Budget & Money, Daily Life, Project 366

Hooray for Fred Meyer

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A little more than a week ago, I bought a set of patio furniture for Kathy’s birthday, as discussed in Birthday Bash. I was feeling very virtuous because I had used my hoarded computer fund to purchase the furniture, but God was just looking for a chance to show us His love.

It has been a hard month for the budget — we’re over in kids’ clothes and Kathy’s haircut was more than we expected. All year long she cuts hair for the four males in the house — probably 30 haircuts or so — and we put aside a little money each month so she can have a salon cut and some highlights. Somehow she ended up with some higher costs and a third color, and went over by $46.00.

Daniel washing my car
We also save a lot by never washing our cars …

We recorded some birthday expenses, because I wanted to know if I had any money left. Seeing that I still had a little cash in my Tim’s Miscellaneous, I offered to pay the difference for her haircut. “After all,” I suggested, “a man’s gotta have his wife look good.”

Actually, I’m just pathetically grateful that she’ll cut our hair. I’d be shelling out at least $300 for all those haircuts, and I’d still have to pay for her to get her hair cut.

“No,” Kathy demurred. “I’ll pay some, too. How ’bout you pay $26?”

I bargained her up to $36 (I’ve always been a sharp bargainer) and she rushed off to Target and Fred Meyer to spend some more. She called me from the store while I was out puttering with my tomatoes. It turns out that the patio set was on sale (even more than it was when I bought it). I encouraged her to ask if they would do a price adjustment (or whatever they call it) since we’d bought the furniture so recently. “Yep, they will,” she told me gleefully.

Dave the Brave
David was gleeful too …

I jumped in the car with the receipt as soon as she returned home, and rushed to the store, fearing that the clerk who agreed to give us the deeper discount would leave, quit or be fired before I could get there. But my fears were groundless; they cheerfully agreed to credit me the difference of $108.80!

There are several morals to the story:

  • Don’t be afraid to spoil your wife if you can afford it
  • Don’t be afraid to ask — they can always say “no”, but they might say “yes”
  • If you try to be more generous than God, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Sarah washes cars daintily ...
“Anyone want to take a turn washing? I’ve got to do my nails … “

A special thanks to Fred Meyer stores for giving me such a good deal on patio furniture. An even bigger thanks to God, for leaving me some money in Tim’s Miscellaneous so that I can balance the budget at the end of the month.

Tim
Project 366, Day 201

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Events

New Haircut, VBS, and Birthday Love

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It was sunny and beautiful on my birthday which means I was able to be gracious today when the sun hid behind clouds all day like a naughty puppy, refusing to come out and play.

Happy Birthday, Sarah

Sarah LOVED her purple birthday cake. Together we managed to blow out all the candles.

Rachel babysat in the morning while the younger children were at VBS and Joshua was off on some lawn maintenance jobs. I managed to sneak in a workout at the Y – glory be my elliptical muscles are rusty. How embarrassing for someone who has logged in many hours on those cardio machines. Use it or lose it, they say.

Sigh. I’m losing it faster than I can pop the popcorn and relax in my recliner.

Sarah and her mama

Sarah helped me open my gorgeous new rice cooker from Mamie and Grandad. Thanks, Mom/Dad!!

Daniel spent the afternoon and evening being actively tomato staked. He did some great service projects around the house, blessing the family as he went.

my hard working boy

David, Sarah, Rachel and I went to the VBS evening finale and ice cream social. Lots of singing and performing. Nothing like a big VBS program to round out the summer. :)

sarah, noah, aaron, julie, sarah and david

What a delightful bunch of VBS kiddos.

Tomorrow we have some friends coming over to treat us to a (late) birthday breakfast, and then we have all sorts of things to do to prepare for next week’s camp. And so the summer zips along.

Kathy
Project Day – 199

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Events, Family, Kathy, Project 366, Sarah

Birthday Bash

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Today we celebrated Kathy’s birthday, and also Sarah’s birthday. This year Sarah showed her colors as a birthday ‘player’ — aware that the day is personally special and able to anticipate it, days in advance. On the first of July, she woke up early and tip-toed around the house, turning all the wall calendars to July, giggling happily. She even snuck into the boys’ room as they slept, and turned their calendar forward from June.

Sarah received a number of delightful presents, and was overjoyed to receive each and every one. She is a very satisfying gift recipient, gasping and wide-eyed with wonder almost before she knows what it is.

