Africa

As a new year starts (okay, it's almost 1/12 over, but I'm slow) I started thinking about ways I have changed over the last 12 months.  I would say that one of the biggest things that changed about me in 2010 was that my focus became more global instead of just local.  Part of it was all of my experience with Haiti in 2010.  Part of it was reading Radical by David Platt ( You MUST read it!!!).  And part of it is committing to pray for every country in the world in a year's time.  As I am walking my way through this, I have been reading about Africa.

A country with a long history of extremes, from beauty to terror, from wealth to poverty, from peace to war, Christian evangelicals and devout Muslims.

And as I read I can't help but be convicted about how comfortable my life is.  Not just the money, but the freedom.  The peace.  The education available.  All at my fingertips.  And yet I find it so easy to forget all of that.

So, this year, I have found a mission in Africa who I am collecting goods for.  It is The Mercy House (http://www.themercyhousekenya.org/) and you can read all about it on their website, but they are opening a maternity house for women to live in while they are pregnant.  While there they will be taken care of physically, but will also learn parenting skills, spiritual lessons, and a trade to take with them. 

Each month the Mercy House is collecting different types of donations to be taken to Africa.  The month of February is going to be medical supplies (gauze, bandages, tylenol, etc.).  If you are interested, you can send donations directly to the Mercy House U.S. office:
The Mercy House
8000 Research Forest Drive. Ste. 115-110
Spring, TX 77382

Or if you live near me, just drop them off at my house and I'll ship them at the end of the month.

And if this mission isn't your thing, please find something to do that reaches to people outside of the U.S.  We have so much excess here, in every capacity.  It's time we look around and see what we can do.

Thursday Thank-yous

I'm thankful for. . .
41. Several blogs, but mainly this one today especially.  I'm getting her book in the mail any day and I can't wait to read it.
42. Diet caffeine Free Dr. Pepper.  How many names can a drink have?
43. Noel's wonderful pre-school
44. 80's music to rock out to when I'm exercising
45. answered prayers
46. seeing my kiddos play Candyland TOGETHER for the first time tonight
47. religious freedom.  I've been reading about Africa, and some of it makes me very sad.
48. chapstick, lotion, and all other things that help this girl out in the middle of winter
49. good health.  I take it for granted way too much
50. the person who returned my wallet that I left in the Meijer parking lot.  I don't care that you took the 8 bucks.  I'm just glad you left the cards.

What are you thankful for?

Slow Down and Be Thankful

I'm not sure if it's just an American thing or not, but our society is in a hurry.  We pride ourselves on how much we can accomplish each day.  We rush from one event to the next.  We speed through every meal, every activity, every conversation, with more on the way.

And I wonder if we are truly experiencing all of the joy from each of those experiences if we're always in a hurry.

Do I take time to enjoy the moments of my day?  Even the trivial, mundane ones?  Can I stop and give thanks today, as I'm doing dishes, for hot running water that comes to me so easily?  Can I sit and enjoy my children without dwelling on all of the things on my to-do list that will go undone?  Can I live each day embracing it instead of wishing for something else?

We have been given so much, and yet our first instinct is to want for more.

Let my life be full of gratitude instead of longing.  May I stop and relish every waking moment that I've been given today and be filled with joy. Will you join me?

Thursday Thank-yous

31. coffee creamer. . .mmmm...
32. college basketball
33. pixar movies
34. a warm house when it's cold outside
35. a cool house when it's hot outside
36. frozen waffles
37. getting to help at Bridges Outreach
38. my adult small group
39. my student small group
40. being able to take an online class instead of trying to figure out how I can get childcare to take a class

In a nutshell

I have several ideas that I would like to share in different blog posts.  Lots of things I'd like to share.  But the truth is, life has gotten a little crazy.  I am taking an online class to keep my teacher certification up, and it requires about 8 hours of work each week (fortunately, it's only 8 weeks long).  Anyway, I haven't had much extra time to come up with witty, interesting ways to tell some good stories, but I will give you the highlights:

*I got called to jury duty. Again.  Seriously, this is getting a little weird.  I served on a jury in 2004, and when I did that the judge said, "For most of you, this is a once in a lifetime experience."  Since then, I have been summoned 3 times.  The last 2 times I've made it up to the day before the trial and then it is cancelled for some reason or other.  Oh, well.  Most people really complain about it, but I kind of find it fascinating.  In fact, I think I should ask to excuse myself because I watch way too many courtroom dramas and investigation shows (Homicide, Without a Trace, 20/20, Primetime, 48 Hours Mystery), so I feel like I have an unfair advantage over the other jurors. 
I'm just sayin'.

