Two Sparrows

Someday, I will actually get around to showing you pictures of the office in all its gray glory.  It's so happy not to be that shameful green anymore.

And someday I will blog everyday like I said I would.  Just kidding.  I would totally do it if  these people (my children) could just stop needing me (to locate their stuff).  And needing food.  And so on.  Also, if I wasn't so easily distracted. that would be helpful too.

Back to the office:  We found our old CD collection.  90's and early 2000's CD's.  It's hilarious and awesome and aweful all at the same time.  I've been listening to Garth Brooks non-stop in the mini van (because it's the only place we have a functional CD player thanks to my love of the ipod.)  When I moved on to Tanya Tucker's Love Songs I thought *maybe* I might need some sort of intervention with the CD's.  Today it was the Dixie Chicks.  I think I've finally forgiven them for speaking ill of my favorite president.  The destruction of their careers was probably enough punishment.  I am, of course kidding.  Not about George W though.  I heart him.

Also.  I'm not quite sure why I like American Honkey Tonk Bar Association so much.  But I do.  I feel like Weird Al could totally remake it for church.

This is how my mind works.

I will leave you with a Tanya Tucker love song that I used to listen to as a teenager.  Turns out, IT WAS ABOUT ME.

Pin It

I Remembered Today!

Oops.  I missed blogging this weekend.  Like, I didn't even remember. At all.

The office is painted.  YAY!  And I will post pictures as soon as I put the finishing touches on.  

We've been dragging anyone who stops by through the office so we can show them.  I may be the only person so excited about gray.*jazz hands*

So.  Yesterday I SHOULD have posted that one year ago I was doing THIS.

It was such an amazing experience.  It deserves a One Year Anniversary Post.  

I hope to do it again. Sometime.  But for now, my priority list is full of other people and stuff.  So running will just be for fun...not for training.  And by "fun" I mean I haven't ran in 3 weeks...or so.

Pin It

It's a Start!

Ignore my low quality photos, I'm in a hurry :)

The office is officially empty.

My Pastor Husband has a very hard time parting with books. He also has a hard time saying no, when people offer him their old books.  Which means I found some interesting ones while helping to empty shelves.  

Yep, Tramp for the Lord.  I showed it to Ben and it went something like this:

Ben:  it's not what it sounds like. It means going door-to-door...

Me: I bet it does...*wink*

Life in the Parsonage, people. It's never dull.

And this is about 1/4 of the pile(s) of books lieing or laying (who can remember) around the parsonage.  

It's gonna be worth it. ;)

Pin It

Insignificantly Significant

The great thing about blogging is the recording of insignificantly-significant events.  Like:  We are finally getting around to re-painting Ben's office/study (which is just off our living room in the parsonage) and I thought it had to be at least 7 years that I've lived with our awful choice of green.  

Side note:  Yes, that was a super run-on sentence, but I prefer my blogging, to sound like me.  I speak in run-on sentences.  

I couldn't really remember how long its been the same color as a John Deere tractor, so I typed it into my blog search box and BAM up pops my post about painting the office green.  Turns out, it's been 6 years.  It took us 6 years to work up the courage to 1 - pick another color 2 - remove all the books and book shelves.

The primer and brushes are bought, and I pick up the paint tomorrow.  So by Monday I should have lovely light gray walls to show you.

*Exciting*

Pin It

Time

I've been thinking about time.  And how bad I am at it.

I am not the best manager of time.  I'm just not.  Every night I go to bed thinking, "big fat fail today, but TOMORROW, tomorrow I will use my time better!"  And then I don't.

I procrastinate and procrastinate and then hurry-like-crazy.  Even when I am functioning is a sort-of-not-waste-of-time manner, I feel like I'm wasting time.  To plod along like I believe normal people do, you know:  Time Managers, seems totally do-able.  But then it's not.  

In reality, although I do waste a lot of time, I know that much of what I do only feels like time wasted, and IS REALLY NOT TIME WASTED.  *yelling*  Just kidding.  Not yelling.

I thoroughly enjoy planning ways to manage my time well.  I've got printable schedules and itemized to-do lists, all in pretty colors.  In case pretty colors will help me with my time problems.  Umm, they do not.

