June Cleaver Fail

You won’t believe what I did.  So silly. I’ll tell you, but first a little back story:

I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year.  We generally stay home for this holiday because I LOVE it.  I love cooking for it and, more than that, I love Black Friday in Bend.   Waking up at 5:00 to wrangle any willing daughter(s) to elbow their way through the  aisles of Target to buy a set of Legos for $4 instead of $6 is what dreams are made of.  I love Black Friday.  My girls love the promise of free breakfast so everyone’s happy.  Anyway, I digress.

I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year and it won’t be huge, probably about 20 people.  So I planned to cook a big turkey and a medium-ish ham.  I bought the turkey on Monday and tossed it in my fridge, remembering Thanksgivings past chiseling ice from the poor bird’s carcass because I forgot how stinkin long those things take to calmly defrost.  I always feel a little sad for all the indignities a turkey suffers in order to make my day fantastic, so I’d like to eliminate “sitting in a bowl of water in Bo’s sink while she storms through the kitchen cursing the pilgrims” from the list.   However,  I clearly have a solid and immovable mental block with the timing of turkey-thawing because Monday was way too soon to throw that sucker in the fridge.  And now it’s thawed.

If you’ve spent any time on the many web sites dealing with turkey turmoil, you know that a thawed turkey is only definitely absolutely and without-any-possibility of food poisoning good for 1-2 days.  Now, I know this is probably a stringent time frame and it could very well last til next Christmas in my fridge, but given the volume of guests, the amount that I love them,  and the fact that the average visit to urgent care is $500, I’d like to stay firmly inside the guideline here.

All that to say:  guess what I’m doing tomorrow, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  Yes.  I will be cooking a turkey.  And slicing and freezing the leftovers. And sending them home with my guests so that they can enjoy dinner at my house AND have turkey sandwiches for days after.  Sigh.

That’s my pilgrim story.

Bo

Oh, busy!

Seriously, you guys, I loathe saying this because I don’t like hearing it from other people, but I am so busy this week!  Today, I had meetings stacked like bunk beds and my house looks like no one loves it and my son just asked, “What’s for dinner?” and I said, “No one knows.”  That’s how busy.

I really love to blog way more than I love being busy…but I haven’t had time to blog this week.  And that fact deserves a little sideways frowny face, but I’m not currently using them. Because I’m not.  Because I need to cut back.  Because it’s not good to get emotionally or grammatically attached to a little sideways face, that’s why.

Now, please understand:  If I were in any condition to actually be blogging,  I would want you to stay right here and read whatever it was that I had written.  I long for that sort of approval and love.  However, since I’m totally MIA this week, I would love for you to check out these awesome sites:

1. The Cute Mitten Company. Because my friend, Jennie, does not lie – these are the cutest mittens EVER.  And how often can you buy a gift that is useful, adorable AND totally unique for under $20?  Go, go, go…I know you want to. If you need further motivation, I have it right here for you:

2.  My friend, Jamie, is running an awesome blog series on what makes a good marriage and I love what she has to say.  I especially loved what she said about communication in this one.

Please enjoy the creations of these talented women of God…they’re worth their weight in gold.

Much love,

Bo

P.S.  Fixed the mitten link!  (Thanks for the heads-up, Jennie!)

Weight Lifting

The Lord God is a sun and shield, He gives grace and glory;no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.  -Psalm 84

I always love in scripture when God is compared to the sun.  So big and warm and bright.  I love the sun – it shows up at the end of a long night, spilling pink and orange and yellow all over the sidewalk.  It melts snow and ice on my Central Oregon roads and makes them safe and sturdy for driving.  I love the sun.

And a shield…that’s a great thing.  Protection from things in the dark and in the light.  In times of war or tension or uncertainty, it’s great to have a shield in between myself and my enemy.

He gives grace.  Who can argue with grace?  The Hebrew definition contains this rich treasure:  beauty, strength and favor.  Sign me up for grace – today and every day for the rest of forever…I for sure need grace.

