1. I'm a bit behind in my blogging record due to having 4 kidlets birthdays in an incredibly short span (whose plan was that anyway)? I was thinking of starting a "Throwback Thursday" theme around here to justify a shameless photo dump from the celebrations. However this week took a turn at crazy and I didn't have time to implement that plan yet (insert diabolical laughter). That can start next week!
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| Downstairs bathroom remodel |
3. Normally, stuff like this happening can throw me into a stressful tailspin. Especially when it's not in the plan. This week was one of those weeks where I looked at the calendar going into it and realized we had way too much stuff on it but nothing could be rescheduled so I was starting out in a sort of "survival mode". Then my brother-in-law came over to help us with what was supposed to be an easy project that turned into a beast! So I'm glad God had my back on this one...
4. Firstborn sat for his IOWA testing on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We did this through our homeschool group and I was one of the proctors. This meant that I had to find a sitter for the other kiddos for those three mornings. My mom graciously drove up Monday and Wednesday and Doug took Tuesday. I was testing Firstborn's group, which was 4th through 8th grade. I took some reading material with me on the days they had 30 minute blocks of time. The first two days I brought along Something Other than God, I've already read it but I wanted to re-read some of it because I'm loaning my copy out to a friend next week.
5. On Wednesday I took this book...
BE Joyful is the one my bible study group is currently doing. I realized Wednesday morning that bible study was scheduled for Thursday and I hadn't done my homework for chapter three. This was not the book I had wanted to study. There had been a few books the group was looking at and another woman in the group had really wanted to do this one. I was sort of leaning towards a different book, but we went with this one. I have since come to discover the the word JOY is the word God has chosen for my theme word this year. I don't always feel like I have a "theme" that God is specifically targeting but this year He is making it very clear.
Previously, I had read the first two chapters and nothing had jumped out at me. No underlining, I didn't even answer the questions because it seemed like stuff I already knew. I had been praying while reading it, asking God to show me what I needed to hear, but I got nothing. On Wednesday I read chapter three and BAM...things started to really pop. I found myself underlining large chunks of text and writing in the margins. All the questions were relevant to what was going on in my life. I then went back and re-read chapters one and two and the same thing happened. It was like God had opened my understanding and I was absorbing everything like a dry sponge in need of water.
This led me to the conclusion that sometimes it's about God's timing. I always thought that if I hadn't gotten anything from a sermon or bible reading it was because of some fault of mine. Maybe my heart wasn't in the right place or I wasn't being open to hearing God at the moment. Treating God like my personal servant or something, if I ask and am honestly seeking answers and God's truth or wisdom then Heshould would be overjoyed at my interest and give me what I want right this second, like today, in the moment. Now I realize that sometimes it's about God's timing. He needed me to hear what was said in that book on that day. He even arranged for my bible study to meet on that Thursday (not our normal day) to give me the incentive to read the book on Wednesday. Chapter three focused on your circumstances, and how God can use what you think are negative circumstances in your life. They may be negative in your eyes but it might be precisely what God needs to happen to further His goals. For example, Saint Paul spent a lot of time in chains. As a missionary he probably was really wanting to be out preaching and starting new churches, but God had different plans. Instead, he spent time writing letters to all of the churches, which would later become the majority of our New Testament. If Paul had been out in the field he may not have had the time to write those letters. He was in chains for our benefit, and for the benefit of Christ's worldwide Church. That Wednesday afternoon was the start of our plumbing problems (see take #2). God needed me to be open to what He needed me to do and to be able to lay aside the stuff "I" had planned for His greater purposes. I found that when I did that there was an incredible amount of peace there, and also His grace for the ability to do it. Lesson learned.
6. Tuesday night was the awards banquet for Soccer Boy's team. I've got to say, I do not look forward to these things. Since Doug was coaching he sat with the team, which left me with the rest of the kids in the back pew of the church. It's a loooooong time for them to sit and be good, and the announcing of the teams takes at least 1/2 hour. By the time the program actually started they were pretty much done. They have games and contest on the stage, but the soccer teams are who participate, not the audience. We sat where we did on purpose because I knew that was the door closest to the bathrooms. The bathrooms that have the huge waiting room and an automatic door with a switch on the wall that the two year old loves. Of course the kids needed to use the restroom about three times. Did I mention this church also has an indoor play area that rivals the ones at McDonalds? But obviously they don't want families to use it during the awards banquet. Some parents of little ones caved, and I totally do not blame them one bit. I just decided it would be better to leave early and try to salvage the rest of the evening and get the young ones to bed.
7. The pool opens this weekend!!! Glory, Hallelujah and all of that. Soccer Boy starts swim team this coming week, which is a first for our family so we'll see how it goes. Today is opening day and the kids are chomping at the bit to be there, even though we know the water will be a bit chilly. We'll probably go for an hour and hang out and let the little ones who want to freeze take a dip. This week also marked our last official school week for our homeschool (also Glory Hallelujah)!! We'll still do math and reading this summer, but now I can officially refer to my kids as "preschool, 1st, 4th, 7th and 9th grades"...oh my we actually have a high school student now! Always an adventure...
That's it for us, go check out more 7 Quick Takes with Jen at Conversion Diary!!!
Previously, I had read the first two chapters and nothing had jumped out at me. No underlining, I didn't even answer the questions because it seemed like stuff I already knew. I had been praying while reading it, asking God to show me what I needed to hear, but I got nothing. On Wednesday I read chapter three and BAM...things started to really pop. I found myself underlining large chunks of text and writing in the margins. All the questions were relevant to what was going on in my life. I then went back and re-read chapters one and two and the same thing happened. It was like God had opened my understanding and I was absorbing everything like a dry sponge in need of water.
This led me to the conclusion that sometimes it's about God's timing. I always thought that if I hadn't gotten anything from a sermon or bible reading it was because of some fault of mine. Maybe my heart wasn't in the right place or I wasn't being open to hearing God at the moment. Treating God like my personal servant or something, if I ask and am honestly seeking answers and God's truth or wisdom then He
6. Tuesday night was the awards banquet for Soccer Boy's team. I've got to say, I do not look forward to these things. Since Doug was coaching he sat with the team, which left me with the rest of the kids in the back pew of the church. It's a loooooong time for them to sit and be good, and the announcing of the teams takes at least 1/2 hour. By the time the program actually started they were pretty much done. They have games and contest on the stage, but the soccer teams are who participate, not the audience. We sat where we did on purpose because I knew that was the door closest to the bathrooms. The bathrooms that have the huge waiting room and an automatic door with a switch on the wall that the two year old loves. Of course the kids needed to use the restroom about three times. Did I mention this church also has an indoor play area that rivals the ones at McDonalds? But obviously they don't want families to use it during the awards banquet. Some parents of little ones caved, and I totally do not blame them one bit. I just decided it would be better to leave early and try to salvage the rest of the evening and get the young ones to bed.
7. The pool opens this weekend!!! Glory, Hallelujah and all of that. Soccer Boy starts swim team this coming week, which is a first for our family so we'll see how it goes. Today is opening day and the kids are chomping at the bit to be there, even though we know the water will be a bit chilly. We'll probably go for an hour and hang out and let the little ones who want to freeze take a dip. This week also marked our last official school week for our homeschool (also Glory Hallelujah)!! We'll still do math and reading this summer, but now I can officially refer to my kids as "preschool, 1st, 4th, 7th and 9th grades"...oh my we actually have a high school student now! Always an adventure...
That's it for us, go check out more 7 Quick Takes with Jen at Conversion Diary!!!
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