Wednesday is the New Tuesday

And brown is the new black...but that's for another day.

Did the holiday mess anyone else up?
I knew yesterday was Tuesday...all day...but I stayed in a Monday mood and couldn't shake it. That's not all...I completely forgot about Two shall become One ~ Tuesday!

I was laying in bed this morning at 4~something or as my friend and Praise and Coffee hostess Mary Hess says "dark-thirty" when I realized that I completely forgot to post a guest post from Denise yesterday!

So I grabbed my iphone, sent Dee a message apologizing and rolled over only to fall asleep 5 minutes before I had to get up.

Today is Lauren's first FULL day of school, Daddy took her. LOVETHATMAN!

Was that random and off the subject? Yes. Sorry, I am tired people.

ANYWAYS!

Here is Denise's post...

Well hello everyone! Happy to see you here at Praise and Coffee and hopefully I can keep in touch with you a lot more as summer comes to an end…as sad as that makes me.

Sue asked me to write about my birthday that Jason and I celebrated last month. I have hemmed and hawed so long on this post that my husband is wondering if I did have a good time after all.

Which I did.

My birthday fell on a Saturday and we had not one thing planned. Jason had worked a third shift and was sleeping but he had mentioned maybe we should go out for my birthday. Um, YES! My parents happily offered to take the boys and my husband went to sleep and I had no idea where to go, what to do…

So a friend researched places to go and found a wonderful sounding place on Lake Michigan. It seemed perfect…except that Jason was so tired he slept until around six that night.

I didn’t know if we would have a night out or not.

But here is the thing…I had an opportunity to get mad. And I was disappointed, but I chose to think about all the hard work he had done to support us that caused him to sleep. Whether we made it out or not didn’t make him a better or worse husband, my attitude would make it a good or bad night even if we just stayed home and cuddled on the couch and ate hotdogs and mac and cheese. But, when he did wake up, he hurriedly got around and we headed out…

On a date.

With my husband.

For my birthday.

For one whole night we were not Moma and Daddy, we weren’t the couple with four boys in tow, we weren’t rushing around our little hobby farm to fall exhausted into bed. No, we were just a couple having a fun night out, eating food we never eat; at a restaurant (that we never go to) that was also hosting a wedding that we happened to be sitting next to and jamming along to the fun DJ.

It was a beautiful night.

It was filled with us laughing, walking a pier at sunset, and completely accidentally bumping into old friends we hadn’t seen in a year.

Days later we were still talking about the good time we had.

Who am I kidding? WEEKS later we are talking about the fun we had!

There were two things I learned from this rare date night with my husband…

1. My personal pity party I could have chosen for myself would have ruined the day. If I’d chosen to claim, “it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” I would have ruined one of the funnest nights Jason and I have had in, well, we can’t recall.

2. There is nothing more fun and romantic and invigorating to your marriage then spending a whole night and day away from your kids not once referring to the other as Dad and Mom. You get to spend a day as a couple, not just spouses, and that, my friends, is a good time.

And I could have missed it all if my attitude had stunk. How sad would that be?

Keep On Loving You

For this "Two shall become One ~ Tuesday" I want to wish my dear friends Jason and Denise Dykstra a Happy Anniversary and use her blog post and this song as a reminder to all of us that we need to "Keep On Loving You"!

Read Denise's post here:
Happy Anniversary to My Wonderful Husband

and check out this sweet song...oh how I love Reba!



I'm praying for our marriages,
Sue

Much More Than An Annoying Stranger...

It's been a while because Denise has been busy with her new gig as the Morning Mom on FOX 17, but here is another great article- you're going to love this one!

And I also want to add that Denise is one of the most wonderful and thoughtful friends ever! She has been a HUGE blessing to me this week!

I called and woke the poor woman up to ask if she can take Lauren while I run to the hospital again with my mom- and of course, she took care of everything.

THEN she sends her home with AMAZING brownies and cookies! It's hard to find such good friends!

Click on her button here and check out her very fun blog, you will love it!



You Are Much More Than An Annoying Stranger...

“Luke 18:1 Jesus told them a story showing them that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit.”

I have had this verse taped above my kitchen sink for years – so long I have forgotten it. But my son lived it out in front of me and I learned a lesson about God from him…again.

S2 (son 2 of 4) has become his Daddy’s shadow recently. When he gets home from work, S2 is right at his side, following him around, doing his best to think ahead of his Daddy so he can do such things for him as open the door, grab his coffee, rub his back, carry his lunch pail, etc.

If my husband sits, S2 sits near him or on his lap. When it comes time for bed for S2 and his Daddy isn’t home from work yet, he cries for him. If Daddy has to be away somewhere he laments how much he misses him.

But here is the real amazing thing. This eight year old boy can be sound asleep, hear his Daddy start his car as early as 4:30 in the morning and instantly wake up and run down the steps. Usually he is crying, afraid he missed a chance to tell his Daddy goodbye before he leaves for work.

We have gotten so used to it, my husband and I, that when he goes to leave in the morning my husband will intentionally start the car and then head back into the house to finish pouring his coffee…and get his kiss and hug from S2.

We were laughing about this recently when we had a spare moment in the afternoon when S2 wasn’t being his shadow. “Think he loves you?” I teased.

Husband nodded seriously. “Makes me think about God.”

Yup, our kids taught us yet ANOTHER lesson about God.

S2 was so in tune to his Daddy. My husband wondered what would happen if we were that in tune with God. If we pulled a Samuel and heard when God whispered our name, how much more would we get out of our life that was lived in tune to God’s plan for us?

It’s not that S2 was my husband’s favorite. He worried the other boys would feel that he was. It’s just that S2 was ALWAYS there so when there was a trip to be taken, say to get gas for the tractor, S2 was the one to go along. And when S2 came home to ask if he could attend basketball camp, it was easy to say yes.

In Luke 18, the widow received her request just so the judge could be left alone.

How much more we bestow upon our children whom we love? Much more than just an annoying stranger like the story in the Bible. And as much a we love our boys, God loves us more than that. I cannot wrap my head around love like that. And it makes me want to run to my Father God, be in tune to His voice, just like my son showed me.

She Won, She Won!!!!

Hello!
Most of you know my good friend Denise of "Life With Four Boys" she is a regular guest poster here on Praise and Coffee, well she was chosen as the Morning Mom on our local tv station WXMI FOX17!!!

I'm so proud of her!!!

Jump over to her blog today to read all about it and if you are in the area, tune in to see her!

What Blessings Have I Missed?

A Guest Post with my girlfriend Denise!

Dee is my partner when it comes to writer's conferences (including late night runs for nachos and guacamole dip- and don't forget about the time we got lost looking for the street that we were ON!), the Praise and Coffee newsletter "Connections" and of course playdates including several cups of coffee and lots of great conversation (pausing only when we hear a loud thump from the playroom to wait for a scream or a giggle).

Click on her logo to visit her wonderful blog about country living with 4 lively boys!

