Ready, Set, SUMMER!

After a couple meetings and two open houses for graduates.....we finished the day in style!

A happy treat for an absolutely glorious day!

He tells me he was smiling :)  I am noticing every time he mows, he increases the protective gear...ha! Hands off, ladies....He's all mine :)

Then, we all went to the elementary school and ran/rode bikes together on the track....part of my ready, set, SUMMER plan (that is currently being developed in my mind) to get us active and healthy.  We already implemented the spinach smoothie part of the plan about two months ago and have realized Brad is an incredible smoothie maker.  We have experimented with a bunch of fruit flavors, but we really like banana, blueberry, and peaches with our spinach and vanilla greek yogurt.  It is rare that we find something that ALL the girls agree is yummy...but that is one combo upon which they can agree.

Ouch! The Irony!

You know the moments when you are "lecturing" your kids about something...I put lecturing in quotes because it really is just reminding them to be careful with their decisions.  Karly is our fearless tumbler....she tries handstands, back-bends, somersaults...and whatever.  She tried a handstand the other day and surprised herself by flipping over into a bridge and coming back up to a standing position....I guess it is really like a front walkover, but she just realized she can do it by accident.  I watch her and often think she is going to break her head open or twist her neck the wrong way.  So, the other night before she went to sleep, I was tucking her in and kind-of kidding with her that I was going to buy her a helmet and make her wear it when she does her tumbling so she won't scare me so much with all her crazy moves.  Then I leaned over to tuck her in....and I hit my head really hard on the bunk bed frame :)  So, Karly said to me (after she was done laughing), "mommy, I'm gonna get you a helmet too!"

Karly really likes this helmet picture :) Could prevent a cat-astrophe, right?

We shared the story with the rest of the family and after the laughter had subsided, my family (mainly Savannah) threatened me....either I blog this or it gets used as a sermon illustration (isn't it funny that they think they can threaten me that way). BLACKMAIL! I would say it's a Pastor's Wife thing....but, really it's a Mom of the Pastor's Kids thing....they have realized the power of a sermon illustration...It's a wonderful life :)

You've Shown Me

Life is a lesson -- I learn as I go.
YOU TEACH

Pain strengthens character, often I am broken.
YOU REBUILD ME

Love is your gift that I've tried to steal away or create.
YOU GENTLY APPREHEND

Tears are my sorrows and my joys.
YOU COUNT THEM AND COLLECT

Laughter.  It is abundant and medicine for my soul.
YOU ARE THE SOURCE OF MY JOY

Prayer is my time with you....the most sacred of gifts.
YOU ARE ALWAYS READY TO LISTEN....AND WAITING WITH WISDOM

I ask.  YOU ANSWER.  I seek.  YOU SHOW.  I knock.  IT IS OPENED.

You know, I might be tempted to say "gifts" is God's love language....however, I am pretty sure He is multilingual.  He probably wonders why we limit it to merely 5  :)  

We just finished putting together a picture collage for our home and I am struck by how blessed I am...the frame I had purchased could hold 21 photos, so I made a bunch of pictures from the last two years and Brad and I went to work filling the frames with our favorite pictures.  Tonight Brad mounted it between our family room and dining room and I am very pleased with it....of course, aesthetically, but also as a testimony to how much God loves us. 

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, 

which is why we call it the present."

~Bil Keane (American Cartoonist - The Family Circus)

So, seize this day.  It is a gift.

(This picture is captivating.)

Pass the Popcorn, Please

It's pretty funny when you're a good ways into a Sci-Fi movie and you shout out, "No Way!"  Like....somehow everything up until that point seemed reasonable?  I can accept the mutations, the adamantium being bonded to a skeletal structure, and. ultimately, how all their unique powers can unite to accomplish their mission, but there's this scene with a helicopter that doesn't seem realistic....what? :)

After I shouted, "No Way!" I realized how ridiculous that was of me.  That's funny!

Default Was Not Mine!

We have been having issues in our office with things we print printing on random printers in different offices.  For some reason, the default printers we select and save do not remain the default printers all day long...the save function is not working....so, from time to time throughout the day, we have to check our printer selections and make sure they are correct.  I will be SOOOOO happy once this issue is resolved.  Anyway, after the long weekend, I wasn't thinking about the printer issues, so I forgot to check my default printer this morning and I started printing off some transcripts I had downloaded in an electronic process.  Well, the good thing is, it doesn't take me long to realize the printer is not working because the printer I use is basically on my lap (only a slight exaggeration :) in my office.  So, I quickly realized I needed to fix my default printer again.  When I went to check it, it had somehow been changed to my label maker printer...weird!  Nothing printed, so I thought, "Good, at least I did not waste any paper!"  However, later in the day I tried to print some labels and there was this weird thing that printed out on them.....it was the student's entire transcript in this little teeny-tiny rectangle area smaller than a stamp....about the size of the top of my thumb....it was not legible, but you could tell it was someone's transcript....tooo funny!  The incredible shrinking transcript. This is one of those things that may only be funny to a few people, but I am saving it at my desk....because it is soooo cute :)

Later in the day, I had the opportunity to read an incredible testimony.  One of the highlights of my job is that I get to read the essays the students write on their application about their relationship with Christ.  Most are very simple...maybe a sentence or two, but today a student wrote about 7 pages of a testimony and it was pretty amazing.  He had been through quite a traumatic childhood, but had come through with a very strong faith.  One of the biggest things he said that impacted me was that for a really long time he blamed others for what he had been through.  If you knew his story, you may agree that he had every right to blame them...however, when he came to know Christ, he realized he had become who he is because of those circumstances and he no longer needed to blame anyone for it because he was exactly where God wanted him to be....somehow, his blame turned to praise.

It is easy to want to blame others for the hardships we struggle through...(I can hear a song right now..."every generation blames the one before")...The young man and C.S. Lewis can say it way more eloquently than I can!  What an encouragement!  When I read those kind of essays....I am very excited for what God has planned for the days ahead and I know that God is working in the lives of our youth.  He is teaching them and He is manifesting Himself to them!  He is faithful to all generations!

Just Another Day of Freedom

We are free because of the BRAVE and we are thankful to all who have served to protect our freedom and to those men and women who made the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE by giving their lives for us!  WE HONOR YOU!!  Thank you for valuing us and the generations to come by your willingness to lay down your life for your country.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  1 John 3:16

Today, we arrived at the Spring Arbor Memorial Day Parade late and the roads were closed to get to the place where we always meet up with friends and family.  So, we needed to walk almost the whole length of the parade route rather quickly.  As we were walking I developed two blisters on the top of my toes where my sandals were rubbing against them and the blisters popped and bled by the time we reached our destination.  ( I know this is a gross story, but I am going somewhere with it and I promise no pics of my toes.) I was in a little discomfort due to my poor choice of footwear, but was able to obtain band-aids and take care of my issues...sometimes, the way I feel about my circumstances...I later learn is such a contrast to the reality outside of myself, so I started thinking about what our servicemen and women have endured...the painful and horrifying walks they have taken...the agonizing time away from families...the blood, sweat and tears (hate to use a cliche for that because of the magnitude of the suffering, but those things are more than "cliche true" in this case)...  Anyway, what I have begun to realize is that, most of the time, real freedom can only be bought with blood.  

We promise not to take our days of freedom for granted!  There really is no such thing as "Just another day" of freedom....freedom is only free to us because someone else bought it and handed, well really gifted, it to us....they, in essence, paid it forward. We know there may be a time where we are called to pay it forward for someone else and I pray that we are ready and willing should that be necessary, but while we are enjoying the benefits of our freedom...walking down a street lined with friends and smiling faces....collecting candy and waving at the people that float by....trying out new dessert recipes for our families to enjoy at the picnics....we promise to be grateful!

THANK YOU!

Danielle, My Belle....That could be a great title for a ballad!

On Wednesday we took Danielle to get her ears pierced....then out to Applebee's for her birthday dinner.  Friday, we had some of Danielle's friends over for a slumber party...I attempted to make homemade ice cream :)  It was supposed to take a half hour for it to be finished in the ice cream churner bucket-thingy, however, two hours later it still looked like a milkshake, BUT it tasted great.  I had denied myself the plan B option of getting another tub of ice cream....thinking....I will have faith this will work and I will completely follow every direction :)  I have a tendency to ad lib recipes sometimes, but NOT this time.....so we ended up having a chocolate chip milkshake poured over our brownies.  I would still classify it on the level of YUM.

Savannah helping me put up some birthday decor before the bus brought the other girls home

Danielle and friends....with sisters too, of course!

The crazy pic...girls getting ready to play musical nails

 

Blue Again!  Isn't it nice to have blue skies and great weather again!

 On Saturday we went to the Teddy Bear Factory in Chelsea for a tour.  I don't know if you remember a previous blog, but there was a time a while back where we talked about where the girls would want to go if they went abroad and everyone was mentioning a different country, except Danielle, who just wanted to go to the Teddy Bear Factory :)  Her wish was granted and she bought a teddy bear with some of her birthday money.  It was really fun....and they actually have some really interesting items in their "museum" collection.  Brad and I loved the story of how President William Taft tried to replace the Teddy Bear (named after Teddy Roosevelt) with Billy the Possum....haha!  Imagine if our kids played with possums instead of teddy bears.

After the Teddy Bear Factory, we were so close to Ann Arbor we decided to head over to a used instrument store there to check out their cornets and trumpets for Kenna.  We found one we liked for her and purchased it....then we were "serenaded" all the way home to trumpet blasts :)  Kassi said, "Kenna, you should find a really busy place and play it for money!"  I did not verbalize my thought that they may pay her to stop playing at this point....because she is so excited about it :) She says it is her goal to toot it everyday through the summer....you can pray for us.

Savannah has been working to raise money for a mission trip she is going on this summer, so on Saturday she was weeding flowerbeds for a family from church.  She had like $75 left to raise to make it to her goal.  So we went to pick her up and she had already been paid $10 for her work....but, the lady handed Brad a check and said, "I want to cover the remaining balance for her, but I don't want to give it to her right now, so can you give it to her later?"  That was a huge blessing!  She was speechless when we handed the check to her....she just stared at it and said, "WHAT?"  I guess that is not entirely speechless, but close :)  We were refraining from covering the balance because we really wanted it to be something she worked for so she could take ownership of it....I think it is really important that she learns to work for things and I am praying especially for God to work in her heart during this mission trip.  I know it can be such a perspective changer for kids when they see and work with people who live in totally different circumstances.  God can really impress their hearts with a compassion for others.

Then, last night, Brad and I had the opportunity to attend a concert in Kalamazoo...it was Ernie Haase and Signature Sound...a Southern Gospel group.  It was enjoyable to be out with friends and the group was very talented. Southern Gospel is not my favorite style of music, but I appreciate the talent....for sure!  I am going to work on some of their little dance steps :)

Their bass sang "Old Man River" for us and I think it was actually better than when I had seen the Broadway show in the past.  Then, most surprising for me....was their piano player/songwriter sang a song for us.  When they said he was going to sing and he was sliding to the edge of the piano bench to face us, I had this feeling that he was going to be really good.  His style is like the Rat Pack...the old crooners that I LOVE!  I had to have his CD.  It was funny because, he writes almost all their songs, and he is great on the piano...but, he seemed almost a little shy of his own talent/ability....like it was awkward for him to be highlighted.  ANYWAY, strangely, I liked his work the best.

His name is Wayne Haun and his CD is called "Old Soul"....if you like the crooners, you'll enjoy it.

Faith@Home

I thought of something else from the conference that really impacted me, so I thought I would share it.  I was given the opportunity to pray at work the other day and this concept made it's way into my thoughts and out of my mouth as I prayed.  I also thought of it again today as I needed to discipline one of my girls for doing something she knew to be wrong....and then we had a long conversation about how it is not always about our actions, but it is about our heart.

The statement at the conference was something along these lines, "God does not just turn bad into good...He brings the dead to life"  That's way more powerful, right!? And, with that in mind, there is no situation that is hopeless.  Praise God for that! The thing we need to be careful with in raising our children is that we do not just make Christianity out to be about bad and good behavior....I am guilty of pointing out behaviors that are not Christlike with my kids and usually my discipline involves the punishment for the behavior and is very light on the teachable moment to help them become disciplined followers of Christ.  I have been trying to be less reactionary toward the behavior itself and more intentional to follow-up after the moment of frustration has subsided and the punishment/consequence has been delivered with conversations with the girls that lead them in making righteous choices and/or a proper way to make amends for something they did.  I'm trying to reinforce with them that we will make righteous decisions and we will make sinful choices throughout our lives, but God loves us regardless of our actions.  Our responsibility is to know Him as our Savior and Lord and to learn to identify the moments we are being tempted and flee from the temptation, to put God's Word in our heart because it is like armor for us to be protected from Satan, to pray for strength when we feel weak, and to be quick to ask for forgiveness when we have wronged another...of that person and of God.  Anyway, that is one practical way I am working to represent a God who is not just a God of good behavior, but who brings dead things life.

