Archives for January 2011

I composed an ever-so-long book list for 2010, but only read about halfway through the list because I kept finding other books along the way that I wanted to read. While I want to continue reading in 2011 I don’t want to make another mile long list of what to read. I have enough books around the house I’d like to read, so I thought to keep the goal simple: read one book a month – 12 books total – and whatever I feel led or desire to read! Without further ado I shall attempt to present my first completed book of 2011 in summary.

The Book: Women on the Front Lines: A Call to Courage
The Author: Michal Ann Goll

This book is part of a 3-part series: Women on the front Lines, also containing “A Call to Courage” and “A Call to the Secret Place”. While in Nashville this past summer I purchased the whole series. These books were on the want-to-purchase mental list for a while, partially because I have the privlidge of knowing the Goll family in a special way. On August 14, 2010, my brother married the youngest Goll, Rachel. Rachel’s father, James is the founder of the Encounter Network and has authored more than 30 books. His wife was the founder of Compassion Acts, and a speaker and author as well. Michel Ann has graduated to be with the Lord, so these books are extraordinarily meaningful to me.

“Women on the Front Lines: A Call to Courage” is different from other spiritual books directed towards women that I’ve read, as it outlines the life of nine amazing women: Vibia Perpetua, Joan of Arc, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Aimee Semple Mcpherson, Lydia Prince, Bertha Smith, Corrie Ten Boon and Jackie Pullinger.

I have always appreciated biographies, and the author’s biographical approach did not disappoint. These women had several points of commonality that I correlated with:

1. They all lived in a time or country that did not endorse women leaders or influencers, yet each of them fiercely influenced and led in a mighty way.

2. Each of them had points of total dependence on the Lord. They each had to give up all dependence in order to hear the voice of the Lord.

3. They each had moments of revelation where they knew the Lord was calling them to mighty kingdom work.

4. They all experienced dreams and or visions that served as foreshadowing for what was to come in their lives. Some of the women even found theirselves in very familiar situation and then remembered they had seen that scene in a vision or dream. This served as confirmation that they were in God’s perfect will.

This book also contains three chapters outlining the author’s personal journey of overcoming fear, embracing the call and adorning herself with courage. The last two chapters are a challenge to women to seize the day do what the Lord has put in our hearts to do.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams”

“Courage arises out of knowing who God is and who we are in relation to him”

“God is revealed and glorified in your weakness”

I was greatly moved by Michel Ann’s description of a hero:  She said “…a hero is someone who breaks through a barrier in one generation so that another people, another generation can go even further. Once someone proves that something can be done, it creates an environment of the possible, an impartation of hope and possibility that enables others to do it. It is a natural principle.  If you are going to accept your calling as a hero, you must be prepared to live vicariously. That is you must be ready to live your lives for the sake of others”.

This confronted me. I will ponder these words for a long while to come.

It was a normal bed-time routine. I told both boys to grab a book and snuggle with me on the bed. My oldest child asked if I had any Valentine books that I could get out. He stated that since the Christmas books had been put away there were no kid books in living room.  I agreed that I would bring the Valentine books out even if it was a bit early.

The “February” book bag had four books in it. Amidst the titles were two of my favorite Children’s books: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and Love you Forever by Robert Munsch.  Love you Forever is a regular in our reading repertoire. We had multiple copies so I stuck the extra in the bag, since it depicts the cycle of life and love so flawlessly.

Let’s just say I did not hold back any ounce of feeling while reading this story. It was a perfect moment with both offspring nestled on either side of me. As I read and sang the song the boys exuded beautiful expressions of love for me. They even laughed about the wild two year old in the bathroom- we recounted stories of when they had in fact been that terrible, two year old. We gawked at the unruly teenager who left handprints on his mothers cabinets. Then it was time to sing the lullaby:

I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be

Kenimer stopped me with these words  “That is a really pretty song you sing to me, Now I want to sing this to you”…  In the sweetest tone he sang:

I love you forever- My Mommy

I like you always- My Mommy

Because you always take care of me- and Tucker too.

And Daddy takes care of us too. I love you both.

My mommy you’ll be.

Then he leaned over and gave me the most tender Kiss. I held back tears and then we lept into a conversation about kids growing up to take care of their parents.

Kisses. Hugs. Two little boys tucked in. Lights out.

Ten minutes later the eldest boy walks into the kitchen.

“You said I can only get up to go pee pee or poo poo or if I am hurt. Well, I am hurt.” It appeared his knee was bothering him. I prayed for his knee. Hugged him and as he was leaving he said

“Mommy, I don’t want to let you down”.

I calmly asked him what he meant and he started to tell me about the prodigal son story he had heard Sunday. He did not want to be like that son. He said “I know if I’m bad you will still love me, but I really hope I don’t let you down.” The conversation was deep, heavy, tender and loving all at once.

This was three nights ago and I cannot help but feel that was one of the sweetest nights of all my mothering history. I am Thankful , Thankful, Thankful for the awesome and humbling job and Title of “ Mother”.

