It's not my birthday.

Wow.

So much has been happening that I can't think of where to start.

So let's start with today.

Today was suppose to be an immensely productive day. My in-laws came over to help Josh with a few things around the house. We dropped off the girls at my mothers house to spend the night, and were planning on a nice relaxing day after we had worked. However. Today just did not start out right. It was one of those days were everything started a new problem. I woke up this morning to a sink that wouldn't drain, so with all my power and might I tried a few things to get it to do, well, something besides just stand there. And the water didn't budge.

So I left it.

After we dropped off the girls and gave the sink some time to think about draining, we came back home to fix it's problems. After a bit of pulling and pushing, water still standing in the sink and backing-up into my dishwasher, my father-in-law decided it was time to take a look downstairs. He found an entire section of basement soaked in water. After the area was cleared, he took a look at the pipes, which I returned back upstairs, where my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and I stood by the sink, talking and waiting for my father-in-law to tell us what he needed next. Instead there was a yelp, then the sink gurgled and drained, all in the matter of seconds.

"Why is the sink draining?" I asked and then realized that the yelp may lead to an answer.

There stood my father-in-law, drenched in whatever had been left in the sink for eons, and a smell arose so vicious that it awoke any senses that may have been sleeping. Josh ran back and forth with buckets and I ran for towels, as the pipes were still leaking this grey sludge, with rocks and onion peels left for us to contemplate what kind of people lived in our house before us.

It didn't stop there, my father in law had brought what he called "The Snake" which was a cord that he fished down the line about 2 feet or so, dragged back whatever had been in the pipe and then going in another 2 feet, trying to reach and pull clear a clog. He went in 20 feet before calling it quits. We hauled out at least 5 gallons of grey sludge.

And at this very moment, we still don't have a working kitchen sink. However, our bathroom and laundry facilities are fully functional, since they are at the opposite end of the house.

And I'm not at the least bit upset. In fact, I was more upset over the fact that I pinched myself in the closet door this morning than I was over the cascading waterfall of grey sludge on my basement floor.

I think God was preparing me, you know, the 'pinch to grow an inch' that you get each birthday as a kid.


No.

It's not my birthday.

House

I can't believe it's here. The morning we sign our lives away on a house. It seems like it was never going to to be a possiblity again and yet, God swept us away and blessed us outragiously. How does He do that???

Keep us in your prayers, as the next few days of moving will be stressful. I've gotten everything I can packed. Yesterday I hit a point in the day where I was just wandering around the house looking for something else I could pack like I was obsessed or something. It took me a good half an hour of wandering to finally say, Yup, I'm done, and sit down to a (now cold) cup of tea.

Oliver is getting pretty sick of me packing. He crawling now and follows me around the house. He gets so angry when he finds me near a box, that he turns over on his back, yowls and starts kicking the box full force with both feet as if to say, "Hey! You're paying more attention to that inadimate object than me!" Kick, Kick, Kick, Kick, I hear his feet as they turn in rapid spinning circles. So I pick him up and twirl around with him, which then he smiles and turns back into the happy baby he once was, before he saw me and the box within 2 inches of each other. Eventually, I return him to the living room to play and it starts all over again.

I wonder how he's going to react to unpacking.

Moving

Okay, I have a few minutes to post. I can't say I've been entirely busy with packing up to move, since I have maybe 15 boxes packed. It's hard to pack up a house when your stuff is still intertwined with other peoples stuff. You tend to forget who's is what. Well, that and you're still living there. So dishes are a no, and any bathroom necessities are a no... I'm so used to packing up in one week or less and moving. This is a little backwards to me.

We have a few genius touches this time though. My mother-in-law painted each girl a box so they can pack and find their personal stuff. We actually have a truck thanks to my brother. And I have a couple days to clean and paint BEFORE we move in, which is a novelty.

I'm curious where this is leading us because it's all happening so fast. It seems like there is something bigger in store for us, and I'm both excited and nervous to face it head-on.

Merge: Communion

Last night Josh and I went to the Merge meeting at Riv. The theme for this year's events is communion, so this time, it was decided that we would actually take communion. The people were sat down at a table of six or eight, and were given time to talk with one another. Then we were asked to talk about the idea of communion and what it means, then the table would pray together before they broke the bread. Afterwards they were given time to talk with people. I was taking pictures at the time, so I could hear the conversations and the prayers throughout the room. These are a few that struck me.

I saw a 20something male tell about his life and then admit, "It's all that I have."

I ended up talking to one woman who doesn't attend Riv, and she asked me about how Riv got started. Eventually it led into her life story. She was excited at the boldness of Riv and was even more excited about how she could help.

Another woman was excited to lead a small group but couldn't lead it in her own home.

I talked to a man who when it came time to pray, led in a bold prayer that left the table silent and awestruck. "I don't remember exactly what I prayed but when I said Amen and lifted up my head, one woman looked at me and said, 'Awesome.' That opened up the table for honest and real discussion."

Another woman said when I asked her about the whole event, "It's needed. The communion, the sense of community, people just need that."

I can't say for sure lives were changed or that people even left with the right idea in mind, but I did see several people exchange phone numbers, email addresses and encouraged several to fill out surveys. It's a start. People were curious and excited to know what Merge was doing next. And that is exciting.

This said from simply an observer.

Halloween

Laurel was Wendy from Peter Pan.

Dar was Princess Dora. She looks good with black hair.

Cassie was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Last year Laurel went as Belle and Dar was all disappointed because she wasn't a pretty princess too, so this year we made sure that Cassie wasn't left out of the prettiness. She was so thrilled to be Belle. That costume has seen several Halloweens in the past few years.

This year was the first year in downtown St. Johns where they had trick or treating open at several businesses for the little kids, who probably won't make it for the actual trick or treating later that night. I had no idea how many kids under 9 years old lived in St. Johns. There was so many kids, it was hard to find parents.


Dar looks like her Aunt Sam in this picture, it's the black hair I think. I never thought Dar looked like a Pung, but this seems to prove it.

Grandma's cup

So I sat down to my morning coffee, and the cup I usually use was dirty, so I grabbed another mug, not a big deal.

Not realizing that it is a big deal to Cassie who said...



"Mom that's Grandma's cup."

"Yes, it's Grandma's but I'm using it today."

After several minutes of trying to convince me that it's Grandma's and that I should use another mug, she turns to Josh and says.

"Daddy, look at Mommy. Mommy is using Grandma's cup."

Obviously I did something wrong.

Memorization and repetition matters.

I can't believe how fast time is flying by, next week is Halloween. I pretty much have the family cd set this Christmas, I need to record it and put it together, but the basic idea is there. I'm excited about it, I'm going to be putting 4 or 5 of my songs on it, and a few things from the girls and Josh. It was a lot of fun to put together last year, makes me much more excited about the Christmas season.

I still haven't put my applications in, and honestly, I'm waiting until we move, (which will be in the next 6 months) when things settle down. I really don't want to start a new job and be moving at the same time. It'll be better for my family. And maybe something will show up before then. Who knows what the future brings.

I finally downloaded iTunes, and have been listening to different podcasts. I tend to learn by repetition, so I end up listening to the same podcast usually 2 to 3 times, before I can grasp the big picture. Oh, I'm fine with details, I'm just too busy thinking about those little details to get a hold of something bigger. I love the fact that our church records their messages so I can listen to them again, and take the time to fully understand them.

In fact, Laurel has been memorizing verses for church, so yesterday I asked her to repeat them to my brother and mom. She remembered all of them word for word and most of the time remembered the references. Then my brother and I went through our heads all the verses we had learned from Awana and DCC, in general. It was quite amazing what we had stored up in our minds, and what we could recall 12-16 years later. I thought I had forgotten most of that stuff.

I guess memorization and repetition really does matter.

The Square went "Pft."

We were talking to a couple of our friends, who came over to visit us last week. The girls were playing like usual, they'd run in and out, just doing their own thing. Then Dar comes running in and says, "Mom! Mom! I was in there and the square went 'pft!'" in a rather urgent voice as she threw up her hands to signify the urgency of the sound.

Curious, I walked down to see what square she was talking about, if she was talking about a square at all. I walked into the girl's room and there sat a drawer (rectangular, by the way) in the middle of the floor that had fallen out of it's dresser.

"Yes Dar, I guess the square did go 'pft.'"

Winter in October

How did all you Michiganders like the first snowfall of winter?

My girls loved it. First I went outside to pick up all the toys and Josh came out in his sandals, so we had a snowball fight.

The girls decided that looked fun, so they had one as well.



It's starting to melt away now, I'm glad the girls got to play outside when they did. No one was ready for winter in October, anyways.

Cornelius

I was talking with one of my friends a couple months ago and said something that I thought was true at the time but I just couldn't find where I had gotten it from.

I told him that I had read that unbelievers who never have a chance to get to know God but who know instinctively good could go to heaven. Now after I said this I knew something was wrong about it and needed to go back and reaffirm what I had stated. I even thought I had a few verses to back it up. However. After doing quite a bit of extensive searching and a bit of thinking, that just doesn't make sense.

The biggest argument I have against it is that God knows when we are willing to know Him. Is my God so small that He wouldn't send somebody to tell that person about Christ??? No way. If someone who doesn't know God is looking for answers and seeking wholeheartedly, I know God will put the right person in his path.

Why would I not see that before?

I have a couple of ideas. 1 So that I'll admit I was wrong, and maybe put my pride aside. (Maybe...) 2 So I will search His Word to find answers, as well as learn a few other things along the way. 3 Sometimes I fall asleep while I'm reading, so there is a possibility that I was also imagining what I was reading. Which is VERY dangerous. As I so aptly showed in my so called "knowledge" what I thought I had learned.

Which gets back to that I actually base my opinion on this matter in Acts 10. It's the story of Peter while in Joppa and a Roman officer named Cornelius. He believed in God but knew nothing about Jesus, and had received a vision to invite Peter into his home. At that time it was against Jewish law for Peter to be associated with Cornelius and Peter admits to being rather uncomfortable in his house, but Peter has this wild urge to tell about Christ anyways. It says in 10:44 "Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message."

What I get from this is that Cornelius could have gone on living his life being devout to God. But that wasn't enough for God. God wanted him to experience the freedom of Christ, and with Cornelius' willing heart, He sent Peter across thousands of Jewish laws that no one understood that they didn't mean anything anymore.

It means that God knew Cornelius was willing to accept Christ, and put Peter in his face to tell him about Jesus. There was no oops or well, Cornelius will find the answers himself, no, Peter was specifically placed in front of him. That's no oops.

And I know this time, I wasn't sleeping the million times I have read this chapter.

Although now I can rest easy that unbelievers who are seeking will find God in their face; it also gives me a greater ambition to be the one in their face armed with God's Word.

And I know it was only a mistake, but I also know I am responsible for double checking before I say anything, even if I am saying it to other believers. And for that I am truly sorry.