#14 These last two weeks have been great because...

...Anna and Dillon timed their illnesses so I could go to work (the end of the semester is a bad time of year to cancel class) and so we could go to their wonderful Christmas performance!!

Friday, their school held their annual Christmas performance. It was so great to listen to children singing with joyful hearts about Christmas!!! What a way to start the new year!!

Saturday was great, because we finally have gotten around to starting to finish the project in our "red room". Crown molding is a bit tricky to put up!! hopefully we will finish this weekend... or maybe next week...

Sunday, I went back to reading Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas. Here are some lovely quotes for you to consider. Maybe they will inspire you to read his book!!

"See, that's the thing with fear: It makes us worry about the evil that might happen, and, when we're focused on that, we grow blind to the great good that can result. It's not just shortsightedness, it's pessimistic-shortsightedness--vision obscured by worry, blurred by fear. While Scripture honestly admits the real threats we face in life, it remains equally forceful about not being driven by fear of them."
"Instead of listening to your fears, talk to yourself! A pastor recommended the following exercise to me, which has helped greatly. Instead of listening to yourself, talk to yourself. Emotions can prey on us unless we mentally take charge and fight back. We don't have to let ourselves 'tune in' to doubts and fears. We can talk back to ourselves; we can build our spirits with Scripture."

We are meditating on grace this week for our Sunday School class at church. Yikes!! I am not doing so great, and I was the one who wrote this week's activities!!! I think I am improving, it is God's grace that we are meditating on and practicing grace this week!!!

And finally, no matter what happens, this month is great because we celebrate the birth of our Savior!!!!

"I Celebrate The Day"
by Reliant K
And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

#13 Monday was a good day because...

...it is finally December!!! I love December, my birthday month, the month that we celebrate Jesus' birthday, the month we always have vacation and get to spend time with family, the month when everyone is just a bit nicer and more joyful. I have always loved December.

Of course, our December began with sickness and grumpy kids. Monday was supposed to be my day of solitude, a day to relax, reflect on our year, and begin our Christmas letter. Well, Anna had an ear ache, fever and "digestive issues", and Dillon.... well.... let's just say he needed one more day of vacation and an understanding mom. It was hard to let go of my Monday, my first day of December, and seek to be a servant to my children. God eventually brought me to this place of surrender, and I began to see what I could be thankful for.

Now I am glad that they are on the road to recovery, praying that Todd will get better too, and hoping to stay in this place of having a servant's heart for my family.

I also changed a few plans so I could have a day of solitude today... yippee!!! I am learning to say no to good things.... for the good of my family and for my sanity!! This is a hard lesson to learn, I enjoy social events, but I want to be a nice mom and wife too... which is way more important!!!

I am so thankful for God's patience and grace as He teaches me more like Him. I love this verse and have been praying it for myself and my daughter. May you too be pleasing in His sight, for His glory!!!

"Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Hebrews 13:20-21

#11 Yesterday was a good day because...

...we had a nice time watching a movie with other families from our school!! The PTA put on a family movie night... what fun!! We were going to watch the movie "out under the stars", but the rain forced us to make a change to the cafeteria. It was still a nice time. I am so glad that we are getting to know the families in our neighborhood. It is so nice to be at a school that values family time!!!

Today, we are enjoying a lazy, rainy day. Anna and Dillon have already played outside in the rain and got soaking wet. Now is is really pouring. Oh how I love the rain!! We still need to make a trip to the store... we will have to time it so we don't get caught in the downpour!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

#10 Monday was a good day because...

...we had a nice, uneventful day...well... almost. The three of us made it through Costco successfully, Anna and and Dillon were great helpers. It seemed like everyone was in a good mood, maybe because of the cheery thought of a nice Thanksgiving break?? We had no homework, which was a nice break, and had a nice family time playing Sorry.

