January in IG

'Member that time when I said my words were peace, patience, and prayer?
Actually, she's doing really well.

Me: How come you are so cute?
Chiara: My mommy let me.

All this learning how to drive is paying off- Cheesecake Factory style!

These orange lockers came home last week with me.
They wanted to get to know my craft supplies.

It's a bit ridiculous how long the kid carts are getting.
This guy thinks he needs the leg room.

Friday night became party night as we had one family over for supper and two others stopped by for a visit. 

Supercross can help pass the long sick days.

How have you been lately?

It All Points to Jesus

These are thoughts that piled up like presents under the tree from Christmas last month. 

The Sandy Hook tragedy shook me like no other one of recent years has. I'm not sure why. I do have a seven year old and so I could very quickly relate to those mothers. I felt it more acutely. Maybe because this year, of all years, I'm allowing sorrow to enter my life to a greater extent and letting God bring me through it. In the past, I would have ignored it, shut it out, shrugged it off. The tragedy was close on the heels of our friend's death; a friend's father dying; a few short months away from another's friends' daughter passing; I know things that I now know and personal brokenness is just breaths away from consuming me. It has not been an easy year. 

I thought of them all and I couldn't help but think in the middle of all of it- Shouldn't all of this point us to Jesus? We usually celebrate Christmas as a joyous time, which it still is but maybe we forget that we can have both joy and sorrow at the same time. We don't like that. We will choose one and ignore the other.

Many voiced their fears. You can take any situation and turn it into something to fear. Or you can take your fears to the Perfect Love who has driven out all fear (1 John 4:18). Zechariah's song in Luke 1:74-75

To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Zechariah was speaking about the Israelites specifically but the promise is true for all believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world (1 John 4:18).

We pulled out our very favorite Christmas books to read aloud. The Herdman's from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Truthfully, I've always thought them still off, even when Imogene finally hollars for the whole congregation to hear, "Hey, unto you a child is born!". But this year I marveled at how they didn't know a single thing about the Christmas story and once they found out a little they wanted to know it all. So they ransacked the local library to find out more and it turned out more fantastical than their comic books. The story struck me fresh and new.  
In The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, we learn Jonathan Toomey has let the sadness in his life turn to bitterness. Pish posh, he says to everything even remotely nice.   His countenance changes when he decides to pull out the most hurtful part of his life and work through it. Though I have a dresser drawer full of hurts still to sort through, I'm not Jonathan Toomey anymore.
I didn't really consider Moosletoe to be that great of a book before. Truthfully, I rolled my eyes when Luke said he wanted to read it. A moose family, with hair galore and a pop that would deck the halls for the family (instead of the mom)! But as I sat and read it, I noticed my own not so perfectly perfect holiday home and I became very okay with it.

This year was our most non-traditional Christmas of all. We celebrated Christmas with Bill's family at Thanksgiving in a condo in Missouri. We were not going to celebrate with my side of the family because my parents went to visit my brother and family who are in California. In fact, they were taking Audrey with them and would be gone over Christmas so she wouldn't even be home. I purchased the smallest tree I could find from Lowe's two hours before a big snow storm hit. I strung the lights (smallest tree ever- still ran out. I have a light problem. hee her) and then Ben declared the kids were decorating this one and we were not having Pinterest perfect tree this year. I was going to make a few kinds of cookies and candies as we always do. I made two batches of sour cream cookies and that was all. I kept the decorating so minimal this year. Our advent calendar, one table top and the tree.

I spent some time with my friend Lisa the day before Christmas. I finally voiced what I felt. Sometimes we have traditions for the sake of traditions and those should really be kept loosely at hand. Bill is a big believer of that and it's taken years of gentle patience to work my grip looser. But sometimes our traditions help point us in the direction our hearts need to go and I was worried that we might miss Christmas because we weren't doing Christmas.

Once Audrey arrived home from California, we all sat together to have our celebration. Bill took up the Bible and began to read from almost the beginning of Luke. Normally he starts in Luke 2, but for some reason he started in Luke 1 with the birth of John the Baptist being foretold. We found a lot of interest in the purpose of John- "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord". God sent someone to get their hearts ready to receive Jesus. 

As we packed up one day to spend time with my sister and her family, Luke said to me "I can't wait for Ariana and Chiara to open their gifts!" He was so happy to be able to share with them (he could have also been a little eager to receive, as well). I asked "Don't you think God felt the same way when Jesus was about to be born?" I guess I've always imagined that God was a little sorrowful for parting with his Son so that Jesus could come to earth. Imagined it as a selfish sorrow. My Luke's enthusiasm gave me a different perspective. It wasn't just that God gave his only son, his best son, he gave him willingly, eagerly, delightedly. All of time had been pointing toward this one gift, this one birth, this one Jesus.

