Even MORE Snow!

Before I forget...once again, some of my blog savvy friends have enlightened me to the difficulty of posting on my blog and how simple it would be to fix it. It should now be possible for anyone to post on my blog, with or without a google account. If you don't have a google account, I will have to approve the post before it actually gets posted, but no biggie. Hope that helps!





So what is a starving golfer supposed to do when there is three feet of snow on the ground? Grab a starving tile installer, a starving college-aged brother-in-law, call your local mobile home park and leave your phone number, employ a secretary to deal with all the calls, grab a couple of shovels, a ladder, and head out! Roofs need shoveled! So praise God! The snow has been profitable for our household. Yeah Jesus!

So since Bill shoveled 'til way past dark for others yesterday, and will be at it all day today, I resolved to take care of the fresh seven or so inches on our porch, etc. this morning. There comes a time when you decide that you don't need to access every part of your house. So one sidewalk is just being covered, but we need a path to the vehicles. I was given a much cuter pair of boots for Christmas this year, but decided that this was a job for my trusty 1991 edition of purple Sorel's. Yes, they are laugh-worthy, but Sorel's are Sorels. They never wear out. They keep you dry up to your knees, and come in very handy when you live in Antartica - er Idaho.



Thank goodness for amazing neighbors who graciously use their resources to help each other out without expecting anything in return - though we do try to thow some homemade bread their way.



Clayton has had two snow days this week, which makes it a little more difficult to get school accomplished with the others.









I wanted to quickly share one of the great treasures from God's Word that I found this week before I have to conquer the rest of homeschooling, laundry, and - oh yeah, a shower - before work.

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." Psalm 50:23

It tenders my heart to know that my Savior realize that thanksgiving is often a sacrifice. But let that sink in. Our thankfulness prepares the way for Him to show Himself! Isn't that incredible? We are challenged other places in Scripture to give thanks in all things. It doesn't always come natural. It is often a choice - a sacrificial choice! But it does something for the Lover of Your Soul! It arouses Him to move on your behalf! I've seen it happen for me, and I'm sure you have too. Just like this week. We've had some months of difficulty. Several months of not seeing God's provision like we have in the past. Months of working hard, without fruit to show for it. I have to admit, I've not been all that thankful. But this week has been different. Bill and I resolved on our weekend away that we were going to start choosing to be thankful again. This week, God provided for our rent. This week, Bill has had the opportunity to shovel roofs and make some money. This week, is the one week of the year that my employer projects their employees income a month ahead to close their fiscal year and gives everyone a big check. It almost seems like an "Easy Button." Be thankful. Watch God work. I know, sometimes he works in your heart, rather than your circumstances. We've had months of that too. But God knows your heart, and you can't trick Him. You can say words and not mean them, and He knows. True thanksgiving is often very sacrificial!

Oh, about last weekend. Some friends were so kind to watch our boys overnight and send us away to a home on the lake for the night. We enjoyed dinner at "The Porch" (new favorite restaurant) and then spent a snowy night playing games in front of the fireplace; enjoyed a jetted tub; slept in a big, comfy, resort quality bed; and woke up to quiet, lake views, coffee, and a good time in God's Word together before coming back to reality. Such a blessing!

Well, now that the house smells of pumpkin pie, fresh-baked rolls, and homemade turkey soup and the kids are sipping hot cocoa and putting on dry clothes...I guess it's time for this sweaty snow shoveler to hit the shower!

No Place Like Home

I just can't imagine living anywhere else - and you can't say I haven't tried! :D

These were all taken in our yard. The cold has finally been productive!

No Place Like Home

Too funny...

I've been so excited about little treasures in God's Word and have to get back to post some...and tell you about our amazing weekend.

But I want to share some kid funnies while I have time - and before I forget.

Playing Boggle with Riley (favorite game around here).

Riley: I found a SEVEN LETTER WORD!!! - "vomiter" (BOYS!) O.K. I know it's supposed to have two "t"'s, but how can you correct him in a moment like that.

Riley: O.K. I found "peep", like "I don't want to hear another peep out of you!"

Bill and I had an intense moment of fellowship this weekend, and after apologizing to the kids for the way we treated each other in front of them, Ian pulled out a love and logic parenting technique.

Ian: I think because of all the yelling around here in front of us, you guys need to pay us back some energy by doing something really special with us!

Guess who had a special night with their kids last night?

Who Am I

Who Am I

I know it is just hands, but I bawled through it. Such a moving way to sit and think on who we are. Enjoy!

Energy Giver, Waster, or Taker?

