by - 0 comments

Summer :: Coming Soon

I’ve been thinking ahead for a while now. Baby #3′s confirmation was my initiation into a bigger and broader world of family life. I immediately starting planning for how to transition my older kiddos into more responsibility and myself into more personal discipline. It has been a productive nine months over here! All this thinking ahead helped me process change slowly :: and that’s my comfortable pace.

Major change #1: Chores for the kids :: Check

Chores

Major change #2: Changing curriculum and deciding on our homeschool schedule for the next year :: Check

Homeschool

Major change #3: Deciding in advance what our summer schedule feels like :: In-process

Summer

I’ve been thinking a lot about the best way to savor this summer. Of course we will be spending a lot of time getting into a new normal as a family of five, but I didn’t want that to define our whole season. I’ve put a lot of thought into summer plans, and I wrote about it over on Examiner.com. Check it out here.

by - 0 comments

Unity :: 8 Years in the making ::

picmonkey_image We’ve been doing a lot of house work lately. Rob tackling the majors; me scratching at the minors. Cleaning up disasters and preparing for a miracle. We’ve ended days with hugs when no words were needed.

But last night, just for a few hours, we did some heart work.

8 years ago Monday, Rob and I promised to give our whole selves to each other without condition. I like this year’s number: 8. Enough that I feel like it’s something, yet not too much that I feel old or boring. And not too few that I feel arrogant and squeaky.

With everything 8 years has held for us, last night we celebrated! We aren’t just surviving, oh no! We are thriving! And here on the brink of another baby in the house, we are connecting just the original pair of us. The 2 of us that started this life.art.together.

We like who God is molding us to be: unity.one flesh. Happy Anniversary.

 

wedding 2 picmonkey_image

 

by - 0 comments

Finding Foundation

If I were being graded in life right now, from a outsiders perspective I have received all F’s. Fetal fibronectin, Furnace failure, and a flood. These have fueled my remedial studies of the foundation in my life.

In the last post, I included a picture of our family. The picture was taken on Graham’s 4th Birthday. Thursday, April 11, 2013 was an important day for us all, and it marks the first sign of preterm labor.

The first F.

I often over examine my senses and feelings for my sanity and constitution. I don’t believe myself to be a hypochondriac, no it isn’t that. But I do have a healthy dose of this and I’m continually aware of my inner working: physical and mental. All that to say, when contractions hit full force that night I was alarmed but my intuition spoke calm and I trusted the Calm. We went in to the doctor’s office the next morning hopeful for reassurance that all is well. What we got was a bit of a start instead. I was admitted to the hospital and given rounds of drugs for our little man’s lungs and for contractions to calm. It wasn’t a “close call” for delivery, but seeing the signs of labor starting, my doctor took all the necessary steps to stay safe. Sadly, this short stay at the hospital cost me my son’s birthday party, and earned me bed rest.

The second F.

It happened the same day. As I was admitted, Rob was home with the kids while a furnace company was assessing our current situation for an estimate on a new furnace. Old home = constant necessary upgrades. What he found wasn’t just an out-of-date heater, but a crack in the something-or-other which was leaking carbon monoxide. He told us we needed to turn off the gas ASAP. I don’t think I need to explain further, suffice it to say, we made a sizeable purchace on Saturday, April 20th and had heat pouring through the vents again that evening. If you’re wondering about our air quality before the replacement – talk to me sometime. I can say we didn’t feel healthy at home, and I’m glad to be able to say I’m not crazy – I knew something wasn’t right.

The third F.

