As You Prepare to Face the Day

Sometimes the day starts so early, it rather bleeds in from the sleepless night.

Sometimes you may wake and groan to think about what is coming and wish to throw the covers over your head and return to oblivion.

Sometimes the memory of yesterday seems already to have tainted today, and it seems hopeless to look for any redemption of the junk you walked through then and most likely will slog through now.

I've had those days.

Days when I woke up barely human, not to even speak of Christian.

What fits us to face the day?

Well, here are a few anchors anyway:

...Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:20b-22).

 A wildly mind-boggling thought. We are in Jesus being built into a home for God in the Spirit. We are in Christ and in the Spirit, and God is in us. How much closer could He be, in remarkable Triune companionship?

Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Everything pertaining to life and godliness. That is quite comprehensive. If it relates whatsoever to life ... or godliness ... then God (who has Divine Power, which must be very strong indeed) has granted what we need. Through knowing Him (we may know Him, God Himself?! Amazing.). And through His promises, we may become partakers in His own holy nature. Which sounds like something we should never dream possible, except that He said so, Himself.

The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD (Lamentations 3:22-26).

Some of you, some friends today, will wake up to a hard day. I know that (though I may not know the half of it). Oh, may the relentless lovingkindness of the LORD find you. May the new mercies meet every need today, while you quietly wait for Him to work on your behalf. We have a God who brings salvation of every  kind, from every peril. And He has already showed us the end of the story (a truly, deeply happy ending). To have Him as our own portion is to have hope.

I pray you see Him in this day, since that makes all the difference. Much grace to you today.

Valentine's Day Weekend

Last Saturday was Valentine's Day. In a "blue" kinda house, we didn't get into too much hearts or frills, but it was a pretty special day nonetheless.

I slept in (kinda inadvertently... oops) and Ben played with the boys while I had some quiet time. Then it was eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast (Victor polished off a good plate of eggs and 2 cinnamon rolls). 

Then I took Victor and Josiah to Target so Daddy could have a little snooze and time to himself. We got a bag of coffee as a Happy Valentine's Day present and a new sweater for Victor. And it was pretty quiet in the store, so we played a little hide-and-seek in the women's clothing section too. :)

After Josiah's morning nap, we bundled up for lunch at Erbert and Gerberts. There was some fun music playing, and Josiah totally started grooving to the tunes. It was hilarious! He'd bob his head and then laugh and clap and do it all again.

After lunch, we headed to the zoo, where they had a special huge sandbox set up by the Tropics Trail. Victor brought a bucket and shovel, and he and Daddy excavated for a while in the warm ... ignoring the frigid weather outside.

After afternoon snoozes, we had some riotous Rody races, bouncing from the living room to Victor's bunkbed and back ... Victor vs. Daddy, Victor vs. Mommy, Victor taking a victory lap. There were thrills, spills, and much uproarious laughter.

We had a special Valentine's Day dinner of pizza dip and homemade peanut butter cup bars (food = Mommy's love language). And to top off a lovely day, when the littles were in bed, Ben and I finished watching (the good BBC version of) Pride and Prejudice.

Sweet, sweet.

To Live For Another

I've been having a neighborhood Bible study with a couple ladies for the past month. Getting ready for tomorrow night's study, this verse popped out at me:

And He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf (2 Corinthians 5:15).

 Not living for myself. It's almost laughable how far short I routinely fall from that great call, but what a liberating purpose of Christ's death.

If I'm not living for myself, I don't have to self-protect and try to preserve peoples' good impressions with false piety.

If I'm not living for myself, I don't have to excessively feed insatiable cravings ... whether for sleep, dessert, approval, efficiency, or comfort.

If I'm not living for myself, it's okay when my agenda gets scrambled by sick kids, unexpected company, toddler temper tantrums, and computer malfunctions. Interruptions don't have to ruin my day.

If I'm not living for myself, I need not fear the unexpected. If I have an open hand to receive what God sees good to give me, then I am in a very safe place. With a good Shepherd and kind Father tending my needs, even when I don't understand how it all works out for good.

If I'm not living for myself, my sins and failures will humble me and press me back to dependence on Jesus. I won't resist the conviction of the Holy Spirit and refuse to acknowledge when I've veered off His way and need to turn back to Him.