Matthew 4:18-20 Jesus said to them “Come with me”....They didn't ask questions, but simply...followed.” (The Message Bible)

Recently my husband had to go out and plow a lot one snowy Saturday. All four boys were lounging in the living room watching cartoons and being lazy when he asked “Hey, who wants to go for a drive with me?”

Our five year old jumped up. “I will! I will go!” He rushed to pull on his coat (It had helped he had slept in his clothes so he didn't even need to get dressed.), slip on his crocs (which I made him change, really, crocs in the middle of winter?), shoved his blue glasses back onto his face with his palm and grinned up at his Daddy. “I'm all ready to go!” he declared.

Not a single one of the other boys wanted to leave the nice warm house. We were both a little surprised at that, and even more surprised at how fast our five year old had jumped up and gotten ready so quickly. Usually we are trying to hustle him to get him out the door to anywhere.

As he stood in the kitchen, ready to have his Daddy carry him out to the truck, he asked “Where are we going?”

It struck me then, this simple following of his. He fully trusted his Daddy to have only good things planned for him. He had absolutely positively no idea what he was leaving to do or go to but he wanted to be with his Daddy and so he flew to get ready. He dropped it all just to follow Daddy.

Wow.

How often does God ask us to follow Him? Follow Him in Bible study, to reach out to someone...and I don't listen. I would rather stay all comfy in my nice warm rut of life. What have I missed out on because he just gave up asking me since I never wanted to move?

What blessings have I missed?

I got thinking of the disciples. They just dropped it all to follow Christ. And they didn't even know Him! I KNOW my Heavenly Father, and I know He only has good for me, and yet I don't want to follow, stupidly thinking my plans are better than His.

Our little guy trusted his Daddy completely and was ready to follow him wherever he went just to be the one to spend some extra time with him. What I could learn from our little five year old!

Getting Your Vision Checked

Today we have another guest post with my good friend Denise, who I just happen to be going to a writer's conference with this weekend!!!

Yes, it's sure to be good fun. Lots of learning, laughing...and of course conversation that takes us way into the wee hours of the next morning. It's a requirement when you stay in a hotel with a girlfriend!!

Enjoy her post and click on her logo to visit her blog, you won't be sorry, it's very cozy there.

I wear glasses. Well, actually, I wear contacts because I don’t like to wear my glasses. You would think something so close to your eyes would not get banged into, but when you have boys you are always getting banged into and glasses are not a safe thing to wear.

S3 began kindergarten this year. In order for him to go to school, he needed his vision checked. Of course, I didn’t pay attention to this fact until the weekend before school began. I brought him to the local Walmart that has a box the kids look into, they tell the lady what the picture is of and I get a little slip to hand in at school. It’s a breeze, I had been assured. Except S3 failed this test. He was so intrigued with the box and how they got the pictures in it and he wanted to see the lady make the pictures big and small again. I shopped and brought him back but he still wanted those pictures out of the box. She failed him and I was furious over the whole ordeal.

I took him to our local pediatrician’s office the week school began. Our great pediatric nurse knew what had happened and took him aside, pumping him up to pass the ‘easy’ test. He failed again, much to the shock of both she and I.

I had to walk across the hall and make an appointment with my eye doctor so they could pass him once and for all. S3 seemed to be enjoying trying to take the tests, enjoying them a bit too much in my impatient opinion.

They asked me a bunch of questions about his vision and I assured them he was fine. They began the process of checking his vision and found that, he indeed, did seem to be having a difficult time seeing. I figured that would happen, I mean, we are at the eye doctor. They do need us to buy glasses, right?

They looked deeper and found he had a serious eye problem. Corrected with glasses, perhaps corrected completely one day, but the fact was he had not seen properly since birth. His vision was seriously in need of help. And quickly.

We shopped around for the blue glasses that best fit his face. All the while I was wondering how I would keep these on his face, how they would not be bumped into. S3 wanted the big sunglasses that looked like bug eyes but figured the blue ones with just regular glass would work too.

I had watched as the doctor had checked his vision and I watched the light in S3’s face as he realized he could indeed see the birthday cake, or car, or anything else that happened to flash up on the wall. As a mom, I felt horrible that I had not realized his need sooner. As a doctor looking at the situation, they assured me we would have had no idea without the thorough exam that he was suffering from poor vision.

I love how God uses just such situations
to reveal Himself more deeply to
us.
I wanted to share the very personal way
God used this to show me an
important lesson.

I am my children’s mom. God put these four boys in my husband’s and my life to raise them in the Godly way they should go. It is up to us to keep them on track at this point in their life, keep them on the ‘straight and narrow’. So I had better know the truth of what I am teaching them. How often don’t I just assume I know? I have depended upon the upbringing of my parents – which I could not have done with out – to teach my children now. If I am not in the Word myself, how am I going to be able to teach my children the truth? How do I know if I’m well when I am not being regularly examined, if I don’t have someone who loves me enough to say “Silly girl, you are seeing it the wrong way!” and then help me find the correct way to see the situation. God’s way.

This point was driven home to me with S3’s glasses. I was 99% sure that his vision was just fine and dandy. There was nothing wrong with him at all. But it took a trip to a special physician to point out to me what I could not see with my own eyes.

I need to keep going to the Great Physician, to God, to make sure that I am doing what is right, raising our boys according to his word. Because I can be 99% sure I am correct, but I may be 100% wrong. I need that trip on my knees to God, visiting in His Word, listening to Him, to know how ‘well’ we are. There are those in our lives to point us the way we should go like the pediatric nurse and the impatient woman at Walmart, but until I go to the Physician Himself, I am just pointed in that direction. I have to do it myself. It’s great I am in church, learning in service and Sunday school, but until I am on my own with God, I am just ‘pointed in the right direction’.

S3’s glasses will get banged into, they will be difficult to get used to. But the outcome of him wearing them will far out weigh him not having them. Sometimes I feel like the Christian life “bumps” into others, causing discomfort and awkwardness. But the outcome of living for my loving Father far out weighs turning my back to the truth of God.

The song, “What do I know of Holy?” by Addison Road is one that always gives me goose bumps. I don’t have the album, but there is a line in the song (so I don’t have an exact quote) that talks about praying but she says all the words instead. I could have gone to the dr’s and told them all the reason’s why I didn’t think S3 should have glasses and walked out feeling better, I had explained it all to them, and S3 would have been just as vision impaired. It’s only when we stop, listen, act…that is when it changes.

What if I had told the optometrist she had no idea what she was talking about? What if I had told S3, “you know, honey, if you want those hideous sunglasses instead of real glasses, that’s okay because that is what you want.” What if I get these glasses for S3, he puts them on and says they are too hard to wear and I say “oh, that’s okay honey, you don’t have to wear them. We just had to buy them and that was all it took for you to see clearly.”

We need to act out what God has taught us. It’s only by S3 wearing them daily his vision will be improved. The moment he takes them off, his vision is wrong. The moment I turn my back to God, my vision is wrong, my life is wrong, my heart is wrong. It’s only by me turning to God daily that my heart condition improves, therefore leading to a life improvement.

I hope these words that seem to have tumbled onto the computer screen give you reason to pause and consider, “How is my vision? When was the last time I went to the Great Physician for a check up?” There is no time like the present.

October Praise and Coffee Giveaway AND Awesome Guest Post!

This month's Praise is:

Hillsong's "Faith + Hope + Love
You are going to LOVE it!!!! It's my current favorite!

You'll also get some very yummy "Praise and Coffee" label coffee!!


PLUS, our good friends at Bayview Cards are giving you a beautifully handmade box of cards!

TO ENTER DRAWING:

~> Post a comment to THIS post after reading Denise's post and tell her how much it touched your heart- I know it did mine!!!

~> Please make sure that I have a way to contact you-PLEASE!

~> If you have one of my "Praise and Coffee Giveaway" buttons on your blog, let me know and you will be entered twice. Here is a link to all my buttons: Blog Buttons

ALSO...you're so blessed this first day of October!!!

A guest post from one of my favorite-est girlfriend's Denise (click on picture to check out her blog!)

Where Are the Stars?

Our youngest, S4, has a fascination with stars. When we are out in the evening, he must search the sky for the first star. Once he finds it, he points excitedly, jumps up and down, shows it off to anyone near him as if we have never seen stars before and then breaks into song….

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are……”

It’s the cutest thing ever.

The other night we, S4 and I, walked out to the shed where we keep the deep freezer stocked with ice cream. The sky was filled with stars and S4, who is very afraid of the dark, clung to my hand and sang. Anyone who was with him must sing as well.

When I went to bring the ice cream back that night, he didn’t want to go with me. It was just too dark. “But you sing the song, Moma”, he told me as I headed out.

I knew he would ask if I had indeed sang it when I got back in so I did sing it to myself, feeling pretty dorky, as I walked to and from the shed. And sure enough, he wanted to know if I had sung the song. I was glad I had.

When it’s a cloudy night, S4 will look for the stars and panic when he doesn’t see them. He is sure some sort of catastrophe has occurred and taken the stars. Without stars, what is the purpose of night?

I try to explain to him they are just beyond the clouds, just beyond what we can see. He is very skeptical. He searches the sky until he can, indeed, see the stars again and then, once more, we must sing the song.

So often when this happens I think of how that is in my Christian walk. When going through the dark times, I am scared. God is the light that gets me through. He sends me a million trillion reminders of His love. “His banner over me is love” is the song that runs through my head. He is there and while it is dark, it’s in the dark I see the beauty.

But there are times when I can’t see God in the midst of my dark time. I can only see darkness everywhere, every dark shadow and crevice is something to take me down and out for good. I don’t want to be out in the night, I don’t want to walk from point A to point B. I know God is there, but I can’t see Him. And it is difficult in that time to praise Him, to trust Him, to see the beauty in the darkness.

God always brings the morning, whether they are filled with sunshine or storms. There is always the sun. God always brings the night, whether they are star filled or dark. But God is always in control, always there, and I am reminded of that when ever I have to again remind my little boy that the stars are indeed there…that morning will indeed come… How often don’t I need God to remind me the same way? “The dark night will pass, I am faithful and true.” And it’s these reminders, these little stars, if you will, that get me jumping up and down, praising God for His faithfulness.

Guest Post from Denise ~ Take the Jump!