*I got to see one of my old roomies, Miss Sarah Szoke, now Mrs. Sarah Lowery.  It was so fun to see her, her hubby, and her sweet little biscuit, Eden.  And for some reason all of the stars aligned and the kids were wonderful at the restaurant.  Poor David was hardly a part of the conversation because he played with Noel all night.  It was really sweet of him, because he knew I really wanted to talk to Sarah.  They live much closer now, so I'm hoping we can see more of each other.

*Friday night I did it again.  What is it, you ask? Oh, I just dropped my wallet in the parking lot of Meijer and didn't realize it until Saturday morning.  Who does this??  Only me!!  So, David called and nobody had turned in anything.  I ran a few errands, even drove through the parking lot to check, and then I realized we hadn't prayed about this.  So I promptly pulled the car over and prayed.  When I got home I called again, and lo and behold someone had turned it in.  The cash was gone, but everything else was there.  Who knows?  Maybe my prayer convicted someone to turn in a wallet!  Whatever the case, I'm just glad I don't have to get a new license and cancel my credit cards.  Again. (By the way, I've done this 3 times before, including losing my husband's wallet at Lucas Oil Stadium.  Yes, I am that ridiculous.)

*Lastly, our little angel Elise finally did what we knew she would do sooner or later.  She hurt herself.  She's kind of a monkey, and after Sunday dinner she thought she would try to push herself away from the table, which ended up flipping her chair back and landing flat on her back on the hardwood floor.  She banged her head pretty bad and there was blood everywhere.  Poor David.  I wasn't even there, so he had to clean up the mess, figure out where she was bleeding from, and try and calm her down.  We thought she might need stiches, but I think she's okay.   She has a half-dollar size red spot on the back of her head that got his pretty hard and busted the skin.  But I'm sure her luxurious hair will grow right over it and nobody will ever notice (If you've never seen my husband and me, you won't understand that last statement as total sarcasm.  Between the 2 of us there is no hope of our children having any kind of thick, curly, long, great hair.  Sorry kids!)  We are all breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't worse, and hope she has learned her lesson.  Except that tonight she already jumped off the couch and hit her head on the coffee table.  Again.  This girl is destined to make us crazy!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everyone!  May we all live with the passion and conviction he had.  Hope you have a wonderful week.

Thursday Thank-yous

21. mousetraps!
22. a good book that sucks you in and you can't finish quickly enough.
23. a 20 month-old little girl's toes painted bright blue.  Melt. My. Heart.
24.  the sound of my kids laughing together.
25.  days getting longer after December 21.
26.  that we have 2 vehicles that run and 0 car payments.
27.  hand-me-down clothes.  I don't remember the last time I bought an item of clothing for my children.
28.  pay at the pump
29.  apple cider that has been frozen and is now thawing, all slushy and full of goodness
30.  fleece sheets

A year ago

A year ago today I was . . .
dealing with a 9 month old
probably complaining about the cold/snow
planning a youth ski trip

And then January 12 came along.

I vividly remember being at a high school swim meet and getting a text: 

Have you heard?  There was an earthquake in Haiti.

And a new story began.

A story that involved praying for days for a missing friend.
A story that brought boxes of food, water, and medicine through our garage on its way to Haiti.
A story that added a whole new dimension to our upcoming trip to Jacmel.
A story that changed my worldview forever.

I can honestly say that a year after the earthquake I am not the same person.  I have learned so much this year through my trip to Haiti, through working with HCO, through becoming friends with a missionary, through reading Radical and Operation World. 

This world is big.  There are some 6 billion people in it.  Millions will go to bed tonight without food in their bellies or a warm place to sleep.  And every single one of them need Jesus.

