Thankful Tuesday

I have been enjoying the meat and sustenance of A Holy Experience for a number of months now. Recently I followed a link from Ann's blog and came across the challenge to write 20 things per day for 40 days that you are thankful for. Though I am too late to squeeze in 40 days worth before Easter the idea still appealed to me. I have found the exercise has multiple layers of benefit and probably ones I have yet to discover or experience.

But on to my list of 20 Things I was Thankful for yesterday. I was thankful for...

~the Awesomeness of nature:

thunderstorms, hail, rain

~the Love of a boy for his puppy,

~the Concern of a boy for his chickens,

~the Industry of boys to build,

~the cool glow of vibrant Green after a storm

~the Tenderness of a young woman

becoming an adult,

~the thrill of chicks experiencing

grass and openness,

~a working washer and dryer

to help tackle the

Monday Mountains,

~the arrival of new experiences in the mail

{prom dress}, ~God's bounty {fresh eggs, salad greens}

~seeing 12:34 on the clock and remembering

good times when the eldest son always

announced 1-2-3-4 at lunch time.

~the unexpected pleasure of husband/

father coming home for lunch,

~the faithfulness of numbers to always behave,

~the tender & prayerful heart of a young son,

~the servant's heart of another son,

~the sighting of this season's

first hummingbird,

~and the joy of putting out feeders,

~the smile of satisfaction that

comes from using homemade

laundry detergent,

~the delight that comes from

the fragrance of

tender basil plants,

~and the goofy smiles of

my favorite 11 year old.

Pure Pleasure.

Pure Pleasure. Let me tell you right off the title was not what caught my attention, as a matter of fact, based on the title alone, I would have immediately passed it over. But when I saw that the author was Gary Thomas, I decided it would be worth a peek.

Several years ago I was given a copy of Sacred Marriage. The subtitile, What if God designed Marriage to make us Holy more than to make us Happy? Caught my attention. I found that I was in complete agreement with Mr. Thomas’ approach to marriage. Kevin was transferred out of state, as I continued to read and mark up my copy of Sacred Marriage. Like any interested spouse would, when home, Kevin would glance through the book, taking note of places I had marked, and wonder if the highlights were references to him or me. A few weeks later he asked if I was through reading it and if he could take it with him the next time he was home. That is the first time he had ever read a book on marriage. We have subsequently used his DVDs and workbooks to help mentor another couple.

All that to say, I trust Gary Thomas and his writings; however, for all the reasons he mentions in this book, I would probably never have picked up a book titled Pure Pleasure. I have been very blessed in my life and have experienced much pleasure. There are the everyday pleasures of toddler kisses, Lego creations, comforting kitchen aromas, and beautiful sunsets to the more rare high moments of cuddling my wet newborns or hiking Mt. Rainier and everything in between. But the subtitle to this book: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad About Feeling Good? Caused me to pause. I had to admit that once you get beyond the simple pleasures I did struggle with where does a Christian draw the line? If it is in our means, can we justify a nice vacation, when families all over the world are starving?

Gary deals very even handedly with the subject of pleasure. As he wraps up the first chapter he tells us,

“Prayer and fellowship are among life’s richest pleasures,

but let’s not stop there. Let us learn to fill our souls with beauty,

art, noble achievement, fine meals, rich relationships, and

soul-cleansing laughter…Let us be wary of a faith that denies these

blessings as ‘worldly’ and unfit, as though Satan rather than God had

designed them. Let us refuse to fall into the enemy’s trap of denying

ourselves God’s good pleasures so that we end up deeply vulnerable

to illicit pleasure.”

He later develops his point by quoting from The Screwtape Letters, when Screwtape reminds his charge, “Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground…it is His invention, not ours.”

Gary builds his case for the importance of pleasure, recognizing what gives us pleasure, keeping it healthy, being aware of the dangers and costs, and even finding pleasure in trials. There were a couple points I felt Gary may have pushed too hard to make a scripture support, but overall I enjoyed the book. It opened my view of God and His relationship with me just a little more. Reminded me that God wants us to be full of Him, not obligations, so that we are better suited for His service.

In Gary’s easy to read style, Pure Pleasure, both encouraged me and challenged me to rethink some old ideas. What more can you ask from a good book?

Layoffs and Being Rich

It is hard to believe, but its true. After working 15 years for the same company, Kevin has now been laid off 5 times in the last 11 years. A big chunk of the last 10 years we refer to as our years of famine. Just as in Joseph's dream, those years were like the lean, scrawny cows that came and ate up the healthy, fat cows. All of the "fatness" of the previous 10 years was eaten up. But during those years of being devoured, for that is surely what it felt like at times, there was a work being done in us.

