Brave or Safe? Part 2

I've been thinking a lot about this Francis Chan video.  It reminds me of the sermon by Gary Haugen from IJM that I posted a link to awhile back.  The challenge is similar in both:  Will we be brave or will we be safe? 

It's hard to be brave. When the going gets tough, the temptation to resort back to "safety" is very strong for me. It takes courage to press on, in spite of fear, and to release my grip on the things I try to control.

I'm being challenged to be brave in several areas of my life right now: leadership, relationships, a summer opportunity for our family (more on that in a future post), and even kindergarten for Jonah (more on that in another post, too). I'm sure I'll fail along the way...I always do. I'll get anxious about these areas and try to hold on to things too tightly. But I want to be brave.  And I'm going to try!

What about you? Are there areas in your life that you are striving to have courage in?
 


P.S. Anyone want to read Just Courage with me? A good friend of mine just read it and highly recommended it. Might be a way for us to encourage one another.

(Not) Brotherly Love

Yesterday we had our first brother-inflicted-injury-resulting-in-a-trip-to-urgent-care-for-stitches.  Nicolas forcefully threw a toy car at Jonah, taking a little chunk out of his lip (eew).  One shot, three stitches, one balloon, and two stickers later, Jonah was good to go. 

 

The injury should not have been a surprise.  It was one of those days.  The boys fought, whined, screamed, and generally disobeyed for a good 12 hours straight yesterday. 

Ironically, our good friend Abby had her first trip to Urgent Care yesterday, too!  Must have been something in the Valentine air that made everyone a little nutty. 

How many brother-inflicted-injuries do you think are in my future?  I have a feeling, this is just the beginning....

GreenHouse Super Bowl Party

On Sunday, Rose hosted a Super Bowl Party for the teens of The GreenHouse.  There wasn't a whole lot of football watching going on, but for the teens it was a great excuse for a party and they had a BLAST at Rose's house-o-fun! 

They pigged out on pizza,

hung out on the swing with friends,

belted out Taylor Swift songs on the Wii,

skateboarded and played basketball on the back patio,

played with our kids,

and jumped on the trampoline.

Our family had a whole lot of fun, too.

 

As is our usual routine when we go someplace, I asked everyone what their favorite part of the party was.  Jonah's favorite part was "jumping on the trampoline." (of course...I think he jumped for a good two hours!).  Nicolas and Riley's favorite part was "driving to the ice cream store with Abby." (Guillermo pushed the three of them in the toy car and they pretended to go to the ice cream store).  My favorite part was when a few of the teen girls asked me how Steve and I met, how long we dated, how long we'd been married, etc.  It was fun to share our story with them.  They were all shocked to learn that we waited eight years before having kids!  Steve's favorite part was having a TV to watch the game on...and a big screen TV at that.

Sisters

I'm not sure when we cross that invisible line, and a friend becomes a sister.  But at some point in the last fourteen years, between:

laughter and tears,

praises and pleas,

Celebration of Discipline and Gospel Transformation,

"confession session" and accountability check-ins,

prayer and fasting,

the Tub of Encouragement and acts of service,

singlehood and dating,

marriage and divorce,

birth and adoption, 

graduate school and career changes,

bone marrow transplant and cochlear implants,  

betrayal and forgiveness,

sickness and healing,

justice and compassion,

death and new life,

these six women and I became sisters.  It gave me great joy to spend a few hours with them and their kids this morning.    

"As iron sharpens irons, so a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17. 

Super Bowl Party with a Cause

I saw a terrific idea on another blog and wanted to share it here: If you're having a Super Bowl Party this Sunday put out an empty bowl on the food table and ask your guests to donate any used giftcards from their wallet or purse.  Then, mail the giftcards to Give Card Giver who will compile them and send them to HOPE International, an organization working on the ground in Haiti to help rebuild.  Simple!