She's 10!

Yesterday, my older daughter, K, turned 10.  She has been looking forward to this birthday for 2 years.  And in this family, turning 10 means a big party.  There were a few friends she invited for a sleepover.  I had to put a limit on that.  Then more of her friends came for a big party the following day.  She had difficulty choosing a theme, however.  She wanted a princess theme (of course) but she knew that would mean boys wouldn't come.  So, she was torn.

At first, we started planning a spy-themed party.  We had game ideas and started looking at decorations and cake.  Then, she went back to being undecided.

Finally, she settled on an all-girl princess themed party.  After discussing on how to make this a big girl princess party so that it didn't seem too babyish, we decided to have a princess training party where her guests would go through various "tests" (AKA games) in order to earn their tiaras.  But how?

Well, I do my best thinking at night.  After the kids were in bed, I went online and did some searching.  Nothing seemed to work.  I mulled over everything we had talked about.  And then it hit me.  I suddenly knew how to do the games so that it would be a fun party but still have that princess training theme.  I was so excited, I ran upstairs to wake up K to tell her my ideas.  She loved them.  And so the party-planning began...

She invited 5 girls to spend the night.  1 girl couldn't make it and another one was a bit late due to a family emergency.

The girls began their fun with makeovers.

K was then presented with a special Princess sash by one of her friends.

Then the girls played a few games on the Kinect.

It was soon time to settle down and watch a movie: Barbie Princess Charm School.

All of her friends had already seen it, but it fit so well with the party theme, we had to watch it.  Thankfully, it was a favorite among her friends.

The next morning, I brought the girls donuts and we all got ready for more party-goers.  As more girls arrived, we began the princess training with making pizza.  After all, every princess should know how to cook.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am that we got this new table the day before the slumber party!

It was well initiated into the family when the girls made their pizzas.

I created a special playlist on my ipod for the party.  One song was from the movie they watched the night before.  As soon as that song started playing, 5 girls started screaming and jumping and dancing and singing while one girl complained about hearing that song too much and the others looking at the screaming girls like they were crazy.  Hahaha

When everyone was finished eating, we had the first game.  Every princess should know how to dress properly.  I had 2 thirty-one bags filled with dress-up dresses and shoes.  The girls were split into 2 teams.  They would run a relay race, running to the bag, putting on a dress or shoes and running back to her team so the next girl could go.  The winning team received princess nail files as a prize.

Then it was time for the princesses to learn how to sit in her throne.  The girls played musical chairs.

The winner received a special ribbon.

Then it was time to open presents.  We went back inside and K opened all of her gifts from her friends.  Everything she got was perfect.  Her friends know her very well (or I described her well enough to the parents who asked what she would want).

And of course, what is a birthday party without cake and ice cream?  The cake was supposed to be a crown, but I think it looks more like a castle.  Either way, it fit the theme and K liked how it turned out.

Finally, the princesses needed to protect her kingdom by slaying a dragon.  This particular dragon was filled with candy and all the girls had the opportunity to beat it down.  They all earned their princess crowns.

For her actual birthday, we had a little fun around town.  First we went to a park where the kids and myself received our first sunburns of the season.

Then we went to a nature center, where we walked the trail and fed some animals.

Ducks, turtles, fish

This guy did not move off this log the entire time we were there!  He didn't care how much bread we threw at him, he stayed put.  I joked that maybe the other turtles bet him he couldn't stay on the log for a certain amount of time.  He was determined to win that bet.  He finally crawled off and dipped into the water just as we were leaving.

When daddy came home, it was time for presents and later cake and ice cream.  She was excited to get her first thirty-one bag.  I even got it personalized for her.  :)

I think she had an amazing 10th birthday full of fun memories.

Happy 10th birthday!!  I love you!

Coffee part 2

Back in October of 2011, I wrote a little blog on Coffee .

Well, wouldn't you know it, there's been a bit of a change in this house!  Let me start at the beginning...

