Day 338: God is Good, All the Time

"God is good, all the time" is a phrase that can be really difficult to believe when you are going through hard times like we have this past year.  It's taken me months to even consider it again.  And yet, it's truth, right?  It's God who is good, not us, not this fallen world.  It's God that sticks with us when we walk away.  But lately, I have seen the goodness of God through a brighter perspective.  Life is becoming more normal again.  Sure it's busy, but relationships are growing, healing is taking place, and life moves on.  I guess you can say I have finally "settled" for now.  Until next spring/summer at least.  At least I know what our life will most likely look like until then.  Beyond that, well, I don't dare dream too much because I just don't have a clue.  And I don't have time to dream.  December is a busy month, and I've had a lot of late nights to prove that.  God has sustained me, but some bad habits of staying up way past my normal bedtime have crept in.  I was able to get a 2 hr nap in this afternoon, but that means I have to work tonight instead of watch my TV show.  Boohoo, right?

Well, today was full again with Benaiah serving at the volunteer kiosk, Keturah singing during the services, Justin and Abishai wandering the house while I put up more Christmas lights, and then finally naptime.  We had to wake up quickly (and earlier than we really wanted to) in order to meet up with Gary and Leah before they had to head to small group and we had choir rehearsal and youth group.  Being out tonight, meant clean laundry is still sitting in baskets.  Lesson plans aren't typed out.  And my business supplies aren't put away yet.  But we had such a great time at the in laws and at church, that it's all worth it.  Abishai is such a hoot anywhere we go, so he makes life more bearable.  As you will see, he enjoyed having full run of the balcony in the auditorium, going up and down the stairs, and up and down the hallways at church.  He wandered throughout Gary and Leah's house, even running in circles at times getting everyone's attention, including Socks.  The kids played together, we had some serious conversation with the oldest (that didn't end up in a fight, yeah!), and somewhere along the way, we ate random bits of food, lol.  Nutrition has definitely suffered as of late, partly because we are trying to stretch our budget so we are eating up what we have on hand and not immediately replacing it.  We have food, but we might not hit all the right food groups in the right ways.

So, here's the rest of the story in pictures.

Here are a couple of pics of Bible Bowl that were posted to Facebook yesterday.  Justin and the girls (and a brother of the girls?)

Justin won the team mascot this time of a minion cup because he was very helpful to everyone, his team and other teams.

Fun times between teams!

Keturah had her second to last rehearsal tonight before the big performance of the musical next weekend, on the 11th, at 6 pm at Indian Creek Christian Church.  They got our of rehearsal a few minutes early, so it must have gone well!  Join us next week!  

Little man can walk up and down the stairs all by himself and had a system of holding onto the pew railings.

Cute baby.

I'm so glad Benaiah has a bunch of friends here in Indiana.  He was reminiscing with the guy in the middle about their days in children's choir.  The red headed guy on the right is David, and Benaiah and he have been friend since they were babies.  Sweet kids.

This picture is proof that I played a board game with Justin tonight.  And I won!  This game is a version of  "Sorry".  What was fun was that I never had to go around the board.  I had enough cards (where you get the numbers to advance or backtrack) with the number 4 on them, meaning I could go back 4 spaces from home, that I used them to go backwards and then used other small numbered cards to get into home.  Cool!

My boys.

This kid and his smiles.

He was smiling because he was hiding the gameboy in our bed.

I had Socks wear his Santa hat and jingle bell collar for all of 2 minutes.  He really doesn't like this kind of stuff.  But Keturah especially thinks it's cute.

Playing a game, with Christmas hats on.

Boys need to build!

Grandma has said that Abishai never lines up the cars at her house.  Well, he finally did.  And there they sit until he moves them again.

Abishai's turn at the "Bored Game."

Brother and sister building time.

Now the whole family got involved.

Benaiah wasn't sure what he would end up building, but it came out to be similar to the newer Batman's mechanical punching glove thing.  Benaiah's hand is inside the contraption.

Keturah's creation was a Sith Lord light saber from Star Wars.

But it also looks like antlers when she put it on her head.

Have nerf guns, will play, "pew pews."  Jared was providing cover fire for Abishai.

Another picture of Benaiah and his friends.  Don't they all look huge to you?  They do to me.  Can they all really be that close to adulthood?  Where did the time go?

