Blog re-post: Get off your @$$!

Get Off Your… | Ragamuffin Soul

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Thanks

I was remembering our trip to Costco this weekend. Costco is the place to be for an afternoon snack and it always keeps the kiddo occupied so mommy can shop. Well this weekend we pulled up to a sample table where a lady was giving samples of hot dogs. I asked Ike if he wanted one and he replied, "yes please". When he took the hot dog from the nice lady he told her thank you. I praised him for saying thank you because it makes him want to do it more. We've never had a problem with our son being polite. He gets the biggest praises from nursery workers and he's just fun to be around. But the lady looked at me and said she gets more thanks from children than the adults! We've raised our son to be polite, but I have to wonder, would I gave said thank you if I took a sample? What about when I take a piece of candy at the bank, or if someone opens the door for me...even if it's my husband? It's so easy to be impersonal these days when stores have been replaced by online shopping, bills can be paid through online banking, and problems can be solved via a recording. Yes, Isaac learns through praise but he's already starting to resemble mine and Cameron's personality traits. He will soon be able to tell if we do or don't say thank you and then follow in our example. I always want him to be grateful for the little things in life and never take it forgranted.

I guess this is just a reminder to me to not set a double standard. I'd like to think I always say thank you, but I know it's not always what I do. So thanks to you for reading my thoughts. ;)

How about you? Do you struggle with this?

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Sheep!

In continuation of this morning's creative shark imagination... Isaac sculpts a sheep from a piece of sandwich bread and exclaims, "Sheep!" Lol. This kid cracks me up! Trust me, this is all him.

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Shark!

Isaac and I were "playing colors" this morning when he drew this shape and exclaimed, "it's a shark! And there's it's tail, and there's the whale, and there's the dolphin..." I asked him to show me the shark's fin and sure enough...there it was. The next Picasso? Heehee :)

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Hubby's Thoughts

Alarming | Cameron Garcia

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Good morning monkey!

My son is in love with Yo Gaba Gaba. And its fun songs and heavy beats are a great way for us to get motivated in the morning. I get motivated for...you know...cleaning, being mom, stuff...and Isaac gets motivated to climb furniture. To each his own. ;)

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Dream Valley Challenge #7 - Something Old Something New

Here's my card for Dream Valley Challenges:

It's for my friend's birthday and she loves to garden so the digital image from our sponsor, Digi's With Attitude, was perfect for this week's challenge. If you like the image you can grab it for free right now! The challenge for this week was Something Old and New. The card I used was an old card I had laying around. I thought it would be cute for the gardening theme. The buttons are from my vintage collection. The image is new and I got to use my new gloss pens! This is my first attempt at coloring a digital "person" and I had a lot of fun picking out her personality. Of course she has brown hair just like my birthday friend :)

What a day!

Puppies - 2 of them
Puppie's Pee...in the house
Crazy lady from the alternative humane society asking silly questions about what the pups look like as if saying they look like a German shepard, retriever mix wasn't descriptive enough...
Mr. Isaac No nap
Ants in the bathroom
Ticks - one on the dog...one on my shirt. Yuck!
Shiny booger covered beed up Mr. Isaac's nose...possibly the cause of no nap?
Head banging to 80's butt rock
Child laughing hysterically to mommy rocking out.

Priceless.

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Broken Heart Part II

My husband joined in on a walk Friday night which was technically cancelled due to the Thursday night shooting of the 17-year old. The theme was "Take Back the Night" where people walk and pray together over our community, where they can one day hope to feel safe walking the streets at night. About 22 people showed up to the walk which ended in the town center's gazebo. There they prayed for the 17-year old girl and her family and prayed for God's presence in the town. My husband never felt the presence of evil more in his life than he did on Friday night.

Last night we heard the sirens going again. This time I verbalized to my husband that I hope it's not another shooting.

For the second time this week I woke up to news that someone was shot and killed. This time a man was pulled over by local police and the man pulled his gun out, opening fire at the police. No police were injured, however the man was shot and killed. This all happened at the very same spot that my husband had prayed the night before. Let me repeat that: The very same spot my husband prayed the night before, Satan attacked. It was almost like he was sending us a message.

