Everyday Spectacular

Imperfections. Ramblings. Life to the Full.

Books

Back in 2006 I decided that my New Year’s resolution would be to read 100 books. I don’t usually make resolutions and I don’t remember why I thought 100 was a do-able goal, but that year I read 97 books. I didn’t quite reach my lofty goal, but I came a lot closer than if there had been no goal in the first place. Since that first year of charting my reading, I haven’t actually set a number goal for myself, but I still keep track of the books I’ve read. These books are always a combination of Christian living books, Bible studies, parenting and financial books, and lots of fiction thrown in because I love getting lost in a good story.

In 2011, I was surprised to see that I ended up reading a total of 63 books, not including all the little-kid books that also flow freely around here.

These are my top ten+ reads for the year…Just in case you were looking for some recommendations for your 2012 list.

1. Crazy Love by Francis Chan (I had heard this was a “must-read” and it lives up to that status, in my opinion.)

2. The Total Money Makover  by Dave Ramsey (yes, we are drinking the kool-aid. It tastes good.)  I also read Entre Leadership which was fantastic too.

3. My Bangs Look Good and Other Lies I tell Myself by Susanna Foth Aughtman

4. The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (I don’t think most Christians I know would like this book, but I liked it. So there.)

5. The Help by Kathyrn Stockett

6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

7. The Bible Story – Volumes 1 (and Volume 2 was completed this year too and was equally good) by Arthur Maxwell (These are the Bible stories I am reading through with Carter. They are teaching ME.)

8. Parenting Beyond your Capacity by Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof

9. Out of the Spin Cycle by Jen Hatmaker

10 (& 11 &12). The Hunger Games Trilogy (again, not sure these are for everyone, but I truly enjoyed them.)

Have you read any excellent books lately that I should add to my 2012 book list?

 

Guilty-Momma-Conscience

I wrote “the kids don’t seem hungry…think they would notice if I don’t make dinner tonight?” as my status update on Facebook yesterday.

Seven of my friends “liked” this, and I wondered if I could blame them for any complaints I did receive from my children.

One of my friends wrote “They wouldn’t notice until bedtime. Then they would be suddenly starving. “, which really is about the truest thing I know about kids and eating.

They want to eat at the most inconvenient times, like at least three times a day. And usually when I have another agenda for that time frame, like a nap. For me.

I did feed them, by the way.

Eggs in a basket and leftover roasted vegetables.

And they ate.

Ok, they ate a FEW bites.

Internally I screamed, “I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU WEREN’T HUNGRY. WHY DID I TAKE THAT SILLY MOTHER OATH TO ALWAYS TRY TO CRAM FOOD INTO YOU LITTLE PEOPLE?”

Externally I said, “Eat your vegetables.” (Ok, truthfully, I had to say this several times.)

Next time, I am SO not bowing to my guilty-momma-conscience.

She is WAY too bossy and I hate the space she takes up in my head.

Next time we are SO having ice cream and chocolate.

Now that’s a dinner we can all agree on.

Daniel Fast

This is a repost from awhile ago, but thought it might bring some encouragement to my Kingsview friends who are slugging it out right now…You can do it!!!!

God is at work IN us…in me…in you….And THAT my friends, makes it ALL worth it.

(Oh, and I feel slightly convicted since it’s been a LONG time since I’ve even been to the gym, but…here it is anyway…)

—————————————–

For the past several Januarys I have been doing something I have a really hard time doing…a three week Daniel fast. This fast is basically choosing to eat only fruit, veggies and all-natural foods for 3 weeks. It is a food-restriction fast versus a 100% food withholding fast.

The first time I attempted this fast was the worst. I am a diehard coffee-lover for one thing and the withdrawal headaches seemed unbearable. On day two of the fast, Jeff fixed us a lovely stir-fry, but something rose up inside of me, and I just COULDN’T eat them . Yep, it’s true, I spent the dinner literally crying into my vegetables. It was that night that I realized I had a big problem…as embarrassing as it is to admit, I had (have?) a food problem. I enjoy eating whatever I want, whenever I want, without even thinking about the consequences to my body. I am guilty of only caring about the outward appearance of things. As long as the time I spend at the gym ensures I can still fit into my size 8′s, or even better-my 6′s, I figured I was ok.

News flash: when the thought of eating a plate of vegetables brings you to tears, you are not ok.

The Daniel fast re-alligns me, both physically and spiritually. I find myself telling the Lord, “I want you more than I want _____________ (fill in the blank with any number of food items).” “I want to be hungry for you, above everything else.” “You are in control of my life, my body, my all.”

