the missional mom

i have been reading some good books recently and decided some deserved a review on our blog. my list has been a combination of parenting, adoption, spiritual discipleship, with some "fun" ones throw in here and there. most of my books are recommendations from others, and this one was no exception. while at the lake this summer i had the refreshing opportunity to read the missional mom. this was recommended through a blog of an fellow adoptive mom and i ordered it right away. although i read it a couple months ago, i was reminded of it during my quiet time this morning.

not only was this book encouraging, but inspirational-it was able to put into words what i had dreamed parenting to be. she encourages the missional mom to resist cultural pressures, love "the least of these", be third-culture, engage in the needs of the world, and to create missional families. she reminds us that our primary calling is to be on mission for God, reaching those in this world.

"What I have seen time and time again, in my friend's lives, in my own life, and in the lives of countless others reflected in the Christian and secular media, is that we mothers often forget how mother hood intersects with the bigger picture of our primary calling and mission. Sometimes we replace our primary calling and mission by saying, 'Motherhood is my highest calling' or 'Motherhood is my primary mission.' When a secondary calling displaces a primary one, the confusion begins."

She goes on to reiterate, "I do not mean to devalue motherhood in the least. Motherhood is a critical secondary calling for those of us who have been given the priviledge of playing that role in a child's life. But we always need to put our role as mothers in the right context and never prioritize our secondary calling as a mother over our primary calling to know and love God."

it was a affirming and thought provoking book for me and i highly recommend it.

rain, rain.. please stay!

on thursday tucson recieved the most rain in one day in forty years..and i loved every second of it. partly because it has been so dreadfully hot that the rain is a much enjoyed break and partly because it reminds me of summertime monsoons in korea (which actually last almost 24/7 for a month or two compared to twice a week rainshowers here). in any case, beniah and i have made it a habit to go play outside once it dies down a bit.

b is 3!

i wanted to throw beniah a bash worthy of a three year old, but also wanted to keep it low cost and low stress. my initial thought was to have some people over for cake..and while looking at cake ideas i found a guitar cake, which inspired his birthday party: dance party! we frequently have dance parties in our house. our neighbors may randomly see dave or i (or joey) jumping up and down ridiculously to some random song...i wonder if they can see beniah too?

 we had glowsticks and some christmas lights up for our dance party and the kids (and adults) had a blast.

how i wish you could see the adults attempting to do the dance from the video..too good. :)

the LePeau birthday candle

b's guitar cake that inspired it all

poker night fundraiser

christe is not the only one behind on the game. a few weeks ago wayne with man tucson graciously offered to host a fundraiser card game for our adoption. it was amazing, fellowship around the card table, good food and we raised $300!

highlights included: the fight not to be first person out as whoever the lucky individual was got cursed with (i mean awarded) a j-e-t-s, jets! jets! jets! jersey, manny officiating to make sure all play was conducted in a vegas style manner, and of course the sharking juan pulled, its for charity right.

thank you all so much for the way you have blessed my family and my evening, i miss not being with you all more often. a special thanks to wayne and man tucson for hosting the event.

results: juan/team reody/ and of course myself split the first place pot and took home some classic ben wallis bulls jerseys! while john and aj rocked the jets jerseys hard!

...and the living is easy

it seems i have failed at recapping our summer on time. here is a big update.

we spent the first two weeks of july at lake fremont in fremont, michigan. dave will tell you that its his favorite place in the world..and now beniah knows why! we drove throughout the night, taking turns along the way, so beniah could sleep in the car. when we stopped halfway in denver we got to spend the day with dave's brother and sister in law, steve and kristen. they were gracious enough to take beniah out to the denver children's musuem in the afternoon so dave and i could nap.

b talked about the fire truck for another week after this trip

ta-da!

then we made our way to lake fremont for (almost) two full weeks of eating, talking, laughing, eating, swimming, and hanging with family.

nothing completes the 4th like a sparkler!

the photo of the summer

squeeze in!

logically,  b took water from the kiddie pool and put it back in the lake

"they go on like this.."

luke is thinking "umm..i'm not sure thats right b"

"yeh, exactly"

pan!

smiley girl!

poppo is a happy camper!

riding the tube w/mama

luke, so precious in the hammock

in poppo's sailboat

b choose uncle steve to put him to bed

after many attempts, dave checks "catch fish" off his list

eric's first try at water skiing

he did great~i know next summer he is going to nail it!

quick story from the trip: we had put beniah down for the night and were watching an episode of mad men with dave's parents when we hear him screaming. mimi goes upstairs to investigate and when she finally calms him down he points to my icy hot container. i take him in the bathroom and scrub him down, fingers, arms, and eyes included. afterward dave is in bed with him settling him back down to go to bed and beniah says to dave, "dada, thats not for my bottom," (the container looks like his diaper rash cream container) and dave says, "no, no buddy, thats not for your bottom". benaih again tells him, "dada thats not for my lips," (the icy hot is similar consistency to vaseline which i use on my lips) and dave says, "no, no buddy, thats not for your lips." finally beniah looks at him and says, "dada, thats not for my eyes," and dave again says almost through laughing "no, no buddy, thats not for you eyes." now he knows what icy hot is for: mama's back.