Unexpected Blessings

Sometimes God gives us the greatest blessings through the unlikeliest (is that a word?) ways.  We received one of those today.  It really touched my heart.  Not only because of who the gift came through but because I know it was God's way of encouraging me too.  Sometimes God asks us to give something and it's difficult because we only know what we have on hand, whether it's time, energy or money.  What I forget (more often than I should) is that he is the greatest giver.  I can't out-give God.  I can't say how many times I give what He's asked (even sometimes reluctantly) only to be even more blessed in return.  Maybe someday I'll stop worrying and just simply trust Him. 

Praise You in the Storm

And though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm.  - Casting Crowns

It's been 4 years since my dear, sweet friend Shannon left this earth to be with the Lord.  I don't know if I will ever understand why, but there IS comfort in knowing God's goodness regardless of the circumstances.  I remember praying for her without ceasing.  She was constantly on my heart and before the throne.  I believed that God would heal her and give her more years even until the very last.  I don't know that I had ever believed God would do heal someone like I believed and prayed for her healing.  After she passed it was hard to believe that God hadn't healed her because I was so convinced He would.  It was several weeks after that I finally cried out to the Lord in my hurt and anger and said to Him, "But I believed you would heal her.  You told me You would heal her and I believed.  Where is the healing You promised?"  Sometimes the Lord speaks in such a soft and loving way.  I remember hearing His soft voice in my heart saying to me.  "She is healed.  She is with me."  That was it.  But it was all I needed to hear.  It still hurt, but there is something about the presence of the Lord and hearing His voice that brings such comfort to the soul.  The Lord did answer my prayer.  It wasn't what I thought or wanted really, but He answered just the same.  

Casey sang this song at her memorial service.  It was one of her favorites and I can't help but think of her and her family every time I hear it.  Her sickness and suffering drew me closer to the Lord though it was through a storm and my heart was definitely torn. 


Love you Shannon!  Love you Eric, Noah, Lydia and Anna.  May the Lord bless you and His face shine upon you.

Sunday

Last night as I went to bed I couldn't help but be thankful for such a wonderful day.  Thank you, Lord!  It started early for me, but was worth it.  Before I left for church at 9 am I had two hams cooking in slow-cookers and cheesy scalloped potatoes in another and mashed potatoes ready to be reheated.  Choir rehearsal started at 9:00 am.  As soon as rehearsal was over I dashed back home to tidy the kitchen and put on make-up.  During the morning worship service the choir sang the musical that we'd been working on the past few months.  It went really well!  The kids choir even had a little part and they did amazing too! 
Here's a shout out to my amazing husband.  He is a wonderful, talented, patient, fun, entertaining choir director.  And, he looks good too!  I really love being part of a choir when he is leading it.  I think teaching music is one of the things he does very best.  And, here's a shout out to the Lane Prairie choir members, they are so teachable and willing to do what he asks of them without complaining!  There are always people who grumble about stuff (everywhere you go), but I have not heard any of that coming from choir members. 
Right after church, we hosted the choir members and their families at our house for lunch.  We had 37 people in our home (30 adults, 2 youth and 5 kids)!  It was a really wonderful time.  Lots and lots of yummy food.  After we had visited and ate we went next door to visit our neighbors.  Lucy is not able to get out anymore and L.O. stays with her.  (We rent our house from them and they live on one side of us and Lucy's son lives on the other side of us.)  They are long time members of the church and are now in their 90's.  We sang some Christmas songs for them and prayed over them.  It was really a very special time.  I think it was a blessing to everyone. 
We cleaned up and rested for a little in the afternoon and then went back to church in the evening for a candlelight service.  It too, was really great.  There is something about kids and candles though!   We were visiting with some friends afterwards and I impromptu invited the two families over to our house, since we were getting kicked out of the church so they could lock up.  It was another great time of fellowship.  This time it was just 6 adults and 8 kids.  I think it was after 10:30 pm before we said goodbye (love that we homeschool!).  
Casey got the boys to bed and I cleaned up the kitchen and food stuff and then went to bed.  It was a long, but good day.  I am so thankful the Lord has given us a place where we can have people over.  I want to share that blessing by having more times of fellowship in our home.  

Hospitality

I love the idea of hospitality.  I love thinking about having people in my home.  However, when it comes down to actually having people in my home I tend to freak out a little.  I think it's mostly is just my own insecurity.  I'm not much of a decorator, I'm not super organized, there's usually paper piles in at least 4 places.  So, obviously I have a problem.  Either I need to clean and organize better, or I just need to get over it and be who I am (which is organization by piles).  Part of my problem is that I tend to do more than one thing at a time and then don't have time to finish any of it and so it gets left until I have "time" which sometimes takes another month to get too!  I know, I've got issues. 

So, I had this great idea to host a fellowship for the church choir after the cantata performance this Sunday.  In my head, it's all great.  But now that it's just a few days away I'm looking at my house and freaking.  Everything does NOT have a place and it needs to like now.  So, you can imagine that I've been organizing, right?  Nope, I've been baking, or raking leaves, or doing laundry, sometimes school, looking for new recipes.  You know, fun stuff.  Tomorrow I'm going to do what I do with the boys when there is a lot of little things to do and they get overwhelmed.  Set the timer.  Yep, 10 minutes in each area on a rotation.  I'll let you know how it goes.  But, until then know that I've made 24 mini pumpkin loaves, a batch of peanut brittle, 7 loads of laundry (including making my own detergent) and raked 7 big ole bag of leaves from the yard!

