Homing Pigeon?

Last night I needed to get something out of my van . . . and when I opened the door to our garage, this is what I saw. I may have let out some sort of "Ahh!" thinking it may fly directly into my house and then quickly shut the door. I called Mike and the girls to the door to take a look, and they had the same reaction.

I thought it was a mourning dove . . . but Mike saw the bands on it's ankle and informed me that we had a homing pigeon!

We went online to try to find some information or leads on where it came from, but came up empty handed! So, Mike and the girls put together a make shift cage, got some water and rice for it to eat, and it stayed in our house last night. Faith has affectionately named it pijjy.

I made some calls this morning, and what I found was that most people who own homing pigeons, don't want the lost ones returned because they went off course and, therefore, are useless. I was told I could keep it if I want . . .

So, Mike and I are working on training it to deliver mail, so we don't have to buy stamps anymore. If you end up seeing a really cute pigeon by your door with a letter attached to it's ankle . . . it's from us. Just make sure you send it home after you've received your note.

Do I have eyes in my heart?

Last night as we were getting the girls ready for bed, the radio was on. The song was, "Open The Eyes Of My Heart". I wasn't even really paying attention until Faith asked, "Do we have eyes in our hearts, Mom?"

Isn't it amazing the verbage we take for granted as adults? There are so many confusing things that we say in regards to our faith, it's a wonder our kids ever get it! Here's jus a couple of confusing things I've talked about with Faith - in a bulleted list - in honor of Dana.

• Have you asked Jesus into your heart? - I can see that this could be a bit confusing . . .
• Open the eyes of my heart - how do you explain that one to a 4-year-old?
• Washed in the blood of Jesus - doesn't this sound disgusting?
• How can God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit all be the same person? - I've always tried to explain this one by saying that I'm a mom, a sister and a daughter . . . but I'm the same person. I have different roles, but still am 1 person.
• Our souls go to heaven, but not our bodies . . . until Jesus comes back, and then our bodies will be raised and be new . . . confusing for adults, much less children. "What about the babies that died in your tummy? They didn't have bodies yet?"

I can see why the statistics out there point to the fact that 80% of the people who come to Christ, do so as children between the ages of 5-12 . . . beyond that, I think people need to rationalize their faith - they need to have specific answers to unanswerable quesitons before they'll commit. Kids don't need to rationalize . . . they just believe it!

Isn't childlike faith amazing?

What crazy questions have your kids asked?

Accountability

When we make goals for ourselves . . . why is it so often so hard to acheive them?

I've talked a lot about New Year's resolutions lately . . . but how many of us have actually stuck to them in year's past? In my last post, I talked about just making the goals "doable" - not so difficult that you can't realistically acheive them. But in addition to that, I think we need to be able to admit that we can't very easily make positive change in our lives without the help of others.

Why is it that we have the mentality that we have to do these things on our own? I've proved time and time again that without accountability, there's very little I will accomplish on my own.

• My house wouldn't be nearly so clean if my husband didn't come home each night. He loves a clean house, and he's calm and peaceful when the house is clean. Knowing he'll be home at 5:30 each night assures that my house will be a peaceful, clean place by then.
• It would be easy to procrastinate doing things for work if I didn't have Sunday roll around every 7 days. Sundays are going to come whether I'm ready or not . . . so I'm accountable for being ready! (I also have terrific teams of organized people who keep me accountable).
• My kids wouldn't be ready to go out the door by 8:30 in the morning if I didn't have to have Faith to school by 9:00 - Accountability.

I just want to give a big "shout out" to my accountability girls!

It's so cool how God works sometimes, isn't it? Through a random series of conversations and blogsphere interactions with some of the girls in my area, we have decided to keep each other accountable for our common goal of reading the New Testament in a year. We met this morning to work out the details of this endeavor, and a cool thing happened! After chatting for just a brief time, we got into talking about the role of motherhood and the many challenges we face in that regard . . . so in addition to keeping each other accountable for the Bible reading - I think we will be a great encouragement to each other in the realm of motherhood too!

What's even cooler to me, is that this group is not made up of people that I usually "hang" with. No offense to those of you that I normally hang with - but I am truly looking forward to some fresh perspectives and insights on things. AND, I am truly looking forward to getting to know these girls better.

So, accountability girls . . . thank you for your friendship, and the accountability! I look forward to building great relationships over the next year! AND, I look forward to actually accomplishing our goals together!

A Compromise for 2007

So sorry I haven't posted and entry in a while! I've been so busy fulfilling my compromised 2007 resolutions that I haven't had time to post!