If I'm not living for myself, I won't end my days with hopeless regret and remorse. I will be spared such sorrow and bondage. I will taste hope and see those sweet every-morning mercies from the One who proved by laying down His own life that He will spare no expense for my good.

Ah, Lord, I've such a long way to go. But help me to come a step closer to consistently living for You.

Our Story: First Sight

For the first installment of this long story, see Our Story: Introductions.  Second installment, see Our Story: Rescued. Third installment, see Our Story: A Long Wait.

Our Story: First Sight
Was That Love?



The summer of 2005 was notable for a few reasons. It was my first summer living in the 'hood in Minneapolis. It was my first summer working full-time (as a real, independent adult). And it was the summer that Ben moved to town.

One of my duties as the now-full-time Adult Ministry assistant was to coordinate the weekly Wednesday Connection meal.  We alternated between the parking lot of our under-construction North Campus (in Mounds View) and the parking lot of our Downtown Campus (in Minneapolis).  Hot dogs, chips, water.  This was not a complicated meal.  But you would hardly believe the trouble I had.

I wrote an essay about my experience that summer. Laugh or cry, you know? (I'll try to post the essay, but I only have a hard copy right now.)

Ed Katterson was my noble hot dog griller. On a Wednesday in June, I was rushing around, per the norm, when a lanky fellow peddled into the Downtown parking lot on a bicycle, his shoulder-length, curly blond hair billowing behind him. My impressions were of a high-octane smile and a bit of a wild appearance. Ed introduced him as his youngest son, newly moved to town to be a part of Bethlehem, Ben.

I said hi and continued on my stressed-out way. [Ben recalls feeling a bit deflated by my welcome. Little did he know what strenuous demands were riding on the shoulders of that distracted hot dog lady...]

The next time our paths crossed was at a game night at Ben and Melissa Piper's house, maybe a few weeks later. I had served as Ben Piper's ministry assistant for about 6 months, so we were friends, and they also invited their neighbors across the street (who happened to be Nathan and Laura Katterson),  another single guy, and ... Nathan's younger brother Ben. The card game we played [sadly, I don't recall what it was] involved going around the circle, each person laying down a card. In the course of play, Ben laid down a card, and I happened to lay down its pair. Ben looked over at me, with his wide grin, and said, "Well, I guess we'll have to get married!"

Cheeky man, I thought. He doesn't even know me.

Aside from crossing paths at morning prayer meetings and church, nothing notable marked our interactions after that. We were acquaintances (not particularly friends) and each heavily involved in different things. Ben was almost immediately drawn into the Messengers drama group (a performing arts group that presented at Bethlehem as well as traveled around the country) and some short-term missions trips with his dad, and I was leading a small group and a neighborhood Bible study and working too much.

It would be a year and a half before I had any indication God would be crossing our paths in a more significant way.

Next installment: Just a Hint

10 Months!

10 months old! 

(Just prior to falling off the chair... though I did catch him with one awkward hand)

9 months old

 8 months old

7 months old

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Dear Josiah,

This has been a big month of change for you.

- Pretty much as soon as we got home from celebrating Christmas, you decided to put your crawl in gear. And now you motor around like crazy! I love watching you crawl, especially when you decide you're going to come over and visit me.

- Three more teeth have popped through on top. Actually, you skipped the middle two in favor of going "vampire-style" with the outer teeth, but now one of the middle ones has come through as well, and I think the other one is super close. (All that work growing teeth has also given you some grumpy nights, but I think and hope we're on the home stretch for a little while anyway.)

- You can really put away Cheerios, and you down big bowls of baby food. This also explains why all your clothes are too small. (But I haven't found the 18-month clothes bin yet to crack out the next size up...)

- You kinda sorta sleep through the night now! We are absolutely thrilled to have a room just for you, and we've definitely cut out the 10pm feeding. But the early morning feeding kinda hangs around 4 or 5am, probably waiting for me to get a little more purposeful in stretching it til 6am. (That's basically wake-up time for the household these days.) 

- Now that you are an independent mover, I remember all the hazards that this season holds. Our new apartment really isn't baby-proof yet, and you are very good at discovering where those weak points are. This week has been particularly accident-prone, so I'm thankful God is watching over you.

- You pull yourself up to standing all the time. I think you might be turning into a walker before too long...

- Your favorite things to play with are small, chokable Legos, electrical cords, unstable shelves, and most other things that are off-limits. You keep me busy!

