October Baby Movie

Tonight I went and saw the movie "October Baby".  It was powerful.  They asked me to give them three descriptive words of the show.
Mine were:
1. Powerful
2. Real
3. Revealing

It was different (in some ways) than I expected from the trailer.  But, it was better.  It made me thankful we chose open adoption for so many reasons.  It was painfully accurate about some really hard things.  It was beautiful and it was full of Truth.  It made me thankful for adoption agencies like Aggieland Pregnancy Outreach and New Life that promote awareness of open adoption and the "why" behind it.  It made me thankful for our birth-mother and her choices all over again.
This movie will be opposed by many.
It is way too full of Truth.
It is way to full of a really difficult reality.  But it is so beautifully handled.
It is potentially full of healing for so many who feel like they are beyond the reach of peace.  And so, it will be opposed.  But, I am begging you - even if it is just because you are curious - to pre-order tickets to see the show when it comes to our town of College Station.  You should also do that if you live in any other town where it is showing.  Buy your tickets in advance - and take as many people as you can to see the movie with you.  You won't regret it.

Our adoption agency had to agree to buy 1000 tickets in order to get the show to come to our theater. That means if 1000 tickets pre-sell, then they won't have to "eat" any costs.  If not, the Lord will provide because I believe that they did it on faith because the message is so necessary.  They want the Lord to be glorified and they want the Truth to be proclaimed.  If you want to contact me about getting a ticket in advance, I will be thrilled to get you one - or many.  Right now, the show will only be in College Station for the 23rd and the 24th.  Unless we show up big time, and show the people at the theater that we love a good movie with a good message.  The hard truth is, if it doesn't yield the dollars that something else will, they will oust it in a minute.  But, every ticket purchased is a ticket that might mean it stays a day longer.  Anyway, I highly recommend the show, the message and all the back story to anyone who wants to take a closer look at real life.  It was very well done.   

Now, I am going to spend some time processing all the things that are in my mind.  God is bigger than the biggest mess we are in.  He is Faithful when no one else is.  He is merciful beyond any measure.  I am smitten by His gracious love for me.   I hope when you go to bed tonight, you are smitten by His love for you as well.

Much Love  ~ Christy

Here is the link to the movie trailer:    http://www.octoberbabymovie.net/

A heart that aches...

I've been thinking about what a blessing it is to have a heart that aches.  

I know that seems weird to say.  But, really...  we ache because we love.  When our hearts are broken, it is because something inside us yearned for more;  More time with a loved one we lost, or  we want more for someone who is missing out on the abundant things in life.  We want more than the hard thing that we are walking through... more justice, more peace, more love, more hope, more encouragement, more trust.  God made us that way.  He made us with hearts that are fragile.   
 He made us with hearts that recognize that there is more.
There is more to this life than this life.  There is more to our existence than to live an breathe and walk on the earth.  There is much more.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has set eternity in the hearts of men."
and  2 Corinthians 5:2 says, "we long to be clothed with our heavenly bodies."  We know that there is more.  We know within ourselves that there is One who has given us the dreams, the love, the fragile hearts, and I am certain... absolutely CERTAIN that He is good and everything He does is good.

My parents were divorced at age 9.  Satan divided my parents, created a wedge and accused...  but this I know... God is good and everything He does is good.  It was not His will that they divorce.  He did not cause it.  But, He allowed it and He is still good.

I lost my mom to cancer when I was 17.  Her earthly body gave out under the strain of chemo and that ugly disease.  And this I KNOW - God is good, and everything He does is good.  It was not because He is sinister that He allowed her to be sick.  It is because He held ultimate healing for her - and He took her where she would never hurt, or cry or be lonely ever again.  He is good.

Last year we lost our business.  A business that we had poured our hearts into for 13 years.  I lost my good "reputation" among people who didn't really know me.  We lost our total income.  We gained a lot of debt - and a lot of suspicious on-lookers.  But God is good and everything He does is good.  He has provided in ways that blow my mind.  He has not let us carry anything that was heavier than we can bear.  He is good.

You see, when we are faced with the difficulties in life, the things that REALLY hurt, we are faced with two options.  We can believe God - and take Him at His Word.  Or we can believe the Devil.  We can believe that God never really had our best interest at heart.  Every trial, every struggle, every thing that has brought my heart pain has drawn me closer to the heart of God.  I believe Him.  I believe that He is good and everything He does is good.  I believe that He loves me with an unfailing love.  I believe Him that He will never leave me or forsake me.  And, I have seen the evidence of His hand in my life more than I have time to type.  He has held me in His hands from the day I was born.  Even on the days I wrestled hard to be free from His grip.  He is good, and everything He does is good.  I pray that tonight, in whatever situation you find yourself, you choose to believe that He is good and everything He does is good.  I pray that no matter what is happening around you, you will not give way to the fear and hopelesness that are present when Satan comes to make you doubt the truth of those words.  Those are not my words, they belong to a friend of mine, David - who went through an awful lot in his life too.  Psalm 119:68 says,  "God is good and everything He does is good."  I would stake my life on the truth of that verse.  He has never let me fall.  He has never left me alone.  He is good.