That's right, I compromised . . . I re-resolved . . . I called a do-over.

The getting up early thing is just too hard for me. Call me a slacker, call me a quitter, call me lazy, call me what you will . . . but I decided that if I'm truly going to keep my New Year's Resolution, it has to be realistic.

RESOLUTION 1 - BE AN EARLY RISER
Instead of getting up a full hour earlier than my girls, I have compromised at somewhere between 15 minutes and a half of an hour. This is working for me! Even though it doesn't seem like a whole lot of extra time, it's still 15-30 minutes more "me time" than I had been getting. It allows me to shower - or NOT shower - and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee as I do my devotions. This goal certainly doesn't give me the status of the Proverbs 31 woman . . . but I'm closer than I was - that's saying something, isn't it?

RESOLUTION 2 - DO DEVOTIONS CONSISTANTLY
I have committed to reading the New Testament all the way through this year! Now I know that it isn't as cool of an accomplishment as reading the entire Bible in a year, but, like my first resolution, it is doable. If I happen to skip a day or two, it is much easier to make up the one chapter a day than the 5 chapters a day. That's what did me in last year when I tried to do the whole Bible! Plus, now I have the weekends off (which is what I skipped most last year, and it put me like 10 books behind - not chapters - BOOKS). In addition to the simplicity of this task, I now have a stellar group of girls that have the same goal, and will work to keep me accountable (and hopefully I'll keep them accountable too! - Thanks girls!)

RESOLUTION 3 - GET OFF MY LAZY BUTT AND EXERCISE
Ok, I'm one of those fortunate women that has a pretty good metabolism. I can eat pretty much anything I want, not exercise, and still maintain my size 8 status. However, I am a flabby, tired size 8.

My husband has lost 20 lbs since October just as a result of running, watching his portion sizes and drinking lots of water . . . the transformation is amazing (hubba hubba). Since October, I've been sitting on the couch eating my ice cream, banket, and other sweet treats as I wish him farwell on his runs. "Have fun on your run honey! I'll just sit here and eat!"

Well, he has inspired me to greatness yet again. I have purchased the running shoes and sports bra and have been running every day except Sundays. I'm amazed at how much better I feel already! Hopefully I'll be a firm, six-packed size 8 by the time my sister's wedding rolls around in June.

Anyway, so far so good! I am holding strong to the revised plan, and I hope you all will hold me accountable to it! How are you doing on your resolutions?

0 for 2

Ok, I'm really sucking up this New Year's Resolution thing . . .

The alarm went off at the appropriate times for the last two mornings . . . but I just can't help but hit snooze - like 3 times!

I'm reviewing the January lessons for our Sunday school program, and the entire month is focused on the virtue of Discipline - Doing what you need to do even when you don't feel like it. The verse for the month is: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23

So . . . I committed to this getting up early thing . . . but am I working at it with all my heart? I think not. Would I be up at 6:30a if Jesus himself was in my kitchen to greet me? Absolutely!

Is He not there to greet me each morning? Yes! So, what's my problem? The problem is I don't feel like it. But discipline is doing what you need to do even when you don't feel like it.

Thank goodness every morning is a new chance to do the right thing! Here's to tomorrow!

New Year's Resolutions

Ok, it's that time of year again where we get all pumped up to make positive changes in our day to day lives. Well, if you're anything like me, these changes occur with quite a bit of frequency in January, are pretty well kept up with in February, but by the end of March, they're caput! My sister-in-law Chelle, said it well here.

So how is it that we are supposed to actually uphold our end of the deal - how do we make sure that we can be successful in what we set out to acheive.

The experts say to pick one thing you can really put your heart and soul into, and go for it! They say you're more likely to succeed if you do one thing, and do it to the full! They also say to get some accountability.

So, here's the deal . . . the one thing I need to work on is discipline. Unfortunately, I need discipline in a LOT of different areas: finances, food, exercise, devotions, not procrastinating . . .
I realize though that the one thing that would make a difference in most of these areas is getting my behind out of bed early.

I HATE getting out of bed . . . I really really hate it! I LOVE sleeping, I love just laying in my bed. I'm an adult now, so there's no-one to tell me to get out of bed - no-one to yank off my covers and turn on the lights - no-one to pull on my big toes until I get up (remember doing that, Dad?). And, it's soooooo easy to hit the snooze 5 or 6 times . . . I do have Mike, but he learned early on not to mess with me in the morning, so he has gracefully bowed out of waking me up - EVER!

