Stitch Fix: Why It Just Might Be the Way to Go!

You guys I have a little secret.  I have no style.  I am immersed in boy-this and boy-that and I don't remember the last time I had a mani-pedi.  I have lost the feminine side of myself along the way, succumbing to tennis shoes, yoga pants, and hog t-shirts.  I need to rediscover myself because down deep, I like to look nice.

But, this fashion decade!  I don't know what to do with it, you guys!  I enter stores and have no idea what to put with what.  Plus, I have flashbacks to my 80s when I go shopping.  Who said I was ready for neon, florals, and printed jeans?  Nope, not.  I need help.

I need a stylist.  But who has the moolah for that?  I need someone to shop for me cause I have a toddler and mounds of daily laundry and 6 mouths that always want to eat.  I need some nicer and timeless items that will replace the I-really-don't-like-you-but-I-bought-you-anyway-since-you-were-on-clearance-items.

Maybe what I need is Stitch Fix!

Here is the low down:

You sign up, fill out a profile about clothes you would enjoy and your body shape. I think I put "allow maximum coverage" on all areas.  Nope, no cleavage needed round these parts.  There is even space to tell your stylist what you are really looking for and problem areas you may have.  I told her I wanted to look cute but I needed breathable clothes that would work well (as in wash well) in a world of 4 boys.  She has her work cut out for her! I specifically requested two pair of jeans because I have no britches I am proud of!

Your stylist will go to work, they charge you a simple $20 style fee, and then ship you the cutest box containing 5 items to try.  (Shipping is free!  This is easier than driving to Targe'!)  You get three business days to decide what you love.  Whatever you don't love, goes back in the prepaid postage bag.  Easy peasy. The best part is that the $20 style fee goes towards whatever you decide to keep and if you keep it all, you get 25% off of everything!

Now, this is my favorite part!  If you refer someone, and they sign up using your referral number, you get $25 to spend on a future fix!  Free clothes?  Now that is even better than scouring the clearance racks!

I get my first "Fix" on February 4th so you guys come back and see the pics and tell me what to keep!  If you are interested in getting your own fix, you can sign up right here!

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/4625507

Let's be fashionable in 2015...and maybe have some free pieces along the way!

2015 Book Reviews!

It's a fresh new year and time for some book reviews said no one ever!  Well, we've been cooped up with flu and what-not so I've had a little extra reading time.  You may want to add these to your 2015 list!

1.  This book!  God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew



What an adventure!  I bought it for Cade for Christmas, trying to point him towards books that will have some eternal significance. Well, bless him, he is writing his "History Day" paper which is over 2000 words so far.  Since he has little reading time, I snatched it off his desk and devoured it.  It's been a long time since I read a non-fiction book that gripped me.  I was blown away!  If you are hungry to see God, this book is a great faith-building read.

2.  The Prisoner in the Third Cell by Gene Edwards



This is a fictional (but based on scripture) telling of what John the Baptist's life may have been like.  I love stories like this because it helps the characters really come alive.  They were human and had doubts, just like us.  This is a quick read, I wish it had been longer.  I took away one thing from this book: sometimes our God does not live up to our expectations.  What are we going to do in that crisis of faith?  This book was so encouraging, knowing giants of the faith (John the Baptist!) probably had moments where he questioned the very Savior he had spent his life preparing the way for.

3.  The Skinny Taste Cookbook by Gina Homolka



I asked for this little gem for Christmas.  I love to eat good food and well, I need to cut out unnecessary calories.  We have tried the oven baked chicken, vegetable fried rice, and crock pot Santa Fe chicken.  All the meals have been delish, but you can't compare them to fried chicken, take out Chinese, or Mexican fajitas.  I love having some "lower" calorie recipes to use throughout the week so I can splurge on a David's Burger on Friday nights.  {Complete with a Root Beer.} The photographer in me appreciates the amazing food pictures!


4.  The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser


If you need to get lost in a good fiction book, this is it.  It is the story of two girls and their sweet friendship that carries them through heartache.  The character development is rich and the mystery components kept me guessing until the end.  This book is full of good theology, too!

Saba (God's revealed meaning.)

Moop and Saba.

 

It was 7 years ago that I started this blog.  The littles were 7, 5, and 2. The baby hadn't even been thought up in our hearts yet.  I wanted a space where I could watch them grow.  Cause grow like weeds, they do.  I knew with my fleeting memory that I would need a place to freeze them in tiny increments, baby fat and all.  I wanted to record little childlike words like "moop" (milk) and "saba" (excuse me.)  The first post is here.