I've been thinking alot lately about a concept I was taught years ago through a ministry I was serving in. The concept of being and energy giver.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a routine trip through Costco, carefully organizing who would be the food guard (the kid who sits in the back of the cart), the sample spotter (the kids who sits in the front of the cart), and the helper (the kid who walks along side and helps grab things from the shelf). We got our groceries, sampled some samples, and proceeded to checkout....and suddenly I was in MOPS mom heaven. The checker praised me over and over for the good job I did in shopping - how frugal I was, what good food choices I made (healthy), etc. I walked away feeling so empowered. But that wasn't all. On the way out the door, the receipt cop, gave all my kids a pep talk on minding their mom and being good helpers, so on and so forth. What?! Did Costco have a "Encourage Your Local Mom Shopper" convention? It seems so silly, but I left the store feeling like a good mom. Same thing has happened the last few times I've been to the doctor's office. Honestly, when you have to take four boys to the doctor at once, there is nothing like a pat on the shoulder from your pediatrician as he tells you what a good job you are doing, and how great your kids are!

Contrast that with a recent visit to Walmart, just a few days after the Costco trip. I really was struggling with the kids to get them through the store. I needed food, but ended up leaving with apples and one other thing. I couldn't even think. When I got to the check out line, the checker was rude and continuously getting onto my kids for every little thing. They weren't really being bad, but just annoying. I was so stressed about keeping the checker from being mean, that I found myself coming down overly hard on the boys. Honestly, I was cranky the rest of the day. I left the store feeling like a failure.

Now really, my feelings are my responsibility. I need to take them to the Lord - good or bad, and let Him adjust my attitude. But the point I'm making is the simple way we can make or break someones day by our attitude in passing. We were at the checkout stand for five minutes, but I left feeling like a failure. It would have only cost her five minutes of grinning and bearing it (giving us grace) for me to leave with a whole different attitude. But those five minutes, instead, sucked the energy straight out of me.

This morning, a cranky individual, who is obviously not a morning person, just about zapped all my energy right before MOPS. I really had to get on my knees before I faced anyone else and get myself back in the right frame of mind to give energy to others that had just been sucked out of me.

I don't mean to pick on anyone else. I'm equally as guilty. When my attitude flares, I can drain my whole family in five minutes flat. The thing is, sometimes our message is valid. But we often can convey the same message in a way that shows concern for the other person involved, rather than just vomiting our feelings all over them.

I feel I'm rambling a bit. This is a blog. But what I'm getting at is that some are energy givers. They just light up the room when they walk in. They make their encounters with others count, even when brief. Others just waste energy. They don't take it, but they don't give it either. They don't make anyone's life better or worse. Others just suck the life out of everyone they meet. It's all about them.

In Biblical terms, our recent MOPS verse to dwell on, says it best:

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

Though our actions and eye contact often convey as much as our words, our goal as believers should be to build others up according to their needs. I want to be an energy giver. That means I need to continuously be seeking to know the needs of those around me and be doing my part to build them up - in word, action, attitude, prayer - giving life to them, motivating them to be all God intends them to be. Every encounter counts....even the mom you pass in the grocery store!

24 Hours With NO Agenda

Hayden


Ian


Riley


Clayton

These are the pictures I wanted to post last week.

This week was fuller than full. Basketball meeting, MOPS, four work shifts, a day at Mobius with my MOPS table, three of four other meetings of one sort or another, homeschooling, birthday party, Riley's class party at our house, etc, etc, etc. I have been going, and going, and going, kind of like the Energizer Bunny, except with not so much energy. One afternoon, I literally found myself running in my house - darting to the kitchen, back to the computer, down to switch laundry, check my daytimer, back to the kitchen. UGGH!

Which is why the last 24 hours have been so glorious. When I got off work yesterday, and the last snow-covered, hot chocolate mustached little munchkin left our house, I realized that we had absolutely no plans until Monday morning. We have played games, built legos, watched movies, made cookies, helped the kids with their Bible study homework, and made three real meals! I worked on my prayer box, caught up with a few friends on the phone, snuggled with a couple of my little men, took a nap. That is what Sundays are supposed to be like!

The Treasure of Answered Prayers
About my prayer box....I used to keep a recipe box with prayer requests written on color-coded 3x5 cards. I haven't used it for awhile, as some systems work better in some seasons than in others. But I decide this week, that I wanted to get it ready again. So I made tabs for each day of the week, as well as "urgent", "daily", and "verses"...since I like 3x5 cards for verses, too! I have a few things I feel God has told me to pray for daily: immediate family, certain kingdom issues, pressing needs, post partum moms, etc. But for many others, I've decided to set aside a certain day of the week to pray for: extended family, certain issues, national/government issues, etc. This is for intentional prayer. Other prayers are offered continually. As God lays things on my heart, I simply pray for them. Anyway, it was really fun to pull old cards out of my box today and see the things I was praying for "way back when" and know that God had come through.

