Love & Nature

Santa and his elves went all out this year and redecorated Adi's room while she slept. Actually, they worked on it over the course of a couple of weeks (Adi's old room which was originally her nursery and most recently used as a play room).

One gift led her on a treasure hunt which was great fun until she finally ended up here. Her new bedroom.

Her first peek at the room left her speechless. I don't know what I expected but I think she was in complete shock! She noticed the pink canopy right away. She's been asking for one for months now.
When we saw the Love & Nature collection by Circo at Target we fell in love and knew that it was perfect for Adi.
The new art is made of photos of dear friends and family mounted scrapbook style and framed.
I love the idea of Adi seeing her loved ones every day and think it will be fun for her to share with visitors about her friends and family.
The cute hedgehog is chillin' above the closet door.
This is Adilyn's extensive fairy collection. I love to see them properly displayed, they're really special to her.

The ceiling includes shimmery glory clouds. The fan has new theme stickers and the globes are now pink lilies. One of the elves was creative enough to come up with a butterfly chain pull. Very cute.

A family photo sits next to the new owl bank and mushroom night light. I told Adi I might just stick her in my room and I'll sleep in her room from now on. It's peaceful, beautiful and warm.

Another shot of the fairies, the canopy and the super cute tree next to Adi's bed. She LOVES it.

How cute is this owl sitting on a mushroom? Two of my favorite things, so adorable.

I'm so happy to be able to display this piece of art. My mom did this piece over 30 years ago and now it's hanging in Adi's room with a cute little birdie perched on top.

New pink curtains with crystal pull-backs and curtain rod. Adi loves the LED butterfly lights. We'll keep them on at night to help serve as night light.

This is how she spent hours this morning. Tucked in her new bedding set in her new room. Everything is perfect. She must have just been taking it all in.
This project took so much time and energy and I'm excited that we'll get to enjoy it for months and maybe even years to come!

A White Christmas

Our Christmas celebration with Grandma and Grandpa White was indeed, white. Snow all around us, I love white Christmas'. Adi put on a Christmas reenactment of Baby Jesus' birth, including the angel sent out to tell the Shepard's that the new king had been born. With help from her cousins, Adi was wrapped in a sheet as she played the part of baby Jesus. I was really moved by her attention to the true meaning of our celebration. The birth of our King Jesus!
This year we got lots of really great family photos. The process is usually pretty painful but it went so well this year! I'm pleased to have so many great shots to choose from. Thanks to Aunt Carisa for helping us get organized and coordinated and making sure we got these great pics. The first one is Grandma Marsha and her girls. Cousins Keely, Elleh and Victoria with Miss Adi in the front.
One of the rare photos where everyone was looking at the same camera. Unfortunately it wasn't mine!! Still a beautiful photo of Grandma Marsha, Grandpa Mike and the girls.Here's a shot of the kids and grandkids. Back Row: Keelan, Larry, Carisa, Cameron Middle: Tori, Adi, Elleh Front: KeelyAnd finally the whole family together. Back row: Jeff, Carisa, Leah, Larry, Stacey, Cameron Middle: Keelan, Adilyn, Grandma Marsha, Grandpa Mike, Keely, Tori Front: EllehWe're so blessed to have this loving family to call our own. Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I would like a Princess and the Frog doll and a squirting dinosaur for Christmas. I will give you healthy snacks like broccoli, carrots and milk instead of cookies. Your reindeer can eat some veggies too, they'll need energy to fly. I've seen your squirrels watching me to make sure I'm being good, there's a lot of them at my Nana and Papa's house, and I even saw them at Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike's house! I don't worry because I am a good girl. I love you very much but I love God and my mommy and daddy the best.

I can't wait for Christmas! Every day we tear off a ring from our "days to Christmas chain" and it's only 4 days away.

Love,
Adilyn Rose

*paraphrased by the Mama :)

Getting Ready for Christmas

It's been busy at the Driscoll's for sure! Decorating the tree, painting ornaments, baking and decorating cookies keeping us busy. I have too much to write to be able to break it down in this post, so for now a collage will have to do :)

Fall Leaves and Family

We went to Williamsburg recently to see Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Mike at Great-Grandma Rita and Great-Grandpa George's house. Adi's 2nd cousin Kaden was there, which was a fun surprise. Kaden is a few years older than Adi and I wasn't sure how well they'd play together but they had so much fun together.

There were leaves galore, everyone else was trying to clean them up but we were more interested in playing with them :)

Who can resist a big pile of leaves on a windy day? Kaden had a blast throwing the leaves in the air and watching them fly.

