Say it Brother

Tim's post:
Hey loved this post, "American Evangelicalism, Light Beer, and Reformed Theology". Don't know if I agree with everything this guy says (or more how he says it) sure like the post. later

Spring Break

This is where we are going to be spending our Spring Break (many thanks to Tim's sister Kerri for providing and putting this all together :) I have lots of packing to do and some preparations..but it's sure getting closer. The weather report for today said 88 degrees! That sounds nice. Don't you think? !!!!

Heee hee...who doesn't need a Friday laugh

This made me laugh!

Boredom

This blog post interesting to me. It is in my google reader, but I hardly ever read it, it caught my attention today though.

Makes me think of this story:

Satan's Meeting

Author: Unknown

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep Christians from going to church."

"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour."

"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive."

To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."

"Give them headaches too! "

"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the
real meaning of Christmas."

"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and
power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.

Send them to amusement parks, sporting event s, plays, concerts, and movies instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek
power from Jesus."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"

"It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.

Having little time for their God or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

Resolved

This makes me want to be a college student in California....otherwise, I am quite content to be who I am in Michigan :)

I found this on the girltalk blog

Strange Ways

'Little' story for you!

Tim and I had an extra bed to get rid of and a friend of ours had previously suggested Craigslist
So we went ahead and put it on there for free. Long story short, juggling phone calls, emails, deciding who gets this free bed, etc, etc... Someone is coming to get it!! So I decided we should get it downstairs and have it ready. Since Tim isn't home, Andrew is helping me. (PTL by the way that he is big enough to help me) So we get the mattress down fine (flexible) but the box-spring is a DIFFERENT story!! It is not flexible and our stair way is very narrow with 1 1/2 curves in it. We just about got it past the curve, but it was WEDGED...no further would it go! (we were NOT calm and relaxed-btw) We tried this a couple of times and decided that it wouldn't go :(

We have a balcony off of our bedroom, and about 6 months ago had to bring our king-sized bed up that way (2nd story). So I reluctantly agreed to lower it with a rope. I really wanted no part of this...but Andrew thought it would work. He is determined...I wanted to give up..."All this for a free bed" I grumble. Andrew went to get the rope for me and he tied it on. We called in reinforcements at this point. Travis and Jake were 'helping' now. First I went outside/downstairs... and Travis and Jake are helping hold the bed as they 'lower' it down to me. Than Andrew decided to get a ladder to lower it onto and he went outside and me upstairs. I did prefer this sense of more control. Not sure what will happen when my kids are lowering it!

In the meantime the woman who was getting it called for further directions. She said 'O, i hope i can find it'....I thought it should be pretty obvious, cuz I am sure your mattress will be falling out of our 2nd story!....Sure enough, as we were lowering her mattress down to the ground, she drove by waving at me. I was actually glad (although embarrassed slightly-and glad it wasn't splattered on the ground in a million pieces)... Because that did make it easier for her to find. (Maybe she is blogging this story right now :)....The ladder turned out to be a good idea, since it gave it a place to come to rest.

She and her friend helped us get it off the ladder and over to their van... They were very sweet!

Anyway, the point of the story... ooops...totally longer than I wanted it to be...is that they gave Andrew $10 for helping! I tell Andrew all the time, that God is always giving him things and/or money. I am not kidding, this happens to him more than any one I know. If he goes to a pop machine, 2 come out. If we go to Aldi cart return, there is a free quarter there. One time, we were at the store together and he was loading the groceries and someone randomly came out to our car and gave him a dollar for helping me! Not to mention grandparents that pay him very well when he works for them!

He is a HARD worker, but come on...where's my 10 bucks!!!! :) *smiles* I do LOVE that God may be drawing him in that way, and many other ways, I pray! I want to be very intentional in my life as well, to give God glory and to remind my kids to do the same! I feel like those things are from God! ( OOPS, shouldn't have been complaining about getting it down...Seems like God had a purpose in all of it! )





This blog was prompted by this blog

Knitting

What an accomplishment!
My mom recently taught me how to knit!
It was extremely humbling and hard to get even the basics. I was sure my mom second thoughts about my mental capacities.


But now, well, I accomplished something. Surely I can do more complicated things, but I think knitting nerds use a different language involving a complicated series of Capital letters and numbers...like K3 -15times; 6M till your fingers fall off...
Even the beginners jargon is like that! Help MOM!

Theological pick up lines

Some of you may have seen this, but I thought it was pretty funny!

My sisters

Today is Karen's Birthday. Happy Birthday Karen! (right) -(Missy on the left)

I love my sisters!!!!!

