Some Of The Fun Of Yesterday

Valentines Day!! 

Love it. 

Homemade valentines.  Paper plates.  Lots of love!
Every year I buy each kid a new coffee cup for hot chocolate.  It's fun collecting them throughout the year. 

Tacos for dinner with the same Valentine dessert that we've made for years.

The table.

Once dinner is ready we open a napkin over everyone's plates then all the kids come in and slip their valentines under the napkins.  What do you think about the paper sack covering the big valentine? 
Yep, we do it up fancy around here. 

I love all the sweet valentines.  And all so unique!  This year Josh drew comics for everyone for their valentine.  I think LittleMan made me about 12 valentines and Mally especially enjoyed her own stickers this year.

Meg bought Mally and LB a little mailbox with a flag months ago that she had been saving.   This was BIG for Mally and she was sure to let me know where she was going to keep it in case I needed to give her mail.  I also got a lesson on the proper use of the flag. 

The rest of the night was full of bionicles.  Our kids have been sick and the bionicles have gotten a lot of play time.  Not to mention the brand new one that CT and Lane bought for the boys to share. 

There are so many now that I can't keep them straight.  Plus there are new upgrades everytime you turn around.  Lego's smart.  My favorite is one that didn't have an official Lego Bionicle name so the boys named him Kevin. 

Then some playing around with the camera...

Happy Valentines Day!

Blessed Morning

Don't you love waking up to the special blessing of rain?
Water on the earth.
Life giving rain. 
Gentle thunder coupled with bird song.
(Have you noticed the birds are coming back?)

I read this this morning...
"You visit the earth and water it;  You greatly enrich it."  Psalm 65:9

Oh yes.  We are greatly enriched. 

"Shout for joy to God, all the earth.
Sing the glory of His name. 
Give to Him glorious praise!"  Ps 66:1

Close But Not Quite

We scheduled our first house showing!

Sunday at 2pm. 

We worked on it Saturday.  We worked on it Sunday morning.  And after church Sunday afternoon.
OOOOOhhhhhh, did my house look good ya'll. 

Honey and the kids and dogs headed to the park about 1:45 and left me with our eldest son to show the house. 

2pm gets close.  And I remember that I had my phone on vibrate during church and I better check it in case she cancelled. 

Sure enough.  Cancelled.  But there was another missed call.  And when I called back it was another lady wanting to look at it.  Yippee!  I called and asked if she could please come now because my house will never be this clean again.

While we were waiting I got another call!  WHA??  Double showing!! 

Both sets of ppl looked over everything more than once and stayed quite a while. 

About an hour later one of the ladies called back and wanted to come again.  Really?? 
So we cleaned up the mess we had already managed to make and the family and dogs left again. 

She brought a friend and asked if she could come back later in the week with a contractor to talk about a bathroom remodel.   Oh yes!  

Confession:  by this time I was reminded of how much I really really like my house.  Especially when it's all clean.  And I half way considered pointing out the smiley faces our son bleached into the carpet.  ......uh, maybe not. 

Later I got a call saying she was placing an offer in our mailbox.  WOW!!  How bizarre would that be to sell our house to the first person who looked?  Technically we had 2 first people I guess. 

But unfortunately it was a low offer.  We have it priced so that we don't have a lot of negotiating room.  And neither did she. 

Too bad. 

At least we got a super clean house out of the deal! 

Snow Day!

It's been such a warm winter we were resigned to the fact that it probably wouldn't happen this year.  But someone said it was coming and we hoped they were right.

So we snuggled in a blanket and watched The Grinch to add to the winter mood. 

And sure enough it came!

SNOW!! 

Beautiful wonderful no-school-today SNOW! 
Thank you Jesus. 

I was so excited.  I was up long before the kiddos.  Except for the one who stole into our room in the wee hours b/c he wasn't feeling well. 

So I got busy in the kitchen and started simmering all those yummy snow day type of foods.  Minus any sugar b/c my kids have been sick. 

Finally they started waking up and SURPRISE!!!  Happy day.  Love those happy faces when they first see the snow out the window.   LittleMan came stumbling out all sleepy and asked, "Did it snow Momma?" 

Cream of wheat with berries and hot cranberry tea.
Buddled up snow babies...

And ever so much of this...

Taking the neighbor's snow.

I know my Colorado peeps will scoff at this.  But hey, we gotta take what we can get when it comes to snow! 

