candy dilema and end of the year list.

my candy cabinet is full of all of my favorites (ok…it’s not a WHOLE cabinet completely dedicated to candy…just a section….)….there are hot tamales, chocolate covered expresso beans, toblerone, dove chocolate, haribo gummi bears, a take five, junior mints…. i’m in a place of tension – i want it to last as long as possible and i also want to eat it all right now. it's a dilema...a conundrum (i just wanted to use the word conundrum)

i’m so thankful for days that are compatible for catching up – days where the time is there and the motivation is there (earlier this week I was having motivation issues). i caught up on 4 journals today! Christmas journal + all 3 kids’ journals!

i can’t help but reflect as 2010 comes to an end. thus, a list….

ten things that didn’t happen this year (things that either really don’t matter/are just random observations – the first few – or things that I’m super thankful didn’t happen – the last few)(and i didn't intend for it to be 10...i just wrote what came to mind...and when i counted it ended up being 10!):

• the UGA flag didn't get hung up.
• there were no candles in our windows during December.
• the McMichael family didn’t go to St. Simons (but DID go to Myrtle Beach!)
• i didn’t see my mom at Christmas (she was sick).
• i wasn’t pregnant (that’s the first year that’s happened since 2003)
• none of our kids had major illnesses (and really not even many minor illnesses).
• there was no reason to get in touch with our car insurance company (no wrecks, no tickets, etc.)
• there were no positive test results (or negative results when a positive was needed!)
• no significant deaths (of course there were deaths and they were significant – but no one particularly close to us…hope that doesn’t sound offensive…)
• we didn’t have to pay big bucks (close to $3000) to have our car fixed – we happened to have coverage through Ford with a $100 deductible (God did that).

that is a hard list to make…i can’t even comprehend all that didn’t happen in 2010…it’s incredible to think of all the heartache and hardship and hurt that God saves us from…i thought about making a list of all that DID happen this year – but i’m not sure i can wrap my mind around that one either…at least not tonite. i do know that God is faithful. He is good. He is enough. 2010 was a year of experiencing that…

AND – EXCITING NEWS!!! i figured out why the post time was wrong….it was set for Pacific Time! it SHOULD be correct now…not sure why blogspot/blogger/whatever you call it chose Pacific as the default time (and i just noticed that it changed the time on all my other blog entries….so now my random time posts aren’t going to make sense. oh well!). we can all rest easier now, i'm sure.

seems like more people than usual have made mention of being excited about 2011 'cause "it's going to be a great year"...may it be so! (seems like alot of the time we get what we expect...i'm excited that so many around me are expecting great things in 2011!)

christmas thoughts.

so i have these thoughts about Christmas....but i haven't really ever put them down in writing....but now that i have a "place" to put them down in writing, here goes...

my main thought is that Christmas points to Jesus whether people realize it or not. of course, there's the obvious - it really is a celebration because Jesus was born. so whether people acknowledge the fact or not isn't altogether relevant....they are still celebrating Him. also, in alot of ways, people treat others with more kindness and love and christ-like ness during the Christmas season as compared to the "rest of the year." so good is happening on earth - and every good and perfect gift can be traced back to God...so, again, whether it is a conscious effort to honor God and whether or not He gets the credit isn't altogether relevant. the fruit of the spirit - His spirit - is more alive and recognizable during December (or so it seems to me!).

my other main thought is that we live at Christmastime how i think we might should be living all year round. i'm not talking about the hustle and bustle or the "stressful schedule"....not talking about the spending too much money on stuff that people don't really need - or giving simply for giving's sake....not talking about the stress that so many place upon themselves and their family....

i'm talking about the get togethers and celebrations and parties that foster community. i'm talking about our homes being more lit up (and more welcoming!). i'm talking about old traditions being carried out and new traditions being established. i'm talking about music and singing - there's a whole genre of music dedicated to this season....songs that bring people together and so many songs that honor God in a terrific way. i'm talking about giving....(again, not the americanized commercialized ughh giving that categorizes the average person's christmas) -- the thinking of others and being generous and wanting to bless them giving. and mail!! oh the mail!! getting the mail in december is definitely in my list of top 10 favorite things to do. i love seeing pictures of families that God has knit together...i love reading the Christmas updates and hearing what God is up to in the lives of my family and friends. somehow the body of Christ seems more unified through the sending and receiving of christmas cards!! (and then it's a neat way to pray for everyone throughout the year as we have them in a basket in our dining room and rotate through them, praying for each family for a few days....maybe that's where the feeling of being more unified really comes in...).

