I've pretty much stopped shopping for myself. Only occasionally do I have to run out to get something that has literally worn out, like a pair of flip flops....they never make it more than a season. I will also be in a thrift shop once in awhile and see a shirt for $4....I think we can manage that. It's just one of those ways that I try to be creative almost every day with the clothes that I have. I can hardly justify what the malls ask me to pay, so I don't think I've spent money in a mall in possibly years.
But, I do love to look nice and I do love the trendy styles, so what then? Fortunately, I have a God who cares even about what I wear. Last year I bought myself a pair of boots that were nice and functional. I paid $15 and they were virtually brand new at a thrift store. I couldn't believe the deal I got. I wear them all the time. I knew I wouldn't "need" anymore this year. But I did see all the cute styles coming out! I admired them from afar.
Then, this week, I was out with the younger kids at a pumpkin patch field trip and one of the moms I've gotten to know came up to me and asked what shoe size I was...Then she proceeded to ask me if I wanted a pair of boots her mom had passed on to her that were way to small for her. That was a bit risky, but I said I would look at them. It turns out they were the cutest little things, brand new, my size and I could have them, for free, it I wanted them! Sure! I said. I shook my head the whole way home. Boots from heaven, given to me at a pumpkin patch. Talk about the least expected time and place. I was grateful.
My sister is my other main source of "new" things! She often passes on clothes to us that she doesn't wear anymore and that could possibly fit me or my oldest. I end up with a lot of them! Fortunately she lives far enough away that her friends don't live near me and wonder if we have all the same clothes! That is a way easier way of shopping when the clothes come right to you! Because I'm home most of the time, it really doesn't matter what I'm wearing. I have more than enough to keep some variety in my daily choices and once in awhile it gets shaken up by a delivery or two. If I were out working, maybe things would have to be different, but right now, this way of clothes shopping suits me fine.
We're almost at the end of the week of renos. We didn't get as far as we hoped because we decided to level the floor. That took all week. It was 3 inches lower on one side of the room. So it was quite obvious and to put new flooring on that would have been ridiculous. Today the plywood will go down and then we'll start on the other side of the room, ripping out the floor. I have to say, renovations that don't make an obvious aesthetic difference drive me crazy. They have to be done, but no one will ever walk in and say how lovely and level my floor is! However, I know the value of it, so I'm good with it, just wish I had more to show for all the time and effort! It was so great having RM around all week. I will miss having him back at work. We enjoyed coffee again together every morning and the extended conversations.
We also praise God because it seems all the puppies are sold! We do have one left, but she might be the one we keep to breed. Haven't decided. My son's year is paid for now and we marvel because he hardly was able to work all summer as he was doing school. But, we're quick to explain to him that even though it seems like "free" money whenever someone comes to pay for a pup, it wasn't free money. We reminded him of all the driving we/I did to the breeder's, multiple times, far away. We remind him of all the puppy food, vet bills, vet trips, gas, time, etc. We remind him of all the care the puppies got in those early days that were on all of us when he was at school. No, it wasn't free money. He (and all of us) worked for it. But, all in all, it was a great experience and we will do it again, Lord willing, next spring.
Last thing. I've been praying for my kids more than ever, but to make sure I give each child focused prayer, I do the Susanna Wesley thing, where I focus on one child at a time. She would cover up her face with a tea towel and pray for an hour. I don't quite do that! But, I will assign one day a week to focused prayer for each child, doubling up on some days as I have 8 kids and only 7 days in a week! Yesterday, I was specifically praying for my 2nd daughter, 4th child. She has been down and out all week as she's been a bit sick with a flu virus and she also misses her friends, the ones who lived with us on and off all year. Now they're settled in school so we don't see them as much. I've been praying for friends for her or for something in her life to give her new purpose and direction. She's got a very special friendship with our 3rd born, her brother. They hang out all day together, doing school upstairs. They go everywhere together which is nice for both of them as once my son went off to university he left behind his close friend/brother who also is lonely. Though they aren't the friends I thought, I feel God answered my prayers by making these brother/sister siblings left behind more close. However, I still prayed for other friends, too.
Yesterday, I went to our homeschool meeting and I met two different women that I hardly knew and both of them approached me and wanted to connect. It turns out they both have daughters my age. One invited our family for lunch so that we could connect and the other one I will probably see next week at another event. I marvelled at how God was so specifically answering my prayers for her. It encouraged me to keep doing what I'm doing.
Friday 27 October 2017
Monday 23 October 2017
Breaking Down the Lies with God's Hammer
Such a beautiful weekend! I'm fairly certain the weather can't be this nice much longer. I'm so glad we were able to get a few things done while the weather cooperated. Still in the demo stage on the main floor and then at the same time trying to get new windows in the upstairs as they are original to the house. As beautiful as they are, I can actually feel winter breezes over my nose at night. They are terrible for keeping weather out. So one window got in. Four to go. We managed to find them for almost half the price going over the border and, of course, my husband is installing them, so that makes it a lot more reasonable, too.
This week, I realized I have high expectations for what is going to get done in just a few days remaining, so last night I told my husband that whatever he gets done will be great, no pressure, as otherwise I will find myself super disappointed if my expectations don't get met.
We will still do school this week, but it might just take on a slightly different feel, perhaps more carpentry school?
We also managed to get the cow fence fixed. That was a huge relief for me as I don't think I realized how much it was getting to me. I was constantly looking outside to see if a cow was out and it was giving me what I jokingly call, "Post Traumatic Cow Disorder" or PTCD as it is more commonly known! Sadly, it took away the renovating time, but it had to be done and as of Saturday night, it is back up to 10,000 volts and oddly, no cows were out the rest of the weekend!
Church has become an entirely different experience for us now. All our children have sat in the service with us for 10 years now and it has always been a bit of a struggle with babies and toddlers, but we've somehow persevered, never exactly knowing when the children make the transition to wiggly toddler to sitting child, but they've all done it and now they all sit in a row quietly through an hour and a half service. What a different experience it has become for me where I can actually listen to a sermon without taking a child out! My 7 year old now "takes notes" where each week he writes down what is on the screen. He's so proud of himself! The 5 year old copies letters on the paper itself and that is his way of taking notes. I know some wonder what they are getting out of it, but each week the pastor seems to look right at us and the kids notice that and repeat back to me what they've heard in the service, so I think they know more than we think. I really prefer sitting with them and in fact love sitting with them. I sat with my parents when I was a kid and I remember that really fondly.
The service on Sunday was a good reminder of God's guiding love. The pastor was saying how so many claim to not know the will of God, but they don't read the Bible, so how can they know His will? Instead we go to experts or others, but not to God's Word. I was reading in Jeremiah last week and it confirmed what the pastor was saying. There are many out there who claim to come in God's name, but in fact they are not Biblically sound. They are described this way, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. The speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord...Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.'
