And it certainly has been real. Real change. Real hard. Real fun. Real scary. Real time of trust. Pick one, it has been them all. August started out with Andy working his tail off for very little money and never being home to see our children. He was not happy with his job. He has had a desire to be in ministry. The entertaining he was doing in his “spare” time was the most fulfilling job he was doing. And so now it is the only job he is doing.
It takes a while to build a business. He has been home for a few weeks now, but the first few were still busy. Now we are in the time of building contacts, drumming up business, and waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. We have known for awhile that this was his calling, what he was meant to do. The time was never right. We were too afraid to take the step, thinking it would be a free fall. And it has.
There are people who like that feeling. I am not one of them. I like stability. I used to take risks, and big ones, without thought. Now I cannot bring myself to take risks. I see the responsibilities- the house, the van payment, the kids, the bills. These things are overwhelming in the light of the risks. This has been a HUGE risk, but I have had an incredible measure of peace. God has meet and at times surpassed every need. Sure it has only been a few weeks, but his pay was not so great before that, and we had things that were behind. And things that were really behind. We caught up. We even did some fun things with the kids. We got them the things they need. I got my laptop.
Andy is home everyday. In the past we would have been driving each other crazy by now. This is different. I love having him here, and so do the kids. We get him to help out with some of the school extras, taking hikes, woodworking, soccer practice and games. He has been here to help with David as I cook, or to take the kid outside so I can clean up. I have stayed up late to design websites, business cards, fliers, and all that jazz. We have worked together. Most of the day he is busy with contacting people to get his name out there and has gotten a few shows that way.
So please be in prayer for us. For the business we need. For us as a family. For Andy and I as a couple. Please pray that we can be the light in this world we have been called to be while doing what we love. And know that as you pray, we are rejoicing in you as our friends, and in God as the supplier of all our needs.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Another Awesome Book, Brought to You by BookSneeze!
The heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the Hubble Telescope is the newest book I received from Thomas Nelson Publishing through Book Sneeze. It was complied by Lisa Stilwell. I had read a description of the book and thought it looked interesting for school. Wow, was I ever impressed! There are awesome pictures paired up with quotes, poems, and Scripture proclaiming the glory of God. The pictures were awe inspiring, the text fitting. Several times I was moved to tears! I felt in awe of the majesty of our Creator! The book fosters a tone of worship while being informative.
I passed the book on to the kids, the real test! They loved the pictures. Angel kept remarking about the clarity of the photos. She also liked how well the text was included in the book. Just to show how much she liked it, to type this blog I had to sneak it from her- she fell asleep reading it.
Everything about this book from cover to cover can be highly recommended. I fell in love with the book as soon as I saw the cover and was not disappointed through the last page. If you are interested in outer space or are teaching astronomy in your home school, you should have this book.
I passed the book on to the kids, the real test! They loved the pictures. Angel kept remarking about the clarity of the photos. She also liked how well the text was included in the book. Just to show how much she liked it, to type this blog I had to sneak it from her- she fell asleep reading it.
Everything about this book from cover to cover can be highly recommended. I fell in love with the book as soon as I saw the cover and was not disappointed through the last page. If you are interested in outer space or are teaching astronomy in your home school, you should have this book.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Hey, That's What I Said!!
David is a talker. I have never really experienced a little boy of his age talk as much as he does. He is constantly making noise. His gibberish is beginning to make more sense as he lands on the English language. I can not even begin to figure out how many words he knows. And he strings them together in sentences that mostly make sense.
As all burgeoning speakers do, he has begun copying all of us. They kids think this is great so far. The get him to say lines from movies, parts of songs, and tell them they are great. As he’s leaving the room they have him saying “Peace out”. He talks about superheros, video games, and says “Joe Jonas- ooooOOOOooo”.