Tea, Paint, Larry and Euchre

My sweet friend posted about a delightful 'tea party' that I attended on Saturday, so I will let her tell the story :)....


The rest of my life seems consumed with construction. For the most part I am loving the process. It is hard for me to do 2 things at once at times, so I welcome comments to balance painting with homeschooling :) The part of the process I love is 'getting it done'. Tim and I see so clearly the difference in our personalities in this area. Especially in painting. I need to get the job done and he needs it to look nice :) Fortunately we have learned a lot about communicating through the construction. I think that is code words for: "we have gotten in a couple of arguments" *smiles*

Anyway, I am thinking we need to have a BIG OLE party when we are done, so everyone can see the combo of "Get 'er done" and "Perfectionism".... (Tim isn't always a perfectionist, but he can be, he doesn't have OCD or anything, but if there is a disorder that is named after "Get 'er done" well, I have that.... do you all picture Larry the Cable guy when I say that? Because that is the part the disturbs me when I say that I have that "Disorder" )



--By BIG OLE party I mean 'Let's play Euchre' *smiles* (and talk and visit and eat--cuz some people don't like Euchre-- I KNOW, strange but true!!!!! :)

Heaven

I just finished reading Heaven....Know what I am going to do now??? Start over immediately!! I do not know what I think of all the things he says in the book and have had several interesting discussions over it with Tim, but it has been so totally helpful and encouraging to me! I highly recommend it, even if you don't agree with it all, it just set me to dreaming of Heaven/being with Jesus and everything else that waits for me!

What have I been doing?

I looked at my last post, and was shocked at how long since I posted. My one loyal fan must be MAD at me! :)

Here's part of life lately --Jake's bday and constant snow...that about sums it all up!!! (o, and continued construction, but there's only so many construction pics I thought you could stand :)

Story for the day

I am  so glad to have Tim home...He just got home
a couple hours ago from the
Desiring God conference in Minneapolis, MN.
They left about 1pm on Wed.
He called me a couple times in the night to tell me
that it was going to take a
while to get home.  He called for the last time at 11pm.
I woke up at 6:30am thinking
they would be almost home, but went back to sleep.
He called again at 9:30 to say they
were almost home!  That's what, 20 hours of travel
instead of 8!
.....he got stranded 2 times in Wisconsin...once for
5 hours and once for 1 1/2 hours!!!  Because of the
icy, snowy weather
so he got home at 10am, instead of midnite last nite!!!
I guess there were semis that
jacknifed, etc, etc... There were stories
(he's not sure if it's true or not) of
travelers that had been stranded for 12 hours!
Evidently the the West-bound lane
had a lot more issues and they were headed East-bound --PTL!!!!
poor guy.... exhausted...

He said that the 2 counties that they were in at the
time of being stranded
declared a state of emergency and they had the
national guard(?) out and
helicopters were going over and they had some shelters
or something set up....quite a story,
I said, that is funny, and he said it didn't seem funny
at the time... cuz you
just don't know when you are going to get to go again!  :)
So i am glad he is
home... Poor Ben (Mich state trooper ) was in his van and
he was trying
to get them to stop! He knows all about that stuff and
why they call it a
state of emergency, I'm sure
but the I guess they decided to keep pressing on and
get home!  ;)   He said the ice on the roads was like
going on a gravel road
with potholes, only worse... Sounds like quite the trip!!!!
smiles  (glad i didn't know all that last nite!)

We searched for a news story on it, but found
nothing...guess the news people think
there's more important things, but that sounds
newsworthy to me.
_________________________________________________________
*after checking the comments*


...a better way to put it than search was
that we watched tv for a while thinking it would jump out.
...thanks mwh for the story
now it jumped out..thanks   :)

Found it!

I still have this song floating around in my mind and found it here
to listen to, so I thought I would share it with you.

Also...love this song and have been searching around for it... here is a youtube version of it.

God has used these 2 songs in my life at significant times, so they mean a lot to me. The 1st song came at a time when that I needed to be remembering who I really am in view of God's mercy. The second one came when I was very homesick a couple of years ago and just helping me to feel God's presence! What a HUGE blessing! God's presence! It is always there, but so nice when He communicates it to us!


Sorry I hate pushing Youtube, but only place I could find it--well, maybe I COULD have found it somewhere else, but I got sick of searching and hey, I have a life you know ;) :) heeheee....

Quotes to feed my Obsession

John Newton said, "When I get to Heaven I shall see three wonders. The first wonder will be to see many there whom I did not expect to see, the second wonder will be to miss many people who I did expect to see; the third and greatest of all will be to find myself there."

C.S. Lewis said "I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it my main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same."

