Brian is five!

The baby of the family is five today!
Of course he's not a baby anymore, but he'll always be my sweet, smart, and SO CUTE baby brother!
Happy birthday Brian!

Good enough? No. Willing? Maybe...

Not long ago, my brothers and sisters and I, with our mom, were invited by a lady from our church to do a presentation for a Bible study at a local retirement home. We had done this once before, in January, and the seniors there appreciated it so much that we were invited back again. Our presentation was simple: we sang some Sunday School songs with the guitar accompanying, recited some Scripture from memory, did a semi-improv skit about the Good Samaritan, then sang some praise songs. Afterwards someone else we know from church taught the Bible Study.

Now, we are no Von Trapp family. True, a couple of us have some musical talent, but it's not in the voice department. None of us are great singers. We are lucky if we sing in the same key - forget about harmony. Ok, maybe we are ahead of the average youth when it comes to Bible memory, but our acting was far from noteworthy. But none of that mattered. It's hard to describe how grateful they were to us for coming. We had many people say such sweet things to us - thanking us for coming, complementing us on how nice of a family we were, even on our singing and guitar playing! I remember back in January when we went the first time thinking, "What are we doing here? There are other families that do this sort of thing so much better than us." But those families don't live around here or go to our church.

I came across this quote last year:

I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China… I don’t know who it was… It must have been a man… a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing… and God looked down… and saw Gladys Aylward… And God said – “Well, she’s willing. -- Gladys Aylward

No one who knows Gladys Aylward's story would even dream of second-guessing that God wanted her doing what she was doing. But like the rest of us, she had times where she felt weak and inadequate.

The truth is, that's exactly what we are: weak and inadequate. But, as any child who knows the song "Jesus Loves Me" knows, "we are weak but He is strong!" He is strong, and His power and His Spirit are available to us. But are we willing? God knows what He's doing when He asks us to serve for Him. It's to grow us as well as do His work. It doesn't matter whether we are "good enough" because it's His power that works to do His will anyway. (Eph. 1:11)

Let's be willing! Instead of worrying about whether we're good enough, let's remember that only One is Good, that is, God. Even in the small things, let's cheerfully obey God.

Why you cannot see the snake

I didn't realize how dependent I was on pictures for my blog. There are several posts I was thinking up that just beg for a photo. But alas, neither of our card readers are working, so my pictures are trapped on my camera for now. Sorry... that's why you cannot see the snake.

Our winter boarder

We have a new guest in the house. His name is Fluffy. Or maybe it's a her, I don't know. He/she/it is an animal from the Nature Center at the camp that Chris works at, but we were offered a chance to have it during the winter. What? Did you ask if it was a rabbit? No, it's not a rabbit. A hamster? Nope, not a hamster. A gerbil? No. A guinea pig? No. A chinchilla? No. It's not a mammal. A... um... bird? Nope, it's not a bird, either. It's a snake, a very large (9 foot long) red-tailed boa. I have no idea who named it.

It's been a neat experience so far. He's quiet and easy to take care of (because that's Chris's responsibility, lol). And he can be fascinating to watch. Sometimes when he is stretching out he seems to defy gravity. The other day he curled up in his water bucket, with even his head submerged.

He only bites things he knows he can swallow, so as long as your hand doesn't look like a gerbil, he won't bite you. But I don't think anyone besides Chris has been brave enough to hold him. (Of course the little kids can't by themselves even if they wanted to because he's so heavy.)

Keep off the sidewalks!

I finally got my driver's license yesterday - on 9/9/09! :D Thanks, Mom and Dad for making me drive all the time these last few months. I'm glad that I wasn't pushed into driving, but I'm glad that you were wise enough to not let me put it off forever. You're the best!

(PS: To anyone who heard the above news via Facebook: that's just one more reason why I don't need a Facebook. If anything of importance happens, Chris can and probably will announce it to the world for me. :P )

What I've been up to in a nutshell (nutshells not included).

Update time! Life keeps happening, and there are a lot of posts that I wanted to write but never got to. Whether they ever get revisited or not, here is a quick outline of "what I've been up to".

• Do Hard Things conference in Chicago. Great, fun, lived up to expectations. :) Alex and Brett are great speakers. Read their book!

• Citation Connect '09. I got to go to Awana headquarters for a few days with a group of other Citation Achievers (a Citation Achiever is someone who has finished 10 Awana handbooks). We got a tour of HQ and the building where they handle all the shipping stuff (Penny Lane). We also took a sightseeing trip to Chicago and did some other fun stuff. I learned a lot and especially enjoyed meeting other Awana people from all around the country. Some came from as far as Maryland, Washington state, California, Texas, etc.

• Illinois Square Dance Convention! Ironically, this year it was in Davenport, Iowa! But we didn't mind, because we stayed with our friends who live there, the S. family. Best of all, Megan S. learned to dance just so she could come with us! She was famous that weekend because she learned all of Mainstream in two 4-hour lessons the previous week and did great! (Her brother Jared also came and we pulled him through... he also did great despite the fact he had no idea what was going on, lol!)

Well there you go... my exciting highlights of July. :)

Do Hard Things Conference [Going Soon!]

I'm excited! Seemingly at the last minute, details have fallen into place for Valerie, Michael and I to go to the Do Hard Things conference next Saturday. Our friend Jacqui is going to drive us, and we are meeting some camp friends (and some non-camp friends ;) ) there. If you've never heard of Do Hard Things, I'd encourage you to check out the Rebelution website and Alex & Brett Harris' blog www.therebelution.com. Alex & Brett are 20 year old twins, and the younger brothers of Joshua Harris who wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye. A couple years ago they started the Rebelution. The Rebelution is a movement of teenagers that are "rebelling against low expectations". It's pretty awesome. Check it out, and if you can, come on Saturday!