Do you guys make resolutions? I have made all the traditional ones in the past. You know, "I'll eat better" or the perennial favorite, "I'll exercise routinely." but this year I'm going to try something different.
I'm going to resolve to give myself a break more often. I'm not going to worry about weight, health, money, jobs, etc.....the list is endless isn't it. Wouldn't it be nice to look into the mirror and think, "Wow, they love me just like this." Wouldn't it be nice to think, "I would like to call so-and-so." then pick up the phone and do it. Not talk yourself out of it because you don't think they would REALLY care to hear from you. Or even, invite someone over to our house (gasp!) and not worry if our secret will get out. You know, the secret, that we're a bunch of dorks and weirdos in our house. You mean it isn't a secret? You already know that about us?
I'm also going to resolve to share more of myself. Weather it be in person or on this wonderful blog. I'm not a very "friendly" person. I freely admit it. I'm not mean or even spiteful. I'm just not comfortable putting myself out there. I'm also terrible at "playing nice." I don't like people being fake to me, so I won't be fake to you. You'll always know where you stand with me. By sharing, perhaps, I can overcome those "getting to know you" hurdles. This has been something that I've been working on for awhile now and I have improved, somewhat. We will see where the next year will take me.
OK, what are some of your New Year resolutions?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Book Review: "Tithing; test me in this" by Douglas Leblanc. Part of the Ancient Practices Series
I wasn't really sure what this book was going to teach me. To be truthful, I thought that tithing was pretty cut and dried stuff. You were supposed to put 10% in the offering plate when you went to church, period. Well, I've seen that there is more to it than just sticking a couple of bucks into the plate.
This book isn't an educational book, per se, on the history or the "righteousness" of tithing. It is more of a book of show and tell. It shows us several different people and tells us how they view tithing. They give accounts of how tithing has affected their lives and how they see what God has told them about tithing. The people profiled in the book come from different faiths and different backgrounds. I found it refreshing that the author didn't go with the standard, "my way is the right way." Instead, by giving these views, the book lets you come to your own conclusion about how tithing fits into your life.
Each chapter of this book seemed to have a little pearl of wisdom to impart. To me, the one that hit home the most is the quote from Randy Alcorn, "What I always say to people is that if you take the standard of 10 percent and say God required it of the poorest people in the Old Testament Israel, and now we're under the grace of Jesus and we have the indwelling Holy Spirit and we live in this incredibly affluent culture, do you think he would expect less of us? Does God still have expectations of New Testament people? Clearly he does. In fact, Jesus' message is, 'You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.' And then what does he do each time? He raises the bar." I say that is pretty powerful stuff!
I also liked the illustration that Ed Bacon gave of people being like bodies of water. In essence what he said was that examine two bodies of water, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The area around the Sea of Galilee is alive with trade, etc. i.e. LIFE. Compare that to the area around the Dead Sea, which is void of many places of commerce i.e. DEAD. The difference between these two bodies of water is that the Sea of Galilee has water flowing into and out of it, while the Dead Sea only has water flowing into it. Thus, we should take the blessings that flow into us, as people, and let them flow back out of us onto others and we will be alive. If we don't, and only let blessing flow into us, we will be dead. If thought that was a really awesome picture he painted!
There are many, many, many, more great examples of tithing and the blessing of giving back the tithe in this book. I didn't agree with everything that was written, but I found that made the book more authentic. If you are wanting to study the "why" of tithing this would be a good book to read.
(I did receive this book from Booksneeze.com in return for a review. I didn't not have to give a favorable review if I didn't not want to do so.)
Monday, December 27, 2010
Year In Review: 2010 Edition
Since I didn't manage to get out a Christmas letter this year, I thought I'd at least blog about the year's activities. I'm going to try and keep this missive coherent but I make no promises.