2nd to last rehearsal.  Keturah is smack dab in the middle with the Santa hat and green shirt.

Aw, it looks like he's praying!  But it was just him watching the rehearsal and trying to do the hand motions.  He also thought it was hilarious to bang his head on the glass.

And a funny for you.  You'll have to listen very carefully, and wait a few seconds, but you'll find Benaiah "honking" while he sleeps.  It starts around :30. And the big noise is me trying not to laugh.  But it was hilarious.  I've never heard a snore like that.

Day 337: GREAT DAY!!!

God really showed up and showed off today in a big way for me! I was at an all day craft fair type event to sell the Lilla Rose products and had a blast. I had my fellow stylist with me and we worked very well as a team.  We sold a few flexiclips each, which might not seem like much, but it was just the confidence booster I needed for God to say, "Hey, you CAN do this WITH my help."  We handed out a lot of brochures and collected people's information for a drawing for a free flexiclip and to sign them up for my email list.  It was a very small event called, Christmas in Wanamaker, and they had this little map and you had to go around to different businesses in the little town to get a stamp.  Fill up the card and then you can be entered into a drawing.  There was also a small parade that drew a little of the crowd as well.  It was cold, maybe 35 F degrees, but terribly windy and no snow.  However, we were in a heated garage of a limo business and they did not keep the heat on the whole time, so our fingers and toes were a bit numb.  My friend and I had a great time chatting together and meeting new people as we shared our product.  It was so much fun to a have a partner this time around!  I didn't see any of you out there today, but if you are interested in Lilla Rose products, just let me know.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family was split up big time today.  Jared had Benaiah and Justin at their Bible Bowl competition (they only one 1 out of 10 games today and need to study more for the next competition) all day.  Then they went directly to church for the 4pm service because Benaiah is now a greeter at the Welcome booths.  That's a perfect job for his outgoing personality.  I'm so proud of how he loves to serve at church, too.  I volunteered a lot at his age and really enjoyed it.  I'm sure Jared was roped into some things, but he also volunteered on the sound board and I know he enjoyed that a lot and that's why he enjoyed doing it at the Cornwall church as well.  I joined them for the 5:30 service and made Justin sit through the service again with us, and he did not like that.  We had been up since 6 am, so I know he was tired, too.

Abishai and Keturah spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa and also had a blast.  Keturah needed to be at the church before the 4pm service because the kids' choir is singing at the beginning of all 4 services this weekend.  They start their songs a few minutes before church starts, so don't be late tomorrow!  She was not nervous at all at being on stage.  I'm not surprised.  She's usually not too hesitant trying new things (that's Justin, though, who shies away from most things).  She gets to sleep over at Grandpa's house tonight, without her siblings, so that they can take her to church early tomorrow.  Grandpa's 8 yr old princess.  I say "8 yr old princess" because Grandma likes to say, "You are my favorite 11 yr old." to Justin.  Or "You're my favorite 7 yr old" to Nora.  That way everyone gets to be Grandma's "favorite."

Abishai kept Grandma and Grandpa on their toes by making lap after lap around their house.  He doesn't usually get into trouble, but he's just so busy it's hard to keep up with him.  He took an early nap, and therefore, it wasn't a very long one.  He got up from the nap around 1pm and we just put him to bed at 9pm.  Usually he's only awake for 5 hrs at a time.  To say he was delirious is an understatement.  His antics tonight thoroughly entertained us for over an hour.  He doesn't get grumpy, instead he gets giddy and hyper.  It's so much fun.  Seriously!  Stuff like telling him, "Abishai, bubble!" and he grunts like he's trying to fart.  Or "Give me a cheesey smile." or "tickle Daddy's ears".  Or just bouncing from one person to another.  Gary talked about in the sermon tonight how he's an extrovert and thrives on relationships.  Abishai is definitely the same way.  The more people around, the happier he is.  We think he said, "Mama" and I responded "Yes." and he might have said "Nothing." and went on his merry way.  Yeah, that kid.

Tomorrow is going to be one of those "I'm so sore" kind of days, and I'll have to take it slow to prepare the week and recover from today.  And Abishai will need a good nap, and the other kids will need some seriously quiet alone time, too.  Then, it's back to the grind on Sunday night with kids' choir rehearsal and youth group.  Fun times!

That expression says it all. "Look at me go!"

