Looking Back...

My poor blog. I think those ladies are about to get up from the table leaving nothing but an empty cup. Hopefully, this will give them something to talk about.

Lisa tagged me several weeks ago with an archive meme where I must choose five posts from my archives in the following categories: family, friends, me, something I love, and anything I like, so that you can revisit some posts or perhaps read some posts you've never read.


Family: Yesterday as I pulled up to my usual spot at the crosswalk to pick up Hunter (1st grade) from school. He was busily talking to the other kids and showing them some long strip of paper he had received at school. The teacher who is there everyday raising the "stop" sign so that the children can safely cross the street had to go over to Hunter to get his attention. He turned around and with great shock, (as if I don't come to this same spot every. single. day.) he quickly ran across the street to enter our vehicle. The teacher/crossing guard walked over to my car and said, "I hope you are enjoying this age", I assured her I was. As I drove off I thought about this post written just over a year ago. It was a day I watched my then Kindergarten son do some Puddle Jumping.


Friends: Without even looking back, I know already that I don't post much or at all about my friends. Mostly because who wants to wake up one morning and open up their Bloglines and find a new post at Come to the Table about them unless we had first discussed it of course. So, instead of linking up to one of my old posts, I will send you here to read what God is doing in the life of one of my long time blogging friends.


Me: I still struggle with this, I should re-write this and elaborate more since I know I am not alone here either. And yes, I did this at the same time.


Something I love: I love (in no particular order) this one, this one, this one, these two, and this one.


Anything I want: Just this morning I prayed with a women and said these words again, "He Has Not Forgotten".

If you would like to be tagged consider yourself "it".

Can you guess where I've been??

The last month has been very busy. Can you guess where we have been besides soccer practice, baseball practice, softball practice, school, church, laundry, dishes, and enjoying some warmer days as a family?

(this photo courtesy of Heth)

Here are some hints...someone turned 13, someone went to her first prom with a christian young man who is an exchange student from South Korea and is living with a family in our church, My two daughters and I went to visit a weekend camp for women and girls, our church hosted a Spring Conference for the Women in our church, someone was a little apprehensive and excited all at the same time about having two teeth pulled and getting braces, the family went on a short trip for a few days. Guess away! It shouldn't be too hard to figure out (edited to add) what picture goes to what event?

Another reason I haven't been here...

It was 73 degrees today!

Thinking?

I need to sort some things out.

I will be back later in the week for a CWO devotion and to join the Reading Group.

Blessings!

Update: Again, one of the reasons I am not here at the table and need to do some more thinking, I had my date wrong for my contribution at CWO. I don't post until next Monday!

I am...

• thankful everyone is healthy!
• hoping April showers will bring May flowers
• loving my three year old's new sentence, "I help you mom?"
• starting my annual Spring Cleaning
• looking for some new salad recipes to serve as a meal
• hungry for grilled carne asade with fresh grilled veggies
• ready for baseball, sunshine, and flip flops
• feeling it doing this twice a week
• trying to do this daily
• glad that He is the " I AM"

A Special Package

My husband has been sick all week...really sick. Tonight he received this wonderful basket of "get well" goodies from the staff at the church office. It was totally awesome and absolutely wonderful! It included all the things we have been using this week to help him get better including the Lysol and hand sanitizers to keep the rest of us from getting sick. It even included a movie which he and the kids have already enjoyed.



They also included something for me...



an energy drink!



This was so very thoughtful and fun! Thanks everyone for your prayers and this wonderful gift!

...the rest of our snow day in pictures

after they cleaned their rooms, this is what the rest of our day looked like...






boys working on a snow fort...




a three year old enjoying the path he was carving in the un-touched snow and looking back at his foot prints....


















sitting down to warm up on pizza and hot cocoa for lunch....








listening to a sixteen year old share about her speech competition over the weekend...

peeking into the room where a eleven and twelve year old enjoyed playing together...

observing little hands making play dough creatures...






and guess what two giggling boys came up with all on their own, "daddy and mommy"
Yes, here we are...






And to end our day...my seven year old prepared a box of brownies for dessert while I made dinner. He did everything on his own. I only set the oven temp and of course put the brownies in the oven and took them out.

They turned out delicious! He's quite the little chef.

It was a great day!

It's Official

And here is how you can tell besides my daughter putting her hand print in the snow on our front porch:

loud praise music and the smell of pancakes fills the house. Our official snow day breakfast. My twelve year old has been busy this morning.

