A Year Ago

Our house

A year ago, I was taking a cold shower wondering if we would have to sell the house. I was wondering not because the hot water heater was broken but because my husband was unemployed. It just so happened that the water heater broke two days before he was notified of his lay-off.

A year ago, I was also wondering if we would go into full-time vocational ministry. We had talked on & off through the years about it, especially if something cataclysmic happened. This seemed cataclysmic to me.

A year ago, I was wondering if we would move to Minnesota where all of my family lives.

A year ago, I was wondering how long our savings would last. Would it be enough?

Now, I know the answers to those questions: no, we didn't go into full-time ministry, move to Minnesota, see a zero balance in our bank account, or even try to sell the house.

But last summer, no one could tell me what would happen to us. They could only tell me their stories. Alike but different. No one knew the answers to those questions except One. And He wasn't talking.

My head wanted answers. He knew what my heart needed: the day-by-day practice of trusting Him and of seeing Him work in the big and the little things.

the hydrangeas in our front yard

Eight boxes of food were given to us the same day we had three extra children at our house. They stayed for five days. God gave to us so that we could give to others. My husband and oldest son "just happened" to wait a long time and then be given free doughnuts the first Saturday after the lay-off.

God didn't work in mysterious ways. He worked through a friend showing up at my door with groceries for a nice dinner. She came on a day that I was particularly discouraged. Another friend gave us a gift certificate for a restaurant and an offer for free babysitting. God gave to us abundantly.

Others gave us money. At different times. In different amounts. Because "we love you." All those gifts of money were the reason we didn't see the zero balance in our bank account. We were humbly loved. How sweet it is.

We canceled two trips up north to see family. Through the contrast of ease of travel to then not being able to travel, I saw how sure it was that God swept me up to Minneapolis at just the right time to be there -- at my brother-in-law's side when he took his last breath. He battled cancer for three and a half years. I live nine hundred miles away. Yet, God took me there at that moment. I was able to be with my sister for a week and half just after he died. How thankful I am that I was able to do something and be there when I live 900 miles away. And just as sure as he swept me there and back to Tennessee, I was unable to travel at all for 13 months.

Two canceled trips. He showed me that He is in control when I'm not paying attention (such as the ease to get to Minnesota just six weeks before) and when I am disappointed about rearranged plans. We canceled the enrollment of my oldest two in a writing class. Instead, we hosted a sign language class at our house, which became a treasured memory from last school year. His plan is better than mine.

Peace came through trusting Him. It did not come through answers or even a job. Yes, I was happy and relieved when my husband was offered a job six months later. But relief is not the same as peace.

The tree house that we built last summer and fall.

Today, I am thankful for my husband's job. I am thankful we were able to get back to Minnesota to visit family after a 13 month hiatus. I am thankful for a tree house that we built because of a canceled trip. I am thankful for more ways that God provided than I can list here. I am even thankful for the disappointments and the loss for I have gained something greater than any loss I felt.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord..." Philippians 3:8

I am thankful for the lessons learned while we were sailing on the Sea of Saturdays.

May I continue to walk in peace and not relief.

May I continue to know the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus,

Humbly yours,

Kathleen

Welcome Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood from Jen @ Finding Heaven. Link on over there to find more inspiration of God at work.

Do you have a story to tell about looking back and seeing the hand of God work in your life? I would love to hear how God works through you, too.

For those who were wondering...

...and for those who weren't... the picture in the post prior to this was located in Wisconsin. Congratulations go to the grandma in Vancouver who guessed correctly due to the mouse and cheese! For some reason the upper Midwest loves to make tall statues of various items. And for some reason we love to taking pictures by them.

One day if scan my old photos into the computer, I would have quite a number of photos in front of different statues. Whew! Aren't you glad I haven't put all my photos on the computer?!?

O, Happy Day!

Then & Now

A quick hello to blog land. We've continued to gallivant around. But in the process I have set my screen saver to be the pictures that I have loaded onto the computer. So we all find ourselves sitting down and looking at our most recent pictures. (I started loading in the middle of 2009.)

Here is a little observation about time flying.

