A COOL minivan: maybe?!

Here's some of my notes from what Dr. Bob Noonan, Marriage and Family Therapist & Christian Counselor shared with us last Thursday morning. If you missed it, or want to read more, pick up this book, The 7 Desires of Every Heart by Mark Laaser. Or if you'd like to meet with Bob, he has open slots and office hours at COD, if you'd like to get in touch with him you can call the church office for his number (or ask someone on the GUM leadership team).

The 7 Desires of Every Heart:
1. To be heard and understood 2. To be affirmed 3. To be blessed 4. To be safe 5. To be touched 6. To be chosen 7. To be included

A Marriage Mission Statement. Do you have one? You should! Decide what your values are and where you're going and then work on putting habits in place to live out your mission for your marriage.

Check in often - time away with your spouse preferably once a quarter but at least a couple weekends a year!

The best thing you can do for your kids is to love your husband and be loved by him.

What did Bob say that really stuck with you?

Come to Jesus

Pastor Ed preached on Sunday about the raw, messy, glorious truth about Church of the Open Door. You can listen to it here.

Ed said, "That’s what happens in this church—failure, confusion, even sin and pain, become ways to learn God’s grace and grow in our trust of Him and one another. Healing, victories, hope, encouragement, and love are also explained by God’s grace working in this community as we grow together by trusting Him and one another."

We live in community that God's grace may abound.

I listened to this song by Chris Rice this morning. With all the hurt and pain and suffering so many are experiencing it just spoke to my heart.

Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) Listen.

Weak and wounded sinner,
Lost and left to die,
O, raise your head for love is passing by,
Come to Jesus, Come to Jesus, Come to Jesus and live.

Now your burden's lifted,
And carried far away,
And precious blood has washed the stain... so
Sing to Jesus, Sing to Jesus, Sing to Jesus and live.

And like a newborn baby,
Don't be afraid to crawl,
And remember when you walk sometimes we fall... so
Fall on Jesus, Fall on Jesus, Fall on Jesus and live.

Sometimes the way is lonely,
And steep and filled with pain,
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain... then
Cry to Jesus, Cry to Jesus, Cry to Jesus and live.

O, and when the love spills over,
And music fills the night,
And when you can't contain your joy inside... then
Dance for Jesus, Dance for Jesus, Dance for Jesus and live.

And with your final heartbeat,
Kiss the world goodbye,
Then go in peace, and laugh on glory's side... and
Fly to Jesus, Fly to Jesus, Fly to Jesus and live.


God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him. -Jurgen Multman

I don't know if you are laughing or weeping today, but I do know that Jesus offers resurrection power to those who believe and are willing to trust Him. Are you trusting him? Are you believing his will for you and trusting his purpose will be revealed?

God does not make mistakes. He is always loving and caring for us, no. matter. what. Jesus is looking in your heart and giving you what you need, even if its not what you want. Trust him friend. Believe in his love for you. And LIVE in it.

Jesus rose from the dead to give us new life in heaven, AND to give us the power to live His resurrection life during our years on earth! -Ed Underwood

Resurrection Rolls & Cookies

Resurrection Rolls
Ingredients:

• 1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 8 large marshmallows
• Melted butter
• Cinnamon
• Sugar

Directions:

• Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
• Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
• Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
• Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
• Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
• Bake according to package directions.
• Cool.
  
• Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!!
• Celebrate God's love!

Or if you prefer you can make resurrection cookies - remember this may need altered to make it age appropriate. Here's the link for the cookies.

Good Friday Meditation

6 a.m.

• Jesus Stands Trial Before Pilate
  (Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-37)
• Jesus Sent to Herod
  (Luke 23:6-12)

7 a.m.

• Jesus Returned to Pilate
  (Luke 23:11)
• Jesus is Sentenced to Death
  (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:23-24; John 19:16)

8 a.m.

• Jesus is Led Away to Calvary
  (Matthew 27:32-34; Mark 15:21-24; Luke 23:26-31; John 19:16-17)

The Crucifixion

9 a.m. - "The Third Hour"

• Jesus is Crucified on the Cross

  Mark 15: 25 - It was the third hour when they crucified him. (NIV). The third hour in Jewish time would have been 9 a.m.

