Saturday, February 28, 2009

Meeting W. Paul Young - author of The Shack

Went to the Oregon Christian Writers one day conference today and our guest speaker was Paul Young (he doesn't use the William!). These are some of the notes I took during his three talks during the day: He told us he only has two prayers he prays on a daily basis anymore - #1 - "I don't want to die as an old man who never took the risks involved with faith and trust." #2 - "I will never ask you again to bless what I do - but if there is something you are blessing, can I hang around that just because I want to be around you."

He talked about how sometimes he spent so much time trying to find a worthy enough idea to have God bless it - that the idea becomes the idol, and in the end, it becomes something about our life that we can control. Until you deal with God, he won't let you keep idols that damage you.

He said the book was a gift to his children, so they understood the big things in his life and sometimes he feels that its 'success' is because God said, 'yeah, give it to your kids, then I'd like to give it to mine.' He talked about our significance to God, and how if something can be taken away from us, then it's not a part of who we really are. How we know how to justify our fears, the place where we're not going to let anyone else in, and we build our new facades to match the people we want to please. God refuses to let us build facades, or put up with the paint jobs we paint as fast as we perceive people's expectations.

His 'weekend' in the shack lasted 11 years (January of 1994 to June of 2004), and it took him 50 years of this life to stop trying to earn God's love. The father of the prodigal and the righteous son loved both of them 100%, all the time. Fear is a gift that shows us where we need to trust God. He said that after God took everything away in 2004, with 6 of them living in a 900 square foot house, the joy of God fell on them like a ton of bricks. Sometimes God lets everything go wrong just so he can heal you deep inside. If your burden is heavy, you're picking up things that aren't yours. He is the only one that can heal your unique damage and sometimes the surgery has to cut deep. It's all right to grieve for the person God created you to be.

He's dealt with having members of his family killed (a niece who was just 5), with adultery (the beginning of his own 'great sadness') and was abused sexually since he thinks about 4 or 5. He says he has no more secrets from anyone, and one day hopes that he and his father will have their relationship healed. In the book he is both Missy and Mac.
Paul has a website: http://www.windrumors.com/ where he talks about the things that matter to him. We laughed with him a lot, and he talked about husband and wife submitting to each other quipping "I submit stuff to my wife all the time, articles, letters, my writing...." He is also firm that his wife selects his engagements "that way I know I have her approval to go!"

His main theme, God loves us, completely, all the time - what freedom and joy!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

I'm the Dad.....don't scold!!

I thought I was posting to the family tree dear........let's remember, I'm old!

A Mom Here!


I had one of my aides at work pull books for the Read Across America display and he pulled out my Mom's book to use! So, here it is in the case we have in the middle of the library! Talked to Sonya tonight - I will hopefully get to visit this summer. Den has the possibility of starting work (!) big yeah! Derek should have gotten cookies in the mail today awaiting his arrival to pick them up. We have Bible Study tonight, I have an OASL (Oregon Association of School Librarians) meeting tomorrow afternoon and Saturday is the Oregon Christian Writers conference here in Salem. So, off to eat dinner (a chili-ish concoction of meats and beans, corn and pasta) and for snack tonight I made the cinnamon muffins with streusal topping but more like a coffee cake format - they smell awesome! Love you all!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

"First out of the gate!"


Hi there! Melanie here. ;-)

So I'm going to be lazy and paste some of my last posts here as my "official update". I'm pregnant, I can cheat!

Derek came home for the month of December and for that seemingly eternal yet short amount of time the gravitational forces of the moon were in balance once more. It was wonderful to visit with family and spend time with everyone. A more perfect existence could never be created when we are side by side, as two soul-friends could never contain more happiness than that.
And whether it was expected by everyone or not, we now get to share the joy of having a baby on the way! (September 2nd is the "due date")

Sometime towards the end of March or April, once Derek finish his selection for Special Forces, I finally get to join him in North Carolina! By that time I should be over my extreme morning sickness that seems to be the bane of my life right now.


****

Sometime in March I will have another ultrasound and find out if I'm having a boy or a girl! A friend of mine says she wants to give me a baby shower before I leave for North Carolina(The shower would be around the first week in April or so). So I've decided until I know for sure, to create 2 different registries. You'll find they are pretty similiar.



It's a Girl! Registry:

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/3HN1PASMWKEEJ


It's a Boy! Registry:

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/3DQ8ISZLJ1QKF



And for the most recent. Today I turned in my application for admission to Fayetteville State University! I obviously wont be going until the Spring Term seeing as though I'll be popping out a baby during the Fall. But after a good 4-5 months of getting used to all the changes, I don't see why I can't continue my education and bring baby to class! It will be fun! Stressful! And when the baby cries I will probably miss some of the lecture as I quickly retreat out of the classroom! But hey, why not? It's like when you were a kid and wanted to bring your pet frog or new kitten to school and your mom always said no. But this time I get to and nobody can say no! And if the school has any problems I'll just tell them straight up that the baby is simply "auditing the class". =P

Also in September, a friend of mine is moving to NC! She currently has 3 jobs and is trying to finish her education at Chemeketa here in Salem. So call me crazy again. But I told her she has a place to stay rent-free with us! It will give her a financial break and she has already offered to be nanny whenever I need it! Life is so much more exciting when your living to help people out. I always want my home to be open to the world in need, and that will always be the way my household rolls. ;-)




Vso. Da Svedanya!


Monday, February 23, 2009

Family Tree Blog Introduction!!!

Welcome to our new family blog!
The idea of this blog is to keep the family close and updated on each others lives! No matter how far away we go in the world, this is the place where we can all come together and post what is happening in our lives. Post pictures! Events! Anything you would love to share with family!
If you are a mother, father, brother, or sister of Derek and I(Melanie) we would love for you to join the family blog! Grandparent? Aunt? Uncle? We would love to have you!
Even if your not interested in posting, you are invited to follow along with the lives of the family members that do!





If you've been invited to be an author via e-mail, simply sign up for a blogger username and password through google. Then once you've explored and learned how to post, go ahead and post a blog to introduce yourself to everyone! That way we know all the family members that are here to share their lives!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Baby Registry

Sometime in March I will have another ultrasound and find out if I'm having a boy or a girl! A friend of mine says she wants to give me a baby shower before I leave for North Carolina(The shower would be around the first week in April or so). So I've decided until I know for sure, to create 2 different registries. You'll find they are pretty similiar. But the few clothing items are obviously different.



It's a Girl! Registry:

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/3HN1PASMWKEEJ


It's a Boy! Registry:

http://www.target.com/registry/baby/3DQ8ISZLJ1QKF