Music to my ears

Monday was another milestone. David said "Mama" clearly and for the first time (although he has been making the mmmm sound for months). Yes, it was after prompting. No, I did not hold a gun to his head. And no, I am still not sure he was talking about me. But... this is the first step to no longer being called "Daddy!"

Points=Money

There is a website that I have been a member of for a little while. It is called Swagbucks. You can earn points just for searching using their search engine (normally about 10-20 points a day) and at 450 points you can earn an Amazon gift card. There are also random extra points awarded regularly. It normally takes me about a month but with hardly any effort and I have a free gift card!

I think I have earned $20-25 in Amazon gift cards over the past 6 months with hardly any effort. There are also other prizes to choose from. This may not seem much but it is still free cash and fun for mad money or a gift fund.

A few pointers:
• You receive 30 points just for signing up here.
• Every Friday (as in today) is MegaSwagbucks Day which means you could earn a lot more points for searching than other days. I earned 40 points today in one search.
• Normally the easiest way to get points is to search either from their website or the toolbar which you can install. I find that normally within a few minutes of searching (often hitting the back arrow to get back to the search results page), I will earn 10-20 points. This seems to be about all most days on the searching, so I would not waste your time trying for much longer. You can even use your normal search engine after that; I often do.
• If you install the toolbar, it often has extra freebie codes that pop-up at the top.
• They often have extra codes for points that are given out in scavenger hunt style.
• Other ways to earn points: use their main page to shop, go to the no obligation offers (and be sure to click skip through the offers) and at the end you are awarded with a random number of points each day, follow them for extra codes on flicker or facebook, subscribe to their newsletter (I think once a month comes out with a new code), read their blog (I subscribe to it via google reader), get referrals (yes, if you do sign up through me, I do get a few perks).

Overall, it may seem yet another scheme, but I am mentioning it here because I have had so much fun getting the gift cards with very little work (one of the easiest and most fun "extra income" ideas) I love the fact that I am saving up for something specific on Amazon without having to take the money out of our normal budget!

Lessons in Love

Like I mentioned, God has been teaching me some lessons recently...many small lessons relating to the same theme. The theme is Love.

God has been teaching me how to obey Him out of love (no other motivation should do--not expectation of blessing, fear of consequences, or simply because I have no other choice).

God has been teaching me to be willing to drop the everyday chores in order to love those around me.

He has been showing me that my baby, who I thought much like his Daddy in temperment, is actually more like me. He is laid-back and charming when he is well-rested and well-fed but a bear to live with when he is not. I am better about the well-fed bit than David, but I respond very poorly to lack of sleep and stressful situations. I am learning through a daily intentional effort on my part to respond more lovingly (still in process of learning!) to those dearest around me when I am tired or stressed.

None of these lessons are easy or painless, but I am just thrilled that He sees it worthwhile to "prune" me, to make me more like Him.

As an after-thought: God could have/did use so many circumstances, quiet times etc...to teach me these lessons, but one of the ones He has consistently used in my life (and one which I have missed so much until recently again) is Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). It is an international, inter-denominational Bible study that is purely God's word over and over again! We are studying John this year. Check out their website if you are interested- bsfinternational.org. And if you live locally and want to go with me on Wednesday mornings, let me know. They also have evening classes and likely have a class in your city too--remember they are all over the world!

Deep thoughts in a puzzle

God has been teaching me a lot of lessons recently so bear with me as I share a thought.

I was watching David try to fit a puzzle piece in a new puzzle I bought him. It is a nice wooden puzzle with trucks for pieces. He has so much trouble with this puzzle, however. This got me to thinking "why?"

The puzzle is one where the piece only loosely fit into the piece openings. This means that there is wiggle room around the piece. While this might sound easier for a child, it actual was harder since it gave David no sure boundary to verify that the piece was in correctly.

Isn't this true of life in general? When we give our kids loose boundaries, thinking we are being kind, they only struggle with actually determining what the boundaries are. I know I too find it far easier to obey when there is no wiggle room. I may not like the restriction but what safety and reassurance there is in actualy knowing where our boundaries are. Thank the Lord that He has laid out clear boundaries for us in His word!

A fire truck and a birthday party

****For those reading this on a RSS feed, I am sorry that this is from several months back!****

We went to Babies r Us recently; I splurged on the 50 cents for a ride for David on the fire truck with Snoopy. He loved it!!! (except the getting off part where he threw a temper tantrum!)

We also went to cousin Caleb's birthday party at the park. A fun time was had by all, except at times by me. I found myself literally corralling David on the playground like a shepherd. He kept running off!!! He did eat well though, even without his booster seat.

the love of adoption

I was thinking about adoption this morning as once again I was listening to one of my favorite CDs, Rise and Shine by Randy Travis. If you like country music, or even if you don't, you might appreciate this CD also. The words to all the songs are so thought-provoking, touching, and challenging spiritually.

The song "Raise Him Up" (lyrics here) talks about adoption and first brought to my mind the image of the ultimate adoption story--Jesus. What could be a more powerful testimony to share with adopted children than the story of Jesus--adopted by Joseph as his own?

And now we, as Gentile believers, are also adopted into the Lord's family.

Ephesians 1:4-6 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

What joy there is in adoption!!! And what love... hopefully the same love that motivates us to obedience (as I was reminded again in BSF this morning).

"Cause it's time he knew
What a son can do
With a father's love.
He can change the world"

a modern-day miracle

Some may just laugh this off as a coincidence, but I want to give God the praise for His obvious hand in a minor situation yesterday.

We have had a possible, small gas leak below our cooktop for a couple of weeks. Several folks have come and tried the soap and water method (see where the bubbles appear to find the leak). One miniscule leak was spotted and fixed, and yet the smell still resided at times. We finally called the gas company yesterday and asked them to come out.

The gas man arrived and checked the meter and told me if there was a leak, that it was very small. Then, he took his sniffer and started testing the lines under the cooktop. As I expected all the lines were fine. He went down to the fitting on the copper line that came out of the house (and this is where it can get quite a bit costlier and a nuisance to fix). His sniffer, however, picked up a small leak right below the gas shut-off valve but above the floor. He started to tell me though that since it was in a place that he could not fix, he was going to be required to shut off the gas until it was fixed...possibly days. I know I should not be complaining, but it has been really cold at night (30s) and no heat (especially with a baby) would be miserable! Here is where God stepped in...

As he was telling me this policy, he soaped up the pipe. He didn't see any bubbles and then he went back to "sniffing" the same joint that had had a problem earlier. No alarm signal! He tried for 10 minutes to recreate the signal but couldn't. He even went out to check the meter and it was completely stationary. He came back in and sniffed again. I too "sniffed" with my nose and could not even smell the gas. I already suspected God was being gracious to us. We now knew where the possible leak was but would not have to have our heat cut off. This was confirmed when a couple of hours later, I opened the cabinet back up and could smell the gas again! What a blessing for a momentary lapse in the escaping gas!!! I know it was a little miracle from the Lord!

Update: Michael thinks he pinpointed and fixed the problem last night, but time will tell.