Faith - It's a Vivas Thing!

Mar 15 2009

I’m so excited, I can hardly wait!

I really am! Easter is just a few short weeks away, and that means it's time for our annual Easter Potluck Party! My hubby will slow cook brisket all night long in preparation for our feast. I'll clean like a mad woman in the days ahead. The kids have already started talking about it.

"Mom, we're having our Easter Party this year, right?"
(Last year I had a hysterectomy the week before Easter, so my concerned hubby canceled our party. It was the right thing to do, but I sure missed it!)

Yes, we're having our Easter party! I spent the better part of today making the invitations. Did I mention how excited I am? I feel like a little kid right before opening a great big gift!

Imagine a home filled to the brim with all of your friends and family and their children, all of them bringing their favorite dishes to celebrate with you after a morning at church. The air is filled with the aroma of the most delicious brisket, mixed with the scents of home baked goods. The backyard is full of lawn chairs and blankets, people everywhere laughing and enjoying themselves. The children are chasing each other around, giggling as they climb the various trees.

Once the main part of the feast is over, the children are gathered into the living room to listen to a story about our Savior or make crafts for fun. While they're inside, the adults are outside hiding dozens and dozens of Easter treats wherever they can find room. The bravest adults will venture into the trees to hide the eggs from the older kids, while others might just drop them on the ground for the youngest one. Others will walk around with their cameras, snapping shots of whatever catches their eye.

And then it's time. The children gather at the back door with their various bags and baskets, waiting to be let loose while the adults go over the rules. Little people, easy eggs; big kids, harder eggs. Don't be greedy, no more than a dozen please. And then they're off!

Honestly, you can't tell who is having more fun, the adults or the children! When the next to last egg is finally found (there's always the egg that stays in hiding), the real relaxing begins as we stuff ourselves with the various desserts of the day and talk happily amongst each other.

Finally, families will head home, exhausted, full and content.

And me? I'll be thrilled to have spent such a special day with so many special people.

Mar 08 2009

Laughable Moment #2

Not a whole lot of laughing this week with sick kids, but the Drama Queen came up with a funny one today. We were sitting around the table at lunch talking about how Bible study went this morning. I had stayed home with the two sick ones while the older children went to church with dad. I didn't get to teach the class this morning that I was REALLY looking forward to teaching. It was such a great study! Anyway, after discussing Mother Theresa, using your home as a homeless shelter and more, the drama queen pipes up.

"Mom, it's kinda nice that you get to be with them (meaning the two teenagers) at church and at home. This means that you can correct them at home and at church!"

Guess it was kind of a "you had to be there moment," but for those of us sitting around the table we got quite the laugh out of it!

On a side; I'm so blessed with teenagers who actually want me to be a part of their youth and enjoy my teaching rather than trying to run away from me!

Mar 05 2009

Steven’s Soup, In Memory of Joshua Stevens

Art, Josh, & Mike

I can't believe it's been six months today since Joshi went home to be with our Lord. We miss him so much. Drew, Barb, Shelbie and Sammie, we love you so much and pray for you daily; you are never far from our thoughts and prayers.

For my friends and others who are reading this blog, today is Joshi's Day. We've kind of made a little tradition where on the 5th of the month we make a cheesy potato soup for the Stevens to help them get through the day. My kids LOVE this soup and look forward to it each month. They start asking for it a few days before, knowing that Mom is going to be making this soup. The other day, I was telling Barb that my kids were asking if I was going to make the Steven's soup. We kind of laughed and said that is how it should be. It is the Stevens Soup, because it has so much love poured into it for the Steven's family and whenever we eat it, we smile and remember Joshi and what he meant to us.

So, I thought I'd post my recipe, which started out as a recipe from Allrecipes.com and grew into much more.

Ingredients

Love, as much as you can put into it

1/2 cup butter (I use earth balance to keep this dairy free)
2 qts organic chicken broth
1 diced sweet onion
5 lb bag red potatoes, peeled, chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 12 oz tub sour cream ( I use tub Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream)
1 8oz tub cream cheese (I use tub of Tofuttie Better Than Cream Cheese)
1 heaping tsp dill (fresh is best)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup chives (fresh is best)

Place onions and potatoes into a large pot. Add chicken broth, garlic, cayenne, pepper, and salt and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes with a potato masher (or a larger spoon thingy) until there are small little chunks of potato mixed in. Add butter, sour cream and cream cheese, chives and dill and simmer for about 15 minutes. If soup is a little watery, you can add in a bit of potato starch to thicken it up.

For those who can have dairy, top off your bowl with colby jack or cheddar cheese and enjoy.

But before you take a bite, please remember Barb, Drew, Shelbie and Sammie in your prayers…and if you knew Joshi, share a few memories as you sit around your table eating the Stevens Soup!