Click on the picture to visit Denise's very fun blog!!

~~~

“Go as fast as you can, don’t worry how you’ll land.”

These words were words of advice from our oldest son (S1) to you next youngest son (S2).

S2 had just been given a new used bike by our neighbor lady. It hadn’t been out of her car for a full ten seconds before he was on it, riding around the driveway, zooming down the field road, jumping it down the old barn path. The bike was just for him, he was sure.

About an hour later, S1 and S2 burst into the house and stumbled out the story excitedly how S2 had finally jumped his bike with both wheels in the air off of S1’s bike jump. S2 has worked at doing this for two years now and today he conquered the feat.

Apparently I didn’t show the proper excitement because they continued to talk among themselves as I worked at getting dinner on and the counter washed down. “See, I told you that if you just go as fast as you can, don’t worry how you’ll land, you’ll be fine and make a great jump.”

I nearly added “and get a broken leg so you can spend the rest of the summer in a cast” but didn’t. He knew that already, we’ve already taken a few trips to the local ER.

They went on their way outside (I was thankful they put on their bike helmets) and continued practicing their jumps. But S1’s words stuck with me…..until God just slammed them into me.

Why don’t we live our lives that way for God? This is the verse that just flooded me “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

S2’s goal was to jump the bike ramp, to be up in the air. How he landed hadn’t even crossed his mind.

What if we lived our lives so sold out for God, so upward, full throttle,
without any selfish concern?

Of course, there is a balance here. You can be so ‘spiritually filled you are no earthly good’. But if we lived our faith for God as the exciting life it is rather than worry how others would perceive us, imagine the freedom in that? The power.

I was thinking this all through as S4 stormed into the house and slammed the door. “That bike hurt my feelings! I don’t like that bike! I not ride it no more!” And he didn’t. He got out his matchbox cars and lay on the floor and played with those.

He missed the goal. S2 seen the goal, was scared because he’s tried this MANY times, pushed for it, flew thru the air and landed it. S4 gave up. How often don’t we do that? “Oh, I’ve tried church. I’ve tried that whole spirituality thing. I’ve tried God. It was too many rules and I got behind and I’ve got too much to do………..” I don’t need to give more examples; we’re good enough at those on our own.

But what if we just pressed toward that mark, that life God has called us to, just as hard as we could, despite our fears, despite our previous failings?

Imagine if we took that jump………

Guest Post ~ Rockin' Worship!

Another guest post from one of my favorite girlfriend's Denise!

She wrote this after the last Praise and Coffee Night, it was such a cool evening worshipping with Trinity ftL all those ladies, I loved it!!!

Rumor has it, their CD is out...I plan to have it available at the Praise and Coffee Night August 13th.



Ok, now on to Denise's article! Be sure to click on her logo and visit her blog too, you will love it!

Rockin’ Worship

I had to clean my porch. Well, let me start farther back than that. We live in a very old farmhouse, and the front of our house is an old porch that the previous owners remodeled with windows to connect it as a room of the house. It has no insulation, it slants toward the door, it has no electric and it is my second favorite room in the whole house. The reason I fell in love with the house in the first place. The ceiling is robin’s egg blue and I painted the trim super bright yellow when we moved in and the floor is chipped dark blue. Everyone loves my porch.

We used it as a mud room this winter for the first time. It was a little odd to take a cute room and make it into a ‘drop’ room but it worked. And it has stayed that trashed drop room since winter and it was well past time to clean it out. It was so nasty I ended up just taking the garden hose into the porch and spraying it down. It was gross. Dirt I didn’t know existed came pouring out.

I took everything out of the porch, cleaned it and brought what I needed back in. It’s all cute again with two rocking chairs just waiting to be rocked in and chat with someone special. Our youngest was exceptionally impressed with the rocking chairs. “Come sit wid me!” he said to me, rocking back and forth.

“I really need to keep cleaning,” I’d say, but I did think he sure looked cute in the big rocking chair. I kept to task and soon S4 was rocking again, “Come sit wid me, Moma. I got you a piddow.” And sure enough, he drug the pillow from the couch to the rocking chair for me.

“Oh, okay,” I agreed and sat in the other chair. He rocked away with a smile.

“This nice, Moma,” he told me.

And it was. It was sweet rocking there with my little boy on my clean porch. I had been so busy putting it back together that I hadn’t realized just how nice it was to just sit there.

Later in the day I was frantically getting around for the Praise and Coffee night. I was so late! I hurried out the door without dinner; I made it too late to help out, too late for a sandwich but in time for coffee. Which I needed because I was so tired from all the work of the day.

Trinity FTL was playing and I had been looking forward to this day. But as they began to play I just kept thinking of all the busyness of the day, the things I had left undone at home, the things I had yet to do when I got home. And while the music was unbelievable great, I wasn’t ‘feeling’ it.

All the sudden the sun came thru the window and shown brightly on me just as Sue was praying for the Holy Spirit to be felt in this place and they began to play a Kari Jobe song I most love. It was one of those “frozen in time” moments, surreal. And I thought of my little boy sitting in the rocking chair asking me to sit with him. And it was like God said to me, “Are you going to give Me any of your time?”

And just like I had used the hose to clean out the ick of the porch to get to that moment where I could enjoy some special time with S4, God just hit me then, showing me all the ick that was blocking me from truly worshipping Him.

I cried. I don’t cry in public and I stood there and cried.

Thank you, God, for giving me a son to show me more of You! To show me how to have a “rockin’ worship” moment with You.

Where's the beef and then some!

I'm blogging over at the Internet Cafe',

here's a link to my post about being a woman

who is living her faith out loud!

Where’s the Beef?!


And here is another fun guest post by my friend Denise, click on the picture to visit her blog.

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied.”

It is summer vacation here on the farm with our four boys. The first day after Memorial Day Monday when I heard the other local bus go by and know I didn’t have to take my boys to school, ah, pure bliss.

I looked forward to days of beach time and fun with my boys and pure laziness….well, as lazy as you can be with four boys and a busy husband and the huge garden and baby chicks and so on and so on.

All that ended that very first day mere moments after I made my boys chocolate chip pancakes. “I’m hungry”, one of them said and soon they were all asking if they could have a snack, if there was anything to eat, if I had more cookies, what was for dessert…..

To give you an idea of how much they ate, on one morning I made them oatmeal for breakfast, they ate half a bag of apples and one and half bunches of bananas BEFORE lunch.

I am pulling my hair out.

I made my famous chocolate chip cookies and HID half of them to last for another day.

By dinner time when my husband gets home from work I am totally frazzled. Years ago, when my husband’s dad – who made all the meals for the family - was alive, I would hear how my father in law would have nightmares of not being able to feed his family of four kids. I always thought that was overkill. I suddenly understood what he had been worried about. I timed my boys, they completely cleared their plates of food (as they had for lunch and breakfast too) and exactly HALF AN HOUR LATER they were asking for something else to eat.

I was bemoaning this fact to someone I had called for a recipe (go figure). “Well,” she said, “they are more active now. They require more food.” I hadn’t thought of that. I was trying to figure out why the sudden huge jump in appetite from when they were in school and this made a lot of sense. More activity, more need for food. Kinda makes me want to make them sit quietly in the house…as if that would ever happen!

As I was making brownies for my boys, a verse popped into my head all of the sudden. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Our youngest comes in the kitchen and asks for chocolate milk and I thought “I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.”

I was wishing God would send some kind of manna or something like that so that my boys wouldn’t be hungry and thirsty all the time. As I was thinking how grand that would be, I also got to thinking how I have been anticipating this time, this time alone with my boys, for ever so long. I have grand plans, to get back into doing a devotional with my boys, to read a long list of books together, to just ‘be’ with my boys. To reconnect after a hectic school year so we can go into next year ‘filled’. My boys aren’t getting younger, my time to ‘train them in the way they should go’ is now.

