Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
In which I finally admit that my daughter is not the girly-girl that I once was . .
This post is NOT accompanied by pictures, something I'm sure you'll thank me for later!
Even though I most certainly did my part, by making sure my darling newborn daughter always had a bow in her hair, and lets face it, she has often owned more shoes than me, she walks a very fine line. I prefer to think of her as "well-balanced", instead of "tomboy". She can transition faster that you can imagine from princess dress-up to well, . . . take yesterday for example. Everyone was getting ready for church, we were almost ready to walk out the door. Brianna was all dressed up, from the top of her head, (french-braided crown and of course, a bow) to her black dress shoes with a small heel, which she loves, btw. It was then that I discovered that the dog had been sick the night before, and well, there were a couple 'messes' to clean up in the laundry room. Tim was so kind to clean them up but not before our little princess exclaimed, "Oh, Sophie vomited? Wait, don't clean it up yet, let me see!"
Hmmmm, with such a strong stomach, maybe a career in medicine would suit her well!
Even though I most certainly did my part, by making sure my darling newborn daughter always had a bow in her hair, and lets face it, she has often owned more shoes than me, she walks a very fine line. I prefer to think of her as "well-balanced", instead of "tomboy". She can transition faster that you can imagine from princess dress-up to well, . . . take yesterday for example. Everyone was getting ready for church, we were almost ready to walk out the door. Brianna was all dressed up, from the top of her head, (french-braided crown and of course, a bow) to her black dress shoes with a small heel, which she loves, btw. It was then that I discovered that the dog had been sick the night before, and well, there were a couple 'messes' to clean up in the laundry room. Tim was so kind to clean them up but not before our little princess exclaimed, "Oh, Sophie vomited? Wait, don't clean it up yet, let me see!"
Hmmmm, with such a strong stomach, maybe a career in medicine would suit her well!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I don't think this is a good thing . . . .
You Are 35% Normal |
 You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you |
How Normal Are You?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
A Purpose Driven Life
This was emailed to me by my Dad some time ago, & I thought it was worth sharing. It's quite long, but a very good read.
In a recent interview with Rick Warren, author of the 'Purpose Driven Life, Rick said, "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in heaven."
One day my heart is going to stop and that will be the end of my body - - - but not the end of me.
I may live 60-100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. god wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God & for God, & until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy that He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ's likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that need to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, 'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off your self and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her . . . it has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me 2 different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we setup foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.
In a recent interview with Rick Warren, author of the 'Purpose Driven Life, Rick said, "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in heaven."
One day my heart is going to stop and that will be the end of my body - - - but not the end of me.
I may live 60-100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. god wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God & for God, & until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy that He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ's likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that need to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, 'which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off your self and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her . . . it has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me 2 different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we setup foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
35 Years
Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and awesome father to our 2 children!
We're going away for a little weekend-getaway to celebrate, a little R&R sounds like just the ticket!
Thanks to Priceline, I scored a room at a nice downtown Hotel, for a very reasonable price. Nothing much on the schedule. If the weather continues to cooperate we might take the kids to the zoo. The only thing that is set in stone is a visit to Outback Steakhouse for the birthday dinner!
We're going away for a little weekend-getaway to celebrate, a little R&R sounds like just the ticket!
Thanks to Priceline, I scored a room at a nice downtown Hotel, for a very reasonable price. Nothing much on the schedule. If the weather continues to cooperate we might take the kids to the zoo. The only thing that is set in stone is a visit to Outback Steakhouse for the birthday dinner!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
A Bond
I worried. I'll have to admit that when I was pregnant with Tyler, I worried a lot. Not about the pregnancy. I worried how Brianna would react to having another sibling. For 3 1/2 years, she was the center of attention, and now her world was about to be turned upside down by a little baby brother. Turns out, I shouldn't have worried at all. Quite honestly, she didn't even seem to notice that she had a little brother. She didn't seem to have much of an opinion of him at all. There was certainly not any jealousy, for which I was very thankful. But her non-decrypt attitude towards him started me worrying in an entirely different way. Would they ever bond? Would they ever share that special sibling bond?
I snapped these photos of them yesterday in their new "Valentines garb". That sibling bond that I was once worried about? It's not even a thought now! These 2 adore each other and are rarely apart!
In fact, as soon as I finished taking the pics of them together, I tried to get some of just Tyler, alone. As you can see, he didn't want to cooperate. This is the only face he could muster up. So, I called Big Sis back into the room to see if she could make him smile,
I think she has special powers!
I snapped these photos of them yesterday in their new "Valentines garb". That sibling bond that I was once worried about? It's not even a thought now! These 2 adore each other and are rarely apart!
In fact, as soon as I finished taking the pics of them together, I tried to get some of just Tyler, alone. As you can see, he didn't want to cooperate. This is the only face he could muster up. So, I called Big Sis back into the room to see if she could make him smile,
I think she has special powers!
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