What Jesus Does

Remember Luke's 7th birthday?  I know.  It was a while ago.  If you need a reminder, you can go back and read the post.  In a nutshell, Luke raised money for clean water in Haiti for his 7th birthday.  Guess what we received yesterday?

It was an amazingly special email from Living Water International with an attached pdf telling a story and sharing pictures that made me burst into tears of absolute joy.  First a little back story.

After Luke's birthday, Erik and I looked at the money that had been raised with utter amazement.  While it wasn't enough to fund an entire well, it was still a TON of money.  We knew that Erik's company does fund matching up to a certain amount.  Obviously none of the money raised from outside sources was eligible for matching.  After doing the math and looking at our funds, we saw how God was going to provide the money necessary for what we thought would be a well in Haiti.  So, we submitted the necessary paperwork to Takeda, wrote our personal check to Living Water, and waited.

The matching funds were a VERY long time in coming.  There was a bad storm on the east coast, I can't even remember which one, that took out the matching funds processing center used by Takeda.  Delay after delay and Luke began praying each night for the funds to come through.  It's been close to a year since his birthday, and this Mama Bear is ready to send angry emails and make irritated phone calls.  Luke?  He prays every night and has a happy heart, super sure that God is going to make all this happen.

The funds FINALLY come through!  Our contact at Living Water International sends an email with a request.  They have a project already going in Haiti.  It's actually bigger than a well and already has two donors.  It's called a spring box and provides an enclosure for an already established mountain spring.  Luke's funds would give this project exactly the amount necessary to go forward.  Are we willing?  So, we checked with Luke.  His response:  Sure!

Wanna see the results?  First my apologies...I extracted the photos from the pdf they sent using a free extractor I downloaded and they are all watermarked.  But I did ask Living Water and they gave me permission to use the photos, so no copyright is being broken.  :-)

Here is how this community formerly acquired their water:

Their previous water source was "open and left subject to contaminates."  Um...no joke.

What the spring box gave them:

I love this picture.  A lot.

That middle plaque isn't quite right, friends.  It should say "Donated by the awesome friends and family of Luke Bangsund in celebration of his 7th birthday and in honor of Jesus Christ."  But I guess that is a little long.  Thank you all SO very much.  Thank you for helping our boy understand that Jesus Christ does amazing things when we pray and submit our ways to Him.  We are already praying and contemplating what God would have us do next as a family.  Despite all the waiting, this project has been a HUGE blessing to our family.  It has drawn us closer to each other and to the One who is our source of true Living Water, Jesus.

Jesus Delivers

I recently let a friend down in a big, not cool way and was made aware of it yesterday evening.  It was one of those moments in life when I knew I had screwed up and there wasn't going to be much I could do to make it right.  Boo.  Her frustration with me is totally justified.  And it has me feeling super sad and like a less than lovely person.  I've not wanted to pray or study my Bible.  I've spent the day functioning on low, getting things done, but mostly just feeling like a jerk.  Then I got a phone call from a fellow Roots mom about fifteen minutes ago.

Roots mom: "Are you home?"
Me: "Uh huh."
Roots Mom: "Can I drop by for a second?"
Me: (timidly) "Uh huh."
End conversation

Begin prayer.  Jesus, I can't take another hit today.  Don't let her be frustrated with me for some reason that I'm not even aware of.  I'm already broken, Lord.  Please.

She pulled up to the curb, popped out of her car and presented me with this:

I wept.  I'm not kidding.  She was already at Starbucks driving through.  It's buy one get one free from 2pm to 5pm today.  She prayed and asked who needed the coffee.  The answer was me.  Jesus delivered a latte for me today using Briana Rehana as His driver and delivery girl.

Jesus delivers.  When I cannot come to Him because I'm just so broken and messed up, He delivers me a latte and He delivers me from my self-pity, my unforgiveness of myself and others, my lack of consistency, everything.  He delivers me from everything, people.  I had absolutely no way out of my funk, but Jesus knew the way out was Himself.  I just needed to be reminded how very much He cares about me.  He wasn't going to let me sit here not praying, ignoring Him and beating myself up.

Thank you, Lord.  The latte is delicious.  The reminder of Your immense, tangible love for me is exactly what I needed.

A Link For You

I know this is crazy, but I wrote my first Advent Post over on Simply Radical Christmas today.  It's titled "Starting Early."  All the stores do it.  Why can't I?  So, if you are in the mood for a red background and some musings on Advent, help yourself.