I was thinking about that. Sometimes I am the lying prophet....to myself! Sometimes a lie will enter my own mind, created by the enemy himself, to get me off track, to make me feel badly about myself. I see it in my kids literally all the time. They will be in the middle of school and my 5 year will say, "I'm too stupid to do this." Do not listen to the lying prophets! My son in university will say, "Maybe I can't handle this, Mom. Maybe I don't have the ability to do this." Jeremiah goes on and says, "When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest ask you,'What is the burden of the Lord'? you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I cast you off, declares the Lord...But the 'burden of the Lord' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God." Somehow, the enemy of our souls can use our own words, our own voices, in our own heads to pervert the words of the living God. I love how he says, "What is the burden of the Lord? YOU are the burden of the Lord." WE somehow become our own worst enemy because we don't meditate on what we know is true from Scripture, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that we have the mind of Christ. Instead we listen to the the lying prophets. Because nowadays there aren't a lot of prophets walking around, Satan had to come up with different ways to lead us astray. I'm convinced he uses me to beat myself up!
Fortunately, as always, there is hope. "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth?...Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23) So thankfully, we can break the lies with our hammer, the Word of God. I'm always asking myself and the kids, "What is the lie you are listening to?" Then, we go from there, breaking the lie down with God's Truth.
This week, I realized I have high expectations for what is going to get done in just a few days remaining, so last night I told my husband that whatever he gets done will be great, no pressure, as otherwise I will find myself super disappointed if my expectations don't get met.
We will still do school this week, but it might just take on a slightly different feel, perhaps more carpentry school?
We also managed to get the cow fence fixed. That was a huge relief for me as I don't think I realized how much it was getting to me. I was constantly looking outside to see if a cow was out and it was giving me what I jokingly call, "Post Traumatic Cow Disorder" or PTCD as it is more commonly known! Sadly, it took away the renovating time, but it had to be done and as of Saturday night, it is back up to 10,000 volts and oddly, no cows were out the rest of the weekend!
Church has become an entirely different experience for us now. All our children have sat in the service with us for 10 years now and it has always been a bit of a struggle with babies and toddlers, but we've somehow persevered, never exactly knowing when the children make the transition to wiggly toddler to sitting child, but they've all done it and now they all sit in a row quietly through an hour and a half service. What a different experience it has become for me where I can actually listen to a sermon without taking a child out! My 7 year old now "takes notes" where each week he writes down what is on the screen. He's so proud of himself! The 5 year old copies letters on the paper itself and that is his way of taking notes. I know some wonder what they are getting out of it, but each week the pastor seems to look right at us and the kids notice that and repeat back to me what they've heard in the service, so I think they know more than we think. I really prefer sitting with them and in fact love sitting with them. I sat with my parents when I was a kid and I remember that really fondly.
The service on Sunday was a good reminder of God's guiding love. The pastor was saying how so many claim to not know the will of God, but they don't read the Bible, so how can they know His will? Instead we go to experts or others, but not to God's Word. I was reading in Jeremiah last week and it confirmed what the pastor was saying. There are many out there who claim to come in God's name, but in fact they are not Biblically sound. They are described this way, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. The speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord...Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.'
I was thinking about that. Sometimes I am the lying prophet....to myself! Sometimes a lie will enter my own mind, created by the enemy himself, to get me off track, to make me feel badly about myself. I see it in my kids literally all the time. They will be in the middle of school and my 5 year will say, "I'm too stupid to do this." Do not listen to the lying prophets! My son in university will say, "Maybe I can't handle this, Mom. Maybe I don't have the ability to do this." Jeremiah goes on and says, "When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest ask you,'What is the burden of the Lord'? you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I cast you off, declares the Lord...But the 'burden of the Lord' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God." Somehow, the enemy of our souls can use our own words, our own voices, in our own heads to pervert the words of the living God. I love how he says, "What is the burden of the Lord? YOU are the burden of the Lord." WE somehow become our own worst enemy because we don't meditate on what we know is true from Scripture, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that we have the mind of Christ. Instead we listen to the the lying prophets. Because nowadays there aren't a lot of prophets walking around, Satan had to come up with different ways to lead us astray. I'm convinced he uses me to beat myself up!
Fortunately, as always, there is hope. "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth?...Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23) So thankfully, we can break the lies with our hammer, the Word of God. I'm always asking myself and the kids, "What is the lie you are listening to?" Then, we go from there, breaking the lie down with God's Truth.
Friday 20 October 2017
Renovating, Hiking and Spiritual Blessings
We are now in full strike mode at school. Ironically, one of the things the union dislikes is all the contract workers (aka my husband) and part-timers (my husband). They want more job security (as always) and more full-time work. However, if we hadn't had the contract work and part-time work offered to us, we wouldn't have had a job. Though the union didn't like that, in our case, it worked out! We were grateful for it.
Wanting to take advantage of an unfortunate situation, we decided this was a bit of a free gift of time. I didn't want to push my husband too much as he has lots of things he could do, but I made some subtle and not-so-subtle hints as to how he could spend his time, such as, "How 'bout we blow out that wall?" or "Wanna finish this room or that room?" He seemed interested.....Though he's on strike with teaching, his research job is still up and running, but it's just really quiet on campus, so he's there all day, but now he's home at night.
Last weekend, when he came home, I suggested it one more time, "Wanna break down a wall?" I kind of remember a raised eyebrow, which made me think, guess I'm pushing too hard....but a few minutes later, he walked in with a sledgehammer. I LOVE sledgehammers. Some of the kids were on the couch, not paying any attention to what was about to happen. Suddenly, "WHAM!" The demolition had begun. I cannot tell you how happy that made me! We were on our way into being well over our heads...again...as we took down the other walls of our family room. By walls, I mean, all the old drywall, insulation, etc. We did take some other minor walls out to make better entryways into the family room, though. It makes it look so much more open! By the end of the weekend, my husband's muscles were killing him and the mess was nearly complete. This picture is what it looked like that first day.....The white wall on the left is now gone and it will be our new entry into the family room. Where my husband is standing will ultimately be our dining room as the kitchen is quite squished with all of us in there around a table.
I think people think I'm joking when I ask for renovations for my birthday, but I'm not joking! This was the greatest gift to me! And, as an added bonus, he's taking all of next week off, seeing as he doesn't have his teaching job anyway, and he'll just go at the house for a solid week. I haven't had him around like that now for over a year. That is gift enough just to have him around 24/7 for a few days. Depending on how far he gets, he might even move into the kitchen where we have to do some more insulating. If that happens, I think I'll lose my mind with excitement!
On the thanksgiving note again, the younger 4 kids and I went out on a hike yesterday. I googled, "Hikes nearby" and this new hike came up that we'd never been to that was only 10 minutes away. But before we left, I had to do a quick search for my wallet. I knew I'd had it the day before on the way to the library, but I couldn't remember where I'd put it. The thought occurred to me that maybe it had fallen off my lap when I'd gotten out of the car that day, but I hadn't noticed it, so it seemed unlikely. I was clearly feeling frazzled and must have showed it. My five year old suddenly says, "Be thankful Mom!" "What?" I said shocked. One of the other kids said, "He's telling you to be thankful because that's what you tell us!" "Oh! Yes! Right! Sorry! You're right!" So I told them that I would do that. I quickly prayed, "Lord, thank you that for some reason I've misplaced my wallet. Please help me to find it and thank you for the kids reminding me to be thankful." Then, I quickly called the library and lo and behold, they had it. I must have dropped it like I thought in the parking lot. "They have it!" I exclaimed to the kids. "Wow! That was fast!" they all said. Such a great reminder from the mouths of babes.