Here is Miss Adi under the weeping cherry tree.

Adi was a good helper, raking up leaves for our jumping pile.

A face framed in leaves.

I love Heidi Baker

OK, so when I took the temporary child care gig I just assumed I wasn't going to be able to go see Heidi Baker (my favorite Christian woman on the planet) in Chicago on Monday night. Very early on Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. When this happens I chose to believe that God wants to say something and He won't let me sleep until I get it.

So I felt an urge to get up and check my email but I really didn't want to get out of bed. It was 2:00 in the morning, I was tired and didn't want to ruin my chances of sleeping by stimulating my brain with the light of the computer. But as I lay there trying to sleep the urge got stronger until I finally gave in.

Since I had lost my job and money got tighter I applied for a scholarship to go to the conference that Heidi was speaking at. I hadn't heard anything back, until I finally got up and checked my email. The message included key words such as, "your registration has been accepted, print this email for admission to the conference" and "we have been praying for you by name since receiving your registration" and "you are attending this conference by divine appointment". I know it was a form letter but it got me, it felt like it was all speaking to my heart and actually ripping it in two! How was I supposed to go to the conference when God had provided an answer to my prayer for Kingdom economy? I had to honor the family I had an agreement with.

But God woke me up to read that email so the only thing left to do was pray like a mad woman! I prayed for what seemed like an hour, maybe two, that Monday and Tuesday would be cleared up so I could go to the conference.

Well, long story short, Cam agreed to watch the little one on Tuesday and I compromised on my travel by leaving after she went home on Monday at 12:30. Adi and I did the road trip to Chicago to meet the McCoy's and stay at the Frauenholtz's (I hope I spelled that right).

The trip up was good. Maybe even excellent. My favorite part was when a white owl swooped in from the median, it came right at me and lifted it's feet as though it was going to just pick me up and then it flew right over me. It was incredible! The significance of the owl is way bigger than I can do justice and I'll have to dedicate an entire post to the owl later but just know that this is extremely spiritual and extremely exciting!

Here is a short video of Heidi preaching. She spoke on courage which is the same thing that Christy Wimber spoke on a week ago at the Vineyard in Cedar Rapids (where Cam prayed for my foot with tendinitis and it was HEALED, by the way! :) and I haven't heard it yet but Cam says that Bill Johnson also spoke on courage in his sermon on Sunday. God wants us to have courage, I know I need courage right now so I'll take it!!

There was a prayer tunnel at the end of the evening after Heidi spoke. Basically there are two lines of ministry leaders and the conference goers walk down the middle and are blessed by the folks who make up the lines. It can be very powerful. The guy at the beginning of the line asked me what I wanted prayer for and I said, "courage". He said it took courage just to say that. I chuckled because I didn't think so but whether I agreed with him didn't matter. I didn't sense anything specific happen when I went through the tunnel but thought maybe I got what I asked for.

Today we went to Kohl's to get a new outfit for me for a TV appearance I'm going to have next week (again, another post) and in the parking lot was a man walking with a cane. I asked Cam if he wanted to go pray for the guy and Cam said no. I walked a few more steps with Cam and Adi and then found myself just changing direction and walking toward the man. Adi followed and therefore Cam did too. In the end the guy didn't let me pray for him, but I told him that God loves him and blessed him and respectfully left him alone. It's OK that he said no, the most important thing is that I had the courage to say yes!

Latest Adventure

Here are some shots from Cam and Adi's latest adventure in the woods.

Fall is such a fun time to be outside. The colors, the leaves, the migrating birds, the cute little Adi's sitting by streams... the list goes on and on.

I love that smile!
I saved the best for last. I love this photo.

Apologies and Answers to Prayer

So since my last post I've learned that many people are offended by the use of the term, "fired". It feels too strong. And because I'm getting severance I couldn't have been "fired". Maybe so, maybe not. I don't really know. I do know that I was terminated from my position along with 3 of my co-workers and I think we all felt like we were fired in light of the circumstances. But, from here on out, I am committed to use new terminology. I was "laid off". I guess that is probably closer to the truth since I am eligible to apply for open positions at Pearson and I supposed had I been fired that would not be the case. So here's my official apology for using harsh language. I guess I was more irked than I wanted to admit. I still contend that I'm blessed indeed, though I was operating under such grace from God that I didn't acknowledge some of the underlying hurt of being let go from the company I've spent the last 11 years at.

