It has begun!

Abigail made her first purchase yesterday at one of Mommy's favorite stores. Ashley and I know that we should train her to develop good habits, so (I know ya'll will find this hard to believe) Abigail used a coupon to buy the kite.

Look who's walking!

New Study on Interracial Marriage

I have almost completed my latest study on interracial marriage, and it has been absolutely exhilarating! (That's a fancy word for awesome!) The question I am trying to answer is "Is it wrong to marry outside your own ethnicity?" This study is for a new Life Change discipleship class that will be starting towards the end of this year. The class will involve discussing some issues that may not be discussed very often in church discipleship classes such as: Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and Halloween; UFOs and the Existence of Aliens; Dinosaurs; Age of Accountability; Do Babies go to Heaven When they Die?; and other such issues.

I personally am very excited about the class and will probably be the first to sign up for that one. I'll attempt to post a brief summary of my conclusion on interracial marriage in the not too distant future so stay tuned!

Trertuplets

No, she didn't use fertility drugs for this one, but a member of our household just birthed trertuplets last night! Our fish just gave birth to 13 little baby fishies. Guess that's a good reminder to Mommies that maybe one at a time, or even two or three at a time, aren't so bad after all. I mean, could you imagine thirteen new babies all at the same time! Wow! You go Momma fish!

Time Change

Okay, so...we were just doing our normal Sunday morning routine this morning. It was peaceful and everything was great. We have to leave for church by 8:45 to make it to the 9:00 service on time. It takes quite a while to get this crew ready for church, too (long gone are the days of up and out the door in 30 mins). So I had just finished reading my bible and turned on the laptop to shoot an email to a buddy when I noticed the clock was an hour off. I honestly thought to myself, "Great, Micah has been playing with the keys again." Then it hit me like a shot! We forgot to reset our clocks! I quickly darted up stairs and burst into the bathroom where Ashley was looking great, but not exactly ready for church and said, "Guess what? It's 8:30." She said something about how that can't be right because it wasn't taking her that long to get ready....and then I watched as it suddenly hit her like a shot, too! Her face lit up and she made a "eureka" type expression and said, "Uh oh. We aren't going to make it to the 9:00 service."

So, here I am, relaxing on the couch and it's 9:45. Church doesn't start for us for another hour, and while it's kind of nice to take our time this morning I still can't shake the feeling that I can't believe I forgot to reset the clocks.

Craigslist Adventures

I've decided to start posting some of our success stories from all of our Craigslist.com adventures. As some of you know we are avid craigslisters in that we are quite frequently finding some great deals on good stuff. And most of the stuff we find we either keep or resell after we "spice" it up a little bit. So, stay tuned for some future postings on our craigslist adventures. I'd like to include some of the crazy posts that are out there, too. Some of these ads could be featured in the Sunday comics for sure. I'll pass the good ones one to you so you can enjoy a good laugh with the rest of us.

My most recent adventure has been replacing our dining room table. The one we have now is in great shape, but that's thing, it's a little too nice. The wood is a soft wood (not sure exactly what kind), but it's a beautiful table. We wanted to replace it with a hardwood table that can withstand three meals a day from our family. So, rather than go buy a new table (why would we do that?) we decided to buy one that needed a little fixing. It wasn't much to look at at first, but we're pleased with the final result.

We were going to sand it down completely and recolor it to match the piano in the dining room. It is a deep red mahogany. But when we sanded the table down, we liked the black accents that contrasted the brown colors, so we left the black outline and went with a Special Walnut stain (thanks to Uncle Andrew's charitable donation to our craigslist habit last Christmas). We love the shape, and I especially love the detail on the legs. I finished the legs in ebony, but left just a little brown showing to give it an antique look. Well, what do you think?

Here is one of the chairs, which are also being refinished. They will take a little longer to do, but should be worth it in the long run. We'll have this table for quite a while...oh yeah, and it only cost $20.

