The Rear View Mirror

Moving away from home for the first time in my 30's has been an interesting experience. On the one hand it has been liberating. I feel like I'm going away to college and realizing for the first time that I can handle life on my own. It's also been a great bonding experience for our family and a great time of growth for our kids. We've enjoyed all of the fun that comes with being the new people in a city, meeting new people, experiencing new things, laughing about the things that are so different here than they are back home (like the Razorback obsession, or the fact that a couple of people are "y'all" but a whole bunch of people are "all y'all"!).

At the same time we have gone through periods of difficulty in adjusting. Recently we realized that after a year in Little Rock we still had very few really good friends. Although the ones we did have were a blessing, we were still having a hard time getting connected at our church of 6,000 people. We were in a small group with some wonderful couples but the relationships there weren't as strong as we'd hoped they would be. And basically we started to feel lonely and homesick. We started to spend our days looking back and saying "Don't you miss....how we knew everyone at Calvary....how close our care group was....the way Dave did worship....our friends...our family....our life."

Larry and I are both in BSF this year and really enjoying it. Through our study of the life of Moses we realized that we were being the Israelites. We were in the desert, aka Little Rock, saying "Why did you bring us here? Life was better in Egypt." aka St. Charles. After sharing this with a friend she gave me an analogy that made so much sense. She said that we can glimpse into the rear view mirror of life for a little while but if we keep our eyes fixed there we will crash. We realized it was time to start looking through the windshield again or we were going to crash.

We met with Lance, one of the pastors at our church, to talk to him about this. He was such a blessing to us and really helped us to put some perspective on our situation and give us some great ideas and tools to move forward. To start we decided to find a new small group. We truly loved the people we were with but felt that it would be wise to get in a group with people who we are already connected with and strengthen those connections. It just so happens that there is a group on our street at the home of a FamilyLife staff member. It seemed like an obvious place for us to be. Our old group was so wonderful and supportive of us when we told them our decision. We are truly thankful for their place in our lives. We will start with our new group on December 9th.

The other thing that we are going to do is really dive into serving at church. We've dabbled in it but not gotten seriously connected. Larry is going to stay where he is which is playing guitar for children's ministry, but start serving weekly, and I am praying right now about where God wants me. I'm making contact with the special needs part of our children's ministry and there is also a need for a mentor for a 5th grade girls group. Hopefully in the next week or 2 I will have a permanent place to serve as well.

We are feeling good about these changes and along with some other adjustments we hope that we can make the most of our time here in Little Rock...living life through the windshield and enjoying the glimpses in the rear view mirror.

We are Thankful...

Erin: I am thankful that my husband is the man of my dreams and my highschool sweetheart who I love more today than I ever have. For 2 healthy, funny, sweet boys, the opportunity to homeschool them, and a curriculum that we love. I am thankful for family that are only 6 1/2 hours away so we still get to see them more than a lot of people get to see their family. I am thankful for warm winters, new friends, a great new church home, and God's provision to keep us here. I am thankful for friends back home, a church family that we miss and love, and great memories of our time there. I am thankful for a Savior who I love because He first loved me.

Larry: I am thankful for a wonderful wife who sacrifices so much to be the best mom, wife, friend, etc. that I continue to grow deeper in love with each and every day. I am thankful for two awesome boys who are the best of friends. I am thankful for the many ways that God continues to surprise us. I am thankful for having such an encouraging family that we are able to see regularly even though we live in another state. I am thankful for our good friends back home and our new friends here. I am thankful to be able to serve God using the gifts that he entrusted me with.

Clayton: I am thankful for Bella. I am thankful for a mom, a dad, a home, and 2 geckos. I am thankful for good friends, and that Christmas is coming soon. I am thankful for toys, a comfy bed, clothes, food, my Sunday School teachers, and the Bible.

Evan: I am thankful for toys, playing outside with Bella, and Bella kisses. I am thankful that I have lots of rocks to collect in my back yard (note from mom: remember we live in Little ROCK...there is a reason for that name). I am thankful for watching movies, going to play tennis, and my family.

