The Bedroom Mailbox

The bedroom mailbox 

I was talking to a friend of mine about some ideas I had regarding our kids.  There were lots of things we were throwing around at one another about devotions, journals, and the like.  One idea that she shared was that she and her daughter have a nighttime notebook.  If the daughter wanted to share some last-minute information, but it was time for bed -- or if the daughter wanted to say something nice to her mom -- she could write it in the notebook.  After the daughter went to sleep, the mom would write a reply back.  The rule was that no one was allowed to rip anything out of the notebook.  The problem was that her son never could buy into it.  He didn't like writing and just never much wrote anything down.

So this lead to me a different version of the same idea.  What about a mailbox where we could write little notes in the evening and get notes back?  Writing one idea on a scrap of paper seemed less daunting than a notebook, plus I didn't think my kids would ever go along with the idea of NOT ripping paper from a notebook.  It's one of their favorite things to do when they've finished a drawing.  

So I picked up these little index card boxes for $.25 each at Walmart!  YAY!  My youngest son set upon decorating it immediately -- even giving it a little flag on the side so that we'd know there was mail ready!  He wrote his name all over it and since I've taken to calling him Sugar Monkey, I only snapped a picture of his brother's "mail box," which he kept completely plain.  We stuck it their bedroom doors with some handy 3M Command sticky tape.

So far the idea is working.  I keep all their little notes and am planning on putting them in a book if we keep this up.  I'd love for this to me a routine in our family -- a great way of bonding even when it's been a bad day.

2013 New Year's Resolutions

I generally make a list at the start of the new year for things that I hope to improve upon or to start.  I don't have any misgivings that in creating this list, I'll somehow transform myself become the person God had intended for me to be, but I find it's a super-good starting place to have a routine time to take inventory and self-evaluate.  Then I can start or modify practices so that God can continue to mold me.  Heaven knows there's lots of work to be done!

So here's the list.

2013 RESOLUTIONS

1.  Make my daily quiet time a SACRED time -- 

that it be the same time every day and not just when I can fit it in.  I hate to admit this, but I'm super-bad about squeezing in lots of important things, and this should not be the case!  If it's important, then there should be priority in scheduling.  It just makes sense, right?

2.  Continue my weight loss.  I'm down 20 lbs. with 

a goal for another 20 lbs.  in 2013!  Isn't this on everyone's list?!

3.  Keep a reading log of the books I read -- with a goal of at least one a month.

(I read a ton online, but generally my trouble in reading books it that the library doesn't carry the new reads from the Lifeway catalog, and I don't always have room in the budget to grab my next wishlist read.)

4.  This is just for fun:  keep a running list of hilarious things my officemate says on a daily basis.  She cracks me up.  Today she said:  "I don't work for communists; I work for God!"  Don't even ask the context; it wouldn't make it any less hysterical. 

5.  SUPER-IMPORTANT, intentional focus on patience and humility with my children.  I hate to confess this, but my kids are extreme worriers.  Throughout the day it can often suck my joy, and by evening I find that I've lost my silliness and good spirits.  But this shouldn't be the case!  My joy should not be dependent upon the others around me.  I've been convicted about this a great deal lately.

What's on your list?  Do you have any exceptional ideas that I need to consider for 2013 or 2014?  I'd love to hear them.  Not that I fancy a large readership following my daily ramblings, but if you there and want to share, I'd absolutely love it. 

{Dream Big}: A Change of Course

Ray and I have loved leading the Empty Chair ministry at Fellowship Community Church.  In the years that we've been leading it -- 3 years to be exact -- we've had approximately 20 families who have begun fostering and adopting.  It's been incredible.  We've been able to have amazing guest speakers such as Stephanie Fast of Destiny Ministries and Robert Gelinas of Project 127 come to the church and share what God how God is using the church to make a difference in the lives of orphans.  We've also been able to do some incredible projects.  We partnered with Children's Hopechest and have sponsored 100% of the children there, sending our first team down this spring.  We were able to provide Christmas for over 100 foster children in over three counties.  And we were also able to establish an adoption fund for those from our church who have a desire to adopt.  What God has done in our little ministry in such a short time has been astounding.

But God has been calling us to more.  We have friends and family in different churches over our valley who do not have orphan care ministries.  The potential lies in wait and is burdening our souls to help incite and inspire these churches to action.  We've had local churches contact us asking for information on how to get started because they just aren't sure what to do first.  And it breaks out heart to see the Orphan Sunday website list only a handful of events happening within our state.

So over our Christmas break, Ray and I talked a lot about where we were feeling lead, and what the prompting looked and felt like.  And our decision is to launch a new ministry called 127 Place with the idea that we could use this additional ministry to empower Christian churches around the valley and the state with materials and resources for developing and partnering in orphan care.

Ray and I decided to really commit.  The plan is for me drop all of my part-time positions to only one, and commit the rest of this year to working on and developing this new ministry.

This is exciting and scary all at the same time.  But the potential for this ministry, and feeling called so strongly, has helped with our insecurities about lowering our salary.  We're still not up and running, but excitement is fueling us to move quickly and intentionally.  As we look to 2013, hopes soar and we dream big.