Joshua Dennis Stevens
1995-2008

I am Josh
by Josh Stevens

I am Athletic – like a precise machine, running smoothly and efficiently.
I am Competitive – like the sun, fighting to shine through the clouds on a cloudy day.
I am Fun Loving – like a circus star, wanting to give joy to others.
I am Kind Hearted – like a favorite family pet, wanting to give love to all.
I am Persistent – like a skilled quarterback, never giving up till the ball scores.
I am Obedient – like an athlete responding to his coach.
I am Respectful – like a player accepting of the ref's call.
I am Beautiful – like a gem stone, with beauty for all to see.

Mar 02 2009

Dropping it with Joy

This weekend hubby and I helped take a group of teenagers to a youth conference in Phoenix, AZ. Picture four adults and 27 teenagers, loud and screaming. Picture a few thousand teenagers pushed into the Dodge Theater, complete with concerts, bible study, drama, etc…and you get a better view of our weekend. Picture taking these same youth walking the streets of Phoenix to share their faith while they collect can goods for the Phoenix Rescue Mission; praying and talking with complete strangers about their relationships with Christ. An amazing weekend, indeed! We were blessed, even with the lack of sleep and craziness of the weekend.

Sunday, as we headed home exhausted from our weekend, we stopped at a gas station to fill up the vans and grab snack for the trip home. As I was about to climb into my van with my drinks, I managed to drop one of them. Glass and juice shattered everywhere! I kind of stood there for a minute in shock, laughed, and then headed back into the gas station to find someone with a broom to help clean up the shattered glass. When I got to the counter I explained to the clerk what had happened. A lady next to me exclaimed, "She really did; I saw her! If it had been me, I would have been mad and cussing, but I noticed her because she dropped it with joy!"

"Dropped it with Joy!"

As I drove home, I continued to think about what the lady had said. Dropped it with Joy! And then, I started thinking, "What if we dropped those things we need to let go of, those little (and big) things that God wants us to let go of…what if we just dropped them with joy?"

Too often, we struggle enough with just letting go and giving to God. I visualize a prayer box. Once we give those over to God, we are not supposed to take them back right? Yet, too often we continue to worry and fret and even try and take them back! What if, instead, we just dropped them in with joy! Instead of continuing to worry, we should rejoice that God is in control. Maybe then, we could look forward to just dropping the heavy stuff with joy in our hearts, knowing that God is in control and willing to carry that load for us!

Feb 27 2009

Following Him

It's been kind of a crazy week, but when you have a large family full of pets, why expect things to go smoothly, right? It started out as one of those days when you have to keep your priorities straight. We have an older friend who's been sick and is in a rehabilitation home. B-Boo and I had gone to see him the night before and he never knew we were there. The Drama Queen had wanted to go then, but I told her I'd see how he is and then possibly bring her the next morning before we got on with our day.

Well, yesterday was that morning. We're about to head out of town with our youth group and so I had a lot of stuff to do and a little time to do it in. I had to be finished by one because I needed to get the older kids home from school, one had a doctor appointment, then we had swim lessons, I still needed to get all of us packed and so on. I really did not have time to make another trip to the rehabilitation home. I thought to myself that he was probably still sleeping and would not even realize we were there again. I had pretty much made up my mind that when I went downstairs, I'd let the Drama Queen know we would go visit him when we got back in town.

About that time, she showed up upstairs instead. For once, she was ready to go. And while I'd been upstairs taking a shower and getting dressed, apparently she'd been downstairs making a get well card for our dear friend. It was beautiful, too. All decked out with hearts and glitter and a smiley face. She wanted to know if she could please sign my name to it, too.

And that's when I remembered my Bible Study that I'm teaching. It's all about teaching our youth how to follow Christ. It's really easier than we make it out to be. That's what I told them. I also challenged them to do something this week to follow Him in motion. I told them it could be as simple as sending someone a card, but to make sure they did something. And here I was, thinking about MY busy life instead of doing exactly what I'd challenged our teens to do! But the Drama Queen got it all by herself.

So we headed out to the rehab home. And our friend was gone when we got there. We found him. He was awake and alert and in physical therapy! He was not able to talk to us, but the minute we walked in a huge smile lit up his face. His wife was there, also, so we got to visit with her a little bit. The kids were able to help our friend with his physical therapy. When he'd zone out, the Drama Queen would get his attention again and ask him to try and touch her hand. Such a simple thing really, and so hard for our friend to do, but he was willing to try when he saw that sweet little girl encouraging him. So we walked our friend out to say goodbye and then went back in to help some more with the physical therapy. Both the man and the Drama Queen took helping to task. We'd moved on to colors now, so they'd encourage him to move his hand towards whatever color he called out. We stayed for a while longer and then headed out to our day.

And a crazy day it did end up being. Things went wrong in our normal craziness, but we managed to get through it anyway. At the last minute, with packing still needing to be done and dogs needed to be bathed, we found one of our pups had an ear infections. This meant a late night trip to the vet and more craziness.

But I went to bed last night, not stressed with all I did not get accomplished. I was not so worried about what I still needed to do in the morning before we left. Instead, I went to bed thanking God last night for my special children. It was a little girl with a big heart who reminded me just how simple it really is to follow Him.