There's a pet alien in a jar sitting next to my computer. I have a model dinosaur in my book shelf. There are squinkies on the stairs. One lone red sock on the coffee table, a stack of misc. cards, a snack cup with crumbs in it. There's one leftover cupcake on the kitchen counter, some flash cards on the island and a stack of library books too.
But that's not all you will find in my house.
You'll find laughter. LOUDNESS. Creativity, encouragement, and celebration. Sometimes tears, and then comforting. Acceptance. Helping hands, Open hearts, and camaraderie.
Most of all, inside these walls, you will find LOVE.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." -John 13:34
Friday, November 15, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
On Turning 40
I am turning 40 this year. It's no big deal really. I loved my 30's and I don't expect that my 40's will be any different. Some people may jest that I am getting old, but I don't feel all that old. (OK, so maybe on some days I feel older than others, but that's normal.)
If someone were to ask me if I have accomplished everything I wanted to by this age, I would have to say no. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. I had a very different plan for my life when I was 20. I was married and wanted to finish my college degree and teach. My plans were to get established in my career and then start our family. But then after a year of trying to pay for college on our own, we just couldn't afford it anymore. So I applied to a Nanny agency and began to work for two families taking care of their children.
A while later I had a not so pleasant experience with one of those families and my Nanny career was abruptly ended. My husband was working at a church and we couldn't afford for me to be jobless so I took a chance and applied at a bank as a teller. I loved banking so much that once again my plans changed and I thought I could make a career in banking. I took classes and learned the ropes and began to climb the corporate ladder slowly making my way from teller to assistant manager. Life was good. I enjoyed my job and there were still plenty of opportunities to advance.
Then life threw us another unexpected loop.
The church that my husband was working for informed him that they never intended to hire him full time. Long story short, we packed our things and moved to Oregon, hoping for a better break. There I still worked as a banker but life was pretty miserable for my husband. After three months or so, the Pastor of our old church in Washington began to strike up a conversation with him, offering a job for not only him, but me also.
And so my career plans changed again.
We moved back to Washington where I worked as the graphic design artist/Pastor's assistant. The focus changed dramatically from my career to what God wanted to accomplish in my husband's life as a Worship Leader and eventually, Associate Pastor. By now we had been talking about starting a family. We didn't know it at the time, but we had a long journey ahead of us.
There were many doctor's visits, tests, prayers, and unanswered questions. My heart longed to be a mother, but as the months and then years passed, nothing. Finally, when we had almost given up hope, I received the good news from my doctor that I was pregnant. We didn't tell anyone for the first several weeks for fear that I would lose the baby. Once we did announce the news, it was a very joyful occasion.
Finally, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up...a stay at home mom.
I worked as the church accountant for the first year of my baby girl's life. A job to help pay the bills, part time, and we lived on church campus so I could bring her to work with me. During that time I got pregnant with our second child and we knew we did not want to raise our family in Seattle, so my husband started looking for a job in a smaller town with a church as the Worship Pastor.
Almost a year after moving, baby three arrived. 18 months later we had moved to Spokane and baby number four arrived. And two years later, we were blessed with baby number five. We finally had the big family that we had always wanted. And I was right where I wanted to be. An at home mom taking care of my little ones. Certainly not where I saw myself when we got married at 20, but exactly where my heart longed to be at age 33. In fact, CD was born the day after my birthday on Thanksgiving, 2006. It was a special Thanksgiving indeed.
So, have I accomplished all I set out to do by this point in my life? Definitely not. But I have no regrets. Since 2006 we have moved back to my husband's home town and are very happy to raise our five children in this small-town atmosphere. All of our children are in school now and I am working part time for my in-laws. Go figure...I do their banking!
I have plenty of years ahead of me, in fact, my grandmother just turned 100 and she is still lives on her own, and gets around fairly well for someone of her age. If I live that long, I hope I accomplish half as much as she. But for now, I am content right in this place. This season is treating me well and I intend to enjoy every moment of it.
Yes, 40 is looking very good to me right now. I have learned that my plans are not always the best plans because Someone else is looking out for me. He knows my heart even better that I do. For this, I am eternally grateful.
"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 a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11
If someone were to ask me if I have accomplished everything I wanted to by this age, I would have to say no. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. I had a very different plan for my life when I was 20. I was married and wanted to finish my college degree and teach. My plans were to get established in my career and then start our family. But then after a year of trying to pay for college on our own, we just couldn't afford it anymore. So I applied to a Nanny agency and began to work for two families taking care of their children.
A while later I had a not so pleasant experience with one of those families and my Nanny career was abruptly ended. My husband was working at a church and we couldn't afford for me to be jobless so I took a chance and applied at a bank as a teller. I loved banking so much that once again my plans changed and I thought I could make a career in banking. I took classes and learned the ropes and began to climb the corporate ladder slowly making my way from teller to assistant manager. Life was good. I enjoyed my job and there were still plenty of opportunities to advance.
Then life threw us another unexpected loop.
The church that my husband was working for informed him that they never intended to hire him full time. Long story short, we packed our things and moved to Oregon, hoping for a better break. There I still worked as a banker but life was pretty miserable for my husband. After three months or so, the Pastor of our old church in Washington began to strike up a conversation with him, offering a job for not only him, but me also.
And so my career plans changed again.
We moved back to Washington where I worked as the graphic design artist/Pastor's assistant. The focus changed dramatically from my career to what God wanted to accomplish in my husband's life as a Worship Leader and eventually, Associate Pastor. By now we had been talking about starting a family. We didn't know it at the time, but we had a long journey ahead of us.