But anyways.  It's part of who I am.  Maybe God will redeem it.  Maybe it's who I will always be.  Either way, now it's written down so that when I am old and can't remember my husband, he will read me my blog and remind me who I am.  Or was.  And then we will die when we are old, at the very same moment.  They should really make a movie like that...

Just kidding.

Pin It

Four

Four is a great age. For the most part, anyways.

Lucy plays like it's her job. It's quite a sight. But dude:  It is so messy. 

She's learning to write her name.  And if I supervise her it comes out right, as in L u c y. But on her own, it comes out like this...

Which is pretty much my favorite.  It's also my favorite that she went to bed and STAYED in bed at 7:40 tonight. Amen.

Pin It

Don't Bother...

This morning my husband asked me what I blogged yesterday.  And then I had to slap my forehead with my hand because I totally forgot about it yesterday.

My bad.  It was bound to happen.

I read some interesting stuff on the internet today.  Some made me laugh, some made me sad.  Some made me think that there is scary junk out there. Ebola.

Lot's of it made me think that people are pretty...dumb.  Or blind.  Or both.   I think I will not be reading things on the internet for a few days.  And then I write nonsense on the internet.  Irony is the spice of life.  

I'm just gonna sign off now, and still count this as a post.  

*high-five*

Pin It

Dedicated to the Class of 1996

Last night as I was driving (way past my elderly bed-time) to pick up my 7th grader from a "dance" I heard this song on the radio.

And suddenly, I was 13 years old.  Sort of.  I remember 7th grade dances.  I can't remember who I danced with though, and that's sort of bugging me. Hello Alzheimers.  I do remember this was one of my FAVORITE songs.  It makes me laugh now, because I can't quite remember how my 13-year-old-self interpreted those lyrics.  Bah.  

I'm almost positive I never caught this particular video on MTV, because it probably would have ruined the whole song for me.  Maybe.  Or I would have thought they were awesome.  Who can remember?!?

It kinda ruins it now.  Dang it.  

Whenever I drive Noah and his friend home from the dance, I like to ask 20 questions.  I'm sure they love it.  Their vague answers are a sure sign.  It's weird that having a 7th grader makes me feel like a 7th grader...and an old lady all at the same time.

I should volunteer to DJ, and share all my favorite Jr. High and High School songs, I'm sure everyone would love it.  Or at least the parents that graduated in 1996 would.

Next year.

Pin It

It's Okay to be Broken

Today I cleaned and rearranged the stuff in our kitchen cabinets.  I probably called Ben on three separate occasions to tell him my progress and explain where I was putting stuff.  He listens and praises my efforts...even though he can't really possibly care about the cabinets, especially while he's trying to work. 

I may have picked the easiest man to be married to.  He didn't quite choose as wisely as me, I mean the easiest wife probably doesn't make you listen to how she moved the toaster to a different section of the counter.  *Seriously, I'm that exciting*

Anyways, I made myself a playlist of some of my current favorite songs.  Ya know, to listen to while I cleaned cupboards.  You do that, right?  No?!?  Hmmm...it's possible I'm more awkward than I thought.  Who knew.

On that playlist is the song Broken Together by Casting Crowns.  I probably listened to 10 times today (it wasn't a very long playlist,  I underestimated how long cleaning out cabinets would actually take.)

After about the 7th time through it, I you-tubed it so I could catch the lyrics better.  It's lovely.  And so representative of all marriages, no matter what stage you're at.  We all hit times of "drought" in our marriages because so much of life can demand our attention away from each other.  It's tricky finding that balance.  

The song is right.  We are all broken people.  We don't complete each other, Jesus alone completes us.  It's so much easier to give love and grace when we each see our own brokenness.  I don't have to complete him, and he doesn't complete me.  The pressure would kill us.  "The only way we'll last forever, is broken together."

I also listened to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds (the Elton John version because it's my favorite) 10 times too.  See:  Broken.

Pin It

This Time My Vanity Lost

This is what happens in our house in between watching a 7th grade football game and waiting for the pizza to get done at the gas station.  