He has also copied a few of the mean sayings they say to each other. They have been hearing their own mean words echoed back at them, and as Isaac says, “That’s just not cool!” He has this squeal that rivals the one Faith always did when we called her the pterodactyl baby. For some reason Andy can not remember anyone else screaming like that. Not sure why, because just thinking about it hurts my ears and causes my eye to twitch.
It is funny when he says “Hey Daddy honey!” because I call Andy honey, or when he sings the hippopotamus song. He also sings Davey, Davey that they learned in Children’s Church. He has begun to echo our prayers, and just the other night he began asking for David’s Bible at bedtime.
Today, however, he busted into the bathroom while I was in the shower saying “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, moooommy, mommmy, mom. Look at me.” I poked my head out of the shower and he said “Wash your hair. Use sumpoo.” Which should tell you about how often I have to remind my highly distracted ones to actually wash while in the shower.
All of this makes me pray hard about the legacy I am leaving. I want my children to remember to wash their hair, but more than that I want them to remember to pray. To read the Bible. To sing songs of praise to our Father. I start to worry about balance. Are we allowing them to grow, develop what they like and dislike, while planting a love for things of God in their hearts? It is fine to have Jonas on your MP3 player, but that is not all I want filling their hearts. They love playing and watching Star Wars, but are they equally in love with the heros of God? Any little glimmer of hearts that are being molded after God gives me great joy. They brought me Cd’s to put on their MP3 players, each child had several Christian bands and some praise music. I gave David a movie choice at nap time. He choose Praise Baby over Spider-man and Scooby Doo. As I passed the girls room last night, Angel was reading Faith a bedtime story. From a devotional Bible. Wrapped up in softie, tuck inside Isaac’s pillow case is his camp Bible. He wants to keep it close to his heart, so he stuck it with softie.
And most of the time, even though we all have bad moments and even bad days, I love that David is beginning to emulate the kids and Andy. They all have hearts after God and are trying to walk in the light of His love daily. What better example could he have?
As all burgeoning speakers do, he has begun copying all of us. They kids think this is great so far. The get him to say lines from movies, parts of songs, and tell them they are great. As he’s leaving the room they have him saying “Peace out”. He talks about superheros, video games, and says “Joe Jonas- ooooOOOOooo”.
He has also copied a few of the mean sayings they say to each other. They have been hearing their own mean words echoed back at them, and as Isaac says, “That’s just not cool!” He has this squeal that rivals the one Faith always did when we called her the pterodactyl baby. For some reason Andy can not remember anyone else screaming like that. Not sure why, because just thinking about it hurts my ears and causes my eye to twitch.
It is funny when he says “Hey Daddy honey!” because I call Andy honey, or when he sings the hippopotamus song. He also sings Davey, Davey that they learned in Children’s Church. He has begun to echo our prayers, and just the other night he began asking for David’s Bible at bedtime.
Today, however, he busted into the bathroom while I was in the shower saying “Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, moooommy, mommmy, mom. Look at me.” I poked my head out of the shower and he said “Wash your hair. Use sumpoo.” Which should tell you about how often I have to remind my highly distracted ones to actually wash while in the shower.
All of this makes me pray hard about the legacy I am leaving. I want my children to remember to wash their hair, but more than that I want them to remember to pray. To read the Bible. To sing songs of praise to our Father. I start to worry about balance. Are we allowing them to grow, develop what they like and dislike, while planting a love for things of God in their hearts? It is fine to have Jonas on your MP3 player, but that is not all I want filling their hearts. They love playing and watching Star Wars, but are they equally in love with the heros of God? Any little glimmer of hearts that are being molded after God gives me great joy. They brought me Cd’s to put on their MP3 players, each child had several Christian bands and some praise music. I gave David a movie choice at nap time. He choose Praise Baby over Spider-man and Scooby Doo. As I passed the girls room last night, Angel was reading Faith a bedtime story. From a devotional Bible. Wrapped up in softie, tuck inside Isaac’s pillow case is his camp Bible. He wants to keep it close to his heart, so he stuck it with softie.
