Happy Anniversary!

To my husband, Happy Anniversary and thanks for 12 wonderful years of marriage! Thanks for being an encourager and urging me on in my writing career. I love you!

What's Your Goal?

I have exciting news to share! I have been accepted for publication in a magazine! So in honor of this goal achieved, I am giving away a 1 year subscription to the Proverbs 31 Magazine. Leave me a comment and I'll randomly select a winner over the weekend and announce Monday right here on my blog!

But it makes me wonder, what are your goals? Have you set any? Are you so bogged down (or blogged down!) with day-to-day that you don't have any goals? Dictionary.com lists "purpose" as another definition for goal. What is your life's purpose?

I turned 40 in March, and started setting new goals for this new season. My 30's goals were to have kids, be a mom and my life has revolved around that. It is a blessing! But now my kids are 4 and 8, and becoming more independent. My new goal (in addition to losing 10 lbs for my 40th birthday) was to become published. I have accomplished both! My next goal is to become published again...and again...and again.

I've also failed at goals set. It seems like a constant goal is more patience with my kids. (They seem to know exactly what button to push to make me lose my patience!) I also continue to battle my mouth...THINK before you talk, THINK before you talk. It's my mantra. Oh, but I fail.

The bible tells us of another goal to set. Paul tells us in Philippians 3 that our goal should be to have a relationship with Jesus. The Message bible puts it this way "I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus."

I'm no expert either, but I have the same goal. To grow in and know Christ. I wish the same for you, my friends. Or as Paul puts it in Philippians 4:1 "My dear, dear friends, I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don't waver. Stay on track, steady in God."

So have you set a goal? An earthy goal? A goal to know Christ? Share your thoughts or just say hi, and I'll announce the subscription winner on Monday.

Cooking Co-Op - Works for Me!

Today I am joining a blog carnival over at "rocks in my dryer." I will share with you a tip that "works for me." You can then go over to the carnival host here to find other tips. (My tip will be there - #106).

My tip is cooking co-op. I got together with 3 friends with like-sized families. We each submitted 6-8 meal plans and voted on 4 of our favorites from each person. Then we made a monthly menu and ta-da, we were rolling. Monday is my cooking day, and I cook for all 4 families, and deliver the meals ready to be re-heated. We deliver at 2:30ish because thats the time the worked well for us and didn't interfere with the actual dinner time. Tuesday friend #1 cooks & delivers. Wednesday we either have dinner at church or leftovers. Thursday friend #2 cooks & delivers, and Friday friend #3 cooks & delivers. We usually have leftovers for Saturday, and Sunday I can cook or get take-out.

I am averaging cooking just 1 day a week! That leaves so much free time for me to blog, bible study, exercise, spend time with the kids, do laundry...or relax on the sofa. Not that I'd ever do that. (wink, wink). Your grocery bill goes down because you buy in bulk, and you also have less impulse dinner purchases ("I didn't defrost anything, let's order pizza.")

Cooking Co-Op does start out scary ("What if they don't like my cooking?"). But quickly you get into a pattern, your cooking improves because let's face it, we want to impress our friends and their husbands and you feel so good when you get the voicemail that "my husband went bonkers over your banana bread pudding."

We've never eaten so well, my husband is thrilled, my kids are trying new foods and I am only cooking one day a week! This works for me!

Thanks for visiting. Come back Friday for a chance to win a 1 (one) year subscription to the Proverbs 31 Woman magazine. (Visit proverbs31.org to read a sample.) I'll select a random winner from everyone who leaves a comment on Friday (May 2nd) and announce it via blog on Monday.

I am With Child

Now before anyone gets too excited about my title line, I better explain myself. I think the bible was first in using this term to describe a pregnant woman. In the NIV version of the bible, it first uses the term in Genesis and uses it seven more times throughout the bible to describe pregnant women.

But anyone with preschoolers knows that you are more WITH child after they are born. In the grocery store, I am with child. In the bathroom, I am with child. And even in the middle of the night, I often wake up with child...child wanting water, needing the bathroom or to be tucked in.

So today I thought I'd share some of the fun and funny moments of being with child - a 4 year old child.

Friday at the grocery store she saw these tiny bananas. She exclaimed "Look at these baby bananas. They must have just been born." Ironically, when I looked for the tag to tell you what they are called, they were indeed labeled Baby Bananas, but they are also called oritos.

A few aisles later, I was checking out the canned goods, with my eyes off of her for no more than 3 seconds, when I hear a loud crash of breaking glass. There she stands in front of the biggest glass jar of applesauce they make, which is shattered on the floor.

"I didn't mean to do that." she calmed stated. I simply found one of the cashiers, and I kid you not, I looked him right in the eye and said "clean up on aisle 3." He saw that I was "with child" and just turned on his microphone and announced "Clean up on aisle 3!" (I did apologize as well).

Here are some other funny quotes and mis-quotes that come from being with child:

When I told her to behave she answered "I am being hav."

Singing: "Who built the ark? No-one No-one" (the actual lyric is of course: Noah, Noah)

"I obey myself." - She just piped up with this one from the backseat one day when we were driving down the road.

"I have a little dog barking in my heart." This is another original thought she just piped out with. I have no idea why. She then said "I like little dogs."

But my favorite quote was when we were driving home from preschool one day and say said to me, "Mama, Jesus came into my room last night." I responded "He did?!" and she said "yes, and he stayed with me all night so I wouldn't be afraid of the dark."

I believe Jesus did just that. Matthew 11:25 says "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.' " Jesus speaks of having to be like children to get into heaven, and not hindering children from him. I believe on that night he gave comfort to my little girl.

It is never a dull moment, when you are "with child." I often think I am learning as much from her, as she is from me. But, I'm still not sure about that little dog barking in her heart.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Wednesday I chatted about white lies, or lies to protect. But the truth is honesty is the best policy, and I have a real life experiece that proves just that. About 15 years ago, I talked my then boyfriend (now husband) to go with me to tryout to be extras in a local movie. (Starring non-other than Charlie Sheen). This tryout consisted of filling out our name and address and having a Polaroid headshot taken. Not rocket science this movie business.

Several weeks later they called asking MY MAN to come down to be in the movie. In my usual shy manner I asked “WHAT ABOUT ME??? I want to be in the movie!!!” So the casting agent said that if I could get my fellow to come, I could be in the movie too. Okay, not my finest moment, I admit, but baby, I was going to be in the movie!!

We arrived on the appointed day, me with my camera in hand. So during the off moments another girl and I shot a couple of pictures of “Charlie” from a distance. A few minutes later a giant of a man, who looked a lot like Rocky walks over to the other girl with a camera. They talk a few minutes; he takes her camera, removes the film and exposes it. (I’m obviously dating myself now, in the days before digital cameras).

He comes over to me next and says, “Are yous taking pictures?” (Obviously he meant to say, “are you”, but it came out “yous” instead of “you.” “Yes sir.” I responded. “You are here to work, not to take pictures, do not take anymore pictures.” “Yes sir.” came my reply and you can bet I didn’t. But he didn’t take my film.

At the end of the day, as I’m waiting from my husband-to-be to come back from wardrobe; (yes, he got to go to wardrobe and make-up, I just wore my regular clothes and make up); I see Charlie Sheen’s Rocky-like body guard again. So I walk up to him, in my usual shy manner and say, “Since I can’t take Charlie Sheen’s picture, can I take yours?”

Well, Rocky turns into a teddy bear and says, “Yous wants to take a picture of me?” “Sure!” I responded. Well, he motions for another guy to come over and says “why don’t you take a picture with me instead of of me.” So we took a picture together!

Finally, he says to me “Do you know why I didn’t take your film?” “No.” “Because you told the truth. The other girl lied when I asked if she had been taking pictures, but you told the truth, so I let you keep your film.” And that my friends, is why honesty is the best policy. And, somewhere*, I have the pictures to prove it.

Proverbs 12:22: “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.”

*I know a picture is worth 1,000 words. But I cannot find the photos of this day. No doubt they are buried under the millions of pictures of my kids, or tucked safely away from little fingers. If I find them one day during a cleaning jag, I'll post them then.

