In Between

A year ago I would have told you our future plans, 99.9% sure that they were going to happen. Now I am waiting, not sure where we will be or what we will be doing in our future. It's like that bible verse says:

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say,
"If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."
James 4:13-15

So here I am. I feel like we are in between lives. J is finishing both his degrees in a little more than a year. I am working nights and weekends. Sunday mornings, when the majority of the Christian world is attending church, I am serving people breakfast. J and I see each other less often than we probably should but I think that knowing that this phase in our life is temporary makes it all bearable.
I am still unsure of where we might be in the next year. Even the possibilities that have surfaced we have shared only with a few select people. It's not that I am worried, not at all. I KNOW that God has something good planned for us. He would not let all the talents he has given J go to waste. I am just not so keen to declare our possible plans to the world(Like I did before the rug got pulled out from under us). So for now, if the Lord wills, we will be living in Michigan somewhere building a campus ministry and church out of thoughts and dreams. One thing is for sure. We plan to dream.

Gum Stuck In Hair

My husband, J, took the children to church this morning.. which is quite a feat in itself. Sometimes the girls get gum during their Sunday School class(I don't know why... I think children don't ever need to have gum)
On their way home from church, L complained about having gum stuck in hair and soon after M complained about gum stuck in her hair. Both girls, after chewing their gum, decided that it would be fun to stick their chewed up gum behind their ears. They both have seen Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and obviously got the idea from Violet sticking her gum behind her ear to "save" it for later. M has tried this before, successfully, without any hair damage. That is a whole other story but long story short she said "Mom, I have gum behind my ear like the girl in Willy Wonka"
Well, when the party arrived at home the first thing my husband did was reach into his pocket, bring out his trusty itouch, and search for "how to get gum out of hair" on the Google app.
How do you get gum out of hair?
There are many ways.
Peanut Butter
Ice(put on for 15 min)
Cold Cream
Hand Lotion and Mouth Wash
Husbands method of choice: Vegetable Oil
Soak hair in oil, getting most of the large wads out and then wash the rest out with bath water.
Did it work? Yes! Success!

My Plans

This is what I want to do:
1. Cut my hair. I want it to be similar to how I had it two years ago, the summer of '08.
2. Die my hair. A dark brown or black with highlights or low lights of some sort. Red maybe?
3. Get my nose pierced

Mourning

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their distress,
and to keep oneself unstained by the world"
James 1:27(NASB)

Long story short. We were talking about mourning at Mosaic this weekend and the question was asked, "What do you/should you mourn for?" and "What do you think God mourns for" My answer would be injustice for the innocent.
As Christians I think we sometimes focus on getting the world saved rather than taking care of the needs of the world. We are more concerned about church growth than meeting the needs of the people in our community. We would rather take care of those we know then those we don't know.
I think we are called to help out all with no strings attached. I don't really care if they never show up inside a church. This should be our mission: TO HELP OUT THOSE IN NEED
The Innocent The Poor The Widows The Orphans
I think God mourns for the women and children who are thrown into the sex trade industry. He mourns that we stand around and do nothing.
He mourns for the fatherless and motherless. I think He wishes that we would be more willing to open up our hearts and homes to the orphans of our country.

SHOW ME THE SUFFERING OF THE MOST MISERABLE

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So that I will know my people's plight.

Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person

Help me to take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.

Give me honestly and patience;
So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world, Amen.

Cesar Chavez

This is what I do for fun

Yesterday we spent the entire day at K's house. This is her newborn daughter, who I practiced my joy of photography on.
Between her and I we have 6 children under the age of 5. We always have lots of fun. The older children play outside most of the day. For some reason they LOVE playing with water and somehow always, no matter what, find water to play with. They even go to the extent to ask for water to drink and sneak it out of the house while Kathleen and I are chatting. Silly kids.
On this visit they found water in a sandbox and made a mud pit in a hole a few feet away.
We had a lot of fun. I had a glass of wine and a cup of coffee and chatted with K and her sister, who is visiting from Michigan. I also got some good pictures of her precious little daughter.

NEW RULE

While driving yesterday I created a new car rule. The girls had both dropped certain objects that they had brought in the car with them(because when we leave the house everybody has to bring at least 5 items with them in order to be happy), they were both crying that the objects had fallen on the floor and they couldn't reach them. "Can you get them Mom!" they cried.
This is the rule I created: You can only cry about objects that are not in the car. If you left it at home, you are allowed to cry. If your object suddenly flies out the window, you are allowed to cry. Even if your brother eat your object, you are allowed to cry. But if the object you are crying about is in the vehicle then you cannot cry. Older Sister thought about an object that she wished she had that wasn't in the car and I said, "Yes you can cry about that, it is not in the car." She states "But I cannot cry about it, the tears won't come out"

Random ranting

I think of myself as a rather laid back person(I'm sure my husband would agree... you can tell by the nature of my housekeeping) Don't get me wrong, I can and will be drawn to madness, if the occasion calls for it. For example, my best friend is being charged $15 by Dish Network for them to come to her house and remove their wiring from a box that is suppose to be used by COX cable company and only COX cable company. She is getting internet through COX and they cannot set it up until the wiring(which is not suppose to be there) is removed. Dish wasn't suppose to put it there but they are charging her to remove it and get this, the charge would have been $95 if she wasn't on some special pay plan. But because she is, she will be charged $15, for their mistake. That makes me upset.
The National Organization of Women makes me upset and any other organization that dares to include me in their feminist thinking and way of life. RIGHTS do not include murder. Thank you very much. Although I do think that the name calling and taking sides needs to stop if we want to see any decrease in the number of abortions that are performed in our country. People need to be educated. We need to look at the issue through a "Love" mirror and not a "Pro-Life" or a "Pro-Choice" mirror.
Christians make me upset. Do you really think leaving a tract as a tip will make a difference in a person's life? Or leaving a "anti-gay" tract as a tip for a gay server will make him think God is great? Come on people. THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!
Facebook is for friends. Sorry, just because you go to the same church as me or you are my husband's cousin doesn't mean I will be your friend on facebook. And if I delete you. Don't take offense. It really is nothing personal. You just are not my friend and I don't care to have everyone I know know every detail of my facebook life.
On a different note. Something I am learning is to take everything you hear.... especially everything you hear that is second hand AKA Gossip..... with a grain of salt. And something else I am learning is that I am who I am and will not be what you or any other person want me to be. I am not one to change because you want me to. I might change but only because I want to. Don't think so highly of yourself-you had nothing to do with it.