And most of the time, even though we all have bad moments and even bad days, I love that David is beginning to emulate the kids and Andy. They all have hearts after God and are trying to walk in the light of His love daily. What better example could he have?
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Love on a Dime: A BookSneeze Review
I recently had the chance to review Love on a Dime by Cara Lynn James for Thomas Nelson Publishing through BookSneeze.com. Love on a Dime is a historical romance that centers around the relationship of Lily Westbrook and Jackson Grail. The story begins with their broken relationship, and follows them as the characters grow in their faith and come back together. Lily is a dime novelist in a time when it is a very unbecoming profession. She feels called by God to write stories the reflect His love in relationships. Lily writes under a Nome De Plume, and hides her writing from everyone she knows. She uses the proceeds from her writing to fund a womens’ shelter. She faces a momentous decision when she has to decide to tell the truth about her writing to her family and giving up her calling.
The book was sweet and cute, with likable characters. The characters could have been developed in more depth, and the book seemed a little long for the plot. Without being forceful about her faith, the author conveys messages of true love and building your life on the foundation of God and His Word. It was a good read if you are interested in historical romance. It would be a good book for a younger reader as well.
I have found less and less interest reading romances, so I found the book to be slightly tedious. It did a good job of showing Godly relationships, but I have lost my taste because I feel that most romances leave the story just as it is beginning. The characters finally end up together, the end, happily ever after. Even Christian romances that focus on God tend to leave you there as if marriage solved everything and now everyone is happily ever after. I suppose that after being married for a while I want to see what happens next. The challenge was not finding your true love, but living a Godly life together as a witness to those around you. That’s the hard part!
The book was sweet and cute, with likable characters. The characters could have been developed in more depth, and the book seemed a little long for the plot. Without being forceful about her faith, the author conveys messages of true love and building your life on the foundation of God and His Word. It was a good read if you are interested in historical romance. It would be a good book for a younger reader as well.
I have found less and less interest reading romances, so I found the book to be slightly tedious. It did a good job of showing Godly relationships, but I have lost my taste because I feel that most romances leave the story just as it is beginning. The characters finally end up together, the end, happily ever after. Even Christian romances that focus on God tend to leave you there as if marriage solved everything and now everyone is happily ever after. I suppose that after being married for a while I want to see what happens next. The challenge was not finding your true love, but living a Godly life together as a witness to those around you. That’s the hard part!
Friday, August 13, 2010
It's About that Time
After all, it is August. About time to head back to school. I see it everywhere. Ads for clothes, new shoes, or school supplies. Winding down of summer activities. Emails from yahoo groups about lesson plans and curriculum. And as always, I begin to think about endings and new beginnings. Changes and areas we have grown, or need to grow a little more.
I have a preteen. She will be ten, but Angel has been claiming preteen status since about two years old. She is the one who most reminds me of me. Oh, I see bits of me in the others, but this one is me at nine and me now. I have been having a hard time watching her over this past year because I compare her to myself at that age and around nine is when my life started to unravel and I began to head for self destruction. I see that she is more interested in competing with boys than liking them, and I rejoice. I was not like that. I see how her heart is set on following God, and I am overjoyed. I did not even know Him. I see how helpful she is around the house and how bossy that makes her with her sister and brothers, and I laugh, because I was the same way. I see how she can stomp her feet and whine. And I see myself, and cringe. But overall I am so very glad she is different in the most important way- she already knows the love of her Savior. And that is all she needs. (But I still like to see her race boys and win. Also me…)
And I have a sweet eight year old how has all of a sudden become more grown up! She used to hide when it was time to clean up her toys. Or just shove everything under the bed. She used to scream and hit when she was mad. Here is a familiar conversation in my house. It has been this way ever since they could talk.
Angel: You are supposed to be helping me clean up our toys! Get out of the closet! You clean these up or I will tell Mommy to just take them to Good William (a blog all its own!)
Faith: That’s OK, I’d rather buy new ones than pick these up! I am staying in here!!