Then back inside for chicken soup and cranberry tea.

Thankful to Him who gives all good things....

Thinking Out Loud

I don't feel like I'm using my time in the best ways.  I'm always busy but don't seem to accomplish much.  Always moving but not going anywhere.  Spinning my wheels. 

I've been asking the Lord how He would want me to spend my days.  In Isaiah God says the people laid many plans but they were not God's plans.  I don't want that to happen to me.  Yet, that's probably what has been going on lately. 

As I've been praying a few things come to mind....

~Be more intentional in my Bible time with the kids.  I don't want it to seem like just something else to check off the list.  Sadly...that's where it's been.  My favorite children's Bible is Egermeier's Story Bible.  My copy is completely worn out and I don't think my younger kids have ever heard it.  It's on my library list this week. 

~Dictation with our memory verse.  This is a terrific way for my kids to learn and they seem to like it.  Also a good way to teach spelling and vocabulary.   Another thing I haven't been doing. 

~Write to my grandmothers. 

~Show appreciation for the ppl that are investing in our lives every week.  Our TKD teacher, piano teacher, math tutor, the Rileys, Maggie.  A note, a plate of cookies, a loaf of bread....how hard is that? 

~Do the worst first.  That would be writing and listening to my readers.  I tend to gravitate toward those school subjects that I enjoy.  Writing is NOT one of them.  It gets pushed aside and I have this nagging guilty feeling that they'll never be able to write a sensible paragraph and it'll be all my fault. 

~Work with COW in the kitchen.  What happened that I think I need to do all the cooking all of a sudden? 

~Re-visit my Flylady zones and routines.  I have such freedom when I stick with this, why do I stray?  I certainly need a better morning routine and to train my kids in a few cleaning talents. 

~Exercise even when it's cold outside or I don't feel great.  Just something, anything, is better than nothing.

~Work on my baby's scrapbook.  He's 4 1/2 for crying out loud.  It's time. 
I also have a music project for Honey that is important to me.  (I might enlist the kids for this too.)

So there it is.  And I feel better even having some ideas in place!

You Gotta Try This!

Candy Apple Dip (adaptation from Whole New Mom)

I used to whip up a dip with peanut butter and whipped cream.  We think this is just as good but a lot healthier.  I made a double batch and it was all we could do to save some for Honey when he got home. 

1 Cup nut butter. 

1 Cup coconut milk (or any other milk)

1 tsp stevia

1 T. sucanat (or other sweetner)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whirl it all around in your blender til it's mixed and thick.  Super Simple.  Easy clean up.  Dip apples or carrots or just your fingers. Heck, just grab a spoon and go to town!

*A word about stevia - I've never liked it.  But I've used it to sweeten oatmeal and it was passable.  In trying to stick to a candida diet, I wanted to give it another try.  This is the 2nd thing I've tried and we loved both of them.  So if you don't like stevia, you might want to try it in this recipe and see what you think.  Next time I want to try leaving out the sucanat and increasing the stevia. 

My Goals Today

* Look people in the eye and smile when they are talking to me. 
I often don't take time to listen to my kids as I should.

*Put aside my distractions and give my full attention. 
My phone, computer, book, or whatever I happen to have in my hand needs to be set aside so I can pay attention. 

*Pray for all my family by name.

*Cast my cares upon Jesus. (1 Peter 5:7)

*Thank God for something that I don't usually think to thank Him for. 

~Awana night!  Tonight I get 4 new students.  My own!  I'm looking forward to my Awana friends getting to meet my kiddos. 

~Piano day!  Lane is driving Jes and having some algebra tutoring at the same time. 
That means I don't have to go anywhere until Awana this evening.  LOVE that.

So maybe I can get some school organizing done, house cleaning, and a music project for Honey underway. 

Today's meals...
Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch and Dinner - venison chili (thanks to our neighbor)
*bread baking and maybe I'll even get to play with the dehydrator I'm borrowing. 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen. "  Eph 3:20-21

On A Monday

I woke up this morning with NO plan for this week.  none.  No menu, no thoughts of school, not even sure if I had anywhere to be today.  How did this happen?   It's like I was surprised it was Monday. 

And I kinda am.  Because I'm pretty sure I'll wake up and it'll be Friday already. 

Life is speeding by and I'm holding on for dear life!   Anybody else feeling this way or do I just sound like an old lady? 

