SBS 2011...

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

I John 4:7-21 (The Message)

Last night...

... I completed what I thought was a triple play of dining, but now I realize it was not.

It was a grand slam.

Beverage stations...

The second thing that made SBS-hostessing a breeze was setting up regular beverage stations.

For the high school SBS, we narrowed beverage choices to two: water and lemonade. What freed up the yellow tub in the first place was the fact that instead of putting ice in individual cups, we filled two beverage dispensers halfway each with ice. Then we filled them the rest of the way with the beverage. In a creative moment, I took some adhesive-backed foam letters and stuck them to dispensers. I wasn't sure if the letters would come off when we washed them (we hand-wash them), but after six weeks, they're still stuck tight.

Ladies' SBS means COFFEE!!! I love me some good coffee-drinking women! We had the same water and lemonade pitchers, although a couple of times I did put out mango peach tea in the third dispenser. But the highlight of social time at a ladies' SBS is drinking coffee with friends.

Coffee featured labels. Caff was more popular, so it stayed in the pot, since most nights I ended up making more. Decaff went in a carafe

We went to disposable cups after washing 12 coffee cups the first night. :) Four kinds of sweetener. Five kinds of creamer that rotated.

There's nothing in this picture that isn't in the others. Coffee corners just make me happy.

Bible study in a tub...

Twenty years ago that would have meant I was sitting in my bathtub with a board stretched from edge to edge, reading and writing. I have three kids now. I can't remember the last time I actually sat down in a tub.

This Bible study in a tub is about a really cool hostessing discovery I stumbled on this summer.

My sweet, amazing, supportive family agreed to re-arrange life as we know it (read: not trash the house on a routine basis) for a couple of months this summer so that we could host two Bible studies in our home. The high school summer Bible study meets on Monday evenings, and the ladies' SBS meets on Wednesday nights. I thought it would be a little chaotic, but in all honesty it is a ton of fun AND the house has stayed relatively clean all week (because the degree to which we trash it Thursday - Sunday directly correlates with the amount of work we do in the big Monday cleaning).

One thing that made set-up a breeze was the Bible study tub. Before the first meeting I was shopping at Walmart and picked up a bright yellow ice tub. I was going to use it for ice, but the plan changed. It was packed with paper products and coffee supplies, and I didn't have time to find a place for everything, so I just let them there. You have to admit that some of our better ideas are "accidental" discoveries.

At 6 p.m. before the guests arrived, I'd grab the tub and put out the supplies. The tub stayed on the corner of the counter so that if anyone needed additional cups/napkins/spoons/plates/Truvia, it was right there. When everyone left, I'd repack the tub, and it'd stay in storage until 6 p.m. on the next SBS night.

Here's a quick run-down of the Bible study in a tub:

The Tub - fully loaded with...


sweeteners (because so many people like so many different things),


forks, spoons, plates, cups, napkins,


name tags,


and beverage labels.

The other thing that made set-up a breeze was the beverage stations. More on those tomorrow...

A little warm outside...

So long, TOMS...

And now I can't buy my beloved TOMS anymore. I really, truly hate that. Really. Truly.

You know, big Blake could have just said, "Many in our company and many of our supporters have views that differ with those of Focus on the Family, but here at TOMS, we are not about politics; we about helping people. No matter what your view on the issues, we hope you will do what you can to help end poverty and disease in the world."

I don't expect Blake Mycoskie to drop shoes and share the gospel. But I didn't expect him to slam my beliefs either. Well, wait a minute, maybe I did. We are not of this world, after all. But I just sort of thought Mycoskie was a little beyond the politics of it all, you know.

Now I feel like I can not only not buy TOMS anymore, I feel like I can't even wear the TOMS I have. 

It's made me rethink a lot about charitable donations. TOMS is NOT a charity. Not at all. I pay twice as much for the shoes than I should so that they will send a pair to someone in a Third World country. TOMS is still making a lovely little profit. Actually, as I think about it, I'm kind of embarrassed I bought such expensive shoes in the first place.

On the other hand, Samaritan's Purse takes hope to the hopeless. They meet needs, make repairs, comfort in crisis, bring healing, and most importantly, share the gospel. Of their budget, 6% goes to fundraising, 5% goes to general/administrative costs, and 89% goes to ministry. You can take a look at their financial report here.

I'm resolving to be more modest in my purchases. I don't have to buy from a Christian company, although that's always nice. I do need to be more careful what I support though, because each spending choice I make limits where my dollars can go, and there are a whole lot of people in the world who need food and clothes and medical care and families and love and most of all... Jesus.

So... so long, TOMS... you were amazingly comfortable, but now I realize it's not always about my comfort.

Loving well x 3...

Before all our kids hit the teen years and got busy beyond belief, I did Summer Bible study with the most amazing group of women ever. Life-changing studies; life-changing relationships. I'm pretty confident that in heaven, we'll hang out the front porch of the mansion and talk about what the Father did in our lives during that season. It was huge.

As I've gone through the struggle of missing Bible study after returning to work, I've realized just how essential my women's Bible study relationships were to keeping me in God's Word, off the street, and out of trouble. 