During the early part of the year, we were busy schooling. We completed our first year of homeschool and started our second. We had great plans to school year-round. We quickly found out, during the summer, that it is hard to accomplish when your friends are on a traditional school calendar. School just doesn't work when kids want to spend the night or hang out during the day. So, we changed our plan and went to a relaxed approach to summer school. On days that we didn't have plans we did school. This allowed us to be about six weeks ahead of the public school. We've been using those days for some extended holiday time off. It's been really nice to have that luxury.
We have stayed active in our homeschool co-op, Great Plains Christian Home Educators. What a blessing this group has been to us. Drake was able to learn to run a sound/light board for the high school play production. This is something that he really enjoyed and has continued to learn more about. Jilly learned how to crochet, cake decorate, and embroider. She, also, has participated in the co-op elementary musical and has started piano lessons. Steve has officially become the gym teacher at co-op. He loves it and the kids LOVE "Mr. Teeve"! I help Steve with the gym class. You guys know me well enough to know that I'm just there to make sure the kids stay in line and pay attention. Gym is not my forte. LOL!
In April we were able to take Steve's folks to Disney World for their first time. It was so much fun to be able to take this trip with them. Talk about building memories! We dragged them around the World for four days and made them do all the things that all Disney nerds must. We are already planning on where to take them next.
In the early summer we had a wonderful surprise. Steve's parents moved back to Hammon, OK. This is just 30 minutes away from us. I'm sure it was the trip to Disney that convinced them that it was OK to move that close. We really like having them near, so that we can drag them to every event in which the kids participate.
In August, my inner pioneer came out and we got some chickens. We built a chicken ark and bought four hens from a friend. The chickens are all named (Henrietta, Hermione, Helen, & Hester) and are great pets. I had no idea how much fun they were going to be. As Steve says, they are pets that actually give you something a back for feeding them. They don't take any more effort to care for than a cat does. It's great. They did end up costing us a bit more than expected. They looked so pitiful penned up in their coop that I asked Steve to fence in our backyard. So now we have a privacy fence and free-range chickens. LOL!
Now we've come to the part of the review that I get to brag on the children:
Drake has been drumming for about a year now. He seems to have a natural talent for it. Needless to say, the drums have been moved outside into the "man cave." He was able to play with the church youth group during the Christmas program. He did a great job!
He has also started working up at Thomas Drug this year. He works two afternoons a week and every other Saturday. He is really good at his job, and we've received a lot of compliments on what a great young man he has become. Let me tell you, sometimes those compliments save my sanity when dealing with my dear teen!
We'll be starting divers-ed this year and it makes me weak in the knees to think about it. Thus, that is all I'll type on the subject.
Drake was able to attend the Oklahomans Without Limits (O.W.L.) summer camp this year. He went as a sighted partner. The camp is for blind/visually impaired children. His partner had cerebral palsy. Drake really enjoyed his time at camp, and he sure learned a lot from the kids that attended the camp.
His studies are moving along really well, and he has done great on his standardized tests. I can't wait to see what he is able to accomplish in the next few years.
Jillian turned eleven this year. She is just as sweet as pie.
She still takes art lessons from Ms. Lynn and loves it! The art work she brings home is amazing. If you have facebook, look at my photos and you'll see some of her stuff. She has won several ribbons in the county fairs around the area and even placed third in the State Fair of Oklahoma. She was super excited about that.
She went to the O.W.L. camp this year, too. It is her second year attending, and she just loved it. She met some great kids and had a blast learning theater type arts. During the camp, she was interviewed by the local TV station. What a shock it was to get phone calls, at home, telling me they saw my baby girl on television. You should have seen me scramble around the Internet trying to find a video. Since then, we've found out that Jillian is featured on NewView Oklahoma's, formerly the League for the Blind, website. Can you tell that we are proud of her?
As for Steve and I, we are continuing our semi-retired saga. We are privileged to work with all the stores and people of Thomas Drug Inc. We work two days per week and whenever they need some additional help. I am so grateful that we've been able to follow this road. It really has been a "meant to be" kind of thing. I won't get too preachy here, but it is clear that God has wanted us to follow this path at this point in our lives. We aren't sure what the future is going to hold for us but we are willing to ride the wave wherever it takes us.
