A few things...

1.) Wow! I drank caffeinated coffee this morning! I feel like the insides of me are having a "jump on the bed like a little kid" party. I very rarely EVER drink more than a couple sips of caffeine. I usually drink decaf coffee. Apparently this is why. I think I'm typing much faster than normal. And talking faster. Moving faster. Washing dishes faster. Which brings me to...

2.)My dishwasher is broken. I almost panicked when I realized that Caleb would not be fixing it in 5 minutes so I could wash the huge load of dirty dishes that was crammed into it. Strangely, though, I am enjoying (?) washing dishes by hand.

I can't believe I just said that.

Some days it's the only time I stand still and do one thing and just think. Well, except when Ava's attempting to climb my leg and screaming. But still, it makes me stand still for a while and every now and then I get a chance to think without all the noise that usually surrounds me.

3.)I LOVE diapers.com!!! I ordered a pair of shoes for Ava yesterday afternoon. Twenty five dollar shoes for ten bucks.

And free shipping.

The Fed Ex Man just dropped them off by my front door.

Less than 24 hour shipping- FREE!

How cool is that!

I'm going to buy alot of stuff from there from now on I have decided.

4.)I love free shipping from anywhere actually. I have done almost all my Christmas shopping on-line so far. I hate to pay shipping. I'd rather pay $20 for something and get free shipping than pay $10 for the same thing and have to pay $5 for shipping. There's something wrong with that, but it's how my brain works, I guess.

5.)We FINALLY got a family picture taken this weekend! Hooray! I'm entirely too excited about that! Wanna see?

Ok. You talked me into it...

Caleb had to photoshop the good picture of Ethan into this pic. It's impossible to get a picture of all of us looking the same direction at the same time. But I figure 5 out of 6 is pretty good! =)

6.)I am having a really hard time getting into "the Christmas spirit" this year. Usually I have Christmas music playing (secretly when Caleb's not home) long before Christmas. And as soon as we get home from Thanksgiving, I'm dying to buy a tree and put the decorations up. But this year it just sounds hard. We don't have room for a Christmas tree.... Who needs a bunch of sugar sitting around their house? And I'm tired of turkey. I've been playing Christmas music trying to make myself feel Christmasy... So far it's not working. I think I need to go to church and sing Christmas hymns with everyone else. Surely "O Holy Night" and "Joy to the World" would do the trick.

7.)We're going to look at a house today. An out-in-the-country house.

Great location.

Great potential.

Which is code for - this house is trashed. I don't think it's been mowed in 2 years. The house needs some - ok alot - of love.

But it's cheap! =) Everyone thinks we're nuts for even considering it. We probably are. Maybe I'll take pictures while we're there today and then you can decide for yourselves whether or not we've lost our minds.

Wow.... Apparently caffeine makes me talk alot.

I'll quit now.

Called to the impossible

A guest speaker at our church last week spoke about Moses. He led us to Exodus where God calls Moses to free His people.
Moses argues.
He feels inadequate.
He wants help.
And then he goes anyway.
He obeys.
The call of God is impossible for him to escape.
So Moses gets to Egypt and begins ordering Pharoah (probably the most powerful man in the world) to "Let my people go." Pharoah doesn't like that so much and makes the Israelite slaves' lives more miserable than they already were. Moses obeys God's impossible call on his life and fails. He goes to God to ask some relevant questions. I imagine Moses' side of the conversation like this:
"Hello! God? Remember me? The guy who was happily married with two kids and a bunch of sheep, living in a tent in the wilderness? You went out of your way to ask me to leave my life and do an impossible job for you. I was a little worried that you hadn't thought the plan through very thoroughly, so I asked you a few questions and You promised to help me out. So here I am, and, well Your genius plan isn't working out so great. Now Pharoah AND Your people that You sent me to deliver hate me. I've made Your people's lives more terrible than they were before. I'm a failure. Are You SURE You know what You're doing??? When are You gonna let me in on plan B?"
And instead of striking Moses with lightening for questioning His plan, it's like God has Moses right where He wants him. God doesn't tell Moses to try harder or give him a better plan to "win friends and influence people." He says:
"Now you shall see what I will do."
"I am the LORD."
"I appeared."
"I also established."
"I have heard."
"I have remembered."
"I am the LORD."
"I will bring you out."
"I will deliver you."
"I will also redeem you."
"I will take you for my people."
"I will be your God."
"I am the LORD your God."
"I will bring you to the land."
"I will give it to you."
"I am the LORD."
Exodus 6:1-8
Getting the point yet?
It's like He's saying, "Hey! Look at Me! You just sit back and watch Me work. I am God. I will do it. By myself. I have promised. You watch and see."
Ever feel like Moses?
"Pretty sure you've given me an IMPOSSIBLE job here, God! Have you noticed? Do you care??"
I feel that way practically every day.
It's so encouraging to me to know that that's exactly where God wants me. Helpless. Utterly dependent on Him and His power.

