Shocking, it isn't even a month since my last post!!
So....this week we're doing the porch, the living room and the trim in the hallway. The red velvet drapes are down, the holes are filled, the shelves are primed and tomorrow morning Almond Wisp and Olive Brown will be filling my walls with color. The porch is also Almond Wisp and will have Olive Brown accents. We painted the paneling and will do the skinny stripe in the Olive Brown. The end of the paint is near. Then maybe we can actually clean up this house. My bedroom has been the dropping point for pretty much everything that I couldn't shove somewhere else!
I finished the decorative painting in the bathroom. I'll have to post pictures cause it looks really, really good!!! I just have to get Kelly to hang a corner shelf and that room is totally done.
Saturday will be a scrapbooking day. I've come to the realization that I will never be a true 'scrapbooker' - I just don't have time. But I'm going to enjoy doing what I can, when I can cause I love all the papers and textures and stickers and doo dads that I get to play with when I do it. It's also great fun to look at all the pictures again and put them in beautiful settings and visit with people I enjoy.
Oh yeah. I got to play on the worship team again cause their pianist cancelled on Saturday afternoon. I didn't pray for that I promise. However, there were some talk about making room for me on their team, how fun is that.
My big boy went to his very first junior high retreat this last weekend. That was bizarre. He can't really be that old yet. And he actually did things to impress some girls - that's a little scary to this mamma - he's always had good girl friends but I think this was a little different than that.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
all the excitement in our house
THE LAST MONTH
Well, well, time certainly flies when you're not home! We've been down to Mexico and back. We built two houses for two wonderful families, stopped in Disneyland on the way home, lost my glasses somewhere in L.A., made it back to Saskatchewn just in time to head to Cypress Hills for a pastor's conference, back home again to go to Bible Study, Quilting, youth group and a fabulous training session called "Spiritual Protection for your Children".
THE LAST WEEK
Then we started painting our main floor! Woo-hoo my kitchen is now a stunning yellow and red concoction, my hallways are a rich buttery cream. The bathroom is blue and brown. My living room and porch are next - olive brown and almond wisp here we come. We'll have to restrain ourselves on flooring and furniture but we'll survive to pay in cash when the time comes.
Tomorrow I head to the city to get new glasses, a hunk of countertop (hopefully), some shelves, blinds and a few odds and ends to finish the kitchen off. We painted the word 'life' in 9 different languages on my wall (English, French, German, Spanish/Portugese, Hebrew, Chinese, Africaans, Russian) You could actually count 10 cause one of the characters in the Chinese script is the same as Japanese.
SKIRT STORY
So my mom made this skirt at the Lord's leading for a pregnant mom down in Mexico. She sent it along with the little girl skirts and I was supposed to watch out for someone to give it to. Well, asking someone in your own language if they're pregnant is one thing, asking in Spanish is quite another, so I waited and watched. As the houses were finished we decided to give skirts to the families since between the two families there were 7 girls. When I got to the mom of the house I was building on we had a lovely time picking out skirts for her girls, during the course of our 'conversation' I discovered she was expecting!! I whipped out my mom's special skirt and gave it to her. I cried buckets. Then she went and got pictures of her dear little girls and showed them to me and told me their names - Lolita, Flor, ?? (couldn't understand or pronounce that one) and Esperanza (which means Hope). So cool! They should have their little girls back by now we hope in a comfy new house with pretty skirts.
We were able to give the rest of the skirts to the orphanage because the lady who runs it just 'happened' to come to the base the last night we were there. That was cool. Can't wait to do it again!
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
IN a few weeks we head to Winnipeg with our youth group for another missions trip, very different from what we just did. Inner-city North America. The very cool thing is that we get to take our oldest son with us - and he actually wants to go! I have to admit I was looking with a longing heart at all the families that were together on our Mexico trip, hoping that one day we'd get to do that - and here we are, just a month later, introducing our son to something we love so much to do.
YEAH GOD NOTE
After the Spiritual Protection session we sat down with our kids to ask them fairly directly if they knew if they were a child of God or not. They ALL responded very positively including our dear sweet Kathrin, who was not a believer when she landed in our country. We are so excited to have another family member in the Lord!! She's coming on the Winnipeg trip, too. Yippee!
Well, well, time certainly flies when you're not home! We've been down to Mexico and back. We built two houses for two wonderful families, stopped in Disneyland on the way home, lost my glasses somewhere in L.A., made it back to Saskatchewn just in time to head to Cypress Hills for a pastor's conference, back home again to go to Bible Study, Quilting, youth group and a fabulous training session called "Spiritual Protection for your Children".
THE LAST WEEK
Sunday morning I got to pinch hit on the piano for the worship team. Wow! That would never have happened before here. It was so fun and I felt God's annointing on me and I played songs I've never even played before with drums and a bass guitar even. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN I want to do it again. I might have to do something to the pianist on a regular basis - hee hee.
That wasn't very Christian was it?
Then we started painting our main floor! Woo-hoo my kitchen is now a stunning yellow and red concoction, my hallways are a rich buttery cream. The bathroom is blue and brown. My living room and porch are next - olive brown and almond wisp here we come. We'll have to restrain ourselves on flooring and furniture but we'll survive to pay in cash when the time comes.
Tomorrow I head to the city to get new glasses, a hunk of countertop (hopefully), some shelves, blinds and a few odds and ends to finish the kitchen off. We painted the word 'life' in 9 different languages on my wall (English, French, German, Spanish/Portugese, Hebrew, Chinese, Africaans, Russian) You could actually count 10 cause one of the characters in the Chinese script is the same as Japanese.
SKIRT STORY
So my mom made this skirt at the Lord's leading for a pregnant mom down in Mexico. She sent it along with the little girl skirts and I was supposed to watch out for someone to give it to. Well, asking someone in your own language if they're pregnant is one thing, asking in Spanish is quite another, so I waited and watched. As the houses were finished we decided to give skirts to the families since between the two families there were 7 girls. When I got to the mom of the house I was building on we had a lovely time picking out skirts for her girls, during the course of our 'conversation' I discovered she was expecting!! I whipped out my mom's special skirt and gave it to her. I cried buckets. Then she went and got pictures of her dear little girls and showed them to me and told me their names - Lolita, Flor, ?? (couldn't understand or pronounce that one) and Esperanza (which means Hope). So cool! They should have their little girls back by now we hope in a comfy new house with pretty skirts.
We were able to give the rest of the skirts to the orphanage because the lady who runs it just 'happened' to come to the base the last night we were there. That was cool. Can't wait to do it again!
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
IN a few weeks we head to Winnipeg with our youth group for another missions trip, very different from what we just did. Inner-city North America. The very cool thing is that we get to take our oldest son with us - and he actually wants to go! I have to admit I was looking with a longing heart at all the families that were together on our Mexico trip, hoping that one day we'd get to do that - and here we are, just a month later, introducing our son to something we love so much to do.
YEAH GOD NOTE
After the Spiritual Protection session we sat down with our kids to ask them fairly directly if they knew if they were a child of God or not. They ALL responded very positively including our dear sweet Kathrin, who was not a believer when she landed in our country. We are so excited to have another family member in the Lord!! She's coming on the Winnipeg trip, too. Yippee!
Friday, February 08, 2008
Life in the past few weeks
My how time flies when you're way busy!! Updates, updates...
The skirt sewing went really well, we have about 40 skirts to take to Mexico. Kathryn, our house guest from Germany, is fitting in beautifully. We all love her to pieces. She loves to play games so she fits in very well! We were playing Dutch Blitz one evening and she'd beaten Kelly and I soundly. She turns to Kelly and says, "Want to lose again?" I like that girl. She also love cheese in any form, sundried tomatoes, seafood and olives. She loves to read and craft, too. Definately a good fit!
We are getting a little confused in the language department as we teach Kathryn English, she teaches us German, I teach Abby French and try to learn Spanish songs for our trip to Mexico. Aye caramba, je ne fershtay pas!
We just got through a run with the flu. That wasn't so fun. I discovered during the many loads 0f laundry that the washing machine is a very effective tool for disintegrating Bibles. All that was left was the duct tape that had been holding it together.
Our new van is great, but we have to find some new seats for it! We don't have quite enough seating capacity in there, though it is very roomy. We could rent it out as a small theatre.
Life in ministry is busy and interesting. Next week we head to Mexico to build a couple of houses. On our way home they'll drop us off for the rural pastor's conference. A month after that we're taking a team of youth to Winnipeg with Soar Heartland to do inner-city missions exposure. Then the first weekend of May we'll go with the grads on a trip to Edmonton. PHew!!
In the meantime we're developing a servant leadership team among our youth and are thrilled with what we've seen so far. Breakthrough is very encouraging. We both teach sunday school so that helps round out our weeks.
OH don't forget we're farmers, so in there somewhere we have to ship grain, plan for seeding, get the machinery ready and seed. Yeah....so....
The kids go power-skating every week and have learned to love skating...can't say the same for myself. I still hate ice. They're all doing really well in their studies.
Since there's a blizzard going on...again...we've cancelled youth group and are staying home to eat junk food and watch movies. Such a hard life we lead.
