If our bunny could talk....

Bunny For Hire

Hello! My name is Cody Moses.


But my family likes to call me "Bun-Bun".  It's embarrassing I know.


I have been a very naughty bunny.


I tried to scratch the baseboards off my owners' new house.

I chewed holes in the family's socks, jeans, and towels.

I spliced one of these wires with my pearly whites, so the family was without their home phone for a day or two. Then a few days later I spliced the other wire which took out their internet. You should have seen their reaction and their attempt to cope without their internet. Ba-ha-ha-ha. I know...I'm not quite repentant about that one yet.
 

If you want to get a rise out of the mama in this house, chew the "rumbles" off her rumble roller. She says those things really help work the knots out of her muscles, but to see the look on her face when she uses it on the sore spots, you would think she would have thanked me.
 
She wasn't too happy when I chewed the rubber coating off her dumbbells either.
 
Oh, and I tend to scratch the arm that feeds me.


I am a naughty bunny indeed. They say I need to apologize and make restitution.
 
So how does a bunny earn enough $ to pay for all the damage he has done?
 
My only redeeming virtues, it seems, are my charm and dashing good looks.
 
So I am offering my modeling services for your Easter photographs.

  I will work for socks, towels, jeans, CAT 5 cables, baseboards, rumble rollers, or dumbbells.
 
Here are a few of my vital modeling stats:
I have white fur with symmetrical black highlights.

I weigh 3 pounds, 14 ounces. The boy says I'm chunky, but I say I'm fluffy.  I am 15" long, but if I stretch out like this, I can add about 3" to my length which does wonders for my BMI. Please also note my cute and fluffy cotton tail.
 

I can stick out my tongue when I smile if you like. It's cute, isn't it?


PLEASE help me appease the people here!
 
Or they could leave me out here in this hutch during the ickiest, stickiest days of summer instead of inside their air-conditioned pad.
 

With much appreciation from a bunny who is trying to feel sorry for his sins.
        

Fashion: The Teen Years vs. the Forties

When I was a teenager, I knew what was stylish and knew all the trendy name brands, but I could not afford to buy them with my barely over minimum wage jobs at ice-cream and sandwich shops and at Belks.

Now that I am in my 40s and could possibly afford name brands, I can barely distinguish a name brand from a K-Mart blue light special and could care less if its stylish as long as it fits, covers everything it should, and is comfortable.

So, when my husband asked for some new casual shoes for his birthday, we had to consult with his style conscious younger brother to find out what was stylish.   When he recommended suede Chuck Taylor's, I exclaimed, "You have to be kidding! My husband is 40, not 16." Aren't those the type of shoes skateboarders wear?

Suede chucks for his birthday

Then I realized I was wearing a Justice top and Juniors yoga pants with sparkles around the waistband and had to laugh at my own hypocrisy.

Some of my Justice label tween bling

I loathe shopping and figure I might as well buy some clothes for myself while I'm at Justice shopping with my 10-year-old.  Apparently at 40, I can suggest that my husband not wear shoes that I think befit a teenager, but it's perfectly fine for me to wear clothes designed for children and tweens as if I'm in total denial about being middle aged myself! 
 

Counting Gifts and Giggles

This blog update is a simple effort to keep counting the gifts (and giggles) God keeps sending our way whether our circumstances seem like fun and sun or gloom and doom.

I am the type of person who has a hard time with the "Be still" part of "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). So, it has been helpful for me over the years to set aside a quiet place in my home to be used primarily for meeting with the Lord in Bible study and prayer. Of course, I try to pray throughout the day wherever I am, but having a special spot for my daily focused quiet time really benefits me. I try to pick a spot in a location I pass by frequently that is cozy and inviting. So, I am thrilled with my new prayer chair which beckons me throughout the day (Gift #535).  It is so comfortable and peaceful with storage compartments underneath for stashing journals, concordances, books, and other resources.   Christ followers, what helps you to "be still" before the Lord?