There were the ugly things that came to the surface, pitiful moments of defeat. There were mornings spent hiding under the blanket, too beaten down by circumstances to venture out. Wishing that somehow maybe if I tarried a little longer today would be different. The desperate attempts at trying to deliver ourselves from the trial God had purposed for us. The humiliation that exposed pride. The list is not a pretty one so I will stop here.

In the throes of my dying, dying to a life we had grown accustomed to, there were things that came to life. Beautiful things. Treasures. And I am not speaking of the change in myself, though certainly the chiseling was having its effect there. No it was the opening of my understanding of who God was. His sovereignty. That He alone was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Everything is His and He has dominion over All things. After all these years of walking with Him I was being taken to another level. And despite my own preoccupation with my personal discomfort, God was breaking through and revealing His treasure.

As we ride through another season of transition I want more of His treasure.

Back Again

Hmmm, didn't realized I had neglected my blog for so long. I do go through seasons of longing to write, even feeling like I have things to write, but somehow I just can't seem to get around to writing them. But since I am doing another blog spot review next week, I thought I had best try and remember how to access my blog ;)

Last week Courtney and I entered the Ouachita County Fair photo contest. We not only won ribbons, we actually won prize money. How cool is that? To be honest, we were so cheap we didn't even go and see our work or our competition during the fair. I believe it is entirely possible that we did not have any competition. I entered an unusual Still Life. However, I have somehow misplaced it in my files. You'll just have to wait. It was unusual.

The first picture on this post is one that I took at the Confederate cemetery here in Camden. I set up a Scavenger Hunt for the homeschool group here. We learned about cemeteries and local history at the same time. There were several areas where trees had grown around the ironwork surrounding grave sites. I thought it was very interesting, but this didn't please the judges. They had a special category for Ouachita County history. Next year all the kids plan on entering livestock into the fair. That way they will all get free passes and I can afford to check out what it is the judges are looking for.

My sweet picture of Stephen won a blue ribbon. That was fun!

Now that September is almost over our school week is finally falling into a routine. It is too busy, so that must mean we are fully immersed in our new AR location. Courtney is already up to her eyeballs in debate stuff. Bethany wrapped up her show season Labor Day weekend at the AR State Horse show. That was fun, but even more exciting is the fact that we have found a new trainer for her. This week she offically started taking lesson to learn reining.

I ordered Rosetta Stone this week. So we still have one more thing to add to the "work" week. Foreign language study is probably one of the most difficult academic areas to deal with in a homeschool setting. Few parents are proficient enough to teach a language and even those that are have a difficult time doing it. I have pulled out our old Learnables program (hopefully the tapes still work) and plan to start the little boys on that next week. And the girls will get going on RS as soon as it arrives. I am hoping it is as good as everyone says. We will see.

Well, tomorrow is Debate class and Friday is co-op. Both of which I still have to make preparations for. We'll see if I can make blogging a regular thing. The truth is I would be better served by adding an hour of exercise to my day.

Parting the Waters

Today I am adding a new dimension to my blogging experience. When I was first invited to participate in Jeanne’s blog tour for her book Parting the Waters, I was really excited to be able to help in anyway. But now that the week is here, I am feeling very unworthy.

I was tempted to introduce this book as being about your average family that overcomes adversity, but the Damoffs are not your average family. Jeanne and George are those rare people that live out their faith with intensity and passion. When Jacob nearly drowned and all their hopes and dreams for their firstborn were totally rewritten, many couples would (and have) thrown in the towel and turned their backs on God and His unique plan for their lives. But Jeanne and George and Grace and Luke clung to God.

This story is true. It is both painful and beautiful. Jeanne does not candy coat the range of emotions they experienced. She does not deny that there were desperate and dark days, but always there is that turning back to the lover of her soul. Always there is that trust in His sovereignty.

The first time I read this book in manuscript form, my own family was going through a desperate trial. The circumstances were totally different and yet the spiritual truths remained the same. I found strength and encouragement, helpful insights, and courage to meet a new day when there didn’t seem to be much hope. Just recently I read the official, beautifully published book. Its power was undiminished. And as whenever I have opportunity to be around Jacob, I thought, something beautiful is happening.

