25 Random Things

Everyone on Facebook is doing this, but I thought it would be fun to do on my blog. So, here goes! =)
1.) My favorite food is chocolate! White chocolate. Dark chocolate. Mint chocolate. Chocolate with caramel. I'm not picky. I eat some chocolate virtually every day.
2.) I'm TERRIFIED of heights - which I've decided is genetic b/c so is my dad. You should've seen us at the top of the Sears Tower.
3.) When I was a teeneager, I shared a bedroom with my three younger sisters and shared the single bathroom in our home with all seven family members.
4.) I love black and white pictures of trees!
5.) I am very, very bad at dogs. Our first and last puppy lasted three weeks.
6.) I had a kitten I used to rock/sing to sleep!
7.) My dream when I was in elementary was to be a sprinter! Yes, running. Which any of you who watched me "run" in highschool will know was an incredibly ridiculous dream.
8.) The ocean is my absolute favorite place.
9.) I HATE to be hot! Over 80 or 85 degrees is too hot for me!
10.) For the first 20 years of my life, I thought farmers were extremely lazy people who only worked a few weeks in the spring to plant and a few weeks in the fall to harvest.
11.) My sister and I vowed to never, ever marry a farmer or a missionary.
12.) I'm now married to a farm boy who dreams of being a missionary pilot. And my sister married his brother.
13.) While living in Senegal, West Africa I learned that I am extremely allergic to cashew trees.
14.) My favorite class in college was Western Civilizations. We studied what ancient architecture and city planning reveals about their culture. Fascinating stuff!
15.) I sing ALL the time. A song is always playing in my head. So if you're in the middle of a conversation with me and I start singing (and listening at the same time, of course), sorry.
16.) I am forever grateful to Larry and Virginia Cooper who got me in the habit of reading my Bible every day.
17.) I cannot read Mary Higgins Clark books. Some creepy man is always sneaking up behind some unsuspecting girl and throwing a plastic bag over her head or something. They give me nightmares.
18.) Caleb and I got married on my sister's 16th (?) birthday. Sorry for stealing your day, Kristi!
19.) Someday I want to adopt a little boy from Africa.
20.) Flying makes me sick. As we landed in Dakar, Senegal when I was 8, I threw up all over my sister. Sorry Becca. Thank goodness for Dramamine!
21.) The night Caleb proposed to me, I dropped the gift he'd hidden the ring in - in the middle of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black dark. I think the poor man almost had a heart attack!
22.) I liked dissecting things in biology class. One time my brothers went fishing, and I dissected their fish just for fun. I think that's probably really weird....
23.) I'm terrified of parties! Having to mingle in a big group of people and find something not stupid to say totally freaks me out! I panic every time, and Caleb has to talk me out of it.
24.)My kids are much more entertaining, more adventurous, more trusting, more energetic, and more joyful than I am.
25.) I have spent way too much time talking about myself. Maybe you should do this, so I can learn something fun about you! =)

I'm reading Beth Moore's devotional book, "John: 90 Days with the Beloved Disciple", and today I read a quote that stunned me a little. The main Bible verse for the day is John 3:16. How many of us have been able to quote that verse in our sleep since we were three years old?

"For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

But THINK about it! God spoke into being billions of light years containing billions of galaxies, most of which we cannot even see let alone understand. Then on one tiny speck in one average galaxy, circling one of billions of stars,God poured inestimable care. He fashioned it to be a perfect environment for life. And then He created us. Fallible humans who would one day torture and kill His only Son. Why go to all this trouble and sorrow? Beth Moore says,

"I am absolutely convinced that mankind exists out of the holy passion of the Trinity to draw others into their fellowship." pg. 205

God LOVES us, and He longs for relationship with us! Not because he needs us. He is self-sufficient. Yet He loves us - me - enough to come to this earth and die for me!
I have a hard time comprehending His love. It seems like love on earth is based on performance. "I love you IF...." If you're nice to me. If you give me what I need. If you listen to what I tell you to do. Somehow I have the tendancy (the audacity) to put God into that box. God loves me if I obey Him. If I'm good enough. If I'm loving towards my husband. If.
Cramming God into the confines of what my limited mind can comprehend.
Ridiculous, huh?
Ok, so after thinking all of this, I came to the quote that blew me away.

"And when the God of all the universe stoops down and a single child recognizes the tender condescension and bends her knee to stoop as well, the heart of God surges with unbridled emotion. And there they are. Just the two of them." pg. 207

Wow! One-on-one with God! My heart pretty much stops beating at the thought. And yet that is where I long to be - to spend eternity in the presence of God. Thank you Jesus for your love!
All this richness in what we mindlessly, repetitively quote with our kids.

for Kristi

The other night we had Rice Crispy bars for dessert - something I don't make very often. So the kids were very excited! I started walking toward the table with the pan, and Kylie started yelling, "Rice Kristi bars! Rice Kristi bars!" We tried to correct her, but she was sure she was eating a Rice Kristi bar for desert. And it was so funny we just laughed - and called Aunt Kristi to let her know Kylie had named dessert after her! =)

Verses for 2009

Psalm 143:6,8,10-11

I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul. Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.

