Hodgepodging for Love...

1. What is something you are loving right now?

Spray Paint... I am currently making these for a baby shower Sparky and I are doing the decor for...

I found them first on pinterest but they are the handy work of one of my favorite DIY and Decor bloggers Katy over at Centsational Girl... She doesn't need my props though since she has about six gazillion followers... Here is the link to the tutorial on how to make these...

I will blog my before and afters soon...

2. Paris, Venice, New York, and Rome are considered four of the most romantic cities in the world. Which one would you most like to visit?

Paris... Hands down... I have been so close to going twice now... Someday!

3. Are you a romantic?

Not really... I appreciate it in movies and such but it makes me nervous in real life... I consider Paul bringing home Chinese takeout because he knows I had a bad day romantic, but the traditional stuff... candles, rose petals, etc freak me out...

4. What's your favorite love story made for the Big Screen?

While You Were Sleeping 
Hands down my favorite... She was lonely and developed a fantasy of what love would look like in her life, only to discover it looked very different and was far more beautiful... If you have been under a rock for the last 17 or so years go to the Wal Mart right now and root around in the $5 bargain bin until you find this movie and watch it today!!






5. Everyone loves Pooh bear and friends...which character are you most like and why?



I didn't take the quiz, but I would guess Kanga...




6. What's the best chocolate something you've ever eaten?


Oh there are so many really good chocolate things... The flour-less chocolate torte my cousin the pastry chef whose bakery closed and moved to the big city makes would have to win though... A runner up would be the white chocolate bread pudding at Shepard's Pie here in Rockport... Yummo!!


7. Share a favorite quote about love.


"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."



Dr. Seuss

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I have youth group tonight and I should be writing my devotion and working on my newsletter right now. I am using you wonderful ladies to procrastinate... Well, I'm off...

Double Dog Likes...

I am trying not to use the word "love" indiscriminately anymore... I saw a youtube video posted by a wise but exceedingly funny young man recently about how we overuse this word... His example was saying you "love" a grilled cheese sandwich then later say you love Jesus... His point was he is sure Jesus appreciates being on the same list as your lunch... Made me think... Here, is a link if you want to see it for yourself... So instead of saying that these are my current "loves", I am referring to them as my "double dog likes"... For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you will remember I used to do a weekly post called "Five Favorites Friday" and this post is like that... I am even thinking of reviving that fun weekly post...

Here we go in no particular order...

1. Brach's Candy Hearts...

Is there a happier candy on the planet? I really only like the orange ones (although I will eat the purple and pink too) but I so enjoy them and their eternal optimism this time of year... Their soft colors, their upbeat if not somewhat odd messages of the hope of, well, love... A big jar of them on display seems to be the perfect antidote to the mid-winter blahs...

2. This Song...

This song touches at the very core of what I feel for the youth group... 

If you have a few few minutes  please listen to it.

3. These Bowls...

From here ... I currently have some cute red and dark yellow bowls that I found at HomeGoods but they are way to big for daily bowls... They are for all intents and purposes, small mixing bowls... I frequently use them as small serving bowls... How insane then that they are the bowls we grab when we want a bowl of cereal, soup, ice cream or even chips? We need more reasonable sized bowls and I wanted some that seemed "happy" to me... These are a little more then I wanted to spend, but they come in so many fun color sets I was sold right away. I think a set or two of these will be my Valentine's gift from my husband... Now to let him know...

4. This Post...

This one... Right HERE

From Musings by Mommy...

By this blogger...

When we lived in Tennessee I was a leader in a homeschool teen group. In our first year one mom brought her son to several of our get-togethers... I admit I didn't get to know her very well, she seemed sweet but a little quiet and even though we chatted some, I was there for the teens and had little time to visit with the other moms. They moved away after that first year and even though I saw her posts from time to time on facebook, we lost touch... As acquaintances tend to... Until I started blogging... It turns out she is a blogger too... And I kick myself regularly for not getting to know her better when I had the chance, but thanks to this crazy bloggy world, she is someone I have gotten to know!

Anyhow, she wrote this blog Saturday that seriously stepped on my toes... I couldn't get it out of my mind all weekend... Her words about the hurtful nature of sarcasm haunted and convicted me. If you get a chance to pop over and read it, do... My comment to her post was painful to write...

Here is what I said...

