Always Deployed

"There are undeployables in the spiritual domain, spiritually decrepit people who refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired."  -Oswald Chambers 

Whoa. 

Undeployable, spiritually decrepit?   Basically useless.  Oh Lord let that NOT be me!

His Scripture reading today was 2 Tim 4:2
"preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." 

I've always loved this verse but looking at it in light of Mr. Chamber's words almost makes me tremble.  How many times I've been lazy!  Brushing someone off when I didn't feel like getting involved or engaging.  Excusing myself for a million different things when there was no good excuse.  Wasting my life by spending it on myself instead of putting in the time and energy to invest in someone else.  Ohhhh........

But how can I be ready all the time? 
2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 

I love how God not only directs us in His ways, but equips us by his own breath.   His Word.  And do you know how many Bibles I own?  Plenty. 

I have no excuse. 

Back At It!

Our internet is working again!  We had some trouble with it this week so I was away from my computer for awhile.  Glad to be reconnected.  And to get to catch up!

I have so many pictures I want to post.  I think they are still in the editing stage so they are on hold for now.  My man is one busy guy. 

But in the meantime I'll blab about the goings on this week....

~I'm taking a friend to school for awhile until her family gets their car working again.  It blows me away to hear about her day on the way home.  So one day all the 7th grade teachers were gone and there were subs for the entire 7th grade....all classes.  She didn't have to do any work all day and just got to talk!  My question....why did she even have to go?  And did you know that they watch movies in public school (at least her jr high school)?  Alvin And The Chipmunks and The Incredible Hulk!!  Seriously. 

~Speaking of school, we had our first full week of school since the move.  We don't have a place for everyone to work together so I have 3 kids at the table.  2 at the coffee table. 1 in her room.  And one on the couch.  Meg's at UAFS and Lane is FINISHED!!

~YES!!  She is done!  12 loooong years of math completed!  Everything else too.  But math was the biggie.  So happy for her.   And what a privilege for me to get to teach her and love on her and be with her for so much of her life for 18 years.   I love being her mom. 

~Graduation plans are coming together.  This week I ordered a cake for 300 people and bought the paper goods and most of the punch supplies.  Tassel is here, diploma is done, cap and gown is ready.  Just a few more details for the upcoming week.  Somehow I think those few details will end up consuming the entire week!  But that's ok.  I'm so happy for her...my sweet girl.   We have friends coming from CO (aren't they so sweet?) and family from TX.  Can't wait!

~My neighbor kids are coming to Awana with us and I think they are enjoying it.  They seem to be sweet kids and are fitting in well in their classes from what I can gather.  And you know what?  Wednesday I got to pray with one of our youth to receive Christ!!  YES! 

And you know what is interesting?   With most of the kids that I've prayed with, I've just happened to be the person in the right place at the right time.  I'm like the guy that just goes around picking the fruit that everybody else has grown.  In most cases, I haven't been the one to invest in them, to teach them about Christ, or help them grow.  Someone else has planted, watered, fertilized, and loved.   And I kinda feel strange about that....like I'm taking someone else's joy.  But for whatever reason I've gotten to be the one to pray with them.  I'm thankful.

~I talked to my friend in Haiti this week.  I have a neat story to share....
He was driving to his mission from Port-Au-Prince, which is about 3 hours.  His friend that is with him asks him if they can stop to stretch their legs.  Jeff pulls over in some random place in front of someone's house.  All of a sudden the lady runs out of the house yelling, "Pastor Pastor I have to talk to you!  I need Jesus and I need you to pray for me b/c I'm addicted to cigarettes!  And I want you to start a church right here in my front yard!" 

Talk about surprised!  Jeff had never seen this lady before and still can't figure out how she even knew he was a pastor.  He talked to her and learned more.  She handed over her cigarettes.  And she prayed to receive Christ!!  Jeff called his associate and they have started a church in her yard that now has 24 members!  Is that cool or what? 

Also they have started an orphanage.  At this point they have 2 kids that were orphaned in the earth quake.  They were expecting 18 more this weekend.  They are sleeping in tents with no permanent structure but hoping to get something built soon.  So many things happened since we last talked!  I am cheering on the progress. 

He has a dentist coming in May and a group of 20 coming in July.  It was great to get an update.  I hope I get to go soon. 

