Christmas is officially here. Every year it starts off in the last weekend of November. We are invited to a Christmas breakfast (yes, Santa is there!) where we enjoy the most delicious brunch and then the kids get a gift (which is the highlight of the morning!). The adults then hang out for way longer than the kids like (they just want to go home and play with their new toys). However, now the cousins hang out together and enjoy one another so much, too, so they also don't want to go home (at least the older cousins). When I look around the room, there are always tables of 4, 6, 8, maybe even 10, but our's is always the largest at 20!
After we've dragged the kids away, there is no stopping there. The Christmas fun must continue. Some years, as a family, we've gone on to cut a tree, but this year we went the more traditional method, at picked one up at IKEA! They are pretty cheap and usually perfectly shaped, so off we went.
We walked into the lot and within seconds each child had picked their own....very hard to decide which child gets to pick which tree, but one of my kids had been very disappointed last year when we didn't pick his, so I whispered to my husband, "Can we go with his this year?" "Sure." So we picked his tree and quickly got home and put the tree in the tree stand. So help me, this skinny tree, when it was all wrapped up, turned into the biggest, widest, fattest, best tree we've ever had. It looks like we paid a fortune for it, when we did not!
But, the fun still didn't end. Traditions are traditions. Christmas music was on (thank you Spotify) pretty much all day. Popcorn was made for stringing the tree. Christmas decorations went on the tree nearly instantly. Lights went up all over the place. Christmas smells, sounds, and tastes went on all day.
To top it off, my husband allowed for a big treat - Chinese food. So went and ordered enough for the whole family which was gobbled up within minutes. I couldn't believe we were all able to eat again after the morning, but it turns out it was many hours later and apparently we were starving.
What I noticed in all of this was how if we had taken one thing out of the day, something would have been missing in their minds. Traditions. You have to love 'em and hate 'em. The kids all have memories based on certain songs we used to play when they were kids. They have certain meals associated with certain people. They have the order of that November Sunday tradition etched in their minds, right down to the last minute. That's the great thing and the worst thing. If we miss something, their world falls apart! However, these are the things of childhood. I absolutely love etching traditions in their minds, creating memories. These are the things that families create together. It bonds us together somehow. And, what I love, is that only my kids will have the memories I've given them. It makes our family even tighter.
When one of my kids found out that another brother couldn't get work off that night, she went into double overdrive trying to help him find a replacement for his shift. All the other siblings started suggesting names of people. They tried so many different names....how could he miss the first day of Christmas?! My other daughter booked it off weeks in advance. She wasn't missing this day. They love this memory most of all. But he couldn't find anyone, so late in the afternoon, off he went. A small piece of the family wasn't around and he was missed...
I think what I've noticed, too, is that since we've taken the whole gift pressure out, we actually love Christmas more. We relax more, laugh more, spend more time together....it is so great.
Don't get me wrong, that first Christmas day is always filled with a few tears. One kid always ends up bopping another one. A toy gets broken. A person (or two) raises their voice. It always happens and it threatens to destroy the peace that everyone is loving so much. But we power through. And I would say most people in the home go to bed with a happy sensation in their heads that is the memory of the day being seared in their minds. I wonder if God created memories as a bank account for the times when life doesn't go so well. It is almost like it is something you can draw on when you are feeling down.
I'm grateful to my parents for helping start that tradition at the end of November. It begins my childrens' Christmas season, has forever seared their minds with happy memories, and has filled their little "memory bank accounts" so full that they'll never be bankrupt on those dark days that might come. I think that is truly the definition of a good childhood. It is hard to fathom those less fortunate who do not have such full accounts, but instead start off bankrupt before they even get a chance to fill them up. We are so thankful. So in awe of our very fortunate lives. We know we are blessed.
Wednesday 28 November 2018
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Chairs, Quizzing and Contentment
You never lose when you settle on being content. That has to be one of the biggest lessons I've learned in life. Discontentment only leads to discouragement and misery. I saw this yet again in our home just yesterday.
We've been living with the kitchen chairs we currently have for our whole married life. We bought them at Home Depot a hundred years ago, assembled them, stained and varnished them, used them and then went on to break at least two of them (who takes kitchen chairs to the barn or to the side of the pond to put on skates and then leaves them there all winter?????). But, our family multiplied so we had to add a few mismatches here and there including desk/rolling chairs...it was the shabby chic look, but not quite so cool. Kind of ugly really.
