i'm dreaming of a white......

i know, you've heard over and over that i love fall...but doesn't this just get you in the mood?

Pottery Barn Kids

buhl barbie

I received one of my fav emails today..."Idaho Barbie" with slightly offensive but really humorous descriptions of what Barbie would be in different towns around Idaho. I was surprised that someone had made the addition of "Buhl Barbie".




'Buhl Barbie'
This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Mountain Home Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.

Awesome! What reputation does your hometown have?

worry, much?

Our senior pastor, Ken Wilde, has referred to the recent crises our nation is facing as "the perfect storm". The phrase-perfect storm- originates from the 1997 book "The Perfect Storm" which refers to the simultaneous occurrence of weather events which, taken individually, would be far less powerful than the storm resulting of their chance combination. So, what are our options when faced with the possible catastrophe in the economy, and rumors of wars? Freak out or faith....

I'm reminded of the story in Matthew, where the disciples follow Jesus into the boat, Jesus falls asleep, and a ferocious storm begins to torment the disciples. They freak out and wake the big guy up. Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith, but doesn't allow the storm to destroy them. He calms the waves, and settles their fears.

Maybe a little fear is good, because it arouses our faith. It makes us realize that nothing is in our control, not the economy, not our future, and not storms. Let's turn fear into faith and worry into wonder. Let's humble ourselves and cry out to the only one that can calm devastation and heal our land.

Read the rest of Pastor Ken's call to prayer here...

just call me and Hillary "Fieldmarshal"

Thanks to my good friend, Meagan, I retreated back to my early college psych classes and took a personality test...the Jung Typology Test. These things are always quite humorous. According to Carl Gustav Jung, I am Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (or ENTJ)...heavy on the Intuitive and Judging. What this means, are these things:

Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition it is marshaling or situational organizing role that reaches the highest development in the Fieldmarshal... Hardly more than two percent of the total population, Fieldmarshals are bound to lead others, and from an early age they can be observed taking command of groups. In some cases, they simply find themselves in charge of groups, and are mystified as to how this happened. But the reason is that they have a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever they are - to harness people in the field and to direct them to achieve distant goals... Superb administrators in any field - medicine, law, business, education, government, the military - Fieldmarshals organize their units into smooth-functioning systems, planning in advance, keeping both short-term and long-range objectives well in mind. For the Fieldmarshal, there must always be a goal-directed reason for doing anything...

Some famous people that are/were also ENTJ:
Hillary Clinton, Napoleon, Margret Thatcher, Carl Sagan, Bill Gates, Golda Meir, Edward Teller, George Benard Shaw, and General George C. Marshall

Seriously?

Take the test. And let me know what your personality is!

...conversations with a 4 year old....

Ellie: "Mom, so how DID I get in your tummy?"

Me: "That's a really great question...that you should go ask Daddy."

Ellie: "Maybe you just ATE me..."

here's to 7 years

7 years ago...I married my best friend.

We decided this year we would celebrate our anniversary, not by rewarding ourselves for "making it this far", but rewarding ourselves for the fact that we can't believe it's already been 7 years. We know that 7 years is a drop in the bucket of a lifetime...so we celebrated by re-evaluating our goals, vision, and a whole lot of being silly. Here are some of the silly things we did:

-tried to recite every cheesy love line from movies, like "You complete me", "If you jump, I jump", and "You had me at hello".

-for old times sake, wasted 3 bucks on scratch lottery tickets, then ran away from the grocery store when we saw one of the elders from our church

-pretended we were staying at a hotel, by putting mini shampoo & conditioner bottles on the bathtub

-stayed up til 2am watching movies

-our anniversary tradition, eating pizza from Chicago Connection and drinking sparkling cider (as we did on our wedding night)

To my Hubby,

These last 7 years have been more than we dreamed of, and if we do as much laughing in these next 7 years...who knows where we could be! I love you...

we've all got a little prodigal...

This weekend at church, Pastor Krist threw down a great message on our personal calling, with reference to the prodigal son (Luke 15:11). Some of the things I took away from it:

-prodigal=wasteful

-we all have a little prodigal, when we waste our lives on our own plans

-we sometimes would rather fail and get our own way than flourish in God's way

-God's love is so irrationally generous...He likes to waste His grace on sons that waste their destiny

-there are things that are loved because they are worthy, and things that are worthy because they are loved

-everyone has a calling, specific design, possibility, potential, destiny...

goodbye pool days

We celebrated the end of summer and the last day at the pool this week. And started a new tradition...all moms must jump in the pool on the last day! We really threw our kids for a loop, they all thought we couldn't swim. Ellie was in tears because she thought I was drowning when I dove in. Of course, we had to have mommy olympics...with JB winning the 10m freestyle, and yours truly winning the "swimming the farthest under water with one breath". And let me just say...it was worth chlorine in the hair, braving the world in a swimsuit without cover-up, and smeared make-up. Thanks, friends, for a great memory!

what the bible says...

This morning's God time with the girls:

Me: Olivia, do you know what the Bible says?

Olivia: RAWR (as does the bear and the lion).

She's just a genius, I tell ya.




