Fashion-Conscious

Over the years, our views on fashion have changed. When we kids were younger, we thought that blankets over our heads, pink sunglasses, fake mustaches, and feather boas were all the rage. But as we’ve grown older, we’ve thankfully grown out of these trends. Yet it’s always fun to go back down memory lane and remember what was in vogue several years ago . . .

 

The shepherd look was quite popular at our house for a number of years.

Over time our ability to style hair has improved (luckily.)

Big-nosed-mustache glasses were a common disguise back in the day. I hardly know who these two are! J

This was the day when retro, 20’s-flapper style made a brief fashion appearance.

If there’s no blog post tomorrow, it’s because my Dad killed me for posting this picture. J Let’s just say that he has gone far beyond the wig fashion days (what a relief!)

Roma is a fine inventor of fake nails. Marker caps are great because they’re instantly removable and come in many designer colors. Unfortunately the nail fashion industry never caught onto the idea.

As a nine-year-old, I thought brushed out curls were the height of fashion. There have definitely been better hair-moments in my fashion career.

Yes, Roma. I think a skirt-turned-blouse, an Elmo party hat, Hello-Kitty glasses, and a headband over your forehead is very creative and original. Well done!

Now this leopard print and pink glasses is more in line with the fashion industry, but you did an excellent job giving it your own personal flair.

Josiah was a very common representative of the blanket fashion movement. Again, he added his own personal touch with the purple flower glasses.

High heels and overalls are a new combination this season, but very well pulled off!

Love the fake mustache. It adds the finishing touch to your outfit, Roma.

For awhile, I tried the Texas cowboy hat/Cousin It look. I think next time I’ll skip the hair-in-front-of-the-face and just stick with the hat.

*As a child, were you known for your fashion adventures (or misadventures?) Were you like some of the children in our family who changed clothes about 10 times per day? We’d love to hear your story in the comments!*

 

"Crazy Love" Book Review

“Crazy Love” by Francis Chan isn’t the type of book I normally read. I tend to pass over the flashy, colorful, “new” books at the Christian book stores because there are a lot of shallow books out there. But several friends and family members highly recommended that I read “Crazy Love,” so I added it to my reading list.

 

Several months passed by and after our trip to Haiti, I finally requested the book from the library. I have to confess that the effect of the book on me was probably lessened because of the fact that I read “Radical” by David Platt and “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns just before I read “Crazy Love.” I feel bad that it wasn’t quite as impacting to me personally, but it’s still one that has a lot of impact in it!

 

Chan starts off the book by painting a picture of how BIG God really is. Too often we don’t have the type of awe, wonder, and reverence for God that we should. We forget the amazing fact that the God of the universe—who created EVERYTHING—loves us with a sacrificial love. We also forget how small we really are. Our lives can end at any second, but we don’t really live like that’s true.

 

The chapter of the book that really hit me the most was Chapter Four, titled “The Profile of the Lukewarm.” You can read more on how that chapter convicted me here.

 

The other chapters of the book, like “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God,” “When You’re in Love,” and “Profile of the Obsessed” talk about what our attitude towards God should be. “Your Best Life. . . Later” and “Who Really Lives That Way?” discuss how we are to live out our lives as followers of Christ. “Who Really Lives That Way?” gives many examples of people who have lived out their lives with radical abandonment and devoted obedience to God. They lived their lives fully surrendered to the Lord and what He called them to do.

 

One of my favorite quotes from the book is found on page 168: "We say things like, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,' and 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart.' Then we live and plan like we don't believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn't come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God's fidelity to His promises."

Another favorite quote is the following: “Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” I shared a bit more about these two quotes here.

Although the ideas in “Crazy Love” were not new to me, it was a great reminder to abandon lukewarm Christianity in favor of living out my life overflowing with love for God and for the lost. I definitely recommend it!

 

October Nature Pictures

October is one of the beautiful months of the year when it comes to color in the landscape! Although I have to admit it has been difficult to capture a lot of nature photographs because of all the rain. But yesterday was sunny and mild, the perfect day to take a walk around our property and look for good pictures!

 

Josiah had fun making a bird feeder earlier this week with a pine cone, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds. So far there haven’t been too many takers, as we’ve had a bully Blue-Jay sitting at the feeder most of the day.

Despite the many hard freezes we’ve had the past several weeks, a few zinnias are still trying desperately to maintain their blooms!

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build . . .” Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

I love brilliant yellow leaves!

Does anyone know what this is? It is growing on a vine. It almost looks like some type of cucumber, except hollow and really spiky. I’m guessing it’s some type of ornamental cucumber?

After a month, our sedum is still going strong. The color has really deepened, which makes it even more beautiful in my opinion!

We will see what November brings for nature pictures. We could be here, or we could be in Texas! We’ll just have to wait and see!

 

Little Thief

I’ve had a rather hard time accessing my Christian Literature book lately (“Exploring Christian Literature” by Michael McHugh.) Why? Because my elementary-aged brother has been reading it! The book is considered a high-school-level book filled with short works of fiction, poems, and old sermons.

 

One day when we were trapped in the car during house-showing-number-20-something, he was getting really bored and I handed it to him and told him to read the story I had opened. Nearly every day since then he’s asked me, “Can I read your Christian Literature book?” How could I say no? J It cracks me up that he is enjoying a book that’s 8 or 9 grades ahead of him! I wonder what types of books he’ll be reading when he actually gets to high school?

 

Worship Dance

Yesterday my sisters and I— as well as several other dancers from our worship dance group—had the privilege of dancing at our church. We had danced at our church back at Christmas time for a Ladies tea. Everyone really enjoyed it and had positive things to say about the dance ministry.

 

There were several dances that we girls have been working on over the past few months that Mommy really wanted to see before we moved. J So she asked our Worship Pastor if we might be able to share the dances on a Sunday morning during the service. He was very enthusiastic about the idea, and yesterday we finally had the opportunity to do it!

 

*Sorry for all the splotches in the background. I think it was something on the wall.* All of the dancers who came to our church.

The first dance that we girls did was “Trading My Sorrows” sung by Women of Faith. I love this song because it’s such a good reminder to me!

Some of the advanced class members danced to a Jewish song called “O Jah” by Paul Wilbur. I absolutely *love* this song and the dance that accompanies it! We even got to wear bells on our ankles and wrists.

One thing I will dearly miss about living here in Michigan is the dance ministry! I’ve grown to love everyone in the ministry and have really enjoyed the opportunity to minister to and encourage others through dance. I hope that we will find another worship dance group in Texas!

 

Crazy

“Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” – Francis Chan in “Crazy Love”

 

Recipe--Homemade Pancake Syrup

A taste that will always remind me of my childhood is homemade pancake syrup. My Mom has used the syrup recipe from the Tightwad Gazette for as long as I can remember. Although we do try to use pure maple syrup most of the time, it can get expensive. So we have a limit on how much we spend on syrup each month. When we run out of the real stuff, we turn to this simple, frugal recipe for syrup that tastes far better than any imitation syrup you’ll find at the store!

 

Homemade Pancake Syrup

 

2 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 ½ cups water

3 Tablespoons of molasses (we use corn syrup)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons butter flavoring

2 teaspoons maple flavoring

 

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves (a good rolling boil.) Boil for 2 minutes. Turn off burner, but leave pot on burner until bubbling stops. Makes just under 1 quart of syrup. Store any unused syrup in the refrigerator and warm before consuming.

PB&J

Don’t give an 18-month-old his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich without close supervision. It just might end up in his hair. J Or if you do, make sure it’s right before bath time!