Shannon Yee

So, this week Pastor Fred preached on Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

He challenged us to take this week to spend our time and energy in conversation with God – listening & talking (ie. reading the Bible, being still before God, praying) rather than watching television or being online. So, I’ve accepted the challenge, and therefore will not be conforming to the pattern of this world, at least for this week and will be offline. I hope you will enjoy your week and will spend a little extra time reading God’s Word and allowing Him to transform your life and renew your mind!

This is the kind of faith that just accepts things because without really needing lots of intellectual reasoning or good logic or tangible proofs – or so they say.

My child does not have this kind of faith. She often tells me that God is not here and can’t help us because she can’t see him. Eyes peering all around, she cannot find him anywhere, so he can’t be here with us.

Yet, she is currently laying her bed singing “Father, I adore you and I lay my life before you. How I love you.” It is a beautiful, calm, soothing song that we often sing before bed, so just a lullaby…

This is something that I really struggle with in parenting (along with so many other things): wanting to control how my kids turn out. I know in my head that the choices they will make as they get older will definitely be influenced by Brian and I, but we really have little say in how they will ultimately live their lives. I struggle with not making one of my main goals in parenting to raise kids that love God. I can live as an example, but I cannot make it a goal for them to feel a certain way… Instead, one of my goals is for them to know God’s love for them. Although, I pray that both of these things will take place in their lives!

The verses that I pray over them regularly are: Philippians 1:9-11 9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. and Ephesians 3:16-19 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(The Ephesians passage is also part of the theme of Adventures in Mothering for MOPS for this coming year, which I am really excited about. And as a side note, if you are free on Friday mornings this fall/winter, we’d love for you to join our group if you are pregnant or have a child who is in Kindergarten or younger or as a MOPPETS worker with the kids!)

Thanks to my friend Cheryl, I started reading Angie’s blog, about the pregnancy and loss of their baby girl, Bring the Rain and loving the song by Mercy Me of the same name. This summer the Bible study that has been selected is about suffering. I have so many things to be thankful for and cannot think of anything at all to complain or even want. Yet, with this great season of plenty and joy, I can’t help but wonder what is around the bend. Whatever it is, I know that I serve a great God who loves me and will provide no matter what happens, but still I wonder and hope that it’s just the pessimist in me that is even questioning.

We picked up our second 1/2-bushel of produce as part of a CSA farm share and also got some strawberries, asparagus and carrots from another farmer this morning. Our produce so far has consisted of radishes, zucchini, yellow squash, mixed lettuce greens, collard greens, spinach, broccoli, and a gigantic head of cabbage as well as a dozen delicious eggs.

I have found all the food to be top rate in taste as well as enjoy getting a weekly email update from the farm with what is happening there. I don’t usually like radishes, but these were pretty good. The spinach, lettuce and zucchini tasted great to me and the greens were even good sauteed in garlic and olive oil. We didn’t use the cabbage yet and am not really sure what to do with it as I am not a fan of cole slaws… The broccoli was used in a pasta dish with the other veggies and some pepperoni, oil and garlic that I will probably make again, since it was quick, simple and yummy. Last week, I also tried this with the addition of spinach and really enjoyed it tossed with spaghetti.

If you have any fabulous, easy recipes with these ingredients (that are also dairy-free), I’d love to try them!

Appetizer

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist? Pessimist

Soup

What is your favorite color of ink to write with? Purple

Salad

How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them? A couple times a year, I go to the salon with gift cards and enjoy every second of it.

Main Course

Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it? Does an eBay auction count… otherwise, not one thing.

Dessert

In which room in your house do you keep your home computer? Kids’ playroom/office/dining room – it’s the room that originally was the 3rd bedroom. We used it as a dining room when we moved in and converted it to a playroom when toys started taking over the house.

Appetizer
When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?
I rarely drink pop, but when I do it is Diet Caffeine-Free Coke (or orange pop) from a can.

Soup
What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?
Bravo’s Top Chef, but sadly we don’t have cable anymore and youtube got rid of all the episodes there.

Salad
Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.
My true, if cheesy, answer is my hubby, Brian. He really is brilliant, not just in brain-smarts, but artistically too with a brilliant sense of humor!

Main Course
Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?
I work 7 24-hour days, but it doesn’t save much money. My husband works 5 10+ hour days, but I’d be very willing for him to work 4 days instead, especially if it also saved us money.

Dessert
If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?
Emogirl