Reveal

I'm blogging very little this summer.
Not by plan or intent.
There's been plenty of things I've thought "I should blog that" but then it doesn't happen and we are on to the next thing or next thought.

Right now I'm sitting outside on a cool evening as the moon is coming up and the first fireflies are appearing.
My bambinos are on the trampoline thinking they are going to sleep there.
One night this summer we will but not tonight.
We spent the majority of the day with some Utah friends.
It was so good to have them here.
We drove them around our town and as we did I told my friend it was strange to have her here.
Two worlds colliding.
I'm dragging out the process where we wrap up the day.
We will eventually do it and tonight I think I'll walk past the messes and head to bed early.
Maybe grab a book on my way.
It's one of those nights.
Tired body.
Full heart and head.

I read something yesterday morning from The Message Bible; it's sticking in my mind.
Matthew 6:6, 9 & 10

"Here's what I want you to do: find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role play before God. Just be there simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you, to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."

"Our Father in heaven

Reveal who you are.

Set the world right; 

Do what's best-  as above, so below"

It's my prayer tonight.
God Reveal who you are to me and set the world right. May my focus be on you instead of me.

Amen and Goodnight.

Garage Sale for Orphans

THIS WEEKEND  . . .
Myself and a couple girlfriends are having a garage sale.
It's the town wide garage sale day.
We decided to have a garage sale with a purpose.
Here's where Garage Sale for Orphans comes in.
All proceeds go to Garage Sale 4 Orphans.

I love their concept ... here it is in their own words. (www.garagesale4orphans.com)

=======================================

the concept is pretty simple.  SELL. GIVE. HELP. 

we believe that everyone wants to be generous, but many just don't always have the financial ability to do so.  GS4O is a great way for people who can't just write a check, to serve others. 

self-storage is a $22 billion industry.

for years, many of us have been storing our excess things in storage facilities and in our attics and closets.  our stuff has taken over our garages. many of us end up moving the same boxes from house to house and never even open them.

we believe our excess stuff can mean life for another, and can contribute to ending cycles of extreme poverty for many.

 SELL. GIVE. HELP.
========================================

We are joining with Jen Hatmaker (author and speaker of "7 - An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess")

She has created a collaborative partnership with Garagesale4orphans to build anti-trafficking homes in Ferrier, Haiti.  Read more about this project here.

They are on their 7th home!

All proceeds of our garage sale will go to this project.

So if you live in the area check us out. 

We have many area friends donating their items as well so their will be some great finds. 

Lots of kids clothes.

If you don't find something you need you can always purchase a nice cold cup of Lemonade from our young ones. (Lemonade Stand times may vary; they might not open till Saturday morning cartoons are over. :)) 

We are listed on the town Garage Sale Map -- we are #7. You can download info. on all the garage sales here.

Come SHOP AND GIVE all at the same time.

Long Overdue Post -- Community Women's Retreat

To blog has been on my "list" for weeks.
Somehow it just kept getting moved.
I have so many things I wanted to blog out.
Still have pics to show from our awesome trip to Austin.
Here's just one.

I hope to come back and post some more pics of Texas goodness.

Since the last time I've blogged the Community Women's Retreat has come and gone.
It was an amazing weekend.
It touched me on so many layers.
It was beautiful.
This is my favorite photo of the weekend.

This photo brings tears to my eyes.
It sums up the weekend - women's hearts touched by a message that calls us to action.
Can you see the tear?
Beautiful!

We had an amazing weekend -- We had 160 women attend (and one lone man that was seriously needed to make it all sound good - Thanks Craig!) .  There were chair massages, great food, beautiful lodging, trails to walk, prizes to win, time to hang out, and activities to join in on but the highlight of the event, according to evaluations and the people that came to share with members of our team was Jen Hatmaker, our speaker. She brought us all to tears with her jokes and stories and then spoke with such biblical depth bringing something new and fresh to everyone.

Her challenge was to live as a disciple of Jesus, to love our neighbors, and to love those hurting and in great need in the world. It was challenging, emotional and a call to action. Calling all of us to "get in the game".  

A huge highlight for me was getting time to spend with Jen on our way from the airport.

The girls at the retreat are lucky I didn't just keep on driving past the lodge ! ha.

Her and her husbands journey in church planting has touched our lives deeply.