I was allowed one full month of blogging bliss until my world imploded in on itself.  My sister died. Not a single person left behind was prepared for the ramifications of that. 

God took my blog that day and started to morph it into what He intended for it to be all along...a place for my heart to beat on the keyboard as I questioned everything from His goodness to whether He really hears prayers.  Moop and Saba was all the sudden a holy ground of sorts where He would take me rich into His word and teach me who He really was.  Between the Word and the meager words I therapeutically needed to get down, healing began.

Over the past seven years, He has satisfied me over and over again with His true self.  No, He isn't cruel as I temporarily held on to. Yes, He hears every prayer, even the ones tucked away in the recesses of my heart.  Yes, there is purpose to everything and He graces us with the ability to release our "rights" to make sense of it all.

I wanted to tell you a fun little thing because sometimes we need to see that God is working.  All around, He is at work, whether you can see His fingerprints or not. 

Yesterday, this God whom I have come to delight in surprised me.

He told me that "Saba" (part of my blog's name) is a Hebrew word.

It means this:  satisfied, fed to the full, to have abundance

Seven years ago, I didn't care so much about the Hebrew definition of words in the Bible.  But, today I am slightly obsessed. God knew that seven years later, the Hebrew word "Saba" would delight me to no end.

Do you not just love Him?  I named my blog after kid-talk and He, at the same time, was naming it for what He was going to do with it.  His purpose through this small site was to start to reveal Himself and give me a place to jot it down so I could remember Him. 

Here I am, seven years later, satisfied. Satisfied with grace.  Satisfied with His Sovereignty and ways I don't grasp.  Satisfied with Him.

He is good and He can be trusted. He is at work, sometimes not revealing things until years later.  What a detailed and mysterious and heart-making-happy God we have.

He is quite fond of you.

The Brain Scan

We found out yesterday the second born doesn't have a brain tumor.  So, you know, that's good.

Two days ago, I watched as brave Eli entered the CT scan machine, the techs forcing me out of the room due to the mass amounts of radiation.  They shut the door and left me to the blinking red light above the door that screamed "CT scan in process."  Every time the light blinked, the machine pounded and whirled, to a rhythm that oddly matched my erratic heartbeat.

It's hard down here.

Daily, I have to remind myself that Jesus knows what it feels like to be us.

Mothering is hard work.  It takes releasing those babies straight over to the Almighty, in daily and second by second increments.  The thing is this:  we know God is good, but we don't know exactly how that goodness is going to be played out in our children's lives.  What if a brain tumor is what would have brought Him the most glory?  How would I have handled that?

So, it looks like we are saying yes to migraines.  For a 12 year old.  If God is entrusting Eli with these, will I handle it with grace?  How can I teach our children to pray for healing, but to be content and grateful if He doesn't decide to request that?  What if His plan is to be glorified in the pain?  I hope I can teach Eli these deeper spiritual truths, especially when all I want to do is shield him from anything that might hurt.

We have to let these babies grow.  They have to sooner or later experience the fact that this home in not our real one.  We have to allow the suffering so that they will crave the One who promises so much more. 

Eli is my child entrusted with the gift of mercy.  He feels and laughs and enters pain deeply.  He doesn't shy away from his emotions or his questions.  I pray that as the suffering of his life continues, the gift of mercy will grow exponentially as well.  I pray he grows in mercy as he grows in the understanding that evil took Paradise and shredded it into a war torn land.

We are broken.  But not forsaken.

We delight in a Savior who will make all things right.  No brain tumors. No lung cancer. No migraines. No anxiety. No grasping for air in the middle of the night.  No tears soaking the pillow.  No damaged relationships.  No sin.

He is coming back.

Glory.

{Pray He finds us faithful.}

Maturing Faith

Maturing Faith

{The below is a repost from something I wrote a couple of years ago while doing battle with fear.  They are words I need to hear right now and I hope they are encouraging to you as well!}

 

Is God Really Enough? (Maturing Faith Part 1)

I've had a question on my mind the past few days.  I am going to ask you that question, as well.  I thought I would take this week and see if we can find the answers.  Join me for a few days as we delve into what maturing faith looks like.  Here is the question:

No matter what comes your way regarding heartache and circumstances, do you think it is simply enough to have God by your side?

That is the question I have been tossing around.  At some moments, I scream that there is no way that His mere presence is all I need.  In times of doubt, I look at my fledgling faith and can give you a list a hundred miles long of things that I would love to add to His abiding presence.

