33 Blessings - #5 My Salvation

My parents are both Christians so I went to church pretty much from the time I was born. The first church I remember attending is First Alliance in Mansfield, OH. We went there from the time I was 18 months until I was 11. At some point when I was very young (about 4) I made the decision to personally trust in Jesus Christ for my salvation. While I am sure that I did not understand all the finer points of doctrine at such a young age, I accepted it with child-like faith. Since that point I have been a constant "work-in-progress." God has been teaching me who He is and who He wants me to be. I believe that my salvation comes from the grace of God which I receive through my faith in the death of Jesus Christ as atonement for the sins which I have committed.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (New International Version)⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

My favorite verse is Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

When it came to choosing a bead to represent my salvation I wanted something really significant. I finally chose to use spacer beads that I would place between all the other beads. This is really symbolic since my salvation impacts every other aspect of my life. 

33 Blessings - #4 My Sister

I have to laugh as I write this post because my sister told me that she checks for updates to my blog like 80 times a day. She knew that she was the next blessing, but she is driving to the place where they are moving and will be on the road when this posts. Sorry I didn't get it up sooner, Rach!

My sister, Rachel, had been a constant companion since the day she was born when I was 3 years 7 months old. I didn't always appreciate that companionship as much as I do now. We were 4 years apart in school. This didn't really lead to closeness growing up since we were rarely in the same school (and explains why I wanted my girls to be born closer together). However our friendship has evolved as we've gotten older. 

 

Rachel and I in 1981(?). Gotta love my bowl haircut!

We fought A LOT when we were younger. I remember we she was little she would climb on my back when I was watching TV and pull my hair. As we got a little older, she would crawl in bed with me at night when she was scared and I would kick her and try to get her to leave. We could get kind of violent with each other! We lived together in an apartment for a year after I finished college and she finished high school. My husband likes to remind me of the time when he and my sister's boyfriend (now husband) had to come over to our apartment to break up a fight between the two of us. Thankfully, we don't fight like that anymore.

Rach & I at my wedding in 2000. She caught the bouquet (we rigged it) and got married the following year.

Rachel and I are different in so many ways. She is outgoing and very social whereas I am more introverted and don't mind being alone. I don't really know how to explain the other differences, but rest assured they are there. However, we are alike in many ways too. I love how I can go to her house or she can come to mine and we can cook in each others' kitchens and instinctively know where everything is because we just think alike in that way. When she was commuting to Akron for college and I was home with two little girls we would talk on the phone for 30 minutes to an hour each day. 

Rach, Mom, & I last December

We support and encourage one another. When my husband and I were going through a very difficult time in our lives (more on that in another post), she dropped everything and came and stayed at our house for a week to help me take care of Sierra. I so appreciate her love and support and humor. Rachel was always the one that would have our whole family in stitches growing up. I think I appreciate that in my Raquel so much because it reminds me of Rachel. I am so thankful for her spunk and fervor, love and laughs, encouragement, and just knowing that she is there! I will miss her when she and her family move in a few weeks, but I know that there will be some long phone calls! Love you sis!

My sis and her family at Easter this year

The bead that represents my sis. I chose pink because it is her favorite color.

33 Blessings - #3 The Konves Family

 My mom's parents were the grandparents that I saw the most growing up. From age 1.5 to almost 12 we lived only about 15 minutes from them. They were the ones that were there for all the school plays and birthday celebrations.

Me with Grandma & Grandpa

My grandma also took care of my sister and me for many years while my parents were at work.  I remember hiding grandma's shoes or her purse when it was time for her to go home because we didn't want her to leave. She used to come to our house early in the morning before our parents left and make us yummy breakfasts. I remember dressing grandpa us with bows from presents at birthdays and Christmas. He was so funny! He loved to whistle and sing and I remember him "cleaning" glasses with his beard. They took me and my cousin to Disney World when we were 5. I remember going to Circus World and getting our faces painted for a parade. My grandparents used to host most of the family dinners. I remember bartering with my cousins for candy after the Easter Egg hunts. I have such wonderful memories of being at their house for holidays, eating grandpa's mashed potatoes and grandma's yummy turkey and dressing. Some of my favorite recipes are ones my grandma makes.

Holiday Dinner circa 1985

Grandpa and Grandma with Uncle Greg

On this side of the family I also have my great grandma Miller. I spent a lot of time with her growing up. She used to babysit us when my parents went out some Friday nights. She also came to church with us. She is still with us at the 95 and the girls and I go visit her nearly every Wednesday at the nursing home. 

Rachel & I with Great Grandma Miller in about 1983

5 Generations - 2007

I don't see my aunt, uncles, cousins as often as I would like, but I have wonderful memories growing up with Brandi, Candie, Julie, Ian, Nick, and Ross.  

Uncle Greg, Aunt Lori, Brandi, Ian, and Ross - 1996

Uncle Doug, Candie holding Antonio, and Nick in 1996

The cousins (minus Candie), Great Grandma, and Grandpa in 2000

The bead that represents the Konves side of my family

33 Blessings - #2 Roelant Family

Well, the flood has dissipated. I am so thankful for Mike and all the equipment he lent us to dry out our home after this happened. Now that life has returned to some kind of normal state I want to get back to my series. If you want to know more about it, read this.

