Mish Mash Monday

This quilt pattern is called, "Mish Mash," and I'm sure you can see why. It is a pieced work of various colors, prints, and sizes. Much like this quilt, today I'll share a mish mash of events and thoughts.

Yes, life still swirls all around us, but we've been blessed to be involved in some great stuff lately. First of all, our small group is AWESOME! It's a comfortable, talkative group, and guess what, we aren't the leaders and we get to just be Dave and Gena. Can't tell you how great that is!

Last Thursday night, I was able to spend the night at my mom and stepdad's home. I had a great time; it was just like staying at a bed and breakfast! I was spoiled.

Eric is in his final cross country season as a senior this year. This Wednesday is the THS/Pitman cross country meet at Donnelly Park. Cross Country has to be one of the easiest sports to watch. All of the parents and spectators set up their chairs around the finish line at Donnelly under the wonderful pine trees. We hear the gun go off by all of the runners lined up at the lakeside. We cheer as all the runners come through the finish corridor for mile one. We then visit amongst ourselves for another couple of minutes until the runners come through for mile two. We cheer again and watch them take off for the final mile. As they come in from mile three, we cheer them on one final time. I'm always amazed that these kids have so much left in them to sprint the last little bit of the course. Then we parents say our congratulations, pack up our chairs, and head home. A good half hour, and then we get on with our day. Yeah, easy.

I find that the most spiritually mature people I know are the ones who simply live out their faith without trying to judge others and without being spiritual snobs. We're all just sinners in need of His grace and love; no one has a corner on how a relationship with God has to look.

Kari is playing soccer again this year and Dave is the assistant coach, so we're having lots of fun with that. She's got a big, ole bruise on her knee today as a result of a kick during Saturday's game.

October is a busy month. Let's see.....Outdoor Ed for one child, Youth camping trip for two children, RIOT Jr. High night for another child, conference for Dave, Men's retreat, a very quick road trip to Portland, OR to meet our new niece and nephew, the Harvest Festival, six Uppercase Living open houses, soccer, small group, AWANA.......oh, and laundry. :-)

Blogging is good for some purposes, and not so good for other purposes. Today, I read these verses and think they apply to blogging, too: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths (blogs), but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (read). And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Eph 4:29-5:2

Yesterday, my mom and stepdad had all of their children and grandchildren to their place for lunch. Four were missing, but the other nineteen of us were there together. Yes, that's right; when we are all there, we number 23. My mom, single-handedly, prepared a wonderful lunch for all of us. She rocks. Really.

I love this fall weather, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow! I'll be a happy camper. :-)

Right now, I'm putting off cleaning my bedroom to write this post. Not a good choice, so I'll be going. What random, mish mash thoughts run through your mind this Monday? I'd love to hear. You can comment or email me to let me know.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thes. 5:23

Mish Mash Mondays

Hello, again, Hello. (Isn't that a Barry Manilow song?)

My summer hiatus was just what I needed. To be honest, I still didn't connect with my kids as much as I would have liked, but we did have some fun time together on vacations and such. Even just days around home are good for us all now and again. Summers are always busier than I think they will/should be, however, and this summer was no different. Weddings, conferences, birthdays, vacations, sleepovers, work, appointment, movies nights..........yeah, the days just seem to slip away faster than I'd like them to.

Anywhoooo..........it's been a while since I've posted, but I only have one thought for Mish Mash Monday this week.

I wanted to share a new internet site that I've found. (In)courage.me launched a new site this summer, and I think we all can use a little more encouragement in our lives. I check in often to get a little encouragement boost. In fact, I added it to my RSS feed so that I always see new posts.

What encourages you? I think it's important to know the answer to that because then you can actively work at having those things in your life. And goodness knows, we all need encouragement, don't we?

What encourages me? Well, seeing my children love one another and do well in relationships with other people encourages me that perhaps, just perhaps, in spite of all my imperfect parenting, my kids are doing okay after all. I am also encouraged when I can fix something or organize something. (I'm weird, I know.) Notes and prayers from friends also encourage me greatly and mean so much to me. And......staying in God's Word and in prayer encourages me and give me the courage to be who He made me to be and to fulfill His purposes for me.