Lastly- If you have never read “ love you forever” Go buy it even if you do not have kids. You will be glad you did.

This blog post is dedicated in part to the husb. The handyman. The mister.  etc. etc.  He seems to enjoy the fact that I sometimes show off his handywork. He has asked me several times if I ever blogged about the entertainment center he built. He has asked more than once indicating it is important for his manly ego. I love it when he builds stuff for me after I make the– This is absolute necessity case. Therefore I want to keep it coming and hence this blog post is born.

Also- I am having problems with retrieval of pics at the moment. This is hindering several blog posts.  The hard drive has a doctor app. with the specialist on Thursday, hopefully he can fix her right up.  Finding these pics on my desktop tonight inspired this post!

The before pic is a bit embarrassing. The bottom of the cart was not always so messy:)  Every time I put a DVD on for the kids I realize how blessed I am to have this custom piece. I drew out exactly what i needed in a entertainment center everything from height so the kids cannot reach controls to a place to store the DJembe and other music stuff.

Speaking of music and my husband. We have some exciting things we are walking towards in 2011.  In an effort to share music- Shannon has picked four songs and is offering them for free download on noisetrade.com Please feel free to pass it along to as many people as you would like.

www.noisetrade.com/saintlewis

We have recently finished the fourth song in the Hope Farm Kids Virtue Collection. Thanks to Mckendree Augustas ( my genius brother) for excellent collaboration and Wade Josey for musical collaboration. We hit a wall with this songs and needed a co-writer.

These songs are all demos and will change before the final release. Set for late spring or early summer. If you have not heard any of the other virtue songs feel free to click and listen. Also- we welcome suggestions, feedback or production ideas for final versions.

We plan to use small groups of kids for gang vocals on some of the choruses. We did this for RESPECT and it turned out great. however it is time-consuming and we want to do it at one time once all songs are completed. If you know of a kid between the age of 8 and 12 that likes to sing, can stay on key and is not afraid to project please message me in an e-mail or on facebook. Email can be found on facebook info. Thanks and have a great day!

Now -I am off to study for the next vitue song: DETERMINATON.

God of Promises by SaintLewis

GO! by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

Unique – Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

RESPECT 2010 by Hope Farm Kids by SaintLewis

A few weeks ago I was inspired by Ana White at Knock off Wood. I have never used one of Ana’s plans however this is a great resource for all of you wanting to build-it-yourself. We have built a lot of our furniture in our home. It is usually because we can’t find and don’t want to spend time to search for just the right thing. It is easier to just build it which is a common phrase around here. My handy husband also recently purchased a fun new tool. I  encouraged the purchase because now he is itching to build stuff– my plan exactly.

Anyway- Ana posted about a quick bookshelf she made with an old pallet. She included all the DIY steps.  It seemed like the perfect way to solve a problem. I have a bag I keep around with Bible, journal, books of choice etc. I needed a place to keep this stuff near the couch where I generally read.

This shelf came to life really fast. I posted on facebook that I was looking for some pallets. It took about 24 minutes and I had an offer to pick up some pallets from a warehouse.  A big shout out to Justin Blanchard for making this happen for me- Thanks Justin! I love the weathered wood, it will also look neat if I choose to paint.

We went to pick up the two pallets and found a third pallet on top that was very different. It was newer, much harder wood and was smaller than the others. We hated to leave it because the wood was very high -quality and we knew we could disassemble and use the wood. I had that feeling that it would turn into a treasure.

We had been talking about building a roll-under-the-bed train table that I had designed and drawn. We have always had issues with the largeness of train tables. We have a small house so innovation is key to peaceful living around here. Due to sickness and lack of time, no train table as built.

The day after Christmas I walk outside to throw some trash away and spot the odd runt of a pallet. The idea hit me square in the face. I quickly showed Shannon. He brought the pallet in, placed it on the table, while I made my case. This pallet will make the perfect base for the train table! The built in space would work perfect for storage.  Shannon gave me that  I get-cha and Im with-ya kind of look. What transformed 4 hours later is kind of magical. We  happened to have all that we needed since the pallet accounted for most of the table. We painted the pallet, Shannon added a board on top with a border. We already had the wood from some other projects. We had the green paint. I owned the containers. Ten dollars ensured we had sturdy wheels to add to the bottom.

So, without further ado, I present to you: My innovative roll-under-the-bed train table!

Most of the trains and tracks were from Kenimers collection. We added a few new pieces for Tucker for Christmas.

We finished it at night and presented it to them in the morning. They were ecstatic.

Two happy boys playing with the train table.  It easily cleans up and rolls under the bed! I know that idea came straight from the heart of God. He is the master of innovation, creativity and resourcefulness. He doesn’t waste a thing. Not even old pallets. I am so thankful he enlightened my heart and showed me this project.

P.S. Inspired yet?  Click Here are some other really neat things to do with pallets.