The Armstrong 5

Okay, I know I just posted on my bible blog, but as I was weeding through computer files I came upon these from Cole's first birthday... so sweet, I had to share :)

I've never really refinished any old furniture... but I have 2 items I want to work on this summer (better hurry I guess before it's gone) and I often check out Julia at 551 East Design. Her blog is super cute, her furniture is amazing and she is giving away a sander!! Take a look, enter to win and become addicted ;)

I'm not likely to get too specific, some of you know the intricate details of my life, and so you'll know what I'm talking about. But for some of you, you'll just have to hang in there and pray, trusting that God knows what you're asking for.

I've been so stressed lately! It's been unbearable. There are so many swimming thoughts in my head about finances, business, travel, children, food, health, diet, pain, Dr bills... looking at all of this written out wants to make me cry. Mark and I have always had a lot going on and we've certainly had our share of financial crises. Lately though, I feel like no matter what happens, no matter what great things come along, we just keep getting further and further behind. I'm super frustrated with paying for insurance! Why is it that when I don't have insurance, I end up paying the same about of money to my Dr as when I do? Really, why bother paying for insurance then? Oh yeah, just IN CASE someone in our family has cancer or gets in a terrible accident or becomes near deathly ill - that just cheers me right up!!

Anyway, lately, I've had lots of things to pray for. Friends, my best friend, her baby, friends facing difficulty, my own mental state, our finances, my sister's job, my children and husband, etc. And it's easy for me to go to God with confidence that He will take care of them. But I don't have that same confidence when I go to Him with my own requests. Why is that? How is that? I guess b/c I know my own human-ness, how I mess things up and how I am so selfish and discontent. A very possibly, really fantastic opportunity has come up for Mark, but it's not super long term, and b/c of some secret details, we just don't know how it will change life in general, what will happen once everything is settled and what that company will be doing 5 years down the road - it's complicated and I'm not worried about Mark being able to get a solid IOS programmer job - he totally could. I just can't share all the details, sorry. But, I'm just really having trouble praying about all this. I wish I could go to God, say "Hey, this seems good to me, make it happen if it is, let if pass if it's not" and be content. But I'm just afraid that we will be forever in this perpetual cycle of life, trying to get ahead/not get any further behind. Then, I think of my mission trip coming and think "maybe it was a bad call financially." And many people in the world probably think so, many Christians probably think so, but does God?

I desire to trust God far more than I do. But I cannot get there on my own. Will you pray for me? Even if you think my trip to Thailand is a bad idea (cost of passport, shots & leaving my family for a small time), will you pray that God will use it for His glory and be pleased with it? I know I struggle with inadequacy  in my spiritual life and in most realms of life, but I cannot overcome it unless God does it for me. I'm feeling so emotional and girly today, ugh! But really, I don't want to live in fear b/c I know in my head that it doesn't matter if I'm poor or starving, I know that what counts is what Christ did on the cross and I'm grateful beyond words to be a child of God... but I see that I am not really willing to be poor, needy, hungry and at a constant loss for His sake and I know as a Christian, I should be. So please, just pray. I hope that this encourages at least someone that these struggles are not for the select few, but that many of us face these daily. But God can overcome, I know it.

I haven't blogged much about this subject yet... I'm sure there will be more posts soon to follow tho! So yes, I am going on an "expedition" (as e3 calls them) to Thailand from October 12th-24th, 2011 with e3 Partners Ministry. And yes, we will be recruiting help for Mark :) It's weird to think I will be gone from my family for that long... I wonder what that will feel like. Will I miss them terribly? Will I be so engulfed in the new place, the work at hand, that I don't have an extra few minutes to think about them? Will the foreign land make me miss them more? I have so many questions, I cannot even keep them straight in my mind.

