God and Family

Those of you who have been reading my blog from the start know that last year, my older son Adam was awarded the medallion for "God and Me"... a cub scout award that is given in church. Well, this year he is doing the next level, called "God and Family" and it is going to be fun! This program compares families to PIZZA! Yes, pizza. The units are as follows:

1. Crust - Families are like pizza. They need a "crust" or foundation on which everything else is built. The foundation is God's love and faithfulness.
2. Sauce - Families are like pizza sauce... unique! Even following a recipie, it's hard to duplicate a special blend of herbs and spices. Each family has its own unique heritage.
3. Toppings - There is no right or wrong combination! A pizza comes out of the oven with the individual toppings intact... not blended as one. Individual family members are like the toppings, and each has its own unique God given talents and gifts that make the flavor of the family unique!
4. Cheese - Even though you have any combination of toppings, all pizzas have cheese. It adds a layer of unity. The principles of the Word of God are the cheese that makes the family "stick together".
5. Bake - Families are like pizza in that they encounter heat and are tested by the fire of difficult situations. Without heat, a pizza is a loose collection of individual ingredients. Too much heat will burn the pizza. A family that faces problems and tackles them together can be strengthened.
6. Eat, Share, and Enjoy - Pizza is made for a reason: to be eaten and enjoyed. It provides nourishment for our bodies and satisfaction for our hunger. Families are also made for a reason: they provide nourishment for each individual member, both physical and spiritual. Families provide physical necessities, and they also help one another live and grow in the love and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Families are to share God's love with those around them!

I'm excited about this project, as we are going to get a real pizza box and "create" a pizza of our own through various projects and crafts. It will be cool! It will be a very fun way to "share" the good news of Jesus with others!

A blog that is a MUST READ

Ok... you MUST get over to this new blog I happened upon. This woman has fabulously deep things to say about the Lord. I added her to my blog roll, but it deserves mention here in a post. Go to www.solofide.blogspot.com and be BLESSED!

Sick day advantage

Well... I spent yet another day home with sick children today, and I decided to declare war on the germs! I opened every window in the house! It was extremely windy and c-c-c-cold outside, but I did it anyway. I got the clorox wipes and wiped every surface you can think of in my house... light switches, faucet handles, cupboard knobs, door knobs, computer keyboard, telephones, etc etc etc. I stocked the house with orange juice! I am determined to get the sickness OUT of here before we leave for AZ in 22 days!

Anyway, you should see my house... it looks awesome! It's clean and picked up... the way a house is SUPPOSED to look! I want it to STAY this way. But reality will surely set in...

My hubby is at an EMS instructor's banquet this evening, the boys are in bed, and I am exhausted from cleaning all day. I think I will just head to bed and read. He will probably come home and find the Bible on my face... LOL! Later!

The meaning of life

Ok. I told you however many posts ago that I was going to blog about my pastor's message LAST Sunday morning. It is now Saturday evening and I haven't done it yet. So, I will do my best to sum it up here now.

About 125 people between the ages of 10 and 19 will attempt suicide today. 5-6 of them will succeed. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in young people ages 15-24 and the 2nd leading cause of death in college students.

King Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, pondered the meaning of life and found that all is vanity (meaningless), until the final verse of his book Ecclesiastes, which we will get to in a moment.

As human beings, we must have meaning to our lives, or we soon sink into an aimless existence. It is one of the cruelest of conditions to simply exist and yet have no meaning to your life.

The New Testament of the Bible was written in Greek. The Greeks used two different words to describe life:

Bios - which is the biological process of our life... our mere existence here on earth.
Zoe - which goes beyond mere existence and describes life as the absolute fullness of life which belongs to God, destined to last forever.

Now... the Scriptures have a lot to say about this kind of life. Here are just a few...

John 1:4 In Him was LIFE (zoe-life with meaning), and the LIFE (zoe-life with meaning) was the light of men.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting LIFE (zoe-life with meaning).

The LIFE that Jesus imparts gives meaning to our lives.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the Bread of LIFE (zoe-life with meaning).

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the resurrection and the LIFE (zoe-life with meaning). No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives LIFE (zoe-life with meaning); the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are LIFE (zoe-life with meaning).

The words of GOD are not just some dead words recorded on the page of an ancient book... they are words that come alive as they enter our being! Have you ever been reading the Bible, and the words seem to jump off the page and minister to you? That is real life... zoe life... life with meaning.

