Happy Fluff

Last weekend we were invited to an Easter egg hunt at our friend's house....of course, the weather was complete garbage...hello, it's late April...Enough with the Snow!!!!!


The boys were pretty excited by the whole thing....well....2 were....the other one, who will remain nameless, was "too big" for it.   sigh....


I've had my eye on these marshmallow catapults for quite some time....and what a perfect little thing to share at an egg hunt!


Jim was such a trooper.....he worked all day , fixed my broken washing machine and at 9 pm he still went out and cut all of these little pieces of wood!!!  (love you babe for putting up with my hairbrained ideas!)

Paint everything up...I used the clothes pins as a holder for the popsicle sticks while painting them....I also painted the bottle caps white because I'm a matchy matchy freak ;)   Now, I don't know how you feel about your kids eating something that had been on acrylic paint (cause who are we kidding, you know those marshmallows will get eaten)....but I figured it's no worse than eating them off the ground!


Take apart the clothes pins and paint away...and be prepared for sore fingers after prying them back together!  Anyone have an easy trick for that?!?


E600 glue is your friend...pretty easy to figure this part out...glue clothes pin...let dry...glue popsicle stick...let dry..and then the bottle cap...let dry....beat kids off with a stick until things are super dry (like the next day!!!).


Of course, I couldn't let well enough alone and had to embelish a bit!   Painted the eggs and wrote Happy Easter on the sides.   I think they turned out pretty cool.   My boys couldn't care less about the decorations.   They shoot pretty far considering what they're made out of....everyone liked them at the party...especially the Dads!


We found a new hideout for our "after church" spot.....Amigos in downtown Freeport.   Yum!


These are my leftover sopas.   Seriously, I got 3 meals from them!!!!  It was so nice to eat fresh food...great pico de gallo, homemade sopas...totally family run.  If you're in the area, give them a try!!!!


Here's my new obsession:  Paper Lilies! (her's are much cuter, but these were just playing around with what I had on hand)


I'm really liking the white one with the colored inside (just folded the paper with the color side in). I really don't know what I'm going to do with these.   An arrangement would be cute...or maybe some sort of garland-swag thing....I don't know!   Any ideas?


So, there ya have it...nothing much, but still fun.   The weather is still total junk...haven't seen a good sunshine moment in days!!!!   My vit. D levels are in the basement!!!!!   Oh well, maybe next week we'll see Mr. Sun......

Balanced

Lately,God's just really working things out in my heart and in my head.

Our small group is going through Francis Chan's book Crazy Love...it's thought provoking, calling out timidity and demanding a radical faith--one that's full on running toward Jesus.

It makes me think...what does that look like in my life?   How am I living?   Do my neighbors know my faith?  Have they felt the love of Christ...if not from me, then from whom?   What am I so afraid of?!?

My parents are going through the same study with their group....in fact, so is my sister and her husband....but, my Dad leads theirs and recommended this video to me tonight as I wrestled with these questions:



Can I just stop for a sec and say how cool it is that My Dad recommended this!!!   If you don't know me other than from on this screen, you have to understand where I come from.   We are a fist bump family, you know...not super huggy, suck it up, you're ok....   But then my Dad got sick...real sick....and it changed everything.

So, as I'm contemplating these deep questions, all I can see in my head is my Dad and Mom...and their balancing act.   My Mom is a prayer warrior...she wakes up in the middle of the night to pray all of the time...she gives and gives and gives of herself.   Her routine is beautiful, absolutely breathtaking before the King!   Now, I can't even comprehend what heaven sees as my Dad performs his routine!   Imagine, a one legged man...flipping and spinning...landing a perfect dismount!   And the crowd of heaven goes wild!!!!!   Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

Hmmmmm......just makes me think.....

Here's a quick balance beam video....just imagine it as a life played out....


.....it kind of puts a new perspective on safe and comfy.