This is my "I'm overwhelmed again today!" verse.
2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

I could tell you lots of things God says to me through His words in these verses, but I think I'll let Him speak directly to your hearts without my personal commentary getting in the way.

Dreaming of white sand beaches....

I don't know if it's because I've been freezing constantly for the past few weeks or because my kids have decided their favorite thing to do is run around the house screaming at the top of their lungs, but I have decided I want a tropical vacation. I want to lay in the sand with the sun shining on me and hear nothing but the roar of the waves. I LOVE the ocean - sad for someone who lives in Nebraska, I know. But I would rather watch the sun go down (or come up - I'm not picky) over the ocean than do just about anything. Anyone want to roadtrip to California? I suppose the more important question is: Anybody want to babysit my kids while I roadtrip to California? Not likely. I know.

Life as a three-year-old

We were talking at supper tonight about the presents Jesus wants for His birthday. Ethan and I were having a pretty good discussion.
Kylie, not wanting to miss an opportunity to talk, pipes up, "Jesus is precious to me!"
Out of the mouths of three year olds.
I just wonder, "does she have a clue what she just said?"
And, "Who knew she knew the word 'precious' well enough to use it in a sentence?"
Now, ten minutes later she's sitting in time out screaming because I told her to pick up that toys she threw on the ground and she said, "no!"
Oh...the life of a three year old...

Mary

I've been contemplating Mary, the mother of Jesus, recently. Every year at Christmas, I look at my kids and wonder, what would it be like to be the earthly mother of God?
Mary had ample opportunity to grieve ruined plans. She's engaged to a man and, no doubt, planning their lives together. They'll be married, learn how to live together, decorate their house, and then surround themselves with beautiful babies. Then an angel shows up and suddenly she, an unmarried 14 year old virgin, is carrying the Son of God. And her plans for a normal life forever disappear. Her family thinks she's crazy. Only God intervening in a miraculous dream can convince her husband-to-be to go through with the marriage. The townspeople whisper, mock, shun. Her friends avoid her in the streets. She runs to Elizabeth's for understanding and isolation. Everyone assumes terrible sin resides in her life, when in fact, the opposite is true. She is carrying perfection not shame. But she cannot prove it to anyone. How full of joy she must have been when Joseph marries her anyway. But their marriage would never be free from gossiping tongues and condemning glances.
Her baby is born in Bethlehem in a filthy stable with no mother to help deliver the baby. And then people keep showing up to worship her son while, exhausted, Mary wishes for quiet so she can sleep. Even walking into the temple to offer sacrifices for her firstborn son creates a stir as people begin prophesying and weeping over their long awaited Messiah. She ends up fleeing to a foreign country to escape the wrath of a jealous, earthly king.
I think all this would be enough to make me feel picked on. I think I would cry, "I wanted a simple, normal life, God! To love my husband and children in my village with my family and not create too much of a stir." And yet God saw something in Mary that made her worthy of mothering His Son! He chose her out of millions of women throughout time to nurse, bathe, and diaper God as a baby! Mary's heart is so soft. She seems always to be gracious and inviting - never turning those away who wish to worship her Son. She's always pondering what God is doing, storing His words in her heart for further reflection.
What a joy it must've been to raise a perfect child! I'm sure Jesus was the light of His mother's world! A baby with no sin nature - no need to scold. A two year old who is never defiant. A five year old who is never disrespectful. I'm sure Mary absorbed the joy of those years with delight - and tried not to think about what was to come for her son.
Did her heart break when she realized that at age 12 He felt the call of His Father so strongly that he was willing to disregard her feelings to follow it? What did she feel as her Son became the new sensation in Galilee? Did she beg her other sons to follow their brother as they turned their backs on Him? Did she avoid the discussions at parties about placing her son on a political throne or silencing him before he managed to bring the wrath of Rome on them all? I can't even imagine the agony of watching thousands of people screaming for the death of my son - of standing at the foot of the cross barely recognizing his disfigured body and listening to his tortured breathing. Did God reveal His plan to her in a special way? Did Jesus appear to her after His ressurection? Did He hold her in His arms not as her son but as her Savior?
I'd really love to have Mary's journal. I'd love to know my Savior the way she did. I'd love to learn her lessons of absolute trust, quiet waiting, and heartbreak leading to eternal joy.