Giving Thanks to God for Many Blessings

Just relaxing this morning (because Thanksgiving dinner isn't at my house today) and thinking of all the things I'm thankful for. My cousin M wrote down her list, and that inspired me to write my own, as well as post it on the fridge for those days when I'd rather gripe than be thankful to God for all the blessings that come only from His hand. In no particular order:
1. Salvation through Christ, full and free
2. My loving, patient, caring, considerate husband
3. My eldest sensitive, cuddly, thoughtful son
4. My younger spunky, lively, makes-you-laugh (and cry alot too) all the time son
5. Extended loving friends and family
6. A warm house in the winter
7. Good food to eat and no worries about not having enough
8. A healthy pregnancy thus far
9. Stable work and pay for my husband to provide for our needs
10. The ability to stay at home with my kids
11. Biblical guidance in training up our children
12. Forgiveness for my failures and shortcomings
13. Reliable vehicles to drive
14. Overall good health of family and friends
15. Good music, tea, warm baths, candles and all those little things that brighten my days

I pray that I can continually remember these things, as well as many more blessings we receive each day and forget to give thanks for.

Life as a Parent

I just thought I'd write a few lines on how ironic it is, that every time I schedule something, someone gets sick and I have to cancel. How does sickness know you have plans? I recall missing a choir concert recently, last years Christmas program, having company last week for our yearly Christmas girls function. Somehow, either I end up ill (like this time, so I couldn't even blame anyone) or one of the kids just happens to show up with illness at the last minute. It likely is also because we try to keep busy in the winter, so schedule lots of stuff, and then eat junk and end up with low immunity because of all the sugar and lack of sleep...but it still seems unfair. Oh well... I do wonder if I should ever make plans for my life again. Maybe I should just never have company and never make any commitments, to remove that disappointment that comes when we have to cancel....but then again, that'd be pretty boring too. Even moreso than the anticipation of looking forward to fun things and then having to stay home and staring at the walls. Spring will come again someday...and hopefully with it health and a healthy new baby to look forward to.

thoughts on adoption

Just recently some friends of ours found out they were going to be parents through adoption, after much time waiting. The baby was to be born the end of December, and the wife had gone to prenatal checkups with the birth mother, as well as met with her prior to this, as she (birth mom) had chosen them to be the parents for her baby. Well, they got a surprise a couple weeks ago when the mom went into labor 2 months early, so they are suddenly parents now (much to their happiness but also surprise). Baby is doing well and should be released soon, but it got me thinking about our spiritual adoption. In natural adoption, once a child is adopted, there is no going back. That child is yours for the rest of your life. You can't disown them (as you can a natural born child), but they are yours forever. We as Gentiles are adopted into the kingdom of heaven when we believe, and this is a promise that can't be taken away. I think of that song A Child of a King "I've been adopted, my name's written down; an heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown." We sure don't deserve it, but the promise is there, that whoever believes on Him, will have eternal life. Not just the chosen people, or the good people, or the ones with the right genetics. Galations 4 says "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ." What a wonderful promise!!

the un-excitement of the week

Not much on my mind today, but do feel a great deal better than yesterday, or the day before. On Wednesday I had my first prenatal appointment, and the only slot they had open was 8:30 am. Fine for me, but I have 2 boys that I have worked on getting them to sleep until that time for my own benefit. Not only that, but I needed to talk to the financial counsellor before the appointment, making me have to be there at 8. So, I faithfully make up some pb&j sandwiches and milk cups for the boys, wake them and plunk them directly in their car seats and drive off to town. I get there right at 8 (and you moms know how hard it is to actually get somewhere on time) and tell them what the deal is, and they tell me to just wait as S (her name) isn't in yet. I wait, and wait, and wait, and then find out she had a meeting today and won't be in until afternoon.(she did call and apologize that afternoon, so she's forgiven) So, they are late getting me back for the appointment, so I have sat a total of an hour in the waiting room with 2 tired (but happy, thankfully) boys when we all could have been sleeping. Oh, did I mention that I had 'slept' half the night in the LazBoy with James as he was already not feeling well and was tossing and turning and crying if he wasn't in my lap? Needless to say waiting that long would have been fine any other day, but today? I just didn't need that. The appointment went fine from then on, and my due date is officially April 23, so we'll see what actually happens. To add to the excitement, Tuesday Luke had the flu, and Thursday James awoke in the night with it. At least they both didn't have it at the same time, because two puking kids would just be bad news. Luke is luckily old enough to handle it pretty good, but James still needs alot of assistance. And although I've dealt with my share of sickness in my nursing career (think of the Mesa ER with all it's old people and post-op surgery floors -full of puking), I still don't handle it too well. It all started when I was a pretty new nurse and a sweet old man was coughing and I handed him a Kleenex and at that exact moment he coughed so hard he threw up into my gloveless hand. I've just never been the same. (my apologies to those of a weak stomach) ;) I did get our budget figured and honed in this week, so now the challenge is to live by it!! That'll be the hard part, but I know will pay off (Greg had to turn down an offer for a hand made Nicarauguan (sp?) guitar that he wanted the first day we were on track, but I'm sure we'll survive, we just had to laugh at the irony of it) Not that we needed a guitar, as neither of us even know how to play. Definitely not a necessity.

