Why Are We Surprised?

It seems as though the headlines are just inundated these days with news stories about our struggling economy. Personally, I wonder why we, as a country are surprised.

The first time Cliff & I looked to buy a house, around 20 years ago, we were told we could get financed for up to 100,000. Today, this amount of money would hardly buy a small starter home but 20 years ago, you could buy a HUGE house with that kind of money. We were NOT making that much money. At the time, I thought it was crazy that we could get financed for that much more than we made. It didn't even seem to matter to the financing company whether or not we could make the payments or not. So, if we bought a house, already that much over our heads, we wouldn't have even considered the costs of maintaining a house. Repairs, insurance, and costs of heating and cooling a larger home. We would have NEVER made it. I'm just dumbfounded that we, as a country are just so surprised to find ourselved in debt. Didn't we realized that years of living on credit and beyond our means would eventually catch up with us??

In our home, we are working on changing our ways. With fuel costs going up, and food prices on the rise, we are having to make some lifestyle changes in an effort to keep our expenses down. We're cutting down fuel consumption, electricity, water, and thanks to some very educational blogs, I've been able to cut our grocery bill in half!

We're chipping away at it every day but here in our house, the economic news is not bad news. It's good. And every day here in bloggyland, I'm reading of families, just like us who are determined NOT to be another statistic but an exception to the doom and gloom economic forcast!!

A Musical Honor

When I was in the 5th grade, my parents bought a piano and came home with piano lesson books for all of us. My dad could play several instruments but piano and organ are his specialty. The plan was that my dad would give all of us lessons (including my mom!) We all did well for about a year or so. Then things must have gotten busy because the piano lessons got sporadic over the course of the next 2 years. I think my mom may have been the first to quit, followed by my brother and sister. I, however, stuck with it. I distinctly remember the summer I was in 8th grade, it seemed like all I did was play the piano. I've always been involved in music at church. I was the church pianist for years and sang with the choir and other groups. These days, I play the keyboard for our Sunday morning services.

When I had my children, I wanted music to be a part of their lives. Josh and Amy seemed to be naturally musically inclined. They loved to sing when they were little. Whenever we would drive somewhere we would sing away! Jacob's had to be developed. When it was his naptime, we would lie together in my bed and I would sing to him to try to develop a musical side to him. Sitting up near the front every time Josh sings at a concert or in a musical or at church is such a thrill for me. I feel the same way whenever Amy sings. Jacob & Emily are both in choirs at school and I'm at every concert.

I've said all that to say this. Occasionally, I get an opportunity to share music with my kids. Today was such an opportunity. Amy has a beautiful solo voice and sang a solo in church this morning. I had the distinct honor/pleasure of playing for her. As a mom, I don't know if I could have been much prouder of my beautiful daughter, using her beautiful voice for God's pleasure!!

New Design

Welcome to my newly designed blogsite!! It was created by Linda from RS Designs. I won this package last fall in the bloggy carnival. Didn't she do a great job?? I wanted it to look homey and comfortable!! Thanks so much, Linda! I love the new design!! I'll be posting a link to her in my sidebar just as soon as I get it.

Life Change

It dawned on me yesterday that I am on the fringe of yet another life-change. Our oldest daughter, Amy, is making preparations to leave home this fall and finish out her college years at Bethel where our oldest son, Josh attends. I expect that in her final year, we will be planning a wedding. Amy will also turn 20 in 2 short weeks which means I will have 2 20-something aged kids!! Continuing on this mindset, Jacob will start his sophomore year of high school and turn 16, Emily will begin Jr. High and enter her teens by turning 13!! It's alot!! I also realized this past week that Cliff and I will celebrate 24 years of marriage. When we threw that party for my parent's 25th, it seemed such a momentous occasion that they had been married so many years!!!! It also seems like just yesterday. Now it's soon to be ME!!!!!!!

The funny thing is, is that I am totally OK with all of this. I absolutely dreaded turning 30. I felt like I was saying goodbye to my youth. But turning 40 and entering new chapters in my life has actually been a good thing!! And I've always been a person who hated change!