But I had stopped caring a while ago. What could I do?! But then we started Bible Quizzing. It's funny what makes you start looking for chairs - Bible Quizzing! The thing about quizzing is that you have to have firm chairs to sit on that are all identical. The kids sit on quiz pads that are highly sensitive to movement. If you have a soft chair, they don't work. When kids would come over, often each child would have a different chair, some were broken, and occasionally we just wouldn't have enough when we joined up with other teams. I just kept thinking to myself, if we need them, we'll worry about it then. We kept making it work.
The funny thing was, this entire Fall, our quiz pads didn't work! Somehow over the years, our quizzing console that lights up when a kid would "jump" stopped working. It didn't matter in some ways about the chairs because nothing worked anyway! But then, necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and our quiz team was starting to suffer. If you don't practice your jumps, the other teams with working quiz pads are bound to win. We tried borrowing from a couple other teams, but that wasn't sustainable as they needed their own working set and it was complicated to keep borrowing. Good thing my husband is an engineer (I'm getting to my cool chair story....)
We had sent the broken console to the makers in the U.S., but they said, "Unfixable". Harumph! RM knew they were fixable. He decided enough was enough. He was going to start his own quizzing console business! And just like that he designed a control board, wrote the program, soldered the resistors and and capacitors (or whatever those things are called) and voila - a working set of quiz pads and a working console with lights and beeps and everything! Take that! He's actually hoping to take over the quizzing world by storm and sell millions to the Bible Quizzers of the universe! Ok, perhaps a little overboard, maybe just to locals! We'll see....I'm his greatest sales person, so.......
The problem now was the chairs - ah yes, the chairs.....now it mattered that we had a matching set of chairs for all the quizzers in order for everything to work the best. In the olden days, when we were dumb, we would have bought new (that's how we always did things), but now that we are more clever, we immediately looked on-line for used. We thought we were going to buy what the quiz league uses (old stacking church chairs - kind of ugly but functional!). So we searched for "stacking chairs". Up came the classic ugly ones, but then (play awesome exciting music.....) there were these really cool, kind of modern yet could-work-anywhere-type of chairs, for, get this, $5 a chair! We got in touch with the seller yesterday. They had been listed for a month about 45 minutes from us, so fairly local. We couldn't pick them up easily, so he offered to drive them out (no charge!) and threw in a free chair! How is that a deal for him?! Didn't matter - we took it! He really wanted to be rid of them (makes me wonder if they're haunted!)
This is the cool thing - they are the exact colour of our table in the kitchen. They are slim so they fit around our table and there is a chair for everyone with even an extra! They are new looking, they are stackable, they are perfect for quizzing......and basically free. As soon as they arrived, I grabbed all the old chairs and all the kids, all the mismatches, and said, "Get these out of here!" So they took them to their "clubhouse" which is an old room behind the barn and now they have a little room full of chairs for when their friends meet.
It all boils down to contentment. I needed to be content in this whole process. The entire Fall I knew our console wasn't working. I actually knew for over a year. But we had used someone else's set, so we had made it work. I knew RM had the ability to make it all along, too, but I also knew he was quite overwhelmed with his workload so couldn't push. To design a working board, he needs hours and hours of thinking time let alone manufacturing time. It seemed fast to all of us once it was done, but in fact, it took quite a while in the behind-the-scenes working out. I had to wait until he knew he had the time. I also knew for some time how much I detested our chairs. Well, maybe detest is a strong word. I disliked strongly. I had started looking on-line for my dream chairs. No joke, the ones I really wanted were $1200/chair! I had "settled" on $125/chair, but even that was way out of our league. So then I started looking for "vintage" chairs, but no one sold a set of ten. They were always sold in sets of two or four. And they weren't free either. I hadn't thought to look for "stacking"! That was the genius moment. And, I should add, when God stepped in and just blessed for the sake of blessing. We didn't deserve it, He just did it.
So, it's really great - the quizzers now have matching chairs. We now have matching chairs in the kitchen (for everyone!), complete with gum on the bottom. We tried to look them up to see if by chance we had purchased some well-known chair, like Herman Miller, but can't prove it. But, to us, they look like a Herman Miller chair which wouldn't surprise me at all if we found that out to be true.