Neither Seth nor I drank coffee.  My parents do not drink coffee.  Seth's parents do.  I have had coffee occasionally.  Seth couldn't stand the stuff.

A few weeks ago, Seth and our son left early on a Saturday morning to work at a camp to help get it ready for summer.  J ordered a mocha from McDonald's.  Seth was surprised that he not only ordered it, but also drank it.  So, Seth decided to try some himself.

He fell in love.

My husband left that morning a coffee-hater and returned a coffee-lover.  Whaaaat?

He then found himself getting a coffee at work, discovering the difference between "good" coffee and "bad" coffee, knowing which coffees to get and which ones to avoid, and craving a good cup of coffee.

He eventual broke down and bought himself a coffee maker.

Yep, this is now in my house:

 

 

And these:



 



I have not tried it yet.  Seth and all 3 kids have had some.  I do have some good reasons why I have not tried it yet...and I do mean "yet" because I want to try it.  But, I don't know how to work it and Seth is gone before I get up in the mornings.  I cannot do caffeine in the evenings.  And I didn't know how my new gallbaldder-free body would react when he first brought it home.  I think I will be ok now so whenever he's home in the morning and making himself a cup, I'm going to ask if he'll make a cup for me, too.  :)

Crazy + Prayer = Peace

Life has really picked up and gotten busy!  With VBS coming up next month, we've started our skit rehearsals.  We're trying to get as much school done as possible.  And I'm trying to plan K's 10th birthday party.  If that's not enough to juggle...

My sister had a baby girl!

I had my gallbladder removed and I'm still recovering.

We went to J's Middle school for an open house and discovered information we were not happy with, but we do think this is the right school for our children as they each reach this age.  He already knows his way around the school better than I do!

My parents have been in town, my mom has been here for a week and my dad will be returning to Wichita tonight to see the new grandbaby.  That makes a total of 11 grandkids!  More company could be coming soon.

My sister-in-law is also expecting and she is due in November.

My niece is graduating from high school.

2 of my Sunday School students are graduating from high school.

My thirty-one business is going extremely well!

BSF is about to end.  Due to my surgery, I don't know if Little A and I will make it to the last one (tonight).  I'm kinda sad about that.  It has been an amazing study in the book of Genesis.  No matter how well I know some of those stories, I love discovering new things within them.  God is always teaching.  :)

Both the older 2 have June birthdays and will be going to camp in June, right before our VBS.

Our license plate got stolen a few weeks ago, completely destroying the plans of that day.  We got it replaced.  It reminded me of the time my family was on vacation out east.  We were driving on the NJ turnpike when we heard a loud BANG!  If I recall correctly, we were passing a semi truck at the time.  I have no idea if that had anything to do with it, but obviously, something was wrong with our van.  So, we pulled off the next exit and took it to get fixed.  Meanwhile, we had to find a place to stay.  We are tent campers but since this was an unplanned stop, we stayed in a hotel.  The next morning, as we were packing the van, we noticed our license plates were gone.  Screws were left on the ground.  Then, we had to go to the police station.  Since this was near the beginning of our trip, we still had about a week and a half of driving around NJ, MA, NY, and elseswhere without plates!  We made up a cardboard plate with the stolen number and put it in our back window.  We were warned that driving around with a plate number that was reported stolen might cause us to get pulled over a few times.  Thankfully, that never happened.  Although, we did have a cop follow us for a while at one point.  It is because of this incident that my family has a bit of a grudge towards New Jersey.  Don't worry, it's mostly just a joke to us.

I bought a new desk to help organize my business and hopefully our school supplies for next year.

Our TV went out and we bought a new one.

I'm singing with the choir at our church.

Little A has lost 2 teeth and she got a haircut.  Since she no longer has her 2 front teeth on the top, she looks and sounds so much differently than she did a week ago!

And I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting!  This just covers my last blog to the end of June.  In July, we're planning on driving to Boston!