The whole idea came from a story I read some time back about a family who was going through a lot. At Thanksgiving the adult children were having a hard time finding things to be Thankful for, and couldn't understand why their mom was making such a big to do over Thanksgiving. It had been a horrible year. They about got in a fight at the table over how God had not been there for them and asked the mom what on earth she had to be thankful for. The mom left the table and returned with a "treasure box". She dumped the contents on the table. Cards. A whole pile of them. On each card was a prayer she'd written out. The treasure box was full of her answered prayers. That was her treasure, and her reason for gratefulness.

Bill bought me a treasure box some years ago, and that is what I decided to use it for. It is time to dust it off, and get with it again. :D

Last year, I did a study on the Good Shepherd, which taught how the shepherd folds his sheep. There are so many lessons there, but one that stood out to me was how the shepherd is the one who decides when the sheep need to be in the pen with him, sectioned off in the area where they will get the care they need; and when they can be out of the pen doing other things. I've needed to focus on that this week as the urgency of life situations have kept me from being able to be on top of much of anything at all. I've really had a great time this week watching God come through, as I lay things at His feet, and just ask Him to show me what I need to do next. If I only have 10 minutes a day to make phone calls, who do I need to call? If I only have 15 minutes to work on MOPS details, which ones do I work on? He has prompted over and over again putting people on my heart to check in with...and then sometimes He just asks me to pray and trust that He can accomplish the details when I just ask Him too - He doesn't need me to be Wonder Woman.

So back to the prayer thing...I've had so much fun this week watching God answer prayers. When I lost all the info for a MOPS mom, I prayed God would bring her anyway, even though I never called her. She did. When a mom needed a miracle to get to a dying Father-in-law, we prayed, and God got her there. I could go on and on. It has been amazing, and I'm reminded over and over, how little God needs me. I'm the one that needs Him. I'm simply a vessel. He only needs me to be empty. Sometimes I'm so busy trying to make sure I'm full, I'm too full to be of any use. God can do so much more when I'm simply empty.

In other news...
My mom had an emergency apendectomy today in Springfield. She is recovering peacefully, and should be able to go home from the hospital tomorrow. Thankfully, they caught it in time, and it all went without complication.






My kids, giving each other Spiderman markings.




A couple of pics from Bill and I's night out before Christmas.


Riley's party yesterday with his Kid's Quest Discipleship group.







Views around our yard today.

Have you ever seen a snowbow? Which is what I assume you would call a bow that follows snow, as opposed to rain. :D



Mobius
This week, we also enjoyed a day trip to Mobius Children's Museum downtown Spokane with my MOPS table group. Very fun!

You HAVE to watch this!

A couple of friends shared this link with us this week.

www.stage6.com/user/guita...Is-Our-God

All I can say is, WOW! It is about 40 minutes long, so wait until you have time to watch it. You may also need to download a specific video player required. I also recommend that you do not wander around on the site after downloading the player or ask to watch video samples. The site itself hosts *many* kinds of videos. BUT this one rocks. If you know Lou Giglio, you already know it is good - but really, watch it!

Also, I've added a link on the side to the Purpose Driven Life. Their daily e-mail devotionals were shared with us by another friend and have really blessed us.

Discussions with the kids

Hayden to Uncle Taylor: You better stop getting so fat or you're going to have a baby.

Ian to Daddy: You can't be Spiderman. You're too old. You couldn't even get the suit on.

Ian: I've been thinking about it this week, and I'd really like to get married and have four kids, 2 boys and 2 girls. But you can't really decide. God decides if you can have kids or not have kids and if they're boys or girls.

Riley: I don't want any kids. I want to be like Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Michelle. Kids are too hard to control.

Riley has become our own infomercial expert. He writes down every 800 number on t.v. and gives me a full report of what I really need to buy and why. He has some good ideas, but suggesting I really needed a Life Call system, because I was getting old and might fall was a bit much.

Riley also decided this week that he was tired of people googling over his beautiful, long eyelashes (in his words..."Making fun of..."), so he cut them all off.

I started working this week at a local pediatrician's office. It is a tree hugger's torture chamber. We are converting paper files to electronic, so we copy papers to scan and then shred the copies ten minutes later. It is thoroughly boring, but I don't have to sweat, fry anything, or wear a hair net; so I shall be grateful. I'm only working about 9 hours a week, at very doable times. The family has stepped up and been very good about making sure I come home to the dishes done, toys picked up, etc. It forces me to be more scheduled, so schooling, etc. is all done before I leave for work.

The only thing is that I've been working hard to work less...in the sense that I want to be more of a lover than a doer. God has been pressing me to work on relationships vs. tasks. SO, it is a bummer, that for this season, I must add a task that has nothing to do with relationships. But so it is. I realized tonight that I had gotten into a groove of using my dinner prep time to make phone calls and check in on all "the girls", and now I'm gone during that time. So I must readjust and figure out how to indeed put the people before the details.

The Lord continues to press me to refine and narrow my focus. My new friend, women's minister, and mentor, Santha, reminds me that when God prunes, He often prunes off live, growing things for the sake of better fruit elsewhere. I felt this week the Lord tugging at me to let Him prune some things off. I said "yes" and it has been indeed a bit painful. But I have to trust Him with the results. I continue to pray about the direction of ministry, whether I will have to work more or be able to minister the way I feel called, what is happening to my book. I told Bill last night that I literally could drive myself crazy trying to come up with solutions, but I just want to know the heart of God. I just want to know HIM!

Bill was told Friday that he will not really be scheduled until the course re-opens this spring. He has been applying for miscellaneous tied-me-over jobs, but has also been asked to go ahead and come into the course a few days this week. Tonight he is at the Hagadone Suite at the resort, schmoozing a bunch of vacation planners. They needed someone super friendly and outgoing to give away merchandise and answer questions about the golf course. They picked Bill. Nice.

This week the recurring song going through my head has been, "Momma said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this momma said (momma said, momma said)!" So does teaching phonics with five interruptions, while one kid who got a snow day is running around taunting the other two who do not EVER get snow days (such is a bummer of homeschooling count? phone ringing with husband on other end needing secretarial services so I run through the basement dodging two boys tossing each other into bookcases? What about someone falling into the grout bags of the eternal remodal project and deciding to try to use the shop vac by themselves and blow the dust all over the basement? Or maybe the dog throwing up four times? Or the little guy wetting his bed two nights in a row?

Actually, the kids have been quite helpful this week. Ian did the dishes for me this week, which gave me the opportunity to mop the floor and wipe down all the countertops. Riley made Kool-aid, which again enabled me to wipe down all the countertops. Hayden helped tack some photos to my photo board, which gave me the opportunity to redesign it altogether.

...and don't I still live in North Idaho? Since when is school cancelled for six inches of snow. I'm baffled still.

I wanted to post some candids of the kids from today, but alas, my computer isn't wanting to read the card tonight. Momma said there'd be days....

A day in the life...

We played a game tonight that Clayton made up. He wrote a bunch of questions on cards and after you answer a question, you get a turn to throw a huge, stuffed hockey puck into a laundry basket. If you make the basket, you get a point.

Question to Hayden:
What is your favorite month?
Answer: Christmas Eve

Question to Ian:
What is your favorite day of the week?
Answer: Sunday because sometimes we have chocolate chip pancakes. Crazy good!

Question to Riley:
What is your favorite Bible story?
Answer: Jesus dying on the cross because it reminds us how much He loves us and how He died for every sin we've ever done in our whole life.

Question to Clayton:
What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
Answer: Usually we have one side of our entire family together and we get to just spend time together and get to know each other better.

My kids have blessed me so much lately. A friend's baby was in the hospital last week. The kids caught wind that I was going to visit and rallied together a whole greeting card factory. While they were making their cards, they asked me what was wrong with little Dougie (who they adore) and I explained. They were all so worried and said, "We need to pray for him." I thought, "Sure."...and figured we would when they were done - or at dinner or some other traditional prayer time. But they all just broke out in prayer, one after the other. I really had to hold the tears back.

Then today, when we all climbed into the van to head to church, they all started singing together with the CD, "I will sing of Your love forever! I will sing of Your love forever!" I was crying. I couldn't help it. So beautiful.

We had a great, busy day today. I got up early and had some good time with God and then made begniets (French Market Donuts) for the family, Bill's coworkers, and my MOPS friends. Then we headed off to church for 301 with some MOPS moms. SO GOOD! Truly one of my favorite things. 301 is our church's "How we make disciples" class, which is done by ministry and very interactive. I attended my first one a year or so ago, and it has really kicked my growth factor into high gear, just to process it all and really think about discipleship.

Then we headed off to Pamelas for a quick tour of her amazing Mercantile and collection, then to lunch with Kim and boys where we ran into three other moms from Real Life and had the opportunity to really sit and visit with one and hear her story. Then to Cabela's to exchange some boots I got for Christmas.













Cabela's is an outing in itself with kids. First we toured the mountain full of animals. Each side of the mountain features the wildlife of a different climate. Then off to see the fish, then to the General Store to sample fudge and get some sour cherry balls, then to the shooting arcade for a little target practice, and finally off to the cafe to say "hi" to Mr. Weddle who was very busy in a meeting. We decided not to bother him.

After four and a half hours of sleep last night, I'm exhausted - yet energized at the circle of relationships in my life and the pay-off of forcing myself from bed to have time with Jesus.

So, off to put another coat of stain on the bookcase I'm refinishing and enjoy a brownie before bed. I know. Bad, bad, bad!