So my one resolution (which I've tried to do several different times to no avail) is to get up at least an hour before my girls need to get up. That means 6:30a on M, W, F and 7:00 any other day. I will permit myself Saturdays to "sleep in" until the girls wake up.

I know doing this one thing will help me be more chipper and calm when the girls wake up, it will give me time to exercise, do devotions and shower before they're awake, and it will lessen the mornings we have to rush around to try to make it to wherever we're going on time.

I realize this one thing will help in so many areas of my life, so why is it so hard?

My friend Michelle is struggling to do the same thing . . . check out her comments.

So, for the accountability . . . Mike refuses to help . . . so, who can I count on to help me?

A Great Start to the New Year!

It has truly been a great day! Here's why:

1. The kids let us sleep in til almost 9:00! (That was good since we were up until 2:00AM)
2. We had a terrific breakfast of french toast and OJ (Made by Daddy, which makes it taste so much better than usual)
3. Daddy suggested we go to the local Children's Museum
4. We got to play with bubbles, magnets, paints, markers, penguins, bees, shopping carts, AND did I mention bubbles?
5. We got to go out to lunch
6. We got to eat left-over pumpkin pie, with whipped cream (or wooped cream as Faith refers to it)
7. We took a midnight (at least it seemed like midnight) walk to our mailbox (at 6:30PM) in the light of the full moon (that we could actually see - it wasn't covered by clouds!) and Faith was riding her bike! (on January 1st - who would've thunk?)
8. We had only one discipline issue with Faith - A MIRACLE now-a-days
9. We got to spend the whole day with our entire family doing nothing but hanging out and having a BLAST!

Here are some cool pics from our great day!

Wa-la! Sweet Bubble!

So many Bellas! Which one is really her?

The Bubble Master

More bubble fun!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a wonderful Christmas - as I'm sure the rest of you had! It's so much fun to see Christmas through the eyes of a child, isn't it? It just brings the magic and 'wonderment' back to life in your own hearts once again!

We started a new tradition last year of singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and saying a brief prayer of thanksgiving to God for sending His Son to save us! It's such a simple thing to do, but it allowed us to put the focus where it truly belongs - on Jesus!

It was fun watching the kids open their presents - and even more fun watch them give presents to others. It's nice to know that they have almost as much fun giving presents as they do getting them.

Faith received the Target version of an American Girl doll - and is referring to her as such . . . I don't have the heart to tell her it's a knock-off . . .

Bella had fun opening every present she received, and was just as awed and excited by each one she received.

One thing we do have to work on a bit is teaching Faith to conceal her feelings toward presents "she already has" or "doesn't particularly like". It's so hard to say "THANK YOU" when you want to yell out that you "ALREADY have 5 containers of sidewalk chalk . . ."

Hopefully she learned to show a bit of grace this season!

Merry Chrismtas everyone!

My Big Girl!

Here is my sweet little Bella on the potty! I know that this is only a picture a mother can truly appreciate! But this is really exciting stuff.

Bella is only 21 months, and has been pretending to go potty for a couple of months now, but the other day, she told me she had to go . . . she grabbed the Blue's Clues potty seat . . . climbed on up . . . and actually peed on the potty! Wow! I didn't even have to initiate potty training . . . she just did it on her own (thanks in large part to her older sister, and her friends at daycare).

She certainly hasn't mastered the art of going on the potty yet . . . but she's starting to get it! Could it be that soon and very soon there will be no diapers in our house? Here's hoping!

My Baby Sister's Engaged!

Would you look at that rock? Isn't it beautiful?

It's hard to believe that my little sister is soon going to be someone's wife!

Shelly was born when I was 10 years old. I remember feeding her bottles, changing her diapers, giving her baths . . . When she was 10 years old, she stood up in my wedding as a Junior Bridesmaid . . . and now I have the privilege of standing up in her wedding this comming Spring!

My how time flies!

Congrats Shelly and Kent!

Santa vs. Jesus

OK - I need some opinions from my fellow Christian bloggers. I'd like to debate a bit about the Christmas conundrum.

What are your thoughts on Santa Claus? Do you tell your child that their presents are from Santa? Do you tell them he is real?

I want to be careful to not judge anyone else on the decision they make for their own families. I just want some honest feedback from my peeps.

Here are my arguments against Santa:

1. First of all, those of us who are Christians, believe that CHRISTmas is a celebration of God coming to earth as a man - the manifestation of God's grace and love. He gave us His precious son as a GIFT . . . and we, in turn, give gifts to those we love as a reminder of God's great gift to us! It's not about receiving, it's about giving - it's about forgiveness - it's about salvation!