Toodles!
The skirt sewing went really well, we have about 40 skirts to take to Mexico. Kathryn, our house guest from Germany, is fitting in beautifully. We all love her to pieces. She loves to play games so she fits in very well! We were playing Dutch Blitz one evening and she'd beaten Kelly and I soundly. She turns to Kelly and says, "Want to lose again?" I like that girl. She also love cheese in any form, sundried tomatoes, seafood and olives. She loves to read and craft, too. Definately a good fit!
We are getting a little confused in the language department as we teach Kathryn English, she teaches us German, I teach Abby French and try to learn Spanish songs for our trip to Mexico. Aye caramba, je ne fershtay pas!
We just got through a run with the flu. That wasn't so fun. I discovered during the many loads 0f laundry that the washing machine is a very effective tool for disintegrating Bibles. All that was left was the duct tape that had been holding it together.
Our new van is great, but we have to find some new seats for it! We don't have quite enough seating capacity in there, though it is very roomy. We could rent it out as a small theatre.
Life in ministry is busy and interesting. Next week we head to Mexico to build a couple of houses. On our way home they'll drop us off for the rural pastor's conference. A month after that we're taking a team of youth to Winnipeg with Soar Heartland to do inner-city missions exposure. Then the first weekend of May we'll go with the grads on a trip to Edmonton. PHew!!
In the meantime we're developing a servant leadership team among our youth and are thrilled with what we've seen so far. Breakthrough is very encouraging. We both teach sunday school so that helps round out our weeks.
OH don't forget we're farmers, so in there somewhere we have to ship grain, plan for seeding, get the machinery ready and seed. Yeah....so....
The kids go power-skating every week and have learned to love skating...can't say the same for myself. I still hate ice. They're all doing really well in their studies.
Since there's a blizzard going on...again...we've cancelled youth group and are staying home to eat junk food and watch movies. Such a hard life we lead.
Toodles!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Skirt sewing day
Tomorrow is sewing skirts day! I'm so excited. WE're sewing skirts to take down to Mexico when we go on our missions trip in February. I got the idea from Randi at I Have to Say. Got the instructions from Kuky Ideas (www.kukyideas.com) and have been drawing patterns, writing instructions, washing fabric and pressing it all week. Finally the day is here and we're going to sew up a bunch of skirts for some kids who could use it down in Mexico. Yeah. To make it better...my mama is coming, too. She's already got a dozen made (what a surprise!)
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Bible adventures
Our wonderful German house guest has arrived and been with us for a week now. We absolutely love her, she is as sweet as they come! Her English is excellent, she is observant, thoughtful and flexible. I hope she can stand us for the next 5 months!!
Now that the press of the holiday season is over I am back to teaching Sunday School and have joined a Bible Study. Both have been requiring much study from me and I must confess...I love it. We're going back over the Angela Thomas material in Sunday School, working through parts of the sermon on the mount.
On Sunday as I was teaching I had a revelation that I couldn't quite wrap my head around at the time, but now as I think and ponder and study I have noticed that the heart conditions mentioned in the beatitudes are a progression of maturity. It's really quite fascinating. Take a look. At some point we realize that we're broken (poor in spirit), life has nailed us to the wall and we're falling in pieces, we need a Saviour. When we break we end up mourning the loss of what was, whether it was a person, an idea, ideal or dream. In the midst of our mourning we become humbled and look to the Saviour. As our souls are healed we begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we are satisfied and we realize how much we needed a saviour. We can be merciful, because we've been shown mercy. Because we have shown mercy, God will contiue to show mercy and we become pure in heart. Our hearts are made pure, they are at peace and we can bring that peace into the midst of others - we are peacemakers. However, in the midst of giving away the peace that Christ offers we will most likely get persecuted. After much persecution we are poor in spirit and once again the cycle begins, another step up towards Christlikeness. Another interesting tidbit is that the blessings are bookended by receiving the Kingdom of Heaven - with getting everything else inbetween. I am fascinated by this and am going to continue studying it.
IN our Bible Study we are studying the Tabernacle with Beth Moore in a study called, A Woman's HEart - God's Dwelling Place. This, too, is a fascinating study, bridging the whole of scripture, showing the incredible brilliance of God and His design. One little tidbit from that study. The curse that was given after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden was that the land would produce thorns and thistles for them. What did Jesus wear on his head as he hung on the cross? A crown of thorns. He literally took the curse on his head - isn't that amazing! God is so good.
Now that the press of the holiday season is over I am back to teaching Sunday School and have joined a Bible Study. Both have been requiring much study from me and I must confess...I love it. We're going back over the Angela Thomas material in Sunday School, working through parts of the sermon on the mount.
On Sunday as I was teaching I had a revelation that I couldn't quite wrap my head around at the time, but now as I think and ponder and study I have noticed that the heart conditions mentioned in the beatitudes are a progression of maturity. It's really quite fascinating. Take a look. At some point we realize that we're broken (poor in spirit), life has nailed us to the wall and we're falling in pieces, we need a Saviour. When we break we end up mourning the loss of what was, whether it was a person, an idea, ideal or dream. In the midst of our mourning we become humbled and look to the Saviour. As our souls are healed we begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we are satisfied and we realize how much we needed a saviour. We can be merciful, because we've been shown mercy. Because we have shown mercy, God will contiue to show mercy and we become pure in heart. Our hearts are made pure, they are at peace and we can bring that peace into the midst of others - we are peacemakers. However, in the midst of giving away the peace that Christ offers we will most likely get persecuted. After much persecution we are poor in spirit and once again the cycle begins, another step up towards Christlikeness. Another interesting tidbit is that the blessings are bookended by receiving the Kingdom of Heaven - with getting everything else inbetween. I am fascinated by this and am going to continue studying it.
IN our Bible Study we are studying the Tabernacle with Beth Moore in a study called, A Woman's HEart - God's Dwelling Place. This, too, is a fascinating study, bridging the whole of scripture, showing the incredible brilliance of God and His design. One little tidbit from that study. The curse that was given after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden was that the land would produce thorns and thistles for them. What did Jesus wear on his head as he hung on the cross? A crown of thorns. He literally took the curse on his head - isn't that amazing! God is so good.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Highlights of the week
The year started out in an adventersome way with adding an extra 5 kids and my husband flying off to the States. Tomorrow we go pick up a young lady from Germany who will be living with us for the next five months. She's here to learn the language, see the country and help me with my home. Should be an adventure!!!
So bet you're curious about the single parenting of 11 children, eh? Well, honestly, it went pretty well. It really is true that the more you have the easier it gets. Since the 5 that came have known my kids all their lives and all five pairs are best buddies, things were pretty sweet. The weather was perfect so they were out sledding and playing hockey or just cruising around the yard for a good chunk of the day.
I don't think I actually saw the girls for the first two days except when they poked their noses out to eat. Polly World took over my daughter's room and they were havin' fun.
There weren't too many mishaps, broken things or fights. There definately were some, just not an excessive amount.
There are some things you should know if you decide to have 11 kids. (BTW, except for one kid, it would have been physically possible for me to have given birth to all 11 of these kids).
- buy peanut butter in VERY large jars
- with 8 boys in the house it is imparitive that you check the toilet seat each and every time you think you might want to sit on that thing
- also check the floor and the walls, never assume that a wet spot in the bathroom came from water
- if you're making sandwiches for lunch, open three bags
- buy a lot of milk - I think we drank at least 2 4-litre jugs per day
- invest in hot chocolate powder
- more than one computer would have been handy unless you're willing to let them use your laptop (I wasn't)
- more than one TV/VCR/DVD thing is also handy
- very large washing machine is a gift from God himself
- make sure you have a sledding hill and a skating rink in close proximity
- don't plan on getting anything of major importance done when they're all home
Some highlights:
- everyone playing hide-n-seek on Is' birthday
- making a farmyard cake for Is' birthday with little cows, pigs and chickens sprinkles- too fun
- listening to the whole bunch of them play 'spies' - even the big boys got into it
- there was a point when all 11 children were outside and I was inside by myself - who would have thought that could happen!!
- didn't hear any food complaints (that may have been because I couldn't hear them!)
- playing Tickey to Ride and/or The Farming Game every evening with my big boys (and they are getting pretty big)
REally, God is gracious and allowed me to enjoy this week. My honey came home to an overflowing toilet because my own two little boys decided to stuff a diaper down it. I was so thankful that it happened then and not the day before that I couldn't really be that mad.
ps - I haven't actually seen the new van yet because it had to get inspected, etc. Kelly says it is very nice.
So bet you're curious about the single parenting of 11 children, eh? Well, honestly, it went pretty well. It really is true that the more you have the easier it gets. Since the 5 that came have known my kids all their lives and all five pairs are best buddies, things were pretty sweet. The weather was perfect so they were out sledding and playing hockey or just cruising around the yard for a good chunk of the day.
I don't think I actually saw the girls for the first two days except when they poked their noses out to eat. Polly World took over my daughter's room and they were havin' fun.
There weren't too many mishaps, broken things or fights. There definately were some, just not an excessive amount.