I don't think I would have admitted it a year ago, but I am so convicted now about how comfortable we are in the U.S.  We have everything we ever need and most of the things we want.  And it's so easy to forget about the poor.  The lost.  The lonely.   The wars raging.  The oppression.

And so I choose not to forget. 

Please pray for the people of Haiti, and the many other countries who are not only in dire poverty, but in need of salvation.  If we don't help them, who will?  As David Platt says, "There is no Plan B."

**Sidenote:  If you are interested, I am collecting vitamins and pregnancy tests (both of which can be purchased really cheaply at Dollar General) to ship to a maternity house in Kenya http://themercyhousekenya.org/ I will be shipping these goods out at the end of the month.  If you are interested in helping, please let me know.

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this!

I finally got around to putting some pictures in my album (yes, I'm old school like that), and I was looking at some pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Florida.  As soon as I looked at the picture above, I realized that I had completely forgotten (or had I mentally blocked out?) one of the most exciting events of our trip.

Now, I tend to share on this blog about how sweet and wonderful my children are, but never you fear, they can cause some major trouble.  Case in point:  YOLO.

YOLO is a store that in on Captiva Island that sells all kinds of rental vehicles:  bikes, trailers, scooters, golf carts, etc.  (By the way, YOLO stands for You Only Live Once, which I thought was genius).  We went there on Monday of our trip to get some bikes and a trailer for transportation for the week.  And while YOLO had lots of rental equipment, their store was quite small, and full of things that little ones can break.  This picture was taken as David was waiting in line for rentals. 

I quickly realized that my kids were like little magnets to all things breakable in that tiny store, so I shuffled them outside, thinking, "What could go wrong there?"

We went to the back to check out the bikes we were renting.  While we are wandering around, Noel gets in one of the golf carts, which I thought nothing of (now, as I type this, I realize that was a ridiculous idea!) So, Elise starts motoring a different way, and just as I grab her, I see Noel press a button on the golf cart. 

Lo and behold, the cart starts rolling. . .right into the side of a parked car!!!!

So, there I am with a 20-month old in my arms and a 4 year-old who has just had his first car accident (and you all thought I was bad!!) 

I tried to push the golf cart back in its place, but of course it was too heavy.  So we just left and ran back in the store, trying to act as if nothing happened.  I kept whispering to David, "We HAVE to talk," to which he kept whispering back, "Just a minute!" I'm sure he was thinking I was just being overdramatic.  And then I finally took him out back to see what had happened!

Of course, David took the high road and went and got the manager and talked to him.  After they moved the golf cart back there wasn't any damage done to the car, thankfully, and we were on our way, a little wiser, a little traumatized, and with yet another crazy story to add to our lives.

Little is much when God is in it.

I've been wanting to share a story from Christmas Eve on my blog, and I keep forgetting to.  I know it's past the holiday season, but one of the most moving parts of Christmas for me was a reminder that God is always working, even when we don't realize it.

On Christmas Eve we went to our church for the 5:30 service.  We intended to sit with some friends, but they ended up moving because some more of their family showed up.  Instead, I sat next to a lady I had never met before.  I was a little nervous about having both kids in the service, what with their being young and, well, LOUD!  And then someone came up and asked David if he could help with the offering, which meant standing in the back for about half of the service. (Sidenote:  please don't get me started about how inappropriate I thought an offering was at a Christmas Eve service.  I'm choosing not to think about it!)

Needless to say, my nervousness about the kiddos acting up heightened greatly.  There I was with both of my kids, no husband, a "quiet" Christmas Eve service planned, and strangers next to us.

Gulp.

Overall, the kids were pretty good.  Noel drew, wrote his name, and kept himself busy for the most part.  But Elise got antsy.  She was talking, waving, clapping, you name it.  And for some reason, she kept leaning over to the lady next to me, talking to her and trying to take her candle.  The lady was really kind and played with her numerous times throughout the service.  After David came back he ended up having to take Elise to the back for a little bit, but it was nothing too traumatic.