Today, we are going to take a peek into Matthew 8:23-27.  Put on your boat shoes and find your fishing tackle, cause we are taking a little ride today.

"And when he (Jesus) got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him, saying, 'Save us Lord; we are perishing.' And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?' Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, 'What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?'"
Let's pick this little passage apart Lulu style, shall we?  Can I first say, that I feel like the disciples here?  In my current season of life, I feel like my faith is small.

The first thing I want to say to myself and perhaps to you is this:  The disciples had faith.  They would have never entered the boat to follow Jesus if they didn't have any faith.

The second thing is that as believers, we are going to be constantly bombarded with the storms of life.  The storms look differently, but they all reach inside of us and produce fear and terror. 

The third thing is that Jesus was asleep.  I can't tell you how many times in my walk that Jesus has been silent.  It isn't that I doubt his presence or think that he has abandoned me, but he is quite often content with silence...at least until it is the right time to speak.

The fourth thing is that Jesus asks them why they are afraid. This always blows my mind a little.  I mean, the Greek word for great storm is "seismos," which means "violent shaking or earthquake."  It is possible that this storm was greater than we ever pictured on the flannel-grams of our childhood days.  Well, of course they are afraid!  And yet, Jesus still asks them this question.  (His questions always get to the root of our fledgling faith.)

The fifth thing is that Jesus tells them they have "little faith."  He doesn't say they are faithless, but instead uses the Greek word "oligopistos" which means ineffective, deficient, or incredulous faith.  In other words, the disciples' faith lacked confidence.  Some might say that this means they had zero faith, but I beg to disagree, because, after all, they were willing to follow him into the boat in the first place and they also chose to wake him up as if he were their only hope.  There is a measure of relationship already established at this point, but God is getting ready to take them to higher faith (via a storm.)

The sixth thing is that Jesus calms the storm. I think that those with "little faith" sometimes need the storm to simply go away.  In this miraculous act, the disciples see their Jesus in a fresh way.  They marvelled at him.  God allowed them to see His son in a fresh way that brought about increasing faith and wonder.

Personally, I think that those with a more mature faith might not get to experience a calming of the storm itself.  Instead, they will experience a calming of their inner souls.  Because they know the secret:  It is simply enough to have Jesus in the boat with them.

God is always testing our faith because he wants us to know his tender heart towards us.

Pretend you are in the boat with Jesus himself.  The biggest waves are threatening to carry you off into the mysterious and cold unknown.  You frantically wake him up, knowing He is your only hope.  He peers into your eyes with such love and doesn't seem to be in a rush at all.  He then asks you a single question:  "Why are you afraid?"

He wants us to know that it is simply enough for Him to be with us....no matter what is threatening.

Tomorrow, we will start to look at Psalm 23 and how we can spiritually get to a place where we have no fear of bad news.

 

Psalm 23 (Maturing Faith Part 2)

Yesterday, we talked about Jesus being enough no matter what comes our way.  Today, I want to take a peek at Psalm 23.  We will lay the groundwork by breaking down some of the words into the original Hebrew.  This will help us absorb truth tomorrow when we talk about walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

The best way I know to do this is to write out the passage and then comment on certain words as they come up. 

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the "shadow of death" (tsalmaveth: very thick darkness, terror, calamity)

I will "fear" (yare:  fear or dread of what may go wrong) no evil:

for thou art with me

thy rod and thy staff, they "comfort" (nacham: console) me

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou "anointest" (dashen:  to be fat, rich, mighty)

my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely "goodness" (towb: what is excellent, delightful, beautiful, joyful, fruitful, cheerful, kind, correct, right, and happy)

and "mercy" (chesed:  God's loyal love, loving kindness,covenant, the attitude of love which contains mercy)

shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

 

 

Chew on those words for a little bit.  Tomorrow, I will meet up with you again and we will talk about what made David (the author of this passage) a man after God's heart.

 

For Thou Art With Me (Maturing Faith Part 3)

Yesterday, we broke down some of the Hebrew of Psalm 23.  Today, we will focus on a couple of things.  Have you ever wondered why God refers to David as "a man after my own heart?"  Personally, I think it can all be wrapped up in one phrase:  "I will fear no evil for thou art with me."

Such confidence in the Almighty.  David literally had to run for his very life from King Saul, and yet he says that he refuses to bow down to fear because he knows who his God is!

From yesterday, we learned that walking through the valley of the shadow of death can mean walking through any thick darkness.  Spurgeon says it like this, "One of the chief reasons of the gloom is the fact that this terrible pass is shrouded in mystery.  You do not know what the sorrow is...you cannot grasp the foe."