Almost one week after I was admitted and put on bed rest, it rained. A lot. First our backyard flooded, and then the water rose in the basement. We have a room in the basement that was remodeled into a make-shift bedroom before we bought it, and they lowered the floor by removing layers of cement which has been a source of concern for a while. All that to say, that for hours on end my husband was moving and removing items from our basement, vacuuming water, and all the rest. He was growing exhausted, and this was all before the new furnace. We were cold, wet, and without my “normal presence.”800PX-~1

Foundation

I’ve wanted to write this post for a whole week now. As I mentioned in the last post, I have been so blessed by this new season in life. I’m learning how to be content in every situation, and it’s provided proof of lessons the Lord has trusted me with in the past. The foundation I need right now is solid as a rock. I’m not boasting in myself or any past accomplishments that got me to a spiritual high. What I’m sharing is a fresh opportunity to get down low to the ground, to search the perimeter, and to check myself in what has been built upon it.

by - 1 Comment

.: life as we know it :.

Image

If I had to summarize life right now with one sentence, all I would want to say is: I love my family.

The Lord is disciplining me, and before any assumption ensues, this discipline is not a harsh consequence due to a sin(s). I also don’t want to give the impression that I’m being made a victim in my own life. And I’m not talking about bed rest yet. Wow. Listen to me, I’m not making sense at all. So let me start again, from the beginning.

I was quiet in the month of March. Quiet down in my soul. I didn’t have anything to write. I didn’t have much to say. I was observing my choices and my routine, and doing the mental math. My living wasn’t equal to the life I’m called to live. I realized through a course of introspection, prayer, and confrontation that I was the problem in the equation. I was the variable that wasn’t measuring up.

And in a song, I heard the comforting calling from the Lord: you’re restless without me.

From that moment, I turned back to Him realizing that in big and small ways I had gotten into a disorderly mess due to my own attempt to do it on my own. That day began the journey of discipline, and I am delighted to say that it is continuing even now.

I’d love to write more in detail of the many things I’ve learned in a few short weeks: reading this book, going to this conference, and hearing these speakers: Dr. Kathy Koch, John Rosemond, Kirk Martin, and Amy Quakkelaar. Through these the Lord divinely planted in my heart the desire, drive, and direction for His discipline.

What does this new discipline look like? I really can’t answer. I couldn’t diagram the plan – it wasn’t my plan to design. I just know this is the beginning of something long-lasting, and although I was at first tempted to throw in the towel when the direction bed rest was spoken, I have since been surprised and delighted by the revelation of the Lord that this is plan A. This is the process of discipline for me. It isn’t a side step, and I’m tickled to see growth in my heart.

I hope this process includes more writing. I’d love to share in greater detail what I’m learning. Life of paper. But for now, just know that I love my family.

Rob who is the perfect partner for me. He gets me and can think like me. His anticipation of my feelings and needs are a treasure.

JoeAnna who is embracing her style and growing in compassion. She is creating and dancing, and she is being hugged lots more from a mama who wants to see and fill her need.

Graham who is transitioning into an independent little boy and learning faster than he is taught. He is driven and competitive, and yet concerned for others to the core.

And our sweet little Emmett. We haven’t met him yet – thankfully! But he is already deeply loved and protected by us all.

We all fit together. We make up this life as we know it. And it’s a good life.

by - 0 comments

Crunchy Granola Bars

Granola Bars

Finished product!

So I promised Rob some granola bars. We’ve been going through more than 2 boxes a week! And today was the day to make them happen.

I bundled the kids up and sent them outside with buckets to catch all the snow we’ve been getting, while I reviewed this recipe and came up with my own.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter; 1/2 cup peanut butter; 1/4 cup honey; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1/4 cup light corn syrup

Melt these ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.

Then mix in: 2 cups old fashioned oats; 2.5 cups quick oats; 1/3 cup flaxseed meal; 1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Granola 1

All mixed up and ready for the pan.

Grease a cookie sheet and press the mixture into the pan. Make it as evenly as you can.

Granola 2

Oven ready

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I think I over baked mine a bit because they weren’t supposed to be that crunchy. This batch ended up not quite as crunchy as Nature’s Valley bars but almost.

Granola 3

20 Minutes to browned edges

 

Granola 4

Cool 5 minutes then cut into bars

After I cut them, I left them in the pan for 45 minutes to fully cool before taking them out of the pan.

