Not Much Different From Them

I have to admit that March is usually better than February here in Minnesota.  Yet, that doesn't take away the sting of waking to a temperature of negative 7 degrees.  I had a little trouble getting out of bed, and it was partly because March is supposed to be better than this.  It should not be below zero in March. Ugh.  And even the encouraging but noisy tweety birds have not returned like they usually do this time of year.  And while being a whiner I managed to lie in bed long enough to watch the temperature drop to negative 8.  It gets worse before it gets better.

Less than twelve hours earlier our family had gathered around the computer to listen to a sermon most of us had missed last Sunday, a sermon about how God is sovereign over every little thing.  I believe it in my heart, I know it in my mind, and it has gotten me through many trials.  Yet I forget it every day.  I whine and complain against God and the plan He has chosen for me, a plan for my good.  I forget that He has not wound me up for His own amusement, but that He loves me enough to die for my transgressions.

In the sermon, which I highly recommend you take 30 minutes to listen to, our pastor Joshua Moon quotes the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism.  We have not been very familiar with it, as we have always worked on the Westminster Catechism in our family, but I now know from the first question (Not to mention its long history of recommendation from many godly, more educated people before me!) that it is something we should spend time memorizing.  Here is the first question and answer:

Tale of Three Women

This weekend I had the privilege of giving the devotion at a baby shower for three friends, two of whom have just had their fifth babies and one who is about to have her fourth baby.   Since I am fresh out of writing material I thought I would post the talk here, though I am so bad at never really sticking to what I write if I am speaking that it may not really be what I said at all.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent. :)  If you already sat through this feel free to check back in with the next post!

Here we have 3 women, Heather, Julie, and Lisa. Two of them have recently given birth, and one may give birth at any minute. They may all be getting about the same amount of sleep. But not one of them is new at this baby birthing thing. These are experienced women.

All 3 of them are close to 40 years old (2 are closer than the other one!) and have been married 10 years. Soon, they will have 14 children: 9 boys, 4 girls, and a little mystery child yet to show his or her face. They see these children as blessings from the Lord, which of course they are. But did they just wake up one morning and find they had 14 children? No.

First, they were pregnant for 3935 days (and counting). That’s closer to 3 years for Lisa, and closer to 4 years for Heather and Julie. If you are wondering, Julie was the big winner at very nearly 3 years and 11 months. I’d say I can’t imagine, but, actually, I can. While pregnant all of those days these 3 women gained 450 pounds. That’s like a man, woman, and child all put together. Then after 3935 days they gave birth to 109 pounds of baby (so far), which is like a young teenager. By the way, that left them with 341 extra pounds to deal with!

Happy Music

Here I sit, at the library, in a too-small chair in front of a computer in the children's area.  My i-pod is playing happy music in my ears and I am content.  We are here because it is drippy and nasty outside, and my children are easily cheered by the chance to sit at the computer and play games for an hour - something that never happens at home (especially all five of them at the same time!).

I guess I am a very simple person.  I downloaded some new music last night and I can hardly sit still or keep from smiling (dancing in my mind) while sitting here listening to it for the first time.  It's the new, improved "happy music."  I have always enjoyed having a moment to listen to my happy music.  When I was a pharmacist in Florida I had an especially stress-inducing partner, and I soaked up the happy music on the drive to and from work every day.  It stuck in my head and really helped.  At that time it was a mish-mash of praise music that played on the Christian radio station.  Now there is still some of that, but a better description would be a little bit of everything!

Another use for happy music is filling time during super-long drives on family vacations.  Each year we make some new mix cds for the big drive, and it's very fun to learn the songs together and sing to the top of our lungs.  Last summer we even impressed (?) the relatives with a big singing/dancing moment (some of which was recorded on video, unfortunately), and we were all inroduced to some music that was a bit out of our normal listening range. Hello Black Eyed Peas!