~Lane is going on a mission trip in May.  Without me.  I know!! 
OKC working with an inner city mission.  It sounds right up her alley.  

~The land hunt continues.  The 2 places that everyone liked are sold.  One just closed yesterday.  Oh well.....today we found another one and I think it's better than both the ones we liked before.  Closer to town too.  That's a plus. 

~I'm guessing if you're still here you're at least ready for me to wrap this up.  My computer is too.  She's locked up on me twice now. (Honey, what's going on??)

But here's a couple of pictures of lately to end it all...

Mally with a friend.  Aren't they cute? 

Fishing buddies

A boy and his dog.

My sweeties.

A Great Day For Kindle Freebies

Here's what I got for Lucille today....

I think Farmer Boy will especially enjoy these first two..
The Everything Grow Your Own Vegetables
Weekend Homesteader: September

A math game for my sweets..
Math Blender

This looks good...
Practically Green: Your Guide To Eco-Friendly Decision Making

365 Days Of Thanking God
The Fitting Room: Putting On The Character of Christ

No Kindle?  No Problem.  Go Here to download a free app to read from your PC.

It's Finished!!

We closed on our house this morning!

No more moving.
No more packing.
No more repairs.
No more house showings.
No more going crazy cleaning before house showings. 
No more contracts.
No more offers.
No more inspections. 

Oh happy day!  Now it's time to just snuggle into this cozy rent house for a few months.  Ahhhh......

So many things happened during the move that I don't feel like we were able to give proper attention to.

5 kids celebrated birthdays
5 kids were baptized.
All kids were sick.

We did the best we could but I still wish we could've done more.  My sweet kids are understanding though.
And I think all are glad that

IT'S FINISHED!

Moving Part 2

I've only had one moving meltdown so far. 

Almost 2. 

Honey asked me if I were sad to leave.  No.  But I am sad to pack up the doll house and kitchen set into storage b/c by the time they come out, Mally and LittleMan might have outgrown them.  At that point, he saw the impending danger of a torrential flood of tears and suggested we make them a play area in the garage.  Meltdown averted.

We are close to being finished!  Honey has the day off and is making trips back and forth with the trailer. 

My father-in-law is here fixing some valve thing that the washer hooked up to that leaked all over the place. 

And we're having a garage sale on Friday and Saturday.  Do you need a swimming pool?  How bout a bunch of canning jars?  A shelf painted green?

There Goes The Neighborhood

And so it begins...

I got to meet a neighbor today.  He came over not to introduce himself, but to see what the emergency was and how he could help.

Me:  What?
Him:  I heard yelling and screaming in the back yard!  Is everyone ok?

Apparently he lives behind us and heard the boys playing on the swing from inside his house.

Well yes.  That would be us. 

I started explaining that all was well and we have a lot of sons.  It was happy boy noise.  There's a new swing set.  And I'm sorry.

I'm not sure he believed me.  He asked about the previous (quiet) neighbor.  I think he was lamenting his misfortune to learn that he had moved and rented the house to us. 

My eldest son figured it out. 
"His house must not be well insulated." 

Yeah.  That must be it.

Our older kids thought the whole thing was hilarious.  The little boys couldn't imagine what he was talking about.  They didn't think anything was unusual in the back yard....

except the super fun swing set!

Moving Part 1 ....Because there's probably going to be lots of parts.

Read:  Mess.

We have mess scattered at this house, at the other house, at the storage unit.  The front yard is full of junk and I'm figuring my neighbors are considering calling Hoarders. 

We still have a full two weeks to be completely out of here so I think we're doing well time wise.  We are pretty much moved in at the rent house and now cleaning up and trying to figure out where to put everything else. 

This morning I walked my new neighborhood.  It's ok.  There are no good hills though and since it's a younger neighborhood with young families there were a lot of people going to work this morning.   Its a good street with plenty of space and nice to walk so I can't complain. 

Someone asked me if I'm sad to leave my house.  NOT at all.  It's just a house.  A nice house.  But still just a house.  I will miss some of my elderly neighbors though so I'll be coming back to check on them. 

Remember how when we first moved in here everyone was so crabby to us?  I laugh at that now.  They are sweet folks.   Most of them.  I'm thinking our next door neighbors will throw a party when we're outa here.  It looks like they may have been instrumental in our selling our house since they know our buyer.  Hilarious. 

