Soup-er Saturday

I love blustery, rainy days, so today has been a great day for me. Dave's on the mend (he had an emergency appendectomy on Wed. night), and my youngest is snuggled in my bed with a fever and the stomach flu, so we're taking it easy around here.

Today was the perfect day to make a big pot of soup. In 15 minutes, I whipped up one of our favorites. I thought you might want the recipe; it's fast, simple, and tasty. I always double the recipe and serve it with warm sourdough bread - Yum!

Just a side note, my oldest daughter just came out of her room and asked what smelled so good. I told her I had made Sausage Bean Soup (as we call it), and she said, "You are most wonderful, mother. I'm so happy!" Really. She said that; I'm not making it up! :-) See, I told you it's one of our family's favorites.


Quick and Tasty Bean Soup

In a large saucepan or dutch oven:
3/4 lb. bulk sausage
1/2 C. chopped onion 2 cloves garlic - minced
1 Tbsp. fresh basil (1 tsp. dried)
Brown and drain the above.

Add:
1 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 14.5 oz can beef broth (low sodium)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
1 15 oz can pinto, butter, or small white beans, drained

Stir. Cover. Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.

Serve and top with fresly grated parmesan cheese.

If you decide to try this recipe, be sure to let me know what you thought of it. Stay warm and dry.

Letting Go

In my last, "get-back-into-blogging" post, I stated the lines from Brad Paisley's song, "When I Get Where I'm Going," which say, "I will leave my heart wide open; I will love and have no fear." I was truthful when I said those lines are a prayerful desire for me.

Well, the following "poem," which is posted in my closet on our bulletin board, ends with an almost identical line. I never put the two together, but as I read this poem again today (which I do most days), it just stood out. Do you ever have that happen? You have an awareness of something, maybe you sense God telling you something, and then you see, experience, or hear the same message all over the place. It's almost as if God wants to make sure I get the message He's trying to speak to me and He knows I'm pretty dense so He goes overboard. Well, this morning, this poem was His voice, again reminding me that I am to love and have no fear.

Do you all seriously get how hard that is? I mean, think about it. Is there any relationship which you full-on love and have NO fear in? If we were all to be honest (which rarely ever happens), we'd all have to say, "No," to that question. Even if I love a person with everything I am (like my husband and kids), I still have a fear that I will lose them, or that they will stop loving me. And with God, I can love him with my whole heart, and yet still fear disappointing him by not fulfilling His purposes for me. I can love a friend, but I may fear saying the wrong thing in front of them or having them find out what my weaknesses are.

Anyway, notice the last line of this poem and may it strike a chord with you as it did with me. I invite you to join me on this journey of loving more and fearing less.

LETTING GO

To let go does not mean to stop caring, it means I can't do it for someone else.

To let go is not to cut myself off, it's the realization I can't control another.

To let go is not to enable, but allow learning from natural consequences.

To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To let go is not to try to change or blame another, it's to make the most of myself.

To let go is not to care for, but to care about.

To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their destinies.

To let go is not to be protective, it's to permit another to face reality.

To let go is not to deny, but to accept.

To let go is not to nag, scold or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To let go is not to criticize or regulate anybody, but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.

To let go is to fear less and love more.

------ author unknown

Good stuff, huh? You may want to print this poem out and post it somewhere so that you can re-read it often. I think this poem embodies the notion of grace and truth working together.

As long I'm on this side of heaven, I can always grow in learning to love more and fear less.

My Heart Trusts in Him

There come those times in all of our lives when we need to step away from things for whatever reason. This past two months has been one of those times for me, and I have truly felt no prompting to write anything on my blog. In fact, deciding not to blog, although difficult at first, has become increasingly easier. And yet, I do not feel free to close this blog down. The problem becomes, "After so long of not blogging, how do I step back in? Are explanations needed? Do I try to catch everyone up on what's happened the last two months? Is there anyone still checking in? Lord, am I released from posting on this blog yet? Where do I start?"

Questions, questions, questions! And I am quite sure that I don't have the answers for all of them, which is not unusual for me. I find that as I grow in the Lord, however, I am increasingly more comfortable with questions; everything does not have to be tied up in neat little bows. And that brings me to the last two months. There is no way to summarize and share what these last two months were about in uniform little boxes with bows. It's not that tidy. And you know what? That's okay.

There's a comment I get every now and again that I'd like to address. Sometimes, someone will tell me that they have been reading my blog, and then they add something like, "I would never want to have everybody knowing what I am doing," or "I just can't be that public about my life."  I can understand where these individuals are coming from; I have had those same thoughts myself, and I feel that way many, many times. I started blogging for some very specific reasons (you can read that post HERE), and then I stopped posting on my blog for some very specific reasons.

