finding JOY

There was a man and a dog in a meadow herding sheep across a creek, and my friend and I sat on a hill and looked down on the shepherd, and I couldn't help but think about Jesus' sayings that the church was like family and the church was like a flock of sheep. If this is the case, then churches and families are messier than you image. Sometimes we are lead to believe families and churches are to be clean, and children and sheep are supposed to line up in a straight row and go exactly where the Shepherd tells them to go. But this is not so. And anybody who disagrees has never raised children or shepherded sheep. Shepherding, along with raising children, looks precisely like an extended mental breakdown.
by,
Donald Miller
intro to My Single Mom Life

My life has certainly been messy. God knew it was going to be messy, yet he finds joy in me. I am a mom. I knew it was going to be messy. I am committed to finding joy in my mess. My children deserve a joy-filled mom, regardless of how off my schedule is, how tired I am or how badly they are behaving.

disclaimer

MY DISCLAIMER....

i think i am an okay writer, but my grammar and spelling is in bad shape. i will not be taking the time to proofread and rewrite my posts. one day i will buy books and spend more time trying to improve, but not today. for those of you that are good at english, i hope my blog is not painful to read.

xoxoxo

mrs. friis update

I'm finding that it is uncomfortable to write about myself. Not my thoughts, feelings or outlook, but ME. In fact, at the moment I am wishing that I posted my update first so that it was the last one you read - that is if you were interested enough to read that far. Alas, I did not anticipate this and so you will probably learn something about my last few months of life that you didn't know. You will also find that there are no pictures included in my post. That is because 1.) I am the picture taker in the family and b.) It would feel even more silly to write about myslef and post pictures.... one thing at a time.

Are you ready? Hold onto your seats because here goes....

New{s} happenings: I have been asked {along with my mom} to talk at the Woodinville MOPs (mother's of preschoolers) Mother's Day meeting. It has been a long time since my public speaking class in college, but I am excited for this challenge. I will post about our topic at a later date and you can tell me what you think.

I am also mentoring and facilitating a group of single moms. Before I met Mr. Friis God pulled at my heartstrings with this Scripture, "To he who much is given, much is required." God gave me a lot during my single mom days and has given me a lot since being married to Mr. Friis. I love this group of women specifically and generally speaking. God can use my lonely, striving, lost, humble days (there was a lot of joy too) to minister, heal, help and teach and that makes my experiences more than worth it.

ARMOMMY news: We have many things in the works so stay tuned. You may think that I am crazy to say this, especially in this economy, but it will be a big success. God will bless it - don't ask me how I know.

Personal happenings: I have been falling more and more in love with being a mom. You would think that having a third baby would make me more stressed out, but I am learning to let the housework go (within reason) and hang onto the moments I have with our children. It is a funny thing... when I let go of the little things and put the important things first, everything else seems to fall in place. Except for the occational days when our home looks like a hurricane has blown through.

I am also working on becoming a better steward of our finances. I am not an irresponsible spender, but I am an uninvolved one. Blissfully ignorant. On some weird level, money scares me. I don't like to think about it or talk about it, but I do like to make it and spend it. Thus, becoming a good steward of it is top on my list at the moment. Remember, "to he who much is given, much is required."

So, that is my update. I hope you enjoyed it.

Lots of love.

mr. friis update

I will do my best to keep the lovey, mooshy, cootie thriving stuff to a minimum, but when it comes to my hunky hubby it's hard to resist! I love him.... very much. Here's the 411 on this hard working, Jesus loving, fun making, joke telling, sacrificing, husband, daddy, coach, teacher, firefighter, friend...

Firefighter Friis: I've been instructed not to purge too much info. But I can tell you that he recently passed two tests (one for a specific department and another more general test) and is moving on. If the streak continues, we'll post more updates. He was also asked to be the event committee chair for the volunteer firefighter association of East Pierce County.... he accepted and put on a fabulous Easter egg hunt event a couple weeks ago. I thought my double degree, master's student was crazy to leave his area of expertise to become a firefighter, but he has followed his heart and for that I am grateful.

