Learn to Laugh

BE FUN TO LIVE WITH!!! One thing our family is great at is learning to laugh at our selves and at one another!! 
After an incredible service today, we came home and did two small things around the house. We have been living with no curtains for the last 6 days, so we decided to throw them up tonight, how hard can it be right? We looked at Pinterests ‘New’ DO's and DON'TS of hanging curtains and away we went! Most visuals now say to hang the curtains higher than the top of the window by at least 6 inches to give the illusion of a bigger window. They also say to hang the curtains about 13 inches to the right and left of the windows, so when the curtains are open they won't be blocking the window, preventing sunlight. BOOM!! GOT IT! So up 6 inches and 13 inches to the right and left of the window, done and done! We had the super duper heavy screws and plugs and installed the brackets. Now folks, we are not amateurs, we've been married 19.5 years, we know plugs may make a mess of your wall if you ever have to take them out, but in the meannnnntime they'll hold WHATEVER you need, WHEREVER you need it! This time, we were beating the odds! Most rods are 84 inches across, so when I saw the rods for 120 inches I knew we were golden, this would for SURE cover our main window! Welp, Jamie measured 13 inches to the right and left of the window, screwed the plugs and brackets in just like I’d instructed and then we strung the curtains along the bar before we hung them up as it's MUCH easier to do this on the ground than on a chair on your tippy toes. He pulled the rod up, hung the one end, then he settled the middle portion of the bar on the middle bracket and ever so gently twisted and kept extending the rod inching it towards the other bracket ...and VOILAAAA, just like that the rod was longer.....another Paton Moment in the making!! OH MY WORD. We NEVER once measured the width of the window!!! We NEVER..considered the ROD WOULD BE TO SHORT....WE BOUGHT THE BIGGEST ONE and you know how short it was? 3 inches too short! All of the plugs, the super, duper PLUGS, the life long plugs were now installed and our system was short lived. Could we just have moved the brackets? Yes, while taking half the wall with them. Had we put the hangers even at 10 inches outside of the window width you know what would have happened? IT WOULD HAVE FIT!!!!!!! Jamie stood their with his head hanging down and his hands over his head trying to hold the two separated portions of the rod, while I died laughing, it's like it all happened in slow motion. In the final moment of victory we were once again robbed of our privacy! ha. I laughed so hard I cried. How we did this, pretty simple. WE DIDN'T MEASURE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, the window itself!! So my encouragement today is not Measure twice, cut once. But Measure twice, and then measure the main thing that ALLL your other measurements are based upon! And more importantly, BE FUN TO LIVE WITH. Learn to laugh at yourself and at others...or with others! But learn to laugh!! Provers 17:22 A cheerful heart is like good medicine. Now I must say, I do not LAUGH at everything. I often have to remind myself to be fun to live with, and to learn to have a cheerful heart! So tomorrow when you get frustrated or agitated, think of us putting these curtains up! Sometimes we take many precautions and still fall short, it's okay dust yourself off, laugh at what you missed and get back up!! #12to40 #BEfuntolivewith #learntolaugh

Raise Sons and Daughters, Not Clones

We hosted a leader’s retreat for our team this weekend and I honed in on this, this morning! We’re all unique and have been wired with different skill sets and strengths, embrace them! When you’re leading, befriending or mentoring, learn to find out what makes those in your presence or sphere of influence unique, special and different and encourage them to embrace and run with it! Yes, we know we are created in the likeness of God, we all carry different traits, passions and skills sets and have them in different measures and use them in different ways. Don’t try to force people to become a carbon copy of you! We need to raise true sons and daughters not clones. He needs the uniqueness of what’s inside of them to come out, to add more flavour to our teams! Our desire isn’t to make them more like us, it’s to make them more like Christ! #13to40 #raisesonsanddaughtersnotclones

Delay is NOT denial..

Keep the faith! Hold onto the promise don’t allow your character to be altered when you face trials, set backs or delay. #inHislikeness #14to40

All things are Possible

I came across this picture tonight and couldn’t help but smile! Jamie and I were in Kangirsuk ministering together. It was my first time there and the first time we’d ever shared parts of our story publicly. In the North you can’t go outside without being completely covered or you’ll freeze, like literally. We had decided to go for a walk to a small shop. Jamie had forgotten his gloves and it was MUCH colder than we’d thought. Because of the extreme temperature I would let Jamie borrow my gloves for a minute or so and then a minute later we’d swap back so our hands wouldn’t freeze. After doing this for a few minutes, we decided to try to squish both our hands in my glove, well squish we did! We laughed and laughed as we crammed our hands into my mitts, and we walked and enjoyed the simplicity of life and the way God had changed our story. Our story has evolved from one of selfishness and self centeredness to one of selflessness. We have grown. We really have seen the hand of God transform our marriage. My desire is to let people know that what seems impossible to you, is possible with God. We’ve seen it time and time again. Everyone loves a story of redemption and He’s still writing yours! Don’t give up, it’s not over. #allthingsarepossible #dontgiveup#shareyourmitts #15to40

Get Prepared!

I love this. We’ve all heard a sermon before, titled, ‘God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.’ Yes, He sure does, BUT in the mean time if you know you’re called to peach or teach, or if you know you’re called to the business world or wherever, get educated and glean NOW!!! We can live by faith, but are told to GET WISDOM. It says in Proverbs 4:7, ‘Get wisdom for it’s the wisest thing you can do!! Soldiers don’t wait until they’re on the frontline to try to figure out how to load their gun! They prepare NOW for when you go to war. Sons and daughters, what does your heart beat for? What are you called to put your hand to? Find someone who has wisdom, experience and serve them humbly! The bible is laced with scripture on getting wisdom. It’s laced with scriptures on seeking counsel and yet so many ‘Know how to do it.’ Seeking counsel and wisdom from those who have gone before you isn’t so they can stand in your way, it’s so they can help launch and propel you further than they were able to go. Wisdom and counsel allow you to receive nuggets of truth and gold about potential road blocks but also can allow you to receive divine connections!
An unteachable Spirit is really unattractive and is seen a mile away. Surround yourself with those mothers and fathers in the faith who will say the hard things that need to be said, but who will also do whatever they can to help prepare and propel you into all God has for you. #16to40 #glean#getprepared

Let er' Rip!

Honestly, many times I wonder why people are obsessed with posting about how many squats they’re doing? Is it accountability? Attention? For fun? I guess each person has their own reasoning. I see booty’s day in day out while on social media! Then today it happened! Now I must say I was not brave enough to post a photo but I did a pretty amazing squat!! See we are in the midst of a major purge and so I was off to donate a load of goods to the local Mission store. As I got to the drop off area I helped the guy unload our stuff. I went to grab this one super heavy box and in my head I heard my dad say, ‘Use your legs, not your back!’ Sounded like a great idea!!! I mean, I got innnnn tooo iiiittt! I put my legs shoulder width apart, went to do a deep knee squat with this super heavy box and yepppp, I literally blew the seems right out of my pants. 😱 The sound was electric, it sounded nothing short of the sound the ladies at Fabricland make when they snip the end of your material and then rip it end to end by hand!! The bessst part is that this young man was still standing right beside me! I couldn’t even take cover or assess the damage because I was STILLLLL holding the heavy box.... in this split second I was trying to navigate...so I stood tall, STRONG, thinking my sweatshirt has got to cover this?!?! Well it did!! Barely, but it did, until... yep, you guessed it, I had to put the box down!! 🤦‍♀️

Sooo what kind of life lesson can we learn from this? I’m sure you can roll this 100 ways... no pun intended 🤣.
#1 Pay attention to the clothing people wear when they are squatting, obviously they ARE wearing ‘stretch pants’ because they have some give!
#2 When in doubt if your clothing is to tight... do the squat and let er’rip challenge!
#16to40 #leterrip

Lean Not On Your Own Understanding

I love, love, love to design! Since the day we bought our first home I have explored!! Whether it be furniture, textures, paint, building, and or learning some new tools or techniques I love to try to make things come to life! This last little while Jamie and I have been working on designing a fun little project and although it’s been tiring, it’s been FUN! We have a great team putting their hands on our designs and are bringing them to life!!! While Jamie’s been working I’ve been living in his truck, hauling lumber, picking up lighting, barn board, tile... you name it... the trucks seen it!! I’ve always said my dream vehicle would be a new truck! But for now I drive Jamie’s when he’s at work!! This season of our journey has been an interesting one! It says in Proverbs ‘A man plans his way but The Lord directs his steps.’ Well this morning I was up at 4am. I couldn’t sleep...I had a ton to do today so after laying in bed until 5am I decided it was go time! First, I grabbed my bible and coffee and asked God to speak to me. I opened a newer bible that hadn’t been packed yet, put it on my lap and randomly opened it before turning to where I was reading... AND this one verse LEPT off the page! ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding!’ This is a verse I know well. learned it at a young, young age. Yesterday, I had shared with our congregation how God speaks to each one of us in and through His word and reveals things to us that we need to hear! His Word is personal, full of wisdom, truth and POWER! Out of the thousands of verses recorded in the bible this timely one spoke to me today, a Rhema Word! It’s what I needed today! God is personal. He knows what we need, when we need it and it causes joy to abound in and through us when He speaks so personally!
Today I’m reminded that I am a surrendered life and that He is directing my path! 💛 How awesome to know He’s in control?! Here’s a sneak peak at some of our project!
1st Picture- Before
2nd Picture - Mid Reno
3rd Picture- His Word! 😍
4th Picture- How I feel when I lean on my own understanding!! #17to40#rhemaword #leannotonyourownunderstanding