We've also started to help out with our church's A.W.A.N.A. program. This is a bible study type program. It has been a lot of fun for us. We've made some good friends at church, and the kids are fun, too. We are stretching our (read MY) comfort zone.
We did take a summer vacation this year. We drove up to Michigan for a Chapdelaine family reunion/graduation party. Of course, we took the long way there. We first drove to Anna's house in Ohio and stayed the night. Then we went on up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It was a lot of fun. We did find that we've warped our children into knowing all the "old" rockers. After Cleveland, we continued on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. We wanted to get our passports stamped but I was sad to find that they didn't stamp them. Oh well, the falls were astounding! After spending a couple of days at Niagara, we weren't sure where to go next. For some strange reason, we completed the circle around Lake Erie and went to Cedar Pointe amusement park. This park was NOT Disney World. It was roller coaster heaven!! If you like that sort of thing, then it's a must see place. We ended the trip by going back up into Michigan to visit family. We had a wonderful visit and we can't wait until we get to see them again this coming summer.
After our summer vacation, we took a fall vacation, too. Yes, we are spoiled! We met my sister Anna and her family down at Disney World at the end of September. We've done this several times now, and we always have a blast with them! I just wish we could go with them every time.
Well, that is about all that I can think of to type about this year. It sure seems like a ton of stuff. It is obvious that we have been blessed beyond measure this past year. I know if we keep following the path, we'll continue to prosper. Thank you to all of my friends out there who have made these blessings possible. You know who you are!
During the early part of the year, we were busy schooling. We completed our first year of homeschool and started our second. We had great plans to school year-round. We quickly found out, during the summer, that it is hard to accomplish when your friends are on a traditional school calendar. School just doesn't work when kids want to spend the night or hang out during the day. So, we changed our plan and went to a relaxed approach to summer school. On days that we didn't have plans we did school. This allowed us to be about six weeks ahead of the public school. We've been using those days for some extended holiday time off. It's been really nice to have that luxury.
We have stayed active in our homeschool co-op, Great Plains Christian Home Educators. What a blessing this group has been to us. Drake was able to learn to run a sound/light board for the high school play production. This is something that he really enjoyed and has continued to learn more about. Jilly learned how to crochet, cake decorate, and embroider. She, also, has participated in the co-op elementary musical and has started piano lessons. Steve has officially become the gym teacher at co-op. He loves it and the kids LOVE "Mr. Teeve"! I help Steve with the gym class. You guys know me well enough to know that I'm just there to make sure the kids stay in line and pay attention. Gym is not my forte. LOL!
In April we were able to take Steve's folks to Disney World for their first time. It was so much fun to be able to take this trip with them. Talk about building memories! We dragged them around the World for four days and made them do all the things that all Disney nerds must. We are already planning on where to take them next.
In the early summer we had a wonderful surprise. Steve's parents moved back to Hammon, OK. This is just 30 minutes away from us. I'm sure it was the trip to Disney that convinced them that it was OK to move that close. We really like having them near, so that we can drag them to every event in which the kids participate.
In August, my inner pioneer came out and we got some chickens. We built a chicken ark and bought four hens from a friend. The chickens are all named (Henrietta, Hermione, Helen, & Hester) and are great pets. I had no idea how much fun they were going to be. As Steve says, they are pets that actually give you something a back for feeding them. They don't take any more effort to care for than a cat does. It's great. They did end up costing us a bit more than expected. They looked so pitiful penned up in their coop that I asked Steve to fence in our backyard. So now we have a privacy fence and free-range chickens. LOL!
Now we've come to the part of the review that I get to brag on the children:
Drake has been drumming for about a year now. He seems to have a natural talent for it. Needless to say, the drums have been moved outside into the "man cave." He was able to play with the church youth group during the Christmas program. He did a great job!