How on earth do I handle everything?  Well, God has been teaching me to let things go.  I have to choose to not stress out.  I have to choose to go with the flow.  I have to choose to not get upset when things don't go as *I* have planned.  I have to choose to let God handle the details and to trust Him.  If I start to feel overwhelmed, then I'm trying to do God's job.

If I were feeling up to it, I'd post some pics, because I have some!  But, maybe that will have to wait until I am a little more mobile.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, more craziness on its way.  But it's a lot better than sitting around being bored!

Enjoy the life God has given you right now and He will bless you beyond your imagination.

Rest Time is Over

I had a very relaxing non-stressful 6 weeks of rest!  All I focused on was my home, my family, and homeschooling.  It was actually very nice.

Near the end of my break, however, I signed up to be a Thirty-One consultant!!!  Now, you may be thinking why would I add such a huge endeavor to my life when I was supposedly taking a break from any and all extra activities?  I agree.  That is a perfectly valid question.  I had been praying about doing this for about a year.  I just love Thirty-One and their products.  I have purchased 10 items in the past few years and I love everything about them and I keep wanting more!  I finally decided that this was something I could sell.  But, I was planning on waiting until May to sign up.  Then, it was brought to my attention that if I signed up before April 1, I could get a full rebate on my enrollment kit if I sold a certain amount in my first 30 days.  The possibility of getting my enrollment kit for free was tempting, so I did some more praying.

I want to say that I am not completely new to these home-based selling companies.  I once sold Mary Kay.  I enjoy Mary Kay products.  I still use it and it is the only brand I use on my face.  But, I jumped into selling Mary Kay without prayerfully considering it.  It was an on-the-whim decision.  I had never used Mary Kay before I became a consultant and knew nothing about the company except that it sold makeup.  When I attended my first meeting, I was so put off by the director.  I did not understand the excitement of Mary Kay.  I couldn't sell it because I wasn't excited to tell others about it.  Shortly after becoming a consultant, I became pregnant with my older daughter.  Throw in the exhaustion and hormones of pregnancy while dealing with a toddler and a new business that I really wasn't all that excited about just lead to failure.  I was in it strictly to make a little extra income for our family.  It required a lot more effort and time and money than I could give or was willing to give.  I made a whopping $42 the entire year I was a consultant and I just let my status as a consultant expire.  It was not worth it to me at that time.

So, you can imagine how leary I was of any home-based selling company that I ran into from then on.  I considered selling Creative Memories - a scrapbooking company, but my family didn't scrapbook and I didn't know where I would find a good customer base.  Then, another scrapbooking company came along called Heritage Makers.  It sounded appealing as well, and since it was an online scrapbooking company, it might be better.  But, still, no one felt like they could give me business.

Then, I attended a Thirty-One party.  I had never heard of it before and I had no idea what kind of a company it was.  As I listened to the consultant talk about the items and passed them around the room, I started to fall in love.  I thought of uses for almost everything in the catalog.  I had my eye on several items, but could only afford to spend a small amount of money at the time.  I bought my first item and left wondering if I would ever have the opportunity to buy anything else.

I soon realized that I was not the only one introduced to this new company.  My sisters had a few Thirty-One items as well.  Perfect!  I had to get more.  I had to find a consultant.  Thankfully, I discovered that my cousin, Deidra Rankin, sells it.  I bought a few items from her and was ecstatic when it arrived.  I was hooked.  Finally, I decided it was time to make it my business.  I didn't join for the money.  I didn't join for all the rewards I could get.  I joined because I love the product and I want others to know what great products they are!  As I learned with Mary Kay, you can't sell it if you don't love it.  :)  So after much thought, a lot of praying, and several months, I joined the Thirty-One career and I am having a blast.  And, yes, I did earn my rebate!!

