Multitude Monday 28

I am loving doing this every week! Somehow last year when I started I was not exactly on top of things with Miss Pear's heart surgery, husband's job change, and moving and whatnot. But now that I am doing this every week it is having a HUGE impact on my outlook on things!

Monday January 31

• A morning upstairs at my desk to get caught up on stuff while...
• ...my MIL plays with the girls
• A friend stopping by to pick up some books for tomorrow morning and completely cheering me up from my "I feel yucky and the girls are sick too" funk.

Tuesday February 1

• MIL making a delicious supper
• 2 sick girls finally seeming on the mend
• The lovely option of just staying home today and hibernating!

Wednesday February 2

• Being a little slower to get out of bed this morning (did I mention my MIL rocks!)
• My MIL
• Awesome Bible study resources online! Strongs, Lexicons, tons of translations!

Thursday February 3

• Costco shopping with help
• All the errands run and home by 11AM
• Turkey roller sandwiches from Costco and carrot sticks for lunch - I love those little sandwiches and hardly ever buy them so it is a great treat!
• My reading girl who team read
• Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! with me!....
• ....accompanied by lots of snuggles!

Friday February 4

• Silliness in the kitchen with Grandma helping the girls make chocolate cake
• It only taking one simple phone call and one simple call back 20 minutes later to get a CD of Baby's x-rays sent to me - something that we thought we had worked out but did not, and that the new doctor could not get even with my signature that I thought would take all morning. Such a blessing!

Saturday February 5

• Even though it is very sad to see my MIL go, she is coming back after we move to help with the last boxes and the nitty gritty details that she is so good at!
• Out for lunch to cheer up sad little girls who love their grandma
• Soft pillows, warm quilt, Bible.

Sunday February 6

• Worshipping the Lord with our Church family
• A little friend taking Lord's Supper for the first time!
• A rainy day - yes, still a treat for me
• Warm sweats, hot coffee, and a hockey game with my husband.
• Quiet at home with my family.

344-369

Because Life Happens

This has been an interesting week. It is the last one of my MIL visiting, the girls are recovering from colds, they shared with my MIL and I, we went to Costco, and that was our week.

Seriously, that is the whole list. With lots of reading and snuggles mixed in.

Unless you count this morning when I made a stack of phone calls regarding medical stuff for the girls. Nothing earth shattering, just taking care of the picky details which ended up being blessedly easier than expected.

Plus we organized the Playmobile toys yesterday afternoon.

It is one of those weeks where life just marched on and my computer fell down the priority scale.

Right now I am listening to the fun sounds of Grandma baking with the girls. Hysterical!

It is one of those things in life that is simple and joy filled.

And when I slow down, and am gentle with myself (rather than hold unrealistic expectations) I find that much of life is simple and joy filled.

So I wish you that this weekend. Simple days filled with joy.

Grace Word Study Step 1

Today we are just going to do the very first step. And honestly, when I start, this is usually as far as I go.

Step 1: Picking a Verse and a Word

For this study I chose 2 Corinthians 12:9 because that is the verse that is most meaningful to me right now, and the idea of God's grace being sufficient is especially comforting!

I begin by open up a Word document on my computer and entering the following:

Month and Year: January 2011

The verse:

2 Corinthians 12:9 – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (NKJV)

I am always sure to bold the word I want to look at. (And if you are doing this with me, help yourself out by noting which translation you used - I recommend using the translation you normally use at this point).

I chose grace.

Now I get the Strong's concordance number (this saves you a TON of work). If you don't have a Strong's Concordance at home, that is fine, it is available online here. Be sure to record both the Strong's number and the transliteration of the word (that means the greek or hebrew word written with english letters)

In this case the Strong's number is 5485 and the transliteration is charis

That is it, we are done step 1. Your page should look kind of like this:

Date: January 2011

2 Corinthians 12:9 – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (NKJV)

Strong’s # 5485 charis

That's it! Any questions?

Word Study Introduction

Too often when I talk to friends about Bible study I often a similar sentiment, that they want to really study the Bible, to really dig deep, but they are not Bible scholars so it is beyond their ability.

Really?

Let me give you a tip....

...do you belong to God?

...do you own a Bible? (or at least have access to one?)

If you said yes to those questions guess what? You are fully equipped to be a Biblical scholar.

