May IHSW

So if you are not one of my stitching friends, you are probably wondering what in the world "IHSW" is...I will not keep you in suspense.  "International Hermit and Stitch Weekend" is found over at Joyce's blog -- it's fun because I know that as I stitch that weekend, hundreds of other stitchers are working on their projects, too!  Yes, I'm kind of a nerd.  But then we've been over that before.

I actually didn't accomplish much, since I didn't have any time to "hermit" (and what mommy of young ones has time or opportunity to hermit? none that I know!).  But I DID finish my "May Cottage" (Country Cottage Needleworks).

Here's what I had on Saturday afternoon, having not stitched since Thursday night:

Only the top border and a tiny bit of the bottom border to go!

 And here's what I finished as of last night:

Ta-da!  Now to find fabric to match and get this baby "finished"!

I've already pulled the threads for the "June" Cottage.  Yes I'm nuts.  But, I just finished up BSF for the summer, so I have more time to stitch!  Though, as one of my teaching leaders said, "You are on vacation from BSF, not on vacation from God!"  I do have a summer Bible study lined up, so I will still be "in the Word!".  (But I will NOT be doing homiletics, as much I do actually enjoy that.)  ;)

I notice that I'm very "link-y" today.  Lots of links.  Click, click away.  It's much easier than explaining stuff.  Cause I'm lazy.  I'd rather be stitching.

"Five Things" Friday

What a busy week we've had!  The days have just flown by and now it's already Friday.  And that means it's time for my weekly post...

"Five Things Friday"!

Do you know how/why I started this weekly post?  Of course not.  Let me tell you.  While "blog-hopping" one day (yes, I am a nerd...but we've already established this)  I found a wonderful blog, Life Rearranged.  Please hop on over there and discover the blessings for yourself.  Each Friday, there is a really fun link-up called "InstaFriday" -- the idea is to share moments from your week using photos taken with your cell phone.  The photos do not have to be fancy or beautiful -- they are just whatever you take with your phone in all their unedited glory. 

I LOVE this!! 

But...guess what??

My cell phone

does

NOT

take

pictures!!!

Yes, I live in the dark ages of five years ago.  Or six.  (when did those fun phones come out?)

I have a $15 phone with numbers that light up when I flip it open.  I pay $20 a month for 200 minutes.  No contract. 

Sweeeeeet.

Guess what else???

I DON'T EVEN TEXT.

But I digress.  This is stuff for another post.  (Guess what I'll be rambling about sometime next week?)

Back to InstaFriday.  I really wanted to participate in the InstaFriday link-up.  But alas, I have photos from a regular ol' camera.  So rather than try to be different and spoil the Insta Friday link-up party, I simply came up with the idea of "Five Things Friday" for myself.  Looking back on the week each Friday, and seeing all the little moments of blessings (or difficulties that turned into blessings), really helps to keep my perspective in order.  Reminds me that though overall things can get stressful, God has immensely blessed me and my family.  He is ever so faithful. 

I still enjoy reading everyone else's InstaFriday posts.

Here are my Five Things this week:


1.  This Bible study.  It's amazing.  We've just started in the book of Acts and it's powerful.  Like, Holy Spirit powerful. 

2.  On Tuesday afternoon, the boys and I enjoyed a wonderfully nutritious snack of milk and Oreo cookies.  Much sugary goodness was consumed, and much fun was had.

3.  I did some stitching this week.  Or rather, punching.  Punchneedle, that is.  I am showing partial pics because these are gifts for dear friends who might be blog-readers.  You don't know who you are.  Watch out, you're getting punched soon!  Punched needlework, that is. 

Something about this black fabric makes it more difficult to do punchneedle. Not my favorite project, but it's for one of my favorite people. So it's totally worth it!

This ivory fabric is much easier to work with when doing punchneedle.  A very enjoyable and quick project!

4. Daddy dog pile. Need I say more?

They can't wait for Daddy to get home from work so they can play like this!  Mama doesn't do dog piles.