I think I promised more pictures of last monarch we let go. I don't know how many there were in all over the course of the monarch season but they were so much fun to take care of and my 4 year old knows the word "metamorphosis" and has working knowledge of it's true meaning. That's pretty cool!

So I had mentioned that I was getting full pay as severance for 24 weeks. That's only partially true. I get full severance, but apparently the tax rate on hours not actually worked (severance) is astronomical! When I saw my first pay check I had a few moments of panic. It was a lot short. A lot. So I started praying. "Kingdom economy, God. Kingdom economy!" I think I said the same thing over and over again a few thousand times before going to bed that night and pray it every day since.

Cam and I talked it over and decided it would be a good idea to post an ad on craigslist for in-home child care. I could care for just one additional child for a while and hopefully that could make up the difference of insane taxes on my income and I'm strongly considering doing in-home childcare for a living ongoing so it would be nice to ease into it.

I wasn't expecting to get a response so quickly from someone in need of help so soon! I mulled it over a bit and finally said, "OK, God, if this is you I can't say no." The couple who responded is lovely. They have an adorable 18 month old daughter. The job is only temporary, which at first felt discouraging but now feels like just what I need. And of course it is. I prayed for kingdom economy and God sent people to us that need us as much as we need them. God is so beautiful in His ways, it brings tears to my eyes. I'm in awe of His glory, His majesty, and the way He answers prayers. God is good. He is so good!

FIRED!

Yep, it's true. Yesterday, I got fired from my job of 11 years at Pearson. And this is my 200th post on this blog which must be cause for celebration!

Everyone wants to know what happened, and to be honest, I'm really not quite sure. Seven online designers were merged with the paper design department a little over a year ago. Three moved on to better things. My 9-month position was taken away (which meant I had to work the full year like most humans), I was put through a 6 week intensive training starting a few months ago and then I was given practice training samples to work on. I chose to work on live work with real deadlines instead. Bad idea, according to management, I guess.

We had our "test" on Wednesday, got feedback on Thursday saying that they would get back to us in a few days time. Even though the live work I was doing actually utilized many of the skills in the training samples the mistakes I made on the 3 1/2 hour high pressure test that paper designers (legal resource) were not able to easily help me with, management found that I was not meeting the expectations of a designer in the department. I read: "You do not subordinate to authority as you should and therefore you must be eliminated because you are otherwise a threat to our authority". Not a new theme for me. If I'm gonna go down, it's gonna be me standing up for myself, my friends.

The official story is that I was let go because of performance which was actually a blessing because it means that I get severance pay and am elligible to apply for any open position at pearson as a result. So I have 2 weeks full pay for every year of service plus 2 weeks in lieu of notice for a total of 24 weeks or almost 6 months of full pay. I was already covered under Cam for insurance so nothing really had to change in that respect.

I felt really sad for about 15 minutes, knowing that I was going to miss my friends and the familiarity that I had grown accustomed to. Then I drove home. And in the privacy of my car I shouted, "I trust you God, I trust you God, I trust you God!!!" and I gave over every emotion I had. You know what? God took it all and in return poured love and grace over me. I can not even fully comprehend the totality of God's goodness in all of this.

Cam and I knew that when we left our church to seek God in new ways that our lives were going to change drastically. We really thought that was going to look different, but the promise is being fulfilled. I have been set free of something I thought I liked and I thought I wanted but in the end God says this door is closed. Stay tuned to learn which new doors open as a result. I don't know what the heck I'm doing but that's OK because God knows and that's all that matters :)

So we move forward with anticipation of what is to come. I'm so thankful for God's provision and I struggle to find rest because I want to know what's next but I know the only way to understand what is next is to be still and listen. Crazy how God works, but fun and wonderful at the same time. We are blessed indeed. Blessed indeed.

09/09/09

Several weeks ago Adi approached me and said, "Mama, I made up my mind. I want to go to school." Wow. OK. We've been choosing to follow her lead on the preschool thing and up until then we had always heard the same answer from her when asked about going to school, "I'll go to school when I grow up."
Adi's friend Avra is attending Kinder Farm, which we thought sounded like a really fun place. However, when we called, they only had afternoon openings left and that wasn't really going to work well with our schedule. Then Nana suggested Our Redeemer Lutheran Preschool, she has co-workers that attend that church and she felt really good about it. We checked it out and after visiting a couple of times felt like it was going to be a good fit for our family (the preschool - not the church ;)
Adi was so excited to go to her new preschool and make some new friends. We love the open space, and there's lots of it. I like the "Montessori" type approach to learning that Our Redeemer uses in its preschool and they include Bible story time and prayer. Most public preschools don't do that and I really appreciate that she will be learning preschool level Bible material. Of course we do a ton of talking about and to God and Jesus at home so she's getting the full package.
So here she is on her first day of preschool which just happened to be 09/09/09. What a special day. Adi has her adorable rainbow name tag and she was such a big girl - no crying at drop off time!
And here she is, so proud of her cute Tinker Bell back pack. She gets to bring projects and other info home in it every day that she goes to school (Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings).
The free time is so needed and much deserved for Cam. He moved the elliptical trainer into the living room so neither of us have an excuse not to use it. Well, I do currently with extensor tendinitis, but it's only a matter of time before I get to work out on the machine and watch Bethel or other teachings at the same time. So excited to get back into a work out routine!

Omaha Zoo

Our last chance vacation for the summer was a trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska over Labor Day weekend. Adi, Cam and I went with Nana.



Highlights:

1. We got saw some really cool wind farms on the way there, it was almost surreal, the windmills are just gigantic and incredible
2. We listened to a Christian artist that was new to us on the way. Her name is Misty Edwards. During one of the songs in particular we really felt God's presence with us in the van. I was crying, Cam was crying, Nana was laughing and so was Adi. It was intense, powerful and seriously amazing.
3. We were blessed by Cam's Uncle Dan who treated us to lunch at his restaurant in Council Bluffs. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Laura stopped by too and we had a nice visit. It was an honor to pray for Laura, again, God's presence was strong as we reached out to pray in a situation that we'd normally shy away from.
4. We prayed for good parking spots at the zoo (if you've ever been there you know what a blessing this can truly be) and God answered our prayers both days we went!
5. When we checked into the hotel they had made a mistake so we ended up with two rooms for the price of one. A nice treat for Cam and I.
6. We saw the IMAX movie Under the Sea which was 3D - and I've decided I'd rather watch 2D movies but it was cool just the same.
7. The butterfly and insect building was bliss. I loved walking through that indoor rain forest atmosphere with butterflies swooping around me everywhere I looked. They're so cool to watch and Adi was in heaven.

We had a fun and exhausting two days at the zoo and were happy to get home to a freshly hatched monarch butterfly which we let go the next day. Photos of that wonder to come!

August

Just a few photos from the beautiful month of August.

Including a trip to Grandma Marsha's - photos with cousins Keely and Elleh; a very special egg from a happy hen and an adventure in Hickory Hill with Daddy.

No, we're not starting a house church

When we decided to leave the Vineyard we had acquired a taste for the house church movement. There seemed to be so many benefits of following a New Testament model for church life.

• Small house church = intimate relationships


• Tithes go directly to community needs rather than paying for church expenses


• No more burn out on over serving in a big church


• Fewer deeper relationships with no place to hide...


• No politics of a church "organization" to deal with


• Shared responsibility = empowerment AND accountability

Those are among some of the enticements that were on the surface of house church mentality. We did a little research, felt like it would be a natural step once leaving a church to start again with something small and intimate. We tried worshipping a couple of times with some friends and felt overwhelmed by all the decisions that had to go into creating something as simple and little as a house church. What was the meeting going to look like? When would we meet? What about worship? What about the kids? Do we do a teaching or just talk and pray? The list went on and on. And then we realized that we were looking to each other to make the decisions. Big No-No when the whole point is to seek God.

So we began to pray. As Cam and I prayed we were surprised by the answers we got. Everything we were trying was the opposite of what we were hearing God say. It was really obvious that we had missed the boat. Thank goodness it only took two weeks to figure this out, and that was even before we officially left the Vineyard!

Because of what we hear God saying, where He is leading us and what we are learning through iBethel.tv we just know that a house church isn't going to work for us right now. Maybe not ever. Heidi Baker was preaching one night on the people who are saved and she said, "this is why we need buildings... where else would these people go?" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Only a short while before Cam had a dream in which he saw our church being built from the ground up. It was just foundation and studs. He knew it wasn't the Vineyard, and he knew it was a church (the church we would be a part of building someday). When he told me about it he said, "I think we're supposed to plant a Bethel church" and I responded, "I think you're right."

That's about all I've got folks. I don't know how to plant a church. I don't know how to build a church from ground up. I have a feeling it doesn't really matter as long as I'm willing to say, "tell me what to do God, and I'll do it".

