Ordinary Stuff

I was listening to these guys'    Podcast  last week, and they interviewed this lady , who cautions us against measuring our spirituality by the fabulousness of our calling.

Here is my response, which I shared with some friends walking through the cancer battle of their teen daughter:

Have any of you had your own set of "light momentary afflictions" in your homes and marriages lately? And thought to yourselves, "I should not be struggling with this when other people have real problems like cancer?" We have.

And I think that ourselves and Satan try to tell us that it's important to pray for and support a family with REAL problems. But at the same time we struggle and fail to apply God's word to our "ordinary" lives. I am guilty of it, recently. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've thought we have had a pretty cruddy year, but nothing "fancy, like cancer" to put in our Christmas letter.

I have been guilty of apathy and independence in my marriage. I have not been content to serve my family in housewifely ways. Instead, I want to do something awesome like go to Africa or adopt 5 kids (notice I did not ask for sickness or loss). So far God has not opened those doors. But He is helping me to understand that He honors ordinary, non-newsworthy, daily faithfulness, including the ministry of prayer. He may use it to prepare us for a harder trial or responsibility in the future. Or, this may be "all" He requires of us in this life time.

Just like our sin has long-lasting ripples of consequence, so does walking by faith. So as Scott & Lina choose to walk by faith, by God's grace through these trials, let's choose to benefit and be encouraged to walk our current paths by faith, as well.

We long to share their burdens in many ways. May spiritual growth be one of our consequences.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is my official favorite Thanksgiving song this year. I begin nearly every fall morning listening to it.

Here is the Sevier River in Utah.

May all your weeds be wildflowers

Dear daughter and I went out to the neighbor's CRP last night, and look what we found still blooming at the end of September.

In a Perfect World

I would be reading these while leading my children through an Ancient Rome study. 

Back to School Fun

We had a little end-of-summer bash with some of the kids' friends.

 

 Are we ready for 2 middle schoolers?

Are we ready for 2 First graders?

And we have our anchor man, holding down center position.

I present to you the members of the Sandcherry Schoolhouse, the best students anyone could teach.

Here is the awkward dog shot.

The Library

We got it done!  A few years earlier than planned, even.  We have already used it as a spare bedroom, and hopefully it will be a quiet place for kids to study.  I am very excited to have emptied every box of books that was in the basement.

 This wall was already built in.

I copied a Pinterest idea to frame favorite books.  

 These file cabinets were given to me.  They now hold curriculum.

 Here is another free find and Pinterest idea:  a sliding closet door.  

There are 2 antique big story books on the wall, which I clipped on a board using tiny clothespins.

Happy Anniversary to Us

July 4th, 1999 was quite possibly the very best day of my life.

It had been a few years and our kids had been asking, so last night we sat down and watched our wedding home video.  You never know how you're going to feel, reliving such a highly-charged emotional day.  But, I loved every minute of it!  I was determined to have a wonderful wedding day, and after watching it all, it was wonderful, and I would go back and do it over again.

I do not think we made our wedding vows glibly.  I had wrestled through the "what ifs" before entering into that covenant.  I felt like I was going into marriage with eyes wide open.  But still, at age 22 1/2, we had no way of knowing what it would be like to actually live out those promises.  Right now, I'm sure any of you who have been married for decades are smiling knowingly, thinking that at only 14 years we have no idea.  I agree.  Nevertheless, each year that passes adds more layers of the "for betters," and the "for worses."  And already we smile back on our younger selves, knowingly.

Yet, there are things to learn from those 22 1/2 year olds, too.  We had energy (daughter said, "Mom, I've never seen you so hyper.")  We had soft and tender hearts toward God.  We sought help from our mentors and teachers.  We were content to have little but each other.

May we go on in God's grace.