Haven't you ever found yourself there?  It isn't that anyone has died, but there is a shadow of death that lingers and creeps into your very soul.  It is all consuming and yet, with the darkness, you sometimes don't even know what to name it!  The whole mystery of the matter is enough to suck the life out of you.

That is why I love the translation of "I will fear no evil."  It means that we can either fear or have dread of what MAY go wrong.  I don't know about you, but I can find myself drowning in what may go wrong in my life.  It is exactly where Satan wants us, too!

Spurgeon says we "suffer more in the dread of something that in the endurance of the stroke." 

I think the key is the same one we found in the Matthew passage regarding the disciples and the boat.  The key is this:  I don't have to fear because God is with me.

The question begs to arise again:  No matter what life throws my way, do I think that His presence is simply enough?

David would say it is.  After all, he says he doesn't fear because God is with him.

It is what makes him a man after God's own heart.  He is confident in who God is and he is confident that he belongs to God and that God has good (beautiful, right, joyful, fruitful...) things in store for him.

Tomorrow, we will talk about our Shepherd's rod and staff and why those two things can bring us comfort. We will talk about how to be calm in the prospect of a possible upcoming battle.

 

Rod and Staff (Maturing Faith Part 4)

Wow!  What does a life look like when it is so secure and confident in God that it simply does not fear?  I think it is a process, after all, we are going from "little faith" to a more "mature faith."

It is a life of knowing Jesus is on our side.  Believing He is pledged to help us.  Secure that He represents us and intercedes for us.  Confident that He has us hemmed in and surrounds us with His angels.

Mature faith is simply trusting the character of God. A person with mature faith can be steady in his journey.  He doesn't cower in fear or run ahead of God.  He is content to walk quietly along the path God has put him on.  He believes deep down that it is the very path that will lead him to know God's tender heart even more deeply.

The other morning, I woke up with the words "rod and staff" on my mind.  I repeated the phrase over and over again as I lay in bed..."thy rod and thy staff comfort me."  As I got up, I wondered just why a rod and a staff are so comforting.  The below is straight from Charles Spurgeon.

1.  Rod:  used for numbering the sheep.  It is comforting to know I am numbered along with the redeemed.  He knows me by name.

2.  Rod:  used for rule.  It is comforting to know He reigns in sovereignty.  Nothing can come across my path that He has not allowed or ordained. "Happy is the man who perceives the hand of God in everything."

3.  Rod/staff: used for guidance.  The rod leads us...often in a way that we would not have chosen on our own.  But, we can be assured that it is the safe and right way.  If He is our Guide, He is responsible for the road ahead.

4.  Rod/staff:  used for protection.  The rod and staff are used against the beasts of the field.  The shepherd assures us that we will not be torn apart by the enemy.  He does protect His elect.

5.  Rod/staff:  used to urge us onward.  We might stay in the same place forever, refusing growth, but instead, He gives us a divine nudge toward new heights.

Each of us can find comfort in our Lord's rod and staff.  We can choose to rest in the fact that we know He will bring us to the other side.  The valley of the shadow won't last forever.

 

Steadfast and Mature (Maturing Faith Part 5)

Today I want to wrap up this series on maturing faith and say this:

In order for your faith to mature, you will experience testing and trials.

I know, I know!  Not what any of us want to hear!

I love what our pastor said last Sunday.  He said Satan comes to steal our faith, but God comes to steel it. 

Our small bible study group spent three weeks studying the life of Joseph.  Imagine our delight when our pastor started teaching it a few weeks ago.  We knew that he would only bring forth more truth, despite how hard we dug into the Word.

Jesus is always calling us to a clearer understanding of who He is.  I think the whole point is that one day, we can say..."Even though (fill in the blank)...I will not fear (fill in the blank)...because God is with me."

His goal is for His presence to be sweetly sufficient for all our days.

Joseph's life demonstrates this.  He was thrown in a pit by his brothers.  He was thrown into another pit (dungeon/jail) after being wrongfully accused of something.  Despite interpreting a dream correctly, he was forgotten and left in the pit even longer.

Sometimes, we find ourselves in a pit and it was no sin on our part that got us there.

Will we be faithful even in those times?  Are we confident in God's heart towards us enough to sustain us?

I absolutely love this quote by Joyce Baldwin.  I think she wraps up this week quite nicely.  Savor her words....I saved the best for last!

