It's true

I think it's time for a liittle update on what's been happening around here! :) I still plan on doing a post on showing you the blog designs I've been working on, even though that's old news by now.

Let's see....

We had these guys here for two weeks. They helped teach classes, we passed out fliers, talked, laughed, ate, played football, and just had a great ol time! Yay for new friends!

~~~

We also...............booked our tickets.Yes, to move back to the States. 

We leave on April 25th. Four weeks, 5 days.

I thought I was so ready for this, and I am...but it's much more bittersweet than I even thought it would be.

I'm so excited to get out and be "back"...around people and being able to do things. At the same time, I'm a bit nervous. We've been here for so long, we each have out little comfort zone, and the thought of starting completely over somewhere is a little intimidating, I have to admit. 

~

I'm so excited to see what God has planned for us. There are good things in our future, I'm sure.  Please keep us in your prayers as we move!

AtE: Episode 4

Sorry for the delay in getting this up!

This episode is the "What would Luke look for in a girl" episode...enjoy!

We'll get to the rest of your questions in the next installment. 

:)

Giveaway! ...and an into to "Ask the Experts"

Before we get to the lil ol' vlog down there, it's giveaway time! It's a blog header\blog design giveaway. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy doing it (as you can see by my constantly changing blog). 

 So you have a choice whether you'd like me to make you a blog header alone, or redo the look of your whole blog! 

If you choose for me to redo the look of your whole blog, be forewarned that I'll need to be able to get into your blogger dashboard to make the needed changes.  So if you're not comfortable with that, stick with just a header. I'll do my best to get a look that you like! :)

To enter:(Giveaway ends Feb. 8)

-Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me which option you'd like (mandatory)

-Share this giveaway on your blog, facebook or twitter (+1 entry for each)

Luke and I will be starting a weekly-sish series called "Ask the Experts", so like we said in the above video - leave comments or send an email with your questions or subject ideas! If you don't really have any ideas, don't worry - it can be something completely silly and fun...just use your imagination.

(I'm awful at vlogs. I had no idea what I was going to say...haha, how do y'all do it - I felt so on the spot!!! :D)

The Power of a Positive Wife: Chapter 3

This poor blog has been neglected for a bit, but I'm going to try and do better about posting on here. :)

I was doing a series on the book The Power of a Positive Wife.  I said... 

"When we were staying with my grandparents on furlough, I happened to see a book on Nanna's shelf that was entitled, "The Power of a Positive Wife".  I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up and started to thumb through it.  Before I knew it, I had my notebook and pen out, furiously taking notes.  My sweet and generous Nanna saw me, laughed a little, and gave me another copy she happened to have tucked away!

I thought I would take one blog post at at time, and share some good parts from each chapter!

Now, I'm obviously not a wife, but I really love this book; it has so many good points.  Even though it's about how wives should relate to their husbands (which is very helpful to read, even though I'm not married yet), it has so many things I can apply to everyday life with my family".

...I got a little sidetracked, but I wanted to pick up where I left off and finish the series.

Chapter 3: The Truth about true Love

This chapter deals with some myths that many have about love, and how they affect our views of marriage and commitment.  We'll take a sampling of just a few.

Myth #1: There's one "true love" for me. Once I find him, we'll get married and live happily ever after.

Let me first say that I completely believe that God can providentially work to bring two certain people together.  My sister and her husband, for example - I believe that there was providential working involved.  Even though they were oceans apart, things worked out so they could begin talking, and eventually meet, and later get married.  That being said, let's see what the author says about this first myth.

"...Movies, love songs and novels have created a surreal picture of the perfect romance...If you hold to the mind-set that each of us has one perfect, true love out there, what do you do when you realize that your spouse is not so lovable at times?...Certainly, we should look for a spouse who exhibits the character qualities and Christian values that we know we want in a lifelong partner. But when we find that seemingly perfect guy, we must accept the fact that love will still be work...True love doesn't mean having a relationship of ease; it means making the continual choice to love and forgive".

This is so true.  Even with siblings, it takes work to love.  It takes work to speak kindly when you're angry.  Many times it might be easier to stay upset, but it takes work to forgive and forget.  Love is a decision.  It takes nurturing, like a tender plant that must be watered and cared for every day.  If the plant is not watered, it will shrivel and die.  

