new location

I already posted this on facebook, but I am really excited about the new location for our Sunday gatherings! This is a link to the communitas website. You can check it out. Follow the links to check out our new meeting place. There is even a little video clip.

God is good.

good weekend get togethers

Well, if I do say so myself, we had some fun and successful gatherings this weekend.

Saturday night we hosted a euchre party. It was a really fun time. I already can't wait to do it again! I so appreciate the length of the commute people took to get out here (from Jersey, Upper west and upper east side, white plains, and the rest of y'all). And a shout out to our friends with vehicles who piled others in to give rides home!

I should mention that Timm unapologetically took the majority of everyone's money. But, Heather walked away with a few bucks, Brad made his initial investment back, and Taylor went home with some quarters. Keith was presented with the honorable necklace of disgrace. You wore it well.

Yes, if any are willing to trek out to Brooklyn again, we will definitely be planning another euchre party for the future.

I was a bit whooped on Sunday. Not only did the euchre festivities stretch into the late evening/early morning hours.....but I decided it would be a good idea to go out after euchre with a few ladies to a local Karaoke bar. Whew....late night. Lots of fun.

So, Sunday, after enjoying our gathering at church, and lunch afterwards, and a jog in the park while the girls rode their bikes.....we hosted another get together.

My girls had their first "girl's club" at our place. It was a great time. My girls and a couple of friends prepared and enjoyed a meal together, played some games (minute to win it style), participated in an activity/lesson from a book called "Everybody tells me to be myself, but I don't know who I am" and then did a craft together. They had a great time, and so did I.

My girls have really been craving some time like this with other girls. Time to have fun, talk about issues and ideas, contemplate beliefs and values, learn from biblical truths, and just build deeper friendships. I prayed a lot about doing this group. It ended up that none of Alli's friends could come, and only a couple of Liv's friends. And, that was just fine. It was a nice group of four and I look forward to our time together in the weeks to come.

So, like I said, fun gatherings this weekend.

Sad to say goodbye to the week we had off for winter break. Had a TON of fun as a family. Several dates with Timm, several playdates for the girls, several family outings....good times!

Would include pics...if I could find the camera. Hmmm

A King? Who needs a King?

This week, I was listening to Toby Mac "I was made to love" and I had this awesome visual during the song of me standing before a huge cross just pouring my whole self out in worship. Then I listened to "City on it's knees" and I was visualizing every person in NYC falling on their knees in honor and worship of God.

I realized that, although I find that image to be so awesome, some would find it to be disturbing. Just the thought of everyone bowing down in surrender would completely rub against the grain for most Americans. I feel that, as a culture, as a country, we do not like the idea of having a King. A Ruler. Shoot, that's the very reason our democracy exists. We didn't like the idea of being under a "Kingship". And, in our very fiber, we feel the need to have freedom, independence, power. Of course, that's great. We do have freedom and it's a wonderful blessing.

But, it struck me recently how much I personally resist the idea of having a King that I bow down to, worship, submit to, trust and obey. That goes against all that I've been taught! We learn to set goals, work hard to achieve goals, take responsibility for ourselves, don't let anyone get in our way, etc. All of these being wonderful idea. But, the idea of being submissive? The idea of trusting and obeying a "Lord"? A "Master"? That does NOT sit well. That has such a negative connotation.

I guess that's why we have developed out own version of Christianity. We've sorta squeezed it into our independent, self sufficient, consumer-driven lives as a "bonus". We can still have our independence, power, dreams, goals, achievements, personal comforts and self-focus. But, we can even have icing on the cake! We can invite God in to join us and bless us additionally! What? Where did this idea come from? Not from the bible.

The awesome Jesus I know from scripture invites us, with pure LOVE, into a relationship where He is Lord. We follow. We worship. We submit. We consider HIM greater than ourselves. He leads in His perfect knowledge, perfect love, perfect power, and perfect dominion. We can live in the fallen, sinful world, worshipping and serving the Kingdom of Jesus, knowing that we have hope because His kingdom is perfect, has no sin, and will reign forever.

BUT...will we submit? Hmmm.....it's HARD to submit, humble myself, worship a King. It takes surrender of my own power. And, more than anything, it takes TRUST. I must trust that this king is worthy and trustworthy. If I'm not sure I can trust him, forget it.

I've been reading through the gospels, and it just amazes me. It's crystal clear. Over and over, Jesus loves people UNCONDITIONALLY. And, he invites people to follow Him. Plain and simple.....FOLLOW him. He never asks if He can be squeezed into their already full lives as an "extra thing". Nope.

And, he doesn't promise worldly comfort. In fact, he pretty much assumes his followers will be leaving that behind. Not only does he NOT promise comfort, He goes further and promises that His followers will be persecuted and will suffer. WHAT?

So, how does he get so many followers? He has thousands of people literally following him around. Is it because they heard he could heal and do miracles? Maybe.

