Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Summer Goodness Apron Winner Announcement

Wasn't sure if I'd be able to get here today with the power outages, huge storms and field trips.  However, I got home and thankfully...the power is ON!!!  So, the winner of the pretty little apron is Kate:

Kate said...

I love lying in the hammock in the backyard in the cool of the evening and watching the bats come out!


Kate!  Kate you need to send me your address so that I can send you your apron!  You can e-mail me at laniwiens@yahoo.ca

Congratulations!!

Lani - the flowerlady

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

When the Mirror Isn't So Kind

I asked the Lord for a little encouragement about an hour ago while I had my head stuck in the washing machine cleaning out debris from an item that shouldn't have gone through the washer **ahem - no one to blame but myself for that one!**  The encouragement didn't come in the form I was expecting... it came looking a little more like a slap of the 2 x 4 variety.

Let me just say that so far 2012 has been rather taxing and these last few weeks even more so.  The weather has not been helpful.  I live in Saskatchewan where it is normally pretty dry and hot at this time of year.  It's hot all right but the humidity is at about 97 per cent.  It's taking the stuffing out of this little prairie girl.  I don't feel like doing anything...and I have plenty to do.  The kids have been bringing home their school supplies which are collecting in a big basket in the kitchen.  We're getting our home school supplies for next year and they are stacking up in various places.  The weeds are growing taller by the second as are the laundry piles.  With summer here all of us seem to be taking showers every single day and there are never any towels in the closet.  My husband brought in the coolers from the van leftover from the youth group beach party.  I think you might be getting the picture, there just aren't enough hours or energy in the day.  And me, I'm feeling sorry for myself.

I think I got to looking at my friends who seem to have enough of everything - energy, time, money, cleanliness and willpower and I was getting jealous.  I won't say our life is easy because it isn't, living with a kid with RAD is exhausting even on the very best days. I've been focusing on all the issues and problems we're dealing with rather than all the truth that is mine to claim each and every day.  I even read Lamentations this week, I should have held onto the good news there but I was stuck in the lament.

Here's the slap.  My mom was just here with my RAD boy.  She is a saint when it comes to that guy and provides respite for us two days a week.  As she was leaving she shared something with me that she had recently read, "When we focus on ourselves we walk out of our own deliverance."  I wasn't sure I agreed with the author of the statement and was mulling it over when I realized how true it is.  My deliverance from my melancholy state is right in front of me but I'm too busy navel-gazing and ruminating over my molehill of issues rather than looking at all the goodness in front of me.  The TRUTH of lamentations, "Great is His Faithfulness, His mercies are new EVERY morning, (not just the ones that I feel like getting out of bed)"  That passage goes on to say that it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord, implying that it will come!

The mirror showed me that I am my own problem, wallowing around in self-pity, feeling sorry for myself is not going to fix our financial mess, it will not get my house clean, the weeds pulled, the laundry done or any of the projects that need doing around here.  Self-pity will not train my kids in the way they should go nor will they get me prepared to homeschool next year.  My sister-in-law had this quote up on facebook and I had to smile when I read it, it was so appropriate for this post;
‎"You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your
mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get
interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something!
Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something. The more you lose
yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you
will have."

--Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Pastor, Speaker and Author



As I'm typing this I can actually feel energy returning to my body, as I confessed my sin of laziness and jealousy and self-pity, the burden started to lift, my shoulders still hurt and I need to get in touch with my massage therapist but my heart is lighter.  The mirror that the Lord turned on my heart wasn't very kind today, but it was forgiving and redemptive, which is alot more than I can say for my bathroom mirror. :)


Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.  Today I will thank Him for:

1. The resources that we needed to get the kids through the school year.
2.  The money I got paid today for 2 projects I was asked to do that turned out super!
3.  The book I was asked to review, it may not be much but someone asked me to write something!  WooHOO!
4.  The new ringtones on my phone - they're fun!
5.  Two new babies this week, 2 little girls fresh from heaven to bless their families, welcome Elizabeth and Ella.
6.  3 baskets of laundry folded and I didn't make a pile of socks.
7.  One little girl playing so prettily with her little Cozy Critter house - I love that she knows how to play.
8.  Respite.
9.  My amazing husband who does so much to let me know I am beautiful and loved.
10. For the teachers that poured their hearts into my kids this year at school.
11. For the stack of books that we're going to dive into in the fall with 2 of the kids.
12. The opportunity to homeschool.
13. Seeing the finances in their ugly reality so that we can make better choices for this next season.
14. Friends who ask me to go golfing....seriously not going to happen! but I'm glad they asked.
15. A boy who's about to turn 16 who knows what he wants and is willing to do the work to get it.
16. That the internet started working today so I could type this.
17.  My friends on main street who are always fun to chat with.
18.  The majesty of thunder and lighting.
19.  Growing plants.
20.  The animals are back in the fence.
21.  I don't feel like gnawing off my own arm anymore!

