My Entry...

Our church has had several of us write about God's love for a 30 day devotional. I was supposed to write on for December 27th. At least, I think I was supposed to write one. I sort of half forgot. Which means, I sort of remembered but thought I had the wrong day. Again.

It was difficult to sit and think about the love of God. Honestly. I KNOW He loves me...that can not be denied. I. Just. Know. I feel Him...even in the oddest of times. Especially then, I guess I should say...

but Christmas was not exactly fun around here.
But my entry went with the song I posted yesterday.
So I thought I'd share it with you. ...

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Thinking about the love of God today. AFTER Christmas is over and done with, sounded a lot easier than trying to think about it DURING the holiday. Plumbing issues. Heater issues. Financial issues. Children issues. Not being able to have Christmas as we planned because my parents couldn't get to my house. I prayed hard to keep the family healthy for Christmas just to have sleet??

Bummer.
I definitely wasn't having a "Norman Rockwell" of a weekend.

It's only been today (Sunday) that things have leveled out. I tell you this to let you know - while I have JOY, life is not always peaches. Though, I wish it had been. What a weekend for things to be lousy.

Today, I was pondering -- "NOW - after all that - I have to write about God's love?"
I never doubt that He loves me - though sometimes I think He has a funny way of showing it.

As I'm asking Him about what and how -- but mostly WHAT -- to write, this song comes to mind.

"When I think about the Lord...."
Here's a link, if you want to listen to it.
SONG or you can check out the previous post.

The lyrics say:
When I Think about the Lord,
How He saved me, how He raised me,
how He filled me, with the Holy Ghost.
How He healed me, to the uttermost.

When I Think about the Lord,
how He picked me up and turned me around,
how He placed my feet on solid ground

Chorus*
It makes me wanna shout,
Hallelujah,
Thank you JESUS,
LORD, your worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor,
and all the praise... (Repeat*)

I love this song.
Even in the midst of the WHATEVERS of life - when we stop to think about the Lord..
our hearts turn toward love for Him.
We can't help but want to shout!

And as we stop and think, we start to realize (We look again!) and see just how much He's loved on us, even in the midst of the ... whatever.

For us - one of the God kisses evident was that when the outside fan on the heater blew its motor (Because of the icicles from the sleet), our emergency heat pump was able to pick up the slack - so we didn't freeze. It's still going to cost nearly $400 to fix - but God will supply our need....even if he has to pay off the MasterCard instead of the fix-it guy.

This song was my evident love from Him today...
because I desperately needed Him to sing over me.

May He sing over you a song for your heart.

He loves us so!

Things said ...

The kids seem to be full of quips. Which I guess is better than somethings they could be full of....

G-man, with history book in hand says, "Oooo I get to learn about Robert E. Lee!"
J-man, says with a slight frown and a great big grin, "Robert eats leaves?"

~~~

"Pick up the blocks" Says I - after Bubbles kicks them, sending them scattering.
She points to her mouth, "But my mouth is hot."

I don't know why that matters, either.

~~~

Bubbles touch her elbow and pouting.
Not just any pout - this was a dragging-the-lip-on-the-floor kind of pout.
"My elbow hurts. I need a bath."

Huh. this was almost as good as the time she put her hand to her forehead, with enough oscar worthy drama, and told me "My eye hurts. I need Diet coke."

~~~

"Mom," says mini-me, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure." Says the gullible mome.
"Why is Bubbles so annoying?"
-- the obvious answer is 'because she's three' - but my response was "Why are YOU so annoying?"
She grinned and said, "I asked you first."

she had me there.

~~~

I admit it....

The write up is perfectly me. Really.

Of course, my love language is gifts. Truly. Every time I take the "love languages" test, in any form, gifts is THE TOP result.

So I'm not ashamed to admit this.
Not at all.

Your Holiday Wish is Lots of Presents

Your favorite thing about the holidays is all of the great gifts you score. Hey, at least you're honest! You try to be as patient as you can during the holidays, but you can't help wondering what sort of presents you'll be getting. Each year you have your heart set on a few items, and you're over the moon if someone gets them for you. You may think it's better to receive than give, but you do your best to get everyone on your list a great present. You know how important gifts are!

What's Your Holiday Wish?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

A little drama with my Christmas...

Generally speaking, we do not have a lot of drama. I'm not a very 'angsty' person. Being a 'what you see is what you get' kind of girl really keeps things very simple in that regard.

Every so often, though, drama is thrust at me.
I didn't even know I was getting involved.
Really it surprised me.

We got a Christmas card from one of The Professor's distant relations. (They're all distant when you live states away from them.) On the back was a personal note from Aunt So-and-so. "How sad it is that Mom in law hasn't seen you for so long..."

Erg.

Seriously.

I hate guilt trips. It's manipulation. I really, really oppose it. Especially when it's aimed at me.

I would like to rant, just a bit. That Aunt so-and-so has made this comment to us - but not counting that Mom in law hasn't traveled to see us since 1998. So. huh. Let's try to guilt trip the family of 6.

This isn't the first time someone has said something to us. The last time was such a blatant hypocrisy on the 'guilt trip travel agent' that it was just hilarious. Though, I did get hilariously angry, too. This time it was just unexpected.

The last time we went to visit, Bubbles was still in her car seat. It was HELL to travel on the plane. Through two airports. Toting two car seats and stuff for four kids and two parents. Not to mention bathroom breaks. Food. A Professor who doesn't even LIKE to travel. I can say it was hell because there was much gnashing of teeth and wailing.

So when travel comes up...it's always us that has to do the traveling. As if we're the bad kids for not traveling two states away ....

Last time we went. I ended up with Strep Throat. My brother in law ended up with a major migraine because we disrupted his sleep patterns. It just irks me.

So I've decided that the next 'distant relation' that mentions to me that we should really travel two states away.... They're going to have to pay for the tickets.

It would cost, non-holiday plane tickets, a total of $4,606.20 to travel nonstop. Because the other options were changing planes. I don't want to change planes with four kids. This does not include hotel and car. Nor does it include meals, potty breaks, potty accidents, having to sit on a plane, having cranky kids who don't want to sit by the windows or who get bored.

To DRIVE, it takes two days travel time....and still it cuts the cost only by half. Doesn't include the cost of hotel and fixing the van up to make sure it lasts for those two days.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for the distant two states away relations to see the kids more often, but seriously. It's not going to happen at a cost of nearly $5,000 AND the wear and tear on the mom. And it's only recently that we wouldn't be disrupting the lives of two working men by coming to visit.

So I'm rejecting the manipulation and hope that some how, some way - the people behind the "Sad sad tale" of us not visiting - will see the light and get over it.

Until then, I'm fighting the guilt trips.
And now I have a $4,606.20 weapon.

I Like Christmas...

I liked the write up of this.
It sounds like me.

It still amazes me how much I've changed over the years.
It will be a very, VERY long time before I own another Christmas sweater. LOL

You Like the Holidays

You definitely have a good time during the holidays, but you aren't obsessed with them or anything. You shop for a few presents and participate in a few traditions... but that's it! You may be accused of being a grinch, but you're simply not a fanatic about holiday traditions - especially commercial ones. You get into the spirit of the season by being kind, compassionate, and not clogging up the stores!

How Much Do You Love the Holidays?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

Here's not not clogging up the stores!!
Ah...Christmas Peace comes in all forms.