Find your Whimsy! 🥸

My daughter's favorite word is "whimsy."   I have spent a lot of effort trying to instil in our children the importance of finding joy, laughter and fun to break up the monotony and the pain and sadness that often pervade our lives.

Yesterday evening we were all watching TV (blinds were all closed) when my husband decided to open the door to our deck.  I saw sunshine and I saw rain and I immediately got up and said "rainbow weather!" and went outside our front door to find that a large, brilliant double rainbow had formed over our neighborhood!  Our entire family went out to look at it and my daughter and I took lots of pictures!  My husband thought we were ridiculous- especially me since I went out into the middle of our road in the rain to capture the full rainbow with my camera.  I asked him "where's your whimsy?"  🙃

We live on a dead-end road that has a grassy field that is a utility right-of-way that leads to a creek.  The properties on either side of the right-of-way are both owned by one of our neighbors.   On one side sits their house and the other lot is an undeveloped field in the middle of which our neighbor maintains a large garden and greenhouse.  We have planted pumpkins and sunflowers in his garden in years past and we help keep it watered when they are out of town.  There is a little wooden foot bridge over the creek that allows you to cross from one field to the other without getting wet.  😁  Both fields are filled with clover and one of them has a big patch of tall grass at one end.  This was a wonderful oasis for our family during the COVID lockdowns.  There is clover growing all over in both these fields.  Whenever we walk through there I am always in search of 4-leaved clovers.  When I find them, I take a picture and sometimes I pick them to press in a book and use for a fun St. Patrick's Day craft.  I often enlist the help of my family in the search.  My son likes to hide in the tall grass and play hide-and-seek or else he's looking for bugs to observe and my daughter is always on the hunt for flowers.   If there are daisies, she will make a daisy chain to put on her head.

This week is my son's spring break and he really wanted to go to the Kidsquest Museum during this week so we spent a couple of hours there on Wednesday.   My son had so much fun with all the hands-on exhibits!  Such a fun place to explore!

This week is spirit week at my daughter's school and she has participated in all the themed dress-up days.  Today was a western theme so after the Kidsquest Museum excursion and after picking my daughter up from school, we headed to my Mom's house for more fun and whimsy and to borrow my Dad's cowboy hat and boots.  She borrowed her other Grandpa's flannel shirt that was hanging on my husband's side of the closet (he passed away in 2008) and looked like a genuine cowgirl as she headed to school!

We find moments of whimsical fun when we can.  Driving to the store this week I noticed puffy clouds and my son was telling me what shapes he saw in them.  The other day on my way to pick my daughter up from school I noticed the layers of clouds had made a square shaped hole and blue sky was showing through as if it was a window in the sky and a little cloud appeared inside the "window" that looked like a person peeking through it at the earth.  I was driving so I couldn't take a picture but I often take pictures of the clouds.

I see faces in everything.   Most recently I found the food coloring I dripped in to make green frosting for St. Patrick's Day cookies frowning at me!

I can give more examples from my own life but I see beauty, fun and whimsy because I'm LOOKING for it.  So go out and find your own whimsy and enjoy all God has to offer!  He isn't a dull or boring God.  He gave us this beautiful creation to explore and He gave us our senses of humor and the ability to laugh.  He created fun and our sense of adventure.   We just need to unlock it and allow God to show is how creative He is!

Love Like Jesus

We are supposed to live and love like Jesus but what does that mean?  What would that look like?  It's something all Christians struggle with and it's REALLY difficult to put into practice. 

It all clicked with me this week - at least the answer to the what would that look like question.  Maybe I'm a little slow to make this connection but in Matthew chapters 8 and 9 we see a day in the life of Jesus.  I read these chapters and noticed that Jesus performed miracle after miracle as he walked through His days.  He heals a paralytic and calls Matthew to be his disciple, rolls right in to teaching the Pharasees the truth about forgiveness and the purpose of fasting and as He is speaking a devout ruler interrupts because his daughter has died and he believes Jesus has the power to come raise her from the dead.  While Jesus is heading to the ruler's house to perform this miracle, a woman is healed of a bleeding disease. After He raises the girl from the dead and as he is leaving town, 2 blind men request that Jesus restore their sight and as the men with newly restored sight are leaving, a demon possessed man who is mute that needs relief presents himself to Jesus who casts out the demon and restores his voice.  