5. The boys love to "play with Mama's make-up"...much to Daddy's dismay. However, though Ben calls it "playing", what he is really doing is "re-organizing."  There is NO applying of the make-up.  They love to take all my eye-liners, mix them up with my lip-liners, open and close the mirror, pile all the liners in the lid of my Caboodles case, see what happens when they shut the lid...etc etc. This is actually totally okay with me. I can now apply my make-up in relative peace. (I take out what I need before letting them have at it.) 

Ben likes to "borrow" one of Sam's pacifiers now and then...he doesn't actually still take a paci like Sam does.  Here they are on Mama and Daddy's bed...playing make-up...

Overall, what a blessed week!!  I hope you had a wonderful week, too. 

Service...it's not about ME

A couple of weeks ago was Communion Sunday at church.  For the past eight years, Bryan and I have served communion. It is only once a month, but every time we are about to go down the aisle, with the "bread" and "wine" in hand, I get nervous. What if I drop one of the trays? What if I fall face-first in the aisle? (our aisle slants downward as you approach the front of the church...and inevitably, I forget and wear my heeled shoes every time) What if there is a mix-up as we are passing things out and we end up with confusion? (This has happened before.) And every time, I just pray that everything goes well, that nothing we do is a distraction as people are trying to focus on Christ -- basically, that all goes smoothly. And usually it does. After eight years, Bryan and I are pretty good at reading one another's face as to what the other needs him/her to do across the long rows of pews.

This makes me think about serving God in general. We serve God in order to point people to Him (His Son, Jesus Christ), so that they will focus on Him and grow in relationship to Him. We are not to be self-focused -- a distraction to others, causing them to take their eyes off of Christ. So every Communion Sunday, I pray that mainly, we are not a distraction -- that no one notices us and that I am able to keep my balance on the slanty aisle, and that we communicate well (silently) so that we don't cause a distraction.

As a leader for a small group Bible study, I inevitably start worrying about my group of ladies. Will they like me? Will I sound like an idiot while I'm facilitating the group? I have to be continually reminded that it isn't about ME -- it's about God, and about the women drawing closer to Him as they learn about Him through His Word. If someone has a problem, it most likely has nothing at all to do with me...it is more about their relationship with God. My job as their leader is to point them to Christ, and to model Christ in my words, behavior...my life. (Which, of course, is not easy, since I am fallen and sinful...human, you know.)

So as you serve the Lord wherever He's placed you -- try to remember that it isn't about you. It's about Him -- bringing glory to Him. And don't worry about whether or not people will come to Him -- He'll bring them to Himself. It's our job to simply point them to Christ. What they do with that is their choice.

"For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." (I Thessalonians 4:7-8)

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:20-21)

Serving in Weakness

As our fall/school year activities start up this week, both my husband and I resume serving in ministries that we love.  We had a nice summer break, but I think we're ready for some more structure to our lives!  However, starting back up is always daunting to me -- I think, "Can we really do it this year?  With all the responsibilities that we already have on our plate?"

Then He reminds me: "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness...'" (2 Corinthians 12:9)  I love these verses.  I always try to  "disqualify" myself from ministry.  My argument goes something like this:

"I can't lead a small group for Bible study...I lose my patience with my kids.  I can barely find the energy to finish the laundry.  I'm still recovering from post-partum depression, and my baby is TWO.  Years, that is.  Not months.  I need to lose at least 10 pounds and I don't have the motivation to DO anything about that.  How can I serve when I am such a mess?"

And what does this passage of Scripture (meaning, GOD) say to this argument?

Well, verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 12 continues with the apostle Paul saying: "...Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong." (that last sentence is verse 10)

So this crazy thing happens when I let God use little messed-up me.  His power rests on me.  (I am getting goosebumps.)  Yes, He works through me....in me....as He ministers to others through me (which still boggles my mind), He does a great work IN me, too.  He is ministering to ME.  It's wonderful...it's not easy, but it's wonderful.  There's a lot of faith involved, what I call a lot of "blind service."  "Blind" in that sometimes I feel as if I'm bumbling along in my ministries and I don't know if what I'm doing is any good or very effective -- but at least I know that I am being obedient to His calling on my life, whether or not I understand. 

