My Beautiful Mess

From where I am
From where I’ve been
He’s been there with me
He’s built a monument
-from David Crowder Band’s “O Praise Him”

Because of my perfectionistic tendencies, I tend to get overwhelmed easily. Not being able to be at least “decent” at all the things I want to accomplish in my life makes me just shut down some of those things in my life. SO, when I was approached at work as being Acting Executive Director for a period of at least 60 days, I shut down the blogging. I was only able to focus on work and the priorities of my household -and even then, I probably didn’t do those as well as I would have liked!

And of course there was always the “well, no one would miss this blog anyway so why bother” aspect. I do thank you, girls (and my precious hubs), for the comments saying you were still around! But again, I am back at blogging because…well…I would miss this blog! And yes, Hope, because I just finished planting flowers for this Spring, I have to post some pics somewhere!

So for the 5 weeks I worked almost full-time, let me just say that….I HAVE NO IDEA HOW FULL-TIME, ALL-THE-TIME WORKING MOMS DO THAT!! You are amazing! Though I do think I will be one of those moms again in the not-too-distant future, I applaud those of you who give yourselves to a job and to your kids and to your house and to your friends etc etc - and do so with grace and dignity. A mom-ument must surely be built in your name!

Working full-time was both fulfilling and draining. The opportunity took me completely by surprise and I felt honored to be considered. Once again, God answered prayers in my life in an unexpected way. I had begun to feel a little discontent in life, like I could be, or should be, doing more. Plus, we have some credit card debt hanging over our heads that I was seeing NO way to make a good dent in. God answered both of those through this temporary position, and I am humbly amazed at His goodness, once again.

I am proud of were I work, the people I work with, and the ways we serve others. Being in a leadership position gave me an even greater feeling of ownership of the place. We had a great response to our Open House and a positive annual United Way site visit. Thanks to my hubs, we finally have a website so check us out! Beginning this week, I go back to my 11-12 hours a week - and it feels odd. But it also feels good. Feels good to have some time to myself, time to blog, and time to work in my flowerbeds!

….that I might start blogging again. Anyone still out there???

I have recently started working on the daunting task of organzing all my digital photos on my computer and then getting them onto CDs. So before too much more time gets away from me, and since I often use my blog as a digital scrapbook, I wanted to put pics of 2 events on here before I get even further into the busyness of October (within my immediate family there are 6, yes count them, 6 birthdays in October!).

We made our third trip to the State Fair this year, much to my husband’s dismay. But I LOVE the fair! Despite the obsene amount of money you can spend there, I love the zaniness of the rides and the food and the people. And the pics you can get.

We go on a week night to avoid some of the crowds and we rarely eat anything but cotton-candy there. This year found Cooper somewhere between the Little Partner rides and the Bigger Kid rides.

He was even TOO big to ride these bumper boats - but Drew loved them!

They got to play one carnival game just so they could take something home - like swords. Always good to have a few swords around - balances out the light sabers, ya know.

And when everyone is good and tired, we head home and straight to bed…

Then later in the month, Ryan and I decided to host a block party for our street. In the 10 years we have lived in this house, there has never been a block party. And since we had several new neighbors move in this summer, we decided to get to know a few. So we rented a moon bounce, pulled the grill around front, and cooked up some hotdogs and hamburgers.

We had maybe a third of the street show up but it was a diverse crowd which made it fun.

We had more kids than adults but that was great too! Check out the slew of bikes in our driveway..

So before it gets too cold, I challenge you - get to know your neighbors! What could be a more natural way to reach out to the world in which God has placed you! We have great neighbors on either side of us. We take care of each other’s dogs when we go out of town, we spur each other on to do yard and home improvements, our kids play with each other. It’s great! And no, maybe they don’t “do life” like we do, but they are our neighbors.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14.

I have been told that at least one person who reads this blog is having problems when trying to leave a comment after my posts. I can’t seem to make it do what she is seeing so I am wondering who else might be having problems with the comments. If you are having problems, would you please email me at ryandjenn@sbcglobal.net ? Let me know what browser you are using and what problems you are having.

Thanks!!

