The Seasons...Autumn has arrived!

It's fall here in Seattle, which means beautiful changes of leaves, the immediate entering into cold weather and of course, the rain.

There is a tree outside our office window...or may it's a bush. Regardless, it is something I look at often as I am thinking about stuff. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that it was starting to turn beautiful shades of red and orange. Then we had some rain and wind, and within two days, the top layer of leaves was gone. I was actually quite sad because I wanted to watch the whole bush turn to red.

Tonight we had quite a downpour, and I'm sad to think about what I might see outside my window tomorrow. How many more leaves will be gone?

I'm sure that I could be profound and find some proverbial connection to the cycles of our life, but I'm not really in that kind of mood.

One happy note from the rain...I've often passed people having to walk or wait for a bus during a downpour. I have often wished I was in the right lane to be able to lean out and pass them an umbrella that I had in my car. For a time, I had two sitting in my back seat. I live in Seattle, and while most Seattleites don't use umbrellas because we are rugged and strong people, we do have them available for those inexplicable downpours. I just happened to be extra prepared.

Tonight I actually got to do it. My neighbor was walking to the mailbox at the other end of the building in a strong downpour. I was on my way to pick up Eric because he couldn't ride his bike in that kind of rain...no brakes when it's wet. I saw her, and rolled down my window. She gratefully excepted my umbrella. It was awesome! Sounds strange I'm sure, but I was thrilled to be able to serve someone in that way.

Finding Financial Peace

We have been fans of Dave Ramsey for awhile, but this fall we started taking his Financial Peace University. I just have to say I have really been enjoying it. Tomorrow Eric and I will sit down for our monthly budget meeting, and I am actually looking forward to it.

I used to think that the denial was more freeing. But the weeks when we have been sitting down and doing our budget, I have actually felt more free because I'm not afraid that we are spending what we don't have. I'm more proactive in my shopping for groceries, and it just makes me think more before I grab that extra item that we don't actually need this week.

Now hopefully we can start achieving these goals we have financially, pay down our debt and get on track. I'm loving the class because it is keeping us accountable to these needed steps.

Go, Dave Ramsey!

Hope!

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 43:5 (New International Version)


Some times you don't realize how you are missing hope in your life. It becomes the norm to focus on all that is attacking you or how all of your efforts seem to be failing. It becomes difficult to hope that things can change.

Do you know how many times the word "hope" appears in the book of Job? Granted much of it is talking about hope being destroyed, but it was an important word even in the oldest book of the Bible.

Last Sunday, my own hope in our little church finding life again after an up and down summer was definitely strengthened. Two of our friends had said they might look for other places to worship, and while we knew we weren't the reason they were looking elsewhere, it was still hard to hear. The rest of the group had move or wasn't solidly committed. So on Sunday, I was praying that God would give us direction. Should we start from scratch, or should we keep pushing on.

Within a matter of 15 minutes, God gave me a vision for some new ideas. Three ideas to be exact. In fact, all three ideas had three of something in them. None were completely original as everyone in the church world has tried and/or is doing some of these things. What the excitement and hope comes from was that He gave me a vision for how to move OUR church into forward momentum. After talking with Eric, we decided it was exactly what we needed.

Feeling excited and hopeful, I sent the email to the group to share the ideas, and included an invite to the first part...a First Friday Fun Night. We waited all week for a response. Finally I sent another email. "Did you get the email?", I asked. Immediately the emails came back, "We will be there." That night, everyone's response was so positive to all of it.

Hope! I have hope! We have a future. We don't have to start from scratch yet again! I have to say hope feels great!!! Thank you, God, for your creative ideas! You are so faithful!


Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23 (New International Version)

Update on Friends

Josiah has been making progress with his neighbor friends. The girls are now at times coming over to ask if he can play. And yes, a mom can make a difference. I've been trying to reach out to their mothers with my five words of Spanish. This seems to have made an impact on the little girls who are appreciating my efforts even though they have to translate for us. :-)

Our older friend who is over more is still a challenge at times, but I've been able to help him with a few small things here and there. God keeps reminding me that I have a fantastic opportunity to help love and shape a young boy into all that God is desiring for him. My struggle is that my little boy thinks the sun rises and sets with his friend. This nine year old could get angry with him a million times over, and Josiah would never notice.

Lord, may my little boy open his arms to all and share your love with everyone in need.

Managing with Grace

I have no idea how to manage others with grace. I keep asking God for wisdom, and I think I've learned a little over the years. I know I've made quite a few mistakes along the way, and I ache over those whom I have caused pain. I also ache over the lost opportunities for some that I avoided correction. Sounds weird, but I'm not the easiest person to love at times, and those who have been brave enough to correct me haven't always been the people I have cherished. In fact, I can think of at least two times of major correction that I look back at with deep pain, partly because of how it was done, but more because I needed to hear what they had to say.