AND, if you have a seminary near by, or your church has a well stocked library, or you have a buddy with a well stocked library who will share, you are in even better shape! Plus the internet is an incredible source of information that will help you!

There are a few kinds of in-depth study I enjoy, so while I go through it I am going to post how to do it here, kind of a sharing of my work.

We are going to start with a word study. Now if you saw the word studies I shared, you might immediately say, "I cannot do that! It is too much!" Gee, you sound just like me when I first saw what I had to do!

But you can do this, I assure you it is true! How do I know this? Because I can do it.

Therefore I invite you to do this along with me! I will go through step by step and you can either follow along with me, do it along with me, or do your own going through step by step with me.

In the next post I will share the first step!

Multitude Monday 27

Somehow last week I completely got confused as to what day of the month it was only to figure it out and be completely wrong.

Therefore, here is my list with no dates, but I did note things from each day...I think...

322. A fresh start to the week that feels like a fresh start in general

323. The delight of a 5 year old painting on canvas for the very first time!

324. The canvas creation gracing the living room, propped up on our piano....

325. ...and the delighted proud smiles of the artist.

326. The sale of our home appears to be moving right along. I am both excited and terrified.

327. A wonderful delivery of books.

328. Laughing at the eggplant disaster!

329. The joy of our CSA box being delivered to our door! No more trying to cross busy lanes of traffic to pick it up!

330. Prompting of the Lord to both more and deeper study. And the joy that is already bringing me!

331. Blood test- well, not actually the blood test, more the fact that she got it the first time, and it did not bruise - huge for me! Plus, I did not hyperventilate.

332. White chocolate mocha and donuts to share with my daughters to celebrate.

333. New children's books from grandma - she is so generous with us!

334. A book arriving from a dear friend! Such a treat from such a sweetie!

335. Dropping off the last of the paperwork to confirm that we are going forward with this house. The Lord has confirmed in so many ways that this is the house He has for us and has been so patient as we again and again have asked if this is the one.

336. Quilt fabric for Baby's big girl bed! (She is still in her crib though and is not even trying to crawl out, which is actually #337 now that I think about it!)

338. Perfect fabric for a certain 6 year old's birthday so that I can make napkins to match her theme!

339. And perfect fabric to make napkins for a friend's birthday that is coming up! It actually highlights an amusement that is very dear to both families!

340. My husband's mom's birthday is today and she is here to celebrate it. She is such a wonderful grandma that she insisted the girls help her open presents, and had more books for them, and was delighted with everything we did including.....

341. ...chinese food for supper...

342. ...and brownie with ice cream, whip cream and chocolate sauce for dessert.

343. The bone deep, heart confirmation that God really does love me.

No Sir, I don't like it....

We have a rule about our CSA box: You don't swap it out just because you don't know what it is!

So we have tried a variety of things that have been great!

Therefore when eggplant was in the box two weeks ago I started looking for recipes, and decided on Veggie Parmesan (minus the fennel bulbs), and I even used my homemade marinara sauce!

It was DELICIOUS! We loved everything EXCEPT the eggplant which we all gamely tried and then picked out.

I would make this again with just 2 layers of peppers, it was that good.

But next time I see eggplant on the list for the CSA box I am definitely swapping it out!

Returning to Harbor

It is no secret that last week knocked me flat and hurt tremendously. And it has me rethinking some things, and returning to harbor, returning to the Word in a deeper way.

I do read my Bible daily and have that devotional time of reading, but I feel like I have been lacking in more serious study. I will be honest, somedays I struggle so much to find time for just my devotional time that I have no idea how to begin to find extra time on top!

But desperate times call for desperate measures, and it is time to make some changes again.

1. I emailed the class coordinator for the local women's BSF class, and they still have room for this year. They are studying Isaiah, and on February 7 I will be at the introductory class in order to sign up to resume my studies with BSF.

2. I am resuming word studies, the ones where I look specifically at one word in one verse to better understand the verse as a whole. I start by prayerfully considering which verse to use, or just going with the one God us currently focusing me on (you know, the one that all but smacks you upside the head when you are reading). I am starting with 2 Corinthians 12:9 and doing 2 studies looking at two different words:

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

These studies are never quick, but are always rich. Rather than committing to a number a month or one a week, I am committing to find a block of time every week to work on these.