What a gift it is to realize that He meets with us wherever we decide to meet with Him.  He is always available to us (Gift #536), so why can we not make ourselves always available to Him?  Why should we ever make Him wait for us or box Him into a convenient appointment slot on our calendar?  Let us be consumed by His presence moment by moment, relishing in the awesome wonder of His presence.

This "prayer chair" arrived via Fed Ex in bulky pieces before a busy weekend of hosting guests on short notice when I was nervous about the unexpected cost to feed and accommodate them all that weekend, especially since most of them were on restricted diets requiring expensive organic, gluten-free groceries.   When I laid out all the parts for my husband to assemble I noticed that three screw holes had been stripped so that the top portion would not fasten to the base. It would not even lay over the base except in a skewed position.

Broken base to prayer chair

So I contacted the selling agents, and they offered to either replace it after I shipped it back (not an easy task for such a large item) or give us a 25% credit.  My handy husband was able to fix it using drywall anchors, so we took the 25% credit which almost exactly offset the cost of extra groceries I bought that day for our last minute guests.  That little incident reminded me that when we are faithful to do what God calls us to do (in this case, offering hospitality) and even when we aren't, He is ALWAYS faithful to provide what we need to fulfill that calling. (Gift #537)

This epic winter has been long, cold, colorless (gray, brown, white landscapes), and dreary leaving me stuck indoors (due to weather or sickness) and feeling depressed from the lack of sunshine.  My dear husband watched the kids for me this past Sunday evening so I could enjoy a much needed fun girls night out (Gift #538).  I prayed our conversation would please the Lord and minister to each other's needs as it is too easy to become distracted by petty worldly concerns in such settings.  We had our most uplifting and most Christ honoring conversation yet that night, which was exactly what my heart needed (Gift #539).

To further minister to my spring starved soul, my husband painted an accent wall aqua while I was gone so that I could come home to soothing burst of spring color in a primary location (the breakfast nook) in our nest.  What a blessing that he chose to paint that wall at the moment it would meet both a need and a desire (Gift #540).

For the first time since last fall, we have had a full week of pleasant weather.  The temperature has been in the high 70s and low 80s.  The sun has been shining brightly with a cool breeze to make it even more pleasant (Gift #541).
  

So I soaked in the sunshine along the river trail that runs behind our house. That trail leads to a beautiful lake and is one of the best perks of living here. The neighborhood access to it is only two houses down from ours.  When no one else was around me on the river trail, I may have giggled and splashed through mud puddles while quietly telling those puddles, "Na-na na-na boo-boo! Spring will evaporate you!" on that gorgeous 78 degree sunshine day. Yes, I am 40...going on 4. Welcome home, beloved Springtime.

 

When I started Runkeeper during my biking exercise on April 2, it must have had a satellite skip because it added in 2.6 miles to my total distance causing my average pace to seem unreasonably fast, especially for the rugged terrain and hairpin turns along this trail. At the lake, a young guy blew by me, but I caught up to him about 30 seconds later on the trail's biggest hill. Just as I reached him, Runkeeper blurted out, "Total distance: 7 miles; average pace: 2 minutes, 20 seconds". Then he looked at me in disbelief and gave up trying to compete. I guess that was Runkeeper's belated April Fool's joke.  Oh how I needed that bit of humor (Gift #542) after feeling so discouraged after the last bike ride in which someone yelled expletives at me for no good reason at all.  I can only imagine what hardships she must be facing to be so angry and ugly on such a gorgeous day.

The perspective my right-brained daughter brings to my life is a blessing.  As much as a I love the spring, increasing humidity is a like a plague for my naturally wavy, frizzy hair.  Humidity makes it big and frizzy which was at least a benefit during the 80s and early 90s.  Since high school, I have spent countless hours and dollars trying to straighten and smooth my locks (in vain) only to damage it further with kinks always sticking out somewhere.  Yet my daughter likes to play with my hair which is quite relaxing for me.  The other day while brushing my hair, she said, "I love playing with your hair, Mom, because it is so big and bouncy."  So while my hair may not seem like a gift to me, it is a gift to her (Gift #543)!