Busy Saturday wanderings

Yesterday I feel like was just a whirlwind, so today was spent recovering and napping. We arose early to get Greg's truck running (parked at the bottom of our driveway and needed push-started to get going) so that he could get the starter replaced at a friends house. (the friend needed to borrow it and offered to fix it in payment of using). So, Greg got going early and I continued getting ready for being gone all day with the boys being babysat all day. So I then got the boys out the door in the nick of time, delivered to Auntie J's house, and kept on trucking to get Greg to head to the Rose Garden to see Dave Ramsey(http://www.daveramsey.com/). We missed our parking exit, and ended up on one of Portland's many bridges, and had to meander back again, verging on late because of the mishap. So, finally able to stop running and just sit, we sat all day (1-6) and got very excited about cracking down on all debt, which is his main schpeil (sp?). Living in our means and not buying things we can't afford (if you don't have the money, don't buy it). He's quite inspirational, and his methods are so basic that anyone with a some discipline can follow them. He says you have to be weird (to expect to not have mortgage is definitely weird in this day and age), so I guess we can expect some weirdness in our future. He encourages cutting up of all credit cards, using cash (which is hard to do, as we've already been trying it, but it works) and only using debit cards when necessary (you spend way more when you use debit rather than cash). So, hopefully we can implement what we've learned and then prayerfully be more able to help others in need instead of giving all our money to banks (who may 'need' it, but it sure isn't a good investment or a blessing to God) Anyways, then we headed back to Uncle R & Auntie J's house and had wonderful soup for supper and a great visit before tiredly heading home. Thankfully we got another hour of sleep due to daylight savings time change. Today we came home from church, napped and now are ready to eat some apple pie that Greg has been requesting all fall (and summer and spring and finally gets).

Love Makes the World Go 'Round

Yesterday we attended a gathering with church members, and the topic was "what helps or hurts human relationships?" Many people gave very helpful information, and I thought I'll share it, as a reminder to us how important our actions, words, and even "Christian image" are when we relate to others in the Christian and secular world. The first thing is of course, the Golden Rule. Do to others as you would have them do to you. This is our best way of healthy relationships. Along with that is putting the best construction on others, and assuming the best of them, rather than assuming the worst, getting our feelings hurt and stewing about our hurts to everyone except the person who (perhaps unintentionally) hurt us. The next is, if we have a problem with someone, or something someone said, we need to pray for them for love and forgiveness, and then either go to them and seek to make things right, or let it go and forgive them. (it's hard to stay mad/hurt when you instead spend that time in prayer) Being aware of what we say is also important. I've found that moving to a new place has really caused me to watch my words, because I often say things that are misinterpreted because people don't know when I'm kidding, being sarcastic or serious. This has caused confusion for me, because I'm just being me, but have hurt people unintentionally in the process. The last thing I can remember from the discussion is to love each other unconditionally as Christ loved us. Love those who are not easy to love, love those who have caused you pain, treat everyone with love even though you may not want to. "Love covers a multitude of sins", as we all desire to be loved, no matter of our past or present sins. One more thing...give compliments. They make everyone feel better and a meaningful compliment goes a long way... as I stated in my "Country Village lady" blog.

