Two Month Photo Shoot

We did our two month photo shoot today.  Jack's usually the most smiley right after he nurses in the morning.  So we got everything set up last night to capitalize on those sweet moments this morning.  Can't decide which one is my favorite this month.

Milestone sticker complements of Sticky Bellies.

A trip across the mitten

There was a lot of baby wearing on our recent vacation.  We drove 8 1/2 hours away and never left our home state.  Although, we did leave the mitten and cross the bridge into the upper peninsula, which to me feels like a whole other world.  We enjoyed lots of sunshine, fresh air, and came home feeling refreshed.

Friendship Bread

I know some people cringe when someone approaches them with a bag of yeasty batter, but I was so excited when one of our students brought a friendship bread starter to our house last week.

I would post the recipe, but without the starter, it's kind of useless.  I'm sure you could google how to make the starter; I've never been that brave/I like the joy in the surprise when it finally comes my way again.  And now I get to share that joy with someone else.

It's a treat I remember from my childhood and look forward to that cinnamon sugar deliciousness that comes after ten days of mushing the bag.  It's one of the many gifts of grace that I'm counting these days.



friendship bread
the man who does the 4am diaper duty
real life friends
songs in my head and my heart
fresh peaches
23 years of sisterhood
remembering to turn my eyes to Him when life is tough
growing families
a marriage of forgiveness
predictable naptimes
a dip in the lake
german chocolate cake (for lunch)
central air-conditioning
cousins meeting for the first time
seven straight hours of sleep
that He doesn't give me what I deserve

Back to Blogging

Here's reason number one, why I want to start writing again.

Introducing Jack Tarin...

I'm a stay at home mom now and while the days can be slow, time is flying by.  Our little guy is already a month old!  Life is so full right now; not busy but full which is totally different and way better.  I don't want to miss any of these moments and figure this is a good place to share the joy with others.  Stay tuned...

Weekend update

I crawled into bed last night exhausted.  But it was the good kind of exhaustion, like the good kind of sore after a workout.  I was tired because we worked our buns off this weekend, but I felt great about it.  I think I'm officially nesting, because I did more cleaning and organizing in this past three day weekend than I've done in the past three months.  It's a great feeling to get our house in order.

And having some accountability, feeling like I would need to come back here and post about my lists for the weekend, gave me a push to meet my goals.  So here's the update on how we spent our weekend.

Play List:

1. Prayer walk the neighborhood with Jeff and Monte. I have lots of excuses for this one: snow, Monte's leash is at my parent's house, and I made so many trips up and down stairs this weekend that extra walking did not sound like fun.
2. Use our Blockbuster Express free rental code (ESU11B good through 1/18).  We got into watching Lost online instead.  It was still free entertainment, so I'm ok with it.
3. Paint something.  I don't know what, but I have many projects waiting in the wings.  I just feel the need to paint.  Painting my nails counts right?

To Finish:

1. Rearrange the furniture in the dinning room/kitchen.  Done, including my new piano.  It makes our home seem so much more peaceful and there are less flat surfaces for clutter.
2. Purge the magazines.  About halfway done.  I'm going through them and tearing out any recipes that I may have missed, so it's taking a little longer.
3. Make Colossians memory books.  Done with hubby's help.
4. Get donations ready to go out the door.  Two garbage bags have been loaded in my trunk.  Just need to stop at the thrift store and drop them off.
5. Start and finish cleaning the house.  It's much cleaner than it was on Friday morning!
6. Make chicken stock.  Done and used some for last night's dinner.

Finish-It Friday

Aby over at Simplify 101 does a weekly Finish-It Friday post.  Our whole family has a three day weekend coming up and we have very little on the calendar.  This is so rare for our family.  I work full time and husband is in full time ministry that often dominates our calendar.  His day off is usually Monday's, but as he's also in seminary, these days are often loaded with homework/studying.  This three day weekend is like the trifecta of calendar bliss.  My government funded office is closed for MLK day, hubby has his usually Monday off and seminary classes don't start back up until the following week, no major ministry events on the calendar, and our exchange student also has Monday off school for MLK day, so no getting up early for the carpool.  I love weekends like this where I have time to finish up the things that have been driving me crazy for a while and still have time to rest.

So here's my finish it list for this weekend.

Play List:

1. Prayer walk the neighborhood with Jeff and Monte.
2. Use our Blockbuster Express free rental code (ESU11B good through 1/18).
3. Paint something.  I don't know what, but I have many projects waiting in the wings.  I just feel the need to paint.