Jeddas




Fern Animals

i have so almost done this before...

i said "almost"

you say Goodbye, I say Hello

Goodbye brightly colored swim bag filled with goggles, swim diapers, and sunblock...Hello to new backpacks, pencil shavings, and the ever-essential Trapper Keeper

Little Dudes and Divas


Goodbye to sipping iced tea on the back porch watching the grass grow...Hello to sipping pumpkin spice lattes by the fire watching leaves fall from the trees

LemonTreeStudio

Goodbye tank tops, flip flops, and swimsuit tan lines...Hello sweaters, scarves, and a brand spankin' new pair of kicks

modern seed


Goodbye to holding my babies wrapped tightly in bright beach towels, staring at the pool...Hello to holding my babies wrapped tightly in cozy quilts, staring at a football battle unfolding

Imkquilts


Goodbye to long walks and picking wildflowers...Hello to long walks and picking the most perfectly round and pudgy pumpkin










Goodbye to the careless living of summer...Hello, to the fresh commitment of fall!

These are a few of my favorite FALL things.
Now it's your turn...

Here's To You #4...legendary church planter & my great-grandma

In my 4th installation of "Here's To You", a salute to inspiring and hard working moms, I'm introducing you to one of my heroes...Ethel Musick.

I could listen for hours to my dad talk about his fiery, 5 foot nothin' grandma who could barely see over most pulpits, but could preach the hell out of people and still show the grace and forgiveness of a saint to her enemies.

I was reminded of the impact of her life when I googled her name, and found an article about her titled "The Historical Role of an Assemblies of God Evangelist". In this article, she is mentioned alongside Aimee Semple McPherson and Smith Wigglesworth as a "key 20th century evangelist". It says,

The Musick family was used by God to pioneer churches. For example, Ethel Musick established six new churches and built five new church buildings in just 18 months.

18 months! I am so behind on my church planting! What a privilege to have this heritage...I'm honored to be the great-granddaughter of Ethel Musick, and the recipient of undoubted prayers and generational blessings because of her extreme faithfulness.

happy paper cut-out art

This made me happy today...lovely pieces of art displayed in the windows of Urban Outfitters in the Milwaukee area. You can find more art by Amy Marcella on her etsy page here.

photo from Design Sponge

Here's To You #3...hockey mom to potential VP

In my third installation of "Here's To You" (see previous installations #1 and #2), a salute to hard working moms, Sarah Palin is featured. And I thought my life was busy! If I could ask Sarah Palin one question, I might ask her...."You fired your chef? I mean, I understand the jet was a little much, but I can't even fathom meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking for a family of 7, and governing a state!"

If you could ask Sarah Palin one question, what would it be?


picture is from McCainBlogette.com

fancy praise dance pants

So I think I can dance...but I do admit I could use a little more training before I audition to be on the show (I'm 28 yrs old so this year is my LAST CHANCE!). What better opportunity than to attend DANCE CLINICS hosted by our church and lead by none other than Sabra herself (winner of Season 3 "So You Think You Can Dance").

In preparation for some intense dance training coming up next weekend, I have done some research and found a website for all of y'all modest dancers...and a place to buy a pair of hot pink Praise Booty Shorts...Reflections of Dance Liturgical Dancewear. You have to check it out.

Forget the days of worshiping with ribbons and flags...the sleeves on these Praise Dance Dresses double as flags. And they have an extensive Praise Undergarment section, as well as, my fav...Praise Dance Pants (it's just fun to say). And no worries, Ken Holsinger and Marcus Hackler, they have a little something for you in the Men's Praise Dancewear section...take your pick of Peasant tops and Praise pants. I'm pretty sure I will definitely be able to rock my audition of Sabra's "Amazing Grace" with one of these Godet Praise Dance Dresses...I'm thinking the Forest Green/Pistachio would look best on me.



What do ya think?

TF County Fair TOP 5

There's nothing better than the sweet smells, interesting people, and hometown fun of the county fair...oh, and these things:

#5. Many impressive handlebar mustache specimens (Marc, you'd be proud).

#4. The 85 year old plus announcers that try to make the tractor pull display and model train exhibit sound attractive...but inevitably fail.

#3. The chance to play Bingo (I call it "Buttcrack Bingo" because most of the people are leaning forward intensely looking over their Bingo card not realizing the backside display us onlookers get to enjoy), and win a nice fleece blanket.

#2. The opportunity to buy cheap sunglasses...and at the same booth, an artistically airbrushed trucker's hat with your name on it in beautiful, neon colors.

#1. The jaw dropping realization that my daughter has a little "honky tonk" in her...see evidence below.

Pray for Christians in India

I was alerted of this urgent prayer need via my good friends and heroes...Brent and Virginia Earwicker...missionaries in Uganda, Africa. Please pray for Christians in Urissa, India. They have suffered severe persecution as an anti-Christian rampage has attacked pastors, killed believers, burned churches, and raped young Christian women.

I thought selfishly for a moment, as I looked at my sweet baby girls sleeping so comfortably in their fluffy beds, that I would rather not know of such horror going on around the world. Shame on me. Thanks, Brent, for the wake up call. He says in his blog,

I had been reading in Hebrews 13 just that day and found the verse that commanded, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.” My wife whacked her baby toe against the coffee table yesterday and the pain instantly shot throughout her body, causing her to writhe in agony on the sofa for a number of minutes. Her entire being felt that shock wave from one of the smallest appendages on her petite frame. I believe we should respond to the tribulation of our relatives in a similar fashion: praying fervently for the pain relief of our Body.

Please join with me and pray fervently for these dear brothers and sisters! Our prayers are powerful!