Yeah, I know.  Such a catchy title today.  What can I say

So we were once again down by a couple of people this weekend, but I think we still managed to rock the house.  Pastor Chris is visiting his kids & grandkids in the Bay area, so we were missing his guitar, and Taya is in the midst of insanity this month – she’s a teacher.  It’s May, need I say more?  Paulette is out of town, Samis in high school & it’s May (again, no explanation necessary) and Jennifer was celebrating her anniversary this weekend.

Yeah, down by a few…

However I’m really hoping the recording came out well this week, because Jim gave a fantastic sermon this morning!  It was on love.  Not the gushy romantic thing that most people think of when they hear that word, but rather on how God is love… and we need to be more like God in how we love.  Yeah… it was a convitcting one.  (don’t you just hate those?)

Anywho, here’s the list of songs we led this morning.  It was a fun day.

• Your Grace Is Enough [F] (Matt Maher)
  
• It Is You [A] (Peter Furler)
  
• Here Is Love [D] (Steve Cook/Vikki Cook/William Rees)
• We Will Worship You [D]  (Carlos Whittaker/Jason Ingram)
• kids story
• Love The Lord [D] (Lincoln Brewster)
• Communion
• Lord, Light the Fire Again [E] (Brain Doerksen)

Yeah, we kinda followed the love theme.  It worked really well too.  I took a minute towards the end of We Will Worship You to talk about it just a little, which I think helped some too.  We introduced it a few weeks ago during communion, but I hadn’t had a chance to really talk about it or explain it yet.  The cool part though?  As I was sitting down Jim told me that what I said fit in perfectly with the message he would be sharing.

I just love it when God does that!

I have to admit though… I normally wouldn’t have put something so upbeat in for communion, but it really worked well.  I was a bit surprised.  It tied up Jim’s message really well, and sent us into communion thinking about how we truly are – wretched and blind, and unable to save ourselves.

All in all, it was a great Sunday!

How was your service?

**To see what was led at churches all over the world, take a look at the Sunday Setlist blog carnival over at TheWorshipCommunity.com!

Yep, I admit it.  I’ve apparently gone awol.  Missing In Action.

Yeah – sorry about that.

It’s been a kinda busy month or so around these parts… ya know with taking 3- classes, having sick kids, Easter, family in town – twice, and me being stupid & throwing my back out (tends to make sitting nearly impossible!)

BUT – I think I’m back!  Yay!

Of course, along with the list above, there has been the spiritual aspect as well.  Personally I’ve been arguing with God (yes, again) and – as usual – He’s winning.  Don’t you just hate that?  He ALWAYS wins!  (thank goodness!)

I’ve finally determined that my personal lesson for 2010 (at least the first half) is just how much of a wimp I really am… and I mean in just about every way.  I can’t do this thing called life on my own, or in my own strength.  DUH!  I have to do this thing called life in HIS strength.

Living life in His strength just isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do because that requires you to turn over control.  Something that within our humanity we tend to find just a little bit difficult.  Sure, we say that we will lay our troubles at His feet, that He is in control… but as soon as we start to feel like we aren’t in control we try to take it all back again.

You see, it’s the leaving it there that’s the hard part.  Sure, we will turn it over to God when it starts to get hard.  When we start to feel overwhelmed.  But as soon as those feelings pass we start to justify why we really should take control again.  After all, we aren’t feeling overwhelmed anymore, so we can handle it… right?

WRONG!

Our lives are so far beyond our control, so far beyond what we can handle in our humanity that it’s nearly insane to even try.  We have a threat of losing our job – quick!  Send up a prayer.  We get bad news from the Dr. and quick!  Send up another prayer.  We have tried to put God in a little brass lamp that we can rub whenever we think we need something.  God is not a genie in a bottle.  God is not our personal “get me out of this jam quick” savior.  He is the God of the universe!

And once we get a glimpse of how great He really is, well, it should change us.

Jesus calls us to live out a life in submission to Him.  He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him – not to say a few words and expect Him to follow us around like a pet dog!  That’s the wrong kind of unconditional love.  In that scenario, well, we would be the dog.  We should be the one looking at our Master with adoring eyes and willing to do whatever He asks us to do – NOT the other way around!

Yes, Jesus Christ is our Savior.  But He is not going to save us from the trials of life.  He is going to save us from our sin.  The bible never promised that choosing to follow Jesus would be easy – in fact, it promises exactly the opposite!  To take up our cross and follow Jesus is to choose a life of persecution.  Is to choose a life of discomfort, of possible loneliness.  To choose to give up everything and follow His leading, no matter the cost.

I recently began reading the book “Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt, and I must say that he brings out some pretty hard truths in just the first chapter!  so far the line that got me the most was this:

And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.

As Platt brings out in his book, we have begun to change who Jesus is to us.  We don’t want to believe that He would actually call us to walk away from our job or sell something that we like to help someone else – or even to choose not to buy something we want and give that money to missions.  We don’t want to think that he might actually ask us to leave our family of birth and risk our lives to tell people about Him!  No, that’s not what Jesus would ask us to do!

Um… folks, re-read the gospels and you will see… that is exactly what He asked His disciples to do.  To walk away from their livelihoods, their families and everything they knew, and follow Him wherever He would lead to – even unto death.

Wow…

And to think, I struggle with setting aside time each day to work on the bible study that I’m leading!  Here I am, an American Christian living in a 1500 sq. ft. house with 2 cars in the driveway and junk that I really need to figure out how to get rid of.  HEre I am with plenty of food in the fridge and pantry that my family can have something to eat whenever they feel a twinge of hunger.  I have fresh, clean water piped into my warm, dry house – so much that I don’t think twice about using it to take a longer-than-normal shower occasionally, and re-wash that load of clothes that got left in the washer a bit too long.

We are so full of ourselves!

We are so comfortable!  Proclaiming that we believe in Jesus Christ doesn’t bring any stronger persecution to us than perhaps some laughter around the water cooler.  We have good jobs, and so far no one can fire us for professing to be a Christian.  Our country is slowly losing it’s Judeo-Christian morals and values, but we are too afraid to rock the boat to say anything about it.

People in Asia are being killed because they profess faith in Jesus Christ.

They are being thrown in jail.  They are being tortured.

and they are glad to suffer for the sake of Christ.

I’m preaching to me here… I can’t think of any time that I truly suffered because of my belief in Jesus Christ.  Being teased at school doesn’t quite make that cut – especially when you grew up in a fairly “Christian” part of the country.  I do find myself wondering if I would have the strength to suffer for His sake.

I know that on my own, I would fail.  On my own, I couldn’t do it.

But I’m slowly learning that I’m not called to do anything on my own.

I am called to live out the life that He places before me… and to live it by and in His strength.

After all, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for those interested in “Radical” – you can download and read the first chapter here.  And while supplies last you can get a free copy of the companion book “The Radical Question” by going to WaterBrookMultnomah.com/RadicalQuestion

And no, I haven’t received a free copy of the book – I followed the same steps I just told you about and downloaded the first chapter… I’m still processing what I’ve already read, and I’m only halfway through chapter one.  I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the book… and a little frightened!  I know that God is calling me to go deeper with Him… but being the comfortable American that I am, that is a scary thing.

But is it worth it?

Absolutely.

This is a very belated addition to Fred’s Sunday Setlist bloggy carnival – check out what churches all over the world sang each weekend!

Sorry I missed last week, we were packing for our family’s camping trip to Mt. Rainier, and I just didn’t get to it.  It was a great time of worship though, and actually using a sound board was wonderful! Unfortunately due (in part) to the lack of sleep over the past week (sleeping on the ground can do that) I don’t remember too much about the individual songs.  Sorry!