Another thing Brad and I started after we returned home from the conference was saying a blessing as well as a prayer over our girls at night before they fall asleep.  This may sound really cheesy, but Brad got this app on his phone at the conference called faith@home and it is filled with Bible promises, blessings, and scripture verses you can pray over your children and one really fun thing for them is that you have to shake the phone for a new one to appear....they LOVE it!  It really is so delightful that they love it so much....It is kind-of like those crazy magic 8 balls, but better because it is God's Word that appears :)  Here's a link to the app if you want it...http://www.faithathome.com/faithhome-prayer-app/

Why this is important....I want them to fall in love with the God that saved them and not to feel as though they can never measure up and, eventually, give up on their faith.  While it is important that there is evidence of their salvation through their works and actions...I want them to know a God who brings dead things to life....who will forgive them...who will restore them.....no matter how many times they fail.  I want them to love Him completely, so they will desire to give the life He gives them back to Him.

The One I Wanna Go Through Time With

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1YxczPEPrs

Jim Croce's words for his wife the night he learned of her pregnancy...some people just have to say "I love you" in a song :)

  

Are You A Multi-Plan Planner Like Me?

I had a good idea today...well, I think it is a good idea.  It's a fun idea for our church to do something semi-big in our community this summer.  I told Brad about it because I want him to present it to the elders tonight in a meeting he is attending...if we go for it....we don't have much time to prepare.  So, he was getting ready to leave and I asked, "Are you going to tell them the idea?"  He responded...."I'll throw it out there."  I told him, "I think that is different than pitching it" So then I got to thinking about what he said to me..I guess, technically, there are two meanings of "pitching it" they are to present it or throw it away...hey, he said throw it out there.....what did he mean? :)  So, I told another elder about my mini-brainstorm from today....he is also an "idea person" and he might catch the vision and "pitch it" for me if Brad just "throws it out...there"....haha!

I am also planning (plan A) to make homemade ice cream for the first time tomorrow night for Danielle's birthday party, but I think (just in case) I should have a big tub of vanilla (plan B) in the freezer....does this mean I have trust/faith issues? :)  You know, the extra ice cream will not go to waste in our house!  Well....I guess it depends on how you spell the 4th to the last word in the previous sentence.

How Do You Spell Generous?

The main idea for the conference Brad and I attended was "ENVISION....What does God see?"  It challenged us to ask God to give us a vision for the people we love...the people we serve with the Gospel of Christ....to ask God for fresh eyes that see them as God sees them.

It was so weird to me...you know the God-weird times when things match up and you just look up and say, "thank you!"  Brad was planning to speak to our graduating seniors this past Sunday, so he was thinking over what he would like to give them as a challenge and the theme of brokenness kept flooding his mind....so he was working that out on the way to the conference.  In the opening session....the very first speaker spoke to our complete brokenness....BUT, that we have a God who RESTORES....it was incredible!!... and just what Brad had on his heart for our youth.  

It also kept coming back around to what I read a couple weeks ago in my daily Bible reading in 2 Corinthians 5....they never used this scripture in the conference, but I felt like God planted it in my mind, so He could grow it a little bit through the conference....His Word is like that, you know?!  I always remember the part about being a new creation, but this whole section of scripture is wonderful and can be quite the mission statement....I don't know if it will end up being a mission statement for something at my church or if it is just for me....but, it is powerful!

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.  The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf:  Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.---2 Corinthians 5:16-21

I have been thinking through this passage for a little while now trying to let the challenge sink in....the things like I'm an ambassador for Christ....Christ passed his ministry to me and the message is reconciliation....not counting men's sins against them....regarding no one from a worldly point of view....God making his appeal through me.....I am to implore others to be reconciled to God....these are all huge things...sometimes it seems overwhelming, right?

Want to see a video that had me bawling at the conference?  I mean seriously, like more than usual :)....it is so simple....but, the concept is profound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is6weMrenls

On Sunday, Brad gave the message to our church that it is not so much what we are called, but what we respond to....and he gave everyone time to pray about what God would call us now that we are his children.  We received a blank name tag and were supposed to write a word on it and take it to the front to post in on a big board.  Kassi leaned over to me and asked, "How do you spell generous?"  Side Note:  I love that kids can respond in such sensitive ways to the Holy Spirit and I do not think we give children enough opportunities to hear from God in our church services as we (most of the time) have their church time super programmed... just a thought.  Anyway, I want to be generous with my little Polaroid camera...showing the hope I have in Christ....the forgiveness I have received, the grace and mercy that are given to me everyday....it's not mine anyway....isn't it given to us for us to pass it on?  Here's the thing about generosity...it is not always about the money.  God can make us rich....enrich us in many ways that we can share with others.

In every way....for every occasion!

THANKS GOD!

What did 0 say to 8?

"Nice Belt"....and then...."better let it out a little so you have room for BIRTHDAY CAKE!"  Ba-dum ching!  So, someone in our family is eight tomorrow....let's see....who could it be?  Has anyone mentioned a birthday?  Man, I seem to recall that someone is due for one soon.

Oh, IT'S DD!

Danielle Elizabeth Sophia Foster is turning EIGHT and does she ever have birthday plans!  Did you know that eight-year-olds are the best party planners?  She has had an idea a day for about two months :)  That's better than last year when she started planning her next birthday on May 22nd.... we had about 364 days of great birthday ideas. 

So, I think she will get her ears pierced...(that is becoming an 8-year old tradition in our family and, regardless of the tradition, she really wants to get it done....)... have a sleepover in our basement with friends, and then, our family will tour the Teddy Bear Factory in Chelsea and she will get to make a bear this weekend....(she has been talking about that for for-ev-er) I think we have now zeroed in on her top plans for birthday fun and she is satisfied...that whole thing is tough for me to limit because her 1st actual birthday party ever was last year....of course she has tons of ideas!  I feel like we are a walking birthday party most days, though, and we often get mistaken for one...people always ask if all the girls are ours and they get this look on their face when they find out they are....that's so fun :)  I always know when it's coming because people look at us....then they talk amongst themselves....then they approach us with their curiosity in tow.  

Danielle, you are such a blessing to us!  We are thrilled to be celebrating your life with you and love that you can think of millions of ways to party!

Love, Daddy, Mommy, Savannah, McKenna, Kassandra, Karlayna...and Kooper too....woof!

Second Fiddle

We were at Culver's this weekend with our family and some extended family to celebrate McKenna and Danielle's May birthdays, Kassi and Karly's big gymnastics show, and Savannah's opportunity to play in the district's Honors Band.  Someone at the table asked Savannah which chair she was sitting....and she just, flat-out, told them she was last chair, but just happy to be there :)....I LOVE HER ATTITUDE...I have really learned a lot about attitude from watching her deal with life...big stuff and everyday stuff.

She and Danielle moved in with us the summer before her 7th grade year and there were volleyball try-outs that summer.  She really wanted to make that team and meet some people from school because she was having to change schools with the adoption.  There were something like 30 girls that tried out and only 14 spots....Savannah was not one chosen.  She was up in her room afterwards and I thought she might be upset over the news, but when I asked her about it she just said, "Well, I know I am good at something...I just have to find out what it is!"  (What if we could say that every time we met some kind of failure or disappointment....we would not waste so much time wallowing in self-pity, right!?)

Fast-forward a little and she decided she wanted to play the flute...so, a friend had an old one we could have and we got it all fixed up for her....she played around with it a little over the summer and then we signed her up for band.  OK, you have to forgive us for this because we had no idea....we signed her up for 7th grade band because she was going into 7th grade....make sense?  It did to us, however, since she had never played before, she was supposed to be in 6th grade band....OOOOOPS!  By the time the band people realized our error, she had already been in the class for some time....so, she kept plowing through...trying to catch up with the other kids who had a year on her.

She worked really hard and caught up...and got all 1st's at Solo/Ensemble.  Then, when 7th grade was over....she says to us, "I heard the fingering for the saxophone is similar to the flute."  So, she picked that up over the summer between her 7th and 8th grade years...now she plays flute in concert band and saxophone in jazz band...crazy right!  She also realized she's not really a speedy runner....but, she has a good endurance and she has been running Cross-Country and some distance events for Track....I just love watching her find herself...find her gifts...realize her potentials....eliminating some things, but embracing others....what a great age!

Back to Einstein for a second...sorry, I just love so many of his quotes and I didn't list this one in the Brownie Blog....I actually think I should read a whole book about him, so I am not just picking up all these fragments of wisdom, but am able to put them in to context.

Isn't that great...(not that it believes it is stupid, silly)?!  But, that sometimes we give up after one failure and we develop this "loser" perception about ourselves that is totally NOT TRUE....instead of really looking for the things we are gifted to achieve.  Pssst.....Jump in the water, little fishy.

It's Dance O'Clock

Here's a song to help you if you are "a little rusty"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM&feature=kp

While I was at "The Gathering" conference I received an email from McKenna letting me know she took over my top scores on a game in Wii Fit....totally not cool!  So, it is now Dance O'Clock and I will be trying to get back on the leader board :)  Hope I won't be too sore to attend church tomorrow....that is a Pastor's Wife joke....haha!

We had a great day today...our first day back from the conference and we had a big Gymnastics Show to attend for Kassi and Karly....I was a little anxious about getting them all ready for it and doing their hair, but I was very pleased with how my experiment went and I added sOOOoooooo much hairspray, so it would stay put :)

My blog....my show-off pics :)

Wanna see some others?...

Do you see the "V" for victory?  It wasn't really a competition...but, between sisters...everything is!

I like it.....I guess it's kind-of artsy and so cute.

Kassi has such beautiful eyes and LONG eyelashes...when I have to do her mascara I always think people will probably assume I put fake eyelashes on her...but, I do not.

Lovely!  But....it is kind-of saying..."these are my flowers and you can't have them" to me.

Getting ready for the show..."time to pump, you up!" Kassi is posing, but Karly is sort-of trying to show her muscles.

We were missing Savannah today due to Honors Band rehearsal....crazy schedules!

OK, time to get back on the leader board!  One quick thing about the conference that was just fun to think about was that when they used to carry the scrolls into the synagogue to open them and hear what God had to say to them it was such an exciting time.....they would send a man out to get the Torah and he would DANCE them in...I know dancing is not for everyone, and sometimes it can be used for inappropriate behavior, but it makes me happy that dancing can be a style of worship.... there is still much to think on from the conference, but I just need some silly down time today :)  May you feel like a room without a roof....a hot air balloon that could float to space...I guess the point is...be really happy...in the Lord!  I wish that for you!

Time for Tea?

What if we didn't have paper or styrofoam cups for our to-go beverages and we had to stop for a minute to sip, think, and rest as we drank from a ceramic cup that couldn't hurry away with us into our busyness? Other countries have time for tea...but, it really is not about the tea or the crumpets :)  it's more about having a breather in the middle of the day and fellowship with others.

REST....we are starving for it.

Brad and I are currently attending a conference called The Gathering and it has been such a wonderful experience so far (only one day...but, it feels like a lot was packed in).  As with other conferences I have attended, I am sure it will take me a little while to process the things I have heard and experienced and allow God to make those things into something tangible for our life and/or the life of our church.  Last time we attended a conference together we came home and started the process of adoption :)  We have had some great times of worship, heard from wonderful speakers, and tonight, we had an opportunity to make our way through prayer stations...that was very powerful!!!....definitely something I would love for Village Hope Church to experience.

There have been a few topics covered...mostly involving developing a healthy student ministry by first helping parents to understand and embrace their responsibility of primary discipler of their children....very challenging!  So much of the discussion comes back to us needing to prioritize what is important to us and slow down enough for our children to absolutely know we are accessible and engaged in all aspects of their lives.  Technology gives us so many advantages to multi-task, but sometimes in our multi-tasking lives we lose the personal touch we desperately need to be using to bless our children.  I almost think we need to retrain ourselves to be single-minded.  Someone suggested today that in order to do that we should find something in nature to appreciate...like the beauty of a sunrise, the simplicity of focusing on ONE THING at a time and praising God for that.  Remember the moments of discovery as a child where everything that was new was so thrilling?  Over time we learn to take things for granted...I guess the colors fade for us and things just look gray or something.... and we need to get back to seeing them as vividly as we did when we were kids....seeing them through a lens of joy and adventure as we realize it has all been created for us to enjoy and experience AND...the creator is still creating it for us as we walk through it AND....He is making so much of it just for us that if we don't see Him through it all we must be blind....AND I know that was a very bad run on sentence AND I am not even sorry!  I'll stop now because I have started into major processing mode and I should not take you through all that with me....there would be way too many run on sentences :)

