A re-post.....but a great reminder.

This blog post from 3 years ago popped up on my Facebook feed and I was stopped in my tracks and reminded anew how important it is to remember that God's love endures. No matter what my circumstances seem to be, no matter my perspective, no matter what I see....his love endures forever. So, I'm sorry, on a blog with such infrequent posts, to repeat myself...but this needs to be on here twice.  (Reposted and edited, from Jan.22, 2013)

I read Psalm 136 today in morning devotions.  Here's a snippet - in case you need a reminder of this great Psalm (complete text at the bottom of this post):

Psalm 136

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

His love endures forever.

² Give thanks to the God of gods.

His love endures forever.

³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:

His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,

His love endures forever.

So....I was reading this text again - like I've read it many, many times before but this time I was actually reading the words outloud.  All of them.  Even the repeated refrain "His love endures forever" which I (and I'm probably not the only one) skip over or just read in our heads.  It struck me as I read all the good, and bad things in the first parts of the stanzas that ALL of them ended with "His love endures forever" no matter how wonderful or horrible the action seemed - creating the sun, or killing kings.  

And then I wondered...WHAT IF I read my life like that.
I mean, I KNOW it in my head - that God's love endures forever; that he loves me; that he works all things together for good....
but what if I actually SAID it outloud like that - attached to the good, and the bad.

I woke up this morning wide awake and breathing.

His love endures forever.

My coffee was great and devotions were challenging

His love endures forever.

It's -43 with the windchill outside and I have to walk to school.

His love endures forever.

My van is in the garage and getting it back today will mean a big bill

His love endures forever.

My son got a part in the community play "The Sound of Music."

His love endures forever.

My daughter did not get the part she auditioned for.

His love endures forever.     

You see how this could go on and on....I could list every good or bad (in my perspective) thing that happens in my day/life....and still, His love would endure and every little thing in my life would filter through that understanding.  I think this would change my perspective on a lot of things.  I think I might start to see many more things as gifts from my loving Heavenly Father.  I also think I might begin to see HOW he's working things together for my good instead of being frustrated that I can't always see it. 

Today's Edit: 

It's Monday - first day of a new semester of school. 

His love endures forever.

I'm loving my job this year. 

His love endures forever.

My son has unrelenting headaches from post-concussion syndrome.

His love endures forever.

I am on a roller-coaster with another child.

His love endures forever.

I'm going back to school. 

His love endures forever.

My bills are piling up. 

His love endures forever.

The coffee is good this morning. 

His love endures forever.

His love endures forever.

As promised:  the entire text of Psalm 136

Psalm 136

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
⁷ who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.
⁸ the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea^[a] asunder
His love endures forever.
¹⁴ and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

¹⁶ to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

¹⁷ to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
¹⁸ and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
²¹ and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
²² an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.

²³ He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
²⁴ and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.
²⁵ He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.

Monday Morning Veggies

I love to be organized. Please don't read that as, "I'm always organized," because that would be quite far from the truth. But I do love to organize and I do love it when I AM organized. I function better when my desk is organized. I sleep better when my rooms are clean and organized. And I find that I save a lot of time when I'm organized. 

Here's one of my organizational moments: lunch veggies. 

It's 7:05 am and I'm done making school lunch veggies for the week :)

A salad a day for me, bags of veggies for each day this week for 2 kids, and a giant bowl of salad left at home for my one kid who likes to come home for lunch. I've cut 15 minutes off every other morning this week and stretched our groceries to last for the week instead of being caught unaware late Thursday night and having to run to Superstore. 

Next week could be an entirely different scenario and you'll see me scrambling to make it work....but for now, this week is taken care of. Yay Me! 

Service weekend

Our Lifegroup from church did a service/work weekend. Several families went out to Red Rock Bible Camp and helped with a bit of spring cleaning to get ready for their spring camps that will be starting soon. Together, we scraped paint off of bathroom stalls to prep for repainting, completely cleaned out the Tuck Shop including defrosting the freezer and scrubbing walls with "magic erasers," emptied sheds, cleaned cabins and bathrooms, built floor supports in a couple places that needed it, washed down tables and benches and helped with a lot of kitchen work. It was a super long day of good old- fashioned manual labour. Wonderful!

We ended our workday with a great visit, some nighttime tubing down to the beach,  good coffee and a Bible study with communion. 

What I'm leaving behind

In a little over 3 weeks I'll be leaving this house that has been my home for more than 12 years. 

 It has seen the very, very best of me and the very, very worst of me.  

tears and laughter; 

fights and making up; 

ups and downs; hot and cold; 

babies, toddlers, preschoolers, grade schoolers, middle schoolers and teens; 

times of great faith and times of great doubt; 

fears and failures; joy and triumphs; 

marriage and divorce; 

hard work and silly play; 

In the last few years there have been a lot of changes around here with regards to the house.  

Physically, the house has gone through a complete overhaul.  The unnecessary was discarded, donated or sold. The necessary was acquired and put to good use, including a new stove, hot water tank, flooring, roof, paint, etc. etc.  I've worked hard to maintain a house that I never thought I'd have to care for on my own. 

 Emotionally, the house has seen it's share of ups and downs too.  My prayer several years ago was that this house would be a place of peace and safety.  For me.  For my kids.  For anyone who would step over the threshold.  And I have to say, God answers prayer!  No amount of renovating by me could have done this miracle and made this house the home it's been in the past few years.  

