Thoughts on Luke 18: Part Three

"People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:15-17

This is the third part of six I will be writing and posting. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts as well.

Do you have a childlike faith?  Can we have this type of trust in the Lord?  Christ calls you and I to have this type of faith!  Anyone who doesn't, Christ says, will never enter the kingdom of God.  Today this passage is more real to me than it has ever been.

Recently Landon took interest in my bible sitting on my nightstand.  Frankly, he is interested in anything on my nightstand, but is currently fascinated with books.  My first instinct was to snatch it from his hands and tell him no, but than I remembered this passage.  I stopped myself before I could react and instead said, "Landon, there is a story in here for you.  Let me show you."  I read aloud Luke 18:15-17 and told him that I desired to have childlike faith as he does.

When I arrive home from work, Landon runs down the hall to greet me by jumping into my arms.  He knows and trusts I will catch and pick him up.  This picture is a type of faith Christ wants us to have in Him.  Babies trust we will take care of them, nurture them, love them and wipe their bottoms.

Christ wants us to run, headlong, after Him.  Are you running headlong after Christ?

I love the first part of the passage as well.  Jesus wasn't afraid to make friends, even with the youngest.  The disciples thought maybe Jesus was to busy or didn't have time for the children, but Jesus rebuked them.  Jesus desires for us to be friends with people of all kinds; as the song now goes red, yellow, brown, black and white and age shouldn't be a factor.  Jesus wants us to love everyone of all kinds.

Christ followers:  put a smile on your face.  Say hello to a child.  Love your neighbor.  And run after Christ, jump into His arms and bask in His freedom.

God Bless.

Things God Has Been Teaching Me

I have been chewing on a few passages of scripture lately and I feel led to share what God is teaching me.  I pray that anyone who reads, take it as encouragement, because that is the intent.

In an society where using words like honor is fading, Exodus 20:12 tells us we should, "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

What does that mean to adult child? It means we honor our father and mother in their decisions, even if we disagree with them (not saying you have to agree, but acceptance is what I am talking about). Consider our lifespan, I potentially have 30 years left to spend with my parents. I don't have time to waste on being mad, angry, offended or whatever other selfish feeling you can think of towards my parents, there is just not enough time.

I can't imagine one day Landon or Logan choosing not to speak to me.  Could it happen, yes, I would be broken hearted to tears.  I can't repay my parents in such a way, I love them too much.

In keeping with this commandment, God is going to bless you.

Lamentations 3:38-41 says, "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven..." 

God is in control of everything.  Good or bad, God is on His throne and His ways are higher than we can fathom.

We have no right to complain.  I have been challenged to examine my ways and return to the Lord in many areas of my life.  When return to the Lord, there is blessing.  Are you missing out on blessing today?  We are encouraged to lift up our hearts and hands to God; what an amazing picture of submission to our Lord.

I heard in a sermon recently the pastor reference Genesis 16:9-10, "Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."  The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

God is talking to Hagar, Sarai's Egyptian maidservant, after she found out she was pregnant with Abram's son.  God is telling us to go back, submit and He will bless us.  It is so easy to run away, but God is directing us to go back, deal with it, forgive and forget, insert your cliche, but go back and submit.

God wants to bless you and I, we just need to listen to His words.  God will bless us if we follow and obey His instructions.  Didn't God bless Hagar?  Or course he did; it is believed that Ishmael is the father of the Arabs.

One final passage of scripture that God has shown me recently is, Matthew 7:12.  "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." 

God is going to bless us kindly.  The illustration my friend uses is as follows:  We ask God for a moldy strawberry and He says, "No, you don't want that, here take this fresh strawberry."  Would you give your child a moldy strawberry, by no means.  God wants the best for us.  He wants us to receive blessing and in order to receive it we have to look at verse 12:

"...do to others what you would have them do to you..."

We are called to love one another and treat others as we want to be treated.  I don't want to be treated with disrespect and neither do you.  How do we want to be treated in our mistakes?  We want to be let off the hook.  God wants the best for us; not mediocre. We should treat one another with love; unconditional love and even if it is not returned to us, love them anyway.

Jesus says, "...the greatest commandment in the Law [is] 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:36-38).

I pray that I continue to dive into God's word and glean from it what He'd have me learn. God Bless.

The Boys on Video

A Poem to Share

Dear Jesus,
Landon here again,
How's your day been?
All is well here.
Ready to pray for those dear.
Mommy she cooks great food,
And daddy is one cool dude.
Brother, Thanks especially for him,
Because he's now my bestfriend.
Thanks, Jesus, for my family,
They are the best for me.
Goodnight and amen,
I'll talk to you again.