So, Brad is actually sitting right here and I said..."how should I bring this back around to the topic of tea?"  not that I always have to have a theme...but, really I do.  So he said, "Tell them it will impact them for eterni-TEA"...he is sooooo helpful :)  I wish I could tell you all the ways I have been impressed with his trip planning abilities, but I am still looking for the first way...oh, there it...nope....false alarm.   JUST KIDDING! Despite the issues I have had with the lodging and trying to get over the stomach flu or whatever I had, my husband is brilliant in finding the cheapest place to stay in Chicago...$49 a night...I didn't think that was even possible.  I am going to focus on that ONE THING and be thankful :)  I am so glad I was able to come...I love sharing times like these with Brad.

A Mosquito With Bling

As I was leaving work there was a man doing some kind of construction work to the auditorium I pass on the way to my car and his work truck was parked over the sidewalk I needed to walk on...so, I stepped to the grass.  The man looked up from his work, we exchanged the polite smiles and head nods...and then he said, "hey, I want to show you some bling..."  I thought, "uhhh....weird, but OK."  So, he showed me the work he had been doing during the day....he had been installing a shiny decorative tile on a wall in the entrance of the auditorium and he wanted to show someone.....he didn't know me at all, so I am assuming he was pretty pleased with his work and wanted to share that with someone.  THAT TOTALLY MADE ME HAPPY...plus the fact that he was smoking one of those cherry cigars....not sure why, but that smell is very pleasing to me!  Anyway, I admire and appreciate when people are doing something that they can find the right kind of pride in....that they can feel accomplished in what they do.

Not everyone's job will dazzle people with lots of bling :)...my job, for instance, is not glamorous...but, it is incredibly necessary for the workings of the university.  I have to laugh sometimes when I request a day off and people are not sure how they will get by without new data for one day....that is funny, but it also feels good to be needed, I guess.

There was a large fly buzzing around the basement....errr...garden-level...(more glamorous?) where I work today and it was a bit irritating, but too difficult to capture quickly, so I just let it go on.  I saw this saying a while back and that fly reminded me of it...

You're not too small....what you do matters!  If you do everything as unto the Lord, you can find a lot of satisfaction in the things you are able to accomplish. 

Great Expectations and Perfect Strawberry Pie

So, I was having lunch and looking at pictures of celebrities without make-up...that was enlightening and in the middle of all the real people, Barbie was thrown in....too funny!  It just reminded me that no one is perfect.  

"You have to be perfect!" I think that is one of the biggest lies that Satan speaks to women and that lie can totally hold us captive as we start longing for "perfection" in our lives....whether it is the perfect body, or the perfect house, or the perfectly loving relationship with our spouse, or kids that act perfect and impress our perfect friends...we can be SOOOOO tempted to create unrealistic expectations for ourselves and the others in our lives....then, we can get so fixated on those unattainable expectations that we cannot really live.

  

I've been there.....actually, I go there most days.  I went there today because I had an expectation of having a perfect day all to myself to do whatever I wanted because Brad was taking the girls to a Tigers Game....then, I ended up working longer than I expected in the morning, the errands that I thought would only take a little time...took forever....then, everyone was at Meijer and the lines were long....I ruined two pies I was making for a dinner tomorrow and had to make a second trip to Meijer for two more pie crusts...I never got the nap I was dreaming of (that's kind-of funny...dreaming of a nap :) let alone had the time to go for a manicure which I thought might be a nice treat for myself....are you feeling sorry for me yet...or playing the world's tiniest violin?  I was talking to God about it when I went to Meijer the second time and I said, "Can't anything go right today?"....what I really meant was..."can't anything go my way today...or as I am expecting it to go?"...then, ironically, there was a parking space available in the pole position of section D....