If you want to be on my prayer team, please let me know! I'm planning on sending prayer updates every other week or every week... we'll see how time goes :) I need people to pray for me now! I already know that Satan will try to undermine God's work, starting with the common ways He debilitates me at home. I need people who are with me in doing God's work and stopping Satan from hindering me while I am gone, and I need to make sure that starts at home. You can start by praying that the planning part of me would rest easy in God's purpose. I begin to think about how less than 1% of people in Thailand call themselves Christians... I cannot fathom how this came to be! How are there countries that are free religiously and yet still completely without the knowledge of Jesus life, death and resurrection? Anyway, this gets overwhelming to me fast and I need to remember that God's purpose is so far beyond my ability to understand. I keep trying, but I cannot, and I need to not let that send me in a whirlwind of questioning God's purposes and not be overwhelmed at the enormous task of God bringing people to Himself - He's got it! I want to trust that 100% and I am not close to that now. Don't get me wrong, I know it is true, I just need to let go of my pride and my own idea of what's best and recognize that God is so far  beyond the best plan I could ever come up with.

So, that's just a small peek into what's been weighing on me lately. Please, if you want to commit to praying for me every week until my trip, and then every day during my trip, let me know! Give me your email! Don't let the thought of it intimidate you... if you miss a day, God can still take care of me. But I know how rewarding it is to pray for someone overseas and then later learn of the amazing ways God revealed Himself to people in a far distant land... you don't want to miss out! Keep checking my blog for updates on trip information, fundraising info (you can donate online at www.e3partners.org/joellenarmstrong) and general updates on how I'm feeling and what I'm learning. I'm sure God is going to use this time in my life to prepare me for other events in my life. Exciting, scary, weighty, intimidating - lots of things, but definitely all good! Thanks all, you'll be hearing from me.

My jumper friend from college, Kelsey Cantrall, gave me a recipe for homemade granola a while back. She boasted that her boys LOVE eating it for breakfast so I thought I'd give it a try! This has a few little modifications... but seriously, it's simple, quick and SUPER DELICIOUS! My boys will eat it everyday, multiple times a day if I let them, until it is all gone... about 4 days later. And for a bonus today... I have a few pics of it. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
- 4 cups quick-oats
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 & 1/2 cups sliced almonds
- 1 & 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup canola oil (she uses coconut, the recipe said cooking - use what you want!)
- 1/3 cup agave nectar (it calls for honey - I've done both but prefer the agave - I get it at Grocery Outlet for cheap)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
- preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix the oats, flour, almonds, dried cranberries, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. In the microwave, gently warm oil & agave nectar (or honey). Stir in vanilla. Carefully pour liquid over oat mixture. Stir gently with a wooden spoon.
- spread granola in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake 40 mins, stirring carefully every 10 minutes. Transfer granola-filled pan to a rack; cool completely. Seal granola in an airtight container. Store at room temperature.

* the original recipe says to add in the dried cranberries after the granola is done, but I like to have them be a little chewier and have that baked taste. I actually kept forgetting & just dumping them in, but hey, I like it anyway! You can try both and see what you think!

I love this pic! Asher looks so big to me!! This is a picture of Cole, Analeigh (turned 2 at the end of May) & Asher. Analeigh's mom is Mary, Mark's sister. We all went for a walk yesterday when Mark's mom had Ana for a while - it was hot, but fun! By the way, Ana is just sitting back on the bench further than Cole - they are actually about the same height, tho Coley has a few pounds on her :)

This is a great book so far! I'm only about 1/4 of the way in, and I have to admit, I am quite the Beth Moore fan, but I can tell that this book will stick with me. It's a great mix of the historical accounts of Jesus and his disciples but it is not lacking in heart and insight. I've always loved the book of John and been so curious as to how these people were with Jesus - I actually took an amazing "Writings of John" course in college and that was very inspirational as well. And when I say inspirational, I guess I more just mean that it motivated me to know more about Jesus and the bible - not gooshy, feely, all emotional-like inspirtational :)

Anyway, if you're looking for a good read, this will keep ya going for a bit!!