We sat together at dinner, the younger four and me, and we just thanked God. Can you thank Him for chairs?! Yes. I'm also so thankful for a super genius husband who can pretty much do anything. He's amazing! I am in awe of his technical abilities. We were going to have to buy another quizzing console/set of quiz pads which was going to cost over $600. By having him develop it, we cut our costs down to nearly nothing.
We tried them out this past Monday and it was a big success. This Monday will be our first practice with the chairs. Very exciting stuff for a quizzing family! I suppose this makes no sense to people who don't quiz, but to us, it's huge! Anyway, just another great story for us and how contentment led to blessing.....
We've been living with the kitchen chairs we currently have for our whole married life. We bought them at Home Depot a hundred years ago, assembled them, stained and varnished them, used them and then went on to break at least two of them (who takes kitchen chairs to the barn or to the side of the pond to put on skates and then leaves them there all winter?????). But, our family multiplied so we had to add a few mismatches here and there including desk/rolling chairs...it was the shabby chic look, but not quite so cool. Kind of ugly really.
But I had stopped caring a while ago. What could I do?! But then we started Bible Quizzing. It's funny what makes you start looking for chairs - Bible Quizzing! The thing about quizzing is that you have to have firm chairs to sit on that are all identical. The kids sit on quiz pads that are highly sensitive to movement. If you have a soft chair, they don't work. When kids would come over, often each child would have a different chair, some were broken, and occasionally we just wouldn't have enough when we joined up with other teams. I just kept thinking to myself, if we need them, we'll worry about it then. We kept making it work.
The funny thing was, this entire Fall, our quiz pads didn't work! Somehow over the years, our quizzing console that lights up when a kid would "jump" stopped working. It didn't matter in some ways about the chairs because nothing worked anyway! But then, necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and our quiz team was starting to suffer. If you don't practice your jumps, the other teams with working quiz pads are bound to win. We tried borrowing from a couple other teams, but that wasn't sustainable as they needed their own working set and it was complicated to keep borrowing. Good thing my husband is an engineer (I'm getting to my cool chair story....)
We had sent the broken console to the makers in the U.S., but they said, "Unfixable". Harumph! RM knew they were fixable. He decided enough was enough. He was going to start his own quizzing console business! And just like that he designed a control board, wrote the program, soldered the resistors and and capacitors (or whatever those things are called) and voila - a working set of quiz pads and a working console with lights and beeps and everything! Take that! He's actually hoping to take over the quizzing world by storm and sell millions to the Bible Quizzers of the universe! Ok, perhaps a little overboard, maybe just to locals! We'll see....I'm his greatest sales person, so.......
The problem now was the chairs - ah yes, the chairs.....now it mattered that we had a matching set of chairs for all the quizzers in order for everything to work the best. In the olden days, when we were dumb, we would have bought new (that's how we always did things), but now that we are more clever, we immediately looked on-line for used. We thought we were going to buy what the quiz league uses (old stacking church chairs - kind of ugly but functional!). So we searched for "stacking chairs". Up came the classic ugly ones, but then (play awesome exciting music.....) there were these really cool, kind of modern yet could-work-anywhere-type of chairs, for, get this, $5 a chair! We got in touch with the seller yesterday. They had been listed for a month about 45 minutes from us, so fairly local. We couldn't pick them up easily, so he offered to drive them out (no charge!) and threw in a free chair! How is that a deal for him?! Didn't matter - we took it! He really wanted to be rid of them (makes me wonder if they're haunted!)
This is the cool thing - they are the exact colour of our table in the kitchen. They are slim so they fit around our table and there is a chair for everyone with even an extra! They are new looking, they are stackable, they are perfect for quizzing......and basically free. As soon as they arrived, I grabbed all the old chairs and all the kids, all the mismatches, and said, "Get these out of here!" So they took them to their "clubhouse" which is an old room behind the barn and now they have a little room full of chairs for when their friends meet.