While I'm sitting here thinking about everything in my life I know is going to change this year, I'm so thankful there are some things that never change. The number one being God's never ending supply of love for me. He's always been there! So many times I've walked away and forgotten Him. He's never forgotten me. He's been there every step of the way. I count on that!! And in these days of so much uncertainty, it is a gift to have a faith that is certain and sure.

New Blog Design

I saw a preview today of what my new blog design will look like. I won it last fall in the bloggy carnival! It's so pretty!! I can't wait until it's up!

We got the garage cleaned!!!!!! I'm embarrased to say we hauled off 1 1/2 TONS of JUNK!!! Add in the tree limbs that fell in the ice storm and we hauled off 2 TONS of stuff from our property!!!! Whew!! I feel lighter and we now have so much new space in the garage! I'm so thankful for the friends who allowed us the use of a trailer for a week. All this cleanup has my husband inspired and energized about the yard. He's been working away at edging the walks and installing a new pond liner. It's going to look very nice when he's all done.

What's Important?

There's a man in our church whose name is Bill. Bill is one of the kindest, nicest man you'll ever meet. Late last summer, Bill was diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct, a rare cancer that affects primarily the liver and pancreas. Through the fall months, Bill was at Mayo Clinic, preparing for a liver transplant from his son, all the while, waiting for his insurance company to approve the surgery. Once approved, they opened him up for some pre-surgery exploration and found the cancer too far advanced. Bill was sent home and ended up in the hospital here in K.C. due to his organs not functioning properly. They did not think he'd live past Christmas. He did. Since leaving the hospital, Bill has been able to come to church twice, the last time being 3 weeks ago. You can see the effect this disease has had on his body but considering the severity of it and how much weight he has lost, he actually looked pretty good. Bill was able to come to church yesterday for Easter. I could not believe how much he had declined in 3 weeks. He was so frail. But he was so happy to be in church and his wife was so happy that they could come together.

I would venture to guess that some of the things that were important to Bill last summer maybe aren't so important anymore. Probably for his wife either. I would think that they have learned how to treasure each day that they have. Last night as I lay in bed and thought about this, I realized, you know, none of us is guaranteed a "later" or a "tomorrow." The time we have is right now!! Perhaps I need to re-evaluate what I deem important to me because maybe I need a serious priority shift because in the grand scheme of things, maybe some stuff I have near the top aren't really that important after all.

I've been reading, "How to Win With People" by John Maxwell, which has turned out to be an amazing, life-changing book for me. The chapter I just read is called, "The Approachability Principle." Just how approachable am I? I'd like to think, Yeah, I'm so open anyone can come and present me with bad news, a problem, etc. But I'm not as approachable as I'd like to think. How approachable am I with my family? That needs to change. After pondering this all day, I had to go apologize to my son. Yes, his attitude did need correcting but I could have handled it in a far better fashion. I want my son to know that he can come to me no matter what and we'll deal with it...together! I hugged him! And while I lay there and thought of Bill and family, I held my husband a little tighter.

I know this post is lengthy today. This stuff was on my mind all night. And by the way, the end of the story for Bill and for everyone else who is God's child is a story of hope and life. The miracle may not be that Bill is healed, (although he will be upheld in prayer until his last breath) the miracle may be passing from this life to the next into God's presence. Isn't that what we celebrated yesterday? A line from one of my favorite songs says, "Death has lost and life has won!!"

Take time TODAY to celebrate the people in your life!!

Wrapping Up the Week

Our garage is detached from our house and we have been cleaning it out this week. I cannot even begin to tell you how much JUNK we have thrown in there. It's gotten to the point where the kids just throw it in and shut the door. We borrowed a trailer from a friend and have been hauling all that junk off to the dump where it belongs. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish it up, clean up the yard and get the gutters cleaned before the spring rains start.

Later in the afternoon, we have planned a family activity to celebrate this Easter weekend with the kids. Josh won't be coming home this weekend so we will celebrate with him in a couple weeks when we travel to Newton. This gives us some much needed family time with our kids.

I look forward to Sunday. We have a wonderful service planned with alot of praise and worship and celebration about our risen Lord. We will spend the afternoon at my mom and dad's.

I won't be posting again until Monday so I want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a wonderful and very blessed Easter!!