Category Archives: Sacred Mundane

I got some fun news today: There’s something new on amazon.com!  Go there and search “Karina Patterson” and see what you might find… 🙂 $5 to anyone who’ll leave a good review! Ok just kidding.

Update: here’s the direct link

Jeff and I just got back home from two of the most exciting and awe-inspiring events: Jeff’s first time preaching at Willamette and our viewing of a one-bedroom apartment we’ll be moving into June 7th.  Yes, I know that sounds strange. Of course hearing Jeff preach was a huge blessing to me, and I was in tears during worship just reflecting on the faithfulness of God.  There’s so much to share I hardly know where to start.

But the second part of that sentence probably seems odd: Excited and awe-inspired by a one-bedroom apartment? I cannot tell you how beside myself with joy I am to be moving into this one-bedroom apartment!!!!!!!!  And no, I haven’t completely lost my mind.  And no, the apartment is not filled with gold. It’s just an apartment. But oh so much more to the story.

You see also tonight I looked out our window and watched Jeff and Dutch playing in the dirt in the lot just up from us, where they poured a new foundation the day before yesterday.  Last week Dutch and I watched out our window as excavators came, moving massive amounts of earth, loading countless dump trucks, smoothing out an even pad for the pouring of a concrete foundation which will soon support a house.  At that time Dutch and I knew it was such a blessing that they were working right outside our window–because that meant hours of fascinating and educational entertainment for Dutch as he stood on our couch and watched them work. What we didn’t know was that the house being built was ours.

As most of you know we left our own home two years ago to move in with my parents in order to live on our savings and finish seminary.  It was the biggest leap of faith I’ve ever taken, and exactly a year ago we had no job, no place to live, Jeff had no car (his died), and we were about to find out that –surprise!– we were expecting our second child.  Everytime I go back and read my blog from a year ago I am reminded afresh of the tears and crying out to God, please, provide a job, please provide a home, please provide a car.  And just weeks later I’d be praying, please provide health insurance for the delivery of this baby. Though temporal things to be sure, I was longing and pleading with God to come through.

But I never dreamed…

In my Old Testament reading I happen to be in 1Kings where Solomon builds a house for the Lord and for Himself. The account details the precious metals used, the types of wood, the dimensions–painstaking detail that’s always sort of caused my eyes to glaze over.  Apparently all the details of the building process, both of the temple and of Solomon’s house, were worth preserving in the sacred scriptures. Every detail.

And I believe that every detail of this story matters. It matters because God has painstakingly orchestrated every single detail for His glory. He has magnified Himself, done what only He could do. Because of this I’m giong to write out the “long version” and post it in chunks, but for those of you who just want to know what’s going on (!), here it is…

After living with my parents, we moved into a house my brother and his wife owned that they were trying to sell.  Well, in what seemed like the worst timing it sold just days after Heidi was born.  With noplace else to go, Dombrows graciously let us move in with them for two months until we could figure something else out.  During that time, the house we really wanted was sold to someone else.  We prayed and set the date that if nothing else opened up by May 15th (we were supposed to move out at the end of May), then we’d have to just find a place to rent.  May 15th came and went. Still nothing.

Now you have to understand something about living at Dombrows. Their new house is in the most beautiful, wonderful, perfect neighborhood. Walking distance to the church, trails, a farm, a creek, the park, the grocery store, starbucks; and there’s even the beautiful country sound of crickets at night.  However, the houses in this neighborhood are all brand new and WAY out of our price range.  So with every day that passed of course I fell in love with this location, but knew there’s no way we could ever live there.

May 16th. We stay up playing Dutch Blitz after Saturday night church, and as we crawl into bed, I decided to check online real quick to see if there are any houses just added on the market. One pops up.  I look at the price–perfect.  I look at the bedrooms, size–perfect.  There’s no picture.  Scroll down–new construction.  Address?  My jaw drops.  It’s THE LOT we’d just watched be excavated the day before.  Right outside our window. The house is two doors down from Dombrows, with only one lot in between.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  Jeff and I look at each other and it’s like in an instant we know with every ounce of our being–this is it.

So apparently the builders decided to build some lower-end homes in this high-end neighborhood.  Now understand, what they consider “lower end” is still a stinkin’ mansion in my opinion!  And we even get to pick out our colors, flooring, cabinets, etc.  We still get to stay in this neighborhood! I still get to visit with Joy and our kids still get to play with the Downs who live across the street and have kids our same age.  In fact, there are so many amazing things I can’t even begin to list them all.

So then we still needed a place to live for four months until the house is completed. And we couldn’t find anywhere that would rent for such short term. Plus we really wanted to be near the church since we practically live there. There are great apartments right next door to the church, but in order to do less-than-a-year lease it was outlandishly expensive.  So tonight…I’m praying for Jeff;s message  and I prayed that God would just be gracious and allow us to find a place to live before we leave on Thursday to go visit my brother, that way we don’t have it hanging over our heads all while we’re gone. I get on Craigslist and once again my jaw drops–a large one-bedroom apartment at the complex right next door to the church.  Someone needed to find someone to take over their lease for them for … you guessed it–four months.  The rent is super cheap, no deposit required, and they’ll be out May 31st; exactly to the day the perfect timing for us.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  We went and saw the apartment tonight and it’s perfect–a bedroomfor Dutch, a walk-in closet where Heidi can sleep :), and a great big living room with room for a couch and our bed (we’re sleeping in the living room!).  It even has a little yard for Dutch and a community swimming pool! Hello!

Oh man this post has gotten way too long but there’s just so much! Tonight during worship a slideshow just played in my mind of the past two years and how faithful God has been.  He provided an amazing job, a church we LOVE, friends, amazing co-laborers, a pastor and family we love. He provided a car for us, even one big enough to tote around my double stroller, he provided health insurance, even double covering us for one month, THE month of Heidi’s birth so we hardly paid anything.  And now this.  I cannot even believe the generosity and graciousness of our good God.

And please hear me, He’s been good all along! He’s been good every step of the way. He’s been faithful!  I pray that my praise isn’t conditioned on His “neat stuff” for us and yet there is every reason to praise Him and enjoy this amazing moment of provision.  His care is so personal. And that is why I’m beside myself with joy about a one-bedroom apartment… 🙂

Today while I was out running errands I text messaged Jeff:  “sushi + movie = date night”.  Dombrows are out of town for the weekend and my parents decided to take Dutch to their house for a sleepover, and since Heidi is the easiest baby on earth and goes to sleep in her little closet at 7pm, that meant Jeff and me, alone in this great big house living it up like rock stars :-).  I brought home $3 sushi from Winco (I know, extravagent), and splurged on a movie from blockbuster (usually we rent form the library) and even got wild and crazy with Moose Tracks ice cream from safeway.  I told you, liviin’ it up like rock stars.  Jeff ran upstairs and found the only blanket he could find which happened to be Dutch’s blue fleece with a life-sized Bob the Builder logo on it, and we curled up on the couch under Bob and Wendy and watched Seven Pounds.  Wow.

I won’t give away all the details but the movie could basically be summed up in one phrase: A Life Given.  What fasincates me is how our culture, or really all of humanity is fascinated by the idea of one giving his own life for the redemption, the life, the salvation of others.  We are obsessed with it, with the profundity of such an idea.  We are moved to tears by the utter selflessness of it all.  We’re inspired.  There is something in us that says, This is love.

And that is what Seven Pounds is about.  I want to write so much more about it but don’t want to give it all away. It’s so fascinating that our culture and world will reject the idea of Christ’s substitutionary work of atonement on the cross, will reject the idea of redemption, and yet our hearts ache to watch movies like Seven Pounds, one given for the life of many.

The movie made me want to fall on my knees and worship our God, because even though the movie brought me to tears with the beauty of Tim Thomas’s sacrificial gift of life, but how much greater the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  For in the movie, Tim, acting as Ben, researches, calls, stalks those in need of organs, to be sure that they are “good people”.  But what about Christ?  Is His gift of life conditional?  Scripture says,

“⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Christ’s substitution death on the cross wasn’t for seven. It wasn’t for those with kind dispositions.  Christ died for all. He died for us while we were wicked. While we were helpless. While we were unloving.

And, just as the movie portrayed with Connie, the abused woman who refused help, Christ knocks on the door of our heart, seeks us out, reveals Himself to us…but doesn’t force us to receive His grace.  Connie refused, because of fear. How could she trust this man she didn’t even know?  But Tim’s card was left, and when she came to the end of herself, she called–and a new life was given.

Christ died for us!  A healthy heart for ours that fails, new eyes that we can see, a mansion in glory for us to enjoy for all eternity.  The beautiful part, however, is that Tim had to die forever that the others could live. But Jesus lives!  He is the only one who could die a substitionary death and still rise, and still live, and still conquer sin and death once and for all.

Our right response?  Fall on our knees and worship. Thank Him with every breath and every ounce of our being.  He died that we might live.  His life was given for ours.  Thank You, Jesus.

Did you think perhaps I graduated from seminary and then walked off the edge of the earth?  I’ve felt haunted by this blog all week because I haven’t know what to say.  I’m trying to figure out a new normal now. What is life like without school? And more than that, what on earth is my routine going to be like?  Without the rigor of schoolwork, I’m finding myself sort of floating listlessly through my day.  You see, I’m a hopeless routine girl. I love routine, and apparently so do my children, whose sleep patterns are like clockwork.  I think one of the biggest challenges for me with moving as much as we have, is that I’ve yet to find a rhythm or routine to my life.  I jump from one adrenalin boost to the next.  Just when I get adjusted, we move again or something changes like a new job or baby or something and I’m starting all over again.  No complaints here–everything in our life is fabulous, just trying to learn the dance of the moment and I seem to have two left feet at it right now.

We’re also moving again :)…and don’t know where. But we’re confident. God has just the perfect situation. We actually have a housing opportunity on the horizon, which I’ll share more about as I’m able, but we need a place to stay for four months, preferably near the church. Any ideas?

Anyway, all that to say I’m just trying to get in the swing of ordinary things and catch up on what I’ve slacked on for about, say, four years.  We haven’t gone to the dentist in over 2 years.  Dutch has never gone to the dentist. I have no summer clothes except cut-off jean shorts, which I can’t quite carry off wearing to church with heels (wouldn’t that cause a stir!).  We all need doctor’s appointments.  Oh, and we need a place to live. 🙂

So to help create a sense of normalcy and routine, and to give me some direction, I’m making some daily routine goals.

1. Thirty minutes in the Word and Prayer before kids are up, or at least before Dutch is up.  It’s pretty easy to have a quiet time with Heidi. 🙂

2. Baby Workout (I made this up today! Check it out below) during Dutch’s nap.  Heidi’s laughter was the best part.

3. Walk to park after Heidi’s first nap.

4. Journal and/or Blog before bed

I’m not much into rules, but at least this will help me have some structure.  Wish I had some deep thoughts to share with ya, but this is all I got. Have a great day.

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Baby Work Out: (Requires 7-20 pound baby. Or I suppose a bag of flour would work too.  But then you wouldn’t get the laughs.)

1. Airplane Ride (On your back, baby on shins, knees pulled to chest, extend legs straight out while holding baby’s hands, pull back to chest and watch baby giggle.  Repeat.  3 sets of 15 reps)

2. 50 Kisses (Push-ups, I do them on my knees, baby on her back on a blanket, must kiss cheeks with each pushup, alternate cheeks.  Enjoy smiles.  50 reps)

3. Baby Elevator (basic squats holding baby close to chest. 25 reps)

4. Baby Bench (lie on back, hold baby’s belly/chest with hands above.  Lower to chest and push back up.  3 sets of 12 reps. WARNING: do not do this exercise on a full tummy–baby’s that is.  )

5. Clown Act (prop baby on the couch and get dumbells.  Do bicep curls while making ridiculous faces at baby.  3 sets of 12 reps.  Extra challenge: Sing Jesus Loves Me at the same time.)

So most of you (probably all of you, except my own mother) are tired of me talking about how overwhelmed with joy I am to be done with my master’s and graduating tomorrow.   Please indulge me one last time…  I just walked in the door from graduation rehearsal, which I had thought was going to be a pretty huge waste of time but was actually helpful.  When I’m alone (without kids) driving I feel like I get to think so much more. It’s like I actually have 100% of my mind to focus in one direction instead of listening to Dutch talk, pointing out dump trucks, handing snacks, answering questions, you get the idea.  So after rehearsal, I walked slowly to my car, thinking about my day tomorrow.  About graduation, about this chapter of my life that is coming to a close.