I'm realizing how bad I've been about blogging. I'm on track to only post HALF as many times as I posted last year - eesh! I guess I hesitate to post a lot for many reasons: 1 - time! 2 - no pictures or video to go along with what I'm planning on sharing 3 - I don't know what to share! My mind is often spinning incessantly with different ideas, theories on life, theories on Christian living, problem solving ideas for my kids (sometimes for other people too depending on the situation). I hate getting on here and just "chit chatting" but then I realize, I just never write! So, here's to just writing something totally random.

Today, we were having a small picnic in the backyard and Cole fell backwards off the seat at the little-tykes picnic table... not a far fall, but right into the rod-iron leg of grandma's sun chair. As I lifted him up I saw something on the back of his head and then soon realized, it's blood! It was just dripping and dripping and dripping. But, I got it to stop bleeding within a few minutes, thankfully! Asher got me my phone so I could call Mark, have him get me Cole's binky, monkey and a new shirt. I was actually really glad I had cut his hair just 2 hrs before - less mess :) Anyway, it was still kinda oozing, just a teensy bit, and it was naptime... what to do? I put a 3 inch bandaid on his head! I had no clue what else to do!! I guess I could have just put a towel down under his head, but the bandaid (while a weird solution) seemed like the best solution at the time - we'll see when he wakes up and I try to take it off. But, I think we might be heading to the mall tonight, so I might just leave it on until later? But what about riding in the stroller with a yucky, half-wet scab? These are things you don't think about until your kid has a huge gush on the back of their head. Ah well, he was happy within 15 minutes or so afterwards, so we weren't dealing with pain or anything, just mess. We'll see what happens later today!

Now, this topic is touchy. And I want to write more about it, but I'm bad at writing thoughts down as they come, so I don't have much "saved up" yet. I know most of us women struggle with our appearance. But it makes me really sad to see so many Christian women letting it get themselves down, or constantly seeking to better their appearance, or just catering to feeling bad about it by "fixing" the problem areas. Exercise I totally understand - you just feel better! And it's good to be healthy. But the constant getting hair & nails done... I just don't get it. Well, that's not entirely true, I get it, but I don't think it's good that I get it - make sense? :S We are people, we are driven towards beauty and it really, truly feels good to look lovely. But as Christians, shouldn't we recognize that any feeling of goodness we get from our appearance is really just vanity? In fact, I often feel bad realizing that it's so easy for me to feel good or bad based on how I look each day. It's human nature, yes, but don't we have Christ's Holy Spirit living in us, reminding us that the joy in the glory to come is enough for every day? When we live happily simply b/c everything about our appearance is falling in place that day, well, doesn't that just tell us that our joy is misplaced? I have trouble with this b/c it's a daily struggle for me, but I've come to a point where I recognize that I am struggling with sin (vanity), not just feelings or hormones. And I just wonder if maybe us Christian women are neglecting the fact that good feelings based on appearance are passing, fruitless, vain and generally, a big waste of energy. Shouldn't we be aiming for a more permanent joy instead of problem-solving our appearance until we are content? Seriously, point the finger at me first, it's a daily struggle! But we've got to start fighting it!! Don't you think?? I want to fight it, but I find that many women don't, and even go to lengths to make excuses for it. We need to hold each other to a higher standard!

And our appearance is just one spot of this issue of discontentment. Really, I think most sins come down to discontentment. So many daily choices for me come down to discontentment. But I said this in January, and I am still saying it today - it's worth fighting discontentment every day! It's worth it to abstain from complaining every moment, every day! There are few things we need in life, and in America, there is little to complain about. We complain b/c we look at what other people have, or pretty much, whatever we don't have. I want to look at the life I have in Christ and let that be enough to swallow every bit of discontentment and every complaint left in me - it's worth it 100% of the time. Even if I have nothing on earth, it's still worth it to have joy in Christ... we'll all see that once we die, I know it.

Anyway, that is my random blog post. I definitely want to write a bunch more on that topic of discontentment... it is part of my plan for the year but it hasn't really happened yet... guess I better get on it!! Thanks for reading :)