I want to state for the record that on my blog I only share what I feel is safe for me to share in such a public forum. Yes, I share from my personal life, but not if I feel it is something that will violate myself or my husband or my children. I think about everything I post, and there is PLENTY (in fact, LOTS) that I don't (and won't) post about my life. There are precious and sacred moments that would lose their meaning if they were shared with whoever decides to stop on over at this blog. There are conversations and situations with friends and people in the church that are confidential.  There are treasured memories and special times that I would not want some people reading about. I mean think about it, old high school friends, former co-workers, college acquaintances, previous boyfriends, people who have left the church, people who don't like me, my family (wink), and any ol' body in the world could stop by here anytime, so I don't post anything that I wouldn't want any of them to know. So....if it's posted here, I have made a conscious and prayerful decision that it was okay to share what is posted.  And....although it is easy to live a closed life, I feel God is calling us to a harder (and much more rewarding) path of living open and authentic lives.  I know I've shared this before, but some lines from a country song have become a prayerful desire - "I will leave my heart wide open; I will love and have no fear."  

With that being said, I am choosing to share that the past two months have been a struggle for me for various reasons. As I've pondered how to step back into posting on this blog, I feel I am able to share that I have been struggling with depression. (That's not unusual for a melancholy person like myself.)  I don't feel compelled to share more specifics about that, but I know that many, many women have struggled with exactly the same thing, and yet we will all keep doing what we do and we feel like we're the only one slogging through foggy days of disengagement, sadness, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. Much of my struggle had to do with the expectations I had placed upon myself, and I felt the Lord speak to my heart that it was okay to step back and be quiet for a little while.   

And so, here I find myself two months later, gingerly stepping out, trying to live with my heart wide open.  I am tempted to pull it all back in and take the easy way out (I'd feel much less vulnerable that way - smiley face), but as I said, God is calling me to the much harder path of living with an open heart.  My heart is again open to posting on this blog until such time as the Lord makes it clear that I am to give it up.  I will not be pressured by my own expectations of perpetual posting of perfectly polished pieces (alliteration gone wild!).  I will simply continue to be myself, and if anyone reads or not, I will obey what I feel the Lord is calling me to.  

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Psalms 28:7 (NIV)  

I am so grateful today.

AIDS Experience

World Vision Experience: AIDS

I encourage everyone who stops by my blog to visit the above site.  Watch the trailer videos, spread the word, reserve your ticket time, and PRAY!  I truly believe this experience will change the lives of those who attend, and I want as many people as possible to take advantage of this opportunity.  Although our church is the host location, this experience is open for anyone throughout our area.  If you belong to another church, and you long for your church to grow in their love for the hurting, get everyone to come with you.  If you are a student, take a chance and ask your friends to experience this with you.  If you are a teacher, pastor, or even a human being (*smiley face), ask someone else to come with you.  I can promise you this:  you won't regret it!

We can become so insulated in our little safe worlds that we sometimes forget that we are a part of ALL mankind, and insomuch as one part suffers, we all suffer.  (At this time, please remember to pray for those in the middle of the Russian/Georgia war.)  Sometimes, we need a wake up call, and I believe this experience will not only wake us up, but it will enrich our lives beyond measure as we gain a glimpse of our Father's heart.    

I am serious; please, PLEASE, make sure everyone you know is given the opportunity to come to the World Vision Experience: AIDS.  

A Little Something Different

Yesterday, my daughter, Kari, and I made one of our favorite morning treats - banana muffins!  I've had this recipe for years, and we all love it.  It's easy and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  If you are looking for a recipe to use up those brown bananas, this will help you out.  I will often just throw (well, not literally throw, more like place) my brown bananas in the freezer to be used when we decide we are hankering for some warm banana muffins and a cold glass of milk.  I usually double the recipe to make 24 muffins and share them with the neighbors or the kid's friends.  They disappear in no time in our house!  Let me know what you think if you decide to make these.

Banana Muffins

Sift together and set aside:

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, combine:

3 large bananas - mashed

1 egg - lightly beaten

3/4 C sugar

1/2 C melted butter or margarine

Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Divide batter evenly between 12 greased muffin cups.  You can use cupcake cups. 

Add Topping: Before baking, top each muffin cup with the following topping:

Combine 1/3 C brown sugar

1 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cut in 1 Tbsp butter -until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake muffins at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing.

Hannah's Coming Home Tonight!

Just a little update:

Hannah will arrive home from the Dominican Republic at about midnight tonight.  She lands in S.F. and will be driven home by some friends.  I can't wait to get the call to go pick her up!  I know she'll be too tired to tell me much since she won't get to town until at least 3:00 AM, but after a good sleep, I look forward to hearing all about it!  She turned 18 while she was there; she left the U.S. a child and is returning an adult.  I missed her on her birthday especially; she was in my thoughts and prayers all day.  It will be good to give her a hug!  Tonight, I'm thankful for a great daughter arriving safely home.  :-)

The San Francisco Airport as Hannah will see it coming in tonight.