I picked up a book by her over 2 years ago and said to Jason, "I wish I could sit and chat with this girl."

She's authentic and is living out what she's teaching.

What a treat to get to know her a little bit personally.

For all my Oklahoma friends she is coming to Enid the last weekend of March.

Get tickets - you won't regret it ! ! !

Our worship team bonded so well and was amazing.  They met for the first time Friday morning and by Friday evening you would have thought they had been together forever. It was a collision of two worlds for me. The two girls that joined my amazing sister in law were friends from Utah. It was surreal to have them there. 

We had invited everyone to bring a new pair of children's shoes to that would be sent over seas to children that live shoeless lives. We filled  "wells" that we had with shoes. It was a beautiful picture. Without having counted them yet I'm  estimating over 200 children's shoes. Yeah!! 

We had a 31 Bits table. This is all jewelry that was made in Uganda and the proceeds when directly back to these women helping them in an education and beyond. The women enjoyed shopping with a purpose. 

 By noon on Saturday our book table was empty . . . every book Jen brought was sold by noon.  Crazy! 

I am so excited to see how the messages we heard will take root in our communities.
I dream of a community where we all look around and view ourselves on mission, right here at our ball games, our pool, our school events and more.  The challenge to love our neighbor affects us all.  I also get excited to see how God taps each of us differently to engage in the world of pain beyond our neighborhood. 

The options are endless when it comes to joining in the fight against suffering in the world.

This planning team of women is an amazing picture of how God brings things together. Many of us didn't know each other until planning the first event last year. We added a few faces this year. The gifts and talents are all over the place and all I can say is it's a joy to serve and lead along side of these ladies!! (Next time we are taking this picture BEFORE the event starts . . . I look exhausted.)


I can not believe I don't have a picture of me with Yvonne --- this girl was a jewel this year! She co-lead with me and saved me time and time again in the planning process. Here's a picture of us "discussing" some detail in the mist of the retreat.

She rocks! I love you Von!

(Me and my sister in law and friend!)

These two made it all look at sound good on stage !!  

Everyones gotta love this girl!! I sure do!!

(We sure are stripy stripy here.)

A sweet time of communion ended our time.

Lots of laughing all weekend!

Nothing is better than that!

 

There's Yvonne and I on the front row side by side!!
It was awesome to serve by your side Yvonne!

What a beautiful weekend!

(The majority of the pictures on this post were taken by Jess Siebert! Thanks Jess! )

World Changers

We just might have a few world changers in this house.
Last night we had a spontaneous teaching moment.
The kids found the magazines on the counter from World Vision and Samaritan's Purse.
The ones where you can choose an item to purchase to help someone in poverty.
We've purchased things before- they are familiar with the catalogs.
Carter said, "Let me see those."
We started talking about what we should choose.
They have a huge jar of pennies from my parents and decided we'd use that for it and then they all decided they'd chip in from their piggy banks.
The exact amount they'd each chip in was up for grabs and everyone had a thought.
I stayed out of this part of it.
I like to hear them wrestle with themselves.
I also like it to be their idea.
Whether a little or a lot you can see the wrestling.
You can see the desire.
Sounds a lot like myself.
We started looking through the catalogs and they were asking about certain items.
The two that they got stuck on the most were mosquito nets and a share in helping a child with an airline ticket that will save their life.
I told them how many pennies they had in the jar and the boys figured out that if they all added $2 to it that they could get two mosquito nets.
They liked this.
Then Tatum chimed in . . . .
"If we gather all our money we can get them stuff so they can go to the places they need to go to like a hotel."
She kept going (she's using her hands the whole time), "We should get some money and gather it together so we could buy them a sink and then get a bunch of wood so we could build them a kitchen and a fridge. They could get some cold air and put it in the fridge then. That would be awesome for them."
The entire time she had such passion in her voice.
She had the look of "I'm gonna change the world"
We talked about how rich we are in this world.
They made so many comments I wish I could remember.
Somehow we went from that conversation to orphanages (a conversation we've had several times now this last month) and I told them about a little child I held all day from an orphanage in Mexico when I was in high school. I told them that somewhere I had a picture of me and that child.
They wanted me to find the picture so we could put it on the fridge.