Solomon struggled as he searched for the meaning of his life. He wrote an entire book about the emptiness and worthless-ness of life. But then he wrote the last verse (praise God)! It says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments, For this is the whole duty of man." There you have it. Life with real meaning can only be found in a relationship with God. Solomon lived before the day of Jesus Christ. Had he lived in this day, his words would have been, "The meaning of life is Jesus Christ." He is the way, the truth, and the LIFE (zoe-life with meaning). He is the reason for meaning in our lives.

Deer dance, derby cars, and jump rope for heart

Here she is... Miss America! Actually, it's my beautiful niece Meghan in her stunning deer t-shirt. Megs was in a school dance performance Thursday night, and it seemed like the whole world showed up to watch their little ones dance their hearts out! It was so much fun. Here are a few pictures I took.... (Megs is easy to spot... the only one wearing PINK bottoms)!





AND.... not sure if this link will work for you all or not... I hope it does, because my mother-in-law recorded Meghan's whole dance, and it's so fun! Try the link and see....




http://picasaweb.google.com/cartershots/MeghansDanceRecital/photo#5044925260604952194

Other happenings around here... tomorrow is the annual Pinewood Derby! We have to be there at 7am... on a Saturday! That is just wrong. But it will be a ton of fun! The boys have awesome cars this year! I will post pictures after tomorrow's event so you can see their cool cars. ;-) Nick's car is Lightning McQueen, and Adam's car is a sleek looking car that reminds me of the batmobile... and the color is awesome... a shimmery purple/metallic blue combo... very cool!

Adam got a major workout this afternoon. He jumped rope from 3:30-5:00 raising money for the American Heart Association doing "Jump Rope For Heart". Together, they raised over $7,000.00! Adam was sweating and red-faced when he was done, but he had a blast. Between his 1-minute jumps, while his teammates were jumping, instead of resting Adam would get up on stage and do some funky dancing with a couple of his friends! He will sleep WELL tonight!!!!

Well, that is all for now. I have to blog about my pastor's Sunday morning message, but I will do that after the boys are in bed. It was phenomenal! See you soon!

Spring has sprung

You'd never know it to look out the window at all the snow! You's never know it if you looked at the thermometer (brrrrr!).

HAPPY SPRING TO ALL!!!!!

Where oh where has springtime gone?

Michelle is NOT happy right now. Just two days ago, it was 52 degrees, there was grass, and there were robins in my yard! Now we have a fresh coat of snow over a foot deep and it is freezing! This is not fair. I'm ready for spring, which, I might add, is in THREE DAYS. Oh well. Life isn't always fair. My husband would say "Suck it up and deal". My brother-in-law George would say "SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!" because he is twisted and actually loves this stuff. LOL!

In other news, Happy Birthday to Jack!!!! We are having a little celebration on Sunday afternoon, I believe. Cake, cake, cake.... Yum!

Also, speaking of Yum... I made my first ever lasagne Thursday and is was waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy good! Yum yum yum! My step-sister Bobbi Jo and her girls are up from Florida (her grandmother passed away... service was incredible!), and we had them over for dinner, along with my brother and his girls, and my "adopted" daughter The Great Sandini. Yes, 11 people for dinner at my teeny apartment! We did it, though. It was so great to spend time with everyone.

Today, our cub scout pack is doing coat room duty at a local pizza place as a fund raiser... guaranteed minimum of $125. Not bad. Hopefully we will make lots more than that. We'll see. Hoping that the bad weather doesn't deter folks from coming out. They have between 25-30 birthday parties planned there today, so should be good!

Well, time to get busy and join the race of life for the day. Have a warm one (I know, Mom, you ALWAYS do! Lucky!)! LOL!

Iditarod 2007 is in the books

It is official... Lance Mackey has won the 2007 Iditarod with a finishing time of 9 Days 5 Hours 8 Minutes 41 Seconds. Although our family was really routing for Jeff King (who will most likely finish in 5th place in the next few hours), Lance's win has a nice story behind it. His Dad and his brother both won their 6th Iditarod races wearing bib #13. This was Lance's 6th Iditarod and he chose bib #13. Don't tell me 13 is an unlucky number! It sure worked for him! Congratulations, Lance!

Slacker!

So.... my mom has accused me of being a slacker! LOL! She lives in Florida and relies on my blog to keep abreast of all that is happening up in the north. And she is absolutely correct! I have definitely slacked in the blogging dept. lately. Not that there has been no news to report, but we've just been struggling to get healthy and it basically has sucked my will to blog.