Final Bullet Points on Being Easily Offended - Finally!

Okay, I now know that I don't post often enough to do anything in a series.  I started doing some bullet points on being easily offended, first HERE, then HERE, and finally HERE.  Now it's been so long that I'm sure no one really cares, but I feel the need to at least finish my thoughts.  If you'll remember, this topic tumbled around in my brain after a conversation with someone who has a friend who seems to be easily offended.

Let's start off with somewhat of a companion subject:  People with chips on their shoulders.  We all know what that means; a person has some sensitive issue or circumstance that is an instant sore point so it causes them to feel angry (0ffended) when that issue/circumstance comes up or someone unknowingly says the wrong thing.  They seem to just be waiting for someone (in his/her ignorance of said issue) to say or do the wrong thing so that they can zing them with their sarcastic or stinging barb or they will instead not say anything, but carry that hurt/offense with them.  Why are they so sensitive about the issue in the first place?  I think many times it because that issue hasn't been settled between them and God. 

Listen, if someone is talking with you and they have no past knowledge of an issue or circumstance that you carry around, you need to grow up and show grace.  That doesn't mean that you can't in love state that the comment or situation was difficult for you because of this or that, but it does mean that you begin to let people off the hook and to show them grace, respect and love. 

Everyone in the world is NOT responsible to know your issue(s).  Don't take everything so personally.  IT ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU!  And truthfully, most people are not out to do or say things that they think will hurt you; they honestly don't know that you are sensitive about that issue and would feel terrible if they knew they were saying/doing something hurtful to you.   

Okay, back to bullet points.  Last post, I said we have two choices: First, we can choose to hold on to our hurt (offended) feelings (our human nature response talked about in the last post), or secondly (and preferably) we can offer those feelings up to Jesus.  Today, we'll look at the second choice - letting people off the hook and surrendering our hurt to Jesus.

• I think Jesus is calling us to grow up in our knowledge of, and obedience to, Him. 
• When we choose to hold and cherish our hurt, we are choosing to not hold and cherish Him.  That may sound harsh, but it is truth.  
• Jesus had lots of things happen that could have offended him: his friends fell asleep, Peter denied him, Judas betrayed him, his family didn’t understand him, and people lied about him and most assuredly talked behind his back.  Did He hold on to those things, or did He hold on to His father?  I hope you know the answer to that; He did the will of His father which was to forgive them, and He trusted that God would have the final say.
• When someone does something that offends you, don’t think about what they’ve done to you, think about what they’ve just done to themselves. God is our avenger; he is in control. Why do we give that control to other people?  We can let them off the hook, and in the process free ourselves from the offending person/situation trusting that God will have the final word, even if we don't see it this side of heaven.
• Sometimes we’re offended because we’ve given something to someone and when they don’t give or do back to us, we're offended.  That means we were giving/serving selfishly in the first place. When we do something for someone, we need to do it as unto the Lord knowing that our reward will come from Him.  
• Instead of being offended, we need to be more concerned with whether we’ve offended God or other people. 
• When we allow ourselves to be easily offended, we’re just following our feelings and not the word of God.
• We have to just make a decision that we are not going to be easily offended. This is a central mark of spiritual maturity. 
• We don't have to be easily offended, living in strife, anger, and resentment.  We can choose to live in peace.  When stated that way, it seems like an easy choice, doesn't it?

I have lived through some very hurtful situations, as I know all of you have.  I have wasted many hours being hurt or offended because I choose to keep my eyes on myself, wrongly thinking it is all about me.  And.....I know there will be situations in the future (probably as early as tomorrow morning) when I will be faced again with the choice to be hold on to a hurt or offense or to let it roll off of my shoulders onto the shoulders of Christ.  He alone can sympathize with my hurt, carry my hurt, avenge my hurt, and replace my hurt with His peace and grace.  And once I have grown in grace, He is calling and commanding me to extend that grace to others.  

I invite you to join me in a quest to grow up into the people God desires us to be. It will be difficult at times, but the end result is so worth it. Remember, we are all on this journey together, and we need to support one another as we travel. Having an easily offended spirit hinders and cripples us in our spiritual journey and keeps us from being in close relationship with others.

If you have a friend who seems to be easily offended, you may need to (in love and after much prayer) approach your friend with your concern in all gentleness. If you truly love your friend, you desire the best for him/her, and helping them grow in this area will be helping them to grow in the Lord. But I caution you, don't do this unless you first ask God to search your heart and you are willing to look at any planks in your own eye before attempting to share your concern over the speck in your brother or sister's eye.