3? Once these two studies are done I may trace grace through the Bible, which is the other style of word study, and yes, I do both, but this is the style I do the least.

Why do I share this? Well, a couple reasons:

First off, I am excited! I am eager to go back to BSF because it has been a tremendous blessing to my family in the past, and it is clearly God's prompting for me to return, even now when the timing is terrible! Also, I started the word studies, just the easy part of getting all the verses plugged in and finding the Strong's number, and was so encouraged even though I was exhausted.

Secondly, I use this as a place to think our loud, and to keep track of things.

Thirdly, I cannot imagine I am the only woman on the face of the planet going through a bit of a tough time right now when things are overwhelming, and if I can encourage you a little bit, that is a tremendous blessing to me!

Lastly, I am confident that God is going to get us through this, and that testimony is always worth sharing!

This Week's CSA Box

It suddenly seems weird to post this on Wednesday because my sweet husband will not be picking up our box on the way home every second Wednesday now! It will be delivered to our door Thursday before 6AM!

And we are most excited. Yes, we get excited about weird things around here, but it means we are a happy lot!

Tomorrow I will wake up to a box filled with:

Box Contents
Garnet Yams, Organic - 3 pounds
Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
Zucchini, Organic - 1.75 pounds
Green Onions, Organic - 2 bunches
Red Bell Peppers, Organic - 2 each
Green Cabbage, Organic - 1 each
Romaine Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
Yellow Onions, Organic - 3 each
Minneola Tangelos, Organic - 6 each
Gala Apples, Organic - 6 each
Navel Oranges, Organic - 6 each
Pink Lady Apples, Organic - 5 each

I definitely have some ideas already for this box. Fruit is always dessert after lunches (except when grandma sneaks in other treats). Plus I love apple grated into my overnight oatmeal.

Yams almost always get roasted in the oven because it makes them extra delicious, and the green onions are going to be part of egg salad sandwiches.

I am thinking coleslaw with the cabbage, and the onions and peppers will end up in spaghetti sauce. It seems to be easy to use up all the veggies in 2 weeks, especially when have company!

What would you be making if this box was being delivered to you?

Books Are Multiplying!

I have discovered something very interesting.

Ever since I posted this reading list I think I have become magnetic for books - whatever that is called!

Here is why I am suspicious of this phenomena:

I have found 2 more partially read books that are partially read because I lost track of them!

I have added at least 3 books to the drawer where I had stashed all the books together, and did I mention there were already books I wanted to read in there?

Plus our church is reading an excellent one for the adult Sunday School class, and even though we cannot go, I am reading it and it is excellent.

Plus 2 more books that I simply HAVE to read are out, and I had to order a book for Miss Pear, so those two kind of fell into my amazon basket. Umm...oops, I think.

And then I won a book I am eager to read over on a friend's blog, and I am not listing it here because she did not list the winners on her site, but you will probably figure it out when I update my reading list. Hysterical thing is that she is a great friend and it is a book on friendship!

It is becoming apparent that I don't have time to read fiction right now because there are so many non fiction books I want to read! And a lot of them are in the house!

New Goal - keep reading and start doing word studies again! And get my address book updated finally!

And while I will probably regret asking this because it will make my list longer, what are you reading RIGHT NOW, the book on your night stand or wherever you keep it, and is it any good?

Multitude Monday 26

Last week was a long, hard week. My list isn't as long this week because everything I am thankful for defined that day.

January 17 - An offer we made on a house was accepted after a particularly amazing time of prayer.

January 18 - Our classical conversation community of dear friends.

January 19 - No change on a echogram which is both good and sad, but for the good I am thankful,

- and for the sad I am so thankful that God is sovereign

January 20 - A thorough home inspection

January 21 - a God who is big enough to bear my pain and tears, offering comfort when there is none to be found anywhere else.

January 22 - Fun family night after a day of just doing nothing but being home together

- All the friends who email and comment saying they are praying for Miss Pear.

January 23 - Worshipping and praying with our Church family

- Date night!

312 - 321

Long, long week

Hey all, it has been a long, long LOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNG week. Did I mention it has been a long week?

I will spare you all the details but the most important one, the one that makes my head hurt and my heart break.