John tells us that the entire world couldn't contain all the books that could be written about all the signs and wonders Jesus performed while on earth.  So I tend to think the events recorded in Matthew were pretty typical of a day in the life of our Lord.  What I realized as I was reading through these accounts was that Jesus willingly helps people - everywhere He turned someone needed healing.  And He healed them all.  He did it without expressing frustration that someone had interrupted Him or delayed His journey.   He didn't make anyone feel like they were bothering Him and He didn't complain about how much or how hard He was working for everyone else.  It must have been exhausting which is why He frequently slipped away to be alone - to recharge and to fellowship with the Father.  But after this important time of prayer and quiet communication with God the Father, Jesus jumps right back into the fray - providing healing, comfort and hope.   Meeting the needs of others without hesitation.

I was contrasting this with my own life.  How often do I get frustrated when I am interrupted while doing something I view as important?  Do I make people feel like I have places to go and things to do so they need to hurry up or stay out of my way?  I admit that Multiple Sclerosis makes it more difficult for me to switch gears quickly.  I don't transition easily and I approach my daily tasks more methodically and systematically than I used to, leaving less room for spontaneity.   It's more difficult for me than it used to be - but not impossible. 

What I want is to be more like Jesus as I walk through my days.  Always loving, compassionate and meeting the needs I encounter with grace and without complaining.  I want to be available when I am needed and not distracted by my task list or by the concerns of life.  I want to be present in each moment with each person I encounter.  

Now, that's what I WANT to do, who I WANT to be.  And it's so easy to say but so difficult to do when my world gets hectic and my slow brain can't keep up.

But I wanted to talk about this because it has been on my mind for several days and I need the prayer and accountability of others to point out when I am failing to behave in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.  Jesus did it perfectly and we are (I am) never going to attain that level of perfection.   But I believe God wants us/me to TRY. 

Prayer Network

Prayer is vital for our health and for the health of our church family.  I encourage everyone to have a network of people they can call or text or email to get instant prayer support when they need it.   Prayer is a direct line to God who hears and who cares about us and about our concerns. 

For as long as I have been attending our church (since 1995) there has been a Prayer Chain.  It used to be a typed list of people and phone numbers.   The chapel directory was split into 3rds and there were 3 women who each were responsible for a 1 of the 3 lists.  You could call any of the 3 women with your prayer request and they would contact the other 2 and all 3 would start by calling the next person on their list.  Once they passed the prayer request on, the next person was responsible for calling the person after them on the list and thus went the prayer request- traveling through a chain of callers until everyone on the list had been reached and all were praying.  The method has changed with the advent of technology.   Now, our prayer chain is sent in a group email to everyone who has requested to be included in the chain and provided an email address where they can receive an email from one of our elders. 

I had never heard of a prayer chain before I attended this church and I had visited a number of churches before I settled on this one.  I met my husband at this church and together we lived in 3 other states before settling back in the place we started.  We have visited many churches in the past 26 years of our marriage and not a single one had a prayer chain that we were made aware of.  I don't think the Prayer Chain is unique to our church but in this day and age it IS unique among the majority of churches.

I love that our church has this prayer chain network and I highly recommend that everyone assemble a network of prayer warriors they can contact whenever they need prayer.   We still have a weekly Prayer meeting as well and a list goes out every Wednesday morning with the names of 4 of our church families (different each week - taken from our church directory), the name of the speaker who will be bringing the message the following Sunday,  the names of people in our larger church family with chronic illnesses or long-term needs (I'm on that list), names of our Sunday school kids, letters received that week with news and prayer requests  from the missionaries our church supports, etc. to be used as a prayer guide at the prayer meeting Wednesday evening.

We are commanded in scripture to pray continually in I Thessalonians.  We are urged in scripture to pray for eachother and to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

But how can we do this if we aren't aware of the needs?  I've noticed recently that our prayer chain isn't used as frequently as I think it should be.  People appear to be trying not to burden others with their serious health concerns, injuries or other crises.  I have personally known people fighting serious cancer battles that never requested to have their health situation relayed through our prayer chain.  People who have specifically refused to allow their situation to be shared publicly.   I do understand the desire for privacy but the nitty gritty details of a situation aren't necessary to request prayer.   You don't have to specify the illness or the details of an injury or other serious situation to ask for prayer about treatment options, strength, comfort, wisdom, healing, pain relief and/or peace.  

