Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph

Our church's Advent Bible Study is reading this book.  While I don't attend the Bible Study class with other folks, I do read along.  And our Pastor preaches on this lesson for the week on Sunday's too, so I enjoy following along.

However, I did not love this youth study book version.  I found it only loosely connected to Joseph and distracted from the story of Joseph with many other stories along the way.  Each with their own merit, but I wish I'd just read the original book in place of this.

Out of the Spin Cycle

It took me quite awhile to get through these devotions, but they were so great.  And I'd recommend it for any mom. 

With Love, Mom

I finished this book of short essays about being a mother of daughters and being a daughter while we were on vacation.  It was a good read, and may be even more impactful as my girls age.  It's a reminder to be a present parent and daughter. 

Of Mess & Moxie

I finished the book a week or so ago.  I didn't love it when I started, but I was a fan by the end.  The humor and relatable real life talk was refreshing and fun.  And I even pulled a couple ideas from it to have my own family start. 

A New Years Eve to Remember

For the past few years we've enjoyed hosting some of our local friends for New Years Eve.  We play games, eat great food and talk the night away.  This year was no different, except that around 10:30PM there was a loud pop, and the house went DARK!

The wind had been howling terribly for much of the night, so it really wasn't super surprising, until we looked outside and all but 1 other house around us still had power. 

Candles were lit immediately, Caden was EXCITED and on top of that part.  And Keith got the generator hooked up and plugged in some work lights from the garage to light up the dinning room and turn the TV on for the ball drop. 

We all gathered around the TV minutes before the ball drop, and the crowd of kids were on the floor near the power strip and extension cords running power from the generator, when one of the girls fell to the side as the 10 second count down begin and knocked the power out, again!

We laughed and celebrated anyway.  And the fun continued until about 2AM.

The girls went to bed hesitantly just after midnight, not loving the dark.  Ruth fell asleep in my lap and Elinore slept in our bed. 

By morning, both girls were in our bed scared of the dark, and the power didn't return until about 9AM new years day.

Our friends were great and text us that morning with offers of bathrooms and showers and power if needed, but fortunately it was restored for us. 

Raising World Chagners in a Changing World

I finished this book last night.  It was better than I expected.  It was similar to Welch's last book in that it was encouraging, insightful and provided a few new ideas.

I feel like I learned things not only about parenting, but how to live my own life, which as a result impacts our parenting too.  We are role models to our children. 

Falling Free

This book has been on my to read list for awhile and about a month ago I found it on the shelf at Ollie's and picked it up.  It quickly rose to the top of my pile to read.  It was not what I expected and just what I needed all at the same time.

I expected more of a memoir through her life.  And while there was an element of that to the book, it was about following God and how she did that in her daily life with her family.  It was a story about it being a great neighbor, opening your door, welcoming people and being like Jesus. 

Thoughts in my head that have swirled around without depth to them, I saw in words in this book. 

It was a great read, and it's already on it's way to a friend.  Good books are always shared!

Table

Earlier this year, during the winter that last into spring, we bought a new kitchen table.  I've wanted a new kitchen table for years.  However, at our old place, we didn't have room for anything bigger.  So after 9 months or so in the new place, we bought on a table.  It wasn't even planned!

My mom and I were out one day and happened to stop in a furniture store that had a boutique within.  While I checked out the boutique, my mom was checking the furniture bargain section, saw a table, that led to me calling Keith to meet me there and we bought a table!

It's big too, with 2 leaves in it to make it even bigger!

We didn't need to the leaves in it for our family dinner at home, so we had kept them stored within the table (neat feature).  But after having a mother's day cookout at our place, we'd put the leaves in and are keeping them in.  Now I think, our table is big and always ready should be have someone stop by or have folks for dinner. 

To me, it's a sign that our table is ready for guests, and I need to remember that hospitality mindset.

Happy Mother's Day 2018!

Wrinkles

Elinore drew this in Grandma Barb's Mother's Day card.  She said the extra lines were her wrinkles.

