get your holidays underway!!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010: http://bit.ly/sfly2010