In 2016 we chose a "theme" to live by for our family for the year. Our 2016 theme was to invest. To be honest I thought mostly of money when we set this theme. I wanted us to make it priority to invest in the improvements around the house, in our car and in our future.
WOW -did I learn something different. As I began to invest our money in things, God started to challenge to widen the idea of investment in our family. So the theme became investing in those around us, making friendships, in each other and in ourselves.
We started by inventing in our marriage. Taking an early trip to Italy to celebrate our 20th anniversary was something I would have never done. I mean leave my little girl and travel the world who does that? People who are investing in the next 20 years of marriage. It put our relationship on the front burner, something to pay attention to not just coast through. The vacation was amazing yet the thought process of investing in my relationship with my husband was life changing. I loved him before - this year I end 2016 thinking of him as a treasure I want to take care of and continue to get to know better. (BTW - you do not need a fancy vacation to invest in your marriage- any little changes can make a big difference)
I decided to do something unheard of in our house, invest in mom. Yes, you heard right - in me, started with getting a pair of really nice jeans. Sounds silly yet we shop all the time and end up with stuff for the kids, dogs, hamsters, husbands, guy down the street before we buy what we just want. Then I took it one step more, I went to the doctor to find out why I was always so tired. Long story short, I had sleep apnea. A small investment in one of those fancy machines and I am like a new women.
We investing in several other things. We joined a connect group at our church, invested in the girls on Wednesday night at our church, did some home improvements (like a new front door that closes), focused on my prayer life and personal quiet time, got a dog after our dog of 13 years passed away, the list could go on and on. I really took this word to heart and applied to every area of our lives.
The idea of invest for 2016 is summed up for me in this last story. I was bringing my daughter to church the other day and she was talking about this past year. It has been a hard one for her for many different reasons. At the end of reflecting on the not so fun things she started listing the positives...as she ended she said to me,"the best part of 2016 is we are so much closer as a family this year and just love spending time together". I was blown away, investing in small ways made a difference in the way she felt about life. Now that is worth the investment.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Be Strong and Courageous!
2 years ago, the Thursday before Easter (April 2014) we lost our last pregnancy. I was 37 and knew it was most likely my last pregnancy.
A month later I was praying and crying out to God. A name came to my heart- Baby Joshua. I thought it was part of the mourning process and gave me a chance to give love to a baby with a name in heaven.
Fast forward 2 years, I was reading one of my favorite chapters in scriptures, Joshua 1. What I call the "be brave and strong even in tragedy" chapter.
1 After the death of Moses the lord’s servant, the lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them....6“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7Be strong and very courageous.
My paraphrase of the chapter: Moses is dead but God's promises are not. You can still have courage and strength in what God has planned or in His promises. There are many promises in the Bible and that God has given me personally, that create hope in my life.
Easter is also about a death and hope. We so often minimize the death of Jesus, the pain and grief of his family, friends and followers. I can not believe they had much hope in a future with him. Yet THREE days later, he showed his power and that God keeps His promises and has a plan bigger than we can ever understand.
Joshua is a name that to me represents being strong and courageous in the face of sadness and lose. Finding strength in God and courage in the gifts He has given me. Know my journey is not without hope. What in your life have you given up on? Struggling to find joy? Feel alone in the mist of your pain? I want to say to you "Be Strong and Courageous" in the knowledge of God's promises. God has a plan for me and for you my friends!
I hope this Easter for you is full of courage and strength no matter what you are going through. God is in control and He loves you. He has a plan and it may not be easy to follow but God is faithful to stand with you in everything you do.
*Please note: I do not pretend I understand the death of a child you have held in your arms, but I do know God is the same today as He was at Easter 2000 years ago.
A month later I was praying and crying out to God. A name came to my heart- Baby Joshua. I thought it was part of the mourning process and gave me a chance to give love to a baby with a name in heaven.
Fast forward 2 years, I was reading one of my favorite chapters in scriptures, Joshua 1. What I call the "be brave and strong even in tragedy" chapter.