so now that i'm writing this stuff down i feel like it's been much better in my head the past few years...and i'm tempted to leave it there. oh well. tis the season to be vulnerable and real. always.

i'm praying that the Christmas season will last a lot longer in the cash house this year....praying that we'll be as intentional from january to november as we have been this december. praying that our home would be welcoming....our giving generous....our singing joyful....our lives focused on Him...

reinstatement.

per the request of a few...i've reinstated the "followers" little box thingy on here. just cause i think that will make it easier for folks since i don't blog on a "regular" basis....it'll keep you from coming to read only to be sorely disappointed because i haven't posted anything. :)

so...really? you really like me and what i'm writing enough to "follow" my blog? what an honor. thank you.

maybe someday i'll reinstate the "comments" option. maybe.

it's 9:44 am.

wanted to make a list...5 favorite date night ideas

1st one is as inexpensive or expensive as you want it to be (dollar movie & dollar menu = cheap; "real movie" & fancy restaurant = not so inexpensive). bottom 3 are free.

• the classic dinner and a movie.
• a twist on the classic - progressive dinner (appetizer one place, meal one place, dessert one place)(but not all places that require a tip....) & redbox movie (for example last week we had wendy's new sea salt fries, accompanied with a thirst buster from the spectrum - btw - the spectrum on wynnton road has an AMAZING drink selection these days...complete with cherry coke....then we went to the mall and shared chinese - still working on the thirst buster.....then we went to chic-fil-a and got a brownie and icecream with coupons....then got a movie for $1...). total cost of date: less than $10
• go for a walk. just walk and walk and walk and talk and talk and talk.
• take a game to a public place and play it (checkers at the riverwalk, guess who at barnes & noble, scattergories at golden doughnuts, etc.)
• go to the children's section of the library or a bookstore, both pick a book, read to one another

post time: 2:12

this week's favorite quotes

"Lord, help me to understand, appreciate and marvel at this incredible creation you have loaned me."

from an article by max lucado "giving our kids to God":
"before they were yours, they were His. even as they are yours, they are still His."

"we can be loyal advocates, stubborn intercessors. we can take our parenting fears to Christ. in fact, if we don't, we'll take our fears out on our kids."

"prayer is the saucer into which parental fears are poured to cool. Jesus says so little about parenting - no comments about spanking, breastfeeding, sibling rivalry or schooling. yet His actions speak volumes about prayer. each time a parent prays, Christ responds. His key message to moms and dads? bring your children to Me."

from some articles on adoption:
"adoption is a process of falling in love, and falling in love is beautiful and difficult"

"...i'm dealing not so much with defiance in need of discipline but pain in need of healing."

"...begin creating space for (coming child) in our lives through conversations, stories, pictures and prayer."

"we couldn't offer perfection but we could offer a home."

post time: 1:56pm

a good read (at least it was for me)

i thought this was a very good article. worth sharing.

How To Deal with Child Temper Tantrums

in other news: somehow i think that eating hot tamales makes me warmer

one other random quote that i heard today that i like: "if you're handed it, you can handle it" (of course, my thought is that God is the One doing the handing...and ultimately He's the one doing the handling by giving us all that we need for handling).

the post time may say 2:49...really it's 5:51.

amy q's....but not from amy...God time with my kids...

what does your bible time look like with your kids? do you have a specific routine each day?resources?

i'll start by saying that some days are better than others in this area...we don't have a really specific routine - but sort of! i think "bible time with my kids" is alot like alot of things in my life -- there are some structured parts with lots of freedom to do things however feels best on that particular day.

a "ps" before i even really start -- it's so good for me to think about things like this (so i'm glad someone put this question out there!) - i appreciate the challenge to think about what it is that i'm doing....and to be able to realize "hey, i'm doing ok in this" or "wow, this needs some work." (or a mixture of the 2). in thinking about this, i'm realizing that there are 3 really important concepts that are core to teaching my kids about God and spending time with Him (there are probably more....but these are the 3 that are really sticking out):

1 - listening to God is more important than talking to God - what He has to say to us is more valuable than what we have to say to Him (but isn't it amazing that He still wants to hear what we have to say!?!)

2 - having a "set time with God" is important - and very very valuable...but it doesn't end there. God has so much He wants to show us and teach us and tell us ALL throughout the course of our day...not just in our "time alone with Him."

