Finding the Beauty

It's a bad day. I woke up with a headache that had plagued me for over 12 hours and others in my home were cranky as well. My middle child creates a battle out of every school assignment she has, and thus it takes us much longer than it should. My list of things to do is extremely long.  We have company coming tonight and I have NO idea what I'm going to make.  Our fridge is very empty which means I'm going grocery shopping today or tonight after they leave.  I have to meal plan and make my list, but keep getting pulled away by the kids or my own distractions.  It's just one of those days.
And though I've not finished reading Ann's book 1,000 Gifts, I know what it's about.  It's about what we in our home call the attitude of gratitude.  So right now, before I tackle that "to do" list... I'll add to the list I've been silently keeping.  Of things I'm grateful for, that make me smile, and that bring beauty into my day.

.......

An eager invitation to play Barbies

A child that lovingly and willingly helps with chores

Roses from the back yard

Sweet scrawny arms that circle my neck and smell of sunscreen

A home to clean

Friends to fellowship with

Food to eat

Healthy options available to us

A blue kitchen sink (silly I know, but it is a source of joy for me!)

A blog where I can share my feelings

A God who always provides

A book idea in my heart and on my mind

......

"That your joy may be complete..."

I've written many times giving the details on our journey towards debt freedom, and the post that I wrote last November was one that brought much joy to our family and to many others as they celebrated with us.
Well, I would be wrong to not share with you that our joy has been made complete.
Our goal was to save up the cash to take our kids to Disneyland.  We were able to do so and spent a wonderfully full four days at the "Happiest Place on Earth"! (Though my six year old when hearing me refer to it as such scoffed and said, "No, Heaven is!" Blessed child.  She brings perspective to my world view!)
So please, share in our joy?

Guest Speaking

As you know, I LOVE all things kitchen! So it was my true joy to be able to share with our MOPS group all about meal planning last week. If you haven't checked out my posts about meal planning you can click here or on the link the the right called "Formica Countertops"!

Here's the lovely article they wrote about our time together on Tuesday Mornings.

Good for a Laugh

I've taken a break from blogging as you can see.
Every time I come back to the computer and see my last post I can't bring myself to write anything else.  I know that life moves on, but somehow it feels like it shouldn't. However, Ryan's life, his story, his legacy is so powerful and IT continues on...so must we.

So though I have no words to break the silence, I pull this from the archives of our family videos to put a smile on your face today

Grief

A while ago I wrote this post about when my husband is traveling.  He is currently out of town for two nights, so as I crawled into my large cold bed last night the thought occurred to me.  "This is Jessica's new reality." The grief was overwhelming.
If you haven't been following the story of Ryan Woods and his battle of fighting cancer while also Church planting in downtown Vancouver, Washington then you are missing out.  If you have been following then you know that he lost his battle in this life, but ultimately won the battle over what too many of us fear; death.  But while we inwardly rejoice that his suffering and pain are now over, I can't help but wonder about the deep deep despair that must surround his beautiful wife and his two precious children at this time...  and his parents...  and his sisters... and the entire community of Vancouver Washington... and the people who didn't know him but only viewed his story from a distance.
It makes me reflective as a parent because I met Ryan through knowing his family at Church.  When I was a student at Cascade my room mate and I went every Sunday night to the Woods home for C-Teams.  We had planning meetings in which we saw Kevin dream up all sorts of ideas to share the Gospel with the teens in his youth group and we went on Wednesday nights to the school gymnasium to help with Souled Out.  I saw the love that Kevin and Brenda have for each other and for lost souls.  I saw the way they instilled the deep abiding love of Christ in the hearts and minds of their three children.  And I've seen the way that Ryan has boldly proclaimed the Power of Jesus in his life and impending death.  I wonder if I would be so bold.  I wonder if my children would be.  I wonder if I would be in the face of my child being called to such a testimony. (This link is to the "long version" of his story)
These are the thoughts that have been swimming around in my head all day.  In all honesty, I don't even know how to end this post.  There are just no words to describe my dispair for this family...so I'll leave you with a picture and a quote:

The Burden Lifted

In 2010, I wrote this post about our Ugly Debt... 

and the jars looked like this:

Then in 2011 even amid some difficult times, I wrote this post,

and our jars looked like this:

           

                

Well, I'm overjoyed to post today's pictures

because as of Monday WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!!!

There are no more rocks in my kitchen and my favorite vase is now free for flowers year round!

We HATE debt!!

And now that it is gone we get to start saving money for a very special trip that we have put off for what seems like a very long time!

The History of our Halloween

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

 

2011

2012
Happy Halloween!