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Welcome to our blog. Life is busy, but it is fun to share the stories of our craziness and it is kind of like therapy to have a place write it all down. Enjoy.
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If, as you read, you wonder whether I'm laughing or complaining--just assume I'm laughing...and chuckle along.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The View...from a heart transformed

To say I was unlike this story would be a lie -- the Grinch Whole Stole Christmas But the message of the Christmas pageant

The songs of the cantata

The patience of a loving father
The exuberance of the children
God's gift of family

The challenge of learning to parent each individually--even that little fellow who hides there on the left


The swift passage of time

Love coming down then

Love promising hope for the future

Love overcoming hate now

All these conspired together and brought my heart a bit bruised and tattered by life, a bit squeezed by the long-reaching tentacles of sin's curse to lean against the rough hewn timbers of the manger. To rest there gazing.

To wonder

at a Father's love for His only Son,

and the great love that acted to the benefit of mankind.

To challenge me to believe that the Light that has come is greater than the darkness.

That faith means believing in the Power of that Child-King.

Calling me to

"Come"

"Bow"

Making the story new.

Making it more real than ever before.

This is a story not for the Holidays, but for the every days...

It is so large I wonder how I could have missed it even in the bustle

But like this lovingly covered resting dog that I almost stumbled over as I worked in my kitchen

it seems the truth of Christmas is something I have for so long overlooked.

This is THE STORY.

God did not ignore the difference between us and Holiness.

This is THE STORY.

God did not let us go on without hope under sin's weight.

This is THE STORY.

He became ONE OF US to do something about our problem.

This is THE STORY.

Because He did we can have not only a certain future, but hope for today.




And so this Christmas I can relate to that fabled Grinch -- finding that Love has enlarged my heart -- and I can celebrate like never before.




Perhaps I too shall carve the Roast Beef.





..."It came without ribbons!

It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!

And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas", he thought, "doesn't come from a store."

"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then...?...in Who-ville they say

That the Grinch's small heart

Grew three sizes that day!

And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight..."

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Friday, December 9, 2011

Quotable

From Yesterday's Bear Hunt:

The Wild One was efficiently tromping through the bedrooms from stuffed bear to stuffed bear shooting them with his Nerf Gun and hauling them back to their hunting camp.

At one point I walked by their room to find the Tbone sitting and tenderly holding the largest and fluffiest of their teddies. He sat patting him on his back, a tender look on his face, his voice filled with caring he crooned, "You will be O.K."

I asked if the Wild One had killed the wrong bear.

He reassured me that "He will come alive again."
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Thursday, December 8, 2011

The View ... from precious preschool days

What to do?

What to do?

What to do when you're 4 and the weather is cold, the yard is wet and there is nowhere to go?

Lie down and talk to your new 2nd best buddy.

Wrestle with your 1st and 2nd best buddies.
Make a hunting camp in you bedroom. Complete with lots of little hidey-holes in case you hear Daddy's is on his way home (in 10-12 hours) and you need to hide from him.

Gather your guns, ammo, and lots of pre-stuffed animals

(from the looks of things up there it is bear season)

Go to "Mommy's restaurant" and get take-out breakfast to eat at hunting camp.


Yep, that's pretty much what you have to worry about--when you are 4.

(Niiiiiice!)


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Monday, December 5, 2011

Advent

Don't you love when you look back and see the Teacher had arranged a unit study. You didn't know all the pieces of life had been precisely arranged -- it didn't feel that way as you wandered along. But His Hand is mighty and His Plan precise. And sometimes as you look back on what seemed to be a wandering trail, you see your footprints took you to specifically arranged spots -- spots where you were given lessons. Needs you didn't even know you had were met.

Nearly a year ago I read the book A SHEPHERD'S LOOK AT PSALM 23. I loved it so much I bought a copy and sent it to a friend. The author fleshed out the Psalm with lessons from his own life as a shepherd.

As I continued on with my Bible Study this year I finally arrived at the prophets. Never been here before. Loving it. The imagery is stunning, the applications numerous, the reminders of God's care comforting.

If you have a moment to pause, it would be my honor to share the thread of verses I found that have meant so much to me in these past 3 months. Looking back I see I had a lot to learn. Seeing yourself as a sheep trying to be a heifer is a rather troubling and humbing discovery. Finding my Shepherd ever ready to remove my burdens and care for me in all my sheepness -- that is comfort, peace, rest, relief.

Hosea 4:15-16
The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the Lord pasture them like lambs in a meadow?

Hosea 11:4
I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.

Micah 5:2-5
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times....He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strenth of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.

Mica 4:1-5
In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it....He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths...He will judge between many peopoles and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears in to pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword again nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their god; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

Luke 2:30-33
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdon will never end.

The Shepherd whose birth was announced to shepherds.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Not So Quotable

Boys...will fight, and stand their ground, and make each other scream in agony if they can.

Boys...will make you forget the pre-kid vow to never be the kind of parent who hollers at her children.

Boys...will make you pray prayers like, "Lord, could you help us to have a peaceful home again, without all the bickering and hollering. Give me wisdom."

And boy oh boy will you be shocked, when the very next morning you wake up with laryingitis.

Is it just a virus or is God trying to show me something about myself as part of the noise problem?