These days my life is not usually stressful, and there is no commute.  Now the happy music fills time as I run miles on the treadmill or pedal miles on the exercise bike.  I did enjoy listening to music when I ran outside in the summer, but I almost could not live without it during the boring monotony of the treadmill.  The songs motivate me. "Just don't look at the control panel till this song is over," runs through my mind a lot, as well as a few very useful Bible verses I've memorized.  I have been amazed at the sheer will-power it takes to run on that treadmill, but so far I am usually glad I did it once it is over.  So I will continue to listen to the happy music until, and probably even after, spring comes. 

Then, like always, will come a new time and place for some new happy music.


Psalm 40:1-3
 I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
   making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the LORD.

Under the Weather

I have noticed a disturbing trend on my blog lately.  That is, almost every entry has something to do with how I do not have time to write or post anything on my blog. Ugh. So I will not say that today, as I am writing something; therefore that statement would obviously be untrue.

Instead, I will take this opportunity to complain about  describe the weather we've been having lately.  Today it is a lovely, though wintery, sunny day.  The snow is still knee- to hip-deep, of course, as I have continually pointed out that it never melts, or it waits till sometime in April, anyway.  The last time I heard, we had gotten some amount of snow every single day in January except for one; we may be up to two or three snow-free days by now, since I haven't seen any flakes flying today.  But this does make me appreciate even more the beautiful sunshine today.  Another great thing about today is that the temperature is a toasty 27 degrees, a whole 49 degrees WARMER than last Friday's season low of -22.  When I woke up last Friday morning the fancy time-and-temperature-flashing-on-the-ceiling clock was out of range for temperature, which means that it measured the temperature at some point below its low of -23.7.  You just have to use sheer will power to pull yourself out of bed at that point!

It was cold.  If we go with the Weather Channel's official temperature of -22 (though my fancy clock would suggest it was lower in our yard), let's just take a moment to see how that compares with some familiar temperatures:

• -22 is 66 degrees colder than most refrigerators.
• -22 is 22 degrees colder than most freezers.
• -22 is 54 degrees colder than the freezing point of water.  This is why we do not use the term "freezing" to mean 32 degrees, like we often did in AL, because it would really be considered a warm-up on most winter days if we hit "freezing!"
• -22 is 24 degrees colder than the average low of 2 degrees for January 21 in Plymouth, MN.
• -22 is only 6 degrees warmer than the record low for January 21 in Plymouth, MN.
• -22 is 72 degrees colder than the average low for January in Melbourne, FL.  Most of you will recall that our family has moved from there to here TWICE now.  Oh well.

So if you want to know how different it feels to live here (Though, actually, we are not even talking about wind chill here, but actual temperatures!), just stand in your freezer a while and try to imagine yourself 22 degrees colder.  (No wonder my refrigerator feels so warm to me every time I come in from grocery shopping!  This is why I own a refrigerator thermometer.)  Maybe then you will understand why my children are, at this moment, outside basking in the weak January sunshine, playing in the snow with only snowpants, sweatshirts, and gloves.  Who needs coats when the temperature has gone up 49 degrees?


I Corinthians 7:17:
"Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him."

Maybe Next Year...Which is Now This Year

Well, I did it again.  I failed to complete the December Photo Project, which was supposed to be a picture each day for the first 25 days of December, to commemorate all the celebrations of the Christmas season.  I was doing so well, too, at first.  Then the whole thing went downhill, and it can be explained by the photo for December 21.  I got a nasty cold, right before Christmas.  I was not even able to sing in the choir on Christmas Eve. Ugh.  Sure, I was barely keeping up and things were about to spin out of control anyway, with a million activities and a lot of relatives on the way up here, but I am still blaming the cold!

Now the cold is still here, but Christmas and New Years have come and gone; and, thankfully, much fun was had by all.  I feel better but still can't breath.  But now I have been joined by nearly the whole family, even a few out of town relatives (sorry!).  I am not usually the one who starts the family illnesses, but I guess we each take our turn eventually.

All this is to say that I am now going to post those last three (Only three, see I almost did it!) photos, since I did take pictures on those days.  And since I have waited so long and already confessed, I will back date them without one ounce of guilt!

I hope everyone had as nice a Christmas and New Years as I did - minus the cold!