Our little set up today.  It's small, but it can be mighty!

As I slowly and calmly set up, I looked around and thought, "I'm so glad I sell small things and don't need an elaborate display."  Other stylists who sell at bigger shows have incredible displays, but it's not necessary for everyone.

If you see way in the background there, one vendor sells clothing, so they have to transport the clothing racks and everything from show to show.  No, thank you!  Plus, I know that some DS companies require you to have a big inventory or have a huge start up cost, and I'm glad our company is not set up that way.  It's something like $50 for your kit and you get 5 Flexiclips worth much more than that, the smaller banner that you see in the front of my booth, and some marketing materials.  Easy.  And you only need to buy $25-30 retail of product per year to stay active.  Again, easy.  I had Jared bring in my table and big tote this morning, but I carried them out this evening just fine.  Simple and easy.

Justin would have loved to see this!  It's a Jurassic Park jeep and a raptor that moved up and down!  Awesome!

And this was fun, too!  Stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters in costume with Santa hats on.

Just your average teenage plugged into his headphones during lunch today.  I like the way Jared put it, "Might you notice anything...o, "anatomical?" Especially around the auditory canals...."  Benaiah is working on being less hooked up, but I think we all know that it's hard to put down the electronics.  I know I'm guilty of that.

And this one is great, too.  Jared said of Justin, "He's an estrongen sink/magnet....ALL the ladies on BB team w/in a yr of Justin surrounding him."  And it's true.  Justin is one of those big hearted, look out for everyone "nice" guys and does attract the ladies a bit.  He has no clue that he does though.  He did write some nice friendly notes to a lady on PEI a couple of times.  He's just sweet.  And I guess he did get to help out his team some, but did very poor on his written test today.  Bummers.

One last caption taken straight from Jared's twitter feed tonight, "I like the stage design. Simple yet full, emphasis on brightness/light...#11yoSez 'Oo yeah, a forest; I can go hide in it!' "  Oh Justin, you are so funny and you don't even have to try!

Here comes the famous kids' choir!

Keturah is all the way on the left, second row from the bottom.  She did a great job singing and doing her motions, but did get a little distracted by things happening around them.

Feel free to join us for their full performance next Sunday, December 11th, at 6 pm in the big auditorium at Indian Creek Christian Church, southeast Indianapolis.  I'm so glad we get to continue this "tradition" with another child of ours!  Justin had no interest in choir even when we lived here before.

Here's a few pics of the boys when they were in choir.  Benaiah was almost 6 in this picture.  He is the 2nd one from the left on the 2nd row I believe.

There's Justin!  I think he did do choir just once.  He must have been 5 or 6 as well.  It's for grades K-5.

My "little" angel from 2009, almost 7 years old..  Ahh.....Benaiah did have a major role in one of the musicals (they do two a year) when he was in 4th grade.  The funniest line he had was, "Yeah, my grandpa wears cufflinks and he's OLD."  And at the time, Grandpa did where cufflinks occasionally, and was still wearing a nice button up shirt and tie with trousers every Sunday.  My oh far we've come on the dress code for church, lol.  Anyway, it was perfect!

Abishai did knock out for part of the car ride home, so technically he wasn't up for 8 hrs straight.  But he did have to play for another 2 hrs before he was ready for bed.

Day 336: Ready, Set, Go!

No, that's not Abishai saying, "Ready, Set, Go!" it's me saying that!  Today was intensive prep day for my craft fair/event tomorrow.  I keep it simple, but certain things needed to be updated and printed off before I could go.  I told the kids that they would do what they could on their school work, but I didn't have time to go over anything, and I was right, I didn't.  Jared spent the morning at a breakfast meeting and then gathering wood from who knows where.  It seems that all his eyes see when he's driving are piles of wood or fallen trees ready to be harvested for our fireplace, lol. Abishai behaved himself today, and was less clingy, so I was able to get everything done just fine.  The kids also took turns entertaining him so that I could concentrate.

Then Keturah and I were headed out for the evening, birthday party for her and Christmas shopping for me.  Fun!  She had a blast and wants to do a sleepover party next year for her birthday.  I was able to get most of the shopping done, "stacked" some coupons without any effort ("stacked" means you take advantage of in store deals and have coupons to go with them), and made sure I talked myself out of some of the more elaborate things we do every year.  For example, I bought 1 bag of candy to fill a special glass tree jar instead of all the different kinds my parents used to get at Christmastime.  I also only bought ingredients for one of the treats I'll make this year.