After I picked up my wallet, the thought also occurred to me to check the oil as our car had been leaking oil and I didn't want to find myself in a bad situation. Sure enough, right out. I immediately felt frustrated at my older daughter as she is the one driving it all the time and she is the one that is supposed to do all the checking and filling. My kids said it again. "Be thankful!" I sighed. Yes, yes. Be thankful. So again, I said to them, "You're right. This could have been more serious. At least we remembered to check it before it was too late. We remembered when we were close to a gas station." So many reasons to be thankful.
Finally, we were off on our hike. We ended up in this somewhat secret location. There were no big signs, no real markings that we were at the right place, except for a very subtle sign you could have easily missed. I thought maybe we were at someone's place even. We kept walking towards the escarpment and found a trail that went up. My kids were in awe. It was so beautiful. How did we not know about this place? Within minutes, we found a brown snake, then salamanders everywhere, coloured leaves, moss, ferns, chipmunks. It was all so beautiful to take in. Then, we saw the view of vineyards and the lake from the height we were at. Incredible. We just kept stopping in amazement.
Then, we came across a young lady and her mom hiking also. She seemed to enjoy watching our kids and commented that it reminded her of when she used to look for snakes with her brother, too. We ran into them again on our way back down from the hike. She called us over and said, "Want to see a cave?" She took the older 3 kids right to the edge of the escarpment and showed them a secret cave only someone who knew the trail really well would know. My kids loved it! I hated it because it was so close to the edge, but just held my breath till they came back. Then, she took us down the trail and said, "I'll show you an ancient carving that no one knows about, too!" Who was she? An angelic tour guide? Sure enough, she took us to this rock where an old carving was in the rock of a native face with his feather headdress. It was incredible and again, only someone who knew the trail could have seen that. It was clearly authentic and I felt like I was back in history which was really neat because we were just studying that in Canadian history in our homeschool. Turns out, she really did know the trail. Basically it was her backyard when she grew up. She returned as an adult just for nostalgia that day as she was home from across the country to visit her mom. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I think it was all part of the miracle of being thankful that we met her. Had I not stopped and found my wallet, then stopped and filled the car with oil, all the while being reminded that I should be thankful by my kids, we would have missed meeting her and having the most amazing history lesson! I felt like God really did give us an angelic tour guide that day. She was the only other person on the trail, with her mom (other than another lady who was lost!), besides us. It made the hike just that much more special.
It also tied in with a book on prayer we're going through by Peter Dyneka, a Russian missionary, called Much Prayer Much Power. We've tried to kick it up a notch lately, by not just focusing on ourselves as we like to do. Instead I've reinstated the prayer boxes where we pray for specific things each day. So, for example, today will be International Needs. We have switched to prayer jars (as all my boxes got broken!). In each jar is a card with an international need, such a North Korea, the international leaders, like Trump and Trudeau, or all the disasters going on around the world. It is helping our kids realize there are other things to pray for outside our family. One of the things Dyneka said yesterday though was that as we pray for others, we get blessed. I've been asking God to show this to my kids. Yesterday felt like such a huge blessing to them. I can't help but think it is all related in the spiritual realm.....praying for others, going through trials, learning thankfulness, seeing miracles, major and minor ones, being blessed in the process.....Even if for some reason it's one giant coincidence that all those things happened, it sure made for just one awesome day.
I prefer to have spiritual eyes, where I make connections between trials, prayers, and blessing. Living in the world of "coincidence" takes away all the joy.
Wanting to take advantage of an unfortunate situation, we decided this was a bit of a free gift of time. I didn't want to push my husband too much as he has lots of things he could do, but I made some subtle and not-so-subtle hints as to how he could spend his time, such as, "How 'bout we blow out that wall?" or "Wanna finish this room or that room?" He seemed interested.....Though he's on strike with teaching, his research job is still up and running, but it's just really quiet on campus, so he's there all day, but now he's home at night.
Last weekend, when he came home, I suggested it one more time, "Wanna break down a wall?" I kind of remember a raised eyebrow, which made me think, guess I'm pushing too hard....but a few minutes later, he walked in with a sledgehammer. I LOVE sledgehammers. Some of the kids were on the couch, not paying any attention to what was about to happen. Suddenly, "WHAM!" The demolition had begun. I cannot tell you how happy that made me! We were on our way into being well over our heads...again...as we took down the other walls of our family room. By walls, I mean, all the old drywall, insulation, etc. We did take some other minor walls out to make better entryways into the family room, though. It makes it look so much more open! By the end of the weekend, my husband's muscles were killing him and the mess was nearly complete. This picture is what it looked like that first day.....The white wall on the left is now gone and it will be our new entry into the family room. Where my husband is standing will ultimately be our dining room as the kitchen is quite squished with all of us in there around a table.I think people think I'm joking when I ask for renovations for my birthday, but I'm not joking! This was the greatest gift to me! And, as an added bonus, he's taking all of next week off, seeing as he doesn't have his teaching job anyway, and he'll just go at the house for a solid week. I haven't had him around like that now for over a year. That is gift enough just to have him around 24/7 for a few days. Depending on how far he gets, he might even move into the kitchen where we have to do some more insulating. If that happens, I think I'll lose my mind with excitement!
On the thanksgiving note again, the younger 4 kids and I went out on a hike yesterday. I googled, "Hikes nearby" and this new hike came up that we'd never been to that was only 10 minutes away. But before we left, I had to do a quick search for my wallet. I knew I'd had it the day before on the way to the library, but I couldn't remember where I'd put it. The thought occurred to me that maybe it had fallen off my lap when I'd gotten out of the car that day, but I hadn't noticed it, so it seemed unlikely. I was clearly feeling frazzled and must have showed it. My five year old suddenly says, "Be thankful Mom!" "What?" I said shocked. One of the other kids said, "He's telling you to be thankful because that's what you tell us!" "Oh! Yes! Right! Sorry! You're right!" So I told them that I would do that. I quickly prayed, "Lord, thank you that for some reason I've misplaced my wallet. Please help me to find it and thank you for the kids reminding me to be thankful." Then, I quickly called the library and lo and behold, they had it. I must have dropped it like I thought in the parking lot. "They have it!" I exclaimed to the kids. "Wow! That was fast!" they all said. Such a great reminder from the mouths of babes.
After I picked up my wallet, the thought also occurred to me to check the oil as our car had been leaking oil and I didn't want to find myself in a bad situation. Sure enough, right out. I immediately felt frustrated at my older daughter as she is the one driving it all the time and she is the one that is supposed to do all the checking and filling. My kids said it again. "Be thankful!" I sighed. Yes, yes. Be thankful. So again, I said to them, "You're right. This could have been more serious. At least we remembered to check it before it was too late. We remembered when we were close to a gas station." So many reasons to be thankful.