Last summer

This summer

The picture is shot at the same location somewhere on our travels. Does anyone know where we are? Do you have a guess at the state? Do you have a tradition of taking photos at the same place or way each year?

Have a happy day!

Home Again

Well, well, well. Last time I blogged, I hadn't blogged in three weeks. Now it has been longer than that. We have just arrived home from a 3,000 mile road trip! Whew!

My husband and I attended an Appleseed weekend while the kids visited cousins for a week in Chicago. Then, we all traveled onto Minneapolis where we celebrated a 6 year old birthday, reminisced with high school friends, hugged family, watched my nephew play baseball, rode a Ferris wheel, had a water fight, ate lots of food, enjoyed blue skies with puffy white clouds.

Then we traveled to Northern Minnesota where we camped on an island for three days, drank purple cows, took our picture with Paul Bunyan. For our next stop we drove a little further west to participate in a wedding: a matron of honor, two junior flowermaids, a singer/guitar player, a ring bearer and a reader. We all had a job. We tubed down a river, rehearsed, met some new friends and celebrated with dear friends and danced the night away.

We have managed to arrive home with less tears than expected and lots of sweat! It sure is hot out there (especially when the fan on the van stops blowing!) and we sure are glad to be home!

There were many more memories....hope to post some pictures soon and some new thoughts that are brewing.

Hope y'all are keeping cool in this heat!

With joy, Kathleen

p.s. Welcome Coffee Company sisters....if you're not one...check 'em out HERE.

Here and There *

*This post has been edited to add a few photos and captions.

Three weeks it has been since I blogged. I have not abandoned nor forsaken the blog. In my three week blogging absence, we have been living life. I will highlight a few of our adventures.

We picked five gallons of strawberries. They were the best tasting strawberries I have ever eaten in my life. We ate a lot of fresh strawberries. I have some puree in the freezer to make into homemade strawberry jelly, hopefully soon.

Our feasting table

We had a Greek feast to celebrate the end of our school year. We hosted some Olympics: we ran around the house 10 times, did the long jump, threw a discus (a frisbee) and a javelin (a Nerf sword), raced chariots (bikes) and thumb wrestled. The oldest prepared the games for the night. The girls prepped the table and helped get dinner on the table. The youngest helped mama secure the goods for the feast at the store. And hubby made leaf wreaths for each of us that we put on our heads after completing the Olympics.

On feast nights, dinner always follows Ken Wojack's** First Rule of Cooking: Make 'Em Wait (because everything tastes better when you're hungry.) We enjoyed tasting Greek feta cheese that was actually from Greece. I was surprised how much all the kids loved it. We also had kalamata olives (which none of the children liked), pita bread, hummus, cucumbers, rotisserie chicken, and baklava. We had each child stand up as we praised what they did this year. I imagined having certificates to give them but instead we simply verbally praised them. The five year old seemed to glow especially bright as he stood up. He is so excited to be in Kindergarten next fall and especially Sparks in AWANA.

"Yes! School is out!"

Though we had the end of the year banquet, we are still 'finishing' school this week. We are logging some math hours and putting the finishing touches on our human body unit, history notebook, field trip notebook, and assembling books they wrote and illustrated this year.

I have started leading a women's Bible study on Colossians with my Teacher's Lounge (TL for short) friends. This is the third time that I have essentially have written the Bible study (two for this group and one time for another group). Love, love, love this writing and leading of Bible studies. Two of some of my top favorite things in life: leading Bible studies and being with these homeschooling friends woven together by God. Though I have many friends that homeschool and many dear friends in life, I am thankful for nearby friends that homeschool, that pursue the Lord, and laugh a lot, too.

I spent one day scrapbooking and completed 11 pages. Sweet number three is now 9 months old in her baby scrapbook (and only 9 years old in life!) Feels good to have made some progress. When I actually return to scrapbooking, it is so good for my soul to reflect on all the good in my life. My hand-written journal processes life. It includes good things, too, but, there is something about seeing photos of laughing children, of me holding my babies, of the older three with huge smiles and all crammed onto hubby's lap that seeps deep into my soul causing it to resonate with gratefulness. I need to put scrapbooking back into my regular routine somehow!

