Prayer for LA mission team

Lord, You say (in II Timothy 1) that You did not give them a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but You have given them a spirit of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. They will not blush or be ashamed then, to testify to and for You, Lord, but instead, they'll take their share of the suffering, and do it in the power of God. For You delivered and saved each of them and called them with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness; You did it not because of anything of merit that they have done, but because of and to further Your own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Thank You, Abba, for this beautiful promise from Scripture that is just as vital today as it was in the day of Paul and Timothy.

My Missionary

Well, this is the big day! My 12yo, Big D, is leaving with our church's youth group this evening. They are heading to Los Angeles to work with CSM there for a week. There are now 10 kids going and 2 adults (they'll be assigned another adult when they get there.....someone who lives there and is familiar with the area). They were planning on leaving at 4 tomorrow morning, but decided that if they left around 10 tonight, the kids would chat and be excited for a bit, but then they'd (hopefully) fall asleep and get some sleep before arriving in LA. They're thinking they'll get there some time in the morning and spend a couple of hours on the beach before heading to their check in at CSM. Big D seems excited about it, but I'm sure he's a bit nervous too, as some of his "I'm stressed out" behaviors are surfacing. He still needs to write a short devotional to share with the group this coming week, so in just a bit he and I are going to work on that (could use prayers for that as he's really drawing a blank). He's got his stuff all packed into one bag as per the packing list that we got. Later this morning we need to run to the bank to get out his money (thank you to all, he did raise what he needed!) and also we're going to run to Saver's thrift store and see if we can find a small back pack for his Bible, journal, pencils, camera, etc. On their last day in California they are going to go to Disney Land to kind of wind down a bit. Big D, of course, is so excited!! I just can't wait to hear about all his adventures during this trip.....I know it's going to be life changing for him. My hubby and I talked to him a bit about some of the strange things he might see and reminded him about respecting other's privacy and such. But I know he'll do fine; I really believe this is something God has made this boy for. He loves reaching out to and serving others (and like his Daddy, he seems to know that he can reach out to others and know that his family is there for him when he gets back.....so we don't always reap from his "servant's heart", but I've learned that people like that need to have people in the background running the home for them while they're out there serving.) :) We will be getting daily updates via email and the kids will be able to make short phone calls every other day (all the adults with them will have cell phones).

Regarding my Momma heart....I'm okay with this. I really am! I truly believe that God told me that D was going on this trip, so who am I to worry or stand in the way of that? What blessings he might miss out on if I decided he wasn't ready....and believe me, I truly did not think he'd be ready for this. But God's got it, and He promises to never give us more than we can handle and that He will equip us for the journey (Hebrews 13:21). Who am I to doubt the Creator of all?? :) This week I was thinking back to when I was pregnant with him. I was spotting a lot and worried that I would lose him. Dear friends of ours prayed with hubby and I and basically they just thanked God for this precious baby and whatever time we would have with him. I realized that this was God's child, that He had entrusted this baby to our care, that we could not hold on too tightly because this baby wasn't OURS. During a communion service while I was still pregnant with him, as the pastor spoke the words of Jesus, "This is My body given for you..." (Luke 22:19), God spoke loudly to my heart (really, I didn't even hear the pastor), "This is My body given for your baby." And that was when I knew that while I was Momma and it was my job to raise him the best that I could, he truly was not my child, but God's. We've been through other rough spots and it is so much easier when you can relax your hold and know that he's in God's hands. And yes, people think I'm crazy, but I'm kinda getting used to that! A lot of things in my life seem like craziness unless you know my great big God!! And THAT is why I can so easily let "my" child go to Skid Row in LA.....his Father said it's okay. :)

Trying to be "green"

Okay, the whole "tree hugger" thing comes to mind when I think of "being green".....well, no, that's not the only thing that comes to mind. I also think of my favorite celebrity and his #1 hit....