 

I quoted my daughter on Facebook in an effort to encourage other curly headed women.  One friend said that she knew a woman whose hair was searched by the TSA before a recent flight since she could have been hiding "something" in there.  Oh my!  So I posted a high school pic of me with my 80s hair and asked her if they would have searched me.

Then, our home router security software would not let me access my Facebook page from my laptop, so I joked that my 80s hair must have been flagged as obscene or offensive.  :-)  If you can't change it, at least derive humor from it.

I had to laugh yesterday while doing warm-up exercises for my upper back.  Ironically, I was doing an exercise called "Band Pull Aparts" when my band literally pulled apart into two separate pieces. It was like Mrs. Piggle Wiggle had become my new trainer.

I'll close with a few bits of inspiration that have sustained me this week:

Our tears are unconscious language that flow out of emotions too overwhelming for human words.  They invite God's comforting Spirit into our hearts.  When we hold back tears, it's like putting a prison bar in front of our hearts keeping God's healing out, but when we let them flow, He notices and responds with tender loving-kindness (Gift #544).

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.Are they not in Your book?  (Psalm 56:8)

 "A teardrop on earth summons the King of heaven (see Psalm 6:8)....the Lord takes notes of our inner friction when hard times are oiled by tears. He turns those situations into moments of tenderness; He never forgets the crises in our lives where tears were shed."    (Charles Swindoll writing about Psalm 56:8)

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My favorite meme of the week: 

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Having faithful writers remind me what my priorities should be is a gift for such words help me get back on track (Gift #545)

"The best use of time is to freely love.
The best way to love is to spend time.
The best time to love is always right now."
(Ann Voskamp reflecting on Ephesians 5:16)

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Exhausted from too many sleepless nights and too much over committing, I mumbled to myself while pondering another ministry opportunity, "Could God really be calling me to this when I already have too much on my plate? If so, what should I give up?" The 9-year-old overheard my mutterings and spoke to me in a serious tone and with great authority, "You better do what God tells you to do!" 
So I am thankful for a daughter who listens to what I preach and though she may not respond in obedience at that time, she sermonizes the same words back to me when I need them most (Gift #546).

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What a gift it is to know our kids' teachers are reinforcing what we teach at home instead of confusing them with conflicting messages (Gift #547).
  
One morning last week, our kids exchanged grumpy words as siblings are prone to do in the early AM before school.  Before eating breakfast, my daughter, "Father, please help us to remember Proverbs 15:1 ('A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger') when we speak."

So I thought, "Wow, I've been using that verse with them for years, but they never seemed to get it. Wait...that could not have come from me because they don't listen to me. She must have heard that verse recently at school."

So I asked, and she did confirm that it is a verse her PE class is memorizing this week. It's frustrating when our kids seem to listen to everyone else except us. Of course that could be because their teachers, who are only around them a few hours each day, are consistent with what they teach while they see their parents fail to practice what they preach 24/7.   It may be that she remembered the verse more easily because she had already heard it so many times at home.  Whatever the case, church, school, and extracurricular teachers need to know how strongly they influence our children for good or for bad.

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I am thankful for friends who encourage and inspire me to pray in faith! (Gift #548)

"There is a vast difference between prayer in faith and faith in prayer. Faith in prayer is very common. Prayer in faith is so uncommon that the Lord questions if He will find any of it on earth when He comes back." (Corrie Ten Boom speaking on Luke 18:8)

Celebrating his birthday by serving the city

So my husband dreamed of buying a sailboat for his birthday this year.  After the miserable winter weather we've had which continues into spring, I'm thinking sailing at sunset somewhere tropical would be the perfect way to celebrate his birthday.

Aqua cycling in 1992

However, our church was sponsoring a city side service project on his birthday.  Approximately 500 people were going out into the community to do a variety of valuable service projects out of the outflow of the love God so lavishly gives.  I signed my kids and me up to serve at a therapeutic horse farm which would give my husband some quiet time at home for his birthday.  After last weekend's non-stop hosting and entertaining of guests, I just knew that peace and quiet would be the best gift I could give him.  Yet, he refused such a gift and insisted on joining us at the farm.  I would trade a sailboat, yacht or exotic vacation any day for a day of hard work in hip boots with shovel in hand alongside this man who loves God, his family, and the community more than himself.

