Faithfulness

The other day this article got passed around on facebook. I love the title We Need Boring Christians. I think the article struck a chord with lots of people because we all feel our lives are boring, especially with social media around.  (Check out my friend’s post on social media and comparison) How exciting is picking up toys for the hundredth time this week or washing dishes every day or folding laundry that only will be peed and pooped on within hours?  Or how exciting is the routine office work, phone calls or meetings? How exciting are the long college classes and hours of studying?  Let’s face it, most of us live boring lives.  But we spend our time dreaming of something more exciting.  Well, maybe not everyone, but I certainly do.

I am a free-spirited person and truthfully my life right now doesn’t allow for me to be free spirited. There are many days I would love to go do spontaneous things or stay somewhere as long as I wanted.  I would love to have some exciting stories about what God is doing in my life or places I have been or people I have met.  But really, I don’t have any.  I could tell you about Elmo, or Dora, or breastfeeding or poopy diapers, but that’s not exciting. Believe me, it’s not.

My senior year of college I was dreaming of moving to China, playing soccer and other sports, while loving on the students I met.  I was dreaming of great food, new friends, challenges and newer depths in my spiritual walk.  As I prayed about this opportunity, I felt very sure that the Lord had told me No.  What? There must be another place I need to then, so my mind started racing towards church planting in Seattle.  That sounds great, adventurous, and challenging.  Again, another No.  A month later I was dating Mark, and 6 months later we were engaged and 6 more months we were married.  Then I began teaching in the middle of no where with some tough kids.  Sure there were exciting moments – like being threatened by students and co-workers but really it wasn’t adventurous.

Fast forward a year, we had our third pregnancy and then our first baby.  My life came to a halt.  I remember people asking me what I did all day?  Well, I breastfed my baby 6 hours a day, changed 6 diapers, I made meals for my husband, did all the dishes, washed cloth diapers and clothes, cleaned the house, discipled 4 girls, helped my husband with his ministry, you get the point…. Nothing to write home about.  I felt guilty when I talked to people because my life was boring.  Honestly I still feel guilty.  I feel like I am not accomplishing things for the Lord.  I struggle to find joy in what I am doing.  I struggle to believe that what I am doing really matters.

But, here is what I know.  God has called me to this.  He has called me to be a the keeper of our home and to be a helper to my husband.  He has called me to train our kids, to teach them about Himself and to love them.  He has made me to nurture them, feed them, and take care of them.  As they grow, they won’t need me as much and there will be more freedom, but right now what God wants of me is to clean up the poop, pee, spit up, Cheerios, and all other kinds of things.  He wants me to be faithful.  He wants me to be a servant to my kids and my husband.  These things aren’t glorious to our earthly eyes, but I hope that they are glorious to His heavenly eyes.  I hope they bring joy to His heart and glory to his name.  May we be faithful people wherever God has placed us, in the adventurous seasons and in the mundane seasons.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

Living in Love {Book Review}

I have read a handful of marriage books and each have their unique approach and tips to marriage.  I personally am encouraged by books that give a big picture of marriage and don’t have a certain formula to having a healthy marriage.  That is what Living in Love does.  It walks through specific topics in marriage without giving you a formula to follow.

Living in Love is actually written by both spouses instead of just the husband and wife.  I really enjoy this aspect of it because they are both sharing their wisdom on specific topics.  James and Betty Robinson are open and honest about their own weaknesses, sins and the trials they have faced in marriage.  They have been married for 50 years so this book is chalked full of great wisdom and life experiences.

They don’t give you a ton of tips to put into practice but rather it is an encouragement to keep on pursuing a God-glorifying and loving marriage.  They walk through the stages of their marriage and the things that made it work without making you feel like you have to be exactly like them.  I felt like I could relate to so much of what they shared and was encouraged to keep on pursuing the Lord through the easy and hard seasons of marriage.

Lastly, I appreciated the fact that they are ministry couple.  There are challenges that are unique to couples in ministry and they explained those challenges well.  They also shared how they walked through them and how it grew them closer to each other.  I highly recommend this book as a great resource for your marriage.  It is easy to read and fun to read.

Thanks WaterBrook Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review!

It would be great if you could rank my review over here!  Thanks!

What I have learned in ministry

Christine over on Grace Covers Me has been writing a series called 30 Days of Encouragement for Church Planting Wives.  I have found this series really encouraging.  A couple of weeks ago, I found my heart becoming pretty hard by a few circumstances.  A friend asked me how I was doing – like really asked me how I was doing and the hardness of my heart spewed out.  She was very gracious and pointed me back to things Christine had been sharing on her blog.  My heart didn’t just magically change but the truth she shared encouraged me.  Christine asked her readers to write a few things they were learning about ministry.

So here’s my list:

• Forbearance – this word is kind of old-fashioned but over and over again, I found myself saying “love covers a multitude of sins.”  The Lord has shown me how His love covers my sins and therefore, I should love in a way that covers others sins.

• To Hunt – when you are in ministry, it is rare to find a place that is feeding you.  I had a place this past spring – a women’s Bible study but won’t be able to attend it so this summer God has been teaching me how to hunt.  
  It started with this book and hunting for things I am thankful for each day. This led me more into His presence.  Then I read an article by Noel Piper (sorry I can’t find it) which led me to hunt for God’s character as I study His Word.  Both of these things, have left me filled and refreshed.

• Forgiveness – This book, Choosing Forgiveness, has radically shaped my view of forgiveness.  I thought I was a really forgiving person but I am not.  As I was reading it one day, the Holy Spirit showed me all kinds of people I hadn’t forgiven.  It was also pretty obvious how I had let bitterness creep in creating a hardened heart.  A couple of things were big but really most of it was a lot of little things.

• His faithfulness to answer prayers – Mark and I went to Central in college.  Christine and her husband were our college ministers and the only adults we knew in the church. We were super involved in college ministry but we weren’t involved in the church as a whole. I spent some time praying for specific things for Central – to have a full-time missions minister, to have adults consistently going on mission trips, developing partnerships with unreached people groups and some other things.  Honestly I never thought I would see those things answered.  I believed then and still do believe that the church should be sending out missionaries (training them, supporting them, etc.) and I really wanted to see this happen at Central.  But when I graduated college, I wasn’t planning on sticking around to see it happen.  Apparently God was planning on me sticking around to see some of it happen partly so that I would know His faithfulness.  He has answered those prayers in some awesome ways.  He is moving in our church in greater ways than I could have imagined.  We have a great church. And it turns out, that my husband is actually a part of the answer to those prayers.  He is a faithful God.

Summer

Yep, I have fallen off of the blog world again.  I really want to be consistent… I really do.  But…  life gets in the way.  Mark and I just took an intense personality test which was very informative as to why we act the way we do.  My personality tends to struggle with completing tasks and persevering in trials.  That is not news to me but it does help me acknowledge it and try to fight it.  So that is one of my goals.  Not to give up on blogging.  I have a few other things I am trying to not to give up on, too – like training for a half marathon, losing the baby weight, photography and relationships.

Anyways, our summer has been one word – hot!!!  Seriously we are all experiencing this craziness and trying to stay sane as we are stuck inside.  Last night we went to our neighborhood pool at 7:30 and the water was as warm as bath water.  At times this summer has felt like a pressure cooker.  New baby, a two year-old exploring her boundaries, postpartum hormones, trials, travels and other things.  And yes at times I have exploded internally.  This has all been more than I can handle.

But God has been gracious.  Isn’t that always true in these seasons?  He has been so good to us, faithful to us and with us.  He has given us wisdom and insight to things that we could not have figured out ourselves.  He has given us perseverance.  His Word and it’s truth have refreshed us.  He has convicted us of our sin, graciously forgiven us and brought us to sweet places of repentance. He is healing deep things in me – especially in the area of forgiveness (I hope to write on that more).

So our summer has been hot like everyone else but also filled with some sweet blessings from our awesome God.  I read this verse in Isaiah yesterday and it has greatly encouraged me:

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. ” Is. 9:6

I can truly say He has been all of these things to me this summer.  He is good!

Another Milestone

Another milestone Liza hit was potty training.   We worked on it a couple of weeks before Kathryn was born.  My midwife and doctor were both surprised that she stayed potty trained after Kathryn’s birth so I wouldn’t advise doing during a transitional period in life.  I think she was able to stay potty trained because my mom and Mark’s mom both stayed with us for a week and kept on top of it.  Otherwise, I am pretty sure she would have gone back to diapers.

I wish I could say it has been a complete success but it hasn’t been.  She still poops in her pants and has accidents.  But she hasn’t had a #1 accident in her bed.  I am not sure what to do about the poop issues, so if you have any advice please leave it in the comments section!!  I really need it!

We used the book Potty Train in Three Days and it worked out pretty well.  Day 1 was a disaster and I was ready to quit, but the next day she had the hang of it.  In three days she was pretty well potty trained, except #2.  They say it will come later but it has been 2 months so I am not sure when later is….  Anyways at least we are having to do diapers on two kids or pay for diapers for two kids.

 

 

My tips for potty training:

• Candy – it works!!
• Fun underwear!  Liza loves her underwear and is still excited about wearing.
• A potty seat that goes on the toilet.  We had one that didn’t but we actually didn’t use it.
• Make a big deal of getting rid of your diapers.
• Plan on not going anywhere for three days.  It’s totally worth it!
• Get ready to clean up your floors and wash some extra clothes.  : )

Running a Half Marathon

Mark and are doing something crazy.  We are going to run a half marathon this fall.  I have always wanted to run one, but never put the effort into training for one or really had the motivation.  Our motivation for running a half marathon is our friends’ adoption.   There is a half marathon/marathon in New Braunfels that gives all of its proceeds to families adopting.  The adopting family creates a team.  The registration fee from each person who signs up on their team is given to them.   Pretty awesome!!  Since adoption is quite expensive this is another great way for an adopting family to raise money.

Our friends, the Shaeffers, are working on adopting from Ethiopia.  Check out their site and you can find other ways to support them : T-shirts, Coffee, etc.   Or you can run a half marathon with us on October 29th!!!  Think about it, I promise you there is still time to train.  For me, October 29th is exactly six months after I had Kathryn, so I definitely won’t be in the front of the pack.  My goal is to finish it!   I really want to run the whole way but we will see what my post baby body can take.

Here is the site for the half marathon!  If you do sign up, pick Team Shaeffer!!  They are also going to be running it to!

Anyone have any tips for running a half marathon?

Milestones

The Straz house has been really busy and crazy.  Chaos is how I would describe it until the last week or so.  We had a variety of people staying with for a month straight after Kathryn was born.  I think there were only 4 nights we didn’t have someone staying with us.  A new baby and no normalcy are really hard on a two-year old which is also hard on Mommy and Daddy.  There were many days that I was pretty sure we would never have another kid again.  But after guests left, life seemed to calm down.   The baby seemed to calm down and the two-year old seemed to calm down.  And life feels normal now.  So now I can for see that somewhere in the future there might be another Straz whether biological or adopted.

When guests stay at our house, I can’t get to my editing monitor so I have gotten really behind on editing and posting family stuff.  Plus, really, I don’t know when I would have had time to do it anyways.

Here are some things that have happened in the Straz household since Kathryn arrived:

• 8 days after Kathryn was born, Liza turned 2.  Yes, we had a party, an Elmo party.  (hope to post pics this week)
• Mark, his dad and my dad built Liza a pretty awesome swing set in our backyard for her birthday. They actually built it the morning after Kathryn was born.
• The day after Liza’s b-day we celebrated my 3rd Mother’s Day.  My first one, Liza had been born just a day or two before.
• 8 days after Liza’s b-day, I turned 26 and had what I call a quarter life crisis.  I am doing better now.
• Liza got her first black eye from a collision on the slide.  She wore it well and I regret not getting a picture of it!
• Liza got her first haircut! And I did get pictures of it!
• Kathryn can hold her head up and coo a lot.  She is so stinking cute!
• She can also roll over!
• She now weighs over 12 lbs.   The kid is an eater.
• She isn’t sleeping through the night but we keep have a couple of long stretches here and there.