Not a creature was stirring....well, maybe a mouse.

Generally speaking I don't like rodents. Sure I'll bust out a smile for a bunny every so often, or take a picture of the white squirrel that lives in our neighborhood and post it on Facebook. Other than that, I'm not a big fan. And I especially don't like the little critters taking up residence in my home. Yeah. You read that right. We've had mice. I'll admit it. Apparently everybody who lives in this part of Missouri has had them at one time or another. The first time I discovered that mice were moving into our rental home I freaked. FREAKED OUT! Never once in my entire life have I ever cohabited with a rodent. Is this a "southern" thing? (Yes, I realize that I am technically living in the Midwest, but it feels south to me). Do the mice die of hypothermia back home before they have a chance to find a way into your house? Why is it that they are nowhere to be seen up north, but nobody bats an eye with you confess there are rodents in your house down here? Anyway, it's just gross and I hate it and I obviously could never live anywhere any further south because I don't even want to think about having to deal with mice AND giant bugs. Bleh! 

So here's what I've learned about mice...

Why there might be mice in your home:
They don't like to be cold or wet.
They will move into your house if they can find a way.
They will find a way.

How to know if you've been invaded:
Mouse droppings (about the size of a grain of rice, black, pointed on the ends....ewwwww)
Noises (scratching in the walls and other mousey noises)
Greasy looking marks along your baseboards
Acorns in your basement (yeah, that happened)

So you have a mouse. Welcome to my world. Here's what you can do:
1. Don't be too hard on yourself.  
You don't have mice because you are a bad housekeeper (or maybe you are...I don't know). They just get in. Now if you see them setting up tents and having bonfires in your living quarters you should probably consider cleaning more frequently so as not to encourage the little guys to get real comfortable.
2. If you find their entry point, fill it with steel wool.  
They can't chew through it. It works! We've done this in the house we are renting and have had success.
3. Buy traps.
If you are a mouse lover, use a live trap and release the mice far, far away from your house and do everybody else a favor and release far away from their houses too. Good job. Now you can live with yourself.
If you are not a mouse lover buy kill traps and place them in areas where you suspect mice are present. Place traps along walls. That's where they run about. Bait traps with cheese, peanut butter, or chocolate (we've used cheese and peanut butter successfully - I haven't tried chocolate because why would I waste chocolate on a mouse?). Set 2 or more traps within 10 feet of each other. Check traps daily. Don't be surprised if every once in a while you come across a mouse that (how shall I put this?) is still a mouse. It's happened to me twice. Both times my husband was on a 24 hour shift at work so I had to man up and take care of it. (P.S. I do not like being a man). Obviously keep traps that could be harmful to children and pets out of reach. There are options available if you have mice and children/pets in the same living space. Lucky for us we have not had this problem. 
4. Buy poison?
Many people we've talked to use poison to get rid of mice. We do not. It scares me with the kids and the dog. I have also read on the warning label that there is potential for secondary poisoning (meaning you poison a mouse, it dies, your dog/cat eats the poisoned mouse, they get poisoned). If you do not have pets this may be a good option for you. There are child safe options available. 
5. Release/dispose of mice and WASH YOUR HANDS FOR GOODNESS SAKE!
6. Clean and disinfect area....and if you're like me you will do this step twice.
7. Recheck area for new evidence of mice periodically
8. Secretly long for the day when you can move back to North Dakota where the frigid arctic temperatures keep out the mice....and the riff-raff.

You don't have mice? What should you do?
1. Good for you. Be thankful.
2. Gloating isn't nice. Judging isn't nice. Don't do either of those things.
3. Have a good day.
4. That is all.

And now here's a little clip to show you how to bait and set a good old-fashioned snap trap without getting snapped. I'm scared of them. What if I lost a finger and couldn't play the banjo anymore? (That is a rhetorical question...no comments from the peanut gallery, please.) So I always chicken out and use a cheat to set snap traps. On a side note, holy cow, do I sound like a North Dakota girl or what??? Now that I don't live in the area anymore it is painfully obvious to me in this video. Uffda!
 
  

Share your animal crackers....and not just the broken ones.

I've been having one of those days. You know those days when your eyes burn hot with tears that you are trying bravely to hold back and your throat is thick with emotion. Surely others out there have had this very same feeling at one time or another. Sometimes days like these just happen, and sometimes they are the culmination of a week or a month or maybe even years difficulty, sadness, suffering, etc. Now before it starts to sound like I'm here to invite you to a pity party, I'm not. And I'm not writing this post fishing for nice little comments about me on my Facebook page or hoping people will ask things like, "Oh my goodness, is everything okay???" Truly. I'm just being real and telling you that this day has been hard. I don't feel compelled to share a reason. It doesn't really matter. That's not the point. What matters is that everybody has hard days and you don't always know who or why, but know that you can make a difference. Gosh, that sounds so cliche, but it is true. And that's why I'm writing this.