Everything was great until I went into Anna's room to say goodnight. Yikes!! Stuff hidden under the blankets, stuffed in the closet... oh my... we have our work cut out for us... teaching her to clean up after herself and be responisible with the things in her bedroom. Note to self... never try to convince a tired 7 year old to do a better job cleaning her room after 8pm... it won't go over very well and the end result will be frustration and grumpiness galore!!!

#9 Sunday was a good day because...

...we turned in our Christmas Child boxes. I love the service our church has. We watch their precious video with pictures of children around the world receiving their boxes. Then we hear from someone who has visited and witnessed first-hand children opening their boxes. I pray that Anna and Dillon will share our love for people around the world and that they will realize what is truly important... that all will hear the gospel. The gift of life that God offers in His Son, the redemption He offers to the world... these are far more precious than any physical gift.

We were challenged by our Pastor yesterday with the following questions, consider them with me today.
Are you a disciple of a slave king?
If you are His disciple, do you look like Him?
Am I being vigilant to guard against all forms of pride?
Do I live serving others?

"the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

#8 Saturday was a good day because...

Anna's team won first place in soccer!! The girls worked so hard, the game was so exciting, and Anna ran after the ball and blocked a few shots!! What fun!! Their second game... can you believe it? They had to play two games!!! ...their second game was tied, they had to play overtime, and then won with penalty kicks!! Such pressure!! But they had fun, and were so excited to get their 1st place medals. We are so proud of our soccer girl!!

#7 The last few days have been good because...

...I have had a chance to speak words of peace and truth. My PTA is suffering. We are under "new management" and the transition has not gone well. I have many heartfelt conversations with the women involved, and I hope that I have been salt and light in this difficult time. I feel tired and drained, and there are a few more conversations that I want to have. I am thankful to be here at this time to help.

On a happier note... we are looking forward to three days off from school!!! They are giving us Wednesday off too! I don't know if we will go somewhere, or just relax at home... but it will be nice for the three of us to get to hang out a bit, and then our family will get to be together for four days!! We are going to a friend's house for Thanksgiving... thanks friends!!! I am constantly reminded of how God has provided "family" for us down here. We miss our family up north and out east... but we are thankful for the community of friends God has richly blessed us with here.

Thanks God!!!!

The promised pictures!!!

September...

Our "first day of school" shots. Aren't they cute??? =)


From our last trip to CA Adventure... once again, thanks Grandma and Grandpa Rosencrans!!!
Here are my pictures from camping... I hope to get more... let me talk to my friends who actually remember to grab their cameras... unlike me!!! =)



October...

We had a nice time at Todd's sister's wedding. (I know, I have no pictures of the bride and groom... those are not yet in my possession...)We only went up for the weekend, but managed to squeeze in a trip to the coast... my absolute favorite spot on this side of the world!!!


November...

New haircuts and styles!! Look now because I haven't yet learned to style their hair quite like this!!!

#6 Yesterday was a good day because...

...Dillon got to go to his friend's house for his very own "playdate". Just him!! He loved the time with his friend, and I loved the time with just Anna... except I wasn't feeling that well... but still. I am recovered now. I have decided that I want to arrange more of these playdates. It is so good for them to spend time with their friends too!! I get too intense about homework and all, and forget to include playtime!!! With soccer almost over, we have a bit more time to spend. I am thankful for this reminder... hopefully I will now do something about it!!!

I am also so thankful for my neighbor. She has such an amazing outlook on life. Nothing seems to ever rattle her. She reminds me of truth, that my children are God's children, that I am doing a good job, and that I must trust Him for their actions, their lives, everything. I can come to her, heavy with the weight of what I think are my problems, and she helps me to lighten up, to trust God, come up with a plan, and then do it. She is so practical, and makes me laugh at myself. She is such an answer to prayer!!!! I hope you all have a friend like this. I am so glad that God has made us relational people, and that in relationships we can better understand His Character. Spend some time today thanking God for those special people in your life!!!

#5 Yesterday was a good day because...