I spent some time in the kitchen chatting with Son number three about how God cares even about the baby bunnies we found in the field, and for my son to remember that God cares for Him. I may be running out of ideas to feed my kids, but I can still be feeding their minds with God’s word as they help me in the kitchen.

I want my boys to hunger and thirst for God. I pray my boys find their ‘fill’ in God. Somehow, I want to instill in them a desire, a hunger, for them to want more and more of God and never think “yah, I’m full” and walk away from Him. Do you understand what I am trying to say here?

And then, as God always seems to do with me, He made it personal to just me. When was the last time I felt like I was hungry for God’s word? To thirst for Him? When was the last time I was starving to get closer to my God, looking to Him to fill me? Beth Moore talks about filling your ‘love bucket’. If I’m not spending time being filled with God’s love, how am I supposed to share God’s love with those who seem to be draining it….like my family?

Things I am contemplating as I bake some more food to fill my growing boys.

Guest Post ~ I Know Everything!

Here's another fun post from my good friend Denise!

This week I took the boys fishing.

I don’t like fish. I don’t like worms. I don’t like bugs. I can’t eat fish, it makes me sick. I do not take fish off the hook. But, when the weather is nice and I am sure to get some sun for a tan, I do take the boys fishing.

First though, I had to stop to get a fishing license. I have faithfully bought a fishing license for two years in a row now. This is big time stuff. When I walk in, they must think I am slightly crazy. Four boys, me and fishing. Yah, I would find us crazy too! But the local hardware knows us well and the gun and bait shop we now stop at somewhat regularly is always extra patient with all my questions and helps us out a lot.

So, we were standing in line and our youngest had to give us a play by play of the other couple with a young boy in line next to us. “He has ice cream.”

“I know. I can see it.”

“I like ice cream.”

“I know you do.”

“Can I have some ice cream?”
“Me too!” comes from the other three at a totally not in-sync chorus, each one trying to be louder than the other to make sure I hear that they want ice cream.

“No, we are not getting ice cream.” Why do they do that? Why do stores put tiny freezers full of ice cream truck treats right where you have to get fishing licenses on the first official day of summer vacation. But I was holding firm, we had just gotten our delivery from the Schwan’s man – yum!

“He’s eating his ice cream.”

“I know, I can see him.”

“Moma, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Moma, can I have ice cream?”
“NO!” and then it was our turn to be helped so I could get my fishing license and get out of the store. Phew! We made the purchase (they always ask me if I want a restricted one or not. I just tell them I am just taking the boys fishing, nothing more. The older boys then tell me it would be cool to go on a boat to go fishing, in say, Lake Michigan. And that trout do live in Michigan, just in case I didn’t know. As if I would ever take all four boys on a chartered fishing boat!)

We are ready to leave and S3 decides he should inform the employees and everyone else in the hardware store that we are going fishing. “Really?” the store manager asks “Well, you have fun.”

“We will!” S3 says confidently. “Cuz I KNOW EVERYTHING!”

Yup, he really said that. The manager chuckled and said “Well, that is good to know. Try not to forget it all by the time you get big like me.”

“I won’t,” S3 vowed, “well, bye!”

And we were off to our favorite deep woods fishing spot. We caught six fish, seen three snakes swim near us, watched a blue heron take off from the bushes right next to us, untangled two fishing poles that were so knotted up we had to cut them apart, rolled pants of boys who thought they would get better bites if they actually stood in the water and I got some sun, while reading a magazine on the dock when everyone had run out of worms and were trying some ‘new fancy bait’ they were sure would get them the biggest bass in the whole lake. We came home with four little fish, and S3 cried the whole way home, because he hadn’t caught a thing.

S3, who knew it all, who told us how to fish, who stood there extremely quietly sure he would trick the fish in, never caught a thing. I felt bad for him. It was surely not for lack of trying.

I was thinking of that later in the evening. I’m not much unlike my four year old. For instance, I don’t like to let my kids know I can’t do something they know how to do…S1 knows how to run our roto-tiller and I don’t have a clue but I won’t ask him. I know everything cuz I am a mom, right?

I think you can see where I am going with this.

It’s impossible to know everything. But I do know I am guilty of thinking I know everything in my Bible so why bother reading it? I mean, I have heard these stories since I was born, literally. And then something will happen in life, or a simple conversation, and I’ll realize how shockingly ignorant I am and how prideful I really had been.

Once again, God gave me a little insight into my own heart from the mouth of my gifts from Him.

Coupons Clippers Unite!

Guest post by Denise:

In Honor of R.C.

This article today is in honor of my very dear friend, R.C. She is the coupon clipper of all coupon clippers. She finds deals I didn’t know were findable. Do you have a friend like this? R.C. could outdo them! She is quiet and sane and has a lovely personality but don’t mess with her coupons. Recently, she went shopping for her super great deals of the week and in the process of getting her goodies, her son, her purse (girls, you know how it goes when we go out) she left her coupon book behind.

She was lost and devastated.

She had spent hours clipping and sorting and finding the best deals and had just forgotten the whole manifest behind in a small, squeaky cart. She called the store repeatedly but no one ever turned them in.

I felt so bad for her. I am always amazed at her grocery shopping victories. I go to the store when I must, for the shortest time possible and load up on anything I may need for the next month so I don’t have to go again. She ENJOYS shopping. She gets way more out of it and her family eats good fresh fruit out of season and mine eats whatever is quickly worth cooking from the deep freezer – or cookies. We eat a lot of home made cookies here. But when asparagus season starts, we eat asparagus every single day - no exaggeration – from our field. I think that makes up for home made cookies every day! J

So, I was thinking of her today and her lost coupons and how I had to go to the store and thought, maybe, I should actually look at the flyer she told me to this week because of the great deals. I looked, I clipped a few coupons – just a few – went to the store and I had to admit, it was a lot more fun. We ate fresh fruit for dinner, fruit on sale, no less. It’s amazing what a little planning can do.

Like, when I am getting ready to go to Bible study. Some girls at church started a new Bible study I am now attending. If I sit down, actually do my study, read the scripture, answer the questions, and think on the questions a few days BEFORE I go I get so much more out of the study. However, I usually read it hurriedly as I am getting dinner on the table so I can clear the dinner, make it to the study, get a little out of it and repeat for next week…not a lot unlike my grocery shopping. I get what I need to get by, but not anything to savor and enjoy.

I always say that I would be all about making out a list of groceries someone would deliver to my door. Easy, simple, no travel or long lines. But R.C. encourages me to go for the gusto, the satisfaction is more. Like the difference of checking Bible study off the list rather than actually studying and growing in Bible study.

I imagine that the more I put to practice these skills the more likely I would be to miss them if I lost them, if I shoved them to the side. I imagine I would feel lost and devastated, like R.C. when she lost her coupon manifesto.

And just like life is so much better around our home if the food is ready on the table when my husband gets home, the boys lunches are packed and ready to go with fun treats and good nutrition it makes our family life so much smoother and happier. Wouldn’t it be the same with Bible study? Wouldn’t it be the more time I spent with my Heavenly Father, savoring the moment, I would learn more and appreciate him more? Yah, I think so to.

Guest Post~ A Not So Fun Run

Hello Ladies!
Just want to let you know that I'll be at the Plainwell Coffee Mill tonight for the Girl's Night Out to Cut Domestic Abuse, then I have to get home for a Blog Talk Radio interview, and I'm a bit confused about when it will play but I'll have a direct link for you tomorrow.

But here is a guest post from my girlfriend Denise (click on picture to visit her blog):

A Not So Fun Run

James 4:2B “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