The kids are hoping for a fun day! (shhh...they will be cleaning their rooms and helping me complete some much needed work in the house. I can no longer over look the winter storm that has struck in each of their rooms.)

But don't worry, it can't be a snow day without building a snow man and hot cocoa.

Snow Day?

Will tomorrow be a snow day?

This was the question that each of my children asked as I tucked them into bed tonight.

Super Bowl Sunday

We just finished watching the big game and was that exciting or what!! About fourteen years ago I became a serious football watcher with my husband. I decided since it was something that he enjoyed so much, I would join in. He loved it. And believe it or not I have stuck with it even though in recent years neither one of us have had much time to watch many games during the regular season.

This was the first year in many that we haven't had a house full of people all crowded in front of our televsion, kids running from room to room and a truck load of food spread throughout the kitchen. Earlier this week my husband and I discussed our plans for today and agreed we both were tired from various things that have taken place over the past several weeks and decided to just be home alone with our own kids.

So, we all put our sweats/pajamas on about 3 o'clock. I made a huge pot of White Bean and Chicken Chili. I put out the chips, dips, little smokies rolled in a blanket (because my husband requested those in front of the whole congregration this morning, both services) and for dessert I completly out did myself by serving up two flavors of Oreo cookies with milk for dessert. We all had a blanket or two, some pillows and enjoyed the big game.

Of course, I had to cheer on the New York Giants because 1) I love New York and 2) they were not expected to win and I am usually always for the under dog in everything, even though the Patriots were undefeated and this would of been a huge victory for them as well. Sorry New England fans! Mostly, it was a fun day even without the huge crowd.

Now back to the real reason I sat down at the computer, to finish my bible study for Tuesday morning.

It's my favorite time of year!

I saw this over at Lisa's and just had to see where I belong. Even though there were a few answers that I could of chosen one or another, I still came out as belonging in Fall.

I often find it humorous that I love this time of year since I grew up in Southern California where very little changes throughout the year in comparison to other places. But I still loved the season of pumpkin patches on street corners, leaves piling on the ground, the sounds of a football game, and the smell of hot apple cider and pumpkin. Pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin anything! Yum! But it is the colors that I love the most. And since I am a whole lot closer than I used to be, some day I hope to take a long Autumn drive through the New England states and just savor the beauty.

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season are you?

One Little Secret

Darlene is hosting a contest to promote Allison Bottke's new book "One Little Secret" . The prize is an ipod shuffle. The contest is sponsored by Art Bookbindery. All you have to do is share "One Little Secret" about yourself to be entered to win.

So here is my little secret. When I was a baby I sucked my thumb. I continued sucking my thumb until I went to Kindergarten. (don't worry I didn't start sucking my thumb again) And like most kids who usually have a blanket or stuffed toy to go along with the thumb, I twirled my hair. I would take hold of the fine soft hair right in front of the ear and twist it in my finger and now forty some years later I still do. When I am in deep thought, tired or just sitting still, I will twirl my hair. My husband will sometimes ask me, "what are you thinking about" if he sees me twirling. I don't know why, but for some reason it still must be comforting to me.

So there it is, now it is your turn.

I'm over at the Cafe today

Have you ever caused a stink in your home? If so, please come visit me at the Cafe today and let me know I am not alone.

And than to make you feel better go visit Musings of a Housewife to win an adorable tote by Eliza Grace Designs .

A Giveaway

speaking of our children... Lisa at The Preachers Wife is giving away this! Go leave her a comment and you may be chosen to receive this absolutely free!

10 reasons I have not posted in the last 10 days!!

10. Sunshine and a birthday party for a soon to be seven year old.

9. Grandma (my mom) was here for a week. We ate too much of this








8. Soar Throat, cough, achy and plenty of rest. (I had to miss some of the VBS fun, but I was thankful for the rest)



7. Vacation Bible School



6. And all the sunglasses & flip-flop decorating that took place at the kitchen table. There was also a treasure hunt throughout our house for lost coins. (my kids were on their own mission to gather as much coin as possible to give to the 1000 Wells Mission project again this year)

5. Baseball, Softball, Baseball and Softball games (in that order every night of the week)

4. Our annual Vacation Bible School Musical! The kids were awesome.

3. Grandma & Grandpa (my husband's parents) arriving safely from California to stay with us for two weeks.

2. Church at the Park and Water Baptisms! Wonderful!

1. Preparing for a trip with my husband to attend a conference. We leave Thursday. I am looking forward to the time away with him.