I encourage you to read Ephesians 4 which talks about unity and maturity in the body of Christ, telling us how we should live.  Good stuff.  Hard stuff.  Let's all work at growing up!

Split Personality

I'm pretty much a split-personality!  Yep; it's true.  I think it's because I am left-handed, but do most everything right handed.  This is the life of most left-handed people; we must figure out how to survive in a right-handed world.  I write and eat with my left hand, but I do most sports and other activities right-handed because those that taught me to throw a ball, bowl, cut with scissors, etc... were right-handed. You can see how this would cause a gal to get confused.  Anyway, you can go HERE to check out the test.

Some of the info is surprisingly accurate, but I'll leave you to figure out what particular parts of this report describe me.

Here's the report: 

Gena, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant and show a preference for visual learning, although not extreme in either characteristic. You probably tend to do most things in moderation, but not always.

Your left-hemisphere dominance implies that your learning style is organized and structured, detail oriented and logical. Your visual preference, though, has you seeking stimulation and multiple data. Such an outlook can overwhelm structure and logic and create an almost continuous state of uncertainty and agitation. You may well suffer a feeling of continually trying to "catch up" with yourself.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor. You can "size up" situations and take in information rapidly. However, you must then subject that data to being classified and organized which causes you to "lose touch" with the immediacy of the problem.

Your logical and methodical nature hamper you in this regard though in the long run it may work to your advantage since you "learn from experience" and can go through the process more rapidly on subsequent occasions.

You remain predominantly functional in your orientation and practical. Abstraction and theory are secondary to application. In keeping with this, you focus on details until they manifest themselves in a unique pattern and only then work with the "larger whole."

With regards to your career choices, you have a mentality that would be good as a scientist, coach, athlete, design consultant, or an engineering technician. You can "see where you want to go" and even be able to "tell yourself," but find that you are "fighting yourself" at the darndest times.

I'll Get to Use the Measuring Cups!

As I have watched the news and read the newspapers this week, I paid careful attention to what was happening with the Telegraph fire.  In my last post shared the loss that I felt knowing our trailers were gone, along with the sentimental items that were my grandmother's.  However, tonight I received this email from my sister who just arrived home from a family vacation:

Hi Gigi: (That's what my nieces and nephew call me)

I just checked on your blog--we got back tonight at
8:00. I don't know if you have been in contact with
Uncle Warren, but he called Dan last night and said
that our trailers were saved and that the CDF is using
our knoll as a staging area. The hills look very
different because they used the cat, but our trailers
still stand.

Maybe you know this already, but I thought I'd send
you a note about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No.....I didn't know that, and I am so giddy that I want to just jump up and hug someone, anyone.  From all accounts, it looked as if the fire went right through our property, but amazingly, the CDF must have worked hard to keep the fire away.  It will be interesting to see how the hillside looks, as I'm sure many of the trees and manzanita are gone.  It will also be barren driving the dirt roads back in there because I'm sure the hillsides are charred.  I'm not sure when we will be able to get in there ourselves, but it looks like we still have a place to go.  I'll use my grandma's measuring cups with renewed thankfulness and wonder next time.    

Flights and Fire

Hannah arrived safely in the Dominican Republic (DR from here on out) after a rough flight from Miami.  Several of the students were sick in the air from all of the turbulence, but once they hit land, they felt better.  No word on whether or not Hannah was one of those who became ill, but all's well that ends well, right?!  I probably won't hear anything again until the team meets back up to head home.

On a sad note, the Telegraph fire outside of Mariposa has taken the land that my family has owned for close to forty years.  Well, I guess that's not entirely correct; the land is still there, it's the trees, structures, and trailers that are gone.  It's a sentimental loss, and all of our family is safe, so we must keep things in perspective.  I've had many wonderful times at that property and I believe our property is one of the reasons that my extended family has stayed close all of these years.  

My grandfather and grandmother, together with her brother and his wife, bought forty acres in the middle of the Stanislaus National Forest.  Their dream was that both of their families would have a place that they could go to so that it might keep the families close to one another.  Their plan worked, and I am blessed to have regular contact with my extended family.   I come from a big family and we've shared some great times sitting around the camp fire, visiting long into the evening.  The one time of year that ALL of the family makes it up to the mountains is Thanksgiving, and it's a blast.   Usually around 11:00 AM a big ride is organized and most everyone gets on their motorcycles and quads to travel off to Black Mountain, Soap Stone Ridge, the old mine, or other interesting locales. 

