There Off!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning our Dad and Mr. Prieser (another dad and great friend of the family) are off to a Dad’s Conference! We are so excited for them to learn and grow as well as have a great time of renewal and inspiration!

see  more about it     http://ati.iblp.org/ati/family/news/dadsconference/

Right now they are driving from CT, across PA through the mountains, to Sharon , PA to pick up another Dad (Mr. Bestwick), and then tomorrow they will hit the road again towards IN.

The conference runs for four days and has AMAZING Godly speakers.  What a blessing that each of our families have Dad’s that want to be the BEST dads they can be!

Stay tuned for updates!

This month we are learning about meekness, a character trait that is so vital yet seems to be overlooked a lot.  We focus on serving, hospitality, wisdom, and other “common” character traits as Christians, but somehow meekness doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

So as a family we learned about meekness. It is described not as quiet or shy, but meekness is “yielding our personal rights and expectations to God”. Here are a few personal stories we wrote.

“One time I gave up my time. Instead of playing chess with my brother, my sister told me we had to grind flour.  Even though I did not like to grind the flour, I still did it and it took a long time. My time was up for playing chess, so I had to wait until another day. Then my mom said she was grateful for my hard work. Then I felt happy that I gave up chess. Now I like to grind flour and eat the fresh bread.”

“When I let Sarah borrow my blanket, we were at a hotel in Virginia. We remembered almost everything for our trip, but we forgot Sarah’s blanket. So I let her borrow my blanket for a few nights because my mom told me to. I learned that it is not easy to yield what you want and it seems easier to give up things you want to give up. Yielding is hard but it is worth it. Sarah slept happy every nights.”

“Once I had to yield my rights to do what I wanted to do. I had to come inside with my friend when it was really cold and windy. He said he wanted to go inside. That meant that I had to go inside too. It did not feel good at first when I yielded THAT thing because I liked playing outside and I like the cold. I learned that yielding to others that are older than you is good because it makes them happy that you show respect to them by yielding.”

“There are missionaries in our church named the Garretts. They live in Africa. They are showing us that they are willing to yield their rights to comfy beds and things in a home we like to have.  They already gave up a lot to live in Africa, but now they are building a hut to live in a village.  The hut will help them get to know people better and to love them better. It will probably be hard at first to yield a comfy bed, but they will be so joyful to love more people in Africa. It will be worth it.”

“Moses was a great leader. He wasn’t angry or bossy. He didn’t think that he as very good for the job God wanted him to do. He yielded HIS ideas and HIS plans, and he followed God’s plans.  That worked out pretty well for him although he ended up in the dessert. He was a great leader and listened to God and did what God asked.”

This week think about times you have yielded your personal rights and expectations to God in the past.  Remember the things that God taught you from that and look forward to a time when you can yield again. Because you KNOW God will teach you great things!

(and here’s to spell checker for all those times I spell “yield” wrong!)

Get ready!  This coming Saturday is National Pie Day! (January 23rd) This is a holiday that is great to celebrate.

Eat pie all day long- you could invite friends over to celebate.

Breakfast- Egg pie (quiche) with bacon and cheddar cheese- yummy

Lunch- Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Pie

                        We cook ours in deep dish pie pans with lots of cheese, sausage, sause and spinach. 

We put the cheese first (on the bottom-but on top of the dough) so the pizza crust doesn’t

get soggy and more cheese on top. You don’t need a recipe, but you do have to cook it

 longer for about 35 minutes or a little more.

Snack- Apple Blueberry Pie. 

We make a regular apple pie and mix in half a bag of frozen blueberries. Yummy.

Dinner- Shepherd’s Pie and Pumpkin Pie

Shepherd’s Pie:

3lbs ground beef- cooked

1 bag frozen corn- family size or two little ones

5 tomatoes chopped up

1/4 c Ketchup

2 tsp minced garlic & basil

salt, pepper

1/4 c cold water mixed with 2 Tbsp corn starch

**after you cook the meat, mix everything together and put in a large oven pan (we use our big lasagna pan because it is really deep) Then we pile up a layer of mashed potatoes on top and cover with cheddar cheese. Bake 350 for 30 – 40 minutes. You can make the day before, but then you have to bake it longer because it will be cold from your fridge.  One time we didn’t have potatoes and my mom made instant polenta with cheddar cheese- that was really good too.

Have a yummy day!

I have a dear friend who has a daughter going in to rehab. I awoke early this morning thinking about her, my heart grieving for her.  What a hard, hard place to be in. You know that is it the right thing to do, but your heart is aching all the while.  Brokenness and hurt, failed expectations, and events of time gone by fill your thoughts.

I have learned in the short span of my little life, that THIS is the exact reason why God tells us in His Word to “meditate on my Word both day and night” to let it “overflow from our lips”. If we didn’t fill ourselves with God’s Truth (capital T) then we would be consumed by daily truth (lower case t)- which many all “reality”.  Of course “reality” is true, but throughout “reality” God’s Truth NEVER changes.  He has proven that with time.

Psalm 65:3

“When we were overwhelmed by sins you forgave our transgressions.”  Some times we look to “clean up” our lives in order to come before God.  Mainly because we know our inadequacies. But God doesn’t ask that of us.  “When we were overwhelmed by sins”—not after we cleaned up our mess! This is what Mercy and Grace are all about.

There are so many struggles with natural consequences, holding someone accountable, challenging their choices, yet loving them all the while. I think of my friend and how many, many days she must of prayed about showing grace and mercy and love to her daughter and struggled to balance it with the immense need for consequences of actions. It is right and good to hold someone accountable to making better choices, to challenge what they have come to accept as “an OK normal”. Seriously, the Bible is chalk full of lesson after lesson on how we should live our lives!  But God is so very clear about love- His love and ours.

Psalm 89:31

“If they forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; BUT I WILL NOT TAKE MY LOVE FROM THEM, NOR WILL I EVER BETRAY MY FAITHFULNESS.”

Communicating and showing love is so very hard sometimes. Just when we think we have figured it out, life gets sticky and we realize we aren’t so good at it after all.  But God doesn’t ask us to be perfect, He just asks us to “love one another just as I have loved you”. 

Oh God, help us all this day to daily grow in loving one another.  We are so very human- and You are not!

My little Josiah said to me the other day “I am so glad God had me adopted because “I know full well that I am wonderfully made and God’s works are wonderful” and God doesn’t make mistakes”  I just about cried. I gave him a big hug and said- you are right- I agree- God is awesome isn’t He?

Out of the mouths of babes!!!  May your day be richly blessed! (and Josiah’s quote is from Psalm 139:14)