But, I believe it is because He is God. And, God created humans to have a desire to know Him. We crave, deep down in our spirit, to know our creator. And our creator is not only powerful and incredible in his greatness,but, HE IS LOVE. So, when people SAW and HEARD Jesus, they were SEEING AND HEARING LOVE!

That need we all have, way deep down to love and be loved.....Jesus offers it. But, the price is so steep! Not everyone feels they can afford it. What's the price? Everything. All your stuff, your independence, self sufficiency, your loved ones, your plans, your trust, your allegiance...all of it. Hand it over. And, in return, you can know LOVE and the creator of it all.

But, can we hold on to all of our "stuff" and still get to know Jesus? I think we can, a little bit. We can squeeze him in a bit. But, until we are willing to trust, follow, and obey, we don't experience that assurance of absolute LOVE and TRUSTWORTHINESS. He can only demonstrate his love and trustworthiness to the degree that we are willing to let him.

If he isn't our king, he can't demonstrate His power. We can learn about His power, read about it, listen to others talk about it, wonder why we can't experience it ourselves. But, until we SUBMIT to that power, we can't experience it for ourselves.

It's the amazing, loving gift of free will that God gave us. He created us with the ability to pursue Him or the ability to reject Him. He didn't create robots. He created us with the potential to open ourselves to His love. We get to choose. The invitation is always there.

A King? Who needs a King? Who needs a Lord? A Master? Well, I do. And, I have learned to find pure joy in worshipping Him!

That's Pun!

I am sitting here basking in the joy of good times, family, and lots of love.

We were not able to go to Florida as we had planned for our winter break. So, we decided to stay here in NYC, since we have not taken the time to do that as a family. To enjoy some time off at home. Ahhhh, good choice.

We talked some family into visiting! Even though they only had two days off work, and they had to break the drive up into four days to accommodate the star of the visit (our two year old niece), they did it! And we are so grateful!

Katie, Kelly, Izzy and Alyssa came to NYC. And, it was PUN. (Izzy says her "F" as a "P" right now, so we like to do it too). It might have been my girls who taught her to walk around repeating "I parted.....it was punny." However, the adults need to hold themselves responsible for repeating this particular phrase OVER and OVER all weekend! I'm not sure why we find the topic of having gas so stinkin hysterical. But, we do.

After church on Sunday, we said goodbye to our visitors as we ate some lunch and got ready for our Daytona 500 "party".

Timm has been looking forward to the kick off of this Nascar season. We invited some friends to come over, watch the race, get in on a bet, eat some junk, and hang out. Surprisingly, we only had about four takers. Where are all the Nascar fans? Apparently, not in NYC. Actually, it was a perfectly wonderful day. I had fun looking at old photo albums and showing off old hairstyles with my lady friends, Timm had a great time watching the race. In the end, Alli won the betting pool. And, I must say, I really enjoyed the last few laps of the race. Everyone else had taken off, and the girls were playing with a friend, and it was just Timm and I (me asking 50 questions about what was going on). Good times.

Yesterday, we enjoyed such a great evening out! The four of us went to the Met, where the girls sketched some ancient roman artifacts. Then we went to Serendipity. We had a gift certificate that had been sitting around for over a year! We had heard that their desserts are amazing, and we were pretty excited! We put our name in and it was over an hour wait. So, we went to Dylan's Candy Bar in the meantime. It was INSANE! Anyways, I can NOT believe we did this, but when we finally sat down in this adorable little place, my girls said they were hungry for dinner. Liv said she really felt like a salad. However, we had eaten before we left and we were really planning on indulging in the DESSERTS! So, what did we do? We talked our children into skipping salad or sandwich and eating DESSERT for dinner!!! Who does that? Ha! I can't believe we did that. It was AWESOME! I will let the picture speak for themselves. We definitely INDULGED.

Wow, this winter break sure is off to a good start. More fun things planned for the rest of the break, and enjoying the rest and relaxation as well.

Now, to attach the pictures!

Going green?

It struck me, once again, while visiting my folks in Michigan, that they have been the model of "going green" way before it was a hip little saying that referenced behavior that contributes to the care and concern for our natural resources on planet earth.

Now, I will be clear. They have never, to my knowledge, been motivated by the concern for our natural resources, but rather, the cost of the use of those natural resources. But, hey, who says that's not still "green" right?

All those strange and embarrassing things I had to admit our family did while growing up? Those things would be so cool now!

Some examples: We had solar heat panels installed on the roof of our home.

We separated our trash and only threw away cans and glass (however, rather than recycle the rest, we took it out back and burned it in a barrel) then we consolidated garbage with my grandma and only had the truck make one stop.

Rather than subscribing to the newspaper, we wait until the neighbor is finished reading it and they pass it along by dropping it in the paper box that was affixed to the mailbox for this purpose alone.

Reuse of all bags, boxes, and containers. And I mean all. baggies were washed and reused. Plastic cutlery lasted a lifetime by hand washing and reusing. Napkins were tossed after use, but those were always snagged from McDonald's or someplace anyways. I remember feeling so humiliated when I wasn't allowed to throw away my disposable paper lunch sack, but used it over and over until it finally split and the apple inside went rolling away.

parkay containers became freezer jam containers. Cool whip containers were Tupperware.

