We've not quit smiling since hearing Larissa said yes.....but today the excitement soared from cloud 9 to over the moon.......any mail - real mail - is cause for great excitement around here.....
A letter - she thinks its from Maggie
It's from Larissa! Stacia wasn't expecting a letter from LARISSA! She had sort of mourned the fact she's no long flower girl material......and she was happy to hear the big girls were invited to be Bridesmaids...but I could tell she was the tiny bit sad not to be young enough or old enough to be in weddings right when "people start getting married." Yeah - PEOPLE - let's put a moratorium on weddings until she can grow up enough to be in your weddings. ::snort::
Larissa wrote me!
Maybe one should open the envelope - but she savored it.
Such total joy
She wasn't exactly sure what a Junior Bridesmaid is - but I assured her she would get to buy a new dress and be in the wedding. The smiles haven't stopped. The big question now is, "Should I cut my hair or wait until after the wedding."
We weren't 100% sure of Jared's plans for groomsmen, but texted him to check when we heard the big girls got invites and knew Stacia's was on the way. I was 99.9% sure these guys would get invited to participate in the Big Day - but wanted to know for sure to help steer the "non-emotional male feelings," if they weren't. Jared told me he planned on inviting these two to be groomsmen, but isn't as "on top of it" as Larissa. I suggested he wait to ask them until Stacia received her invite in the mail. We were outside when he called.....and I put him on speaker phone and called the boys over.....they were a bit reluctant.
"Yeeessss? Jared?"
I would be honored if you would both be groomsmen!
They ARE as excited as Stacia - this is introvert excitement
Yep - they've gone from being excited spectators to being honored participants. We are thrilled Larissa is joining the family and are humbled by the way she's embraced our crazy, sometimes silly, often chaotic, tad bit overwhelming freakishly large family.
Boo - Six months and we're STILL at Beale Fam Camp.
Yay - The weather is fabulous and we can play and school outside!
Boo - We are out of food.
Yay - Stacia and Mom time and who can hate shopping with cute bags like these to use!
Retreat bag
Boo - The boys are taking SOOO LONG with school!
Yay - let's go play with Emma and Hope
Emma brightens any day!
Boo - we're not in Florida or TX. Michael has all sorts of "issues."
Yay - The VA called and Michael has six appointments scheduled before the end of March. We should be able to travel after the initial VA appointments. We will jet to visit John and Mary in Eureka and then on to OR to see Bella girl.
Yay - we had the chance to visit with dear friends.
Michael drove to Sacramento for a dental appointment at the VA clinic. It was odd they booked another appointment for six months out. We were TOLD this was a one-time benefit....though medical and dental may be available at the VA after his disability is rated.
The rest of us DID SCHOOL - big time school.....
Stacia finished first, and she and I rode our bikes to the library to pick up a few selections we need for school in the upcoming weeks.
"Courageous Joy" was "Choosing Joy" for 9 1/2 years before the blog name changed. Choosing joy is a familiar theme around here. Deliberately looking for and choosing to focus on the joy in a situation has changed my life. I loved how Victoria trained herself and her children to choose joy - the Boo Yay game. I explained the game to the home team here - I think it may be a better training tool than Mom always supplying the "yay" to their "boo." Or my endless lists at the end of the day - "Give me three things you are thankful for....." This changes the habit in real time!
Boo.....it's been a terrible day
Yay....it's over!
Boo....there are no parking spots
Yay.....we can sing another chorus of "It's the song that never ends....."
Today I heard a Boo.....we're still here at Beale - when can we travel?
Yay....the weather is BEAUTIFUL. We are close enough to ride our bikes to the library and BX. We are done with school - let's go.
What about you? Care to give the Boo Yay game a try? It becomes automatic....and is fun for all ages!
The blog has been silent....because I did this Friday - Sunday.....up in the Sierra Nevadas. Note all retreat photos were shamelessly taken from the PWOC album Rachel created.
Brittany drove me up and Rachel is an adopted daughter
Katie did a fabulous job putting together this weekend for us to pull away and refresh. Everything was wonderful. Check out the hoodies. I love mine.
Katie and Me
Katie had planned some truly fun games and even a DIY pendant craft! All great fun.
Strip Friending?
Stephanie led worship
F: Jen, Stephanie, Me, Katie
B:Rachel, June, Mindee, Victoria, Tiffany, Lisa, Brittany (Hope had to leave)
"I have never - ever......"