 "I have been thinking about this post all weekend... I think you are right... It hurts me to admit it but sarcasm is mean. I admit, at first I didn't totally agree with you, but I think there is a big difference between a "witty retort" that makes everyone laugh and sarcasm which by it's very nature makes everyone but the person it's aimed at laugh. Even if they do laugh, it had to sting a little. Who hasn't felt the burn of sarcasm? I will definitely be on the lookout for it in my mind or conversations... I think it is a seed of hurt that I no longer want to sow."

5. This Man

This is one like I love... He is an amazing guy who spent all of last week helping me in any way he could to make my life easier while I was pretty incapacitated by those headaches... He never complained that dinners were quickie, thrown together and not at all planned out... Usually stuff from the freezer department that was just dumped on a cookie sheet and baked up... Pizza rolls, tater tots, chicken patties, etc... Not at all "real" food, but not one single negative word... He did a lot of the basic housework and helped out with laundry and stuff so I wouldn't fall too far behind. He handled all the planning for Bible study and youth group too... He picked up my slack in such a self-less way and without fanfare... He just did it and didn't seek credit for all he was doing. I know when most people use the word "hero" they mean somebody that went rushing into a burning building to save a small child, but from his military service, to his serving in the church, to all the self-less acts and sacrificing her does for us, to me this man is my hero and I am blessed beyond measure to be married to him.

Thanks for listening,

This Week...

This week felt like a total waste... I woke up everyday this week with a migraine... Some days the medication would get them under control by 10 AM other days (like yesterday) I was incapacitated until 1 or 2 PM... I fell behind in everything in my life... I struggled to just do the bare minimum all week... Even when the headaches broke I still felt like I was living in a fog... I am ashamed to admit the only times I cracked the cover of my Bible this week was at church Sunday, at the Bible study (we host) Monday and at youth group on Wednesday... Aghhh... I feel so... so... Like it's time to count my blessings...

1. I awoke from my headache fog today to find my husband spending his day off doing monster amounts of housework... He cleaned the whole kitchen and did all the dishes... (It was a huge mountain of dishes!) He did everything but vacuum "because he didn't want to disturb me"... I am blessed...

2. I did feel good enough to venture out to the store... This week our local store is having one of those amazing sale weeks and with less then an hours prep I was able to purchase $536.82 in groceries for $177.71... Yes, that's a total coupon and store savings of 389.11!!

3. Sparky went with me to the store, and helped tons... I couldn't have done it without her.

4. Wednesday when the worship team from youth group showed up at our house and realised I didn't feel good they immediately asked if they could pray for me. Then they asked what they could do to help me prep for youth. I am also thankful that even tough we live in the middle of nowhere there is a pizza place that delivers!

5. Even though my head hurt too much to read my Bible I did have hours and hours in bed or on the sofa when lying there was all I could do... During those times when I wasn't sleeping, I did get to pray, and listen... "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10a) was all I could do...

6. I have been able to function at least half of each day... A lot of people with these kinds of headaches can't say that.

7. I  have the most amazing bloggy friends in the universe! I can't believe how sweet you guys are to bear with me!

Thanks for listening,


PS... In case you've been under a rock you know this coming weekend is Super Bowl Weekend... I live in New England so people here seem particularly hyped... I live with a man originally from New Jersey (where, if you didn't know, the Giants actually play.) I thought we'd have a quiet cozy weekend... I WAS WRONG! When you are youth leaders and your home team is in the game, you shall have a party... I think it's a commandment or something... Pray for me!!!

Sparky...

I realize my last post might have been TMI... I'm impressed you came back by after that one!

I've had a couple people ask about the girlies and specifically Sparky... There are lots of exciting things happening in her life these days... She just technically started her senior year since she will graduate next January. She tried to work it out to graduate this spring but she will still need two courses next fall that they don't offer here in the spring.

She has felt a call on her heart for ministry for sometime but it wasn't until this fall that she was able to better define what that call was. She feels lead to start an after-school program for kids here. (Like the "Good News Clubs") So she is busy both working on her ministry plan and finishing up high school. She will be taking online courses from a Bible College starting next January... She is definitely anxious for this next chapter to fully begin... (I am in less of a rush...)

She also had the chance to host a Japanese exchange student for a week this past fall. It was a wonderful experience to open our home then our hearts to Kamiko. She is a sweet, quiet girl who was clearly overwhelmed by our busy lives!