It poured down rain most of the weekend, and we were scheduled to scoop poop at the non-profit horse farm ministry.  We had committed rain or shine, so we all went together with shovels and rakes in hand in the rain.  Happy muddy, soggy, birthday to you, sweet hubby of mine.

Our boots did not stay clean long.

The birthday boy and his sidekick

Birthday boy and our boy raking up sweet gum balls

Totally in her element with the miniature ponies

Farm girls

Each horse on this farm has been rehabilitated from a place of brokenness.  One horse was missing part of her tongue which made it impossible to feed herself.  She nearly starved to death before being rescued by this farm.  Horses thrive in groups as they form relational bonds with each other.  One horse on this farm has suffered the loss of several beloved horse friends.  He ministers especially well to the hearts of children suffering enormous grief.  One horse on the farm was obese when he arrived at the farm.  His hooves suffered so much as a result that he has to be kept on a paddock without any grass since the sugars in the grass cause excruciatingly painful inflammation of his hooves.  Each horse's story is unique, yet each wounded child who comes to this farm seems to connect especially well with at least one of them.  The horses help break down walls in the broken children's hearts so they can begin to heal.

Farm humor

Our banana child in my poncho - the aftermath

Our work team

My poor husband did not get much fanfare for his birthday this year after his big outer spaced themed birthday bash in which we launched him over the hill instead of into outer space last year.  His presents (purchased online) had not arrived yet, so he had to wait until Tuesday to open gifts.  I made him cheesecake lemon bars instead of a cake, and he served himself on a tacky disposable plate before I could get out the "Party Platter" I made at a pottery place for special occasions or before I could at least pull out some birthday themed plates and napkins.  At least he was eager to consume the sweet goodness that combined two of his favorite desserts.

Sorry it wasn't a very exciting birthday, but at least you got to bond with your kiddos in your most favorite way...in the recliner playing games on your tablet.

Reuniting with college ministry friends and reflecting on God's work in my life

Elliot, a friend from my college days whom I haven't seen in almost 20 years, traveled with his family from Austin, TX to our area this past week.  He actually went to Cornell University but spent a lot of time in our college ministry during co-op rotations.  Raised in Jordan as the son of missionaries, he offered a unique perspective on life which I appreciated (Gift #518), and I enjoyed the authentic Middle Eastern meals he liked to cook for my friends and me during our college days (Gift #519).  I'm not sure how we stayed in touch all these years, especially considering he was only in the area during his co-op rotations so I did not know him very well, but he has always made the effort to stay connected, even sending ministry resources to our family at times.

His college roommate lives in a neighboring city, so he was primarily coming here to surprise that friend for his birthday, but sickness struck his former roommate's family, so he and his family ended up spending much of their 6-day trip with us.  His visit taught me how much I have to learn about being flexible (Gift #520) because I had only cleared Saturday on my calendar since he had initially only asked me to host a little dinner party for his family and any friends he knew from those college days who were still in the area.  I realized how little margin we have in our family calendar (not good!), but we did the best we could to carve out quality time with his family.

One of my other friends from college, who I co-led Bibles studies with during our dorm years, accepted my invitation to the dinner party for Elliot and brought his wife and two children, who are both close in ages to our children.  They spent the night here with us on Friday night and left late on Saturday after the dinner party.  So, we got in lots of extra time to catch up with them as well (Gift #521). They are very laid back which makes them easy to host and were quite helpful. Their kids were also easy going, and our kids enjoyed their company. My husband cooked them a full spread for breakfast, and they helped me throw together a quick lunch while I was busy making preparations for the evening meal.