1 After the death of Moses the lord’s servant, the lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them....6“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7Be strong and very courageous.
My paraphrase of the chapter: Moses is dead but God's promises are not. You can still have courage and strength in what God has planned or in His promises. There are many promises in the Bible and that God has given me personally, that create hope in my life.
Easter is also about a death and hope. We so often minimize the death of Jesus, the pain and grief of his family, friends and followers. I can not believe they had much hope in a future with him. Yet THREE days later, he showed his power and that God keeps His promises and has a plan bigger than we can ever understand.
Joshua is a name that to me represents being strong and courageous in the face of sadness and lose. Finding strength in God and courage in the gifts He has given me. Know my journey is not without hope. What in your life have you given up on? Struggling to find joy? Feel alone in the mist of your pain? I want to say to you "Be Strong and Courageous" in the knowledge of God's promises. God has a plan for me and for you my friends!
I hope this Easter for you is full of courage and strength no matter what you are going through. God is in control and He loves you. He has a plan and it may not be easy to follow but God is faithful to stand with you in everything you do.
*Please note: I do not pretend I understand the death of a child you have held in your arms, but I do know God is the same today as He was at Easter 2000 years ago.
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| Joshua's Ornament - Be strong and courageous not matter what life throws at you! |
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
7 Lessons from a Hamster Hunt
Our beloved hamster, Humphrey, make a break for it one night. He took a 5 ft jump into the pajama drawer and has been living like a free hamster ever since. It has been an adventure for us as a family. I thought I would share some of what I have learned from the hamster hunt of 2016.
1. Seek and you will find - when you lose a hamster you look every where time after time. It can be madding. For all the time I have spent looking for this hamster and God reminding me "seek and you will find" Matt 7:7. When you seek after God you will always find Him. What an amazing promise - for me there is no other search I would rather do than one to find more of God!
2. Dust Everywhere - one of the things I have found is how little I spend cleaning under things. Dust collects and lost things gather together.
3. Sunny Side of Life - To be honest when the hamster did not come back I was more upset than my 8 yr old daughter. I found a way to laugh about the craziness that my life was. I mean sitting in the dark for hours waiting for a rodent to show up,not my idea of fun. So I decided to have fun with this adventure. We have spend dinners laughing at the ways we think the hamster has survived. Him becoming the king of the mice or the dog's ability to become a ninja hamster to cover up his crime. Instead of tears we decided to laugh together. Yes we had times of tears and frustration but teaching our child even loss of a loved pet can be handled with joy is priceless.
4. Waiting for a Miracle - One of the nights that I sat on the floor in the dark waiting for the hamster to come out. I started praying. I found myself after 30 minutes saying God if you could bring him out soon I want to go to bed. I started to negotiate with him (like we so often do) then I hear a still small voice that says "how do you know I am not working on a miracle behind the scenes" No the hamster did not come out that night, but my guess is God kept him safe that night and I wanted his return on my timeline. This hamster hunt is reminding me daily that God is faithful and his timeline is perfect.
5. Creativity - finding a hamster takes lots of work. To have fun with it and make it not so deviating for you little one takes creativity. Making it a game and yes prizes can be involved. As a family we have set many traps, found many ways to laugh and used lots of different methods to catch the hamster. (although as of this post he is still at large)
6. God Knows Best - one of my FB friends put this on my page - Just like your daughter knows best and wants to protect her pet, God knows what is best for us and wants to protect us. But often we think we can fend for ourselves and we run away and hide from the very God who loves us and cares for us.
7. Some Humility is Not Bad - We have been out smarted by a hamster for 16 days now. Trying everything from flour on the ground to buckets with ramps. It has been crazy. We have torn apart our cabinets, moved appliances and looked under every inch of the house. I will say I have been humbled, daily being reminded that I am being out smarted by a rodent.