The Pleasure of Soup

While we still lived in Arizona, and I was dragging my feet to move up here due to the long dreary winters, Greg reminded me that one plus would be the amount of days that I could make soup. He loves to eat it, and I love to make and eat it, so it all works out for us. So, we moved up here, and I started exploring the options of soup. In Arizona you make chili, maybe once a year (it just isn't the same on a warm day), and the opportunities for experiementing just didn't happen. I didn't really cook much in my life before then, although Alberta and Alaska would have been perfect for soup too. Today as I was heating up leftover soup for lunch, I again (as I do everytime I eat soup) pondered what makes it so wonderful. Leftover soup has the added benefit of the blending of flavors, and the heat just seems to warm your soul right down to the core. There are so many types of soup, that I love experimenting with each style and it seems you just can never go wrong, no matter how many things you add or subtract (within reason of course). Soup is also often cheap to make, and the smell as it simmers in the slow cooker all day can't be beat. It makes it taste all the better at supper time. Homemade bread is best with it, but usually I don't have any so biscuits suffice well. Everytime I try I new soup, I declare it my favorite (this week it's Kendra's bean soup in the Kurtti cookbook, with my own garden veggies added) and then the next time I try another new one, it becomes my favorite. So, despite the coming of the rain this season, I look forward to hundreds of heartwarming bowls of soup, each one special in it's own way.

The Country Village Lady

Due to my youngest sons itching, sleep issues, allergies, etc., I've had to visit our local health food store, The Country Village, alot more often than I have wanted to admit this past year. Trying to find foods he could eat (wheat free teething biscuits, anyone?), things to make his eczema go away, things to help him sleep, things to help his digestion, etc. Every time I'd go in, I'd skeptically try to find something new to try in hopes that it would help. And pretty much every time I went, there was this clerk named Patty who would comment on how good the boys were, how cute they were, what good helpers they were, and so on. I never thought about it until much later, but it really gave me a boost to hear those things, as it was a long depressing winter with a sleepless baby and a Mom who didn't know what to do. The pediatrician was of no help, and most advice given was meant to be helpful but didn't help. The Mommy guilt of a having a baby who itched most of the time, and woke up usually 10 times a night (at least) had taken it's toll and I think that's where much of my prayer skeptism came in, because nothing seemed to help or make anything better. Anyways, just this week I was in Country Village again, and the boys each had a bottle they were carrying for me to the checkout, when Patty again commented on what good helpers they are, and how wonderful it is to let them help, and how she loves it when we come in the store as it really brightens her day. I finally had a chance to tell her it was she who brightened my days last winter (and I ended up crying as I was telling her that), as I usually ended up in the store in a last ditch effort to try something new this time. When she would say nice things to me, it made me feel like "yes, I can do it" rather than being downhearted because nothing ever seemed to be looking up. I have a calendar and it says on it "Never underestimate the power of a kind word". That totally sums up Patty at the Country Village. I am thankful to report that the last treatment plan with James is working, and he is almost itch-free and is sleeping through the night (most of the time).

A "good" cat story

Just this afternoon, Greg and I were talking of how we are to assist keep a conversation going this evening between 2 people that don't know each other. Concluding that we need to find things these 2 have in common would be very helpful and the thought came that a cat story usually is a great ice breaker and I thought I'd share my few with you. (they are true, morbid, and a bit gory...I wish I had loving kind ones, but unfortunately those times with cats usually get forgotten, and these awful ones get remembered). The first is about our childhood cat MewMew (this would be Amy's story). She was a kitten when we got her, and Amy played with her constantly. Dressing her up in doll clothes, feeding her with a bottle, the works. She was a favorite kitten and coincidentally she met her fate just as we were about to go on our first camping trip with our new travel trailer. We were all so excited to get going, as we hadn't been camping in years, and were all loaded up ready to go. As my Dad started the car, we heard a yowl from under the hood, and yes, MewMew had gotten caught in the fan belt and was all mangled up. Now what to do....we're ready to go camping, and not to the vet at such a time. So, she seemed fairly 'stable' but unable to walk. We put her in our dog house (the safest place we could think of) with food and water and blankets and regretfully left on our trip. It was not an enjoyable trip. All of us kids tried to have fun, but all I remember of the trip was laying awake in my sleeping bag for hours praying that MewMew would be alright. Well, when we got home she was gone. We looked all over for her, thinking a coyote probably got her, but finally found her curled up behind the deep freeze staying warm. We're not sure how she dragged herself across the yard, but somehow she did. What a trooper. I do believe we had to put her down then, because of her leg injuries were too much. And that was the end of MewMew. The next cat story is mine. I was about 6 and on the farm my Dad had given us kids instructions to knock down any barn swallow nests we saw, to keep the birds from building nests under the eaves of the house/shop/barn. So, one day I diligently was following instructions and got a long broom, knocked down the nest and it was full of baby birds. There they lay on the ground wriggling about and I had no idea what to do. This was not anticipated. As I stood there wondering what to do, our cat came along and gobbled them all up. Well, problem solved. But, just then, Mom called us in to dinner. I went in as I was told, but didn't have the heart to tell anyone that I was a baby bird murderer, nor explain why my appetite had suddenly left. (It was actually years before I had the nerve to tell anyone what I had done.) The last story belonged to my cousin Susan. She loved to tell this story to embarass her dad and humiliate her mom in front of company, especially at the dinner table. The story goes that one cold snowy night, their family was late for the Christmas program and her dad went careening out of the driveway only to drive over their beloved cat. In his haste, he didn't stop and when the program was over and they came back home, there was their cat, flattened and frozen solidly to the driveway...a real challenge to deal with now. I actually do recall many good memories of having cats, since we always did (Priscilla was our favorite we had her for many years), but somehow life for cats on the farm is quite risky and these stories tell of it. So, that's the end of this lengthy, uplifting saga from my childhood. I don't think I'll share those stories at dinner tonight....