Finally, we were off on our hike. We ended up in this somewhat secret location. There were no big signs, no real markings that we were at the right place, except for a very subtle sign you could have easily missed. I thought maybe we were at someone's place even. We kept walking towards the escarpment and found a trail that went up. My kids were in awe. It was so beautiful. How did we not know about this place? Within minutes, we found a brown snake, then salamanders everywhere, coloured leaves, moss, ferns, chipmunks. It was all so beautiful to take in. Then, we saw the view of vineyards and the lake from the height we were at. Incredible. We just kept stopping in amazement.
Then, we came across a young lady and her mom hiking also. She seemed to enjoy watching our kids and commented that it reminded her of when she used to look for snakes with her brother, too. We ran into them again on our way back down from the hike. She called us over and said, "Want to see a cave?" She took the older 3 kids right to the edge of the escarpment and showed them a secret cave only someone who knew the trail really well would know. My kids loved it! I hated it because it was so close to the edge, but just held my breath till they came back. Then, she took us down the trail and said, "I'll show you an ancient carving that no one knows about, too!" Who was she? An angelic tour guide? Sure enough, she took us to this rock where an old carving was in the rock of a native face with his feather headdress. It was incredible and again, only someone who knew the trail could have seen that. It was clearly authentic and I felt like I was back in history which was really neat because we were just studying that in Canadian history in our homeschool. Turns out, she really did know the trail. Basically it was her backyard when she grew up. She returned as an adult just for nostalgia that day as she was home from across the country to visit her mom. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I think it was all part of the miracle of being thankful that we met her. Had I not stopped and found my wallet, then stopped and filled the car with oil, all the while being reminded that I should be thankful by my kids, we would have missed meeting her and having the most amazing history lesson! I felt like God really did give us an angelic tour guide that day. She was the only other person on the trail, with her mom (other than another lady who was lost!), besides us. It made the hike just that much more special.
It also tied in with a book on prayer we're going through by Peter Dyneka, a Russian missionary, called Much Prayer Much Power. We've tried to kick it up a notch lately, by not just focusing on ourselves as we like to do. Instead I've reinstated the prayer boxes where we pray for specific things each day. So, for example, today will be International Needs. We have switched to prayer jars (as all my boxes got broken!). In each jar is a card with an international need, such a North Korea, the international leaders, like Trump and Trudeau, or all the disasters going on around the world. It is helping our kids realize there are other things to pray for outside our family. One of the things Dyneka said yesterday though was that as we pray for others, we get blessed. I've been asking God to show this to my kids. Yesterday felt like such a huge blessing to them. I can't help but think it is all related in the spiritual realm.....praying for others, going through trials, learning thankfulness, seeing miracles, major and minor ones, being blessed in the process.....Even if for some reason it's one giant coincidence that all those things happened, it sure made for just one awesome day.
I prefer to have spiritual eyes, where I make connections between trials, prayers, and blessing. Living in the world of "coincidence" takes away all the joy.
Wednesday 11 October 2017
Thankful for Thanksgiving Lessons in Thanksgiving Week
I've known the pattern of being thankful and then watching the miracles unfold and I was quite certain I had communicated this to my kids and my husband of course, but maybe it just hadn't sunk in. I had read the verses for years before it really hit me, too. I guess we needed another reminder. What a better time to relearn the lesson than Thanksgiving Week.
Lately, we've noticed a certain level of spiritual attack in our home. We're quite certain it's because we've started the Bible Quizzing and we also know Satan just loves bugging Christian families. He wants to ruin relationships between siblings, parents and spouses. Anytime he can get more bang for his buck, he tries. But I'm on to him....
My son seems to be at the center of it all lately. If he frustrates me, then my husband is frustrated. If he frustrates my husband, then I'm frustrated. If he can get my son mad at my husband, then......you get the picture. Terrible cycle.
The cute, innocent puppies are also at the center of it all! It started when I had to take all 6 remaining puppies to the vet. My favourite line, "I don't get paid enough....." We had a short timeline and I had already been driving all morning. I had to go all the way into the university to pick up my son and then another ways to the vet clinic. In total about 45 minutes of driving. When we had to go, we couldn't find the keys. I'm convinced Satan uses blindness in our home all the time. Keys go missing REGULARLY. We searched the entire house. As I found my frustration levels go up (my 7 year old had taken them somewhere to play with them - couldn't remember where he'd put them.....why??????), I spoke to the voice in my head that was starting to tell me lies and I said, "There is a reason why this is happening. Be thankful. Be thankful that you are going to have to cancel the appointment. Be thankful that you'll have to reschedule. Be thankful that they are hidden. Be thankful. Be thankful. Breathe....." Ok, I calmed down and I actually stopped looking. What was the big deal anyway? So what if I had to cancel the appointment? It would be ok. Leaving the frantic feeling behind was the big part of the miracle because when the panic enters the home, no one is happy.
Minutes later, my son walks in with the keys in his hand! He found them outside! I never in a million years would have found them where we did, but I'm certain thankfulness opened my son's eyes and made him look in the strange location he found them. I quickly got in touch with the clinic and they were good to wait for us. Off we went. The puppies did throw up the entire way there, but the other neat miracle was that the vet techs willingly, almost gladly, came out and cleaned the mess up for me in the back of my car. I was amazed and so grateful. Thankfulness turned the day around.
Later on that week, my son was writing a midterm at school. He had studied and studied for it. He was quite nervous and I always get nervous for him, too, but have learned to commit him to the Lord. Suddenly, right before the test, I start getting nervous texts and calls. He couldn't find his wallet! There it goes again....the blindness factor. Satan's tool. He was calling to ask us to look. He needed it for his test as they require i.d. in order to write it! ARGH!!! This immediately frustrated my husband as he wished my son had thought of that a little sooner! Once again, we searched the house all over. Nothing. I heard the voice in my head, so I called my son and said, "Be thankful. For some reason Satan is blinding all of us to the lost wallet. Stay calm. Go look for your professor, anyone that you can talk to and see what you can do." My husband looked at me like I was nuts, "Be thankful?" He actually agreed and told my son, too, "This is some kind of spiritual attack on you right before your test. Stay calm." The frantic searching stopped and calm came over all of us. We left it with the Lord and trusted his test would go fine.
It did. He didn't need his i.d. after all. He ran into his professor right before the test (who he never sees) and he explained the situation to him. The professor said not to worry because he knew him. He has 500 students in his class and he knew him? My son sits right at the front and talks to him apparently, so I was so glad for that. I couldn't figure out why we hadn't found the wallet, but I didn't worry about that either. The next day, when he was home, he went up to his room and found it in two seconds. It was hidden in a dark part of his shelf that no one had noticed. More blindness?
We were feeling pretty good, though weary from all the attacks. We had made it through the whole week and though we hadn't been perfect at them, I felt like we were passing test after test. Is there ever a break? Turns out, no.
On the Saturday morning, we were selling another puppy to a young 12 year old girl. My son had been in touch with her and her parents. All was going well, but when they arrived we realized we had missed a major email explaining they wanted breeding rights. This changed the price of the puppy to a much higher price. She said she had mentioned it in an email. Immediate frustration levels went up in my head and my husband's towards our son.....how could he have missed that?! We are always teaching the importance of being on top of his emails with respect to the pups. We felt it was gross negligence. But at that point there was nothing we could do. Though they had driven quite a distance, the buyer and her young daughter felt they had to walk away as there was no way they could afford the new higher price. I couldn't believe it as I watched them leave. I felt sick to my stomach. I had already been praying when I sensed the tension, but started pleading with God at that point.