...I learned I was wrong!! I was wrong about the book The Five Love Languages. I was interested in reading it, but I put it in the category of "pop psychology", like "Ten Ways to Improve Your Marriage". (My favorite book on marriage is Gary Thomas's Sacred Marriage... the complete opposite of most marriage books) I finally started reading Love Languages a few days ago, and I have to say, I was wrong! This book includes some very simple yet profound insights into what communicates love!! He gives great suggestions for determining your spouse' love language and how to then speak that language. Yes, some of the book is a bit over-simplified, and I have only read about half so I cannot speak to the latter half, but, I was wrong to dismiss it entirely. I will include some of my favorite quotes with tomorrow's post, or maybe this evening.

On a different note, I just want to publically thank my wonderful husband!! He came home to a pretty grouchy wife, listened to my frustrations... even though I know it is bad to "dump" on your husband first thing... and calmed me down. He was tired from work and not feeling that great, and still worked pretty hard at calming me down in a loving way. He is amazing!!!!

The reason for my grouchiness was my children's reluctance to do their homwork. Any suggestions?? I try to make it fun, we even played "sight-word" hide and seek. Maybe we should have started with that.... I feel so inept in this department... which is why I chose to teach high school and now college, and not elementary!!! I do not know what I am doing!!! Today is a new day... I have a few ideas... hopefully it will go over better this time...

Enjoy your day!!!

#4 Yesterday was a good day because...

...I was so encouraged to hear the way God has been at work in the lives of the women who teach our Bible studies. We met for our last meeting of the year... no outline due this time, just a chance to share how God is at work in the lives of the women we teach and in our own lives as well. It is so amazing to have the privilege to study God's word and to teach with these women. I have been so encouraged by these women who pray for me and give me words of wisdom when I share my struggles. We are strengthened as we each share a similar love for God's Word and struggle to teach His Truth. God is at work and we are a part of it. What a beautiful and humbling truth!!!

#3 Today was a good day because....

...because Dillon scored two goals in soccer!!! He just took that ball and drove it up the sideline and scored!!! This was our first year with two in soccer. It has been a bit crazy at times, and occasionally frustrating, but overall we enjoyed our experience. It was nice to get to know other families in our community and to start to teach Anna and Dillon how to work together on a team.

After the soccer games, pizza party, and a hour of much needed "quiet time", we enjoyed the evening just hanging out as a family. After the craziness of the day, it is nice to relax, play a game of Sorry, and hang out before bedtime. Soccer is fun... but it will be nice to have our Saturdays back!!!

#2 Today was a good day because....

...because I finally was able to clean my house!!! It feels so good to have it back to normal. How quickly it falls to pieces when I fail to be diligent to clean up a little each day!! Now I am just tired, and hoping that Dillon won't wake up crying in the middle of the night tonight... are growing pains normal for five year olds??

So, what caused the collapse of my house? The children were off school on Monday... doctor's appointments with Todd... taking way to long to grade this last batch of tests.... life!! Todd had/still has kidney stones!! We were in and out of doctor's offices, the hospital, urgent care, and the ER all day last Wednesday.... thankfully they diagnosed him Wednesday evening. What a relief to know what was causing all his pain!! A normal diagnosis brings such relief and calms the wonderings about weird diseases no one knows about.

We were so thankful for our kind neighbor and friends who watched Anna and Dillon on that crazy day. God has richly blessed us with extra family down here!!!

I know I keep promising pictures... they will come. Keep faithfully checking back and you will be rewarded!!!!

Love to you all!!!

#1 Today was a good day because....

...I got to chat with my sister!!! I love being able to see her and her precious boy!! Even though she is half-way around the world... she is still dealing with the same issues I deal with, and we can chat together and encourage each other. I love my sister!!

Anna and I also made a gingerbread house together at church. We enjoyed a special time together, and Anna really enjoyed being in charge, for once. I forget to appreciate her love of art and her creative side. I am thankful for the opportunity to spend time with just her. I will post a picture tomorrow!!

