"mom, obviously you weren't listening to yourself!"

well, i had to run some errands, paysome bills and make a few quick stops the other day.  so, i decided i would take jacob.  the girls were going to stay with "gwammy ynda" and jacob would come with me.  well, first stop was walgreens for medicine for jacee and while we were walking around, jacob kept asking for toys.  what a teaching opportunity, i thought.  so, i told him that instead of thinking of ourselves we needed to be thinking of others.  he could buy something for one of his sisters if he wanted, or buy for a child who doesn't have many or any toys... we went on and you could tell his little mind was working.  well, we got the medicine and went on to mcdonalds... i was starving!  so i got a french fry and shared it with jacob and then we went on to pay some bills.  we paid the phone bill and then i wanted to stop and look at goodwill for a few minutes and i got a few crafty things and then i was ready to check out... but, not before checking out the purses. ;)  so, i was looking at them and showing jacob all of them in their beauty.  when, i showed jacob one and asked if i should get it for myself he pointed out the obvious... when he said..."mom, we need to have a talk...obviously you weren't listening to yourself! this is the season to think of other people not yourself!  if you buy that purse for yourself that would be very selfish!  so, put the purse down and lets go!"  so, on that note... we left!  gotta' love kids!

so it was 2 weeks ago...

it was almost 11:00 at night and i was already in bed when i heard crying in jacob's room.  he was supposed to be sleeping, as we put him in bed at 8:30.  when i went in there to find out what was wrong, he told me he was scared to die.  i asked him why, but he couldn't tell me much, but then we talked about how he didn't have to be scared.  how God died for him and if he chose to accept Christ as his Savior, he would go to be with Him when he died.  we talked about sin and being naughty and then we talked about Christ and forgiveness.  it was right there and then that jacob and mommy prayed together and jacob accepted Christ as his Savior.  PRAISE THE LORD!!  what a blessing that was and is!?!  afterwards, i told him the angels in heaven were havin' a party for him because they were so happy that he accepted Christ.  he was so excited he said "really!?!  let's tell jayden and she can pray and the angels can have a party for her too!"  the joys of being a mommy! 

women's ministries

I didn't write this, not sure who did, but it totally captures how I feel.

Dear Women's Ministry:

The world can give me cute cupcake designs and decorating tips, scrapbooking parties, casserole recipes, and other ways to pass the time. But truly, with my respect and love, may I be honest? If I wanted to learn how to decorate cupcakes, I would take a class in it. If I wanted to be educated on strategies for decorating my home inexpensively from Winners, I would just, you know, go toWinners. Or Pinterest.

But I'm here with you tonight because I want what the world cannot give me. We're choking on cutesy things and crafty bits, safe lady topics, and if one more person says that modest is hottest with a straight face, I may throw up. We are hungry for authenticity and vulnerability, not churchified life hacks from lady magazines. Some of us are drowning, suffocating, dying of thirst for want of the cold water of real community. We're trying really hard--after all, we keep showing up to your lady events, and we leave feeling just a bit empty. It's just more of the same every time.

The women of our world aren't looking for a safe place to cry about housework and ooh-and-ahhh over centerpieces. We're not all mothers, some of us work outside the home, some of us have kids, and others don't or won't or can't. Is womanhood only about wifehood and motherhood? What about those among us that are not wives and mothers? We're not all in the same season of life.

We are - or should be - diverse image bearers of a Divine God. We need Jesus. We are seeking deep spirituality. We are seeking fellow travelers. We are hungry for true community, a place to tell our stories and listen to another, to love well. But above all, point me to Jesus--not to the sale at the mall.

You know what I would have liked tonight instead of decorating tips or a new recipe? I would have liked to pray together. I would have liked the women of the church to share their stories or wisdom with one another, no more celebrity speakers, please just hand the microphone to that lady over there that brought the apples. I would love to wrestle with some questions that don't have a one-paragraph answer in your study guide. I would like to do a Bible study that does not have pink or flowers on the cover. I would have liked to sign up to bring a meal for our elderly or drop off some clothes for a new baby or be informed about issues in our city where we can make space for God. I would like to organize and prioritize, to rabble-rouse and disturb the peace of the rest of the world on behalf of justice, truth, beauty, and love. I'd love to hear the prophetic voice of women in our church.