The school our boys attend has a fund raiser in the spring for the school. The kids ask for donations and then run a mile in a “Fun Run”. The kids get really excited about it and I think all the donors (ie, mom and dad! J) are happy to have the money go right to the school. If the kids get $10 in donations, they get a free t-shirt. All the kids get to then wear the shirts when they run. The t-shirts are all important, they are THE fashion statement for the day and the students sign their names on each others shirts. It’s great fun…thus the FUN RUN.

Last year I didn’t go. It was the first year and I didn’t see what the big deal was. Our kindergartner won. Big time. And I missed it. For a full year I have heard about how I missed this great moment in history and yes, I have kicked myself for not going. I had thought it best to stay home with the two littler ones but, I should have ventured out.

When the donations paper came home this year, our now first grader was all about asking for donations and making sure I knew what day it was and so on and so forth. It was ALL he talked about.

Our oldest son never said a word.

He would talk with his brother about the race but he never handed me the donation list, I found it in a pile of papers he just laid on the table one night. He never asked for donations.

This really made me mad. I am not sure why. I had the money for him. My parents gave me money to give him too. As my Mom said “he hasn’t asked me but I am sure he will and here is the money now.” We were happy to give it to him, it was just sitting there in an envelope with his name on it, but he never asked.

The morning of the Fun Run, we were running late. This happens regularly. Try getting four boys out the door in the morning; it should be an Olympic event! I’m not saying I’d get gold, but I’d like to think I would be good competition! Anyhow, we are leaving the driveway and our oldest says quietly in a very Eeyore voice “I decided to save money this year and not ask for money for the Fun Run. That way, you can just keep money and, well, it’ll be fine. I don’t mind not having a shirt.”

Our first grader had turned in donations days ago and I had decided to not give our oldest any money if he didn’t ask. But this response put me over the edge. “If you had just asked, you could have gotten as much as your brother!” I snapped. And then, even though we would be even later, I ran back to the house, got his donation page and put the minimum ten dollars in for him.

On my way home to make cheer signs for my boys before the run ( I was going all out this year!) this verse kept echoing in my head….

“You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

I don’t ever remember reading that God was peeved or irritated. I have read He was angry and that he was over flowing with loving kindness but not ever just irritated.

And I had to wonder, what do I not have because I do not ask? I thought of Solomon asking for wisdom. I don’t know why I thought of that so prevalently, I suppose just because as a Mom, I constantly am wondering if I have made the right decisions.

But then this thought struck me. If I have never read God was irritated that means He would just be angry. I thought of my irritation with our oldest over that minor thing and thought of God being angry and it made me shudder. How often have I “Eeyored” about something, bemoaning the fact that I did not have what I needed for the moment… patience, love, wisdom. Had I asked? I felt shame as I thought how little I do often ask God for help. And I have a card above my sink to remember the persistent widow in Luke 18. I have no excuse!

And then this thought came to me. Does God have much stored for me, blessings to bestow, sitting in an ‘envelope’ all ready for me that I have just not gotten around to asking for?

It’s a humbling thought.

And how much has God blessed me with just because He loves me? Something I have never asked for but because I am His child He loves me so much he just gives me a gift?

I was suddenly not so irritated with my son. Yes, he missed out on more money for the school but as he finished that race that day with his bright yellow Fun Run shirt, I wondered who had gained the better gift that day, he or I?

Guest Post ~ Thankful Journal

A guest post by my girlfriend Denise, click on the picture to get to her blog.

On Thanksgiving Day, 2007, I started a ‘thankful journal’ for our family. When dinner was done, we would read a family devotional (i.e. Gotta Have God for Boys or something like that) and then we would go around the table and list three things we were thankful for that day.

We followed this faithfully until harvest season this past year and got out of the habit and we JUST started it up again. Flipping thru the book, it’s so fun to see what we have to be thankful for, and how our boys have changed. For example……..

DS4 (son #4) said he was thankful for Daddy, Elmo (my mom), Papa (my Dad), tractors, my Tigers (a cat)
What you have to understand is that when he says he is thankful for Daddy, my husband gives a huge silent cheer,
when our son says ‘Elmo’, my husband says ‘she’s mean’(all the boys say “noooo! Oma is nice!”),
when he says Papa, my husband says that is ‘okay’,
when he says Tigers my husband says ‘Tiger is a stinkin’ varmint’.

It will go like this thru the whole ‘thankful for’ list.
DS3 said Daddy (silent cheers again), plant potatoes, so I can be a good farmer
DS2 says Daddy (can you see the pattern, notice no Moma!), my bird (he had rescued a baby bird fallen from the nest), all eating dinner together
DS1 says Daddy, we had field day today, fun playing with Isaac
Daddy says my boys, my asparagus patch and Moma (hooray for a ‘Moma’ vote!)
Moma says spent the whole entire day with my boys today, my super cool new camera, & we have clean sheets today.

They are little snapshots of our life, they also help us know when we started getting the asparagus in, when we planted potatoes, when we harvested the pumpkins and so forth!

I also keep little extra notes on some days, for instance, he heard Moma’s tummy growl and looked at me and said “you have frogs in your tummy”.

When they saw all the lilac branches being trimmed off, one of the boys gave me a hug and said “it’s okay, Moma, we’ll get you a new one”.

On DS3’s first day of school, we asked him if he made friends at school that day.
“No” he shot back, as if we were totally clueless, “we made FROGS! Not friends, FROGS!”

As I said, we fell out of the habit. When we are back to it, I imagine it’ll be like it was before. The boys watch for my last fork full of food and literally race to see who can get the ‘books’ (Bible, Devotional, journal) to Moma first. The devotion helps sparks some good conversation, and see into our boys lives at school and what they struggle with. And the thankful journal keeps our spirits high; on a down day it helps to find three things that went well. And flipping thru it, it helps remind us of God’s goodness to us.

Try it, start collecting your families lifetime of thankfulness to treasure.

The Whole World Stinks!

Today I have another guest post from my friend Denise.
Denise and I spent part of the day together yesterday, she is one of those special friends that makes a trip to the coffee shop for a vanilla latte on her way to my house! It's hard to find such good friends :)

We had lots of fun talking, laughing...working on blog issues (does anyone know if you can change your primary email on your blogger blog???)...which we never figured out and ended up talking about how excited we are to go to a writer's conference together this summer (insert squeeeeel!)~ and not everyone would be as thrilled (writer nerds unite!)~ so it's wonderful to have Denise in my life, she is a gift.

If you've ever had a bad day, you will enjoy this article!

You can click on the picture to read more at her blog...the story about their trip to the photographer is priceless-one we can probably all relate to!

Have you had one of those days? Where, literally, everything stinks? I did today.

The farmer across the field from us is spreading manure over the fields. I think he has found the nastiest stinkiest ickiest manure he had from sitting there all winter and decided to spread it as far away from his house as he could, so it’s right next to ours. He started doing this yesterday, he finished up today. It’s a big tractor, it’s a HUGE stink.

This morning, we overslept – again. Since this spring time change, I cannot seem to get in the groove of it. My first thought was “oh no!” followed by “what is that smell?”.

This is not the way to start the day.

Our youngest had the flu on Sunday. Today he had the diarrhea. I would walk into the room where he and older brother were playing, get a whiff and say “are you stinky?” His brother would answer “He is VERY stinky.”

I have been changing diapers for nine solid years. I share my home with four boys and my husband and ONE bathroom. So when I tell you he stunk badly, believe me, he did.

It just wasn’t a good day. It was cloudy and dreary and so windy the boys couldn’t really go outside to burn off energy. I spent the day over tired, the boys were at each others throats (when I say that, believe me, they really are. It’s an art form, really, to strangle your brother and be away from him and on the couch before the storming mother enters the room to save the screaming one), my husband’s tractor broke and he couldn’t fix it, the laundry was insurmountable, the awful smell was everywhere and when my husband came in to tell me the fertilizer he had gotten for the asparagus wouldn’t spread I thought, ‘that figures, because this whole day stinks.’

And when I said that, I realized it was my attitude that stunk the most. It was the stinkiest thing I had surrounding me!

So, while my husband ran to town for fertilizer and took one of the four boys with him that needed “alone daddy time” the most, I sat down to do my Bible study. The one I had not done due to the awful day. Since the Beth Moore conference – let me say here that I had NEVER heard of Beth Moore before the Praise and Coffee conference and that it touched me deeply, that weekend – I have been doing the “Loving Well” workbook. Today it was on “Joy”. I nearly laughed out loud when I read the title.

The last part of the day’s worksheet was to think of the people who bring us joy, who are a joy to love, and I got caught up in writing some notes. I had thought to do it later, when I had time, but Curious George was entertaining the crowd and there never really IS time so I took advantage of that and spent the show writing a few “it’s a joy to love you” cards. I kid you not, the sunshine came out as I worked. I felt smiled upon.

The March Winner and Life with 4 Boys!

The March Praise and Coffee Winner is:

LadySnow
Congratulations!!!!

Thanks to all who entered, come back again April 1st for another giveaway!

************************

And here's another guest post from my good friend Denise

(click on pic to visit her blog)!

Where is my birthday?

Our youngest turned three this month. I found out it’s hard to describe to a three year old that it’s his birthday. I put a Happy Birthday banner above his chair at the table so he could see it when he came down for breakfast. All he knew about his day is everyone was singing one of his favorite songs and he wanted a Bob the Builder cake at some point. As we were taking his older brothers to school that morning, our birthday boy asked us all a question not one of us could answer….

“Where is my birthday?”

We tried to tell him his birthday was the whole day. All day. But he couldn’t see it and so he was sure that it was not his birthday.

As I thought about that later throughout the day, trying to figure out how to explain ‘today is your birthday’, I got to thinking it’s kinda like God.

Stick with me here!

How do you explain to someone that God is everywhere and in you and in Heaven? If you do know, explain this to me because we have tried to explain it to our boys at various times. You know there is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but you can’t see them. They are there, there is no doubt.

As there is faith. I love describing faith like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it, you see the evidence of it, you know it is there.

I tried this with our birthday boy. See, you can see the birthday banner. Here is your cake. Open your presents. It IS your birthday today!

This seemed to work. Not like any child is turning away a gift to say ‘nope, I don’t think it’s my birthday so I won’t open this gift”.

The very next morning, I had put away the birthday banner. All the wrapping paper and new gift boxes were thrown away. Our new three year old came bouncing down the steps (very rarely does he walk slowly), burst into the dining room and promptly began to wail. I thought he had stepped on a piece of plastic toy from the night before. Nope, we found out. It was that the birthday banner was gone. “I not three! I just two!” he wailed.

So, how do you explain that one? Without the birthday banner, he was sure it was not his birthday and he had not even turned three.

But you know that can be like us too. Not surrounded by believing friends or in our church environment, or on our own Bible study in our home, we doubt greatly. A tough situation comes upon us and doubts pound us. Are we really saved? Is God really in control? Does God really care?

But the truth is, God is there. He is in control, even in the darkest moments.

Just like my little guy is really three, whether he has a birthday banner or not.

Life with 4 boys....The Bear About Ate Him!

A guest post by Denise (click on picture to visit her blog!)

Lately my boys have been looking through our photo albums and we came across the pictures from our first trip to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula, MI, for all you non-michiganders out there!)

Our oldest boy was four and our only other boy at the time was one (THAT was a long time ago!) It was our first ‘family vacation’ and we went up to my husband’s family’s eighty acres and cabin. Our oldest was all excited as could be and my husband was more than willing to tell him all the stories of glory from his childhood there.

“See that grove of trees over there, son?”
Our oldest nodded emphatically. “Yup, Daddy, I see it.”
“Your Grandpa shot a bear out there, years ago.”
“Really? Was it big?”
“Pretty big. I wouldn’t want to see it. But don’t worry, that was a long time ago.”
“Oh.”

I was giving my husband the “move to another subject” look and he caught it and he went on to telling him stories of building the cabin and deer hunting and about the beavers that lived down in the pond.

We settled in, I finally got our then baby to sleep when our oldest had to use the outhouse. This cabin we love so dearly has no running water, no electric, no bathroom. It has an outhouse. Our oldest was SO excited that he got to go to the bathroom outside and he was fine on his own, he needed no help and since my husband assured me that he couldn’t fall in, off our little brave boy trotted to the outhouse.

We could see him the whole time; the outhouse is about as far from the cabin as most people’s vehicles are to their front door. And a window gives you a bird’s eye view to the door of the outhouse. Our little guy settled onto the toilet seat and began his business. We waited and waited and waited and waited for him to come out and he never did. He hadn’t left, we could see him there. I finally sent my husband out to check on him and he found our brave boy, crying quietly and scared to death to come out of the outhouse.

“I seen some squirrels and I was watching how fun they are and then I heard some scratching and I knew, Daddy, it was a bear and I knew, Daddy, that it could eat me. So I stayed right here so it wouldn’t get me and I knew you would get me, Daddy.”

The bear was some branches on the roof of the outhouse.

Our brave boy did not go out to the outhouse again alone, and when we were in town, we bought him a cap gun that he even slept with. That bear had about ate him and now no bear would find him unarmed!

It’s one of our favorite cabin stories. I even took a picture of my son sitting in the outhouse.

I was thinking about that and I got to thinking about the great faith that our son had in his Daddy. He had an unfounded fear, it was a molehill turned to a mountain, if you will – that branch turned to hungry grizzly bear – and even still he waited for his Daddy to rescue him because he knew he would.

If only I would always have that much faith in my Heavenly Father. To know when I have turned my molehills to mountains and to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my Heavenly Father will protect and carry me through.

Life with 4 boys...monster trucks!

Another guest post with Denise, click on the picture to visit her blog!

This past weekend, my husband was sleeping recovering from a cold and my boys were watching Monster Trucks and jumping around and screaming. The house was shaking. Our bedroom is right next to the living room and the dining room/office is right off the living room too so my sleeping husband was bound to be disturbed by their loudness and my working on the computer was defiantly being disturbed by their rowdiness. Inevitably, someone falls into a wall, someone misses the jump onto the couch cushion and someone is running for a Band-Aid. It’s insane.

I got fed up. It was too noisy. You can only take screaming fans, a yelling broadcaster and the major rumble of engines blaring from your TV for so long as your kids stand on the arm chair or the coffee table or the stairs and fall onto the couch cushions they have removed from the couch to the floor as well as every pillow they can get a hold of just to see if they can ‘bounce’ when they have hit the now cushioned floor. They have never ever bounced. This has never ever stopped them.

Turning off the computer (they knew they were in trouble then), I shut off their TV (big trouble), told them to pick up the pillows in that quiet voice a mom can pull off better than shouting and that room was in shape in no time. I told them to hush up, Daddy is sleeping and I was wishing I was sleeping too!

So, all four of them got out the coloring paper, the crayons, the markers, the drawing pencils and spend most of the next HOUR coloring their dream monster trucks. It was amazing! I turned the boys cd on quietly (Buck Howdy, of course!) so it leant some fun to the quietness.

Suddenly, ds2 (our second son) says “Isn’t this just so nice? We are all sitting here talking and coloring and isn’t this just so nice?” Since no one was saying anything, he added “yes, it is so nice!”