Meanwhile, the boys had a blast roasting marshmellows in the fireplace again.  And Abishai is now constantly taking our hands to lead us to places so we can do or get something for him.  It's totally adorable.  We'll just have to remind him to "use his words" once he gets a few more.  He was a little confused when Jared put him to bed because Sissy and Mommy won't home.  Abishai's love languages are definitely touch and time.  He loves people.  It's so sweet.

What a ham!

Both Jared's family and my family had the exact same mouse and Santa advent calendar.  My sister has my family's one and we use Jared's family's one.  Abihsai likes moving the mouse all the way to number 24, although he has no clue what it means, lol.

A creative twist on the peanut butter and banana roll up Justin loves.  Add chocolate!1  I thought the spirals looked kind of fancy, so I took a picture of it.

Cheesin' for cheese puffs for breakfast because Daddy had left them out on the counter last night.

Oo, I love this shot! Artistic!  And cheesy fingers! 

Nothing like a good cuddle with Sissy (and just about anyone)!

Darth Vader meets fireplace cleaner.  In his famous red shorts and no shirt.  He's a strange 11 year old, what can I say?  He also went to take a bite of something and totally forgot he had the mask on.  What a goof!

This kid knows EXACTLY where Grandma's famous chocolate chip cookies are.  And he tries to take more than 1 every time.

Yeah, I got my cookie!

We were waiting for an appointment and apparently Jared thought the tea section needed to be organized.  Bahahahaha.  He might not always organize his papers at home, but tea, well, that's way more important to be organized. (I'm being sarcastic).  I just found it funny that he organized someone else's tea shelf.

This kid is taller than our van.  Yikes!

Another Christmas decoration that the Johnsons and Howells bought at the same time way back when are these little wooden trains that spell out Noel.  Gary and Leah's train is a bit bigger and in better shape, so Abishai is allowed to play with it and he's very careful with it.  The Howell set is a bit smaller and is a little worn looking.

Another roaring fire in the fireplace.

Indian Creek always looks beautiful at Christmastime.  This one of my favorite trees because it's so ladylike and can be found in the women's bathroom.

That's it.  Great big day tomorrow, so I don't think there will be many pictures, but I will still have a story to tell I'm sure.  Sunday will be rest and prep for the week as always.  Ready, set, go!

Day 335: One of those days

Well, I didn't get to write this blog post yesterday because we were super busy in the afternoon and evening.  And then I spent 4 hrs with a great friend of mine just hanging out and talking until 2 am at her house!  Yes, sometimes that does happen.  And I was determined to get up, get going, and not take it out on the kids if I was uber tired.  I'm doing ok so far.  So, I'll be posting more on tomorrow's blog post and post whatever pictures I have for the last two days then.  Sorry about that!

And if you are in the Indianapolis area, and want to come see me at a craft fair/Christmas event called "Christmas in Wanamaker," you can find me in Wanamaker, IN, which is in southeast Indianapolis, Frankline Township area.  I'll be inside the limo business which is across the street from the flower shop.  There is a Christmas parade at noon as well.  Lots of treats and discounts and people selling their wares, including my fellow stylist and I.  I'd love to chat, so come on by anytime from 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday, December 3rd.  Thanks!

Christmas in Wanamaker

Photo Courtesy of the Christmas in Wanamaker event, Wanamaker, Indiana.

Day 334: When Frustrations Mount

Do you ever feel like you are drowning in work? Or can't seem to balance the work/play/rest areas in your life?  I think Jared and I hit that wall today and had to let a little of that steam that had built up come bubbling out.  We were more frustrated at all the things that pull us in all kind of different directions, like cute babies, and articles to read here, and kid fights that need broken up, and diapers that need changed and the real "work" that earns a paycheck, not to mention paperwork that needs to be filled out again to get medical insurance, and a craft show to prepare for on Saturday.  Never mind the kids need to be educated and fed and the house needs cleaned.  Yes, you catch my drift I think.  It's definitely been hard for Jared to work from home.  He loves to jump in and help, and I'm pretty used to the help, so I have to keep reminding both him and I that he needs to work, and I need to break up the fights and change diapers and take videos of the cute 2 yr old.  It's also a blessing that he's home so I can go to a doctor's appointment alone.  I say all of this, because it's been a part of our journey this year.  And I'm sure some of you have been through it as well, if you or your spouse works from home, or is working part-time, or perhaps working the 2nd or 3rd shift.

