A video only a parent can really appreciate

Splish Splash Baby

Today is Giving Tuesday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed.  Now it is Giving Tuesday!

Giving Tuesday: Make an Eternal Impact

Christmas time is here

Well, the turkey was carved, the kids played with cousins, and everyone had too much pie and cake.  All in all, it was a pretty wonderful Thanksgiving.

So now we are on to Christmas.  We got the decorations up today.  We always try to do this the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The kids were so much help this year!  I was surprised how much they were willing and able to do, especially Elias.  We would have definitely not had them finished today, if it was not for all their help.  Josh and I were pretty exhausted from our 2 day trip to our family's homes.

Thankfully, my mother-in-law was more than willing to watch the kids for us yesterday as we shopped for Christmas gifts.  We exchange names with my family on Thanksgiving day, so we were able to get all of those gifts taken care of in one day.  We finished most of the kids gifts as well.

It feels so great to have Christmas shopping done. We are not big shoppers in general and we tend to drag our feet a little with Christmas shopping. We still have some gifts to buy, but I feel much less stressed knowing that we are mostly done. Josh and I have decided to get a new color printer/scanner/copier, in lieu of getting gifts for each other. We currently have no way to print in color, make a copy or scan pictures. This is something we have wanted for a long time, so it seems the most logical choice to get it for Christmas.  I think we will also convert to smart phones. Our phones are beginning to not hold a charge and acting a little odd at times, so that also is an expense that will be under the umbrella of Christmas gifts to each other. I know I will feel better if we get things that we'll use regularly, opposed to a gift of sentiment that is not useful.

Also, while we were visiting with family, my sister gave us 2 huge bags of clothes from my nephew for Elias.  Elias was really in need of some new pants and the bags had at least 8 pair of pants he can currently wear, plus pants in the next 3 sizes as well.  What a huge blessing!  It took me a couple hours to sort through them and have him try them on, but when I think of all the money we'll save, it was well worth it!

Last year, we really concentrated on celebrating Advent.  We did a lot of activities leading up to Christmas.  I felt like we truly celebrated the reason for the season last year and it was a month filled with family time and joyful celebration in our home.  I definitely want to do that again this year.  We used the book The ADVENTure of Christmas by Lisa Whelchel, plus I threw in a few things from Ann Voskamp as well.  We will definitely do some of the things from the book again.  The kids already said they want to make cinnamon-applesauce ornaments again as they were hanging ornaments on the tree tonight.  They were so fun to make and the kids gave them away as gifts, which made them feel extra special, because they made them. I want the things we do to become tradition, but I also don't want them to get bored with it and lose its meaning, so I think I will try adding in other ideas too. I am going to check out the links that my friend Lorrie just put on her blog today.

I also wanted to share my friend Jill's blog post that highlights the Compassion Gift Catalog.  She did such a great job breaking the catalog down and showing highlights from it.  Last year, my kids looked through it and selected gifts they wanted to give in honor of their grandparents. Bella chose sanitary bathrooms for her Pappy! Nothing says love like clean bathrooms, I guess. But there really is a lot to choose from and the gifts range from very small to more substantial. It gives them an opportunity to see that there is so much more to Christmas and to life than the newest hot toy on the market.

We still need to decorate outside, so hopefully the temperature will raise a little in the next week. I tend to be the one who stays inside for tactical support when the outside decorations are going up. I hand out scissors or tape or a screwdriver as needed. I make hot chocolate for them when they return from stringing and "helping". Josh doesn't mind his little helpers, and it goes much smoother if I am not outside complaining about the cold and yapping at the kids to stop goofing around so we can just get it done already! 

Just for laughs

Since I seem to be in a linking mood lately on my blog, I thought I would share a recent blog that is just plain funny.

It is Jon Acuff's Stuff Christians Like and the post is 7 signs a sermon is almost over.  My personal favorite from the list is number 4 - The band starts to materialize like musical mist.

I also like where he says, "I have two talking speeds–fast and wicked fast." Oh, I can so relate to that one!