And I learned a long time ago that when it comes to how God works, understanding isn't important.  Obedience is.

The Laziness is Ending...

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed by all the fall activities starting up?  I’ve so enjoyed a summer of not-very-many commitments.  Though I must say, I have gotten quite lazy.  So now it’s time to be disciplined again – no more waiting to do the dishes until morning, because there won’t be time to do them then – we’ll be off to Bible study early, or a meeting, or preschool…somewhere. 

I am excited to get going on Bible studies again.  I have been involved in one this summer with a good friend – we have really enjoyed this one.  It’s called Calm My Anxious Heart and was written by Linda Dillow.  A fantastic – though convicting – book about contentment, anxiety, doubt – I highly recommend it to every woman out there.  The author takes you through each item using Scripture and shows you how to deal with each, giving it to God.  Amazing.

But now it’s nearly over, and Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) is starting.  I can’t wait!  We are in the book of Acts this year.  I have read through it once with the boys already – a good bedtime read for them, I must say.  Puts them right to sleep.  But hopefully at least Ben is retaining some of it!  I started it over again with them the other night.  Maybe we’ll get through it a second time before the study starts in September.  I am so thrilled that both boys are coming with me this year to the day class, and that they will be learning right along with me. 

Also it’s time for our Community Group to start up again!  We had barely started our study in the book of Romans before we broke for summer.  So I look forward to that starting up again, and to seeing our dear friends again on a more regular basis, and not just the occasional wave on a Sunday morning.  I love our Community Group – we have been involved with it for eight years now and it is truly our “Tucson family.” 

I just realized that I will have one Bible study in which I attend with my boys, where we’ll be studying Acts – and then Romans that my husband and I will attend together (he is the leader of the group).   We are all about the New Testament and the Apostle Paul this year!!  This was not planned.  (And it’s a good break from the wonderful-yet-intense-Isaiah study last year.)  Ah, I will be held accountable on all sides.  This could get interesting. 

On a different note, Benjamin has moved up to the four-year-old class in his preschool.  He starts this week and is very excited!  I have Sam on the waiting list for the two-year-old class, but it may take a while for him to get in.  However, I don’t know if preschool will work out with our BSF schedule (Monday morning Leaders’ meeting and Tuesday morning Class Day) – if they are too stressed by the busy-ness, then I’ll pull them out of preschool.  I don’t want to be one of those moms who over-commits her kids and gets them all stressed out.  So we’ll play it all by ear.

Who would want to stress these little guys out?  Not this mama.

Picking bark off their grandparents' tree in Wichita last week

Hearts at Home Ministry

I want to take a day to write about a wonderful ministry that I've discovered called "Hearts at Home". It's a ministry specifically for mothers and I've been so encouraged by it. I found out about it while visiting my in-laws in Montana. A cousin of theirs loaned a book to me called "I'm Glad I'm a Mom" - her daughter-in-law had an article published in it. What a great book! It's written by moms, about different experiences they've had in motherhood, and it's encouraging, it's humorous, it's inspiring. Well in reading through this book while on vacation in Montana, I wrote down the author's name, Jill Savage, and the website for Hearts at Home. When we returned to Tucson, I looked her up on the internet and was amazed to find that a ministry exists that's just for mothers !! As a new mom, and a stay-at-home mom who has discovered that staying at home is much more difficult than I'd thought it would be, this was amazing. I immediately bought two of Jill's books, "My Heart's at Home" and "Professionalizing Motherhood."

Jill Savage began this ministry in 1994 in Illinois and it has grown immensely since then. It offers education and conferences for mothers - the mission statement of Hearts at Home sums it up: "Hearts at Home is a Christ-centered organization which encourages, educates, and equips women in the profession of motherhood. "

Please check out this wonderful ministry, especially those of my friends who are stay-at-home mommies!! This is just for you: http://www.hearts-at-home.org/.