Please, may we be the place to detox from the world - its values, its entertainment, its priorities, its focus on appearances and materialism and consumerism?

So here is my suggestion: Please stop treating women's ministry like a Safe Club for the Little Ladies to Play Church. We are smart. We are brave. We want to change the world. We run marathons to benefit our sisters, not so that we can lose weight. We have more to offer to the church than our mad decorating skills. I look around, and I can see that these women can offer strategic leadership, wisdom, counsel, and even, yes, teaching. We want to give and serve and make a difference. We want to be challenged. We want to read books and talk politics, theology, and current events. We want to wrestle through our theology. We want to listen to each other. We want to worship, we want to intercede for our sisters and weep with those who weep, rejoice with those that rejoice, to create life and art and justice with intention.

Let's be a community of women, gathered together to live more whole-heartedly, to sharpen, challenge, love, and inspire one another to then scatter back out to our worlds bearing the mandate to be women that love. Idelette McVicker wrote:

Let us RISE to the questions of our time.

Let us SPEAK to the injustices in our world.

Let us MOVE the mountains of fear and intimidation.

Let us SHOUT down the walls that separate and divide.

Let us FILL the Earth with the fragrance of Love.

Let us be women who Love.

Thanks,

Christian Women

jacee's happenings....

well, jacee is now 8 1/2 months and growing tall and strong.  she is learning so many things, like how to pull herself up and how to blow raspberries.  she has 2 teeth which she got in on the 2nd of oct. both on the same day. ;)  the same time jacob lost his second tooth. ;)  she doesn't like to sleep much at nights, well, i shouldn't say that.  she sleeps from about 9:30 to 11:00, wakes up for a snack, then goes back to sleep 'till 3:00 and then goes back to sleep and wakes up at about 6:00 and then if we are home she'll sleep 'till 8:00.  we praise God daily for our little surprise, the one we can't imagine life without!

"WHO ARE WE PLAYIN' FOR!?!"

jacob got a whistle at cubbies last night as a reward for completing another section, so, this morning he and jayden were playing soccer.  he was the coach, and she was the player.   he told her they needed to have a huddle, so they went back into the corner, where we overheard this... " O.K. TEAM... WE NEED TO GO OUT THERE AND DO OUR BEST!  'CAUSE WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR??  'jesus'  WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR?? 'Jesus'  I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!  WHO ARE WE PLAYING FOR??  'JESUS!!' ALRIGHT... LET'S GO PLAY! "  then they ran into the canter of the office space and kicked the ball around.  as we cheered for them, praising them for playing for Jesus, they thanked us and said..."we're the huskers, we play for Jesus!"   what a blessing they are!

"jacked up"

jacob was so proud of himself the other day, and i was proud of him too.  he had his first lesson in couponing and found a coupon for a toy he wanted, so we went to wal-mart.  he had gone home, gotten the money out of his piggy bank, and off we went.  well, we got there, found the toy, proceeded to the checkout and when we got there, daddy gave him the change for the tax that we had figured out.  jacob went ahead of us, very proud and placed his toy on the counter and gave the girl his coupon and the money and when she rang them up she told him the total.  it was more money than he had, so i looked at her and said "you must be wrong, it should be $10.70... $10.00 plus tax."  she assured me she had wrung up the toy, then the coupon and it gave her that total...$11.05  well, daddy gave jacob more money and we went out the door.  i looked at his receipt and figured they charge you tax on the full amount, not the discounted amount, so i said..."well, that's jacked up!"  jacob without missing a beat says, " mom, how did you know his name?"

