fun at the park

Last night was the annual pool party for our Jr. High group.  This is always held at a park that has a waterpark/aquatic center, which is loads of fun for our boys since we only swim in “regular” pools most of the time.  There are also several other young kids whose parents are Jr. High leaders, so the boys have a great time running around with them (and with the teens, too, of course!)  The first 2 hours were held at the park, where we played on the playground, ate hot dogs, ran around, rode bikes, sang worship songs, listened to a short talk, and just generally had fun.  Then we went to the pool for the next 2 hours (although we only stayed an hour and a half) where the boys got to slide and swim and swallow water to their hearts’ content. 

I didn’t take any pictures during the pool time, but here are a few from the park portion:

 

 

 

 

Aiden (finally) learned how to pedal on his trike!

 

 

 

 

Will just got this bike fixed up last weekend and he loves it!  I think this picture is so cute of he and Josh “racing” - he’s a very encouraging older brother (when he chooses to be).

 

 

Josh was kind of out of it for awhile (he’s teething something fierce), but here he is with Elle, Kelli’s daughter.  Elle was really sweet with him, and she also enjoyed “bossing” him around a little later on - it was pretty cute.

 

 

 

 

Aiden, Elle, and Josh playing with the drinking fountain.  They were soaked before we ever got to the pool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This child loves balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing football with Uncle Jon. 

 

 

 

 

Some pictures now… and then (the pool party 3 years ago)

 

Playing football with Uncle Jon (it’s a popular pastime with our kids)

 

 

 

 

My fun sister Amanda!

 

 

 

 

So what do you think?  Do Will and Josh look alike?  (Will was about a month older than Josh is now in these pictures.)

pink is not my favorite color…

… especially when it’s in my eyes!  Pinkeye has been slowly making the rounds through our household the last several weeks, and when I woke up yesterday morning at 6 my eyelids were stuck together.  I am the last person to get it, and I’ve also had the worst case of it.  Dan and all of the boys, thankfully, had very light cases which they got over quickly.  I started the drops right away, and so I was no longer contagious by this morning, but my eyes are still pretty pink, and sore.  I’m hoping to wake up tomorrow with much clearer eyes, and hoping not to have to use eye drops again on anyone in this family for quite some time!

Love as a Way of Life

I totally forgot to do this during the week, so here I go a day late.  I’m part of a blog tour for the new book by Dr. Gary Chapman, Love as a Way of Life.  You may have heard at some point about the five love languages - Words of affirmation, Physical touch, Gifts, Acts of service, and Quality time.  Dr. Chapman wrote a book several years ago on these 5 ways that people tend to give and receive love.  Over time, though, he realized that even when people understood these different ways of giving and receiving love, if they didn’t have an attitude of love, they couldn’t - or wouldn’t - love others.  So Dr. Chapman wrote Love as a Way of Life as the foundation for The Five Love Languages.  He explores the following characteristics, which he sees as essential to being a truly loving person:

• kindness
• patience
• forgiveness
• courtesy
• humility
• generosity
• honesty

Dr. Chapman writes that a loving person must exhibit all 7 traits in order not to be lacking in his personal relationships.  He spends a chapter on each trait, opening with a short quiz so that the reader can evaluate how well he lives out that particular characteristic, and closes each chapter with a series of reflective questions and challenges to apply to growing in that aspect of being a loving person.  The meat of the chapters are filled with personal stories from his own life and many others, and practical truths about that trait.  Towards the end of the book he writes on how to live a life of love in our marriages, workplaces, and families.  Dr. Chapman is a Christian and he does use Scripture for support, but he writes this book to be applicable to both believers and unbelievers.

I’m still working through the book; currently I’m reading the chapter on courtesy.  I’m enjoying this book because it is challenging me in such honest, down-to-earth, practical ways.  While I would not describe myself as an unloving person, I cannot honestly say that I do a great job of being a loving person.  I miss many opportunities to really love people, and whether that is due to busyness, insecurity, frustration, or just being tired, it is wrong.  Because God has commanded me to love Him and others, I need to grow in these areas and really strive to live a life of love, be it in big ways or small.  As I love others better I will be loving Jesus better as well.

For participating in this blog tour I was sent two books - one for me, and one for one of you.  If you would like to receive a free copy of Love as a Way of Life , leave a comment describing some way that you have exibited one of the 7 traits above, or how you have been challenged to grow in that area.  Go on, brag on yourself.  It will encourage the rest of us!  If you really hate doing that, write about how someone you know has exibited one of those traits.  I’ll choose the winner through a random drawing next weekend (July 26). 

You can also order this book from Amazon.com here.

What my husband did

What Aiden did

The Power Rangers have been destroyed!  Who would commit such a villianous deed?

 Caught red-handed!

He is truly the messiest child I have ever met.

What I did

Finally finished the curtains for the door/window in our kitchen.

My “Lost Boy” (take 2)

Aiden: I’m driving my tractor, Mommy!

Me: Are you going to grow up to be a tractor driver?

Aiden: Yeah.  (pauses)  I’m not going to grow up.*

 

*After checking my sources, this is the accurate quote, as opposed to my prior post (since deleted).