And glory.  Ah, glory.  Glory sounds very cool.  It sounds like fame and grandeur and splendor.  It sounds like “all things are going swell!”  A quick look inside the Hebrew box-o-bounty, however, reveals a different kind of gift:  weight. Glory means “weight, figuratively, but only in the good sense.”  I read this definition on an already weighted-down day while I was walking through the middle of an exceedingly weighted-down year.  I was not ready to sign up for more weight.  “Glory”, I argued, should be more like my second honeymoon in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort.  Food, eat, sleep, sun, repeat.  No kids, no cell phones, no email, no bills.  No weight.  I love that idea of glory.  However, if I were really being honest, I only loved that for about three days.   Around day four, I started to get antsy.  At first I wasn’t sure was I was antsy for, but as I started to review my emotional condition in earnest, I discovered I was longing for my family and my cell phone and my job and for…purpose.  I was missing the weight of my life.  Turns out, weight can be good.  In fact, I suppose a case could be made that weight is essential.

The weight of His glory is when He shares with us – not His fame (that would crush us!) – but His purpose.  He lets us in on His mission and gives us a part to play in the great adventure of  loving what He loves.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s a kind of God gravity that keeps us fastened to a world where we do not ultimately belong.

I’m thankful today for the sun, for safety, for grace and even for some of the heavier weights that give my life substance and my feet direction.  I hope you’re finding yourself well-weighted, but not overloaded…filled with grace and glory.

With joy,

Bo

Things that nearly always work

On yesterday’s flip side:

1. Maytag appliances
2. Craigslist – I’ve been astounded at what I’ve found when I’ve needed to find it.
3. Google – ditto.
4. Believing the best
5. My Swiffer wet jet
6. Orange roses
7. Saying less than I want to say
8. E-sword Bible software
9. Men who are trying to save money for a ring
10. Bleach! OH, I love bleach!
11. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary
12. Psalm 31
13. Soft answers

Even more on this list than the disappointing one.  Life is good, indeed!

Bo

Things that rarely work the way they’re supposed to

1. The popcorn button on the microwave.
2. Any “breakthrough” hair removal product
3. Vacuum cleaners (though I must say my Dyson is giving me hope; that thing can pick up small civilizations hiding in my carpet)
4. Age-defying makeup
5. Ibuprofen from the Dollar Tree
6. Universal remotes
7. Infomercial knives
8. Sea monkeys
9. My budget
10. Citronella candles

In a world that overpromises and underperforms, I’m really thankful for Jesus.

Wishing you a disillusionment-free Thursday,

Bo

Regarding Relaxing

Yesterday I shared a little word that I think God has been trying to work into my stubborn, spinning self for a good year now.  “Relax and enjoy your life – I’ll take care of whatever is supposed to happen next when it’s time.”

I’m not that good at relaxing.  Sometimes I manage to relax my person, but it’s much tougher to relax my thoughts.  Toward that end, here is my super-duper action list for relaxing.  Heh.

1. Take a real Sabbath.  Not just a day off of work, but a day off of anxiety, worry, striving, plotting, planning and all such beehive activity.
2. Learn to push pause and absorb the moments that are important…or funny…or even difficult.  Just absorb.
3. Slow down in the car. (fast driving makes me tense and I only just realized it)
4. Love the quirky stuff in people rather than looking for ways to fix them.
5. Don’t spend any time dreading bad news.  Grace will be there if bad news comes, but there’s no grace to fear what hasn’t come.
6. Embrace a busy day and be thankful for purpose.

I really want learn to love – and fully experience -  the life I’m in.  I want to be always-thankful that God has chosen me to be His and to live in this moment on His timeline.  Oh, He is so good and so patient with me and I’m more convinced then ever that all His plans are good and all His promises are YES.

