anxiety

The whole family mission trip has me a bit anxious.  I never have fared well with unknowns.  They make me crazy-anxious.  I think it would feel different if we were going along with a group, if someone else were "in charge", if we had an itinerary.  But we don't. 
Many times I have wondered if this is a waste.  Will we be wasting their time, their resources?  Ours?  Would it be better if we just sent our money to them?  Stayed out of their way?  Will we do any good?
But my husband isn't ever anxious.  These things don't concern him.  Good thing, we're matched well. 
The other day I was reading to the children from Jesus Calling.  The verse of the day was Ephesians 2:10.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
So I'm clinging to that truth.  This is God's plan an he's prepared all of this in advance for us to do.  We just have to do it.

who calls me beautiful? chapter one

I recently started reading throught the Bible study Who Calls Me Beautiful? by Regina Blackwell.
What woman doesn't struggle with her appearance?  I don't really know one woman who doesn't.  I certainly do.  I don't like what I see in the mirror.  Whether that is a result from culture, the women in my life who seem to have a constant concern about their figure and appearance, or Satan's lies, my perception of myself has been poor.  There have been few times in my life when I've been satisfied with what I see in the mirror.  (As a caveat, I'm not a self-esteem band-wagonner.  I don't desire to be delusional about how great I am.   I just want a Godly and God-centered view of myself.)  I know the truths of scripture.  I know that God looks at the heart, I know He approves of and desires in me the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, but I'm struggle with being content with my reflection.  I'm missing out on where the truth connects to living it out in this world as a woman in Christ. 

I'm hoping to learn a lot from this book.  To get my thinking back on track and to share a little along the way.  So here goes.

From chapter one, "Worldly Beauty".

1)"Skin products promise blemish-free skin when we're young and wrinkle-free skin when we're old. We are obsessed with self-dissatisfaction."

There's no end to the improvements a woman can make to herself, at least according to the beauty industry.  In fact, it's totally ridiculous to me, but a eyelash parlour just opened in League City.  Even something as small as an eyelash can be and should be improved.  Are we obsessed with self-dissatisfaction?  Or does the beauty industry just want us to be?  Because if we're always needing improvement, then we'll always be buying into and buying that next thing. 

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30

God has numbered your hairs...even your eyelashes, even if they are stumpy and short, or pale and thin.  They are important enough to be numbered by God.

2)Have you thought about what things in our culture shape your ideal self?
"..the entertainment industry sends contradictory messages.  While claiming to portray the average woman, it presents instead the culture's ideal of the perfect woman."

For me, I fall into the lie that beautiful people have it all together.  I mean, look at them, they have beautiful hair, beautiful skin, toned bodies, trendy clothes, cute shoes.  If they look like that, their lives must be in great shape also.  Why can't I get it all together too?
Well, here's reality, what are these people trading for their appearances?  Would I trade time with my husband?  Would I trade staying at home?  Would I trade teaching my children?  Would I trade my small group and the time it takes to prepare for them?  Would I trade my time in God's Word?   Would I trade time at church?  No.  Those things are too valuable to me.  That's just one way to think about that.

3) Who does beauty bring glory to?
"When we mold ourselves according to the world's image, we take what God has created to be a vessel of His glory and use it instead to glorify ourselves and satisfy our desire for admiration."

Can I just say "ouch" about that? 
What is the chief end of man?  To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 
So I need to ask myself, and maybe you should too, am I seeking to bring glory to myself?  To be noticed?  To be praised?  Honestly, the answer is yes sometimes for me, to my shame.  Why should I be seeking glory when the One Beautiful Creator and Savior deserves all the glory.

So that's all for now.

protector provider pastor

Over the past ten years, it has been an immense blessing to see my husband grow as a father.  My husband does things for his children and me that I know he wouldn't do for anyone else.  For example, twice in the past two weeks, he's scraped vomit off the carpet in our home.  That's amazing.  I'm not sure the man I married almost 13 years ago would have done that.  But the man I'm married to now does it, and never complains.  He's a pure blessing.  He loves, he's patient, he protects, he's playful, he's funny, he's a hard worker, he's a God follower, he's a leader, he's faithful,
and handsome. 

What more could I ask for?

Happy Father's Day, Keith!

obstacles

Obstacles. We planned to turn in the paperwork for our kids' passports yesterday.  We ran into some obstacles.  One kid got a stomach bug,  one post office didn't process passports,  the second one only did passports between certain hours (not at the time we were there, of course!) I let those obstacles create blame which fueled some anger.  I was getting angry with Keith, I was getting angry with myself, I was thankful we were driving separate cars.  But on the way home I remembered, that our struggle  is not against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12).  I have no right to be angry at keith or myself about a few obstacles, but that's what the enemy would want me to do. So I let go of the anger and we will just try again another day with the passports. P.S. this is my first blog from my phone.

the beach

Last Saturday evening we hit the beach.  This is how

I like the beach quiet, short, and easy.  We didn't even put

on sunscreen.  But we did have fun.

i heart faces: all boy

Submitted for the iheartfaces.com monthly challenge for June.

little birthday dress for a little birthday girl

One more little pillowcase dress made for a birthday present. I think it might be a little big,

but she can grow into it.

fruits 'n such orchard

On Friday we went on our last field trip of the 2011-2012 school year.  Fruits 'N Such Orchard in Dickinson was our destination. It was a warm day, but not too hot for an outdoor field trip. 

During the first half of the trip we toured the herb garden, where, Renee, the orchard owner showed us and explained what many of her herbs were.  We picked some herbs to put in tea and others that we later made a dip with.  I learned two things.  1.  I don't like to chew on Stevia leaves (really bad aftertaste) 2.  I really would love an herb garden.

One of Renee's friends made these archways/trellises for her.  They line the path to the herb garden.

There was a fountain in the center of the herb garden.  Renee had similar plants planted together in raised beds.  There was a bed of lemon flavored herbs, one of different types of basil, one bed was edible flowers, one was medicinal plants, one was a spaghetti garden (all the herbs you would want to put in spaghetti sauce), and a bed of asian herbs.

    This herb is a substitute for Cilantro.  Cilantro, apparently doesn't grow well here in the summer, but this plant will.    It definitely smelled just like Cilantro.

Here we are cutting up our hand-picked herbs and making our sour cream dip. It was delicious, the chives, basil, and a few other things I can't remember went into the dip.

Afterwards, we toured the garden and picked vegetables and blackberries.  So far, I have made a ton of salsa with fresh jalapenos, bell pepper and tomatoes.  Too bad I didn't wear gloves when I sliced the jalepenos.  My hands burned the rest of the day.  Also, I made a blackberry cobbler. Keith loved it.  I still have a few cucumbers that I want to try to make refrigerator pickles with...we'll see if I can get around to that or not.

little girlie

On our dog training walk, Megan stopped for me to snap a few quick pics of her in a lovely little place I spotted.  She struck the cutest pose on her own.  I love this little girlie!

dog training

We took Muffy on a training walk last night.