It all boils down to contentment. I needed to be content in this whole process. The entire Fall I knew our console wasn't working. I actually knew for over a year. But we had used someone else's set, so we had made it work. I knew RM had the ability to make it all along, too, but I also knew he was quite overwhelmed with his workload so couldn't push. To design a working board, he needs hours and hours of thinking time let alone manufacturing time. It seemed fast to all of us once it was done, but in fact, it took quite a while in the behind-the-scenes working out. I had to wait until he knew he had the time. I also knew for some time how much I detested our chairs. Well, maybe detest is a strong word. I disliked strongly. I had started looking on-line for my dream chairs. No joke, the ones I really wanted were $1200/chair! I had "settled" on $125/chair, but even that was way out of our league. So then I started looking for "vintage" chairs, but no one sold a set of ten. They were always sold in sets of two or four. And they weren't free either. I hadn't thought to look for "stacking"! That was the genius moment. And, I should add, when God stepped in and just blessed for the sake of blessing. We didn't deserve it, He just did it.
So, it's really great - the quizzers now have matching chairs. We now have matching chairs in the kitchen (for everyone!), complete with gum on the bottom. We tried to look them up to see if by chance we had purchased some well-known chair, like Herman Miller, but can't prove it. But, to us, they look like a Herman Miller chair which wouldn't surprise me at all if we found that out to be true.
We sat together at dinner, the younger four and me, and we just thanked God. Can you thank Him for chairs?! Yes. I'm also so thankful for a super genius husband who can pretty much do anything. He's amazing! I am in awe of his technical abilities. We were going to have to buy another quizzing console/set of quiz pads which was going to cost over $600. By having him develop it, we cut our costs down to nearly nothing.
We tried them out this past Monday and it was a big success. This Monday will be our first practice with the chairs. Very exciting stuff for a quizzing family! I suppose this makes no sense to people who don't quiz, but to us, it's huge! Anyway, just another great story for us and how contentment led to blessing.....
Monday 5 November 2018
Mess Begets Mess
I have a new best friend. I don't know where she lives or even if she uses her real name, but I love her. She has changed my life. I met her on youtube. Melissa Maker is her name (fake? don't know, don't care). I heard about her, I think, on the radio and made a note on my phone to check her channel out later. Am I ever glad I did.
Her youtube channel is dedicated to teach others on how to clean their homes. She's written a book called Clean My Space and has probably millions of subscribers (I have no idea!). I have given seminars myself on how to manage your home and have even touched on how to clean your house, to some extent, but not because I'm an expert cleaner. It was more because I know how moms struggle to organize their kids and time to get it all done. I am, in fact, not an expert cleaner. I have always wanted a clean home and have always admired the clean homes I come across, but have never achieved the deep cleanliness I want. With the large family we have and with all that we do, it seemed virtually impossible to do. But no more!
I made a decision last week to re-instill the zone cleaning idea where each week of the month a zone of the house gets 100% attention and we deep clean, declutter, and then keep it clean FOREVER. I had let the house go over the summer because of the vines. It got messy. Really messy. I could barely get food in the fridge, let alone food on the table, or clothes in the dryer, or on the line, due to the crazy schedule we kept. But then Fall hit. The vines are sleeping now, whew, (like a newborn crying baby who finally is quiet!) and we don't even know what to do with ourselves! That's when I thought, "Now's a great time to get the house back in order!"
Back to Melissa, my new best friend. Zone 1 is the kitchen. I turned on her channel and searched for a kitchen video. There were many. The kids and I (I forced them initially - now they love them!) watched them all. "How to declutter a kitchen", "How to clean a kitchen", "Top 10 things to throw out", "Kitchen Routines"....it was hard to stop. She's addictive. I was so compelled to get my kids to watch them as I knew I wanted them to have clean homes and good routines in their own lives. I was amazed to see them riveted to the screen. They loved her! My daughter ran upstairs with a broom and started on her own room (she had also just watched the one on decluttering bedrooms!). The videos are all 1-10 minutes in length and she is fun and easy to watch with her upbeat attitude and voice.
So, we got to work. The kids were unbelievably excited. At least the younger 4. The older four were gone most of the weekend, but I had the younger 4 entirely on-board. I should have taken a before picture of the kitchen and then an after picture. My kitchen now looks amazing. We started by taking everything out of all the cupboards, one at a time, and decluttered by throwing out or giving away all the things that were broken, unused, etc. By the end of the day, I had an entire laundry basket full of give away items that I've had since my wedding that I have NEVER used. I couldn't bear to get rid of them because of sentimental reasons. But it made my kitchen so cluttered and I had no cupboard space for what I really used.
