Sacrifice of Joy Part 3

Here is a link to the song that I mentioned in my other "Sacrifice of Joy" posts. Just click on the name below.

"I Will Praise"

In the Nick of Time!

(Picture from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Long_Los_Angeles_Metro_Rapid_Bus_2008-04-17.jpg)

I've heard many people say how Los Angeles is really unfriendly but I think the people here are so nice! I'm guessing that a woman with 3 little kids must bring out the kindness in the average person. So here's my tale....

Around 4 o'clock this afternoon I decided that we would go to church. It takes 2 buses to get down there but I talked with Irish and he said that he was headed home soon and could just meet us after the first bus and ride with us on the 2nd. So, that worked for me and I figured I would venture out with the 3 kids. After looking up bus routes and writing down all of the information, I decided we would leave at 4:45. It usually takes me less than 10 minutes to get to the bus stop but I thought I should add 15 or 20 minutes to allow for the girls walking and any unforeseeable circumstances that might happen with 3 little ones in tow.

It was cold and the monkey backpacks wouldn't fit around their coats, so my kids ended up putting the monkeys on first - wearing coats with little monkey tails protruding out of the bottom. *smile* I headed down the road with Little Man strapped onto me and with a monkey tail in each hand.

Today happened to be one of the most windy days I have EVER experienced in my entire life! Twice there were gusts of wind that were so strong I had to push with all of my might to take a step forward. I don't know how the kids managed to stay upright. Well, we made it to the bus stop and I pulled out my paper to see which number we were taking when, lo and behold, it pulls up! I thought the bus was LEAVING at 6:09 but it was supposed to deposit us at our first stop at 6:09! So, we made it in the nick of time. Seriously, we had less than a minute to spare. Whew!

A young hispanic man waiting for the bus noticed that we were there and stopped by the door, motioning for us to get on in front of all of the other waiting people. He was in his 20s and I found it surprising that he would even notice a woman with her children. As we stepped forward, he reached out and lifted each of the girls over the curb and onto the bus. So sweet. We found 2 empty seats near the front which I'm sure were vacated just for us because the bus was packed full. We road on the rapid bus which, as you can see from the picture, is a double bus smashed together. And yet it was filled to the gills.

The 4 of us sat on the 2 seats and had barely gone a couple of minutes when a young asian man sitting nearby said in broken English, "His nose is bleeding," I say it was broken English because I immediately looked down at Little Man and he was like, "No," and pointed to Bean. I looked down and saw that her hand was covered with blood and it was pouring out of her nose and all over her jacket, etc. I unzipped the diaper bag to grab something for her and a disheveled looking older caucasian man standing down the aisle said, "here" and passed a packet up through the crowd to me - it was a tissue filled with gauze 2x2s. I shouted, "Thank you!" as I grabbed one and put it on her nose. I ended up using quite a few of them and then found some diaper wipes so I could clean her.

Things settled down and the bus emptied to just a few of us. Sissy asked me a question about the bus driver and was so loud that he heard her. So he turned around and kept smiling at the kids and then when he saw that we were ready to exit, he stopped the bus and said in an armenian accent to the people on the sidewalk, that he wanted them to wait to board until we had exited through the front door.

Irish wasn't at the stop so I called him and he said he was on his way. I realized it was 6:18 (our bus dropped us off almost ten minutes late) and our next bus was supposed to leave at 6:19! I called him back and said, "We're going to cross the street because our bus is about to leave!" We headed for the intersection and as we waited for the light to change he appeared. He grabbed up Sissy and Bean in his arms and we hurried across the road. We saw that the bus was coming but we still had another road to cross. Thankfully, there were other people waiting to board so the bus stopped for them and after a sprint across the road, we made it, again, in the nick of time.

This bus driver was one of the most friendly ones I've encountered, along with the first one today, but he did forget to stop where we requested and we had to walk an extra block to church. Oh, well. It was fun and fine and we made it with time to spare and we had an awesome night at church. It was as if it was tailor-made to fit exactly what we are going through in our lives. I guess that's what happens when the Holy Spirit speaks...

A lady who lives near us drove us home so that was nice. Little Man usually goes to bed at 7:30 but he stayed awake until we arrived home at 10:30! At least he was good : )

The girls danced and played and had a great time.

We tried to sleep in this morning but it didn't work.

Until next time....

Liz

I love my sleepywrap!

www.sleepywrap.com

(This picture was taken a few months ago.)

