I cried last week after dinner. This really isn't a surprise to anyone as, according to my mother, I "have the gift of tears". She does too. I'm thinking that this could be another blog post for another day.
Anyway, the reason for the crying is that we read the story of Stephen after dinner. As another aside, I pronounce Stephen as SteFen and Gary pronounces it as SteVen. There is continued debate that will not be decided during this lifetime. During my study of Paul over Christmas, I noticed something in this story that I had never seen before. In Acts 8:56, Stephen looks up to heaven and sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Standing.
There are numerous passages in scripture about Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. The image and the words are imprinted in my brain. Every Sunday night I recited the Apostle's Creed where I would say "On the third day He rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty." Sitting at the right hand of God is a wonderful image and it is a fitting location for Christ to be--a position of power and authority and respect. He is my savior and He deserves to be sitting at the right hand of God. I love it.
Yet here, Stephen sees and declares that he sees Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God. I am not a theologian. Nope. I didn't even research this passage other than what my study Bible states which is "The significance of Jesus standing is debated and thus uncertain". But I'd like to offer my opinion. It is the reason why I started to cry when talking about this story.
I think that Jesus was ready to welcome Stephen home. He knew that the next small amount of time in Stephen's life was going to be really really hard. Stephen was going to experience extreme pain and then he would be welcomed into his eternal home. Jesus knows about extreme pain. Stephen took a stand for his faith and Jesus stood both as a sign of respect for Stephen and as a way to get ready to greet him. I'd like to think that it gave Stephen great encouragement to see Christ ready to meet him. I also like to think that Christ has stood and will continue to stand each time someone is killed because of their belief in Him.
Could I be wrong? Yup. Yet everything I know and believe about Christ says that He loves us and feels for us and has experienced everything that we experience.
I find myself praying often for our country and for my kids. I pray that they will never experience persecution for their faith like what I see happening more and more around the world. I pray that I will never live in fear for my life because of my passionate love for Jesus Christ. I pray as well that if that moment does occur, I will be able to stand strong, declare my love for my Lord, and then as I breath my last I will open my eyes to see Jesus Christ standing and ready to welcome me home.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
January 21
This is our 20th day of no spend January. I'm loving it. Really.
I've enjoyed the challenge of creating meals with what we have in the house. I'm amazed at how much we have. . .it is almost embarrassing. How many times have I put leftovers or half of the chicken from a family size pack into a rubbermaid and put it into the freezer? TOO MANY! I'm discovering these packages and enjoying the challenge of creating a meal with them. Plus, with our ability to buy bread, milk, eggs and fresh produce, I think I could keep on going for another month. I won't. :) We have enjoyed laughing as a family at one bowl of butterscotch pudding and another of vanilla as sides one night. The frozen peaches are finally being used in smoothies. I found a wonderful BBQ sauce recipe that I prefer over store bought. My first attempt at making taco sauce was a bust, but I'll be trying another one on Thursday night. Hopefully I'll love that more than Ortega and we can make the switch. I'm loving it.
Second, my kids have stopped asking for stuff. The boys came home with a book order and I listened as they debated what book they were going to get. One of them finally remembered that I wouldn't be giving them any money and they shrugged and put the papers in the recycling. They didn't need a new book. They moved on and it was great. Requests to go out for dinner have disappeared as have begging to go and do things that cost money. Instead, sledding and playing games have grown in popularity and I'm loving that too!
Third, my children have gone without and discovered that they will survive. We ran out of juice last week. Oh no! They are fine and aren't even mentioning that they don't have a cup of juice for breakfast. If the circumstances had been different, I would have been reminded every morning that there was no juice. Ah. . .a little peace.
I ran into my first drawback this week when I saw the ad in the newspaper for Meijer. It is their 10 items for 10 dollars sale with the 11th item being free. When this sale comes along I stock up! It was hard to put the ad away and know that I was missing out on good deals. I have to remind myself that they will come along again--in about 6 to 8 weeks. We will be fine. I can keep on being creative.
Instead of going with a friend to a restaurant, she came to my house and we had popcorn. Delicious and cheap.
I'm quickly deleting all of the good deals that flood my e-mail every morning. There will be good deals again. It is amazing how quickly I go through my inbox.
I am getting a haircut next week. We are celebrating Michael's baptism on February 1 and I'd like to look my best. The pictures will last a lifetime and I'd love to feel good about myself. I'm not buying a new outfit though. It took me awhile to work through that one.
