Minoring in Geo Trax

This is how I spent a good part of my morning, after running T1 to pre-K and putting T-3 down for a nap. If I could have seen 10 years into my future while in college I would have minored in train track design. I would be getting more use out of that degree than my sociology - though I do consider my children quite their own people-group worthy of study and publishing.


This is what I thought about doing while I was doing the above. I did finally get to it while T2 was immersed in the land of Geo-Trax.

The following are snapshots of our Valentine's day. Note the shirts I made for the Things to wear - mine said "My husband is my hero." We all wore them to church that morning. Hubby had already surprised me with a date night Sat. night - sitter arranged and all! And I got a tulip from each of my men. And some special ones made by T1. Monday marked our 10th Likeaversary - the day hubby told me he first liked me...time flies!








We all went sledding on Sunday.

And we got to go snowmobiling thanks to some generous friends who came to give us rides. There are advantages to living in the country as we just stepped out our back door to a world of fun. It was my first time and I had a blast!

40ish Day Challenge

Currently all of our student friends that are in a Bible study are working through the 40 Day Challenge. Basically it is a reading plan for the next 40 days that takes about 30 minutes a day - though it always takes me longer. Sometimes it is due to my lack of caffeine and subsequent ability to focus. Sometimes it is because I grabbed my Amplified Bible and it has a lot more words in it than others (but I just LOVE words so the more the merrier). Sometimes it is just that I have the whole morning to pick it apart and get something more meaningful than a cursory glance and check off the to-do list allows. Like this morning thanks to my wonderful husband who has taken the kids as he does for a few hours each week so I can get on campus, work on BS, have a quiet time, do things that recharge me (like writing!).

This morning it took me about an hour and I know with my busy schedule (and when I say "busy" I'm referring more to the three little men in my life than anything I actually accomplish) it will take far more than 40 days to accomplish.

As you read through the passage you are supposed to answer two questions:
1) Who is Jesus? 2) What does He want me to do? Simple enough.
So without further ado (adu - no - adieu - nope...sorry my spelling is failing me)...
Mark 10- 12
Who is Jesus? (my limited lens, not necessarily theologically accurate)
- Popular teacher among the common people like you and me
- Unpopular teacher among the teachers
- Cuts to the heart of the issue ("'because you know so little of the meaning of love...'"(10:5 - Phillips)
- Loves little children more than "important" people who think He is important (10:14)
- Son of Man sent to suffer, die, rise again (10:34)
- Came to "serve and give His life to set many others free" (10:45)
- Even He got a little cranky when He missed His afternoon snack - this is someone I can relate to! (11:14)
- Zealous over keeping holy things/places holy (11:15)
- Encourager to men to have faith and believe and act on our belief (11:21)
- Wise in dealing with the opposition(11:29)
- Saw through the hypocrisy of others (12:15)
- Patient Teacher and corrector of the Truth (12:24)
- Doesn't tolerate religious hypocrites (12:43)
- Notices the sacrifices of others (12:43)

What does He want me to do?- Really LOVE those around me, beginning with my husband (this LOVE has nothing to do with my roller coaster emotions)
- Love and bless the children in my life in His name - welcome them into "busy and important" life by choosing them over the busy and important adults in my life
- Love Him more than any possession
- Understand who He is - the Son of God - and why He came - to save me(10:32)
- Become a servant rather than demanding to be served
- If it is Holy, keep it Holy (11:17)
- Have faith, pray big, and believe it will happen (11:22)
- Love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength (12:30)
- And my neighbor as well as I love myself (12:31)
- Don't use religion for my own social gain (12:38)
- Give generously remembering generosity is measured by sacrifice, not by dollar amount.
- Praise others when they do the above rather than myself.

Most of our students are really enjoying the 40 Day Challenge. It is a great tool for helping us all get back in the habit of spending time with Him every day. What about you? What have you been reading lately? I'd love to learn from you.

