Free Missions book!

I just got mine in the mail the other day, and can't wait to start reading it.

I LOVE that they're doing this!

Go here and get yours too (you don't even have to pay for shipping!)

Just for poops and giggles

My dear, dear friend who loves to laugh just sent me these quotes (which in turn made me laugh), so I thought I'd share. Some choice words used, but funny nontheless.....


-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the
complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead
of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you
have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm
gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area
thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on
Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends
with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You
take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem.
Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem?
There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out.
Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2
trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer history if you die.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear
is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I
will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to
spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10
second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how
to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person
died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower
first and THEN turn on the water.

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is
public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun
that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- Bad decisions make good stories.

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably
just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and
say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know
my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when
you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the
rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have
to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die
after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want
to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make
any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but
when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd
you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone
of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't
already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like
about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know
what time it is.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if
you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

Isaiah-isms today...

1. Got home from work today and had to discipline Isaiah. Later Isaiah comes to me....

I: I'm sorry, Mommy.

M: I forgive you, Isaiah. I don't like to spank you.

I: I don't like to spank you either.


2. Made cookies for Dee, Stacey and Karis. Isaiah had one and then begged for sweet forever to have another one. I say no....over and over and over. Isaiah cries some more, composes himself and walks up to me with his head tilted to one side and eyebrows raised as high as they would go.

I: Well, I gueeesss, when we get to Dee and Stacey's house we can have a cookie????


Nice try.


3. Driving home from Dee and Staceys....

I open the sunroof. Isaiah protests loudly and we discuss selfishness....again. I start to unravel.

M: Well, Isaiah, when you're a grown up and have your own car with your own sunroof, you can open and close it when you want to.

I: (mumbling) Well, I am growing.

M: That's right, you are, but right now you are a little boy.

I: But I am growing and I will become a grown up and then I will be in charge. And when I grow will you be a little sad?

Seriously? He really won't let that one little emotional slip-up go.


4. Came home and made pb and jelly for dinner (it was that kind of day)...

I: I got the jelly out for you, Mom.

M: Thank you.

I: You're welcome.

(walks into the living room and gets on the couch)

I'll be riiiiiight back. I need to take a little rest.

Excuse me???

5. 2 seconds later...

I: Ok, I'm back. I got a little rest.

M: (laughing) You crack me up.

(pause...watches me cut his sandwich into little triangles)

I: Ha Ha Ha Ha! Mom, you make me laugh!

Little Girl

I'm finding myself pretty inarticulate lately. Probably because there's more going on under the surface than my mouth (or fingers) can keep up with. I've been learning a lot about myself lately. More importantly, I've been learning a lot about God.

A more recent discovery is that my heart has really gotten far away from the understanding that God loves me. It sounds so trivial, so common, so "Sunday school" to me that I even hate to write it. "Of course He loves me," I would tell myself. It became a given. Posts like this were a bit redundant to me. I heard it all the time. Something I glazed over when I read it. Something I didn't ponder. Something even boring... bouncing off my heart like a ball.

Instead, I pursued what "seasoned" Christians do (of course I would never say that or talk as if God's love for me were reduced to a 2 year olds nursery class at church in my heart. I'm "seasoned."). I read and talked about what I deemed "deep" like theology issues, social justice issues, political issues, well respected authors and pastors, strategies for reaching unreached people groups, discipleship, the state of the church in America.

(Note: I am not falling off the wagon. These things are near and dear to my heart because God put them there. But He didn't put them there to be replaced by them.)

And, perhaps, the real issue was that I used those things to make me feel close to God. I used others' opinions of me (or whatever opinions I projected on them) to gauge where I stood in my ranks with the Lord. I watched what other believers did, read, talked about, and kinda decided that must be the standard for folks who are really passionate about the Lord. I'm still really struggling with this, so you're getting it pretty raw today.

I've known the Lord was uprooting some trends in my heart and mind when Josh and I left the Advance '09 conference, but God really used my interaction with Isaiah the other day to drive home what He wanted to say to me.