blessings,
Lani - the flowerlady

on facebook as:  Lani Fast Wiens
on Pinterest as: Lani Wiens

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer Goodness Give-away

I am feeling rather expansive today.  Perhaps because the sun is shining and I'm about to go put flowers in the ground, or maybe because someone actually asked me to write something for them!  It might be because my husband found a super good deal on a cruise in the Mediterranean and we might actually book it.  Maybe because school is almost over...

It doesn't really matter does it.  The point is I feel like giving some of my good feeling away!  I would like to make one of my readers a cute summer apron (it will be green and blue).  This giveaway will close on the 27th (last day of school here)!  I will employ my usual scientific methods of picking the winner!

The deal is...you have to write a comment about what you love most about summer!  For me, it's the flowers!!  I love all the flowers and green-ness!  I hate gardening, I'm not too jazzed about hot and sweaty and have no love for sand in my shorts or camping, however, I do love long days and cool evenings and flowers and the chorus of birds that sing in my trees.

If I get it made this weekend I'll post a picture, I promise it will be cute!

Feel free to hit share and spread the love!!

blessings,

Lani - the flowerlady


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

June Deficit

June has been a bit of a bust so far.

It started out well.  I was helping with a wedding for a friend and things went wonderfully well, it was lovely and the day was good.  Things went downhill from there.  I came home to a boy who was complaining about a stomachache.  I can't say I thought much of it, I figured they probably ate badly all day since I wasn't home and the big brother was babysitting.
By 3:30 am he was throwing up and by 8:00am he looked a lot like Kelly did right before they took his appendix out.  We made arrangements for our kids and Sunday morning responsibilities, hopped in the van and drove 2 hours to the emergency room.  I didn't get home until the next Saturday night.  They operated on Monday afternoon.  His appendix had perforated and he was one sick little boy.  The stay at the hospital depleted me physically but gave me a nice opportunity for a brain break.  My only thoughts had to be for what that sick little boy would need next.  In between I read and knit dish clothes and prayed for my friend who was two provinces away sitting with her daughter while she recovered from heart surgery.
Having me be at the hospital for an entire week put us waaaaaaayyyyyyyy behind on getting our books to the accountant.  We worked like crazy people for the next few days to get them done....what little brain I had was gone by the time we finished.  I quite detest doing accounting, it is not something that my very right-brained self enjoys.  At the end of the day you find out how much money you spent that year on things you didn't need.  Financial deficit is very sobering.
I didn't bring my Bible along to the hospital because I have one on my phone...I thought I'd only be there over night.  The service at the hospital was rather sketchy so I could read the same chapter in Luke where it was stuck and that was it. I'm afraid I've had a hard time getting back into my Bible reading program after I got a week behind.  No excuse I know, but I need to get back there.  Besides that, we have 6 devotionals to do for the family camp we're speaking at in a couple of weeks.  I am in a spiritual deficit.
This week my dad had surgery, my daughter took her piano exam and a beloved aunty had a CT scan, yesterday was a write-off.
The bottom line is that I am running a deficit.  Not quite as bad as the American government but just about.  I am depleted physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially.  There is a lot of room for improvement!

I am thankful for some things that I would be remiss to not mention:
* the Fleuter family stepped in that Sunday morning and took on our Sunday School classes, Children's Church and our kids
* the Grandparents who took care of the kids, cleaned our house and did our laundry
* the friends and family who prayed, e-mailed, phoned, sent notes, gifts and came to visit
* the hospital staff who did such a good job of helping my boy through this very rough spot
* the accountant who told us we had an extra couple of days because he would e-file for us
* the siblings who came to visit their brother to try and make him smile
* the three gals that brought me into the Big Cook Off - the most laughing I've done all month
* all the screens that kept the energizer boy occupied so he wouldn't get up and do stupid things
* the church ladies who sent food over