We have 10 more days to go and that doesn't even seem intimidating. I'm learning and l'm loving what I'm learning.
I am out of Kashi that I put into my yogurt. I'll be one of my first purchases.
I've enjoyed the challenge of creating meals with what we have in the house. I'm amazed at how much we have. . .it is almost embarrassing. How many times have I put leftovers or half of the chicken from a family size pack into a rubbermaid and put it into the freezer? TOO MANY! I'm discovering these packages and enjoying the challenge of creating a meal with them. Plus, with our ability to buy bread, milk, eggs and fresh produce, I think I could keep on going for another month. I won't. :) We have enjoyed laughing as a family at one bowl of butterscotch pudding and another of vanilla as sides one night. The frozen peaches are finally being used in smoothies. I found a wonderful BBQ sauce recipe that I prefer over store bought. My first attempt at making taco sauce was a bust, but I'll be trying another one on Thursday night. Hopefully I'll love that more than Ortega and we can make the switch. I'm loving it.
Second, my kids have stopped asking for stuff. The boys came home with a book order and I listened as they debated what book they were going to get. One of them finally remembered that I wouldn't be giving them any money and they shrugged and put the papers in the recycling. They didn't need a new book. They moved on and it was great. Requests to go out for dinner have disappeared as have begging to go and do things that cost money. Instead, sledding and playing games have grown in popularity and I'm loving that too!
Third, my children have gone without and discovered that they will survive. We ran out of juice last week. Oh no! They are fine and aren't even mentioning that they don't have a cup of juice for breakfast. If the circumstances had been different, I would have been reminded every morning that there was no juice. Ah. . .a little peace.
I ran into my first drawback this week when I saw the ad in the newspaper for Meijer. It is their 10 items for 10 dollars sale with the 11th item being free. When this sale comes along I stock up! It was hard to put the ad away and know that I was missing out on good deals. I have to remind myself that they will come along again--in about 6 to 8 weeks. We will be fine. I can keep on being creative.
Instead of going with a friend to a restaurant, she came to my house and we had popcorn. Delicious and cheap.
I'm quickly deleting all of the good deals that flood my e-mail every morning. There will be good deals again. It is amazing how quickly I go through my inbox.
I am getting a haircut next week. We are celebrating Michael's baptism on February 1 and I'd like to look my best. The pictures will last a lifetime and I'd love to feel good about myself. I'm not buying a new outfit though. It took me awhile to work through that one.
We have 10 more days to go and that doesn't even seem intimidating. I'm learning and l'm loving what I'm learning.
I am out of Kashi that I put into my yogurt. I'll be one of my first purchases.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Paul
Sometimes you write "blog" on your to-do list for four days. Sometimes you get woken up from sleep because you were thirsty before bed. Sometimes your sweet sensitive oldest child has a bad dream and needs your comfort. Sometimes you can't get back to sleep, so you get up and blog.
I returned back to Bible Study yesterday morning and frankly, I was reluctant to go. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE studying The Word. I love studying it with other women. I love the study I'm doing on I Thessalonians. It is rich and challenging and encouraging and wonderful and fulfilling. I didn't want to return this morning because over the holiday break, I took up another study and I'm enjoying it so very much. Now I'm going to hit "pause" for a few months and return to it later this spring.
If I'm not in a focused study. . .if I don't have a specific direction to go in morning devotional time, then I'm a little lost. I find that I set the alarm a little later, I don't look forward to it as much, and skipping all together gets to be more frequent. I then feel off and that feeling trickles down upon those around me. So as we wrapped up in early December, I knew that I needed a plan.
Paul.
Paul was my plan. I have struggled with liking Paul for most of my adult life. He seemed so perfect and not sinning and focused on saving the lost and not nice sometimes. While at a Beth Moore conference this fall, I picked up her study on Paul. I knew that I needed to really examine him and also knew that she was the one who could get me excited about him. God has opened my eyes about Paul over the past five weeks! I look forward to learning more each morning. I am gaining so many new truths and new facts. Mostly, I'm seeing why God chose to use Paul and how he was so faithful. I see weaknesses in Paul. I see a human Paul that I haven't see before as well as a mighty and sovereign God who always knew what He was doing. My greatest discovery was my mission. God clearly gave me a mission for 2015. . . and possibly for life. It has excited and challenged me daily.
