A small sampling

I've been wanting to (and trying to) post pictures for a while, but I've run into a lot of complications. And because I couldn't decide which fall pictures, baking pictures, and Benjamin pictures to upload, I decided just to put my favorites in web albums--at least for the grandma's :) Enjoy!

A little bit of humor :)

Why Parents Age Faster

A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not come to work or phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello."

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.

"Yes," whispered the small voice.

May I talk with him?"

The child whispered, "No."

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."

"May I talk with her?"

Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"

"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman"

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss Asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"

"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?"

"A helicopter" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, "The search team just landed the helicopter."

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle: "ME."

Working

After the kids have gone to bed, I take my cup of coffee in my new favorite mug (which I bought in Korea and will have a heck of a time replacing if something ever happens to it) and come downstairs. I piddle around the internet for a few minutes, read a few emails (that I never end of responding to...I'm sorry if you haven't received responses from me!), maybe read a blog or two, just as a small transition to the other side of my brain. I either turn on a movie that I can quote by heart (which is a very small collection) or I start a Family Life Today broadcast for some background noise. Then I log on through remote access to my workstation in the office I share with my friend Cheryl and I begin to work. Two hours later Benjamin wakes up and I take a break to nurse. Sometimes Jeremy works in the basement and I have a wee bit of interaction with him for the evening while I'm trying to find the elusive number that has thrown my work out of balance.

Giving

My dear friend Becca and I were talking one day about money. *Gasp* yes, we were talking about money--how much we made and how we gave it away. And in that very liberating conversation we also talked about how great it would be if people (Christians) were honest with each other with how they spent their money. Can you imagine the accountability that would take place? Imagine what it would be like to talk about how great it was to give a big ol' check to the local Lifeway Pregnancy Center so that young, troubled, hurting moms could get counseling and encouragement. Think about how we would spur each other on by hearing stories of the missionaries that were provided for and how God was changing lives through our faithfulness to His call. And I'm not even saying talking about the amounts--just talking about DOING it!

I heard a statistic that if all Christians tithed that there wouldn't be a governement welfare system in America because the Church would be able to take care of the needs of the people in the country. Can you really imagine that? The CHURCH could take care of the needs--hunger, shelter, clothing, you name it. What kind of testimony would that be when people knew that if they were in need that the Church would take care of them? Don't you think that people would have more of an interest in Jesus if they knew that His followers loved them in such a way? Doesn't that break your heart?

Why is it we are so comfortable to talk about the great things we found on sale at the mall or the neat things we bought at Michael's but we are scared to death to talk about the exhileration of buying $40 bucks in Halloween candy for the outreach our church is doing for the kids of the community this month? What would happen if we all went on a fast from spending and everytime we wanted to buy something for ourselves (that we really didn't need!) that instead we gave that money away? What would change in our hearts? And why in the world are we so stinkin' scared to talk about it?

Be encouraged! Be spurred on toward love and good deeds! Go forth and find a way to bless other people! And expect to be changed!

I did it!

I FINALLY got an ID to get onto base last Friday. And today, I very ambitiously took both kiddos to the HAWC (Health and Wellness Center) where there is a little room where kids can play/watch videos. I actually got to run on a treadmill! YEAY!! As Jeremy would say, it was a banner day, folks! It's been almost a full year since I've been at the gym. And now that in the land of the car drivers (instead of the stroller pushers) I'm in need of that gym. Unfortunately, it will be next week before I'll be able to go back. I'll just tell myself that I'm easing myself into it.

I won't be able to walk tomorrow.

My name is...

Hannah looked at me last week, patted her hand on her chest and proudly said "Name is Hannah!" I thought that she would be ready to learn my name and Jeremy's name so that, heaven forbid, she gets separated from us and someone asks her parents' names she would have the information somewhere in her brain. The conversation went like this...

Me: Hannah, mommy's name is Laura. Can you say that?
Hannah: (says nothing and gives a blank stare.)
Me: Say Laur-a
Hannah: (says nothing and gives a blank stare.)
Me: Can you say Laur-a?
Hannah: Mommy name--Laura Carrot!

Have we been watching too many Veggie Tales? :)

What a face!

Sibling love...

...you gotta love it.
One day there will be paybacks.

Warning!

When you are in unision with your spouse on major life decisions (aka my last blog) and you are making what, to you, is a radical decision in obedience to what God is telling you to do--when these things happen in your life, you are warned that the next day may be a BAD DAY!