Okay, sorry, seriously....I'm trying to "go green"....you know, becoming a bit more environmentally friendly. No, I'm not gonna go crazy with it, but I think every little bit helps. That, along with the fact that prices on EVERYTHING seems to be going up ridiculously fast. So, my recent "green moment"......picking choke cherries off a tree at the base library. FREE......FOOD. Those are words I like to see together! So my friend K. and I and the Pink Princess went and picked. Yes, people thought we were crazy.....except for my friend, the head librarian, who was so happy that she wouldn't be stepping on cherries next week because they're being picked. So we got quite a few! Nice!! And no, we weren't totally sure what we'd do with them, but again, FREE.....FOOD. Leave it to me, I'll figure out what to do with it!! (Okay, I have to confess there was one thing that I couldn't even bother to try......somehow I ended up with a can of sardines in tomato sauce!!! That is just wrong in my mind!! So I had a very "un-green" moment and I just chucked that! Ewww!! Sorry if you could have used it.) Oh yeah, back to the cherries......the cherries that just sit there year after year until they just fall off the tree and get squished on people's shoes......yeah, those. I'm putting them to good use! I have this thing about store bought syrup (you know, the fake maple kind) with it's TONS of corn syrup. So I'm making cherry syrup! Yes, still has a good amount of sugar in it, but basically it's cherries, sugar and water....I can handle that! And next I'm going to make some cherry jelly as requested by the Pink Princesses request (she's a PBJ fiend!)

So here's some of the cherries for your viewing pleasure!

Important note added 7/16....we have decided that these are actually plums! Cherry plums. Who knew! :)

Gardening

Well, last year I tried planting carrots and got nothing. This year I have a very pretty carrot patch and am hoping that we'll actually get real carrots. Here's what I have so far (I was thinning them out a bit)
















Pretty impressive, huh?

Well, not really....but they're getting there. :)
















Actually my garden is doing pretty good. Tonight we had, from our very own little garden, fresh peas and a green salad made up of rainbow swiss chard (to match the rainbow carrots I guess) and lettuce. Delicious! And I have lots of green tomatoes and blossoms on my squash plants. Yay!! The red onions are looking pretty good too!!

As prices are jumping on everything, I am constantly trying to think of ways to save money or at least stretch it a little further. Hoping this garden will help out a lot! Next year we're planning a much bigger garden, so that should be fun too!

Fun hairstyle

Fun hairstyle, originally uploaded by jjlrdomom.

While we were camping this fourth of July weekend with our church family at Bountiful Peak campground, one of the ladies there fixed my hair up like this. I have been wanting to try this out for so-o-o-o-o long! I really like it, though it does show a lot of my gray! Oh well! And you have to be sure to get enough sunscreen on....as you can see, I didn't do enough of it!

How fun!!

God has set my feet on a "new" path, and wow! I'm excited! Actually there's nothing really new, it's just that He's pulling all the pieces together so now I'm seeing a bigger picture!! Being in Utah, Mormonism, of course, is the prevelant religion. I realized I am a minority here. I have to say that it is VERY weird being part of a minority; gives me a whole new outlook on things. Anyway, being that we homeschool, we have tried to plug into the homeschool community. There are several groups that say they are non-denominational, however, when the population is mostly Mormon, the groups will obviously be heavily influenced by that, causing those of us who are not Mormon to feel.....well......lonely and kind of an outsider. My friend K and I have been tossing around the idea of a Christian homeschool group. There is one locally, but they are not really that active and just not that welcoming. We wanted....we needed fellowship. There's not an easy way to do this without stepping on toes, as Mormons also say they are Christian, though there beliefs are quite different from ours (one LDS lady referred to us as "traditional Christians".....strange, but at least it's a distinction). So we set up a yahoo group, took flak from some people as K advertised our group with some of the local homeschool groups. But then people started coming, and I was seeing that there were Christians out there trying to do it on their own, because they weren't getting the fellowship they needed and just didn't feel like they fit in anywhere (even Christian churches here are different.....it's hard to explain, but becuase of the heavy LDS influence, it has flavored even the Christian churches). Then we began getting requests from Mormon ladies, asking if they too could join!! This seemed surprising to me and at first I didn't know what to say, and then I realized it was NOT up to me, it was up to God. So we added some rules about ONLY quoting from the Bible but also that we would NOT tolerate slander or hate mail against Mormonism. As I wrote that up I realized what an awesome opportunity God was giving us to "love our neighbors as ourselves"!!! And the thankfulness from many of these LDS women is incredible.....as if they too, were thirsting for this thing! I love it!!! I am so excited that I can be me now, I don't have to hide that I'm a Christian, or shy away or what have you. That is so freeing to me! I am not Mormon and never plan to be, but I want to be able to walk among these women anyway and make friends and be a blessing to them! Wow!! Woohoo!!!