You can get to my family's mountain property by going through Greeley Hill or through Mariposa which means it is smack-dab in the middle of the Telegraph fire.  The only way in to our property is on dirt roads through the Stanislaus National Forest.  Pine and oak trees cover the hills and line the roads.  Manzanita bushes fill in the mountainsides, and at certain times of the year, poison oak is my number one enemy.  On the news reports, you'll hear frequent references to the "rugged terrain."  That terrain is what is hindering the efforts to contain the fire.

I don't know what we'll find when we are able to get back in to our property.  Our mountaintop camp will be black and barren, I'm sure, but I will want to see what, if anything, survived from our trailer.  There is nothing of true monetary value that was in there, but there were many items that belonged to my grandmother that were of sentimental value to me.  There was the wooden shoe that we kept the matches in; my uncle brought it home from Germany as a gift for his mom (my grandma).  The etched mirror on the wall, although spotted with age, made me smile when I saw it.  My grandma would mount the pictures that we drew for her on that mirror.  There were still a couple of my grandma's over-shirts and jackets in the closet because every once in a while they came in handy.  There were some tin measuring cups that were nothing special, really, but they were old and dented around the bottom edge, and I felt close to my grandmother when I used them.   

None of those things would mean anything to anyone else, but they brought me comfort when I saw or used them.  Those are the things I will miss.  I know of people who have lost everything in their homes to a fire, and this doesn't even compare.  But it is a loss and a grief, nonetheless, for me.  The latest report that I saw said that they now have the fire 40 % contained.  If that is true, that's a marked improvement over last night when it was only 15% contained.

Anyway, I hope to get back to my bullet points on being easily offended one of these days.  I've already started another post on that, but kids, activities, open houses, and family have pretty much taken all of my time.  It takes a while to get a post written, especially because I'm not a natural writer and I have to really work at it.  Let's just see how long it takes me to get back to that!

A Fun Slideshow

In case you've wondered how you might be able to use Uppercase Living products to make your house a home, check THIS out!  Too many fun ideas to do all at once, but it is fun to dream.  :-)

Please Pray

We dropped my daughter off at the S.F. airport last night because she and her missions group were flying out at 8:50 PM.  They were headed to Miami, and then to the Dominican Republic.  She is in the air as I type this, somewhere over the Atlantic.  Just asking all of you to pray for her and her missions team while they are there.  It is a great chance for each of them to share God's love through serving, and to experience a heart renewal as they see His purposes for them.  Thanks for standing with us in prayer.

I Missed Church Today

Well, not really.   What I really mean is that I missed church at New Life Christian Center today. 

Dave, our two younger kids, and I went to Yosemite Church in Merced this morning.  Our two older kids wanted to be at New Life, so they went on their own.  (I must say, I am so grateful that our children LOVE being at church.  I think it's a good thing when your teenagers don't want to miss a Sunday morning or a youth event.  I can't give enough thanks to Jake and Jennah, Vince and Cheri, and the entire youth staff team.  We, as a church, are blessed more than we realize.  If you see or interact with anyone involved with our youth leadership, please be sure to let them know how valuable they are and how much they are appreciated.)

Anyway, back to my story.   We visited Yosemite Church, which is located, ironically enough, on Yosemite Road in Merced.  They are at a fairly new campus, and there were some things I loved about what I saw/experienced this morning.  

First of all, I loved sitting with my husband in the back row for a whole service.  (We didn't choose the back row, folks; it was the only place in the auditorium where the four of us could sit together!) 

It was the Sunday service after their VBS (Vacation Bible School) week, so the stage was set as a pirate ship and all the kids were there, sitting on the floor at the front of the church.  We saw a video of their week, and we heard them sing two of their special pirate songs.  I could tell that they had had a great week.

Dave and I met the pastor, Jeff Leis, and his wife YEARS ago at a conference in Southern California.  We haven't kept in touch, but Dave and I have always wanted to visit their church, so since Dave had the day off, we decided to go. 

They have a cool outdoor baptism pool sort of thing by a big, rough-hewn cross.  Very neat!  They were having baptisms out there today after the second service.  They must keep it drained when they are not using it because otherwise it would be a BIG liability issue as there is not fence around it.

Pastor Leis spoke about becoming a "Lie Detector."  Good stuff about discovering the lies that we believe and the process to overcome those lies (that often become strongholds) in our lives.   I loved his points:  

1) Deception Detection - figuring out what the lie is and why we are vulnerable to it.  

2) Deception Confession - We must agree (confess) that we have bought into a lie.  We have to face the fact that we are owning wrong thoughts.

3)  Deception Correction - We must seek the truth of God's word in relation to the lie we find ourselves believing, and we must commit to those truths.

The church has a cool outdoor amphitheater, much like CSUS, but obviously on a smaller scale. They also have an outdoor stage built at the base of the amphitheater, so it makes it easy for them to do outdoor services or concerts.  

By sitting in the back of the church today, Dave got to experience the noise that came in from the lobby.  He didn't realize how distracting it can be sitting in the back hearing the doors open and close, hearing the people laugh and talk in the lobby, and hearing the chairs being brought out and moved.  One of my pet peeves (I'm just being honest here) is when people at our church talk loudly during services in the back hallway.  Do they not realize that they might be disrupting someone from hearing what God has for them that day?  I've been known to "hush" people a time or two, and you know me, I do try to do it in the nicest way possible.  It's much easier to hush the teens than to try to hush the adults.  It just seems like a respect issue to me.  I want people to visit, don't get me wrong, but please do it where it won't interrupt others who are longing to worship.   Okay, I'll come down off my soap box now.  :-)

I love, LOVE being with other believers, and I thank God for all of our differences.  I loved how multi-ethnic the church body was.  A prayer of mine (since before we came to New Life) has been that the church we would serve at would reflect, ethnically, the body of Christ.  We miss so much richness when we are so homogeneous. 

Yosemite Church has a big boulder outside of their sanctuary (Half Dome Worship Center) that is engraved with a likeness of Half Dome and says, "Meeting people where they are and loving them to where Christ wants them to be."  

All in all, it was a great day, but I'll look forward to being back at New Life next weekend!  :-)

FYI: on July 29th at 7:00 PM, Yosemite Church is the site of a free Listener Appreciation Concert featuring Building 429.  If you are free, you might want to travel down for that.  The doors open at 6:00 PM and it is first come, first served.

Continued Bullet Points on Offenses

• It's time to get back to our bullet points on the subject of being offended and offenses.  If you missed the first two posts, you can go here first and then here.
• When we are offended, we have two choices.  We can hold on to it and cherish it, or we can surrender it up to Jesus.
• We humans have a great ability to hold on to our hurt feelings.  Again, when we've been offended, our human response is to cry, "What about me?!"  "I can't believe they did that!"  "They'll pay for that!"  Remember, those are our human nature responses; through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can choose different responses.  These will be discussed in a future post.
• When offended, our human nature wants to either have the person who offended us apologize or pay for what they did.  
• Often times, a person doesn't even realize that something they did was offensive to us, so it never enters their mind to apologize.  They probably won't realize we were offended until the next time they see us and we decide to make them pay.  Then, they are oblivious as to why we are treating them with such disdain, anger, rudeness, or coldness.
• Sometimes, when people feel someone is treating them in the above manner (coldness, with disdain, etc...)  they may even say, "Have I done something to offend you?"  Many times, we (the easily offended party) will not use this opportunity to speak the truth in a loving way so that the air can be cleared.  Instead, we often say, "No."  And then....we get mad when they can't read our minds and apologize for the situation/words/actions that caused our hurt feelings.
• We often walk around keeping an offense ever before us.....waiting for the other person to pay.  If they don't know they've offended us, they are oblivious to the torture we are putting ourselves through.  Don't you see?  They are free, and we, who are offended, are bound to the offensive situation and person.  We let the offense grow in our minds and in our hearts by continuing to feed those thoughts.  Those thoughts then grow to bitterness, anger, and hatred, and pretty soon, we feel that we have so much invested in the situation that we can't seem to get over it.
• The above are what happens when we are offended and choose to hold on to that offense. However, there is another option (surrendering it to Jesus), and we'll have some more bullet points on that later.
  
• Having our feelings hurt all the time should be an indicator to us that we are not spiritually mature.  God wants us to grow up in the areas that we are immature in.  Remember that saying, "God accepts us where we are, but He loves us too much to leave us there."  There is a better way!

A Few Days Away and Backyard Movie Night

We were able to get away for a couple of days to the Pinecrest Lake area.  I guess most of Turlock thought Pinecrest sounded like a good idea also because we saw two of our close neighbors who went there to camp and there were about six families from the church who had headed to the lake for a little vacation (although we didn't see all of them personally).  Fun times!

We headed home this afternoon to get ready for "Backyard Movie Night."   My youngest daughter and her friend planned the entire evening and all the kids on the block joined us.

*Pic Removed per K's request.

Here's my daughter welcoming our next door neighbors.  She had them sign a ticket when they arrived for the raffle that would take place just before the movie.  She had four different movie candies that the winners could choose from.

My daughter and her friend thought of everything.  Although you can' t read these signs, they point the way to the food and drinks, and more importantly, the bathroom.

Don't let the older kids tell you that they don't like movie night!  :-)

*Pic Removed per K's request.

With popcorn and lemonade in hand, we're almost ready for the movie.   These are just some of the children who run from house to house all day (and evening) long now that it is summer.

And what movie, you may ask, did we show?  Well, Alvin and the Chipmunks, of course, because kids just love to sing in their chipmunk voices.