Well, this is my theory on why yesterday was so terrible. On multiple occasions I was on the verge of tears either due to behavior of children or issues within the marriage. Terrible day. Awful day. I was glad to see the day go away. It was a day that required conversations with two different girlfriends to gain perspective. Plus a nap. Plus two diet cokes and three cups of coffee.

It's hard to sing "This is the day the Lord has made" during a day like yesterday.

Thank you, Jesus, that today is not like yesterday and that days like yesterday don't happen very often!

Delayed Gratification

Beware to those who aren't really financially minded...

My kitchen is functional, especially from an international perspective, but it lacks certain American convienences (namely a dishwasher) and the "look" is VERY dated. In our budgeting we thought we would be able to save enough over the next year to remodel it. The events of the last 24 hours are putting that on pause...

"Be not conformed to the world." Jeremy & I realized yesterday how "conformed to the world" our thinking was in regards to our mortgage. I'll give a little background. With Jeremy's job on base comes a biweekly (ever other week) paycheck rather than a semi-monthly (twice a month) paycheck. It's a budgeting NIGHTMARE! Not from a spending standpoint but from a cashflow standpoint. I called Washington Mutual yesterday to set up our house payment on an "accelerated" payment plan which basically means that we make 1/2 of our mortgage payment every two weeks, making a total of 13 payments every year. It means that with each paycheck we will pay half of our mortgage payment, which is SO helpful to my brain! Rather than making exactly 1/2 of the payment, I rounded up by $15 a payment, paying $30 per month on principle. These minor changes saves of $28,000 in interest and means our house will be paid off 19.5 years from right now.

All of this was such a good feeling. The thought that kept running through my mind was "I feel God's pleasure!" When really looking at this I realized that I considered a mortgage payment just another component of "life." Really, it isn't. It is debt, and God calls us to strive for a debt free life. How much have we been trying to achieve this in our budgeting?

Let's add in another component. Because we didn't have 20% as a down payment when we bought the house we pay $65 per month as "mortgage insurance." In order to get rid of this monthly payment we either have to pay down the mortgage or have a house appraisal that shows that the value of our home is 25% greater than the outstanding balance on the mortgage. We thought that within a year we would be able to get that number on an appraisal. The mortgage company said it would take up to six months for that to be reflected in the monthly payments and for us to stop paying the $65/month. That's eighteen months from now.

How does this have anything to do with the kitchen? We realized that if we take the amount we planned to save for the kitchen and put it to principal every month that in 18 months we would get rid of the mortgage insurance payment ourselves! Once we got rid of the monthly mortgage insurance payment, we could keep the same bi-weekly payment and be paying $100/month on the principle!

All of these changes mean that we will save over $50,000 and our loan will be paid off in less than 16 years. And so, the kitchen is on hold because, truly, it will cost us over $25,000 in mortgage interest to pay for the kitchen now rather than waiting two years! I want a kitchen but not that badly!

Our mortgage now feels like a cancer of debt eating away at our financial health...

Because of Kay

In my very last book club at Osan (shed a little tear here...) we read "Israel, My Beloved," a phenomenal fictional allegory of Israel and God. After reading the 450+ page book, my desire to read the prophets took off. The number of years I've been a Christian outnumber the years I've spent in school, and it is shameful how little I can recall and how little I truly understand about the Old Testament. Armed with a fabulous (suggested) visual about what life could have been like during the prophecies of Jeremiah and the subsequent Babylonian Captivity, I decided to dive in and start studying. I found a great set of commentary/Bible study guides by Warren Wiersbe on the Minor Prophets. I started with "Be Concerned" and went through Amos, Obadiah, Micah, and Zephaniah over the past two months. My Bible has never had so many markings in it! I finished that book yesterday and started "Be Amazed" this morning, which covers Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Malachi.

It has been amazing to see how my heart has yearned to read and learn more through these books. Wiersbe does such an excellent job expounding the verses by providing societal, historica, and additional Biblical context and support. And it feels like I'm really getting to know God in a way similar to when you start to realize that your parents are real people, too. I'm reading about the relationships He had with people that came long me and in seeing these relationships, I have a better context for how little ol' me fits into the big picture of Kingdom living. I'm learning about the Jews and how, really, the world's history and future revolves around God's relationship with them. It is truly a transforming time for me.

So, I encourage you--if you are tired of reading all of the same things in the scripture, STOP! There is so much more to the Word than all of the directives of Christian Living that Paul so eloquently dictates in the Epistles! And there is so much more we will glean and benefit from in the NT when we understand our "Jewish roots in Jesus"!

So much more to say, but my bed is calling :)