Favorite things, part 2

A while back I posted "These are a Few of My Favorite Things." Here's part 2:

• cinnamon toast, yum! The smell and taste. Growing up it was white bread and lots of butter...now it's whole wheat and "spread", but it's oh so close!


• Freshly painted toes...red and purple toes are the best! I think pink and french tips are over-done :)


• swimming. i love the weightless feeling. (as a kid, i would become a mermaid by putting a scrunchie around my ankles and practice swimming with my "fin"...that's another story)


• laughing. not polite chuckles, but shake-your-whole-body, pee-in-your-pants, ow-my-stomach-hurts laughing.

• A good friend. There's nothing like having someone who knows you and can tell your mood just by how you answer the phone.

• A clean kitchen. My entire house can be a mess and it won't bother me. Life goes on. But a clean kitchen makes me feel good.

• Visiting my parents house. It's a safe, comfortable place and I feel like a kid again.

• Coloring. Yes, give me crayons and a coloring book and I surely can entertain myself. I always could stay in the lines.

• Post-it notes. Multi-colored and in varying sizes, these sticky-backed squares of paper could be used for a multitude of things if you let me.

Mom

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I love my mom so much...here are just a few of the many reasons why:

• she loves me...no matter what. i have never doubted her love.
• mom has a great sense of humor. and a really funny laugh. when mom, my sister Naomi & I get together...watch out! there will be hysterical laughing.
• mom is smart. really smart. she reads a ton. i always thought she'd make a great contestant on Jeopardy.
• she is wise. i know that mom will give me sound Godly advice when i need it.
• she loves Jesus with all her heart and seeks after Him
• Mom loves my husband and my kids :) she is an awesome Haha (grandma) and she has a real relationship with Mike
• her tender heart.
• mom is still in awe of God's creation...and its contagious. She has a way of causing you to stop and really admire & appreciate the world around us.

Happy Mother's Day Mom. Thank you. I love you.

Her children rise up, and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28

Riding along in your automobile...

...with your kids beside you at the wheel...What do you do?

Most parents with school-aged kids spend significant amounts of time driving...to school, to practice, to friends' houses...What happens in your car during these times? Do you pop in a DVD? Talk on your cell phone? Tune out? Listen half-heartedly to complaints & bickering?

Or do you value this time as precious?

Here's what I've found:

• You have a captive audience when you are in the car together. Don't take this time to "lecture", but converse. My daughter always opens up about what's going on in school. See this time as a chance to find out what's going on in their lives. I find out more about Amber's life during car rides than I do at any other time.
• Listening to the music your kids listen to connects you. Let them select the station/song. You may not particularly enjoy the music, but this is about connecting. Don't cut yourself off from your kids' world...share it. I will listen (and sing along) to many of the finds on my 13 year old son's ipod.
• (side note: do not attempt to be "cool"...you will never succeed in your middle-schoolers eye!)
• Allow for a quiet ride. No music...just quiet.

My heart aches when I see the same mom, day after day, in the car-rider lane at school, on her cell phone, with the dual DVD players on in the back...

Parents, you have the most influence on your child...every moment counts!!!

Preparing for Orange

With a small team of people from Oak Leaf church, next week I am heading to the Orange Conference, a kid-ministry extravaganza (www.theorangeconference.com). In addition to an amazing list of speakers and musicians, I'll be attending four breakout groups that will give me specialized information on areas of kids ministry. I am really looking forward to next week.

Before I leave, I'll be sitting down with my husband to create a list to all the comings-and-goings that he'll have to oversee while I am gone. I know he can handle it. He's my Superman. :)

The other thing I am doing before heading to Orange is try to think through what some things I'd like to walk away from it with are. I've picked up a new journal. (I love new journals!) I've begun recording a jumble of thoughts. I am a note-taker, a quote-jotter, and a doodler-while-I listener. I think that half of what I learn from Orange will be later on as I as review and mull through my writings.