And I know I’ve said this before, but as I drove home, listening to worship music, singing at the top of my lungs, “You are Holy, You are Holy, Seated on the Throne,” my eyes filled with tears as pictures flashed through my mind of the last four years:  Packing four lunches and four dinners every Wednesday night, preparing for the marathon of working full days Thursday, then commuting 1.5 hours, sitting in class from 6-10pm, sleeping at Kris & Nikki’s house, then being back in Portland for class from 8am-5pm straight on Fridays.  I thought of eating goldfish crackers during my Theology final to keep from throwing up from morning sickness (and then unfortunately I thought of throwing up right after the final was over).  I thought of pushing like crazy trying to get Heidi born.  I thought of crying on my knees out to God when the house sold and I was so exhausted and needed to move.  I thought of sitting in my car in San Jose and opening my letter from Multnomah that announced my scholarship and confirmed the direction we were to take.  I thought of nursing Heidi while grading Spiritual Formation papers.

And then I thought of the symbol of it all–the academic hood, which they hang around our shoulders as we cross the stage tomorrow. It’s such a small thing, and will just gather dust in my closet in years to come, and yet there’s so much behind it.  And what came to my mind, as I sang about God’s holiness in the car, was that the significance of it comes from the fact that in a sense I will cast that hood at the foot of Jesus someday.  Every thing that we strive for for the Kingdom of God we will get to cast at the foot of our beautiful Savior some day in glory.  It doesn’t get any better than that!!  We raise our hands to worship Him because our hearts, when they’re overwhelmed by His goodness and glory, can’t help but reach up and want to demonstrate, “I give you all I have, God! You are worthy!”  It’s all for you!  And that’s why we do what we do.  I want to DO something worthy of giving to Christ!  I will cast tears, diapers, prayers, academic hoods, and sweat at His feet.  Please Lord let me not enter eternity with nothing to cast at Your feet. I want a crown to cast.

—

But the truth also is that I’m tired. I’d like to settle down and stare into space for a few years, thank you very much.  And while that’s perhaps understandable, it’s not admirable.  My default mode is so to just live a safe, comfortable life.  Not too hard, please.  And that reminded me of this video Jeff showed me, by Francis Chan:  I pray we would perform valiently in all God calls us to.  That we can have reason to raise our hands when we dismount. That we can have a crown to cast.

I read an interesting and, quite honestly, rather disturbing portion of scripture this morning.  Second Samuel chapeter 21 gives an account of how David avenges the Gibeonites, righting Saul’s wrong.  So there’s a famine in the land 2 years so “David sought the face of the LORD” basically saying, “Uh, something’s not right here. WHat’s going on?”  and the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gigeonites to death.”  Now, the Gibeonites are a curious group and always kind of puzzle me.  When Joshua and his guys first inhabited the promise land, the Gibeonites got scared that they’d get wiped out, so they pretended to be from a land far far away, wearing old worn out clothes and bringing moldy bread (interesting that apparently the ubiquitousness of moldy bread was the same then as it is now), and asked the Israelites to make a treaty with them and deal kindly with them. The Israelites didn’t seek the Lord, made the treaty, and then and only then discovered that the rascals were their next door neighbors and the Lord had intended for them to be wiped out.  So, basically what they had done was agree to share their promised land with these tricksters for all time.

And because God honors a vow, the treaty would last for all time. Never were they to slaughter the Gibeonites. Well, Saul, who is famous for not following directions very well, had put some Gibeonites to death during his reign.  We’re talking a long time ago. David wasn’t even around then so it obviously wasn’t his fault.  So it kind of seems random that God’s allowing this famine because of a sin that some dead king did a long time ago.  So David asks them basically, “how can I make it right by you?” and they respond they want some of Saul’s blood.  So, David agrees to avenge the Gibeonites by executing seven descendents of Saul.  Wait, what?

That’s the part that really trips me up.  So these seven men, grandsons of King Saul, who probably didn’t even know the guy that much, are executed because of some stupid thing their grandpa did? That’s harsh.  So I’m not going there, but the point seems to be that sin is a big deal, and requires restitution.

Now we know we’ve been bought and redeemed by Christ, but I wonder if there is a principle here for me/us. Because when David did that, and avenged the Gibeonites, it says, “And after that God responded to the plea for the land” v. 14.  Hm.  Who do I need to avenge?

