Operation Christmas Child

Cool story:

Giving back to God, out of the oh-so-very-much that He has given me, is really important to me. I am a firm believer in tithing.

When I started my photography business I was pretty good about remembering to take my tithe out right away when I would get paid for a job. Well, it ends up that when I get super busy I also get super forgetful… and October was the busiest month I have ever had, as a photographer. I was booking, shooting, and editing photo sessions like crazy. I loved it.  I was also going a little insane and, as mentioned, slightly forgetful.

I was having a little convo with God one day and we had some financial stuff to go over. We were talking and suddenly I could not go on - with anything - until I took care of some business. He reminded me that I had forgotten to give back to Him from the awesome abundance that He had blessed me with.

The thing was, I could not remember what I had tithed on and when I had stopped. So, I hit my knees again. I said, "hey God - could you tell me what to do here? Because I am overwhelmed with how you have blessed this business, and you have surprised my socks off with how well it has done, and how it has taken off! I want to give back to you, but I don't know what the obedient amount would be."

It became really clear to me in the next few minutes that what I was to do was simply to tithe 10 percent of what was presently in my business account. I have been saving a large percentage of my income since the business started. With this being the first full year as a registered business I wanted to be sure that I would have an ample amount to cover bookkeeping, taxes, etc. Therefore, I felt comfortable that I would be thanking and praising God with this tithe in a sufficient way, reflecting my heart.

With money that is unexpected or unplanned for Dave and I like to choose special ways to tithe. So again, I hit my knees (I'm there alot) and got that issue cleared up.

Operation Christmas child is a very special ministry, which we care deeply about. Most years we have purchased a few items to pack one box, and it is a neat thing for the kids to be a part of! This year it was decided that we would each make a box.

All six of us,

out shopping,

for many small items,

after school,

when we were all tired,

and trying to keep track of each persons items…..

Whew! Can you say chaos?

…It was. And after a while I totally lost track of who was grabbing what, and what all was being added to our cart. It was alot. The boys were having a great time throwing stuff in. I kept checking our little brochure, making sure that we were getting some of the necessity items.

Dave and I did the tired mommy and daddy thing, and just shrugged our shoulders and gave each other an exhausted half smile.

We got to the checkout area.

The boys were being crazy.

People began avoiding our aisle.

I didn't blame them…


I had no clue what the final dollar amount on our overflowing cart would be. We finally got everything taken care of, and I grabbed the receipt.

Ya'll, our final total was within pennies of ten percent of my business account. 

I just grinned. Because that's how He does things. ;) I just thought that was very cool.


Our time of packing the boxes, writing notes to each child, and praying over each one was precious. The guys are really starting to "get" it - and it is a true joy to do this with them.

It is such a neat thing to want to bless God, and receiving blessing after blessing from Him!

And we are very excited this year, because we are actually going to get to track our boxes, and find out where they end up!

Lil' Kai talks about "his boy" all the time and is so very excited to be giving him the things he carefully picked out.

Yes, he wanted to keep everything.

Yes, he thought that he, along with his box, would be going on an airplane…

Yes, he still is trying to grasp all that this actually means and all that it is about, but I just love the seeds that we are planting in our boys.

More info on OCC here. 

Dumping out my brain, onto the blog

Kai learned how to get out of his crib all by himself yesterday.

\Boom - now any kind of parental constraining is over. Gone. Just like that.

As gone as babyhood.

I laid him down in his crib. Kissed his chubby cheek, walked downstairs, closed the stair way door, and began to clean the house.

About an hour later, I turned around because I thought I heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like the stair way door opening... and there he was.

We eyed each other for a while. He looked down, a little guilty like, but raised his eyes to mine. it was like he was asking, "am I in trouble? I did something that I think is really cool... but I'm pretty sure I'm in trouble."

I just stood there for a minute, aligning my mental response to this. The only thing that I could think in that moment was, "This is it. The crib is going to be coming down for the last time! I'm not sure I'm ready for this..."

Ready or not...

I walked over to him, took his hand and said, "Did you just get out of your crib all by yourself?"

I could see his eyes light up. "Oh, maybe she isn't mad!" 

"Yee-ahhhh!" - Was his response, with plenty of up and down head movement to go along with it.

I asked him if he got any "owies', and he showed me his hand and said "owe", but I'm guessing the owes must not have been too bad, based on how incredibly happy he was over the entire incident.


We moved K up to the next age group's Sunday school class at church a couple of weeks ago. He is now in a group with a very wide age span; 2nd-6th grade. I didn't think it through thoroughly enough, and it has become apparent that, much like at school, he will need someone with him to help him focus, and to redirect his attention. He tends to get in his own little world sometimes, and that hinders his learning, as well as distracting the other kids.

As K gets older I find that we have many new obstacles to climb. Oh you guys, I just have to tell you how very unqualified I feel I am for this sometimes! I want to include him in things that others his age are doing... I want to encourage him to reach his highest potential, but there are so many differences in parenting him than in parenting our other boys. Sometimes I feel at such a loss. My heart is so tender when it comes to that boy. This morning I left him in the school parking lot with his new aide and he was screaming and crying because he didn't want to go to school. I had little tears in my eyes, because I know how hard it is for his aide to deal with this kind of behavior. I don't know why he does this sometimes, and I just beg for wisdom as I seek to help him work on his attitude.

Sometimes this is just hard. 

Hard, hard, hard.

I get tired and I feel overwhelmed. I don't want everyone to know this.

I want them to see the shining, happy, well rested, ready to take on anything that comes in to my path.

So, here I am publishing this remark, to help me get over myself,

"Sometimes this is very, very hard, and I feel like I didn't sign up for this, therefore I can't do it."