So....am I sad to leave it?  A little, yes.  But I know that the God who carried us this far is leading us into a new adventure and the home he built with us here....can be built again, even better, at the new house.  And any ties I have to this house, are dwarfed by the much stronger ties to my God who has never, ever left us on our own. I'm sorry....I just can't say it any better than this:

A few photos and memories of the house we're leaving behind.  (Note:  these photos were taken professionally to sell the house - something that happened, literally, overnight - so if you're thinking my house ever really looked this good, the joke's on you)

 My "spa" bathroom:  I loved this room.  We initially renovated this room because one of our children dropped something in the toilet that was irretrievable.  Even the plumber told us to take it out to the backyard and smash it and let him know what was in there (the cap to a spray can, incidentally). My favourite part, aside from the colours.....a deep soaker tub which, yes, I will miss dearly!

 My craft room:  I love how neat and organized it looks here.  If you know anything about me at all, you know it only ever looks like this just before I start creating.  I was very excited a few years ago when my two oldest wanted basement bedrooms and all that was left for me to scrapbook in was this Upstairs room, with a window :)

 Laundry room: yes, I'll miss this space. It's not finished but it reminds me of how God provides....2 freezers with food to spare and a washer and dryer that have lasted and lasted and lasted.

 Teen room #1:  Style maybe defined as Vintage meets IKEA meets Grandma's afghan.

 Basement bathroom:  Again, my favourite "waterfall" colour.

 Shed:  (obviously these pictures are in no particular order)  This shed has been snowed in all winter so honestly, it'll be a surprise to me what's all in there when we get around to digging it out to move :)

 Pre-teen room: Go Bombers! 

 Pantry: So much lovely storage space.  THIS, I will miss!! 

 Dining room: This room has seen many meals, many games, many family discussions, and much love!

 The front yard;  This yard reminds me of football games and toboggan slides; sprinkler wars and basketball games; furniture painting and yard sales; somersaults and bocce ball; late night coffee and early morning....well, coffee too :)

 Rec room:  otherwise known as the Xbox room.  Many a sleepover has happened in this room - exactly my intention in finishing out this room and stocking it with piles and piles of blankets and pillows.

 Master bedroom:  I will miss this room. This room has definitely been touched by God and it has become a place of peace and laughter and lots of silliness.  You can't see it in this picture but above the white dresser in the far right corner, there's a TV mounted on the wall.  We've had so many family movie nights with the 4 of us snuggled into this bed.  Funnier still is that recently most of us are close to 6' tall and we also have 3 cats joining us.  It's a big pile of fun :)  The kids are trying to convince me that I need a King size in the new house so we can still all fit in there :)

 Kitchen:  I painted these cabinets just this last Christmas and the flooring was done last August.  I adore these colours and I'm really sad to leave them.  I'm copying a bit of this in my new house but it won't be quite the same.  Lots of cooking and lots of eating happened here!

 Playhouse:  Rockwall, slide, rope ladder, secret trap door, and monkey bars.....this was a unique design that we made ourselves.  I have no idea how many kids have played on this but I pray that the kids who will be playing on here this coming summer will be as safe, happy and silly as mine were. 

 Teen bedroom #2:  Snowcone green.  It's even brighter in real life.  

Living room:  Another room that's probably never been so clean and neat before....and maybe never will be again as long as we're around.....but a room that's been full of family movies, wrestling matches, deep heart-to-heart talks, coffee with friends, a party or two, Christmas gatherings, meals, devotions, music and drama. 

There you have it.  What I'm leaving behind.   A house that was my home....but in the end, to me, just a house.  Our home will be where we end up (wait for the next blog post)and this house will go on to be home to another family who will love it and find love in it.

Sick days for Moms

I have a great job. Good hours, rewarding work, amazing co-workers, and paid sick days when I need them...just to name a few of the reasons I like my job. 

But when I come home tired and "less than 100%" at the end of my workday, I still have to be Mom. No paid sick days.  In fact, not good hours either. And no co-workers at all, so that sucks too. The work is still pretty rewarding, or at least most days it is. 

But somedays I need a sick day 

So today, and I'm not ashamed to admit it: I lay in bed playing iPhone/iPod games with my boys, I let my daughter go to a friend's house for supper, I threw in a frozen pizza here at home, and as soon as supper was over, I climbed right back into bed. 

Aaaahhhh. 

The dishes can wait. 

The laundry can wait.

I made myself a cup of coffee...

...and I just may just have a nap before bedtime :)

Getting back to work...

I've really needed to get some cards made (I keep a stock on hand because I sell at a couple of local businesses). So tonight instead of doing yard work (I'll show you that progress in a future post), I spent the whole evening with a great friend and cranked out a stack of cards! 

I have to show you this set in particular simply because my youngest son went to the LSS and specifically picked out this piece of patterned paper with the clipboards on it and also the fruit stickers (Doodlebug) just for me for Mother's Day. He's so sweet and it was fun to put his gift together into a little set of cards. 

Loving getting creative....even though I'm up WAY past my bedtime tonight...it's nights like this that help center me again!

Also my first post from my iPhone. How fun is that??!?? I can see blogging being much easier this way!  

Goodnight!