A different kind of summary

Josh did a much better job summarizing the day we spent at the Catalyst Conference. 

Check out his blog to find out the 5 things he learned at Catalyst.

Congratulations - It's Twins!

If you watched the video of Angie Smith with her twin daughters that I linked to in my last post, you know that twins are not common in Peru.  My friend, Jill at Compassion Family has found a set of twins that are up for sponsorship.  Even if you are not interested in sponsoring them yourself, please click through to her blog and say a prayer that these two precious boys would find sponsors. 

Can you imagine what it is like for a mother to find out that you will have not one, but two new mouths to feed, when you already have trouble feeding yourself? 

How to change the world on a napkin.

This is a picture from Shaun Grove's blog post How to change the world on a napkin.  I think I could have used this napkin many times when working at Compassion sign up tables. For the explanation of the napkin, go check out the post.

The time in between

When I got to the Catalyst conference, I looked through my bag of registration materials and saw a Compassion flyer. I knew Compassion had been a partner with the Catalyst Conference, but I didn't think to put 2 and 2 together to realize that there would be a sign-up table at the conference when I signed up to go.

So, since we had 20 minutes until the conference began, I made my way to the Compassion table to see if they needed any help and they did.  So I spent all of the break times working at the Compassion table.  Even though I loved those from my church who came with me and enjoyed the time we had to hang out on the drive to and from the conference, there was no place I would have rather been during the break than being at the sign-up table sharing Compassion with church leaders. It was such a great feeling when I saw 2 people I had spoken with during the first break come back during the second break to sponsor.

It was an equally great feeling to watch a sweet, young girl turn away and not sponsor. Let me explain.  She asked the common question, "So what is the time commitment for sponsoring?" I told her that ideally, Compassion would like sponsors to commit to sponsoring that child until they leave the sponsorship program and I explained why it was so important to build a relationship and not just make a financial contribution.  As she processed this information, I could tell by her expression that she was not able to make that type of commitment that day...but I don't believe it will be too far into the future that she will.  She wasn't falling in love with the idea of helping, she was taking seriously the role that she would play in God's plan for a child's life (and her own) one day.

As I was walking back to my seat after the last break, I realized that I was smiling to myself.  I was smiling, not because of the fun I was having at the conference, but the joy that living out the mission that God has placed in my heart brings to me.

And speaking of joy...

I think I also mentioned that there is currently a Compassion bloggers trip to Peru happening...maybe once or twice?  I always enjoy reading the blogging trip posts, but I have definitely enjoyed these posts way more.  As I read the posts and see the pictures, I feel like I recognize it all.  They haven't went to the same programs or the same houses, but it resembles so much of the experiences I had while I was there.

The blogger I have enjoyed reading the most is Angie Smith.  I don't think I have read one post that she has written without having tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. Please check out this post and definitely watch the short video at the end to see how she and her 9-year old twin girls are coping and finding joy in the midst of it all - I think it will bring you a lot of joy too.

Have I mentioned I was going to Catalyst?

I may have mentioned it once or twice!

Anyway, I went yesterday and it awesome, as I thought it would be. Not only did we get a lot of great information, but it was just plain fun! I have been to a lot conferences, even youth leadership conferences, and this was by far one of most purposely fun conferences I have ever seen.  They had a stress ball throwing match, hilarious videos, a light show to a Michael Jackson song montage, and they handed out ring pops and pixie sticks on the way out the doors.  It was crazy to see grown men sucking on ring pops.

Andy Stanley was talking about the importance of the presentation.  He said in the past, churches often had teenagers sitting through boring Sunday school classes that taught the truth of the Bible and the gospel, but didn't teach them why it was relevant to their lives or how to apply it.  So he said essentially, they learned that God is boring and the Bible is boring, and as soon as they were old enough to have freedom to leave, they did.

Well, I can tell you one thing.  Yesterday was not boring!