Get your favorite beverage ready because it’s time to taste test! Enjoy :)

Granola Bars

Ready to eat!

by - 0 comments

The Search

Betrayed photo

So the title of the book I most recently finished is “Betrayed: How would you feel if your daughter told you she believed in Jesus? This Jewish business man felt…Betrayed”

The thing I like best about the reason I read this book is that I didn’t seek it out for myself. It wasn’t on my top 10 reading list. I didn’t know anything about it.

Until it came to me. Or more boldly, until God orchestrated the events that led to a friend of mine mentioning she’d like me to read it. She had no idea I have jewish relatives (whom I love dearly!) and that I would love a chance to understand their world and feelings and identity.

Since reading it, I’ve had multiple conversations over the things I’ve learned from this amazing man, Stan Telchin. To the point that I’ve avoided writing this post on the book because I couldn’t think of the right words to summarize his work in an honoring way.

So I’m not. I’m just going to say that the thing I best loved about this book was Telchin’s honest search. The Search. I needed to go with him on the journey. His honesty and vulnerability in seeking out answers to the questions of jewish history and how that relates to the Bible and Jesus were so personal and his pursuit of answers was so passionate. He stopped working for months! I don’t know anyone personally who has walked away from all their normal routines and responsibilities because finding answers to their ultimate question “Who Is Jesus?” But this man did, and he wasn’t satisfied with just reading the gospels, or talking to a rabbi – he went all the way to the beginning and through the life of Jesus and beyond into the Church age. Asking the question, “When did Christianity’s majority become gentile?”

All of his questions are intriguing. His research thorough and fresh. And what I read I had never known before.

I won’t give away the conclusion to the book, but check out these links: what Telchin committed his retirement days to, his other works, and where you can search like he did.

  

by - 0 comments

Why I’m scared to read, and what I’ve just read.

Betrayed

I have to say that I love to read. Since selling our TV over a year ago, and cutting back almost completely on watching movies – our must-see list tops off with Little House on the Prairie and an occasional Pride & Prejudice (which to be honest, I don’t even need to watch because I can quote it) – I have learned to not only enjoy reading but to also look forward to it in great anticipation.

I have to be honest though, books scare me. Sometimes.

Here’s why. I just recently finished reading an “innocent” fiction series which had all the classic elements of a tragic drama, which made it exciting and easy to read. But. I felt weird reading it. Now. I don’t want you to speculate what I read – I’m not going to say unless asked in person – nor do I want to leave out from being said that it was clean – nothing that would make it more than PG. No language or anything else.

Still I sensed that something was off spiritually when I would put it down for the night. Am I crazy? Too sensitive? Or should I take this feeling seriously and correct my reading? I have to conclude that as I journey into living pure, I’m slowly learning to lean most heavily on prayer to navigate such senses and feelings. I don’t think the books I read were “bad” but I do think they were drawing my heart away from communion with the Lord at the moment I read them. Quite possibly, spending my time on these for that season was wrong. I know I’m in an intense season of learning, and the Lord as my teacher was trying to tell me “not now.”

This isn’t the only reason why books scare me though. They also have such power to change and shape my thinking. I have experienced personally the light bulb moment when an author describes something from their own philosophical point of view that I feel persuaded to incorporate into my own beliefs. This is dangerous! I want to be so careful to have an accurate Biblical filter through which all thoughts and ideas from an outside source must flow. I’m not there yet, but I’m aware of it. And that is a start. I want to read to grow, change, learn, be challenged – the whole nine yards – but I don’t want to be a spaghetti noodle swinging on the pendulum with every paradigm shift.

Well, there’s good news at the end of this post. The link (hopefully it will be a picture – WordPress, please be nice to me) at the top of this post is what I have just read and I’m working on a review of it. In a sentence, this book has changed my entire point of reference on how I think about the Jewish people in relation to Christianity.

I hope you will read this review, and then read Betrayed for yourself.