Just a thought this morning. Hope this finds you well.

Words of Life & Mish Mash Monday

• If you have the time, Beth Moore wrote devotional for Life Today, and it would be well worth your read.  You can check it out HERE.  
  
• It was so exciting to hear about Jimmy Webb's cross country trek to raise money and awareness for Teen Challenge.  You can check out his progress on his blog HERE.  I love that he and Cindy have a quote of the day at the top of the posts.
• Dave would love for me to use iCal (a computer calendar system that lets us sync our individual calendars), but it just means extra work for me.   I take my regular calendar with me everywhere to be able to make appointments and so forth, and then he wants me to come home, get on the computer, open the program, and put all those events on iCal.  And.....I usually have many more events on my calendar because I am coordinating my schedule along with all the kids events.  I've tried, really, I have, but it's a constant struggle for me and I really don't like having my calendar only on my computer.  I'm old fashioned, I know, but I like a hard copy that's easy to take with me.  Coordinating our schedules and keeping one another informed of our various activities, meetings, and events has been a pretty constant struggle for us throughout our marriage.  How are you all handling that?
• Loving this weather!  I guess the warm weather is on the way, though.
• Missing my Hannie.
• Praying that I can get my life more in alignment with Philippians 2:3-8.  Dave spoke on these verses on Sunday.  My "attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."  Ouch.   Wish I could say that was true of me all the time, but I'm asking God to help me grow in that area.  How about you?
• Happy Monday to you all.

Mish Mash Mondays

Thoughts on this beautiful Monday:

• My boys LOVE being out of school!  Eric slept on the trampoline last night and Peter has a friend over; oh yeah, it's Summatime!
• Dave and my older two are headed out to do some painting for a woman who needs some help; a sort of still-Servolution project.
• Dave's message yesterday was totally what the title of my blog is all about.  He even titled his message something similar, "Loud Together."  He should have just called it, "Traveling Together."  ;-)  It would have been a great plug for my blog; not that anyone would know that though..........except for you who are reading this......but then you already know I have a blog; oh my, circular thinking at its best! :-)
• Some thoughts from that message:  

1. I am broken and flawed, and I need a Savior.  Boy, how well I know this.
2. When we are grace receivers, we become grace givers.  This is proven in relationships, and when we give grace, it leads to peace.
3. "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God."  Phil 1:3 - Totally how I feel about my New Life family!
4. God gives us confident hope.  Thank you, Jesus!
5. God's given us the church (the body of believers) so that His love can overflow into our lives.  His people are the distributers of His love in our lives to keep the fire going.
6. An ember pulled out of the fire, dies.  An ember in the midst of the fire, revives.  This is why we need one another.
7. We can only learn to dispense grace if it is actually needed in a relationship.  If there is never a situation that requires grace from us, how on earth would we ever learn it?  I don't think Dave said this, but it was something I wrote down on my note-taking sheet.  You do that, you know, when you sit through multiple services.  You begin to add your own notes as you build on what you've heard already once or twice that morning.
8. God has things to teach us that we can only learn through "the church," meaning other believers.  (Wow!  I had more notes written on my note-taking sheet than I thought!  :-)  It was good stuff, though, so I thought I'd share my take-aways.)

• Servolution post event meeting is tonight.  It's where we give and get the lowdown on how everything went.  There's always tons that went right to celebrate and tons that didn't go quite-so-right to be re-evaluated.  

That's it for this installment; until next time......

Mish Mash Mondays

Time for another exciting edition of Mish Mash Mondays!  (Humor me here, okay?) Lots of thoughts today:

• I love me some baptisms!  Seriously, I cry every time we have baptisms and yesterday was no different.  Seeing the life change that God has begun in so many people encourages me to continue in my pursuit of Him.  I love hearing the stories of those who come to be baptized; they get me every time!  
• I am hearing more and more about events that took place on Servolution. Yesterday at church, several people stopped me to say, "Did you hear.....?"  and proceeded to fill me in on some great things that God did through Servolution.
• After church, we were able to spend some time with Dave's family, including his aunt and uncle from Clovis, and his cousins who are here from back east.  We had a lovely lunch and a relaxing time visiting.
• It's HOT!  It was so good to be able to jump in the pool last night to cool off.
• Today's To Do's?  Going to the bank, grocery shopping, laundry, writing a few notecards to people, and work for a job I am doing.  It's gonna be a great day!