We re-started the garden. Thanks to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, we can actually see green peppers, beans, and flowers where vegetables will be.

We've been hiking and made friends with Flit, the Butterfly. We went to a Memorial Day service. We made fleischkeuckle and visited with a brother-in-law and sister-in-law that were in-town. We've been to a $1 summer movie. And we've been staying home! It seems I could have had more time to blog lately with a freer schedule but I've been decompressing from our usual fast-paced spring that included the adjustment of two new jobs --one for hubby and one for me. (Mine was part-time and is done for the summer. Thankfully hubby's is on-going!). Also, we're still transitioning from the spring school schedule to the summer schedule which hasn't really seemed to settle in, yet. Before we know it, it will be time to start up school again.

So here's to hanging onto these fleeting moments of life while I can. Hope everyone has a joyful day.
Joyfully,
--Kathleen

Joining the girls for Company Coffee at Home Sanctuary. Click HERE to read more entries.

** My husband learned the first rule of cooking years ago when we were vacationing with my parents for a long weekend in Arizona. He taught my husband how to make omelets and this was the first rule of cooking that he shared with my hubby. I don't know if my dad remembers saying it but we have quoted it often since that time.

A persistent pink petunia

In the potted plants on my patio there lives a persistent pink petunia. It insists on growing and blooming without any assistance from me, a newbie gardener.

I purchased a bunch of flowers late this spring. I potted them. I arranged them all nice and neat and pretty. I placed the pots along the fence where I park the van. Each time I would enter and leave the drive way, I enjoyed the pretty flowers.

Soon I noticed one pot with a pink petunia in it. I thought, "How pretty" and "My how it has grown." Then, I realized that I didn't purchase any pink petunias this year! This one must have grown from last summer's crop.

There were two pots which I didn't use but didn't take the time to empty out last year's dirt. Besides, one of them had some kind of white flowers growing in it. So I set them aside to deal with later-- which turned out to be not at all.

But the code of the seed planted in the dirt worked in spite of me. Now when all the other petunias have died away and there are only vincas left in the pots, there is a pretty pink petunia with several flowers on its stem.

I benefit not only from the beauty of the flower but also from the message of persistence. It follows the code placed inside of it by the Lord. He who began a good work inside the seed of the flower has also begun a good work inside of me that He will complete -- even in spite of me -- if He needs to.

I see it every time I get in and out of my car -- the pretty pink persistent petunia. Thank you Lord.

Inspired from the pages of my journal dated September 4, 2008
and also from Philippians 1:6

Also linking up with Jen at Finding Heaven for the Soli Deo Gloria Sisterhood. Check it out for more inpsiration.

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Have you ever been inspired by a lesson in nature?

On Fathers Reading to Childern

I read recently that seventy percent of all incarcerated inmates enter prison illiterate.

A long time ago, I heard a scenario described on the radio. A card company donated Mother's Day cards to a prison. The inmates could chose a card and mail it off to their mom. This idea went over much better than anticipated. If I remember correctly, the card company made at least two more deliveries of cards because there was so much interest.

They were a bit stunned at the interest but they were also spurred on. Since the Mother's Day cards were such a hit, the company decided to provide cards for Father's Day as well.

But...not a single inmate sent a card to their father for free.

Not just a lot less interest. No one mailed a card on Father's Day. This speaks volumes.

How much of the world could be changed by a father taking the time to read to his children?

A simple, almost daily act could change a child's life. Reading to children inspires a desire to read, exposes to new ideas, provides a time for touch, connection, and a way to say that the child is important.

The father of my children (just for the record -- he is also my husband) reads to them most every day. Even the twelve-year-old boy who dreams of adventures and moving out on his own, and who can read 20 books in a few days, loves to be read to by his father (and his mother, too).

I knew it was a gift how much their father loves them.

But perhaps it is an even greater gift than I realized that the highlight of our day is daddy reading aloud to the children.

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What about you? Do you think it could change the world to have fathers read most every day to their children?