Here's what I've been thinking...

As most of you have heard, I'm sure, my mom, dad, two sisters, and two brother-in-laws went on a one week trip to Haiti. They've been back for about three weeks now, I suppose. Sadly enough life has been so incredibly crazy, I've yet to hear a single story or see a single picture. But I got to see the results of being bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito that likes to live in Haiti.
Dengue fever.
Nasty, nasty sickness.
High fevers, intense pain, inability to eat causing severe dehydration.
I spent several days sitting in hospital rooms and trying to help others who were sitting in hospital rooms. I'm sure I've never seen anyone close to me so sick.
And I was very grateful to live in America. We are so blessed to have immediate access to health care here!
My mom went to the hospital severely dehydrated with very low platelet and white blood cell counts. Her doctor was concerned that she would need a platelet infusion. The hospital in Central City had no platelets, so they rushed her to Omaha just in case.
No, "How are you going to pay for this?"
or "I'm sorry. You'll have to wait your turn on the list of patients who need these platelets."
Just, "We will use every resource in our power to save your life."
We take this setup for granted. In fact, we'd be furious if we were not to receive this kind of treatment.
But how many people in the world don't have that luxury. How many people in Haiti die from dengue fever because no one has an IV to give their body essential fluids or Tylenol to keep their temperature down? This is such basic medicine!!!
And then, the cholera outbreak. Cholera is not a hard thing to prevent or treat - If you have access to clean water and basic medical supplies.
Something I take for granted.
Don't you?
The World Health Organization's website says that as of Oct. 27th, 303 people have died in this cholera outbreak in Haiti. I'm used to big numbers, and frankly, 303 doesn't sound like that many people to me. But every one of those people is loved by God. Each one was a mommy, a sister, a daddy, a brother, a friend, a neighbor. Thousands of people are crying themselves to sleep tonight in Haiti because someone they love is gone. And it's so simple to avoid!
I'm afraid it would make me seriously question the character of God to know that my mom was dying of an easily treatable disease and that she simply lives in the wrong place at the wrong time to be privileged enough to receive that treatment.
What kind of weak faith is that?
Believers in Haiti weep for their lost loved ones and their lost livelihoods and their lost homes just as we would in their position. But they do not question their God. He is all they have. And they have peace beyond understanding and indescribable joy in Him.
I'm so thankful to God for the things He has given me. For providing for all my needs and many of my wants. For protecting and healing my family.
But I'd like to think that if He chose not to - for some unknowable reason of His own - I would still love Him. I'd stand firm on the only rock I know will never shake. Jesus Christ. And I would cling to the tiniest thread of trust and faith in Him even when my world seemed to be falling apart around me. And I'd have joy and peace flowing from me because of Him!
I find myself asking God, "I know You're big enough to do such a work in a fairly uninteresting, mostly invisible, stay at home mom in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska?"
"But do you really want to?"
"And how?"
"Why put me here with all my comforts and protections instead of across the world with absolutely nothing but You between me and daily death??"
"Surely with this privilege comes great responsibility, so what do You want from me?"