- You are starting to really enjoy reading books. Especially for the touch and feel baby animals book, you sit very still and quiet the whole way through.

These days are flying by, and you are growing and changing so fast. It's amazing to watch you explore and discover, and I pray that all you learn will point you to the great Creator and Keeper of all things. May He give you a love for Jesus from your very earliest understanding of Him!

With love and prayers,

Momma

The Move

Let's see ... since last I wrote anything here, we celebrated Christmas in Iowa, returned to Minnesota, Ben completed a J-term class on Jonathan Edwards, we celebrated Victor's birthday, we moved upstairs, and Ben started his new semester of classes. 

I'm thinking it's probably futile to try to totally catch up from all that, so here's just a little overview of the moving situation.

We've lived in our home in Apple Valley since shortly after we got married. Snug little "Hobbit hole," with two bedrooms, and we have loved it. With the advent of Mr. Josiah, however, it has been feeling smaller and smaller (especially at night). We tried a variety of sleeping arrangements to try to find a situation where everybody could sleep well, but it was getting a little rough.

Victor in his room. Josiah and Mom and Dad in our room. 

Victor in his room. Josiah in the living room. Mom and Dad in our room.

Victor in his room. Josiah in our room. Mom and Dad on the floor in the living room.

Victor and Josiah in Victor's room. Mom and Dad in our room.

Josiah in Victor's room. Victor and Mom and Dad in our room.

I'll be honest, I was feeling a little desperate. But in the kindness and very surprising gift of God, our landlord was willing to negotiate a trade of floors with us so that we could have the upstairs (with three bedrooms), and he would be downstairs. 

 The move was nice, in that nothing had to be hauled outside and driven to another place ... but it was a bit of a challenge to swap two floors worth of stuff simultaneously. And try to clean somewhat.

At the end of it all, we are just delighted with the new space!

Here is an unedited and un-picked-up view...

The living room

The dining room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Josiah's room

Master bedroom

Victor's room

So thankful!

3 Years Old!

3 years old!

2 years old

18 months

One year old

11 months

10 months

9 months

 
8 months

7 months

6 months

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Dear Victor,

What an amazing thing, that you are now 3 years old!

You are vivacious, energetic, thoughtful, and bright.

- You have loads of energy! It's so good to see you running back and forth in our apartment, crashing into the couch and bouncing on your new Rody Horse and pushing your lawn mower, jumping on trampolines, skipping through parking lots, and all the other ways that energy escapes!

- The growth of a mind is an astonishing act of God! You are learning so fast ... when you and Daddy read your bedtime Bible story, you can recognize probably a dozen words when Daddy points them out.

- You are gifted in directions. That did not come from the Anderson side! You recognize when we travel a path twice, you can spot and identify the library from any direction, and you know what every abbreviation for N, S, E, and W (and all their combinations) mean on the rearview mirror.

- You took a huge step this week. Now you're sleeping on the top bunk of your nifty new bunkbed and loving it!

- You are an includer. Every day, so often you make sure people are pulled in ... to whatever. Examples from this evening: You get a cupcake; "Daddy, do you want a cupcake?" You go down your new slide; "Mommy, now it's your turn to go down!"

- You love playing with all your cousins and seeing your aunts and uncles and grandparents. It's so fun to see all the connections in our family gatherings!

- You have quite a gentle spirit (most of the time). How we love to hear you comforting Josiah, "It's okay, Josiah. You don't need to cry." You will often tell me that Joey needs a toy to play with in the car, if he's unhappy. And when I'm busy and Joey is sad, I can send you in to sing him a song, and I love the lusty version of "Jesus Loves Me" that comes out!

- You still love trucks, planes, and construction equipment of all sorts. (So I am getting a a vast education on heavy machinery right along with you.)

- Favorite kitchen project: Baking muffins (with chocolate chips)

- Favorite book: The Dangerous Journey

- Favorite stuffed animal: You still have a great friend in your stuffed duck. You talk with him (and he has a fun little accent when he talks back to you), feed him, watch videos with him, snuggle with him at night, and generally take good care of him.

We love to hear your simple prayers, your quoting Psalm 23, your singing hymns. How we pray with all our heart that you will love and trust in Jesus all your days.

We love you, big man!

Momma and Daddy.