2. We tell Bible stories so our children can learn about their history, their roots, and how they fit in God's master plan. We hope and pray that our children will believe in the redemption that Jesus Christ has brought us - we want him to know He is REAL!


3. What happens if we tell our kids Santa is REAL . . . and later they find out he's not? Will they begin to question the other things that we tell them are real - like Jesus?

I have to chuckle when people ask Faith about Santa . . . "Have you been a good little girl? Then I bet Santa will bring you lots of presents! She looks at them like they're nuts! Her look says, "Are you serious? Santa is just pretend . . . and your talking to me like he's real!"

I'm proud of that. I'm proud that she knows that the Santa business is all pretend. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with her watching The Polar Express or other Santa-based movies or shows, because I know that she knows it's just pretend - just like Dora and Curious George are pretend.

What do you think? Am I depriving my precious girls of childhood mystery? Or are those who teach their kids that Santa is real depriving their kids of the truth?

Grace and Faith

It's time again for me to wax philisophical . . . I don't do it often, so bear with me.

I've been thinking an awful lot about the words GRACE and FAITH lately.

Like so many others in our small community, my world has been rocked by the passing of sweet little Sam. My mind has been flooded with questions . . . did God allow Sam to get sick and die? Did he ordain it? Why did Sam have to die? Why didn't God answer the thousands of prayers uttered on his behalf? How does a mother find the strength to say, "If you need to go and be with Jesus, Mommy will understand."? How does a Mom handle holding her child while the heart monitor goes flat? How can God be good and allow something like this to happen? How does a mom go on without her little one to hold and hug and love?

The Bible says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

I've watched Theresa, Sam's mom, from a distance, and somehow she is living out this verse. This raises another question in my mind - how is that possible? How can she praise God, be joyful, and give thanks in the midst of the storm she's facing? Two words come to mind: GRACE and FAITH.

Through Theresa's example, God is teaching me in a very profound way what GRACE and FAITH really are.

The next question I ask myself is - would I be responding the same way as Theresa, or would I be filled with bitterness, questions, anger - or worse - lack of faith?

I've felt so weak in my faith in the last weeks. I've faced much less devistating things in my lifetime, and responded with much less faith. I've questioned God. I've allowed bitterness and anger to enter in. "You of little faith . . . why did you doubt?"

Theresa is inspiring. She's a woman of strong faith and character. She's not doubting . . . she's staying strong by God's GRACE. She is an amazing example to me of GRACE and FAITH. She has inspired me to extend my trust in God.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by FAITH into this GRACE n which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hop of the Glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:1-5

Cutie Patooties

Bella Grace


Faith Ellen

Returing to the Land of the Bloggers!

Hello All!

I am so sorry that I haven't entered a post in over a month!

Yikes!

I've had many a computer problem over the last several weeks, including errors, memory loss, non-responsive programming! It still isn't remedied yet . . . but I'm able to at least enter a blog entry.

So much has happened since the end of October:

1. Halloween - Faith as Tinkerbell and Bella as a bunny rabbit.
2. The big "Mission Impossible" kick off to our Sunday school program.
3. The dedication of our new church building.
4. Thankgiving - Oh so thankful for my precious family and friends!
5. The passing of one of my Kindergarteners - Sweet little Sam - only 5, but now living with Jesus.

Thanks for showing me grace despite my neglegent blogging!

Love you all!

A Conundrum . . . continued . . .

I just threw the milk in my van and left . . .

That's what I did! My conscience told me to do otherwise, but I was just too darn tired - and the kids were too darn exhausted.

I did like Dana's comment on my origional post though . . . she said that when this happens to her, she just pays for it the next time she's at the store. The store clerk might look at me a little wierd . . . but at least it will be off my conscience. Thanks for the tip Dana!

So much for doing what Jesus would do . . .

Happy Birthday Mike!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!

A great picture of Mike in one of his 'awesome dad' moments - letting Faith do his hair.

I must take a moment to acknowledge the best husband/father around! Yesterday was Mike's 33rd birthday! In addition to that, it was the 6th anniversary of his cancer surgery - he has been officially cancer-free for 6 amazing years!

To think . . . 6 years ago we were at a pretty low point in life . . . struggling with infertility . . . Mike diagnosed with cancer . . . we weren't sure how far it had spread . . . if he would need radiation and chemo. It seems like a life-time ago!