Myth #3: I can fall out of love with my spouse.

This one is all too common! How many people have you heard say, "We were in love when we first got married, but since then we've just fallen out of love".  That could more accurately be translated as "I'm not willing to work at loving him\her anymore".  Like what was said in myth #1, true love is a decision, and not something we fall in or out of.  Sure, it's probably easier to love during the honeymoon than when you're sleep deprived and tired of seeing dirty socks on the floor and dishes in the sink, but we can still choose to love when it's difficult. "True love loves past the weaknesses and builds on the strengths".

~*~

Principles from this chapter: Love is not simply discovered; it is created, and it takes work...and marital love is a commitment encompassing affection, friendship, pleasure, and selfless love. 

_____

Hope you all are having a wonderful Lord's Day!

A climbin' the hill

A few days ago, Luke, Carey, Jake and I decided to climb a different hill that's near our house.  I think it was only about 3 miles round trip, but this hill was steeper, and the brush was thicker!

We came to this ravine here - isn't it pretty?

"So I don't see any way out of here...where should we go? ...Yeah, I guess you're right, we'll go up!"

 Once we got out of the ravine we found the road again

 It started to get steep right here

 We're soaking up all the green we can before things turn completely brown

Me and....half of Luke's face.  It's hard to get both of our faces in it since he's so tall!

 There was no path at all, or even any areas that weren't a complete jungle of thorns, so we just went through it!  I still have part of one in my leg that I need to dig out......

 We finally reached the top! Here's Jake in his awesomeness.

 Luke and Carey admiring the view

 I wish you could see exactly how enormous this rock is!

 Luke in his awesomeness

Yeah, I'm the oddball in this group!

Luke, me, Jake.  (Just to clarify, Carey is just a friend and coworker, no relation)

I zoomed all the way in onto the "little" hill that we climbed before

 Here it is again...our house is at the base of it.  Annnd, the sun was really bright.  I felt like laying on top of the rock and soaking up some sun like a lizard.

Didn't take many pictures coming down because we were too intent on not falling and dying\being careful not to get our eyes poked out by branches and thorns.

 

We got back sweaty (and stinky. You're welcome you guys) and a bit tired, but it was so much fun!  As an added bit of entertainment I got to sit on the couch that evening and pick ticks off myself, heh heh.  "Begone bloodsuckers!"  Okay that was gross, and I kindof made it up.  I only found one on my leg as we were hiking, muahaha.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's up the hill we go!

A couple days ago Dad, Carey, Luke, Jake and I went climbing up the big rocky hill that's near our house.  In a 1\2 mile, we ascended 500 feet!  Here are a few pictures (All climbing pictures courtesy of Dad!):

 The view - how gorgeous is it!  The house with the blue roof towards the bottom right is our house.

 The rocks are huge!

 Luke, Carey, Jake and I.  I'm such the odd one out, hehe!  Those guys have so much fun together, what a hoot!  Thanks for making me laugh so hard my stomach hurts while I'm trying to haul myself over these rocks...

 Bonnie, Mom and I went into town the other day to have a bite of lunch, and so Bonnie could have a checkup.  She's so brave!

Bonnie lookin' cute while she gets blood drawn

 Er...the toilet.  After one has been used alot, it's a toss up as to which is more preferable - tile or dirt.  I'd have to go with dirt though, because you could slip on the tile, hit your head and get knocked unconscious . Great!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Happy Day that celebrates Mothers!

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted. {Ahem}  Nothing like a holiday to get another post out!

Ah, Mother's Day. Where would any of us be without our mothers? Yep, you said it!

I realized that somewhere along the way I refer to her exclusively as "The Mom" (or sometimes "Mum").  Never plain "Mom", but The Mom.  She loves me, she always has, and always will.  She's The Mom.  

(Hi The Mom!)

Dear The Mom,

Thank you for all you do for everyone every single day.  You're such a wonderful example in so many ways - I hope that someday I can be half the person that you are. Thanks for being my parent for all my life, you're definitely firstly that, but now you're also my friend. I love you. Thanks for always making me laugh and smile, teaching me and loving me, even though I do strange things like try to waltz around the kitchen with you every other day.

