Shake the System

Our church has been doing a series on injustice, urging us to "shake the system". It is has been very powerful to me. God is preparing and working on my heart not only for Cost Rica, but for eternity, I think. I wanted to share one of the stories told this Sunday that I can't get out of my head. I hope I don't butcher it up too much.
A native of India is married to an American woman and they live in India. They are believers in JC. They are walking along a very busy and poor street somewhere in India. He sees a woman in her 70's crouched down on the street, and she looks like his grandmother. He goes to her to ask her name. She replies"Mong". He says"no , not your cast, your name, I serve a God of no casts". In India "mong" is the lowest of the low cast in the cast system. She says "Who is this God you serve?" He replies" Jesus Christ". She says" When I was a little girl , older women came to our village and taught us about Him and sang songs about Him. We then prayed to ask Him into our hearts. I have not heard of Him since then. I believe in your God." I cry as I type this for a few reasons:
1. Praise God we serve a God of Grace and Mercy who doesn't believe in casts.
2. Praise God He is a faithful God who doesn't forget His sheep, even after 70 years.
3. Praise God for missionaries who continue to go to hard places to reach people on behalf of Jesus.
4. Praise God for the Holy Spirit who led that man to that woman so she knows she is not forgotten.
5. Praise God that he listened to the Holy spirits leading, and that the Holy spirit is Alive!
Thank you to Missionaries past and present who are planting seeds that may not be sown for generations.

TV Free week

This week is TV free week at our house. For ALL of us. That means no tv for mom and dad after the kiddos go to bed. No video games either, which is only a big deal to 2 members of our family. I actually love this week and wonder why I ever turn the tv on in the first place. The kids get used to it and don't really seem to mind it too much. It makes them think of things to do. Now we are not a big tv family anyway , but tv is a no brainer way to spend time.
I was convicted about tv quite a different way this weekend at church. I will blog about that later.
We are having a load of dirt delivered today, so I can only imagine what they will want to do this afternoon.

qotd

On the way to my niece Tori's high school graduation I was describing the spread their Aunt Leann has planned for the open house the next day. I was telling the kids about the mexican food, cake, cookies and the chocolate fountain.
Annie pipes up" Can I drink from the fountain?"
That's a girl after my own heart.
Aunt Leann assured her it would be ok as long as no one saw her doing it, I quickly nixed it.
BTW Tori's graduation from Lawrence North High School was a new experience for me. 700 kids graduated at the Pepsi coliseum. Pretty cool. Way to go Tori- we are proud of you.

Quote of the Day(qotd)

Andrew: "Mom, don't ever buy a donkey"
Mom: "Why "
Andrew: "It might kick the car"
This conversation was had while driving home from the bank. Where does he come up with this stuff?
He is standing here while I am posting this and said "I'm hilarious"

Oreck

I am not sure if you are all familiar with the vacuum cleaner company Oreck. They have some annoying commercials? Anyway, I love their products. I trialed my first vacuum 5 years ago (to get a free lamp) and loved it. I, however, did not love the price of $500. so I sent it back after the 30 day free trial. I have been pineing away over it and finally trialed it again ( to get a free cordless iron). This time we have a dog in the house and even more active kids. It was awesome, I moved ALL of the furniture in the house to vacuum under it before I sent it back. I cannot justify $500. Joe even gave me the ok to keep it. My giddiness makes him happy I think. You see, I vacuum almost every day. I admit I am a little OCD.
After I reluctantly sent the vacuum back, they sent a flyer in the mail for a special. "For Oreck owners only: you may buy one additional vacuum for $199." I jumped at the chance. I got it on tuesday and have been, again, giddy with excitement. My family thinks I am nuts. My rationale for $199 is this: you not only get a great vacuum, but also yearly tune ups and belt changes and can trade it in at any time. You don't get that with a dyson. I just vacuumed the upstairs, now off to do the downstairs. Happy Vacuuming!

A Blessing

To the left of this post Joe has started a list of 5 ways to Bless your child. At church this sunday the sermon was about this. We went to Andrews preschool recognition service at Hazel Dell Christian Church. Very nice church, the people there are great. It was a great reminder of the ways to bless your child. Our kids were in the service with us, which is unusual for us. The older 2 were funny listening. Blessing your kids is very "intentional". On our own we would be selfish pigs. We really have to be "intentional" about touch, praise, prayer etc. It gets busy at our house and I sometimes go to bed and think: "did I laugh today?, did I hug the kids today? " I tend to beat myself up a lot. I really need to remind myself regularly of Gods Grace. My kids will "turn out" fine without me. God has big plans for them- we tell them this often. I need to beleive it and get out of His way.

Raccoon

Well we caught another coon. Joe had an interesting day "disposing" of it. I was crying at work, I was laughing so hard. Ask him about it if you see him. We will continue to set the trap. One of our neighbors said he caught 30 last summer. I sure hope we don't have to catch that many.