Wishing you rest,

Bo

Deep Prophetic Revelation

Yesterday I was in a bit of a mental frenzy.  I was trying to plot and plan some sort of strategy for growth in 2010 which involved listing books I should read, people I should consult, topics I should research…I tell you, I was a veritable whirlwind of purpose-driven-ness!

After a long day I fell into bed, thoughts still swarming, when what should nudge its way into my little dust storm but a very sweet,  but very focused whisper that I feel certain was from Him, for me:

Could you – even just for a minute – relax and enjoy your life?  I’ll take care of whatever is supposed to happen after that.

Maybe it’s for you too.

With joy,

Bo

3 Things

This weekend I had the great privelige of being with the women from Church on the Hill in Salem.  They were funny and fun and passionate and authentic and it was wonderful.

I also enjoyed the company of my fantastic sisters, Lila and Cheryl, who are some of the coolest women I know.  We ate an obscenely large lunch at Claim Jumpers and then Lila and I went off to conquer IKEA where I spent $22.  Shopping fail.

The theme of this ladies event was finding order and wholeness in the soul.  I had a blast studying for it and discovering God’s plan to deliver us from soul chaos and restore us to peace, grace, health, joy and a million other great things you can’t buy at IKEA.  One thing I talked about was how the gift of a sanctified memory will impact our lives.  As humans made of dust, we have a tendency to remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember.  At the end of the session, we met in small groups to discuss this very issue and here is the question that each of us answered:

If you were to make a memory list of the things that God has done that you never want to forget, what would be your top three?

This question made me cry when I thought about it and also when I heard the answers from the ladies in my group.  It seems that some of the most wonderful things that God has done, are tied to some of the most difficult seasons in our lives.  That’s true of my top three.

1. One time when our kids were very little, we were out of groceries and out of money.  A missionary from Africa left bags of groceries on our door step.  In one event, we learned both trust and humility.
2. The moment as I was lying on the pavement, watching my baby be flown to the hospital in Air Life after having been hit head on by a drunk driver.  I never want to forget the moment because I’ve never felt so much peace.
3. The moment – after nine days of relentless, consuming and unending doubt in the existence of God – His truth broke through.  I can’t explain it but I never want to forget it.

Oh, a sanctified memory is a powerful weapon against doubt, discontent and discouragement.  Maybe today is a good day to make your own list.  If you want to share it, I’d sure love to see it!

Earnestly remembering,

Bo

Alone

My husband and I – due to overlapping travel schedules – are on our longest stretch ever of not seeing each other.  He is flying home from six days in Orlando today and I am leaving for a conference in Portland.

I’ve learned a couple of things from our apart-ness:

• When necessary, I can remember what day the garabage guy comes.  This is a revelation to me and information I’m not sure I want my husband to have.
• I can live without fear in the presence of God…but it’s a decision and I hope it’s becoming a skill.
• There are few things I love more than having orange roses delivered to me at work.  He’s a good guy, that one I married.
• We don’t eat that well when Steve is gone.  It’s wierd because I thought I loved cooking for my kids, but this week we’ve mostly had pancakes and Jalapeno poppers.  They’ll be glad he’s back.
• Did I mention already the power of orange roses?  Tess captured one for me:

See?  Empowering!

So, I’m off to Portland and hoping that the tripcheck cameras are lying and there really isn’t a blizzard on Santiam.  I’m excited about this conference with the women from Church on the Hill.   I’ll tell you more about that on Monday and you can’t stop me.

Thankful for marriage,

Bo (ha!  I first signed it “Steve”…I think he might be a little bit on my mind today.)

What’s for Dinner?

Here’s a fun time:  answer a few questions at  Epicurious and a clever widget will select a mouthwatering Thanksgiving menu built around your preferences, time constraints and cooking skill.  Happy!

I loved the menu it gave me (“Bringing Fancy Back”) and, while I won’t make everything on it, I’m definitely going to take some of these recipes out for a holiday spin.

Take the  quiz here and let me know how it goes for you.

Ever so thankful for food,

Bo