Christmas cards

I really love Christmas cards.  It might be one of my "favorite" parts of the Christmas holidays.  I enjoy getting them, a lot.  I love seeing the pictures of our friends and family who do photo cards.  I really love getting letters too.  Many people we don't see or hear from on a regular basis, so I enjoy getting a little letter to go along with the card or photo.  I know doing cards stresses some people out, but I really enjoy it.  Honestly, the only part that "stresses" me is that we never seem to have a good picture of the four of us together.    
There are many on our list that I don't really have any other contact with other than the yearly Christmas card.  As I go through the envelopes and address the cards, or stuff them, I'm reminded of people I love and memories we have shared. 
I'm 95% done.  I took a big ole bunch to the post office today.  I have another smaller bunch that I'll get out next week (as soon as they arrive from the printer!). 

Good deals

I scored some good deals today!  Ethan needed new tennis shoes for basketball.  He couldn't even get his feet into his old ones, so it was a necessity!  I had a $10 of $10 at JcPenney, so I thought we should at least try them first.  I'm so glad we did!  They had a bunch of Nike and New Balance shoes on the clearance racks at 50-70% off.   He tried several pairs and sizes till he found ones he liked.  He was so happy and went on and on about how "light" and "comfy" they were (he used both words at least 10 times!).   They were marked down to $22 so with tax and the $10 off coupon the total was only $14 something. 

Then, we stopped by CVS for some necessities like allergy pills and toilet paper.  I had a $5 off $30 coupon to use.  Allergy pills and toilet paper are both expensive little necessities and my total was a few cents over the $30 to be able to use my coupon.  It was about $25 something with tax AND on my receipt it printed out a coupon for a free $10 gift card.  They had a few different ones to choose from, so I made my choice and then wished I'd chosen a different one, but it will all work out.  I was thinking it would make a nice little gift for someone. 

We don't have a lot of "fun" money this Christmas, so I am so thrilled to get a few good deals and freebies.  I scored big time on our Christmas cards too!  Cardstore.com had a great deal if you still need to get cards or photo cards.  The cards I ordered were 70% off with free postage!  Yep, I got each card for about .27 cents and a stamped envelope to go with it.  Stamps alone are more than that! 

sickies

Well, I seem to have a little chest cold.  Thankfully, it's not so bad that I'm miserable, but just a little annoying.  Throat irritation and man voice a great combination.  I don't think Casey is nearly as impressed with my man voice as I am.  I think it sounds great, but then I do like basses a lot. :>)

Now, Ethan on the other hand, is really sick.  I don't know what he has, other than calling it a stomach virus or something.  It started Friday morning.  (Caution: this could easily fall under TMI -too much information - consider yourself warned)  He came into our room and said, "I just threw up." (aka #4)  I'm mostly still asleep so I ask if he made it to the toilet, yes he did.  Do you feel better? - yes, he does.  Okay then, go back to bed.  I know, I'm not so compassionate or nurturing when you wake me up in the early morning hours.  Well, the rest of the day he's got some serious #3 going on.  (That's our code for diarrhea - just fyi).  Saturday, it's the same, lots of #3.  Sunday morning we found him asleep on the bath mat by the toilet.  He had gotten up to use the bathroom and decided he might as well stay close.  Casey put him back to bed and he slept until about 10am.  Most of Sunday afternoon he was good.  I thought we were over the worst.  He sipped his water, ate applesauce, toast and banana.  Well, 2 am this morning I heard "the sound."  The sound of someone running down the hallway in a mad dash to the toilet...and then the noises that followed.  Ewwwww!  I fly out of bed, thinking it must be Josiah, because Ethan was feeling better.  Nope.  And, I couldn't quite make it out of my bedroom without some fancy footwork, because that's as far as he made it.  Yep, #4.  (Don't you love the bodily functions code?)  So, while Ethan is hanging out by the toilet with #4 and #3 - yes the double whammy, I get the carpet cleaner ready and start cleaning the carpets...at 2 am.  Poor Ethan.  So, here's the thing, no fever or anything, just a lot of #3, with now 2 occasions of #4.    

Praying that he is better today and that no one else comes down with this mystery bug.  There's nothing like a little #4 to make me wish we could just bleach bomb the house.

Downtown and Science Fair

Saturday evening after Thanksgiving we met our friends downtown for dinner.  We ate at Cantina Laredo...yum!  After catching up and visiting and eating we headed over to Barnes and Noble.  A trip downtown is just not complete until we've stopped there for the after dinner coffee from Starbucks and a leisurely stroll through the children's section.  Our friends are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia.  She is beautiful (7 mo. old).  We can't wait to meet her!  We enjoyed looking through all the books we used to read to the boys when they were little.  Favorites like, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and Goodnight Moon.  A little trip down memory lane for us. 

Downtown is all decorated for Christmas and Josiah was enthralled with the giant ornament that changed colors. 

December 1st the homeschool co-op that we are a part of held it's first ever Science Fair.  Along with the science exhibits was an expo featuring some of the work the kids have done in their classes.  I was not really excited about doing a project, but the boys were.  Ethan knew right away that he wanted to do something on the solar system.  He read and studied the planets for about a month!  He knows his planets!  Josiah just could not decide.  The only thing he wanted to do was something that exploded, but not a volcano! Ha!  So, for this year, we opted to have him help Ethan.  Really, he just did some coloring for the poster and I think he painted Mars, but other than that it was mostly Ethan. 
Here's the finished product.   Really proud of Ethan and the great job he did with his project.