The fruit of others' labor

We kicked off our second MOPS group today. Things weren't quite as smoothe as last week, but it went fine. It overwhelms me how many new moms we have and who all God wants to touch through MOPS this year. We had one mom who literally ran out of gas in the parking lot this morning and was sent to visit our group. She figured God must have wanted her there, and I think she was right. :D

This afternoon after finishing school and a short nap, we went on a little field trip. As mentioned before, my garden this year was a total joke. What survived my brown thumb, the deer ate. We only got a handful of radishes and tiny carrots from our garden this year. On Saturday a friend called and said they were leaving town and had put up all they were going to from their garden. She invited me to come help myself. So, the kids were just giddy in that garden. We picked corn, beans, tomoatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we really had a good time. The kids were obviously just delighted to see plants that actually grew things. So fun just to watch them.

Feels like life is finally getting a little more in sync. Homeschooling is going well with Riley and Ian. We're trying to get Clayton into the local public school (that is now full). I'm enjoying few evening obligations, with time to really be mom instead of teacher. We're reading "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls. So most nights, we settle down about 30 minutes before bed and color and read.

I've finished the book "Breathe" by Lori Wyatt Kent and am now deep in the middle of "Boundaries in Marriage" by Drs. Cloud and Townsend. It's one of those books that keeps revealing problems I didn't realize I had - well, others probably knew I had them, but I didn't. :P It's a good read, and not at all what I expected.

We kicked off our first MOPS group last week and kick off the second one tomorrow. Things are going so well. In fact, last week, it was so easy I kept wondering what we missed or forgot. It was so low stress. But truth is, God just showed up! We have a lot of people praying - and we worked really hard over the summer. I guess it is all just coming together. I'm so excited about this year. We have about 90 moms right now and will probably have more. Each of them are so unique, with their own set of special circumstances and areas where God wants to meet them this year. I'm always amazed at how much He meets me when I think I'm there for someone else.

The apples are exceptionally good this year. I haven't had time to put up any applesauce, or applebutter, or anything this year. But we sure are enjoying them fresh. Tonight I whipped up a honey apple cake for dessert, then put together a crockpot breakfast to be ready in the morning. Tomorrow I plan on making Karin's apple bake for MOPS brunch. (recipes all below) The smell of baking apples, candles lit all over, straw pumpkins and silk fall leaves.....ah! It's fall.

I added a couple of web links on the right to some favorite musicians. I have so many favorites, but these are lesser known artists that I think should be better known. KWIM?

Apple Recipes

Whole Grain Crockpot Breakfast
from my friend, Summer, who took it from the book "Super Baby Food"
2 c. brown rice
3 peeled and chopped apples
1/2 c. raisins
8 c. water
1 t. cinnamon
Put in a crockpot on low overnight. Sweeten to taste with honey or brown sugar. The original recipe calls for 5 cups, but Summer found it wasn't enough. Supper yummy!

Honey Applesauce Cake
from "Recipes from the Hive"
1/2 c. softened butter
1 c. honey
1 1/2 c. applesauce
3 c. flour
2 t. soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 c. chopped nuts
1 c. raisins
Grease a 9x13 pan and line the bottom with waxed paper. Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Blend in the honey and applesauce. Add mixture of sifted dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts and raisins. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for one hour (40 min. was enough) or until cake tests done. Invert onto wire rack to cool, remove paper. Dust with confectioners sugar, if desired. This recipe was a blue ribbon winner at the 2002 Spokane Interstate Fair.

Karin's Apple Bake Breakfast
from my friend Karin
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. flour
3 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
3 large apples, sliced and peeled
2 T. brown sugar
Preheat oven to 425. Place butter in 13x9 pan. Put in oven until butter melts. Add apple slices to butter and bake until butter sizzles (do not let it brown). Remove dish from oven. Meanwhile, combine eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk until blended (batter will be slightly lumpy). Pour batter over apples and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 30-40 minutes or until nicely browned and puffed up. Karin bakes hers for the full 40 minutes. Also, it will puff up a lot so don't have the oven rack highter than the middle or it will touch the top element.

