Today at Our House

Today at our house is a day of rest. I'm home with the children because they are potentially contagious. Tomorrow will be the start of a busy week - the last full week before we head west for the summer. There is so much to do.... And yet sometimes it's just time to stop a bit and do something with the little ones. Here's a project we did last evening -

 

Re- purposed Board Books

I had an old ripped up one that was just about to hit the trash when I remembered seeing a blog post about using them to file your children's art. The result was that the paper and paste came out and the children were soon happily enjoying their new art books.

And I think I may have to do this again! Each of these have a very limited number of pages since they are both only part of a book, but I may even consider picking up another cheap but not specially good board book to do this with for them to use on our long drive out west. 

But there's so much to do getting ready yet! We'll see what happens.

Everythings coming up flowers!

     Sometimes in life we forget the flowers for a while...

     Sometimes we just let ourselves be too busy to take time to smell them...

     Sometimes we don't remember to look for the splashes of joy that fall across our paths...

     I've been there too often. Lately it's been the busy thing mostly. But when I do stop and think long enough I find so many many things to delight in. 

      One of the little things that makes my heart beat quicken with delight is the harum-scarem flower bed I have behind my house, which is now all color besplashed. The poppies especially delight me for some reason, but each new color burst has a sort of thrill. 

     There is no rhyme or reason to my planting but this - I scattered some wild flower seeds broad cast on the plot in the spring, and am so glad I did! I'm sure the lack of "order" to it must pain the perfect gardeners around here, and I'm sorry, but if you are one of them and you read this, please accept my apologies and overlook the weeds that strive to overtake it. The only excuse I can offer is that I really AM busy. It's hard to find the time to do all that begs to be done in a day, which is why I haven't written here for an age and a day.

      Anyway, I thought I would share just a few photos of them with you, and a note to you all that we plan to go west for a few months next month. Pray for us during this time as we continue to seek God's will for us long term. We have some things we've been praying about, but nothing that we can as yet say we know for sure is the next step after the step we are taking to go west for the summer.

    We are praying that these next months will be the time "apart" we need to refocus.

    This bee inspired me and reminded me of something I believe I read in Amy Carmichael's works, about being like a bee, and spreading a bit of life to every soul I touch, just like the bee spreads seeds of life as it carries pollen from flower to flower. I want to carry life with me, all unconscious of myself as I do it. I think this is one of my biggest prayer-requests, if you want to pray something for me, to be a bear of life in word and action - life words that build my husband and children, life deeds, life and laughter shining out of my face and splashing over to those around me.
"streams of living water flowing out from my innermost because I am filled to the uttermost."
      Lately I've felt a bit dry, but I don't want to stay that way. He has what I need, and my desire is to be always going to him for it.

My Birthday Blessings

This is what God gave to me today as a reminder of his love...
Two times today he brought this verse to me, once by email and once in a card -
Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your hear."
It reminds me so much of another time he brought this verse and a rainbow at the same time - with a note from a friend to start looking for my rainbow...
It was just before I met Darren, and would you believe it? His first letter to me came on RAINBOW paper! :)
Here's few more quotes sent my way today - "May today bring a new awareness of God's love and ... may you have special expectations of the good things he has planned for you."
"All things work together for the good of them that love God."
"It's been a blessing to see how God has been at work in your life, showing you his goodness, and revealing the plans he has for you. Your birthday is a special time ... to anticipate the many good things he promises yet to do."
And twice - "God rejoices in you"
"The Lord you God is with you, He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
Thank you to all of those who played a part in helping to remind me on this special day that I am loved not only by you but by my Father.

Why Stress? And Delightful Surprises

 Such busy days! And so many lessons that I want to learn from these days! My little ones take so much of my time. But they are worth it. Right now they are both sick... :(  One of the treasures of these days is the deep peace God has been giving as I learn to trust him and let the details of my life in his safe hands. Stress is because I am trying to control the situation. So I can choose not to stress, simply by giving the controls over to the One to whom they really belong. It's so much happier. I am so much happier when I do. Thank you, Lord for beginning to teach me this lesson.