White Lies

I am a big advocate of the truth. I try to be careful not to lie and rebuke others who do. But Saturday my husband told a lie, for me. And I was so thankful for it! We had a big family dinner to go to. "Christmas in April" my dad called it. So my siblings and I all had things we were supposed to bring. I was in charge of all the paper products, sweet potato casserole and potato salad. There wasn't room for the potato salad in my fridge so I put it in the garage fridge.

I'm sure you can guess what happened. Remember I'm an "out of sight, out of mind" personality. So we got about 1/2 way to my sisters (30 minutes of the 1 hour drive) and I exclaimed "Oh no! I forgot the potato salad." Now, you don't know my dad, but he is stickler for details and relentless. He would have gone on all day about how I forgot the potato salad. And my husband knows I am very sensitive to criticism, so he said "I will tell him I was supposed to bring the potato salad and I forgot it. He won't say anything to me." He justified it by saying that his job is to take care of me, and so if I forgot it, he wasn't doing his job.

Now you'd think when my hubby told my dad he forgot the potato salad, my dad would say something like "don't worry about it, we've plenty to eat." We had turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, tomato macaroni, green been casserole and green beans cooked with ham. But not my dad, he got in the car to go buy potato salad. The ironic thing is the grocery store was sold out of it when he got there, so we still didn't get to have it. And you know what? We survived! But because my husband was the one who forgot (supposedly), my dad didn't mention it again.

In the second chapter of the bible book of Joshua, Rahab tells a big lie. When she is asked about the spies that had been at her home in Jericho, she answered "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." She had really hidden the spies on her roof. She lied, but to protect the spies of Joshua's army. And because of her lie, the spies then protected her when they took the land for the Lord. And I can't help but think God quickly forgave her for her lie to save his people.

My husband lied on Saturday to protect me. I know that's a slippery slope to go down, justifying sin. But I just know God will look on my husband as he must have looked on Rahab.

I am so thankful to have a husband to protect my spirit. I shouldn't be so sensitive to my dad's criticism, but I am. I grew up in a dysfunctional home, and often felt unloved. I am so happy to have a husband who meets me where I am and loves me unconditionally.

And I am so thankfully for a heavenly father who loves me unconditionally and who forgives my mistakes and forgets them, as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12)

But on Friday, I'll blog about why honesty is always the best policy.

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

Saturday night we had exceptional thunderstorms! The first "boom" around 1 a.m. brought my 4 year old scampering into the bed between my husband and me. The second "boom" brought in my 8 year old, and her 10 year old cousin who was spending the night, to sleep in the floor of my room the rest of the night. The winds blew. Sometime it felt like the house shuddering when the big thunder bolts hit near by. The weather got worse on Sunday with tornado warnings issued, and they're calling for the rain to continue through Tuesday.

It reminds me of a children's song, you may have heard. It tells how the wise man built his house upon the rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand, the rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the rock stood firm, but the house on the sand went CRASH! I’ve heard this song many times, and realized the metaphor.

The house represents your life. The rock is Jesus Christ. The sand is the “world,” or building your life around things such as money, success, status, or even your kids or family. The rains and floods are the problems in life. If you look at the song, you will see both the wise man and the foolish man experience the rains and the floods. Having your house built on the rock, or your life built around Jesus does not mean you won’t have problems and trouble. The difference, simply put, is whether or not you stand firm or go “crash.”

While I always “got” the song as a really cute kids song, I never realized that it is based directly on a bible verse. (And no one ever accused me of being the brightest bulb in the chandelier either!) Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (NIV)

Knowing that Jesus said it (and not some children's song writer) makes me ask myself: “Is my home built on the Rock?” When the storms of life come in, am I going to be able to stand firm, or will I crash? Whether in the huge struggles of life, such as dealing with my bi-polar mom; or the smaller struggles, like getting my preschooler to let me brush her teeth; I’ve found that a relationship with Jesus can make the difference in every aspect of my life.

So how about you? Are you ready for the rain?