Camping Pictures

My brother Levi, his wife Liz, and their 3 sons: Eli, Wyatt, and Boo camped with us over 4th of July...........Here are a few pics of our family from their camera-

O make-up where art thou???  :)

Milk Do's and Don't (and Cake sneezing)

• If one's child is standing over their birthday cake and sneezes (and the sneeze blows out the candles with their snot) DON'T laugh and serve the cake anyway..... (one of my children did this and I, in the back of my mind was telling myself that I should not serve it but instead of listening to that thought I just laughed and served it anyway.......your free to judge me now :) )
• If milk is within 3 days of expiration DONT drink it..........yuck- that's to close to expired.  Who chooses the date anyway- It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to dairy, chicken, and bad fashion sense!
• On the milk note- If there is only a couple of cups left in the bottom of the milk container DONT drink it........BLAH! Something about the last little bit of milk in the carton is gross- What if, unbeknown to you one of your children had drank out of the carton....that last couple of cups in the bottom of the milk container could be mostly saliva- saliva and milk.....eeeeewww!
• One more about milk...........drinking milk from someone you have just met's house just seems too personal- like the relationship has been stepped up a notch (as opposed to drinking soda, water, or tea).......'Can I get you a glass of milk Steph?'...........uh NOOOOOOOOOOO!
• Speaking about milk and too personal...........drinking milk straight from the cow (like buying it at a dairy or having your own cows that you milk) seems a little to personal too- I've been inside milking barns when cows are being milked- they take poo's when they are hooked up to those milking machines....having the poo so close to the warm milk coming out of the utter is cringe worthy..........Having some personal space from the utter to the consumption just seems like a better choice.....pasteurize that stuff before it comes to my fridge thank you very much.
• OK last one about milk............fat free skim milk looks like human breast milk- It makes me want to gag when I see people drink it.............honestly, if your drinking it for the 'vitamins' go pop a few vitamin D's and save yourself the utter (hee hee....pun) disgustingness of drinking the thin, bluish colored, dank looking liquid (if you are an avid fat free skim milk drinker please don't send me an e-mail about all the reasons why you drink it- No matter what you could ever say to me I will still think its gross)

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!! 

gross gross gross!!! :)

Beards, Bottoms, & Battles...'A soft answer turns away wrath..'

The story took me by surprise....I have read from cover to cover in my Bible and thought I would have remembered at least the 'over-view' of it- The first part makes you chuckle under your breath(and hold your breath for a bit out of shock) and the second part makes your stomach churn.

2 Samuel 10

10 In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. ² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.

Before I had read any further I was visualizing what those poor men looked like....After visualizing I chuckled under my breath and then continued reading..........

⁵ When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”
⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.
 
My mind was begging the Ammonite king to go to David in humility and ask for forgiveness for disrespecting David's men.........The Bible clearly states that David had sent those men to show honor and respect.........surely the Ammonite king could see what he had done may have been funny at the time (to the Ammonites) but was obviously causing quite a stir with David and his men......Instead of asking David for forgiveness we are told that the Ammonite King hired soldiers to ready themselves for battle....

⁷ On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.....

And for the next several verses after verse 7 we read about a battle........a battle that started because someone decided to do something mean to another, not ask for forgiveness but instead hold their ground......they even stepped it up a notch and 'got ready for a physical battle'

 ¹⁸ But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.^[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them.

The Ammonites lost the battle.........

Like I said in the first part of this blog post, my stomach churned after reading this story.  It churned because of the way the battle started and then ended- so many lives were lost over something so trivial (the beards would have grown back and the cut off garments replaced...........the Ammorite king took 'fun and games' too far and could have asked for forgiveness before the ridiculousness of what was going on went any farther)......This had become an unnecessary battle with unnecessary destruction!

I started praying after reading it.... 'Heavenly Father what application does this story, that happened so many century's ago, have in my life....Why is this particular story seeming to soak down deep in my soul and bother me at my core....why can't I just laugh it off and focus on how funny those men must have looked with their cut tunics and half shaved beards..........'

I have shared several times on this blog that I have asked the Lord to help me be the wife that He wants me to be to my husband Matt (Matt and I love each other dearly but both of us have strong personalities that more often times than not will want to clash) ............As  I have prayed diligently and with a renewed fervor over the past couple of years over my marriage, the verse that ALWAYS comes to mind when I think of my Matt is 'A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh answer stirs up anger'..........When we are annoyed at each other and I am venting to God about all that I 'feel' Matt has done wrong the same verse comes to mind 'A soft answer turns away wrath...' (Proverbs 15:1)


As I was mulling over the story above, asking the Lord for the wisdom to understand what I needed to learn from it, in sadness and repentance I realized how many times I have been an example of  Hanun (the Ammonite king) in my marriage- Speaking hurt to my husband but making sure that it has the appearance of funny........When I see the hurt come over him and hear his reply I am quick to hire the twenty thousand 'foot soldiers' that come in the package of twenty thousand justifiable thoughts of ways that Matt has hurt me in the past. The battle lines are drawn and the fight begins...an unnecessary battle with unnecessary marital destruction.