Here's a few things I am looking forward to:

• meeting others like me! Admit it, kids ministry volunteers are a little goofy, and I can't wait to bask in the fun.
• the ideas! People from churches of all sizes, budgets, & needs will be there. I hope to hear how they may be adapting 252basics (our curriculum) to their own situations.
• bonding with the others going. Even just the road trip will be an experience! (did I mention I get carsick?)
• making connections with people that I can share ideas with in the future.
• getting away :) Yes, I am excited to sleep in a hotel.
• worship. there is nothing like thousands of voices raised to the heavens in praise! gives me goosebumps just thinking of it.
• growing closer to God. it's so true that we can be inspired and drawn closer to Him through experiences like this.
• sharing stories. we all have them. the kid who got stuck in the movie-theater chair. the child who asked, "who am i really, inside of my heart?". The time i sat in a puddle of who-knows-what and had wet jeans for the rest of the service. The day you watch one of your students get baptized. It's these touching, quirky, spirit-filled moments, that create great stories, and I can't wait to hear them.

I am so blessed to have this opportunity...Yes, I am looking forward to growing at Orange 2010!

Winter comes before Spring

I love the rebirth of the earth during spring, when all becomes new again. It definitely gives way to thoughts about rebirth into something new and how we are made new in Christ.

I've also reflected on the dormant state that much of nature goes into during winter. After the leaves fall and die, the beauty of flowers and trees fades, we are left looking at brown and grayish bare branches, dried grass, and withered flowers.

But what is really going on? On the outside these things look dead and lifeless, but inside where no one can see, they are being renewed and prepared for the next season where their beauty will soon emerge. There are times of life when it feels like nothing beautiful or meaningful is being produced, or when your potential isn't fully used.

But take heart! It is at these times, that God is preparing and renewing you for something great. During this time or dormancy, we must train ourselves in obedience and truth and be still. Patience.

Take joy in the winter, for spring will follow.

Pre-Egg Drop Thoughts

The 3rd Annual Cartersville Egg Drop is tomorrow, March 27th. (See www.TheEggDrop.com)

The planning is done, 50,000 Easter Eggs are assembled, tons of candy has been donated and sorted, hundreds of volunteers have signed up and are prepared, doorhangers and invite cards have been passed out, the trailer is loaded and ready to go. Prayers have been said for weeks and months leading up to this one event. Volunteers will show up as early as 7am for an event that doesn't start until 10am.

Why? Why does a church put such a huge effort into an event not about Jesus but about candy and eggs? Simple. Jesus called his followers to be light in the darkness, so that those in the dark would be drawn to Him. If through The Egg Drop, one person accepts an invitation to Oak Leaf Church where they can come and hear about Jesus, then we have succeeded. We desire to see people drawn to God. There are so many people just in Cartersville who are far from God. We are not going to reach them by quoting scripture or pointing fingers at them. Jesus went out to the people. The Egg Drop is one way that Oak Leaf Church gets into the community to have fun and build connections with people.

Hope you can come!

An email from my 8-year-old

The following is an email my 8-year-old daughter sent me today.

Hi,MOM

i jest wanted to tell you that i love you and that i am so glad that God put us together.If we were not together then i would be so sad and my hart would jest break.When ever you were gone i would always look at a picture and cry because i always had fun with you and you were jest gone and i still do that and i will always do that even when i am in colege.When ever you come home and i hug you and you hug me my hart would be pounding with joy because you came home to see your family.I jest wanted to tell you that so you could keep us together,but i know we would always be together.I love you so much.

LOVE, your best girl Amber

Christmas Traditions

I'm a sentimental gal. I love traditions and rituals and warm, cuddly, heart-felt moments. That's one of the things that I love about the Christmas season. There are random things that have become traditions in our family unintentionally that I wouldn't trade for the world.

• Choosing our Christmas tree as a family. When we lived in Massachusetts, we would gear up and trek around at the snow-covered tree farm (sometimes for an hour+) looking for the perfect tree. Mike usually is the most particular about the tree, the kids usually end up running around, and I try and help Mike visualize the tree decorated. Of course, here in Georgia, there's no tree farm, but we still go together as a family to select the tree and bring it home.
• Lights and decorations. This too, is a family event. I'm the one with the patience to string the lights and then it's game on and the decorating begins. We usually have a fire and Christmas music playing...perfect.
• Bon-bons...or buckeyes...or chocolate-covered peanut-butter balls. Call them what you want but I will make these with either my mom or my sister at every Christmas possible. I love baking with them.
• 25 Days of Christmas...movies that is. Gotta love watching the oldie-but-goody Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Frosty the Snowman. These classics are a part of every season.
• Yankee Swap. Some call it White Elephant. It goes by many-a-name, but this game of gift exchange has always happened at my large family Christmases. Upon moving to Georgia, we haven't been able to attend those family gatherings and have introduce our version to our southern friends...and the fun continues...
• Christmas morning....everyone must be awake and together we go to the living room. No late sleepers or early peekers.
• Driving around town at night looking at Christmas lights. Some are crazy, some are over-the-top, some are reserved and tasteful.
• Reading the Christmas story in the Bible. We all know the story, but I love to reread it every year. And every year God reveals something different to me. Through reading the scripture and listening to the message at church, God shows me more of Him and why He chose to humble Himself and come to earth. Oh, what an awesome love!

Creation perfection

I recently was going through some photos that I had taken this past summer, and was able to pause and reflect on the perfect, beauty of God's creation. No detail was left unlooked. The intricacies, colors, textures all point to God. How can anyone contest a creator?

Pittsburg, NH

Waaaaaay up north, at the very top of the state of New Hampshire, bordering Canada, is the town of Pittsburg. It's almost 300 square miles, with a population under 1,000. Most of what you see is mountains, trees and lakes. God's Country, some people call it. The closest movie theater is an hour and 15 minutes away. You shop at Young's store or the Trading Post. Tourism is beginning to take over, as people flock to Pittsburg for fishing in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter. But the Pittsburg experience is much different for me.

My father's family owns a small cabin on Back Lake and I have spent time there almost every summer of my life. We call it "Kamp Komfort". It is small & rustic with exposed 2x4's, homemade furniture, and hardly any modern comforts. We have to boil water on the stove and then fill a watering can with the hot water to hang in the shower. We have an outhouse. I remember as a child pumping the water out of the well into a bucket. I am often woken in the middle of the night to the sounds of the mouse trap snapping and falling to the ground. The black flies, mosquitoes, and deer flies leave you covered in welts...sounds like fun?

Ahhh, yes. And I can't wait to head up there for a few days this summer. The sunrise every morning and sunset every night over the lake are truly a sight. "Jesus painted a beautiful sky," we say. The smells and sounds of the woods and water are fresh and earthy. With all that nature and very little man, the night sky is huge and brilliant. We feed ducks and watch the babies grow. We walk along the "tricky path" and try not to stumble over the roots. We spend hours in the small boat waiting for the fish to bite. Sometimes coming back with nothing, other times with a stringer full of fish. We catch trout and bass, clean them in the woods, and have them for dinner. Evenings are filled with card games. It's said that on rainy afternoons, the mattresses curl, and you just have to lay on them to hold them down. We've paddled in the paddle boat, kayaked, and sailed in small sailboats. We drive along route 3 in the evening looking for moose. We pick bouquets of wildflowers and nap in the hammock.

Life slows down and God's creation is amplified.

I can't wait.

Needs

I gave blood recently and was struck with the realization as to how dependent humans are on each other for this necessity of life. Scientists can't manufacture artificial blood. Hospitals don't stock pigs blood. Humans are dependent on the selfless acts of others who endure a small pain and inconvenience.

I enjoyed thinking about my gift to someone. My blood could help save a life. Yeah, the needle pinches and burns, but only for a minute. Yes, I had to answer what seemed like 95 questions. Yes, it took about an hour of my time. And yes, they wouldn't let me leave until I consumed super-sugary juice and nutter butter cookies. But if that's all the complaints I've got...it's so worth it. I've known many people who say, "oh, I'll never give blood again, because the one time I did, I got dizzy and nauseous." Seriously. That's all you got?? My husband doesn't donate blood because he had leukemia as a child. He would love to, but can't.