If I really believe Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” , I have to wonder what exactly I am hungering for and then in correlation, what am I being filled up with? Am I filling up physically and spiritually on empty calories versus life-sustaining food?

Jeff preached a sermon recently in which he talked about having “leanness of soul”. This is a concept we read about in Psalms 106:13-16 KJV speaking about the Israelites in the wilderness, even after all they had already experienced of the Lord’s miracles and provision…”They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”

Ouch. For those of us that want God to truly be in control of us, these verses should feel like a slap in the face. Oh, how I don’t want a lean soul! I don’t want to persist over and over again in demanding my own way, only to end up actually getting it. I’m like any woman out there who wants to be thin on the outside, but Oh Lord, I want a fat soul! Help me to be more and more hungry for you.

_________

A few yummy recipes for those who are also on the Daniel Fast…

1. Roasted Fall vegetables… Cut some potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots and red onions up into bite size chunks. Toss in olive oil with some fresh garlic and salt and pepper and whatever other seasoning you might like. Cook at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through.

2. Peanut Sauce stirfry Use whatever vegetable you like to stirfry (peppers, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, califlower, beans…) and cook them up. Make some brown rice to go with it. The sauce that you mix the veggies in at the end of their cook time is: 1/3 cup Natural Peanut butter 1/3 cup water 1 tsp garlic powder 2 tbsp Bragg’s soy sauce (all-natural) 2 tbsp lemon juice Cayenne to taste (optional) Stir all and then microwave for 30 seconds to heat. Pour on veggies and enjoy! (we usually double the sauce recipe because we cook a lot of veggies at once.)

3. Carrot Soup

2 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion (about 2 cups), chopped 3 stalks celery (about 1 cup), chopped 4 cups sliced carrots 32 oz. vegetable broth (I use 2 organic vegetable buillion cubes with water) 1 teaspoon whatever seasoning you want 1 teaspoon dried basil 2 teaspoons chopped garlic 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon salt

In a large pot put the olive oil and saute the onion, celery, and carrots, garlic and all the seasonings for about 10 minutes. Then add the vegetable broth. Cover and simmer for 25 mins or until the carrots are tender. Let soup cool a little and then blend in a blender in batches. This is actually quite delicious and I suggest doubling the recipe as well.

A few good websites to check out for recipes… www.ultimatedanielfast.com – so many great ones and encouragements for the fast as well.

I welcome you to check out a bunch of recipes I have pinned to my board here as well… http://pinterest.com/carriejohnston/daniel-fast/

God’s Call

I cannot stop listening to this song. Ok, well, of course, I COULD stop, but I just don’t really want to.

I need this reminder every day that God is present in my life and desires me to Come to Him.

There are so many things that are calling for my attention, calling for my focus, that it sometimes can feel like I have no real say in what occupies my time. This is such a lie of the enemy. In fact, if I can be distracted all on my own, I am actually making the enemy’s work that much easier. Why bother tempting me with sin when my distractions are doing a good enough job all on their own from keeping me from the heart and presence of God.

Do you need a reminder today?…

Giving up the ghost, er, dog

There are many, many things that I do well.

Thrift-shopping and drinking un-godly amounts of coffee come to mind.

Apparently I can now officially add something new to my list of “Things I’ve tried to do and failed miserably at”.

I cannot be a dog owner.

Or I should say that I can not be a dog owner while I am also a parent. I just can’t seem to find peace with it all.

Here’s the facts: We got a puppy, Harley, on Halloween. He is a beautiful golden retriever / lab mix and will be an absolutely wonderful adult dog, of this I am sure.

Here’s the rest of the facts: I am not really a dog person.  It’s been a long 3 months.

On Sunday this dog will be “relocating” to live with Al, my father-in-law. We are keeping Harley in the family, we can visit him and Al can do all the work of actually being Harley’s owner. He can walk him daily, feed him lots, fight with him over slippers and shoes, worry over his walls and furniture being eaten, and clean up the hair tumbleweeds that materialize everywhere. As an added bonus, I will no longer have to mend my children’s war-wounds that Harley seems prone to inflicting during “play” time.

(I sure hope Al doesn’t read my blog. Oh, wait, he is a retired man with no internet….see why he NEEDS a dog!)

I am just a teensy bit relieved.

Ok, no, I am A LOT relieved.

Thank you, Jesus, for answering the prayer that I was too scared to pray.

Oh, and, Jesus, if you could help Children’s Aid to not read this blog as well, I would be so appreciative. We are getting so close to having our home officially opened for foster-ing and I really don’t want them to think I will do the same thing with their precious babies.

Babies are still definitely on my “List of things I do well.”

