Happy Birthday, Crystal!

I've been rather blessed in the siblings that God has given to me. I have siblings that were born into this family and siblings that married into it (yes, that's right- they chose to join this crazy crowd!) My first sibling-by-marriage was Crystal.

It was tough getting used to having to share my big brother with someone else. Seth was my property (or so I thought) until Crystal came along. She stole my brother away from me and made his eyes go all "googly" and starcrossed. But as their marriage grew, I saw what true love looked liked and I saw what I wanted when I got married.

I saw Crystal learn to submit herself to her husband and I saw her help him and work with him in his endeavors. I saw that Seth's goals were Crystal's goals and if he failed in some way, then she felt the failure. And when he succeeded then she was rejoicing and celebrating with him. I saw her give of herself without asking for anything in return. I saw her striving to raise Godly children and I saw her reach out to the hurting people around her.

I saw all these things over the years of knowing Crystal and I see them all more than ever today.

Crystal, thank you for being my big sister. Happy Birthday!

A Quote

"The common mercies we enjoy all sing of love, just as the sea-shell, when we put it to our ears, whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we desire to hear the ocean itself, we must not look at every-day blessings, but at the transactions of the crucifixion."
----Charles Spurgeon

From One Ragamuffin to Another

A new book recently came my way- The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. (Yes, this was the book that inspired the naming of Rich Mullins' band.) I've heard some not so great things about Mr. Manning, but I was so moved by his intro into the book, that I wanted to share it. I haven't decided if I'll continue reading this book, but I am glad I read this beginning:

"This book is not for the super-spiritual.
It is not for the muscular Christians who have made John Wayne and not Jesus their hero.
It is not for academicians who would imprison Jesus in the ivory tower of exegesis.
It is not for the noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into a naked appeal to emotion.
It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desolation.
It is not for the fearless and tearless.
It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the rich young ruler of the gospels: "All these commandments I have kept from my youth."
It is not for the complacent, hoisting over their shoulder a tote bag of honors, diplomas, and good works actually believing that have it made.
It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of living in union with Jesus.

If anyone is still reading along, The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up and burnt-out.
It is for the sorely burdened who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other.
It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don't have it altogether and are too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.
It is for the inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker.
It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents.
It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay.
It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God.
It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags."

Great words, right? Now go back and read it again and this time, whenever he says "this book" or "The Ragamuffin Gospel" replace it with "The Gospel of Jesus."

That's me he's talking about. And you. I'm a ragamuffin Christian. I don't have it all together. I don't know what I'm talking about most of the time. I'd much rather do things my way than obey my God. And this gospel is for me.

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

Amen.

A (Convicting) Quote

"At this very moment you and I are either committing [selfishness], or about to commit it, or repenting it."
---C.S. Lewis

Public Service Announcement

Because of time constraints and a chronic case of RLS (Real Life Syndrome) I've decided to no longer keep up my Dash of This, Smidgen of That blog. I'll leave it there so you (and I) can access the archives and I'll post any useful tips and ideas on this blog.

To that end:
I've discovered a wonderful cleaning tips website. I was thrilled to find this. I hope it helps you, too!

Homeschooler Humor

How does a homeschooler change a lightbulb?

First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life.

Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles.

Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill.

On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill.

Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed.

And there is light

Our Kitchen!

Take a gander at our pretty kitchen. I'm so very pleased with how it all turned out. It was worth the late nights of working, the endless wood staining, the mess and the cranky days.
It's so lovely having my baking supplies behind doors (doors with very strong magnets) where little hands can't cause mischief. And I love having a floor that isn't crumbling to pieces and getting eaten by little mouths.

It's not completely finished yet. There is still some moulding we need to put on the floor and counter.

Joshua and I sure make a good team, don't we? We are available for hire, but our rates our pretty steep and you provide the babysitting. :o)

A Quote

'Nothing, not even what is lowest and most bestial, will not be raised again if it submits to death.'

---C.S. Lewis

Kitchen Sneak Peek

As many of you know, we've been working on our kitchen a lot lately. I'll be posting pictures of the finished project soon , but I wanted to show a few teasers first.

The destruction:

Who needs a tile cutter when you've got a hammer?