My grandma bought this wrap for me when I was pregnant with my 3rd one. I had never heard of it until then so I didn't get a chance to use it with my 2 girls. I have used it SO much and really enjoy it (after I figured out how to tie the crazy thing!)! It's been nice to know that he is securely strapped onto me, while having both hands available to hold onto my other kids, AND not have an aching back after using it.

Today we went grocery shopping. The store is about a half of a mile away and we had to put the groceries in the stroller, so the girls had to walk home. We were about a quarter of a mile away from home and I decided to carry little Bean. I pushed Little Man (in the sleepy wrap) over toward my left hip and then picked up the 28 pounds of toddler and put her on my right hip. So I had a collective weight of about 46 pounds and I made it approximately a quarter of a mile to the house. It was a little tiring but really not bad at all. I'm stronger than I thought! And the sleepywrap made it possible to carry them like that.

Fun times : )

Umbrellas Aren't Just For Rain Anymore : )

When I was growing up we always kept an umbrella in the car and we had a pretty little can inside which housed an assortment of umbrellas. My mom always had a big beautiful one, and then we had an array of smaller ones as well. They were used for the rain. Umbrella = rain.

Or so I thought.

When we moved to California last summer we soon noticed that umbrellas do NOT equal rain. People used them all of the time for the SUN! I couldn't believe it. We would smile in amusement whenever we saw someone carrying an umbrella over their heads without their being any chance of rain.

But now I realize that it makes sense.

My 2 girls requested umbrellas last year for Christmas and they now own a Lightning McQueen umbrella and an Ariel umbrella - small little ones exactly the size for them. They have used them on the couple of days we've had rain but now, almost everytime we go on a walk, the kids go and grab their umbrellas and carry them over their head to keep the sun away. I borrowed one of theirs yesterday to put over Ethan's and my head and wow! It was so nice.

So, now the tourists can laugh at me. But it really works : )

Sacrifice of Joy Part 2

So, yesterday, I did turn on some music and then I played some on the piano and then I wrote a song. I surely didn't want to do any of that, but as I started singing some of the stuff started to go away and things definitely got better...so keep reading...

After lunch a sweet gift and card arrived in the mail from some old friends. It was perfect timing and definitely a blessing from God. It was like He said, "Remember that I'm taking care of you." Perfect timing.

Later in the day Irish (who was off of work all day) suggested we walk to Burger King to do something fun, get the kids out of the house, etc. As we're sitting there, this random guy sitting at the table next to us asks us if all of the kids belong to us. So we said yes and then he told us that he and his 4 siblings are all really close in age...we keep talking...blah blah blah...and we find out that he goes to a church we visited a few times last year and we have mutual friends! That might not sound amazing but it is because this is LOS ANGELES for one thing, for another, he doesn't even live near the Burger King but stopped by because he was in the area for something, AND the church is in Hollywood - about 25 miles from the Burger King!

I have no idea why we met him, but it was just amazing to me and it felt like God was again saying, "I'm watching out for you." There are people on fire for Him scattered all throughout this city, and "randomly" running into one and talking about things, reminded me that we are not alone.

Soon I will try to upload the song I wrote yesterday.

Oh, and to top it all off, it RAINED yesterday! It hasn't rained here since JUNE! I know a lot of my family and friends have been getting bombarded with rain, so this probably doesn't mean anything, but it was like heaven yesterday. It was just wonderful. The rain poured down and it was like it just cleansed everything.

On the way back from BK, Irish took Bean to the Dollar Store with some of her birthday money. The rest of us headed home and we were about 1/4 mile from the house when it started raining kind of hard. I stopped by the light to get the umbrella out of my bag when I heard "ma'am!". This sweet lady was stopped at the light, 2 lanes away from the sidewalk, calling to me to see if I wanted a ride home! I told her thanks but I was almost home - but it was so nice to see that there are kind people in this world. God, please bless that sweet lady!

Sacrifice of Joy

Today is one of those days where I am struggling. I don't know what we're doing here in Los Angeles. I can name about 100 reasons why we should logically be somewhere else, and only about 3 as to why we should be here. But one of the reasons we are here is because we believe it is where God has called us to be at this stage in our life.

And that's really the only reason that matters.

The way I want to deal with the feelings I have today would be to stay in bed, cover my head with a blanket, and sleep all day and hope that when I woke up I wouldn't feel this way anymore.