As much as it grieves my heart to know that I have acted like Hanun,  I can feel the truth of the Lord soaking in deeper than the grief........... 'A soft answer turns away wrath daughter (Prov. 15:1)...........my mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23)..........I began a good work in you and will see it through to completion (Phil. 1:6).........'

Today is a new day with new understanding- a day full of choices to make..........a day that soft answers will turn away wrath

AMEN!

I LOVE MY MATT!!!!!

Jimmy WHO? (and Costco)

Matt's mom Sharon has a sister named Donna- Donna has a son named Jim (Jim has a brother named Ken........At a graduation party a few weeks back Ken and I had a 'discussion'. In my adult life I have never had such an urge to head butt someone as much as I wanted to head butt him during that conversation.........I'll leave it there and pick it back up in another blog post....hee hee hee)...........Donna's son Jim is not the Jim I am referring to in this blog post title though-

Jimmy Choo.........

If you say the word shoe but take out the sh and replace it with a ch you have the word 'chew'... in the fashion industry, if you had a designer with the last name of 'chew' then all those poor starving models would think of eating whenever his name was said...........this just could not be, so instead of a spelling of 'chew' he gets a spelling of 'Choo' (like the sneeze sound 'choo!')

Jimmy Choo is a British high fashion house specializing in luxury shoes, designer bags, and accessories. The company, J. Choo Limited, was founded in 1996 by couture shoe designer Jimmy Choo and Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon 

(Wikipedia)

 

Did you catch the part in the paragraph above where they talk about Jimmy Choo's accessories?

Costco caught that part and started carrying Mr. Choo's sunglasses for a fraction of the retail price....

Over the past several years bright lights bother my eyes.  If I am standing outside in the sunlight and am not wearing sunglasses my eyes will tear up- When the sun reflects off of car windows or water my eyes will be literally be sore.

My Matt wears Oakley sunglasses for a lot of the same reasons above- We were driving together a few weeks ago and I asked him if I could try his glasses...just to see if the more expensive sunglasses were that much 'better' than my $10. Ross Sunglasses........................ummmm Yeah they were!

While I was standing in Costco trying on Mr. Choo's sunglasses last week I mentally committed to that wonderful pair of glasses that I would
 

• Not just throw them in my purse after use (allowing the lenses to scratch)
• Use the proper cleaning cloth (and not paper towels or the bottom of my shirt)
• ALWAYS put them away in their case if they are not on my face

Thank you Jimmy Choo for making a stylish, well fitting, perfectly tinted sun glasses that allow this mama to enjoy being out in the sun again!

 

 

The cute case my glasses came with :)



Beef & Biolage

While my middle and youngest were outside blowing as hard as they could on my oldest's predator calls (they are whistles that are meant to sound like animals- they are supposed to 'call in' animals when one is hunting- If I were the animal trying to be called in by one of these 'calls' I would cover my ears and run for the hills......besides someone playing a violin who does not yet know how to play (Jodi) there is not a more annoying sound on the face of this earth)...........I was making the 16 hamburgers for our 4th of July camping trip- As I was mixing the beef all together in a bowl the thought occurred to me that beef rocks :)
Roast rocks
Hamburger rocks
Stew meat rocks
Steaks rock
Round steak rock
All beef rocks

Right after the beef rocks thought it also occurred to me that there is no better 'all around' shampoo than Biolage (Matrix).  Every Biolage product has touched this overly processed hair of mine over the last 20 years and I have yet to find one that is not outstanding.......

Beef and Biolage...............It don't get any better than that :)

Happy Wed!!

Ed & Clara Plates AND Scandalous photos :)

It was the every 2 year Chamberlain Family reunion this past weekend-  All 115+ of us meet at an organizational camp ground about 45 minutes away (the camp has cabins, a chapel, and a large eating hall). 2 Years ago our Ellie was born the week before so we were not able to make it up.  4 years ago we had just moved to Hawaii so again, not able to make it.  All that being said.......it's been awhile!

At the Chamberlain reunions a fundraiser is done to help off-set the cost of the next reunion.  The talented members of the family will make things to be sold and the not so talented will bring family memorabilia (pictures, etc...) to be auctioned- The auction format is first a silent auction where various things are auctioned by way of a paper taped in front of the item (which is sitting on a table) with slots to write your name and how much you want to bid on the particular item-  second is the live auction........Scandalous (smile) things like a blown up picture (that my brother Levi had made just to shock my aunt and uncle at the auction) of my aunt Anne and uncle Reid when they were dating (1972ish) posing by the lake.....my aunt standing in her bikini and my proud uncle beaming from ear to ear standing beside her goes for $100. at this live auction (bought by my uncle Reid).

