27 Days: Leaning - What does the word mean?

What does the word Lean bring to your mind? I'm thinking of several pictures - an old lady, laboring along, leaning heavily on her cane... Two men, deep in conversation, leaning comfortably against a wall or fence... A tired child, eyes drooping and head nodding, leaning against a parent's shoulder. What do these pictures all have in common? They're all leaning, yes, but there's more to it. They're all relying on something besides themselves. Imagine if the old lady's cane would suddenly break, she would quite likely land on her nose! The two men, what do you suppose would happen if someone sneakily removed their prop? And the tired child, they are about to close their eyes and depend completely on their caregiver to keep them from falling. All three are depending totally on something other than themselves to hold them up. They are trusting their "props" implicitly! None of them are leaning gingerly, fearing they'll fall any second. This is the picture. This is the kind of leaning that I'm talking about.

31 Days (minus 3): Leaning - It's what He wants

Eleven years and three months ago I married my best friend. We were young and happy and far from rich. We settled into our "rent free, pay the utilities, many years old" trailer and embarked on the new adventure of marriage. A year later we added a son to our lives and 21 months after that, a daughter. Four years and some rough spots later found us with daughter number 2, 15 acres of land, a remodeled house and barely scraping by. We were still holding our heads high and trying just a little bit harder. The next 3 years brought one unexpected crisis after another. Chris' work dwindled, he started a job 2 hrs from home, Isaac needed surgery, daughter number 3 was added and hospitalized for 6 days, the job 2 hrs away fell apart taking time and money invested with it... God had us in school and we didn't even know it. Slowly, purposefully, painfully God was showing His deepest longing for us-for all human kind. Softly, lovingly, persistently we heard Him pleading, "I want you to need me. I want you to LEAN."

31 Days (minus 3): On Learning To Lean

Some of the blogs I read are doing a "31 Days" series this month - choosing a subject on their heart and writing about it every day in October. I resisted the urge to join, fearing I'd run out of words by day 15, arguing that I should pick another month and do the full 31...still, the urge was there. This morning I read Flower Patch Farmgirl's 4th post on "Going" and felt smitten. So.... for the next 27 days I will be attempting to string some of my thoughts/ lessons/ ideas, on Learning To Lean together and sharing them with you. I'm a little bit excited to take up the challenge and a lot a bit scared to say I'll do it! This "leaning" business is an area God has slowly but surely been teaching me and stretching me in, especially in the last year or two. I certainly don't have the subject down pat but I would love to share my heart with you, and hopefully you will feel free to share your thoughts and input with me! So... tomorrow I'll be back with day 1 of 27!

Gold pavement, shoes, and dryers

Did you know that God is a very capable supplier of needs? He's got all kinds of resources and can bring along good deals on a wide variety of merchandise! I'm reminded of Otto Koning's words, "God is not stuck for riches, He's using gold for pavement up there!!" Truly He does seem to be just waiting for us to give Him opportunities to spill a little of that wealth into our lives if we give Him a chance. We've given Him several chances lately and I'm still marveling at His amazing answers! From "simple" needs of shoes for children, to "bigger" needs like a dryer for a small space. Once again I am convinced that God longs for us to lean and does what He can to keep us in that position...if we will only trust Him.....and give Him a chance!

I love to scrapbook. Up until lillian was born, i always had the childrens personal albums up to date. I never had our family albums completely caught up but i kept my pictures in perfect order in folders on the computer and developed them in a timely manner. It was just something i enjoyed so it got done! You'll notice i'm using the past tense? I don't know what happened when lillian was born but ever since then my scrapbooking has taken a downward spiral. I'm 2 years behind on the children's birthdays and in 2007 in my family album. My folders on the computer are here there and everywhere and i have gobs of undeveloped pictures! The chaos puts me completely out of the mood to even restart when i think of it. Today i pulled the stuff out and soon remembered why i haven't done this recently! I did accomplish 4 pages but oh the mess!! Two little girls handiwork is strewn everywhere....it
was still kinda fun though :)

Out of the ordinary: roses

Cake decorating has always intruiged me. Awhile back i got to watch some one do a cake and marveled how easy it really is if you know what you're doing! Yesterday i bought myself a simple decorating set and when it was chilly this morning and i thought i should bake something i knew it had to be something frosted! Couldn't just be cake, i got inspired to make sugar cookies. About 26 roses, one pile of dishes, 12 cookies sprinkled by 2 enthusiastic girlies and a big mess later i'm still thrilled to be able to say i can make roses but ready to throw a sheet over the mess! :) i still have a whole bunch of cookies left to frost but i think i'll wait and let jasmine in on the fun. She might even get in on the dishes! Sometimes it's so good to do something out of the ordinary even if by the time you're done you're quite ready for ordinary again!

A little info

I've had a couple people say to me recently that they must have missed a blog post. I usually don't post a link to facebook when there's a new blog post. That's the thing I like about blogs - if someone wants to read every post they can but they don't have it put in their face every time unless they want to. IF you want to find out every time I post you can subscribe to my blog. I tried it today just to make sure the button works and it did, at least for me! :) I can also add your email address to a list and you will receive the post as an email if you would rather do that. If so, just send your address to christopherbethany@juno.com. And, if you'd rather check in here every so often, or only read the posts I link on facebook that's quite fine too! Just thought I'd give a little info since some people asked.