Did You Know...

...a 24-year-old body doesn't bounce back from three hours of sleep nearly so well as a junior high body does? I'm getting old...

Had a great time on the retreat. Thanks if you prayed for me! I think the music went pretty well--the ladies seemed to appreciate the songs I had chosen (thanks to those of you who gave me input on that). It was fun spending extended time with women from our church and studying the Word together; Kay Arthur's messages on Philippians 2 were beneficial. I'll try to share a little more about what she taught soon. And then after the session Friday night, a bunch of us who were spending the night at the retreat center laughed really hard through rousing games of Catchphrase and Cranium. Six of us were up until 3 am or so, talking and laughing...needless to say, I came home and crashed and am minimally functional right now :)

Before choosing music for the retreat, I tried to think about stress from a gospel perspective. I think that at its root, stress comes from trusting ourselves. We have been trusting in our own ability--and we become stressed and anxious when suddenly we realize that our strength is insufficient. We can't accomplish or handle what needs to be done. So I think part of the answer to stress is to humble ourselves, to acknowledge that we ARE helpless. We ARE inadequate for the tasks/trials/etc before us. When we look at the cross, we can see what our best efforts amount to. But we serve a sufficient Savior. He completed the work God gave Him to do--He alone accomplished the awesome feat of reconciling us to our Heavenly Father. We trust Him, not ourselves. And, if we live dependent on Him, instead of in our own strength, He is the one who gets the glory!

I'll save my specific song choices for another post. (I often wonder how long my readers' attention spans are...do you read all the way through my long posts?)

TGIF

I'm off to the women's retreat...if you think of it, pray for me as I lead music tonight and tomorrow morning!

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Found

When we tore out the vanity, we found small, strange letters stamped on the wall behind it. It almost looked like Russian to me. Fascinated, I snapped a picture. After uploading to the computer, I rotated the picture and discovered that it actually says "ON THIS RESEALABLE BAG"--upside-down and backwards.

On what resealable bag? What goes on the bag? Mystifying.

I submitted it to Found Magazine.

Thankful Thursday, Take 8

I'm thanking God this week for...

• blessing us with financial stability so that having to buy a new vanity and plumbing parts is inconvenient, but not a crisis
• my husband who knows how to do all these home repair things
• my super-soft turtleneck sweater, made even more enjoyable by the knowledge that though it's 100% cashmere, it only cost $19 because I bought it at an outlet in June a couple of years ago
• caramel apple suckers
• opportunities to meet neighbors
• my GEMS girls and the joy and privilege of working with them each week
• His LIFE-giving Spirit, IN ME
• Christ's death on the cross in my place
• technology and creativity that enable people to make brilliant things like this
• the gift of music, and the ability to sing...how sad I think it would be to be one of those people who's absolutely tone-deaf
• our church's upcoming women's retreat
• date night with my hubby tonight
• the security that comes with knowing that although troubles and pain are unavoidable in this world, I have hope and can take heart because Christ has already defeated satan and sin

What are you thankful for?

This Old House: Always Something

In the process of working on one of the windows in our bedroom over the weekend (all the windows in our house are painted shut...so we spent Saturday finally tackling the first one, which involved removing the storm window and the bottom window, stripping paint and sanding, removing broken panes of glass, weatherstripping, etc...have I mentioned how glad I am that my husband knows how to do all this stuff?), we discovered a leak in our basement. Unlike all the other water in our basement coming from outside, this was coming from underneath our bathroom. Steve investigated upstairs and couldn't figure out exactly where the leak was coming from.

Monday night, the leak was getting worse, so he decided to move the vanity and dig a little deeper to see if the sink was the culprit. In the process, he discovered that a) the drain pipe was so corroded that when he tried to detach it, the pipe tore; b) the bottom of the vanity was rotted out; and c) the leak wasn't coming from the sink anyway.

Lovely. So he unexpectedly spent the rest of the evening tearing things apart and hauling the vanity in pieces out to the trash. We plan to completely redo this bathroom as one of the higher-priority projects on our list, but are definitely not ready to tackle that right now--among other reasons, it is our only bathroom in the house, so we would like to put in at least a working toilet and shower upstairs before we remove the only working toilet and shower in the house.

