Family Alive

What a lovely day this has been.

• Wonderful worship this morning at our church, Clearwater. Awesome time of praise and worship. Our pastor, Chris, spoke on the one of the core parts of our vision – wisdom, particularly God’s word – and how it should be our source for everything. He used the example of a Rubik’s cube and how there is 1 solution, and 7 formulas to get to that perfect cube. If the cube gets messed up, we can use a formula and it will work out. He even messed up a cube and solved it during the message to make his point. Whatever we are lacking, whatever we are facing, God’s word is our answer. It will get us through whatever we’re dealing with. It was a powerful message for me, as I know God’s been trying to draw our family deeper into His word. It’s still a struggle to find its place in the craziness of our life, but on the days that His word doesn’t find its place, things definitely don’t go as well. One more nudge to my needing heart…
• After lunch with Brian’s mom and brother, she offered to keep the kids while I ran to Sears to check out the racks of 90% off. SWEET! I got 7 things for $14 – 2 pairs of nice everyday pants, 2 tops, a cute summery top/skirt outfit, and a dressy top to match another deal-of-a-skirt from last week. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my outdated not-fitting clothes in the last year, so this was a nice boost to make me feel like I’m not wearing the same stuff every 5th day:)
• Brian had a long meeting at church this afternoon, and he met us at RolyPoly for dinner. RolyPoly is the most delicious wrap sandwich shop, with a great weekend deal. When we got there, Brian hadn’t arrived yet, and Analise asked where he was.  The kids had been playing with 2 toy cell phones, so I told her to "call" him.  She put the phone to her ear and said, "Daddy?  Where are you?  We’re at Roly Poly.  We’ve been here for couple years.  Come soon."  She’s learning her time-words.  Can you tell?:)
• Tonight was the Go! Gathering at our church, an evening dedicated to hearing about missions work our church has been involved in. It was so fun, exciting and inspiring. Particularly, we heard from the parents of a woman from our church serving in West Africa. She is living the village life, and it’s so humbling and exciting to see how God is using her to reach a group of people who have never heard the name of Jesus. They are using storytelling to create 18 stories that center around God The Provider. But they’ve spent an entire year meeting the people, building relationships, creating their place in the bush community, working in the fields with the women, learning the language. Hard slow work, but they’ve just had the first opportunity to share the first story. It’s exciting hearing God at work around the world!
• A bunch of my Ebay listings are ending this evening. I worked like crazy last weekend to get 18 things posted, since there was a promo for free listings through September, and Sunday evening was the last day of Sept. I’m on the ball, I tell ya:) Last minute, but on the ball. (I won’t tell you how long these things have been sitting in a box in my room.) Anyway, they’ve had hardly any glimpses and only a couple starting bids this week, and I was grumpy that this was NOT worth the effort. I’m still not sure it’s worth the effort, but they’re ending right now, and there’s been a bidding flurry on 7 things, and I actually made some money. Now to get them shipped out. Thankfully, everything is in plastic mailing bags, already weighed, and I can print my postage and mail from home.
• I was going to say the evening was wrapping up most wonderfully, as I’ve been sitting here watching my beloved Packers romp on the Bears. And they were when I sat down here and started writing. But the second half didn’t pan out well for GB, and they just lost with an interception in their own end zone. Painful. Still a nice treat to find them on TV tonight, and it really culminated a lovely day.
• I got a reminder phone call tonight that a friend is driving through town tomorrow, so we’re having a guest for dinner and the night. I’d completely forgotten, and my house is not in it’s best shape. Really. It needs vaccuuming, lots of laundry to fold, dust balls are gathering in the wood floor corners, and the basement guest room is a little overrun with toys. And I need to figure out a guest-worthy dinner, instead of our usual Monday evening of Moe’s burritos and playing at Kids Gym:) But I’m reminding myself that it’s not the house that will make the memories. It’s the atmosphere, the love, the friendship, and maybe the food. She’s coming to see us, and I know she’ll overlook the things I don’t get to, offering more grace than I give to myself. Hopefully, I can keep this at the forefront of my mind tomorrow, and prioritize the things that really need to be done to make our house welcoming. Most importantly, what are we having for dessert?