Last week was our first Sunday down the hill at Peace Lutheran’s main building – double the space in the sanctuary, a great sound system and quadruple the space for the kids.  Wow.  Who cares if we have to set up & tear down each week!  We finally have space to teach our kids (and the cushioned pews are a nice upgrade from the old wood ones too!)

This week we had our all-church camp out, so it was different yet again.  And Pastor Chris is not one to go the easy route with just an acoustic and a vocal… nope, we had the whole shebang packed up and brought out to Jim Creek!  Friday & Saturday were quite warm days (Sat got up around 90) but Sunday we woke up to cold temps with a bit of wind… it was 60 at 11:00!  Needless to say, we huddled around the (large) campfire for the sermon!  Fortunately it was only sprinkling here and there… not the deluge of rain that was to follow soon after.

But it was still a sweet time of worship.

der lists…

6-5-09

• Forever
• Glorious
• How Can I Keep From Singing
• Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
• kids message
• Beautiful One
• announcements
• message – Please Release Me and Let Me Live Again
• Forever – reprise

As you can see we did not do a “star spangled” service last weekend.  We finished up our series in Ecclesiastes (although Pastor Chris did bring in some elements of patriotism as they related to our Christian walk).

6-12-09

• Everlasting God
• Lord, Light The Fire Again
• Your Grace Is Enough
• Revelation Song
• message
• communion
• Nothing But The Blood (trad. hymn)

Pastor Chris shared his sermon, Wendell gave the communion message, and we sang through the first verse of Nothing But The Blood (trad. hymn).  Then we all finished packing up and got out of there before the real rain started!

And boy did it start.

We had heavy rains, thunder and lightening, and it has lasted for 2 days.  It has been lovely!  And it was cold enough today to cause me to make roasted potato soup for dinner… well, more like roasted root veggie soup, since it had potatoes (red & sweet), carrots, garlic, onions and creamy butternut squash in the broth.  All that was missing was homemade sourdough rolls… but I didn’t get to those today.

We are still resting up from 2 camping trips in 1 week, but both were quite lovely.  Mt Rainier on Tuesday & Wed, home for Thurs, and Jim Creek with the church Friday – Sunday.  I think we are getting close to being caught up on sleep!

I know I’m late getting it posted, but how was your Sunday?

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Some of you may recall the 101 list I typed up a year or so ago… or you may have noticed it along the bottom left side of the blog here (waaaaaaaaay down there!) and wondered what it was.

101 things I want to accomplish in 1001 days… yep.  I’m doing my every-so-often revisit to see how I am doing.  It’s not usually very encouraging, unfortunately!

Well, here goes.

My 1001 day is Wednesday, January 12, 2011

house and yard maintenance
1. get stairs on the deck – 2 years and counting.  Maybe next year?  Mostly a money thing.
2. clean and plant flower bed in backyard – did it… now the grass has re-claimed it.  Bummer
3. build a sunflower house for the girls -  will try again this year – the slugs won that battle last year.
4. clean and maintain the flowerbed outside the office – LOOKS GORGEOUS!
5. finish planting the pathway to garden – um… yeah.  Pulled up the groundcover & transplanted it.  Needs to be started over COMPLETELY.
6. finish making stepping stones for path – see #5
7. terrace back hillside for garden – well, we got part of the wall up last Summer, and that is Eric’s one-and-only project he WILL complete this Summer.  His goal, not mine.
8. find a new home for the evergreen trees before they get too large to move – well, we tore one out & replaced it with a nice planter, and the blue spruce died last year.  We are down to 2, and one is becoming a nurse tree for the wisteria.  We have a beautiful scotch pine though – any takers?
9. paint the outside of the house – May do this in a couple more years.  The colors are picked though!
10. finish M’s mural – I have some more trees painted, but getting INTO the room is a problem.
11. finish A’s mural – yep, can’t get to the wall to paint.
12. get laundry room remodeled – I may have given up on this idea.  Getting a new w/d would be nice though (before these completely die)
13. finish bathroom remodel – getting there.  New towelbars, new paint, just need the new cabinet.
14. put down hardwood floors – next year!  I think… I picked out a nice bamboo, we just have to afford it.
15. re-carpet the downstairs – may do tile instead – THIS SUMMER!
16. tile the stairs – should be done by August
17. clean out the garage – ALMOST THERE!!! I will have to take a picture after the next goodwill run.
18. fix the garage door opener – umm… yeah.  someday.
19. fix the side fence & gate – ugh

