Service with a smile!

What comes to your mind when you think of serving others? Work? A hassle? Praise?
This past Sunday I was up earlier than usual to complete something I had volunteered for. I was feeling a little annoyed because Sunday mornings tend to be a little hectic at our house. I have to get 3 people ready for church (me, Sheridan and Jordan), and make breakfast. On the other hand, my husband is only responsible for getting himself ready, and this had been irritating me. As I completed my task, I was thinking about serving others. I usually love to serve, especially within the body of Christ. However, as I have examined my own heart lately, I have realized an awful truth. I enjoy serving partly because I receive recognition from others. Ouch!
This realization led me to wonder how Christ wants us to serve others, and how He served while on earth. As I thought about this, I came to a conclusion: serving others means a sacrifice on our part. Jesus sacrificed something each time He served others, and that is usually required on our part as well. What do we sacrifice though? Time? Money? Effort? As I prayed about it, I realized that God was telling me that part of my sacrifice in serving is giving up the recognition of man, and exchanging that for recognition from God. His recognition should be enough for me! What a wonderful moment right? God had revealed to me that serving equals sacrifice and that I should sacrifice the glory from men, for the satisfaction of my saviour.
Well, you may already know this, but God has a wonderful sense of humor. As I pondered these truths that morning, my husband was snug as a bug in a rug in bed! I was a little annoyed! Why didn't he help me more on Sunday mornings? Why could he lay in bed later? As the morning progressed, I realized that because I had gotten up earlier, and had more time, that our morning went much smoother and we had plenty of time to get ready without the hussle and bussle that we normally face on Sundays. I suddenly realized, that if I sacrificed my extra sleep on Sunday mornings, as part of my service to my husband and family, that things ran much smoother! Instead of asking my husband to serve me more, God was showing me that if I served HIM more, things went better. I had to laugh!!! Serving means sacrifice on our part. Whether we sacrifice our sleep, time, money or whatever, in order to serve we are going to have to sacrifice something! I needed to turn my attention to myself and ask how I could serve more, rather than directing that to my husband and asking him to serve me more.
How can you serve others today? What can you sacrifice in order to better meet the needs of others?

Legalism 101

A few weeks back our pastor was teaching out of I Samuel, chapter 14. He was discussing Saul and his son, Jonathan. In this particular story, Saul has placed his people under an oath not to eat anything until he has "avenged myself on my enemies". The men of Israel have just finished a battle and are starving, but Saul orders them not to eat, or they would be cursed. In verse 31 we see that the men struck the Philistines that day and were "very weary". Because of that, they began eating the sheep, oxen and calves of the enemy without adhering to the strict prohibition against eating meat with blood given in Leviticus. Our pastor pointed out that Saul gave a frivolous, self centered order to his men, and thus caused them to sin in another, more serious way.
I started to wonder about my parenting. I began to wonder if there were areas in my parenting where I focus on something that really doesn't have any eternal value, and instead ignore the more serious issues in my children. Michael and I discussed this later that evening, but I couldn't see any areas where that was taking place. For those of you that know me well, you know that I tend to worry over EVERY area of my parenting!
A few days later I was cleaning up from lunch and the girls had gone upstairs to play. When I called Sheridan, my oldest, down to do dishes, she had "that" look on her face. Now, if you are a parent, you know what I mean by "that" look. The one where you know instantly that they have done something wrong? I said to her "what is going on?" and she responded "I made Jordan look like a cat". Huh? When I called Jordan downstairs, I quickly understood what she meant! Sheridan had taken markers and colored all over Jordan's face. Now you have to realize that my children have an unnatural love of pens/crayons/pencils. For some reason, they have taken any opportunity they can to "color" on various objects.....skin, floors, headboards, dressers etc. So, I am thinking to myself "you have got to be kidding me? How many times have I told them that they aren't to use pens this way?" I was very mad and immediately told the girls what their punishment would be. I fumed over it. I stewed over it. I was mad!
Later on, as I had moved on, I decided to post this little incident, complete with pictures, on facebook. I asked my friends "what would you do if one of your children colored all over the face of your other child?" To my surprise, everyone who responded said they would have laughed, taken pictures and moved on. Huh? THAT never occurred to me! I had been angry. I had been outraged. I had been concerned. What I saw as horrible defiance, others saw as childish in nature and silly. What I felt deserved a punishment, others felt deserved a few laughs and a small talking to.
This incident has provided me with endless food for thought. I realized I was being legalistic! I was focusing on something of really no significance. What perspective this gave me! How many times have I focused on something like this, while ignoring or not noticing other, more important issues in my children? What does God want me to focus on in my kids? Coloring on faces, or heart issues? What areas are of concern to God?
As a result, I have been praying and thinking differently. I have begun asking myself "is this childhood foolishness, or real defiance?" As I journaled recently, I realized that my real, underlying fear for my children is that they will reject God, and go to hell. I wrote that down, and as I did, God spoke to me. He told me that HE doesn't want my children to go to hell either! We are on the same page. We have the same desire for my children! What a relief it was to realize that God and I are a team, together seeking my children. God loves my children more than I do. He wants the best for them. So do I.

