From the Bottom Up

Have you ever started something from practically nothing? I'm attempting to start a group in our area. I don't believe I'm gifted in this type of thing. You know- organizing, coordinating, keeping people interested. Sometimes the thought of taking on something like this scares me. I like to be easy going / very low stress. I'd rather not do something that takes too much effort or time. So why am I doing this?

One reason is that I enjoy the activity, but for me that's not enough. The big reason is that I know that God wants me to do it. It'd been pretty cool too. We have made progress. What has been amazing is that every time I get worried and the doubts creep in, God reminds me to dedicate it to Him and He will do the work for me.

I've had a hard time coming up with a cheep place to meet. He then pointed out how big our living room, dining room and kitchen are. There is enough room there for us to grow a little and when that is full I'm sure He'll provide somewhere else.

Some times I worry that I'm all along. He reminds me of my friends who are eagerly waiting to take part and my husband who has been encouraging me. I am blessed with many people waiting to jump in when help is needed.

I was a little frustrated today. God then reminded me of a few of my other friends. I called and they know how to do what I'm trying to set up and are willing to help. They also know of a few existing groups that are further away but that we can visit and get some more ideas.

Am I doing all this for nothing? No, We are having fun building up the group and God has showed me many ways we can use our dedication to honor and glorify Him. May God be glorified in all that I do!!!!

Sweet Sixteen

That is a very deceptive title. I'm definitely not 16. Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It's amazing but 16 really isn't a long time but I can't imagine life without him. It almost seems like we have always been together.

Last year he got some comments from the people who work with him. They were actually surprised that we had been together that long (15 years). It wasn't surprise at us personally but that anyone could stay married that long! It's sad when 16 years of marriage is an incredible feat.

This year we celebrated by going out to dinner and hanging out together(without kids!!!). We really enjoyed spending this time together. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for icecream. There were 2 men in there who started talking to us. When they found out we were celebrating our anniversary they volunteered their accomplishments. The one has been married to the same woman for 50 years!!! The other told us that this year would have been their 34th anniversary but she had passed away 7 years ago. He was clearly still in love with her.

Love that lasts 50 years , 34 years, even 16 years is a rarity in many lives. I remember when I was growing up, if a marriage didn't make it to 30, 40, 50 years it was because one of the beloveds had passed away. Divorce and "broken homes" were just starting to become more common. Now- if your family is intact you are in the minority. I hope we remain in the minority!

Thankful

I am reading the book Created for Work by Bob Schultz. This sentence really hit me. "A secret to worshiping God is to forget what you can't have and thankfully find pleasure in what you do have."

As most of us some days I wish my life were more perfect. You know -quieter kids who jump and run when asked to do something. Who never make messes:) A very attentive husband who brings me flowers and chocolate every day. A self cleaning house. This includes dishes and laundry! I know a little over the top. But in all honesty if we could have some of the more realistic wishes we would miss out on some of the joys.

My house is a fixer-upper if we had lots of money we could have contractors come in and fix it good. But then I'd miss the time my husband and I have had to spend together fixing it. It's amazing how well you can learn to work together if given many opportunities. I've found with my kids that they get reasonably quiet if I play a game with them - or just spend time with them. Who would want to miss that? I'm still working on the self cleaning house idea but in the mean time my family is usually good at helping or overlooking.

When we find ourselves wishing for those things that we don't have we need to be thankful for what we do have. I am thankful that I have pretty good kids, a husband who shares the computer with me, and a house large enough and sturdy enough to keep all my treasures safe! I am greatly blessed!

lol

lol. My friend put that in one of her e-mails. We had just got the internet again and I thought that was so nice that she ended her message with 'lots of love'. As time went on she stuck it in every where. So I figured that I must be wrong about the meaning. Well, she had it after light hearted stories or silly things that her kids have done--so it must mean 'lots of laughs'. That went with things better. It still didn't seem quite right. Today in church there was a skit about texting. A family was sitting around the dinner table talking like they texted. They were saying all the abreviations. It was a good thing that they had the translation typed below because I was clueless. So was the father in the skit. I am not alone. Any way when his family found out that he didn't speek that language they lol, laughed out loud! They even went further and blol. Belly laughed out loud. Now I know. Can you tell that we don't use the text feature on our phones?lol

Family games

We enjoy playing games as a family. We each seem to have different priorities during the game. These can change depending on the game. Some can't wait to get it over with. I guess they have something more important to do. Others want to stomp the other team or players. Winning is everything! Then there are those of us who just hope we don't get stomped:) Mostly we try to make it a good time to spend with each other.

The other day we were playing Cranium Cadoo. My husband had one team and I had the other. We were one question away from winning. My poor husband's team kept getting combo cards where if we win the card both teams put a piece on the same square. In a tic-tac-toe type game that wasn't good. My team got many solo cards. Which was very good. We had pieces on the squares that they picked out and on the ones we picked out. Saddly, we had only been playing about 20 minutes and part of our family was going to get stomped royally. I let my team mates answer the winning question and put our piece on a square that didn't help us at all at that time. After their groans quieted, I said," Why don't we see if we can fill the board without there being a winner". Luckily my husband picked up on it and the game lasted at least 20 minutes longer and we were all winners. As it turned out the last space filled in gave both teams 4 in a row!! We don't play like this all the time. I usually get stomped good but I love the people doing the stomping so it isn't so bad.

Basketball anyone?

Two of my nieces play basketball. This is their first year (maybe second). We got to see them play the other day. It was nice to see how they are maturing and learning to play on a team. I watched them dribbling and shooting. It reminded me of when I was in school. I was in high school and one night I went to an open gym and one of the chaperones commented on how well I could shoot baskets. He suggested that I try out for the basketball team. I was surprised! I'm not the athletic type. But our school was small maybe I had a chance? As luck would have it, I never heard the announcement for try outs. I wondered what would have happened if I had made the team. I know some of my past experiences would have been different. I know I would have gained more self discipline and my self esteem would have gone up. I probably would be president right now if I had heard that announcement! A little silly isn't it?

We all have wondered if our lives would have turned out differently if we had done this or that differently. If we could go back we would change that one decission. What about what happened because of that change? Well just go back and fix it. Oops, Well go back and fix that one too. Easy no problems- except that one. I'll fix it! Would going back and reliving that time really change anything? Or would we just end up living in the past and miss the life that we do have? I believe that is why God did not make it possible for us to go back. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and live our lives in the present.

We all go through "what if" thoughts. Most of the time it is when things aren't going well in the present and sometimes it is when we are bored because our nieces aren't playing at that moment.

I wonder?

Hi! I heard on the radio that each job opening has on average 6 applicants trying to get hired. I remember when I've applied to some jobs and there were many more than 6. I didn't think that was very bad, but I guess it is usually 1.7 people on average for each job. If there's more people competing for a job will job performance go up? I would think so. I hope so. My husband is a manager. His biggest complaint about work is people not doing their jobs. When he gets together with other managers it seems like that's their biggest complaint also. If job performance does go up it will benefit society greatly. If everyone is doing their jobs well there would be less wasted money and more money going to more productive projects and better jobs. It would be great to become a nation of people proud of the work they do.