All the kids seemed to enjoy each other except when my kids'  Lego creations and marble runs, which they had spent hours assembling, were quickly dismantled by excited younger guests.  We all grew in our understanding of hospitality and in our willingness to put others first (Gift #522).  They played lots of checkers with a hand carved set my husband's cousin gave us as a wedding present.  This talented cousin engraved images of their grandfather's sculptures into the pieces with a cowboys vs. Indians motif, which is perfect for our "blended" family. (My husband has some Cherokee roots, and Mom is a direct descendant of Wild Bill Cody.) I always love to see the kids enjoying that set.  They also played some serious chess with my husband's Army/Navy chess set.  Go Navy; beat Army! 

The kids had Nerf wars, played laser tag, and played just about every board game we have while others built marble runs, snap circuits, or Lego creations.  And our weekend guests brought the movie, Frozen, so the kids FINALLY got to see the movie being referenced all over social media.

The kids also played outside on bikes and scooters, but that resulted in another dent in my car and lots of scrapes for the 4-year-old.   Always wear a helmet on our steeply sloped streets.  ALWAYS!  This little guy wanted to ride the scooter like the big kids.  My daughter says she told him not to, but be scooted down our hill and busted his face.  When I heard him screaming, I ran outside to see a tiny body with a head completely covered in blood and tears.  I nearly had a heart attack, but thankfully, none of the scrapes went deep or needed stitches.  He had a least a dozen scrapes on his face, hands and legs.  I still joke about the wonderful Southern hospitality I offered, but with so many kids at our home at once and most of my attention on engaging our adult guests, I could not have prevented the accident, or so they tried to tell me.  I did not even know the kids had pulled out the scooters, but never again will they be allowed to do that and certainly not without more adult supervision and helmets on EVERYONE.

Elliot's wife sells essential oils so she brought her kit with her and immediately went to work on his boo-boos to prevent scarring and speed healing.  She sent me these pics to show his progress after applying diluted lavender and frankincense daily.

Day 1:  5 hours after the accident

Day 2:  At the beach

Day 5:  Back home

The kids jammed with their assortment of instruments while our weekend guest played worship songs on his guitar as he did so faithfully in college. He is the one who took me to a music store in college to help me buy my first guitar for the purpose of strumming chords for praise and worship time in our small group Bible studies.

The weather was perfect on Friday and Saturday, a very rare gift (Gift #523) during this bleak and exceedingly miserable winter which has continued into what should be spring according to the calendar, so I was delighted when our guests agreed to join me for a hike along the greenway.  The kids complained about the hiking but were so glad they came with us when we let them build their immune systems in the creek that runs beside the greenway and probably carries more germs than I want to consider.  They had a blast in the creek and thanked me for taking them on the hike they had initially resisted (Gift #524).   I had hoped the hike would give my husband some much needed quiet downtime at the house, but my daughter stumped her toe as she is prone to do, so we had to call him to come rescue her, and of course, all the other kids wanted to ride back with him in his fancy car.

Elliot's family has a host of food allergies and sensitivities, with none of them able to eat gluten, so I got to learn how to prepare healthy quinoa salads, gluten free marinades, and gluten free desserts.  I'm hoping that weekend of cooking healthfully gave me the motivation I need to return to more healthful food preparations for our family (Gift #525) after nutrition got sidelined a bit during the hectic pace of building the house and multiple moves.  I also discovered that I must have suffered some brain damage from too many sleepless nights, because I can no longer multitask effectively.  Whenever I tried to prepare meals while engaged in meaningful conversation, I made a detrimental mistake...like forgetting to spray the wax paper with olive oil and ruining an entire bath of gluten-free cookies, unless you like waxy cookies (the kids were happy to peel off the paper from the back to salvage the tasty treats).   People are more important than food, so at least I had my priorities in order (Gift #526) which has not always been the case for this task oriented woman.

