One. Step. At. A. Time

There are many things I do not like about having a disability, but every once in a while, I use it to my advantage. When I need to decompress, take a moment to myself, shut the world out, I take out my hearing aids.  Then ... silence.  Complete silence.  This is me, at my most vulnerable point.  This is where I say "okay, here I am, coming to You, laying everything at Your feet".  When life gets overwhelming.  When I feel stuck.  When the little one is waking up 3-4 times a night screaming his head off & I feel so helpless because I cannot figure out why. When finances are rough. When insecurity, jealously, greed, or bitterness rears its ugly head.  When my heart is heavy with hurt.  I take off my hearing aids, meet God at my most vulnerable point, and pour it all out.  

I do not walk away with answers.  I do not walk away with everything solved.  All that I pour out at His feet, it's all still there.  There is not always some great spiritual awakening or revelation. I do not walk away convicted & ready to tackle everything.  My heart may still be heavy and burdened. Tears may still be flowing from my eyes.  

I do walk away with the knowledge that I am not alone.  My God is with me & for me. He is there, walking besides me. one. step. at. a. time.  That is all He asks of us.  To walk with Him in all we do.  That knowledge, that reassurance, gives me peace & strength.  Just one. step. at. a. time.

Too many times I try to do it all on my own.  When I allow myself to take out my hearing aids and become vulnerable, I let down my many walls & simply lay it all out at His feet.  He never fails to meet me there.  

And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us.
And if our God is with us, then what could stand against.
Then what could stand against.

Chris Tomlin - Our God 

September GUM Flyer

*Introducing the mentor moms & leadership team*

Patti Anderson

 

I have been married to Norm for 40 years.  We have four sons, Doug, Dan, David and Michael and have three daughter in laws. Nancy, Francina, and Susan.  We have 6 ½ grandchildren; Jack, Ryley, Matt, Morgan, Cameron, Lea & the next one due is in February. GUM is so so dear to my heart.  25 years ago I was visiting friends in Boston & their church had a mom to mom program. I loved it.  It was so biblical as in Titus.  When Lindsey brought it up to me, I was thrilled.  I was involved for several years then had to drop out for personal reasons.  Now I am back & love love love it! I love the Lord, Norm, the boys & the little short guys so much.  I laugh easily & cry even easier.  I love to entertain, cook, the beach & our Oregon home.  Children make me laugh. My husband is very funny though he does not mean to be.  Dirty jokes make me laugh.  They should not but they do.

Paula Johnson

I have two children.  Daniel is 18 and leaving for college (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) on September 12^th.  Carolyn is 16 (almost 17) and a senior at Charter Oak High School.  GUM is a lifeline to our moms of young children.  I remember being at home alone with young kids, most of my friends were working and our families didn’t live close.  The bible study I was involved in at that time saved my sanity.  It was my spiritual and mental lifeline.  This is what I see GUM being.  A safe place for moms to come, to be loved, supported, prayed for and to not be alone.  I’ve been married 21 years (in November) and my husband is my best friend.  I love camping, music, playing hearts with my family at the Awanee, and watching my kids sporting events.  I work part time at Charter Oak High School in the high-functioning autism class.  My kids make me laugh, also British humor. 

 Aileen Jones

I have two kids; a daughter 29 & a son 25.  GUM is quite frankly my favorite ministry! I love everything about it & receive a lot of satisfaction & pleasure from serving the mamas! I am an outgoing middle-aged woman who loves God & my family! I really enjoy getting to know people, Bible Study, gardening, baking & reading.  My husband makes me laugh (often!).  It really doesn’t take much to crack me up.

Sherry Spradley

Steve and I have 3 children.  Brenda, who is married to Charlie. They have Elliot, Libby, and Ollie.  Daryl who is married to Becky and they have Natania and Claire.  Daniel who is married to Allison.  GUM has been a wonderful chance for me to be able to be with young moms and hopefully share some of my successes and failures as a mother.  I love the prayer time together.  I am an introvert, loyal and dependable person who loves the Lord.  I love to organize things and rearrange my furniture.  I now have arthritis and fibromyalgia that affects my life more than I would like but God is helping me through the hard times.  Things my grandchildren say and do make me laugh and so can my husband. 