But I don't ever want to forget God's amazing faithfulness to me!

Thank you, God, for blessing me with such an amazing husband! Thank you for sparing his life! Thank you for seeing fit to bless us with our beautiful girls! Thank you for give Mike 33 terrific years!

I love you Michael!

A Conundrum . . . or is it?

Co.nun.drum - a. A problem admitting of no satisfactory solution. b. A difficult and complicated problem.

OK, I have a little conundrum to run by all of you . . . I call it a conundrum, but as I look at the definition of conundrum, I don't know if it really is . . . decide for yourselves . . .

Yesterday I ran to the grocery store for my weekly grocery needs. I left the house a little later than I had wanted to and ended up pushing Bella about an hour past her regular nap time. For some reason, Faith was off her game yesterday too. So . . . by the time I'm near finished with the shopping . . . both girls have had it! There's crying, there's whining, there's pushing and shoving . . . even a little yelling (by them, not me - not to say I didn't feel like it).

I FINALLY get checked out, haul everything to the car, I have both girls buckled in their seats (wiped out and near tears), I have almost all the groceries packed in the van . . . . . and I realize I never paid for the 2 gallons of milk on the bottom of the cart!

What to do? In past instances, when something like this has happened, I've done the right thing, gone back inside, and paid for the items. However, all three of us were at our wits end, the girls were already buckled in their seats . . .

What would you do? What is the right thing to do? What would Jesus do? Comments welcome! Later, I'll post what I did . . .

Let Me Clarify . . .

Let me clarify . . . when I said I loved fall . . . THIS is NOT what I meant!



The first thing out of the gate this morning Faith was running around the house yelling, "It snowed, it snowed, it snowed! Can we go out and play? Can we build a snowman? Can I teach Bella to make snow angels?"

Well, I told her she could go out after breakfast for a while . . . I've never seen her eat so fast in all my life!

So, I'm searching high and low for the snow pants, winter coats, mittens . . . I don't have boots that fit either girl, so I put my big wool socks on them and stuffed their feet into their oversized rain boots.



As you can see, Bella wasn't as excited as her older sister. "It code, it code" she kept saying (translation: it's cold). I grabbed the camera to take a few pictures, but it was snowing so hard, I could hardly get a picture.



Here's a picture of my beautiful hearty mums! I truly hope they live up to their name!

This is NOT what Fall is about. Fall is about lots of colors . . . NOT WHITE! It's about crisp, cool air . . . NOT FREEZING air. It's about jeans and sweatshirts . . . NOT WINTER COATS! It's about apple cider . . . NOT HOT CHOCOLATE!

I love Fall! I hate Winter! But I love the excitement I see in my kids!

I Love Fall!

I love this time of year so much! And here are the reasons why:

1. My Birthday (and Mike's) is in October. My very first breath was taken of that clean, crisp, fall air . . . I guess that's why I still love it so much.
2. The colors! Wow! God is so amazing in how He created things, isn't He?
3. The crisp, cool air! No more summer humidity! Yuck!
4. Jeans! I love wearing jeans!
5. Sweatshirts! I love wearing sweatshirts!
6. Hayrides
7. Apple Cider
8. Bonfires! Fires are way more enjoyable in the crisp, cool air and S'mores are so much yummier when you're in jeans and a sweatshirt!
9. Playing outside in the leaves - going on a hunt for the prettiest ones!
10. Back-to-school. Call me a nerd, but I always loved going shopping for my new Trapper Keeper, folders, pens, pencils and school clothes! I had a blast doing all of that with Faith too (sans the Trapper Keeper).

The only downside about fall is that it is much too short! Did I hear the weather report right? Are we really supposed to get snow this weekend? Yikes!

What's your favorite season?

The Simple Things

A laundry pile is a great place to read books!


Yesterday was a day for me to appreciate the simple things. The last two months have been so busy, frantic and hectic that I haven't been able to enjoy the everyday things.

Yesterday was spent baking cookies, folding about 10 loads of laundry, reading books, coloring, making beds and playing soccer and tag. Faith, Bella and I stayed home ALL DAY! We just enjoyed each other's company with the added benefit of getting lots of things accomplished.

Who knew just being a normal mom could be so much fun! I've missed it!

Thank you, Lord, for the simple things - for the things that make life full and rich!

Thank you for a beautiful home that I have the privilege of cleaning,

beautiful kids I have the privilege to raise to love You,

an amazing man I have the privilege to be married to,

and the time to enjoy all of them! I love you, Lord!

Why make the bed when you can play peek-a-boo!