Productive Weekend

I've had a project brewing in my head for about three months and this was the weekend that saw its completion.  That is just so stinkin' fabulous.  Don't you feel that way?  Here's the story.

I've known for awhile that Luke's bed was too big for his room.  It was a full and the kid just didn't need that much bed in his life.  The solution was obviously a twin, but I wanted to really open up as much space in his room as possible.  Simultaneously I wanted to spend as little money as possible.  Right?

We looked at IKEA.  They have high loft beds that would have been very nervous making for this mommy.  The boys are still getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.  I just saw a broken arm with these ceiling high lofts.  Nope.  There had to be some middle ground.

Enter my awesome friends.  Both Holly and Cathy had low loft beds that were looking for new homes.  For free.  Oh, how I love that price.  I considered craigslisting to find a cheap twin mattress, but just couldn't do it.  We have allergies and asthma, people.  I just needed to find a new mattress for WAY less than the crazy mattress salesman wanted to charge me a few weeks ago when we went price checking - it was something in the realm of $500.  For a twin.  Mattress, not baby.  WHAT IN THE WORLD!  That's just dumb.

Further online work revealed the mattress outlet.  $99.  WAY more our style.  So, we got busy yesterday.  Okay, first we attended the funnest 4-year-old birthday party ever at the Salem Riverfront Carousel.  So, I'm going to give you some pictures of that business.  Then, I'll reveal the productive awesomeness of new beds for both boys.

Hugs for the Birthday Boy!

Paul on the carousel - each kid was able to ride MANY times.  It was awesome.

Luke and buddy riding together.

All the guests!

And now for the Low Loft Goodness!

 This 8-year-old is VERY happy with his new loft bed.

 Look at all that space!!  So cool.

 Luke's new "work" space.  Lego is work, right?  We found that lantern in the garage.  No idea where it came from.  But there were two of them...

 Paul's new work space.

Makes a great fort, too!

 Your dose of adorable for today.

I'm so thankful to Jesus for helping us get free loft beds and helping us transform the boys' rooms into spaces that are way more usable and fun.

Unconventional Halloween and Other Fun Bits

As some of you know, we just recently eliminated most sugar and all artificial color from the boys' diets.  This has had an amazingly awesome effect on Luke's ability to focus each morning for school.  Turns out that feeding him protein and complex carbs without added sugar or artificial business helps his brain function.  Go figure.

About a week ago, with Halloween looming on the horizon, I struck a deal with my children.  They could trick or treat but they would only consume three pieces of candy and the rest would be mine (to give out at our door to the bigger kids who always arrive well after my kids are done.)  In exchange for the vast majority of their candy, I would supply them with some cash. Yes. I paid my kids to give me their candy last night.  And it worked BEAUTIFULLY, people.  They went to bed so very happy and they slept like angels all night.  

But the beauty doesn't end there.  They woke up this morning, ate their protein, and we headed for the ATM and the LEGO aisle at Fred Meyer.  Paul brought ALL his money.  He's been building a stash since his birthday.  After about seven minutes of deliberation, he chose two cheaper sets and we headed for the check out stands.  He paid the woman and left a very happy six-year-old.  His brother was also pleased because he got paid for his candy and is continuing to save for the LEGO set that no wise parent purchases but every eight year old saves for.  

We arrived home.  They opened the boxes.  They started to build.  I brought small bowls of mixed nuts to the table.  They finished building and took a lunch break.  Then they started playing with the newly built LEGO.  It is November 1st, and I have not had a single conversation about candy!!  No begging for candy.  No arguments because of too much sugar and not enough nutrients.  

I. Will. Never. Go. Back.  

We will pay our kids for their candy every year.  This day has been quiet, restful, productive, and enjoyable for me and my people.  How many parents and/or teachers can say that?

And now the pics!

First some authentic Bangsund silliness:

They made our bed for us.  And now they are hiding.

And now for the costumed goodness!

This kid is so awesome.

 And cute.

My most sincere apologies to the fans and my oldest son.  We have no pictures of just Luke in his costume.  Not sure how that didn't happen.  But it didn't.  He'll live.  Here's the group shot we took.

 It's the Queen of the Mice with her loyal knight and pet lion.  Obviously.

Another group shot.  Paul just wants to get to the next house.

Ready to begin the build this morning.  Happy!

My last picture was taken in our front yard this week.  The sky has been so blue and the leaves on our trees are finally turning.  I love blue sky days in the fall.