Elizabeth Gregorich

I have two boys.  Levi is 3 years, Silas is 9 months.  GUM is a place I can be real about being a not so perfect mom, laugh about the funny things and pray about the tough things. I am encouraged in the role God has given me and blessed to share with other moms too.  I love being a wife and mom. I stay home with my boys.  I love this church and learning more about the Lord from His Word and fellowship with others.  Sometimes I have to force myself to talk, because I’d much rather listen.  My husband makes me laugh.  He can be a gooft sometimes. My children make me laugh.  Especially Levi, now that he can talk.  He says things like: “There’s Spiderwebman!” (Spide Man).  Also, when other people laugh really hard, it’s hard not to laugh with them. 

Amie Wagenbrenner

I have two girls.  Mya is 3 years and Winter is 1 ½ years.  GUM keeps me sane.  When I get home from a morning with other moms, I feel refreshed and recharged.  It also helps me remember that I cannot do it on my own. I need Jesus.  I love to be around people. I hate staying at home which doesn’t make me a very good stay at home mom J I adore my girls and I feel so blessed to have married such an amazing man. I’m pretty easy going unless I’m driving or my house is a mess.  I love to sing and dance and I’m into health and fitness.  I’m a bit of a perfectionist.  I’m fairly neat and I don’t like knick knacks or chotchkies that clutter my house probably because I grew up in a super messy small home.  I tend to like sarcastic humor and burps and farts have always amused me.

Manda Robinson

I have one child, Ezra, who is 21 months old.  GUM (for me) is a place that I can vent my insecurities about motherhood and get prayer and encouragement for them.  I love working part time as a Physician Assistant and balancing that with being a mom/wife.  I enjoy art (other people’s, not my own), organizing, baking cupcakes, and trying new things. Things that make me laugh are puns and my son’s dancing. 

                                                                              Stacy Thompson

I have two boys.  Jordan is 3 ½ years and Lucas is 9 ½ months.  GUM is where I am able to share the good, the bad & the ugly, and to know that I am not alone in this journey of motherhood.  It is a place of safety, honesty, advice, laughter, love, encouragement, and prayer.  I am thankful that we have mentor moms who have traveled this path before us & can guide us, listen to us and tell us “it may not seem like it now, but you’ll make it through the hard times”.  I am easy going and laugh easily. I love to read, get together with friends and family, go for walks, and bake.  My husband makes me laugh every day.  Jordan is at the age where his imagination has really kicked into gear & he cracks me up with his antics.  Lucas is now babbling away and when he laughs, I cannot help but laugh with him.  

This is not the blog post I had in mind for my 'debut' post, but it's something that God has been pressing on my heart today.  So here I sit, listening to what God's saying and willing myself to follow through on what He's telling me to do.  This means ignoring the dirty dishes in the sink, the crumbs underneath the kitchen table, the piles of laundry that need to be folded, the toys that are begging to be put away (only to be pulled out again fifteen minutes later), and letting the little one hang out in his crib *he's supposed to be napping*.  Is it just me or do you struggle with the moments of "slow it down, listen to what God's saying, and just focus on that.  Follow His instructions NOW - not later, not after the dishes are done, the laundry is folded.  Because by then, you'll be distracted and realized that you brushed Him off yet again, only to do something that could have waited".  

This morning was rough. Both my boys were overtired which resulted in tantrums & crying over every. single. thing. I was rushing to get the big one ready for school and found myself barking orders at him in short clipped sentences.  Things were going downhill & all I wanted was to get him to school, put the little one down for a nap, and get to the above mentioned to-do list.  After I dropped the big one off at school (tears and all), I came home, put the little one down for a nap, logged onto FB (for just a quick moment) and there God met me.  In the moment of quietness (only a moment, for the little one is letting me know he's unhappy that he's supposed be napping), I read a link my sister in law posted.  After reading that blog post, I clicked onto another blog post, and then someone posted in the GUM page. Between those three things I read, I had tears in my eyes & my heart was convicted.  The first blog post I read was titled "Dear Mom On Hard Days", the second "Dear Sweet Mom Who Feels LIke She Is Failing", and a wall photo about this day being a gift. I felt like all three summed up how I was feeling.  This line especially, made the tears spill over & my heart feel hope.   