*Pic Removed per K's request.

It was refill time for some of the girls.  I have pictures of all of these girls from the time they were small.  I love that they are growing up together through the years.

As the movie was winding down, the kids were still glued to the screen.  Within a few minutes of the movie ending, they were all in the pool for one quick dip before heading home.

Abusive Use of Power

I have a confession to make.  I sometimes (okay, maybe often) abuse my power as a mother.  Yes, I do.  

I do such abusive things as require my children to make their beds; GASP!  I assign morning and evening chores to each of my children; now you see why having four children is a blessing to me.  :-)   I ask my children to help with things like bringing in and putting away the groceries.  I make my children apologize to one another when they have wronged another family member by their attitude or actions.  I've been known to lock my children outside the back door (twice) until they can settle their squabble because I didn't think I should be in the middle of it and I had no patience for it (this not only saved me, but probably them as well!).  I've abused my power by asking one of my children to get me something (the newspaper, a drink, a pencil, etc...) after just sitting down and finding myself too tired to get back up to obtain said item myself.  Shocking, I know!   

However, in the last couple of weeks, I've really outdone myself.  Brace yourselves; the confession is coming..........I've made my children watch episodes of the first season of "The Waltons!"  

I can just hear the murmurs now, "Psssst.....did you hear what Pastor Dave's wife did?"  "Oh, yes she did!"  "Can you believe it?"

Yes, I did ask my children to watch The Waltons with me, and although they won't tell you this....they liked it.  Well, they did give me the obligatory, "Do we have to?"  but they do that about a lot of things.  Anyway, when I saw the "The Waltons" on Netflix, I thought, "Hey, that would be a good summertime program to watch as a family."  

I have fond memories of watching "The Waltons," and I realize that dates me, but I'm not hiding my age from anyone anyway.  I loved that it was set during the depression era; I empathized with not having any money.  I loved that the family worked through things together.  I loved that John Walton (not to be confused with John Boy) stood up for his family.  I loved the way the grandpa and grandma "quarreled" with one another.  I loved the lessons taught by each episode.

I began to think that those things would be great for my children to experience this summer instead of using their TV time to watch shows which I often think run high on "entertainment" and low on "life lessons."  So, I added "The Waltons" to my queue on Netflix and secretly waited for the disc to arrive.  

When the familiar, red Netflix envelope appeared in the mail, the children excitedly open it only to ask the following questions:  "Hey, who ordered this?"  "What is this?"   "Do we have to watch this?"  "Can we send it back?"  

Yes, I have delightful and passive children who always lovingly oblige to what I request of them.  NOT!

Anyway, we began with the first episode while having our "pizza picnic" on the living room floor.  Yes, the opening of the show is WAAAAYYY longer than the opening of today's TV shows.  Yes, the show does seem to move slowly at times (which is part of why I like it).  Yes, the special effects are often corny by today's standards.  And yes, (are you ready?)  my children have slowly been captured by the characters and the story lines.  DON'T TELL THEIR FRIENDS!  :-)

So, I imagine we will slowly work our way through the rest of season one only to move on to season two.  It will take a while and I don't want to overdose my children (because that would REALLY qualify as abuse), but I simply love the values and lessons that are taught through the lives of this large family that lived on a mountain during the depression.  

Yes, I've abused my power as a mother, but I do believe my children will thank me for it later (or at least they will have one more thing to make fun of me about when they are with their friends).

Continuing Thoughts

Okay, just for the record, it's just not fun being sick in the summer. I've had a headache and felt nauseated and lethargic for a couple of days; I think it might be this awful valley air, but.......enough whining already! We're headed out to a swim meet invitational today, so I thought I'd post another few bullet points on the subject of being easily offended before I leave.

• The Webster's Collegiate Dictionary says that to offend means "to cause hurt feelings or deep resentment. Offend need not imply an intentional hurting, but it may indicate merely a violation of the victim's sense of what is proper or fitting."
  
• Most of the time when we say we are offended, we mean that someone has done or said something that has hurt or annoyed us and that has caused us to feel angry.
  
• Many times people who are easily offended want to hold a grudge against the person they feel offended them, whether or not the offense was intentional. Do you see where this can get tricky? Someone may genuinely not know that he/she has done something that as offended you, and yet you may hold something in your heart against that person.
  
• I don't know about you, but if I am around someone who is easily offended and who always seems to have something going on with this or that person, it does a couple of things in me. First, it makes me feel that I should be careful around that person, therefore, inhibiting trust in that relationship. Secondly, it makes me wonder what is it in that person causes them to always be offended. Also, a relationship with a person who is easily offended begins to feel like it takes too much work because you always have to be careful of everything you do or say because that person may take it the wrong way. These are relationships in which people feel they have to walk on eggshells, so to speak, and those types of relationships aren't real because too much time is spent on being careful not to say or do the wrong thing.
  