Stephanie and Me
Victoria - a ministry mentor
Victoria spoke to us about the ministry of Presence, transformation, and how to SHOW Up and Smile....it was profound. I'll share bits and pieces in the days to come - but at this point I'm processing and letting the seed take root.
Victoria had flown from her brother's funeral on Tuesday to us....please pray for her as you read this.
These girls - I took for the picture for them - but I want to save a copy too. All dear women. All but Sarah were ministry partners last year on the board. They are the real deal. It was a grace gift from God to know them in our last ministry assignment with the Air Force.
Jen, Sarah, Katie, Stephanie, Rachel
I just don't know WHY they do these things..... ::wink::
I debated attending this retreat. God strongly impressed on me in December it was time to let the past slide into the past....to "Remember Lot's Wife" and look forward rather than backwards. I've not been attending weekly meetings - I've chosen instead to invest my time in the future - looking ahead - starting online Bible study groups.....and of course, I've spent lovely time with the gals who have asked to do so....precious time. I knew attending this weekend would be wonderful and difficult at the same time. It's always wonderful to spend time with amazing gals as these. It is difficult to return to a place you've "left" - it reawakened longings for a time which is past.
And so - when Brittany and Sarah dropped me off at the trailer - everyone else was still at church. I gathered Yuuki and went for a 5 mile walk. This gave me time to process I am exactly where God has placed me for this season, I joy in this season and a few of the thoughts from the retreat. I played the Boo Yay game.....
Lower Blackwelder Lake
Sutter Butte - America's shortest Mountain range - for real
Yes, even if one ditches suburbia to happily wander the country, taxes must be done. A highlight of our day was getting ours completed and submitted! It is a bit odd to be down from 10 dependents to 4. ::wink:: I greatly enjoyed this perk of retirement - Michael did the taxes!
We've submitted applications to host at State Parks this summer in ID, MT, and CO and a military recreation site in WA. We'll continue to look at State parks, National Parks, Military Fam Camps, Harvest Host or WorkKamper locations. We aren't desperate to find free rent - but it would be very nice not to have to stress about finding vacant weekend spots when the hoards hit the highways. It's a jungle out here.
Makes me smile at first glance I thought it said "Defying Excellence"
I can see the VA claim process is going to give us much prayer fodder and testimonies to answered prayer. No, they have still not scheduled Michael's intake appointment. We need to stay in this area until that happens. We submitted the claim 1 Nov. We were told we could stay at this Fam Camp for four months. We were also told by VA reps we "should" have an appointment by the end of February. This means the timing "should" have been perfect - though 4 months to schedule an appointment seemed a tad bit long. The reality is we're still waiting for the appointment to be scheduled.
I talked to the camp manager last week and was told we'd have to move out for 45 days before we could come back. We are only allowed to stay here four consecutive months. I understand they were full. However, something ticked me off quite frankly. There are many who live here year round - 25% of the campground. Active duty families are allowed to stay 2 years (though I did meet one last summer who had been here 3 years), contractors who stay year round (not active duty nor retired - we have wonderful contractors on both sides of us), retirees who are allowed extended stays.....but the percentage of full time has to be kept at 25%, and it is there, so we would be asked to leave. Again, we understand the intent of the policy and why the camp manager would ask us to leave. We simply think the policy didn't take into account WHY folks are asking to stay - that they should rack and stack the requests. We decided, if the VA intake appointment didn't happen by the end of Feb, we'd appeal to the commander for a waiver. Seems RETIREES who are here for VA appointments should have as much consideration as contractors who are being paid to do a job and are not military. We don't want to live here for years - we want to stay until the day after the VA intake appointment. I asked the Bible Babes, my online study group, to pray we could extend here while we wait for the VA appointment. Michael felt it was time for both of us to talk again with the camp manager. If she said no again, we'd get the name and contact info of the appropriate commander for a waiver and let her know we were appealing. She told us the commander would ask her if she had room and she didn't have room. (I suspect the commander hasn't considered that possibly retirees should get as much consideration as non-retired contractors if they ARE full). When she pulled out her page to show us how full they are in March, she said, "We had one cancellation late yesterday."
"Ok! We'll move sites....."
"Oh, it's for your site. We aren't full, I don't have a problem extending you for another month in your site."
If we had not gone in THEN, someone else would have called in and been given our site and they would have been "full" again. Shew. God's timing is amazing - and I'm thankful for a husband who was sensitive to timing. I was trying to school. LOL We are quite hopeful we'll have the intake appointment by the end of March. This is our new fervent VA prayer.