  Luke 23:34 - Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do now know what they are doing." (NIV)

• The Soldiers Cast Lots for Jesus' Clothing
  (Mark 15:24)

10 a.m.

• Jesus is Insulted and Mocked

  Matthew 27:39-40 - And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!"(NLT)

Mark 15:31 - The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself!"(NLT)

Luke 23:36-37 - The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"(NLT)

Luke 23:39 - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"(NIV)

11 a.m.

• Jesus and the Criminal

  Luke 23:40-43 - But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

  Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

  Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV)

• Jesus Speaks to Mary and John

  John 19:26-27 - When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, "Woman, he is your son." And he said to this disciple, "She is your mother." And from then on this disciple took her into his home. (NLT)

Noon - "The Sixth Hour"

• Darkness Covers the Land

  Mark 15:33 - At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.(NLT)

1 p.m.

• Jesus Cries Out to the Father

  Matthew 27:46 - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”(NKJV)

• Jesus is Thirsty

  John 19:28-29 - Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I am thirsty."A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. (NLT)

2 p.m.

• It is Finished

  John 19:30a - When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" (NLT)

  Luke 23:46 - Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)

3 p.m. - "The Ninth Hour"

Following Jesus' Death

• The Earthquake

  Matthew 27:51-52 - At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. (NIV)

• The Centurion - "Surely he was the Son of God!"
  (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:47)
• The Soldiers Break the Thieves' Legs
  (John 19:31-33)
• The Soldier Pierces Jesus Side
  (John 19:34)
• Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
  (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42)

You're invited to...

Encyclopedia of Me

This poster actually hangs in my office above my desk. You can click on it to enlarge it, but first I'll apologize profusely for the image quality. Sorry, and sorry, it's late at night and it's dark and I'm too excited to post this to wait until daylight for proper lighting. Moving on.

I bought it before I ever had children on one of many antique shopping days with my mom. I just love it. It's bunnykins-esque and authentically old. Anyway, I saw it and fell in love with it one day and determined it would hang in my children's nursery. But it didn't match the theme, and so loving it so much, I hung it in my office.

Kitty has a kettle. John has a jar of Jam. It makes me happy - even if they did mispell John, and used Kitty, Ann and Edward instead of some much more appealing K, A & E names - perhaps I'm biased!

So given my love for this ABC poster, I thought this idea I ran across recently sounded fun. And I think some of you will like it too!

I've seen several blogger's doing a series called "Encyclopedia of Me". As far as I can tell it started over at Bella Dia in 2007, before she became The Crafty Crow. And it's made another appearance recently.

The idea is to come up with an A-Z of you. Your daily life with your children, what makes you you, something from day to day life, it's really very open ended. Some letters might have more than one entry, some not. The original idea was to post one blog entry with the corresponding alphabetical letter each day for a month.

You know this is right up my alley! Not only would this be great for those of you who blog, but it would also work for scrapbooks for you and/or your kids; an A-Z of their school year, or just an A-Z of their personality or your family. What a great anthology!!

It's the beginning of the month, so this seemed like a good time to start. Are you with me? Let me know if this sparked some ideas of your own, or how you plan to do your own Encyclopedia of Me.

Guest Speaker Summary

If you missed GUM yesterday, you missed a great time! Careth T. came and spoke to us about parenting and discipline and a whole lot rolled into one.

I personally came away refreshed and with a new sense of purpose for my parenting. Here's the things that stuck out to me:

Be a Parenting Unit!
You and your spouse are in this together. Get on the same page. Whether it takes one discussion or a whole parenting weekend - take the time, and figure out where your coming from and where your going. What do you want your children's character to look like when they are teenagers and adults?

Build a Discipline Toolbox!
Our boxes might look different, but there should be a few different consequences used for discipline. Natural consequences is one that's been in my toolbox, but I forget to use. So I'll be working on honing that skill - or I'll be calling Tim or Christy (Careth's husband and sister - Natural Consequence Thinkers Supreme!) every couple days!

Be consistent! If you say it, enforce it. Period.
Do not undermine your spouse's authority by intervening during discipline.

