Whew!

Well, I'm home.  I was in Wisconsin for 8 days - 8 stressful, wonderful, oddly relaxing and life changing days.

My Mom's surgery went well.  Who knew that a person could go home less than 24 hours after BRAIN SURGERY?!  Not me!  Thank you to all of you who prayed for her.  Before surgery, she described how sure she felt that all would go well and that she'd be just fine.  To me, that's the very description of a peace that is beyond understanding.  Prayers are answered.  Again...thank you.

As I was sitting with Mom a day or so before I headed back to Idaho, she tried to describe how she was feeling.  She talked about an awareness of God's hand in her life - about how she's here on purpose.

On purpose.

Her words have been ringing through my head for days.  It's apparent for her - she just lived through a potentially fatal experience.  But it got me thinking.  I'm here on purpose too.  For a purpose.  For HIS purpose.

And today - once I got past the sheer panic and overwhelmed feeling of being surrounded by all this mess and chaos - I stared looking at this amazing life of mine.  I lived this day more deliberately that I've lived in a long time.  I lived in a way that if this were my last day, and I was giving the chance to go back and change anything about my last day in life?  I wouldn't change a single thing.

I snuggled.
I prayed.
I held little hands.
I breathed in the smell of little heads.
I looked deep into eyes of people who love me.  Really love me.
I enjoyed the taste of my food.
I bought a few little things that felt like treats.
I sang songs.
I felt the embrace of the man I am one with, and wasn't thinking of the housework I should be doing instead.
I enjoyed the sun on my face and the sun glowing through the golden fall leaves.
I smiled.
I laughed.
I thanked God for making me...

...for making me on purpose.

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Updates

For those of you who missed photos of Thomas' birthday party, I finally have them up.  I back-dated the post to keep things in chronological order, so it's buried.  You can find the post HERE.

I'm headed to the airport bright and early tomorrow morning (actually, it will be so early, it won't be bright yet!).  Going to Wisconsin to be close to my Mom for her surgery and to help as much as she'll let me afterwards.  Please pray for her.

The house will be on the market by the time I get back (actually, it's going on the market THIS WEEKEND!) - I'm so excited!  My first order of business after returning home is to take some awesome "after" pictures to compare to the "before" pictures that are on the blog.  Wanna see the before shots?  Click HERE.

Okay...I'm off to heat up a can of Spaghettios for my little ones, then give them a nice warm bath.  I also need to sew the face on a jack-o-lantern costume (we're totally buying costumes next year) and pack.

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I've Fallen for Fall

Fall is in full swing here in Boise - it's beautiful and wonderful and cozy....and was officially made complete with a trip to the local pumpkin patch with my two little ones this past week.  I wish it could be fall forever!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I'm forcing myself to avoid the computer and housework like the plague (except maybe to finally post some of Thomas' birthday pictures or our pumpkin patch trip).  I'm going to make THIS for dinner, and THIS for an afternoon snack.  I'm also going to read my book and (maybe) take a long walk.  It's going to be a great day!

We visited my sister and her family a couple of weeks ago, and I disappeared with my camera for a while.  It always amazes me to see what's out there in the world when I just take the time to look.

The trees in the distance against the startling blue sky and framed nicely by the old fence ~

My favorite kind of self-portrait...no wrinkles to brush out!

A subtle reminder ~

 Just plain pretty ~

The sun peeking through the canopy of the trees ~

One of my favorite spots was hiding under the dense branches of the weeping willow as the gentle breeze made the whole world sway to and fro.  I giggled like a silly little girl when Luke came to find me, but kept walking past the tree since I was hidden so well. ~

I eventually let him find me ~

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Newness

The pizza dough was rising.  The sauce was simmering, the veggies were being chopped.  The cornmeal coated the pizza peel, and the stone was heating in the oven.  The company was about 30 seconds from ringing the doorbell.  I was enjoying a nice glass of red while chatting with the pizza making expert that comes over to make us gourmet pizza every Friday night (my wonderful guy).  

Suddenly - SPARKS! SNAP! CRACKLE! POOF!

I thought maybe the candle I had on top the stove had come to it's end, and threw a spark.  Only...I wasn't burning a candle.

The oven was D.E.A.D.

We stood and looked at the dead oven for a few minutes as if we could will it back to life.  No luck.

Thankfully, the hillbilly genes in our family rose up to assist by reminding us that we had an extra stove in the garage.  After a quick dead stove for live stove switcharoo, dinner was back on.