You have to kill time somehow.  Is there really anything better than a dancing wiener dog?  *rhetorical question*

Our house is divided.  Some (me) think Nelson is trying to dance with me.  Other people (who are just jealous of my awesome moves) think he's trying to get me to stop my dancing.

Two things before you watch: 1 - I specifically instructed my middlest son to AVOID video-ing my rear.  Again, no one listens to me.  2 - My vanity chose against showing the video.  3 - But how can I not share with you a dancing wiener dog video?  

Ha.  That was 3 things.  Not two.  

Shake it Off.

Pin It

The complexities of Garlic Bread...

Because I love a bullet-point list:

• Jake (9) just told Lucy (4) to control her anger.  
• Our gourmet supper of penne noodles, jar pasta sauce, and frozen loaf of garlic bread are simmering and boiling and baking.  Wednesday night in this ministry family is craziness.  
• I could, on my own, eat a whole loaf of garlic bread.  I wish I were kidding.  
• I'm going to totally regret feeding it to my family...and it has nothing to do with my poor nutritional standards, but rather the fact that garlic-breath make me want to barf.  And they're gonna have it.  Bad.
• I'll have to avoid it.  After all, in a hour I get to tell a gaggle of kids that Jesus loves them, and I probably shouldn't do that with breath that smells like Hades.  Mixed messages are not good.  
• Lucy just walked in and declared that she doesn't like this kind of food.  It's *probably* because she's eaten a bowl of cheerios, a slice of toast, two hard-boiled eggs (minus the yolk) and and apple in the past hour.  Oh but wait:  She does have room for the garlic bread.  Lovely.
• Every meal I have to yell at one of the kids to GET OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM and EAT IN THE KITCHEN.  It will be a miracle if all four ever obey the rule at the same time.  
• Lucy just came out of the bathroom with her water bottle.  She's taken to filling it up in the bathroom because it's easier to reach the faucet.  I'm all for supporting independence...
• Why oh why did I buy the garlic bread?  Even the dog is gonna have bad(er) breath.  
• How can something that tastes so good, make you smell so bad?!?  I feel like that could be a sermon illustration.  Ben is so lucky to have me.
• Mouthwash for everyone.  
• And just like that, supper is over.  But the mess, oh it's still here.  
• The struggle is real, people.

Wow.  It's only day 8 of blogging.  Just think what is in store by the time we hit the early 20's of October.  Look out.  

Pin It

Muckity Muck

Every-other Tuesday night I get to be a part of a Bible study with a group of ladies.  I've been able to do it since moving here...and the group dynamics are always changing, which makes it new and unique with each study.  God has used those studies to mold and shape who I am.  It's been a process.  A long, on-going process.

We are currently doing one called Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer.

The study itself is really fantastic.  Truly.  What makes it even more significant for me personally, is the place that God has brought me to before starting this study.  All the details and circumstances that fell into place, in life and ministry, so that He could use this study to so speak to my heart.  Making His voice clear.  Resounding.  Confirming.

The past 12 months have been ones that I will go back to over and over and over in my head and in my heart.  Always remembering how He worked out good.  We walked through some murky waters, knowing that things would settle and clear.  Knowing that sometimes things need to be stirred up and mucky so that they can eventually be clearer.  Better.  And even though you know that...walking through the muck:  Is never very enjoyable.  It's still muck, even if there's purpose in it.  And just when you think it will never settle and clear.  It does.

In the midst of the murky waters, God gave me a verse.  Isaiah 43:19 NLT  "For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness.  I will create rivers in the dry wasteland."

Through His Word, He confirmed for us what He had spoken to our hearts.  He gave us a tiny glimpse into His plan, and it was enough to settle our hearts, and strengthen our spirit to continue in the stirred-up mire until the time He saw fit to make it clear.  

He cleared it.  And day after day, week after week, I stand in awe as I watch Him move and work in the hearts of people around me...including myself.  I will never know why He saw fit for us to be a part of His plan here, but I am so thankful for His grace and strength that makes it possible.  

