Two Paradigms

It's been an awfully long time since I've read a marriage book, but the other day a friend mentioned one by Paul Tripp (whom I have come to really enjoy and appreciate) so I searched around to find it. The title is What Did You Expect? Here is a spot that has many of the beginning pages although it seems to skip about quite a bit as you get into the book (I haven't read too far). But, I've already been appreciating the book and wanted to share an excerpt with you (from pgs 22-23)...

With this word, tested (from 1 Pet 1:6-7), God tells you one of the most significant things you will ever understand about your marriage in the here and now. God decided to leave you in this fallen world to live, love, and work, because he intended to use the difficulties you face to do something in you that couldn't be done any other way. You see, most of us have a personal happiness paradigm. Now, it is not wrong to want to be happy, and it is not wrong to work toward marital happiness. God has given you the capacity for enjoyment and placed wonderful things around you to enjoy. The problem is not that this is a wrong goal, but that it is way too small a goal. God is working on something deep, necessary, and eternal. If he was not working on this, he would not be faithful to his promises to you. God has a personal holiness paradigm. Don't be put off by the language here. The words mean that God is working through your daily circumstances to change you.

In his love, he knows that you are not all that you were created to be. Even though it may be hard to admit, there is still sin inside you, and that sin gets in the way of what you are meant to be and designed to do. And, by the way, that sin is the biggest obstacle of all to a marriage of unity, understanding, and love. God is using the difficulties of the here and now to transform you, that is, to rescue you from you. And because he loves you, he will willingly interrupt or compromise your momentary happiness in order to accomplish one more step in the process of rescue and transformation, which he is unshakably committed to.

When you get on God's paradigm page, life not only makes sense (the things you face are not irrational troubles, but transforming tools) but immediately becomes more hopeful. There is hope for you and your marriage because God is in the middle of your circumstances, and he is using them to mold you into what he created you to be. As he does this, you not only respond to life better, but you become a better person to live with, which results in a better marriage.

--As with all of Tripp's material I've read so far, it's not about changing circumstances, but changing you. The sin in our hearts is the underlying problem regardless of the many difficult and trying things we face. Very good book so far...I'll provide a more thorough review when it's done. :)

James turned 19 today
 

 

Gift 701 - 720

Even though I received a number of wrapped/tangible gifts on Christmas, I am continually thankful for all the small, daily gifts God provides...

701 - fancy poinsettia picked out by my toodle
702 - Christmas goodies from friends
703 - loosening expectations
704 - sweet smelling fragrances
705 - pet sitting jobs for Hannah
706 - focus of a boy building Legos
707 - happy chatter of many children
708 - sprinkles
709 - searching for the Christmas pickle
710 - silly Christmas movies
711 - reading scripture for a specific topic
712 - a right perspective that allows you to let things go
713 - quick Christmas returns
714 - gathering eggs
715 - finding lost keys
716 - Christmas cards
717 - remembering someone's name
718 - kind words
719 - internet searches that find what you're looking for
720 - funny cartoon that captures my husband's Christmas gift philosophy...

Christmas, Parts 2 and 3

Here's a quick recap of our Christmas festivities...

we spent Christmas Eve at Dave's parent's house
 

relaxing after the gift giving
 

my niece enjoying a new paiting set
 

all the cousins (and James) - they've gotten so big!

Christmas morning at our house

after the gift opening - J man got a huge Lego boat set

Christmas lunch with my mom and Dave's folks

The Gospel Centered Life

Just wanted to share a book recommendation on The Gospel Centered Life. This is the book we've been going through in our men and women's dna time each week. And, it has been excellent! I would highly recommend any small group using this resource to get a right view of how the gospel affects and changes our lives. This is not a fix-it book, but rather a deep digging, root issue book that can then be used to change your view of who God is and who you are in relationship to Him and others. The articles and exercises are very challenging and bring out heart issues that you may not have even thought about before. The Leader's guide has an easy format for someone to lead the group with talking points and questions to ask. They estimate the total time per session to be approximately one hour although I found it went a bit longer than that if you allowed a lot of discussion. It would also be best utilized in a smaller size group, maybe 6ish, unless you allow quite a bit more time for everyone to participate in the interaction. Since this book also really expects true openness and sharing, the group would need to be ready for that level of honesty. So, if you're evaluating the next book to do in a small group type setting, make sure to check this one out. 

the last day the cousins were here we had some great packing snow
they spent multiple hours outside building this snow fort
 

 

 

 

Cranberry Recipes

Wow, it has been four months since I posted a recipe! That is crazy...did you wonder if I had just stopped cooking for all this time? Anyways, my sis asked for a couple of recipes that I make with cranberries so I thought I'd share them with you as well...

Cranberry Sauce (based off recipe from allrecipes.com)

12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries (about 3 cups)
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 c orange juice
(I think those are the ingredients and amounts I used)

Directions : In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries and cook until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes). The longer you cook, the thicker the sauce will be. Remove from heat and place sauce in a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.


Cranberry/Rasberry Jello Salad 
(make sure to at least double this recipe, I normally quadruple it because it's one of my favorites)

1 3 oz Raspberry Jello
1 1/2 c boiling water (I normally put in a little less to make sure it sets)
8 oz whole cranberry sauce
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c nuts (pecans and walnuts work best)
1/4 t orange peel (I don't add this)

Directions: Dissolve jello, chill till syrupy (should be just beginning to be lumpyish, maybe like molasses would be). Mix in cranberry sauce, sour cream, nuts and orange peel (works best to stir up cranberry sauce and sour cream first so they don't have lumps). Chill till set. Serve with whip cream. I normally make it the day before. 

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread
this is kind of an adult type bread, my kiddos don't really like it

2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c fresh or frozen cranberries
1 c walnuts
3/4 c orange juice
2 T crisco (I often wonder if butter would work as well, but have never tried it)
1 egg, slightly beaten

Directions: Mix together dry ingredients, add cranberries and walnuts and mix to coat. Heat orange juice (not too hot), add melted crisco and egg together. Blend into dry ingredients. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees for large loaf or 45 minutes for 3 small loaves. 

couple more pics from Leavenworth - my kids love taffy!

crazy hats

 

 

I thought this sign was funny for the hot sauce
 

Christmas, Part 1

I figured I'd better post some of the pics we had from our nice Christmas celebration with my family this past Sat. My sis headed back to CA on Tues so we wanted to do some Christmas activities with them before they headed back... 

Mom made a nice dinner of lasagna (James was relegated to the kid's table :) )
 

 

I thought this pic turned out really nice
 

the girls sang "Mary Did You Know?"
 

 

my kids love pomegranates so my sis got them each a box
and, of course, Josh loves Legos!
 

Hannah has been really into spa-type things lately so she was happy to get a foot soak machine
 

If you made it down this far :), I wanted to share a quote from David Platt who I've been listening to lately as I putter about...

"Oftentimes, what we see right in front of us is a poor measure of what God is doing behind the scenes."

I liked that quote because it is often discouraging to look at situations outwardly and wonder if there is any progress being made...particularly with kiddos and efforts at reaching out to others in GC groups. Thankfully, God is so much bigger and can be working miraculously in people's hearts whether we see it or not. 

Sledding Fun

Just some great fun pics from our sledding adventure yesterday. For some reason, there doesn't seem to be very many good sledding hills around here unless we get snow in the valley, so we head up to Mission Ridge where there are two great sledding areas across the road from each other. 

 

the kids love hiking through the woods about as much as sledding
 

 

Dave likes having the kids jump over him in their sleds
 

this hit looks worse than it was :)
 

 

sledding race
 

 

 

Leavenworth Christmas Lighting

We went to the Christmas Lighting Festival in Leavenworth this past Sunday for the first time. For any of you that don't know, Leavenworth is a Bavarian themed town that pulls in a lot of tourists so they always have some activity going on. For Christmas, they line all the buildings and trees along the main street with lights. On particular Saturdays and Sundays in Dec they have a count down till they turn on the lights which is what we went for. Here was our evening in pictures (almost):

Arrived, parked in the Blackbird Island parking area and walked to Front Street
 

met some characters on the way
 

did some shopping, then waiting, waiting for the countdown
 

more waiting, notice all the people who are gathering about
 

they start the "ceremony" with two sets of stars coming from both ends of town
(notice no lights)
 

the stars converge at the pavilion
 

tah dah, lights are on!
 

nice music done by Leavenworth's HS - we knew one of the boys so that was great
 

more lights and yummy cocoa - we also had roasted chestnuts (somewhat questionable)
James said those are sold a lot in China - how strange is that?!?!?!
 

heading back home

my dad, sis, and the girls came but later on so I didn't get any pics with them :(