Exactly What We've Been Waiting For

It's really sort of comical when you think about it. How we attempt to make our plans, that is. For so long we wait for what we think is around the next corner, the next chapter in our lives. We feel like we should press towards that next chapter like some sort of goal. We feel like if we arrive there, then we have achieved something and are in some ways stepping up to the next level. The only problem is, we don't stop to think long enough about how that fits into God's plan. We want his plans to fit into ours, and that is a bit inside-out. So what happens is when the door to the next chapter in life we so longed for is shut we find ourselves struggling with disappointment...doubt...purposelessness. We must realize there are things in life that God wants us to achieve, to learn, and to accomplish. We don't recognize them because we can only see life through our human eyes. We need to close our eyes and open our hearts to how God views life. Here is a great example of exactly what I'm talking about.

I've been waiting for a manager position to open up at work for a very long time now. Finally a position has opened up at work. It's a position for which I'm very qualified. One that pays well. Yes, my ship has finally arrived. I've worked hard and long for this promotion. It would mean a raise as well as a guaranteed salary with bonuses. That sounds nice. Well, at least sounded nice. It comes at a price. I would sacrifice my evenings at home. We would have to find a new small group. And worst of all, when Abigail starts school next year (2011), I would not see her for four straight days. The manager opening is for second shift. And the schedule is completely opposite of the school schedule. I literally would not see Abigail from Tuesday to Friday.

The dilemma presents itself - take the promotion I've waited a long time for and make some good money, or remain in my supervisor/hourly position. After looking at it and praying about it, the answer is very obvious. All the promotions in the world would not be enough to get me to spend four straight days away from my family. Abigail needs her Daddy. Unless I'm fighting a war somewhere, I need to be here for her as much as possible. Ashley needs me here in the evenings to help with the kids (especially on bath night). Granted, I'm often tired in the evenings, but at least I'm at home.

The bottom line - I wanted to be ambitious and successful, God wanted me to be content. I learned his goal by turning down the opportunity to achieve my goal. And for that, I will be forever grateful! I do not regret it one bit!

What does regret look like? When my ship comes in I could watch it pass with a pain in my heart longing to be on it and sailing into the world of success in the world of business.

But this is what contentment looks like - my ship has come in, yet I tell the captain to move on past my shore. I have come to love my shore and know there is work still yet to be done. I am satisfied, and it gives me great joy to remain an hourly supervisor who knows he will be home every evening and not at work, who will have to take an hour lunch and not mind because the days get long anyway, the supervisor who gets paid overtime if he works over 40 hours, the husband who gives his kids a bath in the evening, the Daddy who will be at home when the school bus drops off his kids, the Daddy who can be at the parent/teacher meeting when the kids need a little extra help, the man whose faith will be strengthened by turning down a nice pay-raise and salary to remain at a good hourly wage instead, and have absolutely no regret in all of this. That's what contentment looks like. And OH the joy that comes from finding such a rewarding treasure. We look for contentment in all the wrong places. God shows us how to find it if we just stop long enough to close our eyes and open our hearts to what he might be teaching us.

Yes, I have finally discovered exactly what I've been waiting for...contentment.

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" (Hebrews 13:5) Why would I want more money, when all I really need is more God? He is a lot more available to me than money anyway! And more valuable, too, I might add. When is the last time money showed you grace? Mine is a bit stingy and never sticks around long enough to satisfy anything. Yet my God is full of the richness of life and love and grace. In him, my soul finds its rest.

What about you?

Ratatouille

Just watched Ratatouille for the first time....love it! It will be added to our collection!

Entermissions 2010

We had our missions conference at church last weekend and it was great! Friday night kicked it off with what we called a Concert of Prayer. All around the worship center were tents representing the different continents of the world. After an awesome time of singing and prayer everyone moved around from one tent to another to pray for different things mentioned on the tables under the tents (families serving there, ministry needs, etc.).

Saturday morning we had brunch with the missionaries present as well as some via skype. It was neat to hear all that's going on in their lives and have some Q&A with them.

Saturday night was probably the highlight of the whole weekend. Imagine finding yourself in the middle of an international street market with vendors everywhere. The crowd was crazy. But the food was great! All through the evening we had a silent auction. Then we closed the evening with a live auction with auctioneers and everything. All the proceeds went to missions - 80% to Missionaries, and 20% to our two churches we started in Tampa and in DC.