So today we're cleaning.  And packing.  And moving more junk.
I'm hoping to take some pictures soon.

Meet Lucille

WOWZA!!

BIG surprise in the mail! 

 My grandmother sent me her Kindle!!!  Because she got an iPad.  Grandmothers getting iPads...is she cool or what?

And I love it.  Like really LOVE it.  I named it Lucille.  After her. 

It has a beautiful zipper case..because my grandmother has excellent taste. 

My first book:  There Is No Me Without You. 

It is an Ethiopian book.  (Be still my heart.)  And so far it's great.  Guess how much it cost? 

A whole $3.  I know!

And the fact that I didn't waste gas, paper, or packaging appeals to the greener girl in me. 

I seriously love it.

So I'm still trying to figure it out.  I don't know how to highlight or make notes yet or loan books to others.  But it's great fun to play with. 

Watching

"I don't know how it's going to happen."   Seems to be my favorite sentence of late. 

Those are the words I find myself either saying out loud or thinking in my head all day. 
Two things:  RA and our move. 

Both have me baffled.  Both have me doubting.  And while I would tell you that I'm not disputing God, I typed those very words in an early morning e-mail today. 

Is it any surprise what I read this morning? 
"I don't see how You are going to do it.' It is a sure sign that you are not worshipping."  Oswald Chambers (surprise)

Whoa.  I'm not worshipping?  What does one have to do with the other? 

Worship is to acknowledge worth.  God is holy.  A worker of the impossible.  So much higher than me that I can not comprehend. 

Why do I think I need to see it or understand how it will happen?  I don't even understand my own self, how can I presume to understand God? 

In my pride I exalt common sense over faith.  I expose my lack of trust.  I worry, complain, and survey the situation with a raised eyebrow. 

If you were to ask if I trusted God I would laugh, spout off some pitiful spiritual verbiage and be offended that you suggested such a thing. 

But oh how God uses Oswald Chambers to lay it bare before me and show me what I am. 

"I have not believed in Thine almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it." - OC 

All the Verses I've been thinking on lately have been pointing to this very thing and I didn't even see it until this morning! 

Our youth verse...
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?"  Genesis 18:14

"Oh Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch." 

I'm watching.....

Of Birds And Things

It's that time of year.  New life everywhere.  The trees are budding, my grass is greening up, and the azaleas look like they are going through puberty.   Spring has sprung and the birds are singing!

But some of them are singing a bit too close to my house.  Like in it.  The kids have "rescued" 3 baby birds this week!  And yes, they are cute (kinda) ....But.

We went through this when my older kids were little and one spring was especially bad.  Our neighborhood was full of cats and was a dangerous place for a new family of birds.  Ours was the worst.  Blacky was a fierce hunter and loved bringing home his "gifts".

I would be right in the middle of diaper changing/snot wiping/dish washing when a heartbroken little bitty would run in hysterically crying for me to save a baby bird.  And I would run out armed with the broom to swat away Blacky and hope it wasn't too late.   Tears and heartache it was.  But what could I do?

Today I drew the line.  No bringing home any more birds.  Please! 

Ok.  Speaking of birds.   Becky and I were walking this afternoon and there was a puddle of water on the side of the street.  A little robin was going to town giving himself a bath in that little bit of water.  He was flapping and splashing water all over the place.  It was cute. 

I'm done with the bird talk now.  I promise.  Oh wait, one more thing.  Did you know if you have a humming bird feeder that you're not supposed to color the water red?  So don't buy that over-priced bottle of stuff at the store.  Just make your own sugar water and call it a day.  Ok, now I'm really done. 

On to other stuff.

We start moving in the rent house tomorrow.  Tomorrow!  I keep telling myself this is going to be easy.   

My Awana classes were awesome tonight.  And I hear youth was too.  How come I can't be in 2 places at once??  I miss being with youth but I do so love my Awana peeps.   And while I was helping my guys and girls learn God's Word, Honey had the awesome privilege of teaching our youth what Easter was all about. 

That was NOT his planned lesson.  But when he realized that most of them did not know what it was about, everything stopped until that matter was cleared up.  Lots of questions asked.  It sounds like I missed something great.  I'm so glad he was sensitive to the Spirit's leading.

We also had a new guy come that I've been praying for this week.  I hope he comes back.  Honey said he smiled a little and I think that's a good step for him.  We'll see.  Pray for Nathaniel if you will. 