So here I am, having my hard day, trying to push through the hours, trying to hold it together so that I can take care of the kids and go to Bible study and run errands and make lunch and clean house when at every little corner that I turn something sweet happens. Like a gal offering to help me make my tea while I have my arms full with the baby. Or the person who noticed that I got a haircut and said it looked nice even though literally all I did this morning was wet it down and comb it. Or somebody offering to help me open the door (again arms full of kids). Or bumping into a new friend and having a nice little chit-chat. Or the employee at Walmart who didn't make a big deal over the fact that I knocked over an entire shelf of cereal with my giant diaper bag but who kindly came over to help me pick up the mess and said, "It's alright, I got you. I got you." Or my sweet little boy offering to share his animal crackers with me and digging through his entire snack cup to find one that wasn't broken (melt my heart). It's not like I was going through the morning like the walking wounded, driving people to come to my rescue. No. I was just going about my day dealing with things internally and came across people who, for whatever reason, were kind to me. And it made a difference. Granted I'm not suddenly having the best day of my life. There's still that burning eyes/thick throat thing happening every so often, but it was really nice in those brief moments to be the recipient of those small acts of kindness.

So why am I even writing about this? Because guess what? Everybody has hard days, hard weeks, hard seasons during their life. E-ver-y-bod-y. The fact is we live in a broken world where real people have real burdens and hurts and trials. And the thing is, most of the time we don't even know who. Could be that person over there who looks totally put together and confident. Could be that person over there who tends to go unnoticed. Could be a spouse or a coworker or the mail carrier or the kid behind the fast food counter putting in your order. Maybe that man just lost his wife or maybe that woman has a migraine or maybe that kid is being bullied. And maybe, just maybe they would be touched by an act of kindness. It may not cure their woes, but it just might brighten them up if even for a moment. So why not do something, significant or seemingly insignificant, to encourage the people around us whether they are loved ones or complete strangers. Open the door. Give a warm smile. Pay for somebody's coffee the next time you're in the drive thru at Starbucks. Find your best animal cracker and share it! You get the idea. I love this quote from Aesop and I used to have it posted in my classroom...No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. What I'm going at great lengths to say is that we just never know who is going through what and how even the simplest of gestures could make a big difference to another person.

Now here I sit, on the couch with my feet propped up, reflecting on a variety of things and avoiding the dishes on the kitchen counter. I'm thankful for those bright moments in my day, but I'm even more thankful for my God who put each of those people in my path today and who orchestrated a morning of sweetness for me in the midst of a difficult day.

Bells and Whistles

Disclaimer: This post is about tithing, but not really about tithing. It's not about 10% or the Church or money at all really. It's about putting my trust in God (not financial security) and seeing that He will bless my leap of faith.

My husband and I were both moved by a sermon our pastor gave a few weeks ago on tithing. Tithing, you ask??? Yes, tithing. Generally speaking, when I come to the realization that I'm about to hear preaching on this topic I get the "oh great" feeling that a lot of people probably do. But this sermon was different for me somehow. I'm not sure if it's because I was in a different place in my life when I heard it or if it was that the perspective the pastor gave was more pressing, but it stirred something in me. In the nearly five years Jeff and I have been married we have never agreed on how much we should give (to the church, missions, the poor, etc). I never mind giving for causes I feel strongly about or in amounts I deem "affordable" for our budget. My husband is a really generous guy and has always wanted to give more to the Lord, but I’ve been dragging my heels wanting to hold on to our finances for security sake, telling myself that we didn’t have enough to give more. We’re a one income household after all. I must admit that although I know in my head God will provide for us, I haven’t really been trusting Him with our finances. I want to be in control. I want to give as long as it feels easy-ish, not like a sacrifice. Anyway, after hearing the sermon on tithing both of our hearts were stirred and in the car on the way home we decided to join in giving sacrificially. I think we both felt good just in the fact that we were finally on the same page with regards to the issue of tithing and I think Jeff was surprised that I was suddenly ready to jump on board. After making a commitment to give sacrificially I didn’t expect God to do anything out of the ordinary…no bells or whistles.

Yesterday was payday and the deposit was quite a bit more than we were anticipating. My husband had worked a couple of extra shifts last month so I thought alright, Lord, thanks for providing those extra shifts. Not totally out of the ordinary, but definitely a blessing. Today, however, something most definitely out of the ordinary happened.