This time I had a minor one-way dialogue before I went to thankfulness. It it made no sense. "I do not understand this. What are you trying to teach my son? Why did this have to happen? Ok, I'm thankful for the lesson, but is there another way you could have taught him? What about these poor people? I'm thankful, but is there still a way we could turn this around?" I went on and on. Praying, folding laundry, praying, pacing, crying out, all the while, trying to be thankful.....though I wasn't feeling very thankful.
Suddenly, it occurred to my husband there was a way we could still make a deal, if we could just get them to turn around, but we didn't have a cell number for them?! That made us even more frustrated at my son! We went through all the emails and quickly emailed her phone, hoping she would somehow get it. We called every person with her last name that we could find on the internet. No answer. We eventually had to let it go as a major learning experience. But then suddenly, there she was at our door! She had stopped at a coffee shop to calm down with her daughter and had taken out her phone, received the email from us telling her to come back if she wanted to, but then her phone died and she couldn't respond! So she just came back. God was working it all out without us even realizing it.
We were able to come to a mutual agreement that only occurred to us after they had left. We just hadn't had enough time to think about it. Did God suddenly put the new idea my husband's head because I had prayed? She was pleased, we were pleased, the young girl was thrilled she could still leave with a puppy. Whew! When we went back through the emails, it was clear the email was there, but Satan had hidden it on us somehow, more blindness. We marveled at how God had turned the whole affair around and turned it for good. We learned once again how important it was to be thankful. In this case, my son and and husband weren't super thankful when they were in the middle of it! I was thankful on their behalf! And I'm quite certain my prayers in the laundry room helped shift the situation into miracle mode. This was our third miracle of the week and we had seen the pattern established each time.....be thankful and the miracle is imminent (as my fav. author Ann Voskamp always says....) We made a pact that we'll try to recognize what our triggers are so that we don't let the frustrations levels get so high first, but instead go to thankfulness as soon as we see the frustration levels start to rise. Anger is a sign we're not handling it right.
I wish all attacks would stop there, but I'm sure there are more to come. I'm trusting God for the lesson we've clearly learned and that we'll be able to apply it when the inevitable attacks hit us. To keep us on track, we have a new title for each current day. Perhaps, without even knowing it, today would have been Weary Wednesday or Warring Wednesday, but now we'll try to make it more of an upbeat happier day, like "Wonderfuul Wednesday" or Merry Mondays or Terrific Tuesdays.....you get the idea. It's a simple way we can keep ourselves more aware of the fact we want our days to be better.
Lately, we've noticed a certain level of spiritual attack in our home. We're quite certain it's because we've started the Bible Quizzing and we also know Satan just loves bugging Christian families. He wants to ruin relationships between siblings, parents and spouses. Anytime he can get more bang for his buck, he tries. But I'm on to him....
My son seems to be at the center of it all lately. If he frustrates me, then my husband is frustrated. If he frustrates my husband, then I'm frustrated. If he can get my son mad at my husband, then......you get the picture. Terrible cycle.
The cute, innocent puppies are also at the center of it all! It started when I had to take all 6 remaining puppies to the vet. My favourite line, "I don't get paid enough....." We had a short timeline and I had already been driving all morning. I had to go all the way into the university to pick up my son and then another ways to the vet clinic. In total about 45 minutes of driving. When we had to go, we couldn't find the keys. I'm convinced Satan uses blindness in our home all the time. Keys go missing REGULARLY. We searched the entire house. As I found my frustration levels go up (my 7 year old had taken them somewhere to play with them - couldn't remember where he'd put them.....why??????), I spoke to the voice in my head that was starting to tell me lies and I said, "There is a reason why this is happening. Be thankful. Be thankful that you are going to have to cancel the appointment. Be thankful that you'll have to reschedule. Be thankful that they are hidden. Be thankful. Be thankful. Breathe....." Ok, I calmed down and I actually stopped looking. What was the big deal anyway? So what if I had to cancel the appointment? It would be ok. Leaving the frantic feeling behind was the big part of the miracle because when the panic enters the home, no one is happy.
Minutes later, my son walks in with the keys in his hand! He found them outside! I never in a million years would have found them where we did, but I'm certain thankfulness opened my son's eyes and made him look in the strange location he found them. I quickly got in touch with the clinic and they were good to wait for us. Off we went. The puppies did throw up the entire way there, but the other neat miracle was that the vet techs willingly, almost gladly, came out and cleaned the mess up for me in the back of my car. I was amazed and so grateful. Thankfulness turned the day around.
Later on that week, my son was writing a midterm at school. He had studied and studied for it. He was quite nervous and I always get nervous for him, too, but have learned to commit him to the Lord. Suddenly, right before the test, I start getting nervous texts and calls. He couldn't find his wallet! There it goes again....the blindness factor. Satan's tool. He was calling to ask us to look. He needed it for his test as they require i.d. in order to write it! ARGH!!! This immediately frustrated my husband as he wished my son had thought of that a little sooner! Once again, we searched the house all over. Nothing. I heard the voice in my head, so I called my son and said, "Be thankful. For some reason Satan is blinding all of us to the lost wallet. Stay calm. Go look for your professor, anyone that you can talk to and see what you can do." My husband looked at me like I was nuts, "Be thankful?" He actually agreed and told my son, too, "This is some kind of spiritual attack on you right before your test. Stay calm." The frantic searching stopped and calm came over all of us. We left it with the Lord and trusted his test would go fine.
It did. He didn't need his i.d. after all. He ran into his professor right before the test (who he never sees) and he explained the situation to him. The professor said not to worry because he knew him. He has 500 students in his class and he knew him? My son sits right at the front and talks to him apparently, so I was so glad for that. I couldn't figure out why we hadn't found the wallet, but I didn't worry about that either. The next day, when he was home, he went up to his room and found it in two seconds. It was hidden in a dark part of his shelf that no one had noticed. More blindness?
We were feeling pretty good, though weary from all the attacks. We had made it through the whole week and though we hadn't been perfect at them, I felt like we were passing test after test. Is there ever a break? Turns out, no.
On the Saturday morning, we were selling another puppy to a young 12 year old girl. My son had been in touch with her and her parents. All was going well, but when they arrived we realized we had missed a major email explaining they wanted breeding rights. This changed the price of the puppy to a much higher price. She said she had mentioned it in an email. Immediate frustration levels went up in my head and my husband's towards our son.....how could he have missed that?! We are always teaching the importance of being on top of his emails with respect to the pups. We felt it was gross negligence. But at that point there was nothing we could do. Though they had driven quite a distance, the buyer and her young daughter felt they had to walk away as there was no way they could afford the new higher price. I couldn't believe it as I watched them leave. I felt sick to my stomach. I had already been praying when I sensed the tension, but started pleading with God at that point.
This time I had a minor one-way dialogue before I went to thankfulness. It it made no sense. "I do not understand this. What are you trying to teach my son? Why did this have to happen? Ok, I'm thankful for the lesson, but is there another way you could have taught him? What about these poor people? I'm thankful, but is there still a way we could turn this around?" I went on and on. Praying, folding laundry, praying, pacing, crying out, all the while, trying to be thankful.....though I wasn't feeling very thankful.