24 Years & Mish Mash Monday on Tuesday

Well, 24 years ago today, I found myself in the middle of a beautiful meadow in Yosemite with Dave kneeling before me asking me to marry him!  I'm sure you can figure out that I said, "Yes!"  (I don't regret it, either!)

So, today Dave brought me flowers and a card.  (Aaaawwwww.......)  So sweet.  I also did something for him today in the way of thanking him for taking such a big risk in asking me to be his wife 24 years ago!  The poor man had no idea what he was getting into!   :-)  They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so I baked a berry pie and bought vanilla ice cream to go with it.   Notice I said, "baked," not "made!"  The pie was actually made by the fabulous women of Mitchell Community Church who sell them to raise money for their missionaries.  I buy the pies by the dozen when they sell them; I kid you not!  They've got some great cooks out there at Mitchell, and a friend of mine who attends there always lets me know when the pie sale is coming up so that I can place my order.  Is that cheating?  Don't answer that; I don't want to know.  Our little system is working for me, and I don't want to mess that up!

I didn't get a chance to write Mish Mash Monday's post because I was too busy hanging out at Me N' Ed's Pizza last night for the big Servolution fund raiser they were doing for us.  I can't believe how busy it was!  You New Lifers really like your pizza!  Actually, you New Lifers really love to step in and help, and I had no doubt that we would pack the place out and we did.   In light of all Me N' Ed's is doing to help with Servolution, please make sure to stop by and support them and let them know how much we appreciate their help and generosity.  

We weren't at church on Sunday because we headed over to The Red House.  We were able to relax for a couple of days, but on Sunday, Dave would keep us updated on what was happening at New Life.  At 8:45, he told us, "They're in the middle of worship right now."  At 10:00 AM, he said, "Second service is just starting."  At 12:45, he reminded us that, "They should be wrapping up right about now."  Even when we're away to catch our breath and relax a little bit, his heart is right there with you all.  We always miss being at church, and it will be good to get back next week.

Mish Mash Mondays

Let's see:

• All four Easter services I attended were great!  Love, love, LOVE the song, "Oh, Happy Day," and by attending the four services in the sanctuary, I got to sing it eight times - at the beginning and end of each service!
• Do you know how absolutely amazing our Children's Ministries Director (Miss Kourtney) and our Nursery Coordinator (Miss Janelle) are?  You cannot believe the number of kids they provided loving care for, not to mention the great Bible lesson and sweet take-away crafts. Kourtney and Janelle, you guys (gals!) are the BEST!
• I read an article for pastors today asking if we had "Easter hangover," meaning the crash that comes after such a big Sunday.  I think any pastor would have to say a big, "YES!" to that one.
• Yesterday, at my sister's house, we had to hide 250 eggs!  After a while, there were absolutely no more hiding places, so we just tossed the eggs around on the lawn and placed them on the sidewalks.  Quite a challenge for the kids!  :-)  Each of the ten kids were able to pick up 25 eggs filled with all assortment of candy and coins.  And then, the bartering began!  "I'll trade you one Sour Patch Kids for a Skittles."   "I'll give you a KitKat for a gummy LifeSavor."  I could definitely tell the kids are getting older; this is the first year I witnessed so much trading and bargaining over the candy.
• I was able to have coffee with one group of friends and then brunch with another friend today.  I am blessed.
• Dave and I went to Costco together to purchase the supplies for our Staff Appreciation BBQ tomorrow.  Each year, on the Tuesday after Easter, we plan something to let the staff and their families know how much we appreciate the extra hours and work that they put in for Easter services.   We'll have a great time together!
• Met an old college friend this evening for a walk at the university campus.  We were able to catch up on quite a bit; I don't even want to tell you how many years ago it was that I was in college!  Ouch.

Well, that's it for this Monday evening.  I hope your Easter weekend was as wonderful as mine was. 

