For Such a Time as This

I think this book was written for my family...for such as time as this, and such a season as this! It couldn't be more perfect and I love it! Thank you, friend, for this VERY thoughtful gift! I sobbed my way through it all by myself last night and then bravely shared it with the girls tonight and they also LOVED it! :)

It's hard to believe we're down to "the end of our Vancouver days" already...where have the last months gone?
Really!?
Only five days left?

Thanks to you, our beloved Vancouver family, we have sooo many wonderful memories tucked into our hearts. Your investments of friendship, love and time will NEVER be forgotten!!! We look forward to staying connected through blogs, skype, FB, emails, summertime visits--you name it! Praise Jesus for technology!! :)

We love you all!!!

Dear Santa,

Last year you totally lost your mind and brought us the cutest, naughtiest, craziest Christmas gift ever...a doxie puppy. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???? Our lives have never been the same! After 6 months of this "gift" he found a new home! (And I secretly hope he's giving someone else the same business he gave us!! :) Naughty, I know! :)

So, this year...I'm hoping the lesson was learned on all sides!? HOPING!!!
Until, I hear Kate tell Santa: "I want a kitten!"

AND then Claire said, "I want a guinea pig and the american girl, Julie!"

Like Father, Like Daughter

Couldn't resist this photo op!!! Now that Claire's lost her 2 bottom teeth, she's just like daddy!!! :) Ask him about it sometime...he'd LOVE to tell you how he lost his teeth! :)

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words :)

Word Girls!!!

Here's the cute note Claire left the tooth fairy tonight! I love how she's putting her thoughts and paper and finding her voice. She couldn't be happier, or sweeter! :)
And then there's Kate. I almost forgot about the lovely birthday greeting (thanks Berges'!)she wrote to her cousin!! Turn your head, focus on the center of the card and see what I'm dealing with!! Yes, she's a girl of few written words, but she already knows the power! :) She's a crack up!

Girls Weekend!

Vancouver "Bucket" List

Since we have almost exactly a month until we move back to Montana, a girlfriend encouraged me to make a Vancouver bucket list.
So here goes in random Rachel order:

Soak up every possible minute with friends!!
Girls weekend at the beach -check
Enjoy the fall colors and rain?
Ride the Polar Express through the Gorge
Take the girls to HSM2 (the play)
Great Wolf Lodge
singing Christmas tree
Kids Club -check
Eat as much yummy Portland food as possible
SHOP (since that's limited in Billings!) and we need some WARM clothes
Happy HourS! (yes, that's plural!)
Celebrate Kate's 5th birthday
Watch Beth Moore "Inheritance" dvds (all 9 hours!) ;)
Burgerville!
Trader Joe's
craft
Zoo lights
See the new lions at the zoo
Lon's last Blazer game


Now I need your help...What have I forgotten???

Chan-Chan-Change

Sorry I've been away from the bloggy world for so long...a LOT of changes are happening in our lives. Here's the scoop in a nutshell:

*Our house sold in this crazy ecomomy!!!! (Thank you, Jesus!)
*We're moving back to Montana (Billings to be exact!) sometime before Christmas
*Lonnye landed a pharmacy job at one of the Billings hospitals...I'm so PROUD of him!
*House hunting both in person and on-line
*Beginning the hard process of leaving Vancouver after 9 AMAZING years and all the people who've become our extended family :(
*Cleaning out EVERYTHING and making sooo many trips to Goodwill

We're praying for a smooth transition in every way and KNOW God will work out every last detail!!

Esther

Just finished this study and LOVED what I learned along the way!
It really IS tough being a woman and that Beth has a powerful way of driving home some important truths!
I'm learning to trust HIM in ways I never knew possible...
If you ever get a chance to do this study, I HIGHLY recommend it...you will never be the same again! :)

Da Patch

A Classroom in Our House??

Ever since school started this year, Claire's bedroom has morphed into a CLASSROOM! It's been fun watching it all happen and see how inspired the girls are by their fabulous teachers!
Kate focusing on her "work"...gotta love those cheeks!

Everyone has a spot to sit!
Daddy was the guest reader for the class!
The proud teachers! :) I love watching these two work together. :)

Friendship

Silly Vanna mom!