Bella: I am thankful that I'm not living on the streets anymore, and that food sometimes lands on the floor. I am thankful for the few times that I got to sleep on mom and dad's bed when they weren't looking, and for the squirrels that I'm going to catch someday. I am thankful that Clayton and Evan love me, and that mom hasn't gotten rid of me, even though she threatens when I am naughty. I'm thankful for treats, kisses, treats, a warm place to sleep, treats, and toilet water.

PSALM 100
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Love Dare

I am very slowly doing the Love Dare from the movie Fireproof with a group of friends. I can't recommend this book enough. Each day that I read it I gain more knowledge in how to be a better wife. Day 10 really struck me and I wanted to share part of it with you. I hope you are encouraged:

If someone were to ask you, "Why do you life your wife?" or "Why do you love your husband?" --what would you say?

Most men would mention their wife's beauty, her sense of humor, her kindness, her inner strength. They might talk about her cooking, her knack for decorating, or what a good mother she is.

Women would probably say something about their husband's good looks or his personality. They'd commend him for his steadiness and consistent character. They'd say they love him because he's always there for them. He's generous. He's helpful.

But what if over the course of years, your wife or husband stopped being every one of those things. Would you still love them? Based on your answers above, the only logical response would be "no". If your reasons for loving your spouse all have something to do with his or her qualities--and then those same qualities suddenly or gradually disappear--your basis for love is over.

The only way love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. The truth is this : love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love.

.........But you will struggle and fail to attain this kind of marriage unless you allow God to begin growing His love within you. Love that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7) does not come from within. It can only come from God.

If you are wondering what the "Dare" part of that days devotional is it is to do something out of the ordinary for your spouse--something that proves (to you and to them) that your love is based on your choice and nothing else. Wash her car. Clean the kitchen. Buy his favorite dessert. Fold the laundry. Demonstrate love to them for the sheer joy of being their partner in marriage. Since none of their suggestions (besides washing the car) is out of the ordinary for me I'm open to suggestions from any creative minds out there!!

Too late to be blogging....

Larry left yesterday for a conference in Philadelphia, PA. I've decided it was easier to be without him when he was gone frequently. At least then I got into a routine of having him gone, but he hasn't traveled without me since May and saying good-bye to him on Wednesday was like the first time all over again. I'm utterly exhausted because I can't sleep without him, and when I do try to go to sleep suddenly every noise in the house is amplified. Hence the reason that I am blogging way past my bedtime!

To stay busy we are doing a 400 piece puzzle that Larry bought us before he left. We have recently become addicted to puzzles and you will often find anywhere from one to all four of us at the dining room table trying to fit "just one more" piece in. I also had a baby shower to go to tonight so I got a baby sitter which was a nice break.

Larry had some down time this afternoon so he got to be a tourist. He saw the Liberty Bell, the US Mint, and Independence Hall. He also had a cheese steak which probably doesn't seem like a big deal except that I LOVE cheese steaks! Domino's pizza makes my favorite. I was so jealous and he informed me tonight that he even took a picture of it! What a brat!

OK I'd better try to get to bed or I am going to seriously regret it tomorrow. I'll look forward to a good night sleep on Monday night!

Prayer for Upcoming Test

Normally we would put something like this in our newsletter but we aren't sending out another newsletter until January and we need some prayer warriors in December. For a long time now Larry has suffered from "intestinal issues". That's a nice way of saying it! He has seen 3 doctors for this problem. The first really didn't say much except change your diet, the second told him to eat more fiber, the third diagnosed him with IBS. Through some friends here in Little Rock we found another highly respected doctor so Larry decided to give it one more shot. This doctor sent him to a gastro enterologist. On December 10th Larry will be scoped, from the mouth, which Larry seems relieved for :), and this doctor seems to be rather suspicious of Celiac Disease. Larry has almost every symptom and to top it off it is hereditary and Evan has symptoms of it as well. Here is a definition of celiac disease:

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, and lip balms.

We should know more in December and if for some reason he does not have celiac his doctor is going to test him for food allergies and intolerance. Our main prayer is that we would finally have some answers for Larry and Evan. If they are diagnosed with Celiac disease we will need some serious prayer for the significant diet changes that will need to be made, but we'll deal with that when it comes!