Yesterday was a day full of emotions.  Our last Sunday at our church and first Sunday in our new building since the fire of last summer.  OH my.  It was even prettier than I imagined.   I savored every minute of watching my guy and our girls on the stage and listening to Chris and Mark's excellent message.   Our sweet friends said goodbye and were very encouraging. 

And nowwwwww.....onto the new adventure!  Honey has been hired as Immanuel's youth pastor.  Meaning we have a new church family, new ministry, new opportunities, and more time to get to know those precious Awana babes I like to talk so much about.   And last night was our first night. 

We have no idea what we are doing.  We are full of ideas but moving carefully.  Scared and confused.  Praying and planning.  Talking and dreaming.  Humbled and excited!

Eager to get to know our new friends and thankful for the way God is moving in our lives. 

Awana Night Tonight!

Did you know it is fund raising week in the public schools?  Yup.  Cookie dough sales.  And I'm $42 poorer since several of my kiddos go to the same school.  Summit campers will have lots of cookies this summer! 

I had a new guy in 3rd grade tonight.  He came in just as we were getting ready to pray so I asked him if he had anything he'd like us to pray about.  He said he wanted to pray that his cousin's dad would come back. 
So I did.  And I asked God to help him to make a good decision to go back home to his family. 

When I was done, Corry said "No, he DIED." 

Oh. So what exactly was I supposed to pray about again?  I still haven't figured it out.

I had a guy that was causing a little trouble.  Nothing big.  Just picking at the other boys and making the night a bit harder.  So we had a talk about being a peace maker vs a trouble maker.  Joey immediately spoke up to talk about something called Moses The Peace Maker and something he learned about that.  Next Caleb raised his hand to add something about Moses The Peace Maker. 

So I said, "Wait.  What's Moses The Peace Maker?"  I figured it was some movie they saw. 

But no.  It was the Bible club lesson that a couple of the IBC folks go and teach to the kids at the apt where they live.  Joey went on to say how much fun they had and they even got to eat cupcakes. 

These guys are learning and I'm so thankful for the folks who invest in them. 

Caleb had a lot of work tonight in his book.  Some fill-in-the-blank work and looking up Scripture.  We looked up 2 Timothy 3:16 and talked about 4 reasons the Bible is profitable with the rest of the class. 
I looked over the work he had completed earlier and saw that one of the questions was "Who was the person that told you about Jesus?" And guess what?   It was ME!!

Joy unspeakable.  I'm so thankful to be there.

My Favorite Guy In The Whole World

On A Sunday....

Oh it's pretty outside.  And some of my guys are at the park shooting baskets. 

But not me cause I haven't blogged in almost a week and I thought I'd sit down at the big computer while nobody cared where I was. 

Except that now I hear a "Oh hi Momma".....and the conversation continues.  Love that little girl of mine. 

~Are you one of those moms that gets everything ready for church on Saturday night and lines up shoes by the door and cleans the house and does lunch prep and clips nails and rolls hair and all that?  I'm not.  But I wanna be. 

So last night I did some of those things.  And I felt so accomplished.  Part of it has to do with the 'for sale' sign in my yard and the thought that if someone wants to come look at the house it won't be so hard if it's kinda clean anyway.  As if. 

~My efforts paid off!  No, nobody called to see the house but we weren't looking for socks with keys in my hand this time.  And I was so proud of my little kids!  I have the 4 youngest on Sunday mornings while the older ones head to church early.  They were so cheerful and cooperative.  I put a pink clip in Mally's hair and as she pranced down the hall I hear LittleMan say...

"Oh Birdy!  You look beautiful!"  and "Jes, come look at Birdy's hair!" 
Awwwww.......

~J & J are playing basketball with our homeschool team.  First time ever.   We came in at the end of the season and there's only about 3 weeks left.  That means it doesn't interfere with TKD too much. 

~Next week we start babysitting a sweet baby girl on Thursdays.   My friend needs to finish out the school year and we need a baby fix.  Win win. 

~Date night tonight!  Pizzas for kiddos and ..... I don't know what I'm making for us.  There's nothing we have that I want to eat.  Probably b/c I've been a lazy cook lately.  Also b/c I'm out of ideas. 

The Flesh And The Spirit

This morning I read, "we regard no one according to the flesh".  2 Cor 5:16

I immediately thought of a little boy in my son's Awana class that has been totally out of control.  Extremely hard to deal with and requiring tag team attention.  I confess that my regard toward him has been according to the flesh...how he behaves, how he affects others, and how did he get this way. 