Pardon me - I have to go plant some flowers in the old tub that's in our front yard. (Just kidding...we had the stove in the garage for the house we're working on.)

Since the remodel house needs it's stove this week, we went shopping for a new setup last night.  Thanks to some very generous gifts recently, we were able to splurge a bit and get just what we wanted.  Isn't it pretty?!  TWO pizza ovens can be going at the same time!  Yahoo!

Speaking of fun new things, Clara decided that she wanted a spunky new haircut recently.  This is my sweet Clara Rose shortly after rolling out of bed, but you get the gist of her new 'do:

Of course, all craziness breaks loose when the kids see the camera.  The little ones love to pose, but Ben dove under the counter.

Gotcha!

Hey Mom!  Look!  I'm a 4 armed jumping monster!

I'm loving the new ovens, but as far as the kids are concerned, we got a fantastic new box that just happened to come with a stove.

Here's to a day of happy and creative kids (and time for Mom to get on the computer!)...and probably to baking several dozen cookies in my new oven :-)

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Emery Grace {sneak peek}

This sweet little peanut was such a good sport this morning!  A sleepy baby is a bit easier to photograph at this age, but she was determined to stay up and take in all the action :-)  She's just 12 days old today - isn't she gorgeous?

I had a little helper during this shoot - Emery's big sister. I'll bet you can't guess how old she is ;-)

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Joy Inexpressible

No, I'm not planning on turning this site into a new daily devotional site!  I can't help but share some of what the Lord has been whispering in my ear lately though.  I promise, after this, I'll get around to finally posting about my Thomas turning 3 years old (a week an a half late...sorry buddy).

This morning, I did the "randomly open the Bible and begin to read" thing.  The book of 1 Peter opened, and I began reading.  It was in that first chapter that I had to stop...re-read...re-read...think...pray...

How can I read this amazing Book over and over again for years, and still see something new almost daily?

...though you have not seen Him, you love Him, 

and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, 

you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory...

1 Peter 1: 8

As I read this, it struck me that non-believers must sometimes think that we Christians have completely fooled our own selves into believing a fairy tale.  We believe in something...someONE who we can't see.  We even profess a deep love for someone we've apparently never met.  Maybe they feel that we need this elaborate story in our lives to help explain the mysteries of life and death.  Maybe they think it's sort of a placebo effect thing - we think that if we believe we'll have joy and peace...so we choose to believe and therefore open our lives to a joy and peace that resided within us all along...it's not a God thing, it's just a mind game...we're tricking ourselves.

If that's the case, I'd like to begin believing that the trees in my yard have leaves made of $100 bills!  Wait...let me go out and see...nope, no money out there.  Darn ;-)

Did I not believe hard enough?  No - no amount of convincing myself that money grows on my backyard trees will make it so.

Just as no amount of convincing myself to believe a lie will produce joy and peace.  There is joy and peace in believing in Jesus because He is actually real.  He is actually alive.  He is actually powerful.

Okay, wait.  Maybe if I believe a lie, it will produce joy and peace...for a limited time.  But for years?  For the rest of my life?  In the midst of circumstances that defy peace and joy?  Makes no sense.

Another way to look at it...

Personally, I did not expect joy when I became a Christian.  I expected my life to be turned upside down.  I expected to not have any fun.  I expected to lose friends.  So where did the incredible joy come from?  Not my mind, if I was expecting something different!

So there you go - if your theory about Christianity involves this placebo-effect line of thinking, you just got yourselves a data point that doesn't fit the curve.  Now what?

I have another theory for you to consider now that yours was just disproved:  Jesus is real.  When you hit your knees and say "God, I don't understand, and I might never.  But I believe you're real.  I believe Jesus came to earth.  I believe Jesus died for my sins.  I believe Jesus rose from death.  I believe I need your forgiveness.  Please help me.  I want to be your child."  My theory is that Jesus is in fact real, and a very real and powerful force will fill your life.

To my friends and family who do not believe in Jesus, I'd like you to consider some questions about me:
1.  Do you think that I am at least slightly intelligent?
2.  Do you think that I am mentally ill?
3.  Do you think that I want to harm you?
4.  Do you think that I have a unique power within myself to produce feelings and experiences that I was not expecting or pursuing?
5.  Do you think that I can heal my physical body just by thinking about it?
6.  Do you think that I can foretell the future?

If you believe that I am generally intelligent, sane, loving, and without magical powers...please hear what I am saying:  Jesus is real.  There is simply no other way to explain what I've experienced.  Please call on Him.  Please trust in Him.  You will not be disappointed, I promise.

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