After the service, I introduced myself to the lady sitting next to us and apologized for Elise being such a distraction.  And then she told me that it was the best thing that could have ever happened to her.  She had just lost her father a few weeks prior and was having a really hard time with the season.  She said entertaining Elise was such a joy for her.  And I realized how God moves in ways we never even know about.  He knew before we even walked into church that night that there was a woman struggling, hurting, mourning, who needed to be given a gift.  He knew that my daughter, who is crazy and funny and loud and stubborn could be that gift for an hour.

Thank you, God, for using all of us, your little children, to be Your light, Your love, Your joy to a weary world.

Thursday Thank-yous

This week I'd like to share some of my thanksgivings.  I'm thankful for:

11.  cell phones and texting.
12.  that the Bible is true.  It is alive, relevant, convicting, confusing, scary, and God's love letter to me.
13.  the fact that every day is a new day, a fresh start.
14.  my guitar.
15.  my husband's Saturday morning breakfast ritual that he makes for us:  fried potatoes, onion, bacon, and an egg on top.
16.  a healthy body with legs that can run, even though they don't run fast.
17.  50% off Christmas candy, bows, and wrapping paper. 
18.  parents who live in the same town as I do.
19.  the opportunity to teach others in so many ways outside of the classroom.
20.  my son's love of games.  Board games, UNO, dominoes, Kerplunk.  I love playing games, and David doesn't, so I'm glad to finally have someone to play with (even if that someone is 4 years old.)

What are you thankful for this week!!  Don't let the day go by without being thankful!

Why didn't I think of that?

So, for a couple of weeks Noel asks where the middle of his bed is every night before we tell him good night.  He wants to make sure he is smack in the middle of the bed.  I thought it just had to do with him falling out of bed and/or not wanting to hit the wall next to his bed. 

Turns out, I'm wrong.

Tonight we found out the reason why. 

Noel asked David where the middle was, David tells him, and then he asks, "Noel, why do you want to be in the middle?"

Noel's answer:  "So I don't wake up on the wrong side of the bed anymore."

Classic.

Love him.

I'm not as brave as I thought I was

I would like to consider myself a fairly brave person.  I don't get too freaked out about very many things.  And I always thought people who screamed and ran away from a teeny tiny mouse in their house were overreacting.

I'm currently eating my words.

Last night as I was trying to set the table, I opened the silverware drawer and found, in addition to the knives and spoons, a little grey tail wiggling away.  It took a couple of seconds for it to register that attached to said tail was a mouse. And then. . .well, I officially freaked out.  I jumped up on my tip-toes and ran to the garage to tell David, except that I couldn't even make coherent sentences.  All I could whisper was, "Mouse. . .kitchen. . .help."

It was pathetic.

We ended up catching the mouse at 3:40 am.  And when I say "we" I mean that I found the mousetrap at Meijer and David set it up, caught the mouse, and took the trapped mouse to the garden.  I still consider it a team effort.

But I have learned my lesson. Not the lesson that mice aren't scary. Oh, no, they are definitely scary.  And I'm fully conviced I would react the exact same way if Mr. Mouse has a friend who is visiting our kitchen as well.  No, the lesson I've learned is not to speak too soon and judge when I see someone freaking out about something.  The mouse is always scarier when he's in your kitchen, right?

Oh, Lord it's hard to be humble, when you beat yourself up every day.

Yesterday, my pastor talked about being a servant like John the Baptist, and one of the things he said that really hit me was that you have to be humble to be a servant. 

What is humility?

For years I have struggled with humility, not because I think I am so much better than everyone else, but because I can spend countless hours feeling sorry for myself. 

For the things I want to do but can't.
For the way I look.
For the talents I don't have.
For the mistakes I've made and continue to make.
For being rejected and cast aside.

But feeling sorry for yourself isn't being humble.  It's just a different kind of pride.  Humility is when you think less of yourself than you do of others.  Whether it's thinking about how great you are or how awful you are, it's all taking the focus away from being a servant to others.

So when you (like me) are tempted to feel sorry for yourself for whatever reason you deem important, remember that it is a sin, just like pride.  Remember that God doesn't make mistakes.  He made each of us and loves each of us with an indescribable love.  A love that sent His son to a terrible death.  Remember.