Unplugged pt 1: "Evil" Costco Scores!

I joke that Costco is "evil".

It disguises itself as one thing (a place to save money) and it is actually another (a place where you overspend.) You (uh..ehmm. I....)go in planning to spend twenty and end up spending $200. Evil. :) (Ok, yea, it may be my lack of discipline and resistance to temptation...) But yesterday, Costco scored.... Did good! (In spite of the "extra" things that found their way into my cart"....

The other day I posted about the longing to become unplugged...and in writing out what my heart was aching for, the thought arose to become unplugged from electronics (ie, kids glued to the computer) by becoming plugged-in to something else. Things that make us interact, laugh and enjoy each other, and not just technology.


So last night was step one on that journey. (I plan to blog and connect the series, as we find more ways to become unplugged.) Even if it is just one night this week, one is a start. But first a funny....


I was so in a tither two nights ago, up very late, (3 am, couldn't sleep) about many things, one of which is the "unplugged" dream, that I went down in the middle of the night and unplugged the computer monitor from the cpu, thinking the kids might think it was on the blink and not play it. The next morning, when I came down to the kitchen...there were the two boys, playing the computer. Detectives that they are, they found the unplugged cord and fixed it. The joke was on me. That is not the way to become unplugged.


Rather than confronting the unplugged dream I have face on with the kids,("NO MORE COMPUTERS! EEEEK! They scream running from the room!) I instead enticed them with something fun. When I stopped by EC (evil Costco) I picked up a couple doodle books. And I scored, big time!


Before dinner, as I was cooking, I pulled the books out of my secret hiding place (all momma's need one of those) and gave them to the boys, and gave Mary a workbook with pictures to draw. They all immediately left the computer, looked at a couple pages, and Nick even hugged his and said, "This looks so fun." They all three sat down at the table...and have began a drawing session that lasted for over 3 hours! :) Mary went to bed around 8:30, and the boys came into me room and continued drawing until their bed time. They wanted to be close by so they could show me their pictures and explain them.

What I kept hearing was:

"This is so fun!"

"Look at this!"

"Show me!"

"We should do this more often!"

"Isn't that funny??!!"

AND COMPLIMENTING each other on their clever drawings!

This morning, as I gathered my things to leave to work, Taddy had planted himself on the couch, sleepy-eyed, but with his doodle book and pencil beside him. ;)

(I have noticed their are some more doodle books along this line, including doodle for girls, and you can get them at amazon.com too, if you don't have a EC nearby.)

Here are some pictures from the book and of our fun. Unplugged part 1 is a success! One day at a time. :)





These are a couple pages to give you an idea of how they are blank.




















































Unplugged "Series":
Unplugged: The Plea
Unplugged Part 1

She spoke me. ...

There is this dear woman, mother, wife, Ann..I think she lives in Canada, that has this blog called Holy Experience. It is a place on the Internet for spirit and soul refreshing.

I have found my self drawn their frequently of late. She has on three occasions (probably more) just spoke me...what I am feeling, what I am living, what I am needing. Here, (Today's post on the wildness of life and the word), and here (about being broken and yet still beloved. Moved me so much that I made it a permanent link on the right to read again and again.) and here (One piece, about being our entire life, all of it, as a union and connection and worship to God. hard to explain...go read it..but I want it so much.

I am amazed, one so young, has so much wisdom. (and me so old, with my still skinned 8-yr old knees) You can tell her wisdom is from spending time with God, in his word. As I read her post today, the Word that woos, I was just so shocked, that her children are like my children. That her day can be like so many of my days. And she stated what I know and do not do! RUN TO THE SHOULDER OF THE WORD!

See, last night, I was up, awake, walking the floors from 1 am to 3 or 4. Restless, straightening chaos and all the time mentally flogging myself over my lack as a momma. Over my inability to produce harmony, peace and constant loving-kindness, self-sacrificing behavior in "Walton-like" children in my home. (I am a broken momma of broken children and dearly beloved, a treasured possession.)

Then when I read what Ann wrote this morning, it was a balm to my soul. I guess I held her and her family on this holy pedestal that somehow they have it all together and peace and harmony reigns. That she must have this relationship with God that I have not yet grown into, where she does not get frustrated and her children are at peace with one another.

But I see, she needs the word to soothe as desperately as I do. She has the same sibling squabbles as we do.

I feel hope again. I am not too far gone. Our family is not too broken to be without hope. Yes, there are some things I may want to change, to focus on, to turn to God in desperation to give wisdom and guidance on, but we are not hopelessly mired in chaos and conflict, that we should give up. (yea, I know. I actually felt, give up, last night. Too far in, too deep, no way to shovel out.)

