Author Archives: LA

The Great I Am

Have you ever legitimately considered what it will be like to stand before the Great I Am?

There aren’t even words to type, yet formulate in my head.

All I can picture is this completely amazing throne with God on it, Jesus and the Holy spirit on either side.

The four creatures and 24 elders in a circle around him

and then all of the angels

and then all of us.

Singing – “Holy, Holy, Holy. Is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Have you ever been to a rock concert… standing room only, and you’re trying your darndest to see the singer up on stage… but all you can rely on is the side screens, if the venue even has that?

I don’t think that’s how its going to be in heaven.

I think we will all be as close to him as we want to be. All of us. There will be no straining of necks, or relying on side screens.

I’ve been thinking about the identity of God lately. What I do know of him, is that He is Love. He Is Patient as 2 Peter v. 9 teaches us.

Play some worship music today/tonight. Let the power of the Great I Am just permeate your soul.

He has mine tonight!

The Finish Line

Well after a long event planning season 2013 our events have come to a close! Our last event was one of my very favorites, our All Association Banquet which was held at the Blaisdel Mansion.
It was extra special this year, because my parents joined the association, so I got to sit next to them at the banquet which was super awesome.
For the first Saturday in a very long time we are just here. We have no get togethers to go to, no sports to go to (due to schedule changes), and are just going to chill for the day. I’m sipping some coffee & baileys and later will probably carve pumpkins. I’m also working on THIS project today which is a volunteer job for K’s school. Basically I have to rip out pages out of the workbooks and put them in manila file folders.
What plans do you have this weekend?

rE-Ignite – At it again

Ignite

I’ve been seriously lacking in the consistency strength that my “Strengths Finders 2.0” says is one of my top strengths in the blogging department. Tonight at House Groups [through my church] we filled out Personal Renovation Plans which has you put into writing your goals throughout the year. My goal is to stay in the word, and to reignite my blogging which I feel takes what i’ve read to a deeper level.  So here I am to rE-Ignite.

For the past few weeks my co-worker and I have been on this amazing journey through parts of the new testament. We decided that we need to get in the word regularly and keep each other accountable through Google Hangouts, and have been hosting our own bible study together, and prayer. I can tell you that these past few weeks have been absolutely MIND BLOWING. The kind of work that has been stirring up is only explainable with the words Holy Spirit in the same sentence.

We started out in Ephesians which each chapter was laden with the words we absolutely needed to hear on those particular days such as Eph 1:7-10,  “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth.” (emphasis mine).

Last Saturday night (October 5th) her and I were out hanging a sign for the marathon and we decided while literally on our knees hanging a sign on a bridge on a busy road in Minneapolis/St. Paul to pray over the marathon which was going to take place the next day. We prayed for God to place a blanket of protection over the marathon. Over the runners, the spectators, race officials and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  We closed out the prayer asking God to use us in a very apparent way, and to make it known to others that we are working for the glory of His name.  Little did I know that the entire prayer was about to come true.

While biking in the “back of the pack” on the course the next morning,  I ran (figuratively) into this older gentleman adorned with an adorable white beard, winter hat with pom pom, and running in short sleeves, and shorts. He was convinced he was NOT going to make the cut off. (six hour course limit). When he first had told me this, we were at least a mile or two ahead of the sweep bus, so I knew he had it in him to finish in time. I checked on some volunteers in the course intersections, and checked on runners as well.  I kept coming back to this man however as if a magnet was drawing me near to him I had to make sure that he finished, and encourage him to do so. I rode with him and paced him on my bike over the last two miles of the marathon. I found out he had done them all but once, and that THIS was marking his very last race.

Well, he finished, and I couldn’t have been more excited. Tears of joy were falling down my face, and it was such an amazing time.  Afterwards I went up to him and congratulated him.

The next day he wrote to our marketing manager to tell us that an Angel [he named me]  helped him finish the race. That he knew he could not finish in the time and that his pace was around 14:30 minute miles, but that he would go out to the marathon just for the Glory of God. Everything that I had prayed for he had written in this e-mail. It was so obvious that it was God I wrote to him to tell him that I was a believer, and I prayed the night before – for this moment.

Be open to God. Be open to him wanting to reveal something to you. Be open to bold prayers of putting yourself out there. Let your evening prayer, or morning prayer be, “God, use me tomorrow/today in anyway that you see fit, and let it be known to others that I am working for the Glory of your name. Let me be your instrument of comfort and healing, and encouragement to this broken world, and let me be open to what you have in store for me.”.