There are some things you should know if you decide to have 11 kids. (BTW, except for one kid, it would have been physically possible for me to have given birth to all 11 of these kids).
- buy peanut butter in VERY large jars
- with 8 boys in the house it is imparitive that you check the toilet seat each and every time you think you might want to sit on that thing
- also check the floor and the walls, never assume that a wet spot in the bathroom came from water
- if you're making sandwiches for lunch, open three bags
- buy a lot of milk - I think we drank at least 2 4-litre jugs per day
- invest in hot chocolate powder
- more than one computer would have been handy unless you're willing to let them use your laptop (I wasn't)
- more than one TV/VCR/DVD thing is also handy
- very large washing machine is a gift from God himself
- make sure you have a sledding hill and a skating rink in close proximity
- don't plan on getting anything of major importance done when they're all home
Some highlights:
- everyone playing hide-n-seek on Is' birthday
- making a farmyard cake for Is' birthday with little cows, pigs and chickens sprinkles- too fun
- listening to the whole bunch of them play 'spies' - even the big boys got into it
- there was a point when all 11 children were outside and I was inside by myself - who would have thought that could happen!!
- didn't hear any food complaints (that may have been because I couldn't hear them!)
- playing Tickey to Ride and/or The Farming Game every evening with my big boys (and they are getting pretty big)
REally, God is gracious and allowed me to enjoy this week. My honey came home to an overflowing toilet because my own two little boys decided to stuff a diaper down it. I was so thankful that it happened then and not the day before that I couldn't really be that mad.
ps - I haven't actually seen the new van yet because it had to get inspected, etc. Kelly says it is very nice.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
fresh flowers for Jan 2
In the Mood?
Copyright 2007, lani wiens
A fresh flowers original
This Christmas was going to be different, or so I thought. It was going to be full of peace and joy and family togetherness. This year I was prepared. I had the majority of my presents either purchased or ordered by the middle of November, or so I thought. Through the nagging, um encouragement of my daughter the house was decorated by the first of December. We were going to do something a little different since we threw out our old tree when we moved, we put up a “Jesse tree”. The Jesse tree advent celebration comes from the verse that states that out of the stump of Jesse a Messiah will come. So we got a dead branch out of the bush and set it up. We were going to follow the daily devotions as a family and this would point us to a great spiritual revelation of God’s love for us. We would all be filled with peace and joy this Christmas season, or so I thought.
I was so far ahead of the game that I even purchased ingredients to do baking. While I enjoy baking bread, I do NOT enjoy most other forms of baking. I find it rather pointless in my household. I can bake 32 dozen cookies and Tuesday and all that’s left by Thursday is the misshapen, broken bits at the bottom of the cookie jar.
I went on a little retreat at the beginning of December in order to do all my homemade gifts. It was a delightful weekend and I got tons done. I came home ready to face the busyness of banquets, programs and gift wrapping. I had purchased an alfalfa tonic to help with my fatigue (tasted terrible but it sure works). I had just finished teaching a wonderful Sunday school course that had me filled up and focused on the Lord. I was REALLY ready for these few weeks, or so I thought.
I even decided that this would be the year of the family picture card and newsletter sent out in hard copy rather than the electronic version I’ve been doing. Surely I would get an extra star in my crown for that. But I was so well prepared I knew it would be no problem.
Now here’s what really happened.
Apparently I’m getting a little forgetful in my old age. I managed to forget not just one but two gift lists. To keep it even, one on each side of the family. I wasn’t aware of the traditions in our small town so found out that all my boys would be involved in gift exchanges in their classrooms. I wasn’t aware that it was tradition that the kids in the Sunday school give their teachers gifts, dropped that ball, too.
Our spiritual revelation hasn’t come yet. The devotional set we chose was, unfortunately, a lot over our kids heads, it wasn’t the simple, homespun thing I thought it was. The up side of the family devotions, as chaotic and stressful as it was was that our son who has struggled with reading willingly took his turn reading scripture – most of the time.
Every time we saw a green Christmas tree or decorations, my youngest son didn’t waste time telling me that we ought to decorate our house that way. It was a constant reminder that my decorating was woefully inadequate in his estimation. I told him that when he and the other children were bigger and there were a lot less flying objects in our house, maybe our house would be decorated like that, too.
Those baking ingredients haven’t been used. The only extra baking I managed to get in besides the super easy whipped shortbread I made for the youth group was from purchased cookie dough that I managed to burn. Apparently without the investment of mixing ingredients my psyche can’t deal with the pressure of watching cookies.
I realized too late that it isn’t the big gifts that will do you in, it’s the little odds and ends; the school pictures, the Christmas cards, the little gift exchanges, the endless list of people who do things for you that you take for granted the rest of the year that you suddenly decide you want to recognize, the wrapping and all the other myriad things that need to get done. No anti-fatigue tonic can help you when you stay up late every night and run yourself ragged all day.
The Christmas cards, while a great idea, proved to be a much larger task than we thought with our desire to send a card to all our friends in our old church, giving them to the new church friends as well as long distance friends and of course all the relatives. Searching out addresses and figuring out how to save on postage by hand-delivery proved to be a monumental task. Worth it? Certainly, but I’m guessing it may not happen again soon.
Yes, this mama was not happy and you know how the saying goes, when mama ain;t happy, ain’t nobody happy. My homeschooling schedule went right out the window causing me more stress. The house became a little more than chaotic and I seemed to just be stressed and yelling at everyone. Joy and peace were not resident and it largely had to do with me. This was not what I had envisioned. I was definitely NOT in the mood for Christmas, I was ready to give up on the whole idea.
But God hadn’t given up on me, even though I was pretty sure that I wasn’t bringing Him any blessing at this point. One evening after I had run around helping one child with his wrapping, another with a sewing project, listening to the baby cry and flung myself down on the lower bunk to sing Jesus songs so my little boys would go to sleep so I could go back to my sewing machine, wrapping and cleaning. I was part way through Jesus Loves Me when the Holy Spirit began to convict me of my heart’s attitude. I flung around in my memory for a song that I could sing and mean. Jesus, Be the Centre is what came to mind...”be the fire in my heart, be the wind in my sails, be the reason that I live, Jesus” Then the Spirit led me to...”you are my strength when I am weak, you are treasure that I seek, you are my all in all. When I am down you pick me up, when I am dry you fill my cup, you are my all in all. Jesus, lamb of God, Holy is Your Name.” By this time, my heart was streaming with tears even though my eyes weren’t, I no longer cared if my boys were sleeping I was finally where I belonged, at the feet of the One who came, lying in the manger, wrapped in His arms of love. “It’s all about you Jesus, and all this is for You.”
I emerged from the Holy of Holies with a new attitude and a new heart. My three youngest babies were sleeping, one sibling was helping another. My husband and oldest son came home to a new atmosphere that was almost tangible. My husband was greatly relieved, he had become concerned with my frantic pace and snippy countenance. While the list of things to do hadn’t changed, my heart had completely transformed. Joy and peace on earth were possible again. Christmas came back in a manger, in the dark of my boys’ messy bedroom. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness to us, even when we completely forget why we’re doing all this running around. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Copyright 2007, lani wiens
A fresh flowers original
This Christmas was going to be different, or so I thought. It was going to be full of peace and joy and family togetherness. This year I was prepared. I had the majority of my presents either purchased or ordered by the middle of November, or so I thought. Through the nagging, um encouragement of my daughter the house was decorated by the first of December. We were going to do something a little different since we threw out our old tree when we moved, we put up a “Jesse tree”. The Jesse tree advent celebration comes from the verse that states that out of the stump of Jesse a Messiah will come. So we got a dead branch out of the bush and set it up. We were going to follow the daily devotions as a family and this would point us to a great spiritual revelation of God’s love for us. We would all be filled with peace and joy this Christmas season, or so I thought.
I was so far ahead of the game that I even purchased ingredients to do baking. While I enjoy baking bread, I do NOT enjoy most other forms of baking. I find it rather pointless in my household. I can bake 32 dozen cookies and Tuesday and all that’s left by Thursday is the misshapen, broken bits at the bottom of the cookie jar.
I went on a little retreat at the beginning of December in order to do all my homemade gifts. It was a delightful weekend and I got tons done. I came home ready to face the busyness of banquets, programs and gift wrapping. I had purchased an alfalfa tonic to help with my fatigue (tasted terrible but it sure works). I had just finished teaching a wonderful Sunday school course that had me filled up and focused on the Lord. I was REALLY ready for these few weeks, or so I thought.
I even decided that this would be the year of the family picture card and newsletter sent out in hard copy rather than the electronic version I’ve been doing. Surely I would get an extra star in my crown for that. But I was so well prepared I knew it would be no problem.
Now here’s what really happened.
Apparently I’m getting a little forgetful in my old age. I managed to forget not just one but two gift lists. To keep it even, one on each side of the family. I wasn’t aware of the traditions in our small town so found out that all my boys would be involved in gift exchanges in their classrooms. I wasn’t aware that it was tradition that the kids in the Sunday school give their teachers gifts, dropped that ball, too.