Mish Mash Mondays

The weeks just fly by, don't they? 

I love Monday mornings because I always get together with some friends for coffee after we drop our kids off at school and talk about all sorts of things.  It's a great way to start the week, and it's great to have those few minutes to connect, because, Lord knows, our week will only get crazier from there!  Our youngest children were all off-track last month so we didn't meet, but I was blessed enough to meet with four other gals at my house.  Good times.

Tonight was our staff wives' get-together; always a good time!  We met at Mundo's and enjoyed a lovely dinner out on the patio; the weather was gorgeous! We then came back to my house to continue our visit and shared some great laughs.  I love those women!

Yesterday, Dave spoke about two processions of people ("Walking Towards Life" from Luke, chapter 7) - one group was a funeral procession with a dead body, grief, and hopelessness, and another group heading towards them with eager anticipation of what would happen next because Jesus was leading the way.  Jesus brought the boy back to life!  Dave then said something I had never considered before; Jesus never conducted a funeral (that we have record of in scripture); he just eliminated the need for one.  Good insight for me to consider.  Point being, Jesus is calling us to come to life!    He is walking towards us, ready to bring us to life if we will get close to him, listen to him, and believe in him.  You can listen to Dave's message HERE.

The band played the "Dirty" Servolution theme song; great job! Servolution is just 32 days away!  Have you signed up yet?   Also, if you know of a project to recommend, you can fill out a "Job Request Form" to let us know.  Remember, we want to do projects that actually meet a real need for someone in our community.  Get your neighbors, friends, and family involved.  This event is being organized by New Life, but everyone, everywhere is encouraged to sign up whether they attend here or not.  Many people are just looking for an opportunity to make a difference, and we are providing an easy avenue for them to step out to serve.  There are so many great needs in Turlock and the surrounding communities that all are needed and welcome to participate.

Okay, I think that's it for this Mish Mash Monday.  It's just a little sampling of some of the things rumbling about in this head of mine!  :-)  Have a great week! 

Mish Mash Mondays

Yesterday, I was able to be at all three church services, and it was a great day. I always come home from church with notes written all over my bulletin. Now, you might think all the notes are inspiration I receive from the messages that Dave shares (and many of them are), but so many of the notes are about people that I met, people that I want to write a note to, people and things that I want to pray for, people I see serving so willingly and cheerfully, or questions that people have asked me that I need to find answers to. In fact, I usually come home with such extensive lists that there is no way I could realistically contact and take care of all the things I write down. So, I thought I might start the week with a mish mash of notes and ideas from my Sunday bulletin notes, hence the name, Mish Mash Mondays.

• At all three services yesterday, my friend, Robin, shared about her new non-profit ministry called The Power of Seven. If you missed it, please click on the link to learn more. Their mission is to assist those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless with essential needs: housing (rental) costs, transportation expenses, and daily necessities (food, clothing, and the like) so that these individuals may get on their feet as they move toward independence. What a great idea and organization! Please consider signing up to be a monthly donor. Come on; you have $7.00 dollars a month to help out, don't you?

• I LOVE the new set design and thank God for Pastor Jon's artistic talents that he so willingly shares with us all. Aren't we blessed?

• I just love Frank and Chris who are leading the FPU (Financial Peace University) class from 3:00 - 5:00 in the afternoon. They are absolutely so excited to see what is happening in people's finances as they learn to operate in accordance to God's principles.
  

• I appreciated Dave's strong words to students and parents. Yes, we all need to "wake up!" God is already at work and longing to work in even greater ways through us when we are willing to rouse ourselves from our slumber. You can go HERE to listen to the message.
  

• No, the cut on Dave's head is NOT from me! :-) That happened in a much more mundane manner than being hit by a hockey puck; he had been outside, bending over to pick up bush trimmings, and he came up under the end of a railing and scratched out a big hunk of skin from his head. "That's the reason you should wear a hat," I told him. Am I the sympathetic wife or what? :-)

Okay, that's it for the first ever Mish Mash Mondays, but I'll probably be sharing more on consequent Mondays, so come on back to see my take on Sundays.