debonair

jason was in a wedding on saturday and jacob noticed his tux hanging in the truck.  he said "wow daddy!  you're going to be very debonair!"  i asked him what that meant, to see if he truely knew, and he told me it meant daddy would be well dressed and polite.  ;)  what a little smarty pants. 

jaydenisms

saturday, on a quick shopping trip, jayden was very quick to spot the sugar factory smokestacks.  with great excitement she noted... " mommy, look!  it's the cloud house!  the clouds come in and sleep then they eat their breakfast and go out."  what a cutie!

friends

last night was a real treat for me.  i was able to reconnect with some old friends, by acquaintance- not age, at pizza hut, for dinner.  it was a real treat for me!  the group was here from my old church in michigan and they were doing work at the college that i went to.  it was great getting to see old faces again and catch up and even see the "little" kids i used to babysit... they're not so little anymore. ;)  what fun!?!  they were brave souls and they hiked down the monument when it was 98 degrees out... silly people. ;)  but what a beautiful piece of God's creation to enjoy.  well, until next time...

God is good... All the time!

"God is good... all the time... All the time... God is good."  we've heard it, we've said it, but did we mean it?    luckily, my in laws are in town and are a HUGE blessing right now.  bless their pee pickin' little hearts, they allow God to use them and they cook dinner for us quite often.  not only that, they've helped with the kiddos too.  jacob and jayden are little home bodies and they like it when grammy and pa let them stay home and they watch them.  which in turn makes for a nice quiet, or at least semi quiet day at the shop for mommy. ;)  so, while they are saving my sanity in giving me a few hours of quiet, they are also helping the pocket book by cooking, which means... we aren't eating out. ;)  the kids think it's fun to eat at home, which is very rare when mommy has to cook.  so, God has been good to me and He always is!

memorizing scripture pays...

not only does it pay spiritually to memorize scripture, but today it payed physically too.  i memorized prov. 6:6-12 and i entered the scripture memory challenge at our local radio station and my name was drawn.  i won a $20.00 gift card to our local Christian book store.  the more exciting part is that i was able to memorize scripture and it really impacted my life.  they were verses i needed to hear. ;)  what fun!?!

vacay days....

so, i never got back on to post anymore about our vacay, so here it is in a nutshell...we went to church, then lunch, then storybook island.  we had lots of fun there... of course, there wasn't enough time. ;)

then, we came home on monday after lunch at sam's and a quick shopping trip to gordman's, michael's, target, and the dollar store.

vacay day one

so we did the craft show and then the kids also did a penny carnival with grammy and pa while mommy did the craft show and jacob rode the hart train ;)  jayden wouldn't go... she was too scared!  after the craft show we went to the motorhome and grammy and pa made lunch.  then we went swimming and then into rapid.  we went to hobby lobby (thanks honey!) , olive garden (thanks grammy and pa) and sears.  we had a great time and now it is almost 10:00 and time for me to turn into a pumpkin... church in the morning... wherever you are... seek HIM!

craft show

So what are your plans for the weekend?  We are heading up to hart ranch, in beautiful Rapid City, South Dakota.  Gene and Sharon (the inlaws) are there and we are getting a cabin for the weekend.  I am sooooooo excited!  It’s always soooo pretty and there are so many things to do and of course, there is always mt.  rushmore, the festive place to go this time of year.  The firework display is fantabulous! and Saturday, I will be doing my first ever , alone, craft show.  I’m really excited!  I have a lot of goodies for sale and I can’t wait to see what people think of them… we’ll see tomorrow…

Some of my craft items that I am selling…  purse key hangers… over the stove towels, aprons, record bowls, garden markers, and pop tab purses (that my mom made).   I’ll have more for the craft show that I am doing in nov. but for now, this was all I could do on a short notice (3 weeks).  

 a post to follow.  ;)