The second blessing that I want to highlight in my life is my dad's side of the family. My grandparents had 16 biological children (no twins or triplets) - 13 boys and 3 girls - in a 23 year span.

My grandparent and their children in 2004

They are all still living except for my Uncle Don who passed away at a few days old. They have 48 grandchildren and 36 (so far) great grandchildren.

My grandparents and their grandchildren and great grandchildren in 2004

  They have been married for 66 years. They were (and still are) farmers who instilled in each of their children the values of faith, family, and hard work. They love each of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren individually and are faithful with birthday cards and Christmas gifts. I know that I am lifted up in prayer often. They are getting older, but still do as much as they can. My grandpa turns 90 next week!

I can remember going up to the farm for a week for several summers. I would help grandpa drive the tractor, work the farm stand selling sweet corn, and help grandma in the kitchen. I have fond memories of playing with my cousins. Not everyone has the privilege of growing up in a large family. It really can be a lot of fun. When I graduated high school two of my cousins did as well and we had a joint graduation party. While I was pregnant in 2003 so were three of my cousins and two of my aunts. I had a joint baby shower with my cousin Debi who gave birth to her daughter just three days after Sierra was born. I am so thankful for the entire Roelant family and the love and support they have given me over the years!

The bead that represents the Roelant Family

Sanity Break

We take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important sanity check. Can I just say AHHHHHH! I am missing my days of working in a restaurant (I don't say that too often) because when you got frustrated you could just go in the walk-in refrigerator and scream as loud as you want and no one could hear you. Well, today I am screaming on the inside so as not to cause the neighbors to call 9-1-1. I'm sure you're thinking, "what's the story here?" so here goes...

On Wednesday nights I lead a small group of high school girls. I normally have to be at church at 6:15pm, but last night was our local school's homecoming parade and two of my girls were in it. So I left the house right after dinner (about 6pm) to go to the parade and then church. James was going to bring our girls and Sierra's friend for church at around 7pm. He was trying to get them ready to go and told Raquel to go to the bathroom and then come to the van. Meanwhile, Sierra's friend arrived so James just stuck his head back in the house to call Raquel out to the van. Little did we know what we would find later that evening.

James brought her home from church at about 8:30 and called me. His words, "Raquel flooded our basement!" sent me reeling. I was picturing the stacks of pictures and photo albums I had left sitting out after going through them to prepare for my talk last week. Also, we have our desktop computer, a TV, all my craft supplies, our guest bed, and all of our storage down there. 

Turns out that Raquel had put a paper towel in the sink AND left the HOT water running the entire time we were at church (not quite two hours).

I called my dad to have him come over and help us. He told us to call my sister's husband's sister's husband Mike who does restoration after property damage. He headed over to our house too. We managed to get it all at least on the road to repair. So I don't get sucked into the spiral of negativity amidst the noise of 5 fans running in my house right now, I thought I would make a list of things I am thankful for in this experience.

1. Timing: We caught it relatively quickly. Thankfully we were not gone all day with the water running. That would have been catastrophic.
2. Help: My dad lives nearby and was able to bring a dehumidifier, fan, and help with the manual labor.
3. Mike: We know Mike and he was willing to come over to our house at 9pm with an industrial blower fan and he is bringing more stuff today. He also was able to tell us what steps were a priority and what to do
4. Location: It happened in the girl's bathroom and not ours. Their bathroom has vinyl flooring and ours has carpet.
5. Floor Vents: There is a floor vent in the girls' bathroom. It acted as a drain to get a lot of the water out of that room. Mike said just turning the fan on on the furnace would get the air out of the vents.
6. Carpet Cleaners: I own one and it was a huge help. I just turned it on the water extraction mode and sucked a whole lot of water out of the carpet.
7. Sleep: The girls' room, which is directly across from their bathroom, only got a small area of the carpet wet so they were actually able to sleep in it last night (with 3 fans running).
8. Rugs: I own some really heavy rugs. Our basement is unfinished, but we have it set up so it has carpet and wall-coverings in about 70% of it. The area where the water came down was our storage area. On the perimeter of that area I have some rugs. These rugs absorbed a lot of the water. My pictures were actually on the opposite end of one of the larger ones, but it acted like a dam and stopped the water from getting to them.
9. Little sisters' friends night: Because Sierra needed a flashlight for church, James had come downstairs to find one. He had moved his sleeping bags in such a way that they caught a lot of the water and funneled it away from our stuff in storage.
10. Floor Drains: We have a drain in our basement floor less than 10 feet from where the bulk of the water came down.
11. Attitude: I am thankful that I was not upset at my husband. He was upset at himself, but I knew that it could have easily happened to me. It would not have helped anyone if I had been angry so I am so thankful that God allowed me to remain calm (could it have been that lesson on peace that I had just taught at small group?).
12. Protection: I am thankful that nothing of great importance or value was ruined.
13. James' Work: I am thankful that James was already working in Wooster today so he did not have to leave until 8:15 as opposed to his normal 7:15 departure time.
14. Finances: While it won't be fun to pay the water and electric bills connected to this experience, I am thankful that God has blessed us with some savings so we will not have to go into debt.
15. Blessings: I am so thankful that I have a home to live in, food to eat, cars to drive, a family that is healthy and many other blessings. When I compare this occurrence to what many people, especially in the developing world, have to deal with on a daily basis, my light and momentary troubles pale in comparison.

