so proud

 

We had snacks at a restaurant overlooking a lake and my mom commented to me, "it sure is nice Ivar will drink from a straw." And I was shocked, because we haven't been able to get him to use a straw before. But there he was, proud as could be, drinking and laughing like he and Grandma had some funny secret that just got out.

an update

Ivar and I made it to Mesa! It was a long flight, and Ivar stayed awake for all of it, but we were lucky to sit next to a first grader and her mom. They switched my seat when I arrived at the airport and put me in the back with three other babies! Four babies in the last two rows of the airplane. And they all did pretty well. Ivar was very excited to look out the window, excited to eat all of the treats I had packed and excited each time we hit turbulence. He thought it was some lap bouncing game I was playing. We head home tomorrow, and I hope it goes as smoothly. It is downright exhausting to be the mama sometimes.

The desert is beautiful and we've enjoyed our days here with mom and dad. I have some fun pictures to share.

And finally, a quick update on Mount Carmel. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! It was a great weekend and though I can't share anything for another month or so, I can share that I came home with a happy heart. And that felt so, so good. I stayed in Lodge Room 5, and when I got there I read through the guest book and found entries from Grandma B from 2001, 2002 and 2008. Handwriting is powerful, but her voice in her writing was overwhelming. This picture turned out so dark, but it reads:

"A little bit of heaven on earth: Mount Carmel." This is my 50th year at Mt. Carmel. Mt Carmel raised our seven children and I maintain- bring your family here one week of the year and they will be Children of God. Ready to do His will- serve Him wherever they are- whatever vocation they chose. I thank all the staff for their love and care. This year we have many here from other countries. Thank you. Velma Bredberg.

I read this just before I stepped into my first meeting of the weekend and felt so grounded, surrounded, empowered and strong. And as God does, he faithfully filled every moment of our time together and guided our hearts, united our vision and made clear the decisions to be made. He's always faithful.

mom and ivar's big adventure

Ivar and I are teaming up to enjoy a 3 1/2 hour flight to Mesa, Arizona today. You should probably pray for us. I am trying to psych myself up a bit. I put together a bag of tricks and even packed a few treat bags and ear plugs for the poor people who booked the seats on each side of us. Ivar and I are going to be kicking it together in a middle seat. Sounds awesome, doesn't it?!!

My bag of tricks contains mostly food, an old alarm clock, a weigh watchers points plus calculator, the trusty cell phone, a mini magnadoodle and a red ball with a jingle bell inside. Think it's going to last 3 1/2 hours? I don't either. But it might help us through some hard moments. Here's to hoping for a happy baby, or a sleepy baby or a calm baby, or just nice people on our right and on our left.

Mom made this sweet valentine and sent it last week. Cause we're leaving on a jet plane!

prayers for Mount Carmel

Well, I've talked a whole lot about this special place. Mount Carmel Family Bible Camp is my favorite place on earth. As Grandma B used to say, "it's a little piece of heaven, right here on earth." And that's how I've always felt.

I have spent a whole lot of time this past year serving on the Search Committee for the new Executive Director. Mount Carmel has been blessed by the preaching and teaching of Sonja and Johan Hinderlie for the past nearly 30 years so this is a huge deal. The place will feel different with new leadership. The camp will operate a bit differently, new faces are sure to join the scene. But Mount Carmel is first and foremost God's camp and that will never change. The freedom that only Jesus Christ can bring is proclaimed here with boldness and belief. And that will never change.

I am also on the board for this camp, and yesterday and today the board has been interviewing the three finalists. Tonight we will gather to select the new Executive Director.

It's a big hairy deal. I have lost sleep over this one. I have handed the whole load back over to God nearly every Sunday morning during worship, only to try to take it back all week long. It's been a tremendous learning experience for me and I am really proud of the process we put together in narrowing our candidate pool down. Lots and lots of hours went into this most important work.

And now it comes down to this. We have three great candidates. We'll meet them in person and get a feel for their leadership, passionate faith, ability to manage, fundraise and market. We'll get a feel for their charisma, joy and hopefulness in spreading the good news in 2012.

I would love your prayers. Right now. Pray that the board might be of one mind, that the Holy Spirit would come and make our decision clear, that the person God is calling to lead Mount Carmel would be chosen and ready to serve with gladness.

This picture is of me and my cousin Dan kneeling in the prayer chapel. (The tiny building pictured above) I love this shot. It seems to me we were unaware anyone was behind us with a camera.

And the lovely lady below is also me, sporting a tie dyed shirt, hand stenciled shorts, pig tales and matching plastic hair clips. I remember walking back and forth on that line of rocks for ages. The lake is on my right and I can think of no more beautiful and inspired place for me.

a good addiction

Have you ever noticed how addictive creativity is? My friend Rachel just wrote about it after learning how to knit. When you learn something brand new, something you never, ever thought you could do, it’s not like you just learned how to do that one new thing. You learned that you can still learn. And that there are few things that feel more empowering than learning something new, adding a hobby to your everyday, adding a new skill to your list of gifts.

I remember this so specifically after I took my first jessicasprague.com class on photoshop elements. I learned a lot about fonts and photo cropping and color adjusting, but what I really learned was that there are few greater highs than the joy of accomplishing a new trade and how contagious this high is. Suddenly I was empowered to try a whole lot of new things and it felt so good.

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be a huge, new skill. Hearts and Crafts week was evidence of this. Tiny little paper and scissors projects got my creativity pumping again. Those little projects somehow multiplied and now I’ve got some really fun projects that I can’t stop dreaming about.

So go and make some play dough. Get your camera out and take pictures all day long documenting the ordinary. Stop by Archivers and gather up some pink and red paper and heart sparkle stickers. Bake some cookies. Get out your old guitar. Plan a party.

As for me, I just got back from Michaels and bought supplies I have never used before with coupons my mother-in-law gave me. It’s so fun to be inspired!