 ... so, i did the craft show and while many people were really excited about my items, i only sold 1 thing :(  bummer!  but i learned a few things and i made enough to cover my table fees and i have plenty of things to get me started on the craft show that i will be doing in november. :)  and over all, the people  thought my stuff was really cool. ;)  i'll post pics later. ;)

hair-locks of love

So, on Wednesday, I decided that I was going to do it… cut my hair.  So, I went to make an appointment at the salon across the street and the girl told me to sit down.  I told her no, I just came to make an appointment.  She said are you really gonna do it?  I said yes, and she told me to sit down before I backed out.  So, I sat down, and she called Jason and told him I’d be back in 20 minutes.  So, 20 minutes and -12” of hair later…  ;)    so, what did I do with my hair you ask… I donated it to locks of love,  An organization that makes wigs for children who have cancer and have lost their hair.  I hope that the mop that was on my head can make a little child, somewhere, very happy.  It seems like many people in my life have been affected by cancer.  My paternal grandmother died when my dad was 13, of ovarian cancer, my great uncle had cancer, my other grandmother had colon cancer, we’ve had melanoma in the family, breast cancer, lymphoma, and other types.  What a hard thing to go thru.  I can’t even imagine the long days of chemo and radiation and the kicked bucket feeling of the meds.  I pray one day, a cure will be found.

jayden

my little princess and i were going to play dress up the other day after we did some school work and i took a skirt off of a puffy hanger and she promptly grabs the hanger and says... "whats this?... a sword?"  then she says, "look a ninja skirt!"  and her gloves were superhero gloves.  she really is a little tom-boy  ;)

baseball

jacob is really into baseball lately... he always wants to hit a "home depot" (home run) :)

wisdom

so, the other night we were doing devotions with the kids and jacob heard the word "wisdom".  he knew this was in one of his cubbies verses so he promptly said, "hey!  that's in my verse... 'and Jesus grew and whizzed on him! " needless to say, i had to excuse myself from the room 'cause i was laughing too hard. ;)

farmer jacob

while pastor scott is out of town, we are playin' farmers. jacob loves  to feed the pony and collect the eggs. wish we could have our  own chickens. ;) he sure is taking the responsibility quite well.

4month check-up

she's growin'!!  here's the 4 month stats from the dr. : 14# 2 oz. / 27 in. / 75% for weight / off the charts for height.  what a big girl!  for the second time, the nurse came back in and remeasured her, because she thought it was impossible for her to be that long. ;)  she smiled the entire time we were in the dr.s office and just kept smilin' at the dr.  she loves her!

4 months

tomorrow, our sweet little baby girl will be 4 months old.  my how time flies!  what a blessing she has been!  she has truly been a gracious gift of God.  she teaches me daily of sweet innocence.  she lays there doing nothing, but smiling and wanting to be loved.  she loves when people talk to her and she just smiles and coos.  she is the smiliest baby i've ever seen!  she sure has changed our lives, and for her we are truly grateful!

tomorrow a little late

oops... so tomorrow came a little late. ;)  here's some pics of our week...

day 7

wow!!  what a fun, busy day!!!  we woke up and got ready for a day on the town. ;)  we went and picked jos up from work and headed to burger king for lunch.  then he went back to work, but the rest of us went into town to go check out an upcycle shop.  i loved it!! thanks ginger for bringing us there. :)  then we walked to this little toy store that was adorable!!  they had an area for little girls to dress up like princesses and have tea parties and some really cute princess things.  then we went and had frozen custard again... YUM!!!!    and then mom and dad went back to michigan.  the rest of us went back to jos and ginger's and had nap time.  then after that... jos and jason worked on the bug and auntie ginger and jayden played.  we then woke jacob up and we went out for pizza.  then we went to the park to play.  we all had a great time!!  i can't wait to post some pics tomorrow!!  ;)  then we came home and had more fun!!  impossible, i know, but we did!  we had a bon-fire and made smores and played and hula hooped and play, play, played.  what a fun night!  we're heading home tomorrw, but we are only going 'till about davenport, iowa and then we will stop for the night.  then sat. we will stay with uncle russ and auntie vickie again... nebraska... here we come!

