My VERY Comical Day!

Before I begin this story you should know (if you don't already) that my husband and I own and live in a funeral home.  We have three small children, 5, 4 and 1 and it's always entertaining at our house!

So I haven't posted in a while because it's been a little crazy around here.  So many things going on in my extended family, really getting into our homeschool year and we were at Disney World last week!  Well, we are home now and boy, is it as exciting as ever! 

Molly woke up yesterday with a low grade fever and said she didn't feel well.  She slept for most of the day but never got sick.  She got up twice last night in the middle of the night to throw up, although she'd hardly eaten or drunk anything all day.  This morning she got up and threw up 2 more times after having only a small amount of Sprite.  She did not want to eat and did not want to drink anything.  I realized that she had not peed since the night before and it was nearly noon!  With this and a few other symptoms I'd seen, I called the doctor's office and the nurse told me to take her up to Champaign.  Well, in the midst of me being on the phone with the doctor's office she threw up again and then she peed and she was fine.  It was the strangest thing ever.  It was like she was a different child, completely back to herself.  She had a little to eat and then had a big supper and we played 2 rounds of Memory and 2 rounds of Candy Land before bed. 

Back to earlier in the morning, a little before 8am this morning, Andy opened one of our tall cabinets and a Pyrex pie plate came crashing down and busted into a thousand little pieces.  I have cabinets and countertops on all four walls of my kitchen and three of them had glass on them... it was everywhere!  All over the floor and all over everything. 

We got that cleaned up, the kids had breakfast and then Ryan went into his room and was goofing around and smashed his lip when he fell and had a bloody lip - hysterical crying and all!  He recovered well after a few minutes.

Then enter Molly's ordeal (above).  All the while in the background I can hear the distant gurgling of our toilets.  Both of the ones in our house... on both ends of the house.  It was a loud gurgle. 

While all of this drama is taking place, Andy is trying to prepare for a visitation in our funeral home.  It was just a crazy day of insanity.  But, it gets better - much better! 

As Andy is walking over to the other side of the house I hear a really, really loud gurgle from the toilets...again, that is plural!  I go to the toilets and to my surprise, they are both swimming with "stuff" to the very top!  We are getting ready to have hundreds of people in our funeral home (which is attached to our house and uses the same plumbing).  We have to have functioning toilets.  So,  Andy starts plunging.  Plunge, plunge, plunge.  Nothing.  Wait.... a little goes down... a little more... so he flushes it!  Enter the flooding.  My nice light pink bath rug now has wet (brown) toilet water on it.  Hmm... Yep, I'm just standing there... what else am  I supposed to do?!?!  I grabbed some towels and Andy went and called the plumber!  Thank goodness he could come right away.  The problem is that he had to open up our septic line... during the visitation.  I opened the door to talk to him and the smell outside was not good.  Yes, at this point the visitation was in full swing.  Wait... what's that I hear... a loud gurgle.... the toilets are unstopped and all of that mess went right into my bathtubs.  Wow!  Seeing that much of "that" in my tub was very unsettling...  I am happy to say that my hands are now feeling very dry from all of that Ajax I used in my tub and my tubs have never, ever been cleaner!

I know all of this is amusing to some of you, but I am so glad to say that I made it through this day!  On days like this, I was thankful that Molly's sickness is just a bug and not something more serious.  I am thankful that Ryan didn't bite right through his mouth when he fell.  I am thankful that I have another pie plate.  I am thankful that I have 2 toilets in my house and thankful for two bathtubs to fill up with "brown water" and I'm thankful for cleaning supplies I got for little or nothing to clean it up!  Some people don't have kids, or have sick kids or watch their kids go through terrible pain.  And some people don't have 2 bathrooms or 2 toilets or any toilets at all.

1 Thessalonians 5:18¹⁸ Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

21

Well, it's been 21 days since I've posted on this blog. Do you know what that means? That I'm not resting enough and I'm not relying enough on God. It means I'm busy and spending too much time on too many things.

Last night we put our kids to bed at 7:45. As soon as they laid down, I did too. I slept for 11 hours. I honestly do not remember a time that I slept for more than 8 hours! Most nights I get about 6. I was tired.

Spiritually, I do feel like God is teaching me many things. One of which is that He is in control. I might be the one driving the car, but HE is steering the wheel! That sounds simple, but for a thick head like me, it's not. I love being in control of things and knowing what's going to happen at every minute of everyday. Hmmmm.... that just doesn't always work out for me!

