Our Weekend Whereabouts

We had a great weekend!  Saturday was Band Festival for Savannah and we all went to support Western Middle School...Savannah got to sit 1st Flute for the 8th grade band, so she had the responsibility of stepping to the director's platform to seat everyone.  She was pretty excited for that!  I always get so nervous for them when they have the sight-reading part of Festival....so crazy that they are able to play a piece that quickly without being able to play a note to practice.  Their director is amazing to me!

So, that was fun...then we surprised the girls and took them to Chuck E Cheese for a little celebration of our year anniversary for the adoption.  Brad and I played Guitar Hero almost the whole time...(I beat him only twice...I need more practice)....just taking a couple ski ball breaks when our hands were about to fall off...and one shot at eradicating aliens from the earth...oh, and I had to try fastest finger...I have won it in the past a few times...just be careful if you ever try it because you can separate your finger nail from the nail bed if you are too intense and press too hard to get through the maze...ouch! The girls had a good time too...ha!  They like all the games where they end up with weird pictures of themselves :)

Today, we had a wonderful day at church...a long day, but so good.  We had service this morning and then a membership class this afternoon where we welcomed about 20 more members into our church family.  Then, tonight for youth group we had one of our young adults from New Tribes Bible Institute share about her calling to the mission field and her new assignment to Tanzania.  I am going to be sad to see her leaving Village Hope Church because she is such a rare....sweet lady, but it is also very exciting to know how God is using her....and to know He is fulfilling her dreams...I can tell her heart is full of joy because she is beaming about this opportunity.  When I see people that happy...I think of  "I'm walking on sunshine...whoa!"...I think that is my go-to happy song or something.   I hope her story was very inspiring to our youth...I know it was for me.

After that talk, we were in the van on the way home and the girls were talking about where they would want to go if they went abroad.  Kenna said she wanted to go to Africa and Savannah said the Philippines...then, Danielle chimed in and said she wanted to go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop.....I LOVE KIDS!!!!!  We decided on the drive thru at McD's to get some chicken sandwiches and wraps since we got out of church late.  Brad was ordering saying, "can I have two chicken sandwiches" and the guy interrupted by saying, "NO" to him...haha!  I have never had a drive-thru attendant tell me NO to my order...I laughed so hard....so, then Brad was repeating the order and I whispered that he should add a knuckle sandwich at the end of the order and see what the guy would say....the guy really had a good laugh with that one....I love everyday adventures...he said he would have our order ready at the window....haha!

What's In a Name?

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna.  I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.  Revelation 2:17

When I first read this verse it was really exciting to me...still is.  I think it will be incredible to be given a name by God!  Brad and I really enjoyed naming our children...we always wanted their names to be meaningful and something we could see them growing into....I always loved knowing the meaning of my name was Joyful Spirit and Strength/Strong (although sometimes I think I took my middle name and made it mean strong-willed). 

McKenna Christine means beautiful and blessed follower of Christ, Kassandra Brianne means prophetess and strength (we have already seen this meaning come to life from the time she had her eye surgery and had dreams of Heaven), and Karlayna Suzanne means a free person on the narrow road and Easter Lily.  When we were planning to adopt and we were in the visitation time with Savannah and Danielle we asked them if we could give them a middle name that would be meaningful and something we could pray for them.  They were both agreeable with it at the time (probably because we were at Disney World when we first started talking about it)...I guess it wasn't really fair to propose it at that time :)  HINDSIGHT!  Anyway, I wanted to give Savannah the middle name Nicole because it means Victorious or Overcomer and I wanted to give Danielle the middle name Sophia because it means Wisdom....both things I pray for them as they grow up.  Danielle was excited about her name and decided she wanted it, but Savannah ended up having some reservations about changing her name and so we did not end up giving her a new middle name.

 At the time, I was disappointed because I really wanted her to be an "overcomer"...and somehow I thought the name would do that.  Fast-forward to today and we are so excited to be celebrating ONE YEAR since our adoption was finalized on March 15, 2013.  This has been an incredible year and I have seen God's hand working out all the challenges we have faced as a family and some individual struggles along the way with all the transitions.  I have been amazed by how God has helped everyone through it!  I have learned (and am learning) so much and one of the biggest things is that I cannot play the role of God.  I cannot control situations to turn out the way I want them to and I cannot even define them, sometimes...even if my intentions are good.  I saw a statement that "hits the nail on the head" with my lesson in this, "Only God can turn a mess into a message, a test into a testimony, a trial into a triumph, and a victim into a victory!" I wrote that down and put it by my desk at work because it is a good reminder for me....and it is humbling.  I definitely have seen Savannah transitioning into one who is victorious and who has an understanding of what she has been through and an excitement about where God may be leading her...but not because of a name I gave her.

Her new name is being made in Christ....and that is thrilling to me!

If you want to WORSHIP the Name Above All Names....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9YC9a-QkCc

Dear Potter,

I'm the clay you're working on...the one from the miry pit.  

Then your hands reached down and pulled me out and split my form into many pieces; locating impurities.  

I thought I was a goner, my hopes for future obscure...

but, your persistence met my resistance and now this clay is pure.  

I watch you as you form me...when I'm not caught up in the spin 

and I see in your eyes the masterpiece that you bring out from within. 

THIS IS WONDERFUL...

YOU have control and I'm molded in your hands.  

You have made more of this lump of clay than I've dreamed in my grandest plans.  

I know, before I am complete, there will be a time of fire, 

but you have NEVER let me down...so I pray now...make me all that YOU desire.

What is the fire?  Why is it necessary?  I watched a potter one time and I was so amazed with how he crafted a vase on the spinner (I am sure there is a professional name for that, but I don't know it).  He talked all about the amount of water that you need...the pressure you should apply to the clay to bring it up higher.  I was enthralled....at the end of his work he held up the vase to show us and then he just crumpled it in his hands....I was one of the people who gasped loudly....sometimes I get so into things and I don't even realize I will be impacted so strongly.  He had just spent all this time working on this vase, but it was now worthless because it was so easy to smash....BECAUSE IT NEVER WENT THROUGH THE FIRE.  Sometimes GOD has to test us...has to allow us a little fire....to make us stronger.  I am sure I am probably saying something that is not theologically correct here, but this is how I understand it.  I don't think He will ever give us a test that is too much for us, but I am pretty sure He gives us small doses of things he knows will be hard enough for us or test us in an area of our lives where we are really weak.  I don't know if this makes sense, but it is almost like being given a small dose of a virus in order to become immune to it...not that I think God tempts us with things because He always wants us to run to Him and be delivered...but, He allows those things to confront us so we will have the opportunity to make the right (or righteous) decisions.

Love Handles

All things...ha! you thought I meant something else, right?  Love even bears home improvement projects :) Brad and I have been working on our basement and whenever we embark on a large project we really bond...haha!  Usually, we have different ideas about how a space should look and, if we agree on that, we disagree on the way to get it there.  I told Brad when I ask for his opinion I really just want to hear my opinion an octave lower :)   It is amusing, though, that God puts many couples together that are opposites in many ways...we figure those things out as we go because in the dating season it seemed we agreed on everything.  I don't know how many times during this project I have heard, "Why I oughta!" with his fist shaking at me...or, a couple weeks ago, I was calling the basement theme "vintage" a lot and he finally said he wanted to "vintage me"...haha!  I LOVE HIM...and even when we disagree, his jokes are still really funny to me....I don't know...is it weird that I enjoy getting under his skin a little bit?  We can work it out! :)

Hey, this is a really funny video about how couples relate to one another...ENJOY!

http://vimeo.com/66753575

Happy Birthday, Mini Koop!

 KOOPER is 5 years old today and the girls want me to post this so everyone will know :)  I feel a little sorry for him because they have another snow day today and are planning things to do to him for his birthday...haha!  Last time he was the focus of the day he ended up with a multi-colored tail.  He is already wearing his hot dog Halloween costume :)  Hey, maybe that is why he tried to run away on Sunday....things that make you go hummmmmm...?

Savannah made this birthday picture for him this morning.  I am not a dog whisperer...but, I think I can hear his thoughts today and they sound a little like this....

or...maybe I am just projecting my own thoughts onto him? :) 

(Wouldn't it be great to see this bus pull up to get the kids...haha!)

All We, Like Sheep...

On Sunday morning we let Kooper out and he ran off....he must have taken "Spring Forward" literally...because he bounded away somewhere (probably after a squirrel).   He was only out for a minute before we checked to let him back in, but he was nowhere to be seen or heard. Brad had already gone to the church to prepare for the service, so the girls and I separated into teams to try and find him.  McKenna and I drove slowly down Miner Rd, Palmer Rd, and Brown St calling for him and listening to see if we could hear any other dogs barking.  Savannah stayed at home with the other girls and she called out the back door while the others called out from the front porch.  We checked in with them a couple times, but we were not successful in finding him. (It is hard to find a white dog in the snow.)  I was not crying...but, I had that panicky feeling.  The girls were already starting to lose it.

After about an hour of looking for him, I thought we needed to eat some breakfast and just pray we could find him or someone would find him and let him in their house.  I called Brad to tell him we couldn't find him and he asked me if we were going to come to church.  I said, "Well, with the emotional atmosphere here and the possibility Kooper might come back on his own...we probably should stay home."  