Suddenly, it occurred to my husband there was a way we could still make a deal, if we could just get them to turn around, but we didn't have a cell number for them?! That made us even more frustrated at my son! We went through all the emails and quickly emailed her phone, hoping she would somehow get it. We called every person with her last name that we could find on the internet. No answer. We eventually had to let it go as a major learning experience. But then suddenly, there she was at our door! She had stopped at a coffee shop to calm down with her daughter and had taken out her phone, received the email from us telling her to come back if she wanted to, but then her phone died and she couldn't respond! So she just came back. God was working it all out without us even realizing it.
We were able to come to a mutual agreement that only occurred to us after they had left. We just hadn't had enough time to think about it. Did God suddenly put the new idea my husband's head because I had prayed? She was pleased, we were pleased, the young girl was thrilled she could still leave with a puppy. Whew! When we went back through the emails, it was clear the email was there, but Satan had hidden it on us somehow, more blindness. We marveled at how God had turned the whole affair around and turned it for good. We learned once again how important it was to be thankful. In this case, my son and and husband weren't super thankful when they were in the middle of it! I was thankful on their behalf! And I'm quite certain my prayers in the laundry room helped shift the situation into miracle mode. This was our third miracle of the week and we had seen the pattern established each time.....be thankful and the miracle is imminent (as my fav. author Ann Voskamp always says....) We made a pact that we'll try to recognize what our triggers are so that we don't let the frustrations levels get so high first, but instead go to thankfulness as soon as we see the frustration levels start to rise. Anger is a sign we're not handling it right.
I wish all attacks would stop there, but I'm sure there are more to come. I'm trusting God for the lesson we've clearly learned and that we'll be able to apply it when the inevitable attacks hit us. To keep us on track, we have a new title for each current day. Perhaps, without even knowing it, today would have been Weary Wednesday or Warring Wednesday, but now we'll try to make it more of an upbeat happier day, like "Wonderfuul Wednesday" or Merry Mondays or Terrific Tuesdays.....you get the idea. It's a simple way we can keep ourselves more aware of the fact we want our days to be better.
Friday 6 October 2017
Toil, Mere Talk, Eternal Moments, and God's Decor
All during the school year we talk about being wise and diligent as opposed to being slothful and lazy as the fool is described in Proverbs. "The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labour." (12:24) "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense." (12:11) "In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty." (14:23) Those are just a few we've read recently But they are all so good.
The implication is pretty clear, work is going to be hard, but worth it. Our struggle is that it is really hard to work your land when you aren't home anymore! RM is gone so much now that things are falling apart around the farm and he is not here to fix them. We have very naughty cows. They broke the fence again and they are starting to get out regularly, especially the little calves. They're actually quite fun to get in. I could send out a toddler and the cows would go running right back in. But still, they aren't supposed to be getting out! But, this is how it is right now. So tonight, despite the fact he'll be tired from being on his feet all day teaching, he already knows that he's working all night on the fence.
This post is definitely a kudos to my husband post. He is such an example to all of us about diligence these days. I really can hardly think of anyone that puts in more hours in a day lately. I used to think he worked hard, but now, it's a whole new level of hard. The college might be striking in the next two weeks and there's a little part of us that won't be upset as he'll get some unwanted/wanted time off!
Wednesday night is our Bible Quizzing practice night. He's the coach, so we start when he gets home. Right before he was supposed to arrive home I got a text from my son saying that the truck had broken down on the side of the road and that they were waiting for a tow truck to bring our truck home. This wasn't a complete surprise to us. We had heard some strange sounds that we didn't like coming from the truck. We had fixed it once, but perhaps it was going again? Also, we have noticed that each week right before quizzing starts, we get some form of spiritual attack that makes us want to stop quizzing. We try to pray now, anticipating, "What will the attack be this week?" When we added up all the verses our kids have memorized in just 4 weeks, it is well over 200, so no surprise that Satan hates us and what we're doing. Not only are the older ones memorizing, but now the little kids are memorizing, too?! He has to do something to stop us each week. This week it was the truck.
A lot of the Dads come out each week to the quiz practice. I love that. They get to see their kids participate and memorize in person. They were all very concerned about RM and wanted to help. Could they pick him up? Would we need to borrow a car? What could they do for us? Very sweet. When RM walked in the door, he grabbed a two second dinner, checked in to see if we were all ok and then said, "Sorry, I got to go fix the truck, I need it for work tomorrow!" Everyone was so confused. How could he fix the truck at night? How did he already have the parts? Was he going to do it himself? As his wife, I knew exactly what he had done without him even telling me, as this has happened more than once. I explained, "Let me take a guess. I'm pretty sure I know what he did. As soon as the truck pulled over to the side of the road, he called CAA. Then he called his parts guy who said, 'Sorry, we'll be closed in a few minutes.' Then, my husband said, 'Let me pay now over the phone and you just leave the part outside the door (small town niceness lets them do that).' Then, he quickly picked up the part and voila, he fixes it tonight." I checked with RM later to see if that was what had happened and he said, "That's exactly what happened!"
Sure enough, he sat with me for a few minutes after everyone left and around 8 pm, he went to work on the truck. It was fixed in less than an hour as he's good at fixing this particular issue. The next day he and my daughter both took their separate vehicles to work and not a single day of work was missed. Amazing. I explained to my kids the next day, "You have to know Dad didn't have to do that. He could have used all sorts of excuses about why he didn't fix it right away. He could have delayed because the parts store was closed. He could have said he was tired and he wouldn't have been lying." I wanted them to see Proverbs worked out in real life and watching their dad was the perfect way to see diligence up close. "In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty." Mere talk. What a great phrase. All toil. Profit. Poverty. He made us money by working hard. We didn't have to buy a new car or pay someone else to fix it. He toiled. Thus, we profited. He didn't just talk about fixing it, he did the work. It saved us from poverty. Fixing cars has always been something I noticed about him in the early days of our courtship. Without knowing it, it was a litmus test of his character. I remember watching him run off to fix someone else's car when he could have stayed back to be with me and I remember thinking dreamy thoughts of how manly it made him in my eyes! A great reminder to watch for those types of signs for my children and their future spouses-to-be.....but I digress....
The truck was just a little blip in the road this week. We continue to love the warm weather this fall has brought. I've found myself being extra happy just because of the weather. That worries me because I know cold weather is coming.....We spent a couple hours outside in the vineyard picking grapes for juice yesterday and I had to keep pinching myself as I just kept having eternal moment after eternal moment. Was I really in a vineyard picking grapes? Our grapes? How did this happen? I had all my boys around me. One was just sitting eating grapes and holding snails (he is the epitome of the rhyme about little boys...snails and puppy dog tails....), another was wandering around looking for secret paths in the grape vines. Another was diligently picking grapes. Another one was driving the gator back and forth for me. For all the hard times with kids, school and vehicles, every so often, God just picks me up and drops me into a place that feels like I'm in heaven. I could have stayed there all day. If that is what heaven is like, I really look forward to it. What a wonderful glimpse it was yesterday.
