Crazy Love

I'm leading a small group of 10th grade girls this year and we're discussing Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's really good.

I just wanted to share a quote from the book that I thought was a good reminder. He gives an analogy comparing life to a movie.

"Now consider the movie of life...

God creates the world. (Were you alive then? Was God talking to you when He proclaimed 'It is good' about all He had just made?)

Then people rebel against God (who, if you haven't realized it yet, is the main character in this movie), and God floods the earth to rid it of the mess people made of it.

Several generations later, God singles out a ninety-nine year old man called Abram and makes him the father of a nation (did you have anything to do with this?).

Later, along come Joseph and Moses and many other ordinary and inadequate people that the movie is also not about. God is the one who picks them and directs them and works miracles through them.

In the next scene, God sends judges and prophets to His nation because the people can't seem to give Him the one thing He asks of them (obedience).

And then, the climax: The Son of God is born among the people whom God still somehow loves. While in this world, the Son teaches His followers what true loves looks like. Then the Son of God dies and is resurrected and goes back up to be with God.

And even though the movie isn't quite finished yet, we know what the last scene holds. It's the scene I already described in chapter 1: the throne room of God. Here every being worships God who sits on the throne, for He alone is worthy to be praised.

From start to finish, this movie is obviously about God. He is the main character. How is it possible that we live as though it is about us? Our scenes in the movie, our brief lives, fall somewhere between the time Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts) and when we will all worship God on His throne in heaven. (Revelation).

We have only our two-fifths-of-a-second-long scene to live. I don't know about you, but I want my two-fifths of a second to be about my making much of God. First Corinthians 10:31 says, 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. That is what each of our two-fifths of a second is about.

So what does that mean for you?

Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sounds harsh, but that's seriously what it means... The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorfied, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift."

Preach it!

now this

Well, it's another round of whatever's going around. I took Taylor to express care last night (that's our fifth trip in about 8 weeks) and he has another double ear infection and croup. And my husband has stayed home the past two days unable to talk. I almost have no words.

It's been literally one thing after another since the beginning of September and my patience is wearing thin. My nerves are frayed and my coping skills are not 100%. It's hard work taking care of sick people, especially when I'm not feeling so hot myself. Thankfully, my only issue is pregnancy and I've managed by God's grace to avoid the other bugs so far.

Your prayers would be appreciated.

The butterfly and the lion

Success! We had a very enjoyable evening as a family and now have more candy than we know what to do with!

These pictures chronicle our night on the town. And it started with our traditional first stop at Andy's parents' house. They like to see the kids in their costumes and always have a ton of candy for them.

I love this picture! How CUTE are they in their costumes???

My lion and my butterfly

Checking out their loot

Having a sit with G'pa

The butterfly and the lion with G'ma and G'pa Becker

Next stop: the uncles' house

Picking out some goodies from Eric and Mark

These two get along so well

Last stop: Nathan and Nicholas' house

Nathan: Pirate

Lily: Butterfly

Nicholas: Puppy

Taylor: Lion

Kara and I took the big kids trick or treating in their neighborhood while the daddies put the little guys to bed. Nathan and Lily literally ran from house to house until about the last ten minutes. They had so much fun together!

Bits and pieces

Hello Friends,

I'm just checking in. There isn't much to report. I've been doing lots of laying low and getting to bed early. This pregnancy is going pretty well thus far. But I'm absolutely wiped out by dinner time. It's like I've given it all I've got all day and have nothing left in the tank. And the nausea has been a lot worse in the evenings, so I'd rather just sleep through it.

This pregnancy hasn't been as harsh as the last. With Taylor I was sick until 20 weeks and it was absolutely miserable. And I have to admit that when I found out I was pregnant this time around I felt so apprehensive because all of that was still pretty fresh in my memory!

But I was 10 weeks yesterday and if this is as bad as it's going to get I will survive!!!

It's been a rough couple of months for my kids. They've been sick off and on for all of September and October with everything from colds/coughs and fevers to ear infections and pink eye. We've been to Express Care 4 times and filled a variety of prescriptions (our kitchen was starting to look like a pharmacy and I almost needed a written schedule of what medicine to give to which child at what time of day!).

Lily is finishing up a round of anitibiotics, but as of this moment they are both symptom free, healthy and happy. I'm PRAYING for good health for the rest of the season because I am SO TIRED of having sick kids!

All this H1N1 stuff has been making me a little crazy. If my kids get it, that may just push me over the edge. You can't get away from it because so many people are sick and the media loves to talk about it and I've had enough! Everybody needs to relax and use their common sense. God is on the throne. He doesn't slumber or sleep. And nothing about H1N1 is a surprise to Him. Moving on...

On Friday morning Taylor tripped and fell right into the corner of a table in our living room. He split his eyebrow area open and chaos ensued. I spent the next hour or so on the phone with different clinics, nurses, my mom and my husband trying to figure out where to take him. My doctor had a funeral to go to so she couldn't see him. Long story short, a Pediatrician was able to take a look at it and glued it shut. It looks worse than it is because of the dried blood and hair under the glue. But the Ped thinks it'll heal really well and shouldn't scar badly at all.

Are you taking your kids trick or treating? Lily is going to be a butterfly and Taylor is going to be a lion. I can't wait to show you photos of them in their costumes!

After her preschool field trip to the fire station!