Now it's the morning after.  Honey goes to bed wondering if he made any progress with them.  If they understood, or was he just a bunch of noise?  And he wakes up thinking about what he should've said differently.  Uh huh, welcome to my world Love.  It's a good life. 

I wanted to do Resurrection Eggs with my classes tonight.  But they are PACKED!  Seriously?  Does anyone have a set they can loan me for next week?  I'll try not to put them in a box and tape it up this time. 

One of Josh's geckos died this week.  I never thought I would enjoy a lizard, but I hafta say that these were pretty neat.  The boys (especially Josh) loves them and takes excellent care of them.  Sometimes they build them lego houses and let the lizards walk around in them laughing hysterically when they look out the window. 

But now he just has one.  Yesterday I was telling him how blessed the gecko was to have such love in his life and to be cared for so well.  He decided he would pour all the extra love into the one that remains.  Good plan. 

This passing has brought on lots of death questions from Jess.
What's a funeral?  What do you do there?  Where's the guy (body)?  Do they just use a shovel and dig a hole?  Are you going to do that to me if I die?  How's the rapture going to happen?  Will everyone stand in line waiting their turn for a flaming chariot?  If I'm in heaven, I'll miss you. 

Wow.  You never know what will spur on the thinking.  I've loved talking this through with him.  I love being his momma. 

Today I'm cooking.  I'm so behind.  And tomorrow we're looking at more houses/properties with the realtor.  I'm glad I'm not her.  This poor woman has taken us all over the place, tromped through woods, and used up tanks of gas driving us everywhere.  And for what?  Not much.  Even when we do find something I can't imagine she'll break even with all the time and gas she's invested in us.  Maybe I should make her some cookies.

A Beautiful Day For The Park

And the creek.

A Rent House!

Who knew it'd be so hard to find a rent house?  Obviously we're in the wrong business. 

It didn't really bother me though.  There were a couple of options that we could live with if all else failed.
Besides it's all an adventure right. 

But throw in a bad RA day and my tune changes.  

I'm tired of packing. 
I'm super tired of the mess.
I'm tired of people saying "no dogs" or "too many kids"
And I'm especially tired of looking at houses that we can afford to buy debt free. 
Yikes.

I cried before I even got dressed. 

I didn't  read to my kids today.   Hello guilt.
And I wonder if we're doing the right thing.  Plans change.  I try to switch gears. 
I wish we were all home together tonight.  Just us.

But then the phone rang.  It was Mr. A from church asking if we'd found a place to rent yet b/c he'd been thinking about us.  He has a friend that has a place that might work out and he asked if I wanted to come see it. 

Why not. 

I pack up my littles and follow the directions. 

The first thing I noticed is that it was close to home.  In a part of town that's familiar and not scary.   I drive into the neighborhood and see that it's spacious.  Not busy.  Possibly even ripstickable. 

I find the numbers on the house and see right away that it's just right!  Mr. A shows me around and Oh Yes!
Hope returns.  They know how many kids we have.  They know we have dogs (and didn't even ask for a pet deposit).  There is a big back yard with even a garden spot started!  He's leaving us his trampoline and swing set.  

So for 6 months we will share this 1500sf house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  And we'll see what God wants to do next. 

I was happy to find a house, but even more important was the visit afterwards.   Mr A gave me some wise words about not rushing.  Picking a good location.   Not feeling pressured b/c we think we have no choice. 
Being wise and practical about how we want to spend not only our money but also our time.   And shared some strong precautions and reservations about the area we were considering.

It was a conversation I needed to hear and helped to settle some things in my head. 

I loaded up my littles, threw away the directions to the crummy house on N 13th that I was going to drive by, and went home with a smile. 

Tomorrow we load boxes and furniture into our rented storage units. But tonight...no packing.
 Instead we popped pop corn and watched some Toy Story 3. 

The Fall

Our little ZBoy is quite the rough and tumble boy.  But when it comes to getting hurt, he's way over the top. 

Super drama. 
Big show. 

Lane and Buzz, Mally, ZBoy, and I walked the neighborhood yesterday.  LittleMan busted on the street and was fine until he saw the first hint of red.  Then...

SCREAM!!

Howl! Bawl! WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!  
My KNEE!!!

I didn't stop.  And neither did Lane.  We kept walking and laughing at what a actor he is. 