Acts 4:34 says: "There were no needy persons among them." Wouldn't it be great to be able to say, there are no needs, all needs are met. Everywhere we look we see needs. Blood, food, friendship, kind words, a helping hand. We are the answer to those needs. Yes, sometimes, it's not easy and may cause some personal discomfort or inconvenience. But Jesus met our greatest need for a savior, enduring the most extreme pain and discomfort. God did not create us to be selfish, absorbed, hard-shelled individuals only concerned for ourselves and those in out little bubble. Our lives are to be richly intertwined with one another, reflecting and acting like Christ.

I'm not telling everyone to give blood. I know there are circumstances that prevent donation. But I am encouraging you to commit selfless acts that aid, comfort, and assist others. Step outside your comfort zone once in a while...you may be pleasantly surprised by what God can use you for.

A Smile

I think it's quite amazing that when God created humans, He gave us the ability to smile. So much can be communicated with one smile. When my son Caeleb was just nine months old, we were shopping at a mall, just a couple of weeks before Christmas. That time of year, people hustle around, quite harried and stressed. We sat on a bench together and watched individuals rush around, annoyed at the crowds, the lines, the noise... Everyone looked so unhappy. Caeleb, sitting in his stroller, big blue eyes looking all around, began flashing pudgy faced baby grins at anyone who came near. And the effect was amazing! Most everyone who caught his smile, slowed, softened and smiled in return. His smile was a gift to them. In the craziness of life, as we all wander to and fro, doing all the things we have to do, I try and remember how easy it is to make even a small effort at brightening someone's day...with a smile.

7 Days!!!!

I picked up the new Jodi Piccoult book at the library on Monday. It's only available on a 7 day loan, today is Friday, and I'm only 1/3 of the way through it!!! I know I can do it, but am not sure I have the time....arg! Seriously, don't they realize people have lives and cannot spend all their time reading?

John 11

I find it interesting that when Jesus received word that Lazarus was sick, when Mary & Martha sent word to Him, He stayed where He was for two more days.
I am sure that when M & M sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick," they weren't saying, "bring Nyquil, Lazarus has a cold" - no he was seriously ill, on his death bed. M & M believed that Jesus would come & heal Lazarus.
But there was a greater plan. Instead of rushing to heal Laz., Jesus waited, therefore allowing Lazarus to die! Jesus knew that through the death of Laz., He would be glorified vs.4. It is in His Timing. It is His Plan.
Because of Mary & Martha's faith, they believed that Jesus could've saved their brother from death, that had Jesus been there He would've performed a miracle & healed Laz. from the grips of a deadly illness. Jesus had done it before. Oh, how sad and disappointed M & M must have been when Jesus didn't come and their brother died. After Jesus arrived, Mary said to Him, " if you had been here, my brother would not have died vs 32." She had faith, but it wasn't big enough - she didn't grasp that even then, after Laz. had passed, that Jesus could do great things.
Oh, we are so like that! how often do we have a goal - a prayer - something BIG that we believe God will answer by _____. And when the request isn't answered, we feel disappointed and we think, "it's not His time. it's not part of His plan.", when all along, God wants to answer it in a different way - maybe bigger, grander - more amazing -to build greater faith & belief.
In this we can learn to not let our hearts be troubled. God works in all things for the good of those who love Him.

Thinking About Praying

Honestly...I think I spend more time thinking about what I should pray about than actually praying.
Throughout the day, I pray at various times, but in retrospect I also see myself making a mental to-pray list: "I need to make sure I pray for so-and-so, and about such-and-such, and thank God for this-and-that..."
Why do I do this rather than just pray? Why do I feel the need to organize my prayers before talking to God? He doesn't care what my prayers sound like, or if they are in a specific order, or if I use lots of fancy, Christian prayer lingo. And maybe that's it for me. Gulp. Maybe there's a part of me that is selfish about prayer. I need to focus on just talking to God and having a conversation with Him. This is the relationship that Jesus wants with us. He wants to know us and us to know Him...how awesome is that? we have a God who desires to be in relationship with us...