For those of you who actually check this blog every now and then, I apologize for my lack of posts. You will be glad to know that I have fully recovered from my burns and have developed a healthy respect for the power of our microwave.

I’ve written several blog posts in my head over the last two months, but now as I sit at my computer I cannot remember a single word of any of those wonderful (they were really great!) posts. So, you'll get my stream of consciousness instead. (Click away now while you can!)

As Bryan noted in our Christmas letter (will open in a new window), we got new living room furniture for the first time ever this year. Here are some pix:




I’m not a great photographer, but you can kind of get the idea from those pictures. We still need to put pictures over the mantle and have our tables made. (I bought these round pieces of wood and now I’m hoping to find a carpenter to create legs and make it all into tables. We’ll see what actually happens. LOL)

Pregnancy is going well. I have felt pretty awful for most of it (9 weeks left now) but this last week I’ve felt much better. It seems that sitting around all day and eating lots of sugar makes me feel worse than eating well and getting bits of exercise. Not a welcome revelation, really. But, I’ll do what I need to do if it makes me feel less crappy. (I’m eating Christmas candy as I sit here at the computer typing this. Maybe I’m not really doing what I need to do.....)

Bryan and I will never be able to agree on a name for this baby. We know it’s a boy. We couldn't agree on a name before Eli was born. My pick was Elijah but Bryan wouldn't agree to it until he was actually born. He decided that the loudness of his cry indicated a good old-testament prophet name (Elijah) was appropriate. (You know your baby has a loud cry when the nurses, who are used to this sort of thing, say, “My, that one is loud.” That’s my boy!) Eli had his name within an hour of being born. I hold out no such hope for this next baby. I fear he will be called “Baby” for many days before we can finally agree on a name. Or at least until I fill out the birth certificate without Bryan’s knowledge. LOL

Here are the current rejected names: Bryan likes Knute—pronounced correctly “Noot” or incorrectly “KaNoot” he doesn't care—he just likes the name because then he can use the nickname, “Noodle.” Ummmmm, yeah. No. I like Solomon or Dominic. Bryan has flat-out rejected both of those names.

For me, the meaning of the name is just as important as the name itself. I think our other boys have really grown into their names. Max is Maximillian Emmanuel which means “the greatest God is with us.” Now, if you know Max you know he is all about the biggest and the best. He has a good heart and he loves other people. But he also really likes to win and be the best at all things. My hope is that we can mold and shape that passion away from himself and towards the Kingdom of God.

Xavier’s full name is Xavier Zacchaeus (Bryan will never be able to spell Xavie’s middle name in this lifetime...) and it means “bright, pure, and innocent.” Now, Xavier is 5 years old. He’s full of everything that little boys are full of. :) But, he has this certain je ne sais quoi about him. He has an amazing imagination that carries him to places most of us will never experience in any way. At his parent-teacher conference this fall his teacher told us a story. One day, during centers, all the children were working quietly when she looked up and saw Xavier across the room. He was doing this very graceful dance around the room. She asked him what he was doing and he responded, “I’m airing the room.” What? “I’m bringing good air into the room.” When she suggested that maybe he do this outside on recess instead, he responded, “But there is already good air outside!” This is typical Xavier in every way. He just thinks differently from the rest of us. I would love to enter his world and experience it with him. So, anyway, back to his name. Xavier is the epitome of bright, pure and innocent. He displays a depth of spiritual understanding that floors me at times. (He asked me once, “Mommy, if God loves everyone, does he love the devil?” We decided that, God indeed does love everyone, including the devil, but that just like us when we sin, God doesn’t like what he does.) My prayer for Xavier is that we can keep him focused on the love of God.

Eli’s full name is Elijah Daniel, which means Jehovah is my God and my Judge. It’s a heavy name for a two-year-old boy. But, he won’t be two forever. (Thank God, because I don’t think I could handle it!) He is a rough and tumble boy and he has the strongest will of anyone I have ever me. He knows what he wants and he is persistent well beyond reason. (This is a child who can throw a tantrum that lasts an hour-and-a-half or more!) I can’t really say for sure yet, but I imagine that Eli is going to to grow into a strong, determined, go-getter sort of person. I predict that he will be a man who grabs life by the horns and doesn’t let go until he gets what he wants. And, just like the other two boys, we hope that we can steer Eli’s tenacity toward the Kingdom of God.

So, who knows what this next baby will be like. But, I want to make sure we pick a good name. (Knute means white-haired. Maybe it should be my name!)

Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions this year? I didn’t think I was until I had my quiet time this morning. (And it actually was quiet as I was the only one awake. It was nice!) My resolution comes from Philippians 4:4 (The Message) Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! I looked up celebrate and revel (Yes, I already know what they mean, I just find that a lot of times I can develop a deeper understanding of the meaning from the actual dictionary definitions. Smart Aleck!)
Celebrate v.
1.) to make publicly known; proclaim
2.) to praise widely
Revel v.
1.) to take great pleasure or delight in.