day 6

so, it was a b-e-a-utiful day today!  we woke up and hung around the house for a while then we ate left overs at home and then ventured out.  we took the kids to uncle jos' work (big lots) and they met his boss and she fell in love with them and bought them each a toy golf set.  then we went to goodwill and i looked for some clothing and "stuff".  it was actually quite different from our goodwill... ours is stinky, dirty and messy and this one was neat, clean, very organized and if you didn't know better you'd think you were in a regular retail store.  then we went to maurices, where i bought a shirt for our date ;)  and then i went to walgreens for water and to check on some deals.  then we went home and got ready for our date.  jos and ginger volunteered to watch jacee while opa and oma were taking jacob and jayden to go see their first movie... kung fu panda 2.  they loved it!  we went to ruby tuesdays for dinner and then to a few different stores.  we went to crazy 8s and buy, buy baby.  then we went to this little small town frozen custard place and it was AWESOME!!  i had the buckeye somethin' and it was TO DIE FOR!!  needless to say... we're going back tomorrow for more custard!

day 5

well, it was another hot and sticky day on our trip.  we went to the creation museum and at 10:00 it was already 97 degrees.  the creation museum was really awesome!  they had life sized dinosaur replicas and fossils, creation evidence and really neat displays.  we walked around pretty quickly, but with little ones... you have to.  then we came back to jos and ginger's and i had put a roast in this morning so, i worked on that a bit and got the rest of dinner going.  we then ate and the boys worked on jos' vw bug for a while and then we went to jos' softball game.  he played pitcher and they lost, but the other team had to forfeit so it didn't really matter, but it was a good game.  the kids really enjoyed watching uncle jos and cheering for him.  it was cute!  they would yell... "go uncle jos" and "good pitch uncle jos" and "that's my uncle"  and "get him out"  one time... without prompting, jacob even yelled at the other team when jos was at bat and he yelled, "well, that was a bad throw!"  it was soooo cute watching them!  then we came home and jos had a little more help and they worked on the car for a few minutes, taking the body off the chassis.  it's been a long day and i'm ready to hit the hay... can't wait to get all these pictures loaded!

day 4

so... day 4 of our trip...  today we went shopping for groceries, which of course, seemed to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R !!!  it of course didn't, but it seemed like it!  then we came home, to jos' house, and took naps and started dinner.  we had a cook out and just chilled for a while.  the kids played with auntie ginger and uncle jos and had fun with their new squirt guns.  then we all went to dave and busters for a while.  opa wasn't going to go, but we begged him and he joined us.  before we left he said he doesn't do those "fun things" but we all got a chuckle when we finally convinced him to play a few games and then we saw him reloading his card. :)  jayden surprised us all by being the big winner.  she hit the jackpot on one game and got 1000 tickets and then hit another jackpot and one 300 tickets.  she was just as happy with those as she was the 1 ticket wins. ;)  then the kids got quite the loot when we cashed in our wins... 3,970 somethin' tickets.  they of course thought the candy and little things were great! overall, a good time was had by all.  the kids got quite the loot and the adults had fun wasting a few hours.

as you've noticed... there are no pictures... i'll put those up in a couple days. ;)
good night all!  tomorrow is another busy day!

day 3

we went to church this morning with uncle jos and auntie ginger.  definately not my style of worship, but ... to each his own.  it did amaze me though, how much work goes into setting up their church.  they meet in the local high school, but you would never know it's not their own building, except for the school book store and basketball players practicing.  ;)  the church has signage and a coffee shop with starbucks, free t-shirts for visitors, amazing sunday school displays for the children fancy, schmancy bulletins and print outs, visitor bags, and more.  WOW!  it amazed me how much energy they had.
after church we went to subway for a yummy lunch and then home to rest... well, almost all of us.  auntie ginger had to go to work. :(  but oma and opa went to visit her at work (for the 50% discount for 50 and olders... and because they love her! )  :)  so, tonight it's off to olive garden... yummmmmmm!

day 2

Well, the first day went well.  We stayed aunt “uncle russ” and “auntie vickie’s” house and the kids got to play with xander.  They love him!  They always have sooo much fun with him and they love playing with his cool toys. ;)  we slept on a wonderfully soft mattress and I felt like a princess and didn’t want to wake up, but alas, another 12 hours on the road today becons me. :(   praying today goes well…   

... well, it went o.k.... we arrived in ohio at jos and ginger's at 11:30 P.M. and we are all alive... 

ohio or bust!