office

20. get all the fabric organized and PUT AWAY – how about sorted & sold?  Really need to do that too.
21. get filing done – you mean the piles aren’t files?  giant elephant there.  ugh
22. KEEP filing done – do all filing 1x per month – gotta get it done 1st.  Good idea tho!
23. get all buttons, clasps & hooks organized (95% there!) – I WAS 95% there.  now they are buried.  Need to sell those too
24. make and hang a ribbon organizer – eh, they are in a drawer pretty well organized.  Don’t need it so much anymore.
25. hang pictures/whiteboards up – 1 is up, don’t need the other.  Pics & crosses were hung, but I used the crossed @ church.
26. get rid of the extra boxes – THIS WEEK!
27. post unwanted fabrics to sell every 6 weeks – umm… yeah.  desperately need to do that.
28. unpack & put away office supplies from move – how about get rid of?  Even better idea.
29. donate/pass on patterns that are too small for the girls – did some, need to finish the job

work
30. get rid of excess flowers – they go to goodwill this week.
31. remove flowers from website – Jen R is taking care of that for me… I think!
32. find a new home for Carole’s table runners – anybody want some gorgeous velvet & silk table runners?  A variety of colors and styles.  Eric wold really like them our of his garage…
33. finish moving TC products over – or not.  Shutting down Mimsi too.
34. Clean up website – delete old product pages – yep – needs done.  I think Jen R is going to do this though.  May just delete the whole site!
35. sell/donate purchased bags – GONE!
36. build wholesale site – not happening.  Done making lots of bags for a bit.
37. send out newsletter to wholesale companies every 6 weeks – not gonna do it!
38. make swatch books – nope
39. hire a bookeeper – found one, unfortunatley don’t need her anymore. 
40. get all patterns copywritten – may still do this one.
41. review 2 products each month – debating about this.  Reviews take time, giveaways cost me $.  Dunno.
42. update/catalog orders & donations 1x per month – if I pick it back up this is a NECESSITY
43. send out newsletter 2x per month – nah, just blogging these days.
44. post new blog 1x per week for Mimsi  – if I keep it.
45. post 6 blogs per month for gift guides family (recipes, reviews, etc) – Nope!  moved them all over here and to Cottage-Recipes.com!
46. find wholesale supplier for fabric – don’t need to now.
47. make 1 RTS/art bag each week – nope, unless I just want to.
48. do inventory – yes, I do need to do that – so I can sell it off!
49. meet with mastermind group each week – over – no more meetings

Health/cooking
50. cook 3 vegeterian/vegan meals per week – working on it
51. learn to use 1 new ingredient per month – not so much.  Still want to though
52. post 2 new recipes per month (1/24) – hasn’t happened too often recently as I haven’t been cooking as much.  I know, bad me.
53. exercise 3x per week – I’ve made this goal for 2 solid weeks, and am on my way to a 3rd.  I’m GOING to make this a habit!
54. drop 4 dress sizes – no comment
55. learn to use the dutch oven well – Camping Season is here again, so I will be using it much more!
56. bake bread once per week (0/52) – I was doing really, really well, then I stopped for a bit.  Getting back on that wagon.
57. clean out the fridge 2x per month – needs it again…
58. use/freeze leftovers – we have been doing much better at this!  Yay!
59. grow corn – the slugs ate it.  I’ll keep trying though.
60. go on a walk with the girls & Eric at least 1x per week (0/7) – been walking without them…
61. climb the stairs at the end of the road 2x per week (0/7) – done it once per week for 2 weeks.  Gotta build up to that one.
62. make healthy snacks for the girls – overall, this is working.
63. use up the CSA produce each week – may not be able to get it this year – too much $$
64. learn to bake with flours other than wheat – my become a necessity.  Wondering if A has celiac or something.  Getting lots of tummy aches again.
65. make 1 entire meal from a different country 2x per month – such a nice idea…
66. get a bike – still really want to do this.  Anybody have one they don’t use?
67. get up by 7 every day – I do it every Sunday, but that’s it.  Contemplating the why…
68. go to bed on time – there’s a novel idea.  Been staying up with Eric while he works.
69. eat 1 raw meal per week – kinda sorta.  Will be easier with Summer here.