Coach Friis: As I mentioned before, daddy friis is helping coach Oz's baseball team. The two of them enjoy the time together and practices and games often carry over into our back yard. "Home run derby", "web gem", "hitting bombs", "that ones tattered", and "boom, outta here" are frequently used phrases by this friis clan. The dynamic duo have dreams of making it to the Little League World Series. If that's really what they want, it will happen.

Groundskeeper Friis: Friis Field is in full force and so is the team of groundskeepers. Two years ago, if someone told me to picture a beautiful backyard, a small scale baseball field (consisting of a pitcher's mound and backstop, grass, sand, bark, a sport court, a firepit) would not have been my vision. But it is/was Mr. Friis'. I had no idea when I married him that he would be so passionate about grass, yet he is. Although we do not see eye to eye when it comes to landscaping, his vision encompasses a lot of what I value; simplicity, function, and beauty. I appreciate the view from my kitchen window.... it's even better when everyone is playing.

Since this posting is getting a little long I think I will pause for now and post more updates on this in demand man.

m.j. update

m.j. according to Oz: cute, cuddly, little but strong in the Lord, fantastic, looks like mom, smells like a blossom, charming, always happy.....
m.j. according to e.bomb: hungry, spit-up, waltzing, smiling, baby, sister....
m.j. according to mom:
this little girl is an absolute blessing! she is easy, but full of personality. If we decide to have a 4th child, she will be the one the grandparents can thank! I can not wait to watch her grow into a young lady (just not too fast)! She is the perfect addition to our little family.

her accomplishments over the last few months...

- rolling over.
- smiling.
- giggling.
- eating rice cereal.
- sleeping through the night (not always, but often enough).
- attended her first (of many) baseball games.
- growing like a weed (90th percentile in height).
- was dedicated to the Lord (like a Baptism).

m.j. according to daddy: he's not here, so we'll have him fill this out later.....

It has been a whirlwind adding a little girl (and third child) to the family, but we are all enjoying the pink!!!!!

e.bomb update

E.bomb is our wild card! He loves hard, but he fights hard too and his mood can change in a split second. As challenging as he can sometimes be, he is INCREDIBLY enjoyable and offers some serious comic relief. (sound like anyone else you know?!)

Here is what he has been up to...

1. he's fully potty trained!
dose. he loves to sing to his little sis. his usual is waltzing Matilda, but lately he's been singing Sadie Hawkins dance by relient k.
three. he is the proud cousin of a baby boy (I forgot to mention this in Oz's post)
D. he loves playing with his other cousin el.bell.
5. he can't get enough of baseball, his big bro or his big bro playing baseball.
and F. he has mastered saying grace and prayers.

That's e.bomb in a nut shell over the last few months. We can't imaging our lives without him or any of his quarks. You can't help but fall in love with this little guy!

OZman update

It's been a while since my last post, as many of you have mentioned to me! So, I thought I would give an update of each member of the family. We've been very busy, but I'll try and keep it brief! In addition, although I'm not promising anything, I am going to try and post to our blog once per week.


Here is the lowdown on our big-baller!

Oz has gracefully grown into the very important roll of BIG brother to two little ones. While he and his brother often know what buttons to push to drive each other insane, he is more often then not, very helpful. E.bomb follows him around and copies everything he does (not always a good thing) and m.j. melts when he gives her any amount of attention.... and vice versa.


Spring baseball has started (machine pitch). Oz is playing catcher and is such a stud (is that word cool anymore?) behind the dish! He absolutely loves the position. Daddy Friis is coaching along with our good friend/neighbor and the Pastor of our church.


Other tid-bits:
Oz read almost 1,000 minutes at home last month!
He took ski lessons at Crystal Mountain with his Papa for 8 weeks this winter and LOVED it!


To sum it up.... it seems like he is 8 going on 16. WOW how time flies! He is our solid one. He does what he say's he's going to do, tells the truth and has a very generous and giving heart. He lives up to his name which means honorable. Isn't God amazing?! We are so proud of our little man.