Must See Pics

Here is one of Logan sleeping. This little boy still has his nights and days mixed...sorta, but when he sleep, he is out. He is getting really big and is already smiling (or maybe it is just gas). It is so sweet. Oh and Logan attended his first football game in Milano on Thursday night.

Here is a picture of Landon at the football game making friends with a young lady. I am not sure where he gets his charm from, but in the words of his mother, "This little girl loved Landon...and I'm pretty sure he loved her..."

It is such a blessing to be raising two little boys. They are awesome. Enjoy the pics!

Landon & Logan Recent Photos

Here are two of the latest photos of my boys. They were taken early this month with Kari's phone and I believe it has been way too long since I have shared photos.

Landon, on the left, is sitting on his toys with wheels while his mother is trying to tell him, "sit down!" He pretty much just looked at her and smiled.
Logan, on the right, is taking a little afternoon nap here. He is a good sleep, but he won't sleep in his bed. He is in his room in this picture, but on the guest bed not his own.

They are both growing like weeds and Kari and I feel so blessed to have these two precious boys. God Bless.

Landon Getting in Trouble...Sorta

Tales from Fatherhood

After much thought, I believe it is worthy of my blog to note two gross firsts that happened to me Labor Day Monday morning at about 5am.

For the first time about five, Logan vomited on me. Kari and I decided to try a little formula with him to see if he would sleep a little better. It seemed to have cause another effect: hence I was vomited on by my one month old. I am sure it won't be the last time.

Later that morning at about 8am, Landon awoke from his slumber. Thinking I could get a few more minutes to snooze, I prepared another Pedialyte bottle for him (we learned that milk products are not settling well on his tummy; uncertain if he is lactose intolerance yet). As I rocked him, we did both fall asleep till 10am, but in those two hours Landon urinated on me.

In less than 5 hours, I had been vomited on and urinated on! What a way to start the morning.

God Bless.

Mini Vacation

What turned into a day off here and there turned into a mini vacation. I am so blessed to have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. This will allow me a chance to re-charge my "getting old" batteries.

Sunday we will be attending my brothers couples shower in Red Rock. My brother Aaron and his wife Katie are having a little girl in about five weeks. I am so excited to be an Uncle on the Hellums side of my family. Just seeing some of the pictures Aaron and Katie recently took, just makes me so much more excited for my little brother becoming a father. I am certain he will make a great father.

Kari, the boys, and I will be spending time in Milano with her parents. Honestly, when I get to Milano I shut down. I go into complete vacation mode; I know that there is going to be sweet tea, rest, great food and since it is fall Friday night high school football. Logan has not attended his first high school football game, so we will be looking to put that notch on his belt.

A trip to College Station is scheduled to celebrate Kari's grandmother birthday, September 1st.

Today, Logan is one month old! It is amazing how fast he is growing. Landon and Logan are both a little sick, so please keep them in your prayers.

God Bless.

Proud Father

Landon Picture of the Day

Landon's Birthday Party

First, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to all the family who attended Landon's first birthday party. We are so thankful for each of you and were amazed by your love and support Sunday afternoon.

Landon's party went well. We had wonderful food and fellowship. It included home cooked briskets by Ronald, 30 pounds of sausage, potato salad, watermelon, banana pudding, cup cake decorating station and so much more.

Landon had his own personal star cake and he had a blast tearing it up and shoving it in his mouth. I am not sure if he ate anything else, but he ate a lot of the cake. Sadly, he was starting to get sick near the end of the day. We concluded the day at the swimming pool and dinner with immediate family.

Oh and about the fireworks...we watched them on July 3rd, not July 4th.

Current update: Landon has a double ear infection, again. Please pray that he overcomes this quickly. God Bless.

Happy 1st Birthday, Son

A Day with the Family

Wednesday was my day off and it sure was an amazing day off.

I can't remember the last time I had a nap, but yesterday I took a two hour nap. WOW! I didn't even realize I was that tired.

Later that evening, we weren't sure what to do about dinner. After much discussion, we decided to get out of the house. We headed to the Lakeway Chick-fil-A and enjoyed an interesting meal.

Landon ate like a champ. He is to the point now, we can stab a piece of food for him with a fork and he does the rest. After he was done eating he decided to gag himself. We are trying dissuade this action, but last night he was successful. As I was picking him up he lost his dinner all over my white shirt. I really could do nothing but laugh. I asked the Chick-fil-A guy for a new shirt. He stared into my eyes with confusion and than slowly made looked down at my vomit shirt. It was too funny.