I just wonder if maybe God thinks it’s important for us to be mindful of ways that we need to make things right.  So I prayed and asked God if there was anything I needed to be reminded of, anything that need to be made right, so that a spiritual famine would not take place in my life, but that God would hear my plea.  I was reminded of two things:  Jeff and I had decided to support some certain missionaries in February, but then the house sold things got crazy, and I realized today that we never followed through and called the mission agency.  That might seem small, but if those missionaries were counting on our contribution, we were essentially robbing them, not letting our yes be yes.  This passage showed me that in order to make it right, we should not just start now, but pay back the months we’d neglected.  In essence, righting the wrong we’d overlooked.

Secondly, God brought to mind a very difficult relational/business situation we’ve been in. THe other person, through an amazing change of heart, chose to bless us.  We have an opportunity to make a pretty significant choice to bless her back, and in light of this passage, I think any measure is worth being upright before God and man.  Thankfully we don’t have to find anyone’s sons and have them hanged.

I know Old Testament passages like this can be confusing. I still don’t understand why God would let those seven men die for sins they didn’t commit. But I also know He sees stuff I don’t. But what I love is when those old dusty musty stories come alive with conviction and truth for today.  Because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  And now I need to go, I have some checks to write :-).

Well today I am enjoying my first day at home as a free woman!  After finishing seminary, speaking at the women’s luncheon, then finishing the last of the theology papers to grade, I dropped off the papers at Multnomah and drove home a free woman! Done!!!  Today is the first day at home in four years, besides during vacations and so forth, when I’ve had no studying to do, no papers to write and/or grade, and no books to read.  This morning Dutch and I watched the excavator work next door, sat outside and watched dump trucks come and go, walked to the park and played in the barkdust, walked to to a nearby farm and watched the cows, and even watched a 20-minute chunk of Cars.  The washing machine is humming with laundry, and I never ever thought I’d say this, but I’m actually excited about ironing the dozen+ shirts that await me.  It’s SOOO nice to actually be able to do mindless domestic duties.  At that park earlier I stood, holding Heidi, with my face up to the sky, letting the sunshine wash over me, listening to Dutch’s peels of laughter as he ran around the park, savoring the sweet moment.  Savoring the ability to give undivided attention to the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved seminary. In fact, secret’s out: I might go back. Yes, I know, insane.  I might go back next year and pursue another degree very slowly (like the 6-10 year plan).  I love it. I love studying, teaching, all that. But oh glorious day today that I get to be a mommy without one eye on the clock knowing I need to attack a massive paper. Oh glorious day that I can iron clothes during the kids’ naps.  Today I sat, all by myself after I put the kids down, and ate lunch without doing another darn thing. No multi-tasking!  I didn’t check my email, I wasn’t scarfing down the remnants of Dutch’s leftover cheese sandwich, I wasn’t bouncing Heidi. I was just sitting, staring out into the glorious sunshine, scooping up beans and cheese with my Jaunita’s chips.  Mmm. Sweet mindless bliss. 🙂

Nothing profound here, although I’m hoping to post something later about an intersting passage I read this morning…   But had to share my joy in this day, this first day having completed everything. At least everything for now.  We’ll see what tomorrow holds.

Do you ever struggle with something for a long time, or want something so bad for a long time, and then all of a sudden you notice that you’re like strangely ok and you don’t remember getting ok you just all of a sudden notice you are?  I noticed that tonight. I thought, “Wait, I’m ok, really ok–weird.”  I noticed that I just felt so content, so ok with not having a home.  We came home from our day of prayer event and arrived just as Nathan got home from his baseball game. Dutch threw his arms around Nathan’s legs as we asked him how it went (they won!).  As I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth I teased Elisabeth about getting her up in the morning (I’m taking them to school tomorrow).  I ran the dishwasher, filled up my water bottle, and collapsed into my amazingly comfortable bed.  What’s not to love and savor about this evening?  Sure Heidi sleeps in the closet, who cares? Sure my stuff is packed up and strewn in four different locations. It’s just stuff. And it’s not actually even that neat of stuff to tell you the truth.  I don’t know. I guess it’s funny sometimes how things that are SO hard sometimes can be totally ok at other times. I mean, we do still need to move by the end of the month (or soon after) because that was our agreement, but it’s more like a matter-of-fact thing, a thing of necessity, not a thing that’s connected to my heart. That make sense? It’s external.  (More on this in this post)