A cabinet just the right size for storing cookie sheets!

A Glimpse of Gold

Today I walked into the living room in time to see the three kids huddled together with Malachi praying: "...and please help Lily to not be scared of the Bad Guy. In Jesus' name, Amen."
Evangeline added her hearty " 'men!" and then they were set to go back to reading their book with the Bad Guy in it.

I feel like a failure so much of the time, but occasionally I get to see some area in which I've actually done well. The kids knew that when they are scared, the thing to do is pray. By God's grace, Joshua and I taught them that.

Thank you, God, for telling me "Well done" today.

Jeremy, This One Is For You

A greeting card for all you men out there- you can't say we don't try to warn you.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

I was reading some old blog posts recently and I came across this post that I wrote for Jonathan's birthday two years ago. As I was reading it, I found that it was even more true now so I thought I'd post it again.

***********
My brother, Jonathan, is what you might call the “cool” brother. Seth is getting better in his old age, but Jonathan still outranks him in coolness. Growing up, it was Jonathan who always got me in trouble, but I didn’t mind so much because he was just so much fun! He was the one that would dig tunnels under the garage with me and let me play with his Transformers. He had these neat action figures that had a small space ship thing and we’d try rig up a way for the ship “fly”. I think we used some of Mom’s leftover yarn as line for it to glide on and it never really worked that well, but still, it was amazing!

Even when he was a teenager and always going out with his friends, he made me feel like I wasn’t the annoying little sister tagging along. I almost thought I was cool just like my big brother. His favorite football team was (and is) the 49ers so, of course, that was my favorite team, too. I really didn’t understand football and watching a game bored me to death, but I was a 49ers fan because Jonathan was and I wanted to be just like him.

Like every brother and sister we didn’t always get along so great, but now somehow we’ve ended up as friends. We live about a million miles away from each other and we don’t play with little action figures anymore, but as I watch him live and work and care for Carrie and love her and try to follow where God wants him to go and not be afraid of what anyone thinks of him or what he has to say, I am amazed that he is my brother and I’m so proud to be his sister. So I guess you could say that I still want to be just like my big brother.

***********
Jonathan, I wish that Peoria and Erie were a few hundred miles closer together so that we could celebrate your birthday together. I just want you to know that I'm celebrating here and thanking God for you.
Happy Birthday!

Better Than a Movie

It’s become our family habit to go to a nursing home near our house on Sundays and visit with the inmates- er, I mean, residents- there. We’ve met some really neat people there over the last half year or so. Two Sundays ago we got to witness something really special.

We were walking the halls on our way to our elderly friend’s room when we came upon a lady in a wheelchair struggling to wheel herself along. Joshua offered to push her to her room and she gratefully accepted. When we got to her room we admired the many pictures that hung on her walls. She proudly showed off her family pictures and then wanted us to look at her door because that’s where her wedding pictures were hanging. I looked at the pictures which looked like they had been taken a short while ago and I figured she had meant to say they were from her anniversary party.

It looked like it must have been a milestone anniversary so I asked, “When were you married?” She proudly replied, “A month ago today!” Our jaws dropped. “And here comes my husband now.” We looked to the hallway where a gentleman was wheeling his wheelchair our way and smiling.

She explained that he had lost two wives previously and she had lost her first husband, but when they met each other at the nursing home, they wanted to try it again. “This will be the last time,” she declared.

We offered our hearty congratulations as the newlyweds smiled at each other. As we continued on with our other visits, Joshua and I couldn’t help but smile in amazement. That’s a love story that beats any romantic comedy out there. The story of love found in a nursing home.

