If These Walls Could Talk...

Our little church celebrated its 150th birthday last summer. The parsonage (or, our home, as I like to call it :) is around 100 years old. (That's a guesstimate...I'm too lazy to walk 27 steps to the church to actually look up the exact age...bear with me, I did go running this morning!) Generally, all of those husbands and families that have ministered here, have lived in this house. Of course, there have been many updates through the years...but still! I'm not quite sure why this fascinates me so much...but it does. I love this house...not only because I think its adorable, but I feel a sense of peace knowing that others, who've gone before us in ministry, have lived their lives within these walls. I also love to find the humor in it as well :) It's a little "bit" I like to call, "Do you think other pastor's wives who've lived here...fill in the blank." Usually, no one else finds this as amusing as me...but if you've invested this much time reading so far, you may as well finish ;) Here's my list for today...
Do you think the other pastor's wives that have lived here....

• fed her kids turkey sandwiches for breakfast?
• drank a pot of coffee every morning?
• blogged? HA!
• put their treadmill in their husbands home office?
• had their children splash so much water out of the bathtub that it ran down through the bathroom floor (upstairs) and through the ceiling and out the light fixture in the kitchen?
• loaded her kids in the mini-van and drove around, just so they would be strapped in and stay in one place?!?
• busted a move to Tobymac's Boomin', while hoping that no one could actually see in the windows (good thing my wonderful neighbor already knows how weird I am:)
• bought 2 gallons of ice cream and a box of monster cookie, cookie dough from the Schwans guy...and then ate 8 cookies?!?
• did not enjoy cooking...wished she could have take-out for every meal?
• shoved so much junk in the attic (because it was too cold to actually go in) that now I can't even get in there?
• fed her family a rotation of frozen pizza, mac&cheese, and cheese quesadillas?
• wore red patent leather shoes?
• stood in awe of the fact that God had graciously placed them in a wonderful little town, with amazing people, in order that she may love on 'em and show with her life the amazing difference that Jesus made. ...I can only hope so :)

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Somebody Stop Me...

In January I had a mild lapse in judgement...for which I am still suffering the consequences. This happens every so often. You see, I jumped on the "bangs" bandwagon. I kept seeing pictures in magazines, and they all looked so darn cute with their new bangs...and it was JANUARY...so I did it...myself. Yeah, not the smartest. Had I gone to my wonderful stylist, I'm sure she would have talked me out of it...but no, I took it into my own hands, no one to blame but myself...I hate when that happens. It's not that the bangs are so bad, it's that they are so annoying! When I straighten my hair, there's one sections that just wants to stick straight out...and when I let it go wavy, my little bangs shrink up all curly and short, making me look like a little kid who chopped their own hair (which I did.) *sigh* I have resorted to pinning them to the side with a bobby pin, which is also not all that cute on me. At the time, I thought, no big deal, my hair grows fast...God is smiling at me, I know it. Not a mocking, I told you so kinda smile, but the kind of smile that says, I love you my child, but when will you learn to stop making rash decisions...even in the little things, it matters.

I think I've got just another inch or so to grow before they're back to my normal length...but the growing is painfully slow. So...the next time I get the bright idea to cut bangs again (and I will!) it is now your responsibility to stop me!!! I'm holding you accountable to hold me accountable...if that makes sense :)

*also, Jakob's rash is looking much better today...phew!

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Bright Red

This was the beautiful little bright red face I found this morning. I had to post a picture of it...because frankly, who doesn't like looking at a good rash!?! HA! It freaked me out a little, so I called a friend of mine, who's a PA, (God bless her for all her medical advice:) gave her the description of his bright red rash, and she assured me it's probably nothing to worry about and to start the Benadryl. Needless to say he's now zonked out on the couch...the Benadryl is working :) She told me to watch it for the next couple of days, and if it doesn't go away to take him in, and I am going to follow her advice. I am going to resist the temptation to Google rashes...I've learned that lesson the hard way. Googling health issues is not a good idea for me...I'm a "give me the worst case scenario" type person. I think that if I know the worst possible outcome, that then the real situation won't seem so bad...that would be faulty thinking. Plus, on Google, I suddenly think I'm a doctor who is able to make a diagnosis! What is it about Google that all of a sudden makes me think I am a medical expert...without any training!?!? Not rational...but true. And, in all my ignorance, it ends up filling me with a sense of fear that just maybe my child will have the symptoms that indicate something serious. Blows is waaayyy out of proportion :) So, for me, No Googling rashes today!

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Randomness

Here is my randomness for Tuesday...in bullet-list form.