He has also started working up at Thomas Drug this year. He works two afternoons a week and every other Saturday. He is really good at his job, and we've received a lot of compliments on what a great young man he has become. Let me tell you, sometimes those compliments save my sanity when dealing with my dear teen!
We'll be starting divers-ed this year and it makes me weak in the knees to think about it. Thus, that is all I'll type on the subject.
Drake was able to attend the Oklahomans Without Limits (O.W.L.) summer camp this year. He went as a sighted partner. The camp is for blind/visually impaired children. His partner had cerebral palsy. Drake really enjoyed his time at camp, and he sure learned a lot from the kids that attended the camp.
His studies are moving along really well, and he has done great on his standardized tests. I can't wait to see what he is able to accomplish in the next few years.
Jillian turned eleven this year. She is just as sweet as pie.
She still takes art lessons from Ms. Lynn and loves it! The art work she brings home is amazing. If you have facebook, look at my photos and you'll see some of her stuff. She has won several ribbons in the county fairs around the area and even placed third in the State Fair of Oklahoma. She was super excited about that.
She went to the O.W.L. camp this year, too. It is her second year attending, and she just loved it. She met some great kids and had a blast learning theater type arts. During the camp, she was interviewed by the local TV station. What a shock it was to get phone calls, at home, telling me they saw my baby girl on television. You should have seen me scramble around the Internet trying to find a video. Since then, we've found out that Jillian is featured on NewView Oklahoma's, formerly the League for the Blind, website. Can you tell that we are proud of her?
As for Steve and I, we are continuing our semi-retired saga. We are privileged to work with all the stores and people of Thomas Drug Inc. We work two days per week and whenever they need some additional help. I am so grateful that we've been able to follow this road. It really has been a "meant to be" kind of thing. I won't get too preachy here, but it is clear that God has wanted us to follow this path at this point in our lives. We aren't sure what the future is going to hold for us but we are willing to ride the wave wherever it takes us.
We've also started to help out with our church's A.W.A.N.A. program. This is a bible study type program. It has been a lot of fun for us. We've made some good friends at church, and the kids are fun, too. We are stretching our (read MY) comfort zone.
We did take a summer vacation this year. We drove up to Michigan for a Chapdelaine family reunion/graduation party. Of course, we took the long way there. We first drove to Anna's house in Ohio and stayed the night. Then we went on up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It was a lot of fun. We did find that we've warped our children into knowing all the "old" rockers. After Cleveland, we continued on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. We wanted to get our passports stamped but I was sad to find that they didn't stamp them. Oh well, the falls were astounding! After spending a couple of days at Niagara, we weren't sure where to go next. For some strange reason, we completed the circle around Lake Erie and went to Cedar Pointe amusement park. This park was NOT Disney World. It was roller coaster heaven!! If you like that sort of thing, then it's a must see place. We ended the trip by going back up into Michigan to visit family. We had a wonderful visit and we can't wait until we get to see them again this coming summer.
After our summer vacation, we took a fall vacation, too. Yes, we are spoiled! We met my sister Anna and her family down at Disney World at the end of September. We've done this several times now, and we always have a blast with them! I just wish we could go with them every time.
Well, that is about all that I can think of to type about this year. It sure seems like a ton of stuff. It is obvious that we have been blessed beyond measure this past year. I know if we keep following the path, we'll continue to prosper. Thank you to all of my friends out there who have made these blessings possible. You know who you are!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Book Review: "In Constant Prayer" by Robert Benson
Wow! This book really made me think. It is about the practice of saying the daily office or office of the hours. This is something that I was completely unaware of before this book. I knew that people went to church several times daily in very devote places but I didn't understand what they were doing at the church.
This book does a good job of explaining the purpose of saying the daily prayers of the ancients. Mr. Benson doesn't try to tell the reader that they must say the prayers "or else". He simply gives the reader background on the practice. He clearly states that he isn't a theologian and doesn't profess to be all knowing in matters of daily prayer. He explains in layman's terms why he and others go about the business of keeping this tradition alive in our society.