Since school started, I have been working a few more hours. Though the “few more hours” only totals like 16 hours a week, I have been hit hard with the notion of “how do working moms do this!?” Because along with my 16 hours, I still have a house to clean, meals to cook, my eldest’s homework, quality family time, repairs to the house, attending Bible study, volunteering at the school, investing in my community, etc, etc. 16 hours of work! Not 40! So how do you all do it? I don’t know how to do it with just 16 hours at a job! The enemy doesn’t help either - he keeps reminding me that I can’t do it, that I am failing in many areas, that maybe I am being selfish by working. And I have had to honestly evaluate all of that…

But then the Lord speaks…He speaks through other women…women who are giving me the message of “that’s right, you can’t do it all…and you are not suppose to.” But He can. He meets all my “needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phi. 4:19). Sometimes, the laundry won’t get done; sometimes we’ll eat delivered pizzas; sometimes I won’t make it to Bible study. But as I heard this week (in Bible Study), I’ve got to keep The Most Important Thing the Most Important Thing! Jesus, my husband, my kids. All of us, hand-in-hand together, can do it all!

Want to know something weird. This is what I would buy right now if I had an extra $120….

That’s right, folks. I would buy these two knives. I know, I know…some of you are saying “Yes! Me too!” But, most of you are saying “$120 for a couple of knives??? IS she crazy??” Why, yes I am…but I still want the knives!!

I have found in my cooking ventures that the knife is the utensil I use the most - and it brings me such pleasure when the chopping and dicing and slicing happens effortlessly, when the blade reduces something large and bulky into small pieces that will fit in my mouth. Plus, The Pioneer Woman uses and loves them. And since I want to be The Pioneer Woman, I must have these knives! She was giving some away today…I am waiting on pins and needles to see if I get “drawn”, hence why I had to blog about it. And it’s getting late, hence why I am a little loopy over a knife right now!

So what would you do with an extra $120? And please don’t tell me you’d feed a village in Africa…my knife-loving-heart just couldn’t take that today!

Good night!

Lately, I have had the honor of praying for the health of more people than I would care to. Not that I don’t want to pray, but it is difficult to always know how to pray in these situations. Do you pray for healing? Do you pray for complete restoration? Because if you do, and the person does not get better, how does God work in all of that? Should you just pray for God’s will to be done? And why is it sometimes His will that people should die?

The prayer list is too long. And yet I pray. I pray for two infants of two different families that are in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). I pray for an elderly neighbor who has had a stroke. I pray for a long time friend of my mother whose cancer has returned. I pray the same for my college roommate’s mother. I pray for my husband’s co-worker whose brother was killed in an accident. And I pray for my extended family…

This is Kirbie.

Her funeral was today in Illinois. She is the daughter of my dad’s cousin. She was 15 years old, and man, was she a fighter. She fought for half of her young life for her health - first diagnosed with cancer, then with heart problems as a result of the radiation she received for the cancer, and then had a heart transplant a few years ago. But that heart gave out on Monday morning.

So what do I do with such things that make me shake my head and ask Him “why?” I guess I do what only I can do with uncertainty in this world. I trust. I trust that The One who holds us all in His hands has even greater plans. It is not for me to understand. And yet, He reminds me that He is trustworthy…

Through seeing a rainbow before rain came to our town.

Through the words of songs that echo in my head..
Joy and Pain, Sun and Rain, You’re the Same, You never let go.
and another…I can’t say your life will always go like it should, but I can say that God is always good.

Through the words of His that echo through my heart….
Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you. (Psalm 9:10 NLT)

As far as parenting goes, I think I’ve broken most of the rules of “good parenting.” Come now, let’s check:

Rule #8: Don’t let your children sleep with you.
Broke this one with both children - still am- check.

Rule #17: Don’t give in to whining.
Yep, broke it - check.

Rule #32: Don’t let your children eat dog food.
Oops - check.

Rule #39: When a child states “I promise”, don’t believe them.
Really? Check.

And rule # 62: Make your children eat what you eat. Do not make separate meals.
Break it every single night unless we order a pizza - and here are the photos to prove it…

Tonight I made this for me and Ryan…

Then I cooked some other pasta with sauce warmed-up from last week for Drew…

Then I did this pasta in the microwave for Cooper…

But we all ate pasta, does that count?

And I’m a group leader for parenting classes! Ha ha ha ha! Hee hee hee hee! Ho ho ho ho!

For dreaming with me…

For making me laugh, daily…

For holding me when I cry just because I need to…

For being the absolute best dad in the whole world…

For leading our family with humility, strength, and humor…

For financially supporting us in a job that you do with integrity and skill…

For praying for me…

For helping me pursue my passions…

For laying down your life for me, loving me as Christ loves His church…

For loving Him…

For being my best friend for 11 happy, happy years…

For these 11 reasons, and many more, I love you…always and forever.
Happy Anniversary.

Ryan is helping me move my blog onto another server  - this way my tags and categories will work and I will be better able to post things like slide shows and videos. However, not everything is working right now so please bear with me!

Hope you’re having a great week! We had a mini-vacation last week that I can’t wait to post about! See ya soon!