Blessed on Halloween

Today was the best day this week. My kids were great! He got through our lessons very well. The party was simple and fun. I had a mom volunteer last week to bring cup cakes. Another one volunteered on Monday to bring goodie bags. And yesterday a mom volunteered to come and bring water. Water was a huge hit!!! Yeah for not having sugary soda!!! I ended up also get 2 more sets of cup cakes, a set of brownies, a bag of pencils, and another bag of goodies. The whole thing went over very well!!! It is so nice to have 23, well actually 21 by the time of the party for a party. It was really easy to handle. These kids are great!

The Golden Compass

All,
I did not even know there was a movie out or almost out called The Golden Compass until I was sent this email. I did a quick image search and found images that I have seen before in advertisement. The images make the movie look very interesting and action packed. However, after reading this article there is more than meets the eye.

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:
be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Read this article from snopes.com to learn more about it.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Anyone else have any input?

Sin Boldly

Choosing what to do and knowing that it is God's will is a frustrating effort. I wonder how many times we miss the boat because we are so busy contemplating the jump that we miss the opportunity.

An instructor and I were talking after her lecture. During our conversation she quoted Luther saying "Sin boldly". I found the full quote after our conversation and here it is. “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” Totally caught off guard by such a quote I asked its meaning. She explained that instead of missing the boat because we didn't jump, we need to just jump into it. If we find out down the river that we chose wrongly then God’s grace is more than sufficient to forgive us and His hand is strong enough to push us in the right direction. This means not to worry about all the details.

Abram is a great example for this. We read in Genesis 12:1 that God tells Abram to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you”. Verse 4, “so Abram left, as the Lord had told him”.

This is faith that requires obedient action. As you obediently act so your eyes will get a glimpse of what God has for you. Don’t worry, just obey. He will tell you when you get there.

Cool Creatures

I look at this guy and think, "God is into cool details!" Who says we just all fell together by coincidence. There are patterns, with stripes, spots, bumpy, pointed, hard, soft... Simply intriguing. I wish I'd taken the picture, but Kyle found it as our research for newts continues. We did see two of these fascinating guys in a reptile store today. One looked like he was getting ready for Halloween since he was molting a "ghost custom". Did you know that their eyes move independent of each other???

Three Pictures

I saw this picture and thought of my friend Greg Paradis. He loves exotic sports cars, especial these ones. [ferrari enzo]

I saw this and thought "Wow. God must have had so much fun creating all the creatures of the world." [red eyed tree frog]

I saw this and realized that not everyone knows what a newt is. This is a Firebelly Newt. Tasha and I are in the process of rounding up materials for a terrarium where we want to put a few of these guys in it.

Vist this wonderful site on newts! Super Newt

Grinding

Stress comes out in the strangest ways. Last year I had a long season of acid reflux. I was holding onto some very stressful things at work instead of giving them over to God. I’d give them over, and then quickly take them back. I’d give over again, but not fully. Thus a several long months of upsetting stomach issues ensued.

Someone asked me a question about food and I said that I do not like refrigerated bottled water. Those around the table found that very odd, so I explained that the super cold water hurts my teeth. Room temperature water is just fine for me. They then asked if I grinded my teeth. I do, and I even have a night guard I wear at night to help protect my teeth. The thing is, I realized I don’t just grind my teeth at night. During the day if I am stressed I clinch them tightly. So as I am getting used to jumping 3 freeways to get to work you bet I was grinding. In fact I was having slight moments of high adrenaline just because the traffic can be so intense here. So, now that I realized this, I’ve been working on relaxing and breathing while driving on the highly populated freeways and holding my jaw slightly open in an effort to not clench my teeth.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Zip It

Blah, blah, blah. This is what I hear when people complain. I think that its a trend or fad right now.

Tasha was telling me about a sermon she listened to this week. The pastor talked about complaining. "If you want to hate your marriage, COMPLAIN about it. If you want to hate your job, COMPLAIN about it. If you want to hate your house, COMPLAIN about it. If you to hate your car, COMPLAIN about it."

Do you see the potential here? Complain about everything and you will hate everything, and if you hate everything you will be miserable, and if you are miserable them you'll vex those around you... Complaining has great negative potential!

What if instead of complaining you choose, yes choose, to find the positive in all circumstances? This has great positive potential! This has the potential to enrich your marriage, make your job more enjoyable, make you grateful for your house, and thankful for your car. But it does stop there.

If you are a complainer, zip it. Then try finding the good instead of the bad. If you look for the bad then you will find it. If you look for the good you will also find it.


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. "

is this reality real?

Is it possible for there to be a world without poverty?
No.
Why not?
Poverty has always been and therefore will always be.
If it could be changed, would it be worth trying?
Yes.
Then what are we waiting for?
-----
We are a people without imagination. A people whose hearts are numb to the needs around us. We live to increase our store rooms. In them is where moth and rust inevitably destroy. In them is where we hoard what we rob from those we choose to ignore. Apathy has filled the place where passion once lived. Passion is the capacity and readiness to care, suffer, feel, and or die for a cause. Don't we realize what we forfeit when we accept this reality? But is this reality real? I pray not. We can only find out by subjecting ourselves to a reality outside of our own. We do not exist for ourselves.

Love

Has anyone heard of the five love languages?
http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/

· Quality Time
· Receiving Gifts
· Acts of Service
· Physical Touch
· Words of Affirmation

Which of these makes you feel loved? Which would you choose to do for someone else to show that you love them? Chances are that how ever you feel loved then you’ll want to express your love the same way. What if someone feels loved by another one of these and not by the one you are using? Then you aren’t speaking the same language and they aren’t feeling loved.

Tasha and I were given this book to read during our marriage counseling prior to our wedding. It provided us with wonderful insight into how we want to be loved and how to love each other speaking their love language.

On Dr. Gary Chapman’s site he provides a 30 second assessment to see what your love language is. Each of us usually has two primary love languages then the others follow in lesser strength. As a person changes, so does their love language. Taking this assessment every now and then will help you to effectively communicate love. All of our relationships are affected by communication, good and bad. If we learn to communicate our needs and to give to others what they need then our relationships will be deeper and more fulfilling.

Hollywood Fight Scenes

After an evening of working actually well together on the budget, we chose to take a break.

My husband chose this one. He thinks it's awesome. I think its... dumb.

Lifehouse Everything Skit