Last week, I had our spring break.  It was a wonderful end of my weeks of rest.  Easter Sunday was amazing.  The music was absolutely beautiful.  I didn't even once wish I was up there singing with them.  I truly enjoyed just listening and getting chills from the blends and talented voices praising God.  We even witnessed a young girl get baptized, showing the world that she has made a commitment to follow the Lord.  I sent the kids on an unusual Easter egg hunt that afternoon.  Instead of just searching for eggs, they were required to correctly answer a question or complete a task in order to keep the egg they found.  It was very fun.  Later, we made resurrection rolls, representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  This will be an Easter Sunday I won't soon forget.

Then, it was time for me to dive in to VBS planning.  Our theme this year is a kingdom theme.  As I do every year, I wrote a skit to be performed each night of VBS to go along with the theme and reinforcing the speaker's message.  As my Thirty-One business took off, and VBS on my brain, and getting back into school routine after spring break, I think the rest did its job.  Thank You, Lord for giving me the wisdom to step back and get myself refocused on what is really important.

So, here I am, back in full swing of everything I love and everything I am called to do.  I need to stay focused on the Lord and serve only Him.  I need to bathe my day in prayer, asking for wisdom and strength.  I need to forget trying to please others.

For those of you who have no idea what Thirty-One is, you can check out my website at www.mythirtyone.com/lauramh.

Good Friday

Today we observe Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, the Friday before Jesus was raised back to life from the dead, the Friday that Jesus died.

Jesus died.  Why is that something we remember?  Why do we call it good?

Jesus knew from the beginning that He would sacrifice Himself for His creation.  When Adam and Eve chose to sin, God already had a plan and was putting it into action.  God told Satan that there would be enmity between him and the woman, between his seed and her seed.  "He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15 NASB)  A Savior was promised to come through a woman.  And that woman was Mary.

Jesus was born miraculously by a virgin, specifically chosen to be His mother.  He was perfect.  Not once did He sin.  Not once did He give in to temptation.  Jesus, fully human and fully God, could not sin because He had to be the perfect sacrifice for sin.  God cannot tolerate sin.  Sin requires blood to cover it.  Throughout the old testament, people made sacrifices to God for various sins.  But none of them were permanent.  Only the blood of a perfect man could fully and permanently cover the sins of everyone who ever lived and would ever live.  That man had to be God because only God can remain sinless.

God Himself came to earth and lived among His creation.  He came with purpose.  "...The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."  (Matthew 20:28 NASB) He came to serve and to die.  He knew His purpose and He fulfilled it.

At the Last Supper, Jesus tells His disciples to remember Him until He comes.  Those of us who are followers of Jesus, still remember Him.  This is why we take communion.  We remember His death, why He died, what He gave for us.  His blood was shed to cover our sins.  His body was broken to take our punishment.  (To clarify, no bones were actually broken.  He was so badly beaten that He was unrecognizable.)  He knew what He faced would be extremely difficult to bear.  He spent hours asking His Father if this was truly necessary.  If there was any other way, to spare Him the horrid day before Him.  But, still, in obedience to His Father, Jesus chose to do His will.  Being tried and sentenced to crucifixion, He was mocked, whipped, beaten, and suffered much more than any of us in America could imagine.

The soldiers stretched out Jesus' arms and drove heavy nails into his wrists, and into his feet.  The cross was wooden, rough, full of splinters, digging into His back.  A crown of sharp, painful thorns pierced into His forehead.  His lungs burning as He labored to breathe.  God, His Father, had to turn away and leave His Son to die alone.  "...My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46 NASB)

At any moment, Jesus could have straightened everyone out, told them He was God and climbed off the cross to prove it.  But He didn't.  He chose to be silent.  He chose to suffer.  He chose to die.

But why is this a good thing?  Why do we call this Good Friday?