How long do you think Jesus was born before the angels burst out of the heavens?

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests!" 

 

Parenting: It’s Never an Interruption

If yesterday's was for women only, this applies to everyone today. Parents, grandparents, not yet parents, singles. Yes, it's written from the perspective of parenting, but it really can apply to life in general. 

I hope you will once again, take time to follow the link to Paul Tripp's site and read this. I think you will be glad you did.

Parenting: It’s Never an Interruption

By Paul Tripp

Parenting is all about living by the principle of prepared spontaneity. You don't really know what's going to happen next. You don't really know when you'll have to enforce a command, intervene in an argument, confront a wrong, holdout for a better way, remind someone of a truth, call for forgiveness, lead someone to confession, point to Jesus, restore peace, hold someone accountable, explain a wisdom principle, give a hug of love, laugh in the face of adversity, help someone complete a task, mediate an argument, stop with someone and pray, assist someone to see their heart, or talk once again about what it means to live together in a community of love.

What you do know is that Scripture gives you the wisdom that you need and your always-present Messiah gives you the grace that you need to be ready to respond to the moments of opportunity he’ll give you. Along with this, you and I must remember that our Lord loves our children more than we ever could and his commitment to their growth and change is more faithful and persevering than ours could ever be. Because of this, in his grace and love, he’ll manufacture moments that expose the needy hearts of our children to us. He’ll faithfully employ the little moments of everyday life to expose to us and our children their need of rescuing and forgiving grace. And he’ll not do this only at the moments which you feel are appropriate and when you feel most prepared.

Let me give you an example. We had planned a day at a local theme park with our children. I was anticipating a day of familial amusement park bliss. You know, I was hoping that on this day my children would be self-parenting and if God could throw in a fully sanctified wife that would be cool! Well, we get to the park and are getting out of the van and one of my children said, "Dad, may we have something to drink before we go into the park?" It didn't seem like a dangerous request. I opened the cooler, which was full of soft drinks, and all of my children sighted in on the one can of soda that they all knew was the best. Immediately, global nuclear war broke out. They were pushing and shoving, grabbing and pulling, throwing ice at one another, saying unkind things and hitting one another's hands out of the way. I couldn't believe it, we’re not in the park yet and my day was already ruined!

So I jumped in and said, "Do you want to fight? We don't have to pay all this money for you to fight. I'll take you home, put a cooler in the backyard with one can of soda in it and you can fight forever!" Soon my children aren't fighting anymore because they're watching the crowd gather as I lose it in the parking lot of the theme park.

Let's analyze what's going on in this moment and what's happening inside me. What's going on is that a God of grace is taking a mundane moment of daily family life and using it to do something wonderful for my children and for me. He's making the condition of their hearts visible in order to produce concern in me that would hopefully result in awareness and a desire to change in them. But I'm not at all encouraged in this moment with what God is doing. You see, I'm not angry in the parking lot because my children are sinners. No, I'm angry that God has exposed their sin, and because he has, I have to forsake my agenda for the day and parent them! It all seemed a huge imposition; a hassle that I just didn't want to deal with.

But the reality is that if your eyes ever see, or your ears ever hear the sin, weakness, rebellion or failure of your children, it’s never an imposition. It’s never an interruption. It’s never a hassle. It’s always grace. God loves your children; he’s put them in a family of faith, and in relentless grace he will reveal their need to you again and again so that you can be his tool of awareness, conviction, repentance, faith and change. And because in these moments he asks you to forsake your agenda for his, this opportunity of grace isn’t just for your children, it's for you as well.

But my problem is that there are moments when I tend to love my little kingdom of one more than I love his. So I'm impatient, discouraged or irritated, not because my children have broken the laws of God's kingdom, but the laws of mine. In my kingdom there shall be no parenting on family vacation days, or when I am reading the paper on my iPad, or after ten o'clock at night, or during a good meal, or... And when I'm angry about interruptions to my kingdom plan there are four things I tend to do:

1. I tend to turn a God-given moment of ministry into a moment of anger.
2. I do this because I’ve personalized what isn’t personal. (Before we left for the amusement park that day, my children didn't plot to drive me crazy in the parking lot).
3. Because I’ve personalized what isn’t personal, I am adversarial in my response. (It's not me acting for my children, but acting against them because they’re in the way of what I want).
4. So I end up settling for situational solutions that don't really get to the heart of the matter. (I bark and order, I instill guilt, I threaten a punishment and walk away, and my children are utterly unchanged by the encounter).

There’s a better way. It begins with praying that God would give you new eyes; eyes that are more focused on his eternal work of grace than on your momentary plans for you. This better way also includes seeking God for a flexible and willing heart; ready to abandon your agenda for God's greater plan. And it lives with the confidence that God is in you, with you, and for you, and will give you what you need so that you can face, with courage and grace, the parenting moment that you didn't know was coming.

Jen Hatmaker - Women of Valor...Pinterest Aside

For the next two days I'm linking you to a couple of excellent food for thought blog posts. I hope you will take the time to click on the link and read through them. I want you to be encouraged.

Today's is from Jen Hatmaker. Actually, the part I really want you to read is down a bit further in the post, past the audio clips of her daughter praying and a very disturbing stuffed toy. The part about the woman described in Proverbs 31. It's a different perspective and it's a good one. We women are so tough on ourselves. We've created a monster list, an unattainable goal and given ourselves NO GRACE to be imperfect, to be human. 

Are you at all nodding your head in agreement? Does your hand want to wave high in the air signifying that's you alright. Or maybe no physical show, but your heart twinges that that might just be in the tiniest bit be true. It's okay. Don't be discouraged or guilt-ridden. Take heart and read on.

Jen Hatmaker - Women of Valor...Pinterest Aside

edited: After a brief conversation with Bill, I decided to post the whole article here. If it's right here for you read, you'll read it. You might not follow the link and I don't think you should miss it. Sorry about the color thing. Beyond my control.

double edited: I looked on my own blog and couldn't even read a word of the post I had copied and pasted from Jen's blog so I took it off. How terrible. I don't know if you could or could not- so I just made it not ugly. No one wants to have anything to do with an ugly blog post. We've got more things to do with our time. So please, follow the link above to read it.

Chicken Noodle Soup

The temperatures right now in Iowa are frigid to put it mildly. Yes, we've had it colder, but as I type, the Weather Channel app on my phone says it is 2 degrees, feels like -15. Brr!

This cold of weather means a couple of things. One- all running is done indoors. I use my treadmill in the garage. It's unheated in there but not freezing. It'll do. And I will go the extra mile (heehee) to say that usually the last thing you want to do when it is cold is move your body, but it's a great way to stay warm all day. The second thing is that we want to pump our bodies with warm liquids and stay under blankets all day. Tea, hot chocolate (Equal Exchange Hot Cocoa is really good), and coffee all make the cut along with soups.

I like a good soup.

My family likes a good soup, too, but just not as often as me.

They do like this one. A lot.

The recipe comes from our church's one and only cookbook collected and printed circa '97. Mine is falling apart. I've lost the back cover, a banana sticker is permanently attached to the front cover and the plastic binding is slowly decaying. I've used it that much, turning back again and again to some good recipes, including one from a pastor's wife. It's creamy. It has thick noodles. It isn't hard to make and it has a permanent purple Post-it flag on its page marking it. I've made this countless times for my family and taken it to families who need a good soup to cheer them up or get them through. 

This is Pam's Chicken Noodle Soup recipe and I think you should give it a try sometime soon.

Chicken Noodle Soup

• 12 oz. pkg. Reames frozen egg noodles
• 2 c. cooked chicken or turkey
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp. chicken bouillon

Optional ingredients but add as many as you can

• 1 c. chopped celery
• 1 c. chopped carrots
• 1 c. chopped broccoli
• 6-8 fresh sliced mushrooms
• minced fresh parsley

Bring to a boil 8 cups water, onion, celery, carrots and bouillon. Simmer 15 minutes. Add egg noodles and mushrooms. Simmer 10 minutes. Add chicken, broccoli, soup, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.


What do you do to stay warm?

Ben Boy

Bill and Ben at the IERA 22 banquet. (That's the riding association they belong to for all their racing.) We each collected door prizes, including me ("I" picked out a certificate for one race with no entrance fee. Woo.)

 Ben took 3nd place in the 65cc class. He would like you to know that Mom and Dad said he wasn't racing for points this year and look how well he did, and that he's only a little bitter because he could have possibly gotten first or second place if we had let him race more races. (The second place kid would like to blame his football coach.) 

The trophies were gigantic this year!

Let's compare smiles on my boy. The ones up above? Standard Ben smile. The one below? Cheesy grin smile. He has two others- no smile/mostly grimace and a wide-eyed stare. He has done that one since he was little. I'll have to find some to share with you sometime.

 We took a little family road trip a few weeks ago and the boys were excited because our hotel would have cable and they would get to watch the Supercross race live. Turns out our hotel did have cable but not the Speed channel so they resorted to watching video footage the next morning off of Bill's laptop. Motorcycles have invaded our life permanently.* 

I love his standard smile!

 Next in line is a series of shots taken over four consecutive days. 
Here's the story: Ben comes home from school and I ask him how he's doing to which he replies that his cheek hurts. I take a look at it and notice a goose egg like bump on his cheek. "Did you get punched?", I ask him. No, he didn't get punched or hit it on anything he says. I start searching online for cheek bumps which turn up mumps most readily. I take a picture of his face and send it to nurse Aunt Beth. By now I'm thinking I will have to take him in to get it looked at and if it is mumps or something else he could have to stay overnight. I call my sister to see if she's seen the picture and we start talking about it at which point Ben pipes up that he didn't hit his cheek, he whacked it on something on the playground. He clarifies saying that I asked if it was hit and it wasn't; it was whacked. 

He's lucky there are even anymore pictures of him to show! 

I made him ice it because it was sore and then we watched the progression turn from a little bump to lots of nice colors. 

 I told him to take it easy during recess for the next day or so. He asked if he could just stay home. His reasoning? There is no taking it easy during recess. Go hard or go home is his motto.

 He had to endure a lot of questions over the weekend around basketball games and church. 

 Farkle. Are you a Farkle fan? I've been hearing about this game for a while and decided we should give it shot. Fun. Good problem solving. Easy. Good family night game. Fast. High scoring. We are fans. 
How many points have you gotten in one play? Ben, in our third game, scored 5,600 points in one play!! We are astounded, but then again, that was only our third game ever. Had I been allowed to take a picture he would have been sporting a slightly cheesy smile.

I had to leave and couldn't finish the game. In the morning I asked Luke how he ended up finishing and I think he got third. But he mostly told me that I "DNF"ed. (That's motocross speak for Did Not Finish. *see above)

P

When I was in 1st grade, I was hospitalized for possibly having Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It's a sickness you can get from ticks. That summer was the summer of ticks- my mom was constantly de-ticking me. (We lived in the country. I played outside non-stop.) It was while school was in session and so my classmates all made cards for me. The card I remember was from a neighbor boy who wrote a joke in it that went like this:
Boy: Teacher, may I go to the bathroom, please?
Teacher: Sure, but first you must say the alphabet.
Boy: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z
Teacher: That's fine except where's the P?
Boy: It's running down my leg.

Haha! Oh, it was a good one! What?! We were in 1st grade!! Of course, his mother was completely mortified but then again, she wasn't the one in the hospital with giant needles poking her wee little arm.

That story has pretty much nothing to do with today's post, except for the P.

Now stay with me...

At the start of the new year, many people pick a word of the year. I did last year. I didn't go about trying to see if everything fit that word, but it simply hung around in my mind all year. I'm especially prone to not do these sorts of things. To me, many times, it becomes something I end up working hard to make every situation fit. It becomes work instead of observation and thanksgiving. So I didn't do it last year with intentions of making this a lifelong habit but it happened again this year.

P for Peace- I struggle with this one. What is peace? I couldn't even define it. What is the opposite of peace? Turmoil, strife, a life upended by death gripping control. Who should have control? The Lord. But I really like to wrestle it from His hands. Over Christmas I caught of glimpse of peace. It was breath-taking. No, nothing was perfect, but my heart drew close to the One who is Peace and I could rest in Him. Peace that passes understanding. That comes from Him. Passes understanding happens when there is no understanding. When I don't get it and I might never get to get it. That means letting go of control.

P for Patience- I know what you're thinking. "No, Mindy, don't pray for patience!! That means you'll have so many opportunities to practice patience!" How can I say this except that its not that kind of patience. Relationships take patience. Circumstances take patience. Watching God unfold his plan in my life, which is going perfectly and according to His timing, takes patience. I want to remember that when I'm demanding that something happen or I will go crazy. I want to remember patience when I see glimpses of prayers answered, time and energy poured into something so long that it seems it will never happen and then something finally does happen.

P for Prayer- As I sat thinking of peace and patience, which are probably connected, I couldn't escape the fact that neither of these two things will happen without prayer. Deep prayer. Prayer that pours it all out, that is all real. Prayer that humbly acknowledges that I am not in not in control, only God is. I need to spend more time in prayer.

I did not go about trying to find words that started with the letter P. In fact, after I knew peace and patience were two words for this year, I really balked at the idea of prayer simple because I started with P. But here I am with these three words that give me a fresh perspective and are powerful.

Ok, I'm done now.

What about you? Do you have a word of the year? 

p.s. I didn't end up having Rocky Mtn. Spotted Fever but I got a lot of candy bars and a cool erasable pen.