Laundry Follow-up...

Okay,

I am not taking much time here, because though I have a lot I could say, I am ready to get some quiet time in!!  So, here we go:

1.  I am definitely making the switch permanently (as long as we are doing laundry for more than 3 people)

2.  It is certainly going to save us hundreds of dollars a year.
3.  I have an HE machine - and there have been NO suds alerts - which means it is working well, and is not jeopardizing my machine's health. 
4.  I will increase the amount of soap I use in the next batch - because I want a little more fragrance.  The fragrance is very nice, and very light - and for people who's children have allergies, I think this would be something amazing to try.  But, I love fragrance.  So, I will be doing a bar and a half, not just a bar in my next 4.5 gallon batch. 
5.  My clothes smell clean - and they look clean.  I like that.
6.  I have put it to the real test.  The first load was peed on sheets and nightclothes.  Yuck.  I didn't even rinse them first, and they actually came out cleaner than they used to when I did rinse first, then wash with store-bought.  I was impressed.  I have a good sniffer, and I can't stand the "musty" smell on my clothes when the kids have had accidents.  There was NO musty smell, just a clean - ready to use smell.
7.  We then had an accident of unprecedented proportions.  I am not joking.  One of my children caught a tummy bug and had a different accident.  A full accident in the jeans.  All the way down the legs, there was not a spot untouched by the (horrible) smell and "deposit".  Three times during the rinsing I almost threw up.  (Just being honest here).  After fully hosing them out - I did the rinse cycle on the washer.  Let's face it - I'm not playing around with this.  I even added a touch of bleach to the rinse cycle so that it could kill the stuff....  Then, I washed like normal - and then I did the ultimate smell test on them before I put them in the dryer.  Wow.  I know they are clean.  They don't smell frilly - with a hint of yuck - they actually just smell clean. 

So, there it is.  My certain approval.  I will tweak the recipe (I had actually used more water and less soap than was stated in the original recipe).  Now, on to time with Jesus - and if I have time left over, I will put a new post up about what the Lord stirs in my heart.  See ya!

You won't believe this...

So, I decided to get all domestic.  Yep, that's right - give me a (frilly) apron and some applause!  :)

I made laundry detergent. 

We have 7 people in our family.  That means 7 bodies with laundry constantly running.  To operate our home, it takes about 2 loads a day - on a good day.  We're pretty serious about clean undergarments around here.  However, that makes for a lot of laundry, and therefore, a lot of detergent... and it's not getting any cheaper.  So, I'm gonna tell you how I did it, and then I will show you pictures... and then you can try it yourself.  I'm pretty excited about this. 

I usually buy laundry detergent for around $7 - very cheap from walmart.  I get around 100 loads for $7.  That's not horrible (compared to the $25 per 120 loads I used to spend on Tide.)  I still love the smell of Tide, but right now saving funds is more important for our family. 

This wasn't hard at all, and if I did my calculations right, we will have essentially 30 bottles of detergent for the price of 3.  I spent $28 (to have it shipped to my house) and I have already gotten 350 loads of laundry detergent out of it (which is 3 bottles of detergent).  The picture on the right is actually of the bottles I refilled with my homemade concoction.  I have used essentially 1/10 of the boxes of dry stuff... so I have good reason to believe that I will have paid less than $1 per 120 loads of laundry.  That is what I call saving money.  So here is the important stuff - the stuff you need to make it...

1/2 cup Borax  (20 mule team)

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 bar of soap (you pick - I got Lever 2000 with aloe)

a 5 gallon bucket

a 4qt. pan

4 cups boiling water

Essentially, you start 4 cups of water boiling in a 4 qt. pan.  Then, grate the soap like cheese (the finer the better - you will be melting it).

 

Once you have grated it, you put a handful at a time in the boiling water and stir.  Wait til that is melted and then add another handful until it is all gone.  You will have a soapy "soup" when it all melts.   

At this point, I turned off the flame and left the pot sitting for a second while I put about 2 gallons of water in the 5 gallon bucket and stirred in the borax and the arm and hammer washing soda.  I did it with hot water because I felt like it would mix better with hot water than cold??  I am happy with the results, so I recommend it.  Then, I added the soapy soup mix to the 5 gallon bucket.  I stirred the whole concoction for about 2 minutes to get it stirred up and added several more gallons of hot water.  I went ahead and "bottled" the soupy mix right away while it was all stirred up good.  I left enough room in each container to shake it before use.  Now, I wait 24 hours to see exactly what level of "slime" it will become.  I have heard sometimes it is slimy, and sometimes it is "lumpy".  It depends on several factors - that I don't care to understand (sorry for those of you who want those details.... google it.)  :)

I will shake my mix each time for the next several days before I use it.  I have also heard that you can create a "powder" mix from the same ingredients by shaving the soap and then leaving it to dry out - and then crushing it to a powder.  Mix it all together and then measure it out - I would have to do the math on this... essentially you would weigh it and divide by 350 to see how many tablespoons of powder to use.  Again, you can google it if you prefer powder.

I just think this is a great idea... and I am super hoping that my clothes smell better than ever.  I WILL let you know!