Pin It

Loved

We moved to Tiny Town nine years ago.  During the first year here, I met four different ladies through preschool.  We would eventually call ourselves The Fab Five.  It's not something we broadcast...unless you count this.  Ha.  

But they really are fab.  I often think about what it is that makes them...and us...work.  I think it may be the low maintenance that is required.  No drama, no backstabbing.  It's simple really, I get to just be me.  And they get to just be them.  Our kids are friends, and even our husbands have become friends.  It's the best.  

I love how God orchestrates life.  

One of the Fab Five is Steph.  I've blogged about their family before.  Two of her four kids have A-T.  You can read about it here.  Bring kleenex.  Her son Tate, who was also a good friend to my Noah, passed away in 2011.  Their daughter Tessa is 12 years old now, and also has A-T.  Tessa and my son Eli, are "special friends"  aka they love each other.  ;)  

I've learned so much about life, by just watching this family.  They love big.  They laugh, and live because they know pain. And suffering.  And loss.  It doesn't stop them.  It motivates them to just keep going...for Tate, for Tessa, for each of them.  They do not live a life filled with moping, or whining...even though they have every right to do both.  Instead, they walk the difficult line of accepting what is, and praying and hoping and doing for what could be.  

I don't even have words to adequately describe the privilege it is to call them friends.  They have changed who we are, and they have shaped how my kids see people.  Noah saw Tate.  Eli sees Tessa.  Not the genetic disease, or the disability, but straight to the heart of who they are.  It is beautiful to watch.  It's almost impossible for me to talk about Tate and Noah in past-tense.  Noah keeps growing, and getting bigger and older, yet he carries that friendship with Tate as a constant companion.  

Noah & Tate

All this to say:  We went as families, to run a race where the proceeds go to benefit research for a cure/progress in treating A-T.  For this group in purple, it's in honor of Tate & Tessa.  They are loved like crazy.  We (as a family) were finally able to join them this year.  And it was so much fun.  So many memories, tucked away in my heart.  It is a gift to do life with these people.

Click on the pic to see EVERYONE.  My blog layout cuts people out.  Rude.

Also, it turns out that if you enter a small enough race, you have a *pretty* good chance of being a winner.  

That's right.  I got 3rd in my age group.  Sound impressive...until I tell you that I ran/walked while pushing Lucy in the jogger stroller.  There may have only been 3 in my age group.  Do I care?  NO WAY!  3rd place baby.

This picture pretty much sums up Lucy and her attitude about early morning running.  And by running, I mean being pushed in a stroller while covered in a blanket.  That did not, however, stop her from complaining that "she was tired" and the "wind in her face bugs her!"  She's lucky I didn't dump her out of the jogger.  Heh.

Eli hitching a ride with Tessa right before the finish line.

 Oh the stories I could write about these two.  Love them both!

Pin It

I'm So Tired

We have had a super fun weekend, but I am spent. Done. So there's No way I can wrap it up tonight. But tomorrow I will!

Until then, I'm watching Once Upon a Time, because yes I got hooked on it (thank you Netflix) and I'm not too proud to say I love it. ;).   I like fairy tales. And Ginnifer Goodwin's hair.

Pin It

10:32

As I type this from my phone, I'm thinking  to myself that it's before midnight so *technically* I haven't missed a day of posting. 

Tomorrow I will let you in on the fun, but for tonight this is all I got.

• today I had one of those mommy moments where I lost my ever-loving mind because no one in my family was listening or helping. 

• packing and loading kids for any sort of trip is a ridiculous ordeal in our house. 

•and then we get to our destination and all the chaos is forgotten. Just kidding, I still totally remember. But it seems less bad ;)

•our family is in fact too big for a hotel room with two queen beds and too cheap to get anything bigger. Ha. 

• so thankful for friends who make me laugh, and getting to do a mini trip with people I love. 

•did I mention the insanity of all 6 of us in the same room?:). 

•good night 

Pin It

You & Me Day

Dear Lucy,

I love your four-year-old self.  I especially love you on Fridays.  You've deemed our Fridays together as "You & Me Day."  Because it's just you and me, kid.


No preschool.  No brothers.  No other kids.  Not even Daddy.


It's lovely.  I hope desperately that your little 4 1/2 year old heart will remember these days.  The trips to Target.  And Starbucks.  And Culver's (which you call Clovers.)  I want desperately to remember them too...thus the blog.

I hope we both remember how I bribed you with the promise of a toy at Target, in order to get you to wear your new pink fuzzy boots, even though "they bug you," because all new shoes bug you.  

And I hope we both remember how it took you f-o-r-e-v-e-r to choose something for your bribe.  And that you came home with a Hello Kitty back-pack/purse thing and Hello Kitty lip gloss.  And Doc McStuffin's band-aids.  


Today you watched me get my hair cut, and then my *favorite stylist of all time* even braided your hair.  And as you looked at your pretty face in her mirror, you smiled so big.  I wish I could bottle that up so that every time you looked at your beautiful self in a mirror it made you smile like that.  Because no matter what, you are always that beautiful to me.

And then we went to the cupcake store.  Where you insisted we eat it there, and not take it home.  Good call, Lu.  

And then I promised you "Mc-N-Donald's" only to drive in the parking lot and leave because it was a total mad-house.  Instead I fed you a quarter pounder and fries from the gas station.  (you're likely going to grow up with a deep love for sugar.  And fries.  I'll own that, it came from me.)

And when we finally get home, and unload the van, it's usually time to get your boys from school.  And our You & Me day is done...until next Friday.

I love Fridays.  And I love you.  May we make Target and Starbucks and Fast Food trips together always.  

Hugs and Kisses (which you'll wipe off),

Mom

Pin It

Football Mom

I'm writing this post from my phone. On a blogger app. First time for everything.  You would be so impressed with my one-finger text-typing abilities.  Use Thumbs to text? Pfffft. Not this lady.

Anyways. I spent the night watching my eldest play 7th grade football. Wind and rain and cold were involved. I feel like there should be some sort of badge of honor.

Friends who make misery fun, well those are the ones you cherish.  Also, I brought a ginormous golf umbrella. Or patio table umbrella...it was hard to tell.  

Now I'm sitting on my warm couch watching more football.  And blogging from my phone.  Tis the season.  

Pin It

Whiny McWhinerson

I'm in the process of making a list for blog ideas for the next 31 days.  I have four things on it, soooo I'll keep working on that.

If you have any bright ideas, I'd be happy to consider them.  

I've spent a good portion of the day in the book of Jonah.  We are teaching our Bible Clubber's on Jonah for the month of October.  This year we are skipping curriculum in favor of teaching whatever we feel God's leading in regarding the kids we have.  It's cool to see God working.  

I was perusing Pinterest to come up with some extra word search pages and activities.  What I found was just a bunch of crafts about a whale.  And several lessons titled "Jonah Obeyed God."  So I went back and read the story for the 50th time.

I have to say, the point of Jonah is certainly not the whale.  Not by a long shot.  And you have to use a pretty loose term of "obeyed" to describe dear Jonah.  What I DO see, is God's grace on magnificent display in that little book of Jonah.  His grace chased after Jonah.  His grace saved the sailors, physically and spiritually.  His grace in the big fish.  His grace to the Ninevites.  And even his grace to pouty Jonah at the end of the story.  

I'm always annoyed by whiny Jonah.  Probably because I am Jonah.  God gives me *pretty clear* instructions and first chance I get, I dart the opposite direction.  And when He comes after me (which He always does, because: Grace) I like to play the martyr like dear Jonah.  Yet He still saves me.  And yes, there's people I don't want to share the gospel with because I know God is merciful, and yes it's because there are people I don't want Him to be merciful with.  I want justice for them.  And again...He redirects my heart.  Back to the gospel.  Back to mercy and grace and forgiveness that I did not deserve, and certainly didn't earn.  But receive over and over and over again.

But my heart doesn't always automatically go there, to grace.  It very often is automatically a Jonah.  God's grace amazes me.  I can't comprehend it, because it's the exact opposite of my own heart and nature.  

So, long story short:  There will be no whale crafts tonight at our Bible Club ;)

Pin It