personal
70. read psalms each morning – I usually make it about 2 days.  Trying to do 1 proverb too.
71. make Eric’s pants – yep.  3 years & running.  gotta clean out the office 1st.
72. make Mom H’s piano bench cushion – need the cushion part – oh, and to find the fabric again.
73. keep the granite cleaned off – I have good days and bad days.  Mostly bad.
74. have a clean, empty sink each night before going to bed – we try…
75. make at least 1 trip to goodwill each month – Made 3 last month.  I’ll make one this week.
76. save up for a new car – Bought it may 08 – now we just gotta PAY for it.
77. build up an emergency fund – Brilliant idea!  dollars in bank? $0
78. post cd’s to swap or take to sell/trade in ~ freecycled a BIG box of cd’s, but I still need to go through them & get rid of more.
79. get last summer’s camping trips scrapbooked – & the Summer b4 that, & the one b4 that… waaaay behind!
80. teach the girls to sew – may have that ability once the office is accessible again.
81. teach the girls to garden – working on that one.
82. memorize 1 scripture per week – REALLY need to get back into this!
83. memorize with the girls! – yep.  REALLY need to.
84. find the cord the the keyboard – FOUND!
85. practice the piano again – Doing lots of that lately!
86. teach the girls the basics of playing the piano – kinda sorta doing that.
87. get M into violin lessons ~ she took them last Summer, and quit.  Mentioned interest again this morning tho
88. go on a date with Eric 1x per month – been out more often, but not quite 1x per month
89. find a good babysitter – SAMMY!  and Mrs. J
90. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with M each week  – I miss this.  We used to go out to lunch 1x per week, but haven’t for almost a year
91. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with A each week – just trying to figure out when.
92. have QUALITY 1-on-1 with Eric each week (1/7) – besides sitting here on the seperate computers?  need this!
93. finish A’s curtains – someday…
94. have “girlfriend time” 1x per month – really working on this one.  Been going to lunch w/ a friend every couple of weeks.  It’s been really, really nice!
95. send a handwritten letter 1x per month – the question is, to who?  Just need to take the time.
96. send a letter to Norma 1x per month – REALLY need to do this.
97. pray more – can we ever pray enough?  Need to do it though
98. read the bible through – yep.  I get bogged down around numbers every time.  Can I skip that one and come back?
99. read 1 book every 6 weeks (but don’t ignore everything else!) – Been doing this a LOT more.  Really enjoying it.
100. be a better mom – always a work in progress.
101. be a better wife – He deserves it, just like the girls do.

That’s my 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days.  I have about a year-and-a-half left.  We’ll see what can get done!  I have replaced a few of these as they were completed, just so you don’t think I’m a TOTAL failure!

Have YOU ever set a goal like this?  Did it work?

What a wonderful group of elected officials we have these days.  Verbage that is so over-reaching that it is hurting us in the name of helping us.  Nice.  Almost makes a person want to move to another country where the gov’t isn’t as interested in controlling every aspect of your life… but I’m not sure that one of those exists anymore.

This is re-posted from an email to get the info out.