I cleaned up and took Landon out to the playground. I was very impressed with the safety of the playground. Landon got into a few things on ground level and than found the slide. He started up the tunnel slide. Below is the video footage of his second attempt in the slide. He made it successfully three times and the third time he flew up the slide, I barely could keep up.

Today I went home for a few minutes, long enough to get in the door and allow Landon to walk across the living room to my arms for the first time. I can now officially say Landon is now walking. It has been an amazing eleven months watching him grow and learn. Enjoy the video. God Bless.

Landon's First Trip to the ER

On Sunday, May 16th, Kari and I took Landon to the Emergency Room. Before you have to read the whole article, Landon is fine.

Early Sunday morning Landon woke up about 1:30am and as I was rocking him back to sleep his body began to radiate with heat. I treated him with some Tylenol and put him back to sleep. Later that morning he continued to have fever of about 101 degrees. As the day progressed, Kari noticed a rash.

After attempting to contact our pediatrician, we took another pediatricians advice who said not to allow a fever and rash go unchecked. We headed out the door and went to Seton Southwest. Several hours passed and finally we were seen by a doctor.

The doctor diagnosed Strep throat and the rash was just an due to the fever. Landon got a shot and we headed home.

After further review of Landon's clothing, we have reason to believe the rash is due to his clothing being washed in Tide.

Update: Landon is doing much better. He slept with me on Monday night, but did much better last night. He was in a great mood this morning and hopefully he will be 100% by tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers.

Pictures from the Hellums Family Vacation: I

Watching Landon Grow Up

I am pretty sure every parent I talk to reminds me that your kids, "grow up fast." I can't say I wasn't told, but it is so true. Sometimes I try to imagine when he would just lay on the floor and look at whatever was directly above him or when he didn't mind if I changed his diaper.

Kids really do grow up fast.

Landon is quickly approaching 10 months and he is in to everything. We did not baby proof fast enough, as some of you know (see the broken vase). We are scrambling now to get some baby proofing done. Did you know that it is really hard to install those baby proof deals on cabinets?

The other day Landon smashed his fingers in his hamper. It is one of those that is wooden and two pieces of wood fold apart to make it stand up on. As he was holding one of the legs he knocked it over; as he held on, the other leg closed on his pinkie and ring finger. Kari said she had to pull really hard, hard enough she thought she would pull his fingers off and that his fingers were flattened. I had a chance to come home and hold him for a few moments, but the heartache is indescribable. Later Kari asked me what we could to do prevent him from getting hurt. My only suggestion was to move into a bubble.

Landon eats almost anything, although we haven't tried jalapenos or salsa yet (he has been since he was 3 months old).

He has two different smiles. One is a flat grin (which his Grammy loves) and the other is big, usually mouth open and two shiny dimples. Its pretty cool to hear people say, "he is always smiling." What a joy!

Landon loves to laugh. He laughs because he is ticklish all over (especially his back) and just because. He loves laughing at sounds and faces. Currently my ringtone when Kari calls is Landon laughing as hard as he can at his Mommy.

He is now starting to stand up on his own. Landon crawls and walks (with his train or rocketship) fast across the room. If his Mommy is on the other side of the house, she can call his name and he will plow through anything to get to her.

In the morning I go get him and he always attacks Mommy first thing in the morning. After he makes sure she is awake he will come back to me and normally we brush our teeth together. He gets into those cabinets that aren't baby proofed and pulls out whatever he can find. Most of the time making sure he puts it in his mouth.

Having children is amazing. I am so thankful to live and work at a place where I can see him so much more than I imagine anywhere else. They grow up fast; so if you are about to have a little one, I am now echoing those that told me:

"Enjoy it now, because they grow up fast and before you know it they will be asking for the car keys."

God Bless and have a great weekend.

The Hellums Family Vacation: I

(from Landon's perspective)

After Dad got off work, we loaded the rocketship and I got buckled into my seat (I hate my car seat). Mommy reminded Daddy to pray for our trip, so we prayed as a family than we took off for Galveston. We traveled for about four hours. Traffic was light and Mommy was set on having Shrimp & Stuff for dinner; closing time is 8pm. We arrived on the Island just in time to have dinner were Mommy wanted. The food looked good, but all I had was a cracker. We checked into our hotel on the seawall and I got to see the Gulf of Mexico for the first time.