That’s my resolution—for my heart to take great pleasure and delight in God and my mouth and actions to publicly praise him. This isn’t something I can do through sheer force of will, but rather through surrender and death. Surrender of my will (which wants to complain about the world around me) and death of my old self (which only wants to focus on me to the exclusion of everyone and everything else.) If only we could say, “Spirit, control me.” and it would just happen. But that’s not how it works. So, God and I will walk hand-in-hand into the new year and hopefully I can keep a tight grasp on that hand. That's my New Year’s Resolution. Well, that and not letting clean laundry pile up on the dining room table. ;)

Well, thanks for stopping by. If you have time, check out the new additions to my portfolio. I have several projects that are about to wrap up, so I’m hoping to have more additions soon.

Happy New Year!

Labels: design, God, kids, life of a mom, love

• Just finished watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone with my boys. We borrowed the book on CD and Max and I really got into it. So much so, that we both read the book because it was going to take over 7 hours to listen to it on CD. Max has found that the hour-and-fifteen-minute bus ride home from school makes for good reading time. (Xavier has discovered that same bus ride makes for a nice, after-school nap.) So, anyway, we both finished the book (Max reading on the bus, me reading at night) and tonight we rented the movie. Quite an excellent story. Not sure how I feel about the wizard/witch thing, but it is an excellent story. I can see why it is so wildly popular.
  
• Still not very excited about being pregnant a fourth time. Bryan gets upset with me when I say things like that. He will lean over and yell at my belly, "We love you, Baby and we can't wait to see you!" Yeah.... Guess who's going to be changing the diapers at 3 AM.... It's not that I don't want a fourth child. This child will be much loved in this family by all of us. I have no doubt about that. It's just that I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Those of you with multiple children know what I'm talking about. You get to a point where your kids are somewhat independent and they don't need you 24/7. Some women love being needed 24/7. I would not be one of those women. I crave solitude and space—two things that are in precious short supply when you have children under the age of three in the house. But, God has His reasons and I should not doubt him. And, I am learning to stay in the present. (Because the future scares the beejeezus out of me!) When I start worrying about how it's all going to work after the baby is born, I remind myself that God says,
  

  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. The Message version is good too: Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. And the NLT is a good one too: So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.

  
  So, I just keep plugging away, staying in today and (trying) to let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.
• Xavier started kindergarten this week. He loves it. Both he and Max have second-year teachers. Both teachers look so young! But, they both seem very gentle and nice. Max was relieved to find good friends in his class. Boys that he knew from before and was good friends with before. That was a wonderful blessing from God. Xavier didn't know any of the kids in his class going in. He hasn't talked much yet about the other kids. I hope and pray that he makes a few good friends this year. He's such a tender soul. He seems to bruise easily and I think that good friends would help protect those tender places.
  
• I am actively working on three new websites right now with one more in the hopper. It's a busy, busy time. I don't have anything from those new sites that I can post yet, but I've been doing quite a bit of graphic design work for the church. I just completed the new design for the Shawnee UMC logo. Here's a sneak peek: http://www.shawneeumc.com/sumc_earth_logo.jpg (It's pretty cool, if I do say so myself.) Here's another logo I did. This one is for Harvest for the Hungry, our huge food drive for the West Ohio Food Bank. http://www.shawneeumc.com/harvest.html
  
• OK, have to get the boys to bed. They've been running around downstairs... mostly trying to maim one another I think. But, no one has been injured to the point of running up here to tell me. So, I guess they're OK. LOL

Labels: design, God, kids, life of a mom

“One of my favorite adventures in prayer involves Doug Coe, who has a ministry in Washington, DC, that mostly involves people in politics and statecraft. Doug became acquainted with Bob, an insurance salesman who was completely unconnected with any government circles. Bob became a Christian and began to meet with Doug to learn about his new faith.

One day, Bob came in all excited about a statement in the Bible where Jesus says, “Ask whatever you will in my name, and you shall receive it.”