Since Elliot celebrated a birthday last week, I turned the gluten-free chocolate torte into a birthday cake for him.  While we sang, "Happy Birthday" he switched the candles to make him "24" instead of "42", and he blew out the candles by clapping his hands instead of blowing air across the cake.  Thank you, Elliot, for teaching me a more sanitary way to blow out birthday candles and for keeping your germs to yourself. :-)

Gluten-free chocolate torte cake for Elliot's birthday

I was thrilled when our college ministry teachers accepted my invitation (Gift #527) to our little dinner.  She has been battling Parkinson's Disease for a decade now, and it has taken a toll, so it required tremendous effort for her to get here, and she did have to leave early when the disease affected her legs too much.  She suffers a lot but never complains.  Her husband now teaches a retirement aged class, and her only complaint is that the time of taking prayer requests sounds more like an "organ recital" (pray for this organ that doesn't work or that organ that hurts) than a prayer for the nations or for more opportunities to share Christ with the loss.  Instead of sorrowing over her losses and increasing struggles, she is focused on making the best use of her time here to win more people for Jesus and to strengthen the body of believers (Gift #528).  What a blessing she has been in my life as she still shares her heart, home, and books with me to help me mature in my faith 20 years later (Gift #529).  Thousands of students have been forever changed by their loving kindness, but each of us feel like their only child when we are together (Gift #530).  And that fact helps me begin to understand how God can make me feel like His only beloved child as he tends to each of my petty needs while also sustaining the universe and caring so intimately for billions of others all at the same time (Gift #531).

These amazing servants of God poured out their lives and wallets into teaching, discipling, feeding, serving, and even housing (some of  the students) us in college for over 15 years.  Hundreds of hungry students came to their home every Friday night in the summers and on many Sundays at lunch during the school year to feed on the rich meals they served (our mouths still water at the thought of Sam's homemade bread) and on the word of God which they taught faithfully after investing many hours of study time into every single lesson.  Saturday morning discipleship meetings with Nell and a few other college gals (she called us WOGs = Women of God), college ministry beach retreats, and weekly Bible study and fellowship at their home or in the bar at church (Our church bought an old hotel to serve as their church facility, and our class met in the hotel bar/lounge..complete with strobe lights and dance floor - so funny - which has now been converted into an indoor basketball court.) are my favorite college memories (Gift #532).

I accepted Christ at a young age.  I studied my Bible, prayed, and sat under phenomenal Biblical teaching every week at church.  But I think my faith was more works based instead of being centered on the gospel of grace that truly saves.  I never really rebelled in the prodigal son sense of the word, but I did not understand the fullness of His grace to the extent (we can never fully comprehend it this side of heaven, but my understanding certainly grew by leaps and bounds during that time) that I did during those college years.  God transformed me during that time from a prideful girl who was relentlessly striving to succeed in this world to a broken child of God whose passion became striving to take up His cross and live for Him, investing in eternity instead of in the things of this world.  I have often been unfaithful in putting the kingdom before myself or before my wants for my family, but He is always faithful.  He never leaves us or forsakes us (Gift #533) even we fail Him.  Looking back to His work in my life during that time is a memorial stone for me which renews my focus and reorders my priorities back into proper place (Gift #534).

I feel strongly that college-age ministry is one of the most vital as students leave the faith support system under their parents to decide for themselves what they really believe for themselves.  Our parents' faith cannot save us.  We must know why we believe what we believe and own it, live it, defend it, and proclaim it!  Sam called it the "sophomore year" when each student would finally decide who he would serve (Joshua 24:15) and which path he would take, the narrow road that leads to life or the wide road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).  One of my passions right now is to equip the next generation with evidences for the faith so they will not be fooled by the deceivers (often college professors and administrators during that season in life) who bully, pressure, and issue threats to confuse believers into abandoning their faith.  I want to invest in students so they will grow deeper in the faith and be able to defend it.

These two college ministry leaders are loved more deeply by more people than most anyone I know because they loved first, sacrificially and wholeheartedly, not for their glory, but only unto the Lord.

1 John 4:19
"We love because he first loved us." 

They do not want to be honored by us, for they would never accept any praise for themselves because they know that every good and perfect gift and every effort that resulted in eternal fruit for the Kingdom came from God and that all praise & glory belongs to Christ alone.

I have been so richly blessed by faithful servants of Christ, and I know to whom much is given, much is required.  Help me to be poured out for you, Lord!

Upward Basketball 2014

New town, new league, new team, new friends....

 

Celebrating last game at Dairy Queen