2020 Easter Update

Dear friends,

This is the fourth year we have sent our family update letters at Easter. Usually, this time of year naturally evokes a sense of joy, wonder, and hope as we celebrate spring and everything still feels fresh and new. This year, the world is still reeling from a lot of things that make it easy to feel hopeless. But in some ways, this hopelessness and at the very least, uncertainty, is exactly what we need to feel to appreciate and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the birth of our HOPE.

Imagine the disciples - everything they had given up everything for had crumbled around them. The man they had loved and followed and even prosthelytized for had not met their expectations for a better kingdom and overthrow of Rome - He was, in fact, dead. The shock must have been paralyzing. And then, three days later, Jesus was there in the flesh, alive when they had seen Him die with their own eyes. Suddenly, there was hope again. And expectations once again shifted as they began to understand that Jesus was not there to make their lives on earth easier and better, but to make it possible for them to have eternal life forever with God in Heaven. It is our prayer that each of you would also have that hope in Jesus, and that He would be your refuge during these very uncertain times.

Now, for family updates!

Michael continues into his 17th year with Bright Construction. It is so hard to believe we are old enough to have these kinds of stats attached to us, ha ha!! But Michael turns 40 in June! We work together in the Junior High ministry at church and are amazed that they will still have us! Michael is also a deacon and keeps busy with a ton of little projects that never seem to end in our construction zone. This year he finally found a chiropractor who has been able to help him get ahead of some things. We are SO thankful.

I turned 40 in August and had a fantastic day of celebrating. Every birthday is a blessing to count! This year, I’m homeschooling Evan & Cadey, and doing some preschool with Amos - and of course Aaron is temporarily at home also. Honestly, some days are amazing and wonderful and some are days I’m not sad are over! HA. Some of our favorite activities are library day, field trips to the local interactive museum, nature class at the nature center, art class at a friend’s house and various other supplementary activities. We are finding new favorites as we stay home! I’m trying to find creative ways to recharge and renew.

Aaron is in 7th grade and in our youth group class at church. He’s growing so quickly and has surpassed his mother by at least ¼ of an inch. He enjoys his school, his friends, and playing sports of any and all varieties. His soccer and basketball teams both took first in their league and won the tournament championships. Volleyball was underway also, but has been cancelled for this year. Aaron is creative and enjoys making just about anything. It is exciting to watch him grow in maturity and responsibility and I’m enjoying seeing more of him in this season.

Evan is in 5th grade and loves to learn about a variety of topics...he’s just not that fond of school papers. This year he has continued to take piano lessons, and enjoys reading and writing stories. He’s created a comic strip with multiple installments and loves to make stop motion videos with his siblings. He was also able to join a LEGO robotics team this year through our church’s Christian school. He LOVED it. We are currently praying about the next steps for his absence epilepsy. Evan is a hilarious and compassionate member of our family and we love to watch him grow and learn.

Cadence is in second grade and loves to draw, paint, and create anything artistic! She’s been a speedy learner this year so that she will have extra time to play with her brothers, create, and read. Her love for anything LEGO and the Adventures in Odyssey series mean that she’s often found building and creating while listening to CD’s in her room. She sometimes laments the lack of a sister, but still manages to have fun with her brothers as well. She growing SO quickly and full of enthusiasm and energy. We love our Cadey-girl.

Amos turns 5 this July, much to our disbelief. How could the time with our kids be flying by so quickly? Amos is starting a few things for school, but mostly plays a LOT.  He enjoys watching his favorite TV shows, learning magic tricks from his big brother, telling jokes, listening to books, pretending with his toys, running, dancing, singing, and building just about anything out of cardboard. (rocket ship, jet pack, dump truck - we’ve seen it all!) He is also the best little snuggler in the house! Our lives would be short a BUNCH of laughter without the spark that is Amos.

Would you keep our family in your prayers? We need wisdom in parenting, growth in our personal and spiritual lives, and physical energy and strength. We are learning more every day but desperately need to depend on God for every daily challenge and need. We will pray for you as we prepare each of these letters to be sent. You are all loved so much by us and forever loved by God.  