Miss Pear was at the cardiologist this week. About a year after her open heart surgery.

The good news is that the surgery did exactly what it was supposed to - it removed a subaortic membrane and it has not grown back.

The bad news is that there is still narrowing there. Basically, that portion of her heart is just narrower than it should be.

They have a fancy name for it. A name I hate, and refuse to type here tonight because it makes me cry.

But the doctor basically said that at this point we wait and see. Eventually he expects that some medical intervention will be required, but right now it is not impacting her life or causing damage, so we wait.

The best case scenario is that the narrowing would widen, but the doctor says that never happens.

I think that is great, because that is exactly what we are asking God to do, to widen that area of her heart to the perfect width. This way when it happens God will get all the credit.

The doctor says that now we wait.

I disagree.

Now we pray.

Not good....

....or epic fail if you are between the ages of 15 and 21 or spend lots of time with those who are.

I just printed out a paperbackswap mailer with all the postage on it...and cannot find the book ANYWHERE! So I have to cancel the request, and the mailer is not refundable.

Epic fail.

Of course, this is just exhibit A and ignores all that happened before then!

Clearly my brain is not functioning as well as I think it is, so I am sending myself to bed. Will be back when clear brain function begins...probably Wednesday...Thursdayish...or Friday at the latest. That's decisiveness for you!

Multitude Monday 25

January 11 - I am getting better at trimming little girl bangs!

- the snow that was supposed to start at lunch held off so I did not have to drive in it!

- MIL made supper and cleaned it up, very firmly but politely kicking me out of the kitchen

- A return to Classical Conversations and girls with such tender hearts that we could not possibly stay for lunch and let Grandma eat alone!

January 12 - the roads are not icy after that snow last night!

- Bedtime - too much snow excitement!

January 13 - husband is being given a great opportunity at work. I can write this here because when it posts on Monday it will be officially announced!

January 14 - gatorade, soft wipes, A&D ointment, and Amazon diaper delivery

- Skating class for everyone else.

January 15 - house hunting - even though it has been hard, we are grateful we can even be looking.

January 16 - worshipping and praying with our Church family

- our church family praying for Miss Pear's cardiology appt on Wednesday

300 - 311

CSA Box Change

For the 8ish months my husband has made a detour to stop and pick up our CSA box. Sometimes it has been out in the afternoon heat longer than we would like, but it has always been fine, I just had to prioritize using stuff occasionally. When the days started getting dark before he left work, he started picking up the box at lunch time, and this worked great until the truck was delayed until the normally promised hours, so he went and the box was not there yet!

Getting to the box is not hard, getting out of that parking lot is. It is a busy 2 lane road where you have to cross both lanes!

So starting in 2 weeks we are having the box delivered to our home. Instead of getting it Wednesday evening, it will be delivered to our door by 6AM the following morning. There is a $3 charge for this service.

$3

Yes, you did read that right.

This begs the question of why we have been picking the box up all this time! Well, technically the home delivery was not an option in our area until we moved, but still.

This makes my husband very happy, so I am thinking this might be the best $6 a month I spend.

This reminds me that sometimes in our quest to save money it is important to not lose sight of our overall goals and plans.

This Week's CSA Box

It has been a while since I posted about my CSA box, and that is surprising because I love it dearly, and it helps me so much! No running to the grocery store for fresh produce and then buying other stuff!

Today we will receive:

Cucumbers, Organic - 2 each

Garnet Yams, Organic - 3 pounds

Celery, Organic - 1 each

Red Onions, Organic - 3 each

Eggplant, Organic - 1 each

Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch

Green Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch

Green Kale, Organic - 1 bunch

Fairchild Tangerines, Organic - 6 each

Kiwi, Organic - 6 each

Mangos, Organic - 2 each

Cameo Apples, Organic - 6 each

To round this out I picked up 6 peppers and a bag of onions at Costco. I would have liked some bananas as well, but it was Friday evening when we stopped for milk and a few other necessities, and all the bananas were gone.

I have a few new recipes in mind to try, and will be making fruit salads for lunch desserts as well as an apple crisp to use up a case of apples I bought a bit ago and some Christmas satsuma mandarins.

So if this box was being delivered to you what would you be thinking? And what would you be doing with the eggplant...or would you have swapped it out?