Our First Coconut Experience

There's a first time for everything. Personally I hate coconut. I hate the smell, the taste, the texture.  But when Abby spotted a "real coconut" in the grocery store...how could her Daddy resist?

Have you ever opened a coconut?  I had NO CLUE how to get into that bad boy.  So this was our fun project in school today.  The kids were totally enamored with the brown ball!

First, we "researched" the process on Youtube:

Realizing it was a bigger job than I wanted to get into, I employed the help of Dear Hubby. I'm so glad he works from home! Um. Yeah. So we do not own a corkscrew...so we had to use a bbq skewer to poke the first hole.  PJ then used a butter knife to make the hole larger.

During this entire process we tried many things and Abby kept saying, "I don't think this is a good idea..."  She tends to be the cautious one in our family. :)

Next, we let the coconut milk or watery-substance drain into the glass.  It was actually very dirty, so we later used a coffee filter to clean out some of the "juice" for tasting.

PJ then beat the outer shell with a can opener.  The guy in the video used the handle of a butter knife. We did this too...and broke our knife. :(   So the can opener was the next logical option.  It was loud.
VERY loud.

But it worked! I love Abby's initial response!

 

Abby loved it! And she and PJ carved out much of the coconut and ate it.

Caedmon and I are like-minded when it comes to coconut preferences.  I tried it and think I'll pass. 

On Becoming Holy

A friend, Brittany, posted an article on her Facebook wall recently that has captured me, and is changing, the way I view relationships in my life.

You can read the full article here: Her.meneutics. Honestly, I only skimmed it briefly, but this one little truth etched itself into my brain and as I lay in bed this morning in between hitting the snooze button, God began transforming my view on the relationships and roles in my life.  I feel like I'm developing a new lens from which to see my world.

My paradigm shift came from this little sentence taken from the subtitle of a book by Gary Thomas:

“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

What a thought!  What if God has, in His mercy, allowed certain events and relationships into my life as a tool to make me holy as He is holy?  Certainly many of these things also make me happy but happiness is not the supreme goal.  Becoming more like Christ is the goal, and in that I find joy.

Ha!  I love this because I can see it so plainly now!

In my marriage, through my growing relationship with my husband, God has taught me about forgiveness: the importance of asking for it and of giving it.  God has allowed me to experience wholeness in sexuality where brokenness and distortion nearly destroyed me.  God has given me a great friend through my husband that knows me better than I know myself at times and a teacher that helps me understand God's Word.

As a mother, God has taught me to trust Him more fully.  There is nothing in this world that creates more fear in my heart than something harmful happening to one of my children.  It's a daily surrendering of my fears and choosing to trust Him because He is good.  God has taught me the importance of consistency.  I want to impact my kids in healthy ways...who else, other than your kids, gives you a day-to-day, hour-to-hour audience?  They see me when I wake with bed-head, then through several emotions all day long until I fall into bed at night.  In learning to be consistent with them, my walk with the Lord has become more  consistent.

In friendships, He has taught me the importance of integrity, saying (and hearing) the hard things, and service.  How many times I've been blessed by a friend because they have laid down their own desires or plans for the day to help me with food, or cleaning or even a listening ear. Through friendships,  I have learned how to love others as I love myself.

Even through homeschooling my children, I'm learning the importance of honoring God with my mind and my intellect.  I'm learning about administering grace to the least of these in my home and in turn receiving it because I am so totally unworthy of it.   And to do so with joy.

This is such an amazing shift for me. My life is not so much about being a romantic comedy with a happy ending so much as it is about a divine passion of redemption of my soul!

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in [me] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 1:6

A Dream Come True!

It's been a long, rough couple of weeks for me, ya'll.

My dear hubby suggested that I take some time to myself while he watches the kidlets.  It took me about...oh...2.5 seconds to decide what I wanted to do:

The only thing this pregnant lady wants is to sleep-in.  I wanted to sleep under fluffy, soft blankets with the room chilly and to be uninterrupted until my own body told me to get up. 

It. Was. Heavenly.

I did not emerge from my cocoon of heaven until:

Amazing, isn't it? Sure beats the 2AM puke duty or the 6:30AM up-for-the-day daily duty.

And this is how I was greeted:

Breakfast in bed!  I feel totally loved and cherished today!  Thank you, family, for a day of rest!!

A final pic of my hubby's yummy, perfect omelets!

Yes, kids do LIVE here.

I've been living in a fantasy world for a few weeks.  It goes a little something like this: my world is perfect. My kids are always clean, and always put away their toys.  Dishes never clutter the sink.  The beds are always made. Even the dog doesn't shed...but if she does, I vacuum the hair immediately.  That sounds lovely doesn't it?  And I've even managed to maintain that facade...for a bit.

The problem is, that creating a perfect front comes at a cost. Here is what I've really experienced:

I'm exhausted. I stay up late to clean up so that I don't have to do it in the morning.

I'm irritable. It may feel good to wake up to a clean house, but when someone spills something I am less than kind.

I'm obsessive. I can't let things go. I keep thinking, "Just one more thing and then I will sit down." Funny thing about that philosophy...I always find exactly one more thing to do.

 The kids are frustrated and bored. They've been forced to watch entirely too much TV while I obsess.


And even after all the "maintaining" that a "good stay at home mom" has done, there are STILL areas that are not up to the standards of others.

I'm sick of myself. I'm sick of putting pressure on myself to live this way. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate a clutter free space. I like not having toys all over the floor and I think it's important for the kids to learn responsibility and pick up after themselves.   But I miss the days of playing in the grass, discovering new bugs in the yard. I miss "finger" painting giant pieces of paper (and the bathroom floor) with our feet.

Someone recently came to my house and made the comment "You can tell kids live here."  To be honest, it ruffled my feathers. I felt a need to explain.  But it dawned on me today as I was vacuuming the hardwood floors (really???) that I'm a people-pleaser.  I'm directing my attention to the standards of other people. My expectations for myself are based on the opinions of others.

But this is all wrong! I need only to live up to the standard of One. Jesus Christ.  And I can assure you that He cares more about the state of my children's hearts than the state of their bedroom. I'm reflecting on the things that I'm teaching their young hearts.  Do I want them to see exhaustion and people-pleasing modeled as a way of life?  Or do I want them to see a life surrendered to Jesus and worshiping him in all that I do? I want to be a reflection of Christ, One who looks not on the outward but the inward.  I want to be and I want my kids to be eternally-minded.  Going only where our Shepherd leads. Doing what HE puts on our to-do lists.

So yes, kids live here. There are stains on the carpeting and upholstery of our car. Construction paper and finger-painted masterpieces decorate my walls.  Toy cars are parked under the couch. Stuffed animals sit on the kitchen floor awaiting adoption from the "pet shop".  And super-heroes bask in the sunlight on the sun-porch floor. Yes, kids live here. They reside here. They learn and discover here. They rest here. They take comfort here. They have adventures here.  They LIVE here.   And, it's my desire that here, in this home, they will experience the wonderful, abundant life that Jesus gives us.

And I wouldn't have it any other way!