One final thing....this weekend I am hosting Thanksgiving. I love Fall decorating and I love the fact that my entire house has been decorated now with things from the farm and all the barns. I gave myself the challenge of making the table completely decorated without buying anything, if possible. I turned to weeds. I love Fall weeds! The only purchase I did make was to buy some super cheap burlap that came from a farm supply store. It's virtually free because it isn't used for decorating. I would have paid so much more if I had bought it in a home decor store. I felt pretty smart about that (and it was on sale!). That makes me really happy. I sent my kids down to the vineyard to get grapes and vines, which they did. I put the burlap down the center of the table and then threw the grape vines down the center of the table, too. The kids and I went to the local farmer and picked up a few gourds and squash (ok, another small purchase, but I can eat them later!) Then we picked up some local apples, also from just down the street (we can also eat those later!) and put those all over the house. I put weeds in some mason jars and the look was complete. I basically took God's decor that He naturally uses outside and just brought it in. He's my inspiration, not some magazine! It looks great and I get to eat most of it later, except for the weeds.....Super cool! I'm thankful already!
The implication is pretty clear, work is going to be hard, but worth it. Our struggle is that it is really hard to work your land when you aren't home anymore! RM is gone so much now that things are falling apart around the farm and he is not here to fix them. We have very naughty cows. They broke the fence again and they are starting to get out regularly, especially the little calves. They're actually quite fun to get in. I could send out a toddler and the cows would go running right back in. But still, they aren't supposed to be getting out! But, this is how it is right now. So tonight, despite the fact he'll be tired from being on his feet all day teaching, he already knows that he's working all night on the fence.
This post is definitely a kudos to my husband post. He is such an example to all of us about diligence these days. I really can hardly think of anyone that puts in more hours in a day lately. I used to think he worked hard, but now, it's a whole new level of hard. The college might be striking in the next two weeks and there's a little part of us that won't be upset as he'll get some unwanted/wanted time off!
Wednesday night is our Bible Quizzing practice night. He's the coach, so we start when he gets home. Right before he was supposed to arrive home I got a text from my son saying that the truck had broken down on the side of the road and that they were waiting for a tow truck to bring our truck home. This wasn't a complete surprise to us. We had heard some strange sounds that we didn't like coming from the truck. We had fixed it once, but perhaps it was going again? Also, we have noticed that each week right before quizzing starts, we get some form of spiritual attack that makes us want to stop quizzing. We try to pray now, anticipating, "What will the attack be this week?" When we added up all the verses our kids have memorized in just 4 weeks, it is well over 200, so no surprise that Satan hates us and what we're doing. Not only are the older ones memorizing, but now the little kids are memorizing, too?! He has to do something to stop us each week. This week it was the truck.
A lot of the Dads come out each week to the quiz practice. I love that. They get to see their kids participate and memorize in person. They were all very concerned about RM and wanted to help. Could they pick him up? Would we need to borrow a car? What could they do for us? Very sweet. When RM walked in the door, he grabbed a two second dinner, checked in to see if we were all ok and then said, "Sorry, I got to go fix the truck, I need it for work tomorrow!" Everyone was so confused. How could he fix the truck at night? How did he already have the parts? Was he going to do it himself? As his wife, I knew exactly what he had done without him even telling me, as this has happened more than once. I explained, "Let me take a guess. I'm pretty sure I know what he did. As soon as the truck pulled over to the side of the road, he called CAA. Then he called his parts guy who said, 'Sorry, we'll be closed in a few minutes.' Then, my husband said, 'Let me pay now over the phone and you just leave the part outside the door (small town niceness lets them do that).' Then, he quickly picked up the part and voila, he fixes it tonight." I checked with RM later to see if that was what had happened and he said, "That's exactly what happened!"
Sure enough, he sat with me for a few minutes after everyone left and around 8 pm, he went to work on the truck. It was fixed in less than an hour as he's good at fixing this particular issue. The next day he and my daughter both took their separate vehicles to work and not a single day of work was missed. Amazing. I explained to my kids the next day, "You have to know Dad didn't have to do that. He could have used all sorts of excuses about why he didn't fix it right away. He could have delayed because the parts store was closed. He could have said he was tired and he wouldn't have been lying." I wanted them to see Proverbs worked out in real life and watching their dad was the perfect way to see diligence up close. "In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty." Mere talk. What a great phrase. All toil. Profit. Poverty. He made us money by working hard. We didn't have to buy a new car or pay someone else to fix it. He toiled. Thus, we profited. He didn't just talk about fixing it, he did the work. It saved us from poverty. Fixing cars has always been something I noticed about him in the early days of our courtship. Without knowing it, it was a litmus test of his character. I remember watching him run off to fix someone else's car when he could have stayed back to be with me and I remember thinking dreamy thoughts of how manly it made him in my eyes! A great reminder to watch for those types of signs for my children and their future spouses-to-be.....but I digress....
This is a picture of all the junior quizzers. They are amazing. In just a few weeks, some of them have already memorized two whole chapters of 1 Corinthians.
After we picked the grapes, we put them in the grape crusher (also found on the farm). Each boy takes a turn turning the crank. They love doing that. Then, the grapes get put in the fruit press (also found on the farm) and the grapes are pressed until every drop is out. It makes for the sweetest juice I've ever tasted.
One final thing....this weekend I am hosting Thanksgiving. I love Fall decorating and I love the fact that my entire house has been decorated now with things from the farm and all the barns. I gave myself the challenge of making the table completely decorated without buying anything, if possible. I turned to weeds. I love Fall weeds! The only purchase I did make was to buy some super cheap burlap that came from a farm supply store. It's virtually free because it isn't used for decorating. I would have paid so much more if I had bought it in a home decor store. I felt pretty smart about that (and it was on sale!). That makes me really happy. I sent my kids down to the vineyard to get grapes and vines, which they did. I put the burlap down the center of the table and then threw the grape vines down the center of the table, too. The kids and I went to the local farmer and picked up a few gourds and squash (ok, another small purchase, but I can eat them later!) Then we picked up some local apples, also from just down the street (we can also eat those later!) and put those all over the house. I put weeds in some mason jars and the look was complete. I basically took God's decor that He naturally uses outside and just brought it in. He's my inspiration, not some magazine! It looks great and I get to eat most of it later, except for the weeds.....Super cool! I'm thankful already!
Monday 2 October 2017
Puppy Harvest Time
Man! I never get to write anymore. I'm still up so early, but I am getting ready for the day and getting several lunches out the door, earlier than I've ever done. I would have to get up at 4 am if I wanted to add the blogging back in, too. So today, exercise takes a backseat, just to get a post in....
Today, we're celebrating the sale of 3 of the puppies! At 8 weeks old they were ready to go. My son had listed them on-line and we were getting lots of interest, but we weren't seeing immediate sales. Some people would correspond for a series of up to 30 emails, no exaggeration, and then no follow through. The temptation to let fear creep in was big. The temptation to worry that they would never sell was also big, but to my amazement my son would just keep saying, "They're God's puppies." And he really believed it! I started to say the same thing to myself.
