How to Prepare For a Wedding- Aldrich Style

My last single brother is getting married this summer- on the opposite end of the country and we have decided to attend.  Actually I think God was getting a real kick out of the situation when I told the kids we couldn't afford to go to Florida for vacation.  It was just a few days after that declaration that I discovered we were going to Florida whether we liked it or not.  Just to be clear- we like it. It isn't completely clear whether we are driving ourselves or all hitch hiking, but we are going.

Anyway, the process of loading up 9 people in a van to travel 24 hours driving time in order to be in a wedding- which I might note requires attire that doesn't look like it's been smushed in a van for 24 hours- is quite the feat.

Also, this means that our vacation budget is about to be funneled directly into the gas tank, so we had better make the most of all those miles.  Thus begins the planning extravaganza.  In short, it goes a little something like this:

-Determine how many things we'd like to do on this trip if we could do anything we wanted.
-Cross off 75% due to time, money, travel issues, and logistical impossibilities (we can't tie the children to the roof of the car, that's illegal, so that's a no)
- Add several hotel stays that we hadn't thought of due to other logistics.
- Locate a hotel that serves free breakfast, will let 9 people all sleep in a relatively close space, doesn't mind kids, has a pool- cause why would you not take advantage of that possibility if you can, and also doesn't have some random minimum stay of 3 nights.
- Reserve rooms in three different states. Write down how much that will cost.
- Buy White Out to paint across hotel bill projections so you can think about something else between now and then.
- Next, discuss ideas of things to do- DC for three days? Week in FL? Activities while there?  Call the most insane friends you have in those areas and ask them if they have beds for 7 children, one which still wets the bed, and 2 adults.  Wait patiently while they recover from their fainting spell.  When they say you can stay with them, become giddy with excitement over the fact that there are still people in the world willing to house an entire army battalion in their home. Smile that you have such awesome friends- even if they are a little crazy.
- Find all the free things to do in the areas where you will be and carefully coordinate when you will do them. Dream about a couple of activities that actually cost money. Pencil them onto the list in case you accidentally find a winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk.

-Next: shop for wedding clothes for everyone because no one has anything decent to wear to such an event.
-Go look for a dress for yourself. Try on every single dress in the department only to find out that nothing fits you there because you are actually in the juniors section. Whoops.  Try on all the dresses in the women's section in three different stores and discover that still nothing looks good.
-Pause to bemoan the weight gain over the winter, partly due to surgery and partly due to chocolate ganache. Get over it and keep going.
- Cross off several stores on the list in this way.
- Shop for shoes for the kids WITH ALL THE KIDS. Act like you are only there with one of those children.
- Create mass chaos in the shoe section while everyone runs to find the shoes they like best.
- Put them all back because none of them are black dress shoes.
- Find shoes, be happy, buy them, have a heart attack over how much money you just spent.
- Take shoes home and realize that you forgot to buy one child shoes.
- Go shoe searching for that child in several other stores that you go to on other errands.  Find nothing. (This is a rule.  Discovering the right thing can not happen by chance. It must take intentional WORK!)
- Locate two dresses that fit girls, no one, no, two...wait...only one.  Ok, buy one.
- Get tired of stores and try purchasing two dresses for yourself online. This allows you to not fit in something thus giving a good excuse to return the garment to the store and try again.
-Somewhere in here do something else in your life besides work on wedding clothes shopping. For example: feed people meals, teach school, or bathe.
- Take dress back to department store.  Shop for other needs.  Find two dresses, three suits, three ties, three dress shirts, two suit sets, and a make up sale at one store and buy it all. Be happy all the way until you look at the receipt.  Have a second heart attack.  And also a seizure.  Loose two nights of sleep.
- Bring clothes home and try on. Mark 4 pairs of pants to be hemmed.
- Go shopping again and find 1 pair of shoes, three belts, 2 necklaces, a dress shirt and a tie.
- Come home for approval.
- Take back tie. Get different, "better quality" tie.
- Also exchange belt and shoes.

And this is where we are at in the process. On one hand, it's a fun adventure.  On another, it's a lot of work.  And on a third hand- if you have one- it takes a lot of faith.  I know we are doing what needs to be done, but it's always a little tricky how things will actually turn out.  Sometimes it can be exciting to see how God will provide.  Sometimes that's a little stressful, but it's all part of the adventure.

Now that we have hotel reservations and clothes, we'll move on to food. That should be yummy.

Taking A Sick Day

Today I've been in the bed all day. Sore throat, head ache, body aches...ew.

Also, I've just been depressed.  Everything is SO much harder with one leg. Takes more time. My crutches and I are not on speaking terms right now.

I was reading in that popular devotional today, Jesus Calling, and my eye caught this:

"Hardships are part of the journey too. I mete them out ever so carefully, in just the right dosage, with a tenderness you can hardly imagine.  Do not recoil from afflictions, since they are among My most favored gifts."

I'm tempted to recoil from just the idea that hardship is a gift from Jesus.  But I also had the privilege of listening to this sermon this morning:

http://sermon3a.tscnyc.ws/2012/mp3g/20120401S1.mp3

Reminding me that Paul "knew" a whole lot about God, but it wasn't until after he went through hardships and suffering that he "learned" it.  After he had been through all sorts of trials, then he had credibility when he talked to others.  He could say that he trusted in his Master no matter what and it meant something to the people who heard it because he had been through Hell and back and was still saying that he trusted. 

There's something weighty about hearing words of encouragement from one who's "been there".  It makes them more believable.  Like they truly know what they are talking about.

To say that what I'm doing right now is considered a hardship, almost seems laughable.  I mean, I'm sitting in my bed with a wonderful supportive family chugging right along without me while I lay here and rest.  They answer my every beck and call, feed me, get my medicines, and the house keeps running right along without me.  Yet, it seems as though God is continuing to teach me that I'm not as big and necessary as I always think I am.  (Pride) How many ways can He knock it out of me?

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm loved, and special, and unique, and all that, but I'm not God. And so often I find myself creeping into the mode that I AM. 

This is a comparatively wimpy hardship to anything that Paul went through.  But needing others, having to ask for help, feeling useless...again...is teaching me that He is all.  He is what is needed. For me and for others.  Abiding and trusting in him and not my own ability to be creative, or plan, or economize, or become more efficient in every area of life.  No, that's a personality that Jesus can work through, but in the end, it's Him that is needed, no me. 

So, I bow my head to this and say, work in me. Make me your servant, Jesus. Keep me from idolizing myself. And thank you for another chance to learn this lesson again. I'm not sure how this hardship will help me be a blessing to others, but I'm happy to be reminded that You, God, are everything.  And I am nothing. Thank you that you work through my nothingness for Your glory.

He Makes me to Lie Down in Green Pastures

I think the operative word in this phrase is "Make".

I seem to have a hard time with the lying down part.  I see green pastures and I say, "run!" Nothing about things going smoothly, sunshine, and food says, "Lie down and rest" to me.

I find myself forced to lie down ALL. THE. TIME. right now.  Thanks to this foot of mine.  It's supposed to be restful so I can recover from injury.  And things around me are going smoothly, probably because there would be no way to rest if it wasn't.

Yet I'm so ambitious.  I see smooth sailing and thing that it's time to conquer all those things I didn't do while it was rough and things were going hard.  "Quick!" "Get it done!" "Hurry, while the time is good!" But it's time to rest.

He's making me lie down in the green pastures- like the child that desperately needs a nap in the middle of the most beautiful day.

So, I'm down. Where I'm doing mostly nothing. As it should be for now.

There will be plenty of time to get up and go and always there will be plenty to fill the time.  But for now, He's MAKING me lie down.  So, that's where I am.

When I can't Seem to Do what I want to Do

I've been hanging on to something a friend of mine told me recently:

"God fills your sails with his strength and energy. When the time is right and you can do things that seemed totally impossible before."

 

And um...when the timing isn't right trying to do the impossible just ends up looking ridiculous and is also draining and exhausting.

Isaiah 40:31- They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength...

It's not, "get a vision from the Lord and then in my own strength tackle it."
It's not, "Wait for just the right moment and then YOU can do it."

It's also not, "Try harder and you will get there."

I love this vision of seeing a boat ready to sail and me blowing for all I'm worth on the sails to get it to where it needs to go.  Seems pretty ridiculous. What does a true sailor do, but wait for then wind? When it comes, then does he spend his energy blowing to help out? Of course not, he stands ready to direct the boat where it must go thanks to the power of the wind.  When the wind dies down.  He eats and plays cards and waits.  Of course he makes sure that everything is just right and ready should the wind whip up, but he just waits for the strength to come.

Then, he just holds on for the ride and does his best to steer in the right direction.

They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. 
Seems like my time to wait for a while.

You are What you Eat...or Are you?

Recently I’ve been considering the topic of food. I don’t know about you but I often find myself wishing that I were rich so I could just buy “healthy” food  -you know: raw milk, organic produce, grass-fed beef, more nuts and less grains, etc.  We do make an effort to purchase food that is good for us.  Over the past several years we’ve cut down on lots of boxed foods and increased our consumption of fresh ingredients.  Honestly I can’t remember the last time we had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in our house.

The facts are, however, that we can’t seem to figure out how to afford a food snob completely healthy diet.  We get dairy, some extra produce and then I get to the meat section and think, “Well, I can have the store brand or sell a kid.”

 While the latter would be cost effective in the long term, it’s not really what I would consider an option. 

So, we still have things in our house like dry cereal (the cheapest ones), candy, mostly un-organic produce, and even get some of that pink slime they call ground beef occasionally.  Many days it’s easy to see what other people are choosing to eat and think that I’m pretty much just making my family sick. We are destined to have health problems forever because I can’t afford the best.

It wasn’t long ago while I was feeling defeated in this area that Brandon reminded me that we ask Jesus to bless our food, which, in turn, reminded me of a verse in the Bible:

1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

Yay! A magic potion! Ok, maybe not really, but sort of.  While I don’t think this is license to just eat junk food all day,

I do think that there is something real and effective about taking the time to thank Jesus for our food and ask for his blessing over it. 

 I believe that change does take place. 

He takes our efforts to make healthy choices and then makes them what it needs to be for us.  I mean, if the food is already completely good for us anyway, why bother asking for God’s help? We need him- even if we eat the absolute finest ingredients in the world!

So I know most of you are in a similar boat. 

You have a set budget for food that doesn’t seem to quite stretch to get what you would like.  Here’s good news!  God knows!  We can thank him for what he supplies us with and believe that He makes it everything we need it to be.

Trust you have some blessed, yummy food that God provides today and don’t forget to thank him for it.