Blogging for Tim

I have a bunch more time in general than Tim to blog. I told him he needs to blog this quote he likes...but he said, you do it for me. He has a blog, but it has one entry from like a year and a half a ago. So we may share this blog...but I will let you know if it's from Tim.

He saved his quote, but I can't bring it up, so I searched for it... and I believe this is it. I will ask him when he gets back :)

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

btw...MLK Jr has a bunch of good quotes

Retraining the Brain in Marriage

Here are some things I have been thinking about in relation
to marriage.
Just some initial 'helps and corrections to my current thoughts
and wrong attitudes.   I realize my  blog doesn't follow a common
theme and jumps all over the place, but bear with me.
These are all things I struggle through, you may not, but I feel like
these are so important for me--so thought I would share.

...Some  of them are things to pray, but most of this is just plain ole
practical....

-Date your husband/wife ....even if it has to be an in house date
(kids to bed early, special quiet  meal together,
etc, be creative).... just spend a little planning....
don't worry about how extravagant it is...just putting some
simple thoughts into it...it doesn't have to be perfect, just done
(there's my get er done attitude)....don't wait for him/her  to
do it, it's your responsibility.

-Pray that you will have a love for him/her....sometimes it
is hard to love, but the love has to be there...only God can
put love there, you can't make it happen.  You still have
to love though, no getting off the hook.  (does that make sense?)

-Fight in your mind (this takes some prayer)
and 'turn off' the bad things that your mind says about your
husband/wife.   this is an  an EMERGENCY!  You MUST MAKE
your mind STOP!  no questions...this HAS TO HAPPEN......
they know or sense...
when you are not right towards them.   Sometimes
a visual in your mind is helpful.  When you notice it
happening you visualize a
cloud in the sky or  a beach view, or whatever you
want to visualize.

This visual can act as a trigger when you realize it is
happening so that you can at least acknowledge that it is
happening, Then after you know it, you have to fight with all
your worth to make it stop...sometimes it takes days.... Keep
using your visual not only as a trigger but also
as a distraction.  Use Scripture as a redirection for your mind
as well, that would be the best tool.   An illustration of
is that
I see/feel that my husband has done something wrong
(this may
or may not be a true thing, almost always it isn't true).... and I
can't stop thinking about it, processing it, going over it in
my mind, etc.... the thing is, this blinds me to any of my
issues, because my mind makes it  seems so gigantic
because it is such
a constant in my mind, that I can't possibly be doing
anything wrong...
It  can feel like a  sub-conscious " i am going crazy, war" But
i feel like this
voice MUST STOP  because of the terrible destruction that it
 leaves.....
So it requires a re-training of the brain. Which obviously takes time,
but MUST happen.

-Forgive and/or let go whenever you can....Fight (with God's help)
for forgiveness, even when an apology isn't offered

-Do not expect ANYTHING from your husband/wife,  but love
who he/she is, for what he/she  is, as is, in
front of you.... this also probably requires a re-training
of the brain as well.


I realizing more and more that marriage is hard work,
BUT it is
incredibly worth it.  The work can become
harder or easier, but always worth it.

More Construction, ETC....

TWO Pictures are from more construction and I found the other one on the camera...hmmm...what are those boys doing while we work ;)???? something with night vision goggles??????

Tim has put up 2 beams for support in our 'new' openings, so it felt sooooo much more open, strange how removing a few boards opened it up so much more, but I am PUMPED! :) He has one more beam to do and than...on to other parts and painting is coming up! YAY!

Loving this/Needing this

Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart,*

Footnotes:

11:19 Hebrew a heart of flesh.

God used this in me this last week, to remind me that I need HIM to change me...and boy did I need changing...just ask TIM ;) Miscellaneous/Multiple episodes of bad attitude, hard heartedness, etc. So although I still feel a sense of hard heartedness, I believe that God is working in my heart and I am so thankful. Because this past weekend, I felt the utter powerlessness to change my own heart, so what a cool promise! I kept it to one verse for brevity, but feel free to scan the passage for context, as it is GREAT!

Update

Well, here's what we have been trying to accomplish. We really want a more open look in our house, so we have removed alot of our walls.... We have seen a-lot of progress, but now plumbing is slowing us down. That is funny, because I say 'us'...but really it is mostly Tim! ;)

Tim has to make some beams for the ceilings, than we can remove those studs

It's VERY exciting to see the progress... I am also soooo excited to see the finished product! We bought some flooring yesterday for the dining room, and than we need it for the kitchen when we decide what we want. In the midst of all that we also had some fabulous friends help us remove most of the chimney....thank you FRIENDS!!!!!