3 - my "goal" in teaching my kids about God could be summed up into 3 things -- that they would KNOW God and His love....that they would love Him back...that they would share His love with others.


on to the actual....the part that could be considered "structured" is that most days (ideally) we start our day with "God time" -- first thing after breakfast we each pick a spot (with my kids being 5 and 4, we pick spots in the same room...i can imagine one day everyone having their own spot all around the house. emma's spot right now is the pack and play with a few toys) and each child gets to pick a "God book" (see list below)-- they can read/look at their Bible or some other book that specifically talks about God. i also remind them to listen to God - to ask Him if there's anything He'd like to say. i usually sit with my bible and read a psalm or just pray for my kids. after about 5-7 minutes or so i put on a worship song...sometimes we just listen to it...sometimes we sing...sometimes we talk about what we just read/looked at/heard. then we usually read some sort of devotion together. the point of this part is more about teaching them the habit of being still and quiet with God - of having time where our focus is on nothing except for Him.

the parts that would be considered "unstructured" but very important and a part of our daily/weekly life:

--scripture memory and review. we do this all sorts of ways...some weeks we have a verse that we're working on as a family....some days we review the verses they already know (i keep a list on the inside of a kitchen cabinet with the reference and first few words of each verse). sometimes in order to "get" what they are asking for (candy, gum, to watch a particular video), they have to pick and say a verse (but it can't be 1 john 4:8 or philippians 4:4...those are their go-to verses that are too easy!!). some days as part of eli's writing i have him copy a verse that may pertain to something we've been talking about/dealing with. as part of our "curriculum" last year we had a verse each week that went with the letter we were working on - i would write the verse on notecard...so now they each have a set of 3x5 cards with verses on them - we add new verses to that and use it to review old ones.

--we use the take homes from their classes at church on sunday....and talk about what they are learning on sundays throughout the week...

--seeds family worship scripture songs play most of the time in their room...(i love that God's word in soaking into them whether they are actively realizing it or not!)

--nick and i share what God is teaching us - sometimes this is just in a conversation between the 2 of us at the dinner table (the kids just happen to get to listen in on it). sometimes it's directed to them.

--we pray (sounds so obvious...but it's a key element!). alot of our prayer time happens in the car - we pray for others...or for whatever we're heading to....or for nick....or for one another.... i try to make it a point to ask them if there's anything i can be praying about for/with them (sometimes they have an answer...sometimes they don't). something else that i'm thankful for is that i'm learning more and more to pray in frustrating situations....when i feel like i'm losing my patience we just stop and pray. OR i ask them to pray for me. ("eli, will you pray for me to be patience and peaceful?" "caroline, i'm feeling frustrated and i don't want to. will you pray for me right now?")

so that's that. one random thing that just came to mind is that "if you fail to plan, plan to fail." i don't really like cliches....but they are cliches for a reason. i know that if you don't have some sort of plan in mind for spending time with God/leading your children in spending time with God it's not going to happen...our lives and schedules don't naturally lend themselves to sitting still or being quiet or giving God our attention.

just this past week i "figured out" a new way to get the kids really excited about spending time with God...i spend my time alone with God first thing after they are in their rooms for rest/nap time....so on thursday i told them that it was time for them to rest and i was about to spend time with God. sweet caroline says "can i spend time with God with you, too??" and of course eli chimes in that he'd like to, too. you can't refuse that!!! well, i guess you can refuse that....and, in the future, i may end up redirecting them to their rooms to spend time with God on their own rather than sitting with me...but for the moment, pushing rest time back a little and letting them sit with me was the right thing to do...and it was a sweet time! eli was reading something in the old testament and saying things like "mama, did you know that such and such was 65 feet high?!" and caroline was looking at her precious moment bible - she has 3 pictures that are her favorites....she was thanking God for them and using them as prayer guides. it really was a beautiful time. i'm thankful for the times when God reminds me that He is more important than schedules and routines....He shows up in the sweetest ways when we make room for Him (and sometimes that's in the midst of a schedule or routine if we're paying attention!).

God books/favorite resources right now:
Fun Devotions for Boys: Gotta Have God (also good for girls!)
My Big Book of 5 minute Devotions - Celebrating God's world
My First Bedtime Bible (has neat pictures!)
Precious Moments Bible (has lots of neat devotions in it)
Little Visits with God
Berenstein Bears "Living Lights" series
What is God like? (Beverly Lewis)
We also have 2 felt play story books (one is Noah...one is Creation) - they used those early on for God time.

honestly, i'm not sure you can "go wrong"....i feel like i could walk into a Chrisian bookstore and randomly pick most anything and God could use it to bless us and teach us....but i've never actually tried that...but i've also never been intentional to get anything in particular - except for "fun devotions for boys," the books we have/use have all been given to us.