I really don’t know what God’s going to do. We’re going tomorrow to look at a house that’s just dropped its price significantly, but we just want wisdom.  It’s just a funny feeling because I’ve been dying for so long to have a dream house, and all of a sudden I notice I don’t dream of houses anymore.  I told Jeff last week, “I don’t have a dream house. I have a dream God.  I want to be in the middle of His adventure more than anything else.”  I’m not trying to sound all super spiritual–I’m sure in the next 24 hours I’ll be flat on my face crying over some ridiculousness or another.  But I guess it’s just weird when God gently does surgery on your heart and you don’t really notice until all of a sudden something feels different.

Anyway, we’ll see what our crazy awesome God is up to.  Right now I’m focusing and praying our Willamette Women’s Luncheon on Saturday where I have the super huge awesome privilege of speaking. Will you join me and pray that women will be blessed, touched, ministered to? For God’s glory and their good!  Thanks, goodnight.

Jeff just said, “Wow hon you haven’t blogged in awhile.”  I know. I know I know I know.  Right now my eyes are burning they’re so tired, the washing machine is humming, Heidi is asleep in the closet, and I’m feeling totally overwhelmed with preparing to speak at the women’s luncheon on Saturday. I know what I want to say but have no idea how to say it.  So I just sit here and pray. And wait.  And fold laundry.  And try not to look at the stack of Jeff’s shirts to iron, that is now overflowing the edge of the laundry basket.

Today I had my last mentor meeting, handed in my final tally of internship hours–all 140 of them–and picked up my cap, gown, and hood. This hooding thing is strange.  But that’s really irrelevant so we won’t go there.  Yes, it has been four long years finishing my master’s in seminary.  Yes, I’m excited to be done and to walk next Friday.  But our life is so full right now I can hardly focus my blurry eyes let alone celebrate.

Here’s a fun snapshot of how life is–in the past five days I have scrubbed butt paste off two dozen surfaces, toys, books, clothes, quilts, bedding, and body parts.  We had a marathon trip to McMinnville to get the last of our stuff, fix up some things, sign closing documents, and carted a trailer full of stuff off to park for five days. Jeff taught at multnomah, we havea stack of papers to grade, then we drove to Bend for a quick vacation before coming back Saturday, heading straight to church, staying up late to celebrate a birthday, heading to church services all morning Sunday, then a real marathon of delivering stuff to people’s houses to store for us, then going down to Corvallis to do a walk through with our renter who moved out and stage that house for sale.  No details are needed but let’s just say that trip was one of the most emotionally exhausting things I’ve done in a long time.  Jeff was mowing the lawn in the pouring down rain while I nursed Heidi on the floor and resorted to etertaining Dutch with Bob the Builder playing continuously on the laptop.  We ate peanut butter sandwiches Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Yeah.  Today Heidi and I braved the torrential downpour and went to the registrar’s office, the library, the computer lab, the seminary building, and then had dinner with my mentor.   It was then, as I was sitting talking to my mentor about serious seminary matters when I shook my head and thought to myself, “Hm, that’s funny I only feel one earring dangling.”  As she spoke I slowly lifted my hands up casually to my ears, trying to be sublte.  Sure enough.  One and only one big dangly earring.  Awesome. Par for the course. Sure enough, I got home and there was the other one sitting on my nightstand. 🙂 So now I’m home and blurry eyed and asking God for grace to teach the women’s luncheon this Saturday.  SO excited for it–but so tired.

But in the middle of all this we had the sweetest time of refreshing.  An elder at church gave us a two night stay at Sunriver in their cabin.  I was totally dragging my heels about going–with so much going on, it kind of just felt like another thing on my to-do list. Plus packing for our family of four includes a LOT of diapers and clothes and toys and sippy cups.  In the midst of the busyness what suffered was apparently my attention to packing FOOD–we had two totino’s pizzas which I bought at walmart in Bend, two cans of soup, a loaf of bread with peanut butter and some oatmeal.  Mmm.  Nothing says luxurious vacation like sharing a can of soup with your toddler for dinner :-).