My prayer is that THIS is everyone’s prayer this week!

Lately

Well as most of you know by now (if you’re on Facebook) we lost our sweet Eli on September 20th. I think the reason he was so sick was due to an obstruction. So we are grieving still. We are overwhelmed with their support. I will write a full post some day.

Last weekend was “marathon weekend” and despite the rain & drizzle it was a great weekend! Normally I ride a golf cart behind the last [official] runner, and sweep vehicle, and this year I was able to ride my bike. I usually biked up ahead at least a 1/4 mile to 1.5 miles ahead of the sweep, which was really enjoyable. I was able to talk with the volunteers more, encourage more runners, and just overall do my job easier. So I think this may be a tradition going forward.
Jason is all done traveling [for now at least] and has been making some MAJOR improvements in the backyard! He filled in the pond with a bunch of dirt and made a rustic retaining wall.
Little miss has conferences next week, and I’m excited to hear how she’s doing. She recently passed to the next level at gymnastics, and we’ve enrolled her at Foss Swim School because its much closer to home than Life Time. We really love LTF, but it makes for a stressful Monday.
Sunday’s at our house are all about relaxation, football [Jason] church & house group (which is like a bible study type thing in the evening. Just I go to this 🙂 )

Weekend Recap

Well this past weekend Jason, Kiri and I were supposed to be vacationing on the shores of Lake Michigan in Door County, but instead I got inundated with work, and Jason had to go out to ND.

While he was gone Eli decided to go off and get sick, and by sick I mean both ends baby! Now, normally I make Jason clean up ALL of the puke spills, because if I do it there will be two puke piles instead of one, but unfortunately this was not puke, this was much much worse. SO I put on my big girl panties and got some rubber gloves, a roll of paper towels, and chemicals. Lots of chemicals!
I took Eli to the  vet on Saturday where he received a shot that DID stop the vomiting, but did not do much for the never ending diarrhea. (side note: do you know that I never knew exactly how to spell diarrhea until this weekend?)
Eli’s appetite went down significantly as in not at all, and my nerves have been shot. The vet didn’t think he felt an obstruction and chalked it up to some kind of toxicity of something he ate. Basically, ride it out for a few days and call on Monday/Tuesday if he’s not doing better. Even now as i’m writing this Eli just dropped another shit bomb in the living room. All I have to say is thank JESUS for our laminate flooring! This would NOT be good on carpet. Yes, I will be calling the vet in the morning!
What else went on this weekend? Well we missed gymnastics due to Eli’s sickness, but I did manage to uuuber clean the house. I mean top to bottom, loads of trash out, and chemically cleaned up the whole thing. I can’t tell you how nice it is to live in a clean house (minus the shitting).
I never used to be an “over cleaner upper”, but after this weekend I am straight addicted to the smell of cleaner. I know this isn’t healthy, but either is inhaling the stench of dog shit.
Mom worked on getting caught up on Weeds [the TV show], and Kiri played with the neighbor girl a lot!
Today was church, napping, relaxing, and cleaning up more shit.
What did you do this weekend? Comment below.

Morning Routines

We used to have those mornings where we’d get out of bed in such a rush, I’d throw some breakfast at her to eat in the car and we were off. It didn’t really matter when we would show up at preschool (since she was a PM preschooler).

When asked by little miss’ school if we wanted AM class or PM class I originally was thinking we’d take the PM class since they have an 8:00 a.m. start, but I knew that after Kindergarten we’d have to adopt this new routine regardless.
We also live so close to the school there is no more breakfast on the go. So we set our alarms for 6:30 a.m. to have time for a lazy breakfast, time to get ready without rush, and time to drive to school.
I also have been reading the bible over a hot cup of coffee right away in the morning too!
I love our new morning routine! 🙂

SOAP

taslie-nature-goat-baby-soap

Noo! We’re not talking about that kind of soap.

I follow this wonderful blog and social media package called Good Morning Girls. Today’s post was about using the SOAP method. Scripture, Observation, Application & Prayer.

I’ve fallen away from reading scripture every day with the business of summer, but have renewed a commitment with myself to resume blogging, and switching my bible reading time to the morning.

Over the summer i’ve taken on reading the Psalms. Today I’m up to Psalm 5 which gives you a raw confession of how far I am behind. But God reminds us that we can always come back to him! Hopefully this time I will stick around for a while :).