He's so darn cute. Irresistible. And delicious.

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I've added a poll to my blog. I'd love it if you'd make a guess as to whether you think this baby will be a boy or a girl!

A date with the Movers

On Saturday afternoon my friend Kara and I took our big kids to see the Imagination Movers at the Target Center in Minneapolis. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I have to admit I was a little star struck when they came out on stage.

They came out into the crowd quite a bit, and Lily was able to give Mover Rich a high five! It's a very interactive show with lots of singing, echoing, actions and dancing.

They seem like a very nice group of guys and to genuinely love what they do. At one point they said that it was their dream to do concerts for kids and thanked the crowd for making their dream come true. Awwww!

Between the four of them they have 11 kids! And Mover Rich and his wife have 5!!!

Anyway, here are a few photo highlights. I don't have the best camera so please excuse the poor quality. =)

Reach high! Think big! Work hard! Have fun!!!

Lily and her buddy Nathan, one of her favorite people in the whole world

The Movers!
(from l to r) Dave, Scott, Rich and Smitty

Wordless Wednesday

It's hard to tell, but yes, that is a positive pregnancy test. =) We are being blessed with another baby. And this little miracle-in-progress is due May 25th. Yay!

Whoopsy Daisies

Hello Friends! I took a little impromptu bloggy break for a few days! My dear friend Amber was here for the weekend and it was SO much fun! I'll tell you more about her visit which included peeking in the windows of the moldy house some time soon!

Recently I've been feeling like I may need to blog a little less. I *love* doing it, but it's a big time suck for me, and it's almost impossible just to write my own post without ending up visiting and spending time at other favorite blogs. I sit down with my computer and before I know it an hour or two has gone by and there are *so* many other things that need to be done! I'm needing to reprioritize and unfortunately blogging has to slip a few notches down the list.

I don't know exactly what that's gonna look like yet. I'm fairly certain that I'll still post on a weekly basis, but certainly not five days/week. Thanks for your understanding!

Before I go, I'll leave you with a fun little recipe. A couple weeks ago I attended the Taste of Home Cooking School at our local civic center. It was a very enjoyable evening and I got some new recipes!

This Snickerd*odle Chex Mix is *so* yummy! I'm confident that you'll like it. Enjoy!

1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. Cinnamon Chex cereal
2 c. Chocolate Chex cereal
4 c. popped popcorn
1/4 c. butter or margarine

1. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In a large microwavable bowl, mix cereals and popcorn.

2. In a 1-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

3. Microwave on High 1 minute. Stir. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly over cereal mixture; stir. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture; stir. Microwave 1 minute longer. Spread on waxed paper or paper towels to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Delish!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Trip to the pumpkin patch

Fall is here and on Saturday we took a family trip to a local farm. It's such a fun little place with hay rides, apple trees, raspberry bushes, a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and homemade apple pies, jam, applesauce, and honey for sale!

Lily on the hay ride

Taylor and daddy

Lily and daddy

Andy weighing our pumpkins

This picture cracks me up - look how he wants nothing to do with being held for a picture. PUT ME DOWN!!!

Pretty princess among the pumpkins

My last Twins game at the Dome

Friday night we went to the Twins game with a bunch of friends. It was SO MUCH FUN! I absolutely love going to games at the Metrodome.

Growing up I remember trips to the cities and getting to go to a baseball game. I remember sitting in the upper deck in right field and looking over the guard rail and seeing Kirby Puckett! He was my favorite and I had a Kirby penant hanging in my room.

And after we moved to Minnapolis in 1997 we went to many more games! And when I was waitressing and had more "discretionary income" I enjoyed spending some of that on nice tickets to see the Twins. =)

Well, the Twins have built a new stadium and will start playing there in 2010. Which means the game on Friday night was my last time seeing the Twins at the Dome. My husband is SUPER excited for outdoor baseball. And I don't doubt it'll be fun. But I am definitely going to miss watching the Twins at the Metrodome.

So here are a few pictures from Friday night. Enjoy!

I love baseball at the Dome!!!

Love ya, Kirby!

Joe Nathan on the mound

My shmoopsy-poo and I

The rest of the house

After living in this house for almost four months, we are starting to feel like it's home. It takes awhile to settle in and figure out the best places for things. It's a work in progress, but I think we're starting to feel like there's a place for everything, and sometimes we manage to have everything in its place.

You've seen the basement, but here are some photos of the rest of the house. And before you think that this is how our house looks on a regular basis, think again! We live in our house and this is only how it looks when I take pictures for my blog. Which is this one time. =)

I've listed our paint colors and they're all from Behr from Home Depot. We've painted every room, because we love color! But YOU don't have to love our color! You're entitled to your opinion. =)

The Kitchen

Spicy Cayenne

Dining Room

Butter Cookie and one accent wall of Spicy Cayenne

Laundry Room
Autumn Mist



Half Bath on main floor
Liberty

Lily's Room

Candy Coated

Guest Room

(This'll be my friend Amber's room next weekend!!! She's coming to see us and I'm SOOOOOOOOOO excited!)

Mocha Accent

Upstairs Bathroom

Balsam Fir

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I realized that I don't have pictures of our bedroom or bathroom, Taylor's room, or the living room. I'll have to take some and post those another time. The living room has been in the background of lots of pictures that I've posted before, though!

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Alright, have a great weekend!