Our Snowy Day

Today we enjoyed the snow. Yesterday I wasn't too happy with the boat load of white stuff that was being dumped on us because it interfered with my plans, but today I was able to have fun with it. I've lived in Erie most of my life so I'm pretty used to having lots of snow, but even I will admit that there is a shocking amount of snow outside. For example, in some places the snow comes up to my hips.
So today we took the kids out to play and it was pretty hilarious watching them try to work out how to get around the yard. They tried walking, but because they aren't very big, they'd start out walking on the surface of the snow and then they'd sink in halfway. After a while they figured out the best method was to crawl on the snow.
Lily was pretty tough out there, but Malachi struggled a bit so we had fun picking him up and throwing him. That worked well except that he'd land on his bum (causing a cute imprint) and then flail his legs around like an overturned turtle trying to get up.
Evangeline was far too little to get around well in snow that could easily cover her so we'd just plant her somewhere and she'd play for a bit, then we'd grab her little snowsuit, uproot her and plant her someplace else.
Joshua dug a little snow fort out for the kids and I'm hoping to get back out to play in there more tomorrow.
All in all, we had a grand time being snowed in today. So even though I was near tears yesterday because of the snowstorm, I'm very glad we had the snow today.

Thank you, God, for giving us exactly what we need- even "inconvenient" snowstorms.

Something Spiffy

Sometimes it's just such a pleasure to see a performance done well.

Yet Another Great Quote from Pastor Piper

A quote from John Piper's essay, "Talking to Your Tears:"

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6

“This psalm teaches the tough truth that there is work to be done whether I am emotionally up for it or not, and it is good for me to do it. Suppose you are in a season of heartache and discouragement, and it is time to sow seed. Do you say, ‘I can’t sow the field this spring, because I am brokenhearted and discouraged’? If you do that, you will not eat in the winter. Suppose you say instead, ‘I am heartsick and discouraged. I cry if the milk spills at breakfast. I cry if the phone and doorbell ring at the same time. I cry for no reason at all, but the field needs to be sowed. That is the way life is. I do not feel like it, but I will take my bag of seeds and go out in the fields and do my crying while I do my duty. I will sow in tears.’

If you do that, the promise of this psalm is that you will ‘reap with shouts of joy.’ You will ‘come home with shouts of joy, bringing your sheaves with you,’ not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping. We need to remember this even when our tears tempt us to give up sowing.”
----A Godward Life, pp. 89-90

A Makeover!

Today I gave my older sister a haircut. She loves her long hair and she wanted something different, but still keep the length. This is what we came up with.
Before:

After:

It's That Time of the Month Again...

Over at the Girl Talk blog the ladies are in the midst of a series entitled "PMS Prep." They are addressing the difficulties of various physical trials that women face and discussing how Godly women can still glorify Him through those times.

"We know they’re coming (most of the time, anyway): PMS, morning sickness, postpartum depression, menopause. Yet these predictable, physical trials of a woman’s life still tend to catch us off guard. When they show up, we feel like we’ve been hit from behind and struggle to keep steady amidst physical and emotional challenges....
You know it’s coming. But take heart: God’s grace is already here to help us prepare to glorify Him and serve others. Let’s consider how. "

Check it out here.

Lord's Day Quote and Thought

Today in church we sang one of my favorite hymns:

Who are these like stars appearing,
These before God’s throne who stand?
Each a golden crown is wearing;
Who are all this glorious band?
Alleluia! Hark, they sing,
Praising loud their heav’nly King.

Who are these of dazzling brightness,
These in God’s own truth arrayed,
Clad in robes of purest whiteness,
Robes whose luster ne’er shall fade,
Ne’er be touched by time’s rude hand?
Whence come all this glorious band?

These are they who have contended
For their Savior’s honor long,
Wrestling on till life was ended,
Following not the sinful throng;
These who well the fight sustained,
Triumph through the Lamb have gained.

These are they whose hearts were riven,
Sore with woe and anguish tried,
Who in prayer full oft have striven
With the God they glorified;
Now, their painful conflict o’er,
God has bid them weep no more.

These, like priests, have watched and waited,
Offering up to Christ their will;
Soul and body consecrated,
Day and night to serve Him still:
Now in God’s most holy place
Blest they stand before His face.

Whenever I sing this song, I think of the saints that I know who are, even now, standing in God's presence. When I sing this song, I'm not thinking about some generic saint that's dressed in white with a halo on his head, but rather I'm thinking about my mom, my grandparents, etc. And if these real people that I knew well are enjoying their reward, then I, too, can look forward to my reward. And just as they strove in works and prayer, then I, too, need to do the same.

Just to Make You Smile

You can't help but laugh along.

It's amazing what a little packaging tape can do.