Our spiritual revelation hasn’t come yet. The devotional set we chose was, unfortunately, a lot over our kids heads, it wasn’t the simple, homespun thing I thought it was. The up side of the family devotions, as chaotic and stressful as it was was that our son who has struggled with reading willingly took his turn reading scripture – most of the time.
Every time we saw a green Christmas tree or decorations, my youngest son didn’t waste time telling me that we ought to decorate our house that way. It was a constant reminder that my decorating was woefully inadequate in his estimation. I told him that when he and the other children were bigger and there were a lot less flying objects in our house, maybe our house would be decorated like that, too.
Those baking ingredients haven’t been used. The only extra baking I managed to get in besides the super easy whipped shortbread I made for the youth group was from purchased cookie dough that I managed to burn. Apparently without the investment of mixing ingredients my psyche can’t deal with the pressure of watching cookies.
I realized too late that it isn’t the big gifts that will do you in, it’s the little odds and ends; the school pictures, the Christmas cards, the little gift exchanges, the endless list of people who do things for you that you take for granted the rest of the year that you suddenly decide you want to recognize, the wrapping and all the other myriad things that need to get done. No anti-fatigue tonic can help you when you stay up late every night and run yourself ragged all day.
The Christmas cards, while a great idea, proved to be a much larger task than we thought with our desire to send a card to all our friends in our old church, giving them to the new church friends as well as long distance friends and of course all the relatives. Searching out addresses and figuring out how to save on postage by hand-delivery proved to be a monumental task. Worth it? Certainly, but I’m guessing it may not happen again soon.
Yes, this mama was not happy and you know how the saying goes, when mama ain;t happy, ain’t nobody happy. My homeschooling schedule went right out the window causing me more stress. The house became a little more than chaotic and I seemed to just be stressed and yelling at everyone. Joy and peace were not resident and it largely had to do with me. This was not what I had envisioned. I was definitely NOT in the mood for Christmas, I was ready to give up on the whole idea.
But God hadn’t given up on me, even though I was pretty sure that I wasn’t bringing Him any blessing at this point. One evening after I had run around helping one child with his wrapping, another with a sewing project, listening to the baby cry and flung myself down on the lower bunk to sing Jesus songs so my little boys would go to sleep so I could go back to my sewing machine, wrapping and cleaning. I was part way through Jesus Loves Me when the Holy Spirit began to convict me of my heart’s attitude. I flung around in my memory for a song that I could sing and mean. Jesus, Be the Centre is what came to mind...”be the fire in my heart, be the wind in my sails, be the reason that I live, Jesus” Then the Spirit led me to...”you are my strength when I am weak, you are treasure that I seek, you are my all in all. When I am down you pick me up, when I am dry you fill my cup, you are my all in all. Jesus, lamb of God, Holy is Your Name.” By this time, my heart was streaming with tears even though my eyes weren’t, I no longer cared if my boys were sleeping I was finally where I belonged, at the feet of the One who came, lying in the manger, wrapped in His arms of love. “It’s all about you Jesus, and all this is for You.”
I emerged from the Holy of Holies with a new attitude and a new heart. My three youngest babies were sleeping, one sibling was helping another. My husband and oldest son came home to a new atmosphere that was almost tangible. My husband was greatly relieved, he had become concerned with my frantic pace and snippy countenance. While the list of things to do hadn’t changed, my heart had completely transformed. Joy and peace on earth were possible again. Christmas came back in a manger, in the dark of my boys’ messy bedroom. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness to us, even when we completely forget why we’re doing all this running around. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
the adventure begins
The adventures of the new year have officially begun! We started off with adopting 5 kids for a few days. Our dear friends just had a baby (Dec 18) and the poor little fellow is back in the hospital, he isn't thriving the way they'd like so the doctors are conducting a multitude of tests to determine what is causing the problems. In the meantime, his older brothers and sister are here with us. Our kids are delighted as these are their best friends, more like extra brothers and sister really. So here we are one mommy and 11 kids, so far it's been very good.
Where is the daddy? Winging his way to Philadelphia to get our new van. We purchased a van on e-bay so DH and his dad are heading down there to drive it home. While I don't envy the 33+ hours of driving they're going to do to get it home, I am jealous of the route he plans to take home - right through Lancaster County. I told him if he came anywhere near a quilt shop he at least had to go in and get me a little bit of cloth. He promised he would.
Happy New Year everyone!
Where is the daddy? Winging his way to Philadelphia to get our new van. We purchased a van on e-bay so DH and his dad are heading down there to drive it home. While I don't envy the 33+ hours of driving they're going to do to get it home, I am jealous of the route he plans to take home - right through Lancaster County. I told him if he came anywhere near a quilt shop he at least had to go in and get me a little bit of cloth. He promised he would.
Happy New Year everyone!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Exciting news
Yesterday was a pretty exciting day around here. We waited on pins and needles all day waiting for news from our friends on the birth of their baby. Well, he's here!! Ethan Isaac was born at 4:10 in the afternoon, 8.15 lbs, 21". It wasn't an easy birth but we're glad it's over!!
Then a little later in the evening we got the news that we won the e-bay auction we were in. We are now the owners of a new van - okay not new new - a 1998 Savanna. It has capacity for 10, 4 bucket seats, a converted top with a TV and VCR in it. We'll post pictures once it's here. Only drawback is that Kelly has to fly to Pennsylvania to pick it up. The good news, we paid for the whole thing, so no new payments or anything - we are so excited about that!
Gotta get the herd fed...
Then a little later in the evening we got the news that we won the e-bay auction we were in. We are now the owners of a new van - okay not new new - a 1998 Savanna. It has capacity for 10, 4 bucket seats, a converted top with a TV and VCR in it. We'll post pictures once it's here. Only drawback is that Kelly has to fly to Pennsylvania to pick it up. The good news, we paid for the whole thing, so no new payments or anything - we are so excited about that!
Gotta get the herd fed...
Thursday, December 13, 2007
fresh flowers for December 13
Can't think of a title
copyright 2007, lani wiens
a fresh flowers original
I didn't know when I became a mother what exactly would be required of me. If someone had told me there is a possibility that I may not have signed up. At this very moment my two oldest sons are sending lego to every corner of my basement with the catapults they just built. Then they come up giggling, thinking I have not heard their war cries and the lego hitting the walls. I say, "Are you planning to clean up the lego that you just sent to the far reaches of the basement?"
"You could hear that?" they ask incredulously, "How did you do that?"
"I'm a mother," I reply, "we're wired for that."
Apparently I am also wired to be a GPS unit for every single toy, piece of clothing, book and paper that we own. If someone can't find something, rather than look for it themselves, they simply ask me. The scary part is that nine times out of ten I actually know where the item is. For example: Boy #2 comes racing into the kitchen while I am preparing supper. "Mom, mom, where's Jack?" I race through the Rolodex in my head trying to think of who Jack might be, currently I don't know any Jacks and wouldn't know where they were if I did know one. I innocently ask, "Jack who?"
"Jack Sparrow, of course."
Of course Jack Sparrow, how could I be so silly, "He's under the table."
"Thanks mom."
There are new decorating themes that you should get used to as a mom. My most recent, cheese on soft green wall. How the cheese got there, I'm not even going to guess. Let's see what else have we discovered? Toothpaste texture on the bathroom counter. Shaving cream studded sinks. That was just today. Let's not forget the ever popular permanent marker primitive drawings and did you know that dry erase markers are not erasable on most walls? Glue stick makes for nice wall texture as well! My computer moniter has a distinctive border in grafite, a little brown marker and what's that in the corner...fly poop.
There are things that come out of your mouth that you may never would have imagined would become part of your daily speech. Questions like, "Who peed in the ___________?" We have personally filled in that blank with; the garbage can, the toy box, the tub, various pails and a can of nails.
I am a professional lie detector. I can spot a fib at 50 paces. I could get a job with the police department. Put that together with my super sonic hearing and my ability to remember who does what when and I should be worth my weight in gold.
I love being a mom most days, really I do. I'm awfully glad God is so much better at this than I am. I only have to keep up with 6 not 6 billion. As you wait on His coming this season may you pause in amazement at the incredible gift that God has given us. He personally, hears us, knows where we are at all times, answers every crazy question we have, spots us in our lies and lovingly corrects, directs and comforts us every single minute of the day.
Blessings to you and yours this glorious Christmas season.
copyright 2007, lani wiens
a fresh flowers original
I didn't know when I became a mother what exactly would be required of me. If someone had told me there is a possibility that I may not have signed up. At this very moment my two oldest sons are sending lego to every corner of my basement with the catapults they just built. Then they come up giggling, thinking I have not heard their war cries and the lego hitting the walls. I say, "Are you planning to clean up the lego that you just sent to the far reaches of the basement?"
"You could hear that?" they ask incredulously, "How did you do that?"
"I'm a mother," I reply, "we're wired for that."