I talked early this morning (ehem...late last night) about the presence of evil in this community and how Satan has a hold on the darkness here. My husband and I had a deep talk last night that Satan will do everything in his power to keep the darkness here. Which means we are in for a serious fight. Satan's going to attack us in every way possible. But God is more powerful and He's on our side.

Please keep praying for this town.

Broken Heart

I haven't really talked about the move to Sunnyside very much on this blog. For those of you just tuning into my blog, read here for some background on the big move..in a nut shell: We got the call from God to move to a small town where my husband became lead pastor for a church of about 40 people.

To tell you the truth, I haven't wanted to really talk about it because I just didn't know how to talk about it. This has been the hardest thing my husband and I have ever done. In the top of the lists are a miscarriage, a tubal pregnancy, deaths in the family...just to give you a few of the top hardest things we've ever done...and this has been THE hardest.

Sunnyside is a small town on the East side of Washington state. We live in a valley that's pretty dry. Here's a good picture:

There are no trees - just farmland. And unless you have a farm or a yard to water, it's a dry and barren land.

That's not the downside of Sunnyside though. In the last year, weapons crime has gone up 500%, that's not a type-o, five hundred percent. We have a serious gang problem...or to put it better...we have a serious SATAN problem.

This showed up in our backyard a few months ago:

That's a 9mm bullet. And it doesn't belong to a hunting gun...it belongs to a gun designed to be a weapon. And it was in our backyard. Satan is running this town. The funny part is that God called my husband and I here to help run Satan out. At first we thought He got the paperwork mixed up. My husband and I have never known gang problems before...so why would He want US here?

Since being in Sunnyside I've noticed not just the dry land or the gang problems but I've noticed a quiet town; a community that's become complacent. I have found that if organizations, government and the church attempt any sort of solution, they certainly aren't working together to fix the problem. The hands and feet have been cut off and those who still have a foot don't work with the those who still have their hands. It's like this:

My prayer has been for God to A: reveal his purpose for us and B: break my heart for this town. Well, yesterday that happened.

Wednesday night my husband and I were sitting in the living room spending some time together and we heard sirens go by. The brief thought had crossed my mind that it could have been a drive-by shooting but I told myself that there must have been an accident on the freeway. We woke up the next morning to a Twitter feed reporting a 17-year old girl was shot point-blank in the head by gang members. 4 gang members got out of their SUV, put on blue bandana's, and knocked on her door. Her mother was standing right behind her as she opened the door and just like that, they shot the girl in the head. You can read more about it here.

This girl was mixed up in the gangs, however, Sunnyside's Promise (a non-profit that works with people to keep them/get them out of gang's) had been working with her and I believe she was no longer affiliated with the gangs. However her brothers were and once a gang house...always a gang house.

My fear the night before had been true - the sirens were due to gang violence. It hit me that I now live in a town where, if I hear a siren, more than likely it's due to gang violence than an accident on the freeway.

I jumped in the shower and as I contemplated everything I started to cry. I cried to God, "Why would you send us here when we are not equipped to do a job of this magnitude. Cam and I have never had any experience with gang violence...really any violence of any kind... why would you ever send us here." After 6 months of waiting, and a broken heart, he finally answered me. He said, "I have sent you here because you and Cam have the ability to bring people together. You have the ability to inspire people be the hands AND feet." This overwhelmed me because I certainly didn't think that of myself. My husband, of course, but not me.

I got out of the shower and got dressed. As I looked at myself in the mirror this song came on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HY-_f6RA8U

Please watch the youtube video of this song if you haven't already heard it. It's amazing.

It's called "By the Power of Your Name" by Lincoln Brewster. Also, a little background...after the beginning solo a beat starts right after the piano comes in...the beat is Lincoln's son's unborn heart beat and the piano is his grandmother playing.

I had never heard this song up until that point and I have the Christian radio station going 24 hours a day in my son's room. God was waiting for me to hear this song until I was broken enough for it to effect me, motivate me, inspire me to do HIS will.

We have been called here. There's no doubt about it.

Satan is going to do everything in his power to fight the light; to keep it nice and dark in this town. I have never felt his power so much in my entire life. But God's power is greater. And we will be the hands and feet by the power of His name.