Talking with Your Kids About God

I have been reading Talking with Your Kids About God  for a little while now.  As I've been reading, I have been writing about this book off an on as things strike me or I have something to get a little deeper in my thinking, but now that I finished this book, I wanted to put down a few more of my thoughts on the book.  I was looking forward to reading the book based on the title and concept of the book.  As a parent, who can't use another tool to help guide their children? 

However, as I dug into the book, I wasn't quite as thrilled.  The beginning was a big turn off for me, to the extent that I almost stopped reading it.  (I am glad I kept reading.)  The beginning conveyed a very serious tone about how important it was to have these conversations with your kids and that left me feeling like I was a terrible parent if I didn't, or if I'd never picked up this book. 

As I kept reading; I realized that I have been very fortunate that I have lived in a Christian community most of my life.  I haven't had to face many of the things this book talks about in a personal way.  I'm grateful I read this book for my own personal development to begin thinking about those things.  As I read I for the most part I knew where I stood about the topics presented, science and God and what not, but this helped me to be able to verbalize or explain my stance. 

I also though toward the end of the book that the author only valued the two extremes of the spectrum of atheists to theists.  Yet in reality I think there is a sliding scale of that.  I think there are many people that fall somewhere in the middle of the arguments she makes.  Sure, they may not have any backing, Biblical or scientific, for their beliefs, but they are still there and if they are talked about and shared exist and could be something we face as well. 

The author was well researched and knew her content well, and there were several scriptural references in the book as well that were helpful.

But have I had these conversations with my kids?  No.  Do I plan to?  In this formal organized fashion she presents?  No.  But, do I plan to be more aware and offer better explanations or presentations of things when it arises?  Yes.  I think some of these concepts are just part of growing your faith.  And I will certainly always teach my kids that we at home are a great resource to help you through the questions when they do arise. 

Statistics About Science & God

From all the learning I've done over the years; I've learned to become very skeptical of statistics.  I've found that they can be skewed to support your argument.  Things can be rephrased or represented different ways from the same data just to support your hypothesis or argument.  Not to mention how often they are just misquoted in general. 

This chapter in the book Talking with Your Kids About God touches on this too.  It refers to many studies that have been done over the years showing this high percentages of scientists that don't believe in God.  Other studies show different results, but still commonly compared to the general population, less scientists believe in God. 

However, I think the public can misinterpret that data.  We need to remember that correlation does not equal causation.  Further studies show that scientists were not raised in religious homes.  

Now, there are no studies I read on this, but in my mind as I think through this, do you think scientists seek science to fill a void they have from not being raised in a religious home?  Science can't fill the void, only God?  But sciences helps them explains what they couldn't understand. 

"What scientist believe about God ultimately has no bearing on whether God exists."  - Natasha Crain

(Thoughts from my reading of Talking with Your Kids About God by Natasha Crain.)

Human Nautre to Believe in God?

Researchers believe we are made with some natural inclinations to believe in God.  We aren't born completely blanket slates.  Similar to the previous thoughts on we all have the same moral understanding; we are all also born with a natural tendency to believe in God. 

This research comes from understanding that babies are more than just little people with dirty diapers, they also understand certain scientific things "for example, that objects can't move through other objects." (Natasha Crain, Talking With Your Kids About God) 

"Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary field that studies how the mind works.  In the early 1990s, cognitive scientists started applying their finding to the question of why religious thoughts and actions are so common across cultures - perhaps humans have predispositions that make it natural for us to believe in God.  That's not to say such predispositions can't be overridden by cultural and educational factors but rather that they may be an important biological basis influencing later belief development.  This specific area of study is now called the cognitive science of religion."  (Natasha Crain, Talking With Your Kids About God)

(Thoughts from Talking With Your Kids About God.) 

Friends

There was a time in my life when I was in search of friends.  I need my people, who supported me, loved me and where close and accessible. 

Don't get my wrong I have had friends over the years, but life changes impact friends as do moves, and I had a lot going on, didn't have a lot of time, and needed people.

Every time I met a new gal I'd think, could she me by friend?  She seems nice?  How can I extend an invitation to start a friendship?  And I was always thinking this way, looking for friends, trying to build friendships to carry me and my family on our adventures.  I knew I needed people. 

