Monday, December 29, 2008

Expectations

I haven't blogged again in a while. I have lots of stuff to blog about but I just haven't sat down to type in a while. So, instead of coming up with something original tonight I just thought I would copy and paste an email I sent out to the girls in my small group a few days ago. It tells a little about what is going on in my life right now. I will blog more, with pictures from ummmm, let's see... Abigail's birthday up to Christmas, etc soon, just not tonight. But until then, here's that email:

Guess what... that verse I was telling you about my expectations being from God alone is in the Bible and guess what? it is from Psalm 62 (ever heard of that one? ) [Psalm 62 was the song of the month in November at church] in the NKJV it says "My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him." So..... how did you do on Christmas with your expectations being on God alone? huh? I have been praying for all of you. Please reply with your report on your Christmas and how you did.

here is my report: We had a pretty good Christmas. The kids were thrilled with all of their gifts and had a really fun morning. It was fun to watch them this week as they were not only excited about the gifts that they were going to be getting but they were also very excited about the gifts that they were going to give each other and to see their siblings' reactions. Glenn and I don't usually buy each other gifts. Over the years we have both been hurt by the reactions from gifts that we have bought that were not well received so it has just been easier to not get gifts than to get hurt. I wasn't expected to get anything for Christmas and wasn't disappointed so that was good.

BUT... I have had a horrible attitude lately and have allowed myself to wallow in depression and have justified it by the fact that I have no parents and I have no idea what my future holds and that I am just a messie, etc. I was convicted of that this morning in my quiet time. I should have been convicted of it 3 days ago but of course I have been neglecting my time in my Bible because I would rather wallow than do something about it. Last night God told me to get out my Creative Counterpart book and start reading it again.... ouch! Then this morning in 1Tim 4:16 I read "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching, persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." I have not been paying attention to myself or persevering. I have been holding to my "Woe is me" attitude and that is not right. Please pray that I will find my hope (what my Bible say for expectations) in God alone and ask me how I am doing about it.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Boxes

Long time no blog. Glenn told me that we got internet at home so I would blog more but we've had it over a week and I haven't blogged. Well, I'll write a quick one this morning. I have an old one that I wrote somewhere here on this computer that I will have to post too but for now...

I think that I will write about boxes. Boxes have been the bain of my existence. OK, not really but I have become very familiar with them. Our favorite boxes are Baxter boxes. If you are ever likely to move often you really need to become friends with someone on dialysis that is done at home and ask them to save their boxes for you. That is what we did. When my dad was doing dialysis at home we saw his boxes and asked him to PLEASE save them for us because they looked perfect for nomadic people like us. They are just the right size because no matter how full you make them or how heavy the stuff is that you put inside of them the average adult can still lift them. With light stuff inside them even the kids can carry them! They are also great because they are all the same size and therefore stack very nicely into moving trucks, the back of the Burb, horsetrailers, or whatever else you decide to use to move with. They also stack nicely in storage units when you are between places. I am getting better at moving. As I have unpacked this time I have kept the Baxter boxes together by type (kitchen, books, misc, etc) and have put them into piles of 10 then surrounded them with plastic wrap before putting them into the shed for our next move. I think that this will make our next move easier because when I decide to pack books I will just look for the stack of boxes marked "books" and start filling them instead of sorting through a pile of boxes for a box marked 'books." Then I will not have to use the big black marker as much because the boxes will be already labeled. I have tried to do this in the past so very few of the boxes actually have much crossed out on them. I am trying to remember how many moves these boxes have helped us through....  I think that our Baxter boxes have survived at least 7 moves so far and they are still going strong. I think that I am a snob in many areas and boxes are definitely one of them and Baxter boxes are my boxes of choice. 

We have discovered another use for Baxter boxes... they make a fun Christmas tree. There are a couple of banana boxes that we got from the Lilites and the box from our computer speakers but it is mostly Baxter boxes. Our "tree" looks best in the dark but it is fun and the kids have had fun decorating it yesterday.  I thought that it was appropriate to make our tree out of boxes this year since there were still so many in the downstairs of our house and because we have been filling them and emptying them for most of the year. There are more pictures of our tree in progress (with the amazing Baxter boxes) on a photo album that Glenn made on facebook here but here is a picture of it in the dark with the lights on.