Hot Cocoa, Please - hold the mushrooms

I'm sitting on my livingroom floor with clean laundry all around me. the older two things are finishing up their hot cocoa, T2 told me he wanted his without "mushrooms". I just got a text from hubby doing evangelism with students telling me that someone accepted Christ today. Yippee! Even though I felt a bit envious with my less than glamorous to-do list here - I still felt a part of it knowing I had just prayed for someone to come to know His love today. Since I have sat down to write this I have gotten one phone call, searched for a pair of dry gloves for T1 to wear outside, T3 has woken up and T2 is chattering on with 1/5th of my attention. Sigh - this is probably why I don't blog more - but is an accurate glimpse of my day. Best get to that laundry - guess T3 will be "helping" me instead of me getting it done real quick before he wakes up.

c-ya

Things!

Thing 3 loves to watch brothers play outside and can't wait for his turn!

No this isn't our newest pet!!! But it was hubby's highlight from our family day last week - watching T1 hold it without being afraid. After all the chaos of getting the house ready to sell on top of a busy ministry schedule - we took a day just to be together. We had tons of fun at the 3 story kids science museum. The water room was the most popular of all.





Thing 1 actually fell asleep on the floor while warming up after a bath...I came down to see what was taking him so long and found him snuggled in for a nap!


Now that I'm 10 months old I don't really want to sit still and smile for a photo! So big so fast! He has been doing some signs for about 2 months now I think - it is all a blur. With the first bite of veggies he frantically signs "all done!" Hmmm, I think we taught him to "talk" a little too early!

Perfectly Perfect

A little over a week ago an unexpected package came in the mail. The return address warned me to not open it with abandon on the spur of the moment but to wait until I had time to privately engage with whatever lay inside. When I finally did sit alone in our office and slit open the envelope from Heather's mom I felt a mixture of emotions over the recipe book lovingly compiled by Heather's friends.

When I knew Heather the most - and by "the most" I mean comparatively to all the years of our friendship - hat would be the year that Hubby and I lived with her and her hubby. Heather was not the gourmet chef that she had become while living in NM. She could cook delicious meals, there was no denying, yet with our busy schedules we both reveled in sharing those duties, planning our weekly menu together and each only cooking a few times a week. At the time they were in the process of adopting their first child and she was working more than full-time as a therapist. When we moved in and I started cooking her husband was grateful to be off his steady diet of frozen pizzas as Heather often worked late. So it was with a little bit of a smile that I read these cherished recipes (some of which I was honored to recognize from my own recipe box) and imagined her throwing herself into them with the same zest and abandon she did any project she put her mind too.

I think I made it to the chick peas before the first tears started to fall. They were in the listed ingredients for basil hummus - the first recipe of the book. Her friends thoughfully filled in little side stories with each recipe and precious, precious photos of Heather with her children and friends. I sat weeping and reading it cover to cover before I could somewhat move forward with life and the rest of the scheduled activities for the day.

Lately I've noticed that when I revisit that place of grief with abandon, not just sideways glances as I distract my heart with the busyness of the day, it subconsciously puts me in an insecure and fearful place in my heart. I'm faced with the frailty of my own life and those I hold dear. I can't ignore how very little control I hold over keeping all that I love alive and well. The words from I novel I recently read echo in the background of my heart, something along the lines of, "...life is about change, it is like a river always moving forward, you can't stop it, you just have to change and bend with it." But what if life is so perfectly perfect you don't want it to change? And yet you know the futility of trying to stop it?

I know I must daily surrender my fear for the health and safety of my loved ones and consciously move forward to a place of peaceful abandon. And I know that even if I don't agree on what their number of days on this earth should be, God's Word says He already knows them. And I know that because of Jesus' death and resurrection the next life will be so so so much more perfectly perfect with no sickness, no death to interrupt and snatch away at our happiness. Yet here we are presently living in a state of flux, grasping at all the joy and happiness we can squeeze out of this life and yet living for the Day when we will strain no longer and enter into His Paradise.

I smile knowing she is already there, reveling in it. And I'm so grateful for all the time I did have with her that year that I knew her "the most" of all our years of friendship, though I hardly appreciated them then as I do now. As I look through the beautiful stories and pictures I'm so thankful for those who lovingly put this book together. And if I can stop crying over the chick peas I might actually get dinner made...or we might just have a frozen pizza. Either way, I think I'm honoring her memory. :)