But how does Jesus see him?  As precious.  As a soul created and longing for love.  And let me tell you, this little guy is longing for love and attention. 

I was struck with the realization this morning that we have been entrusted with the message of reconciliation for this kid (and others).  

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. " 2 Cor 5:18-19

Entrusting to us (me, my family, you, the church) the mystery of the love of God that desires that none be lost but that all come to repentance.  And then......

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold the new has come."  v.17

God has placed him....and so many others....in our lives and given us the work to be faithful ambassadors for Christ with God making his appeal through us.

I am praying for this little guy this morning.  Praying that the Christians in his life will be faithful and patient and look beyond the flesh that is screaming for love.  Praying that God will meet his physical and spiritual needs.  Praying that the voice of Christ will quiet the other noises and that through a miracle that I won't understand the seed we scatter will fall on good soil. 

Psalm 1:2

"but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."  Ps 1:2

I'm praying that God's Word would be so precious to me that it overshadows every other thing that I can easily fix my mind on during the day. 

And the one that I am particularly loving right now is Isa 42:6

"Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:  "I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness .  I will take you by the hand and keep you." 

A Long Post To Read When You Don't Have Anything Better To Do

I love my blog.  Especially when I'm in the mood to ramble.  Like now.  Lucky blog reader you. 
Ordinarily I'd ramble to my man.  But lately I guess I've rambled too much b/c sometimes I find that I'm still talking and he's sleeping.  HA!  He's a lucky guy to be married to someone as interesting as me! 

~I took a nap today. Can you tell?
 
~I played with my kids outside yesterday.  Walked to the park, rode bikes in the street.  Meanwhile, Buzzy ate however many m&ms were left in the huge bag my mother-in-law brought.  Stupid dog. 

~And while I was pushing Little Man on the swing I was thinking about all the different parts of the body that must work together to make that possible.  Fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder....all of which I have had issues with in the past.  Not to mention muscular/skeletal functions that are all involved.   RA has really made me thankful for things I used to take for granted. 

~Sometimes I think my kids should already know stuff just b/c they live here and so I don't take the time I should to talk about it.  Or I think I've told a couple of kids and then somehow everybody else should know it too. 

~Do you have a Kindle?  I didn't think I would like one b/c I like the feel and smell of real books.  My girls got one for Christmas and I'm starting to re-think my position. 

~Just finished Kisses From Katie.  Oh love!!  Now I'm passing it to my girls.
~I also just finished 1 Kings and Matthew and on to 2 Kings and Philippians.

~Working on Chapter 1 of When Helping Hurts.  Heavy read and great book so far.  If you read this book, don't skip the  forward, preface, opening exercises, and introduction. 

~My stove is broken.  It's actually been broken for awhile but I was still able to use 2 burners.  We ordered a new glass top and they sent the wrong one.  Again.  But in changing it out we also discovered we have another problem with it.  And we feel like we need to fix it before we put our house on the market. 

~And that brings me to my next point....we're selling our house.  Someday when the stove is fixed.  We have no idea yet where we're going but feel like the Lord is wanting us to use our money in a better way.  Have you seen my house?  Do you want to buy it?  We'll fix the stove.  I promise. 

~I am overwhelmed with mess.  I hate flat surfaces where people I stack stuff b/c I'm too lazy to take it where it belongs.  Lord willing, I'm cleaning my room tomorrow.

~I lack confidence in so many areas.  I think that's why I don't sew or use the camera or do any other talented crafty thing. 

~I need a new schedule.  A schedule that focuses more on me and how I am running my house instead of just what I want everyone else to do. 

~But first I need to redefine my goals.  And right now all I can think of is how I've dropped the ball with some of my elderly neighbors.  Time to reconnect.  

My goal.... to preach and teach the good news of the Kingdom in word and deed.  Both have been lacking.
To glorify God with the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart.  My mouth has been mouthy and my meditation has been focused on what will happen when our house sells. 

But to that end, I've adopted another line from Mr. Chambers, "I know that my Father knows and I am going to watch and see how he unravels this thing."

And I think I am wasting my life!  At least if I keep going on this track. 

There is hope!
"I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you."  Isa 42:6

I am not forgotten.  Not left to my own ways.  I have a Lord who called me ME! in righteousness, no less!
And He will take my hand just like I take my little one's hands and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Hallelujah!!