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

Grocery Budget Tip: Meat

I’ve had a few people message me about how our family is able to stick to such a frugal grocery budget. I can hear the skepticism in their emails. So I thought I’d type out some specifics as I think of them. Tonight, I went to our local meat market to stock our freezer. The quality of the meat there is far above what I have been able to find at the local big name grocery store, although not as awesome as buying it from my farmer friend. However, the prices are amazing.

Tonight, I paid $14.90 for 10 lbs of chicken, $12.16 for a whole pork loin, which they cut and wrapped for me into 4 2lb roasts. I also purchased some lean ground beef for $2.89/lb. I came home and cut and packaged the chicken and beef and labeled the pork roasts and froze it all in quart size bags. All said and done, we have enough meat in the freezer for 14 Muth sized (6 people) meals for under $40. This will easily last us more than 2 weeks as we try to do at least one meatless meal per week and we also do “leftover night” and breakfast for dinner at least every 2 weeks.

This is just one of the ways we stick to our budget! No, we aren’t eating a lot of steak and tenderloin but that is just fine. We are grateful for our little meat market!

Some things I  make with these purchases:

BBQ pork
Pork Carnitas
Shredded “like Qdoba” pork
(Any of these can be made into tacos, burritos, or burrito bowls)

Homemade low carb/gf  chicken nuggets
Chicken Tikka masala
Shredded chicken tacos
One of 3 types of chicken soup
Salsa Chicken
Chicken enchiladas

Tacos/taco salad
Spaghetti sauce (over green beans for low carb)
Low carb lasagna

TA DA!!!

A Major Fixer Upper

There are a couple of ways to handle a fixer upper. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a contractor just put some cosmetic work into the project, or if he dove deep and checked out all the priors. This is why "we opened up your wall to create the open concept you asked for, and found something that's going to put a serious dent your overall budget" is so common on the (un)reality shows. 

I believe that the Gospel has the power to change people. That real, genuine change can happen when the ownership of one's life is turned over to God. I also believe that there is a very strong tendency to simply put great efforts to appearing that there has been a change. 

This might seem like a more attractive and less messy way to do things, just paint and spackle the outside and make it look shiny. I mean sure, the sanding makes a little dust, but nothing *too* serious. There's satisfaction in the DIY - "look at what I've done!" The creative control can be a pretty heady thing. I like to choose the colors, the fixtures, the overall direction of my project. The speed is an issue too - hurry up, look good, everything's fine, let's get this on the market. 

In His mercy, in His grace, God has called me to follow after Him. And through His Word, He is making me realize that I don't *really* need a quick, cosmetic-only fix. I need to be made new. I need GOD to make me new.  I need Him to tear off the poorly hung drywall and reroute the plumbing and electrical so that everything is up to code, and shore up the foundation, cut out the rotten parts, replace the termite eaten boards. I need His expert, artisan trim work and harmonious, peaceful colors. I need Him to transform every closet, every corner of the basement and the secret shed out back. I need more of Him. 

I believe God can do that for me, a major fixer upper. He can take this wreck and change me into a masterpiece, so that His master craftsmanship is what people notice.

Along the way, everything is exposed and visible to the whole wide world. People talk. People stare. People wonder if the work will *EVER* get done. *I* wonder if the work will ever get done. And the answer is - not for awhile. 

So...sometimes I get impatient, living in a construction zone. 

I also see that there are some onlookers. Observers. My kids. Yours. They can see that it is painful, embarrassing. That it is messy. They can see the details and the truth of the rotten and the shoddy work that was done before and needs fixing. They can see other fixer uppers too. Some are hasty (and beautiful!) DIY's and they may wonder if that's a better way to go - should I try to look good, be habitable so I can be immediately noticed, admired, and used?  Should I fix what people see so I can be Insta-ready? Or am I going to sign up for the long fix? 

I can tell you, as much as I want my kids to appreciate master craftsmanship in actual houses, even more than that, I want them to see, know, and follow hard after God. I want them to be genuine from the foundation up. And there are no quick fixes for that kind of result. God has to do the work. And they have to let Him. I want to be - and need to be - the kind of parent that shares my struggles - and the goodness of God to fix me. 

It is a flawed illustration. But it made me think today. We are works in progress, Christians. We are hot messes from the foundation up. Let's let God use His truth to take us down to the bones and make us new. Better than new - His master creations.