What a wonderful blessing it is to have in laws that are willing to let God use them!  My in laws are retired and live in a motorhome.  They travel all over the u.s. and they knew that we wanted to go see my brother in ohio for a quick vacation.  So, one day this spring, they called and said they would be willing to come and watch the shop for us.  PRAISE THE LORD!!  This gave us the opportunity to take a whole week off and drive the long trek to cincinatti. 

I had that initital AHHHHHHHHHHH…. WHAT AM I DOING? I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO!  I CAN’T LEAVE NOW!!  I AM SOOO STRESSED!  IT’S THE END OF THE MONTH… STATEMENTS… TAXES…. CHECKS… AHHHHHHH!!!   But God always knows how to calm our hearts in the midst of chaos.  My mother in law stepped right back into her old job and took over at the shop.  Poor her… it now looks different than when she was there daily.  Toys have replaced tools, drawers of supplies are now drawers of diapers… hand prints line the windows and display cases… little bits and pieces of my beautiful children are all over the shop and showroom.  I look at them when I’m at work and think “what in the world!?! I am nuts to bring 3 kids to work with me!”  but I know I am truly blessed to be able to do so and enjoy every bit of their little lives.  So now as my mother in law looks around at my messy shop, I know she is probably shedding a tear missing us and seeing my kids everywhere around her… just the way I like it!  ;) 

So on we go to Omaha for the evening and then on our way to ohio in the morning…  OHIO OR BUST!!!!

(written on friday, but posted a little late. ;)

friendliness

jacob recieved the award of friendliness yesterday evening at his school's graduation program.  his verse chosen for him was prov. 17:17 i believe... "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."  his character trait does describe him... he knows no stranger.  as he yells "freeze" at a customer and says to him... "hey!  are you a clown?"  i just have to laugh... what a friendly little boy he is  ;) 

lil' froggy

jacob had a school program last night and he was such a cute lil' froggy!  i just had to share some pics...  we were soooo proud of him!  we love you lil' froggy. ;)

jacobisms

jacob says sooooo many funny things i really should be writing these down... but because i'm not very good at that... here's a few to make you laugh...
"dear God, thank you for this food and for our family and thankyou that we could spend the day together and please help mommy to get rid of her big fat tummy and learn how to do push-ups. amen."
a few days later....
"dear God, thank you for this food and for our family... and... please help mommy to feel better. amen.  .... see, i didn't pray for her big fat tummy!"

FOREVER....

sorry... it's been FOREVER since i last posted. 

Since the last post, many things have happened, OBVIOUSLY!  Well, we had a beautiful baby girl named Jacee grace.  She was born feb. 10^th at 4:35 a.m.  she has changed our lives, what a joy she is!  

Jacob has started school and is almost done with his first full year at a school other than home.  He is doing quite well and really enjoys his teachers and the other kids.  It is a joy to watch him grow in the Lord too.  He is in cubbies at awanas and he does very well with memorizing his verses and teaching them to us as well. ;)  

Jayden is a great helper for mommy and knows how to melt your heart.  She also goes to awana and is in puggles.  She LOVES it!  She can’t wait for “church school” every week.  Every week she tells us that she learned that “God loves Jesus”.  She recently fell and hit her head on the floor at one of our local restaurants, ‘causing her head to split open, we quickly ran her to the urgent care.  After waiting for what seemed like an eternity we saw the nurse and they put a staple in her head.  more pictures to come later... i guess i'd better get to workin' now before the boss gets after me... ;)