I was going to put some of the bullet points of things I learned on this blog post, but as I read through my notes, it is so hard to communicate the meaning of the bullet points without sharing the context.  And because I can't fill you in on the context in one short post, I will just tell you that it was well worth the trip. 

The day wasn't just great because of the conference speakers, but also for the time in between...I will talk about it in my next post.

Mismatch Day

Bella normally chooses crazy clothes combinations & I have to talk her out of them.

Today was mismatch day at school, so I thought it would be a great day to give her free reign to choose whatever she wanted.  I thought, "Today will be an easy day to get her dressed!"

But she chose the most coordinated outfit she's ever chosen.  She put on a red polo shirt (which I really love, but she says she hates because she doesn't like the way the collar feels) and then put a black shrug sweater over top of that and then put on light grey leggings!  The leggings wouldn't have been my first choice, but they were far from clashing!  She looked really cute.  I asked her if she wanted to wear some other color of pant that would clash, or possibly a pattern.  She said, "Mom,  can't you see that grey and black and red don't match!"  She was convinced that she looked completely mismatched, and I couldn't convince her otherwise.

 So I asked her if she wanted to wear a hair accessory that would be mismatched too.  She chose an ivory headband, that just completed her already coordinated outfit.  Again, it wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was definitely was not out of place with her outfit.

It made me realize that she doesn't always complain about what I pick out for her because she wants to make me crazy, but she really sees things differently!  

I guess it is just a matter of perspective.

....Maybe I should tell her it is mismatch day every day!

Making a list and checking it twice...

But it ain't my Christmas naughty and nice list.  It is my list of things I need to do to prepare to leave my house. I have written about three pages of notes so far and I'm not leaving until tomorrow!

I should be getting ready to run errands, cleaning the house, or packing...or something productive, but I just had to let you in on a little of my craziness.

We are going on an overnight trip to the Catalyst conference and my mother-in-law is coming to stay with the kids.  We will be gone less than 48 hours, but leaving my kids on a school week ratchets the stress of preparation up by about 50%. 

I have to make sure they sleep and dress appropriately, finish their homework, get to school on time, etc.  It is so much easier when I can just leave them to hang around the house, doing whatever, wearing whatever, and decide to just get their sleeping and eating back on track when I get home.

Now, don't get me wrong.  My mother-in-law does a great job with them, but my kids can sometimes play her like a fiddle.  She is the grandmother and she is laid-back to boot, so they take full advantage of her kindness.  They try to go to bed late, talk her into snacks, and all other kinds of things they'd never get away with if we were home.

On top of that, we have things that have to be explained about staying at our house, like how to use the remote control, how to get signed onto our wi-fi, where first aid supplies are, etc.. I don't know about you, but there is nothing more frustrating than staying at someone's house and not being able to figure out how to turn on the tv!  At one point, my sister had 4 different remotes for her television - one was the satellite remote, one was the tv remote, one was the surround sound, and the other was the DVD player.  You had to use them in the proper order, using the appropriate buttons to activate the remote itself, etc.  I don't know how many times I would attempt to watch tv at their house and after 15 minutes, give up.  We don't have 4 remotes, just 1.  But because we have an internet television and our remote is a universal remote that can be used for almost any axillary device you plug into your television, our remote looks like part remote/part game controller/part control panel for a space shuttle.  I still don't know what all the buttons do!

AND On top of that, our days are super structured.  My kids sort of expect things to happen the way they are used to having things happen.  If things get out of sync, they get extra squirrely!  But trying to explain how we do things is so time consuming and often sounds a little crazy!

Even as I type some of the things we do, I have to laugh at myself. I remember growing up and I had pet peeves about the way things were done around my parent's house.  I know I thought to myself, "When I have my own house, this will not happen!".   I have solved many of those problems, but have created others.