Manna

Lately the word “manna” seems like it’s been coming at me from all directions. Considering no one knows exactly what manna was, and that the word itself literally means “what is it?”, there’s a lot I’ve been learning from it nonetheless. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna)

In the wilderness when the children of Israel cried out to God for food, he provided them with this daily supply of manna. Exodus 16 records the amazing conditions of their provision. They were to gather only enough for each day and a double portion the day before the Sabbath. If they tried to hoard the manna it would become maggot-y and stink. (Think of your Green Compost bin in the heat of summer…Oh, you don’t have one? Well, think of MY Green Compost bin the heat of summer then.)

And, here’s what I’ve been thinking about…

Many of the people of God have got it all wrong these days. We act like we can get all of our spiritual nourishment on Sunday mornings, enough to last us all week. We go to church and casually approach the banqueting table, sample a little of this, a little of that, and walk away mildly satiated, expecting that little bit of food to last us through all of the week’s challenges, joys and adventures. And then we wonder why we are so burned out, so stressed out, so never enough all week long.

I speak for myself when I say, I have been maggot-y far too long.

What if we went back to believing that the children of Israel learned, that I need to

eat every day

and then

rest on the Sabbath.

I really believe that our lives would change if we began to gather nourishment for ourselves on a daily basis, to actually have to go out and find sustenance for our souls, food from heaven, enough for the day, each day. Then maybe our Sundays together would actually feel like a celebration of our faith, a true gathering of those that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Perhaps if we came together FULL, we wouldn’t leave feeling only slightly less-empty than we came in.

I need manna for my journey. Sometimes it may be hard to define, hard to pinpoint what exactly that manna is. “Time with Jesus and His Word” sounds a bit abstract, but it is vital that we do our part to go out and gather. God promises to fill us up.

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “

 

 

 

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Self Control

We’ve been having some wee troubles with Carter and school as of late, well, as long as Carter has been attending school.

And, all I can really say about this is that Jeff and I are ON HIM about this, like A LOT.

“Carter, you need to listen to your teacher.”

“Carter, please try to sit up and pay attention today.”

“Carter, please try to get your schoolwork done at school so that it doesn’t have to become homework.”

Ok, you get the picture.

Soooo, when our kids pastor told me today that Carter had been especially attentive during Sunday School today, I was thrilled.

Clearly, he is reaching a huge maturity milestone.

All our talks have finally found good soil in his heart.

My life as a parent is about to get easier. THANK YOU, JESUS.

Well, tonight at dinner, Carter very sweetly informed me, “Mom, when you yell at us, you don’t have self-control.”

Considering that self-control has been the Sunday School lesson the past few weeks, apparently the way to get my son to pay attention in class is to present material that can be used against his mother.

Who knew?

 

Christmas Baking

I just wanted to get and post a few of the yummy, fun Christmas treats I’ve made in the last couple weeks…

I found the inspiration for these at http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/11/vanilla-snowman-cupcakes-with-vanilla.html#more and made them for a little party at our house.

Carter was asked to bring treats for his class Christmas party so I had some fun with these North Pole cupcakes that I had seen at http://jennycookies.com/2010/12/ally-hudsons-gingerbread-party/.

Here’s how mine turned out…

I also made these Sweet Swirl Marshmallows and called them “Snow Cubes”.

On top of all these, I also made peanut butter balls, turtle pretzels candies, white chocolate peppermint pretzels, ginger molasses cookies, sugar cookies, hot chocolate marshmallow stir sticks, Giardelli truffles, candy bar squares, and a couple more treats.

I love Christmas baking, I really do.

But after it all has been given away and just a few (ahem) been eaten by yours truly, I have just one question….

When does the diet start???

Johnston Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas 2011!

LIFE – Hmmmm, where to begin? Our lives are so full, and we continue to thank the Lord for the opportunities we’ve been given. The church continues to grow in many ways. We were able to add a youth pastor to our staff this past January (Woohoo!) and a junior high ministry to our weekly programming as well. I am still heavily involved in the women’s ministry and have been thrilled with the response to our weekly Bible studies. Jeff continues to lead and shepherd the church with excellence, and we are so thankful to be serving among such an amazing group of people. www.kvcommunitychurch.com

I am excited to say that our basement will be finished this year. And, yes, that’s a faith statement, but Jeff has been working diligently to get this completed. We cannot wait to have a finished rec room and office down there. I can feel my productivity increasing just thinking about it, and we’ll have more space for the toys that seem to keep multiplying!
We did a bit of vacationing this year which we love…In May, my mom and I took an AMAZING trip to Europe where we visited Italy, Greece and Turkey. Even now, months later, I find it difficult to describe everything we saw! Let’s do it again, Mom! Then in August, our family was blessed to be able to vacation here in Ontario with dear friends of ours from Florida. We loved staying at the Great Wolf Lodge and doing Canada’s Wonderland until we dropped from exhaustion. Let’s do it again, Tremels!