“Is that really true?“ Bob demanded.
Doug explained, “Well, it's not a blank check. You have to take it in context of the teachings of the whole Scripture on prayer. But yes—it really is true. Jesus really does answer prayer.”
“Great!” Bob said. “Then I gotta start praying for something. I think I'll pray for Africa.”
“That's kind of a broad target. Why don't you narrow it down to one country” Doug advised.
“All right. I'll pray for Kenya.”
“Do you know anyone in Kenya?”
“No.”
“Ever been to Kenya?”
“No.” Bob just wanted to pray for Kenya.
So Doug made an unusual arrangement. He challenged Bob to pray every day for six months for Kenya. If Bob would do that and nothing extraordinary happened, Doug would pay him five hundred dollars. But if something remarkable did happen, Bob would pay Doug five hundred dollars. And if Bob did not pray every day, the whole deal was off. It was a pretty unusual prayer program, bu then Doug is a creative guy.
Bob began to pray, and for a long while nothing happened. Then one night he was at a dinner in Washington. The people around the table explained what they did for a living. One woman said she helped run an orphanage in Kenya—the largest of its kind.
Bob saw five hundred dollars suddenly sprout wings and begin to fly away. But he could not keep quiet. Bob roared to life. He had not said much up to this point, and now he pounded her relentlessly with question after question.
“You're obviously very interested in my country,” the woman said to Bob, overwhelmed by his sudden barrage of questions. “You've been to Kenya before?”
“No.”
“You now someone in Kenya?”
“No.”
“Then how do you happen to b so curious?”
“Well, someone is kind of paying me five hundred dollars to pray...”
She asked Bob is he would like to come visit Kenya and tour the orphanage. Bob was so eager to go, he would have left that very night if he could.
When Bob arrived in Kenya, he was appalled by the poverty and the lack of basic health car. Upon returning to Washington, he couldn't get this place out of his mind. He began to write to large pharmaceutical companies, describing to them the vast need he had seen. He reminded them that every year they would trow away large amounts of medical supplies that went unsold. “Why not send them to this place in Kenya?” he asked.
And some of them did. This orphanage received more than a million dollars worth of medical supplies.
The woman called Bob up and said, “Bob, this is amazing! We've had the most phenomenal gifts because of the letters you wrote. We would like to fly you back over and have a big party. Will you come?”
So Bob flew back to Kenya. While he was there, the president of Kenya came to the celebration, because it was the largest orphanage in the country, and offered to take Bob on a tour of Nairobi, the capital city. In the course of the tour they saw a prison. Bob asked about a group of prisoners there.
“They're political prisoners,” he was told.
“That's a bad idea,” Bob said brightly. “You should let them out.”
Bob finished the tour and flew back home. Sometime later, Bob received a phone call from the State Department of the United States government:
“Is this Bob?”
“Yes.”
“Were you recently in Kenya?”
“Yes.”
“Did you make any statements to the president about political prisoners?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him he should let them out.”
The State Department official explained that the department had been working for years to get the release of these prisoners, to no avail. Normal diplomatic channels and political maneuverings had led to a dead end. But now the prisoners had been released, and the
State Department was told it had been largely because of... Bob. So, the government was calling to say thanks.
Several months later, the president of Kenya made a phone call to Bob. He was going to rearrange his government and select a new cabinet. Would Bob be willing to fly over and pray for him for three days while he worked on this very important task?
So Bob—who was not politically connected at all—boarded a plane once more and flew back to Kenya, where he prayed and asked God to give wisdom for the leader of the nation as he selected his government. All this happened because one man got out of the boat.

Labels: God

Labels: God, life of a mom, My Mom

Labels: God

2. Doing

People often have the attitude that serving is rewarding. Others will be so happy that you have served them and you will have a warm, fuzzy feeling from it. That isn't always the case. Sometimes people are angry that they are in a place that requires others to serve them. Sometimes people are embarrased or unwilling to be served. (Think about how you would feel if someone else spoon-fed you your dinner. It would be akward & uncomfortable.) But, serving requires that we deal with others dirty, smelly, yucky situations and reactions.

The second part of the doing step is drying the feet. This is finishing the job. If Jesus didn't dry the disciples’ feet, they would have gotten dirty again almost immediately. We have to finish the job. We have to leave the people we serve better off than when we arrived.

I was at a women's bible study luncheon some time ago where part of the program was a hand washing. We didn't do feet because too many of us have issues with feet. (Tells a lot about us as a culture, no?) But, the hand washing was the most extraordinary thing for me. I was the last to get my hands washed. Wiletta Knepper washed and dried my hands. It was the most gentle touch I can remember feeling. The most startling thought was how un-gentle I am with my own children when I wash their hands.

My family are the ones I serve daily. (day in and day out, day after day, on and on....) I get tired and sometimes resentful. It's so crazy. But, hopefully now, I will remember these three steps: feel, (this is the hardest step for me. I like me. I like serving me. It's easy and there is instant reward.) think, and then do. My prayer is that you, too, will remember and learn to serve with a gracious heart.

Labels: God

1. If we had to live life all over again, first of all, we would reflect more. We’d slow down, savor more sunsets eat more ice cream, and laugh more. We would enjoy life more. We would soak in more special moments. We wouldn’t work so fast and so feverishly.
2. We’d risk more. We’d take more chances. We woud live life like it’s an adventure, where you can’t pick the fruit unless you’re out on a limb somewhere.
3. We’d do something with our lives that would live on long after we’re dead and gone.

Mike goes on to say, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait until I’m ninety-five to think about those things. I want to reflect now. I want to risk now. I want to do something right now with my life that’s going to live on long after I’m gone.”

That’s where I’m at. I want to soak in as much life as possible. I want to quit worshipping things that aren’t God. I want to live the abundant life that God calls us to. I want to quit tip-toeing, waiting for my life to get interesting. I want to start living—seriously living.

I don’t know what that looks like exactly. But, I’m pretty sure that for today it’s going to involve exploring a creek with my boys, and dancing the aisles of Wild Oats, and inviting God into every moment of my day.

Labels: God

Ephesians3:14-19—My prayer for you.
When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Labels: God