To Finish:

1. Rearrange the furniture in the dinning room/kitchen.
2. Purge the magazines.
3. Make Colossians memory books.
4. Get donations ready to go out the door.
5. Start and finish cleaning the house.
6. Make chicken stock.

May you also have a restful and enjoyable weekend.

My Other List

I've started a list of 1001 gifts of grace to work gratitude into my heart and daily life.  I'm noticing and appreciating more God moments and little blessings and doing my best to give him all the praise and glory.

There's another list that I'm working on.  It's a list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days (approximately 2.75 years).  I finished it on paper in December and have since added it to the blog.  I will update the page on the blog as I'm able to cross things off the list.  And I'll try to do separate blog postings for those items which might be more interesting.  Some items are spiritual, some are financial, some are practical, some are just plain random.  Some have been on my mental to do list for a while.  I hope that having them written down and a timeline will help me accomplish some of these goals.

Anyway, one that I crossed off on Tuesday night was leaving a 100% tip for a waiter or waitress.  We got about 4 inches of snow on Tuesday night, but since hubby and I happened to be out on the other side of town anyway, we decided to go to dinner and use one of the gift cards we had received for Christmas.

Now here's my little soap box.  Christians are often known in the food service industry as poor tippers.  I've heard many servers complain about being scheduled for Sunday afternoon when they'll have to wait on the after church crowd because they know the tips won't be that great.  One friend of ours was trying to live out her faith and share it with her co-workers while working at a restaurant.  Her testimony was often hindered when a pastor would stiff one of her friends or someone would leave a tract instead of a tip. In my humble opinion, Christians should be the most generous tippers as they use any opportunity to interact with another person as an opportunity to show them grace and Christ's love.

Stepping down from soap box...

Please don't think that I'm bragging on what we did Tuesday night, or that I think it makes me some super holier than thou Christian.  In all honesty, I stole the idea from someone else's 101 list because I thought it sounded cool.  But we used the gift card to pay for most of our meal and then paid for it again as the tip on our debit card.  I don't really know anything about the young woman who waited on us, and we didn't stick around to see her reaction.  But it was a slow snowy night and I'm sure she wasn't too excited to be there.  We prayed as we left that the Lord would use this act of generosity to glorify himself.  Maybe in heaven he'll tell me her story and how it fits in his eternal story of grace.

Humble Beginnings

My husband and I began our marriage in a rather unconventional way. The day after we returned from our honeymoon we packed up our cars and moved to camp. God had called us to work with teenagers for the summer, to love on them, teach them truth, and serve alongside them as they came to camp two weeks at a time. Our home for that summer was pretty swanky by camp standards. It had a kitchen, a queen size bed, and we even had our own shower. We didn't have to walk outside to a bath-house and had a little more privacy than most of the summer staff. However, compared to what I always imagined my first married house to be, our little fifth-wheel trailer was a bit of a let down. I almost cried the night we first moved in, but over the course of the summer, our little shady spot in "Maple Grove" became home.

This particular camp has become one of my favorite places on the planet. God works so mightily there and I love connecting with him through his creation in ways that aren't as easy in the city. This past weekend we got to go back home. We took 70 high school students and leaders to camp for a weekend retreat. And we saw the Spirit move big time. There was a great speaker, wonderful times of worship, meaningful small group conversations, and lives were changed. We're praying that the Spirit continues to move in the lives of our students now that we've returned to reality and that the commitments they made will be lasting.

Hubby and I visiting our first home this past weekend.

Gifts of grace that I'm counting this week...
65. a day of rest and worship

66. baby movements while Daddy was talking to my tummy

67. a weekend at "home"

68. lunch with our mentors/friends

69. vulnerability of our students

70. knowing we can't fix their lives and turning to the one who can

71. sleep in my own bed

72. popcorn for dinner

73. a sassy new haircut

74. the dish fairy and her light hanging husband (aka my mom and dad)

75. the anticipation of seeing inside my belly (tomorrow!)

76. hopes to one day see our little one encounter God at camp

Gifts of Grace Taken for Granted

The begining of this list is from the week of December 20th. I just never got around to hitting publish.