[slideshow=kathysarahbirthday2008]

Kathy has been hinting for quite a while that she would really like to have a set of patio furniture.

“I’d really like a set of patio furniture. Here’s the specific one; I clipped the ad from Fred Meyer (they’re open until 9), and here are your keys,” she hinted. She’s always been a little coy and hard to read about these kind of things. Choosing patio furniture can be a little overwhelming because there are several material types and hundreds or possibly thousands of styles made from those materials. The type of materials that you choose should depend on your personal preference but also on the climate where you live, whether your patio is covered or uncovered, your budget and several other factors. Furniture in the modern home comprises items of furniture, usually relatively small in comparison with the other pieces furnishing a room, which can be used on occasion when required. Such items need not be placed in a permanent position, but can be moved around according to its needs. It is not optional, but usually comprises useful items such as coffee tables and side tables. Click here if you want to know more about the antique table furniture.

“Hmmmm. Are you sure we really need it?” My first line of defense is usually to pretend that I didn’t hear her, but I could sense that wouldn’t work in this case. “That’s an awful lot of money … what would Dave Ramsey say?”

Kathy was unimpressed by my attempt to name-drop. “Dave who? So, anyway, wouldn’t a new set of patio furniture be a better use for that money you’ve been hoarding, than for some stupid computer?”

This was the crux of the matter. I earned about $600 recently doing some side work for a friend, and I’ve been, for lack of a better word, hoarding it to buy a new computer. Our newest computer is almost three years old, which is shameful for a person in my line of work. Besides, there are a lot of games I can’t play with my current setup.

Kathy and her girls

“There is no way I’m giving up that new computer! I’ve scrimped and hoarded at least three or four times, and each time, something more important comes up. Not this time!” The children had gathered as I bellowed, admiring my example of selfless sacrifice. Undaunted, I was firm in my resolve: nothing was going to stop me from buying that new computer.

Several weeks later, I stood in the garden department of a Fred Meyer, across town. My stonewalling had produced one effect: the stores near me had all gleefully sold out of the patio furniture Kathy wanted. “Curses!” I groused. With the help of a friendly clerk, I found one remaining set of patio furniture in a store in the next city over. Using a borrowed van, I bought it and thoughtfully stored the roomful of boxes in a friend’s living room. “It’ll be great,” I enthused, ignoring the way the boxed furniture hid the couch. “You’ll hardly even notice its there, har har.” Later, I heard that my friend’s children used the boxes to make a big fort, so maybe it was OK.

This morning I quietly unloaded the seats from the van and retrieved the patio set from my friend’s house under cover of early-morning mist. I must have been rather convincing in my bluster about not buying the furniture, because Kathy seemed pretty surprised. Joshua and I spent a good bit of the day assembling it, but it seems to have been well-appreciated. We lined up the first four chairs as though they were the thrones at Cair Paravel, and there was much squabbling among the children about which seat was King Peter’s, or Lucy’s.

Kathy’s friend Michelle generously took her out for a pedicure and lunch at their favorite Thai restaurant, which rounded out the day nicely.

Later in the day a few of Kathy’s friends came over for a low-key garden party that I had secretly engineered via Evite. I served fruit and cookies, and Joshua officiated as a Viking waiter. We both agreed that his horned helmet lent a certain dignity to the proceedings.

let them eat cake

In the evening Kathy made us a delicious steak and potato dinner, and finished decorating a cake for Sarah. A good day was had by all.

Tim
Project 366, Day 198

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Daily Life, Project 366, Rachel, Sarah

Mud Pies for All Ages

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It seems you’re never too old for mud pies.

little girls

Sarah’s birthday is on Wednesday. She’ll be 6 years old. She’ll still be my princess and baby.

Won’t she?

let's make mud pies

A big pile of dirt just cries out for attention. Sometimes it says, “Play with me! Drive cars up and down my hills. Dig your toes in my dusty layers.”

But today it shouted: “Add water and get dirty!”

alison helps rachel lines up the pies

You’re never too old for mud pies.

Yum!

Can I place your order?

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 196

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Bible Study, Tim

Convergence

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I am constantly amazed at how the Holy Spirit works different threads in our lives together to convict us of sin and spur us on in righteousness and growth. Idle conversation with one person combines with a song we hear on the radio, and then, BANG! Something we read in the Bible connects with us in a way it never did before, and changes us forever. I call this “convergence”, and it happened to me again today.