Monday morning I woke up at about 7:30am. I slept seven hours straight, giving Mommy and Daddy some good sleep. We got out early to explore the Island. Mommy told us a story about my Pawpaw (her dad) trading a hog for seafood. We stumbled on the place Sampson and Son's and Mom exclaimed, "This is where Dad traded the hog!" We pulled in, near the pier and Mom insisted we take pictures in front of the store front. We talked to a man named Don, a nice guy, who took our picture with Galveston Bay and the shrimp boats behind us. Don told us about the 78 year old shrimp boat captain Sampson and Son's buys all their shrimp from; he was across the bay culling through his days catch. Don said, "Go over there and watch him. Tell 'em Don sent ya." We walked over to the pier and watch Mr. Jerome pitch sting rays, little fish and sharks back into the water or into a pelicans mouth. After taking a few pictures we went over to Shrimp & Stuff for lunch.

After lunch we went to the candy store, La Kings on the Strand. I tried my first root beer float and rode a mechanical boat and horse. Than I experienced another exciting first, I got to swim in a large bathtub (swimming pool). After getting cleaned up in our room we went to a new restaurant Miller's Seawall Grill (new to us). Daddy really enjoyed his food, but Mommy, not so much. During our visit to Miller's, Dad and I walked around the restaurant talking with the other patrons (I was getting sleepy). As I rode back to the hotel, outside my window was a full moon over the gulf. This sight made a beautiful picture to the end of our wonderful day.

Landon slept a straight eight hours waking up into day two about 5:30am. We took a little nap, but got up in time to watch the d
sunrise; another beautiful sight of Galveston. We ate some breakfast and than went back to the room for a nap. Aunt Ashley, cousins Daniel and Lydia came to visit (along with a new friend Katherine.). We ate skimp & stuff for lunch and than hit the stand. We went down to the candy store again and had some ice cream. On our way back to the car we signed up for a free cruise. More details to come on day three. Than went the beach with Ashley and kids. It was Landon's first time to dip his feet in the gulf of Mexico an play in the sand. After just a little bit of sun and sand we headed back to the room for a bath and a nap. For dinner we headed to Rain Forest Cafe.

Wednesday we went to a new place (well they are all new to me) called Bennos. Daddy really loves boudin and that was one of the menu items. We has to eat fast, but the food was great. Daddy says we will be going back to Bennos again soon. We ate fast because we went to a presentation. As I mentioned earlier we signed up for a free cruise, but first we had to go through a presentation. After the presentation we did receive a $40 American Express Card, 5 day cruise, and 3 nights stay at a resort. From what I understand, we will be playing another vacation sometime in the near future. Later that evening we had dinner with Blaine and Lauren at Landry's on the seawall. We enjoyed a good dinner and great conversation with my new friends. I did have a chance to put on a show while we were there. Daddy thought it would be funny if I tried a lemon. I didn't like it (of course) and made a bunch of funny faces and several people got a few laughs (not Mommy though).

Thursday morning Mommy and Daddy packed up while I napped. With one last trip to Shrimp & Stuff (I think Mommy and Daddy like Shrimp & Stuff), we enjoyed our last meal in Galveston. Before we left the Island, we made two more stops. One of them was at Murdoch's Bathhouse. I got my first souvenirs and Daddy picked up a history of the Island book (Hurricane Ike destroyed Murdoch's in 2008). For our last stop, Mommy and Daddy took me to Moody Gardens Aquarium for the first time. We looked at sharks, stingrays, but my favorite were the penguins. They swim right by the glass that I was leaning on and I think maybe one of them winked at me. When I got bored, I chased Mommy and the stroller. It was a fun and relaxing vacation. On our way home I got a little fussy, I mean I had already been in the car for two and a half hours, so Mommy and Daddy decided to stop in Columbus. My family, the Frei's (I mentioned earlier), said we could swing by for dinner. What we thought would just be dinner, turned into us staying the night. I had fun playing with Daniel and Lydia that evening and the next morning.

I hope you enjoyed my telling of The Hellums Family Vacation: I. Soon enough, our next vacation will include my little brother, Hellums Baby Boy Number Two. Have a great day.

Breaking Landon News

This evening I handed Landon his cell phone (from his Great Grandmother) and he stood up for about ten seconds all by himself.

Wow! He sure is growing up fast.

Have a great evening and thanks for tuning in.

Parking Lot Post

This afternoon Landon and I are hanging out in the car, in a parking lot. Actually, Landon is asleep and Kari ran into a store.

We just went to the doctor for Landon's nine month appointment. No shots, but there was a finger prick to take a blood sample. The prick wasn't so bad, but the squeezing the blood out part was painful. Landon cried pretty good for several minutes. About a week ago he was diagnosed with two ear infections; as of today they have not cleared up.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Here comes "Mom.". Off to the pharmacy.

God bless.