... everyday moments

January 03, 2011

3/365

One of the things I like best about homeschool basketball games… go Mustangs!

Well, we’re back at it in full swing. Mustang basketball was on the court for back to back games today. The girls were a little… rusty. They lost both games which is very unusual for them. I’m going to blame it on all the fudge they ate over the Christmas break.

Pickles actually had a great game. She had quite a number of rebounds and even scored twice. When the final score is only 21-28 scoring twice is a pretty decent percentage! And, she was 2 for 3 on her shots. We’re still working on being more aggressive… the kid is just too nice. I know she’s got it in her… I’ve seen it!!

Overall she had a great game… so proud of her!

read any good books lately?

I downloaded this book over the New Year’s weekend… Kindle had it on sale for $2.99 (thanks, Dayna for the head’s up!). I quickly proceeded to get completely involved and read until 2:00 AM. I finished reading the book on our way home. The Chapman family’s story is something I’ve been following for a while. I read Mary Beth’s blog and when I saw she was writing a book about the loss of their little girl, I knew I would want to read it.

Mary Beth has a way of telling her story… like she is talking to a friend, telling you about her pain, her hope, her struggles, and her heart. This is one amazing, real family. One of the best things she said in the book didn’t have anything to do with dealing with Maria’s death. She touched on something I wish a lot of people would understand about Christians in general but especially those in leadership.

“I believe that Steven’s success, and the fact that it put both of us in the spotlight, was part of God’s plan to glorify Himself through my struggles and inadequacies. I am the absolute least likely candidate in the world to be a ‘Christian celebrity wife.’”

“But God made me the way He did and gave me the story we’re living. And even though I am not your usual candidate for celebrity wifedom, I believe it is all about showing off HIS glory. If a lot of people are watching our faith journey, our marriage, and our family because of Steven’s musical success, then that’s great, because it will help shatter the illusion that Christians are supposed to be perfect.”

“People need to know that Christian leaders, singers, preachers, writers, whoever, are as cracked and broken as the next person. Maybe more so. Hopefully they are in positions of leadership, though, because they are serious about following Christ, and so people can see that real success in the kingdom of God is not about being strong and looking good and knowing all the right answers. It’s about continually yielding oneself to Jesus and determining to take purposeful little steps of obedience, and the ragged reality that it’s all about God and His grace at work in us.”

Her candidness about the day of the accident and the days following is heart-wrenching. She tells of many “breadcrumbs” that have been left along the way, to remind them that Maria will always be a part of them and that the Lord remembers them. The way she has dealt with Maria’s loss is amazing, yet very very real. She doesn’t sugar-coat the pain. But she does continually point to the fact that her hope is in Jesus. That there is hope. And joy.

Definitely a good read!

January 02, 2011

2/365

This may seem like a strange picture, but it depicts part of my life. Hubby’s family makes their own sausage. We grind it and package it over the Christmas holiday with his family. We brought home about 35 pounds of it and promptly filled up the freezer when we returned home today.

January 01, 2011

1/365

project 365

Happy New Year!

Have you heard of Project 365? You take a picture every day for the whole year and post it on your blog. I had a friend who dedicated a whole blog to doing this last year. She had so much fun she’s doing it again. My sister’s sister-in-law is doing the same thing and threw it out there for others to join as well. I spent all of last year wishing I’d done it so I’m going to jump in and at least give it a try… Knowing me I’ll be done by February, but who knows… it’s just one picture a day, right? Anyone else want to join in the fun?

December 08, 2010

my.get.together CHEX!

I’ve been blog stalking for a while now… all sorts of blogs… people I know… people I don’t know… people I sort of know… home decorators… ranchers… homeschoolers… bakers… and couponers! A few weeks ago I was on The Coupon Goddess’s blog. She was talking about a program done through General Mills called My Get Together. You sign up, answer a few questions, and they send you a box full of goodies and coupons to share! I thought that sounded fun so I signed up and waited for the box to arrive.

Our box came with a Chex bowl, three bags of Chex Mix, plates, napkins, and a BUNCH of coupons. This cute little guy didn't come with the box or I would have signed up twice!

With the holidays fast approaching, I wasn’t sure we would be able to schedule a party at home to share the fun. So knowing we would be spending Thanksgiving with family and there would just happen to be a major football game on the television, I thought that would be the perfect place to have our party!