What's really funny is some of the items being bid on were baskets that the small groups put together. Each basket was unique in that it was themed. One was a family trip basket, so it had all kinds of snacks for the road, travel games etc. We won a basket called a Sacred Romance basket with some really awesome chocolates, a really nice set of sheets, and a book that looks great.

We also bid on one of the high valued lots. There were about 5 or 6 high dollar items that were reserved for the live auction. Some were solely for funding missions projects like paying for Bibles for a people group in India. It was so neat to watch how people were giving generously for these projects! The other projects were service projects, one which we actually won! We won the Knock-Out-the-Honey-Do-List Basket. It's a half-day's worth of work from five guys in the church. That's going to be great!

Here are some pictures from the event for you to enjoy. They aren't in any particular order. This posting is long enough as it is. Just take my word for it...it was great!

Lessons from a Paint Can

Who knew how much I would learn from a can of interior super white latex semi-gloss paint? Let me begin with this morning when I was leaving work. I don't usually leave early, even when the opportunity comes my way. Every so often, I am asked if I would like to leave early and I most always decline so I can get more time on the clock. Well, today I was asked if I wanted to leave before lunch and I accepted. I knew Ashley had a lot on her plate today so I figured my coming home early would allow her more time to get things done. I wanted to lighten her burden, so I figured that for once it wouldn't be too bad if I left work early.

Well, as I was literally pulling out of the warehouse parking lot I call Ashley on the phone. She answers the phone in a relaxed tone of voice, but within just a couple of seconds I hear this terrifying gasp. I mean, one of those someone-is-seriously-hurt gasps. I immediately thought one of the kids was injured. Well, come to find out, no one was injured, but Micah had just dumped a whole can of paint on our bedroom carpet. Ashley was doing a great job of managing the daily stress level, but this one event threw her stress meter through the roof. We quickly ended the phone call and I couldn't help but praise the Lord for letting me get off early - right in time to help Ashley out when she needed me the most. Micah had paint all over him, all over his clothes, and all over his hands which also meant it was in his mouth because hands and mouths stay connected in our house for some strange reason. It usually takes about half an hour to get to and from work, and I got home in 20 minutes.

Lesson #1 - The Lord provides what you need with impeccable timing!

Before I let you in on the next lesson I learned from this incident, let me back up a bit. I know there must be a few questions on your mind right now, like, how did Micah get to the paint can, and how did he get it open after that? I finished a bathroom remodeling project on Saturday and by that evening I was pretty frustrated with the project. In fact, I had a very bad attitude about it and the rest of our projects around the house. I don't know why I was so angry about it all, except to say that my pride had certainly gotten the best of me. My work wasn't perfect, therefore I felt like all the projects were failures. Well, in my frustration, I left the lid sitting on the can but did not hammer it closed (you can't just close a paint can with your hands usually). Well, the kids were sleeping and I was so done with the whole thing so I just left the can sitting on the carpet with the lid barely on it. Not exactly the smartest too in the shed, but I seem to manage somehow.

Lesson #2 - There are negative consequences to our sin.

I was mad and upset, which by itself is nothing more than an emotion. Anger is not a sin. BUT, we most often sin when we are angry, and this scenario was no exception. My pride had gotten the best of me, so I refused to put the lid on the can in my indignation.

So, what did we do with the paint on the carpet? Ashley had the bulk of it up by the time I walked in the door. She used our wet/dry vac to suck up the majority of the paint. The she doused the area with water and sucked it up again. After most of it was up we used our lightweight carpet steamer to basically shampoo the carpet where the paint was spilled. To the untrained eye, the spot will probably never be noticed. But to me, it is a huge, bright white spot reminding me forever to deal with anger quickly before it begins to control me. Okay, so the spot really isn't noticable, but I certainly will never forget it. And Ashley, knowing full well why the lid wasn't on the can, and why the can was on the carpet of all places, has declared that she loves me still and wasn't mad at me. She says she was too glad for me to be there right then to be mad at me.

This is certainly a day we will never forget. Thank you, Lord for using a can of paint to teach me more about you!