I don't understand why people don't value the power that robust prayer support can have on their individual struggles. Sadly, sometimes I think it's just that people, in the midst of their struggles, don't think of asking for prayer from anyone outside their immediate families - if at all. 

My lifeline is prayer and my Rock, my Shelter, my Foundation, my Strong Tower is the One who promises to answer those prayers. I want as many people as are willing to pray for me and my family as we navigate the challenges of MS and of life in general.  

And if you need prayer,  reach out to me in the comments below- even anonymously - and I WILL pray for you!

Bits and Pieces

This is going to be a collection of things because there have been so many out-of-the-ordinary activities in my life over the past week that I want to share.

Dancing and Donuts

Last weekend our daughter was invited to a Sadie Hawkins Day dance at a senior living facility by a 93 year old woman whom she recently.   I took our daughter and dropped her off at the dance.  When I went back to pick her up, the dance was still in full swing so even I got to dance and they sent us home with a bunch of donuts that had been donated by Haggens.  As I wandered around the dance multiple people came up to me to tell me how amazing and sweet our daughter is.  They were impressed that she would choose to spend a Saturday evening dancing and dining with a group of senior citizens and they just loved her.  It's always so wonderful to hear when one of my children is exuding the love of God behind my back!  One woman came up to me and asked if she was my daughter.   When I said "yes" this woman said "I love Jesus too!"  What a great testimony our daughter has!  And we took home half a dozen donuts as a sweet treat for lending out our daughter to shine for Jesus.😋

The Wisdom of Teeth?

I think they are called wisdom teeth because they come in later - usually after high school when we are adults.  But it's a little bit of a misnomer.  They are the least consistent of all the teeth. Some people don't end up having any wisdom teeth, some only get one or two, some have all 4 but they never grow in.  Some wisdom teeth grow in at odd angles and some have 1 root while others have 3 or 4 roots.  There is no rhyme or reason when it comes to wisdom teeth and, if you have had braces in your youth or any orthodontia to straighten out your smile, when wisdom teeth grow in, they change the dynamic in your mouth and make your teeth crowded and crooked again.  So, almost everyone has them removed.   I had mine removed the summer after my senior year of high school- all 4 at once and they hadn't grown in yet.  My husband had one removed while he was in college,  another in 2013 when our kids were quite young and he had the last 2 removed on Monday of this week.  He has been on a soft food diet but is otherwise healing up nicely.  Our daughter has 4 wisdom teeth that are trying to grow in already (she's 15 years old) and there's no room.  Two of hers are growing sideways into the roots of the teeth ahead of them and it hurts!  So, all four of her wisdom teeth will be coming out on April 16 - just a couple of days before her Spring Break.   And our son has already been told by his orthodontist that he will need his wisdom teeth out next year before they start causing problems because they are developing quickly and he has already had teeth removed to make room in his mouth AND he has had braces twice.  He is 13 years old.  So, by the end of next year, our house will be rid of all wise teeth!

Are you Thrifty?

You already know that one of my favorite places to go is the thrift store in my neighborhood. I generally like to go on Tuesdays after I volunteer at my son's school.  That is the only day that my friend works there and that I am generally available to visit.  My husband is usually out of town on Tuesdays so I am not spending time away from home that should be spent with him.  But this week my husband has been home recovering from oral surgery and we ran errands after I volunteered at the school on Tuesday and then had lunnch together. I had a strong feeling that I needed to check in on my friend at the thrift store at some point that day so my daughter and I stopped by after school.  There was a long line of people waiting to pay for their items so my daughter and I browsed the store while we waited.  I rarely look at clothes there - my favorite places to look are at the arts and crafts, movies and books.  But my daughter likes to look at the clothes.  So we split up and I found a couple of movies and books while my daughter found a pair of cute jean shorts with flowers on them and a beautiful (and brand new with the original tags still on it) lavender formal dress for the next Homecoming formal at her school in October.  When the line had cleared out, my friend was SO happy to see us!  She had been down and discouraged and was wondering where I was.  She had been anticipating my visit before lunch and I didn't make it at the expected time.  So it was a profitable trip - we were able to be an encouragement to my friend, we spent less than $10 and, among other thrift store gems, my daughter got a brand new, well made, beautiful dress that she tried on as soon as she got home and discovered the only alteration it needs is to be hemmed because it's too long.  It's always a joy to go to this particular thrift store on Tuesdays.  I always walk away with a spring in my step, a heart full of joy and often with an amazing deal on something I didn't know I needed until I saw it.  😉

And that concludes my post of random bits and pieces of my past week.  Tomorrow is the last day of the kids' 3rd quarter of school.   My son has his spring break next week but my daughter's spring break isn't until the week after Easter which is why we aren't going anywhere and it was the perfect time to have her wisdom teeth yanked out.  😉

Looking forward to the next adventure!