Evaluate each child! and discipline accordingly.

Pick your battles, based on what's really important for building charachter. Fighting over shoes or mis-matched clothes at two is likely not the battle to choose. Uh-oh. I'm sorry you all had to hear that one too, I'm pretty sure it was meant just for me. Maybe not, but I certainly heard it loud and clear.

Careth also pointed us towards Dr. Kevin Lehman in conjunction with Focus on the Family, here's some things I've been looking at following this morning.

Successfully Handle Behavior Problems This series is a review of Dr. Kevin Lehman's work by Shauna Schutte and includes 4 follow up articles on Behavior and Strategies for different age groups. (Extra: more potty training tips in the follow-up articles!!)

Focus on the Family: Effective Biblical Discipline This page is a wealth of knowledge. Creative Disciplining Ideas, Approaches to Discipline, the Strong-Willed Child and more. If you need me, I'll be camped out here for the next week or so!

Parenting Adult Children And not to leave you mentor moms out - here's some articles for parents of adult children - Lord, help me make it here one day!!

We hope to have Careth back for some follow-up Q&A time soon!

A recipe

Today was cold! So cold that I had to bump my heat up. And turn on the oven. And then I wanted to bake something. You know, so I could use the oven to heat the house AND eat something yummy. But I was at a loss for something to bake. I bake a lot and I didn't want to make french bread or muffins or brownies or cake. Those things just seemed blah to me today (for shame, I know!). I need something that would last a while, and warm my heart.

Anyway, so I pulled out a couple of my cookbooks to look for recipes. I ended up reading my entire (yes, ENTIRE) 298 page, Flavors from the Foothills, Church of the Open Door Women's Ministry cookbook, circa 1992. There are some really fabulous recipes in there!! What was super fun, was I knew a lot of the women who contributed the recipes, like mentor mom emeritus Patti A.!

I didn't find the recipe my tummy might have been longing for. But the following recipe caught my heart and spurred the urge to write this post (before I head to my bed to snuggle down under the covers and watch a movie). It was exactly what I needed and I hope it warms your heart too!












RECIPE FOR RAISING CHILDREN
pg 233, Anonymous

Start with one child. (In case of twins, double recipe. For triplets, triple recipe.)
Gather equal parts of Love and Security.
Have on hand Discipline, Understanding, Patience and Togetherness.

Note: This recipe takes many years to complete.

Blend together Love and Security and apply it directly to the child. As the mixture is being raised, sprinkle on Understanding and Patience. As needed, fold in Discipline, but make sure the mixture is consistent. Too little may make the mixture thin and weak - too much may make it thick and stubborn. Continually roll the mixture in Togetherness. This keeps it from sticking to bad influences.

When this is completed, there will be no need to bake it. It will be ready to serve.
[italic's editors note]

Valentine Projects

Valentine's Day is approaching, and though I don't particularly like made up holidays, I do love love themed crafts! I've compiled a bunch of ideas from things I've already come across, and I hope you have fun doing some of these with your kids. Don't forget to tell them how much you and God loves them today!

The Crafty Crow - lots of glitter in these Valentine crafts! And tons of other posts with treats and all sorts of craft ideas - again, Crafty Crow is my favorite craft blog!!

Heart Cutting from Chasing Cheerios - for the younger crowd just learning to cut.
And some other heart themed activites from Chasing can be found here.

Need a cute idea for those class valentines? Here's one from A Very Country Christmas, "I dig You!"

Or this one from Saltwater Kids: We Make a Great Pair.

Also check out FamilyFun for some sweet treats, valentine printables and more.

Our first project here at home was Stained-Glass Heart Garland! It's a mish-mash of several projects I saw here and there. Here's how we did it:

Yesterday I laid out some wax paper for the girls and they shaved some old crayons on to it. Then I layered another piece of wax paper and then put it between two layers of paper bags or cardstock. Then I ironed lightly. (Recommendation...don't squish the crayon shavings too close together, spread it out if you really want that stained glass effect.)

Then we cut heart shapes, whole punched and strung them on ribbon. Here's the finished works of art. We had tons of fun doing this, and they're light enough to hang on my window blinds!
















What projects do you have planned?