It's never too late to say thank you...

I am a little behind with this but it is never too late to say thank you to others for their kind words. Over the past couple of weeks several of my favorite blogs gave me one of these.

Since someone else already beat me to giving each of them this award, I will just say "thank you" again to each of you by sending it back to you and share a bit why each of these blogs bless me and cause me to think.

Cyndi at One Day More challenges me to dig deeper. She encourages me almost daily in the word of God through her posts. She is a powerful writer and definitely causes me to think about my relationship with God.

Susanne at Living to tell the Story is a beautiful Godly woman. Her posts at Faith Lifts are inspiring and full of God's truths. It is her comments at my own blog that often times has caused me to think. She is such an encourager and finds the good in all things.

Kelly at A Spacious Place was one of the first blogs I began to read regularly and hopefully will never stop! We walk in similar paths. I have found her love for mentoring the young women God has placed in her life as well as her love for her husband and children refreshing. She is truly a woman after God's heart.

Deidre at For Such A Time as This is a buried treasure. If you have never read her blog, go now. She is a beautiful writer who expresses what God is doing in her life so powerfully! Her posts not only cause me to think but they inspire me!

Tammy at Family Doin's is brand new to me too! But thank you Tammy for your kind words. She has been leaving such nice comments, but it was reading this post that not only made me think, but made me thankful that I am not the only one at times feeling a bit awkward.

Go read and enjoy!

A Dyson

5minutesformom is giving away a Dyson Slim Vacumm. Go here and sign Mr. Linky and write your own post about the opportunity to win one of these.

A few years back we went on a vacuum research and investigation adventure. We had gone through too many vacuums in a very short period of time and had invested a lot of money in all types. We put forth the money for a Dyson DC 07 original and have no regrets. I have had the vacuum for almost two years now and I know with a much less inexpensive model I was replacing them at least once a year.

Go check out 5minutesformom.

Retreat...

Amazing, wonderful, awesome God! Those are the words that just begin to scratch the surface of what I experienced this weekend with the wonderful ladies who attended our Spring Retreat. We shed a whole lot of tears and received very little sleep. Someone asked me today what my favorite part of our weekend together was and after trying to just pick one I said, "looking around the room hours after our service had ended and seeing women huddled together in corners of the room praying together. No one was ever in a hurry to leave. They stayed and stayed. They blessed each other, encouraged each other, cried with each other, and prayed for each other. I am truly not the same. These precious women have touched my life in a way that is difficult to put into words. We went...just as we were...we heard His invitation..."Come to me" and we responded.

I don't have my menu plan ready for the rest of the week. I was tired today but it was a good tired. Thank you to all those who prayed! Your prayers touched many lives.

Come...Just as you are

I leave early tomorrow morning (Fri.) with 50 plus other women to converge on a beautiful Hotel. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I am sharing the Word of God Friday evening and Saturday morning. We are having some fun girl type discussions on various topics related to issues specifically for women Saturday evening and then Sunday morning we are having a beautiful worship service.

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. Revelation 22:17 (ESV)

Some time away.....and a few other thoughts

I will be taking the next several days and step away from this blog (hopefully!) to continue preparing my heart for our upcoming Spring Ladies Retreat this weekend. I am very excited about getting away with so many ladies. The team of women putting this together have been fabulous to work with and have carefully tended to every detail with great love. I would appreciate your prayers for our time away together.

It is the end of Jennifer at Snapshot month long challenge to read with our children. One of the questions she asked was, "how did the mission help you actually read more?" Like most things, when I state publicly I plan to do something, it keeps me accountable to my plans. Although reading together is not a challenge for our family at this time, it wasn't always the case. It took discipline to set aside the time to read aloud and patience not to get frustrated with varying listening skills. But the rewards of watching and listening to my husband read to my children is so worth it. Many of the books I posted about here , we are still reading. The kids have finished some of their individual books, but not all of them. So, thank you Jennifer for hosting such a great challenge and encouraging us all to treasure those words, "mommy...will you please read to me."

I may not be here for several days, but feel free to stop in and take a peek around. Not too fancy, but hopefully it is warm and encouraging.

Blessings,

Chris