33. health insurance
34. encouragement for my husband
35. a full refrigerator
36. no more lease payments
37. friends who understand when it's one of those days
38. my "nieces" and the joy they bring us
39. singing the Hallelujah Chorus
40. mornings when the Father knows best
41. a Friday night with my hubby, candles, the Christmas tree, and card writing
42. a willing, obedient Savior

The second half of this post is in response to the reading I've been doing the past couple of days. I'm about halfway through "When Helping Hurts: How to Allieviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself" by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert. I'm really enjoying the book as it's a biblical perspective on my social work training. I'm also surprised by how much the authors emphasize that the Lord created us to be stewards, he created us to work. Adam and Eve weren't just to hang out in the garden, but they were there to tend to the garden. I currently work in workforce development, helping people find and retain jobs but I hadn't given much thought to the God given purpose of my work. Needless to say, this book has been an inspiring and enjoyable read for me the last couple of days.

It has also brought me to a humbled place of realization today, recognizing many gifts that I have been given throughout my lifetime that I have completely taken for granted. Here's the second part of my grace gift list for this post.

43. Never having to wonder if I would eat today
44. Never wondering if I would go to college, but rather where
45. Never lacking for a shower, soap, shampoo, toothpaste
46. Access to huge grocery stores and the means to buy most anything I wanted
47. A pantry and two refridgerators filled with (mostly) healthy food
48. Clean water that I can drink right from the tap
49. The ability to wash and dry my clothes with machines
50. Never having to choose between medication and food
51. Never worrying about having to live on the street
52. Heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer
53. Electricity that's on all day
54. Access to information
55. The ability to read and enjoy it
56. A solid support system
57. Never worrying about if my baby will be loved and accepted by our family
58. A bed to sleep on and a pillow under my head
59. Hot water when I want it
60. Shoes on my feet and pairs to spare in my closet
61. Laundry detergent, dog food, a hair dryer, paid vacation days
62. So much more than I need or deserve
63. The appreciation for what I've been given
64. The desire to share it with others

Gifts of Grace

Starting this week, I'm going to try and actually write down one thing each day as opposed to trying to come up with a list on Monday night. Maybe I could fill a few pages of one of my mostly empty journals.

Gifts of grace I'm grateful for this week

24. the blank pages of a new calendar

25. a just-in-time, hand-me-down snow blower

26. Sam's snow day dance

27. a husband who gets up to scrape and start my car

28. ministry through baked goods for our neighbors and my boys

29. Christmas movies that make me cry (granted lots of things make me cry right now, but Elf gets me every year)

30. an album that tells not only the story of Christmas, but of creation and the cross

31. "Little Lambs" climbing in my lap on Sunday morning

32. clean sheets

An intentional, creative, and trashy Christmas wreath

I've been convicted this year to really be intentional about how we budget for Christmas. The hope is to give more to others who have real needs rather than just overindulging for ourselves.

In order to keep things in check, we've limited gifts for each other to one from each of the following categories: Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. (I totally stole this from someone else in blogland. Can't remember who, but thanks!) It's made shopping much more fun for me this year, as it's forced me to be more creative as well as intentional.

I also decided that I didn't want to spend money on additional Christmas decor. We've pretty much filled our green and red tubs with things we'd brought into marriage from childhood, hand-me-downs and items purchased in years past. The one thing that was missing was a wreath for the front door. Last year I bought a fresh one from a friend at work whose son was selling them for a fundraiser. That wasn't an option this year, so I headed to the craft store to find something cute. I was hopeful that I wouldn't have to spend much, especially since Christmas decor was 50% off. But to my surprise, the cheapest wreath was going to run me at least $30 at half off. Thirty dollars is not an huge amount, but I could not justify needing what was at one point a $60 wreath.

Over the weekend, my husband had hung an old wreath that I made in elementary school on the front door. It's made out of a wire coat hanger and white plastic trash bags. It's not fresh or new but it looks pretty good from the street with a big red bow on it. Most importantly, it fits our convictions to spend less and give more. So we're having an intentional, creative, and a little trashy Christmas this year.

In case anyone wants to recreate the wreath, here's a quick how to. It was always special to me to have this wreath hanging on my bedroom door as a child.

You'll need:

A wire hanger

Lots of white trash bags cut into one inch wide, 6 inch long strips

Ribbon for a bow

It will probably require sharp scissors to cut the trash bags well. You can make your strips shorter or longer depending on the desired fluffiness for your wreath.

Bend the wire hanger into as best a circle as you can. It doesn't have to be perfect, but should be somewhat round. The hook of the hanger will become the hook that your wreath hangs from.

Simply tie the strips of trash bag around the wire hanger. I would recommend double knotting. Scrunch them together as you make your way around the hanger. The more trash bag strips you tie on, the fuller your wreath will be.

Add a pretty bow and you've got a beautiful white fluffy wreath to hang anywhere in the house.

A first hot chocolate

This week's gifts from my Abba...