I've laughed several times about how God knew all along that I needed to humble myself and learn from a Biblical man whom I've always admired, but not always liked. His writings were great, but I didn't like him. I've changed my tune. I often pray in the morning for the Lord to come quickly. There is so much hurting and evil in the world and I long for a better place. I long to have a perfect relationship with The Father. I long for the evil one to be done for good. Now I have another reason for asking Christ to return, I'm excited to attend one of Paul's classes in heaven and possibly even enjoy a Diet Mountain Dew together.
I returned back to Bible Study yesterday morning and frankly, I was reluctant to go. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE studying The Word. I love studying it with other women. I love the study I'm doing on I Thessalonians. It is rich and challenging and encouraging and wonderful and fulfilling. I didn't want to return this morning because over the holiday break, I took up another study and I'm enjoying it so very much. Now I'm going to hit "pause" for a few months and return to it later this spring.
If I'm not in a focused study. . .if I don't have a specific direction to go in morning devotional time, then I'm a little lost. I find that I set the alarm a little later, I don't look forward to it as much, and skipping all together gets to be more frequent. I then feel off and that feeling trickles down upon those around me. So as we wrapped up in early December, I knew that I needed a plan.
Paul.
Paul was my plan. I have struggled with liking Paul for most of my adult life. He seemed so perfect and not sinning and focused on saving the lost and not nice sometimes. While at a Beth Moore conference this fall, I picked up her study on Paul. I knew that I needed to really examine him and also knew that she was the one who could get me excited about him. God has opened my eyes about Paul over the past five weeks! I look forward to learning more each morning. I am gaining so many new truths and new facts. Mostly, I'm seeing why God chose to use Paul and how he was so faithful. I see weaknesses in Paul. I see a human Paul that I haven't see before as well as a mighty and sovereign God who always knew what He was doing. My greatest discovery was my mission. God clearly gave me a mission for 2015. . . and possibly for life. It has excited and challenged me daily.
I've laughed several times about how God knew all along that I needed to humble myself and learn from a Biblical man whom I've always admired, but not always liked. His writings were great, but I didn't like him. I've changed my tune. I often pray in the morning for the Lord to come quickly. There is so much hurting and evil in the world and I long for a better place. I long to have a perfect relationship with The Father. I long for the evil one to be done for good. Now I have another reason for asking Christ to return, I'm excited to attend one of Paul's classes in heaven and possibly even enjoy a Diet Mountain Dew together.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
First day back
Hello!
It's my first day of "back to normal" and it feels good. Almost everything has been crossed off of my to do list and I'm getting my feet under me. After I walked the kids to the bus stop this morning and kissed Gary good-bye, the garage door was closed, and Penny and I were in for the day. Although I wouldn't want to do life like this every day, it feels so great. Yesterday Penny was the star at school so I missed most of the day. One of the things on my list today is "blog". I'm going to love crossing that off of the list. :)
It has been a month. Wow. Michael has adjusted very well to English kindergarten and his English is improving. He is also known as "Michael S." as there is another Michael in his class. Writing the "S" on papers has become very important and his friends all all him "Michael S." even when they are over playing at our house. It makes me laugh. I really enjoy having conversations with him. He has lots to say and we often have to ask him to slow down. The boy gets so excited about life that he just begins to roll sounds out of his mouth. We will certainly have more than enough dinner conversation when he really gets going with his English. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, hang out with Michael. He gets excited about big things and small things. I'm making supper and he is excited. It's time to brush his teeth and he is excited. We are going to get into the car and he is excited. Peas-exciting. Showers-exciting. Going first-exciting. Going last-exciting. We do however see times of pouting. We have two yellow cups in the house and three kids that want juice in a yellow cup every morning. If Michael doesn't get it, then there is some serious pouting. Buck up buttercup. His eyesight keeps improving and though he doesn't love wearing his eye patch every day, he does it and we notice a big difference. He has also entered the "why" stage which is amusing and frustrating at times. I thought I was done with all of that. :)
We had the best Christmas break I think we've ever had. We found a wonderful balance between going out and doing fun things with staying home and enjoying each others company. The kids are getting older and we loved doing puzzles and playing games. I love saying that I really enjoy being with my kids. Our family party was wonderful. Michael added so much fun in that he had no expectations about Christmas. Cutting down a tree, putting up ornaments, making his own ornaments at school, gifts that were for him, singing in a church program. . .it was a new experience for us to watch Christmas through his eyes. We also loved telling him about baby Jesus and he often acted it out making a pillow, stuffed animal, or a magic wand into baby Jesus.