I Love Thunderstorms

Living in Western Washington we don't tend to get very powerful thunderstorms - especially when compared with other parts of the country.  Here, our thunderstorms are more of a loud light show - sometimes small hail falls between rain showers.   The air feels and smells clean after these super soaker booming light displays.  And it's awesome!  God's power is evident and it is beautiful to watch.   If we lose power as a result of one of these storms, it's an opportunity for a fun adventure and I always know that the outage is only temporary. 

Every so often a more severe storm is predicted by our weather forecasters like the one last night that they were warning about for days.   They said this one was not our typical thunderstorm and to stay indoors and away from windows.   They predicted anywhere from dime to softball sized hail and even warned that these storms were going to be powerful enough to spawn tornadoes- an extreme rarity in our area.  People were scared.  I went grocery shopping yesterday morning and a woman in line to check out said she and her husband were going to go to a movie so they could park in the parking garage and avoid hail damage to their car.  Tuesday I was volunteering at my son's school and one of the other moms was concerned about the coming potential tornadoes.   Even my husband,  who was out of town, called me to make suggestions about how to prepare and discussed strategies for staying safe and protecting our vehicle (I had to take the kids to get their teeth cleaned at 4pm and would be leaving at about the time the storm was supposed to hit.)

But, in the end, the storm didn't turn out to be as powerful as they thought and it didn't even reach our area until after 7pm.  By 9pm all was quiet.  We never lost power, we never got any hail and there were no tornadoes.   This thunderstorm wasn't even as spectacular as the last one we had around here.  It's still important to be prepared because we HAVE had big storms that have knocked our power out for days (7 days without power is our record).  But all the hype and stress I saw out there approaching this storm was unnecessary. 

It reminded me of ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6‭-‬7‬ ‭‭‭- Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus.

God put that in the Bible because He knew we would experience many different types of storms in our lives and they would cause us to feel anxious.   But Jesus is the Creator of the wind, rain, hail, lightning, thunder, etc and they all obey Him.  He is in total control.  Storms are temporary and they cleanse the earth and bring refreshment once they are over.  

The weather mimics storms in our own lives - troubles we experience that cause us worry and stress.  But if we remember that God is in total control and that these troubles are only temporary, then we can look forward to the calm refreshment that comes when they eventually pass.  And we can even still our hearts in the midst of these storms that come our way to watch God's awesome and beautiful power at work to bring about a cleansing of an area of our lives that we probably didn't realize needed a good pressure washing.

When we lived in Arizona, it was almost always sunny and hot.  Rarely was there a cloud in the sky.  Being from the Pacific Northwest where the sky is constantly changing I found the constant sunshine boring - almost irritating- and the heat oppressive.  The pollution hung in the air - it was thick and unhealthy and the area only got a cleansing during monsoon season.  When the heavy rains of the monsoon season came, my husband and I would put our garage door up and sit on the tailgate of our truck inside and just watch the downpour.  We missed the rain!  

If we experience only smooth, sunny days, we can become bored and complacent. Our minds can become polluted and we don't get to experience the awesome power of God in the storms!  I used to babysit quite a bit and one night there was a thunderstorm and the little boy I was babysitting was scared of the loud thunder.   I told him it was just God talking and we then speculated about what He might be saying.   It passed the time and it calmed the little boy's fears.  

Sometimes God has to send a thunderstorm into our lives to get our attention. 

We prepare for thunderstorms by having fresh batteries in our flashlights, charging up lanterns, having candles and matches or lighters where we can get to them, maybe we have a generator and fuel where we can easily access them, etc.  As believers, we prepare for the storms in life by regularly spending time with the Lord - studying His Word, praying constantly about everything, quietly meditating on whatever the Spirit lays on our hearts and listening for what He is trying to tell us - being open to things that may be hard to swallow about ourselves.  If we maintain a moment-by-moment closeness with Jesus, the storms of life are a lot easier to navigate.