No, Mr. President
Waste Management
Recycling is much more exciting than regular ‘ole garbage, no? Lately I have been stumbling on so many ways to use what could be the trash but instead transforms into beautiful, fun, or decorative creations. I don’t have a problem recycling some things, but sometimes I get in a clutter rut with others and just have no clue what to do with them. Some of these ideas are just fun waiting to happen. Plus, I love tutorials with how-to photos in them! So great!
Clothes
I just stand back and laugh when I open my closet. Aaagh! What size am I? To be such an organized person, a stranger would never guess it by looking in my loch-ness-ish abyss of mismatched apparel. Maternity mediums are hanging right by the petites and all seasons are slapdashed together in one gigantic mess. I blame it on the fact that I never stay in one size for more than three months – no joke! 
The dresser is the same with its lasagna-like drawers of Summer/Winter outdated chaos, but I guess that’s besides the point.
This week we are doing inventory of all of the closets, and I suspect I will have the same dilemma that I do every year: I have no clue where to put all of this clothing! Maybe I’ll post some before/after photos because that’s just fun! Maybe I should repost this and title it “Waist Management,” then! (Sorry, sometimes I get in a really corny mood and can’t stop.)
Okay, so I love Goodwill, and I even started my own “garage sale” site via Facebook that has proved to be a huge blessing to me and some other people who can use the stuff that has past through our walls. Let’s just say, though, that I want to be a little less boring and re-use some of those fibers. These are some fun-tastic ideas I have seen online; maybe some of you crafty types can put them to use as well!
Duct Tape Dress Form
Now this is a great idea! Not only can you use an old tee for fitting the form, you can actually stuff the whole thing with shredded old clothes! That’s saving like $200+!
Beautiful Fabric Scrap Wreath
It’s not really clothing, but nonetheless it’s gorgeous!
Bags and Boxes
We usually recycle our boxes and cartons, but the tutorials below are some attractive ideas for reusing them, too. And who doesn’t have that mountain of plastic bags just waiting to be reused? Awesome!
For the Kids
I have so many photos that never seem to make it to their final destination. Sometimes I just let Lydia run around carrying them in the house because she loves photos so much. Something she and Steven have also started doing lately during “naptime” is sewing fabric scraps on heavy thread to make little animals. They like the sense of accomplishment, and I like the quiet. Here are some great ideas for kid-fun that I like of late.
Well, isn’t that fun?! Now for twenty extra hours to do all of it! Ha!
Grace to the Humble
I am hesitant to share my personal thoughts of “the morning after,” but this is my blog, and being in a conversation about this topic is highly unlikely for me due to the fact that the median age of my workplace population is 3.
I’ll admit that the first thing I did this morning was pop open my macbook just to make sure that there wasn’t some shocking upset for McCain, and, after two or three minutes, I was ready to close it again and roll over for twenty more minutes of sleep. Shepherd kept me awake more than I would have liked, and the thought of Obama as the President (although first African-American President is a great thing) made me not as excited to start the day. I closed my eyes, and my mental filmstrip rolled for several minutes.
Lydia asked me last night why McCain probably isn’t going to win and Obama is. She asked me about what a President does and why we have laws. She reminded me why I love talking to my children (or any children, for that matter) about these kinds of things; it’s humorous to find myself groping for the right words and to hear how silly I sound. I talked about government, elaborated a little on the names and dates we are memorizing in American history, and for now with her, I sidestepped the issues that really burn in my mind.
When we found out we were expecting Meredith in 2006, I was shocked, angry, and scared. I’ll be honest. I wasn’t ready for another baby, and for a short time I was exhausted thinking of how in the world I would be able to handle another pregnancy and infant on top of our two toddlers. Later, this past Spring and with a different pregnancy, my midwife phoned me to tell me that an ultrasound showed some unusual findings which later were shown to be not one, but two soft markers for Downs. For several weeks I was weepy, a little angry, and terribly frightened at the thought of the responsibility of all of the unknowns in the face of our present load of children. There is little in this world that is more humbling and exhausting to me than taking care of small children.
The rewind button presses in my mind. There was a woman whom I have never met who was 18 years old and overwhelmed with possibly the worst news of her life in 1979: she was going to have a baby. She was going to have me. She was probably angry, scared, and searching for the door to get her out of such a life-altering situation.
I cannot imagine my life without these beautiful children. I cannot imagine and don’t want to think about what my life could look like right now with the consequences of my foolish arrogance and without the grace of God! How can I look into the eyes of my children and be at peace with the thought that the leader of my nation would have encouraged me to get rid of two of them? Further, how can I fathom the thought that a hand would have reached into my mother’s womb and eliminated me?
These thoughts could make me angry, but I am not angry. I am full of joy today. I am full of joy and peace because I know my God is working. He is breaking the arm of the arrogant and proving He is God. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. My husband prayed over me in bed this morning and prayed that the body of Christ would look to Jesus as our sovereign King and that for us that would be first in our home. I pray for God to deal justly with the wicked and give mercy to those who search for truth in Him. I pray that my heart will be humbled and not look to a man but the Man for my peace. I pray that for all of us who follow Jesus Christ. We are not slaves but to Christ. This is not our home. May we believe it and live like it!
A couple of things I have been taking in:
The heart of a man I respect tremendously
One at a Time
Living Soli Deo Gloria Under Barak Obama
Our lives are vapors
Should it not be laid upon the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to plead for the overturning of false doctrines and the extension of divine truth? Would it not be well to search our own hearts, and turn out any of the Popish lumber of self-righteousness which may lie concealed therein? –C.H. Spurgeon, M&E, November 5th
Who Will Show us Some Good?
Tuesday morning a friend in my bible study discussion group made a comment about the promises of Psalm 4 in light of the distressing times in our economy. I let the balm of Scripture sink deep into my mind throughout the day and have been thinking about that passage ever since.
There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.– Psalm 4: 6-8
I remember in college I used to babysit for a couple with four small children (hmmm, sounds familiar!), and one evening, I don’t recall why, we were discussing their journey of faith through a period with very little finances. One of them said, “We used to sit down on Friday night and roll our pennies, and on Saturday we would go to the grocery store.” I looked around their home, and although it was not fancy, they had everything they wanted and more. They had an incredibly beautiful family, and I would have argued that they were some of the most influential people in my hometown. I thought to myself, “That’s amazing, but Lord, I don’t ever want to be rolling pennies!”
Fast-forward four years, and my husband and I found ourselves on the beans and rice diet. There were several months that we saw very little in our kitchen pantry and felt much stress on our couches. We had a young baby, bills, unforeseen emergency expenses, and we did not have the experience yet in our relationship to be good at managing our home together in this way. We were on a rocky boat, and we didn’t like it. Our pillows, however, always held our heads in sweet slumber, and it was truly because at the end of the day, we believed Psalm 4:8. In our frailty and immaturity, we had a firm anchor. We honestly believed in the God we could not see, and we trusted that His sovereign hand ruled over all things. He was taking care of us.
Several years later we find ourselves here, weeks before a presidential election, with four small children of our own, and we have the same hope that is anchored in the steady hand of God. God is not surprised by anything that comes down the pipe to us. He ordains every breath and step. We do not know what tomorrow will bring, but the Author and Perfecter of our faith answers the question, “Who will show us some good?” with a resounding I am.
Eric and I can look back over the last several years, and not one time has God failed to provide for us. It is amazing. People who don’t believe in God and don’t know Jesus cannot understand this! He truly takes care of His children, and many times he has a sense of humor about it. The “beans and rice phase,” for example (by the way, I still eat beans and rice all the time because they are just awesome)… anyway, some good friends (Carrie, you know who you are!) with the same amount of small children as us came by one evening during that time with steaks, saying, “We just wanted to bless you and come eat dinner.” That was one of the best memories of Christian fellowship in our home we can remember (plus, what could be more entertaining than me popping the potatoes in the microwave WITH the foil still on?)!
A few weeks after Shepherd was born a couple in our congregation mailed us a very large amount of money. The attached note conveyed that they knew from having four kids that it is not cheap to have a large family and that they hoped to bless us in gratitude for God’s grace working through us at the church. Just a few weeks later Steven was hospitalized, and later we smiled to see how God so perfectly and faithfully took care of those medical bills. That is just one story in one family in one city of one part of the world of the provision of God. What joy, more joy than grain and the best wine, there is to know the Lord.
He is amazing, and if we trust Him completely without wavering, we will be blessed to see how He will show us some good, no matter what. And ultimately, the good that we all are longing to see is the favor of God, his face shining on us, and that is freely, freely given in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah.
Summer Fun
Here’s my entry for the 5 Minutes for Mom Summer Fun Photo Contest:
Emilyweek ’08!
Last year I flavored up my blog with a series of posts about my friend Emily’s visit with her kids to town to see us. It was such a great trip, and this past week we had another “Emilyweek” at our house! Actually it wasn’t at our house because we stayed at the beach, which was so much more fun and relaxing. It really was relaxing, even with six children under the age of five – ha! My friend Kristie also came with her daughter Karina. Karina, Caroline, and Meredith were born within three months of each other, so they had a blast playing together during our visit.
I cannot believe it has been a year since I have spent time with my friend! It doesn’t seem that way at all because we talk on the phone or email almost every day. I’m sure you can relate if you have “that friend” who never seems far away because you always pick right up where you left off in your last conversation. Emily is that friend to me. I am so thankful for her friendship that goes beyond smiles, “how are you?”‘s, and birthday gifts. She is a true friend who walks with me and points me to Christ. She has been through so much with me in the last year. If we would have known last Summer what we were going to go through between then and this Summer, I don’t know if we would have believed it! Friendship in Christ, however, seems to stretch to those kinds of boundaries, and God blesses it richly with memories, tears, prayers, and thanksgiving. It is of course nice that we have so much in common, too. We can share toddlerhood tips and cry about the questions we have burdening us as well as share the joy over similar milestones.
I was so thankful to spend some quality time with Kristie, too. Kristie married Jeff, and Emily married Brian; Jeff and Brian are brothers, so they are really close sister-in-laws. They were friends before their marriages, too, so that is really neat! I can’t describe how awesome I think Kristie is. She is one of those rare women who walks with her heart high because she radiates her faith in Jesus. She is bubbly, joyful, energetic, and laid-back all at the same time. She is such a fabulous mom and an encouragement to me. I just love being around her! When I am around her, I think to myself, “I hope I am a blessing to be around like that!”
When Emily and Kristie pulled up on the first night with their kids in the van, I had just put our children to bed. 
We tried to wait in the living room, but their tired little eyes just shut and couldn’t hold out any longer. When they got there, I took Ethan to the bedroom to wake up Lydia and Steven, and they were so happy to see each other!
It was so encouraging to be in a house for five days with our children, laughing and playing, but also just enjoying watching each other be mothers to our kids. 
We have our little ways of doing things differently to be sure, but the thread that holds us in common bond is our love for Christ and wanting our children to love the Lord and enjoy life. It’s just great to be around other mothers who want the main thing to be loving Jesus. Everything else – all the methods and preferences and stuff that keeps those web sites running strong just kind of pales in comparison. I think all of us were truly blessed. Don’t ask how many diapers we changed, though!
Some of the fun things we enjoyed this week were mornings at the beach, watching airplanes and kiteboarders, cooking and trying to get it on the table at lightning speed for hungry toddlers, rocking on the porch, watching movies, Jell-o games, walking on the beach, knitting, playing with shoes, worshipping together at church, flying kites, eating pretzel dogs at the Farmer’s Market, carriage riding, singing with Eric, and staying up talking into the early morning hours. One of the best parts for me was that I put down my camera and let Emily and Kristie take all of the pictures! Oh, it was fun. I pray that we will enjoy many more years with our friends across the miles and that our friendships will grow stronger.
Until next time…
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