Now, as a disclaimer I have to say PLEASE do not comment on this post with anything against either the Mormon or the Christian faith. I am as aware as I feel I need to be of the differences and similarities and truly believe that God's got this covered. So, no fussin', okay? :)

Thanks for reading!

Honoring a friend

I had been looking forward to yesterday! The errands for the day, before my "anticipated event" was to go to the Christian bookstore to buy a gift for said event. That, in itself, was wonderful as I know the man who owns it (he goes to our church) but I'd never really talked to him before. I was SO blessed talking to this guy!!! He has a tiny little store and only carries things that agree with his beliefs.....what a powerful statement! Very cool! I'm going there from now on!! Anyway, after that, we went to base and I had planned to get Big D's hair cut, but there was a line, so instead, spur of the moment, I went into the BX to see if they had any nice dresses as I wanted to dress up for the evening. The kids helped me pick out a really pretty black and white dress. They insisted that I HAD TO buy it and that we would surprise Daddy and just show up in it. Then we grabbed lunch and headed home, but on the way, I realized the boys didn't have nice pants for the evening, so we stopped at Saver's and found khakis for both of them, then finally, home at about 1:45. I had to be at the base Chapel before 4pm....and somehow (God be the glory!!) I managed to wash and dry the boy's pants, cut Big D's mop, iron the Pink Princess' dress and the boy's shirts, get Big D set up to sew a button on his shirt, orchestrate their getting dressed, take a VERY quick shower, put on makeup, and get dressed myself. Whew!!!! And we got to the chapel at 3:45!!

Now, the special event.....I am so in awe......through most of the formal part of the event, I couldn't help sending up prayer after prayer of thanksgiving for......well, the event: Our dear friend Chap. Carl Wright, an Episcopal priest and major in the AF was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. I have never been to a promotion ceremony, so I didn't know what to expect, but we all were invited to attend (yes, kids too, cuz although he really doesn't like kids who behave as kids, he LOVES my children....yes, I know, just don't ask!) The ceremony was held in the chapel, started out with wonderful Souza marches and such, then he came in and the Colonel made a few remarks about his career (most of which I did not know, but he is an amazing man!), then he was sworn in and his orders were read (again, very emotional) and he was "pinned on", after which he gave a brief speech and ended up crying! He said that when he was ordained as an episcopal priest, part of the ceremony is that the new priest faces the bishop with his back to the congregation, and when it's done, he's supposed to turn around and stretch out his arms and say "The Lord be with you." Well, when he turned around, he was overwhelmed by the show of friends and family who had traveled great distances to be there, so he stood with his arms outstretched, speechless, with tears pouring down his face. His 90 year old Grandma was in the front pew, and after a brief moment, she stretched out her arms and just started praising Jesus with "Glory Hallelujah! Praise God! Glory, glory hallelujah!" At this point in the story, Chap. Wright's voice broke as he got teary and he said, "That is what I want to say today. It is not me at all, it is God. God has put me in this place, He alone has brought me here." After that, he walked back to his seat, and we all stood and sang all verses of "Amazing Grace" at which point I joined Fr. Carl in crying!! :) Amazing!! After that and abrief reception, he took all the chapel staff and family out to dinner. I am SO honored that God saw fit to have us there for that and he has blessed us so richly with the friendship of this dear man!! Very cool!!!!!