His word, his word, his word. I only live by his word. As Ann said today: ..."but for an island of time I lay here on His chest. Listening to Heartbeat in letters."

Thank you Lord for the peek, for the hope, for your word.

An unplugged life...

How?





How do I unplug our life? (Re-plug?)





Unplug from the mind-dumbing,


soul-numbing,


empty,


distracting


Spirit-drowning,


waste? (DVD, VIDEO, COMPUTER, CELL PHONE, GADGETs)





As I type this on one.





How to put them back in their very small, limited, forgotten-on-the-topshelf box? Is it an all or nothing? A vortex to which you cannot dip a toe without being sucked in?



Do we need a fast from it? Forever?





How?





When they have become, for all of us, the intravaneous drip of boredom painkillers.





Don't talk.


Don't laugh.


Don't play or sing, or tell a story.


Don't create.


Don't swing.


Don't just lie, side by side, soul touching soul through our fingers, through our feet.


Don't breathe in, breathe out God.





Plug in, hook up, take the next hit, before the numbness wears off.





How to unplug? Cold turkey?





Or focused connection. Unplug by replugging.





Plug in to each other.


To playing


To laughing


To talking


To making....together...





Hide the power cord.


Disable the player.


"Lose" the gameboy.





Read the book, aloud.


Draw the picture together.


Caress the hair gently


Kiss the head fondly


Smile the eyes deeply.





Start when you are there.


Be there.





and then perhaps it might flow into when you are not.





Lord Help me. (us)





I want to unplug.


I feel like we are in The Matrix.


Unplug us.





and Replug into you


into each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update: I am making this into a series, sharing our attempts to become unplugged. Here is the link to the other posts, as they happen:

Unplugged Part 1: Evil Costco Scores

I believe....

Thank you Ann, for showing me this.

Sometimes I feel I have so so so so far still to go (grow)....and I too often spend wasted minutes (hours, days) thrashing in things that should be long gone (laid to rest). Ah Jesus, ah savior...do not grow weary of me. Why at 52, do I still limp like a skin-kneed 8 year old?

Pull me back, pull me close, pull me up. Forgive me. Shut out the world, shut in your Spirit, make me wholly yours...more often (more minutes in each day) more yours.

Shut out the world of distraction and help me see you, be with you, long for you and not run.

An awesome Saturday

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What we did today! We decided to be tourist in our own town and have a Saturday "staycation" at FairyTale Town and Old Sac!

Would you be willing....?

"Faith is the bucket of power

lowered by the rope of prayer

into the well of God's abundance.

What we bring up

depends on what we let down."

- Virginia Whitman

What would you do, it if was you? I read about a dear mother of 10, yes 10, so in love with God and her family and so in need of a miracle. Dear Linny, on her blog (A place called simplicity) set out a call for prayer and fasting on Monday...for this dear mother of 10. Cindy. Would you be willing to join in?

I do not fully understand prayer, but I believe God's word that says the passionate prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective! I do not fully understand fasting, but I am going to read up about it here: Your Personal Guide to Fasting and Prayer...and I have read of many who have seen the impact.

Here is what hit me the most. This woman is living my worst nightmare. Being a single mom, I often take this fear to God (as I know MY momma interceeds on my behalf as well) to keep me well and safe, my children need me so.....they have no one else. And then I see how this woman of God, homeschooling 10 beautiful souls and her family is in such severe pain at the pending loss ahead....

And I think...God loves her too...and He has, so far, allowed this to happen....

If it were me....and folks, who didn't even know me, being willing to come together in prayer and fasting, could dip that bucket into the well of God's abundance....would I want them to?

So would you join me?

Go read Linny's Plea

Go read a bit about Cindy

and if need be, go read a bit about fasting....

and then join together on Monday......

Bags, bags, bags....

Not under my eyes, but from my sewing machine.....

I have this little cloth bag, I had picked up years ago, that I started using when I go on my walks. Just the right size for keys, ipod, cell phone...etc.

Then I got inspired by Soule Mama's recent bag sewing here and here, and bought some material last night. Zebra print and a pink/purple batik. (Some others too, that are yet to be sewn.)

I soaked the zebra print in "chocolate tea" and hot water, I wanted it to have a bit more of a weathered, tannish look. Then I sewed it up into a little bag, with a pocket on front for my ipod. Just the right size for walks...and just to wear it around. (I'm wearing it now) Not the perfection of sewing (like Soule Mama) but a start. I am sure I will get better as I go.

