mom and ivar's big adventure

Ivar and I are teaming up to enjoy a 3 1/2 hour flight to Mesa, Arizona today. You should probably pray for us. I am trying to psych myself up a bit. I put together a bag of tricks and even packed a few treat bags and ear plugs for the poor people who booked the seats on each side of us. Ivar and I are going to be kicking it together in a middle seat. Sounds awesome, doesn't it?!!

My bag of tricks contains mostly food, an old alarm clock, a weigh watchers points plus calculator, the trusty cell phone, a mini magnadoodle and a red ball with a jingle bell inside. Think it's going to last 3 1/2 hours? I don't either. But it might help us through some hard moments. Here's to hoping for a happy baby, or a sleepy baby or a calm baby, or just nice people on our right and on our left.

Mom made this sweet valentine and sent it last week. Cause we're leaving on a jet plane!

prayers for Mount Carmel

Well, I've talked a whole lot about this special place. Mount Carmel Family Bible Camp is my favorite place on earth. As Grandma B used to say, "it's a little piece of heaven, right here on earth." And that's how I've always felt.

I have spent a whole lot of time this past year serving on the Search Committee for the new Executive Director. Mount Carmel has been blessed by the preaching and teaching of Sonja and Johan Hinderlie for the past nearly 30 years so this is a huge deal. The place will feel different with new leadership. The camp will operate a bit differently, new faces are sure to join the scene. But Mount Carmel is first and foremost God's camp and that will never change. The freedom that only Jesus Christ can bring is proclaimed here with boldness and belief. And that will never change.

I am also on the board for this camp, and yesterday and today the board has been interviewing the three finalists. Tonight we will gather to select the new Executive Director.

It's a big hairy deal. I have lost sleep over this one. I have handed the whole load back over to God nearly every Sunday morning during worship, only to try to take it back all week long. It's been a tremendous learning experience for me and I am really proud of the process we put together in narrowing our candidate pool down. Lots and lots of hours went into this most important work.

And now it comes down to this. We have three great candidates. We'll meet them in person and get a feel for their leadership, passionate faith, ability to manage, fundraise and market. We'll get a feel for their charisma, joy and hopefulness in spreading the good news in 2012.

I would love your prayers. Right now. Pray that the board might be of one mind, that the Holy Spirit would come and make our decision clear, that the person God is calling to lead Mount Carmel would be chosen and ready to serve with gladness.

This picture is of me and my cousin Dan kneeling in the prayer chapel. (The tiny building pictured above) I love this shot. It seems to me we were unaware anyone was behind us with a camera.

And the lovely lady below is also me, sporting a tie dyed shirt, hand stenciled shorts, pig tales and matching plastic hair clips. I remember walking back and forth on that line of rocks for ages. The lake is on my right and I can think of no more beautiful and inspired place for me.

a good addiction

Have you ever noticed how addictive creativity is? My friend Rachel just wrote about it after learning how to knit. When you learn something brand new, something you never, ever thought you could do, it’s not like you just learned how to do that one new thing. You learned that you can still learn. And that there are few things that feel more empowering than learning something new, adding a hobby to your everyday, adding a new skill to your list of gifts.

I remember this so specifically after I took my first jessicasprague.com class on photoshop elements. I learned a lot about fonts and photo cropping and color adjusting, but what I really learned was that there are few greater highs than the joy of accomplishing a new trade and how contagious this high is. Suddenly I was empowered to try a whole lot of new things and it felt so good.

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be a huge, new skill. Hearts and Crafts week was evidence of this. Tiny little paper and scissors projects got my creativity pumping again. Those little projects somehow multiplied and now I’ve got some really fun projects that I can’t stop dreaming about.

So go and make some play dough. Get your camera out and take pictures all day long documenting the ordinary. Stop by Archivers and gather up some pink and red paper and heart sparkle stickers. Bake some cookies. Get out your old guitar. Plan a party.

As for me, I just got back from Michaels and bought supplies I have never used before with coupons my mother-in-law gave me. It’s so fun to be inspired!

prayers for Calvin

Baby Calvin is underwent huge surgery today. In the words of his parents on their caring bridge site, "The weight of the surgery is daunting as parents, but not for God. We ask you to pray Calvin and us."

We just got word that the surgery was successful on many fronts. Now they ask for prayers for healing and an uneventful stay while he recovers at the hospital.


I wanted to share these prayer cards I made for Calvin a few months ago. The weight of chronic anything can feel so heavy...for the parents as well as friends and family. It's too much for any one person to carry. So I made 31 cards that had 31 different pictures of Calvin with a different date of the month that the person receiving the card would then pray and show some extra support to Emily and Scott on that specific day each month. The cards read:

The 17th of every month. This is the day I commit to pray and send some extra love Calvin's way.
I can do this by:
Praying and/or fasting: Lift Calvin, Emily and Scott up in my prayers all day
A kind email: Hey, I'm praying for you today! (emily's email)
A check-in phone call: Thinking of you today. How are you? (emily's cell phone number)
Set a time to deliver a meal, make a coffee date, pass on a good magazine, lend a favorite movie, make a mix cd, give a restaurant gift card, or any sort of extra thoughtful gift.

We are walking this road with the Poeschel's and are committed to stand by them and wrap the three of them in love. Remember some months may lend themselves to doing more, others to simply do the most important thing: to pray without ceasing!

I wanted to share these in case you know someone who is carrying a load too heavy. Use the idea or the exact wording if you'd like. I like to know that 31 of us have one of these stuck to our fridge, lifting this family up to God, the only one who can actually carry such a heavy load

And the winner is...

I could have used Random Number Generator, but that's no fun. So instead I cut out all of these hearts and Ivar crumbled each one a bit to increase its odds.

And then I drew Marisa!

Hi Becca,

You don't know me and I am one of your silent followers. I actually found your blog through your cousins Darin and Kristin Jago. I was originally from Fairmont and went to church with Sarah & Kathy and their family. I found your blog and have been hooked ever since. I love reading it and find it encouraging as a mommy of 2. Lets see favorite candy is peanut butter M&M's! Thanks for all the fun and real life blogs!
Marisa

Congrats Marisa! Email me at beccagroves(at)gmail(dot)com with your address and I'll send this package of goodies your way!

I can't tell all of you how fun this giveaway was to find out who is reading. Thanks for throwing your name in the mix! I'll do this again.

Joyfully,
Becca