Then we made our own all-purpose spray, Melissa's recipe...awesome...which my kids loved, and each of us got a paper towel or cloth or sponge, and went to work, vacuuming out the drawers and cupboards, and then wiping them down or vacuuming them all. Transformation begin! This took us 3 days to do. There was a lot of decluttering and cleaning, more than I realized.
I even moved my oven and cleaned behind it as well as the sides that had so many awful drips down the side. I then watched her "How to clean the oven racks" video and voila! My oven racks and the inside of my oven now also look brand new and spotless! My husband actually said something about "relentlessly cleaning" this weekend. You have to love it when your husband thinks you're cleaning too much?!
Everyone was out last night. That was when I put on the finishing touches on the kitchen. When they all got home and walked in, mouths were on the floor. It looks clean, smells clean, feels clean. It looks awesome!!!!! My oldest is probably my most organized and loves a tidy space. I've always felt bad that I kind of stunk at it. It just does not come naturally to me. She was the happiest. "I love it, Mom!" That made me so happy.
We have a few drawers left today and then we move on to the next space - the mudroom/bathroom/hall for Zone 2. Then we will finish the whole house ultimately and, here is the key word.....MAINTAIN.....That is my new goal. I use her phrase all the time, which I've tried to explain to them before, but somehow, because it came from my new best friend, Melissa, they are listening to HER, "Mess begets Mess". Well, I won't be offended that they would rather hear it from her. At least they are finally on board!
On Friday we prayed for our kitchen! We actually asked God to help us be good stewards. Now that we see the results of our hard work, we actually feel like God really helped us. I told them the verse that says, "God is a God of order, not of disorder." It makes all of us feel better. My other son said, "Mom! I feel like we have a new house!" Yes! It does feel that way!
I was so charged up about cleaning, that I started on the bathroom, too. We watched a video on tubs and tiles and went at it. I also have a new bathtub, which I also love so much!! I've gone a little over the top, I admit it. I may have to see if Melissa will give me a small fee for my great ratings on her! I sound like I work for her!!!
Today, we'll have breakfast, we'll read the Bible together, and then, yes, oh yes, we'll watch another Melissa video to encourage us to clean another area well. I have always longed for cleaning ladies. I've always wished I could achieve the deeper clean and thought it was unachievable with a large family. I was ok with just tidy, and that was ok when the kids were younger, but now I want more and the kids are ready for it, too. I don't think I need cleaning ladies anymore. I have my own little crew and they actually like doing it.
So yes, I love Melissa and you should, too.
Her youtube channel is dedicated to teach others on how to clean their homes. She's written a book called Clean My Space and has probably millions of subscribers (I have no idea!). I have given seminars myself on how to manage your home and have even touched on how to clean your house, to some extent, but not because I'm an expert cleaner. It was more because I know how moms struggle to organize their kids and time to get it all done. I am, in fact, not an expert cleaner. I have always wanted a clean home and have always admired the clean homes I come across, but have never achieved the deep cleanliness I want. With the large family we have and with all that we do, it seemed virtually impossible to do. But no more!
I made a decision last week to re-instill the zone cleaning idea where each week of the month a zone of the house gets 100% attention and we deep clean, declutter, and then keep it clean FOREVER. I had let the house go over the summer because of the vines. It got messy. Really messy. I could barely get food in the fridge, let alone food on the table, or clothes in the dryer, or on the line, due to the crazy schedule we kept. But then Fall hit. The vines are sleeping now, whew, (like a newborn crying baby who finally is quiet!) and we don't even know what to do with ourselves! That's when I thought, "Now's a great time to get the house back in order!"
Back to Melissa, my new best friend. Zone 1 is the kitchen. I turned on her channel and searched for a kitchen video. There were many. The kids and I (I forced them initially - now they love them!) watched them all. "How to declutter a kitchen", "How to clean a kitchen", "Top 10 things to throw out", "Kitchen Routines"....it was hard to stop. She's addictive. I was so compelled to get my kids to watch them as I knew I wanted them to have clean homes and good routines in their own lives. I was amazed to see them riveted to the screen. They loved her! My daughter ran upstairs with a broom and started on her own room (she had also just watched the one on decluttering bedrooms!). The videos are all 1-10 minutes in length and she is fun and easy to watch with her upbeat attitude and voice.