What about you? Are you finding physical rest? Spiritual rest? Remember, when God is in control, He does the worrying, thinking and planning! That makes it a little easier for me to rest.

Transformers

This Transformer becomes this truck.  This is actually one toy, shown twice.

I started this post on a totally different subject and came about this the long way, but this is what I think I'm supposed to share. 

I love people, I love the world, I love all the wonderful and amazing things that are in this world, but I do not love sin and that is what is in this world.  Here's what Romans 12:2 says:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That's a lot of "form"ing.  So what's the difference between "conforming" and "transform".  Read the definitions. 


con·form

verb /kənˈfôrm/ 

Comply with rules, standards, or laws
• - the kitchen does not conform to hygiene regulations
• - the changes were introduced to conform with international classifications
Be similar in form or type; agree
• - the countryside should conform to a certain idea of the picturesque

trans·form

verb /transˈfôrm/ 

1. Make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of
   • - lasers have transformed cardiac surgery
   • - he wanted to transform himself into a successful businessman
2. Undergo such a change
   • - an automobile that transformed into a boat

Did you notice that "conforming" is to be similar in form or type or to agree with something.  "Transforming" is to undergo such a change like "an automobile that transformed into a boat".

So, we are not to be "like or similar" to everyone else, but to be transformed "like an automobile that transformed into a boat".  Kind of like the Transformer movies or toys.  They are one thing and become something completely different. 

Are you just like all the other cars or are you so different that you've turned into a boat!?!?  And why do we do this? That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I am not perfect and my kids aren't perfect.  My family is not perfect and my faith is not perfect.  However, I know that when God called us to be His children, that he called us to follow Romans 12:2.  Be different!  Be the boat... not the car!  Be Transformed! 

"The" FREE Gift

Before you watch this video, please note that it is very graphic!  Most of these scenes are taken from The Passion of the Christ.  This movie was rated R for violence so please don't let your children see it unless you're sure they're old enough. 

I know it, you don't have to tell me.  I am abundantly blessed.  Tonight, on a Wednesday night, I had the wonderful blessing of listening to my pastor preach.  I get this blessing three times a week and I really, truly love it.  Tonight we went through several passages of Scripture.  My favorite was 2 Corinthians 5:21.  It says For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

After hearing this Scripture, I instantly thought of the song, Jesus Messiah, by Chris Tomlin and wanted to share it with you. 

Here's the thing, I write a lot about deals and FREE things on my other blog.  I often forget that I know all about the most important, life changing FREE gift - EVER!  The FREE gift of salvation. 

The Scripture I listed above says that Jesus, who never sinned became sin for us (He paid the price of our sins) so that the payment could be made for our sins.

You see, God is perfect.  He is holy, righteous, the Beginning and the End.  He is perfect.  Everyone sins and this perfect, holy God cannot be in the presence of sin.  Therefore, Jesus died to pay for our sins. 

In the Old Testament, a lamb or animal had to be slain and it's blood had to be poured out to pay for our sins.  That's why Jesus is often called "The Lamb".  Because HE was our sacrifice and He paid for our sins.  Isn't that amazing, Jesus, who knew all the sins I'd ever commit, before the beginning of time; He knew it all and He still died for my sins and yours. 

I don't know what you've done in life, but I know there's a Savior and His name is Jesus.  He died to pay for your sins, ALL of them. 

The truth is that God would have been perfectly just and worth of praise if He'd let us all die and go to hell!  He's GOD and He's perfect.  BUT, He loved us so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins and pay our punishment. 

The way my pastor put it was this:  We deserve the all consuming wrath of a righteous God because of our sins and He allowed His Son to be murdered to pay for our sins! 

What we have to do, is accept Christ as our Savior.  To believe that He died for your sins.  To believe that He rose from the dead three days after He died on that cross and that He's in heaven today with Jesus and one day, He's coming back!  People, get ready!

If you're interested in this "free" gift, or have more questions, email me (thefrugalfamily@ymail.com).  I'd love to talk to you.  More than anything in this world, my purpose is to honor and bring glory to God.  I want you to know that He loves you and He has a plan for your life.  I would guess that I don't know, personally, more than 10% of you that are reading this post but I care.  I know that God is perfect in His timing and maybe He wants you to see this tonight! 

Please watch the video.  It's awful and beautiful at the same time. 

Put the Kitten Down....

