This Says It All

Blessings unexpected.

This week has been a week of unexpected happenings. Blessings and blessings have been poured out on our family this week. All I know to say is GOD IS GREAT! this week we were blessed with a wonderful day of boating and a great picnic. This same family then blessed us with a day swimming in the lake at the lake front home. Such a wonderful day of fun, sun and laughter. We were blessed with a financial gift this week as well. Which is a perfectly time gift. Our van once again died. A couple of weeks ago we had planned a special getaway...sort of a family vacation. Well that week our van died. Which pretty much threw a wrench into our plans. Something I am learning is about perspective. You see earlier this year I decided my word for the year would be perspective. Let me tell ya when you start seeing situations in a different way, a different perspective your attitude changes.
So our plans were completely crushed but let me tell you how God's plans changed everything. A dear friend, Micah called me up(actually chatted me up on facebook) and asked if we would like to borrow their tents. We were so blessed by that gesture that we took her up and went camping. We have never gone camping as a family and it was Sean's first time ever as well.
We had such a great time. Despite our plans being changed I have to say these plans were much better. The frogs seranaded us every evening, we ate s'mores by the fire and played Uno so many times that it has become a family favorite. We laughed and joked and so much fun. The first morning we realized that we had but one choice and that was cook over an open fire. Ever had bacon, eggs, french toast and pancakes made over an open fire? It's FANTASTIC! Well except when you forget what you are doing while putting in more wood and you burn your hand on the bacon grease and hot iron plate. Yes I did that and no it wasn't fun. But that breakfast was a hit! The boys loved it...Sara did too after a while...she slept in.
That weekend adventure led us to last week when we were blessed with a family boating on the lake adventure. So much fun! We have some great new friends, Ken and Darlene. They
have blessed our family in small ways and huge ways. they have let us borrow their car and taken us boating, open their home to our family which we do not take lightly...we do have 4 diaperheads! This week we were financially blessed. Like I said earlier a very timely gift with the van having more mechanical issues, of which we still do not know what the outcome will be.
Somehow this weekend I injured my left knee again. That wonderful knee that the doctor says needs a complete replacement. I believe I have torn the cartilege again. It's the same symptoms, pain and locking issues I had the last time. Only this time the pain is even more troublesome. I was heading to see my doc today but that was put on hold. Kristofer was up most of the night with a tooth ache. So off to the dentist we went instead. So that leaves me heading to the doctor next week.
Then the unexpected happened!!! We were giving a car! A 1995 Buick Centry, no strings attached! Just blessed with it. It needs a muffler and a tune up but it runs great! God has once again unexpectedly blessed our family! God is so great! I decided two weeks ago when things were slamming us and things were not going according to my plan that I would praise Him anyway! I would just keep singing:


"God Your so good to me, You've always been so good to me, I'll sing through eternity, God Your so good! Oh I'm gonna sing Your praise All night long and every day, I stand and worship You my whole life through!"
I have noticed that when you change your perspective to see things the way God does...you begin to see a whole lot clearer!

IT"S HERE!

Today is the big day! My youngest babies, Eli and Sara, started Kindergarten. They were excited about it. Kris on the other hand was scared most of the night, crying and just upset. He doesn't do well with change and everything is changing so the next few weeks may pose a few bumps on the road to success this year. Hopefully nothing like last year! I would share more about my thoughts and feelings about the twins starting school but yesterday and Sunday I stepped wrong or something and my left knee that is really bad is a mess. I believe I have torn the cartilage again, I hope not but the pain is too great to just be a sprain. Plus I can not bend it barely at all. It's as if something is stopping it. So I head to the doctor on Thursday to find out. UGH! My first thoughts were, "Oh no not again!"

Receiving the Love of God (guest blog)

Read this today and it really hit a cord with me. So much so that I decided that my readers needed to hear what was said as well.


Receiving The Love of God by Cassandra Stafford

My husband tells me I'm beautiful all the time.
I rarely believe him.

He admires me at the most peculiar moments.
While I'm still in my jammies...hair unbrushed...no makeup...while I'm sipping my coffee...

He's not admiring all of the undone...
He's not noticing my flaws...

He's noticing the blush of my cheeks.
My smooth skin (thank God for nice skin!!)
He's liking my dark brown eyes.

Me?
All I notice are my flaws.
In my mind, those things are enough to drown out the good. As if they cancel each other out.

He sees my curves and wants to hug me.
He hugs me tight and tells me I "feel good".
I --9 times out of 10--will respond with "yeah, good and huge!"
And he just sighs with disgust.

Why?
Cause I am not receiving his love for me when I always have some comeback to his praises.

So what if my body is not magazine cover quality? He and I both know it's not what it used to be. But does that mean it deserves to be ridiculed?

It goes deeper than outward beauty too.

Too many of us reject who we are.
We hate our personalities. We despise so much about how God crafted us and shaped us.
The clay tells the potter He has designed us all wrong...

But, what would happen if we took a bold leap of faith and started keeping our mouths (and minds) quiet when our husbands tell us we are lovely? What if we tried to believe it for once? What if when our children tell us we are "the best moms they ever had" (my girls favorite compliment) we didn't immediately start mentally recounting our every failing?

We could give a whole lot more love...to our husbands and children...
to our neighbors and friends...

Because we cannot give something we do not have. We cannot give love that we will not receive. We cannot offer peace we do not have.

And true peace, true love starts with receiving the love of God toward ourselves.

Despite our faults, shortcomings and imperfections.
What if--for once--we truly lived and acted like Jesus really did bring peace between God and us? What if, when He whispers to our hearts that He loves us...we swallowed hard and said "Yes Lord, I receive it. And, I love you too."

Clean and Funny