What's Yer FAK?

Huh?
Ya I know it's weird.
FAK- Future After Kids.
What's your plan after your kids leave home?

Right now I can't imagine what life would be like if I didn't have children living at home. I have no box in my futile little mind for empty nest syndrome.

I have had various ideas lately bouncing around my head after long conversations with my crazy friend Denise. We have laughed our way through some pretty funny scenarios like traveling around the country entering BBQ contests pulling a huge smoker behind our RV's. Or, we also thought we would buy a food truck, like the ones that pull up outside of business districts in New York at lunch time, except ours would have fine pastries and coffee. Can you just see the two of us driving down the street with the song "I love Coffee, I love tea" blasting out like an ice cream truck with grown ups chasing us down the street with their money in their hands? Ha.

But, my latest passion has sparked a new scenario.
Bread
Bread, bread, bread.

A bakery shop with all kinds of different breads and pastries, coffee and lattes.
All morning would be devoted to selling to locals and the Yosemite tourist crowds. But, afternoons (at least during the summers), would be devoted to baking school for....kids! Wouldn't it be great. Classes in bread doughs. Classes in cookies. Classes in petit fours. What fun!
The only problem is....in order to have a bakery, you have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn! I haven't figured out how to get past that yet.

So whats your FAK?

On the 15th Day of Christmas....

Luke 1:78-79 (New International Version)

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Today we prayed through these verses and included our loved ones going through illness, confusion, grief and pain. We sought out our Lord in thanksgiving for our house, our blessings and great wealth that he has blessed us with in our country. Lastly we asked for guidance on a path.....our path of service to him.

Last Sunday, we spoke to a family that we used to go to church with who homeschool. They, for the last 3 years have taken their entire family to the Philippines for 2 weeks on an evangelistic missions trip. They travel to remote locations and preach the gospel. Bruce, their dad, said last year they went for 12 days and preached to 8900 people, 7700 of those gave their lives to Christ and many, many were healed through prayer (even through their children praying for individuals). Oh how my heart leapt!!!

This has sparked my prayer life to include an opportunity for my own family to serve together somehow. Whether that be here close at home, or on a mission trip afar, we are listening to what God has for us.

What about you? Have you served with your immediate family in a service to God? Are you looking for an opportunity?

This advent as we anticipate the celebration of his birth, we see that his 2nd coming is at hand. We prayed for our community of believers to unify, and build each other up to do his will and to tell those who are lost about His Son.

This just in....

The new formula for the day SNOW + SNOW = COFFEE & WHOPPIE PIE

On The Eigth Day of Christmas---

I have to be honest. This picture just seems absurd.
Everything I know says, "yea, right", like I am expecting the lion to lick the little lamb and then get a little smirk on his face right before he devours the little creature.

But that absurdity is exactly what our world has ingrained in our brains....how can their ever be peace on earth like that!!!

Isaiah 11 talks about this very hope...the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the lion and calf together with a little child leading them. The hope we have in Jesus...of peace, righteousness, faithfulness...is absolute absurdity to a world where wild beast tear apart their prey, where animals have fallen to extinction, where we beat our chest at the end of the month when we can't afford to pay that bill, or when we watch our televisions and see children with swollen bellies crying with hunger.

"On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him and his dwelling shall be glorious."

As believers we praise God that his kingdom is coming, and pray that it comes soon, for those who appear crazy to the world are hopeful of God's promise and trust in new life, Jesus the Christ.

On The Fouth Day of Christmas, the Spirit said to me...

Romans 13:11-14 (The Message)

^11-14But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

If you come to my house after dark, drive up the driveway, and attempt to make it to the front door, you had better hope that someone has turned on the security light or is at least outside with a flashlight to greet you. It's pickin' dark; black-hole dark out there. The darkness of wandering around at night without a light is what life is like without Christ---confusing, frightening, and lost in blackness and shadows. Jesus Christ coming is like the light of dawn peeking through the horizon.

Paul says that by embracing the light, we are embracing Jesus.The armor of light, Jesus, brings day to night, hope to the lost, and peace to the restless, even in the darkest night.

I light a candle today as the Light of Jesus continues to rise this Advent season, knowing that God will dispel the shadows of fear and let hope rise in our hearts as we eagerly await His birth.

Christmas Ornament Control Freaks Anonymous- Meeting Here

You know who you are!

Last year I fell off the wagon. All white Tree! Ornaments carefully placed with detail. Silver accents. Beauty.

This year there was an intervention, and I was told to "relax".

Be honest. Does it look like Oriental Trading threw up on my tree?

LORD HELP ME!

On the Second Day of Christmas---Ok, Advent really

Romans 8:19-23.

¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Nobody likes to wait. Have ya been to the grocery store lately? or doctor? or in line to buy the 10th Christmas present of the day and it's Christmas eve?

Imagine waiting in bondage under the rule of a foreign king who's idols have surrounded you all your life: waiting for "the freedom or the glory of the children of God".

This day is devoted to the big waiting game for Christians--living in hope of a loving, saving God. Our world nears the time when the pregnant woman gives birth which was the day of Christ's birth, we also await for the time when he returns. What celebrating, what rejoicing when the groaning and moaning have ceased and God has finished with the incubation period for all of us to see His Son, Jesus Christ.

On The First Day of Christmas...

Jeremiah 33:14-16.

The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David

14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Jesus promised. Covenants with Noah, Abraham and many others already fulfilled. This is the first day of Advent for us, our family. Today's reminder----a bell, to announce the advent season.