Just yesterday I heard this same conversation. But now it was between Faith and Isaac. And boy, did she get frustrated!! But I had to laugh, because it was not soo very long ago that it was her hiding in the closet. He hid in the love seat instead. She has been doing much better in school and I have not found her under a table screaming during church for months. All good signs!!
Isaac, oh, Isaac, where to begin. Every step of growing up has been hard for Isaac. He always wants to stay the same size. He will be six next month. He wants the party and cake and presents, but he wants to stay five. Forever. Mostly I want that too, little man. I would like if you stopped walking around the house in your sleep, though. And if you have to climb the walls, make sure your feet are clean. I have a hard time reaching those dirty footprints!! He is our hero, our warrior, and that will never change!
David is growing in leaps and bounds as toddler tend to do. He talks all the time. Even if we don’t understand him, or no one is around. And he sings! Any music is fine for him. He also likes to hold the guitar and strum. None of my other children have strummed, they usually plucked. He dances too. Just last night at bedtime I told Isaac to get his Bible for devotions. David said: Where David’s Bible? I handed him a toddler Bible and he looked at every page, talking to and about everything, then asked me to read David’s Bible too. We prayed and he said: Thank God for food. (Not timely, but I cried anyway.) Then he said Amen and lalulala, which we assume means hallelujah. He is super sweet, and yet all boy. The other day at the fire station he about had a heart attack over sitting in the fire truck. He still talks about it. And two days ago, he tried to climb the pipes.
Overall, I am so proud of the progress we have all made. But, this post is big enough for now, so I will talk about Andy and I on a different day.
I have a preteen. She will be ten, but Angel has been claiming preteen status since about two years old. She is the one who most reminds me of me. Oh, I see bits of me in the others, but this one is me at nine and me now. I have been having a hard time watching her over this past year because I compare her to myself at that age and around nine is when my life started to unravel and I began to head for self destruction. I see that she is more interested in competing with boys than liking them, and I rejoice. I was not like that. I see how her heart is set on following God, and I am overjoyed. I did not even know Him. I see how helpful she is around the house and how bossy that makes her with her sister and brothers, and I laugh, because I was the same way. I see how she can stomp her feet and whine. And I see myself, and cringe. But overall I am so very glad she is different in the most important way- she already knows the love of her Savior. And that is all she needs. (But I still like to see her race boys and win. Also me…)
And I have a sweet eight year old how has all of a sudden become more grown up! She used to hide when it was time to clean up her toys. Or just shove everything under the bed. She used to scream and hit when she was mad. Here is a familiar conversation in my house. It has been this way ever since they could talk.
Angel: You are supposed to be helping me clean up our toys! Get out of the closet! You clean these up or I will tell Mommy to just take them to Good William (a blog all its own!)
Faith: That’s OK, I’d rather buy new ones than pick these up! I am staying in here!!
Just yesterday I heard this same conversation. But now it was between Faith and Isaac. And boy, did she get frustrated!! But I had to laugh, because it was not soo very long ago that it was her hiding in the closet. He hid in the love seat instead. She has been doing much better in school and I have not found her under a table screaming during church for months. All good signs!!
Isaac, oh, Isaac, where to begin. Every step of growing up has been hard for Isaac. He always wants to stay the same size. He will be six next month. He wants the party and cake and presents, but he wants to stay five. Forever. Mostly I want that too, little man. I would like if you stopped walking around the house in your sleep, though. And if you have to climb the walls, make sure your feet are clean. I have a hard time reaching those dirty footprints!! He is our hero, our warrior, and that will never change!