LOVE – (our children, of course!)
Carter is 8 now and is ignoring my desperate pleas that he stop getting older. We are still waiting for him to lose his baby teeth, so at least his teeth are listening to me! He continues to read incessantly, and will play his DSi as long as he is allowed (and sometimes more, ahem.) He is in Grade 3 this year and is realizing that school is getting harder each year. He is having to work on his organization skills for sure! He loves having sleepovers with his best friend, Spencer and it is so fun to watch him interact with all his friends… He is pure LIGHT to us.

Mykah is 4 ½ and not so little anymore. She is unbelievably helpful and would be happy to cook all the meals around here. Daily I hear, “What are we making today, mom?”. She took her first dance class this fall and loved it, especially her dance outfit. She started Junior Kindergarten and goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other Monday, which she really enjoys. It’s official that I’ve been training her well – she asked me recently, “Why can we go to Target again?” (Oh, I LOVE IT!!!!)… She is pure JOY to us.
<

AND OTHER MYSTERIES –
We got a puppy! His name is Harley and he is a golden retriever/chocolate lab mix. While he is a wonderful dog, I am still trying to figure out how we went to the church for our annual Fall Festival and came home as dog-owners! (Pray for me!) Carter now says, “Every day is the happiest day of my life” (How can we NOT keep Harley after that?!). Mykah says “We love Harley, but we are still getting used to him.” (Did I mention she often sounds like me?!)

We are also almost through the quite lengthy process of becoming foster parents with the Children’s Aid society here in Hamilton. We will be taking in babies and toddlers (one at a time!) and are looking forward to sharing the gift of our family with children in need. Apparently our new family motto should be “Let the chaos in!”  You can keep up with us throughout the year at www.everydayspectacular.com – my irregularly updated blog.

We are trying to live this Scripture, one that we also pray for you… “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13

At Christmas and always, we pray God’s richest blessings over your life!
Love: Jeff, Carrie, Carter & Mykah Johnston…and Harley

Bribery

Sweet moments with our kids don’t always happen despite our best intentions.

I was reminded of this YET AGAIN this week.

My son had refused to participate in the kids Christmas program at our church.
And, when I say refused, I mean that in the strongest sense of the word.
He refused to be a break dancing shepherd and he refused to read a Scripture, the two options available to him.
He has sat through several weeks of practices, not participating in the slightest.
This lack of participation was apparently perfectly acceptable to him.

This lack of participation was perfectly unacceptable to me.

Let’s not even bring into this discussion the fact that we, his parents, are the pastors of the church. That’s entirely irrevelant.

The simple fact of the matter is I am a mother. And as a mother, I have strong motherly desire to see my little darlings performing up on stage. I want everyone to see my children and affirm that they are wonderful and oh-so-cute.
I want pictures.

Is this too much to ask?

Last year Mykah, only 3 at the time, refused to participate in the production because she wanted to be a person, not an animal.

I think the stubborn gene must come from Jeff’s side. (AHEM.)

Anyway, I was determined that both of my darlings would participate this year.

When normal rationalizing with my son did not work, I tried this one yesterday,just one wee day before the play, “Carter, you could really help Pastor Heidi out and do a Scripture reading. “

Nothing but more heel-dragging.

How about this one?….”Carter, you could do this and say that it’s your Christmas present to Jesus.”

Nope, don’t get excited…He wasn’t feeling spiritual. No visible change in demeanor or response.

As a last resort…”Carter, we will give you extra DSI time if you will be in the production.”

And, did it work?

Oh yes, it worked!

And, here’s proof that not only was Mykah a person this year, she played Mary…

My momma heart is happy today.

Rebellion

“I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’.” (Jeremiah 33:7-9 NIV)

I have always been one of those ultra-annoying teacher’s pet sort of gals.
I’m a pleaser, pure and simple.
I am a rule-follower and I much prefer if everyone else follows the rules too.

My idea of rebellion is purposefully not following my GPS to the highlighted route, but I must confess, even then I make sure to turn the volume down so I don’t have to hear her recalculating, because I just cannot handle the annoyance in her voice.

I hate to disappoint.

So when someone commented to me recently that the sin they had been committing was possibly due to rebellion in their heart, I was a bit shocked.
A Christ-follower admitting to being rebellious?!?!