Regarding worry and stress

I am a pretty low-key person, but I can’t even begin to imagine the number of times that I’ve said I’m stressed out or have had a stressful day, especially since having kids.  I also tend to worry.  So the following verses and thoughts kick me in the butt, in a good way.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  - Jesus, Matthew 6:25

“I look out the window

the birds are composing

not a note is out of tune

or out of place.

I walk to the meadow

And stare at the flowers

Better dressed than any girl

On her wedding day.

So why should I worry?

Why do I freak out?

God knows what I need

You know what I need!”

- Jon Foreman, “Your Love is Strong”

“Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening in our lives.  Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.  Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it’s okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional.  Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.  They declare our tendency to forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God’s strength, our problems are small, indeed.”  - Francis Chan, Crazy Love

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  - Paul, Philippians 4:4-7

Amen and amen.

Jon Foreman/Switchfoot

Yes, I do.  I became a fan around the same time that most of the rest of the world did, when the movie “A Walk to Remember” came out.  I bought the soundtrack on my way home from the theater, because Switchfoot had 5 songs on it.  One of the reasons that I got really excited about Switchfoot’s music that day was because I had just heard of them the night before, when a guy named Dan played a song called “Dare You to Move” for an event at our church.  It was part of a skit that my dad was in, actually.  I had also just found out that Dan had asked my dad for permission to date me, but my dad (wisely) told him he didn’t think I was quite ready for that.  Needless to say, though, I’d been praying a lot where my heart and Dan Hartke were concerned, and when I heard the song he had just played as part of a movie where the main character shared my first and middle name, well, I just had to have that soundtrack!

That’s how I became a Switchfoot fan.  I’ve gotten to see them in concert a couple of times and own all of their cds, but in the last few years have been a little frustrated/confused by them.  Their old albums (The Legend of Chin, New Way to Be Human, Learning to Breathe) was fun, honest, unpretentious, and while very rarely mentioning the name of Jesus, dealt with Him and His love in very real ways.  The following album, The Beautiful Letdown, was the album that lunched them into super-stardom.  It was a very fun album, terrific musically, and had some spiritually challenging songs (”24″).  Their next album, Nothing is Sound, was different.  Still great music, thoughtful lyrics… yet I felt like it was missing something.  There didn’t seem to be a lot of joy, or something.  Another thing that kind of disappointed me about those two albums - in the cd liner pictures, none of the guys smiled, ever.  I am of the opinion that bands who don’t ever smile in pictures are focused only on being cool (I’m sure they’re being told how to look, but again, it strikes me as “too cool” for just being real and having fun).  Their last album, Oh Gravity!, is similar to Nothing is Sound in that it is more concerned with social issues, but it seems more honest.  They sing about the trappings and emptiness of fame in “Faust, Midas and Myself,” and in several songs deal with the aimlessness of life when all we do is live for ourselves. 

Something that I’ve wondered, though, is if the guys in Switchfoot strayed from their first love when they made the transition from a more indie/Christian band to mainstream/VH1 band.  Had their passion for social justice (certainly not a bad thing!) replaced their passion for Jesus (the only sure foundation for effectively dealing with social issues)?

Which brings me to the reason I began this post.  Jon Foreman, the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist of Switchfoot, has put out a series of 4 albums, with 6 songs each, titled Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer.   He wrote, recorded and produced everything himself (with some help here and there), and they are great.  They are honest, they deal with life and death, joy and sorrow, and they offer hope.  They proclaim God’s presence and power in everyday life.  Some of the songs are taken from Scripture, some are taken from the headlines.  “”Somebody’s Baby” is about a girl addicted to alcohol and drugs and living without hope.  I cry sometimes when I listen to that one.  ”Resurrect Me” (my boys’s favorite), asks God to breathe new life into me when I’m not living for Him.  One of my favorites is called “Revenge” and is sung from the perspective of the thief on the cross, the very first recipient of the saving grace of God through the blood of Jesus. 

“I’m the failure, I’m everyone’s fool

And I’m losing my cool at the end

I’m the loser, my number’s come up

Been hung up with thoughts of revenge, revenge, revenge.

I watched You from my terminal view

As You struggle to rise to Your end

I laughed hard at the insults we threw

As the weight of the world found revenge. 

The world hung upside down,

I drew first blood, I drew blood.

My hate for a crown,
I drew first blood, I drew first blood.

Revenge.

I watched heaven dying today

And I’m gonna die here tonight

I’m a villian, I deserve to be dead

I’ve been hung up for wrecking my life

Revenge.

So I stopped for a moment

to look at the sun dying a day

That’s when the irony hit me

This was revenge

Love had descended and stolen our pain

Away.

We consumed Heaven’s Son

I drew first blood, but my hate was undone.

Here’s a story of a thief who was robbed

How a murder had stolen my rage

Think of me, Lord, I’m a few breaths away

As my lungs finally rip from the cage

Revenge, revenge.”

This song makes me cry, too, because I am this thief.

Yes, I like Switchfoot.  But I love Jon Foreman’s season albums.  You should check them out!

My brother + Death Cab For Cutie

My brother Scott was recently in a Death Cab For Cutie video for their song “Cath”, which just came out today.  He’s the blond wedding guest in the blue tie (the camera gets a really good shot of him about 3 times).  You can check it out here: