... not so RANDOM forgiveness

If you are have spent ANY time "here" then you are aware of my fascination with things that are NOT so random. I really do seek them out, and make myself pay attention when they occur. For crying out loud, I changed the name of my blog BECAUSE of it... ha!

*warning... This is ANOTHER "running" story.... and yes, I STILL just stop while "running". I've decided to just embrace it.*

Anyways, another such incident (you know, RANDOM) occurred this week. It made me smile for a good 43 minutes, so I feel the need to share. Plus, I have decided to give up scrapbooking all together, and am just going to get my blog printed at the end of the year. This is something I don't want to forget. This story, not getting my blog printed.

It starts with me running. "Running". It has become a little more than exercise these days, and certainly more of an exercise in focussing on the fact that I CAN run. I know many people that are too sick to leave their home, let alone Run for Fun. Believe me, I am grateful, even when I am contemplating calling Ryan on my cell phone and begging him to come and get me!

ANYWAYS, I decided on Friday, that I would listen to a SERMON while I was out. I'll be honest, Ryan had put it on my ipod for me a good month ago... it was from a Sunday when I was working, and our church is kind enough to send us CD's of the sermon's since Ryan misses 1/2 of them each week doing the Children's program. Turns out, it was from September 13th.

This is the passage...

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 and it's about forgiveness... Which I immediately said to myself, "I don't have anyone to forgive..." and when our pastor, Lou, brought up the fact that YOU might be the one who caused something that needs to be forgiven, I decided that probably didn't apply either. HA! At least nothing came to mind... *Lets just say, if that's not true, feel free to leave a comment... I changed them to be moderated first, so I will call you, THEN delete your comment!!!*

So, I believe you get the picture that I am assuming this sermon "doesn't apply" but I figured, Lou's funny, I'll listen anyways. Plus, REALLY tired of my music.

At the start of the sermon, Lou prays this prayer...

"... You have ordained all the words that appear in scripture. But also by your Providence, within history, within time, You have allowed us as a congregation to be in THIS book, at THIS time, and in THESE verses on THIS day... and we are going to assume, Lord, that that is not an accident, but that you have something for us..." of course my ears perked up, he's speaking my language. I did chuckle a little, since I wasn't hearing it live.

It was a great sermon with some fun Beatles references (told you Lou is entertaining!)... then he brought up the fact that "sometimes we need to forgive that person who said those things that were so hurtful..." and how we hold onto our anger... "You know when you are driving in your car alone, and all of a sudden you are having imaginary conversations with someone who's not even there, and you're getting angrier and angrier while driving, and they aren't even THERE!" I nearly tripped. Seriously.

See, this week, someone I LOVE said something that hurt my feelings and rather than just blow it off as them having a bad day (I mean, Ryan DID point out to me that people don't usually TRY to hurt your feelings!!) I really struggled with it all week. I let it make me madder and madder... and it was just so stupid (me being that hurt, not them actually saying what they said...).

It occurred to me I needed to forgive, and probably ask for some forgiveness, too. Then I just couldn't stop thinking about that beginning prayer. How Lou said that God's providence brought this passage to us on this day, which was originally September 13th. I think he should have added in "and on November 13th when Jennifer gets around to listening, that's Your plan, too...". I just love the fact that God uses people to bring to us exactly what we need, when we need it, and usually without them realizing it. It just wasn't RANDOM that "I decided" to listen to that sermon on Friday morning. I love moments when I can see clearly. And nearly trip. Ironic!

... now, if we could just get Lou over for a little Beatles RockBand!

It's a good day...

Did you know that if you start this movie at PRECISELY 8:44.45pm, it will be 10:04pm when lightening strikes the clock tower in the movie? Precisely.

Can't wait to hear what everyone ELSE did to celebrate TODAY!

Seasons of change...

The Process of our Living Room... has another chapter. The bookcase we got from Ikea! Ryan put it together for me with relative ease:) Now I am in the process of adding treasures to it... I prefer not to have something out just because it's cute (although that happens a lot, too!), and so far the pictures on the top are really meaningful to me.

LOVE the picture on the top left "To everything there is a season" (I got it at Ross!!) I love Ecclesiastes 3, and the sweet reminder that while there is a time to weep, there is also a time to laugh! Isn't that encouraging? And I also love the fact that if you read FURTHER, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men..."... and also v14, which you can look up yourself, just for fun! This picture reminds me of all this, and mostly to DIG DEEPER, read FURTHER.

The picture on the far right is the Oregon Coast, which we all know was super special to all of us! LOVED the time I spent with our family there... we just made so many special memories.

The picture of Ben and Great Grandma Tuinstra. I think of so much when I look at it... Ben RELAXED for once! A reminder of a SWEET day with Grandma, where she remembered Ryan and that Ben and Carly were his kids ~ it was really precious. Grandma's hands, so visible, so loving... so often folded in prayer for US, daily in fact. The sweet little smile on Grandma's face... and how she wanted to hug Ben that day, and a reminder of how she hauled Carly up into her lap in the chair to snuggle her. And finally, a reminder of Where she is today. Where's she's wanted to be her whole life. I had the black and white printed for our stairwell, but decided I needed it to be much more visible to everyone.

So far, The Shelf is also holding our collection of scrapbooks, and Ryan's prized Peanuts Books collection (not on the shelves when I took the picture...) and a picture of Ben and Carly and Torrey at the beach this summer (who DOESN'T need to be reminded of the carefree days of summer and the relaxing beach and your best buds??!)

and a picture of Eli that Rochel just gave us. And Cassidy. HA!

Oh! And here's what we did this weekend!!!! We were relying on Mom's pictures, so I figured you might was well just check out Rochel's update!

Girl's Night Out... with Eli

I'm patiently waiting for Rochel to post Birthday Party Pictures so I can do a weekly update post.

While I wait... Ryan's parents came to visit this past weekend. Truth be told, they came for Eli's First birthday party, but we stole them to stay at our house. I came up with some excuse about Helping Rochel Out since she's packing. Ha! Silly girl fell for it! So, Ryan decided he wanted to take his Dad to see the Orlando Magic game (because they were playing the Piston's) for HIS birthday (Dad's, not Ryan's...) so the boys took off for Orlando Friday afternoon. That left The Girls! Well, and Eli, since he's somewhat attached to his mama. Anyways, Carly and I and Rochel, Eli and Mom did a little Christmas shopping... and had a little fun at JoAnn's, too! (which brought about the Quote for the week... see sidebar on left) But my favorite funny moment was Rochel showing us her new refrigerator at hhgregg. She hugged it. Yup, and while she was embracing it, the salesman came around the corner. Might have been even funnier hearing her try to EXPLAIN why she was hugging it. HA! It is a pretty nice icebox, I must say. We had a yummy dinner at the Macaroni Grill (mmmmmm), then went home to get the "Little Ones" to bed (that would be Carly and Eli). While sitting around my living room with The Girls was so fun and refreshing (you know, AFTER the kids were in bed!), my favorite part of the night was this:

Carly getting to hang out on Ben's bed/Grandma's bed, reading to her Grandma. It was really sweet... she was happy to "show off" how she raised ALL THAT MONEY for the Read-A-Thon!

Read-A-Thon

Carly's Read-A-Thon is over! She read 15 books/chapters during this past week, and was able to raise $100. THANKS to all her GENEROUS supporters! We will let you know if she wins that trophy!!

Shameless Solicitation

... well, since I'm NOT homeschooling, we have another fundraiser to solicit for... hopefully the last of the year.

Read Around the World. That's right, a Read-A-Thon. Now, Ben has decided NOT to participate ("I read anyways!!" So this makes NO SENSE to him...) so this one's for CARLY! Last year, she won a trophy for the Highest Donations Received in her classroom. All she had to say THIS year was, "I'm working for another trophy!" HA! You might be wondering WHY you never heard about this LAST year... well, her ONE and ONLY donation was $20 from her mother who felt very guilty for NOT encouraging her daughter in the Read-A-Thon by soliciting pledges from all her friends and family. Ironic, since her FATHER is a Librarian!

Here's how this works:

IF you choose to participate and help Carly get a trophy (I mean, help raise money for the school... ALL money collected goes RIGHT to the school, so this is a 100% profit fundraiser!!) then just email me what your preferences are. You can sponsor her for a certain amount per book read (and for Kindergarten to 2nd Graders, "one non-chapter book" or "one chapter" of a chapter book = one book) or give a flat one-time donation. Would you like a Guess at how many she'll read? MMmmmmmm, I'm going to ballpark it at 20.

That's all... EMAIL ME... you know, for CARLY!!!!

Nothing but Gum Madness

WARNING: No pictures.

Perhaps you remember the Original Gum Madness... Well, this week brought MORE gum madness, among other fun events. Why not start with this fun story... even though it's Out of Order:

So, Saturday. Carly is rummaging through kitchen drawers in my mom's house. (They got home from Israel the day before... told you it was Out of Order!) I say, "What are you doing?" Carly says, "Ummmm. Nothing". Carly runs out of the kitchen... past me, where it occurs to me her hair is a DISASTER. I tell her to go brush her hair. (you've heard me say how distracted I get, right?!!) As soon as she's out of the room, I look at my mom. "Hmmmm. 'Nothing' ALWAYS means 'Something'. Know how I know this? She's a GIRL. GIRL's ALWAYS say 'nothing' when 'something' is REALLY up..." There sits my mom. Giggling away. I follow Carly into my mom's bathroom where she is busily brushing her hair. Gum and all. In her hair. Oh boy. Front of her hair. Completely stuck. You know, because it's been BRUSHED in. (oh, by the way, with my DAD's hairbrush) "MOM??!!!!!!!!! (that would be ME yelling, not Carly!) Do you have any scissors?!?!" Little Voice Under my Arms says, "No, she doesn't have any, I just looked...." Ahhh, the Nothing we were Looking for. THANKFULLY Carly couldn't find the scissors or the few snips I had to do to get the gum out, would have been a Full Blown Bowl Cut, I'm sure. And we would have been flying Aunt Randee down for an Emergency Hair Fix. Which wouldn't have been so bad because I could really use some highlights.

Perhaps I should have started the above story with the PREVIOUS conversation of Carly asking ME for gum. I said no, and she asked Grammy. And we all know what Grammy said.

MY PARENTS ARE BACK! Safe and sound. For a week, anyways, until they take off again. We had a fun Friday Night with them, eating dinner and drinking COFFEE and eating ice cream cake! Mmmmmmmm. Ben and Carly got to spend the night, and I'm sure ate more ice cream for breakfast!

Saturday Night (Halloween) we had an excellent time at a Fall Festival Party with much of our Church Family. Still unable to have it where our church is located due to the ongoing construction of our new building... One of the elders in our church hosted it at his home and it was so much fun! Forgot my camera, so you will have to refer to Rochel for pictures... thankfully she caught my Superheroes along with her own! Ben and Carly didn't dress up for this party ONLY because there were going to jumping houses there, and well, being Darth Vader would REALLY have gotten in the way of jumping! Please let the record show that BEN won First Place in the kids Potato Sack Race... There was only a prize for the family race (um, which we DID NOT win... hey, have YOU tried to hop in a potato sack? The Brady Bunch we are NOT, apparently). Anyways, my Race Star was pretty sad not to get a little recognition for his Fine Hopping, so here it is, Ben! Great Job! Unfortunately, Rochel had to leave early with Over Tired Eli, so that left ME to fill in on her singing parts in the Blue Grass Throw Down... Um, I don't know any Blue Grass songs. So that's how that went... but RYAN filling in with our friend Kyle was VERY ENTERTAINING. Any opportunity to make people laugh, I guess.

Oh, one last thing... The MAGIC are back! That's right. Just when I thought it was safe to start watching TV in my living room again (you know, since Baseball Season is over)... it's basketball season! We kicked off Opening Night with a little chinese food to celebrate (mostly I didn't want to cook after working all night!!! you know, and NOT sleeping enough!!) and enjoyed watching (Dwight Howard) the Magic win!! Some day the kids and I will be able to watch iCarly somewhere OTHER than gathered around the very small TV in my bedroom! HA!