Apparently I am also wired to be a GPS unit for every single toy, piece of clothing, book and paper that we own. If someone can't find something, rather than look for it themselves, they simply ask me. The scary part is that nine times out of ten I actually know where the item is. For example: Boy #2 comes racing into the kitchen while I am preparing supper. "Mom, mom, where's Jack?" I race through the Rolodex in my head trying to think of who Jack might be, currently I don't know any Jacks and wouldn't know where they were if I did know one. I innocently ask, "Jack who?"
"Jack Sparrow, of course."
Of course Jack Sparrow, how could I be so silly, "He's under the table."
"Thanks mom."
There are new decorating themes that you should get used to as a mom. My most recent, cheese on soft green wall. How the cheese got there, I'm not even going to guess. Let's see what else have we discovered? Toothpaste texture on the bathroom counter. Shaving cream studded sinks. That was just today. Let's not forget the ever popular permanent marker primitive drawings and did you know that dry erase markers are not erasable on most walls? Glue stick makes for nice wall texture as well! My computer moniter has a distinctive border in grafite, a little brown marker and what's that in the corner...fly poop.
There are things that come out of your mouth that you may never would have imagined would become part of your daily speech. Questions like, "Who peed in the ___________?" We have personally filled in that blank with; the garbage can, the toy box, the tub, various pails and a can of nails.
I am a professional lie detector. I can spot a fib at 50 paces. I could get a job with the police department. Put that together with my super sonic hearing and my ability to remember who does what when and I should be worth my weight in gold.
I love being a mom most days, really I do. I'm awfully glad God is so much better at this than I am. I only have to keep up with 6 not 6 billion. As you wait on His coming this season may you pause in amazement at the incredible gift that God has given us. He personally, hears us, knows where we are at all times, answers every crazy question we have, spots us in our lies and lovingly corrects, directs and comforts us every single minute of the day.
Blessings to you and yours this glorious Christmas season.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The more I use Facebook the less I like it. It's impersonal and time-consuming. The only really good bit is Scrabulous. That, and the fact that I connected with a few old friends I haven't seen this decade. Anyways, enough sour notes.
Getting ready for Christmas this year has actually been fun. We have been able to purchase some very fun gifts for our kids and others, that has been a blessing. The simple fact that I'm not stressing out about every penny goes a long way to keeping this mommy happy.
Right now I'm enjoying a cuddle with my baby girl. I love that she still wants to sit on my lap for long periods of time, is mostly not demanding and loves to give hugs. IT is, however, difficult to type, so I guess I'm done.
Getting ready for Christmas this year has actually been fun. We have been able to purchase some very fun gifts for our kids and others, that has been a blessing. The simple fact that I'm not stressing out about every penny goes a long way to keeping this mommy happy.
Right now I'm enjoying a cuddle with my baby girl. I love that she still wants to sit on my lap for long periods of time, is mostly not demanding and loves to give hugs. IT is, however, difficult to type, so I guess I'm done.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
fresh flowers for December 6
The Promised Land
copyright, lani wiens, 2007
a fresh flowers original
Over here in the promised land the flowers seem to be blooming less than normal. Perhaps winter has been a little harsh on the posies lately. I've been ruminating on the promised land life and wondering what it might have been like for the Israelites way back then. You would hope that once you get to the promised land you'd have it made in the shade, milk and honey everywhere, new houses that might be a little more permanent, out of the hostile desert and into some treed areas. Now that I'm in our promised land I've been making a few observations.
1. The promised land requires some elbow grease.
So here we are, fresh over the Jordan and what do we run into...Jericho. A big, walled city that we are now required to inhabit. Apparently God does not see this as a problem, but an opportunity to remind his followers that He is still in the picture and life will still require faith to live. Yes, we feel like we are currently living in the promises that God made us a long time ago. Sometimes the amount of work required to live here is staggering. But is it worth it? I'm guessing when the Israelites got to plunder Jericho they weren't complaining! We're not complaining either.
2. The promised land can be intimidating.
The giants over here in the promised land are mighty big. The good thing is that the God of David is still on the throne and a small smooth stone of obedience can bring down the biggest giant we face. We just watched Facing The Giants (an excellent movie, we highly recommend it) and were moved to tears as we watched the actors face many of the same giants we've faced in our lifetime. It brought us to the realization that we have overcome much through the hand of God. The giants will keep coming, but if we're willing to give it our all, to lay ourselves on the altar of obedience, God will fight for us. We will continue to honor Him, whether we win or lose.
3. The promised land can be lonely.
It's all new people in the promised land. In order to get here we had to cross the Jordan, while our friends came to see us off, they stayed on the other side, they have their own promised land to get to. As we put down roots and build new relationships we miss the proximity and closeness of what we had. However, God is on this side of the river as well, He will never leave us or forsake us, He will help us move in and move on.
4. The promised land can be expensive.
Back in the desert things didn't wear out. Stuff showed up just when we needed it, sometimes right outside our door. However, God is saying that particular brand of provision isn't necessary anymore. We need to begin to replace the things we came with for new things that are approriate for this land. Our eyes are being opened to how worn out and ragged some of our things are. We are so thankful for the provision that God has made in the past and for the new kind of provision He is making now. There are times where I long for the old kind of provision but I'm learning to enjoy the new kind as well, it still requires faith to believe. It's a new land and a new lesson to learn.
5. The promised land requires adjustments.
Things were pretty comfortable in the desert, or at least familiar. There's a whole new way of doing things over here. New ways of being. Things are NOT the same. You are only allowed to say, "When I lived in the desert we did..." so many times before it isn't allowed anymore. It's time to adjust to the new land, the new ways, adapt to the customs, learn the language and become part of this new country. We have applied for citizenship in this new land of promise.
So many of the things we have dreamed of are happening right before our eyes. We lived for such a long time feeling like we were just on the edge of something and suddenly we're there. The tags are still a little scratchy and we don't feel like we've quite worn things in yet, there are days we wish we were back in the land of familiar, but being in the promised land is good. Very good.
copyright, lani wiens, 2007
a fresh flowers original
Over here in the promised land the flowers seem to be blooming less than normal. Perhaps winter has been a little harsh on the posies lately. I've been ruminating on the promised land life and wondering what it might have been like for the Israelites way back then. You would hope that once you get to the promised land you'd have it made in the shade, milk and honey everywhere, new houses that might be a little more permanent, out of the hostile desert and into some treed areas. Now that I'm in our promised land I've been making a few observations.
1. The promised land requires some elbow grease.
So here we are, fresh over the Jordan and what do we run into...Jericho. A big, walled city that we are now required to inhabit. Apparently God does not see this as a problem, but an opportunity to remind his followers that He is still in the picture and life will still require faith to live. Yes, we feel like we are currently living in the promises that God made us a long time ago. Sometimes the amount of work required to live here is staggering. But is it worth it? I'm guessing when the Israelites got to plunder Jericho they weren't complaining! We're not complaining either.
2. The promised land can be intimidating.
The giants over here in the promised land are mighty big. The good thing is that the God of David is still on the throne and a small smooth stone of obedience can bring down the biggest giant we face. We just watched Facing The Giants (an excellent movie, we highly recommend it) and were moved to tears as we watched the actors face many of the same giants we've faced in our lifetime. It brought us to the realization that we have overcome much through the hand of God. The giants will keep coming, but if we're willing to give it our all, to lay ourselves on the altar of obedience, God will fight for us. We will continue to honor Him, whether we win or lose.
3. The promised land can be lonely.
It's all new people in the promised land. In order to get here we had to cross the Jordan, while our friends came to see us off, they stayed on the other side, they have their own promised land to get to. As we put down roots and build new relationships we miss the proximity and closeness of what we had. However, God is on this side of the river as well, He will never leave us or forsake us, He will help us move in and move on.
4. The promised land can be expensive.
Back in the desert things didn't wear out. Stuff showed up just when we needed it, sometimes right outside our door. However, God is saying that particular brand of provision isn't necessary anymore. We need to begin to replace the things we came with for new things that are approriate for this land. Our eyes are being opened to how worn out and ragged some of our things are. We are so thankful for the provision that God has made in the past and for the new kind of provision He is making now. There are times where I long for the old kind of provision but I'm learning to enjoy the new kind as well, it still requires faith to believe. It's a new land and a new lesson to learn.
5. The promised land requires adjustments.
Things were pretty comfortable in the desert, or at least familiar. There's a whole new way of doing things over here. New ways of being. Things are NOT the same. You are only allowed to say, "When I lived in the desert we did..." so many times before it isn't allowed anymore. It's time to adjust to the new land, the new ways, adapt to the customs, learn the language and become part of this new country. We have applied for citizenship in this new land of promise.
So many of the things we have dreamed of are happening right before our eyes. We lived for such a long time feeling like we were just on the edge of something and suddenly we're there. The tags are still a little scratchy and we don't feel like we've quite worn things in yet, there are days we wish we were back in the land of familiar, but being in the promised land is good. Very good.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
hurdles
There's nothing like doing things with a running start. We just got back from holidays. Before we left we were running like crazy to get ready, hosting meetings, youth events, packing and farm work. We took the flying leap up and over the hurdle and hung in mid air for a wonderful week of relaxing and playing with our kids and extended family, we had a fabulous time. Then the pause button got pushed again and we had to come back to earth. We drove into our garage at 5:30 PM, unloaded the kids and some of the stuff, waited for the babysitter, changed our clothes and put some make-up on and headed out again at 6:00 PM to go to the fundraiser banquet for the missions trip we're going on in February. This morning we were back in the saddle teaching Sunday School. This is a crazy life. We have two huge events coming this week with the youth group and then there's all the Christmas preparations to attend to. So....if you happen to read this, would you mind breathing for me, cause I'm not sure I'll get the chance.