David is growing in leaps and bounds as toddler tend to do. He talks all the time. Even if we don’t understand him, or no one is around. And he sings! Any music is fine for him. He also likes to hold the guitar and strum. None of my other children have strummed, they usually plucked. He dances too. Just last night at bedtime I told Isaac to get his Bible for devotions. David said: Where David’s Bible? I handed him a toddler Bible and he looked at every page, talking to and about everything, then asked me to read David’s Bible too. We prayed and he said: Thank God for food. (Not timely, but I cried anyway.) Then he said Amen and lalulala, which we assume means hallelujah. He is super sweet, and yet all boy. The other day at the fire station he about had a heart attack over sitting in the fire truck. He still talks about it. And two days ago, he tried to climb the pipes.
Overall, I am so proud of the progress we have all made. But, this post is big enough for now, so I will talk about Andy and I on a different day.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Joseph's Journey
We just finished up Vacation Bible School. It was wonderful. We did Group’s Holy Land Adventure- Joesph’s Journey from Prison to Palace. We spent the tail end of July creating an ancient Egyptian marketplace, a prison, a palace, and a huge paper mache sarcophagus. I absolutely adore VBS! It is a great time to do children’s ministry in a big, big way. Here are some of my favorite highlights of VBS 2010.
The boat wreck! Now, if you are thinking that in Joseph’s story you can’t seem to remember a boat wreck, you are right. A truck pulling a boat took a turn too fast and lost it’s boat as we were doing the closing program. There were firefighters either helping at VBS or there to pick up their children who ran down the street to help. In full costume. As Ancient Egyptians. With make up. It was awesome!! And so I ran down, also in full costume, to take pictures of them loading this boat back up in togas, headdresses, and eye makeup.
The day Joseph came to me and said, “Did anyone realize I need a wife for the skit today??” Ummm, nooo. Me: “Hi!� I will be your wife today. Let’s go!” And so I was Joseph’s wife for the rest of the week. Which freaked out some of the kids, such as my own, who know me and know that I am not married to Joseph, who was my sister-in-law’s brother! My nephew Will kept complaining about all the lies! LOL
We participated in Operation Kid-to-Kid by making blankets to send to Africa. We made five. Each child held a felt heart and said a prayer for the children that would receive our blankets so that at night they would be wrapped in God’s love and our prayers. They were too sweet and I kept taking pictures of them holding the hearts and praying!
My favorite was how well the youth and young adults came together to really pitch in and make this year a success. There was not a time that they failed to do something. I would turn around to find someone standing there with a bottle of water asking what they could do for me. No matter what it was I asked them to do, they did cheerfully. And they are the best.
And that is my VBS in a nutshell. The pictures are all on Facebook. And there are some pretty good ones. I didn’t take many, but the youth sure did with my camera!
The boat wreck! Now, if you are thinking that in Joseph’s story you can’t seem to remember a boat wreck, you are right. A truck pulling a boat took a turn too fast and lost it’s boat as we were doing the closing program. There were firefighters either helping at VBS or there to pick up their children who ran down the street to help. In full costume. As Ancient Egyptians. With make up. It was awesome!! And so I ran down, also in full costume, to take pictures of them loading this boat back up in togas, headdresses, and eye makeup.
The day Joseph came to me and said, “Did anyone realize I need a wife for the skit today??” Ummm, nooo. Me: “Hi!� I will be your wife today. Let’s go!” And so I was Joseph’s wife for the rest of the week. Which freaked out some of the kids, such as my own, who know me and know that I am not married to Joseph, who was my sister-in-law’s brother! My nephew Will kept complaining about all the lies! LOL
We participated in Operation Kid-to-Kid by making blankets to send to Africa. We made five. Each child held a felt heart and said a prayer for the children that would receive our blankets so that at night they would be wrapped in God’s love and our prayers. They were too sweet and I kept taking pictures of them holding the hearts and praying!
My favorite was how well the youth and young adults came together to really pitch in and make this year a success. There was not a time that they failed to do something. I would turn around to find someone standing there with a bottle of water asking what they could do for me. No matter what it was I asked them to do, they did cheerfully. And they are the best.
And that is my VBS in a nutshell. The pictures are all on Facebook. And there are some pretty good ones. I didn’t take many, but the youth sure did with my camera!
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