This is one of those posts where you can really see my personality.  I am soooo over the top silly sometimes and I say goofy things just for a laugh.  I hope you know I would never harm a kitten.  I'm just saying this because I was trying to think of the most sweet, loving, furry, cuddly thing I could think of. 

So often I get busy with life and the day to day activities that come from being a mom to three, blogger, coupon class teacher, helping to run a funeral home, teaching a women's Sunday school class, Awana leader, nursery worker, children's church teacher, soloist, wife, daughter, friend and everything else you can imagine that sometimes I forget about the grace that supposed to be in my home.  (just to name a few of the things I've been doing).  When we get so tired and so busy, it's easy to be frustrated at our children and husbands, even when they really haven't done anything. 

Just last week I reported to a friend of mine that I was in such a foul mood that I could have ripped a kitten's head off.  Now seriously, I was teasing.  I do not support the harming of any animals, I was just exaggerating and being over the top about my bad mood.  But it was pretty bad.  I was busy doing 4,000 other things that I neglected to stop and pray and ask God for Him to help me through the day.  Instead, I grumbled for a good 24 hours. 

Then, I sat down to read for a few minutes.  I really never get to read and never take the time to do it.  A few weeks ago I ordered a few books and got some really good ones.  On this particular day (the day of the poor kitten), I picked up the book The Most Important Place on Earth: What a Christian Home Looks Like and How to Build One.  It's a good thing I picked up this book when I did because who knows how much longer I would have gone on in my own misery that I was sharing with others.

This book is all about why our homes should be THE Most Important Place on Earth and why and how they should be DIFFERENT than other homes!

So, I picked up the book and here's what I read.  The Most Important Place on Earth is your home!  The author says, "Every home, regardless of what's going on inside, might as well have this over the front door (The Most Important Place on Earth).  For the children who live in these homes, it's a fact, good or bad: it is the most important place on earth.  Sit down over a cup of coffee with any family therapist in the country and usually he will tell you that, for a kid, it's at home - whatever it looks like - where everything in life makes up its mind. 

He then talks about why we need to have Christian homes.

In a Christian home there something special.  It's called grace.  In a grace-filled Christian home, there is salvation.  There is forgiveness.  There is hope.  Genuine happiness.  Purpose.  This kind of grace affects everything that goes on inside this home.

Uggg....at this point, I had to ever so nicely put the kitten's head back on and walk away from my GrouchFest! 

Grace?  Love?  Was I showing any of this?  No!  Absolutely not!  I know, it's hard.  I'm not saying there aren't days when it's easy to be grouchy, but instead of allowing myself to get more and more grouchy, I should have stopped and asked God for help.  I should have been showing my children love and grace. 

I don't know about you.  Maybe today is one of those days where you just want to scream at everyone and everything.  Just stop what you're doing and ask God for help.  Tell Him you need Him so you can show grace and love to your family. 

Remember that our homes should be homes of grace, love, forgiveness and happiness.  Does your home today feel like the Most Important Place on Earth?  Do you realize that everything that goes on in your home is shaping the rest of your children's lives? 

Do what I had to do, put the kitten down (remember- I don't really have one, I'm just teasing) and put on a happy face.  Ask God to remind you of His perfect grace and love and help you build a home of grace! 

Imitate.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Wow! That's a tall order. Be an imitator of God! To imitate Him? To act like Him? That's not an easy job to do.

In Sunday's sermon, our pastor told us that when the word "therefore" is in the Bible, you better ask yourself, what is it There For? It's something we better pay attention to. This is another one of those things in the Bible that is a command for Christians, not an optional task. The Bible says we are to be "imitators of God" and to "walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God...". What does that picture look like?

Have you ever wondered what imitating God would look like? What would it look like if we walked in love as Christ loved us? I do believe that means living selflessly, loving endlessly, forgiving, caring, taking on one anothers' burdens and lifting one another up. That's a tall task! How can we do it? I've said it before, if God says to do it, He'll bring you through it. Today, start today. If you're a Christian, try to be an imitator of God. Try to love someone, try to see them the way God sees them, let someone go before you, let someone elses' needs come first.

If you're a wife, love your husband unconditionally today. 1 Peter 3:1-2 says ¹ Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, ² when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. This verse means to live in such a way that your husbands, if they do not believe in Christ, would see Christ through your life and find Him through your actions. If you are married to a Christian husband, encourage him, love him, lift him up in prayer and tell him how important he is to you and how thankful you are for him.

