The Prodigal Father

Everyone knows the story of the Prodigal Son that Jesus tells in Luke15.  Yesterday, our Christmas sermon was about this Father, and here's my rendition of it.  Lord, help us do Heavenly kind of thinking.

Luke 15 is all about Intense Seeking.  The Seeking of the Lost Sheep.  The Seeking of the Lost Coin.  The Seeking of the Lost Son.  And then the joy that explodes when the lost has been found!

Jesus' life is all about intersecting with lost lives.  Lives that are a wreck.  In this story, the Son shows extreme disrespect, especially for in the Eastern culture.  He no longer wants to live with his Father; or under his Father's rules and authority.  He distances himself from the Father's Presence by going to a far off country--where nobody knows him and reports won't make it back to his father.  Separation is the only solution he sees.  He's sure it will bring the freedom he longs for.  He wants to live his own way, be his own boss, follow his own rules.  Isn't that what all of us think we want?  We, too, reject the Father's authority.

The Son made choices that he thought would bring him happiness...it resulted in a wasted life.  He finds himself in the deepest pit, hungry, homeless and broken.  He stoops to be a feeder of pigs, eating the garbage of pigs.  The stench of the Jewish untouchables surrounded him.  Downward spiral...does life hold more than this?  Then...the Pigpen Revelation!  Life would be better with the Father!  With the Father!  The Son realizes that repentance and bending his knee to authority would place him back in his Father's home.  He turns his feet back towards Home.

Father waits daily for the dust to flutter down the road, showing his Son.  Today's the day!  His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him and kissed him.  The Son started his speech, "Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned against you; I don't deserve to be called your Son ever again."  and the Father loves him--dirty worn clothes; matted, crusty hair; vermin-filled beard; skin caked with dust; the stench of pigs strong.  And the Father runs to him!  Runs!  Throwing off the dignity due an elder, he hitches up his long garments and Runs!  Kissing his son, road dust and all!  The message is sent loud and clear with that embrace.  "You have value to me!  You are my Son and I love you!"

The touch of human skin against skin.  The contact of humanity, open arms welcoming another made in God's image.  I, too, am accepted into Abba's arms.  There, I find relief of burdens.  My hunger is eased.  My heart needs met full on.

This Son of Mine has come back.  My daughter has come home.  My child is ready to place self under the Father's authority and let rebellious self go.  The Father is watching and waiting.  Running and embracing.  Clothing and Feasting.  Rejoicing.

Why did the Father's True Son come to earth?

He would do just about anything, would go to the extreme, go to the "other side" to rescue and redeem those he created in His image.

We come as we are--we know full well how dirty we are.  Mercy says YES!  No waiting for the clean to happen first.  Of course the Sin matters...much has been lost that cannot be replaced.  But in his mercy, the Father's Love welcomes all.

Lavish Mercy.  Generous Love Beyond Belief.

Did you know Prodigal means simple, lavish, extravagant generosity?

My Christmas Offering

Sunday morning was a beautiful time of worship...we sang this song and I just wanted to read the lyrics again and put these pictures to it.

The sun cannot compare 

The glory of Your love 

There is no shadow in Your presence 

No mortal man would dare 

To stand before Your throne 

Before the Holy One of heaven 

It's only by your blood 

And its only by your mercy 

Lord, I come 

(Chorus) 

I bring an offering 

Of worship to my King 

No one on earth deserves 

The praises that I sing 

Jesus may you receive 

The honor that You're due 

O Lord, I bring an offering to you 

I bring an offering to you

Over the skies of Bethlehem appeared a star

While angels sang to lowly shepherds

Three wise men seeking truth traveled from afar

Hoping to find the child from heaven

Falling on their knees

They bowed before the humble Prince of Peace

I bring an offering of worship to my King.......

(Chorus) 

I bring an offering 

Of worship to my King 

No one on earth deserves 

The praises that I sing 

Jesus may you receive 

The honor that You're due 

O Lord, I bring an offering to you 

I bring an offering to you

Savings Angel

Bad news...I haven't won a THING!  And something must have went wrong with my attempt to get free Shutterfly photos, because I never heard back from them on the deal...bummer.


Good news...Savings Angel is still working for me to save lots of money every week on my grocery bill.  Here's a sample of my Meijer receipts from November and December:

What do you think? I really like how Meijer breaks down the savings.  From what I can gather, Meijer promotions are the store coupons, the Meijer Meal Box coupons that I print on my own computer.  The non-coupon savings are from buying items on sale.  The coupon savings are from the manufacturers coupons that I print or buy in the Grand Rapids Press.  Anyway, you can see that on average, I save about 50% of my grocery bill by using coupons.  I could never, Never, NEVER!!! manage this on my own.  The farther down the mothering trail I blaze, the less my can remember.  So, I subscribe to the Savings Angel service.  I get many questions about this service and many think that it's just beyond them to subscribe and use coupons.  Let me explain the process.