I distinctly remember on of the first time I realized I had been somewhat successful at this.  My family had been sick; and a 2nd cousin of my and some folks from the church brought my family dinner.  It was left from a SOUP meal they had served at the church that night, but they thought of us and brought of a warm home cooked meal.  The left that food for us an I remember telling Keith, "we have people!"  And I meant so much with that; we had people who loved us, thought of us and cared for us in a way that I'd been looking for in friendships. 

That was a starting point for us, and I think we've done a wonderful job of connecting to people and building a community of friends for each of us individually, but as a family too.  We have people.  They're people from church; they're family, and a few good friends I've known for many years now.  I believe God wants us to live in community with people who loves us, and we've built that.  Friendships and relationships take time and forgiveness and communication and we've done that.  And I couldn't be happier!  Thank you Lord for these people! 

I've always wanted our home to be a place for people to gather, and I think I tried to push that too hard early on after we've bought our own place, but naturally it has happened over time and we welcome groups of friends, family, friends families, and our kid's friends into the home often.  This past summer, our first summer at our new home, was the epitome of that, and I'm not sure we'll have a summer like that again, but we were able to gather people from all our different areas together celebrating and enjoying each other and introducing our people to each other and it was a beautiful thing. 

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In the last few months I've had this realization; I still think like I did when I was searching for friends when I meet new people.  Maybe I'm misguided, maybe I'm ignorant, but I realized I don't need to do this anymore.  It's not that I'm not open to meeting new people and developing relationships, but I don't have to search so hard for more people.  Quality of quantity right?  I already have my people.  Sure that will change with time and life with change, but I will adapt, our family will adapt.  If I keep searching for more friends now; I need more time for each of those friendships, and I don't want that to take away from the current friendships!  I don't want those to suffer because I feel the need to keep searching for more, more, more. 

The Hiding Place

 

 

I finished reading The Hiding Place last night for the first time.  It tells the story of atrocities of World War II, but when I think of the book, more than that I think of it as an amazing story of faith, love and prayer.  The TenBoom family was committed to their faith and exemplified love for others throughout the story in way that made God's presence known.  They risked everything for the love of others.  

Resolution for 2018

2018 Goal: solo date night with husband once a month.

A Prophecy Fulfilled

Efficiencies can lead to impatience.  Saving time in everything hurries out pace and causes us to loose patience. 

The name Jesus is Greek.  It was Joshua in the original language, Hebrew.  It means: God will save. 

Jesus spoke truth and caused many people to fall.  The changes he brought was too hard for many.  Yet, the truth he spoke also caused the rise of many because they were looking for Jesus.  

What do we want most?  What do we most for our kids?  The love of Christ.  For them to be followers.  And if that isn't what we want most, it should be!

How long will we wait to encounter Jesus?  We hope.  We praise.  We keep a ready heart.  

(Sermon notes from 12/31/17)

These are the days of...

These are the days of:

• Pre-teen angst
• Potty training
• Busy work schedules
• Ballet
• Swim lessons
• Cub Scouts
• ROCK Group
• Sunday morning church
• Family time
• Family movies nights
• Family game nights
• Adventures with older kids and toddler with grandma
• Reading books
• Working out

Simply Tuesday

I read the bulk of this book on vacation.  Mostly while riding in the car.  It was a great read and gave me several things to think about. 

It was a reminder to me that most of your life is lived in the small weekday moments; the every day lists, chores, activities, etc.  We don't live most of our lives on weekends, vacations etc.  It's the simple things that make up our story.  We may not have this grand major project that that defines our life and work in Christ, and that is okay.  Every moment of our small lives should be filled with Christ and the work of his kingdom.  We ask for "our daily bread," not our life plans. 

I was reminded that I may not always have clear direction, but faith and trust that I am still loved and important. 

I am reminded that I am small, in a good way, and that is a beautiful thing to be a small part of God's wonderful kingdom. 

One more hug!

When we go to leave the house without Ruth, she comes running after us saying in her sweetest little 2 year old voice.  "I need to give you a hug!"  "One more hug!"

And I melt and hug and hug and hug some more.  :)