Did you happen to see the news report about the blogger in Egypt who was arrested and put in jail for what he wrote on his blog? Just because he spoke out against Islam. The government saw that as a threat... that he was speaking out against Allah. So they put him in jail for voicing his opinion. Now, I realize that America is the "land of the free" with rights like free speech and all... but with the democrats in charge of the government, that is sure to all change very quickly. Hillary is aligning herself with the homosexual lobbyists, partial birth abortion and physician assisted suicide are sure to become law, and you can bet any voice of opposition from the conservative Christian will be labeled as hate speech, and I could end up in jail for voicing my opinion here in my blog as well. But you know what? I will not be silenced! 4Him sings a great song that goes like this:

I won't bend and I won't break

I won't water down my faith

I won't compromise in a world of desperation

What has been I cannot change

For tomorrow and today, I must

Be a light for future generations.

Our pastor just taught a lesson Sunday about suffering. He gave many Scriptures that state, Persecution WILL come to the Christian. It is a guarantee. Christianity is NOT for the wimpy or the faint-hearted. Taking a stand against evil in this day and age is a difficult thing! But we must! And to endure it, you must have a rock solid relationship with Jesus Christ, or you WILL bend and break, and compromise your faith.

The weather here is starting to warm up, and now that it is daylight savings time, it is still light after 7:00 pm! AND... there were ROBINS in our yard today! A sure sign of spring! The folks in Montpelier are worried about another flood of the Winooski river like 1992... keep an eye on the news for updates on that situation. I am personally READY for spring! The boys were outside today rollerblading, riding scooters and bikes... it was great! They have put on quite the layer of "insulation" this winter, and they need to work it off! We still have pretty high snowbanks (about 3-4 feet high), but if it stays warm for a few days, they should shrink significantly. Also, this weather brings on the Vermont gold.... MAPLE SYRUP! It is time for the sap run, and that is another sure sign of spring in Vermont! I know the sugarers are going to be participating once again in Operation Maple Sweetness, sending the sweet stuff to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, we sent 800 gallons... 500 the year before. The goal this year is to send 1,000 gallons of syrup overseas to our troops!

Hmmmm, what else can I report? Our youth group is doing amazing things, and having another two days of youth revival services in two weeks.

(Click on image for larger view)
They have been involved in outreach in other towns, supporting other churches in our district, and really starting to be BOLD with their faith! It is cool to see. My husband and his brother were down on Church Street last night, and some teens were hanging out, playing guitar and singing. Jason said, "I'll pay you $5.00 if you let me play your guitar and sing a couple songs." The kid said SURE! So Jason played "I'm a One-God apostolic tongue-talkin' holy rollin' born again heaven bound believer in the liberating power of Jesus' name" by Lance Appleton. The kid looked at Jason and said, "You know... I've been looking for something like that." Jason invited him to the upcoming services and he said he might come! YAY!!!
Well... I could ramble on forever, since I haven't blogged in over a week. But I need to put my kiddos to bed. Sorry for the absence. Sorry for being a slacker. I will write more soon. Bye!

Youth week and Merkebu

Hmmm... I have been conspicuously absent from the blog for about a week. We've been battling strep and head colds this week of school vacation. But it has still been an action packed week for us!

We began last Friday the 23rd with the bonfire, and Saturday the boys and I went to the mall to do the ultimate racing thing and just generally hang out. Sunday, I got mega sick with strep, and the kiddos went with Dad to cousin Mikey's 4th birthday party.

Monday was our fabulous trip to the state house in Montpelier. We learned so much! The boys asked lots of questions, and knew more than I EVER knew at age 7 about how the government works!! After, the boys and I went to lunch at House of Tang... fine chinese cuisine (not). LOL!


VT Statehouse in Montpelier

House of Representatives

Senate Chamber

The remainder of the week consisted of playing in the snow, playing game cube, reading, hanging at the youth lock in for a while, and generally trying to get healthy! It has been a fairly good vacation, despite the sickness.

The coolest thing ever??? We are sponsoring a child through Compassion International over in Africa, and his name is Merkebu Seba. Actually, Adam is basically the sponsor. He helps raise money for the monthly pledge (we kick in the rest), and he writes the letters to him and prays for him every day. Well.... we got our first letter from Merkebu yesterday! He wrote about his family and how he likes to play football and what he does for chores around the house. He also drew us pictures of his family. It was an incredible blessing for all of us! Adam can't wait to write back. He is planning to share his letter in Sunday School tomorrow. It is a good exercise in focusing outward, on the needs of others. I believe this will bless our entire family, as well as Merkebu's family.

Well, I must go pick up Adam from a birthday party. Sorry for keeping you in limbo all week... I'll try to do better! God bless you all!