The kids and I were running various errands. One of our stops was Walmart (sigh). As I was bundling the kids up to get ready to go out to the car, a random lady walked up to me, asked me if I believe in God (to which I responded yes), and said to me that God told her to give "this" to me (money). Yeah. I was totally caught off guard and was not sure what to do. My Scandinavian roots kicked in and I told her no, that I couldn’t possibly take it. She insisted, saying that she had walked by me as she was leaving, that God prompted her to give me some money, that she continued to leave and then simply had to come back into the store to find me and give me the cash. Huh??? Why would God tell her to give me money? I mean we're not rolling in the dough by any stretch of the imagination, but we can manage alright, even with our new commitment to give more generously to the work of God's kingdom. Then it struck me. I told her about our recent commitment to give sacrificially and how I thought this must be God, doing something out of the ordinary, showing up with bells and whistles, just to let me know that He indeed will bless our decision. I could tell that she was moved by hearing this and knowing that she had a hand in something God has been doing in my life. I think the exchange (even though I wasn’t quite sure what to do!) increased both of our faiths…mine in realizing that God does do extraordinary things (sometimes he even uses bells and whistles to get our attention) and hers in knowing that she did hear God, was obedient, and ended up playing a part in the spiritual journey of a complete stranger. We gave each other a hug, knowing that something really special had just happened.

Of course when I got to the car, still trying to wrap my head around what had just transpired, I was curious to see how much money I was holding in my hand. How interesting that in each of the three errands we ran that morning (Walmart, Sam's Club, and filling the car with gas) our bill came to just under the very same amount of money that was gifted to us. Hmm.

I write all of this not to try to guilt anybody into anything or to push my "religion". I simply feel blessed by the whole experience and thought maybe reading about it might bless somebody else too.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." - Malachi 3:10

A New Fire Helmet for Benjamin

This is Benjamin. He loves to dance. No, no, wait. That's not right. He doesn't love to dance. He loves to dance. He dances in the morning. He dances at night. He'll boogie in his jammies. He'll boogie in his birthday suit. Sometimes he sings while he's moving. Sometimes he shouts. Nobody knows just exactly when the mood will strike him, but at least once a day Ben winds up and start his hand-clapping, foot-stamping, spinning, wiggling, dancing good time. His most inspired dancing comes when he places his fire helmet atop his head and puts a microphone in his hand. The fire helmet came from some very friendly firemen that he met a while back. And for some reason or another it made Benjamin's body move and groove. Sadly one day his mama tripped over his beloved helmet, stepping on it and cracking it in several places. Every time Benjamin got the urge to boogie woogie, he zipped over to his toy box to grab his helmet only to find that it was indeed still broken in several places. So he would dance without his fire helmet and he was happy, because life was generally good for him, but his dancing lacked that certain something that the helmet added....spunk, oomph, fire. Benjamin's mama felt so terrible about crushing his helmet. She wished there was something she could do and just knew that if she could get him another helmet it would bring him such delight. They tried other helmets (only one actually, but who can go around buying helmet after helmet to please a 2 year old?), but none of them would do. Then one day she had an idea. Maybe if she wrote to the nice firemen who gave Benjamin his fire helmet a while back and explained what happened, they just might be able to come to the rescue.

Here are the exchanges between me (Ben's mama) and the local EMS & Fire Protection District

Me...
Hi there,
My family is new to the area, but we were able to participate in your fall festival and our son LOVED it. He's only two but he's really into fire trucks and hats and all of those things that little boys seem to love. What a great event for the community. Our neighbors (several of them actually) have also had wonderful things to say about you guys....that you have amazing response time and that you do a great job taking care of the city. I hope we never have to call you, but your reputation makes us feel confident that we would be well taken care of. 

I'm also selfishly writing to ask if you might have any kiddy fire hats. My son really got attached to the one he received at the fall festival, but I recently stepped on it and broke it. I realize you have significantly more important issues to deal with than a child's hat, but if you happened to have a spare laying around we sure would appreciate if we could stop by and pick one up. In either case I attached a little video of my son dancing with his hat (a daily occurrence.....no joke). I thought you might get a kick out of seeing how much fun kids have with your kind gesture of giving them fire hats! 

I hope I haven't taken up too much of your time. Thanks again for all that you do in the community!

Sincerely,
Sarah
(The video I sent was the one of him dancing in his fire helmet to Michael Buble's Christmas album. And in case you're thinking the first part of my message was written just to butter the Fire Department up, well you might be partially right. But every word was sincere. And besides, who doesn't like to hear that they are doing a good job and are appreciated?)

Them...

Sarah,
First, thank you so much for the kind words of our district. We strive everyday to provide the best possible service to our area. And secondly, feel free to bring your son by one of our three firehouses anytime. We keep plenty of the children's helmets around for that reason! When and if you get a chance to stop by, I know the on-duty crew would also be more than willing to show your family around firehouse as well as all of our equipment! Thanks again!

Them (again)...
Sarah,
I forwarded your message to our administration staff because everyone at in the department loves to hear when the residents of our district have good things to say about us. Regarding the question of the helmet for your son, how would you feel if sometime next week we brought an ambulance and firetruck to your house to personally give your son another helmet? I know everyone on my shift would love to see the excitement it would bring to him! If this is ok could you send your address and contact information to further set up a date for this.
Thanks!

Me...
Oh my goodness, that would be AWESOME! Yes, we'd love it!!! I was just going to swing by the station sometime next week. We don't want you to go to too much trouble, but I'm not going to turn this down Our address is _____. My cell is ______. Feel free to call or text. This is really kind of you.

Them...
That sounds great! And just so you know it is by no means too much trouble! Everyone here loves going out and doing things for the community! We work 48 hour shifts here, and my shift goes back Tuesday morning. Would sometime after 12:00 p.m. work on either Tuesday or Wednesday?

Me...
Yes, either day is fine with us. We will be here so you can decide what you prefer for your shift (48 hours? Whew! My husband works 24 shifts about once a week and that's rough. I can't imagine doubling that). Benjamin usually needs a nap around 2pm. If it's possible to have you come some time before 2pm or after 5pm that would be great, but I'd certainly be willing to keep him up or wake him for this. Would it be okay if I invited some little friends over? No problem if you'd rather not.

Them..
We would have no problem with having more people come at all! Just so you know I gave your information to our Assistant Chief, he will probably be calling to set this up sometime soon. Sorry if anything gets changed from Tuesday or Wednesday, I didn't realize he would want to set it up! Either way at some point in the near future we will be paying you guys a visit.

Me...  
Sounds great! No problem about the days. We are pretty flexible as I'm a stay-at-home mom. Thanks! This is really wonderful!

After these exchanges, all of which took place within a matter of hours, I went to go tell my husband who was sleeping off a 24 hour call shift. We were both pretty stoked for Benjamin, but a little bummed that Jeff wouldn't be around when they stopped by as he would be at the hospital working. I remember saying, "I wish that you could be here when they come." Then, literally within about an hour, our dog, started barking. Jeff went to go look out the front window to see what she was barking at and there, pulling up in front of our house, was a big, red, shiny firetruck. Ben was having a nap, but Jeff hurried to his room and woke him up. He was sleepy for a moment, but once the kind firemen handed him his new helmet and invited him to climb into the firetruck he woke right up. They sounded the siren and flashed the lights and generally made his entire month. They told us that they were in the neighborhood for a call and that everybody wanted to deliver that helmet as soon as they could. What a fabulous surprise.....and Jeff got to be there for the whole thing after all. More messages to follow...

Me
We are back in business! Ben was a little shy when the crew stopped over, but he talked about the visit from the firemen and firetruck after the rest of the night. Thanks for the special visit and fun memory! Truly so kind of you.

Me (again)...

Okay, sorry....last message but my son was supposed to be sleeping an hour ago and is currently singing a made up song about firemen. Love it. Thanks again!

Them...

Love the pictures and so glad everything worked out! Sorry if it was a little spontaneous everyone heard the story and wanted to get him his helmet as fast as possible! Anytime you guys get a chance stop by any of our 3 firehouses and get a tour! Plus keep an eye on our Facebook page, we have a pancakes with dad on fathers day, the fall festival, and Santa at the firehouse. We put out flyers on our Facebook page for more information! Thanks and I'm so glad everything worked out for Ben!

Me...

We are still talking about your special visit to our house and just can't get over your effort to make a little boy happy. This will be such a special memory for us. We will most certainly be participating in all of the fun events that you host. You made quite the impression on our little boy and on us. Just wanted to again thank you for all that you do....from bringing a little boy a fire helmet to putting your own lives in danger to rescue others. You all are real life heroes and we hope you hear how much you are appreciated and admired from time to time.
As you can see, Benjamin has now taken to brushing his teeth in his new helmet. We will be stopping by the firehouse sometime for a visit as his interest does not seem to be swaying.
With sincere gratitude,
Sarah

 

I still can't get over the generosity of these guys and how they were so willing to take the time to make such a grand gesture for a little boy. What a special memory!