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!