11. a first hot chocolate warming cold hands

12. my boys

13. listening to father/"son" bonding time

14. chances to serve alongside our students
15. time to dream with my husband
16. keeping my snuggie in my cubicle

17. homemade stew
18. my photographer friend
19. pictures worthy of frames

20. honest conversation complete with tears

21. family room worship
22. hearing the gospel proclaimed through song at the mall
23. entering a season of growth

too much and not enough

i need to write more and read less

for the moment.

too much data swimming in my brain,

no time to process,

so little output.

i need filters

so that only what is true, noble and right,

finds its way inside.

So that the output might be

simply pure and lovely.

instead of constantly consuming

and feeling famished,

i want to give and find myself full.

The Start of My Gift List

It's been a while. I felt kind of stifled in regards to writing because the one thing that I wanted to write most about, wasn't something to be shared yet. So I didn't write at all.

Anyway this is my first gratitude post of what will hopefully be many. I'm starting on a journey to uncover 1000 gifts. Perhaps you'll figure out the secret as I list the blessings I've been enjoying the past couple of days.

1. The company and companionship of my husband after his safe return from Mexico.
2. The anticipation that comes with advent.
3. An understanding of Mary's anticipation of motherhood.
4. An honest time of worship.
5. Christmas music on Pandora.
6. A clean car.
7. A clean kitchen.
8. A bag of maternity clothes that are just my size.
9. A snuggly Schnauzer.
10. A blanket that makes it finally feel real.

Admiring Obedience

Amy and I met over the internet. We were both going to grad school at a large university and looking for a Christian roommate. We lived in an apartment together for a year. When our lease was up, we still had a semester left of our program, so rather than lock in another year lease or pay higher month to month rent, we both moved in with my parents for 4 months and commuted to school. She's incredibly quiet until you get to know her. I remember the first time we met for lunch, I talked pretty much the entire time because Amy was so quiet. She taught me to be a better listener and to be comfortable with silence in order to make space for others to share. We learned to be social workers together and shared our lives with one another in the process.

A few months ago, Amy was laid off from her job. Today she got on an airplane and landed in Guatemala City. She'll be there for 6 months. It's been really neat to see her seek out God's will for her life while deciding what she would do next after being laid off. She doesn't know what the Lord has planned for her long term, but she knows he's called her to serve him and his people. And for now she's going to do that in Guatemala. I admire her obedience, her trust in the Lord and her courage, and I'm excited to see what God's going to do in her own heart through this experience as well. Please pray for Amy as she transitions to this new phase of life, for her protection, her sanctification, and for God's glory and amazing grace to shine through her.

She just started a blog to chronicle this adventure. You can read more here.

Joy in New Beginnings

The room is painted and prayed over. God gave us two extra days to get ready in that Sam missed his original flight. But the Hubby picked him up from the airport this afternoon.

Now the boys are playing guitar together. I should say the Hubby is teaching Sam guitar. Can you imagine learning how to play in instrument from someone who's not speaking your native language? It's a bit crazy, this whole thing is a bit crazy, but it's making me laugh and smile and excited for the year to come.

I'm getting wiser

or lazier or cheaper or all of the above.

I painted for 5 hours last night. Hubby's been out of town, Sam arrives on Sunday and his room was still painted purple and white rag roll from the previous owner. Not the most manly place for a 17 year old guy to stay, so we're doing a whirlwind makeover. I kind of feel like I'm on Trading Spaces or something because I've never decorated a room this quickly before. I had a student over to help me paint on Wednesday night, but last night I was on my own.

Painting should always be a team sport in my book. We've painted 3 other rooms in our house so far and have a pretty good system where I cut in and do the edging while hubby rolls. So doing it all by myself last night was a bit overwhelming and quite time consuming.

However, being by myself allowed me to develop my own painting system. This is where the wiser, lazier, cheaper part comes in. Normally, if hubby was around we would tape off the entire room. That means the floor, the trim, the ceiling, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. I wasn't feeling that patient last night (am I ever really feeling patient? God's still working on that) so I decided I was going to try cutting in by hand. I learned a couple of important lessons along the way.

One... painting the trim last makes so much sense. Who cares if you get the wall paint on the trim if you're going to sand, prime and paint over it anyway? I will tape off around the trim when I get to painting it though, because I learned I'm not as steady with the brush as I wish I was. But why do this step twice wasting precious time and tape?

Two...there are so many places around windows and doors that I would have spent in exorbitant amount of time taping off with the old method where no one will ever look. I'm going to put window treatments over the tops of the windows, so no one will ever see up there. And if someone is going to get down on the floor to check how well I edged under my window sills and then judge me for it, I don't want them in my house (or on my floor for that matter) to begin with.

