Romance as a love language

Hey there! Been a while since I've done the blogging thing. Sorry to be like a "cobweb" here in my corner of the web. :-(

Anyway, I am recovering from my illness, and feel like a fully functioning human being again. (Thank you Jesus!)

I must admit that my weekend was an interesting one. My husband is a hopeless romantic, and has accused me of being totally UNromantic, usually accompanied by the story of our tenth anniversary where he had HUGE ideas, but made the mistake of asking me what I wanted to do... and I said, "Let's go to an Expos game! (local baseball team). He was NOT impressed.... I am usually the one who says, "Oh, you wanted a card for our anniversary?? I'm sorry." Yeah, romance isn't my strong hand.

Anyway.... this year I decided to prove him wrong! I planned a romantic evening, with a special gift to spring on him because he will be gone for Valentine's day weekend. After a very nice evening (thank you Ben and Stacy), I told him that I had a little something for him. I handed him a small box. He smirked, knowing my ability level in this area. When he opened the lid, there was a small black velvet box inside. His eyes grew wide and looked at me... (the look was priceless). No... this is NOT what I think it is.... "Well... open it!" I insist. He does.... inside is a new wedding band, because he lost his original 2 years ago. It was my finest moment!! I did it! I did the ultimate romantic thing, and it worked! He was so thrilled, and so was I!

Tonight in our life group, the topic was communication. We talked about the Five Love Languages (book by Gary Chapman) regarding how love is communicated to people. These are the five: 1. Words of Affirmation 2. Quality Time 3. Receiving Gifts 4. Acts of Service and 5. Physical Touch. My husband's primary love language is touch, but the gifts are one that he really likes too! So now, he is showing off his "gift" to everyone, and he is feeling very much loved (he IS very much loved!!!).

Also, today is the last day of January, and our entire family is caught up and current in our Bible reading programs! YAY! We will celebrate this weekend! One month down, eleven to go!

Time for beddy by!! Lata!

Sick bay reporting in

Hello all! Sorry to have been absent for so long, but I am once again battling this head/chest cold with annoying cough. Those who have read this blog regularly will be familiar with this, as this is my 3rd winter of blogging, and hence, my third such battle with the same thing! So I won't bore you with details.... it's old news.

Anyway, since I've been sick, it has been a relatively uneventful week. We've done cub scouts, we've done laundry, we've been reading BREAD... that is about it! Everyone in the family is either right on track, or ahead of the BREAD schedule, so we are excited! Even Sandy got caught up!!! Great job, Sandy!

Nick starts his first drum lesson tomorrow at noon. He is so excited! You want to see something awesome? Click here to see an amazing 4 year old drummer who has inspired Nick! Pretty incredible!

Okay, just to go on record... not that you will understand this, but Blogger is converting all blog accounts over to Google, and I have been avoiding the switch like the plague, but I finally had to do it, and I am SOOOOOO frustrated!!! It's horrible... I can't do half the stuff I could with my old Blogger account. Why they forced us to switch is beyond me. I hate to think about switching blog services... That would be a tragedy... losing over 2 years of posts. There. Done complaining.... For now. I'm sure you haven't heard the end of this saga....
Have a splendid weekend all!

c-c-c-cold....

Hello all! I am here in my house trying to defrost. Today was our cub scout pack sliding party, and it was a blast! We had a great turnout, and the bonfire was so hot you could barely get near it! We had all manner of yummy food, and the kids had a ball on the hill. It was only 10 degrees, with a wind chill of -15, but scouts are hardy types... we don't care! My feet are numb and I smell like smoke, but I am smiling because the adult fellowship was worth it. :-) I don't know what we will do next year, as Mr. Fraser will not be our pack master, and the sliding party is always at his place. We'll need a new location I suppose. We'll see what the future brings. Today, however, brings a warm shower and a nice cup of hot cocoa! *grin*.

In other news, today was the first district choir rehearsal for the 2007 camp concert on June 30th. My husband, Sandy, and John and Grace Lyon traveled down together. This is Sandy's first year, and she was scared to death to audition. But she did it, and is now an official alto! Yay! Way to go, Sandy! This year's concert promises to be the best ever! And last year's was so powerfully anointed, I don't know how you could top it! But God never works in reverse, so I am convinced this year's concert will top last years!

Time for my warm shower! Bye!

Laugh till your cheeks hurt!

Wow! I want you to know that the money spent for tickets to last night's Ken Davis performance was much more than worth it! We laughed so hard it hurt, Jesus Christ was glorified, and take a look at this...











The boys were so blown away by not only getting to MEET Ken, but have their picture taken with him and get his autograph. It was fun! There was an opening act... a local singer named Steve Lindholm who is a children's entertainer, and he got the WHOLE audience involved... including some of our own...











Jason got recruited to stage with this girl (I forget her name) to do a little baseball stunt...









And then Nick was called up to finish off that skit. He was a really funny guy! There were about 800-900 people there, and proceeds from the evening benefitted the Union Baptist Christian School in Waterford, VT. There were also many children who picked up sponsors through Compassion International. It was an evening to celebrate and bless children.