Hard to say (no pun intended), but having to whisper forces me to call each one close to quietly give instructions, it prohibits me from venting frustration with their antics and requires that I measure my words. I shall learn some things from this unexpect Quiet Time.
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How I can Laugh

Sometimes I’m surprised when someone tells me they’ve been reading our blog. I tease the dad~ster that there must not be much on TV these days.

For awhile now I’ve been wishing there was some way I could share the reason I can laugh on even the craziest days. I suppose it is in part because I’m a little weird, but most of all it is because of GRACE. God’s grace has transformed me from what I could be (a perfectionist who is not perfect and is driven mad by her own imperfections, an idealist who lacks patience with the “short people” in my life who always seem to have a different agenda than me, an insecure chubby lady who often forgets that I am loved) into one who realizes that I have a big God who patiently loves me. It is God’s grace that is transforming me from what I could be (a suicidal alcoholic) to what He’d have me to be…and in the process He gives me the ability to look at life and LAUGH.

So when I read the following from Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel I decided to take some time and share it with you…because if all I ever did was make ya laugh without telling you about the One whose care makes the laughing possible…well…all the laughs would be wasted.

From page 167-171 in Grace Base Parenting
“The Bible says, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7). It’s amazing how inclusive the word all is. It doesn’t say that we are to cast only our legitimate cares on Him. Frankly, I wouldn’t begrudge God if He had said that. Although He’s a busy God with a lot on His plate, He’s also on omnipotent God, so He’s never too busy….He knows we often lack perspective, but that doesn’t stop Him from inviting us closer to His heart.

A good example of God’s grace is not only the gigantic act of grace that Jesus showed by dying on the cross for our sins, but also the little acts of grace he demonstrated in the midst of His crucifixion. I think most people—including the most ardent critic of Christianity—would agree that if there was any time in Jesus’ earthly life when He actually had the right to be a bit self-absorbed, it would be when He was hanging on the cross. Man hasn’t come up with a more horrific way to torture someone than nailing him to a cross and standing back while he endures a slow, agonizing, and lonely death. In the midst of that agony, the utter focus of pain in human’s mind would make it hard to think of anything else.

But He did. There were some people at Calvary who needed a personal touch of His grace. For most of them, they needed it because of the His crucifixion was costing them personally.
There were soldiers at Calvary who were simply following orders. They didn’t realize that they were driving nails into the hands of the One who had created them. They had no idea that the man they were executing was actually taking a divine dive for them. Because they were so used to crucifying the underbelly of the criminal community, it was standard for them to show such low regard for their victims.

A fickle crowd hovered around the foot of the cross. Some came out simply to see someone being put to death. It was the Roman equivalent of a “reality” show that few wanted to miss. There were also the duped sheep—those who didn’t know much, read much, or think much. They were part of the mob who would chant whatever you told them to.

Then there were the men who wanted Him there, who needed Him there, and who helped put Him there. These were the professional-theologians-turned-powerbrokers who had seen Jesus as bad for business around the temple. They couldn’t see the crossbars that hovered above each of their heads. They couldn’t see the thin strings that came from those crossbars that moved their arms, made them jump, and manipulated their mouths. They couldn’t see the evil hand of Satan, using them like marionettes to do his bidding.

But Jesus could. He could see the religious leaders being used, he could see the crowd being manipulated, and He could see the soldiers doing what they were ordered to do. The fact the He even bothered to notice these things tells us so much about his grace. He did notice them, and in the process He did something to give all these people a gift they desperately needed. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). …Jesus gave grace to the vulnerable surrounding Him, even when He had bigger issues on His mind.

And what about the thieves who were crucified on either side of Him? You would think, what with the sins of the entire world on His shoulders, that He’d ignore these men. When you add to the equation that both men joined the crowd in hurling insults at Him, you would think He would have been justified to view these two condemned men as mere footnotes of history—little more than simple props hanging on either side of Him to strike a greater contrast to the magnificence of His sacrifice. But that’s not how Jesus’ heart works.

Apparently, one of the thieves figured this out. His theology was crude, and his understanding was limited, but he figured out enough in his debilitated state. He figured out that Jesus was King, just like the sign above His head read. He figured out that His kingdom wasn’t of this world. And he believed that Jesus had the power to transport him to that kingdom after they both died. It was a primitive grasp of the salvation message. He called on Jesus by name, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

This thief couldn’t have known that when they were being laid down side by side to be crucified Jesus already knew his name. Jesus could have told him how many hairs were on his head—not that he would have cared much at the moment. But Jesus already knew him that well. He could have told this thief things that no one else knew about him; things that would have demonstrated just how precious he already was to God. In the midst of His pain, His personal focus, His preoccupation with taking on the sins of the world, Jesus responded to this man’s faith: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)

Soldiers, leaders, followers and criminals got Jesus individual attention when He had bigger tasks on His “to do” list. That’s because God’s grace notices vulnerable people. It’s in constant tune with their hearts….

…None of these people could see what Jesus could see. None of them had any grasp on the bigger picture. Their needs were the result of their myopic condition, or their naiveté, or their lack of sophistication. Jesus could have dismissed their needs because of how small t hey appeared next to the bigger task before Him. But his grace kicked in, and it will kick in for us whenever we’re feeling vulnerable. It also kicks in when we don’t even realize just how vulnerable we actually are…."