You know what I love?

Besides cheesecake.


And caramel brulee latte's...

I love that God's power in me helps me to do things that are too hard for me. I don't have to run and hide when I get all freaked out at my life (do you ever get all freaked out at your life??).

Because, really?  He wants me to get to that place where I realize the overwhelmed feeling that comes when I try to do this on my own.

Okay, He's got me right where he wants me. *smile*


You know what I hate?

Besides mice in my house.

And parallel parking.

I hate the feeling of being behind in housework/organization, and how that just looms over my head. I feel like it steals good family moments and an over all peaceful and relaxed feeling.

I seriously struggle with being disciplined. I am praying that I continue learning what I need to do to make this a sweet, peaceful, organized, warm, and loving home. Well - Dave takes care of the warm part, because he is the king of cutting and stacking wood, and filling the wood stove. Except that he probably has a behind feeling looming over his head on that stuff too. Who has time for that when they run on his schedule? No one.

Any one want to come cut and stack some wood? And while you're here - feel free to throw in a load of laundry. Or two.

For real though, how do you guys do it? How do you get your home looking fabulous, while planning for and making the meals, while raising the kids, while trying to run a small business, while investing in your kids spiritual lives, while working out, while being involved in ministry, while trying to meet the needs of those around you?


Lily is officially in remission. After just two weeks. Amazing! This does not mean that she is carefree and done. Not in the least. She's in the hospital right now dealing with a recurring fever and no immune system while losing her hair, getting poked and prodded, having intense leg pain. And a rash. So prayers are being answered all over the place, and still greatly needed!

If some one had told me a few months ago that this weekend I would be going to Detroit to photograph a wedding, I likely would have written them off as certifiably crazed.

And laughed.

Guess what I am doing tomorrow?

Yep. Camera battery is charging, and creative inspiration is flowing

 I can't wait to show you some of the pictures! Trying to hold my nervous energy at bay...


I'm thinking about writing a blog post about finances sometime. It's kind of hard to know how much to open that subject up to the general public. And yet, I feel it is a subject that we need to be talking about.

Raising a family on one income is possible.

Tithing is important.

Trusting God for just enough is tricky, and oh-so-powerful.

Trying to keep up with everyone and get the latest and greatest of everything is not necessary.


And on that note... Dave got a pay cut last week. Enrollment at the university he works at is down. Much lower than the expected, and planned for, goal was. So - here we go.

I have had to be very creative in finances before, I can continue.


Every one of our needs has always been supplied.

And honestly, alot of our wants have come through too. Many in very unexpected ways. God ways.


Okay, brain has been dumped out. I feel much better now. 

Money, turkey, a man who sews, and the spoiled wife

• Dave is doing fantastic with his classes! It has required alot of "family schedule rearranging". So far it's working well. I think we have both been surprised at how much he has been enjoying school this time around. The schedule, not so much. The learning - yes.
• It's hard to pretend that Halloween candy is not there. Because it is. And most of it is really good stuff.
• I greatly enjoyed the relaxation of the Center for Women volunteer's retreat last weekend. I was gone for about 24 hors. It took several people to make it possible for me to go - and I am ever so grateful for their help.
• I will be going on another retreat this weekend. I know, I know! Two weekends in a row - crazy! Maybe even a little bit spoiled... And now I am feeling a little bit guilty.This is so not normal for me at all - and it will likely be a year until I do it again, but opportunity presented itself and everything just happened to fall into place very nicely. I am so excited to spend this weekend with some wonderful friends, enjoy an indoor water park, great food, and devotional times together.
• K is still doing well. It is amazing to see him go day after day with out a migraine! We would appreciate prayers for wisdom as we go to a consultation on his hearing test and hearing aid fitting this Thursday afternoon.
• In the last month I have mentioned some financial changes that have occurred in our family. These changes mostly pertained to K and the help we received for his special needs. I have learned alot about prayer and God's sovereignty through all of this. I prayed often that God would put our situation back to how it was. That we would not lose the help we had been getting. That is not how he chose to answer our prayers. I was absolutely blown away by his answers. One week we received an insurance settlement that we weren't sure would come through. The next week we were gifted unexpectedly with a check. A couple of weeks after that we sold a snow blower that we no longer needed. We were then mailed a letter that a particular bill that had been paid was overpaid and we would receive a significant (to us) amount back. I do not look at any of these things as coincidence or inconsequential. Not at all. I want to be very careful not to proclaim too loudly or exalt ourselves for something that is to be done between us and God - but let me just say that I believe some of our recent blessings are due to our not holding back what is God's even when things were very tight. We are learning so much in the realm of finances and tithing.
• I have been using my crock pot alot lately. I just love having supper taken care of early in the day! It helps my day go smoother and that "high stress time" of early evening become more of a "family togetherness relax time". I can not express how good that change is.
• While I was getting a massage next to a fireplace in a beautiful lodge on a lake last weekend, my husband took all 4 boys into a fabric store, stood in line with fabric, got out of line to take one to the bathroom, finally bought his choices, and then came home and sewed (!) a costume for Jay. That does not need to be followed up with any commentary. I was so impressed when I heard about it I could not speak momentarily.
• I am still waiting to get all of my energy back after being sick for almost an entire week. It's a bit frustrating.
• I can.not.wait to have my sister and her family here for Thanksgiving! It is exciting for us to be branching out and starting some of our very own traditions. I am already planning my menu. I know that my sister and I will have tons of fun in the kitchen and that all NINE of the guys we love will do an awesome job of eating everything we create. ;)

Peace out for now.