Three... it IS important to tape off the ceiling. I tried doing this without tape and it was an epic fail. I'm pretty bad with straight lines: drawing them, cutting them, painting them. So tape is very worthwhile when it comes to the ceiling. Especially when you've already used up all the ceiling paint and don't have any left over for touch ups. Oops. Guess I'll be making another trip to the hardware store.

Even though this makeover is a major undertaking, I feel like it's giving my heart time to prepare and pray for Sam, much like a nesting new mom. I've had time this week to focus on how the Lord will have us serve Him by serving one of his children. And for that bit of grace, I'm extremely grateful.

An Answered Prayer

We've been praying for God to give us a way to use the blessing of our four-bedroom house to bless others. Our guest bedroom has been used two nights this week and will be used on Saturday as well.

But the ultimate answer to that prayer will be moving into one of our other bedrooms come Sunday. We have decided to host a foreign exchange student from South Korea for this upcoming school year. Sam arrives on Sunday evening and starts school on Tuesday morning taking us from being DINKs (Dual Income No Kids) to the youngest "parents" at the Christian high school in less than 48 hours.

God gave us so many opportunities to accept an exchange student into our home, and after much prayer and consideration we're excited to start on this new adventure. Even though we're not set on Christian school for our own kids when they come along someday, we thought that was the best option for this experience. We have a great support network there of families from our church, whereas we would be so lost with a student in the large public school district where we live.

We're excited for the opportunity to share our lives with another person. I've come to a new understanding of parenthood as the ultimate opportunity for discipleship and see this temporary parenthood as a chance to practice that. We're excited for how the Lord will use this experience to stretch us and sanctify us as we learn to be more selfless.

Please be in prayer for Sam as he travels half-way across the world and for his jet-lag as he starts school. Pray that I will cast all my anxieties on the Lord because He cares for me, when it comes to last minute details. And please pray for our new family as we open up our home, our lives, and our hearts for the Lord to do an amazing work full of love and grace.

The Fruits of His Labors

This week we're enjoying the bounty of our backyard garden. I'm amazed by how big our plants have grown and how much produce has come from those tiny seeds we started with. We've made pickles, zucchini bread, pesto, along with numerous salads and sides of grilled veggies.

One of the reasons I enjoy gardening so much, perhaps because God's still working on my patience, is that with gardening in a short period of time, my efforts pay off, produce fruit, and bring me and others joy.

In ministry, we find things look both similar and different compared with gardening. Similar in that God uses us to plant seeds of truth in people's lives, to provide nourishment and nurturing as people grow in their faith, and to water people's souls with encouragement and fellowship. These spiritual seeds are different from the plants in my garden in that it often takes much longer to see the fruit in people's lives, sometimes years, and sometimes we don't even get to see it at all. Sometimes God only uses us to plant, or to nourish, or to water and we don't get to see the complete process. And sometimes impatient people like me get frustrated when we're asked to wait until heaven to see and enjoy the fruits of the labor God gives us.

That's when I have to stop and praise the Creator for his unending patience with me, his patience to tend to my heart and trim back the sinfulness and selfishness inside me. He's the perfect gardener, things ripen in his perfect timing and he prunes out of love with grace.

A month of adventures

I've been too busy living this past month to do a whole lot of blogging. One would think that youth ministry would slow down in summer like the rest of the world does, but rather just the opposite happens. I'm not complaining, we love our students and enjoy the extra time with them that summer allows.

I love adventures, like all of these that have happened in the past month...

• Celebrated a quarter century with family, friends, 11 innings and fireworks.
• Feathered the nest of a dear family friend.
• Flipped a kayak.
• Relaxed in one of my favorite places.
• Traveled around and across Lake Michigan.
• Rode through 4 states in one week. Drove in 0.
• Yes my husband is a driving saint.
• Witnessed two lives joined together as one.
• Explored Chicago with my sister on her birthday.
• Got too much sun at the beach.
• Roasted marshmallows. Reese's smores = amazing.
• Harvested more zucchini and cucumber than I know what to do with.
• Finished a number of little house projects.
• Figured out how to use my sewing machine.
• Hosted two college students who shared their music ministry with us.
• Took a bike tour of our city's community gardens.

We still have two more weddings and a mission trip to go before Labor Day. I used to think that I would get it together when life settled down and felt normal. But I've come to realize that this craziness is my normal and that is part of what makes my life a grand adventure.