But, unfortunately (or really, fortunately, because what good would it do to stay in bed all day), I have 3 little kids to take care of so I HAVE to get up and face the music.

And I am reminded of the fact that I won't feel like this in heaven - so this is the only time that I will have the opportunity and privilege to offer to my God this sacrifice of praise. This sacrifice of joy. It's not something I want to do, but earth is the only place where I can do this and it will be a sweet smelling aroma to Him.

So, I'm cranking up my iTunes and turning on the piano, and I am going to sing.

Songs of praise to my God.

But today...

I know I just wrote about the lemons yesterday.

But now....

I'm getting really tired of lemonade.

When Life Gives Ya Lemons....

Our current lemon is not having a vehicle.
Our car went kaput back in June and we haven't been able to afford another one without going into debt. So, we have been "car-less" for about 4 months now.
Thankfully, we live in an area where we are within one mile of the post office, library, doctor, grocery store, wal-mart, bank, etc.

But, we can't walk to the nearest campground.

My (now) 3 year old wanted to go camping for her birthday. And I really did too. We really enjoy camping but we haven't gone in a long time.
So, we took the lemon of a situation and turned it into something fun.

roasted marshmallows over the gas stovetop
plus a tent in the living room
plus cold air streaming through the screen door
equals good memories and fun

I have grown so much in the past couple of years. This past year, especially, I have learned to be flexible - something I have always had such a hard time with.
Life has thrown me a lot of lemons and now I've decided that when they come I will

squeeze them for all they're worth
add a bunch of sugar
and enjoy my lemonade.

The enemy of my soul will not have victory in my life.

Every perfect gift is from above. God takes all things and turns them into good for me. I want HIM to have the victory in my life.

My husband

God has blessed me with such a great husband.
Thank You so much.

JQ arrived home tonight around 8pm. We were at church at the time but he met us at the bus stop at 845 and the girls jumped into his arms from the bus and talked and talked simultaneously. It was so funny. The lady walking across the street in front of us actually turned around and laughed at the kids' jabbering.

We put the little man in bed shortly after we got home but let the girls stay up a little late so they could visit with JQ (since he has to leave really early for work in the morning). He ate supper while they talked and worked on a craft and then we both got them ready for bed.

After prayers, singing, reading a book, etc. we left the room and I cleaned up the table while he got a movie ready for us to watch together. Just then our oldest said, "Daddy, can you come in here and lay down with me for a few minutes?" He paused the show, put the computer away and walked back there. I was like, "You're such a good daddy!" and he said, "They're only young once." That is so true. We have to enjoy every second because it goes by so fast!

Happiness is...

Happiness is snuggling in the bed with my 7 month old and getting his version of kisses - an open mouth full of slobber all over my face. *sigh* I love it.

Speaking of happiness...today my baby girl is 3 years old. She has brought SO MUCH happiness into our lives. She is full of joy and her big round eyes will look at me and just melt my heart.


Happy birthday, my little jumping bean!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

My 4 year old said this to me last week:

"When God speaks to me, He doesn't speak to me here," (pointed to ears) "or here," (pointed to leg), "but here" (pointed to head).

God is good. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He has ordained His praise.
He uses the foolish things to confound the wise.

Blessed are the little children who aren't screwed up by religion.

First day of fall?! September 22nd

There are drawbacks to living in a place where it is almost always sunny with a clear blue sky. And that is, that it is almost always sunny with a clear blue sky.

Rarely do I experience the melancholy pleasure of a cloudy day.

Never have I had the joy of a thunderstorm.

Seldom do I experience the cleansing, refreshing sound of rain.

And today, the first day of fall, it is over 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Seriously. The first day of fall?!

Oh, well. I guess there are pros and cons to everywhere. It WILL get cool sometime this fall. Just not yet.......

September 2009

Things we have done in September:

Had a wildfire nearby:

Drank coffee fruit juice (never heard of such):

Went to the beach (and loved eating the sand):

Played in the water:

Turned 7 months old (and ate black eyed peas for the first time):

Started Cubbies:

Made an xylophone:

Got a drastic haircut (about 8 inches!):
Shot a music video in our dining room:

Learned to pull up:

Played dress up with Mommy's old flower girl dress:

Made pierogis for the first time:

And apple dumplings:

Start of This Blog!

I've decided to start a new blog with my thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. I will write about what happened to us during the past week (or month, or season! : )

So, it is October 4th, 2009 and here we go!!!