I am loved. I'm a lover. I win!

I was able to get a ride up to the retreat with some people I didn't know. I wasn't worried. I was glad not to take my van, since the wipers don't work, and it has been raining. But, I knew I wouldn't be able to blare Jars of Clay Good Monsters on the way up.

God definitely arranged my road trip. The lady who drove is an amazingly sweet older woman, married for 42 years to an alcoholic. She got saved 7 years ago. She since has taken every Bible study she can get her hands on and took a year long mentoring course in California. She moved here in May and said she was looking for a way to get involved in mentoring through our church. "Well, I said...I think I can plug you in!" wink. wink. The other lady spends every day working with a kid like. She was so helpful and insightful - and will continue to be.

Deborah Hiebert was/is incredible. The message of the weekend was grasping how much God loves us and how His love should motivate us to be lovers. She made this statement that pulsated through me: "Lovers always get more work done than workers." It breaks my heart. I'm such a good worker. I've not been a lover...and I struggle to grasp an unconditional love.

She also used the statement "I am loved. I'm a lover. I win." Grasping that line of thinking changes so much about life. I wish I could fully put into words the changes in my heart. This summer, Bill and I were able to really have our spiritual lives "rocked" in Nashville. We came home with a totally new perspective on life. But "life" has gotten in the way since then, and we've left behind so much. Deborah's thoughts and teaching are so in line with what God started in our hearts a few months ago, and it gave me so much hope. I'm thankful to have a new friend that will help me grow in these areas.

As we were talking Sunday about leaving the past behind, I realized that the past I needed to leave behind wasn't drugs, or molestation, or any of the other things most struggle with - it is the past of being a worker - grasping the fact that God saved me to, so I could stop working to please Him - but love Him. I feel like a completely different person (well, at least until I'm still prodding history lessons at 6:30 p.m. :D ) It is truth I've known, but not grasped in this way before.

I'm amazed at the difference in my home, just because I came home as a lover. There is still much to be done, but much rest in knowing that my role is to love, and God is big enough to do the work.

So I return home with a brand new confidence in my God and what He intends for me, and I'm super pumped about the beginning of MOPS and sharing God's love with all those moms!

While I was gone, I did a visual activity that was very eye-opening to me. My Breathe book suggested to draw a tree and make branches for every responsibility I had in my life. Then add a branch off of it for every facet of that responsibility. For instance:
laundry - Towels, bedding, Bill, Me, Clayton....
Meals - planning, shopping, Monday- breakfast, lunch, dinner, Tuesday - breakfast.....
Finances - bills, planning, budgeting, banking...
MOPS - registration, programming, DGL's, mentors.....

You get the idea. Anyway, the idea is to fill it all out and then decide what you can prune off your tree to create more breathing room in your life.It was quite eye opening.
1) I was totally overwhelmed with the amount of branches on my tree.
2) I was amazed how small MOPS looks compared to my life and how little space it actually takes.
3) I initially left off some of the MOST important things in my life: my marriage (Yikes!) and my book .
4) I could only find one thing to totally prune off and do away with. The other things can be pruned - but will have to be grafted into someone else's tree. In other words, they have to be done - but not necessarily by me.

So, still praying about what to do. I really believe that I need to purposefully remove some "work" from my life if I'm going to focus on being a "lover."

Murder and Frankenstein

I'm leaving on the ladies' retreat tomorrow. I cannot even tell you how much I need it.

When coordinating a MOPS group with 25 women on the Steering Team is the easiest thing in your life, you have a problem. It seems God has me in a "everything is hard and you need to learn to stick with it no matter what" phase of life, and I really don't like it at all.

