Sometimes I feel like the bamboo seed

The Bamboo Story

One Day I Decided To Quit. I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with GOD. "GOD", I said, "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me.

"Look around", GOD said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?" "Yes", I replied. "When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo." GOD said. "In year three, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit." GOD said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." GOD said to me. "Did you know that all this time you have been struggling? You have actually been growing roots?" "I would not quit on the bamboo, I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others." GOD said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful." "Your time will come," GOD said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked. "How high will the bamboo rise?" GOD asked in return. "As high as it can?" I questioned. "Yes." GOD said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

Just a little encouragement. :)

I just have to share a lovely email my husband sent me yesterday. It read,

"Can we PLEASE at least go meet this pretty little puppy dog?"

Then I scroll down, way down, to . . .









Aaaagh! This is not my idea of a new addition to the family. Although I will admit that anyone who has talked to Ethan in the past couple of years has probably heard about his desire to own a mastiff. I certainly am well aware that he wants one. :)

We used to have a dog. Her name is Taylor. She's a very sweet, 40-some lb. boxer. She lives with my parents now. We are actually dog-sitting her this week while my parents go to the coast. We love having her here, the kids love her, and I enjoy not sweeping. But it does remind me the not-so-fun aspects of dog ownership, like picking up after they go potty. I don't even want to think about what that would be like with a mastiff!

Next Tuesday ought to be interesting. We have an all-day staff meeting at the church and we will be having childcare here at our house. Last year our kids got a little crazy being in the nursery all day so I offered to let the caregivers use our house. I'm sure it won't be hard at all to care for 7 kids and an energetic boxer! :) (Right.) Actually, I'm going to try to come up with an alternative plan for Taylor during the day. Does anyone want a visit from a lovable, furry friend?

Sometimes we underestimate them . . .

So I wanted to touch on something that really stood out to me at the retreat last weekend. Our speaker was Connie Julin, formally Connie Pent, of the famous Pent family who traveled and performed around the country years and years ago. Someone in her family wrote a book about them titled "Ten P's in a Pod". Anyway, she told us dozens of funny, sweet, and inspirational stories from the time she was growing up. Her father was a visionary, and he took the path less traveled when he decided to raise his children by the Bible and show the world the results.

One thing Connie talked about that surprised me was how much she incorporated Bible reading into her family once she was married. Ethan and I do read Bible stories to the kids and we also do devotions with them, but it really is a different thing to just have them listen to God's word. So I started last week reading 15 minutes every morning from my NIV. I let the kids color pictures of what they heard or hold a doll or just cuddle with me, but they weren't allowed to talk. I am AMAZED how well they have been doing! I never really thought kids could handle sitting like that -- it's nice to be proven wrong. :)

The best benefit to this is . . . I'm actually reading a lot more of the Bible myself now! We are going to try to work up to 30 minutes a day. Wish us luck!

Retreat

I feel like I have really been neglecting this blog lately but life has been so full! This weekend I was up in Cascade for a Keepers of the Home retreat. It was awesome. I really didn't know anyone who was going so that was kind of scary, but it turned out just fine.

I feel so refreshed and so much closer to God. It's amazing what a couple of days away will do. All three of the kids stayed with Grandpa and Grandma while I was gone. They had a blast and completely wore out my parents. :) Allie talked Grandma into buying her a new pair of shoes (sparkly red) and Emmie asked for "blue underwear". What a goof.

At the retreat a couple of the other girls and I tried to find this elusive "challenge course" that we heard was on the grounds. It was quite an adventure. We spent about an hour hiking around trying to find it, then took a truck out. We ended up doing a little off-roading (Ethan was so proud when I told him) and we finally found it. Unfortunately, the road we took didn't leave any room to turn around so we had to back down the hill with twists and turns for about a quarter of a mile. It was intense. I wasn't driving, and it's hard to just trust someone you barely know when the margin for error is so small! But I'm alive, obviously, so all is well.

The girls have been celebrating because they only have one more day of their "no treats" ban. We had to lay down the law about three weeks ago when a package of Andies Mints went missing. They thought they were so sneaky but I found all the wrappers underneath their beds. I think this punishment has really sunk in. Now anytime I tell Emmie she can't have anything (like when she wanted to sleep with her balloon, for example) she just looks sad and says "Yeah cuz I ate Andies Mints." It's kind of funny, but I am looking forward to this punishment being over as much as they are! Pretty soon we will be back to their regular diet of candy, cookies, and junk (just kidding).

Highway Robbery

It's good to have health insurance, right? At least I would assume so. However, I don't think we will be having any in the foreseeable future. Why? Ethan just got his health insurance packet at work and it was almost $900 a MONTH to insure our family!

From this amount you might assume we all had some sort of a medical problem. Not even close. We are all in great health. It's just that there are only fifty or so employees in his company.

I guess if we decide to have any more babies it will mean a midwife again. Which is okay, I guess. I just like to have my options.

Allie is reading!

I just had to share my happy news that my big girl is now learning to read! It's so fun. This was her first sentence:

See me eat.

Thrilling, huh? Actually, it was very exciting for both of us. We have been doing school now for over a month and it has been wonderful. Who doesn't want to be in preschool? Everything is fun again. :)

Now I just need to convince Daddy that we need a class pet!

(I'm thinking a horse.)

Heartbreaking

I was browsing through blogs the other day when I came across one that really broke my heart. It's from a couple who lost their baby shortly after she was born. What impressed me so much with this couple was the way they handled it. In a horrible, difficult situation they gave praise to God. The most amazing post was on July 5 (just a few short days later) when they listed all the things they were thankful for. You can see their story here:

http://babycrouch.blogspot.com

Praise God for people like this! They are an inspiration.