NOTE TO SELF: It is worth every penny to have a cleaning person come in and tend to your home while you are away. Walking into a clean house after vacation is a little bit of heaven!
NOTE TO SELF: It is worth every penny to have a cleaning person come in and tend to your home while you are away. Walking into a clean house after vacation is a little bit of heaven!
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
fresh flowers for November 7
Daddy
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007
Our youngest son has had a life long love affair with his daddy. He can't stand it when daddy leaves. He can't wait until daddy comes home. When he hears his daddy at the door he drops everything and runs to meet him with smiles, hugs and kisses. When daddy is leaving there are many hugs and kisses and often tears. Recently I mentioned to him that I had heard daddy drive into the lower part of our yard to load grain. I don't think that I finished the sentence before his active little brain put 'daddy' and 'yard' together and he took off running. He didn't stop for a jacket or shoes, he was single-minded in his purpose, he needed to see his daddy, feel his strong arms around him and be in his presence. This little boy's desire for his dad extends to his sleeping routines. If he knows that his daddy is in the house he makes his way to our bedroom at about 5:00 AM, crawls in beside his daddy and goes back to sleep, that, according to him is his spot.
I have to admit that my passion and excitement for my saviour is not as zealous as my son's is for his daddy, but oh I long for it to be that. My son's love is pure, unfettered, abandoned. He is secure in his position in his daddy's heart. He never questions his daddy's love for him. Even when he has been disciplined and daddy turns into "the meanest daddy ever", it is only for a moment, his mad disapates and he must be near daddy once again. It never stops him from seeking his daddy in the dark of night when his soul is lonely and needing warmth.
This is the warm, pulsing breath of first love. The driving need to be near, the leave-your-jacket-and-shoes behind kind of love that does not require the warmth of something external. I am praying for that awakening in my spirit. I want my soul to reverbrate with the realization that my daddy is near and I must get to him, now! Passion. Abandon. Security. Warmth. This is what I crave in my relationship with my God. How about you?
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007
Our youngest son has had a life long love affair with his daddy. He can't stand it when daddy leaves. He can't wait until daddy comes home. When he hears his daddy at the door he drops everything and runs to meet him with smiles, hugs and kisses. When daddy is leaving there are many hugs and kisses and often tears. Recently I mentioned to him that I had heard daddy drive into the lower part of our yard to load grain. I don't think that I finished the sentence before his active little brain put 'daddy' and 'yard' together and he took off running. He didn't stop for a jacket or shoes, he was single-minded in his purpose, he needed to see his daddy, feel his strong arms around him and be in his presence. This little boy's desire for his dad extends to his sleeping routines. If he knows that his daddy is in the house he makes his way to our bedroom at about 5:00 AM, crawls in beside his daddy and goes back to sleep, that, according to him is his spot.
I have to admit that my passion and excitement for my saviour is not as zealous as my son's is for his daddy, but oh I long for it to be that. My son's love is pure, unfettered, abandoned. He is secure in his position in his daddy's heart. He never questions his daddy's love for him. Even when he has been disciplined and daddy turns into "the meanest daddy ever", it is only for a moment, his mad disapates and he must be near daddy once again. It never stops him from seeking his daddy in the dark of night when his soul is lonely and needing warmth.
This is the warm, pulsing breath of first love. The driving need to be near, the leave-your-jacket-and-shoes behind kind of love that does not require the warmth of something external. I am praying for that awakening in my spirit. I want my soul to reverbrate with the realization that my daddy is near and I must get to him, now! Passion. Abandon. Security. Warmth. This is what I crave in my relationship with my God. How about you?
Thursday, October 18, 2007
precious moments for today
This morning I woke up with a headache (not unusual). As I was talking to Kelly and telling him about it, my 3 year old whirlwind jumped up on his chair put his hand on my forehead and prayed for it to go away!
After breakfast as I was cutting that same 3 year old's fingernails he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, you are my treasure."
My Samuel told me the other day that I was his 'golden star', "That means you are very beautiful, Mommy." Don't you love moments like that?
After breakfast as I was cutting that same 3 year old's fingernails he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, you are my treasure."
My Samuel told me the other day that I was his 'golden star', "That means you are very beautiful, Mommy." Don't you love moments like that?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Observations from the farm
I should be making a poster for the Fun'N'Games night the youth are hosting on Oct 31 but am I? No, cause I'm tired and I want to go to bed but instead I'm cruising the world of my blogging buddies and enjoying this piece of my world. Blogging is so much more friendly than Facebook don't you think. The funnest thing about Facebook is playing Scrabble on-line - 7 games at a time!! No one to mess up the board, no one breathing down your neck to think! AND if you stink in one game, you're probably doing okay in another. My personal best - KLUTZ for 105 points!!!
Anyway, I actually came to post because I wanted to just say how much I enjoy homeschool AND public school. My kids are doing so well this year where they are. This evening I got to see Chris do math in his head (he has a severe learning disability, this is a major accomplishment). He has scored 75% and 76% on recent tests in science and social studies at his grade level, the school provided a scribe for him to either read questions, write answers or give him the spelling help that he needed to complete the tests. We are so thrilled for him, I'm afraid that success would most likely NOT be happening at home if I was his teacher.
On the other hand, my girl is doing fabulously well. She is so fun to work with. She catches on quickly, enjoys things I enjoy and we have a lot of fun together. She is doing well working on her own or with me. She is learning to sew, taking intiative in projects and cruising along at a good speed on all levels. She watched Anne of Green Gables for the first time this weekend and she is in love! I'm so happy. I had just started reading the book with her and the next day the babysitter brings the movie. How cool is that!
Another observation that I made this week. The reason city folk think we farmers are rich is because when we actually do get to the city we come in our good clothes with hair and make-up in place. We drop serious coin at the check-out because we buy everything at once rather than picking up a couple of things here and there. We have to get things when we're in town whether they're on sale or not because we don't know when we'll get back to the city again. That's my theory anyway. It is such a different way of shopping and spending money. It makes us look like we're rich but we're just like everyone else. Really.
Anyway, I actually came to post because I wanted to just say how much I enjoy homeschool AND public school. My kids are doing so well this year where they are. This evening I got to see Chris do math in his head (he has a severe learning disability, this is a major accomplishment). He has scored 75% and 76% on recent tests in science and social studies at his grade level, the school provided a scribe for him to either read questions, write answers or give him the spelling help that he needed to complete the tests. We are so thrilled for him, I'm afraid that success would most likely NOT be happening at home if I was his teacher.
On the other hand, my girl is doing fabulously well. She is so fun to work with. She catches on quickly, enjoys things I enjoy and we have a lot of fun together. She is doing well working on her own or with me. She is learning to sew, taking intiative in projects and cruising along at a good speed on all levels. She watched Anne of Green Gables for the first time this weekend and she is in love! I'm so happy. I had just started reading the book with her and the next day the babysitter brings the movie. How cool is that!
Another observation that I made this week. The reason city folk think we farmers are rich is because when we actually do get to the city we come in our good clothes with hair and make-up in place. We drop serious coin at the check-out because we buy everything at once rather than picking up a couple of things here and there. We have to get things when we're in town whether they're on sale or not because we don't know when we'll get back to the city again. That's my theory anyway. It is such a different way of shopping and spending money. It makes us look like we're rich but we're just like everyone else. Really.
Monday, October 15, 2007
fresh flowers for October 16
Open the Box
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007, lani wiens
My husband is a giver. He loves giving gifts, it thrills him to no end. So when we got our first big payment for one of our crops he decided to do a little shopping and brought home presents for the kids, they were thrilled, too. Unfortunately, in the midst of all this merriment we had a little problem happening. It is not a new problem, it's been going on for awhile and we have had to work hard to change the course of things around here.
Our youngest son tends to take over his older brothers' stuff. He is particularly fond of whatever Samuel has, possibly because Samuel is a little softer than the bigger boys. Sasha has the mindset that if he likes it, he decides it is his and nothing you say will change his mind. At one point Samuel had saved up enough money to buy a train set he'd been wanting. When he got it, Sasha took over the train set. We tried everything we could to loosen his grip but eventually Samuel just gave up and decided he didn't want the set any more. It made us sad to see him abandon something he had worked so hard for. We didn't want to see that happen again.
Fast forward to this week. Sasha has received a very cool drum set and Samuel has received a little keyboard with a mike stand and everything. Everyone is happy for a little while until Sasha starts venturing too near Samuel's keyboard. We were curious to see what would happen, would history repeat itself? Samuel decided not to take any chances. As soon as he saw Sasha anywhere near his keyboard, he would stop playing and pack it into the box or he would pick the whole thing up and go to a different part of the house until Sasha came near again, then he would repeat the procedure. We tried to talk him out of continually packing it up but the fear of loss was too great to overcome. We were greatly saddened by his actions. He could not enjoy his gift for fear of his brother's interference.