"This is your life - and you - you are the perfect mother for those children. God knew when he blessed those kids to you."

The dishes will wait, the laundry will wait, the crumbs on the floor will wait (or be picked up by the crawling baby).  God will meet you where you are & give your soul what it needs.  Reassurance, on those tough days, that you are the perfect mother for your children & God knew that when he blessed those kids to you.  While I am still tired & weepy, my spirit is renewed.  I pray dear mamas, that this post & the others that I am linking below, will renew you as well.  This needs to be said again, read again, and held onto tightly.  

"This is your life - and you - you are the perfect mother for those children. God knew when he blessed those kids to you."

Dear Mom On Hard Days

Dear Sweet Mom Who Feels Like She Is Failing

Now, I'm off to pick up my baby boy & snuggle him tight.  He needs his mama more than he needs a nap.  (Let's face it, I wanted him to take a nap so I could get the chores done!)

Laundry Signals

Hi Mamas. I have some sad news. My dryer caught emphysema and died a couple weeks ago. It was painful for all of us, especially when my children had to hall loads of clean wet laundry around the corner to their cousins house to borrow their healthy dryer. Those three days were long ones. But it's okay, no condolences needed, we're over it now.

Why the callous attitude, you say? Well this new dryer has revolutionized my life, and I'll tell you why.

First let me introduce you to the beast. Let's call him Sal. As you can see Sal has is a lovely shade of...tan. So pretty, right? He's not much to look at for sure, but he does work!

Sal came to us from the garage of some wonderful friends who live a couple blocks from us. Sal was peacefully waiting for a new family to take him home and put him back to work. Our friends picked Sal up at the Sal-vation Army thrift store for about ten bucks sometime in the mid 90's (make note of the red Salvation Army sticker Sal still wears). Where Sal was prior to that no one knows.

 

Sal has worked hard for many a year, and after his rest in our friends garage, he was ready to get back to work drying our jeans and socks and sheets and softball uniforms. Sal's barrel is smaller than my old machine and this was quite a bummer of a realization when I discovered we'd have to wash smaller loads in order for them to dry in one load. Grateful to not have to tote laundry somewhere else or make a hasty purchase I wondered how I'd stay on top of all the laundry my household generates.

On the plus side, Sal was state of the art back in his prime. Made by General Electric, Sal is a Five Cycle Dryer with Automatic Dryer Control - Extra Care and Signal. Did you catch that? Signal. Translation. LOUD BUZZ noise at the end of the cycle. Now this isn't a new feature to me. My old dryer also had an alarm. It was an awful sound and like most of you, it was turned off. And here's where Sal has changed my life. Sal's signal can not be turned off until you open the door of the dryer!

At first, I was not thrilled about this new sound merging into our lives. I can no longer throw another load in before bed, because the signal will wake the household. This was really going to cramp my style! But Sal just isn't the cramp-your-style-kind.

I had always thought I was pretty on top of my dyer cycles. I listened for that low rumble sound with the clicks and clinks of the clothes spinning in the dyer and when it had stopped I'd change over a load. Efficient, right? Wrong! I have discovered with Sal's immediate and quite alarming signal, I change over more laundry in a day. So much so, I haven't had dirty laundry in the two weeks since Sal was installed in my laundry room. I find myself searching for towels and changing sheets much more often than previously, simply because I have an empty washer and dryer.

And there you have it. Laundry revolutionized. So today, on this sunny Wednesday, I challenge you to TURN ON the dryer signal. If your dryer is too far away to hear it, use a kitchen timer. Seriously. It will change your life. At least your laundry cycles!