Prayer update

I brought up my concerns with prayer at Bible Study last night, and was overwhelmed by the response I received (for the good). We discussed it at great length, since we are studying the 23rd Psalm, and are on the first verse "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." The best response I got though was that often it's our attitude that needs to change, and then our prayers will change and be more effective. Meaning, if we pray more that God would show us His will, give us His heart, love like He loves, forgive like He forgives...then our prayers will be answered more since we are more in tune with our Father in heaven. I have a tendency to pray for more specific circumstantial things, and then get discouraged when I can't "do anything" about them. I know if my attitude was more to love, forgive, encourage and be patient and let God do His perfect work in the situations, they will all turn out for the better. I guess we humans always want to help God, and think that we know what is best (and we use prayer as a means to have Him do what we want), but instead we need to trust Him more, rely on His perfect ways more, forgive more, be more longsuffering, etc. I hope this makes sense, as I do believe this advice was just what I needed to hear. (not exactly what I wanted though, as I really like to be in control and help God do His job of running the world)

Prayer

The past few days I have been analyzing prayer. It seems that I have a difficult time "praying believing", as my skeptical side always throws in it's opinion. And then when a prayer isn't answered the way I want, I say to myself "well, what was the point in praying anyways?" The Bible has much information on prayer, and the passages indicate we are to pray "without ceasing" "confidently" "fervently" and so on. I seem to pray half heartedly and really wonder how to improve my confidence in the power of prayer (besides praying for it!). Deep down I know that God is going to do what's best for me, so why ask Him? (Because He told us to!) And doesn't He get sick of some of the repetition? (No, He doesn't). God sees the big picture, which I don't, and I do wholeheartedly trust He is going to teach me what He needs. I know that mostly the problem is the devil just trying to dissuade me, but I guess I wish I could learn how I can pray more effectively and not just let things happen as they are going to anyways. Any thoughts??

A pickle of a situation

So, last week in the midst of my making pickles, I happened to have one of those 'mom moments' where you must multi-task but the results ended up less than satisfactory. I was busy heating up my syrup to make the spicy pickles (8 cups apple cider vinegar, 16 cups sugar, 1 cup very coarse pickling spices) and was waiting endlessly for this big pot to boil. So, I stirred, waited, stirred, waited and of course (the big no-no) cranked up the heat to make it happen sooner. Well, what do you know, but after about 1/2 hour of this I was getting rather bored of waiting and then suddenly Luke needed my assistance "right away" so I ran to his aid, only to come back and my big pot had boiled over. Half of the contents were everywhere. So, not only did it smell quite pungent, but that much sugar made it a very sticky situation. It spilled under 2 burners, down the vent into the bottom of the oven (which of course I had just cleaned last week), under the stove, under the fridge, in the drawer and all the pans under the stove, and all over the floor. The spices in it also made a very interesting mess to clean up as they got stuck on everything. I've washed my floor (and more) numerous times, but it still squeaks a bit when you walk around the stove and I am still getting sticky drips coming out from here and there, when I thought there could be no more places for this stuff to hide. Ahh! At least I could've turned down the burner before leaving it unattended. Hopefully this is a lesson learned. It was quite a chore that I didn't really need added to my day that day, but I have to say it wasn't quite as messy as the one time my chicken enchiladas exploded (pan and all) in the oven. Now that- was a mess!