Meanwhile, Michael has spent much time on e-benefits and calling his VSO. WHY did it say they were waiting for documentation, when the submitted documentation was showing up online????? Finally dogged it down - they want it on a different form. I think we could have waited for years with NONE of them mentioning they wanted the same info on a different form (other than the form we were told to use in Nov). From this we learned.....as good as a VSO is...he has hundreds of clients.....we are going to have to be the squeaky wheel.....this is our new retirement goal....to squeak! ::snort::
Note, due to new changes and a desire to make this smooth for our military members, this is now typically done while active duty so earned VA compensation begins the day after retirement is effective. This did not happen for us as they advised us to wait until the neurology referral was complete to submit the claim, then opted to retire us instead of extend us until the VA claim was processed. The system never works well for all cases.
We're content. We just want that appointment so we can move from Beale. We're planning to go to OR in April for Bella's arrival, TX in May for Jared's graduation and JaRissa's wedding, back at Beale for neurology for a week in June and then hopefully to host for a bit of time in the ID, MT, CO area.....we shall see. AND Stacia and I are dreaming of a trip to the NE in September.....but first we need that VA intake appointment so we can leave Beale.
Any guess on when the VA intake appointment will be? Winner gets a huge atta boy!
I'm facilitating an online Bible study group - we call ourselves the Bible Babes and are studying Growing Through Prayer, a Love God Greatly Bible study. It's been such a joy to connect with these 24 women through the word on daily basis. M-F we read a short passage and SOAP (or SOAK*) in the Word. I thought I'd share tomorrow's SOAK (SOAP whatever).
Scripture
Matthew 7:11 - If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him.
Observation
Father gives good gifts to His children.
Part of the personal fun of birthdays and holidays as a parent is seeing my children's wish/dream list. Their heart is revealed by their wish/dream list. There is nothing wrong with ASKING for the things I desire, just as my children do at Christmas/Birthday. Father wants me to ask, knowing I may not get everything on the wish list, but the things I get WILL BE GOOD GIFTS.
Father God takes pleasure in our wish list as it reveals our heart. This is especially true when we ask according to His will and character (I John 5:14).
I'm reminded of John 3:16 - God loved; God gave. Love gives.
Application
Can I see every answer as a good gift - even the ones not on my wish list?
Can I see every answer as a good gift - even in those times when the things I dearly desire on my wish list are not to be?
Can I trust Him?
I know my Father. He gives good gifts. I will look for the good gifts in the midst of the seemingly "no" answers.
Kneel in Prayer
I don't feel like sharing a personal prayer - but I wrote one out and you can be sure I prayed it.
I heard this song our first Sunday at The Rivers in Yuba City. I'm broken each time I sing it as I contemplate what I know to be true - He's a good, good Father; that's who He is and I'm loved by Him; that's who I am. Everything else on the wish list is icing on the cake. I will tell my soul to trust in this GOOD Father even when my dearest desires seem to be denied. I'm often singing this song to myself these days. I smile each time as I remember Arielle's disdain for songs (worship or secular) which repeat the same line over and over.....and sometimes I make up new words instead of singing the same line over and over. ::snort::
(Lyrics below)
Good Good Father
Oh, I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like
But I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you're pleased
And that I'm never alone
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am , it's who I am, it's who I am
Oh, and I've seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we're all searching
For answers only you provide
Cause you know just what we need
Before we say a word
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am , it's who I am, it's who I am
Cause you are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us (several times) Oh, it's love so undeniable I, I can hardly speak Peace so unexplainable I, I can hardly think As you call me deeper still (3x) Into love, love, love
You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am , it's who I am, it's who I am
You're a Good, Good Father (You are perfect in all of your ways) It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are And I'm loved by you (You are perfect in all of your ways)
It's who I am , it's who I am, it's who I am
*SOAK - to those who know my Precept roots - yeah - well - this has been incredibly sweet to immerse myself in small chunks of the word daily with a group of women who are ALSO depending on the Holy Spirit to speak to them through the same verses. Some days I add Interpretation, context, outlining, cross referencing and even commentaries (::gasp::)...and some days I don't. My SOAK is more like SOIAK. God speaks - his methods differ. I've seen imperfections in every Bible Study method - as we are imperfect. Heart matters. I've seen this method work for searching pre-belivers and those studying for DMins....we can all share together. I prefer the acronym SOAK over SOAP (though Love God Greatly uses SOAP) as kneeling speaks of surrender to me, my 2016 word, and I've liked the word picture for years of soaking in the word rather than soaping in the shower....same thing call it what you want. LOL
