"Anything Goes"....quite literally.....

My Freshman is in the high school musical:

We are thrilled for him!!  

In my moment of thrilldom, I VOLUNTEERED to make 3 dozen cookies for each performance.  There are 6.  They will be sold to raise money for the theatre department, so......... my sometimes high achiever, alter ego made the decision that they cannot be just run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookies, oh no!!!! They must be some rolled, cruise-ship shaped sugar cookies with royal icing in 4 colors with pearl dust.......wrapped in individual cellophane bags cleverly tied with ribbons with a glittered label copy of the poster above......... Hmmmmmmmmmm......isn't there medication for this????

Soooooooo.......I, not my alter ego i might add, baked 240 cruise shaped sugar cookies.  Tonight I made the black royal icing (a nightmare) and outlined 112 of them.  They now look like this:

 I am hoping they will turn out like this:

At this point "Anything Goes".........

Wish US luck!!!

Its in the Music......

There once was a voice on the phone that belonged to the man I would spend the rest of my life with.... I would end the conversation with a simple "goodbye" that would be the beginning of the rest of my life.....

We would build a love, a life and a family that was so true and sometimes unbearably gifted....

Our relationship would begin and remain a threesome.....a triangle of trust, relationship and commitment...without our individual hunger for a oneness with God, we would never be here....

There would be profound gifts.....three......our hearts would grow three times the size to accommodate the joy they would bestow...and our hearts are growing still, as our love expands with them...

The orchestra of our family would begin and continue with a precision that could only be genuinely appreciated by a Chief Conductor (and us, of course).....with every instrument's placement so integral to the concert that would continue to play out in movements, sometimes harmonious, others contrasting, but all in accompaniment of each other.

And the music grows louder at times in more dramatic tones and oh so much softer with barely a hum in others...

But we keep our eyes focused, focused on Him....the Sacred Conductor who so graciously and tirelessly leads us on....we trust His purpose, His sometimes visible gestures and His direction....we trust Him to set the tempo, clarify and unify us as we move forward in this melodic ensemble..... We wait for His cues, the precise direction, as He encourages us to keep our eyes focused on Him.

And He leads us on.........

A Horse Adjustment......

Today my daughter and I learned something new..............we watched a horse receive a chiropractic adjustment!! Can you imagine?? Did you ever know horses were adjusted??? Wow!!  It really was an amazing experience to watch and believe it or not, the horse looked and sounded like he really enjoyed it!! You would not believe the strength this chiropractor had to have to align the spine, hips, neck, etc...... the horse made these sounds that really sounded like he was relieved and comforted.  So interesting and a really neat, unexpected experience!!  I love days like that!!  When something out of the ordinary happens that enlightens and fills us with wonder and new knowledge!!

And speaking of adjustments, our family crisis has almost run its course and I promised I would explain.  I will write about it in the next few days or so.  My hope is that my family, as a whole, learned invaluable lessons in love, grace, trust, and how easy it is to get off course.  That the impact of one decision could change everything.  I am so thankful for this lesson and the safe environment in which God provided it.  We are so thankful.

Adjustments.........everyday is about making some small or large change from the previous day.  Adjusting an outlook, an idea or plan.  Adjusting an attitude or a habit....even adjusting priorities to make room for  new ones.  

I hope we are always brave enough and courageous enough to make those adjustments....to trust that we have the love and strength to grow......to change.  To remain flexible, teachable and fluid in our willingness to rearrange ourselves as necessary in this constantly changing, complex world.

Hope your day brought something new and out of the ordinary! I hope tomorrow you make adjustments, even one, for something new, unplanned and extraordinary!!

Happy Tuesday!  

Marriage, Love and Connectivity.........

I have been married for 21 years.........I forgot to add "to the same man".......It hasn't always been easy.  The last time we "re-connected" ( I will explain this re-connection in another post) we dated for 6 weeks and got engaged.  Six weeks later we were married.  The irony of this is that almost 2 years prior to our final marriage we called off our wedding 6 weeks prior to the date of our nuptials.  Its a long story and I will post later......but fast forward 21 years later and here we are, on a stunningly gorgeous Sunday evening, married, in-love, but connected??  I guess the stress of three children, a failed business that left us devastatingly broke and currently struggling to make ends meet, makes a couple feel sort of...I don't know... stressed.

Seems like we are sometimes just operating in our own world, just treading water, trying to accomplish the daily tasks at hand.  Its hard work....I feel like we are both working harder than we've ever worked....but its just getting harder to feel any confidence in our future.  The stress takes a toll.....mine manifests itself in not taking time to workout and emotionally eating all the wrong things.  

The stress in our lives will evolve at some point to complete financial ruin or, by the grace of God, we will pull ourselves out of this and finally start feeling a sense of more oxygen in the air.  

I have so many things to be thankful for, so many things to feel "connected" to.......watering the trees in our orchard, seeing them all starting to emerge from their winter naps, they are so beautiful........spending two peaceful hours today watching my daughter do what she loves most in the world, ride a horse.......taking care of a my freshman who has been feeling awful since Friday........doing the mundane chores around the house that let my husband know he is loved and appreciated and can come home to a clean abode.......thankful my little Mom is feeling well today.......thankful my firstborn is safe at college and enjoying it so much

I am so thankful to be a child of God........perhaps I just need to take more time to "connect" with Him to feel the safety, reassurance and confidence that He has a plan for me, for us......and that we have everything we need today........and that we are loved!