8. Heart of a Child - So on day 15 of the hamster missing we had the "your hamster is in heaven" talk. After it sunk in my daughter replies "I am so glad I took the time to tell him about Jesus" I was stunned. She had told her hamster all about Jesus' birth and used terms the hamster would understand like Jesus was laid in a hamster food bowl and the used a plastic ball to get Bethlehem. I have spent my whole life trying to avoid telling people about Jesus because it was too hard and here my daughter shows me you never know how much time you have with anyone (or any hamster) do not waste the time God has given to share the story God has given each of us, hamster ball and all!
Yes daily this little hamster comes out at night takes water and food out of our traps then scurries back to his new hiding place. Never dull around here when a hamster is on the loose. Until 3 days of no signs of him so we go and add another hamster to our lives meet Chewbacca (Chewie for short). The night after we got Chewie and had the hamsters in heaven talk, Humphrey can out and ate peanut butter from the live trap plus drank water....silly hamster still on the loose!
1. Seek and you will find - when you lose a hamster you look every where time after time. It can be madding. For all the time I have spent looking for this hamster and God reminding me "seek and you will find" Matt 7:7. When you seek after God you will always find Him. What an amazing promise - for me there is no other search I would rather do than one to find more of God!
2. Dust Everywhere - one of the things I have found is how little I spend cleaning under things. Dust collects and lost things gather together.
3. Sunny Side of Life - To be honest when the hamster did not come back I was more upset than my 8 yr old daughter. I found a way to laugh about the craziness that my life was. I mean sitting in the dark for hours waiting for a rodent to show up,not my idea of fun. So I decided to have fun with this adventure. We have spend dinners laughing at the ways we think the hamster has survived. Him becoming the king of the mice or the dog's ability to become a ninja hamster to cover up his crime. Instead of tears we decided to laugh together. Yes we had times of tears and frustration but teaching our child even loss of a loved pet can be handled with joy is priceless.
4. Waiting for a Miracle - One of the nights that I sat on the floor in the dark waiting for the hamster to come out. I started praying. I found myself after 30 minutes saying God if you could bring him out soon I want to go to bed. I started to negotiate with him (like we so often do) then I hear a still small voice that says "how do you know I am not working on a miracle behind the scenes" No the hamster did not come out that night, but my guess is God kept him safe that night and I wanted his return on my timeline. This hamster hunt is reminding me daily that God is faithful and his timeline is perfect.
5. Creativity - finding a hamster takes lots of work. To have fun with it and make it not so deviating for you little one takes creativity. Making it a game and yes prizes can be involved. As a family we have set many traps, found many ways to laugh and used lots of different methods to catch the hamster. (although as of this post he is still at large)
6. God Knows Best - one of my FB friends put this on my page - Just like your daughter knows best and wants to protect her pet, God knows what is best for us and wants to protect us. But often we think we can fend for ourselves and we run away and hide from the very God who loves us and cares for us.
7. Some Humility is Not Bad - We have been out smarted by a hamster for 16 days now. Trying everything from flour on the ground to buckets with ramps. It has been crazy. We have torn apart our cabinets, moved appliances and looked under every inch of the house. I will say I have been humbled, daily being reminded that I am being out smarted by a rodent.
8. Heart of a Child - So on day 15 of the hamster missing we had the "your hamster is in heaven" talk. After it sunk in my daughter replies "I am so glad I took the time to tell him about Jesus" I was stunned. She had told her hamster all about Jesus' birth and used terms the hamster would understand like Jesus was laid in a hamster food bowl and the used a plastic ball to get Bethlehem. I have spent my whole life trying to avoid telling people about Jesus because it was too hard and here my daughter shows me you never know how much time you have with anyone (or any hamster) do not waste the time God has given to share the story God has given each of us, hamster ball and all!
Yes daily this little hamster comes out at night takes water and food out of our traps then scurries back to his new hiding place. Never dull around here when a hamster is on the loose. Until 3 days of no signs of him so we go and add another hamster to our lives meet Chewbacca (Chewie for short). The night after we got Chewie and had the hamsters in heaven talk, Humphrey can out and ate peanut butter from the live trap plus drank water....silly hamster still on the loose!
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