We had those high efficiency light bulbs way before anyone else.

We had a water conservation contraption on the shower head that only allowed a stream of water out at a time (picture holding your thumb over the end of a hose so only a stream comes shooting out) ahhh, refreshing feeling in the shower....watch your eyes!

If you left your radio playing or light on in a bedroom without being in there......well, let's just say you didn't do that!

My dad carpooled to work every day for almost 40 years.

We canned and froze our own vegetables and fruit, raised our own chickens (and a couple of hogs when I was really little), hunted for some of the meat (venison, rabbit, pheasant). We had a deep freezer in our basement that could easily fit 5 dead bodies and it was full. We had a pantry that looked like a fully stocked grocery store. Things were bought on sale, in bulk, and frozen or shelved with a date written on them in a magic marker.

OK, that's just a few things off the top of my head. I'm sure there are countless other things. And, in hindsight, I am SO glad they did all of these things (and still do). Because, regardless of their motivation (to save money) it has still reduced the carbon footprint of the Carlson clan.

And, I might add, that by saving all that money, they were able to buy the condo in Florida where they spend each winter (and invite us to visit and vacation for free!)

My parents.....going green. I might have been embarrassed as a kid, but now I am proud.

My Godmother

As most of my friends know, my Aunt Karin, who is also my Godmother, lost her battle with cancer last Friday and went to meet her Heavenly Father for eternal rest.

It has been such a bittersweet week all the way around. Last Thursday, January 27, I awoke to a dumping of snow so terrific that I immediately went to the computer to check on the status of school closings. Sure enough, no school for NYC! That was great, except that my friends were flying into town that evening to visit and spend a "girls weekend" in the city. I was afraid their flight would be delayed or cancelled.

We enjoyed the snow day and played outside and shoveled a ton! I even enjoyed a long lunch with my friend.

Later in the evening, I spoke on the phone with my Mom as she sat at my aunt's bedside with all of the other family members in Michigan. She held the phone up to my aunt's ear so I could say a few last words to her. She passed away that night....Peacefully, in her home, with my Dad and sister there with her. It really sucked that I was not there with them for those moments. But, I really felt peace about the fact that neither God nor my aunt would want me to spend a lot of time in regret and anxiety about something I could not change. So, I went ahead with my girl's weekend and had an absolutely marvelous time, knowing all along that I was honoring my aunt by living life to the full and finding joy in the blessings God has given me.

Meanwhile, while I'm out whooping it up with my friends all weekend, my husband (and I am not even going to start gushing about him, because there is NO WAY I could contain it in this post, or even in mere words. Let me just say that he is the BEST. THE BEST) planned my flight to MI. He used his airline rewards to get me a cheap ticket, and set everything up for me. After meeting my family at church Sunday and spending a couple of hours with them afterwards, I headed to the airport.

So bittersweet. I haven't carved out time like this for my immediate family in WAY too long. We visited, reminisced, cried, laughed, and shared together a lot.

We dug through boxes of old photos and memorabilia that dated as far back as the 1930's. We pieced together family stories and lineages. I had a great time reading my Grandpa's diary of his return visit to Sweden in 1957. He left there in 1922 when he was 17 years old. He returned for the first (and only) time in 1957 to visit his dying mother and to visit the grave of his sister and dad. I never met my grandpa, as he died at the age of 59, long before I was even born.

But, it was SO COOL to reflect on the lives of my recent ancestors. They had to endure some incredible hardships. Yet, they stuck it out. Who knows what marital struggles they had in the midst of such difficult lives. Yet, they were so tough. And, there I sat with my parents who are married 42 years and felt literally overwhelmed with blessings to have come from my family.

It was so special to celebrate the life of my aunt. She never married, never had children of her own. Instead, she chose a life of servitude to others. She was undivided in her passion for Jesus. He was her first love, and everyone knew it.

At her memorial Monday night, some of us got up and shared. I shared that, although she was my Godmother, she actually was a godmother to every niece and nephew, and everyone she met! She never talked to anyone without encouraging them to pray and reminding them that God loved them. Person after person stepped up to the microphone and shared, and each person felt that they were uniquely loved and special to "aunt karin". After a while, it became so clear that there was a common thread in what each person shared. She treated every one of us as the most special person. She told us each how special we were and never hesitated to encourage our walk with God. Wow. Not only that, but she truly put others first. Always. She was a servant.

It was a humbling time. I think we all realized that we took her for granted. But, we talked about how inspired we are to search out ways to be the "aunt karin" to others who may not be fortunate enough to have that influence in their lives.

I have to end with this. If you have heard it many times, that's fine...you can skim it. I know this is a long post. But, we sang this as a hymn at the conclusion of her funeral mass, and I had tears of joy as I remembered singing this song with her as a kid all the time. She even had it printed on her memory cards. And, she really lived it out.....It's the Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen