Restoration

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25 KJV)

When one searches for the word "restore" in scripture, dozens of references appear. It's safe to describe our God as a God of Restoration. The dictionary defines restore as to return to an original or normal state, bring back to a state of health or vigor, or return to a specific rank or position. All pretty good stuff.

Restoration is a promise that we've grown up with, but when we were called to leave our life of comfort and move across country, restoration wasn't a promise I was claiming. I knew that if God wanted us in Las Vegas, that His plans included blessings and that it was a life that would honor Him. I expected to grow closer as a family, to make friends, to find a church. Restoration, however, I was not looking for.

But, just like the God of Wonders, He has blessed us with more. Tonight we had nearly 20 people at out house for small group. Some who we would call friends prior to tonight, others who were little more than strangers. But as we grilled hamburgers and talked together, I realized that the Lord isn't providing me with enough. He isn't interested in giving us some friends or a nice church. He is a God of restoration. He is giving us "immeasurably more than we ask or imagine." I can see how He is restoring to us what we've left. He can't transplant our family or our dear friends back home. Our school is different; our Target is still 15 minutes away. But He didn't bring us here to give us enough. He came to restore the fields.

In today's sermon, Marty said that God's gifts are better than the world's. He has provided us with a church home. He is giving us friends, sleepovers, teams to cheer for, summer fun, mentors, men-tees, neighbors. His gifts are good. He is good. I appreciate that so much!

I've always read the end of the book of Job with a little bit of doubt. God restored Job's livestock, gave him a new family, new home. I always think,"Yeah, but that doesn't REPLACE anything. He still misses his real family and his kids just the same, doesn't he?"

But that's not the point, is it? The point is that Job trusted God to be who He is, to be true to His character and to keep the plan He had for his life. The point is a few verses earlier, before God had restored anything.

"I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know."(Job 42:2, 3 NIV)

This life, His blessings. Too wonderful.

Suzy Sunshine

Well, it finally happened. We finally got contacted by the Golden Retriever Rescue about an available dog for us. Naturally, it was right after our vacation and on the same day that Stu's co-workers were planning a surprise roof-stomping at our house. But, nevertheless, when they call, you say yes.

We were actually able to pick between two dogs-- a boy and a girl. We chose girl, much to Sam's initial chagrin, though he agreed quickly that she was a better choice for us (the boy was pretty hyper). Her name is Trixie, and supposedly that's what her previous owners called her, except that she doesn't respond to it at all. I mean, at ALL. We've had her almost 2 weeks now, and the kids have decided to rename her Suzy Sunshine. The sunshine is for her golden color, but I'm not sure where Sam came up with Suzy. It's nice. She answers to it, so we're on our way.

She was spayed last week and is making progress. Her primary issues are running away when given the opportunity and wanting too much love. So, all in all, pretty good problems to have. It makes me miss Maddie a little, but I think that Suzy will be a great addition to our family. Plus, she doesn't sleep on the bed! Woo! (I'm putting that in here for Nanny, who will be very pleased with that.)

Vacation, Day 5: Homeward (Finally!)

Here's my advice: 3 days in Disneyland/DCA is perfect. 4 days, too much.

This was our 4th day in the parks, and we decided ahead of time that we would ride everyone's favorite in each park one more time. It was so empty, however, that we did manage to squeeze a few more in than that, and still left before lunch. (I refused to pay another $12 for a cheeseburger and fries. Just couldn't do it. If you've been there, you know what I mean.)

It was good. It was nice to ride again. But it was even nicer to be home. (And notable that going back to Las Vegas FELT like going home, right?) I was amazed all trip long about how the kids, particularly Kate, when asked where they were from said Las Vegas without hesitation. Everytime I thought, "We are? Oh yeah!" I still feel like a midwesterner, but maybe the kids won't.

It was a great trip, and we all needed and deserved the break from routine. Between the vacation and having company of some kind nearly all April, I think I'm ready to get back to normal. What's normal again?

Disneyland, day 4

Having definitely seen all we needed to of California Adventure, we returned for another full day of Disney fun. We were anticipating the park being much less busy, but there was more of a crowd than we'd thought (and more than on Wednesday, the day we went home). Since we'd seen all the big things on Sunday, we spent the day filling in the gaps and redoing some of our favorites (and redoing, and redoing again). The two most exciting things that happened today were Jedi Training Academy and Bibbidi Boppity Boutique.

The kids both wanted to do the Jedi Training Academy, which is like this show where they train you to be a jedi. Jedi come out and teach the kids how to wield a light saber and they defeat Darth Vader with their strong will. See our 2008 Disney World scrap book for more detail. This version was nearly identical, but scaled to include a larger group of kids. It's amazing how many kids are interested in this stuff, and you can tell it's largely because of the geeky parents like us. Only, some were FAR geekier than others. Including the family that had a manila folder of computer-printed signs that said things like "The force is with JENNA". FYI, they did not all get picked.

See, getting picked is a big deal. There are about 50 kids who want to participate and only 20 or so spots. It's amazing they haven't started selling tickets to this. We're over there sweating it, having told the kids to "go crazy" when they ask for volunteers and to stay in front. Kate (in bright pink) gets chosen right away. Sam, not so much. They move to the other side of the group, and then back, and by the strength of his force, gets chosen at the last minute. Thank goodness. We would have been waiting around for the next group if he'd missed. Sam told us afterwards that since he's done this twice now, he's not really a padawan anymore, but a real jedi. Great.

Bibbidi Boppity Boutique is a phenomenon I'd heard about before our last trip to WDW, but Kate was too young to participate. Basically, you pay tons of money to have them make your daughter into a PRINCESS!!! Fake hair! Makeup! Pixie dust! In addition, you can buy complete princess wardrobes (even in Kate's size, which is pretty tough to find). (Princess dress=$75, in case you were wondering, and that's just the dress.) We stuck with the beauty treatment, and she loved it. I was embarrassed about how much fun this whole thing was for both of us. We didn't do the photo shoot (she actually told me today that she thought that was a mistake), but everywhere she went afterwards castmembers referred to her as "Princess," which of course she loved. Monster creator=me.