6 years ago I bought an apron my nana had made- It was sold at the live auction..........

This year I bought 2 plates.....The Ed and Clara plates from the silent auction....

Ed Chamberlain married my great grandma Clara in 1912- I really do not know a lot about their history except that my great grandma Clara was called Na-Nan.  During their marriage, they had many children.......one of them being a son they named Ray.  Ray married a woman named Harriet Hagen (who to this day is one of the classiest women I know) and they had 3 Children........A son first that they named Rick Edward and two daughters- Petra and Anne.

Rick married a woman named Ellie and they had 2 girls........ the first daughter they named Jodi Rae (after Rick's dad, my grandpa) and the second birth is where I came into the Chamberlain Family...........63 years after my great grandpa Ed and my great grandma Na-Nan were married I was born.

In 1962 Great Grandpa Ed and Na-Nan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  I am not sure if my na-nan decorated 2 plates (for wall hanging) in celebration of their 50th (forget decorating the plates na-nan...you should have decorated yourself with 2 plane tickets to somewhere tropical for a 50 day vacation!!!) or if they were given the 2 wall hanging plates as a gift for their 50th..........

The plates have a bit of an Asian feel and are decorated with fabric.  Written at the bottom of 1 plate is 'Ed' and at the bottom of the other is 'Clara' and they were up for grab at the silent auction.......

A piece of my great grandparents history now hangs on the wall going from my living room into my dining room-
A piece of their history that is celebrating 50 years of their marriage!

I LOVE MY ED AND CLARA PLATES and I LOVE MY CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY!

Nothing is Impossible, Nothing can separate, and nothing can Hinder (with God)

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I write in my Bible- I write out prayers by certain verses and I also write certain verses that stand out to me and are some personal favorites in the front pages (and back pages) of my Bible........These are verses that I have repeated over and over to myself (and speak out to God) when life circumstances (or hormones) have thrown curve balls my way- Verses that offer so much comfort and so much hope for whatever comes our way.

When the leather bound front cover of my Bible is flipped you will see sprawled across the first two pages the following verses:
(NIV Life Application Bible is what I use)

• 2 Chron 20:15- 'Stand firm and the Lord will fight for you.'
• Heb 13:5 'Never will I leave you- Never will I forsake you.'
• Ex. 33:17 'Show me your (Lord) Glory'
• Matt 6:43-45 '...For out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.'
• 2 Tim 1:7 'For the Lord did not give us the spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound mind'
• 1 Cor 15:33 'For God is not a God of disorder but of peace'
• 1 Cor 15:57-58 'But praise be to God who gives us victory in Jesus Christ. Therefore my brothers STAND FIRM'
• 2 Cor 1:3 'God comforts us so that we can be comforters'
• Gen 15:6 'Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness'
• 2 Cor 3:17 'Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom'
• 2 Cor 4:8 'We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed'
• 2 Cor 12:8 'My grace is sufficient for you'
• 1 Sam 17 'For the battle is the Lords'
• Heb 4:12-13 'For the word of God is sharper than any double edged sword'
• Eph 4:27 'And do not give the evil a foot hold'
• Psalm 34:18 'The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit'
• Psalm 141:3 'Set a guard over my mouth O Lord'
• Luke 4:18-19 'The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me...'
• Deut 30:11 'Now what I am commanding you today is not difficult to reach'
• Gal 6:9 'Let us not grow weary in doing good'
• Phil 4:12-13 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength'
• Isaiah 26:3 'You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is on you'
• 2 Cor 10:4 'The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world.  On the contrary they have the divine power to demolish strongholds'
• Isaiah 16:7 'The Lord looks at the heart'
• Phil 1:6 'Being confident of this that He who began a good work in you will carry it out until the day of completion'
• Neh 9:10 'The joy of the Lord is my strength'
• Psalm 46:10 'Be still and know that I am God'
• 1 Sam 14:6 'Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving'
• Isaiah 30:15 'In repentance and rest is your salvation.  In quietness and trust is your strength'
• Rom 4:20 'Being fully persuaded that God has the power to do what He has promised'
• Phil 4:6 'Be anxious about nothing but in everything by prayer and petition make your requests known to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your minds and hearts in Christ Jesus'
• Deut 1:29 'Do not be terrified and do not be afraid- The Lord your God who is going before you will fight for you'
• Judges 6:12 'The Lord is with you mighty warrior'
• Luke 1:37 'Nothing is impossible with God' (AMEN!!)
• Psalm 55:23 But as for me...I trust in You'

Thank you so much Lord Jesus for the comfort and hope you offer us through your written word!  Thank you that nothing is impossible with You, nothing can separate us from You, and that nothing can hinder You- I love you Heavenly Father