We will keep you updated. Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Soaps galore!

We are so excited that our friends Cathy and Scott Dreher are adopting a child from Ethiopia! In order to help with the funding of their adoption Cathy has created a site from which she can sell her beautiful handmade soaps. Check it out at www.topazbathgems.etsy.com, they make great Christmas gifts!

Beauty

I have been awed this week by the amazing colors on the trees here. There have been times when I could have gotten in an accident because I was staring at the trees that line the highways! One day the boys and I took a drive and stopped to take pictures of some of our favorites. I wish I could show you how beautiful our highways are but I figured that wouldn't be too safe so we stuck to parking lots! Here are a few of the trees that caught our eyes. My favorites are the ones that fade from one color to another. Beautiful!







God's excellence is woven into the fabric of the world around us. You can see it in everything. -John C. Maxwell

Bad Words

On Sunday Clayton won an award for being the best behaved in his class. I was a little surprised that they even give those awards simply because all of the boys in his group seem to be well behaved. I asked him if anyone misbehaves and he proceeded to tell me about a boy whose dad has to be in class with him because he says bad words. After some investigation I'm thinking the boys has Tourette Syndrome. So I ask Clayton what kinds of words he says and Clayton replies "The S word." Then Evan says "Does he say the H word?" I'm figuring the H word is hell but I ask "What is the H word?" They both look at me and say "Hate!" :)

So I tell my friends this and they say "So what is the S word?" Well I never thought about it, I just assumed it was the bad S word that I knew, although I must admit that I was a bit surprised that Clayton even knew what the S word was. So tonight I said "Clayton, remember when you told me about the boy in your Sunday school class who says bad words? What is the S word?" He replied "Stupid....AND Shut up!" LOL! I tried so hard not to laugh and thanked God for the innocence that they have right now because I know it won't last forever!

Mountain Climbing

Yesterday we climbed Pinnacle Mountain with my in laws. My mother in law said climbing a mountain was something she had always wanted to do so she was looking forward to it. As we approached the mountain we pointed it out to her and she thought we were joking! I'm not sure what she had in her mind when we said "mountain" but apparently it was something much smaller than Pinnacle! Once we finally convinced her that we were telling the truth we got on the trail. Shortly up the mountain my mother in law started seriously regretting her decision! She needed to stop for a rest:

And she stopped again:

And again (this is her saying "Come on Erin, let's go!" trying to make it look like she's waiting for me!):

And again:

I have many more pictures of her stopping but you get the point! We laughed quite a bit at her and kept promising that it would be worth it at the top. When she got to the top she agreed that it was well worth it but wondered if there was a wagon she could ride down on!



Luckily going down was much easier and now she is thrilled that she did it. We even saw a tarantula on the way down!

So who reading this is going to come visit us in Little Rock and climb it with us next time?!

Halloween Fun

The boys had a great time last night! We went to spend Halloween with the Olsons. These are the same kids that we went to the sculpture show with. Karyn and I put together a Halloween feast for the kids which included jack o lantern PBJ's, Chicken "fingers" (notice the pumpkin seed nail), spiders, apple mouths (complete with slivered almond teeth), and red "blood" juice.


After our gourmet feast the dads took the boys trick or treating. If you are wondering what those costumes are it is a cartoon character named Ben 10. Ben uses his watch to turn himself into aliens that fight the bad guys. It was such a cheap and easy costume to make so I was thrilled! They didn't have many kids out at all despite the fact that it was an absolutely georgeous night!



Of course the fun part of the night is always checking out your loot!



After we left their house we went back home where my in laws were handing out candy at our house. We could not believe what we saw! Carloads of families lining the streets of our neighborhood unloading massive amounts of kids out to trick or treat. The streets were packed with large groups of kids and Larry commented "This is what I remember Halloween being like as a kid!" I wish I had gotten a picture of the car with teenagers dressed up sitting on the hood and the trunk riding down the street! We had bought a ton of candy because we'd heard that many people from neighboring communities load groups of kids up and come to our neighborhood to trick or treat. Still, we were out of candy before 8:00. The boys said it was the "best Halloween ever!" Oh, and my mother in law said our pumpkin was a huge hit and got many comments!