One little girl

This is really good! It makes me want to go to Haiti and bring this little girl home.
My husband is reading over my shoulder saying "Yeah right!" right now. =)
But seriously.
How many little girls are there like this in the world who just need one person to love them?
So read it. Let it touch your heart and your actions.

http://thisrooftop.blogspot.com/2010/10/hands-and-feet.html

Please don't leave the worriers behind!

Everyone's back from Haiti! Yay! I can't wait to hear all the stories and see all the pictures! I know God worked in amazing ways in Haiti. Praise Him for his unceasing work in the lives of people around the world!
While my family was in Haiti last week watching God work, He was speaking to my heart here in Nebraska, too. God reminded me of something.
I am a worrier.
Those of you who know me are saying, "duh!" right about now.
But I surprised myself. You see, we're doing Beth Moore's study of Esther for women's Biblestudy at church right now. On one week's video, Beth spent a lot of time speaking about this very thing. She challenged us to fill out this blank, "If the worst thing I can imagine happens, then ....."
Then I'll lay on the floor in a heap and want to die.
Then what?
I'll never move again.
Then what?
Well, eventually, I will move because God is faithful.
I was totally tracking with her. I thought, "I will trust God in anything because I stand on the unshakable foundation of his faithfulness."
Nice sentiment, huh?
Then four little words shook my unshakable foundation.
"Trouble with his asthma."
"What does that mean?" I panicked. He probably can't breathe - like at all. When he says he's having trouble with his asthma, it means he needs to go to the hospital and is trying to put it off for as long as possible. There's probably no hospital in Haiti. And if there is, they probably don't have the right medicine. They'll probably have to fly him to Miami. And he'll probably die of an asthma attack before he gets there. (Have I ever told you I have a big imagination?)
I'm very good at panicking.
So I freaked my sister out, and she called the "for emergencies only" cell phone to talk to her husband and find out what was really going on. Turns out my dad was not feeling great. But it had nothing to do with his asthma.
Stop panicking Melody!!!
And I felt silly.
All my confident sounding thoughts and words evaporated in that one unexpected moment.
Isn't that how life goes?
You think you have everything under control. Like you're walking with God, and He's helping you deal with your life by His Spirit. And then the unexpected happens and you completely lose it. Your sin nature pops up again when you least expect it.
I learned something valuable.
Next time, I'm going to have to go to Haiti too. No worries if I'm there and can see exactly what's going on, right?
Or, I could learn to give my worrying heart to God and let Him teach me to trust Him. With everything. All the time. Even when my eyes can't see.
Isaiah 26:3-4
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD God is an everlasting rock."

Just in case I feel like laughing at this someday

This morning before 11:15 Julia (2 1/2) had:

• Chewed a crayon and spit it all over Kylie's bed.
• Dumped a bowl full of cereal and milk down the kitchen cabinets and all over the kitchen floor.
• Dumped the rest of another box of cereal onto the carpet in the living room. (It's 9:00 at night and it's still there. Been a long day...)
• Shoved an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet.
• Ripped the cover off of a library book.
• Crumbled foam from the fire pit box into tiny pieces all over the backyard and ate it. (I can't really blame her for the eating part. She's just taking lessons from her big sister)

Are all two year olds so destructive?

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the
Hubble Telescope is a visually stunning book. I'm not usually one to be attracted to books without a plot, but the pictures on the front cover drew me to this one.
The Heavens Proclaim His Glory was compiled by Lisa Stilwell. She did an impressive job of combining mind boggling photos of the far reaches of space with quotes from a wide array of people.
One quote by Francis Chan pretty much sums up the book: "This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious."
I would've done one thing differently in this book. I would've made it bigger. The reality of how huge these objects actually are is impossible for me to comprehend. The prints were colorful and clear but seemed inadequately small compared to their size in reality. Of course no book could begin to be big enough to wrap my mind around how immense God's creation really is!
Our Creator God is so amazing! This is the perfect coffee table book to awe you over and over again at the majesty and glory of God.