I was reminded tonight at my Bible study of the verse in Psalm 45 that says, "Be still and know that I am God."  We see that verse everywhere, but what we don't realize is that it is in the middle of a Psalm all about how God fights for us in the chaos of the storms of our lives.  During the tough times, God is saying, "In your soul, where I dwell, be still and KNOW that I am here with you and will fight for you."  We don't have to do the fighting.  God is already up at bat for us.  So, when the pressures of life mount up like they did today, I can take a step back and remember that if I stop, I can find God already at work in any situation, large or small.  I can say, all of these tasks that need to get done, will get done when they need to get done.  And if they don't because I choose what is most important or God puts something He thinks is more important to do on my list, then whatever doesn't get done, really didn't need to get done today.  I can rest knowing I did my part and God's got the rest.  God will show up, we just need to keep looking for Him.

And that's a wonderful thing!  Just as wonderful is words coming from my 14 yr old who says, "I don't understand how some kids can say, 'I don't care if I get a D or F in this class because my parents will pay for school anyway.'  They need to step it up!"  Woah! Is this the same child who fought me tooth and nail last year in homeschool?  It's sad that he couldn't apply himself in homeschooling, but at least the seeds we planted are already blooming in his young life.  His grades are all over a B+'s.  And he's found a buddy in the grade ahead of him, who happens to be the son of my favorite teacher there at the school.  So, yeah!  And he finally made it through graphing equations! That's where he and I stopped in math last year, lol.  Tomorrow, Benaiah is also going to start wearing his santa hat to school everyday, because well, he's like that.  Cracks me up.  And every day it seems he does something just like his dad, like wearing the Santa hat while out and about, or coughing up snot and spitting it out instead of blowing it out of his nose.  Gross, but true.  We can't call Benaiah a "mini" me anymore, but he certainly is Jared's clone a lot of the time.  Benaiah says he's different than his dad because he is more outgoing and louder and more of a derp than Jared ever has been, and that's certainly true.  Crazy kid.

Abishai likes to drink more than water now, and will say, "drink," if he wants juice.  So, Daddy happened to put his tea mug down near Abishai and Abishai went for a taste!  He spilled some and when we said, "Take a drink," because I was trying to get a picture, he sipped up the tea from the counter top.  You can guess who taught him that one and it wasn't me!

He's so proud of himself for being a big boy!  And yes, he knows how to use the flip top, too.

For the middles art class this week, they have to bring in a picture of whatever they want from a magazine, a picture book, anything so that they can draw it using the pointilism method.  Well, Keturah wanted to create her own picture just for the occasion, and this is what she wanted, my old popple stuffed animal on the purple blanket background.  I have to print it out so she can take it with her to class next week.  She is our little creative artist to the core.

Abishai got this toy last year, and he enjoyed it then, but picked it back up the last couple of days.  He will push buttons until it gets to his favorite song(s) though and then let's it play through that song.  The same goes for a singing teapot we have as well.

Hugs for his puppy.

Abishai has started to grab our pants or hands to lead us somewhere.  He grabbed Baba Justin's hand at supper tonight and pulled him over to his room because Abishai wanted to play in Baba's room.  We didn't have time for Baba to play, but it was cute nonetheless.

No joke, I found a package of 5 dozen eggs at Kroger tonight on our way home from church!  By buying in bulk, it came out to be like $1.10 a dozen.  I know eggs keep for awhile, but we tend to go through 3 dozen eggs a week anyway.  So, there ya go, the biggest bundle of eggs I've ever encountered.

And now for the "aw" moment of the day.  First of all, Keturah always wears her Santa hat all day every day during the Christmas season, and has for the past few years.  Second, Abishai has his own profile on the PS4 and yes, that's his own personalized car that he plays on the Need for Speed game.   And third, this was taken as I was leaving for church tonight.  And who knew the coffee table is the perfect place to sit to play a video game.  Thankfully, they don't do it all the time.  I like how Keturah is helping Abishai with the game and that Abishai was distracted and didn't notice me leaving.  He doesn't like when people leave and wants to go with them.