They started getting artsy on me and saying we could make a big board or poster about homeless people or poor people.
Tatum said she was going to put the bulletin board in her room.
Then Ian took our chalkboard frame down and said, "Can I erase this and put a verse on there about orphans?"
Me:  "Yes."
So we found two verses and he did that.

I found this interesting because the verse we've been looking at on this sign for many many months was, "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight oh Lord."
We don't have the concept down yet.
I'm still struggling with it.
I keep wondering when our family will get this down.
But then the thought hit me tonight.
Maybe if we focus on these new verses "take care of the poor" and "help the orphans in their distress" our words and meditations might naturally become more pleasing.
Does that make sense to anyone but me?

I love how Ian misspelled the word poor. I left it because that's what we are supposed to do - "pour ourselves out for the poor."

This is also in our bathroom now.

A couple Sundays ago was Orphan Sunday.
I was tipped off to it by a blog I follow.
We participated in a simple way by eating an "orphan" meal as a family (white rice plain out of one bowl, passing it around) and talking about orphans and praying for them.
Carter got up in the middle of that and brought me the sign from the bathroom that usually says "Wash those grubby hands. Love Mommy" and thought I should write "Take Care of Orphans" on it instead.
So I did.

So now I'm surrounded by these verses -- in my kids handwriting.
Hmmm.

I don't tell you all this to say "look at my kids, look at my family".
We're a normal American family doing normal American family things.
Please don't hear me say "look at us."
I tell you this because this week I have spent more physical time and more mental time thinking about money and our finances than I care to ever admit.
It's embarrassing.
It's challenging.
It's frustrating.

We. . . . have . . . . so . . . . much.
As I said very little while my kids were talking amongst themselves, making plans about their money tonight I just watched their faces.
Intense.
Serious.
Thinking.
I want their intense, serious, thinking faces when it comes to these things.
It's the time of year when the opportunities are EVERYWHERE.
It's always bugged me that we focus on it more now instead of all year.
But we do & it's still good.

I don't know what all is in store for my children's future.
Or mine really.
I just know that these world changing kids are changing my world just by listening to their child like faith.
Grab you some child like faith, engage your child and see what they teach you this season.

Mark your Calendar

Ever get excited for something that is still so far away?
I do.
I am super excited for our next Women's Retreat.
If you came to the first one last year you know it was great.
We are planning one again.
Already have some things checked off the list.
I mailed off our contract today.

Date - - - MARCH 9 and 10 - - - check.

Location - - -same great place as last year - - - check.

Speaker - - - CHECK !!!!

This year we have a LIVE SPEAKER and I am beyond excited about it!!!

JEN HATMAKER is our speaker.

I have blogged about her latest books here,  here, and here.
I've underlined the heck out of them.
They have challenged and encouraged me and several of my girlfriends the last two years.

She's written several others that I have not read.

She has a new book coming out in January. 

We invited her to come and several weeks ago we got a confirmation !!!
Check out her blog and website to read about her and to hear her heart.
Her blog is posted on the right hand side of my blog as well.
The post on her blog "Letting Go" and her most recent post "After the Airport" are just amazing to read.
Click around on her website and you will hear her heart for the church; for the least of these; and for adoption.
I love the way she processes and the way she thinks.
You may not be in her exact situation or circumstance but she will challenge you; that I promise.
Girls we are in for a huge treat.
She's a Texan and I hear they are a hoot. (wink wink)
If you live in the area mark your calendar (MARCH 9-10, 2012) and be watching for details later this fall.
Space will be limited so you will want to act fast.
Last year we had to stop the registrations at 180.
It's gonna be great!!

Challenging Read and Friday's Five

Finished a book.
A good one.
A challenging one.
One I recommend.
I've recommended her books before.
I like how she thinks.
She brings a little sarcasm to her style as well.
Plus she's Texan so she gets bonus points. :))
The last book I recommended was "Out of the SpinCycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Motherload"
This one is a little different topic.
It's called "Interrupted: An Adventure in Relearning the Essentials of Faith" by Jen Hatmaker.
You can get them both at this site or at amazon.

It's the story of her and her husband's journey to plant a missional church.
Missional?
Missionologist Rick Meigs described missional as "a life where 'the way of Jesus' informs and radically transforms our existence . . . where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture."
Since I don't know Rick Meigs I got a definition from the guy I live with: "Being 'missional' is discovering what God is doing here and now and joining Him in a way that engages every area of our life."

