Shameless

I am being a selfish, shameless person. I am posting about a giveaway in the hopes that I will win! But maybe you will read this and discover what a fantastic blog My Sweet Savannah is! She has a beautiful blog, and gorgeous items that she sells in her etsy shop. And the giveaway this time around....let's just say that I would give up coffee for a week in order to win. Well, maybe not a week......

Go on, go check out her blog, and enter to win....or wish me luck!

New blog addition

I started a home idea/design/family life blog...it is under my list of blogs here on blogger. I posted a new entry today. Check it out. :) Oh, the link is La Casa de Coffee

Blog friends

I clicked onto Novelle360's site yesterday www.novelle360.com and read her entry about lacking the time lately to blog and wondering if she was going to continue to do so. I have followed her for years...she used to blog on xanga, and I loved hearing about her life as a newlywed, and then being overjoyed to hear she was expecting a little one, and then crying and praying for her and Jerry when she lost that baby. I was privileged to read of her second pregnancy, and now to read her updates about life with Alli and all the joy and struggles that come with being a mom and a working woman and a wife and a friend and a daughter. I started to think about how long I've "known" her, and how much I would miss the daily glimpses into her life. This bloggy thing is a funny creature. It allows you to make friends without ever meeting them, but it also allows you to walk away from those friends without the crushing guilt that can come from breaking up with a real-life friend. I felt guilty suddenly for vanishing so often on my blog sites. For failing to update more regularly, for staying silent for weeks and even months at a time. I know how I feel when one of the blogs I read goes silent, and I wonder if others feel that way about me. I know this isn't where I have blogged for long, or made many "friends", but my xanga site is one of those places. I'm sorry for vanishing on you folks. I will try to do better. And I am hoping that Novelle360 (Kelly) will figure out a way to combine her busy life and her blog in a better way for herself. This is just a big sappy shout out to all you bloggy folks. I love ya man!

Cooking with Jules

Yep, cooking with me because this entry will be a dash of this and a pinch of that...the way I cook. :)

Going to take Landon and Corin to Moraine State park for a walk around lunchtime. It is going to be a balmy 56 degrees here today...and woohee does that feel like warmth to us. (Ummm Jenn, bundle him up and we need the car seat base.)

Told MOPS that I would not be on Steering Team next year. And feel really good about that decision.

Sat in on an interesting ministerium meeting yesterday. Local pastors get together once a month to talk and share their concerns and burdens. I liked being a part of it but came away very frustrated because all they did was talk...no action plans were set up, no decisions were made. Men....bah!

I have a big prayer request. Been thinking that God is leading in my new ministry direction, and need clarification of that leading. I am considering joining my Dad's mission. It would be as a mission representative, working most of the time here in the US. I'd travel to various churches and organizations, presenting the ministries of LATCOM, and I'd also lead a few teams to Bolivia every year. Here's the thing...it would mean raising support. In other words, the mission doesn't pay me a salary, I have to raise support like any other missionary does. I really, really, really am excited about this path, but I am praying hard to see if it is really what God would have me do. My heart would move to Bolivia in a nanosecond and start working at Monte Blanco (and the rest of my body too. lol), but my husband does not feel the same way. But this is a way that I can be contributing to that ministry without endangering my marriage. So pray for me. Pray for clarity on if this is where God wants me to go, and also for the support to come in if it is what He has for my life. I have until April to decide, because that is when the board meets, and they do all the hiring.

Emilie told me last night that she wants to be baptized. So we will be attending a "Your Child Wants to be Baptized" meeting in two weeks. They'll make sure she understands what it means, and whether she is ready for that or not. My heart leaped within me.

I have lots of thoughts I still need to share about my time in Bolivia. This is just for me to remember what those thoughts are when I finally get the time to sit down and write them out. Pointman Leadership. Testimonies. Old house. Grandpa and Grandma. Odd Pastor. Dead man.

I need to do laundry. Again.

New Year

I know, I know...I am WAY behind the 8-ball on this one. The New Year began weeks ago. Whatever. This is how I roll. I still have Christmas gifts on my dresser, waiting to be mailed. For that matter, I have my brother's birthday gift too...and his birthday was in November. I'm the worst procrastinator in the world. Really. I went through college, never doing a paper until the day before it was due. Many times I did it the day of...and a few times I turned it in late and thanked God not only for some natural charm, but also the smarts He gave me. Don't know how, but I graduated with honors. LOL.

I made what I am calling Attempts rather than Resolutions this year. Because that is all they turn out being anyway. My all focus on the word Repair.

• Repair my marriage. Date nights, counseling, I'm reading through a few books, etc.
• Repair my health. Exercise, eat healthy, lose weight, blah, blah, blah.
• Repair my kids. LOL. By that I mean redo the chore chart and stick with it, family devotions, outdoor activities.
• Repair my relationship with God. Devotions and prayer time.
• Repair my house. Patching of holes, painting of rooms, purging of items.

Dem thar are it. Nothing fancy. But this is the year of Repair. If it ain't about fixing one of those things, then it can't be added. The end, love Stemmler. (Inside joke for myself)

I'm going to Bolivia. For two weeks. With my parents. Brad is staying home with the kids. He is still unemployed, and they are paying my way, so I had to take this opportunity. I am thrilled but also strangely afraid. I think it may be just that old mommy fear, but just in case it isn't, I have taken the time to write Brad, Emilie and Landon their own letters. I love you letters. That they can have to read over and over if something happens to me. I'm going to miss them like crazy. And I hope Brad will be okay...I know he will be.

More another day.