But it was SOOO great. I sound like I”m joking but I”m not. It was the most refreshing, sweet time we’ve experienced in so long. Just to sit in the car, with the kids occupied, and being able to actually talk, catch up, sing our hearts out to Chris Tomlin and Rend the Heavens, watch the fluffy white clouds against the brilliant blue Central Oregon sky.  We lounged in our sweats, spent hours at the fantastic kiddi wading pool at the Sunriver aquatic center, and laughed our heads off as Dutch splashed and “swam” and slid down the water slide and ran around like a crazy boy.  We hooked up with old friends, staying up late talking about how good our God is and what He’s doing in our lives.  We walked for miles, thanking God again and again for our double stroller.  We sipped tea. We napped.  We prayed.  We searched for houses online and dreamed and prayed some more.  It was SO good.

So no real lesson here, I Just wanted to touch base.  I’m drooling with anticipation of the wide open calendar I see in the very near future, after Saturday. For now I need to focus, study, pray, and be faithful, trusting God will meet His women on Saturday.  But in the midst of a really crazy time, I’m so thankful for times of refreshing.  And thankful for generous people who have Sunriver cabins. 🙂 However, just for the record, we’re not partial–we’ll take free vacations anywhere! Any offers?

I googled two things today: First, “Ok to use ground beef left out all night?”  Some of you are cringing.  In my whirlwind of putting away groceries I left the ground beef out in the garage on top of the fridge. Darn.  Don’t worry, thew it away.  Apparently others had asked the same question, so I found just the answer I needed.

The second item that I googled was: “How to clean butt paste off walls.”  Yielded no useful results whatsoever. Apparently I am the first woman to ask this question.

Right after I wrote my last post, I close my laptop feeling comtemplative and peaceful.  I sit down on the couch to read my Bible when I hear Dutch playing with his little toy garage while he should be napping.  For a second I thought I’d just ignore it and let him be, then thought better of it. “I better be consistent,” I tell myself and crack open his door for quick chiding.  As open the door I notice it smells like Boudreaux’s butt paste. Hm.  I look closer and narrow my eyes trying to register what I see.  My son is white.  I mean, he’s always been caucasian, but my son is WHITE.  Covered in WHITE.  His face, his hair, his clothes.  COVERED. I look closer and my mouth drops open.  The WALLS are white, his quilt is white, his dresser is white. Closer look–books, toys, pillow, carpet–EVERYTHING is covered in oily, thick, creamy white butt paste.  My heart sinks as I look down and see the enormous was-full tub of diaper cream…empty.

Mind you, we live with Dombrows…in their brand new house…with brand new walls…which are now covered in diaper cream!

I was so horrified I didn’t even know how to respond. I turned around, closed the door, and stood like a buffoon.  Finally I dialed my mom and told her what happened. “What do I do?!”  There was nothing else to do but go back in, discipline him, then have him go downstairs and tell Joy what he did.  I carried him downstairs, not wanting him to touch anything, and told Joy.

To make a long story short, we experienced grace today.  Joy laughed.  Laughed, and assured me it was ok. Not only that, she came in and helped me clean. I washed DUtch’s hair five times and still couldn’t get the paste out.  Tomorrow I’m going to try dish soap (cuts grease, right?).  We wiped down the walls, dresser, gathered up all the linens and toys…and now that task awaits me as we speak.

Two little nuggets from the situation. One was the beauty of grace. Later, after spending our afternoon scrubbing the smelly oily mess, Joy got down on the floor and played trucks with Dutch. Later this evening Nathan (their son and Dutch’s hero), made a powerpoint slideshow talking about all the fun things about Dutch, even including a picture of him.  He gathered us all up, both families, to sit in the office and watch the special presentation about his little miniature friend. That is grace.  When he least deserved it, Joy and Nathan both chose to bless my little son…despite his naughty curiosity.

And a little merciful kiss from God.  Though everything was covered, including all of Dutch’s books, the only book without a speck of paste on it was the book we’d checked out from the library.  God somehow kept the libarary book without a spot.  Though truly a mess, thank you Jesus that at least I don’t have to buy that stupid book! Little mercies along the crazy journey of mommyhood. 🙂

If you’re curious, you can see pics here. I better sign off now…I have some cleaning to do…