I know there are at least a hand full of church planter wives or pastor wives that read this blog - you would love this book.

It's not just for them though - pastors are not the only ones that should be living "on mission".

We can all live "on mission" whether we are a part of a church that is recognized as missional or not. 

Confused about all this "missional talk"? 

Read the book.

It will bring you into this conversation with a women that is in the mix of it. 

I've tried to pick out some quotes from the book that I really liked.
Not sure I picked the best ones to represent.
Too many to pick from.
I've written all throughout the book - it was that kind of a read for me.
Here's five quotes from the book because it's FRIDAY'S FIVE.

1

"I am still stunned by my capacity to spin Scripture, see what I wanted,

 ignore what I didn't, and use the Word to defend my life rather than define it." (p. 20)

2

"When believers sequester from culture, it's like recruiting a group of traveling 

salesmen and discovering all they do is stay together at the office" (p.145)

3

"Our faith communities run the gamut from judgmental high church to feel-good 

talent shows, and people aren't buying anymore. Remarkably, most outsiders are not

 anti-church; they simply dismiss the church as irrelevant to their real lives since it seems 

mostly irrelevant to the people who go there." (p.80)

4

"A frustrating trait about God is how He expects us to act on conviction fairly quickly. 

Pretty much the second He convinces us to move, to change, to shift, we're 

supposed to. Despite how much we ponder it or talk about it, until we are obedient in word 

and deed, we're just here pretending to be there." (p.76)

5

"We don't get to opt out of living on mission because we might not be appreciated. We're not allowed to neglect the oppressed because we have reservations about their discernment. We cannot deny love because it might be despised or misunderstood. We can't withhold social relief because we're not convinced it will be perfectly managed. Must we be wise? Absolutely. But doing nothing is a blatant sin of omission. Turning the blind eye to the bottom of the grounds of "unworthiness" is the antithesis to Jesus' entire mission." (p.58)

Maybe those quotes made you want to read it.
Maybe they made you want to skip this sort of a book.
I challenge you to read it and consider where God has you RIGHT now.
How can you incorporate a "missional life" right where you are?

What challenging read are you reading right now?
I'd love to hear it.

Amazing

Amazing weekend.
I'm sitting in a quiet lodge right now after reflecting and sharing my heart with Jesus.
It's time to close up and start the drive home.
The women's retreat was amazing.
180 women together to worship?  Pretty awesome!
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my friend Deb.
I feel refreshed from it all.
This past month was like a sprint each day as things came together great for this event.
It's time to jog now and I'm ready for the steady jog instead of the sprint but the sprint was so GOOD and the results were GREAT.
Women experienced God's love.
I experienced God's love.
Sweetness!
That's all for now.
Time to drive home to kiss on my supporting man and kids!

Give Me Jesus - Fernando Ortega Ruth Graham Tribute

My posts lately have been heavy on the words/thoughts and music and low on the pics.
Sorry.
Haven't had my camera in my hand much since Christmas.
That will be a goal in Feb.
But for now one more song post.

I am off today to prepare for the Women's Retreat I've been talking about.
Off to some time with G I R L S.
Off to some time with J E S U S.
Oh how excited I am.
All will be well here at our house - always is when I'm gone.
I have a rock star husband!


This is the first song on my playlist right now.
Our pastor showed this last week at church.
It's moving.
Moves me to want more of Jesus.
Moves me to want to be that couple that is married for 60+ years and still in love.
Moves me to want to live so my kids will say this of me someday.
Give Me Jesus.
Hope it encourages and moves you too.

THIS WEEK ! ! !

I'm excited for today.
I have something exciting to tell you.
Today you can give WATER!



charity: water promo featuring "Time Bomb" by Beck from charity: water on Vimeo.

While giving water today (all week) you can enter to win some FABULOUS gifts.
This Blog World has proven to bring so many together to make BIG changes for others.
I love that about the blog world.
Go on over to Project 320.
Last year this project provided enough for 2 WELLS.
Amazing!
At the bottom of the Project 320 post there will be links to bloggers that are doing give aways.
It's simple.
Pick a give away you hope to win.
Then donate $10 at Project 320's charity:water page .
Each blog will have a link to the donation site.
Then leave a comment on the blog you want to enter.
You can donate again and again and again - all week.
For each $10 donation leave a separate comment on the individual blogs.
You can enter one give away or a ton of different give aways.


The story of charity: water - The 2009 September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

I can't watch either of these videos without tears and my heart racing telling me . . . "I can make a difference for one mom."

I've had a verse rocking my mind for a couple months now.
I've wanted to share it but it never seemed the time.
I think today is a good time.
It's in a part of the bible that I know I've read many times in my life but when I read it months ago I stopped.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be EQUALITY. At the present time YOU PLENTY will supply WHAT THEY NEED, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is EQUALITY, as it is written: "The one who gathered much did not have too much , and the one who gathered little did not have too little."

Had I read this before?

Why hadn't I remembered this part?

I've never questioned our call to give.

It's obvious the bible is full of mandates to care for the poor, the needy etc.

But the word equality got me this time.

My plenty will supply there need.

Their plenty will supply my need.

Today, even in my needs,  I have plenty.

Plenty of water.

Plenty of many things.

This week I will give water!

Go Buy Some Water!!!  

31 Bits Party!!

This week I cleaned my house and invited many of you over for some 31 BITS JEWELRY SHOPPING!

It was so fun.
The colors are amazing - the designs are awesome - and the cause tops it all.
The jewelry is from 31Bits.
It is all made by women in Northern Uganda.
Check out the site.
For those of you that came --  thank you for shopping!
It was so fun "shopping" with you!
I have over $1000 to send back to these women.
I hope you will think of them as you wear your beautiful pieces.

I still have pieces left.
Here are a few that are left.
Please buy them or I might purchase 10 more for myself. :))

If you are interested in coming to see it let me know.

They make GREAT gifts. 

I have many bracelets left too - great stocking stuffers.

You get a postcard with your purchase and you can then look up online the lady from Uganda that designed your actual piece.  You can then read their story.

One lady that came to the party bought bracelets for all her granddaughters and she is going to type up the story that goes with each piece for them.

Isn't that neat?

I thought about taking an old suit coat of Jason's and pinning all the left over pieces inside of the jacket and then wearing it around town.

Decided not to. HA!

If you don't live close by check out their website and you can order direct from them instead of dealing with shipping costs with me.

When you buy at a party their is no shipping and no tax. It's all figured in.

You pick the piece and take it right away!

You can easily host your own party too - check that out at the site also.

It's EASY.

Tell them how many people you will invite. They send a box so full of color you will be in awe. Host the party. What doesn't sell you send back.  You get to pick one piece for free. That's it. Simple.

======================================= 

I can't end this post without telling you how comical the events were leading up to this event.
I was very excited to host this party.
I loved the cause.
It's something simple that I can do.
I cleaned my house and as I finished cleaning the last bathroom it happened.
It started to overflow and we realized that the little drain problems we had been having in the house were now a big problem.
This was on Monday (late in the day).
First round of shoppers were coming at 2:00 on Tuesday.
No bathrooms were functioning from that point on.
No toilets - no showers.
Jason began digging to find the tank outside.
He dug till 11pm.
Next morning . . . 3 plumbers called.
None available.
My man, my great brother in law, and father in law all were on the job.
I was fighting an irritating attitude.
Seriously the one time I invite 50 women over we have to have serious plumbing problems??
I was picturing women shopping for jewelry with a cup of cider in their hand, a little back ground Christmas music going all while having the lingering smell of "toilet problems" in my house and men trudging through my house with gloves on that were covered in things we don't want to mention.
I found this all very ironic.
On one hand I felt like Satan was having a great time throwing many obstacles at me.
(There were other obstacles but this seemed to be the biggest.)
On the flip side I think God was smiling saying, "You really want to help some women that have completely different circumstances than you? That's great. Maybe you should relate with them on their reality (Just a tiny fraction of it.). They don't have running water. They don't have a separate room in their house for the bathroom. They don't have a mother in laws house to go to to take a shower before hosting a party. They don't have their own shower for that matter. They don't host parties. "
The bathroom problem was cleared up by 12:30 and bathrooms re cleaned by 1:00 for guests to come at 2 --- and guess what ?
NO ONE AT THE PARTY EVEN HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM.
I should have made everyone go potty before leaving! :))
For you girls that came shopping - there's the behind the scene look at the boutique you just purchased from.
You were spared seeing the "blue gloves" guys walking through the house while you shopped!!
:))