She joined us on a Wednesday, which is our youth group night. The kids on our youth worship team come here after school Wednesdays to pratice, fellowship and eat dinner here, so her welcome to our home included Paul, Myself, Cate, Jackson, Sparky;s boyfriend (who leads worship for youth) my parents a home health aid and three other youth members... Wednesdays are quick dinner then rush off to youth (so we can get there early) so she kinda had to roll with the punches...

By the end of the week she said we were nothing like she thought an American family would be like, and we assured her she was correct... We are anything but a typical American family! We all got a chance to bond though and it was hard to let her go home after one short week!

So, as I mentioned above, this guy is still around... It seems like he might be around for awhile.

(Why does this picture look funny... We were at our "camp" on Islesboro and they both had packed plaid flannel shirts and for some reason we made them swap... I'm sure it was funny at the time...)

He and Sparky have made the decision to "court" (as I mentioned in my last post) so they are now dating with the intention of marriage... People ask me how I feel about my daughters making these decisions so young... Truthfully, it's not what I pictured for their lives, but they are both girls who deeply love the Lord and are actively seeking his will for their lives. We should be totally freaking out by the world's standards, but we aren't... We are in prayer with them and together and so far it seems like this is the direction the Lord wants for them...

Here she is helping him get ready for the "8 Days of Hope" mission trip he went on last fall... (Please ignore the forever messy kitchen... Thanks!) He was headed down to Alabama and I guess he decided a buzz cut was needed...

And here is is the day he returned... She did not want me taking photos at this moment, but he was only gone 11 days and it was clearly the longest 11 days of her life... She wouldn't let go long enough for me to take a picture of him in his official "8 Days of Hope" sweatshirt... I think it's time for me to come up with a name for this fellow... I'll have to think on it for awhile...

Sparky also took a "creative sewing" class this fall and took to sewing like a duck to water... She made
two purses, a pair of shorts, a skirt, two queen size quilts, matching Christmas stocking for Cate and Jackson and tons of these little monsters and owls for Christmas gifts...

This particular fellow was for her fellow...

I'll leave you with this picture... Also known as the "worst group photo of all time"! We has an "Ugly Sweater" Christmas party for the youth... I was assembling the kiddos for the group picture our pastor asked for to put on the over-head Sunday morning... About six of the teens were in the bathroom and I was trying to pose the ones still in the room when my camera gave me that flashing light of death which means I literally have seconds before it totally dies... I quick took the picture so not to let our pastor down... This picture did not end up on the big screen Sunday morning...

 I still wonder why...

Thanks for listening,



Bathroom Blessings, Headaches & A Dress...

Quite the title... Huh? I know you guys are wondering and cringing about the "Bathroom Blessings" part... Let me share... You see, I've rarely gone to the bathroom alone in almost 20 years. At least once a day one of the girls either follow me into the bathroom or I hear a little knock on the door while I'm in there. When they were little it was because they actually needed the potty or because they just wanted to be with me... I admit it used to annoy me, but as they have grown up these stolen moments of alone time in our busy lives have become something I've grown to treasure. And I do treasure these moments far above the lack of privacy. It was in the bathroom I first got a hint that Cate might be having issues at school and it was in that same room I first grew to suspect that her and Jackson were becoming serious. I was flipping through a magazine in the lav when I first found out that Sparky boyfriend was talking to Paul about moving to courting from dating. (Dating= getting to know each other... Courting= dating towards the goal of eventual marriage.) Perhaps it has to do with the intimate nature of the room, but I have to admit I do not look forward to the day I find myself all alone in the loo...

As for the headaches part... I get migraine headaches. I don't get them all the time but when I do get them I seem to get them for several days in a row and they are incapacitating. I have had one four out of the last six mornings. Most days if I take the medicine soon enough, by noon or 1:00 I am able to function... That is half the day lost! I am currently falling behind in all of my housework and just about everything else... I do hope this cluster of headaches is almost over!!

Now the big new... Cate has a dress!! Oh, excuse me... A Gown... Can I get a woot-woot?? I didn't ask her yet if I can reveal it on here, but I imagine the big reveal will be soon! We have a wedding party, location, photographer, menu planned, decor chosen and the dress... I really think we are getting there!