This incident reminded of times in my own life and people I know who have been given a gift by the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been hurt because of other people's misuse of their gift and so they get a little shy about taking it out of the box and letting it be seen or enjoyed by others. The fear of getting hurt again is so great that they keep the gift hidden away. The gift remains in good condition but it never sees the light of day, it is useless. I am certain that our heavenly Father is greatly saddened when this happens just as we were.
As we encouraged Samuel to take his gift out and enjoy it, we also assured him that we would do everything we could to make sure Sasha did not abuse it. At first he wasn't so sure that he could trust us, and rightly so, his past experience indicated that perhaps our restrictions on Sasha's behaviour would prove to be fruitless. He watched us impose restrictions regarding the use of the other children's instruments. We established a rule that if one child was caught using another child's instrument without permission their own instrument would be confiscated. Slowly, Samuel let his gift out of the box. Not only did he begin to enjoy his gift and take part in the 'family band', he allowed his baby sister to enjoy his gift, too. We all took great delight in watching Elizabeth sing into his little microphone and dance to the music.
Can I encourage you today to try again? Take your dusty box off the shelf and lift the lid. The gift is still there, waiting for you. You may be a little rusty using it but that's okay, it will come back to you. Your heavenly Father will take great delight in seeing you use what He's given you. I pray that there will be those around you that you can trust to protect you from ones who may interfere. Try anyway, it will be worth it. Who knows what unexpected blessing may come to you and to others from your step of obedience. God doesn't give gifts to be hidden away, he wants to be a light on a hill, shining for all to see. Go ahead, use it, shake the dust off and give it a go. There is a great crowd waiting to cheer you on.
Paul's words to Timothy: "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress." (1 Timothy 4:14, 15)
1 Corinthians 12 gives an excellent perspective on gifts given by the Lord for the good of the body of Christ, sit there awhile and let the Spirit minister to your spirit then open your box and let the gift out.
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007, lani wiens
My husband is a giver. He loves giving gifts, it thrills him to no end. So when we got our first big payment for one of our crops he decided to do a little shopping and brought home presents for the kids, they were thrilled, too. Unfortunately, in the midst of all this merriment we had a little problem happening. It is not a new problem, it's been going on for awhile and we have had to work hard to change the course of things around here.
Our youngest son tends to take over his older brothers' stuff. He is particularly fond of whatever Samuel has, possibly because Samuel is a little softer than the bigger boys. Sasha has the mindset that if he likes it, he decides it is his and nothing you say will change his mind. At one point Samuel had saved up enough money to buy a train set he'd been wanting. When he got it, Sasha took over the train set. We tried everything we could to loosen his grip but eventually Samuel just gave up and decided he didn't want the set any more. It made us sad to see him abandon something he had worked so hard for. We didn't want to see that happen again.
Fast forward to this week. Sasha has received a very cool drum set and Samuel has received a little keyboard with a mike stand and everything. Everyone is happy for a little while until Sasha starts venturing too near Samuel's keyboard. We were curious to see what would happen, would history repeat itself? Samuel decided not to take any chances. As soon as he saw Sasha anywhere near his keyboard, he would stop playing and pack it into the box or he would pick the whole thing up and go to a different part of the house until Sasha came near again, then he would repeat the procedure. We tried to talk him out of continually packing it up but the fear of loss was too great to overcome. We were greatly saddened by his actions. He could not enjoy his gift for fear of his brother's interference.
This incident reminded of times in my own life and people I know who have been given a gift by the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been hurt because of other people's misuse of their gift and so they get a little shy about taking it out of the box and letting it be seen or enjoyed by others. The fear of getting hurt again is so great that they keep the gift hidden away. The gift remains in good condition but it never sees the light of day, it is useless. I am certain that our heavenly Father is greatly saddened when this happens just as we were.
As we encouraged Samuel to take his gift out and enjoy it, we also assured him that we would do everything we could to make sure Sasha did not abuse it. At first he wasn't so sure that he could trust us, and rightly so, his past experience indicated that perhaps our restrictions on Sasha's behaviour would prove to be fruitless. He watched us impose restrictions regarding the use of the other children's instruments. We established a rule that if one child was caught using another child's instrument without permission their own instrument would be confiscated. Slowly, Samuel let his gift out of the box. Not only did he begin to enjoy his gift and take part in the 'family band', he allowed his baby sister to enjoy his gift, too. We all took great delight in watching Elizabeth sing into his little microphone and dance to the music.
Can I encourage you today to try again? Take your dusty box off the shelf and lift the lid. The gift is still there, waiting for you. You may be a little rusty using it but that's okay, it will come back to you. Your heavenly Father will take great delight in seeing you use what He's given you. I pray that there will be those around you that you can trust to protect you from ones who may interfere. Try anyway, it will be worth it. Who knows what unexpected blessing may come to you and to others from your step of obedience. God doesn't give gifts to be hidden away, he wants to be a light on a hill, shining for all to see. Go ahead, use it, shake the dust off and give it a go. There is a great crowd waiting to cheer you on.
Paul's words to Timothy: "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress." (1 Timothy 4:14, 15)
1 Corinthians 12 gives an excellent perspective on gifts given by the Lord for the good of the body of Christ, sit there awhile and let the Spirit minister to your spirit then open your box and let the gift out.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The 23rd channel
I read this in a newsletter I receive called Heart to Heart. While I don't watch TV (never hooked up our antenna) it certainly echoes my sentiments on the majority of television. Yes there are a few shows I wouldn't mind watching if given the opportunity but I think I'm leaning more this way lately.
Blessings...
THE 23RD CHANNEL
Author unknown - Thanks to Paula Archer in Ohio for sending this!
The TV is my shepherd , I shall not want
It makes me lie down on the sofa
It leads me away from the study of the Scriptures
It damages my soul
It leads me in the path of sex and violence for the sponsor's sake
Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities,
There will be no interruption, for the TV is with me
Its cable and remote control, they comfort me
It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my worldliness
It anoints my head with Humanism
My coveting runneth over
Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life
And, I shall dwell in my house watching TV forever.
Blessings...
THE 23RD CHANNEL
Author unknown - Thanks to Paula Archer in Ohio for sending this!
The TV is my shepherd , I shall not want
It makes me lie down on the sofa
It leads me away from the study of the Scriptures
It damages my soul
It leads me in the path of sex and violence for the sponsor's sake
Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities,
There will be no interruption, for the TV is with me
Its cable and remote control, they comfort me
It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my worldliness
It anoints my head with Humanism
My coveting runneth over
Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life
And, I shall dwell in my house watching TV forever.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
fresh flowers of October 5
The Power of Some
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007, lani wiens
Since becoming a part of the pastoral team here in our beloved province I have had the privelege of being part of a number of events related to our denomination. There has been a lot of debate about the value of the church as an organized body, denominations, small groups and everything else in between. As a result we've seen people back away from the church, throw rocks at the bride and smear mud on her dress. As our denominational pastors and leaders met together this week I saw the strength of being part of a spiritual family on a broader plane than the local church. I witnessed first hand the strength, love and power of the body of Christ as it exists in the familial bonds that I happen to be a part of. Those bonds extend not only to the churches in our neck of the woods but to our nation and around the globe. Those bonds don't stop at our denominational borders but go to all those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Early last week we took a few girls from our youth group to a Beautiful Unique Girl event. This was an excellent event speaking into the lives of young women of their beauty and purpose. Part of this event is a contest called the Power of One. It is an exciting challenge to the girls to see how they can affect change in their world as one person. They gave a number of examples of kids who have made a huge difference in the lives of exploited children and the homeless by simply choosing to do something about it. Our girls are very excited about this and have some excellent plans. However, after I thought about it I realized that these kids most likely wouldn't have been able to do what they did if someone else hadn't supported them in it. One example given was of a 5 year old girl who began collecting money for the homeless. Yes, it was definately her idea to do something, but her parents had to support her cause, drive her around and give her the go-ahead to do what she did. I'm guessing that our girls will only get so far with their ideas unless our church, our community and their families support what they want to do.
Our conference of pastors was most likely started by one brave soul who began pastoring a church, then there was another one and another one and here we are today over 30 churches strong in our province. During our retreat my husband and I had the privelege of being part of the worship team. As we practiced in the small room where our get togethers would be held our little team sounded loud to my ears. We weren't using any amplification but we seemed to fill the room...or so I thought. Then we all gathered together, pastors, wives, camp directors and ministry leaders. The room was full and so was the air. I could barely hear myself at all as my one voice joined with the others in praise to our God. It struck me how much louder and fuller the sound was with so many more voices blending together, I thought we might just raise the floor over our heads a few inches. It was an exhilirating time of worship and praise to our God.
