What I've Learned in 2008

It's New Year's Eve and I've been thinking about some of the things that I've learned in 2008. Here are a few thoughts in no particular order.

- If it's been raining outside or is above freezing, check the dogs feet BEFORE he comes inside!

- Young love trumps parental reasoning (or any other type of reasoning).

- After 21 years of marriage, I am amazed at how my love, respect, and admiration for Jeff still continues to grow.

- Making repairs and fixing up a house is EXPENSIVE!!

- Life is easier if you do your devotions and talk to God daily.

- Grocery shopping for two is WAY cheaper than shopping for four.

- Parenting is just as tough when your kids are adults, just in a different way.

- Be content with where you are in life; dream big for the future, but be flexible enough to follow God's leading.

- If the dishes coming out of the dishwasher don't seem clean, stop IMMEDIATELY and run the dishwasher!!

- Appreciate every day that God gives you on this earth.

Taking A Break

It seems like the last week has been incredibly busy. Besides my usual two jobs and household chores, Josh came home from college; we collected, wrapped, and distributed Secret Santa presents for 19 kids from church; had a funeral and a Christmas Eve service; cooked and celebrated Christmas - twice; and packed up and sent off everyone in the family except myself. Now, don't feel sorry for me that I got left behind, because actually, I'm quite happy about it.

I have to work at the store two days and put in a few hours at church this week, but otherwise, home is where you will find me! I have lots to do including taking down the Christmas tree, finishing some baking, and a lot of after-Christmas-cleaning. I'll admit, though, that today I had no motivation. I did manage to hold down the recliner while I finished a book that I started a while back. Then the dog and I went for a long walk. I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening, too. Think I'll start those chores...TOMORROW!!

Blizzard

This morning is our Christmas Service at church, unfortunately, we have a blizzard warning! Jeff was really concerned at first, but I don't think it will turn out to be a disaster as far as attendance goes. There is about six churches in Boone that are cancelled this morning and we are getting many phone calls from people wanting to know if we are having services and what time.

The cold and wind are taking a toll on the Lawson's vehicles, though. We currently have just one of our three cars that is running with seven people from 3 different locations in town to get to church this morning at three different times. We are doing some quick shuffling.

The blizzard warning is at least the fourth warning we have had this week and we have another one starting this evening. It is currently -7 below with a windchill of -24. We have a layer of ice on everything with about 10 inches of snow on top and we have snow forecast for just about everyday this week. It's going to be a LONG winter!!

The Spirit of Giving

This is a hard Christmas for a lot of people. We live in an area that is very blue collar, low pay, and high divorce. Add to that the increased cost of living and the high number of people that are unemployed or underemployed and you can imagine that it will be a lean holiday for many. This includes families within our own church.

We identified a number of families in our congregation that could use some extra help this year for Christmas. We have 19 children that we asked church members to purchase gifts for (the children and families are kept anonymous, of course). I am so impressed with our church family. They really stepped up. Every gift need that we had was filled in the span of one morning. Many families that are new to our church are purchasing gifts. Even families that I know are hurting financially themselves volunteered to purchase gifts.

Christmas is a time for giving sacrificially. God gave his only son, Jesus. What are you giving this Christmas season?

A Visit To The Past

Josh goes to college with a young man who's family attended a church we pastored from 1997-1999 up in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. Many of the people that live in that area are either dairy farmers or loggers and are used to "roughing" it. They have wood heat, hunt and garden for their food, and the entire family pitches in to do hours of chores. Randy's family is no exception; they are dairy farmers. Randy goes home every weekend to help with the chores and took Josh with him this past weekend.

Josh had a blast!! He helped with milking twice a day as well a chopping wood. Doing chores wasn't a surprise to Josh, though. Even when he was in 3rd grade and would spend the night at the Kidder's, he had to go out and help with milking. Now for some people, they might think it awful to put a guest to work, but not Josh, he loves going out to the barn and working along side the other men.

While he was there, he went with several old friends to an old hunting shack for the night. Thankfully, there was a wood burning stove so they were toasty warm. He also went to Lake Park Alliance Church on Sunday morning and saw a number of people he knew there, although several people were out of town that day. Sunday afternoon he had dinner with a different family from the church. He had a great time and would love to go back again.

Family at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time when many families get together. Our family was no exception this year, although we seem to have made that shift from "going to our parents house" to "we are the parents house"! We've had the privilege of having Josh home for five days from college. I've tried to fix a few of his favorites and as always, I'm still surprised by the volume of food that kid can inhale!

Zach brought his girlfriend, Andrea, and her two little ones over for Thanksgiving Dinner as well. It was good to have a little time to get to know her and we were glad to have her at church on Sunday. Bryce and Hailey are adorable kids and as sweet as can be.