• Being offended and being "easily" offended are two separate things. 
  
• When basing our lives on the truth of God's word, there are things that will (and should) offend us, but being "easily" offended usually results from our sense of selfishness, insecurity, shame, low self-esteem, believing the worst about another (making negative assumptions), and being negative in general. 
  
• Easily offended people are usually critical people.
  
• When we allow ourselves to be easily offended, we are really saying, "What about me? What about ME?"
  
• Years ago, when hurt by someone very close to me, I wrote this in all capital letters in my journal: "BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?!!!" After venting my anger writing that screaming phrase, in my spirit I heard this gentle rebuke and wrote it down: "Gena, when you gave yourself to me, you gave up all rights to yourself." Yes, God called me up short on that one! What my feelings had really been saying was, "IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!" God allowed that hurt so that I would begin to grow up in that area.
  

That's all I've got time for this morning. I hope it makes sense; I'm not usually up and typing this early in the morning!  I have some more thoughts on being easily offended to come.  Have a great one!  :-)

Bullet Points

I don't have much time, so I'm trying out a new format: 

Quick thoughts in bullet points.  Here goes:

• It's HOT! Have you noticed? I thought not.
  
• Blessed to have my nieces spending the night with us tonight; we laughed throughout the ridiculously dangerous "Wipeout" TV show.
• Received some good medical news today.
  
• Met a friend in Modesto for lunch today.  It was nice to catch up with her so I know how to pray.

And on to a new topic -

• Some questions for you:  Do you find that you are offended easily?  Do you get your feelings hurt often?
• I've been mulling over the concept of being offended for the last little while after speaking with someone who has a friend that seems to be offended frequently.
• Some thoughts on being offended to come in the next few posts, but I wanted us to have a chance to think through how we respond to situations/people who anger, irritate, annoy, or hurt us.
• I feel like I'll be stepping out of my comfort zone to share my thoughts on this subject, but I also feel perhaps we need to grow up in the area of having our feelings hurt, so I'm willing to take the risk.

Stay Cool!

Block Party

I received a couple of comments this morning at church about my more-than-inconsistent blog posting lately.  I even had one person volunteer to ghost-write posts for me until I can get it together to post more!  (Thanks, friend!)  There are a couple of reasons that I haven't posted, and I am sorry if anyone has been disappointed checking in here and finding nothing new.  I find it very funny that it is even possible that people would be disappointed by my lack of posting because I really have nothing to share most of the time. :-)

We hosted our annual block party last Thursday evening, and we had a great time.  The weather cooperated; the desserts were delicious (especially the peach pie!); the bounce house was busy all night; the fireworks were fun; and the visiting was treasured.  We all said, as we do every year, "We really need to trim that branch before we do the fireworks next time," and yet we never think about it until we're lighting fireworks the next year.  :-)  This was the first year that we have music to accompany the fireworks show that neighbor Chris puts on for us.  Eric and Ben had worked at putting some great theme music on a CD, so we watched the fireworks to the Indiana Jones, Rocky, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Star Wars soundtracks.  It added so much, and at the end, we all cheered!

Quite a few of our neighbors had already left town for their long holiday weekend, but we had some new folks join us this year.  We were also blessed to have our friend, Tom Lombardo (who is freshly back in the good ol' U.S. of A from the Philippines), stop by for a little visit.

Here are a couple of pictures of our time together:

On the fourth, we loaded up our portion of the day's potluck:  the homemade ice cream (Dave makes the BEST citrus ice cream and mocha Heath bar crunch ice cream!) , bean soup (a family favorite), black bean salad, and chips and dip to head out to my aunt and uncle's home outside of Empire.  They live on 20 acres and all of our families congregate there each fourth of July.  There's lots of visiting, quad riding, bike riding, "Outback" golfing, swimming, basketball, and of course, yummy food.  The day caps off with the brothers-in-law performing their comedy/fireworks show.  Great times celebrating our great country and our independence!  God Bless America!

Play Day in Monterey

Although we won't be taking a big vacation this year, we are planning a couple of day trips for our family.  Our first day away was Monday when Dave took a vacation day and we loaded up our bikes and went to Monterey.  My sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces went with us, and the ten of us had a blast!  We parked at the beach in Seaside, and proceeded to ride our bikes into Monterey.  We stopped at the wharf, ate lunch at Archie's, visited the aquarium, continued our ride down to Lover's Point for rock-jumping, and then headed back to Seaside to load up the bikes and travel to San Juan Bautista for dinner.  It was a simple, peaceful day filled with laughter and joy.  We are blessed.