Throughout the time together we shared joys, struggles, playful ribbing and times of prayer. It was an amazing thing to me to be joined together with so many others in the same purpose. We were not about our particular denomination or even our particular church. We were about fellows in the same ship, this business of shepherding, leading and nurturing souls towards the kingdom of God. Our denomination isn't perfect, our churches aren't perfect, our pastoral team isn't perfect but God is! We don't do church perfectly, we make mistakes, we let people down because we are imperfect human beings. But there is strength in being part of this team, in knowing that there is most likely someone else we can talk to who has had to walk through whatever it is we're walking through at the moment. This is the strength of spiritual family, the power of some!
a fresh flowers original
copyright 2007, lani wiens
Since becoming a part of the pastoral team here in our beloved province I have had the privelege of being part of a number of events related to our denomination. There has been a lot of debate about the value of the church as an organized body, denominations, small groups and everything else in between. As a result we've seen people back away from the church, throw rocks at the bride and smear mud on her dress. As our denominational pastors and leaders met together this week I saw the strength of being part of a spiritual family on a broader plane than the local church. I witnessed first hand the strength, love and power of the body of Christ as it exists in the familial bonds that I happen to be a part of. Those bonds extend not only to the churches in our neck of the woods but to our nation and around the globe. Those bonds don't stop at our denominational borders but go to all those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Early last week we took a few girls from our youth group to a Beautiful Unique Girl event. This was an excellent event speaking into the lives of young women of their beauty and purpose. Part of this event is a contest called the Power of One. It is an exciting challenge to the girls to see how they can affect change in their world as one person. They gave a number of examples of kids who have made a huge difference in the lives of exploited children and the homeless by simply choosing to do something about it. Our girls are very excited about this and have some excellent plans. However, after I thought about it I realized that these kids most likely wouldn't have been able to do what they did if someone else hadn't supported them in it. One example given was of a 5 year old girl who began collecting money for the homeless. Yes, it was definately her idea to do something, but her parents had to support her cause, drive her around and give her the go-ahead to do what she did. I'm guessing that our girls will only get so far with their ideas unless our church, our community and their families support what they want to do.
Our conference of pastors was most likely started by one brave soul who began pastoring a church, then there was another one and another one and here we are today over 30 churches strong in our province. During our retreat my husband and I had the privelege of being part of the worship team. As we practiced in the small room where our get togethers would be held our little team sounded loud to my ears. We weren't using any amplification but we seemed to fill the room...or so I thought. Then we all gathered together, pastors, wives, camp directors and ministry leaders. The room was full and so was the air. I could barely hear myself at all as my one voice joined with the others in praise to our God. It struck me how much louder and fuller the sound was with so many more voices blending together, I thought we might just raise the floor over our heads a few inches. It was an exhilirating time of worship and praise to our God.
Throughout the time together we shared joys, struggles, playful ribbing and times of prayer. It was an amazing thing to me to be joined together with so many others in the same purpose. We were not about our particular denomination or even our particular church. We were about fellows in the same ship, this business of shepherding, leading and nurturing souls towards the kingdom of God. Our denomination isn't perfect, our churches aren't perfect, our pastoral team isn't perfect but God is! We don't do church perfectly, we make mistakes, we let people down because we are imperfect human beings. But there is strength in being part of this team, in knowing that there is most likely someone else we can talk to who has had to walk through whatever it is we're walking through at the moment. This is the strength of spiritual family, the power of some!
May I be a voice to encourage you to go beyond your reticence and be a joiner. Get involved with your local church, encourage your pastor, cheer on your leaders. Grab someone else and bring them with you. When we all work together we will be a bright and shining light for the nations, a city on a hill that can't be hidden, a beacon of hope where there is none. Together.
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25
Friday, September 28, 2007
fresh flowers for September 28
Beginning Again...
'fresh flowers' as a weekly encouragment in your inbox has taken quite a long break, longer than I imagined it would be. The original reason I went on hiatus was because life was a little crazy around our house with moving, new baby and big decisions to make. However, as time went on without writing the enemy began to infilitrate my thought processes. I began to think that my writing didn't impact anyone, that I had nothing to say that would encourage anyone, and quietly, in the back of my head that I wasn't really good enough to be used by God anyway.
Over the course of this summer God began to challenge my thinking on those fronts. He brought me back to my secret place, reforging the bonds of intimacy between us. He began to heal my emotions and get my feet remembering that they were planted on a rock. He started to renew my spirit as I cried out to Him.
Out of that came a conviction to begin a women's Sunday School class, with the ulterior motive that perhaps I would get some of my own questions answered. The main one being, "Can God use an ordinary person like me to do anything at all?" God led me to a study by Angela Thomas called, "A Beautiful Offering". In the introduction she shares her story of feeling unlovely, invisible and broken. She tells her story of 'pretending for Jesus'. I find myself identifying with her on many of these issues, there are many times when I've pretended, felt less than adequate and certainly not beautiful. Through her book by the same name I've come to realize that God values brokeness, He knows that we are not enough all by ourselves and that we'll never make it alone. He knows we desparately need a Saviour. He loved us enough to give us one.
Then, just this week, I took some our youth group girls to an event called Beautiful Unique Girl. It didn't just impact our girls, it left it's mark on me, too. Or rather, God did. He reminded me that I am indeed, created Very Good, most excellent, magnificent, the crown of all creation. Then I was challenged to give my dream to God to see what He would do with it. I wrote down my desires and presented them to Him. My dreams scare me to be quite honest. I have a strange desire to write, to speak in front of people, to use the music and the creative gifts God has given me to impact His kingdom. They aren't everyone's dreams, but they are the ones He's given me. Within minutes after that presentation a lady came to me and asked me, "Are you fresh flowers? I read your blog quite often." Someone else sent me a message on facebook asking me if I still wrote because his mother so enjoyed having fresh flowers read to her, they had blessed her greatly before she died.
And so, with a humble heart I will once again offer the flowers that God sends me to you. Where this journey will take me, I don't know, but God does and we'll go together. My prayer is that fresh flowers will encourage you and lift you up for that is the purpose and maybe once in awhile to push you out of your comfort zone a little. There will be extra tidbits of our crazy house posted on my blog if you care to see what we're up to. I invite you to share with me your flowers, the things God impresses on you because they are encouraging to me. Most of all, today, I want you to know that God thinks you're beautiful, that He did not make any mistakes in His design of you. He wants you to dream with Him and see where that might take you. It only takes one person to begin to change the world, let it start with you.
Blessings,
the flowerlady
'fresh flowers' as a weekly encouragment in your inbox has taken quite a long break, longer than I imagined it would be. The original reason I went on hiatus was because life was a little crazy around our house with moving, new baby and big decisions to make. However, as time went on without writing the enemy began to infilitrate my thought processes. I began to think that my writing didn't impact anyone, that I had nothing to say that would encourage anyone, and quietly, in the back of my head that I wasn't really good enough to be used by God anyway.
Over the course of this summer God began to challenge my thinking on those fronts. He brought me back to my secret place, reforging the bonds of intimacy between us. He began to heal my emotions and get my feet remembering that they were planted on a rock. He started to renew my spirit as I cried out to Him.
Out of that came a conviction to begin a women's Sunday School class, with the ulterior motive that perhaps I would get some of my own questions answered. The main one being, "Can God use an ordinary person like me to do anything at all?" God led me to a study by Angela Thomas called, "A Beautiful Offering". In the introduction she shares her story of feeling unlovely, invisible and broken. She tells her story of 'pretending for Jesus'. I find myself identifying with her on many of these issues, there are many times when I've pretended, felt less than adequate and certainly not beautiful. Through her book by the same name I've come to realize that God values brokeness, He knows that we are not enough all by ourselves and that we'll never make it alone. He knows we desparately need a Saviour. He loved us enough to give us one.
Then, just this week, I took some our youth group girls to an event called Beautiful Unique Girl. It didn't just impact our girls, it left it's mark on me, too. Or rather, God did. He reminded me that I am indeed, created Very Good, most excellent, magnificent, the crown of all creation. Then I was challenged to give my dream to God to see what He would do with it. I wrote down my desires and presented them to Him. My dreams scare me to be quite honest. I have a strange desire to write, to speak in front of people, to use the music and the creative gifts God has given me to impact His kingdom. They aren't everyone's dreams, but they are the ones He's given me. Within minutes after that presentation a lady came to me and asked me, "Are you fresh flowers? I read your blog quite often." Someone else sent me a message on facebook asking me if I still wrote because his mother so enjoyed having fresh flowers read to her, they had blessed her greatly before she died.
And so, with a humble heart I will once again offer the flowers that God sends me to you. Where this journey will take me, I don't know, but God does and we'll go together. My prayer is that fresh flowers will encourage you and lift you up for that is the purpose and maybe once in awhile to push you out of your comfort zone a little. There will be extra tidbits of our crazy house posted on my blog if you care to see what we're up to. I invite you to share with me your flowers, the things God impresses on you because they are encouraging to me. Most of all, today, I want you to know that God thinks you're beautiful, that He did not make any mistakes in His design of you. He wants you to dream with Him and see where that might take you. It only takes one person to begin to change the world, let it start with you.
Blessings,
the flowerlady
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