We bought a new car named "Big Steve" and sold our minivan. Bit Steve is a 12 passenger Nissan NV. I must admit it was a little hard to let the van go. I love that car, yet we are enjoying more room and less fighting as we ride these days and I know that our new car will serve us well for many years to come.
Gary and I are trying something new this month. I read a blog post about giving up spending money for a whole month and we decided to try it. Of course we are doing the needed spending. . . things like bills, gas, and fresh produce. My grocery list this week has only five things on it. I'm excited to whittle down my pantry and be creative with meals. Our whole family is having good discussions about needs vs. wants. I'm finding how quickly I spend a dollar here or fifteen dollars there. Right now I'm enjoying the no spending a lot. . .although things might be different in a few weeks.
Mostly over the holiday I enjoyed an amazing walk with my Lord. I'm studying the life of Paul and am learning so many new things as well as finding a new respect for a man that I really didn't like all that much. I just love it when God teaches me new things! God even gave me a phrase from the book of Acts that will define my 2015. Intimacy with God is something I crave and I've found it in the past month. I'm amazed that the creator of the world wants to spend time with me!
That is where we are. God is very good. Family is good. Three loads of laundry are done and I've reconnected with blogging. Now, back to my list. :)
It's my first day of "back to normal" and it feels good. Almost everything has been crossed off of my to do list and I'm getting my feet under me. After I walked the kids to the bus stop this morning and kissed Gary good-bye, the garage door was closed, and Penny and I were in for the day. Although I wouldn't want to do life like this every day, it feels so great. Yesterday Penny was the star at school so I missed most of the day. One of the things on my list today is "blog". I'm going to love crossing that off of the list. :)
It has been a month. Wow. Michael has adjusted very well to English kindergarten and his English is improving. He is also known as "Michael S." as there is another Michael in his class. Writing the "S" on papers has become very important and his friends all all him "Michael S." even when they are over playing at our house. It makes me laugh. I really enjoy having conversations with him. He has lots to say and we often have to ask him to slow down. The boy gets so excited about life that he just begins to roll sounds out of his mouth. We will certainly have more than enough dinner conversation when he really gets going with his English. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, hang out with Michael. He gets excited about big things and small things. I'm making supper and he is excited. It's time to brush his teeth and he is excited. We are going to get into the car and he is excited. Peas-exciting. Showers-exciting. Going first-exciting. Going last-exciting. We do however see times of pouting. We have two yellow cups in the house and three kids that want juice in a yellow cup every morning. If Michael doesn't get it, then there is some serious pouting. Buck up buttercup. His eyesight keeps improving and though he doesn't love wearing his eye patch every day, he does it and we notice a big difference. He has also entered the "why" stage which is amusing and frustrating at times. I thought I was done with all of that. :)
We had the best Christmas break I think we've ever had. We found a wonderful balance between going out and doing fun things with staying home and enjoying each others company. The kids are getting older and we loved doing puzzles and playing games. I love saying that I really enjoy being with my kids. Our family party was wonderful. Michael added so much fun in that he had no expectations about Christmas. Cutting down a tree, putting up ornaments, making his own ornaments at school, gifts that were for him, singing in a church program. . .it was a new experience for us to watch Christmas through his eyes. We also loved telling him about baby Jesus and he often acted it out making a pillow, stuffed animal, or a magic wand into baby Jesus.
We bought a new car named "Big Steve" and sold our minivan. Bit Steve is a 12 passenger Nissan NV. I must admit it was a little hard to let the van go. I love that car, yet we are enjoying more room and less fighting as we ride these days and I know that our new car will serve us well for many years to come.
Gary and I are trying something new this month. I read a blog post about giving up spending money for a whole month and we decided to try it. Of course we are doing the needed spending. . . things like bills, gas, and fresh produce. My grocery list this week has only five things on it. I'm excited to whittle down my pantry and be creative with meals. Our whole family is having good discussions about needs vs. wants. I'm finding how quickly I spend a dollar here or fifteen dollars there. Right now I'm enjoying the no spending a lot. . .although things might be different in a few weeks.
Mostly over the holiday I enjoyed an amazing walk with my Lord. I'm studying the life of Paul and am learning so many new things as well as finding a new respect for a man that I really didn't like all that much. I just love it when God teaches me new things! God even gave me a phrase from the book of Acts that will define my 2015. Intimacy with God is something I crave and I've found it in the past month. I'm amazed that the creator of the world wants to spend time with me!
That is where we are. God is very good. Family is good. Three loads of laundry are done and I've reconnected with blogging. Now, back to my list. :)
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