Part of the tree

The past few days I have been doing a lot of cooking, as I'm sure you have too! Getting ready for Thanksgiving has been a big job, one my mom used to do when we lived in CA. Now that we live here in WA, the job falls to me to make a nice Thanksgiving for my family.
Wednesday was "baking day" for the girls and I. We made the cornbread for stuffing, tried our hand at a new recipe for whole wheat rolls, and the most impressive thing for me was that I actually attempted and successfully baked an apple pie! I have never done that before!
This morning was consumed by getting the turkey ready, and making the homemade cornbread stuffing. The stuffing was my grandmother's recipe and I have been enjoying it for 40 plus years! Usually, as I said, my mom does the stuffing, and pies, but this year (and last) I have tackled these items. As I was baking the cornbread, cutting the apples for the pie and stuffing the turkey, I couldn't help reflecting on the many years past that I have seen my own mom do these same things. In fact, as I saw my own hands mashing, rolling, kneading, it seemed as if my hands had suddenly become my mom's. How many times have I seen her doing these same tasks? The mundane actions took on a special meaning this year as I remembered my mom's love and care over my life, and saw it being passed down to my girls. I couldn't help but wonder how many women in my family tree did these same things for the holidays? How long had our family been making apple pies and cornbread stuffing? The exact food items aren't really important, I guess, but it is the continuity that binds our family together over many generations. I am glad to be a part of this heritage and sense of tradition. I love including my girls in these things too, knowing that someday they will look back on these tasks with fondness.
I am so thankful that my mom took the time each year to make our Thanksgiving special, and to spend time with me passing down this heritage.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yada, yada, yada..............

Hello friends!!
Uugghhh, I am such a failure as a blogger! Part of my lack of blogging is due to the fact that I'm not sure that anyone cares about my day to day life that much! It's not that exciting, trust me! Also, I try to hold out for the nuggets of wisdom that I find periodically, and share those!
So, since I have neglected my poor little blog for so long, I thought I would give you all a general update on the D'Angelo family!
Well, as most of you know we are settling in to life here in WA. The most shocking thing for me about moving is that..............I LOVE it here! I never thought that would be the case. Secondly, I thought I would hate the weather and it turns out that it really hasn't been an issue for me. These days we are loving the beginning of Spring, all the trees are blossoming, the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining. It is beautiful! Seriously, when you don't have sun everyday, you truly treasure the sunny, warm days. They mean so much more when you don't take them for granted.
Our most exciting news is that we bought a house! This is kind of scary for us, given the fact that we will now own TWO houses! But, to make all you poor CA residents go green with envy, I have to give the stats............3200 sq feet, 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths plus a bonus room, HUGE yard and of course brand new. So, in CA you would be looking at about $650K at least, right? Not in WA!!! This beautiful WA house is ours for less than half that price!!! So, we are excited and will move in mid-July. The house is close to our church and friends, and a little closer to Michael's work, so it is perfect! The girls will have a connected "suite" with their own bathroom and I will get a huge school room!
Speaking of school, we are just finishing Sheridan's kindergarten year! This has been such a great experience for all of us! Sheridan has learned to read, finished kindergarten math, and done tons of reading! The day that she read for the first time, I had tears in my eyes! What a blessing for me to be able to witness those eventful days in her life! This year has really emphasized to us that homeschooling is the right choice for our family. I remember one day when it was snowing, the girls and I were bundled up eating breakfast and we saw our neighbors walking their kids to the school bus. I was so glad in that moment that because we homeschool we can take our time, stay at home and be together!
As for my little Jordan, she is doing well too! I had an awful realization recently though......although she now knows how to skip count by 5's (thanks to listening in on her sister's Math U See lessons!)I realized that she doesn't know all her shapes or numbers! Ooopppsss!! Guess I forgot all that! It was so easy to teach Sheridan all of those things, she had my undivided attention for 3 years! So, that is something I need to get going on! But, we are so proud of Jordan as she was asked in March to join the Junior Elite team at gymnastics! Although she is only 3, she seems to be very talented in gymnastics! She was very excited because this class has "no boys"!!!! She now goes twice a week and loves it!
The other thing we love about WA is our church!!!! We have found such a wonderful church! This was another issue when we moved for me, I didn't want to leave our church in CA. Who knew that God would provide such a wonderful church family for us in WA! We recently became members and have joined a weekly small group. I am starting to teach the 3-4 year old class two Sundays a month and they have just asked us to lead a small group! Also, there is a large group of homeschoolers there and we get together once a week for P.E. for the kids. What a blessing!
So my friends, this is probably way more than you wanted to know about us, but there you go! We are surviving and thriving here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest!!!

Lies, lies, lies yeah!

"I'm not special!" "I'm not pretty!" "You don't love me!" Lies. Lies. Lies!
The past few months my 6 year old has been the victim of many lies whispered in her mind by Satan! Satan you say???? Yep! What does Genesis tell us about the master of lies? "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made."
We were shopping for shoes for Jordan for church. Once we found a pair, and went to purchase them Sheridan says "I'm not special because I'm not getting new shoes." This was the first of many similar statements we were to hear for the next few months. If Jordan is dressing up and singing, Sheridan says "I'm not pretty." If we are playing a game of memory and Jordan is winning Sheridan says "I'm not special!" If I hug and kiss Jordan Sheridan says "You don't love me." Michael and I have wrestled with this issue with Sheridan for months! We have discussed it, prayed about it and talked about it with close Christian friends. How much is her true feelings and how much is manipulation? She genuinely seems distressed over these statements! My heart was sad for her!
God is so good because once I had prayed about it for a while, He gave me a way to deal with it!! I realized that Sheridan is believing the lies of Satan just as Eve did so long ago in the garden! He is whispering these thoughts in her mind and then these thoughts produce his desired effect in the form of anger. So, what to do?
First, I discussed this with Sheridan. We talked about Eve and the lies of Satan. We talked about how Satan uses the same tactics with all of us! Lies are his number one technique and we so easily believe them! They can be subtle too, a fleeting thought or feeling.
Once we had discussed it, we pointed out to Sheridan that this was what Satan was doing to her. We armed her with verses that describe her worth and "specialness" to God. We continue to affirm her worth to us, and we point out to her what Satan is doing in the moments it is happening. Sometimes, she is able to see what is happening and "fight" off the lies. Other times she falls prey to the whispers of the evil one.
It isn't perfect, but it is teaching Sheridan that the way to fight off Satan is using God's word and truths. What a valuable lesson!
Today, Jordan had dressed up as a princess and was floating around singing. Sheridan says to me "mommy, Satan was lying to me and saying that I wasn't pretty cause Jordan looks so pretty. But, I told him to flee and said to myself "God loves me" and "I am special"!!! What progress!! A 6 year old is more aware of the tactics of Satan than some adults! Thank you Lord!
So, what lies is Satan whispering to you?

Out of the mouth of babes

This month our church is doing some really unique things with the children's program. For Sheridan's class they are doing a 5 week rotating class that focuses on different things each week, all of which center around Christmas or an aspect of Christ in Christmas. This past Sunday was the "missions" week for Sheridan's class. I thought that maybe they would talk about other countries, or missionaries, something related to what I perceived to be "missions". Imagine my surprise when she comes out talking about the homeless. My first thought was "what does homelessness have to do with missions?" Well, my 6 year old daughter proceeded to explain to me that missions has everything to do with the homeless! Her class had focused on homelessness to help the kids understand that missions starts at HOME! There are people all around us that we can minister to, we don't have to go to the other side of the world!
Sheridan also left that day with a little box to give to someone homeless. Inside the box was a bottle of water, a granola bar, and a meal ticket for a hot meal at a local rescue mission. Sheridan was so excited to give out the box, she immediately wanted us to go look for someone homeless. As we left church, on our way to shop at Target, we stopped at a light and there on our side of the street was a homeless man. I wish you could have seen the look on Sheridan's face when we gave the man her box! She was so happy!!!! The rest of the day she kept asking me "did the man eat my granola bar mom?" and "did the man drink the water yet mom?" I can't believe how much a simple exercise like that taught my daughter about missions! What a lasting memory this will give her about ministering to the needs of others.
Can I challenge you in the area of the homeless? What can you do? How can you reach this unreached group? When our family went to Target that day, we followed the idea from church and purchased little "homeless kits" to give out. We bought inexpensive bags, snacks that included bottled water, fruit snacks, granola bars, an inexpensive toothbrush with a mini toothpaste and peanuts. We also included the most important part.........a tract about the One who cares the most about the homeless, Jesus! We placed these bags in our car so that we are ready next time we see someone who is homeless.
What a simple way to reach out to others in need and at the same time teach our children a valuable lesson on loving others, reaching out to tend to the needs of others and............missions!!!

Seeing God in the snowflakes!!

A few weeks back I checked out the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin to read to the girls. Little did I know how timely it was as we would be having snow here very soon! The book is a fascinating story of a man obsessed with snowflakes! Despite their financial difficulties, his parents eventually bought him a special camera that could be used to photograph snowflakes. Thus began a love affair with photographing, documenting and drawing thousands of snowflakes over Mr. Bentley's lifetime. After reading the book to the girls, I found and checked out the actual book written by Mr. Bentley (and the only of it's kind, still used today) entitled Snow Crystals by W.A. Bentley. It is amazing!!! This book documents over 2000 snowflakes photographed by Mr. Bentley. The most amazing thing I learned from these two books was the fact that NO two snowflakes are alike!!!! Think about that for a moment! NONE are alike. Have you seen a snow storm lately? I have!!! With this book in mind, I stood at my window and looked out at the thousand of snowflakes falling per second in my yard, and marveled at the fact that NO two are alike!!! After learning that, who would NOT believe in God? How else do you explain the fact that in any given snow storm there must be millions of snowflakes dropped to the ground, and none are identical? What imagination and creativity that requires! Only God could do that! The most suitable passage from the Bible for this is in Isaiah 40, one of my favorite chapters of the Bible! It reads (vs. 12)"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him?" And further down in verse 21 it reads "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble." How awesome is our God?