But Mally paniced.  She stopped.  And when she saw the scratch-that-could-hardly-be-called-a-scrape, she was crying too.  And called "Momma, he's hurt!!" 

"No Honey, he's ok.  Come on."
"Let's go Z.  Get up.  You're just fine." 

Nothing changed.  His mouth was a big black cave with a lot of noise coming out. 
"I need a band-aid!!" 
"I need to go to bed!"
"I'm never going on a walk again!"

Finally he decided we weren't stopping and that he should catch up.  He walked hunched over holding his knee and screaming all the way to the end of the street. 

When we reached the top of the hill, he got the big momma speech.  Maybe you can tell I'm not one of those moms that babies my kids over every scratch.  I'm more the shake-it-off type.  You'd think he'd know that by now. 

Lane and I were both trying to keep a straight face but the show was pretty hilarious. 
Lane said, "Do I need to carry you and rush you to the hospital?"

Z answers "NO!" angrily, then looks at me and says, "But will youuuuu???" 
Then he pulls "I'm the littlest of the whole family!" 

I almost said yes.

This Girl Loves Her Kindle

This Week

Talk about a week of ups and downs! Seriously.

First of all, this time change is kicking my butt. No matter what time I go to bed. Anyone else? The alarm goes off and either I don't hear it at all or I'm mad that someone set it wrong. HOW could it be time to get up already?

I was really looking forward to this week. Lots of fun things lined up. Plus I even had a menu. Bonus.

But it started out terrible. Some friends of ours lost their unborn baby at 8 months. I can not fathom it. I know how devastating it was to lose our babies early. To think of losing a baby and giving birth to one that you have sweet ultrasound pictures of and of whom you've felt wiggle and kick and roll around.... I think I would just die. I'm so sad for them.

At the same time they were mourning lost life we were getting ready to celebrate life at our house. That was a weird feeling for me. As thrilled as I was to start this birthday round, my mind kept going back to how incredibly blessed we are to even have one perfectly healthy child, much less nine! If just one little thing went wrong in the womb or one careless act 18 years later or one bad lab report or or or ....... oh thank you Jesus for my babies!

Our sweet Lane turned 18 on Wed! Her b-day was celebrated over 3 days due to some unforeseen events. We celebrated some on Tuesday at home b/c Wed is church. So Wed we spent the day at Tracy's and had a load of fun. I'm so glad I invited us over. But Lane got a pretty extensive rope burn on her hand when she missed the knot on the rope swing. Yeeeeoowwwww! I would still be crying if it were me.

Her b-day ended with her staying home from church and not sleeping a wink changing out ice packs all night. The funny thing is that she calls it a very luxurious b-day with everyone waiting on her so.

How I love that girl.

Today was the first day that she could dress herself and we finally got to take her out for her b-day lunch. Afterward she wanted to get her drivers license renewed. We took a number. 78. They were on 19.
Since we'd probably celebrate another b-day before it was our turn we decided to come back another time.

Instead we poked around Solid Rock, bought some Awana treats, and played with the puppets.

The ice maker hates us. This is the 2nd time in 6 months that we had to unplug the whole fridge, clean out both sides, and start over. I'm glad it stays with the house.

Packing is a mess. But we are doing pretty well I think. Today we actually had enough living room floor to vacuum. Problem is that we still can't figure out where we're going. We need a rental until we can build. At first our dogs were the issue. But even when I found a spacious 3 bedroom that would allow dogs, they would not allow 9 kids. Apparently it violates some social service law or something. So the lady suggested we have 2 kids move out to UAFS dorms and then our numbers would be better.

As if! I know she was trying to be helpful but she doesn't understand that our numbers are just perfect with nine thankyouverymuch. We'll keep looking.

We got some great news about my grandmother! M D Anderson in Houston is going to treat her and with the right treatment it is possible that she will beat this. Keep praying!!

Awana Wednesday and Caleb asked me right off how my grandmother was doing. I tell ya he is a sweet boy. And when we did "highs and lows" he said his high was the good news about her. I can't wait to tell her how an 8yo boy she'll never meet on this side of heaven has been praying for her.

Getting ready to celebrate 11 years of our Josh and preparing to go camping. But we waited too long and both Devils Den and Lake FSM were full. Oh yeah, its spring break. So the kiddos are camping outside tonight, built a fire in the cast iron pot, and are giggling around flash lights and card games.