Cooking Tips

1. Freeze your meat in marinade in a freezer bag. Saves one step when you pull the meat out to to thaw!

2. Trader Joes is your secret weapon. {Seriously, we could do a WHOLE other post on just Trader Joe's...hmmm...maybe I will!}

3. Don't use taco or ranch seasoning packets - they all contain MSG {which is a no no!} Instead make your own, keep it in a jar and use as needed. {Here's a launching spot if you want to try this - I've made my own taco & chili seasoning for over two years now! All Recipes Taco Seasoning I}

4. Put your avocado in the fridge to stop {or slow down} the ripening process.

5. Try cooking beans {black or pinto) in the crockpot, then freeze in ziplocks to use later. Blend to make refried style! {I have not yet done this, but its on my list, tutorial anyone?}

6. Put a layer of sour cream on your quacamole in the fridge to stop the browning. {Someone was hankering for some mexican food when we wrote these lists!}

7. Save water from boiled chicken for cooking rice. {This gives the rice a little yummy seasoning!}

8. Use a tea infuser for dusting cupcakes with powdered sugar.

9. Basic White Sauce: saute 1 tbsp flour with 1 tbsp butter, then add 1 c. milk. From here you can add other spices, cheese, wine or whatever flavor you like. {To make it a little creamier, use heavy whipping cream - Pioneer woman style!}

10. Ready to eat that avocado from #4 now, to ripen it or other fruit place in a brown paper bag on the counter. {For more avacado tips, read this article.}

11. Put parmesan cheese wedges in with your cheddar to keep them moist.

12. Tomatoes will last longer if you store them on the counter instead of the fridge.

13. Want to make your mac & cheese a little more fancy or save a little time? Add some frozen pea's or carrots into the boiling water for the mac noodles.

14. Home Made Red Enchillada Sauce: Purchase a bag of dried chile (California or New Mexico pods). Remove the stems and seeds and put dried chiles in the blender with 2-3 cloves of garlic and about 3 tbsp of chicken bouillon. Slowly add boiling hot water and blend. (Blender should be full) You can add a little powder masa to thicken. {Now that sounds delicious!}

15. Apples and pears turning brown after cutting? Just put a little 7-up on them!

16. To prevent boiling over, place a wooden spoon across your pan. {This totally works!}

Your Tips! Starting with Cleaning...

So over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting your tips on Cleaning, Cooking, Organizing and Saving Money. We collected these this morning at our GUM meeting and I'm compiling them here for you - feel free to send me more and I'll add em in before I publish!

I'm starting with Cleaning Tips - because well, that's where *I* need the most tips! {Can I get an amen out there?}

1. Got dog slobber on your sliding glass or (if you're like me) car windows? Use KABOOM shower tub & tile cleaner to get the slobber off. {Evidently soap scum is similar to dog slobber!}

2. Clean the bathroom when the kids are in the bathtub. {What a great multi-tasking idea!}

3. Clean your floors with a a simple solution of vinegar and water. {Check out this blog for more Vinegar cleaning tips: 101 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar}

4. Tea Tree Oil - its great for blemishes, fungus, small cuts, cleaning and its natural! {Just a dab 'il do ya! Visit your local health food store to pick yourself up some oil from the tea tree!}

5. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. {Enough Said!}

6. Use cleaning gloves and save your hands from those harsh chemicals. {Keeps your hands in holding shape and who doesn't need a little more hand holding?}

7. Oxi powder cleans cloth diapers {Amen sista! Considering cloth read my rants on it here: JKOsborn}

8. Dryer sheets will removed deodorant marks on cloths. {FOR REAL? I'll be putting this to the test the next time this happens to me!}

9. Faded jeans making you blue? Mrs. Stewarts Blueing liquid (MSB) - keeps your whites from getting yellow and your jeans from fading. {I had to look this stuff up. Apparently according to their website, "Not only does it whiten whites, it also brightens colors and does so without harsh chemicals, prolonging the life of any garment." Amazing right? OR try re-dying your jeans at home in your washing machine. Tutorial found here!}

10. Wood furniture looking a little drab? Just polish it with a little vaseline! {Read here for more uses for first aid, beauty and the entire household!}

11. Baking Soda - clean your dishes, clean almost anything, really! {Check out these tips for cleaning with Baking Soda!}

12. Don't leave your husband to watch the kids for more than 2 hours!

Okay, so maybe that last one isn't {or is} true in your house, but let's remember the spirit of his help and the stage of life we're at. Raising kids is messy! Hopefully you'll be able to implement or try a couple of these tips and find your cleaning duties getting a little more manageable. I sure hope so.