The girls started eating breakfast and were in better spirits, but I still felt sick about him being lost and kept looking out the windows for him.  I was starting to think about if it was a good time to start knocking on doors of neighbors or talk with the girls about making signs.  All the sudden I saw this little white dog hobbling along by the road in the front of our property and I yelled..."I SEE HIM"...all the girls were screaming and I ran out the front door, but the snow was too high to get to him that way with the retaining wall there....so Savannah and I ran around from the backyard to try to get him....when we could see him well we realized his legs and stomach were bleeding and he couldn't walk very well....I wasn't sure if that was because of the wounds or that his legs were so cold from being caked with snow.  At that point I started calling out orders..."Savannah carry him in, I am going to run a warm bath, Kenna get some towels...girls get him a treat and put some food and water in his bowl"...after the chaos of those moments to get him in, warmed up, address his wounds, and make sure he was OK....I realized I had acted and felt a little like the father that watched for the prodigal son to return....not exactly the same, but a taste of it.  I smiled as I remembered calling out directions to all the girls like when the father calls out to the servants things to do to celebrate the return of the wayward son.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ~Isaiah 53:6

 

He sort of resembles a sheep, doesn't he?  He was tired after his BIG ADVENTURE.

I told Kooper after I hugged him he was going to be in trouble...but, with his injuries...maybe he learned his lesson...?  We'll see...I guess when we decide to go our own way for a time, we come home a little wounded. I am so grateful we have a Father that loves us and takes us back...and we have JESUS who has taken the punishment for our "wayward acts" upon Himself.  We are so glad we have Kooper home now!...I kind-of wish I would have had a mini camera on him, so I could see where he decided to venture.

Squirrelly Tales

Last night Brad and I went on a date to LOWES :) to pick out a bunch of light stuff (switches/ light boxes) for our basement, but when we got home we really didn't feel like unloading it all...so, he was going to do that today.  I woke up before him and thought it would be funny to put a note on all that stuff in the trunk of the van that said, "You (picture of a light bulb) up my life!"  SO, then I was really impatient...at about 10am I asked him if he had brought in the lights yet....then at lunch time I asked about the lights...then I thought, "I need to be discreet here or he will suspect I am up to something....so, I will wait until about 2pm to ask again"...haha!  So I asked him again and he said, "Heather, have you not noticed that I have been singing "You light up my life"...ALL DAY!???"  WHAT?!!!  He never brought the lights in, but he had run a quick errand and had put something in the trunk and noticed it.  I was so focused on those silly lights being brought in that I didn't even realize the serenade.  HA!

Meanwhile, at 11am...I had to pick up Savannah from a Youth Group fundraising event and I talked with a friend who told me all about why the power had been out today in Jackson.  A squirrel had managed to get into some fuses and cause a lot of damage...and she said the squirrel got fried in the process...this is a random story, but came into play later in the day.

Next, I was making a list for a grocery run and I was sitting at the dining room table kind-of talking to myself about it.  I had asked Brad to let me know if there was anything he needed, but I didn't know he was at the refrigerator looking at the items.  I guess I said, "Let's go to the milk...then the eggs...oh, do we need sour cream?"  AND, he thought I meant he should be pointing, in the fridge, to those items...like I was walking him through the fridge.  So, he gives me some suggestions from the other room and I tell him, "not yet, those aren't in the right order"...he got so confused.  Then I saw him peek around the corner with THAT LOOK on his face.  I told him, "I visualize myself walking through Meijer from the back to the front and I organize my list that way...it is just faster."  "There is a strategy for grocery shopping, you know!" He thinks I am really weird, but he learned something new about me today :)

Then I went to Meijer and when I was walking in....the automatic door didn't open for me....haha!  I would not say I faceplanted the door...but, I came very close (like within 3 inches) and laughed really hard as I thought, "Is this about my "closed door" thing from yesterday, Lord?"  I am telling you God plays tricks on me...this blog is serving as documentation for some of these pranks...it is amazing how much trust we have in automated processes :)  I got all my groceries and was checking out and chatting with the lady at checkout about the day...the time change tonight...the power outage in Jackson and I said to her, "Do you know how it happened?"  She didn't, so I told her it was a squirrel. Then she proceeded to tell me all about how much she loves squirrels and that she feeds them and loves to watch them play....that they are just the cutest animals....and I wondered if she names them. So, I determined I would not tell her that one got fried....BUT, then she asked me if the squirrel survived.   "UHHHHH, he didn't make it", I said....she looked SO SAD!  Then, I was a complete weirdo and said, "I didn't want to have to be the one to tell you that!"...as I left, I thought, "I can't believe I just said that about a squirrel!"