So, we got to work. The kids were unbelievably excited. At least the younger 4. The older four were gone most of the weekend, but I had the younger 4 entirely on-board. I should have taken a before picture of the kitchen and then an after picture. My kitchen now looks amazing. We started by taking everything out of all the cupboards, one at a time, and decluttered by throwing out or giving away all the things that were broken, unused, etc. By the end of the day, I had an entire laundry basket full of give away items that I've had since my wedding that I have NEVER used. I couldn't bear to get rid of them because of sentimental reasons. But it made my kitchen so cluttered and I had no cupboard space for what I really used.
Then we made our own all-purpose spray, Melissa's recipe...awesome...which my kids loved, and each of us got a paper towel or cloth or sponge, and went to work, vacuuming out the drawers and cupboards, and then wiping them down or vacuuming them all. Transformation begin! This took us 3 days to do. There was a lot of decluttering and cleaning, more than I realized.
I even moved my oven and cleaned behind it as well as the sides that had so many awful drips down the side. I then watched her "How to clean the oven racks" video and voila! My oven racks and the inside of my oven now also look brand new and spotless! My husband actually said something about "relentlessly cleaning" this weekend. You have to love it when your husband thinks you're cleaning too much?!
Everyone was out last night. That was when I put on the finishing touches on the kitchen. When they all got home and walked in, mouths were on the floor. It looks clean, smells clean, feels clean. It looks awesome!!!!! My oldest is probably my most organized and loves a tidy space. I've always felt bad that I kind of stunk at it. It just does not come naturally to me. She was the happiest. "I love it, Mom!" That made me so happy.
We have a few drawers left today and then we move on to the next space - the mudroom/bathroom/hall for Zone 2. Then we will finish the whole house ultimately and, here is the key word.....MAINTAIN.....That is my new goal. I use her phrase all the time, which I've tried to explain to them before, but somehow, because it came from my new best friend, Melissa, they are listening to HER, "Mess begets Mess". Well, I won't be offended that they would rather hear it from her. At least they are finally on board!
On Friday we prayed for our kitchen! We actually asked God to help us be good stewards. Now that we see the results of our hard work, we actually feel like God really helped us. I told them the verse that says, "God is a God of order, not of disorder." It makes all of us feel better. My other son said, "Mom! I feel like we have a new house!" Yes! It does feel that way!
I was so charged up about cleaning, that I started on the bathroom, too. We watched a video on tubs and tiles and went at it. I also have a new bathtub, which I also love so much!! I've gone a little over the top, I admit it. I may have to see if Melissa will give me a small fee for my great ratings on her! I sound like I work for her!!!
Today, we'll have breakfast, we'll read the Bible together, and then, yes, oh yes, we'll watch another Melissa video to encourage us to clean another area well. I have always longed for cleaning ladies. I've always wished I could achieve the deeper clean and thought it was unachievable with a large family. I was ok with just tidy, and that was ok when the kids were younger, but now I want more and the kids are ready for it, too. I don't think I need cleaning ladies anymore. I have my own little crew and they actually like doing it.
So yes, I love Melissa and you should, too.
Thursday 1 November 2018
A Great Day
Yesterday was full of ups and downs, but I had determined to be more on top of my emotions, and by the end of the day experienced such victory that I wanted to write about it.
The night before I had watched a talk given by Nancy Campbell. She is the editor/creator of "Above Rubies", a magazine written by women, for women and mothers around the world. It is always such an encouragement. Someone had given me a link to listen to her for free at some seminar and I don't usually have time to sit for an hour, but I watched it late at night in the comfort of my bed while my husband was still away teaching. Am I ever glad I did!
She was asked to speak about the spiritual disciplines that a mother should strive for as well as how to go about doing this. I should have written everything down. But what struck me was how she spoke about the need to not be run by our feelings. Our feelings will try to boss us around, but they can't. She was adamant about that. Her main point was that we have Jesus Himself living in us. And not just a little "bit" of Jesus, but ALL of Jesus. Everything He is! Love, joy, peace, patience......all the GOOD character traits that we want! Not the ones that try to rule our spirits normally. We just need to access the power that lives in us every moment, she said, every second, every hour. I know this. I know this! But it was good to hear.