Questions about God.......

I have always encouraged questions at home.  Acquiring knowledge comes from questioning theories, rules, authority and even God's "living" word, the Bible.

This is my sweet, cherubic freshman, a lot younger than his current ripe old age of 15..... This is the same "slice-of-heaven" at the center of our recent family crisis (which I will share in a later post)...

Last night, he had questions.......questions about God.  As a former Sunday School teacher I must confess that sometimes these moments made my stomach ache.  I take the responsibility of "teaching" Sunday School so seriously.  What if they asked a question that I couldn't answer in way that spoke to their hearts?  What if my response did not satisfy their curiosity in a way that made them want to ask more questions?

So.......my confirmed freshman asks, "If the bible is God's "living" word, then why in the old testament were there such harsh rules and traditions? Why did God allow slavery, beatings and killings of babies?"........Its a legitimate question.  One not many 15 year olds may ask themselves.  One I wrestle with almost on a daily basis!  My answer was from my heart, "God is wondrous and awesome.  His wisdom surpasses all of our logic and understanding.  We cannot possibly know all the answers. But what we can know and be sure of is that He loves us and has a plan for us.  God has the power to stop all evil but there are times when He allows it, for His own good purpose.  In that, we can trust completely."  But I understood the perplexity of my freshman's heart, so completely.  He was wrestling inside, trying so hard to make sense of this God he loves.   

At times, it is absolutely heart-wrenching, the pain we must endure.  The horrors that life can sometimes wrap us in.  The  kind of tragedies that we didn't ever dream of or sign-up for. Why God, why would you allow this to happen?  It hurts and it is so hard to move forward in the wrath of this pain with that same trust.  I know.

But today, I am so thankful for the questions.  As a Mom, I am sometimes rattled a little, fearful that the questions mean the possibility of disbelief.  I know that sometimes the answers aren't always the ones we are hoping to hear.  Sometimes they are the very ones we loath and wretch over.  

But my prayer for me is to always be thankful for questions especially about our heavenly Father.  These questions mean growth.  A true faith, one that is strong and true, must be built like a temple.  It happens slowly, continually, over every breath we take in this life.  It never ends. My questions, too, must never end.  I need to keep growing, building, asking and listening......

My prayer for my freshman is for his continued bravery to ask the questions.......never be afraid to be curious enough to wrestle......be bold enough to ponder the "life" of the bible, God's word.  Never become so complacent in your life that you don't have anymore questions...that's when your growing stops and your temple stands stagnant, breeding weakness and neglect.  Becoming vulnerable to life's elements....

I pray we all continue to ask questions......wait and listen for the answers, whatever they may be......and trust that no matter what we encounter on our journey ahead.......

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

                                                                                                      John 3:16

We are "SO LOVED"......

Garage Project........Conquered!

OK.........so I promised I'd post pictures when this gargantuan project was finally finished so here they are!

What we are hoping to accomplish is a space for teens or even "adult" teens (ha ha)! A space for watching movies, playing XBOX, eating pizza, writing music, playing the drums, or keyboard or guitar.....just a place to hang out!

Budget was beyond tight so a lot of the furniture is from IKEA (I love this store).  The large shag carpet is a remnant found at a local carpet store.  The TV a Best Buy sale.  The chest, a handmade item re purposed.  An old sofa table now re purposed as a TV stand.  Two storage baskets from Target (on sale)to store blankets, games, etc.!

The graffiti on the wall are ideas found from the Internet.

This is the drum area.
I must admit I am very pleased with the space and hope it is used in heaping amounts by our teens and their friends for many fun times ahead.
If you ever stop by, we only have one requirement if you use the space.......you must make a contribution to the graffiti wall!

PHEWWWWW!! (That was a very deep sigh of relief that it is finally over!! :)

I would love to see any garage transformation you may have!!!

Happenings at the Infirmary...........

Its been a few days since I posted.  My daughter started her cold on Wednesday and I am denying the coming of mine today.  

The garage project is coming along and I will blog about that and show you when its complete.  Hopefully, I will feel well enough to get it finally finished this week. I am excited to share it!

Our family crisis has not reached an outcome as of yet.  I will share that with you also, when I can.  I am not looking forward to that blog post but if it can help another family in that situation, then that's why God allowed it.

My little Mom is doing pretty well, today.  For her, its a daily battle and each day brings different challenges.  She is currently reading the gospel and it really is an answered prayed for me.  Hopefully she now knows she is never alone, especially during this illness.  I also pray that it eases any fears about what will happen to her beyond this life.  I think it has brought her great comfort and for that I am truly thankful.  I only wished we would have time to share our faith together, over the years.  The gift to share that, no matter how much time we have left together, is absolutely precious to me.  My Dad did not think she would see September.  So this precious, "extra" time, is truly a gift I was pretty certain I would not receive.  I never gave up hoping for it, but in my heart I didn't think I would ever receive it!  But our heavenly Father knows the deepest desires of our hearts and I am certain He knew this one.  Praise God for His sweetness and unending love for us!

Hope your Saturday was healthy spent with those who are precious to you!