Next blog post: COOKING TIPS!

Pinterest

I'm not quite sure what's sparked the Pinterest craze lately. I've been on Pinterest a really long time now. But almost everyday I hear or read about someone else's less than love affair with Pinterest. What for? It's not like Pinterest is trying to take over the world (wide web).

What's the big deal? It's just another website. Don't get me wrong. I'm an avid Pinterest user, but what I don't get is all the hoopla! You can't hardly throw a digital stone into my blog pool without hitting a blog that's talking about or hating on Pinterest.

The other day I found this pin:

Seems to me we could all use a little more self control. "Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. {Philippians 4:8}" If you can't help but send yourself into a spiral of despair and a wretched case of the "Gimmes" while on Pinterest, then by all means, log off and close your account. But I find Pinterest to be much more useful than detrimental!

Beyond the haters are the confused. And though I don't understand what all the discontent is about, I can help those of you who just don't get it.

Let's start with some mental imagery. Imagine a bulletin board in the middle of a wall. On this board you "pin" articles, pictures, website links and the like for all sorts of different things you want to remember or reference again.

Pinterest is an online version of this. Any web image can be pinned to a board. The image carries with it a website link to where it was pinned from. When you want to reference it again, you open the board, click on the picture and visit the link. Simple. Clean. Paperless.

I use to use digital bookmarks. I had so many I had folders for my bookmarks broken up into categories. Some bookmarks I used regularly, links to sites like Hotmail, Cozi, Mvelopes, Google Reader, Facebook and Pinterest. But some of them I was only referencing a few times a month or less. When I was planning an event, say one of my daughters birthday parties, I created a folder with links to ideas, invitations, supplies, games, you name it. Sometimes I printed stuff I really wanted to use or reference again or when the printer wasn't working, transcribed it - blech! This was so time consuming!. Now I use Pinterest for anything that's not used daily.

Alrighty, so now that you understand a little bit more about what Pinterest does and why you would use it, lets go a little deeper into the functionality of it.

When you create your Pinterest account you start by categorizing some board names. Currently I have boards named: Intentional Parenting, Makeable, Bakeable, Holiday, Good to Know, Printables, Summer Fun/Rainy Day. You might have some of the same or 40 completely different ones. Start with just a few, as you start pinning you'll catch on to what needs its own board and can create more at anytime.

Once you've set those up you're going to want to download the Pin It button into your web browser. You can do this by clicking on About and then Pin It button in the drop down menu on the top right of your account screen. Pinterest will give you simple instructions for the browser you're using.

Once that's all done, you're ready to start pinning! the next time you find something you want to pin you simply click the Pin It Button in your web browser, select the board and description you want in the pop up window and Pin It! You can find it on your board the next time you want it.

Once you've got the hang of it, you might start using Pinterest more like a search engine, or perhaps you'd like to browse the things your friends are browsing. When you open your Pinterest account all the pins in that feed are from people you know. You can follow all of their boards, or only some of them, or none of them at all. I have several friends who like to pin interesting vacation spots or beautiful homes. I'm not interested, and therefore I don't follow those boards. But I also have several teacher friends and lots of home-school friends who pin TONS of stuff about lessons, activities and teaching ideas. Some of this gets re-pinned for future use, lots of it I skip.

Pinterest has a search option so if you want a new recipe for a dessert, or a valentine project, you can enter your search and come up with tons of options. Lots of stuff is repeated because its been pinned by more than one person, but its still very simple to scroll through a whole host of search results until you find what you want.

Okay. That's it! Pin away! Go forth and pin prosper. Hopefully, you have a better understanding at least! And if not, you might try watching this video.

GUM Fundraiser!

Where have the months gone?

Wow, too many months since my last post. This blog is sorely neglected - I'm sorry! My only solace is that the group on Facebook is not - lots of action happening there; recipes posted, holiday crafts, reminders, and some general chatter. So I apologize to those of you who aren't on FB and can't access that part of the GUM community. If you are on FB, and aren't part of the community, let me know and I'll send you an invite!

So where have the months gone?

Well, we got our cookbook published!

You can purchase your own copy here. Or if you're local you can purchase a soft cover one in the church office for only $15.