Last night was the first night of American Idol. School was late today because of the weather so the kids are watching it on DVR. I am always skeptical the first few weeks and think that this season will never be as good as the last but by a few weeks into it I am connecting with the contestants and loving it as much as the year before. So far my favorite is Danny Gokey. I think he’s the next American Idol – but I’ve been wrong before. Who’s your fav?
Bakerella is one of my favorite cooking blogs. Check out these cute Valentine treats. My favorite part is how easy they are. They are sure to make your little and big Valentine’s smile. If you are ambition and have lots of free time on your hands or you just want to really impress someone take a look at Bakerella’s edible box of chocolates. Yep – you can even eat the “box”. I’m going for the easy ones – my Valentine’s are not too hard to impress.
Mike asked me to “guest blog” today his blog. Here is what I shared.
Yesterday Mike posted “Guys, do you want a new marriage?” Today he asked me to come up with some tips for the Ladies.
Mike and I had a conversation about a week ago about how many people are facing divorce and marriage problems. It’s not the problem of “40 somethings” or our parents friends. It’s effecting our friends and people our age and even younger. We even have some former youth that have already been through the pain of divorce.
At first I though that I was to give guys tips from a woman’s perspective and he was going to give the girls a man’s perspective. Isn’t it just like us as women to want the opportunity to give our men criticism disguised as “marriage tips”. I like that he shared from his heart to other guys about what he as a husband has learned. I can’t think of a better person to give marriage advice than my husband. He isn’t perfect and neither is our marriage but he is committed to our family and to God to continually learning and striving to make our marriage what it should be.
Before I start “the list” I can’t emphasize enough that your marriage has to be centered around Jesus. If it’s not the list you are about to read is nothing but a bunch of “self-help” rules that you can get from Dr. Phil. The Bible says “. . . a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” When you face difficult times in your marriage, Jesus will be the one to hold it together. When things are going great in your marriage, Jesus will be the glue that makes it even more incredible.
OK Ladies here it is . . .
Ephesians 5:33 says that “each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
Websters defines respect as “giving special attention to”. Give special attention to your husband. Show him you care about his job, his interests, his hobbies. So many times men are respected at their job and come home to a wife who gives him the message that he isn’t anything special or worth respecting. He wants to see in your eyes that he has your approval, that you admire and respect him.
The world can be a harsh place. Your husband needs to know that you are his safe place. The place he can come to hear words of encouragement. Do you inspire him or exhasperate him? Do you compliment him or complain about him? Do you strengthen him or control him? One of the most unattractive things for a woman to do is complain about or put down her husband in front of others. It is heart breaking to hear the way some women tear their husbands down to others. Your words can build up or tear down – what do your do?
As women sometimes we view our home as “our territory”. We spend time making our homes look nice, making our kids look and behave a certain way, organizing and directing activities even to the point that our husbands can become just another “thing to manage”. This leaves him feeling frustrated and ready to hide behind the newspaper and stay out of the way. Give your husband permission to be a leader in your family. Have you ever heard (or like me – done it yourself) a wife treat her husband like one of her children. This can be so true of parents of small children – mommy instinct takes over and all of the sudden your husband feels like your his mother and he can’t do anything right. Let him lead. If he puts the diaper on backwards – so what. If he gives the kids cake for breakfast – they won’t be ruined for life (and he may get Dad of the year!) If he fails don’t tell him “I told you so” – tell him “I’ll help you up”.
As his wife take his job and his stress level seriously. Men are too often defined by “what they do” – their jobs. Watch two men introduce themselves to one another and within a minute or two they will ask each other “what do you do” It isn’t helpful for you to compete with him about who has the most stressful job - men or women. We aren’t rivals. We need to stand beside each other and play on the same team.
Save a little bit of your time and energy for you husband. Kids, housework, jobs, activities and even church can wear us out to the point that we have nothing left to give. Leave the dishes in the sink and the laundry in the dryer and go to bed early. You should be able figure the rest out on your own.
We get the name of Valentine’s Day from St Valentine who was a Christian martyr. Take time this Valentine’s Day to give away a little of your self to your spouse. A little sacrifice can go a long way in your marriage.
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
Ikea Charlotte opens in exactly one week. Check out this link to register to win $1000 gift card. You have to bring the registration form to the store between Feb. 18th and 22nd. There are also directions on how to send a text to win a big blue bag that you can fill with up to $250 worth of IKEA stuff. Over 1700 parking spaces – I hope I can find just one!
About 3 weeks ago right before his basketball game Luke came down with Chicken Pox.
I had gotten up early and gone to the grocery store and Mike had fixed waffles for the kids. Mike called me while I was on my way home and told me Luke had broken out with a rash and had a fever. He said he thought it was chicken pox. I wasn’t convinced because he had been vaccinated for chicken pox. After looking on the internet I agreed – it did look like chicken pox.
I called my friend Angela to tell her that Luke would not be at his game (her son, Andrew, is on the same team) and she said Andrew had chicken pox. I called my friend Misty to tell her that Luke wasn’t going to be at the game (her son, Landon, was on the team Luke was playing) – small town 
She was working and had sent Landon on to the game with Joey, her husband, but said he had little red spots on him and she thought it was just a skin irriatation and sent him to play basketball because Landon begged to play and said he felt fine. She called Joey and he looked Landon over and – covered in chicken pox.
A few hours later Drew popped our some red spots. So in a matter of a few hours chicken pox epidemic!! All four kids had been vaccinated but had not had the booster. Emma had the vaccine in September before she went to school so she didn’t catch her brothers chicken pox.
There have been several other kids that have had chicken pox over the past few weeks – most had been vaccinated. They all have had fairly mild cases compared to the head to toe dots and days of fever that we had as kids The next day after the outbreak was Sunday so while my kids were still contagious I kept them home. I invited the other chicken pox kids and their siblings (who were possibly contagious) to come over and we had CHICKEN POX CHURCH. Here are pictures. They mostly played Wii and Legos but I did a short lesson about the 10 lepers. I thought that was a good lesson for chicken pox church. Also a picture of my boys after an oatmeal bath.
On the vaccination – I pretty much did most of the vaccines with my kids and have good friends on both sides of the vaccination debate. If your kids have had the vaccine – you might want to get the booster or expose your kids to someone with chicken pox so they can get it over with.
**disclaimer – this is just my opinion – not medical advice –
I really like to cook and I have always enjoyed cooking with my kids. Here is a picture of Drew and me making guacamole. He and I are the only people in our house that like it so he always picks out avocados at the grocery store and helps me make it. As you can see in the picture, he eats it faster than we can make it. Since he doesn’t like it spicy we just mash the avacado, add about a tablespoon of sour cream, lime juice and salt. If I have fresh cilantro we chop that up and throw it in. He loves the mashing part and is so proud that he helped make it.
I have always thought that teenagers get pegged as the menaces of society and blamed for the decline of our country. I couldn’t disagree more. Here are some reasons we should all take a lesson from teenagers.
1. Fun is a high priority. They don’t take life so seriously that they forget to have fun.
2. They greet each other with hugs, high fives, fist pounds and tackles.
3. A teenagers mind is still like a sponge. They haven’t formed opinions about everything and if they have they are willing to listen to other opinions. (one reason why youth ministry and good influences and mentors are so important to teenagers)
4. They don’t mind asking for advice and taking it. They are willing to share their imperfections and weaknesses. So many adults like to pretend that everything in their life is perfect.
5. They travel in groups. We could all learn a lesson from this about how much friendship means.
6. Teens dream and dream big.
7. If everyone were teenagers all the cars would have dents and scratches and we would just laugh when we got more dents and scratches and tell the story about how it happened with drama.
8. They ask questions and find answers. “Just because we have always done it that way” – isn’t a good enough answer.
9. Teenagers believe they can make a difference – and many of them do.
10. They don’t have programs, committees and agendas. They do have passion, creativity, spontaneity, and compassion. Which would you rather have?
Thanks to all the teenagers I have been able to hang out with over the past 12 years of youth ministry. My life is better because of the lessons you have taught me.
Here are some pictures of snow adventures. You can see that we had just enough snow to make snow angels and sled a few times before the sun melted it away. The guy with the shovel can qualify as an angel too. I love the red checks and toes and the way the kids snuggle after coming in from the snow.
Some things that I am looking forward to (besides Spring – I start looking forward to Spring in October:)
IKEA Charlotte opens on February 18th!! I’m planning on being there. Don’t try to talk me out of it. I know it’s crazy but I don’t do Black Friday shopping or December 26th rush for the wrapping paper so allow me my moment of insanity.
WinterJam in Greensboro – what could be more fun than taking a bunch of teens to listen to loud music! Not much – I love loud music and teenagers!
UNLEASH Conference at NewSpring Church!! March 12th – this will be my third year going and I always come back with encouragement and new passion to reach people for Jesus. NewSpring is contagious.
I am also looking forward to another snow day with Emma tomorrow. I love having her home with us! They might even talk me into a few trips down the hill.
I am not a cat lover. I am more of a dog person. Actually, it’s probably not too much of a stretch to say I am a cat hater! I have never liked them. I think they are evil, sneaky, anti-social, and creepy little animals. Now for the crazy part. We have a cat. It’s name is Fireball (I suggested Lucifer – but was voted down). Now for the even crazier part – it comes in my house a few times each day and has even taken a nap or two on my couch. You’ll see from this picture that even though cats are not my favorite animal they can be cute when held by a really cute four year old. I don’t know why but every time I see Drew carrying Fireball through the house I have to smile. I think it’s the four year old – not the cat.