The little things

I want to go ahead & put one of those movie ratings on this post.  This post is "MA"-for mature audiences only.  What do I mean?  Well, if you're not a Christian or if you're even a new follower of Christ, you just won't get what I'm blogging about today.

That being said, I was reminded this week about a quality of God that I had forgotten.  I've found that no matter how many times we read about it in the Bible or hear it in a sermon, there are still things that we forget.  For me, it was Matthew 7:7-11; asking for something we want.  Let me explain.

I've been DYING to get some new furniture (by new, I mean "like new" off of craigslist.com) for our living room.  We brought our couch & loveseat with us from TN, but have realized it's not the best fit for our apartment.  We plan on having lots of people over, at different times, and want to optimize our seating for their comfort.  So 2 chairs, in addition to the tan loveseat we already have, seemed like the best option.

I listed our red sofa (which Jason just recently told me looks like it's from The Wizard of Oz!) on craigslist several weeks ago & expected the offers to come flooding in.  At night, I would pour over craigslist looking for the perfect pair of chairs for us.  Days & weeks passed.  No sale of the couch.  No perfect chairs.  On Tuesday night, it dawned on me "Why don't I ask God for a pair of chairs?"  Duh!  The quiet answer I got was "Sell the sofa first."  Duh again!

Yesterday morning, before I really had time to think about what to do next to sell the sofa, I got a text from a girl wanting to see it.  An hour after that, I got another call from a man who wanted to see it.  Now remember, this sofa has been on craigslist for WEEKS.  I hadn't lowed the price again or changed the picture since that prayer to God.  No change on my part!  Well..you guessed it.  The girl came last night & bought the sofa.  :-)  Wow!  Is that awesome or what?  Within 24 hours of my initial prayer, the sofa was gone!!!  I can't wait to see what chairs He has picked out for us to find.

This is where the "MA" rating comes in.  Mature Christians know that God is not a genie in a bottle.  We can't just wiggle our nose & expect to get our wishes instantaneously.  BUT sometimes He does just that.  My lesson learned was not to forget to ask God to take care of the little things.  What little things are you not turning over to God?

Our living room, before last night



Life's a Beach

We ended our day today like we do many others, at the beach.  Mukilteo Beach is only about 15 minutes from our house, so we can hop in the car & head over there pretty easily.  The sun was out most of the day & I wanted to enjoy the last little bit of the day.

So three random & interesting stories to tell from tonight.  The boys beat me to the playground.  By the time I get there, this 5ish year old boy asks me "Is that yours?" pointing to Gideon.  When I reply "yes", the boy tells another kid, "See, I told you.  (to me:) I told him it was a boy because girls have long hair."  About this time, I notice the boy has a 2 foot (no lie!) rat tail down his back.  So I quip back to him, "But you have long hair."  His answer?  "Well, that's my baby hair.  That's why I have it.  And I was a girl before I was a boy."  I had to try to keep from laughing out loud!  I don't really think his parents made a switch on him, but here in Seattle, I wouldn't be surprised.

By this time, Jonah has, of course, wandered off towards the beach.  I catch up to him to pull him back to the playground.  He whines "But I wanted to see the whale."  Whale?!  I begin looking around & notice that there are tons of people looking out to the water with cameras.  I quickly scan the Sound.  Sniff, sniff.  No whale to be seen.  We must have just missed him.  But still pretty awesome to be able to ALMOST see a whale.

Then, as we're walking along the beach, Jason & I notice a small crowd down a ways at the water.  We finally figure out that they were having a funeral service & had just finished spreading the ashes in the water.  Another new experience to add to the books.  (Is it wrong that I had a strong sense to tell the boys not to get near the water the rest of the night?!)

We ended our time there tonight with one more trip to the playground.  When Jonah reached the top of a certain part of it he said, "Look I can see all of Seattle.  Well, not really.  Because it's so big."  To which Luke answered, "Yeah!  It's as big as three blue whales!"  Now you know how big Seattle really is. :-)

Their shirts read "Yeti or not, here I come."