Case-in-point:
When I was a kid, my mom would always complain about having to wash so many glasses and how she couldn't understand why we always got another glass every time we got a drink.  BUT, all the glasses in my parents house looked alike.  So, we would get a glass, use it, and then put it in a place that we'd remember where to find it - like the back right corner of the counter by the sink or on the corner of the microwave.  The problem was that my mother didn't like dirty dishes sitting around, so she'd swoop in like a ninja and put your carefully placed glass in the sink, forcing you to get another one, thus forcing her to complain about you dirtying another glass.  My remedy?  Each person in my family has a particular glass for them.  That way, the glass can be rinsed out, placed by the sink, and used over, until I do dishes.  The same is true with their milk cups (which they use immediately upon waking every morning and returning home from school, with just the right amount of chocolate added - like I said, my kids are neurotically structured). Because their milk cups get used so often, but they can't be set on the counter, because milk doesn't rinse out as well, we put the empty cups back in the fridge to use over until I do dishes.  The new problem that results?  I also don't like dirty dishes sitting around, so those glasses on the counter have to sequestered to the back edge of the counter.  If they are just sitting on the counter, willy-nilly, it drives me bonkers. If they are not rinsed out or they leave a ring on the counter, it drives me bonkers. When the empty milk cups get knocked over or are in the way in the fridge, it drives me bonkers. If the kids don't put their milk cups promptly back in the fridge, it drives me bonkers. Needless to say, it is not a perfect system. But I have conquered the original problem, so I can have some excitement over that little victory. 

When I explain things like this to my mother-in-law or other things like it - and there are many, many more - I know she's thinking we're a bit absurd! 

So, what about you?  Are there things that you do at your house that you think others would think is pretty crazy?

They're on their way!

The Compassion Bloggers going to Peru are preparing to leave the country and just reading their first entries of their voyage makes me excited to read more.  They are funny and heartfelt and I can't wait to see Peru through their eyes. 

Won't you join me? 

Here is a link to their first blog posts.  I especially liked Shaun Groves entry.  He was at an outdoor concert in Texas before he prepared to fly out of the country and got to share a meal with a former Compassion child who was speaking at the event.  I think meeting the other formerly sponsored children I have met through the years has been one of the things that has cemented my resolve to continue pressing on with my pursuit to share the love of Jesus with children in poverty and the power of giving with those around me. I have heard them not only praise God for Compassion being a part of their lives, but their excitement and passion about sharing with other children the love of Jesus at the Compassion programs and, with those who live with enough, the need to give to others in need. 

Sick Day

I am sick right now.  I subbed for kindergarten last week and a couple of the kids were sneezing and coughing all over me, so I figured it was just a matter of time before it caught up to me.  I had yesterday off, obviously, since schools were closed for election day.  But with both my kids home, mama didn't get much rest!

In addition to the kids being home, the dishes and laundry were piled up and had to be done.  I had already scheduled myself to work tomorrow last week, so today I am declaring a sick day.  I have my Bible study, a book, my phone, and a glass of water beside my chair and I don't plan to get up any time soon.  I have to go to the grocery store today at some point, but hopefully my Dayquil will kick in soon and I will have a little more energy to get out of the house.

The Dayquil I have is the soft gel pills. They are a bit disappointing. I wish I had the liquid Dayquil. I do have the liquid Nyquil and it is like liquid gold running down my searing throat!  Josh doesn't like the taste of the liquid and prefers the pills. I think it is just not the same. When I take the Nyquil, it instantly makes me feel like it is doing something. Not so with the pills. Josh jokes that I just like it because of the alcohol content, but I am quick to remind him that the pills have the same formula inside, you just don't feel it going down.

One benefit of my being sick is that I have been getting more sleep (thanks in part to my trusty Nyquil and the time change both coinciding on the same weekend). I went to bed at 9:45 Sunday evening. I cannot remember the last time I was in bed before 10 p.m.. It was probably the last time I was sick.

I really don't have time to take a sick day. I have not made any new progress on the walls.  My "to do" list is as long as ever. But my body has told me that I need to take a rest. I think I am going to take a mental rest too. There is so much to think about. So much to cause dismay. But I am going to resolve to trust the Lord.