"It was as if he alone (Joseph) had been abandoned by God.  But experiences like this were often part of the training of those whom God was going to use in outstanding roles.  Abraham and Sarah had to wait until old age for the birth of Isaac; Moses was exiled for much of his life in an inhospitable desert; David lived under threat of death at the hand of Saul and was on the run for months, if not years.  Yet in every case the purpose of God was being worked out and in due course came to fruition.

Indeed it has been said that only those with faith in God experience his testing, which after all is self evident, for it is designed to put steel into faith so that it becomes steadfast and mature (Jas. 1:2-4) and can testify to the tender love of the Lord in designing the suffering.  This was to be outstandingly true of Joseph, who was fully aware of his brothers' hatred but who saw that God had meant it for good. That is the kind of conviction that results from patient, enduring trust in the loving intentions of God, when outward circumstances seem to belie that love."

from "The Message Genesis 12-50"

{Thanks for being on this faith-journey with me...love you all!}

On Grief and Chesed

I've had a lot of people ask how we are doing.

I can't speak for all.  I can tell you that we are all grieving differently.  Some are crying themselves to sleep.  Others are staying busy and organizing.  Some others still haven't had time to process everything, being slammed on all sides.  All of us are trying to find a new normal.  Some are wondering about God's ways and how they could be left behind.  Others are trying to not fall into bad habits, trying to remember that only God can heal ache. We are all hurting.  Each in his own way.

But, me.  All I can think about is the Hebrew word, chesed.

The other day while at my happy place, maybe you've heard of Target??, I saw rich and thick and luxurious bath towels begging to come home with me.  They were the darkest and most glorious hue of midnight teal.  I hadn't bought new towels in a few years.  I had a coupon.  I decided to splurge on cotton.

I washed those puppies right up and dried them so we could use them as soon as possible.  I just love having new towels, all of that puffy lint clinging to the dryer vent.  The beeper-buzzer beeped and buzzed at me and I couldn't resist it.  I wrapped myself up in a thick warm towel and found myself like a one year old with a favorite blankie; I was secure and peaceful and at rest.

To me, these past days have been like the towel experience.  I feel embraced.  Warm.  Peaceful.  At rest.

This shocks me completely. My grief with my sister Kiley was nothing like this.  At all.  I am not sure exactly why grief looks differently this time.  I loved them both a ton.  Is it because Kiley's passing was such a shock?  Is it because I was able to do a ton of grieving over Herb while he was still with us?  I don't have all the answers, but I know that it has been a completely different experience.

If I could sum up my tears, it would be this:  I am broken but I am not forsaken.

I think God used Kiley's death to teach me so many things, including his affection towards me.  He didn't allow her to die because he is cruel. He didn't allow Herb to die because He is aloof or incapable of healing.  I have such a more mature view of who He is.  No, I don't have His ways figured out, but I am better able to rest, knowing I never will.

He is God.  That is enough for me.  It doesn't keep me from crying or missing or wishing things had been different.  But it is a good plan and I will choose to see it that way, even though we are war-torn on this battlefield, wondering why our "captain" had to go.

I want to tell you about this Hebrew word, chesed.

I remember it like yesterday, sitting in Herb's Sunday school class, newly married to his first born son.  I loved being under his teaching, and always hated that when we knew it was time to leave that church, we would no longer get his teaching in a formal setting.  I remember Herb telling us about this special word called chesed.

The loving-kindess of God.  The favor of God.  The loyal love of God...so rich that He would send His son to die in our place so we could know Him again.  The compassion, steadfast love, and goodness of One totally other and absolutely Holy.

Herb wanted us all to know about that kind of God.  That kind of love.

No matter what you are going through, God is there, wrapping you up warm and tight so that you can rest.

We are broken but never forsaken.

{Thank you for your prayers.  We still need them desperately and beg you to continue.}

And Then He Was 12.

12 years.  What's a Momma to do with that?  It was just yesterday that I was ripped wide as 10.5 pounds of pure joy landed into my arms.  The joy of the Lord is on this one.  He can talk my ear off.  He loves soccer and soccer players and soccer shoes and soccer hairstyles and soccer balls and soccer like no other.  He is a smart one, high A's every time.  He dotes on his baby brother like he hung the moon.  He loves big.  He cries big, especially lately. He has a wish list of things he is going to allow himself to get once he is an "adult" filled with important things like hamsters. He is messy and fearless and fun and life. He laughs with his whole countenance as his eyes squint into oblivion.

 

We call him Eli.

 

Happy birthday, second born.