The Special Book

A sweet friend of mine made me a pretty notebook with a book mark to match.

It's so much prettier than what I usually use for my journal or planner.  I wanted to think of something neat I could do with it that would not be disposable. 

I modified this idea from Pinterest and we call it The Special Book. 

I started by writing a love note on the first page to one of my kids and putting the notebook on their pillow. 

The rule is that they have to write a note to someone else and put it on their pillow.  And on it goes.  Over and over until it's full.

After several weeks I got the notebook back!! 

This Is My Heart's Desire

"There is a mighty work of grace in which the regenerated soul deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God's interest in other men."  -Oswald Chambers

Happy Birthday Meg!!

Yesterday we got to celebrate 20 years of Meg!

20 years of parenthood.

20 years of living outside ourselves. 

20 years of joy unspeakable. 

The morning started off with bread and gravy and a knock on the door.

G'ma and G'pa!!  Happy excitement!  And they brought a horseshoe crab from the ocean.  The boys went wild over that. 

Shopping at Savers.  Lunch at Cheddars.  Hanging out with the family.  Meatball sandwiches for supper and peanut butter cake with chocolate swirl ice cream. 

In His wisdom, God really blessed us by giving Meg to us first.  She is the perfect big sister.  The perfect first born that makes you think you're really a great parent.....until you realize that you just have a really great kid in spite of having you as a parent.  

I stand back and look at the beautiful young woman she is and her momma is so proud!

Happy Birthday Meggy! 

We love you! 

The Dirty Banana

Kitchen work yesterday and it was Josh and Jes's day.  The first thing they did was take off their shirts (surprise) and slap each other with them a few times.  Because that's fun if you're a boy with a brother your size. 

But then Mally comes to me all tearful holding her 1/2 banana.  She said she can't eat it anymore b/c she walked through the kitchen and the boys whacked it with their filthy shirt and now it's all dirty. 

I tried to tell her that their shirts were clean and the banana looks just fine.  Look, see? 
No, she did not see.  In her eyes the banana was dirty and ruined.   More tears.  

Fine.  I told the boys they had to eat the banana now.  And since boys are always wanting food I figured the problem was fixed. 

Nope.

They thought it was her fault for getting in the way of the shirt slapping fun.  And besides, the banana looked fine. 

I gave them the momma look that says, "Come on boys.  She's your baby sister." 

Josh said it was Jes's shirt that actually touched the banana so he ought to eat it.  Jes said he was full from so much breakfast. 

I told all three of them that we were not going to waste a perfectly good banana over something so silly and somebody was going to eat it.  At this point I'm figuring it'd probably be me. 

Josh had a solution.  Since it was Jes's shirt, Jes should eat the top part.....the part that was defiled.   And he would finish the rest.  That seemed reasonable to all. 

Banana gone.  Baby girl happy.

Kitchen work shirt slapping resumes.

Because I'll Probably Talk About This To Death..

Awana night tonight!  Good to see my classes after being off for 2 weeks.  It was sweet to hear about their Christmases and to see some of the little presents they brought. 

I found out tonight that one of our little girls did not get any presents for Christmas.  Like none.  And it's not b/c her family doesn't celebrate Christmas.  It's b/c there were no presents.  ......I don't even know what to say.


Did you know that only 4% of the ppl in the rural areas of Haiti have electricity?  And most live on less than $400/yr.   

Isn't it amazing how some ppl have so much and others have practically nothing?  And most of the ppl with abundance do very little to share with those who are needy.  Even though we're clearly told to give??  I'm ashamed to say that that's me.  I've been handed everything good in life, yet I rarely turn around to share it with others.   As Honey said, "We flood ourselves with excess and dabble in spiritual matters."  :-(

I love this quote from David Platt:  "I don't want to miss the treasures of Heaven by settling on the trinkets of earth."

Change is in the air.....hopefully in a big way.

Happy 2012!!

I don't have a list of noble resolutions like I have had every other year.  2011 taught me that God is so much bigger than my plans. 

I want to seek God and love others.  2 things.  And in order to love others, I have to seek God and ask Him just how to do that.  Because I'm not very thoughtful, caring, or kind on my own, I need the voice of the Holy Spirit prompting me to love the ones He brings to me.  I need God.  Period. 

So I tiptoe into 2012 with humble respect.  Not lofty plans. 
Hopeful, thankful, and ready.