OVERKILL: HOW THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT IS DAMAGING AMERICAN BUSINESSES

FLY-IN, RALLY AND CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
TO FIX FLAWS IN NEW PRODUCT SAFETY LAW

Washington, DC – April 1, 2009

Implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is following a worst-case scenario for manufacturers, retailers and charities. Thanks to the flaws in this law, millions of perfectly safe products are in the process of being destroyed, costing U.S. businesses billions of dollars in the midst of one of the worst economic crises in U.S. history. Charitable organizations and thrift stores are being forced to pull inventory from their shelves at a time when American families need them more than ever. The supply of science supplies to schools is being curtailed. Youth model ATV and dirt bikes are no longer available creating a safety issue because more than 90% of injuries to kids on ATVs occur on large adult size models. Even libraries are at risk of legal liability for lending children’s books. All of these violations of common sense are being done in the name of “safety”.

From unrealistic compliance deadlines that made it impossible for industry or the Consumer Product Safety Commission to adequately prepare before the law went into effect, to the unprecedented decision to retroactively apply the new lead standards and phthalates ban to inventory already sitting in stores and warehouses, CPSIA is causing massive disruptions to industries across the board, particularly small and medium-sized businesses.

So far, Congress has ignored the calls of thousands of small businesses, charities, parents and teachers to fix the flaws in this legislation, refusing even to hold public hearings on the problem. That’s why business and charitable groups are organizing a fly in, rally and Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress, provide information and bring attention to the CPSIA crisis. Wide participation is anticipated in this unique event to call upon Congress to urgently fix the CPSIA.

Date and Location: April 1, 2009, 10:00am, Capitol Visitors Center, Room HVC201 A&B,
The U.S. Capitol

Speakers will include Members of Congress and representatives from:
· Charitable Organizations
· National Association of Manufacturers
· Small Business owners from various industries affected by CPSIA
· Motorcycle and ATV dealerships
· Publishers and Library Associations
· Product safety and lead experts (to discuss science-based risk assessment)

Confirmed Participating Organizations (as of March 16, 2009)
· Alliance for Children’s Product Safety
· American Apparel and Footwear Association
· American Motorcycle Association
* American Specialty Toy Retailing Association
· Fashion Jewelry Trade Association;
· Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association
· Handmade Toy Alliance
· International Sleep Products Association
· Motorcycle Industry Council
· National Association of Manufacturers
· National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops
National School Supply & Equipment Association
· National Bulk Vendors Association
· Specialty Vehicle Institute of America
· Toy Industry Association

For additional information, please contact the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety at 202-828-7637 and visit the web-site at http://www.AmendTheCPSIA.com. For those who can not attend, the event will be telecast on the mentioned web site.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This (among other things) just serves to make me wonder why our gov’t hates it’s people. We were once the land of the free, but we are quickly becoming the land of those that cannot do anything because it might turn out to be dangerous for someone… except of course that our gov’t likes to approve the things that truly ARE dangerous for us. One example… check out HR 875 – another “over-reaching” law that will put small businesses out of business, leaving big agri-business as our only option (you know, the people who grow the GMO crap from Monsanto. Oh goody.)

I’m not feeling up to the debate today, ut if you want some info on Monsano (the truth rather than what our fine gov’t tells us) I found a great video – it’s a long one, but very informative. Take a look at it here. Hopefully this one will be available for a bit – go watch it quickly before it gets pulled.

Want more info? Check out HR 875 (as in actually read it) over at GovTrack. Want another one to look at? How about S 425 in the Senate.

I guess the First Lady just planted a “Neo-Victory Garden” that may soon be illegal!  Well, it will be if the wife-of-a-Monsanto-employee-that-sponsored-the-bill gets her (Monsanto’s) way. Organic seeds contain contaminants you know… ’cause GMO seeds are just DNA (and we’ve been ingesting DNA since we were created, so it can’t be bad for us.)

Any thoughts? Please share…