You can read the post below to know what I'm talking about. That pure, sweet, beautiful moment with him was more than just a Mommy loving her son. It was a Mommy who has forgotten that she's really a little girl. A little girl who had forgotten her Daddy wants to hold her. I had really, really forgotten that. He wouldn't let me forget Isaiah's little voice. It kept coming back to my mind over and over again..."Ok Mommy. But can you hold me?"

It finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I -- the one who feels so responsible for things happening around me all the time, who takes care of 2 little boys, who is a wife, who lives out on her own, who's turning 30, who teaches kids music, who talks to her friends about strollers and toddler personalities and what's for dinner -- I'm little.

(You are too, by the way)

I'm a little girl to Someone who longs to scoop me up and hold me like I'm almost 3 again. He wants me to be little....to need Him. He wants me to hold my arms up and half crawl into His lap waiting to be picked up like Isaiah does. He doesn't want me to not need Him, if that were possible...to think I've outgrown Him. It's crazy for me to think that this Daddy wants me to look up and say, "Ok Daddy. But can you hold me?" I can't remember the last time I felt that way about Him. It's amazing to feel little sometimes.

So yeah, there's been a lot of emotions floating around here lately. But it's been almost like once I got to that place...being little again, asking Him to hold me...we could finally get to work on the roots of all kinds of things. Lies that have sunk their roots deep. I hear Him speaking to those one by one. I don't feel alone in the process, though it's, like everything else, a daily struggle.

It was funny because I'm reading "Crazy Love" with my friend Corey, and I had read the chapter we met to discuss about a month prior. When we got together to discuss it the other night, I was revisiting what I had underlined and here's part of what it said:


"Thankfully, my relationship with God took a major turn when I became a father myself. After my oldest daughter was born, I began to see how wrong I was in my thinking about God. For the first time I got a taste of what I believe God feels toward us. I thought about my daughter often. I prayed for her while she slept at night. I showed her picture to anyone who would look. I wanted to give her the world.

Sometimes when I come home from work, my little girl greets me by running out to the driveway and jumping into my arms before I can even get out of the car. As you can imagine, driving home is one of my favorite moments of the day.

My own love and desire for my kids' love is so strong that it opened my eyes to how much God desires and loves us. My daughter's expression of love for me and her desire to be with me is the most amazing thing. Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your children.

Through this experience, I came to understand that my desire for my children is only a faint echo of God's great love for me and for every person He made. I am just an earthly, sinful father, and I love my kids so much it hurts. How could I not trust a heavenly, perfect Father who loves me infinitely more than I will ever love my kids?"

Still my little boy

Tonight, I was getting Isaiah ready for bed and explaining that when he wakes up in the morning he would be 3. I knew what would happen next because it's been building for at least a week now.

I started talking (through tears) about how it makes me a little sad when he gets older because he used to be my little baby and sometimes I miss that. He stared into my eyes very intently and said, "Mom, does it make you sad when I get taller? You're gonna be sad because I'm growing?"

I said yes, but that I was also very happy that he would be 3 and that he is growing. It's just that he was a baby one time and could fit in my arms and one day he wouldn't fit anymore.

He said, "Ok, Mom. But can you hold me?" And I scooped his little body up in my arms and tried not to let him hear me cry. I love that kid.




***While I was typing the beginning of this he was watching the screen and said, "Mom, can you do an "O"?" I wasn't even really listening when he piped up, "Oh thank you, Mommy for doing an "O"!" :)

Gettin' all misty and stuff....

Been thinking about this post a lot lately. What a beautiful gift to our family.

Just Love Coffee Roasters

Saw the words "coffee" and "adoption" together and joy inexpressible descended upon my soul.

It was at least something like that. Can't wait to see what happens with these guys.



"

Love kids? Love coffee? We do too. There are an estimated 143,000,000 orphans in the world and this number is expected to grow. Rob Webb, founder of Just Love Coffee Roasters, knows personally how expensive the adoption process is. The thought of having to raise tens of thousands of dollars to adopt a child is staggering to many. It can be the obstacle that stands in the way of a family’s commitment to adopt, and many times slows down the process of bringing an adoptive family’s child(ren) home. Many people don’t know where to start. Just Love Coffee Roasters wants to be that starting point for raising money to help unite families with their children."



And just to prove how official they are, you can also find them on facebook. :)

Check them out.