At any rate, we figured that if we bought a small vanity now, we can still use it for the as-yet-nonexistent upstairs bathroom after the downstairs bathroom gets redone. So we headed to our favorite place (riiiight...never mind the terrible customer service that we're dealing there with related to our originally-ordered-August-5-but-still-not-here basement door) and bought a new vanity and faucet. A box fan is going 24/7 to dry out the bathroom (even the wood lath is soaked at the bottom of the wall) and we are using the kitchen sink for all sink needs until further notice. The leak seems to becoming from the shower, as water was running along a nice channel where the shower wall wasn't well-attached to the tub and trickling down the side. Steve caulked it but that didn't seem to fix the problem...more troubleshooting and home repair to come.

Ah the life of a homeowner in a 70-year-old house...once again I'm soooo thankful for my handyman husband :)

John Piper is Bad

Details here.

(HT: An Infant in a Cradle)

Home Repair and Halloween

I didn't think to liveblog Halloween. But if I had, it would have looked something like this:

5:15ish: Five boys are the first trick-or-treaters. They knock on the storm door, then open it and knock on the big wooden door, then discover the knocker and try that. All in the 20 seconds it takes me to jump off the couch and walk to the door. Four of them are not even wearing costumes, which I think is completely lame and hardly deserves candy, but their parents are waiting on the sidewalk and I'm not mean enough to give them more of a hard time than saying, "C'mon, where are your costumes?" as I dump Kit-Kat bars into their pillowcases.

5:20ish: Steve begins unexpected demolition in our bathroom.

6:15ish: We sit down to taco salads. Yum.

6:30ish: One little girl trick-or-treating. Also delightedly discovers the big, loud knocker on our door.

6:40ish: Steve gets into the candy BEFORE I DO. Shocking, I know.

8:00: We give up on the trick-or-treaters and each grab a caramel apple sucker, then head to Lowe's to buy a new vanity, a new faucet, and some plumbing gadgets to repair the drain under the bathroom sink.

10:00ish: I discover how the length of my bathroom routine gets multiplied when I am making seventeen trips back and forth from the bathroom (where all my stuff is) to the kitchen (where the only sink in the house is).

This is the second year in a row that we have had a pathetic number of trick-or-treaters, leaving bags of candy lying around our house. Not good. We live in a densely populated area...I really don't understand what the deal is. Last year at the apartment we had the same issue, but I thought being in a house in the middle of town would make a difference. I guess the neighbor kids behind us, as well as my GEMS girls tonight, are going to hit the jackpot with a bunch of candy so I don't eat it all myself.

More on the bathroom repair, with pictures, later. You know you just can't wait.

A Gospel-Centered Response to Stress?

I have a request for all my gospel-centered blog friends. Our church is having a women's retreat this weekend and I am supposed to be leading the ladies in a couple of worship songs before each session. The main sessions are going to be Kay Arthur videos about "The Key to Handling Stress" from Philippians 2. So I want to go with that theme and choose songs that relate to handling stress. I want to do this with a gospel-centered perspective...so my questions are:

1) How would you define/describe a gospel-centered response to stress?
2) Can you think of any hymns or contemporary songs with lyrics that speak of this in some way?

I am still somewhat new at this whole applying-the-gospel-to-every-aspect of life thing. So I would love your input :) Incidentally, as I typed this post, God brought to mind something I read from Piper a while back which I think applies here...but I'll save that for another post and wait to see what kind of response I get.

Please comment below!

Hold Fast

"It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him" (Deuteronomy 13:4).

Was reading this verse the other day and reflecting on what it teaches about knowing God and fearing Him. Some thoughts...

*What is the difference between "keeping His commands" and "obeying Him"? One focuses on the words--the commands--it's about rules, guidelines, standards. That's important. But it's not the be-all, end-all. The other focuses on the Person--it's about relationship, intimacy. It's hollow to follow rules without truly knowing (and loving, fearing, serving, trusting) the Authority behind them. The Law cannot give life--only the Spirit gives life.

*We are to hold fast to HIM--not to traditions or rules or laws. To cling to Him--as you would cling to the last rock that kept you from sliding down the cliff, to the raft that kept you from drowning. To cling as a small child clings to his mother's hand or leg or neck when he doesn't want to be left alone. To cling like this is to acknowledge helplessness, to admit need. It is to be humble. But it is not only to see reality about yourself (you are helpless, needy)...it is to see reality about your God. It is to acknowledge and prize the value of the One you cling to--to recognize His strength, His authority, His ability and power to help. It is to treasure the blessing it is to be near to Him, the privilege of knowing Him.

Oops...I Did it Again*

So it looks like I really am going for the "Golden Oven Mitt" (though not intentionally).