Thank you, Lord, for a child's delight in the answer to his heart's desire! Thank you for the pleasure too deep for words that spilled over into moist eyes as he realized that it really was a gun! A real honest to goodness rubber band gun!

 Thank you for fathers who take the time to teach their children, including first lessons in shooting and gun safety! Rule number one - never point even an unloaded toy gun at people. 

Thank you for the joy of being remembered by loved ones for my birthday this weekend, and the extra specialness of an unexpected package in the mail - for ME! I  could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it was addressed specially to me! Such a sweet thoughtful sis! And the very book I've been thinking of purchasing for myself! It is well worth the read! I borrowed it from a friend and read it, and started over reading to Darren. Now I can return her book to her. :)

And an added touch of remembrance for the little ones too! So sweet!

And Time Keeps Rushing On

It was only yesterday, wasn't it, that I cradled him in my arms the first time, as he gasped and then began to squall. Wasn't it only yesterday that I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry at the wonder and beauty of my baby boy, as we dedicated his little life to the Lord? And he is four years old tomorrow? Surely it can't be! Yet it is true. The years keep rushing by, and if I am to get the full benifit from them I must savor the moments and turn them slowly in His light and see them for the gifts that they are.
So here are just a few photos of his birthday party a day early with little friends.

I'm so excited Mommy!

little friends

A new flashlight! Wow! I hoped it might be a gun but this is really nice! (Yup, boy, the rubber band gun is coming tonight! One from us, and I happen to know that Uncle Jamie has another this weekend for you, and a camera! This will be a birthday to remember all right! Your top three wishes are all on their way, but I won't spoil the surprise for you yet.)

Made to order cake - Carrot Chocolate Peanutbutter with a mountain, a bear and a waterfall with rocks. (And mom knows it's fairly healthy as well, with wholegrain and honey, that didn't spoil the flavor. By the way to those who are saying gross at the carrot part, that was only a little to satisfy him)

Extinguishing the flames and about to enjoy the eating

We Have These Moments to Hold in Our Hands

I saw some stunning photography of grains of sand the other day.

The work of Gary Greenburg

And I thought how my days are made of moments - moments gleaming of his grace, yet I will never see their beauty if I let them slip through my fingers unheeded. It is only when I take the time to look at them up close, to examine them and turn them in His light that I see their true colors. Then the ordinary is transformed into a marvel of beauty. That mere sand becomes a treasure and I worship Him who knows the number of all the grains of sand on all the sandy beaches, and has a name for every star which he has strung out in the vast expanses of the universe.

So let me learn to treasure these moments of these busy days as they slip so quickly true my fingers. Let me finger each pearl as it slips from my strand of moments and turn it til I see it shine with his love and grace.  

The beauty of my little ones playing together(this one taken in Thailand)

Of sand from which I learn more of this lesson 

Of wintry skies and drifting snow

Sunlight on poles

Enjoyment of all these good things 

Of time for a love feast with my little ones and then of a candlelit  one with my sweetie while a friend babysits.

These busy days..., so much to do so little time for things like this. But I can catch a few moments while they all sleep and record a few glimpses of his mercies, and do my own heart good. For in naming of them I own them more fully. Their joys become more mine as I acknowledge them and Him, the giver of all good gifts. "Every good gift and every perfect is from above and comes down from the Father of lights in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He does not change and all things come from him, every one of them a perfect gift.  "He fills my mouth with good things ad my lips with praise." He brings back the sparkle that I have left slip somewhere along life's busy way, and I praise him.

Sunlight on Red Berries

"Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling for her mommy to hear just what she has to say.

And my little son, running here by the wayside, will never be quite like today.

We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand.

Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment today." AU

Joy Dare - 1000 gifts in 2012

I've been pondering joy and thanksgiving long before I found this gem, but it's been inspiring me in a deeper way. I am reading Ann Voskcamp's book one thousand gifts, and have started the joy dare - counting to 1000 gifts in 2012. I had a sticker on my fridge that read - Thanksliving, the attitude do gratitude. It has been my purpose to remember to give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. And I am seeking his will... Sometimes it has seemed that I have sought and sought and still lived empty, so this year I decided to start listing things every day for which I am thankful, little glimpses of his grace that strike me. That's why I posted the last post. It's helped so much when the days get long and wearisome and lonesome, to seek and find his graces. Then Saturday a friend loaned me the book, one thousand gifts, and I'm so blessed with it already.

Joy in Unexpected Places

I've been meditating on joy a lot recently. I quote I read goes something like this - "Thanksgiving is the attitude of the heart. Joy is the abundance it creates."  I want to live in the joyful abundance of thanksgiving. This morning as I was cleaning and hanging up laundry in the cold wintry air, I got to pondering how thankful I am for these things! Why? Because of what they mean to me. 

Laundry means family - loved ones who are healthy and can work and play. They are a gift to me from the Lord.

The dirt and hand prints that my little ones make are evidence of this also. And so are the muddy tracks from my husband's work boots. It means that God graciously gave him his job back, and we didn't need to come back and look and search for work in this low economy! It means I have a wonderful husband and provider! "Where no oxen are the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox." (I'm not saying he's an ox, only that it may be less work to be alone, but I'd much rather the work and my lovely family)

These past eight months

It’s the beginning of a new year… I look back and ponder all the way that the Lord has led us. This time last year we had no idea that today we would look back on eight months of Bible School in Asia. In fact, at the time we had very little knowledge of what IGo even was.

 

our little family in Thailand

    But God opened doors and directed us through them and we are very thankful for His leading and rest in the steadfast hope that he will continue to lead in the future.
    So a bit of a sum up.
If you read back over past posts, you will be able to form a bit of an idea what life looked like for us there.  There were a lot of changes to make to adjust to being students. We’ve both been out of school for years, and were mostly home-schooled, add to that being spouses and parents. I had no idea what a challenge that would be. After the first term, I stopped taking classes in the class room and did a bit of listening over skype or to recordings while caring for the children.

  

 John and Christy playing in the dirt

Darren took all of the morning classes, but for the most part used the afternoon for studying. After a few terms I began taking one class in the afternoon while the children napped. That was a blessing.
    The teaching we received enriched our lives and the experiences of living in unusual circumstances and working closely with other people day in and day out was very good training for us. I learned to understand better what it means to live “in a fish bowl” or a “glass house.” They say that people who live in glass houses should never throw stones. I think I understand that concept better than ever. Those who lived with us, and worked with us over these past months can testify to our many faults. I hope also, by God’s grace, they could testify that they have seen us reaching forward, and striving to overcome them. As I saw my own weaknesses exposed for everyone to see, I  think I learned to feel for others more deeply and to give them more grace in their weakness. I hope I don’t forget but continue to learn this lesson.
 

My little monkey

 
  After Darren’s last accident, we had one more term and then took the trip to Cambodia that we had been planning to take when he got hurt. 

(That hurt foot healed very slowly and his toe still gives him pain)

    Our original contact had to take a quick leave of absence, and was not able to give oversight to the planned work, so we worked with a kindergarten school there instead. It was a rather unique experience. Teaching a bunch of 4-7 year olds to say their letters and words like - eyes, mouth, ears…. Not exactly what we would have chosen, but God knows best. Cambodia has a horrifying history of genocide during the Pol Put regime. If you don’t know anything about it, maybe you should research it sometime. I understand that about 1in 3 of the people were tortured and killed during the horrific reign of the Khmer Rouge. The stories make your blood run cold. All the older people (over 30) can remember those days. It definitely still has its affect.

In Cambodia