Enjoy your day!!

My new plan...

...is to end my day writing about what I enjoy. I can get too analytical and forget to be grateful for the good moments in each day. Yes, life does not always work out like I had planned. I still have many, many special moments in each day... moments that I do not want to take for granted, moments I want to treasure. Join me in sharing your special moments too!!

We are going camping!!

We are off to go camping this weekend... with 40 of our friends!! I have such great memories of my parents taking us camping with their Sunday School class from church, now we are taking our children camping too!!! I am so excited!! I will post lots of pictures and stories from our weekend... I know we will have so much fun!! =)

Our Super Fun Summer!!!

We were truly blessed to get to spend time with lots of family and friends this summer. My sister and family came to this side of the world for the summer, and we spent two weeks of fun filled days hanging out at the park, at my parents house, or spending the night in the home they were staying in. Such precious times of living life together as wives and moms!!! I didn't get many pictures because I still haven't figured out how to take pictures while still enjoying the moment!! I usually think... oh, I should have taken more pictures... know that many good memories were made!!
Our "sleep-over"

Fun times at the parkDillon got his wish: "to see a real dam", but we had to explain that the fishies didn't really swim over this dam, just around it.

And the famous "first time on the flight" picture... please excuse my children's antics... oh for just one "normal" picture!! =)
Besides the fun times with my sister... we made a memorable trip to my favorite spot... the Oregon coast. After spending a very enjoyable day with a friend at Centralia, the half-way point between my parents' home and hers, we decided to "swing-by" Seaside on the way home. Yeah... I know it took us 2 extra hours and almost doubled our gas money... but it was worth it!! We had a yummy meal and enjoyed the sand and the sea air and the beautiful coast before hoping back into the car, making it home by 10pm. I had very tired children, but beautiful memories of this special place where Todd and I fell in love!! =) We were sad he couldn't join us... but hopeful that one day we will make it back there as a family!!

After two weeks in Oregon, we spent a week camping with nine other families in Northern California!! Why? to lead a VBS for a small church up there. We had such a blast, and were richly blessed to serve as a family and as part of our church. God's truth was proclaimed and lived out through our VBS, through our time spent with the children and through our time together as a team. Cottonwood is definately a highlight of our year!!

We finished out our whirlwind tour of the west coast with a week camping with our famliy and extended family. Thankfully Todd made it to this adventure!! As Todd puts it... we had a relaxing and fun time doing "nothing" in the middle of nowhere. What a great description!! We played games, talked, swam in the pool, and played mini-golf. We did venture out to see the aquarium one day... the rest of the time was realxing and slow-paced. I love camping!!

My husband got a kick out of taking pictures of family members taking pictures... it was kind of funny. However, I haven't gotten any of their pictures, so I decided to post these in all their glory, and maybe someday I will be able to post theirs as well!! =)



We thought we were waiting to get photographed... =)
Dillon really enjoyed Uncle Troy's guitar. It was so precious watching Troy helping Dillon "play".
I know, you want to say "move your arm"!! But I had to include this beautiful moment!!!
I will always treasure the "photos" stored in my mind, photos like this one, of little Jo delightedly watching Anna and Dillon play. They had such fun with him... such precious "cousin" time made infinitely more valuable knowing their time together is so short. Their cousin time will take place over continents, oceans and many miles. My prayer is that the distance will not be a barrier to their friendship and these precious fun times will be a strong foundation they will build upon as they grow up "together"!!!

I love my amazing and precious sister!!!
And, of course, a beautiful picture of God's amazing creatures. It's so much easier to photograph slow-moving objects!!! =)
We came home a bit earlier than I had planned... I was tired and wanted to be at home with my husband together as a family!! It was nice to have a slow tranisition back to our normal school year with Biola and school and homework and soccer... and soccer... and soccer. The jury is still out whether I will be a soccer mom... Anna and Dillon haven't quite decided if they like soccer. If not, we will try something else!!!

I hope you enjoyed our stories!! Feel free to share some of your own!!! Thanks for faithfully checking back.... maybe someday I will figure out how to fit blogging into my regular routine!! =)

The Dutch Method

So... we are using the Dutch Method. Apparently, there are several methods for teaching soccer to children, our soccer coordinator says, and the Dutch method is what he prefers. You see, in the Dutch method, everything is a game. There are no drills, there are only games.

So I have invented a few games.

Five-Finger Jobs: Morning Routine

1. go potty and brush your teeth.
2. clean your room
3. give mommy a kiss and a hug
4. get dressed
5. eat breakfast.

Five-Finger Jobs: Evening Routine:

1. Jammies
2. Potty and brush teeth
3. give mommy a kiss and a hug
4. Bible story
   
5. Pray and sing songs

My current favorite: Five-Finger Job: Getting out the door

1. Do a good job cleaning up after yourself (thumb)
2. You, put on your shoes! (pointer finger)
3. get your stuff
4. go potty
5. Electricity check

Having games for these things seems to help. Too often, and especially when I am in a rush, I can be a bit demanding. These games remind me to be a bit more light-hearted in training my children... and sometimes myself.

The other game we have been using reveals our current pastime (addiction??)...Super Mario Galaxy. I thought of this one day... and Anna and Dillon really went for it!! =) Enjoy!!

In case you are not familiar with Mario's world, he is required to accomplish certain tasks to earn a star. Anna and Dillon now get stars for cleaning their rooms. My creative children decided to put a twist on this... and pretend that there are comets. The Purple comet, where Mario has to collect all the purple coins, requires one to look carefully and search every hidden spot for "things" to be collected. This is what my careful and observant son likes. He hates the timer... which Anna likes. She likes trying to beat the timer. So, she decided to do a "speedy comet". In the speedy comet, Mario has to complete his mission in a certain amount of time. This requires focus... Mario cannot be distracted by star bits, coins, or extra lives. He must stay focused and only do what is necessary to get the job done in order to beat the timer. Anna needs to work on this and... sometimes... the timer helps her stay focused... especially the kind that you can hear ticking. So I found some star sticky notes, and have a new way to inspire my children to clean their rooms!!! Happy cleaning!!

What are games you play??

Calling in sick

I called in sick today. I am not that sick, but sick enough that if I walk around a lot or talk a lot, my head starts to ache and my throat is all scratchy and I start to cough. So, my usual Wednesday of walking with the girls and helping out in Anna's and Dillon's classrooms had to be canceled. I am sad about that part... but there is something nice about just laying in bed, catching up on email and my blog, and working on my Bible study!! Maybe I just needed a sick day. I have good memories of taking a sick day when i was teaching full time. It was a lot of work to prepare for a sub, but it was also a relief, knowing I had a day with nothing planned, perhaps if I was not too sick I could finally get to those items on the bottom of my list that I never seem to get to.

So, here's to making good use of my sick day!! Enjoy these posts that have been rattling around my brain for the past few months!! =)

Camping...it is worth the effort!!

We went camping over the fourth of July weekend. We almost didn't go... we had just celebrated Anna's birthday and I helped with my friends workshop on spiritual disciplines (more on that later). It was a lot to pack into a weekend, and now we had to prepare for camping. It was definately worth the effort. It was so nice to spend the weekend together, relaxing and doing... well... not much!! We went back to Rancho Oso, where Anna and I had gone for our weekend away. We played mini-golf, Anna rode a horse, we swam in the pool, and went into Santa Barbara on Saturday. Our time was free from the distractions of home and tv, we just hung out!! I kept thinking... we need to do this more often!!!!

We didn't take pictures, I was so busy having fun that I forgot!! I did manage to remember to snap a family photo... and a picture of a new camping dessert... have you ever tried a roasted marshmallow-chocolate chip cookie sandwich?? Heavenly!!!