If you're a mom, love those babies and put their needs first, happily, without grumbling. Sometimes I am tired. I am worn out and if one more person asks me for a snack, I'm going to scream! BUT.... today I'm not. I have been trying so hard to be a better servant to my family... and no, I don't mean an actual servant. I mean that I am trying to care for them with a happy heart. It's a privilege and a gift from God to have a husband and wonderful children and I want to love them the way God wants me to. You know, it's a lot of work to coupon shop. It takes a lot of time and a lot of preparation. I have been trying so hard to look at this mundane task as a way to serve my family. Changing another diaper? Well someone has to do it and I am going to be thankful that I have a baby who's diaper needs to be changed. I remember losing a baby and having Molly made me ever so thankful, even for the dirty diapers and long nights.

If you're a co-worker, love them too. Try to imitate Christ at work. How would He act if He were there? I know, Jesus would never work in your office (it's just too awful, right?) but just pretend He would. How would He treat your co-workers? How would He treat your boss? Remember that Jesus loved even the adulterers, the tax collectors (most of which stole unimaginable amounts of money), fisherman, shepherds and every kind of person you can imagine - good and bad.

Whatever you do today and wherever you go, remember to be a example; an imitator of God; to walk in love - just like Christ!

It's a tall order, but you can do it! I always tell people to try couponing, shopping smart, living on a budget, breaking a habit, for just one day and see how it feels. I guarantee you it might not be easy to live "like" Christ, but you will be happy when you have. Please God and following His commands is the greatest feeling in the world! 

The 7 Year Old Baby I'll Never Hold

Today, out of the clear blue, it just occurred to me that my first baby would be turning 7 years old this month!  7 years old!  I cannot believe it's been that long.  I remember finding out we were going to have a baby.  I remember the joy that was in my heart.

I was 14 weeks pregnant.  It was most likely one of the most awful, horrible turning points in my life.  Up to that point, I tried to do everything perfect... living by all the rules.  At that point in my life, I was trying to live such a righteous life.  I would not speed because breaking the law was sinful.  I wouldn't listen to anything but Christian music.  I wouldn't do anything I wasn't supposed to do.  When we lost our baby, I was angry.  I didn't understand and I still don't.  Why would God let our baby die?  We were going to love and take care of that baby and provide the most loving, Christ-centered home we could.  Why? 

I went through months of depression, months of anger, months of not understanding.  Why is it that I could look around and see people with babies in the store with no clothes on... they deserved that baby?  Why did people who were selling drugs have babies?  Why did teenagers who didn't want to get pregnant have a baby and I couldn't?  It didn't make sense.

The truth is, it still doesn't make sense and I still don't understand.  I'm sure I never will, at least on this side of heaven.  I learned a lot through that experience.  I learned that God doesn't ever tell us that life will be perfect.  He doesn't say bad things won't happen.  What He does say is, "I'll be with you through the storms of life" and "I will never leave you or forsake you".   That's reassuring because I wasn't very nice after we lost our baby.  I was grouchy and angry, yet God was big enough to handle me.  He knew what I was feeling.  I was His child, weeping, crying out to Him and He was there.  I tried to distance myself - like a teenager angry at her parent - locking myself in my bedroom.  Trying to be as far as I could without completely letting go. 

I know there have to be many of you who've had a similar situation.  Some of you have lost more than one baby, some have you have lost 5 or 6 or more.  I don't understand it, but I want you to know that God does.  He's not doing this to punish you or because you're a bad person.  He's there holding you.  Just fall into His arms and know that one day, if you're a Believer, you'll get to see that baby!  I wonder if our baby would have looked more like Andy, dark hair and dark eyes.  One day, one day, I'll know.  Until then, I cling to the hope we have in Christ. I rest in the freedom I found in Him through the loss of our sweet baby.  Today, I no longer feel like I have to listen to Christian music.  I listen to it because I love to praise Jesus!  I don't feel like I have to do anything to please Him!  I want to please Him because of my love for Him, for who He is, because He is my perfect, loving Father who knows the heartaches and joys of His children.

Jesus, I love you.  Thank you for holding me through my storms.  I thank you for the three beautiful children you've given me in the last 5 years.  I pray for those reading this who have lost their sweet babies.  I pray that you would comfort them and help them to draw closer to you through their trials.  God, please help them to know that you are near.