Gimme a Heater

Sometimes, you have a cup that's half full and has gotten cold. I worked with a guy that had funny euphisms(?) for coffee. He would be asked how do you like your coffee and he'd say, "Hot, black and sweet. Like my women." He'd also say, "Gimme a heater." when his cup was half full and just needed to be warmed up.

So, you don't need a whole cup. You have some in there. You just need that extra little bit to get it. I heard a song the other day by Brandi Carlile called "Before It Breaks" click this> http://t.co/QasDRiB

In the song, she says she can make her own mistakes and, whoever she is talking to, should let it bend before it breaks. I heard that and my brain snapped. I got my heater.

Recently my oldest daughter got married. Big holla-balloo. The boy she married I wasn't too keen on. I was hard on him. Like really mean. He didn't go away. My boys got after him. He still didn't go away. My daughter says to let her make her own choices. (see where this is going?)

He really went through some crap and stayed. That shows some character. At the reception, we passed a microphone around and let people say things about and to them. My boys each said something and the two oldest got a little choked up. The boy was accepted into our family at that moment. I don't if he realizes that but the words they shared were huge for me.

Family is a big deal for me. I'm the youngest and wasn't to smart, but I had a family that was there for me. Even when no one else was. My family backed me up. I tried to instill that into my kids. Right or wrong, standing up or on the ground, you be there for them. On that day, my kids showed me they paid attention.

I don't know what the song is about. I just know those words heated my cup. "Let it bend before breaks" Don't keep it from bending or you'll never know just how far it can bend before it breaks. Listen to it again. I love how she puts so much passion into her songs.http://t.co/QasDRiB And my niece made her clothes. Cool, huh?

TKT 2K11

Hola!
OK, it's been awhile. We went to Mexico! It was a total blast. Our theme this year was "Fan the Flame" from 2 Timothy 1:6-10. ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. ⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ¹⁰ but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  I could probably summize it in 2 points. 1) Your relationship with God doesn't end at "Amen" and 2) Are you putting your trust in God or do you keep Him at arms length?

We had a few firsts this year. This was the first year we didn't finish a job. The 2nd floor was a bigger project than we thought. But, that's ok. I don't think there was anything different that we could have done to finish the room. If we had another compressor and 2 more guns...It doesn't matter. It just needs the finish work and they have people to do that. There's more to that I'll share later.

The other big first was a medical emergency. That was exciting!! And out of left field. It started with Emily giving us a jolt. She's 2 or 3 months pregnant and told me she was "spotting". OK. I have 6 kids and dealt with every kind of scenario there is, so, I wasn't too worried. But, it caused me to think, "What if something does happen? How do we get out of here in a pronto fashion?"

Another first, I had a laptop with internet connection. I contacted a friend of mine who is a 911 dispatcher and she told me what to do. Cool. No problemo. Emily rested and was fine. Two days later however, Theresa had a stabbing pain in her side and was vomiting. No bueno for sure. After a few questions and not the right answers, we hauled her out of there to the border. We knew what to do and God got us to a hospital in Cali and all was well. Amazing.

We dragged a trailer behind the van this year. Literally, dragged the trailer. A friend of mine let us his use his trailer. Great! This is going to make things so much easier! Well, right around Eugene, we noticed the tires were wearing down. BAD. It turns out the axel is off a bit and the wheels weren't rolling straight. We were dragging one at a slight angle and burning the tread off.

For the trip back, we loaded as much in the van and as little in the trailor. We made it home. It's still under warranty so my friend is getting it taken care of. We should pray for that situation.

Moriah was a champ!! She's 16 or 17 and took on the childrens program. We thought we would have 200+ kids, but, when we got down there, we found out they were still in school. So, I believe the most we had was 70. The thing is, we lost our translator and all we had was Letti, the Pastor's wife. She doesn't like translating and sometimes runs off to find more kids. Moriah worked through all that. She was in complete control and only once came to me with a problem. What impressed me the most about Moriah was her whole character throughout the week. She was able to do all that and still be a teenage girl. Some of you might be thinking so what but those of you who know her know exactly what I'm getting at.

It is so important that teens especially teenage girls just be teens. With the crazy world we live in these days, teens tend to take on too much and they completely miss out on really enjoying being a teenager. I believe they call it "drama". Too much drama. It made me so happy to see her and the other 2 teen girls just be teen girls. Giggling and being goofy and when it was time to be serious, they were ready. All 3 of them were a true blessing to have on this trip.

Which brings me back to 2 Timothy. Who are we trusting? You can't fan the flame if you are trusting you. We need God to have successes in our life. As the verses read, He didn't give us timid hearts. Get out there! Go and go with God! Make your life mean something. In this video, I have Josh Wilsons song "I Refuse". Too many times I didn't move. I let someone else do what God wanted me to do. Enjoy the video but absolutely ask yourself, "How is your flame?"

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