Tomorrow we'll load up food and presents and day camp somewhere and hope to find an open spot to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. What could be better?

Whew!  That was a lot to say in just one blog post.  If you're still here, thank you!  And can I talk you into staying just a teeny bit longer and hopping over to Honey's blog to see my cutsie ZBoy Wii dancing at a friend's house? Now this game looks like fun!

First Time In A Long Time

I can't remember the last time I had a full 7day menu including snacks. 
But this week I do.  Thanks to Pinterest I've been inspired...though you may not tell by the simplicity.

Monday..
Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - Peanut butter and honey on rice cakes, carrot sticks w/ranch, grapes
Dinner- baked potato bar with almond sauce, sauted onions and mushrooms, various toppings w/salad and green beans

Tuesday ..
Birthday!
Breakfast - cinnamon toast cake and boiled eggs
Lunch - out with the b-day girl
Dinner - lasagna, salad, bread

Other Breakfasts..
cereal
cream of wheat
I usually rotate these with oatmeal in the colder months. 
orange rolls for Saturday's b-day

Other Dinners...
sloppy joes and potato salad w/green beans (we have a lot of green beans in the freezer)
a new Rachel Ray soup

Friday dinner... always pizza
Saturday is another birthday.  We are day camping and doing camp foods all day.
Sunday ...snack supper before church with popcorn, leftovers, fruits, cheese

Snacks...
smoothies
popcorn
pb crackers
bananas tossed with coconut
snack mix: cashews, raisins, banana chips, pumpkin seeds

Super Easy Vegan Ranch
1 1//2 c. veganaise
2 large garlic cloves squeezed
the juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
1T each onion powder and parsley
a big pinch of pepper

Mix all together and use it for everything! 

Girl Day

We are having a baby shower at church today!  2pm with pot luck finger foods. 

Yesterday was busy and I didn't get a chance to run to the store so I had to come up with something that we could do with what we already had on hand. 

I found a loaf of white bread in the freezer left over from when my in-laws were here.  Perfect!

An extra cake mix in the pantry from the dessert fest of last week's church lunch.  Jack pot!

Isn't my sous chef beautiful?  Notice the rollers.  Gotta look fabulous for baby showers ya know.

We made turkey sandwiches, cut off the crusts, and cut into triangles. 

Oh the exclamations over white bread!  If only we could have it all the time.  (rolling my eyes)

crust = lunch

Super simple cookies.  1 box of cake mix, 1/2 C oil, 1/4 C water, and 2 eggs.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

I'm sure there will be some sort of cake.  But oh well.  It's what we had. 

It's a girl day over here.  Since we had the shower, Honey took the boys to Devils Den to hike, play, eat, and whack each other with sticks all day. 

So we are packing, collecting garage sale fodder, cooking, and baby showering. 

Love my girls!

Churchy Things

This was an exciting week at church. 

Let's start with Wednesday.  Andrew is a boy in my 3rd grade class.  Super cute personality, smart, and sweet.  He missed the excitement of last week with 3 of his friends praying to receive Christ. 

This week I wanted to touch on baptism a little.  We were scheduled to have 2 baptisms on Sunday morning and I wanted to explain what was going on and encourage them to come.   So I did a brief recap on how Caleb, Cole, and Joey had made such important decisions when Andrew's hand shot up. 

I could tell this wasn't a raise-your-hand-and-talk-about-something-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-anything.  It carried a bit more weight.  He wanted to know how they got to do it.  Where were they?  What did they say?  Who was there?  "Because I've been wanting to do that too."  

There was a determination in his eye and an excitement that he finally knew how to make this happen.  We talked.  He was sure...positive...and seemed to just be waiting for his chance. 

And again heaven rejoices!! 

I have to say that of all the kids I've prayed with I'm most excited about Andrew.  You should have seen his face afterward.  His eyes sparkled, huge smile.  Radiant!  He acted like this had been on his mind and he just didn't know how to go about making it happen.  Then all of a sudden it was clear and he knew exactly what he wanted.   

I love Wednesdays. 

Fast forward to Sunday morning.  I didn't even have to make breakfast b/c we had an Annie Armstrong missions breakfast with a cute little program put on by the WMU.  I love those ladies. 

Our most handsome youth pastor led our youth in a couple of songs.  I was so proud of them.  They took it very seriously and did a terrific job. 