So far my best tool is to put myself in the other person's shoes. How have I felt when I've been reprimanded or been corrected? What was my relationship with that person, and did I walk away encouraged and strengthened or beaten and hurting?

My constant questions as a leader are:

How can correct my teams without creating walls? This is hard because we as humans struggle with being corrected. I know that I personally hate it, but just reading through Proverbs reminds me how important it is to take it in, sometimes even to seek it out from those you respect.


How can I communicate the importance of things that need to be changed while still giving them ownership or stepping on toes? Sometimes the teams think what I am saying is just a suggestion and not a requirement. It's tough because our clients run a business. I think I'm learning to just come out and say..."It has to be done this way." My hardest struggle is when I'm helping the teams at events. It's very easy for me to just take over certain things when they seem unsure. I'm trying to learn to give suggestions.

Can I be their friend and boss? I think to some extent, in this job, I have to be. While some may disagree, I think it makes correction easier to hear. My goal is that they know I've been there for them through good and bad, and they can fully trust me. However, I have also seen that our teams don't think of me as a friend like I would hope, which is sometimes very painful for me as I care so deeply about them.

How can I keep our lines of communication open so they aren't afraid to come to me when they fail or when they have a problem with me? Still working on this. Same struggle with parenting. If you know you are going to get in trouble, do you want to tell your mom what you did? Trying to help me teams realize that I am on their side and can help them navigate their way out of a mistake. I also try to encourage them that I've made mistakes and make them all the time. I probably have even made that mistake before. :-)

The second part of that question is difficult. I know very few who enjoy confrontation, but I really want to know if I have done something to hurt my team members. I can't change or apologize for something I don't know.


There are more questions, but these are the ones that hit me tonight.

Lord, give me wisdom. Help me to learn from how you teach, guide and discipline me.

Do You Want to Be My Friend?

My sweet boy is one of the most social children I know. Maybe it's from being born into our ministry of hospitality or just his personality in general. He will invite anyone and everyone over to our house, especially if they are a kid.

Since we moved to the new place, he gets very excited whenever he sees other kids. One such friend is a nine-year old boy who, being bored at home, comes over six out of seven days of the week. Mommy's patience with this friend is not always great, but I keep praying that God will show me how to love this little boy who seeks out our home as a safe refuge in spite of having to play with a three year old.

The other side of the spectrum is four little Hispanic girls who live just a few apartments down. Josiah is thrilled when he sees them, and since he doesn't know their names, he just yells, "GIRLS! Hey, girls! You want to play with me?" as loud as he can.

They are fickle in whether they want to play or not. Sometimes they are busy doing girl things, and run away from Josiah. One such time this week broke Mommy's heart. I could tell they weren't interested, but Josiah just wasn't getting the picture. Finally when they blatantly said "No, we don't want to play with you," he came running over to me crying. He just couldn't understand why they didn't want to play with him.

Even the times they do say yes, they seem to have to be coaxed to play with Josiah. Not so, him. Maybe it's an age thing. I've seen him react that way to 2 year-olds, but he is often quite sweet and happy to play near babies and others.

So my Mommy dilemma is how do I help him understand and yet not follow these patterns himself? I suppose helping him put his feelings into words and then reminding him of those feelings when others come around, is the best way. One side thing I'd like him to learn is how to speak Spanish. Most importantly, I want my boy to be one of the most loving, open and kind people ever. Maybe a good way to say it, is I want him to be Christ-like as he grows.

If there are any parents who read this post and have ideas, please send them my way.

A Beautiful Spot to Spend Time with God!

I just got back from dropping Josiah off at day camp, and I took advantage of our beautiful NW summer weather for some alone time with God. We live in Edmonds which is right on the Puget Sound (a salt water inlet). I went and sat on a bluff, which overlooks the water and faces the Olympic Mountain range on the other side of the water. To my right was the Edmonds Ferry dock and to my almost direct left, I could see all the way north to Mt. Baker. So beautiful!

These pictures were taken a year ago on a special trip Josiah and I took to visit a new friend on the other side of the water.


In the background of these next two pictures, you can see Mt. Rainer hanging around in the clouds. Amazingly enough, it's about a 3 to 4 hour drive from us. I believe it's height is 14,000+ feet.

Also, just above the hills on the left, you can make out the tips of some of the skyscrapers in downtown Seattle.






















We are facing back towards Edmonds, and you can see the Cascade Mountain range in the far background. The boat is the other ferry that runs on the Edmonds to Kingston run.











The mountains in the background are the Olympic Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula which separates us from the Pacific Ocean.