We had a potluck at church last night--always a good excuse to make something yummy that's too much for just Steve and I to eat. I made pumpkin cake, but there were lots of other desserts, and not as many people there as we sometimes have...so we ended up bringing home half the cake. Goodness knows how many pieces I would eat if it were left lying around in our kitchen...so...I did it again. I sent the rest to work with Steve this morning. I almost hated to do it...this Betty-Crocker-for-the-guys-at-work thing is getting ridiculous...but this time it wasn't my fault! I had no intention of sending goodies to work with him this week. Honest. If the cake had gotten eaten at the potluck this wouldn't have happened.

Anyway, just in case there was any danger of my getting a big head about all this Betty-Crocker-ness, God knocked me down a peg or two. The hot dish I took to the potluck didn't go over well...apparently it didn't look all that appetizing because I believe the only people who ate any were me and Steve. Ah well...keeps me humble :)


*Did I just use a Britney Spears song as the title for a blog post? Somebody shoot me now.

Affirming My Reluctance to Get a Flu Shot

I have no idea where they got the facts for this...but if it's true, now I know why I've never been keen on the idea of getting a flu shot. The video is hilarious and shocking at the same time...

Eye on the Flu Shot - Royal Canadian Air Farce

(HT: Amy's Humble Musings)

Started Something

Last Sunday night, I was in the mood to bake. I have an incurable sweet tooth, so when I bake, I occasionally send the extras to work with Steve--because if it's here, I'll eat all of it. I've only sent treats with him a handful of times in the last year, but it has happened before. So when he asked if I would make something he could take to work ("Mondays are always easier to bear if there's something good to eat"), I happily agreed. He voted for banana bread with chocolate glaze (the only way to eat banana bread, in my humble opinion), and I got to baking.

Monday morning, he emailed me to say that the banana bread was a big hit. One of his co-workers had already come back for seconds as of 9:30; in the afternoon, his boss grabbed a piece and commented that he was glad he hadn't known about it until then. Steve came home with an empty plate, having given away the last half-piece on his way out the door. (Thank goodness I swiped a slice before it left the house!) I was glad to have been able to bless my husband and his co-workers in a simple way, and didn't think any more of it.

Until Wednesday afternoon, when Steve told me that Stan's wife had made chocolate chip cookies. Food in the office isn't totally unheard of, but uncommon enough that twice in one week was a notable occurrence. We laughed as we pictured all the guys having gone home Monday and told their wives, "Steve brought us this great banana bread his wife made!" I jokingly remarked that I hoped the other wives didn't hate me.

I got an email from my husband a few minutes ago. Not to be outdone, Vince's wife whipped up a batch of brownies. From scratch.

Thankful Thursday, Take 7

Thanking God for...

• a date with my handsome husband last Saturday
• said husband's mad grilling skills
• vegetable beef soup, and the fact that I like it now (I wouldn't have touched it with a ten foot pole as a kid)
• a clean, no-longer-smelly dog, and a husband willing to help bathe him
• the gift of music
• sparkly pens
• changing my heart to enjoy cooking/baking
• the fabulous taste of yellow cake batter--which I believe I would choose for dessert of my last meal if I were on death row. Just give me a spatula and a mixing bowl full of the delightful stuff.
• cake batter ice cream, a brilliant invention that's almost as good as the real thing
• being "the God who sees" (Genesis 16)--not a distant, impersonal force but a loving, sovereign God who watches over every detail of my life and never slumbers nor sleeps
• the cross, which gives me reason to rejoice even in the midst of sorrow or pain

And you?

Posting to Say I've Got Nothing to Post

So I've been a lazy blogger this week. Two reasons: 1) I don't really have anything interesting to say, and 2) I've wasted too much computer time reading other people's blogs--leaving no time to write on my own :) I'll at least pass along a couple of things I've found particularly encouraging/challenging/helpful/interesting lately. After you read the posts, look around at both blogs--they're written by wise and gospel-centered women:

"Before this I just figured I was a square peg of a woman trying to fit into the round hole of home maker. There is no hope in this conclusion."

" 'God, be with me (or us or them).' How often have you prayed this or heard someone else pray it?" It's a prayer that doesn't need to be prayed.

One Powerful Sentence

Tim Keller:

"The gospel is: you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe yet you can be more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope at the same time because Jesus Christ lived and died in your place."

More great sound bites from the Desiring God National Conference 2006 speakers here.