Ann Voskamp posted this yesterday and it reminds me to let God speak peace to my heart:
"There is an unwavering peace today...when an uncertain tomorrow...is trusted to an unchanging God."

I look back throughout history - the world's history and my own. I know there have been times that I have been dismayed in the past and thought that it surely was the end of life as I knew it. But life moved on, sometimes just mercifully with the passing of time that healed old wounds or reduced the impact of the blow by the distance of time and sometimes with the brilliant realization that something had to die or be torn away to make room for new beginnings.  But God has always been the same. 

People in the Bible felt dismayed, centuries ago, but life continued on.  David was dismayed many times.  We see his dismay pop up many times in the Psalms.  Psalm 27 is one of those.  But at the end of the Psalm he says, "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  So today I am going to do my best to wait for the Lord, though patiently waiting has never came easy to me. But I want to see goodness in the land of the living, even when everything around me makes me feel anxious and uncertain.

Where is the delete button?

There used to be a deodorant commercial that said, "Because you only get one chance to make a first impression." I have thought about that commercial a lot lately, since I have been subbing at several new schools this year.

I mentioned before that subbing is a lot like having a new job all the time.  You don't really know all the policies and people and they don't really know you.  It is especially disconcerting that the principals or assistant principals are the ones who call you, but they never really get to see or talk to you much while you're there.  And, for me, it always seems like they show up just in time to see me in some unflattering light or another. I will give you some examples.

I was subbing at a school last week that I'd only subbed at once before. I had barely seen the assistant principal who called me that day.  I was standing in the hallway with all the classes from the grade I was subbing and we were waiting to go out at recess.  I had just said, "Mrs. (teacher's name)'s class you need to be quiet if you want to go outside." One of the students said, "We aren't Mrs. (teacher's name)'s class, we are Mrs. (teacher's name)'s class." Then just as I responded with, "Well, whoever you are, you need to be quiet.", the assistant principal comes around the corner.  He hadn't heard the entire exchange, and I wondered how he felt about my etiquette with the students!

Then yesterday, I was subbing at another school for the first time.  I had never met the principal before that day when I arrived.  I was standing in the hallway with my kids who had just gotten rewards for their behavior.  One of the boys began loudly clicking this little toy he'd just selected.  I meant to say, "What is the rule about that?", but instead it came out, "What is the rules?".  Of course, around the corner comes the principal, who not only also corrected the boy with the toy, but probably wondered if I knew that the sentence I just spoke was grammatically incorrect.

Last year, I was sitting in the teacher's lounge eating lunch with some other teachers.  I knew one of the teachers from church, so I was more chatty than I normally am when I am working.  (I tend to eat lunch at my desk, while reviewing my plans, or reading a book if the plans are pretty simple. And because I don't know people and I don't want to get caught in any office politics or say something stupid - because of the whole "first impression" thing I mentioned - I don't chit chat a lot to other teachers, unless I already know them.) But this day, I was just conversing as I normally would in any other social situation. One of the teachers was joking about her boobs being too big and catching all the food she dropped. As I was responding (and my comment was obviously something about breasts), the room just happened to get quiet, so my comment was heard by all - including the vice principal (who mercifully was a female!). Everyone thought it was funny, but I wanted to crawl under the table!

Since I sub at my kids' school, I thought I would share this little antidote, even though it didn't occur while I was subbing and wasn't something I said. Elias said it, so it indirectly reflects on me. I have to set this up by telling you that my kids love listening to Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian who specializes in song parodies.  One of Elias' favorites is "I don't drink beer". So the other day, Elias was talking about how drinking beer makes your mind fuzzy and other facts he picked up in the song to his teacher.  I can't remember now exactly how he worded what he said, but he sounded pretty knowledgeable! I am sure she was wondering how he had learned his facts about beer!  I felt like sending her an email with the link to the song to explain!

I could go on with more examples, but I will simply say that being a sub can be hard on your nerves, especially for a type A, people pleaser like me!