Then she was asked how she would recommend spending time in God's Word when it is so busy during the day. She said she used to take her Bible with her wherever she went...laundry, dishes, nursing a baby...it was the only way.
What about patience? How do we get patience!? She answered that we can say out loud, "I am the most patient mother in the world!" And it can be true! Because Jesus, the most patient God in the universe, lives in us! She said it is impossible to angry and patient at the same time - true! You can't yell at your kids and be loving at the same time. So choose love! Seems easy enough!
What about being overwhelmed by life, kids, everything? She said, "Don't be!" God is bigger than all our problems. God is bigger than everything that we are going through. We have to remember this all day long.
Well, I felt great. I was inspired, ready to take on a new day. I was going to try to keep my emotions in check, be the most patient mother in the world, just be a good and godly mom, all day long.
It wasn't long before I came across a trial. I had to deal with a very sticky situation with a group of people that required taking a firm stand. I was going to look like the bad guy, but what I had to say had to be said. I hated every minute of it and it wasn't long before my stomach turned to knots. I didn't feel like eating, was on pins and needles, and the anxiety was starting....but then I drew on my awesome Nancy talk and sat with the kids.
I explained the situation to them. I asked them to pray specifically and I told them, "God is bigger than our problems. I am NOT going to fear today."
Then I called for back up and had a couple of awesome prayer warriors praying about the situation as well. They were GREAT!!!!
Then, as the day went on and a couple of somewhat stressful emails went back and forth, I took out my Bible and stood in front of the 4 ft laundry pile and started to read Proverbs. I was amazed at the verses that I read. I had never seen them that way in light of my situation that day. They gave me such a peace. I would read a verse, fold a towel, read a verse, start a load. It was amazing. Why had I never done that before? Such a good use of that time. I've used the laundry room for prayer, but had never brought my Bible.
I kept saying to God, "You are bigger than this. You've got this. I'm trusting you. I'm not going to fear."
No surprise. By the middle of the day, the emails started to take a turn. The stress was leaving them. The final email of the afternoon showed resolve. The situation had completely turned from awful to amazing and, in fact, ideal. I couldn't believe it. I was so grateful. God had done it, by me simply praying, trusting, and refusing to fall for my typical fearful ways. The kids and I stopped at every meal to pray and I would give them updates throughout the day. Turns out they were praying even on their own, too. Then when the final email came in showing the resolve, we stopped and prayed again, thanking God for His answers to prayer. So good for them to see His faithfulness to them, too.
Sanctification. Working out your salvation. It isn't called "work" for nothing. It took everything in me yesterday. My spiritual muscles definitely grew. Nancy had said as well that God's Word promises to change us and every flaw we have. I committed my anxiety to Him and asked Him to take it. I read so many verses on peace, instead of trying to manufacture it on my own. That was the difference. Any victory I achieved is all because of His Word, His promises. It was a great day.
On a funny different note, I ended up having a great day with the kids, too. Normally we have a party on the 31st, but the people we typically connect with were all sick and RM was away at work. I wanted to make a delicious snack, but I've been trying to cut out sugar (except for my coffee!) so I was going to make apples and caramel sauce, but that is all sugar. But then, the internet! So I googled a healthy caramel sauce and to my amazement I found a sugar-free one. I thought, "This will NEVER taste good!" But made it anyway. It used truvia instead of sugar which is a plant-based sweetener made from the stevia plant, calorie-free! I melted the butter, added the truvia and cream and boiled it for a looooong time until it turned into a thick sauce. Then added vanilla. It didn't look caramelly, but it tasted great! The kids didn't even notice the difference! I couldn't believe it! I was also able to eat it and felt guilt-free. Love the internet sometimes......
The night before I had watched a talk given by Nancy Campbell. She is the editor/creator of "Above Rubies", a magazine written by women, for women and mothers around the world. It is always such an encouragement. Someone had given me a link to listen to her for free at some seminar and I don't usually have time to sit for an hour, but I watched it late at night in the comfort of my bed while my husband was still away teaching. Am I ever glad I did!