Claire and her new friend Joy.

Friendship is SOO important and we are thankful Claire's working hard at it! This girl has a very tender heart and is always on the look out to help others. :)
We love this girl~

Soccer Star

The soccer season is in FULL force and Claire is really liking it! She's learning a ton about the sport and a few life lessons along the way. :) We're thrilled she's having fun and she loves playing against her friends! :)

First Days of Pre-K and First Grade!

Delight!

Last month I went to a seminar and promised to share my notes...so here they are!
I hope they make sense, and if not, leave a question or thought for me! :)

2009 Living Proof Live Simulcast with Beth Moore
Psalm 37: 1-9
“Take delight in the Lord
And He will give you the
Desires of your heart” –Psalm 37:4

1. Nothing dictates our lives like our desires.

• Pray: Lord , transform my desires
• “What is it I want in life?”….identify your heart’s desires.
• A “wait” is needed in order to prove to be a desire…
• A sustained longing unaffected by mood or surrounding = a desire

2. Beneath the desires of our hearts is the heart of our desires.

• this may be something I’m not even acquainted with, think about what motivates me more than anything…
• look for what is present in an absence
• He knows what I lack, He’ll use it to get me to my destiny
• Every single desire implies something I lack
• He hears what I want…so if He is responding, LOOK TO HIM!!!
• If He’s not answering a prayer, either glory or destiny is at stake!

3. Delighting in God adapts our desires into inevitabilities

• My desires often need a little tweaking to get what He wants for me
• I was created to delight in Him and He in me…this is supposed to be a reciprocal relationship!
• Delight- always has a dimension of WONDER! (Think venti joy with an extra shot!)
• Pray: Lord, grant me a heart to delight in You!
• He created me to delight in Him.
• I’m made to sense His presence and to bask in it! 

4. NOTHING external can steal our right to delight

• People DO NOT get to steal my joy!
• Circumstances cannot take my joy either
• 3 things will come to steal my delight, or take a bite out of my delight (JAW)
1. Jealousy ~Psalm 37:1
-AKA: desire tinged with resentment
-has it seeded in me towards someone?
-am I jealous of those who do wrong?
-am I jealous of those who do well?
-jealousy comes from a heart of insecurity…
-who comes to mind for me?
-You can’t have delight with jealousy
2. Anger ~Psalm 37:8
-What am I mad about?
-anger is manipulative & controlling and it emotionally distances people
-it will NEVER work in a relationship, it motivates to alienation and creates resentment
-anger is the opposite of delight
-anger is stealing & malforming my desires
-Col 3:1-8….set your affection on things of Christ. I was made for passion, a holy one, not anger, malice, etc.
-anger is defined as a squeeze or restrictor, while delight is freeing
-under anger is grief
* This grief can be subtle or obvious
*God can take me through this grief
-in most madness there is an element of sadness!
-get to the sadness so God can work!
3. Worry ~Psalm 37: 7-8
-(fret) is defined as: to eat or gnaw into; to affect something as in eating or gnawing
-fret does NOTHING for me
-it disfigures my delight

5. To make room for delight, we’ve got to commit (verse 5)

• Roll it onto Him- let Him deal with someone who’s trying to “bite” me
• Turn from your indecision
• Commit your journey to Him

6. Nothing is passive about patiently waiting for desire to turn into delight (verse 4)

• Do not let the enemy convince me there’s no hope
• Be still = STOP
• Be careful about too much talking, texting, blogging, etc…make time for Him
• Wait= anxious expectation…be on your tiptoes, be ready!
• Turning waiting into praise and trust Him to work

7. Till faith becomes sight, trust God and do some good! (verse 3)

• Faith will come with sight
• Pray bigger and think broader
• God will reward my perseverance of faith
• It doesn’t say do right, it says do “good” Romans 12:21
• What land has God given me?? Dwell in it…enjoy safe pasture and feed off His faithfulness
ness

First Grade, Already?

OK...not sure what's wrong with my camera, but it won't upload C's picture (Grr!) I'll have to post that later.