A few verses this morning struck a cord with me:

Psalm 5:1-3, 11-12.

S. O Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of Love.

O:

* We can come to God with our requests

* We don’t have to say beautiful, poetic prayers to God, crying out and groaning out to God is beautiful to him.

* Pray to no one but God.

* David is praying in the morning.

* God gives us protection

* God loves

A: I can go to God with anything. I don’t say anything specific, as God knows my heart and I can get raw with God. God alone should have my attention, and anything filling that space will need to be re-prioritized. Try switching my devotion time to the morning for a week and see how it goes. See if i’m not moved with starting out with God instead of social media. God will protect me, and God loves me. This isn’t to say that nothing bad will ever happen, but I can always rest in the comfort of the Eagles Wings.

P: Father, help me to radically change the way I live my life for you. Help prompt me to go to bed earlier so that I can spend even more time with you in the morning. Thank you for all that you do, and for giving us another day. Let me be your hands and feet today and live my life for you.

Amen.

K is for Kindergarten

Today miss KC started Kindergarten! I can still remember her birth like it was yesterday. The day she got her first tooth… the day we were at our wits end wondering why she was coughing all the time, and now… she’s “made it”. The day I’ve been dreaming about since she was born. – really – .

I had this thought of bawling my eyes out, but I didn’t.

We set her alarm clock for 6:30 a.m. which she’s NEVER woken up to until today. Promptly at 6:30 a.m. “MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!!! My Alarm went off, time to get ready for Kindergarten!!!”

I soo badly wanted to tell her to snuggle, but I know my procrastinating daughter well, and realized this is my new reality. 6:30a.m. wake up call. For life. Or at least until she’s old enough to drive herself to school.

We got breakfast. Her – Cinnamon Toast Crunch and OJ. Me… Coffee.

Soon it was time to head to school. We took the standard, “start of school day photo” and then departed for the whole 4 minute drive. We got there way too early. The administration staff doesn’t get outside until 7:50 a.m. and we got there at 7:35. Apparently no other parent shows up until 7:45 at the earliest. So tomorrow we will revise our departure time. We drove around the “car parade” a few times until I decided to park until we saw one of the admin staff.

We find a parking spot in the back corner, and of course my goofball daughter  unbuckles herself and pops her head out the moon roof shouting, “I’m a Kindergartener”. Me… feeling like an idiot to these professional looking parents.

Finally we saw the admin staff, told K to park her butt, and got back in the “parent/car parade”. Once we got up by the doors I rolled down my window and said, “its her first day- Ms. LeSage’s room.” and Ms. Moffat promptly got miss K out of the car and said, “Hi, I’m Ms. Moffat, lets go find Ms. LeSage.” and that was that. I drove away towards Walmart as I needed a few things since returning from the Canadian Border on a family vacation.

As I was driving away I started hyperventilating thinking. Oh. Wow. Five years is just like that. Soon I had visions of dropping her off at Yale or Harvard, or the U of M and wondered what that would be like.

If five years happens in a blink. Is the next 12 years going to be a simple inhale ~ exhale? Cherish these moments. This is my new mantra. No more overly busy schedules. Cherish… cherish these moments.

One thing I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE about this school is the amazing communication that the staff has with the parents. Each weekend we recieve an e-mail from our teacher on the upcoming week. What K will learn, and any upcoming volunteer opportunities. (We’re supposed to put in 40 hours per year of volunteer work).

This can be done through teacher projects (such as sharpening pencils, which i’m currently doing in between paragraphs), attending Board Meetings, serving on the PTO. All of which I plan to do.

I picked up K in the early afternoon, and she exploded with excitement. “Oh Mom! Can I do that again tomorrow? It was so much fun!”

She said right away they played a game regarding their names. “Find the missing letter”. They went to Art Class, did Math Stations, and learned nursery rhymes.  She even met a new friend named Aurora.

Every day in her backpack we get a special folder called the “Parent – Teacher Communicator” which one side says “Keep at Home” and the other side says “Return to School”.  (Or a few packs of pencils for me to sharpen).

Buckle up mom. You’re in for a ride!

Image

Friday Fast Facts

1. I have a new website for my photography craft! It’s http://www.laimage.org . Check it out today!

2. Little miss begins kindergarten in just 10 more days! We got to meet her kindergarten teacher, whom seems very nice.

3. We bid farewell to the Montessori where K has spent the last two years leaning how to write her own name and do simple addition and subtraction! We will miss the bunch of influential and caring providers we had!