Thanks for listening,

Super Cool...

Thanks for listening,

Any Youth Event I Survive...

Is a good event...

Youth events (fun nights, game nights, movie nights, lock in, etc) are a very small part of what we do as youth leaders but they do seem to be the "epic" moments the kids are talking about for weeks to come. The format we inherited with the youth group was the weekly Wednesday two hour youth group and one monthly event. I don't think I can handle more then one a month, but some months we do push it to two. We have discovered that we grow by one person for each one we hold. From the seven-ten kids we inherited we are up to about twenty kids, with an average attendance of fourteen at our weekly youth groups.
Frankly this stymies me... Paul and I are chronically uncool... I am not saying this for you to reassure me differently... It is a fact. He tends towards cranky and I am dorky... I have little idea who half the singers are they talk about and most of them are Christian bands! We do genuinely enjoy their company and make it clear that all of them are welcome in our home pretty much anytime. We also truly love each of them and spend time praying for each of them. They are all unique and it is neat seeing their gifts develop... We are truly honored to be able to come beside them during these transitional years...
That being said this post is about youth events... Also known as "What doesn't kill you, will most certainly leave a big mess for you to clean up!" Lets discuss the one that almost did kill me first... The (infamous) Lock-In... If you are a parent of teens who have been to a lock-in or if you went to one as I teen, close you computer right now and write them a little thank you note... Seriously, Why are you still here... Go on, I'll wait... Oh your done, great... Now why did I make you do that? Because I can tell you from experience that planning and living through a lock-in is a herculean task.... We did ours back in October, during our second month with the youth and while we were still in our trial period... Are we nuts, I think so... But all summer while the teens were pestering us to take this role their desire for a lock-in came up again and again, so we just did it...
Here is a peek at the schedule I did up for our 12 hours of non-stop frivolity...


7:00-7:15 Arrival

7:15-7:45 Welcome Prayer, Welcome, go over rules, opening “guess my line” skit,

7:45-8:15 Food:  Pizza, soda, chips, veggies

8:30-9:00 Ice Breaker Games: Aardvark Relay, Order in Chaos, sticky buns, Brain Freeze
9:00-9:30 Food Ice Cream Sundaes
9:30-10:00 Worship/Prayer

10:00-10:20 Group Devotion

10:20-10:45 Male/Female Devotions/Prayer

10:45-11:00 Free Time/food/game “I Never”, Fly swatter soccer

11:00-1:00 Movie (To Save a Life), Discussion & Popcorn
1:00-2:00 Games: Post It's Obstacle Course, Whatever It Takes, Train Wreck, Covered,
2:00-3:00 Skits (skits printed up)

3:00-4:00 Worship / Prayer

4:00-4:30 Youth Mad Libs (Mad lib sheets)

4:30-6:00 Board/Card Games Apples to Apples/ Cards/ (catch phrase) cards

6:00-7:00 (Wake up) Breakfast Cereal, milk, oj, fruit

7:00 GO HOME ALREADY!

Are you exhausted just reading it? Well take a look at some shots from our night...

First up... Sticky Buns...

Then the Aardvark relay..

Then "Brain Freeze" The premise of it is teams race to build Ice Cream sundaes in their team member's mouth... Good, not so clean (hence the tarp) fun...

(Yes, that's a banana stuck to his head!)

Prayer and worship...

And some random early morning shots...

Nothing like melted ice-cream sundaes at 4 AM...

I took a lot of pictures early in the night but as it went on I took fewer and fewer... We did have quiet rooms set up for each gender and of the nineteen youths we had only six who stayed up all night... But Paul and I did the full twelve hours... From there we dragged ourselves home (I don't remember the ride...) and I woke up around 2 PM. Being Maine, things are pretty spread out, and about seven of the kiddos had thirty or more minutes to drive home, so we arranged to have someone with a mini van pick them up at the church and transport them to our house (about 8 minutes from the church) so we were wall to wall sleeping bags and blankets in the living room... It didn't stop me from crawling into my bed and not waking up until after the van came back at noon to transport them back to their cars in the church parking lot.

Tonight was just a "Fun Night" at our house... Games, snacks and general frivolity... In the grand scheme of things it was no lock-in, but twelve teens in my living room always feels like a big event. So that's what I've been up to...

Thanks for listening,