2009 has been a powerful year for our family so far. Cam and I have been on a path of radical transformation over the past several months. Our hunger for God has been amplified as we seek and find blessings of hope and revelation through a variety of ministries, especially that of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. This process of renewal is both exciting and bewildering at times. We've found intense personal healing and spiritual growth as individuals and in our marriage and family life.

We continue to seek and grow. We feel that we're being led down a new path, one that is less familiar and may require sacrifices but we're willing to take the risk knowing that God is with us. I recently heard a teaching that pinpointed exactly where we are right now. The speaker taught on Abraham (Abram) , and how his first prophecy from God did not tell him where he was to go but where he could not stay.

Genesis 12

The Call of Abram

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

God had promises for Abraham that could not be fulfilled if he stayed where he was. When God called Abraham to leave, Abraham obeyed and trusted that the Lord would guide him. This is exactly how our experience feels right now. We don't really know where we are going or how we will get there, but we do know where we can not stay.

We love and bless the Vineyard. We will miss our church family, but know that God will reward us for our faithfulness and willingness to give up the comfort of the first church we called home in pursuit of His Kingdom. We wanted to communicate that we will no longer be attending the Vineyard Community Church. I was going to send out an email much like what I've written here but that felt weird and expectant. We've spoken with those closest to us and our official last day with the Vineyard was August 2nd.

We've been praying and pressing into the Lord searching for answers to our questions of "what now" but the truth is we only have inklings of what's to come. Sometimes we receive dreams or visions, sometimes we feel ministered to through sermons we watch online but the most impact comes from choosing to keep Jesus in sight, every day. We don't have any definitive answers yet, but trust that God is right beside us every step of the way. One day Adi said to me, "Mama, Jesus touched you." I said, "He did? Why?" She responded, "He touched you because He's giving you courage." She didn't know how much I needed courage that day but God sure did.

So as hard as it feels to be doing faith "on our own" so to speak, we have many like-minded friends that love to talk about the the ways our hearts and minds are being changed and the impact that Jesus has on our every breath. We're truly blessed.

1st Annual Driscoll Reunion

Summer Flies By

Summer always flies by with so much to do. This year has been really different for me since my partial-year position was taken away and my position requires me to work 12 months out of the year like the rest of the non-teachers in the country. I really liked having my summers off to spend with Adi but with the state of the economy it is encouraging to know that Pearson in insourcing a bunch of artwork that used to be outsourced which means that people like me are in higher demand, not lower. That's good news.
Our garden is producing a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes and they are as always amazingly delicious. We're getting close to needing to start dehydrating and may even can a few this year if our CSA delivers any... now that I think of it I'm not sure if I saw tomatoes on the list. Hmmm.

The flower garden is amazing this year. The flowers we planted two years ago are really filling out now and complement the originals so well. I love the range of flowers in our garden.

The stargazer lilies are the sweetest, most wonderful smelling flowers of all in our garden. I just love them. The color is amazing and catching a wiff of sweet air makes me oh so happy! Adi has really developed a wonderful friendship with her friend John who lives directly behind us. He's 3 almost 3 years older than Adi but is the youngest in his family which means that when he hangs out with Adi he gets to be the oldest and he takes the responsibility quite seriously. He really strives to protect her and is an amazing friend to her. Adi says John is her best best best best best best best best friend. So sweet.

John told Adi about the tooth fairy and they found something that slightly resembled a tooth to put under Adi's pillow yesterday. She was pretty excited to see that it was gone (of course it was - I changed the sheets before she went to bed and had no idea that John had taught her about the tooth fairy). She asked, "what do you think the Tooth Fairy will bring me, Mommy?" I had a thought that perhaps she would bring Adi something golden, like a golden dollar coin. Adi quickly looked under the pillow to see if anything was there (I hadn't had time to think any of this out or act on something golden) and when she saw that there wasn't anything under her pillow she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! The Tooth Fairy gave me the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is under there!!" Wow. That came from her mouth, I had nothing to do with it. Wow. She kept putting the pillow down and lifting it again and with delight would yell, "More Holy Spirit!" It was so much fun. I am one blessed Mommy. Holy holy.

Here's the princess with little cheebie Belly-bell. We love our Bella kitty. Miss Adilyn just got done with swim lessons. She need some work on going all the way under water but she's more interested right now in taking gymnastics or dance classes. Since we're going to do home pre-school we like the idea of enrolling her in low-pressure, fun classes at the Rec Center to get her exposed to social interaction as well as paying attention and being led by a teacher in general. We have a whole other year before we have to decide yea or nay on public kindergarten - she knows for sure that she isn't quite ready for preschool and we are respecting that.