Because I am a sinner.  I deserve hell as much as anyone.  But God doesn't want me to spend eternity in hell.  Hell is very real.  God created it for Satan and his followers.  But sinners cannot be allowed into heaven.  God cannot have sin in His presence.  Sin and God cannot dwell together.  Therefore, all sinners - all people - are destined for hell.  There is no such thing as being good enough.  Good people don't go to heaven.  Good people are still sinners and are still heading to hell.  One sin keeps you from entering heaven.

Is there any hope?

This is why Jesus died.  He is the perfect sacrifice to cover all sin.  Only those who believe Jesus as the substitue for them on the cross are cleansed from sin and are promised eternal life in heaven.  Jesus already paid for your way into heaven.  I know I don't deserve heaven.  I know that I deserve the cross and I deserve hell.  I know that God loves me so much that He died for me - for ME! - so that I would not have to pay for my own sin.  It is good that Jesus died.  Without His death, I would spend eternity in hell.

The story doesn't end there, of course.  Sunday, we will celebrate Easter.  Jesus did not stay dead.  He was raised back to life, walked the earth in His glorified body, and ascended to heaven.  How important is His resurrection?  "O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?"  (1 Corinthians 15:55 NASB)  If Jesus were still dead, death would have the victory.  There would be no life to hope for.  When Jesus came back to life, He conquered death.  This made eternal life possible.  Those of us who trust Jesus as our Savior will not see death - we will simply go from life to life.

Is your Friday good?

Mine is good.  This is Good Friday, indeed.

Rest

Rest has taken on new meaning in my life.  Rest doesn't always have to be sleeping, or relaxing, or doing nothing.  Rest can simply mean taking a break from something.  Taking a break from one thing doesn't mean taking a break from everything.  Even taking a break from ONE thing can be rest.

God has made it clear that I need to rest.

The first time I heard God told me to rest was during a gallbladder attack.  My second attack.  After some research, I did a gallbladder cleanse and I'm feeling pretty good.  No surgery needed.

But, I still needed rest.

Shortly after I was diagnosed with gall stones, I attended a small event with women from my chapel.  One of the women gave a short devotion on resting, literally resting, in Jesus.  She was one of those who was always going and going and going as she served the Lord.  She found it difficult to just rest when health problems struck her.  But that's where she grew and God used that to teach her that being a Christian isn't always about serving Him, but it's taking time to rest in Him and listen to Him and just soak in His Word.

I am one of those who keeps going and going and going when I'm serving outside the home.  As I did this, my home was being neglected.  When I was home, I was stressed trying to balance homeschooling, keeping house, and serving in outside activities.  I needed to rest.

However, I was very involved in planning the Valentine banquet for our chapel.  Sometimes I'm in chrage but this year I just had to plan the entertainment.  That seems to be my specialty.  As the day grew closer, I was starting to lose it.  I could feel a cold coming on.  I couldn't think straight.  My energy levels were extremely low during the day.  Homeschooling suffered as did the house.  I was a complete mess.  I kept telling God, just get me through the banquet then I will rest.  Then I will take a break.

God wanted me to rest sooner.

The night I was to have everyone involved in the entertainment get together to practice, I became extremely dizzy.  Now, I'm no newby when it comes to dizziness.  I often got dizzy when I was younger.  I could stand up, feel the dizziness come one, even go black, but still walk straight.  That's how used to it I was.  I've come close to passing out many times and actually fainted twice.  Dizziness is almost just a regular part of life.  But this.  This knocked me down so hard I couldn't even move my head.  One little turn and the room was upside down.  I couldn't possibly direct the practice and the banquet was 2 days away.  I handed over my directions to a friend and went home.  Don't worry, I didn't drive.  Some friends drove me home.

That was a Wednesday.  On Thursday, I surrendered.  God really wanted me to take a break.  I was losing my grip on everything and I just couldn't keep that many balls up in the air any more.  So, I rested.  I didn't bother to do anything that wasn't required of me.  I didn't even dare to think about the banquet or anything that was going on in my life later.  I just took that day and rested.