"Coincidence is just God's way of staying anonymous"...I heard that somewhere once....:)  Actually, that was an Albert Einstein quote....a carry over from one of my previous blogs. 

We put lots of expectations on ourselves and on our time....and we rarely are able to meet all the things we want to accomplish....I had a huge pity party today....then, upon my second venture to Meijer I ran into someone that I know who is going through a really hard time right now....and I was able to wish her a Happy Mother's Day.  I feel humbled that even with my stinky attitude from the rest of my day not going as I had expected...my feeling sorry for myself....God still ended this day with a divine appointment for me.  That not-so "chance" encounter put my day into perspective a little better for me.  Our longings are not all bad in themselves...we can long for a ton of good things...but, if the things we are longing for or our frustrations about unmet expectations or desires are preventing us from really living...(and, by that I mean, being ready for the living God has for us each day)....then we are not hungering after the right desires.  The second time was the charm for the Strawberry Pies and in that pursuit I found a higher purpose for my day :)

Ahhh....perfection!

Ice Ice Baby

One of her cards said...."BRING ON THE HAPPY!" and it was a great time!  I think we had 12 girls there and it was perfect because most people are not thinking of ice skating in May....so, it felt like we had most of the place to ourselves...and the girls that needed the ice "walkers" could get one.

Brad looks like he is in pain :(, but everyone else was having fun.  I made it around once without falling....that is success for me....baby steps!  I seriously do not know how the Olympic skaters do it...I have enough trouble just walking on the carpet through the lobby of the skating rink...I almost need someone to hold my hand for that :)

Danielle and Karly were crackin' me up....they loved it so much....Karly wouldn't even stay off the rink long enough to eat her pizza or a brownie and ice cream because she didn't want to waste precious skating time.  At 9:20pm the hockey players took over the ice and Karly wanted to know if we could skate again once the hockey players were done....ha!  She had already been skating for 2 hours.  Kenna has had a great birthday week and I am happy she chose to use her money for a party this year....it was fun to spend time with a bunch of her BFFs!

In other miscellaneous news....Kenna got to choose an instrument to play today since she is going into 6th grade next year.  She has been tossing around a few ideas, but she got to try out the instruments today and she has selected the (drum roll please)....TRUMPET!  I am excited for her....and she is very excited to get one and get working on it.  If you know of anyone who has a trumpet they are not using....we will be starting to look for one for her.  AND....here's something cool I tried this week....I saw this hairstyle and I made Kassi the guinea pig for it...I was really happy with how it turned out.  I am experimenting with hairstyles for a gymnastics show that Kassi and Karly are in next weekend.

Super cute and so easy!  You will see the Foster girls rockin' this hairdo this summer.  Most of it just goes up into a loose ponytail...you just leave a little out all around the edges and then you french braid what you left out and add the ponytail into it little by little....love it!  It takes like 3 minutes once you have it all sectioned out.  You end up with what looks like a bun with a braided halo around it.  This would be so cute for a summer wedding or holiday too....add some ribbons, or butterflies....or sparkles....hummmm....maybe I can think of something fun for the 4th of July.  Anyway, if you have girls with long hair....this is a fun style to try.  OK, I better sign off...goodnight!  

20-Minute Brownies

Waiting for Kenna's brownies to bake for her party tonight and reading Einstein quotes....HE'S GREAT!

 Here are some of my favorites:

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy."

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician.  I often think in music.  I live daydreams in music.  I see my life in terms of music." ---(I identify with this one, so I guess I can say I am like Einstein...ha!  I think I have a weird life soundtrack because certain songs play in my head when I am encountering certain circumstances....really weird, right?  For instance...I won't give you all of them, but say I am in a hurry...I always hear the theme song from Beverly Hills Cop in my head.)  In case you don't know this one, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4kWpi2HnPU (my hurry up song)

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then is an empty desk a sign?"

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."  :)

"I have no special talents.  I am only passionately curious."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."

I think the brownies are done...that delightful smell is permeating the kitchen....I am sure there is some theory of how all the atoms are colliding to bring that smell from the oven to my nose....something like Brownian Motion (to my mouth)....(FYI...Brad didn't believe me, but Brownian Motion is a real thing....you can google it)  I dunno....better rescue them from the extreme temperatures....I like them a little underdone.  (Einstein probably did too...we are so alike :)