Then.....baptisms!!

I love this picture of Hope and her daddy.

And then our oldest son!  He had been baptized before by his daddy, but our church needed a more official church baptism for membership. 

I love this under the water shot with Hope on the side clapping. 

Lunch followed.  And I'm thinking about how to talk my church into feeding us supper too. 

My little kids are still trying to figure out this whole going to church a bunch of times in the week thing.  They look at me incredulously when I say it's time to go to church.  Again?  How?  What day is it?  Which church?  

Youth.  I love. 

There were 15 I think with 4 brand new kiddos.  And wow were we in for some surprises!  The newbies were a little more ...lets say...excitable.  It was a louder night with big questions and lots of laughs. 
We left with the realization that we are so inadequate for this gigantic task.  Thankfully nobody has noticed that yet and we still have a job.  (If you run into my church family don't tell them, ok?)

Teaching the youth has taken us to the Word in a new way.  A story that is so familiar I could've recited it backwards in my sleep proves to be new and fresh as God takes it to a whole new level.  Studying and practicing on our own kids has forced us to put answers to hard question into words that can be understood. 

Even though its only been a couple of weeks, I've loved working with these kids who can ask some deeper harder questions that deserve attention and answers delivered with grace. 

Absolutely awesome. 

What I'm Reading

Now and then my ears fill up with noise and they simply won't hold another decibel.  Like tonight.  So the swishing and clanging of kitchen work, the stacking cups clapping, the girly that has too much to say, Star Wars, the goal that Dempsey just made, and Ravi Zacharias is carrying on without me.  I'm camped out on my bed surrounded by books and laptop and so far nobody's noticed I'm missing.

I got a new book. 

 Wanna see it? 

This is the first school book that I've paid full price for in years.

Add that to the fact that I had never seen it in person and you can see that it was a gutsy move. 
I've liked David Dye's free newsletters for a long time and decided to take the plunge.
I've read a good ways through it and can't wait to start on Monday.  

Ok.  Maybe not.  I'm never eager to start anything on Mondays.  Especially school.   But maybe it'll help that I have something new to try. 

Other things I'm reading....

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

Oh I love this book!  It's easy to pick up when I don't want to think too hard.  Yet has some substance to it.

I've never read any of her books before but I'm looking forward to reading more.

Confession:  I paid full price for this one too.

Actually Honey did and gave it to me for Valentines Day.  Still.

Just finished reading this aloud to my little peeps. 

The younger set hadn't heard it before and our own farmer boy was particularly enthralled.  

You know its a good book when you're disappointed that it's over.  

Confession:  This book is headed for the trash.  The yellow pages are falling out all over the place.  My cheap frugal nature says to just hold it carefully and use the loose pages as a bookmark.  But since the library has multiple copies I'm guessing they'll have to spare one the next time we want to read it.   

I had a mom moment in the last chapter. 

Let me set the stage:  I'm driving in the car to who knows where on any given day with whatever kid comes along.    About 1/2 way to wherever we're going I realize that I've hardly said a word to my passenger and s/he hasn't been so chatty with me.  Momma guilt overwhelms me and I start blabbing about anything I can think of so that I can be a good mom and build some memorable one-on-one time.  Anybody else do this?

 Feel free to roll your eyes. 

In the last chapter Almonzo is offered a promising apprenticeship with a respectable wheelwright.  It's a serious offer.  A good opportunity.  And guess what?   All the way home Father and Almonzo were silent! 

They were both thinking.  And nobody said anything.  Get this:  Almonzo did NOT think that Father was ignoring him and he did NOT feel unloved.  AND Father didn't even feel guilty!  Huh. 

This is a fantastic book if you're headed for local or foreign missions.  And you are, aren't you?  In one way or another?  I was loving this book when we were headed to Haiti.  Since my trip has been cancelled, I've slowed down reading it.  Partly because I HATE that I'm not going to Haiti yet.  Read the "yet".  And partly b/c it requires a lot of thinking.  Evidently I'm not into thinking too much these days. 

And that's it.  I'm also reading through parts of Genesis for Sunday school and working my way through Isaiah.  Isaiah happens to be on my list of faves. 

Book talk question:  Do you have a Kindle?  Do you like it?  Which one do you have?  Would I like it too?

Done And Done!

We sold our house!!  Happy day. 

Now what?