I was walking around, soaking up the moment of peace, tidying up (because it’s never clean here, just always getting ‘tidied up’) and it struck me what ds2 said. When the TV was off, the computer was sleeping and we were just ‘being’, well, that was the highlight of the day. There is nothing wrong with the boys watching TV, there is nothing wrong with me researching on the computer….but sometimes we have too much monster truck in our life. Sometimes we need to get away from the loudness, the excitement, the work, and just spend some quiet moments with our family, with our God, just to reconnect, to be and talk about nothing more than what our favorite color is – which, is in the scheme of life – a huge thing to know.

That Friday night was one of the best nights we have had in a long time. I hope the lesson we learned will stick with us longer than the shocks on a monster truck too.

Life with 4 boys...talk about a joy ride!

Guest post:

(By the way, Denise came over and we got her started on her own blog, you have to go read about her past Sunday!!!)

Here's another guest post by Denise:

Have any of you heard of Buck Howdy? You can check him out at Buck Howdy.

I have gotten his cds from the library before and currently we have the album called Chickens playing to and from school in the suburban. Actually, it plays wherever we go but back and forth to school is a constant trip. Anyhow, he is just great.

He sings songs like “Don’t let Granny in the door” and “Big John” and “Hey, you, get off of my cow!” and “You are my sunshine” and “Chickens, chickens, shore do love my chickens!” and “Baa, Neigh, Cock-a doodle-doo”.

Okay, you get the idea about him just from the song titles by now, I’m sure. And yes, I am still singing the “I love my chickens” song in my head, it’s my favorite.

We love this cd, as you can tell. I should just buy them, but I keep getting different ones from the library and rotate them for the boys to listen to. I cannot help laughing, no matter what stressed state we left the house in I can almost guarantee a good giggle.

It will be completely silent in the vehicle, well, other than the chattering teeth of a cold winter morning, and suddenly one will belt out “Don’t let Granny in the door!”. How can a giggle not escape you on that one?


One night we were headed home from Word of Life club and every one of the boys was singing. Our oldest sings with a twang just as he hears Buck Howdy do. The next one sings adds little ‘add on’s’ into a song, making it his own. The third listens carefully to everyone else singing and attempts to do a little of all of them, trying not to make a mistake. The youngest goes as loud and proud as he possibly can belt out from his car seat.

It sounds awful, but to my husband and I it is the silliest and sweetest time! It’s one of those moments you just want to hold on to for forever.
Cherish it and look back and recall it to memory, it’s that great.

I usually start giggling so hard I can hardly breathe and tears form in my eyes and it’s just great. But it is truly awful, especially if we join in to sing loudly along.

But they sing with all their heart. They love it, it’s so much fun.

What do you think God thinks of us when we sing? Do we sing our songs on Sunday morning or to our praise cd or station thru the week with passion or ho hum? It’s worth thinking about. Because, I seriously doubt that he is going to critique our tone and sound. If it’s from our heart it’ll bring Him more joy than our boys singing to a Buck Howdy cd.

I can’t help but think that no matter what stressed state you started to sing to God in, the songs reminding us of God’s greatness can’t help but calm us.

Just something think (or sing) about!

(In case you missed her first article, check it out here: Denise’s introduction)

Introducing Denise!

I have someone that I want you to meet, it is my girlfriend Denise. She and I have been friends for several years now. I remember back when she just had one little boy and now she has 4! My husband says that they are not just four boys, they are four boooys! This household is overflowing with testosterone!! However, Denise takes it all in stride and is one of the funnest moms I know.


Denise is also a great writer, she and I put together a rockin' church newsletter years ago. Plus, she sends the best notes you've ever read!

She doesn't have her own blog (yet), so I asked her to start writing some articles for a guest spot here on Praise and Coffee. Not sure how often I will be posting her articles, so stay tuned, I guarantee you will fall in love with Denise and her family as you read!

Make sure to leave her a comment welcoming her!

Here is a little more about Denise:

Denise Dykstra has been married to her handsome husband Jason for eleven years now. They are blessed with four boys ages nine, six, four and three. Denise has been writing since she was old enough to write stories on orange construction paper. She worked on her highschool newspaper, her local town paper for a short time as a stringer, her church newsletter and enjoys jotting notes and journaling. When not wrangling her boys together or cooking up enough food to feed them all, she enjoys gardening with her husband, camping and beach days. She and her family make their home on their hobby farm in West Michigan where they grow vegetables and always have the coffee on.

And now, on to her article:

I know little to nothing about any sport. My husband doesn’t really follow sports, we all enjoy watching most of them but really know little about them. We are too busy farming…ask us about farming and we know a little something about that!

In Michigan right now, there is a ton of snow. And it is very very very very very very cold (recently 22 below zero). The boys are cooped up in the house quite a lot of the time, and we have a small farmhouse with no basement so every game played is in the main part of our house and I am the ref, no matter what else I am doing or what else is going on.

This month the boys favorite game is hockey. Using socks for skates and brooms or old wrapping paper rolls or boards (I am not sure where they find those from) for sticks they try to get the hockey puck into the bathroom door or the living room door. It’s insane.

The other night my husband and I were watching a movie and our youngest was still awake. A commercial for a fast food chain came on and it says ‘hockey’ in it about ten times. Since even my youngest seems to know I know not much about sports, he figured he would inform me how to play. “You take the basketball” (keep in mind, he’s talking about hockey) “and throw it or kick it to make a touchdown”.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yup, I’m sure,” he replied.

One of my other sons, the one who is REALLY into hockey right now, tells me he lost the pock the other day. He thinks the puck is called a pock and no one can convince him otherwise.

It makes for some interesting conversations around here.

And I’m not sure why, but this whole hockey thing this month got me thinking about how much do we really know about what God says to us versus how much do we think we know. I am pretty sure we think we know a lot. But maybe we sound just as ridiculous as my boys do about hockey right now. They think they have the game figured out – just ask them! – and I think we think we have things all figured out, we have God in our orderly filed box in our brain, until we get asked something we don’t know or put in a situation we don’t understand. What will we do about it then, study up to know why we believe it or if it’s true, or continue in our ignorance? One day my boys will know more about hockey, they will study the game and know all that technical stuff and maybe play on a real team. It’ll take them a few more years, but I’m sure they’ll get it if they care about it. But what about you? Are you going to study up and get to know more about God, or don’t you really care about it?

I struggle with this. Our oldest really thinks things thru. He mulls it over in his head and then springs some deep theological question on us when we very least expect it. I so often am stumped and sadly, I often snap “why would you ask that? I’m busy, ask me later!” At which time, I feel as if I have just been punched in the gut. My husband and I usually end up talking to him together after the others have gone to bed, and it always leads to more conversations on the same subject for a few more days. But always, always we have to look it up, call a trusted friend or parent, bring it up in a Bible study and then get back to him. Kids are great at having you look at something thru new eyes, and they are great for making you realize how little you really know.

It’s a new year and I hear that most the country is in below normal temps with above normal precipitation…like snow. Why not take a little time in this cold weather to get to know your Heavenly Father better? Read some commentaries, do a Bible study, something to get you knowing your God better and knowing why you believe what you believe. I plan to do the same. Thursday I start a Bible study, because like I told you before, I struggle with this. And if I struggle with it, I am sure someone else out there is too.

And in the meantime, I have to continue to figure out how to give a time out in a penalty box to a hockey player who threw the basketball over the dining room table, where his brother caught it and ran it for a touchdown to score a goal. Apparently they were supposed to use sticks to get the touchdown. Guess I had better study up!