Just wanted to add one more quick thought here---these girls on the beam fall All of the time---and they get back up, they try it again and they go on to do amazing things!   We'll fall.....we'll get banged up...we'll get hurt, but it doesn't have to stop us from living a spectacular life!  

Man, I Feel Like A Woman

The other day, I decided to start reading the Bible, cover to cover....chapter by chapter....starting at "In the Beginning" through to the last Amen!

Wow, that's a huge task..one I've never attempted....and in the last 3 days, I've been a reading/learning and I can't get enough!   This was supposed to be a 3 chapter a day deal.....but I can't stop!   Everything else seems to pale in comparison to these words saturating my soul :)  Our ladies small group has been going through the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan.   Last week he talked about reading through the Bible like you've never heard any of it...so that it is all fresh...not with the chains of "religion" or denomination....just God's Word speaking to His people.   Wow...I'm not even through Genesis and I already have learned so very much about the heart of God and how He is going to rock my world through this journey!

Genesis 32 is where I stopped today.   Boy, is God kicking me in the pants so far!!!!   Back track here a bit:  Jim and Shelly go to NM, fall in love with the town and all God is showing them there...Jim doesn't get job....Jim and Shelly are crushed.....Shelly has a huge heart to heart with God...begins pushing Jim into keeping going....pushing...pushing....pushing (come on, lets go, lets go, lets go!   God's plan hasn't changed!  Don't give up!   Here's a job, here's a house....I just want to get down there, yesterday was too late in my mind!)    Now, I'm just trying to be a good cheerleader, keep your eyes on the prize....  Yes, I know....I've been terrible.

Anywhoooooo, Genesis 32.....

Have you ever noticed how like Every wife in Genesis pushes her way....and everything gets totally messed up?!?   Of course, we all know how it started with Eve....tempted to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.   But the kicker is that she gets cursed to painful childbirth and to desire her husband...say what!?!?  Desire is a curse?  Well, not the lusty lovey desire.....but a desire to overcome, over throw....control (hello, I'm raising my hand....sending job listing emails to Jim and on and on!)   Then there's Sarah.  She couldn't just wait for God's promise of a child.   She pushed it along when she had Abraham lay with Hagar....talk about marital strain!   Then to be the mothers of two fighting nations!   Let's see, up next....Rebekah...oh dear Rebekah!   Helping to trick her husband into giving the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau....got her son basically run out of town.   Funny thing was that Esau had already given his birthright over to Jacob....all they had to do was wait.  (are you seeing a pattern?   Is it just me or does waiting stink, Big time!).   Does it stop there?   Nope....Jacob marries his sweetheart Rachel, but not before being tricked by their father and had to marry Leah.   Rachel couldn't conceive, but Leah did.....jealous!   So, Rachel pushed it and took a cue from momma Sarah and had Jacob lay with her maid servant.   Then Leah's womb shuts up so she has her maid servant lay with Jacob.....and THEN Leah also gets pregnant...and then Rachel twice!  (momma drama!)  Everybody fighting, whose child is best.....   I haven't gotten much farther into this part of Genesis, but we all know that little Joseph doesn't earn much respect and love from his bro's.

So, what does that whole big whoppin paragraph have to do with me?   I've been pushing.   I've been impatient.   God's timing is never late.   God's timing is never late!   Never Late....no matter how much I want it today, His planning is perfect.   I've backed off the push train.   I'm trying not to muck it up by pushing my way into this plan God has laid before us.

Praying....Reading...Stretching....Learning......

Edited to Add----I let go, I stopped pushing..and Jim all of the sudden, on his own picked up the ball and is running with it!!!   We thought that we were going to hit another road block with test date issues (he had to take his national test before the end of the month)....been praying about it for the last 2 days....God, I'm giving it to you.  In Your Perfect timing Lord!   Guess what?!? A few minutes ago, Jim finally got through to the office he's been trying for days to connect with....it's all good!!!  He can take the test, won't need the refresher class in the middle of now where Iowa....God is so good!!!