She was asked to speak about the spiritual disciplines that a mother should strive for as well as how to go about doing this. I should have written everything down. But what struck me was how she spoke about the need to not be run by our feelings. Our feelings will try to boss us around, but they can't. She was adamant about that. Her main point was that we have Jesus Himself living in us. And not just a little "bit" of Jesus, but ALL of Jesus. Everything He is! Love, joy, peace, patience......all the GOOD character traits that we want! Not the ones that try to rule our spirits normally. We just need to access the power that lives in us every moment, she said, every second, every hour. I know this. I know this! But it was good to hear.
Then she was asked how she would recommend spending time in God's Word when it is so busy during the day. She said she used to take her Bible with her wherever she went...laundry, dishes, nursing a baby...it was the only way.
What about patience? How do we get patience!? She answered that we can say out loud, "I am the most patient mother in the world!" And it can be true! Because Jesus, the most patient God in the universe, lives in us! She said it is impossible to angry and patient at the same time - true! You can't yell at your kids and be loving at the same time. So choose love! Seems easy enough!
What about being overwhelmed by life, kids, everything? She said, "Don't be!" God is bigger than all our problems. God is bigger than everything that we are going through. We have to remember this all day long.
Well, I felt great. I was inspired, ready to take on a new day. I was going to try to keep my emotions in check, be the most patient mother in the world, just be a good and godly mom, all day long.
It wasn't long before I came across a trial. I had to deal with a very sticky situation with a group of people that required taking a firm stand. I was going to look like the bad guy, but what I had to say had to be said. I hated every minute of it and it wasn't long before my stomach turned to knots. I didn't feel like eating, was on pins and needles, and the anxiety was starting....but then I drew on my awesome Nancy talk and sat with the kids.
I explained the situation to them. I asked them to pray specifically and I told them, "God is bigger than our problems. I am NOT going to fear today."
Then I called for back up and had a couple of awesome prayer warriors praying about the situation as well. They were GREAT!!!!
Then, as the day went on and a couple of somewhat stressful emails went back and forth, I took out my Bible and stood in front of the 4 ft laundry pile and started to read Proverbs. I was amazed at the verses that I read. I had never seen them that way in light of my situation that day. They gave me such a peace. I would read a verse, fold a towel, read a verse, start a load. It was amazing. Why had I never done that before? Such a good use of that time. I've used the laundry room for prayer, but had never brought my Bible.
I kept saying to God, "You are bigger than this. You've got this. I'm trusting you. I'm not going to fear."
No surprise. By the middle of the day, the emails started to take a turn. The stress was leaving them. The final email of the afternoon showed resolve. The situation had completely turned from awful to amazing and, in fact, ideal. I couldn't believe it. I was so grateful. God had done it, by me simply praying, trusting, and refusing to fall for my typical fearful ways. The kids and I stopped at every meal to pray and I would give them updates throughout the day. Turns out they were praying even on their own, too. Then when the final email came in showing the resolve, we stopped and prayed again, thanking God for His answers to prayer. So good for them to see His faithfulness to them, too.
Sanctification. Working out your salvation. It isn't called "work" for nothing. It took everything in me yesterday. My spiritual muscles definitely grew. Nancy had said as well that God's Word promises to change us and every flaw we have. I committed my anxiety to Him and asked Him to take it. I read so many verses on peace, instead of trying to manufacture it on my own. That was the difference. Any victory I achieved is all because of His Word, His promises. It was a great day.
On a funny different note, I ended up having a great day with the kids, too. Normally we have a party on the 31st, but the people we typically connect with were all sick and RM was away at work. I wanted to make a delicious snack, but I've been trying to cut out sugar (except for my coffee!) so I was going to make apples and caramel sauce, but that is all sugar. But then, the internet! So I googled a healthy caramel sauce and to my amazement I found a sugar-free one. I thought, "This will NEVER taste good!" But made it anyway. It used truvia instead of sugar which is a plant-based sweetener made from the stevia plant, calorie-free! I melted the butter, added the truvia and cream and boiled it for a looooong time until it turned into a thick sauce. Then added vanilla. It didn't look caramelly, but it tasted great! The kids didn't even notice the difference! I couldn't believe it! I was also able to eat it and felt guilt-free. Love the internet sometimes......
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