First grade is off to a smooth start, with the exception of the lunch note she found on the first day. (That was SOOO embarrassing, mom!) We've traded the lunch note for chocolate and now it's all good! :)

She LOVES recess and dance and sitting by one of her FAVORITE schoolmates- Tanner! She even came home with a pocket full of phone numbers! :) Now that school's back in session, so is homework!! And I wish you could see her darling handwriting with inverted letters and crazy handwriting techniques.

Here's her first assignment:

In school, I want to learn about sign language.
My reading goal is to read Franny B Cranny.
My writing goal is to write on the lines and write a book.
My math goal is to subtract and multiply.
My responsibility goal is to stay in my chair.
I already know a lot about being nice.
Teacher, something you should know about me is I love animals.

Here are a few of her favorite things
color: pink
food: rice krispy treats
book: Junie B
sport: soccer
Thing to do in school: sit at my taBl and giggle!!!!
Thing to do at home: play with my sister Kate

When I grow up I want to be doctor!

Delight

Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart~Psalm 37:4

I spent this weekend focused on this verse with these FABULOUS girls at a Beth Moore simulcast. I laughed, worshipped, cried and most importantly grew in my faith. God is so good and His ways and timing are PERFECT!

IT WAS SOOO GOOD!

I'm still processing all I learned and hope to be able to put words to my thoughts sometime soon.

But for now, I will wait...in anxious expectation...on my tip toes...ready...

We closed with the BEST commissioning that I MUST share:
My Dear Sister
God has not overlooked you
He has not ignored you
He hears every petition
And intimately knows
The heart beneath it.
Give Him full access
To all your longings
Pray every single day
To become a person who delights in Him.
When it seems to disappear
Remember to check your JAW
Are you jealous?
Are you angry?
Are you worried?
Roll it all on Jesus
He's strong enough to carry it
Big enough to handle it.
Trust God with all your heart
Now leave this place
And go into the world
And do some GOOD.

Backyard Camping

After the girls begged ALL summer, last night Lon finally pitched the tent and he and the girls "went camping." We roasted hot dogs, smores and popcorn on the grill and then snuggled in for a cool summer night. Once everyone was asleep (about 8:30) I snuck into the house and spent the night in my cozy bed. I cheated, I know, but trust me, it worked out best for EVERYONE! :)
The girls can finally check camping off their summer "to-do" list!

Another GREAT book!

The alarm sounds. Your feet hit the floor and carry you into another day. But what does that day hold for you? Will you be punching your card at work, catching up on TV at home, and crashing into bed before you rinse and repeat the next day? Or will you dare to dig deep and discover the incredible potential lying dormant within us all?

In Wide Awake, renowned speaker and church visionary Erwin Raphael McManus challenges us to put an end to all the sleepwalking and settling, for each of us was created by God for a reason. He has called you to live as Jesus did-a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living wide awake is about realizing that the world desperately needs you to live up to your potential.

There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber.

It's time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream . . . Wide Awake.

I'm LOVING this book, and am only on chapter 3.
It's inspiring me to be more risky and adventurous!
Anyone else out there reading it?

Happy 6th Birthday!

We had the BEST time celebrating Claire's 6th birthday today!
We dressed up like kitties
Played with yarn balls,
Chased mice,
Batted balls,
Slept on the top of the couch,
Ate goldfish,
Tried to climb an artificial tree,
Lapped up milk,
Fished,
And had a GREAT time with kitty friends!
MEOW!!!

Now Roodle's begun the plans for her December HAMSTER party!!!! :)

Blueberry Bounty

CAMEO

Had the BEST time at a local charity girls night out fundraiser, also known as CAMEO! Great friends, fun auction items, and yummy food and drinks! The only bummer part was that my camera DIED 20 minutes into the FUN night!!! Maybe some of my friends will share their group photos with me?? Pretty Please?

Art Sale

The girls were back in business with an art sale last week. Not nearly as fun or lucrative as the jewelry sale, but still a great experience thanks to our neighbors and friends! We'll let you know when the next jewelry sale will be! :)

Black Butte Fun

Chipmunk trap

Happy Hours

Tennis

Friends
Fun