I think I have the bag bug. I want to make some more, bigger, book bags, and stuff bags...and some more small walking bags, for when I am not in a zebra mood.

FUN! FUN! But first I have three super-hero caps to make tonight!

A Pinkalicious Birthday~

Tucked in between my hospital stay and our Faux Camping trip last week, was a very special event I cannot overlook.

My little Mary Elisabeth turned 6 years old! She picked her birthday theme of "Pinkalicious"! A story book about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink. :) It fit perfectly.

She is still so tiny for 6, wearing still her size 4 clothes, but was so proud when she would keep asking my if she had grown and I would say,you are taller than you have EVER been! :)

Her favorite present? She wanted "boy's toys" and loved the flashlight and Transformer from her grandma and grandpa!

Mommy still gave her girly clothes and a cute purse and I made her a pink "treasure box" to put her special things in. Taddy gave her Black Beauty, which she has now watched three times. (She loves the concept of horses.) Nick gave her a unicorn backpack. And lipgloss from Donna was a hit.

She just discovered last night, that Papa fixed her bike tires, too.


Happy Birthday, Princess Qing Qing....it was truly Pinkalicious!

Faux Camp

I stumbled across something brilliant. Sometimes, some of the most profound or brilliant ideas happen by chance....or so it seems.

Each year we have an annual camping trip. Our once a year foray out into the "wilds" of Tahoe, with other families from our church. It is always a highlight of the kids summer, and has moved from a stress to be endured, to a go with it, yet hard weekend. (Preparing, packing, unpacking, setting up the tent, lack of sleep, middle of the night bathroom trips, dirt, dirt, everywhere, stuck in smore droppings, fear of bears and coyotes (in my head), packing again, unpacking, unfilthifying kids, loads of laundry.) There are great parts of the camping adventure, but often I find the down side (being single) often overshadows the up side. Never the less, I always go with my cheery face on (set like flint underneath).

This year was different.

We Faux Camped. Having just ended a week with three days in the hospital, surgery and not able to stand or walk long, I knew I just could not handle the down side of
camping. Just could not physically (let alone mentally) handle all the work of camping. So, sharing with the kids we could not go this year, I told them, if I felt up to the drive, we would go up just for Saturday and come home that night. Up and back. I would pack a cooler for lunch on the lakeside beach, sweatshirts for campfire and smores, and after the stickiness, a drive back home. A long day, but far less work, stress and I would get to sleep in my own bed. They agreed, having been so worried over momma in the hospital. (I threw in a couple sleeping bags, since one of our dear friends had offered the boys the chance to stay in their tent, while Mary and I came home. I had not told the kids that yet. )

I packed the minivan up the night before, and we were off in the am.
Pulling into a Tahoe restroom pit stop, worship tunes blazing on the cd player, (we saw the most humoungous dandilions), Taddy sniffed the pine scented, grinned ear to ear, "I love this smell!". I breathed deep...ME TOO!. It seemed to smell sweeter, knowing I was not sleeping in a tent that night, stumbling to the bathroom in the dark and getting confused as to the where-abouts of my tent on the way back.)

I texted ahead on my phone to our friends at the campsite to see if they were beachside yet....Nope! We had beat them. So we dropped by the camp, as families rounded up their beach supplies, got kids in suits, packed lunches and drinks...then within 45 minutes, we were all lakeside in the sand!

Hours of play (tons of sunscreen)... I had to text my mom and dad "N Tahoe 78 degrees, wish you were here!" It has been over 100 degrees more many days at home...

We had a blast. I even ventured into the water and then indulged my favorite beach pastime, sand-castle architect. Had our ice chest with fresh fruit, water, carrots, peanut butter sandwich. Hey THIS WAS FUN!!

After many hours of play and swimming and lounging around, great conversations with other momma's and lots of laughs with the kids....we rounded up the gear, headed back to camp, and changed into dry clothes for the traditional walk to the ice cream shop.

The camp ground we stay at has a wonderful ice cream shop with delicious, humoungous ice cream scoops. (Skipped the weight watcher points). My kids are vanilla kids, although Nick did venture into some "cookie dough". Momma's fav? Kona Coffee!! YUM!

