Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Belong

Webster Dictionary defines "belong" (verb) as 1) to be suitable, appropriate, advantageous 2) to be the property of a person or thing 3) to be an attribute, part or function of a person or thing 4) to be properly classified.

What is it about that little word that makes it so hard for us humans to do? Why does it seem, sometimes, so hard for us to belong? Growing up as kids, we always wanted friends. We (well at least I did) wanted to belong to the "it" crowd. To feel suitable, like we were one of them. I think, even as adults, we still feel that way. Maybe it's at church, there's that one group of friends that always laugh and go for lunch as a group. Or at work, there's that group of people that just work so well together and they go out for drinks after. Whatever it is, wherever it is, we will always want to belong to something.

So how do we do it? How do we belong? I have no idea. If you do, leave a comment at the bottom.

The first Mom's Morning Out is fast approaching. September 13. 9:30 - 11:00 at the Prince Albert Alliance Church. 13 more sleeps. The fall clothing sale is set for September 23, 2005. There's alot happening in September.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Marriage

The "M" word. A few hours ago I would've said it was a mistake. "Muh...who needs it? You'd be happier without it." The dust has settled since, we've talked it out and now, really and truly, I could go either way.

"It takes two to make a marriage a success and only one to make it a failure." Herbert Samuel
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. -Ephesians 5:21
I read somewhere that once you bring the word "divorce" into your vocabulary, it's always there, hanging around in the back of your mind. I've realized you can't be selfish in a marriage. There's no room for it. At all. "Submit" is also a REALLY tough word. I grew up in the women-era. I had a poster of a woman wearing a bandanna, with her shirt sleeve rolled up, showing off her bicep muscles, saying, "You can do it!" Needless to say, that's another lesson I'm still struggling with.

When my husband and I got married we rec'd this book "Bible Promises to Treasure for Newlyweds". That's what I'm reading from now. Whenever things just don't make sense, God usually does.

"Bless us, Lord, as we weather this family conflict. We all have certain needs to be met, certain ways of trying to fulfill our dreams. Yet each of us seeks this one basic thing in the midst of it all: Love. Simply love. " Gary Wilde
If only it was that easy.
"The genius of communication is the ability to be both totally honest and totally kind at the same time. " John Powell
"A teenage girl was examining her grandmother's wedding ring. The girl said, "Wow, what heavy and cumbersome rings those were fifty year ago." The grandmother replied, "That's true, but don't forget that in my day they were made to last a lifetime." Anonymous
Hmmm...for some reason that one hits me tonite. Why does it have to be so hard sometimes? I guess tho', like the old saying goes, nothing worth having comes easily. But still...man...

"A wedding is not a marriage. A wedding is only the beginning of an undertaking that may or may not, someday, develop into a marriage. What the couple have on their wedding day is not the key to a beautiful garden, but just a vacant lot and a few gardening tools." David & Vera Mace

(At the moment I'm incredibly perturbed. I had previously written beyond this point and somehow just lost it. Oh happy day!)

"Your home can be a place for dying or living, for wilting or blooming, for anxiety or peace, for discouragement or affirmation, for criticism or approval, for profane disregard or reverence, for suspicion or trust, for blame or forgiveness, for alienation or closeness, for violation or respect, for carelessness or caring. By your daily choices, you will make your home what you want it to be." Carole Streeter
I'd like to be one of those couples, some 50+ years down the road, that laugh, giggle and hold hands. The kind that, on an airplane the stewardess would ask if they're newlyweds. The kind that young couples, like myself, would look up to. I wish I could impart some words of wisdom. Of course I'm barely making it thru myself. So I guess you could take heart in the fact that your not alone. Unless of course, bizarely I'm the only one going thru this. In which case, I'll still take heart in not being alone. I have God.

"God gives burdens, also shoulders." Yiddish proverb
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:9-12

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Heart full of Music

As I write this I'm listening to a song called 'soul singing'. Can you believe I actually had a good weekend? When in comes to the in-laws you always seem to worry more than its worth. Well any kind of worry is more than it's worth, but for me, I get headaches over the whole thing. And after the visits are over, it's never as bad as I thought it was going to be (with the exception of last Christmas). We had an enjoyable weekend. My son got to ride the horse a few times, both the kids got to play and hold kittens, they jumped on the trampoline, fed the chickens and collected eggs. It was a good weekend! As for my husband and I, we can't complain when we get free meals and we get to visit with friends we haven't seen in a few months. That's always worth the late nights and loss of sleep.
I also got to visit Scott's Parables bookstore for the first time. I've never been there before and was pleasantly surprised at how nice and cheap things were. I was looking for the book called Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. They were sold out, so if anyone has it and is done reading it, could I borrow it?? I suckered my husband into reading Wild at Heart by John Eldredge and he really enjoyed it. So Captivating is to women what Wild was to men. It's suppossed to be really good. Anyway, there's my plug for the day.
Now we're down to the final week of holidays. Can you believe they're done already? I wish I could send my kids to school, but that's a whole lot of worry, that I'm definately not ready for yet. Does anyone know if you have to be potty trained to have your kid in the age 3-5 group at Mom's??
My best friend in getting married on September 9, 2005 in Kansas City, MO. I'd really like to go, but it's all sort of depending on whether or not we sell our vehicle. Does anyone want to buy a 1983 Toyota Landcruiser? We met in '96 on a mission trip to Bolivia and just bonded. She came up to Canada for my wedding in '01. The best thing about having a best friend like that, is that even tho' you may have lost touch for a few years, when you find each other again, you just pick up from wherever you left off and it's all good. Just like you never lost it in the first place.

Sorry ladies... this post is what it is. I feel like I didn't say anything profound. So I went looking and found this website called God is Groovy. Today's blessing is from Isaiah 58:11. 'The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.'

21 more sleeps.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

The In-laws

The very mention of the word sends shudders down my husbands and my back. I had no idea what a messed up family came with my husband when I married him. Of course it wasn't until after the actual event, that all the craziness started to happen. To this day, I wonder how he turned out as "normal" as he did. Of course, I can't really say anything nasty about my own parents. I will admit that my mom is a little excitable and controlling. But in contrast, his family always wins the "crazy" award.

I'm mentioning this b'cos this weekend we're heading to S'toon to visit his family. It was supposed to be a quick trip, up after church on Sunday and then home Monday afternoon. However, as "luck" would have it, he was able to get Sunday off, so we're heading up there tomorrow (gasp!!) till Monday. Good heavens...I don't think I'm going to make it.

To say that his mother and I don't get along, is an understatement. For some reason I can't figure out how to impress her. If I say I don't want tea (I'm REALLY not a big tea drinker), she takes it personally meaning somehow I don't like her. There's lots I could say, but what good would it do? I'm still going to have to go there tomorrow. I'll put up with it 'cos his step-sister has a horse, chickens and kittens. My son loves all of the above. For that reason it's always exciting to go to Grandma's acreage.

As I was sweating the inevitable, this verse came to mind, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified b'cos of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. " Deuteronomy 31:6

And I just have to take a breathe, close my eyes and count to ten, and know that God will be with me!!

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

How To...?

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, my husband asked me if I wanted to try and get a book on "How To Be A Better Housewife"? I looked at him amazed for a few seconds, unable to answer. He proceeded to tell me that as a youth pastor, he's continually trying to better himself by reading books, going to conferences, etc. So, a housewife by profession, shouldn't I want to better myself and continually try to be better? I said, "sure, I'll just walk down to the library and pick up a book."

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Second Guessing

I wonder if that comes with being female? Always second guessing yourself. Wondering if it's something your doing, or the fault of the other person? Wondering if your making the right decisions concerning your marriage? Kids? Work? Life in general?

I have no answers for the questions above. Sometimes I wonder if it's my stint in life to just continually ask questions and one day receive answers. All I really know for certain right now is that God loves me, He's watching me and that is a Pepsi slurpee in a Sponge Bob cup.

My husband and I met and married in 5 months. We met, February 14, 2001. We were married that June. Sometimes I wonder if life would've been easier and less stressful if we had waited to get to know each other before we got married. Then there are those times when I think waiting would've been foolish. Why wait when you just know there's no one else? Again, no answer.

6 months after we were married, we found out I was pregnant. Total surprise! Would things have been different if we had waited the 3 years we had "planned" on waiting, before having kids? No answer.

I know you shouldn't dwell on the past and the "if only's" in life. And I know I shouldn't worry about the future. Our youth's theme this summer is from Matthew 6. Where it says "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." And God will take care of everything. It's hard, really hard to wrap your mind around that statement. God will take care of everything. But if you can, it's an amazing relief. The trick is to continually remind yourself of that. And for us to remind eachother of that as well. I'm amazed sometimes when I hear about all of us Mom's who feel "alone" or bored or something. If every Mom who felt that way, met for coffee one afternoon, they'd need a HUGE hall to fit us all in!!

31 more sleeps!

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

New Link

I'm always looking for helpful links to add on to the site. There's Women's Fitness link to the right. This is the first time I've visited the site, it looks alright. If you know of a site that you like to visit or think is better, let me know. We'll have a look and add 'er on.

Holidays

Hard to believe it's already August! And yet, in a way, it seems to have taken forever to get here!? The past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. Way back in July, my husband and I took our youth group wilderness camping. The moquitoes were HORRENDOUS! After receiving numerous pointers from many people, we just decided to coat ourselves continuously in repellant and stay close to the fire. That week trip was cut short a day. Then my husband took some youth to a church camp in near Clear Lake, Manitoba. Which was great! He took off for a week, the only problem was that he took the van, our only vehicle. It's amazing where you can go, when pushed to do it. My kids and I were everywhere that week. We took full advantage of our stroller, wagon and trailer. The only complaint I really have was the lack of "pedestrian rite-of-way" I seemed to hold. There were times I had to wait, what seemed like forever, for cars to stop and let me cross the intersection. The "highlight" was having a police car drive by, not stopping, and watch me standing on the sidewalk, fuming at the lack of "respect". What hope do we, as pedestrians, have of crossing when our city's police cruisers can't even stop? That's my tiff of the month.
Our actual family holiday was the last week of July. We went to Candle Lake with my family (brother and his family, sister, and parents...7 adults, 3 kids under 3, and 3 dogs) for a week of camping. What an adventure! The weather wasn't anything great or spectacular, the cold killed off some of the mosquitoes, which was nice. Our son had a 24 hr flu and took a night and the morning to let his stomache react. Not a nice experience in a sleepbag and tent! My brother's 7 mos. old decided this was a good week, NOT to sleep at night. Tents....gotta love them! But all in all, it was a very enjoyable week. We especially lov'd the cheap ice cream there. I don't know what the store is called, but it's the place where they have the trampoline and all the Little Tykes toys. Wow, super big scoops for cheap! We were all glad to get home tho', have a nice shower and sleep in our own beds.

Holidays...gotta love them!!

Countdown to Mom's....September 13, 2005!! That's 41 more sleeps! (i think...)