This book is the story of a real family. It is the story of how God redeems brokenness. Our suffering is never for naught. Parting the Waters is a must read. But go ahead and pick up at least two copies because you will want to share its message of hope with someone you know who is hurting. I’ve already given my copy away.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579219500
http://jeannedamoff.com

Listing Randomness

I woke up during the night and since I almost never do that, I thought it must be close to time to wake up. I started praying and mulling things over in my mind, but after what seemed like a very long time, there was no alarm and no sunlight. Imagine my horror when a glance at my watch revealed it was 3:30. How long had I been awake? And I wasn't feeling the least bit sleepy, blah! For some reason instead of counting sheep, honestly I don't know why anyone would count sheep, but anyway, instead of that, my mind turned to thinking about the latest "List" going around Facebook. 25 Random Things about yourself. I had decided that I wasn't going to participate, though I had to admit I had enjoyed reading a couple by friends. So here I was with time on my hands, hmmm, 25 things, that seems like a lot. And how random? Well, here are some of the things I thought of...

I stand in awe that the creator of the universe is a mighty warrior who sings songs of love over me.

I believe Jesus died for me.

I know God answers prayers.

I love the smell of nutmeg, wood, my husband (remember random).

I love the feel of a toasty, warm child's cheek, who has just woken up.

I love Dr. Pepper, I'm an addict.

I love chocolate.

I love to dance and sing, but not generally at the same time.

I love Nikes.

I love meteorite showers.

I think Napoleon Dynamite is funny.

I can not tolerate coffee, I mean, please, I don't need to cultivate any more vices!

I am the consummate procrastinator, I spend entirely too much time thinking about all the things I'm going to do.

I have spent almost 14 years of my life nursing babies (mostly mine).

I love to garden, bake, knit, milk goats, take photographs, and play with legos (is that cheating?).

I built a greenhouse with hand tools when I was 16.

I have helped over 100 women birth their children at home.

I have been blessed with incredible friendships.

I wish I could play the piano like Jordan and be as funny.

I wish I could play the piano like Heather and have her great figure.

I wish I could enjoy leisure like Evan and read as fast.

I wish I could ride a horse and laugh like Bethany.

I wish I could be as joyful and friendly as Courtney.

I wish I could be as random and content as Owen.

I wish I could be as selfless and sweet as Stephen.

I wish I could love as unconditionally as my husband.

I want all my children to have a heart for what God is doing in their generation, for God always sings a new

song!

When our family is all squeezing into the van or pouring out, we often sing "The Yerkes Family" to the tune of

The Adams Family. Da Da Da Dunt Clap Clap.

So, as you can see, I stayed awake a very long time. Then I was awakened again at 5:30 by Stephen, but that is another story.

So I'll leave you with this final thought, you might be from the country (nicer, than saying you might be a redneck) if you know that WD-40 is not a good fire starter. ;) Don't even ask.

My garden is calling

Wow, it was another one of those terrific sunny days in winter. The temperature didn't quite make it to 70 as predicted but close enough. Once I finally got through with all the "must do" activities of the day, I wandering outside. I took a leisurely walk around the house thinking about how the yard would come alive in the next few months. Wondering what surprises were waiting just under the surface. Trying not to take notice of the evidence of the septic tank that was not as far under the surface as it should be. Thinking about what we might do in the coming years to put our own special mark on this place. Then it was time to get my hands dirty.

As I grabbed a couple of my hand tools from the shed. That's right we have a garden shed! Actually there is still an on going discussion about whether it is the garden shed or the tool shed. It is also sometimes referred to as the man cave, but most often the "Red House". Honestly it is shaping up to be a very nice tool shed and Kevin is happy for me to keep a few of my special tools out there, so I am just having a good time giving him a hard time about his man cave. Besides I had best not cause too much trouble, since I have designs on converting the backside/lean-to into a chick house :)

But as I was saying, as I grabbed a couple of tools from the shed, my eyes fell on the W-M bag full of bulbs that I had "found" this summer. You know how us gardeners are. We (the family) were out in the country looking at a house that I really liked when I noticed an area that had obviously once been landscaped. I also happen to notice that there were bulbs just right on the surface of the ground, really, just right there. So of course I had to pick up a few. Noone was living there, nor had they for awhile. Anyway, now my hands are dirty and I have a lovely old barrel full of surprises. I'll keep you posted as the Spring progresses.

Since little boys are drawn to dirt as much as gardeners, I soon had a little helper. Stephen and I began clearing grass and weeds from around a trellis. The previous owners had built an arbor by the driveway and though the arbor didn't work for me where it was, I couldn't just throw it away. So my dear husband moved it to the backyard and we are going to plant peas around it, hopefully next week!

And all this fun after doing school with everyone and then homemade pizza followed by a Veggie Tale, it just doesn't get any better than this.

I have a daughter needing help with a speech, so must close for now.

Can anyone tell me why some leaves just won't give it up? I mean what is he trying to prove? Its almost February!