Love, Linz

She feeds us, cares for us, and wipes our foreheads and gives us water when we're sick...the list goes on and on.  And all the while loving us, even with our weirdness quirks.

I mean, she puts up with us every day!

Even when we do things like wear cowboy hats just because we're watching a Western movie. 

  (I think we learned it from you, Mom!)

So today, I'm singing along with Mr. T..."Mother, I'll always love her...there is no other!"

 

(And mine's the best. You can't have her! Heh heh. Sorry.)

Love never ends

Right now I'd like to ask prayers on behalf of the Morton and Heck families as they go through the rough time of losing dear Shauna.

Shauna battled hard with cancer for two long years, and her struggle is now over.  

Aunt Shauna - right, with sister Chasity, left

 A wonderful example to all, she was truly one of the best examples I've ever had.

She was constantly in pain

~however~

She was bright

happy

full of smiles and laughter

never complaining

always unselfish

always trusting in God

encouraging 

kind

patient

While she may not be with us anymore here on earth, she is now well and whole, being comforted by the mighty hand of God.

We have the comfort of knowing that someday, we will be reunited in The Place where there will never be suffering, pain, or tears.  

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

~I Thessalonians 4:13~

The Power of a Positive Wife: Chapter 1

Last time, we took a peek at the introduction for this book.  This post will take an overview of chapter one of The Power of a Positive Wife.

Chapter 1 [part one]: The Impact of a Positive Wife

 This chapter starts out asking the question, "If you could choose the one ingredient that makes a great wife, what would it be?"..."What if her every waking moment is motivated by the question, 'What can I do to make my husband's world a better place?'...this would be great attention, but the most important ingredient is God-centerdness."  In this book, Karol Ladd stresses the important of a personal relationship with Christ, and spiritual growth.  If we're truly God-centered, and trying our best to apply biblical principles to our lives, we will try to please our husbands to the best of our ability.  Pleasing our husbands in everything, however, is not our #1 motivation.  "Her walk with God allows her to keep the other areas of her life in balance". 

Karol reminds that marriage is all about two unique individuals using their individual talents to strengthen and balance the marriage.  For, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work" (Eccl. 4:9).  We're encouraged to take stock of our talents and abilities, and find ways to use them in the best way.

In Romans 12:9-12, 15,16, Paul talks about devoted, true love.  He never asks if the other person treats us with love first.  "Showing love means helping others become better people".  The book states that we should be as blind to our husbands faults as we can, and encourage him in his good areas.  Obviously, she's not talking about a glaring sin problem, and occasions do arise when we'll need to point something out to the hubby that he can try to better himself at - she's simply talking about day to day life; encouraging us to dwell on the positive, not the negative!

When women are hurt by their husbands, they might often be tempted to try to get back at him by giving the silent treatment, use spiteful words, or even withhold intimacy.  Karol gives us the example of Paul.  He had "every right" to try to get even with his enemies, but he chose to forgive and move on.  "We need to practice the profound principle of forgiving...what does an I'm-going-to-get-you-back attitude do for us? Do they make us better people or just bitter ones?" 

 
Wives set the tone for their homes.  Proverbs 19:13, 14 says, "a nagging wife annoys like a constant dripping...but only the Lord can give an understanding wife".  Our attitudes and actions are like air fresheners.  If someone walks into our home, they can either breath in deeply and smile, or wrinkle their noses in disgust.

The last part of chapter one talks about control; Let's see what Karol has to say.  "What do wives want to control? Circumstances, for one.  We want to keep the people and things around us healthy, happy and safe.  Our families, for two.  Many of us want to control our husbands and children - to micromanage their every action."  She encourages us to identify what areas in our life we try to control, and turn it over to God.  It's not our job to try to control our families, and every circumstance in our life; when we see flaws in our husbands, sometimes we're tempted to think it's our job to try to change his ways, but that's not our job.  Our job is to encourage him in good ways, and take his name to God in prayer.

"What is your greatest weakness or challenge in your marriage?  We all know marriage is not a stroll down Easy Street...it's more like a drive Flaws and Weaknesses Lane...The question is not, 'Do you have challenges?' The question is, 'Where do you go for help, power, and strength through the challenges?"