Well thanks for listening to me vent. I feel a lot better now that I have put this into perspective. I hope your week is going better than mine!

33 Blessings - #1 My Parents

For an explanation of this series, please read this.

I really struggled with the order of these blessings. I knew that there was no way that I could put them in order of importance or impact on my life; there are just too many important ones. So I decided on a rough chronological order. So today we begin with the people that brought me into this world - My parents.

I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home where my parents loved me and loved the Lord. They were (and are) a constant source of love and support. They have been married for 37 years now and have two daughters, two sons-in-law, and three grandgirls (as my dad calls them). They are both social workers, though dad is "retired" now. He enjoys wood-working and gardening and keeps us supplied with fresh produce all summer long. My mom, after years of doing often court mandated chemical dependency counseling, is now an independent counselor enjoying a variety of voluntary clients. I am so grateful for them and the influence they have had on my life.

My parents on their wedding day - August 4, 1973

My family in 1984. My mom was 32 (same age as I am now) and I was 7 (the same age Sierra is now).

 

My parents a few years ago

  

The bead that will represent my parents:

Sometimes the bead's color or composition will represent something about the person or experience, and sometimes not. This time I chose a pink bead because it is my mom's favorite color.

33

It seems like such a nice neat number. It was the number of years that our Lord walked this earth. It is also the age that I will be next month. When I was younger I am sure that 33 seemed so old, but I feel so young! Now I look at my parents and think that they are young too! I guess our definition of "old" changes as we age. 

Anyhow, last week I spoke at an event at our church. There were 45+ women there and I was terrified. Thankfully I had many wonderful friends and family praying me through the experience. I was supposed to share my testimony and then teach a jewelry making class. I was desperately trying to think of a way to combine the two. Then it came to me (thanks, God!). I decided to make a bracelet with 33 beads to represent 33 blessings in my life. These blessings may not all be positive memories, but things that helped me become who I am, and, hopefully, who God wants me to be. So, today I am beginning a new blog series where I will share with you these 33 blessings. God is truly faithful and I hope He is glorified through it! 

Of False Starts & Rest Breaks

It kind of felt like a false start. If you ever ran track you know what that is. It is where someone starts coming out of the blocks before the gun goes off and everyone has to turn around and start over. Anyway, yesterday felt like that. Yesterday I sent my baby to kindergarten.

However, because our school district does a staggered start, she was back home today. This messed with me emotionally. I went through all the sadness of letting her go yesterday and then she is back again. I made up my mind to make it a low key kind of day, especially since she got up at 6am this morning. She played by herself most of the morning while I tried to get caught up on laundry and other stuff. I let her watch TV since she will not be able to when she goes to school all day. Then, just as I was heading to get some laundry, she walked up with a book for me to read to her. 

 image from amazon.com

It was THE book. Until I read this book, I had been doing fine with her going to kindergarten. I thought I was ready. Then I got this book from the library on Saturday. I had checked out every book they had on going to kindergarten the week before, but they had just gotten this one in so I could not check it out yet. I placed hold and then went to pick it up when the girls turned in the final cards from Summer Reading Club. I read it that night and then gave it to my husband. We both got a little emotional. Instead of talking about what kindergarten will be, this book talks about growing up in the years prior to going to school (when you were one...two...three...etc). It is really cute. It reminds me that she is growing up.

So I stopped. We plopped on her bed and I read her the book. We cuddled. I chose to see her request for what it was. Not an interruption, but a rest break. A gift. A reminder that come Thursday she will not be there for me to read to during the day.

Today I am linking up for the first time with Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky

Playing Catch-Up

It is very difficult for me to believe that it has been 2 years since I have blogged. I guess that life got in the way and I make no apologies for that. When I last posted our oldest was starting Kindergarten. Now she is in 2nd grade and our baby went to Kindergarten today. Time surely goes by quickly! I have gotten a lot of "what are you going to do with yourself now that all your kids are in school?" questions over the past few weeks. I don't really have an answer. I may try to find some sort of part-time work, but for now I am happy to be a wife and mom. A lot of "stuff" has fallen by the wayside over the last couple years. I really need to get caught up...

I feel like that is the story of my life...

Getting caught up...

     ...on blogging

     ...on cleaning

     ...on laundry

     ...on organizing

     ...on our scrapbooks

     ...on reading my Bible

     ...in my prayer life

     ...with my friends

     ...with my family

     ...with my life

sometimes I feel that I can get so caught up in getting caught up that I miss what is going on right now! I am resolving to live in the moment more often. Yes, I am still planning on getting "caught up" on my laundry tomorrow, but I hope that I can be more aware and willing to stop and enjoy the simple things along the way. Will you join me?