Every Sunday morning, early (actually 5 am) my husband goes out and buys 3 GR press papers.  They offer the best coupons for West Michigan.  We're outside of delivery range, so it costs $6 to buy from the gas station.  I don't cut coupons.  I barely look at them.  I file the coupons as is in my coupon bin by date.  Early in the week, I go to the Savings Angel site to look at weekly sales.  I typically shop at Meijer and once in a while at Walgreens.  However the site also offers several other stores that are good nation wide--Target, Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, and more.  Just imagine me shopping, especially in the winter, with a 5 yr old, 3 yr old, and 1 yr old, and you'll understand why I limit the number of stops I make.

On the site, I click on Meijer for West Michigan (sales change slightly from area to area), and I simply click on any item that I'd like to purchase.  The products are arranged by the best deal to the least, according to the sales flyer.  Next to each item, it tells me every coupon available for that item, including Meijer Mealbox, on line coupons, and newspaper coupons by date of release.  I just then go to my coupon file box, clip out only the ones I need.  On my Savings Angel grocery list that I'm making I get to click how many of each product that I want to buy, and it adds up my whole purchase as I go.  It's quite neat to see my savings add up.  I've been a member for 2 1/2 years, and I'm glad I joined when I did.  It costs $20 a month, which is a turn off to many, but as that breaks down to $5 a week, I more than save that in coupons.  If I add in my cost of coupons, it's $11 a week, which I always save more than that. I'm getting quality items, and I have bulging cupboards full of good food for my family.  In fact, I save enough that I can give back to those in need--buying low-cost items to share with family members, and using the extra money to give to missions and needy people around the world.

Please check out Savings Angel, and if you decide to join, use my referral number.  I know you'll instantly start saving money and it's worth the extra time--maybe 15 minutes to a half hour longer to plan your grocery trip.

Enter some Giveaways!

If you know me at all, you know I love to win goodies!  I've won a few things in the past, 2 1-touch ipods, workout DVDs, concert tickets to Unity Festival and more!  I've been posting furiously the past few days entering as many giveaways as possible in hopes of winning something for Christmas...Just because I like to win. I want to share some that you can enter, too!

Jolly Mom has a few giveaways that I'm interested in.  The first one is a Hoover MaxExtract 77 Multisurface Pro.  I have mostly carpets in my house, and they get pretty grody!  Besides using a friend's vacuum because mine has been broken and not replaced since July (hint, hint, husband!), my carpets have not been deep cleaned. Never. Ever. Ever. So I would like to win this contraption. If you'd like to enter this giveaway, go to Win Hoover!
Another toy she's giving away is a Tonka toy!  Now, could my 1 year old son possibly grow up and NOT love trucks like his Dad?  Tim is a lover of all things diesel and Ford and noise and power.  He'd love to have a man-sized Tonka to push dirt around in and plow and dump and climb.  So, I'd like to win the Mod Machines DX9! from Jolly Mom.

Go Graham Go is also giving away a few things that I love.  A Veggie Tales Express Train Set would look so nice around our Christmas tree with our Veggie Tales Nativity set.  Both our girls and Maverick would enjoy playing with this for many years.

Go ahead and check these out....or don't!  If you don't, that means a greater chance for me winning.  But I love ya, so go ahead and enter.

Shutterfly {FREE} Photos

I love getting our family Christmas card together each year. For many years, I have made our own cards...stamped them, designed them, digitally made & printed them. This year, a few cheap and quick deals caught my eye.

Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards to me for blogging about them! And if you blog about them, the offer is open to you as well...until December 10.  It's good for 5x7 folded or flat cards.  Yippee!

At church yesterday, I had the family dressed and ready for some good pictures. This is what we came up with. Of our whole family, I have either black and white (vanilla tint action) or the dreamy hot cocoa action.

Next, we have 2 poses with all 3 kids. I think the one on the left of Maverick is better. Maverick didn't cooperate very well and kept trying to get away, which caused the girls to be distracted or to "help" keep him in place.

So I like this one of the 2 girls. They both are giving genuine smiles and their eyes are wide open. Makenna and Tim share the same unphotogenic trait: squinty eyes, eyes rolled back, eyes closed, etc.

And of course, a few of my Mav-man, looking cute.  I love seeing the curve of his cheek, the long eye lashes laying down.

Here's a few Shutterfly cards that I like:

I love these color schemes as well as being able to use multiple photos.  Another must:  It must say Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays or some other greeting.  I'll show you soon what I came up with.