Friday, I did the same.  But, not completely.  Afterall, the banquet was that night.  I rested all morning, not allowing myself to worry about the upcoming event.  Then in the afternoon, I slowly prepared.  I even prepared a possible back-up plan if I felt I couldn't be there.

Thankfully, I made it to the banquet but I refused to stress about it.  Well, I tried not to stress.  The evening didn't go quite as planned and there were things that really bothered me, but I couldn't let it take over.  Whatever happened, happened.  The most important thing, however, was that everyone enjoyed themselves and God was glorified.

Finally, the banquet was over.  I could finally take a break and rest.

Then, it hit me.  That means I have to say no to singing for Easter.  How could I do that?  I was very excited about the song we would be singing.  I also asked my daughter if she would like to sing something with me.  I started looking for songs we could do together.  But, as the days went by, I realized I couldn't this time.  I honestly and truly needed to just take a break from all outside activities that required extra effort and time on my part.  So, as difficult as it was, I had to say no.

Between the Valentine banquet and preparing for our VBS, I have about a month and a half to rest.  I'm very excited about this.  I can focus on homeschooling and keeping house and just resting in the Lord's presence.  I can take my time doing things instead of rushing through because I have to be somewhere.  My family can have my full attention because I'm not thinking about what else I have to do.  I can rest.

The difference between serving and resting is the difference between Martha and Mary.  Being a Martha isn't bad.  Being a Mary is just better.  There are certain times to be a Martha.  There is always time to be a Mary.

I will be back.  Afterall, people have made it very clear that they can't have VBS without me.  Don't worry, come April, I am diving right in.  But for now, I'm not even going to think about it.  I refuse to let future events stress me out now.  This is my time to soak in my Savior and just rest.

2012 in Pictures

We had a fun and busy year!  It was filled with multiple trips to Iowa, camps, Idaho, friends, family, church, house projects, wedding, VBS...what an amazing year!

We love playing in the snow when we're in Iowa since we rarely get any here in Kansas!

Here is our new puppy.  He was so tiny and shy when we first got him.  Now he's overly friendly, loves to snuggle, loves to play, and is over 5 lbs.

 

 

Snow in Kansas!!

Princess themed bridal shower for Amanda.  We all dressed up like princesses.  Well, we had something a little different for the bride.  :)

The kids love going to AWANA which is a kids club where they learn Bible verses.  One of our favorite theme nights is crazy hair night.

Every year the zoo has a free day so we try to go on that day even though it is way crowded.

Back in Iowa for a wedding shower for Nate and Amanda.  All 4 of us sisters along with John and Connie Clark were "forced" to play a game similar to the Newlywed game.  We didn't win.  haha

 

 

 

We had a campout in our backyard.  Rambo was ready to go back inside before we even got in the tent for the night.  We enjoyed roasting hot dogs and s'mores.

 

 

 

J and K spent a week at Kansas Bible Camp.

 

 

K celebrated her 9th birthday while at camp and then with us while we were in Idaho.

 

 

We went to Idaho to help with the roof and see all of Seth's family.

 

 

Then J turned 11 shortly after coming back home.

Nate and Amanda were married on July 13!!

Our Detective themed VBS took the kids on a search for the truth about Jesus.

We headed off for a week at family camp!

First day of school.

 

 

 

 

Then Seth's parents came from Idaho to return the favor.  My parents and brother-in-law also came to help with the roof.

 

 

 

And while the roof project was going on, this suddenly needed to happen.  I plan on writing an entirely separate blog once it is complete.

I donated 10 inches of hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

Our church put on an amazing Christmas program.

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Iowa.

And with my mom's family at Grandma Lola's house.

Here is our tree on Christmas morning.

Little A turned 6.

We finally got some snow!!

We had a blast bringing in the New Year with friends.

 

 

I do not have a resolution this year.  I simply just want to follow the Lord and take my life one day at a time, enjoying every moment and every blessing I have.

 

Happy New Year!!!