We are blessed here in VT to have these kinds of great family activities and opportunities to have fun and see Jesus lifted up. Thank you Jesus!

Dog Food

Intriguing post title? That was the title of tonight's sermon at church. While it may seem comical, the message was so good that people were lined up at the sound booth after service to purchase a CD copy of the message. I know I cannot do the message justice here... I am hoping it will be posted to our church audio file soon, so everyone can hear it (hint, hint, pastor! Talk to the web powers that be and get it up there!). But here is the main point. A dog is a dog, and will never be anything else. But people ... well... the syrophonecian woman was a gentile, considered a dog, and the disciples looked at her in the same way... she's a dog and will never be anything BUT a dog. But Jesus had a different approach. He did say that it wasn't right for him to give the CHILDREN'S meat to the dogs (indicating her current status as a dog, not a child), but her faith response, "Truth, Lord, but even the dogs lick up the crumbs that fall from the master's table" caused Jesus to ELEVATE her status from dog to child. He granted her wish to make her daughter whole. He fed her directly from the table, as the children are fed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." So even though a dog is a dog, and will always be a dog, people can be elevated from the status of just eating the crumbs dropped from the table, to eating at the banquet table with the children. I know this does the message no justice at all... you really have to hear the whole thing. I hope it will be posted on our site soon! Anyway, it was a great mid week service!

Another cool thing that happened today?? My husband began his first day as a substitute teacher at my school today, and it was so fun! He was in the room across the hall from ours for most of the morning, but in the afternoon, he was the "teacher in charge" in MY classroom! Too cool! The kids thought it was great! Mr. and Mrs. Ziter! It was a fun afternoon!

Well, now I'm off to make a casserole for tomorrow. We're having a pot luck luncheon to say goodbye to an employee leaving our dept. *sniff, sniff* We will miss you Joan!!!

Count your blessings

Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what the Lord has done.

Today has been a rough day. But God has been good. I went to school today feeling pretty lousy (sore throat, headache, nausea). Felt that way all day, basically. I came home and the boys went straight for the gamecube and I went straight for my bed. I told the boys... "If you need me, I'll be under my covers."

Anyway, after a couple hours of rest, I got up and cooked dinner. Then we had to go out and get a birthday present for Nick's friend Teddy (party is tomorrow) and get new shoes for Adam. Well... that went fine, but I made the mistake of choosing to go to the grocery store for cough medicine (both boys are coughing a lot). That was not a good choice. Because on the way home, I hit a deer on the circ highway... hard. Not my day. Oh well. It could have been so much worse. I am still thankful that God didn't let me get any sicker. I am thankful I could rest after work. I am thankful for the fun the boys and I had out shopping tonight. I am thankful that no one (except the deer) was injured in the crash. I am thankful no one was in the other lane of oncoming traffic when I swerved over there to try to avoid the deer. I am thankful my car is still somewhat driveable (except I can't make any left turns or it will slice my tire on the smashed in fender). I am very very thankful for my husband's support, and very very very thankful for my wonderful friend Sandy who jumped into her car as soon as we hung up, and drove over to see if we needed a lift home. She is an awesome, amazing friend. Love ya Sandy! My car is in pathetic shape right now... with pieces falling off all over the place, and now smashed in front passenger side. I still owe money on it. It needs about $2,000 of work before I can get it inspected in Feb. Impossible. But somehow, we will make it all work. Jehovah Jirah has never failed me. King David said in the psalms... I have never seen the righteous forsaken. He is faithful. We will make it! I am going to bed. Tomorrow is a new day, and His mercies are new every morning. Thank God for that!

BREAD

Well, another year has arrived, full of promise! I just have to share a little excitement that is occurring in our family. *grin* Our church has a dynamic program for reading the Word of God. It is called B.R.E.A.D. (Bible Reading Enriches Any Day). The adult BREAD takes the reader through the entire Bible in one year. The Junior BREAD involves reading one chapter a day for the year (usually read by the older children, like 12 and up). Then there is the "I Can Read" program, where school age children (usually 8-12 ish) who are good readers can read Bible stories or devotions on their own every day of the year. Finally we have the "Read to Me" program for the little ones, where mom or dad (or grandma or grandpa or.....) reads to the little ones each day. Now that I've said all that (phew!), here's the exciting news. In the past, I have done the adult BREAD, and I have read to my boys every night before bed (read to me). THIS YEAR, it is a family affair, with both Jason and I reading the adult BREAD, Adam doing the Junior BREAD, and Nick doing the "I can read" program! It's exciting to see everyone so enthusiastic about hiding the Word in their heart! Praise God! Do you remember the Sunday School song...

Read your Bible and pray every day

Pray every day

Pray every day

Read your Bible and pray every day

and you'll grow... grow... grow!

I fully expect lots of spiritual growth to occur in this family in 2007! Halleluia! Well, time to stop blogging and go read the BREAD! Blessings to you all!