• A friend of mine sent me an email with this website www.FamilyWatchDog.us it shows registered sex offenders with detailed info, check it out...my poor children will probably never be allowed to go to anybodies house unless I first do a background check!
• Conferences are tonight...why do I still feel nervous, like I did when the conferences were for me!?!
• This morning I came across this verse, "I don't want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don't want your offerings - I want you to know me." Hosea 6:6. *sigh* It made me cry immediately...need to ponder that one today.
• Bought Jake a Dora seat that sits on the toilet...he sat on it this morning! I do not enjoy potty training...mostly because I am bad at training myself...not very good at the whole consistency thing.
• I ate peanuts and a pot of coffee for breakfast :)
• Should be able to think of something more interesting...maybe I need another pot of coffee...
• I wish all my blog world friends could come over and hang out...enjoy some coffee and donuts...lots and lots of donuts...while I'm wishing, I wish donuts were fat free, carb free and calorie free!

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I've Been Thinking...

Sometimes I can't get something out of my head. Many times, it's annoying, useless type stuff, but other times, I really think it's God trying to teach me something (most of the time it's the same stuff over and over...apparently I'm a slow learner.) Last week, in our adult Sunday School, there was a question in our book, that asked us to name three words that describe our personality. Silence. It's hard! Try it! It doesn't seem like it should be difficult...but as words came to mind, I realized they were representative of me, but not necessarily my personality. As I looked around the room, I could think of all kinds of wonderful descriptive words for the others, but not myself. This has been bugging me. Why am I not able to narrow it down to three words that wrap up my personality?!?

So...this has got me thinking about other people's personality's (because that's what I do when I don't want to deal with myself, of course:) As I look at my kids, it's so evident that they are each born with unique personalities. We each have a unique "bent" we were born with, but what seems even more evident is the choices that we've made and how they've shaped us. I know people whose personalities seemed to change because of choices. Unforgiveness=bitterness, fear=insecurity etc.

I also realized that there are definite personalities that I am drawn to...something about them that makes me want to emulate them. I also know that personalities rub off on me...I've hung around with people whose sort of toxic personalities changed mine...and it took awhile for me to figure out who I really was again. It's how I learned that if I truly want to posses the kind of qualities that I admire, then I have to be drawing closest to the one I admire most...Jesus. I can truthfully say, that my personality aside from Him, not lovely. On my own, I am critical, unloving, and a whole list of other junk that is less than appealing. At times, when I've walked away from Him, and gone it on my own...my personality immediately reverts back to those qualities. Unfortunately, during those times, I'm a poor representative of the miraculous transformation He has done in me. How amazing that no matter what I've done, He still welcomes me back, brushes me off, and gently reminds me of who I really am.

When I am drawing close to Him...my personality becomes like Him. I realized that those qualities that I am drawn to in others, are actually really just Jesus in them! When people meet me, or know me, I want them to see Jesus in me...yeah, they may not know who they're seeing...but I do, and more importantly, so does my savior. So, I still don't have a list of three that describe me...maybe I'm afraid to know :) But here's the three that I WANT to describe my personality...

1) Loving..the real kind...the sacrificial kind

2) Authentic/Real/Genuine (counting that as 1 word:)

3) Charming...my friend Beth used this word, and I love it!

One of my favorite verses that I am forever going back to was said by John the Baptist (whom I happen to adore because he was a bit of an odd duck himself :)

John 3:30 "He must increase and I must decrease." So, so, true.

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You know it's bad...

Last night, Jake, my two year old, came up to me and announced, "Odie need baph...him 'tinks!" You know the dog must stink. After all, Jake can have poopy pants that can be smelled from across town...yet when I ask him if he needs a new diaper he always says, "no, I cwean!"
If only they made Febreze for dogs. Our dog has needed a bath for quite some time...I usually put it off about 2 weeks past when he really needed it. It's not that giving him a bath is so bad...it's that the only thing that smells worse than a stinky dog, is a clean, wet, dog!! I even blow dry him as best I can, but until he's fully dry...bleh! So, both Odie and Jake got baths last night...not at the same time...although the boys couldn't see why that would be a problem...a little flea shampoo probably wouldn't hurt :)

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Sugar Please

This week, I decided that I since I have not been running as regularly as normal, due to a freakishly snowy/freezing February, I should probably stop eating everything in sight. You see, I have this little problem when it comes to food...I believe its called self-control. I can't eat one cookie and call it good....oh no, maybe half a dozen cookies later I will finally stop. One spoonful of cookie dough (this is my favorite)...nope. Half a batch of cookie dough...yep. You get the picture. So, this week it wasn't easy, but I did pretty well. Even this weekend!! But, I did learn a valuable lesson, that I'd like to pass on. While shopping with my sister on Saturday, we of course made a Starbucks stop. It's as if my mini van pulls itself into Starbucks...with its sweet little drive-through (I wish everything had a drive-through...especially for groceries) anyways, I decided to be good and order a sugar-free Carmel latte. And guess what I learned makes those lattes so irresistibly delicious?!? Yep, SUGAR! Now, usually if I'm trying to go light, I get a mocha light frappuccino, which is delicious...but the light lattes...not so much. Next time, since I'm paying $3 bucks for a coffee, I'm going all out :) Man, now I wish I had a latte....

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