I think he did a very good job of making the subject worth investigating further. He gave several very good analogies about saying route prayers. I especially liked the analogy to gardening. Each day you must tend your garden, even when it isn't fun or when you don't get much out of it. You do this so that the garden grows and produces and you may reap the benefits at some later time. What a great example that was for me. I also liked that he stressed that you don't have to say the prayers perfectly. God loves to hear from you no matter what. As you learn more and become more comfortable, you can expand your prayers.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to increase or improve their prayer life. I would also recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about the ancient practice of saying the office of the hours. It is a great jumping off point.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tis' The Season For Insecurities
I have a love/hate relationship with gift giving.
I love thinking about the people in my life. I love thinking about all the things they may like to receive. I love to remember the good times we've shared over the past year. I love to marvel over the things that have been accomplished together. I love to think about the stuff I could make for each of you. I love to bake, stitch, sew, cook, and can each homemade item. I like to shop (on my own terms) for things others may enjoy, things I wouldn't have thought of on my own.
I hate the doubt that creeps into my head. I hate the feeling of inferiority. I hate being worried that others will think I'm cheap. I hate being scared of looking stupid. I hate the competitive gift giving mentality. I hate the commercialism around this time of year. I hate that I buy into it at times. I hate that I don't think the gifts I give are good enough. I hate that I have doubts about my friends. I hate worrying about "forgetting" someone. I hate feeling I need to give everyone that is even remotley connected to me something or else they will think less of me. I hate being on a budget. I hate that I want to back out of my gifts at the last minute. I hate wondering if "they" will give me something better that i give "them."
I do this every year. It is awful. I thank God that I have a wonderful family that boosts me up and tells me how nice the gifts will be. They keep me grounded.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Unsolicited Review!
The other day I received in the mail a new CD. It is by the artist Diane Birch. I've reviewed an album for Ms. Birch in the past and I really enjoyed her music. I guess that is why I got her latest album in the mail. They didn't ask for a review. I still feel obligated to let you know what I think about the music.
The album is titled "The Velveteen Age" and she is accompanied by The Phenomenal Handclap Band. For some reason seeing Hanclap Band just makes me want to laugh. I mean, really? Although I had reservations about what the album was going to sound like, I put it into the CD player. The music is very soulful and smooth. It's, to me, a cross between jazz and blues. I really enjoyed it. Other family members weren't as impressed as I. My darling daughter said that it wasn't "awful" but that she "wouldn't choose it." Dear hubbie just said "Eh." (I'm not even sure how to spell that sound.)
For me, I would choose the album. I would choose to listen to it during a relaxing bubble bath. I would choose to listen to it after a hard, stressful day at work. I would choose to listen to it while reading a good book. To sum it up, I would listen to it when I want to relax.
My only complaint with the album is that there are only seven songs on it. That seems kinda short to me. Maybe the songs are longer than average songs. Most of them are over 4 minutes long. If that is true, never mind.
Here is a link to her webpage http://dianebirch.com/ It shows that her music is available on iTunes.
The album is titled "The Velveteen Age" and she is accompanied by The Phenomenal Handclap Band. For some reason seeing Hanclap Band just makes me want to laugh. I mean, really? Although I had reservations about what the album was going to sound like, I put it into the CD player. The music is very soulful and smooth. It's, to me, a cross between jazz and blues. I really enjoyed it. Other family members weren't as impressed as I. My darling daughter said that it wasn't "awful" but that she "wouldn't choose it." Dear hubbie just said "Eh." (I'm not even sure how to spell that sound.)
For me, I would choose the album. I would choose to listen to it during a relaxing bubble bath. I would choose to listen to it after a hard, stressful day at work. I would choose to listen to it while reading a good book. To sum it up, I would listen to it when I want to relax.
My only complaint with the album is that there are only seven songs on it. That seems kinda short to me. Maybe the songs are longer than average songs. Most of them are over 4 minutes long. If that is true, never mind.
Here is a link to her webpage http://dianebirch.com/ It shows that her music is available on iTunes.
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