There were many doctor's visits, tests, prayers, and unanswered questions. My heart longed to be a mother, but as the months and then years passed, nothing. Finally, when we had almost given up hope, I received the good news from my doctor that I was pregnant. We didn't tell anyone for the first several weeks for fear that I would lose the baby. Once we did announce the news, it was a very joyful occasion.
Finally, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up...a stay at home mom.
I worked as the church accountant for the first year of my baby girl's life. A job to help pay the bills, part time, and we lived on church campus so I could bring her to work with me. During that time I got pregnant with our second child and we knew we did not want to raise our family in Seattle, so my husband started looking for a job in a smaller town with a church as the Worship Pastor.
Almost a year after moving, baby three arrived. 18 months later we had moved to Spokane and baby number four arrived. And two years later, we were blessed with baby number five. We finally had the big family that we had always wanted. And I was right where I wanted to be. An at home mom taking care of my little ones. Certainly not where I saw myself when we got married at 20, but exactly where my heart longed to be at age 33. In fact, CD was born the day after my birthday on Thanksgiving, 2006. It was a special Thanksgiving indeed.
So, have I accomplished all I set out to do by this point in my life? Definitely not. But I have no regrets. Since 2006 we have moved back to my husband's home town and are very happy to raise our five children in this small-town atmosphere. All of our children are in school now and I am working part time for my in-laws. Go figure...I do their banking!
I have plenty of years ahead of me, in fact, my grandmother just turned 100 and she is still lives on her own, and gets around fairly well for someone of her age. If I live that long, I hope I accomplish half as much as she. But for now, I am content right in this place. This season is treating me well and I intend to enjoy every moment of it.
Yes, 40 is looking very good to me right now. I have learned that my plans are not always the best plans because Someone else is looking out for me. He knows my heart even better that I do. For this, I am eternally grateful.
"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 a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 21
I woke up this morning with a bad attitude. Not gonna lie. I had a pretty hectic week and I wanted to just hide away today and not deal with reality. I was at the kitchen sink doing the dishes and said to my husband "Sometimes I wish I could just take a personal day, when I could just read a book, drink some tea, watch a movie, or take a nap." He simply stated "So why don't you do that today? You need to take a day. You are in a grumpy mood and you need to take a day off."
Wait, what? Did he just tell me I'm grumpy? He's supposed to be all supportive and let me gripe for a while. EXCEPT THAT...one day I gave him permission to tell me when I am playing the martyr. I asked him to tell me to snap out of it when I am having a bad attitude. And that's what he did today. It was done in love and I pouted for a few minutes and then I realized that he was totally right.
So as I was eating the omelet that he so generously made for me for breakfast, I thought about how I could have a better attitude for the rest of my day. That's when Philippians 2:4-5 popped into my mind.
"Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." (NASB)
Obviously somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the reference to having the attitude of Christ Jesus, or it wouldn't have popped into my head when I needed it. But I had to go to my concordance to find exactly where it was located, and the precise wording. So I figure, why not memorize it for SSMT verse 21?
As I was reading Philippians 2 to get a feel for the context of these verses, I began to realize something. Paul didn't tell the people to stop looking out for their own personal interests. He didn't ask them to play the martyr and only look after everyone else. He simply told them to ALSO look out for the interests of others. Care about others needs. Watch each others' backs, so to speak.
The NIV version of verse 5 says "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." That word "relationships" is really what it is all about. It takes the focus off of just me. I am still concerned with taking care of my own needs, but I also look out for the needs of those around me. It removes the selfish ambition and creates an attitude of "we're all in this together." As Paul says in Phil. 2:2 "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (Emphasis mine.)
For the next two weeks I will be working on my attitude as I memorize Philippians 2:4-5. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit, who brought this verse to mind on a day when I really needed it. Oh - and it doesn't hurt that I have a husband who helps me change my bad-attitude into a better-attitude, with love and encouragement. Thanks honey!
Wait, what? Did he just tell me I'm grumpy? He's supposed to be all supportive and let me gripe for a while. EXCEPT THAT...one day I gave him permission to tell me when I am playing the martyr. I asked him to tell me to snap out of it when I am having a bad attitude. And that's what he did today. It was done in love and I pouted for a few minutes and then I realized that he was totally right.
So as I was eating the omelet that he so generously made for me for breakfast, I thought about how I could have a better attitude for the rest of my day. That's when Philippians 2:4-5 popped into my mind.
"Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." (NASB)
Obviously somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the reference to having the attitude of Christ Jesus, or it wouldn't have popped into my head when I needed it. But I had to go to my concordance to find exactly where it was located, and the precise wording. So I figure, why not memorize it for SSMT verse 21?
As I was reading Philippians 2 to get a feel for the context of these verses, I began to realize something. Paul didn't tell the people to stop looking out for their own personal interests. He didn't ask them to play the martyr and only look after everyone else. He simply told them to ALSO look out for the interests of others. Care about others needs. Watch each others' backs, so to speak.
The NIV version of verse 5 says "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." That word "relationships" is really what it is all about. It takes the focus off of just me. I am still concerned with taking care of my own needs, but I also look out for the needs of those around me. It removes the selfish ambition and creates an attitude of "we're all in this together." As Paul says in Phil. 2:2 "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." (Emphasis mine.)
For the next two weeks I will be working on my attitude as I memorize Philippians 2:4-5. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit, who brought this verse to mind on a day when I really needed it. Oh - and it doesn't hurt that I have a husband who helps me change my bad-attitude into a better-attitude, with love and encouragement. Thanks honey!
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