Yet the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that it is my own hidden rebellion that is the root of so many of my issues too.

This rebellion on the inside that vies for its own way is an ugly, unseen beast that I find myself feeding and stroking.

Every day in a multitude of ways I find myself living contrary to the words I often sing to God… “I surrender all.”

Jeremiah 33 puts the concepts of sin and rebellion squarely together, an uncomfortable couple fighting for the same things…residence in hearts that are meant to be making God famous and instead are living selfishly for themselves.

But what if we started asking God to really cleanse us of both sin and rebellion?
Perhaps we would again see lives that bring God “renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth…”

I challenge you to ask yourself the question… “In what ways am I falling short of complete surrender to Christ?”
And then follow that up with another brave question… “Am I ready to set aside the rebellion in my heart and choose true freedom?”

Crafty Part 2

I am finally getting around to posting another of my recent attempts at craftiness…I’ve been wanting to “update” my house for so long, and since I don’t have a big decorating fund at my disposal, I’ve been trying to find some things I can do for cheap.

These signs were a perfect solution! All I did was buy some $2 canvases from the Dollar store, homemade modge podge (found the recipe on Pinterest), found a font I liked and printed the words on cardstock, carefully cut them out and then modge-podged them onto the canvases…New wall art for cheap! And I love seeing these visual reminders of my chosen life in my bedroom every day. The saying “I will forever love my choice…you” is especially meaningful to Jeff and I. It speaks to commitment and choice and effort, and the decision that we made to join our lives together over 12 years ago. We never want to forget that we choose each other for life.

Also, Those lamps were $10 thrift store finds. I spray-painted the nasty looking brass/metal angels and base to update the look…Now if I can only find some better lampshades! My plan had been to figure out a way to refresh the ones that came on the thrift store lamps, but, alas, the material was so old that they literally ripped apart. I still have the frames, so perhaps I will think of something to salvage them with. For now, the ones that are on the lamps are ones I already had and although they definitely leave much to be desired, they are at least functional (and paid for!).

What about you…any projects on the go?

He can even…

This past week has been challenging for me in ways that even this tell-all girl cannot tell-all.

New joy came to me through something my 4 year daughter said at bedtime the other night.

We are reading through The Message for kids, and I had finally convinced her that we should read it through cover to cover instead of randomly picking stories, which is her preferred method, because it means we can read the favored stories over and over.

We had come to the story of the parting of the Red Sea, which also means that we have finished reading about the plagues and the captivity in Eygpt. I was feeling a bit stirred up in my spirit and to be honest, was trying to make sure that Mykah was really “getting it”. She is four, mind you, and I think her favorite part of Bible reading is trying to shut the book before I have completed the last page :)

So, this particular night I expounded a bit on the written story, and said, “Mykah, did you know that we serve a powerful God? He is so much bigger than even all that water (the Red Sea)! He can do amazing things!

She immediately responded, “And He can even change my heart.”

I am choked up again right now, because the more I think about it, the more I KNOW that the biggest miracles of all, are those when God transforms the garbage within and brings out His Glory in the midst of our mess.

In what ways do you need POWERFUL GOD to work a miracle in you today?

Breakfast for Dinner

We have been running around since school got out today…Rona, the chiropractor, Dollarama, the library, and then to swimming lessons. When we got home the kids were starving and I whipped them up some scrambled eggs and pancakes, which is a bit of a once-a-week tradition around here. I just didn’t feel like pancakes though. I wanted something more substantial. I cooked up some potatoes with peppers and southwest seasoning, added some of the scrambled eggs and a couple of different cheeses, and, voila, a “breakfast for dinner” just for me.
It looked so pretty on the plate that I just had to get a picture to show you.

Crafty

I have never been a crafty person. EVER.
Honestly I can barely draw stick people that don’t look like, well, sticks.
I dread the school projects that my children will inevitably want my help with.
I have never learned how to knit, sew or scrapbook.

However, since signing up for a Pinterest account, I feel a creativity gene has sprung up from the deep recesses of my not-so-creative soul.
I WANT TO BE CRAFTY.
Yep, I’m just putting it out there. I am going to try stretching myself to see if there is any possibiity that I actually can do some of things that I would never dreamed I could do.

Here is my one of my first projects…I bought this lamp at our thrift store for $5. It was truly ugly, sort of a faux wood-ish multi-colored monstrosity. But I wondered what would happen if I painted the lamp and the shade….
(perhaps I should also point out that I am not a photographer, but I think you’ll be able to figure that out all on your own.)

What do you think? Is there hope for me and my new-found crafty gene?

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