With that said, here are a couple of funnies from the week:

Ian: Will we be dead when we get to heaven? Will we be angels?
Me: No.
Ian: Well, will we still be alive?
Me: Yes, but we’ll have new bodies. We won’t be angels. The angels are already there.
Ian: (with big eyes) Well, I hope I’m still a boy!
Hayden: I hope I still have my same voice!

Last night, Hayden was all huddled in a laundry basket in the living room with a blanket over him. Riley and Ian were behind the couch. They wanted to do a skit. Riley Narrated.
Riley: A long time ago Mary found out she was going to have a baby. She was scared but the angel, Gabrielle, told her not to be scared. So she and Joseph headed off to Jerusalem, but none of the houses had any room for them to stay because it was Christmas. But somebody said they had a barn they could stay in, so they did and Mary had her baby. Then some wise men came.

Riley and Ian crept out from behind the couch presenting a toolbox and a hotwheel case to baby Jesus.

Riley: and the wisemen brought him gifts of murder and gold.
Clayton: Ha! Ha! Murder!!? It's Myrrh! and you forgot the Frankenstein!!

Bleachaphobia

Hi. I'm Angela Gifford, and I'm afraid of bleach. I don't keep it in my home. I don't use it. It irritates my skin, ruins my clothes, burns my eyes, gives me headaches, and makes everything smell like a swimming pool - which I don't tend to find to be a very homey smell.

So, when my son's science project listed bleach as a supply under "common household items", we had to go to the store. I was going to help my son use bleach to demonstrate a water purification system. LOL! Where are the eco friendly science projects, please? (My apologies to those who use bleach and believe it is good. Sales pitch: please visit http://www.saferforyourhome.com/ and then call me. End sales pitch. :D )

Against my better judgement, I decided that I might as well tackle some of those cleaning projects that maybe could benefit from bleach, but I don't buy it. You should have seen me decked out and ready to open it. You may have thought I worked for hazmat...lifting the seal with tweezers, etc.

So you can imagine my frustration to not see much of a difference from my efforts. I had to scrub just as hard as I do with my nice, safe, non-toxic cleaners for the same results. What is the point? It did however discolor my nice blue cleaning rag. When I got done, I realized, "What am I going to do with this nice cleaning rag? I can't put it in the laundry!" So I threw it away, and now I'm sure the inside of my trash can will be more sanitary.

I'm not sure what I accomplished this morning other than possibly permanently singeing the inside of my nasal passages and assuring myself that I'm not doing a half-baked job on my cleaning around here without bleach.

Riley was the first one up. I had done the cleaning downstairs, and when he came out of his room upstairs, his comment was, "WHOA! It smells like a swimming pool in here!" Which was soon followed by (after seeing his tub of clean clothes), "Mom, you always give me too much laundry!" Hee! Hee!

So we leave for Oregon today. We're not packed. I was up til about midnight tying up loose ends and awakened at 5:00 by our lovely resident packrat who decided to munch on the wall behind our bed for breakfast. After grumbling through my shower and bleach incident, I had to have a nice chunk of "face time." All better now. :D

Fall

Ahhh! Today is the first day that feels like fall. It is gloomy, drizzly, and cool. I've got tortilla soup in the crockpot, and am dragging up the box of fall decor. Maybe the kids and I will have some fun today. After all, this is my favorite season!

We're heading to Oregon later this week to teach at the leadership retreat for my dad's church. They are starting small groups, and want to start them right. We're very excited about the opportunity to show others how real discipleship works! We're also excited about just seeing them, and having some fun. Mom and dad will be following us back, because THEIR HOUSE FINALLY SOLD!!! After 18 months on the market, it should close the 25th. So we will all be busy getting it completely cleaned out.

Riley also has his ultrasound on the 24th to check out how he's lookin' inside.

I'm also really looking forward to the ladies' retreat at the end of this month. I've been told that there are few plans besides the worship times and meals. They want us to just have time to spend with God. I'm SO excited!