About eighteen months ago, I discovered what I wanted to be when I grow up: I want to be a Champion for Jesus. I was attending a prayer seminar down in Oregon, and the speaker was talking about how most pastors would give their right arm for someone who could be, er, their right-hand man. “A champion is the kind of person you could ask to start a new program in a church, and they make it happen and get it done. They don’t complain about how busy they are, or come running back to you for every little decision, but they boldly use their gifts to build up the body of Christ, and God gives them success.” Since this was a prayer conference, it was pointed out that champions are generally men and women of prayer.

Ice cream! Ice Cream!

Sometimes they also let me be the Ice Cream Man.

One of the best things about our church (from my perspective) is that I am allowed to teach (or at least lead) an Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) class. Cooler than traditional adult Sunday School classes, ABFs are adult Bible classes that meet on, er, Sundays.

Many churches don’t do Sunday School for grownups anymore — in fact, when we first moved to this area and were shopping for a church, we had a hard time finding one that offered anything beyond the ‘standard’ worship service with a sermon. Personally, I think this is unfortunate for several reasons:

  1. An adult Bible fellowship class can focus on an exegetical study of the scriptures, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. While some classes are topical in nature, I tend to study the scriptures book by book, taking each verse and dealing with it as it comes. Over the past several years, we’ve studied nearly all the epistles and a handful of minor prophets, and now we’re most of the way through the gospel of John.
  2. There’s a difference between having the scriptures explained to you, and working as a group to understand them. I’m a big fan of the Inductive study method, in which I (as ‘teacher’) come up with a set of Observation, Interpretation and Application questions, which we all discuss in class. We hammer out a group consensus answer to each question, not pooling our ignorance, but rather pooling our knowledge of related scripture and the revelation of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives.
  3. There’s a big difference between having a message preached ‘at’ you, and taking part in a discussion about the scripture. Our class ranges in size from 8 to 18, and nearly everyone speaks up. It is very hard to fall asleep or tune out in that kind of a venue — whereas even the most disciplined mind can wander when sitting in a church pew, disengaged from the sermon.

I could go on and on — I’m a huge believer in adult Sunday School. “Show me a person who attends an adult Sunday School class, and I’ll show you someone in whose life God is actively working,” I often say (or at least I would say that if anyone ever gave me a chance).

Some people worry that Adult Sunday School classes can compete with or dilute other ministries, and some churches have stopped offering them because they fear that people “won’t come to church for so long on a Sunday”. I think this is hogwash. Members of the early church met every day for prayer and fellowship in the upper room they rented, and (at least some of them) attended daily teaching in Solomon’s Colonnade (in the temple) as well. I don’t think there is anything about modern life that precludes a much higher level of participation in church programs, Bible studies, service projects, and the traditional worship service experience.

I can catch that truck.

That clown wants some ice cream BAD!

But I digress. I set out to write about convergence, and I must make good on that promise.

Today we were studying the 16th chapter of the gospel of John, in which Jesus begins to explain the transition between His physical ministry and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Concerned that the disciples might fall away, He exhorted them (in chapter 15) to remain connected to Himself, as the Vine to their Branches. We speculated about how the disciples must have felt, exchanging a solidly-present Jesus for an invisible Spirit “for their own good”, according to Jesus.

One thing led to another, and we began talking about the way that, as good servants and citizens of Heaven, we persevere and endure trouble and hardship for our King for the good of the Kingdom as a whole, not necessarily for our own comfort or enjoyment. We talked about Paul’s word picture of running a race, and how it serves as such a good metaphor for the Christian experience.

Less than an hour later, our pastor preached on Hebrews 12, with a primary focus on this verse:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

BANG! Convergence!

Bang - that's scary!

“Daddy, did you say a bad word?”

Sitting in my usual pew, I noticed a new banner hanging near the front of the sanctuary. The image portrayed a runner, bursting through a finish-line tape as he came through wide open, heavenly gates. The caption was something like “Be a champion for Christ”, and so I nudged Kathy. “That’s what I want to be,” I whispered.

BANG! Convergence!

It is just one more of the cool ministries of the Holy Spirit, to further cement the truth that He reveals during Sunday School by affirming it again in the worship service. I would say that it is rare that a Sunday goes by, and we fail to find a connection between the sermon and what we studied in class — and I’m pretty sure that the pastor and I aren’t comparing notes.

As we studied today in John 16:

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth …

We serve a great God.

Tim

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