A slow stroll back to the camp site for Taco dinner, and more playing as momma got to sit and clyhat. Mary played frisbee for at least two hours with the teenage kids, as Taddy and a little girl shifted between playing "horsies" and running "Oh she's chasing me!!!". Nick and two friends drew comic book characters until it grew so dark they had to do it by flashlight. Then they switched to telling spooky stories. Campfire, smores...with Mary cooking marshmellows for any who would take them. (Bless you Lori, for eating more than you probably wanted from my campfire chef, and for all your help and kind words.) Around 10 o'clock, I packed up a few of my friend Kristy's things, as she was so gracious to keep my boys overnight in a second tent with her oldest son, and bring them home. (You made their day, and mine too. So sweet of you, you'll never know how much it meant to me!) This was Taddy's first time of camping out without MOMMA!! (He was fine with it, I am just not ready for them to grow up!)

I hugged them both, Nightie night sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite....Dear Jesus Bless my boys, give them a good night's sleep, with happy dreams and good thoughts, in Jesus Name Amen.

And then Mary and I set down the hill for our drive home. Mary wanted to tell me a couple spooky stories on the drive, then she fell asleep, while I listened to a book on CD (Mark Buchanann's Your God is too Safe."

Home at 11:30, I tucked Mary into bed, washed off in the tub, used my own (clean, close, indoor) bathroom, and relaxed on my quilted bed. Thought of my boys, said another prayer and fell asleep..... ahhhhh.


This morning, I almost started to feel guilty, as I took a relaxing bubble bath before getting ready for church, imagine what this morning is usually like, the second morning camping....so tired, dirty, ready to be home, and yet still having to take down a tent and pack everything, covered with dirt, back into the mini-van.

After church, when Kristy and her boys and my boys arrived back home, I found out they had the added excitement of a bear visiting the camp, scrounging for food. The added authenticity of really camping.

So that, my friends, is faux camping. I feel like none of us missed anything. The boys got the tent adventure, we all got all the fun, and I am rested and not traumatized. I KNOW this blessing would not have been possible, without the offer from dear friends, to let my boys stay with them. Thank you thank you , Kristy. I owe you a girls night out to dinner! :)

So, I think this faux camping may be a thing to consider. There are cabins and even a small hotel at the camp grounds where we go. Next year, I think Momma and the girls may have to get a room for two nights, and bring a small three man tent for the boys....... We may have stumbled on to something brilliant!!!!

Kona Coffee

it happened.....

There is a point, every summer, when it hits me. When I am ready for it to be over. Ready for fall, knitting, leaves, cooler weather.....

It usually doesn't hit this early. It is only mid-July, and too hot to be real! (101 today, 103 tomorrow, and 101 the day after that! UGH!)

But something hits, one day in the summer, when I am ready. And today it happened. What triggered it was in my mailbox. An envelope from the kids school, talking about who their teachers will be, holidays over the year, and the list of school supplies....

School supplies...that speaks a new season to me. Time to pull out "You Got Mail" and the knitting needles...

Only problem...we still have a couple months or more of HOT HOT HOT weather! What's a gal to do???

Either go coastal or go to the mountains! lol.

Feeling a little sad yet relief....

We won't be going to family camp this year. Every year for the past five years, we have gone to Lake Tahoe camping with families from our church. Being a single mom, with all the prepartion, packing, putting up the tent, keeping track of kids, taking down the tent, packing up again, getting home, unpacking..... I can't say I look forward to it. Some years it has been a very stressful trial. About two years ago, knowing how much my children LOVE it, I decided to not let it stress me anymore. To just do what I need to do, happily and enjoy my kids enjoying camping. (Oh did I mention the middle of the night bathroom trips, when I wait so long I cannot stand it, and then crawl out in the middle of the night, with the flashlight, feeling kind of scared, yet desperate....oh yea, that too!)

The camping trip is this weekend. As I sat in a hospital bed two days I go, I realized, logically, Ijust CAN'T do it this year. In my weakened state, and recovering, all the prep, tent making, etc etc...is just beyond what I can do. Should do. I dreaded telling the kids. I postponed it for almost two days. Finally, last night, as the boys were entranced in a computer game, I told them. Mild reaction. (Shock from momma) I don't know if it did not truly register with them, or if the computer game still had them hypnotized. but Nick dropped his head, held it in his hands, asked a couple questions....and then..nothing.

sigh....

So, I am relieved. BUT also a little sad. It has become such a staple of memory making in our summer. I KNOW I can't handle it this year, yet still...I think I will miss it. We may go up for the day on Saturday...if I feel up for the drive......but not the same as all my babies snuggled together in a tent, smelling of smoke and sticky smores...dirty, dusty feet, ..and me trying to go to sleep with the noise of other campers and the stress of will I need to go to the bathroom one more time! :) Nothing like it. :) There is always next year...

