Five Books on my End Table

1. The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me..
2. The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd
3. Little Boys Bible Storybook
4. Before Five in a Row (yes, it's curriculm)
5. Photos and Events 2009 (photo album)
What's on your end table?

A Day at the Zoo

God's Still Working on me

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure, scattered along life’s pathway. The good they do is inconceivable.” -Joseph Addison

The Smile Experiment

In high school and college, I could hardly make eye contact with people I didn’t know, much less smile; I would avoid social situations. God had other ideas. My room-mate was one of the most well-known, popular girls on campus who was involved in everything, including the traveling singing group, so everyone knew I was her room-mate. Painfully, I learned how to stop my feet and talk to those I didn’t know. I even smiled sometimes. But God wasn’t finished with me yet.

Have you met my husband? He is bold, brave, and quite the talker. I have learned much about talking to people from him. He has encouraged me to leave my comfort zone and say hello and smile. But God wasn’t finished with me yet.

I’ve become much friendlier since I’m a mom. Ever see those tiny babies in the store? They just make you smile. When I first started taking baby Timothy places, people would smile, and even stop, and chat. I heard about strangers' red-headed grandchildren more times than I can remember. Even tough tattooed motor-cyclers smiled at my baby. I have always been a little nervous about talking to strangers, but God wasn’t finished with me yet.

My grandpa was in a nursing home when Sarah was born and I was there at least twice a week. Grandpa’s room was at the end of a long hallway, and it was amazing how all those people’s faces would smile to see Tim toddling down the hallway. I found myself stopping so little ladies could peek in on baby Sarah and then tell me how much their newborns weighed. I was starting to become less shy and realizing that in talking to others, I was giving them the gift of listening. But God wasn’t finished with me yet.

Twins added a whole new dimension. Having four kids under four years old seemed to evoke some pity among strangers, and a few, “I remember those days.” We went camping with 18 month old twins. A lady smiled and simply said, “It gets easier, really.” Turns out she had 8 year old twins. But God wasn’t finished with me yet.

This new chapter afforded questions from strangers. “How do you do it?” I heard a lot. I gave a lot of “arrow answers,” where you simply point to God and His grace. But God wasn’t finished with me, not yet.

Now, I have a four-year-old who is as social as his father. Not Ryan as a shy child (yes, I didn’t believe it either), but Ryan as an outgoing person, only Lucas lacks tact and maturity. My Lucas stands on the end of the shopping cart, smiling from ear to ear and waving hi at each person he passes. He makes eye contact and even touches people. He touched the arm of an older gentleman who looked none too friendly and I was shocked as a beautiful smile etched his face and he said, “well, hello there young man.” But God wasn’t finished with me yet.

Last month, we went downtown and watched dancing at Rosa Parks Circle. It didn’t matter if the person was the cop on duty or a Goth teen with a Mohawk, Lucas would smile, say Hi, put his hand on their arm or leg and ask their name. He talked to everyone that night and seemed to think they had all gathered just to talk to him. He even joined the line dancing. He asked the cop to dance. The stern officer smiled, “I’d love to, but I’m on duty.” When Lucas turned to wave goodbye, at least half the crowd waved, even the Goth kid.

But God isn’t finished with me yet, and you know what, I am glad.

Vacation Bible School

The Vacation Bible School Phenomenon

Is VBS a local phenom? I don’t know, but the signs pop up in church yards each summer. I remember a friend telling me how nice it was to bring her kids to VBS for a couple hours each evening Monday through Thursday while she got some needed shopping done or went out with just the husband. It sounded great, so I thought I would try it.

My first attempt was last summer, when Marc and Luc were three. They can be a handful by themselves and when I saw 17 preschoolers and two teachers the first night, I stayed. Tim and Sarah seemed to do okay in their classes. Sarah cried but made friends with her teacher, who actually carried her around. Sarah loved it. I would wave to them as our preschooler group passed them going from craft time to snack time to games to story time and back to the big group at the end. I thought, ‘maybe tomorrow night”…but I ended up planting seeds, passing out pretzels, and encouraging three year olds to listen to the story, and I was enjoying myself.

I thought, ‘maybe tomorrow night, I’ll slip away”, but that was the night Tim refused to listen and ran away. The pastor actually had to pick him up like a sack of potatoes after a 50 yard chase toward a busy road. I noticed him talking in the hallway with the pastor while passing from story to snack with the boys, and we all had a nice chat.

I thought “maybe tomorrow night, I’ll stick around.” Tim had a better attitude, we prayed about it, and hopefully learned something. So I stayed, glued popsicle sticks together, and helped color pictures of Jesus. To my surprise, I discovered this was our last night of VBS, and they even gave us a CD with some great songs that we sang in the van for months. I decided the pros outweighed the cons and we tried again. This time, at my parents’ church. Tim and Sarah didn’t want me to leave at all, even though Grandma and Grandpa were there, and since Ryan was in Grand Rapids, I stayed and had a great time helping.

This year, we went to three VBS’s, and you guessed it, I never escaped once, but to be honest, I didn’t try that hard. They even had a pool party and home-made tarp/sprinkler/tube water slide at our last one. My parents’ church even gave me a volunteer name tag on the third night. My children memorized scriptures, played with other children, respected authority, loved snack, and got to see people serving Jesus night after night, (plus they slept like logs).

I still have this fleeting dream of kissing my children and skipping away, hand in hand with the husband through a field of daisies toward a cute coffee shop, but…”maybe next year

Community Garden

How does our garden grow?

Like crazy, that's how! Yikes! We are part of a community garden at the church on our corner and I am astounded at the amount of produce our 12 x 16 plot has produced. These are wax beans, cucs, a green pepper and broccoli. This picture is from one trip to the garden. We have given away a ton of produce as well. We also had radishes, and we are growing carrots, potatoes and pumpkins. Oh, and the lettuce and collards too. We've had some interesting garden moments. Marcus walked with Daddy to the garden and ran home becasue he had to go potty. However, he forgot to ask Daddy and frantic Dad called me to verify whereabouts. My favorite garden moment is Lucas sitting next to the lettuce, eating piece after piece.

Our friend Trisha

We have had five children this summer. This is Trisha Cook, our neighbor girl. If you have been to our house this summer, you have met Trisha, as she is here each and every day. At first, it was kind of strange to have her around and to supervise all the kids and familiarize her with our schedule and house rules, but now it seems strange when she isn't here. Of course she has a family of her own and she doesn't sleep here, but we love her very much and try to treat her like one of the family. Please pray for us as we minister to this young girl and her family. She gave her heart to Jesus this summer, and I pray that she will continue to love and serve Jesus as she grows up. Trisha is 10 years old.