What a journey this has been for him and for us, for all of us. Like I've said before, I really think we should all get a cut of his profits, which are going to be huge if he sells the ones we have left the way he sold the first three. All of us have contributed in some way. I drive him to appointments as he holds either the squirming, slobbering mother or my husband takes him with 3 or 4 squirming, slobbering puppies....Someone else will pick up puppy food. Another kid took over all the puppy poop removal duty (that kid deserves a BIG cut). Others walk the big dogs for him while he's at school. The list goes on and on. This has definitely been a family effort, but we knew all the money was his (while actually the university gets a cut...mostly!) I enjoyed watching everyone contribute to his cause and for the most part without complaining!
Today I have to go pick up 6 puppy collars and with 6 puppies in tow, I have to go pick up my son at the university where we'll then head out to the vet together to get them all microchipped and vaccinated. Should be a fun trip! Would I rather be doing something else? Yes. But, I'm so happy to help. Seeing the little pups go off to new families yesterday was really neat. One couple flew in from the east coast of Canada to get one! I couldn't believe it. Had to buy a ticket for the puppy to get home! Another family named their new puppy after our son! So sweet! The silly puppy even has his own instagram account!
The night before the puppies were leaving, we took our family photo shoot with all 9 puppies. Each kid tried to hold one. The littlest ended up holding grass instead as the puppy was too wiggly. The picture is super cute...will include later, didn't get that one downloaded yet. But I did manage to get this one of my son with a whole bunch of them surrounding him.
I knew this puppy experience was going to be amazing, but I didn't realize how amazing. Puppies are so darn cute!! I absolutely loved seeing them, watching them, petting them, holding them....my kids were literally attacked by them every time they went in to visit them in the kennel. They were mauled with love (holes are their shirts to prove it!) It was every kid's dream come true, a chance to play with puppies whenever they wanted - a true side benefit to my son's venture. We will be sad to see them go.
It wasn't all peaches and cream all along the way though and I was reminded of this in the sermon yesterday as we talked about the love of God through discipline. He loves us so much he doesn't want to keep us where we are. My son has had a very hard couple of years, with school, work, life.....he has sensed God's discipline in his life and has not loved that very much. Hebrews says it best, "My son, (I would add, my 'poor' son!) do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary of it (he was weary) when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure (HAVE to)......For the moment all discipline seems painful (oh yeah) rather than pleasant, but later it yields the fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Yesterday was the day of harvest. The fruit started to come in. All that he had worked for with those puppies seemed like it was all for nothing when we were in the midst of it, but yesterday he started to see, "Hey! It wasn't a waste of time!" I think it gave all of us a vision of what that verse meant. My poor son had endured so many hard times, I didn't know if he would make it or crack. I wasn't sure if the discipline he was under was too harsh by God. I wanted to step in and take him out of all his hard situations and just make him 5 again. All the discipline seemed too "painful", certainly not pleasant as the Bible puts it. But then, the fruit of righteousness and the actual fruit of payment came in yesterday and we grasped finally what God had been teaching him. I think my son allowed himself to be trained, even though it was so awful. He knew he wanted whatever God was doing with him was going to be worth it. As always, I love how God's Word tells us how it will go if we trust Him, but do we ever have to trust. This puppy experience was a great example of waiting for the fruit, not just the financial fruit, but the fruit of righteousness. We all benefited so greatly and learned the lessons alongside him and got to be adored by some fuzzy creatures in the process - total bonus!
Today, we're celebrating the sale of 3 of the puppies! At 8 weeks old they were ready to go. My son had listed them on-line and we were getting lots of interest, but we weren't seeing immediate sales. Some people would correspond for a series of up to 30 emails, no exaggeration, and then no follow through. The temptation to let fear creep in was big. The temptation to worry that they would never sell was also big, but to my amazement my son would just keep saying, "They're God's puppies." And he really believed it! I started to say the same thing to myself.
What a journey this has been for him and for us, for all of us. Like I've said before, I really think we should all get a cut of his profits, which are going to be huge if he sells the ones we have left the way he sold the first three. All of us have contributed in some way. I drive him to appointments as he holds either the squirming, slobbering mother or my husband takes him with 3 or 4 squirming, slobbering puppies....Someone else will pick up puppy food. Another kid took over all the puppy poop removal duty (that kid deserves a BIG cut). Others walk the big dogs for him while he's at school. The list goes on and on. This has definitely been a family effort, but we knew all the money was his (while actually the university gets a cut...mostly!) I enjoyed watching everyone contribute to his cause and for the most part without complaining!
Today I have to go pick up 6 puppy collars and with 6 puppies in tow, I have to go pick up my son at the university where we'll then head out to the vet together to get them all microchipped and vaccinated. Should be a fun trip! Would I rather be doing something else? Yes. But, I'm so happy to help. Seeing the little pups go off to new families yesterday was really neat. One couple flew in from the east coast of Canada to get one! I couldn't believe it. Had to buy a ticket for the puppy to get home! Another family named their new puppy after our son! So sweet! The silly puppy even has his own instagram account!
The night before the puppies were leaving, we took our family photo shoot with all 9 puppies. Each kid tried to hold one. The littlest ended up holding grass instead as the puppy was too wiggly. The picture is super cute...will include later, didn't get that one downloaded yet. But I did manage to get this one of my son with a whole bunch of them surrounding him.
I knew this puppy experience was going to be amazing, but I didn't realize how amazing. Puppies are so darn cute!! I absolutely loved seeing them, watching them, petting them, holding them....my kids were literally attacked by them every time they went in to visit them in the kennel. They were mauled with love (holes are their shirts to prove it!) It was every kid's dream come true, a chance to play with puppies whenever they wanted - a true side benefit to my son's venture. We will be sad to see them go.
It wasn't all peaches and cream all along the way though and I was reminded of this in the sermon yesterday as we talked about the love of God through discipline. He loves us so much he doesn't want to keep us where we are. My son has had a very hard couple of years, with school, work, life.....he has sensed God's discipline in his life and has not loved that very much. Hebrews says it best, "My son, (I would add, my 'poor' son!) do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary of it (he was weary) when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure (HAVE to)......For the moment all discipline seems painful (oh yeah) rather than pleasant, but later it yields the fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Yesterday was the day of harvest. The fruit started to come in. All that he had worked for with those puppies seemed like it was all for nothing when we were in the midst of it, but yesterday he started to see, "Hey! It wasn't a waste of time!" I think it gave all of us a vision of what that verse meant. My poor son had endured so many hard times, I didn't know if he would make it or crack. I wasn't sure if the discipline he was under was too harsh by God. I wanted to step in and take him out of all his hard situations and just make him 5 again. All the discipline seemed too "painful", certainly not pleasant as the Bible puts it. But then, the fruit of righteousness and the actual fruit of payment came in yesterday and we grasped finally what God had been teaching him. I think my son allowed himself to be trained, even though it was so awful. He knew he wanted whatever God was doing with him was going to be worth it. As always, I love how God's Word tells us how it will go if we trust Him, but do we ever have to trust. This puppy experience was a great example of waiting for the fruit, not just the financial fruit, but the fruit of righteousness. We all benefited so greatly and learned the lessons alongside him and got to be adored by some fuzzy creatures in the process - total bonus!
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