So summer feels like it is winding down, although we are really in the middle of it! We have had swim lessons, our week at Dillon Beach, Six Flag trips, two birthdays, Two Vacation Bible schools, soccer camps, baseball camps, basketball camps.... and a Beth Moore Conference! :) a WHOLE LOTTA SUMMER!

So, at least for today, I am ready for fall.

We are not walking alone...

So much is mulling around in my heart, my mind, my emotions today. I watched Winn Dixie with my kids last night. I love that movie. I needed a feel good movie. And I was touched again, by, as Opal said in the movie, People all over are broken. And we are...

So many of us are hurting... Maybe not today, this week, this month, but at times in our lives...and many of us TODAY.

In thinking of words to comfort someone else. I comforted my self:

"This is a painful road to walk. And the pain cannot be avoided, but can be endured. God is with us. Jesus never leaves us. In Him we hold on to His hem, as He walks us through. We are not alone. Each task, each step, is hand in hand, heart in heart. Our tears mixed with His. He feels all. Stepping with Him, in tears, fears, .. He knows how overwhelming it feels. Look at just the next thing and do that. Focus on Him."

God is walking with us. We are not walking this path alone, as alone as it may feel sometimes. Melissa, Beth Moore's daughter, was blogging about how some times when she was in need of comfort, how the Lord has made certain that she was alone. That too has happened to me. Sometimes I find myself almost internally frantic, searching for connection, with no connection to be found. God is wanting me to draw near to Him, knowing He is the only true and eternal comfort.

I do not want to down play the blessing of my parents and close friends.... God has so blessed me through both. But I do want to encourage that even when family and friends can't comfort, or when they try, but something is still missing: Jesus is walking it out with us. Each step, each tear, each fear....

What a blessing to let Him comfort us. We do not need to be the independent and strong. Rather the dependent on Him. In my weakness, He is strong.

I remember, one point in the hospital, lying in the OR, waiting to be next, hearing all the chaos around me. (this paper not right, this guy gone for lunch, this guy driving in rush hour traffic to come operate on me, a case he has never seen or reviewed..would be be frantic and ticked off from the traffic, the nurses with attitude, because he was late, or this paper was not right....and me thinking, my babies need me. I know I am just another patient to you, but to my three at home I am all they have...this isn't something to rush through). ...as I lay there, with all this going around me, all I could do, in fear was turn my back to the room and face the wall, with tears running down my face....alone, in my thought closet, with Jesus. He KNOWS. He KNOWS....and He cares.

And as I often see things that SEEM uncaring to ME, allowed to happen, allowed to come through his hands of love and touch my life, or someone else's life, I know I do not see the whole picture. I know He loves, He cares, He is able and in a longer span than I can see, there is good in it, good to come out of it.

So I slow my cadance to walk with him, in his pace, rather than rushing ahead and scurring down bunny paths, and trying to figure out where to turn. Hand in hand, heart beat to heart beat, tears mingled... I walk with Him.

The View from my Cell: Walking with the Word

I've started walking. My second week, of walking an hour a day 4 to 5 times a week, and I am getting addicted. These are pictures I took on my cell phone on my walks this week. They all start from work, then I walk around the neighborhoods, or fields around there.

I put on my IPOD and listen to music...today it was Amy Grants Concert Two (old stuff that I love) and Phillips, Craig and Dean, Top of my Lungs.

I carry a litte tablet with me of verses that I have written down over the past 3 years. I read the verse, talk to God, pray it over family and friends, just love on God and it is such an awesome refreshing time. Here are some of the verses that blessed my soul today...and pictures....enjoy.

The Lord is good to those who hope in HIm, to the one who seeks him, It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lam 3:25-26

The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life. Prov 15:4

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. John 13:7

For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Prov 2:6

O Lord, be gracious to us. We long for you. Be our strength every morning. Our salvation in times of distress. Is 58:2

Great is our Lord {sovereign Adonai} and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Ps 147:5

You will keep in perfect {complete} peace {calm, wholeness, fulfillment} him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Is 26:3

Set me free from my prison that I may praise your name. Ps 142:7

You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Ps 142:5

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. 2 peter 1:3

This picture, and the next is the house I use to live in, 7 years ago. My papa made that fence, and I planted all those morning glories and roses. a little overrun now, but I think of all God has done for us and the mercy on our lives since then, and I fall in love with Him all over again.