I was floundering as summer approached. We had a family crisis rearrange our lives in a major way. My heart was wounded, not only by the immediate crisis, but by some incidents that had happened several years ago. I had no idea how deeply those far-off events had cut into my heart or that instead of letting the Lord heal me, I'd taken my own spiritual duct tape and bound my own wounds... Out of sight? Wounds gone! Only not.

No, really they were festering untreated beneath the layers and layers and layers of figurative duct tape. The pain of this spring let me know that my heart had never healed.

In May, I decided... on what I thought was a whim... to ask in a couple of places online if anyone wanted to do SBS again. Several answered that they did. I did what all super-spiritual Bible study women do to find the study: I googled, and I found a four-session DVD study by Beth Moore called Loving Well. The picture I had in my mind was of people in my workplace I needed to love well. God's picture was a LOT bigger and more colorful than the one I'd imagined. I simply adore the way He shows His sovereignty. Life-changing on a daily basis.

We have one more session to go--one set of homework and a wrap-up dinner. It's been fun and it's been painful. Have YOU ever had duct tape wound tightly around your heart, only to have the Lord take it off? The is most definitely pain, but there is also healing.

I sat watching the last video, which I had no idea featured Beth telling the hairbrush story that I posted earlier this summer, and it all came together for me.

Loving well... doing a good job of loving others
Loving well... the spiritual source of love -- God Himself; all love pours from Him, the Loving Well
Loving well... loving others from a heart that God has healed

The English teacher in me is giddy about the way the Lord spoke three different definitions of well through Beth. I think He did that just for me... loving well x 3.

You would not believe your eyes, if 10 million fireflies...

Lanterns are pretty. My porch is lit up with lanterns and candles in the summertime; it's one of the summer things that make me love the season.

Now my courtyard is lit up with lanterns too.

The recent Ikea pilgrimage netted five new silver lanterns.  I put them in the courtyard peach tree. At night it looks like fireflies are dancing around.

The Ikea stool...

Remember the bag-o-Ikea goodies? Well, to the left of that bag was a box--the only piece of Ikea furniture I brought home this trip.

That box was a step stool for my kitchen. I am short -- very, very short compared to the height of my cabinets. I can reach things on the first shelf and the front of the second shelf.  Higher up or further in and I'm in trouble.

Online they showed the stool in two finishes --natural birch and brown-black stain. When we got to Ikea, there were no brown-black stained step stools. So sad. My friend Suzanne and I decide that the natural birch one looked pretty unfinished, so I bought it.

I took ebony stain I had left over from a failed attempt to convert a white-washed frame into an ebony-stained frame, and I stained...

... myself AND the stool.

I'm sure this will take my cooking to new heights. Bahahahahaha! *smh* I did not just say that...

Hypothetically speaking...

... what could happen if you are watching a sermon online and decide to take the laptop upstairs to finish watching because everyone else is already in bed. Suppose you hypothetically put your ear buds on the keyboard and close the laptop. What do you think might could happen?

If you guessed that your laptop screen might look like this when you open up the computer, you're a winner!

No, it's not a modern art print. It's a cracked LCD screen. *sigh*

4th of July weekend...

The pool is back on track...

Zack had a sleepover with his best bud...

Zane got home from Impact...

Kelsey got back from a sailing weekend with Hayes' family...

We had a delightful cookout with Hayes' family. They pretty much rock. Then we had a lovely cookout with my mom. She, of course, rocks. And then we watched the DC fireworks on PBS because ours were rained out. I don't have a picture of any of those three things, but I do have a shot of my new favorite home decor sign (from Carol's kitchen)...

Happy 4th of July! I hope you had a sweet time with friends and family too!

Copernican revolution...

As much as I love Ikea and get alternately amused and frustrated by my family and pool and job and life in general, this is really what it's all about. It's the One Thing.

Untitled from Alvin Reid on Vimeo.

The land of the in-laws...

Jimmy's grandmother was born in Sweden. Her maiden name was Andersen. Therefore, we feel a kindred spirit with Ikea, which could go a long way in explaining my over-the-top affection for the retailer.

Yesterday we made our first summer of 2011 visit to Ikea. I went with a printed list from the Ikea website. Dave Ramsey haunts me wherever I go, so I have to have a list to avoid budget-busting purchases. Dave would be proud because I spent 30% less than I had budgeted. It was because of the rug. The rug I loved on the website was boo-ugly in real life.

I'll get around to posting what I'm doing with everything, but here's a shot of most of what came home with us. Little stuff, but hopefully it will have a lovely impact on the home place.

While I was there, I found my dream kitchen. I'm processing how it will translate here...Do I take ideas from it and apply them to what I've got? Do I postpone all immediate plans to tweak the kitchen and budget to buy the Ikea version because we've got to do something with cabinet doors that are cracking and falling off their hinges? Do I apply some ideas now, while budgeting for future changes? Oh, the quandry.

In the meantime, here are pictures of dreamland...

And here is proof that I can out-plan, out-shop and out-last my kids at Ikea: