This is me and Maebel. Isn't she cute? 

Surprise, Surprise!

Well. On Thursday I received some unexpected news. I no longer had a job!! My company laid off half of its administrative staff and the entire fulltime inside sales team. That was the job I had, FT inside sales. Now before anyone gets too upset on my behalf, let me state that I was not too terribly attached to my job. I enjoyed it but my husband and I were working towards the goal of a single income. This has sped up the timetable somewhat and I will probably have to pick up another job here, real soon, but we've been wanting to focus on Ed's business and I am going to really help him out there if I can.

So, we've been enjoying our extra-long vacation weekend, and plotting our next move. I have to say that being able to sleep as long as I want and do what I want is super nice!!! But I know that can't last forever and I will have to do some real work around here soon.

Painting, Painting

My Terrific Husband and I have directed our painting skills toward yet another room in our house. After the kitchen, no room was safe!! The living room is under assault and I must say is looking 'verra nice'. Well, the walls anyway. All of our furniture is pushed into the middle and we have paper taped all around the edges to protected our carpet. Not that I actually want to keep our carpet, but it might be awhile before we get to that and who wants to live with a big paint puddle, spatter, whatever?

Of course, the dogs just love the obstacle course that the living room has turned out to be. Also, for some reason love the crinkly sound their paws make when they trample over the floorpaper. The clutter is not just confined to the living room however!! NO! It is also spilling into the kitchen and then into the garage. One look around will reveal paint sticks, paper rolls (two sizes), paint brushes hanging to dry over the washing machine, various trays and rollers in the bathroom. AAArrrggghh!! The stuff has crept everywhere!!

It's OK though... I know that we are now in the home stretch and when it is all done, I will look at it and say..........



"I never want to do this again."

Class Two ~ "Relationships"
(All Bible verses can be read by clicking on the links.)

Volunteer Lesson: Eric had two of the young people (one boy, one girl) come up to the front and stand a few feet apart each in their own circle in the dirt. Eric asked the boy to, without leaving his circle to get the girl out of her circle and into his. Being a 14 year-old boy he grasped her arm and commenced to try to tug and force her out of her circle and into his circle. Naturally, she resisted, but eventually was pulled out.

The Lesson for Us: The relationships we have with other people will have some form of influence on us. Either for Good or for Evil.

We looked at Exodus 32 for an example of people exercising their influence on someone. In verses 1 & 2 Aaron the brother of Moses and High Priest of the people is pressured to create a new god for the people because they are tired of waiting for Moses to return. Aaron fails to lead the people and instead is led by them. Verses 3-6 He makes them an idol to worship instead of encouraging them to be patient. The people rebel against God and get a pretty wild party going to celebrate their new god. Of course, Moses returns right at the height of the party and wants to know what on earth Aaron has allowed the people to get into!! Moses seems to know that Aaron was put up to it by the people and he questions what they must have done to be able to get him to do what he did. What do you think the reply was? Yes!! Whining!! Aaron blames the people claiming that they made him do it because they are "set on mischief".

While exploring what happened to Aaron the point was made that we participate in many different forms of relationships. The first relationship that we are aware of is the one we share with our parents. Second, we have our friend relationships. Third, a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Fourth, most of us will enter a marriage relationship.

Looking at marriage in Genesis 2:21-24 we learn about what is the best and most ideal example of it. It is a support system for the couple to cling together and anchor each other.

All relationships are like that. They are designed to give us support and an anchor. But what happens when we are involved with someone who is not Godly in character? Will they not undermine our supports and erode our anchors? Abraham knew this and when it came time for Isaac to enter into the most important human relationship in his life, he wanted to choose someone special. Abraham had raised Isaac to love God and he didn't want Isaac to lose that. Isaac was not to marry an un-Godly Canaanite woman but a woman who also loved God and was a part of the family.

Isaac learned the importance of this lesson so well, that when it came time for his son Jacob to marry he was also told not to be joined with the ungodly, but with the Godly.

For an example of what can happen when this advice is ignored, we can learn from the what happened to the ecclesia during the time of Noah. When the ecclesia (church) married the daughters of the ungodly ultimately the ecclesia was destroyed and corrupted with wickedness. And this is no over re-action!! Marrying into the world will turn us away from following God. Take Solomon for example. He intermarried with hundreds of women and they turned his heart away from following Yahweh.

Finally, we learned that joining in ANY relationship with the ungodly is like joining an Ox and a Donkey together to pull a cart. They can NOT work together. They WILL go in circles and therefore are not useful to the farmer. Applying this to us, we WILL go in circles away from God, and NOT be useful to give glory to God.

As a concluding example, Eric asked the boy and girl to come back up to the front and once again stand in their circles. He then asked for one more volunteer to come up and join them. The girl stood in the middle and the two boy both grabbed an arm. The first boy was told to try to move the girl out of her circle as before, and the second boy was told to keep her in the circle. With his help she succeeded and the first boy was not able to move her out.

I was reminded that all of our relationships are important to our life in Christ. Those who support and anchor us are to be developed and those that weaken us are to be discarded.

Bad, Bad Kara!!

I have been super busy this past week, but I apologize for not posting the rest of the Youth class summaries or any of the other things I meant to put out. I promise that I am working on it and will have something new for you SOON!

Class One ~ "Choices"
(All Bible verses can be read by clicking on the links.)

Eric opened his classes with an object lesson that required a volunteer from the audience. For his first class, Jason Hensley volunteered (brave soul) and was offered the choice between chocolate and fresh grapes. After opting for the chocolate, he was instructed to go ahead and have a bite. His face puckered up as he discovered that it was bitter bakers chocolate!

The lesson for us: What looks sweet on the outside may be very bitter on the inside.

Using references from Romans 1:26-32 Eric pointed out what behaviors and desires are common to the world. This shows to us that all down the history of time, people are faced with a choice to work righteousness, or to commit unrighteousness, and that the majority will choose unrighteousness and try to convince others to choose the same.

So there is a constant pull from the world to only think about ourselves, disrespect our parents and forget all about God and what he asks of us. Also, not to just forget about God, but look back at verse 30, to be Haters of God!

We looked at the examples of Joseph, Abram, and Daniel. Each of these individuals had to face and resist the influence of the world. Joseph had to choose whether or not to sleep with his bosses wife, Abram had to choose whether or not to lie to a pharaoh about his wife, and Daniel had to decide whether to embrace Babylonianism or to stand for Yahweh the One True God. Sometimes they made bad decisions (Abram) sometimes the right decisions (Joseph & Daniel), but the fact remains that there was a choice, and it has to be made.

In each situation, what the world offered these men seemed sweet on the outside, but was full of bitterness on the inside. Joseph was tempted over and over by Potiphar's wife and in order to resist her, he would not listen to her or spend time in her company. This is good advice for us, when we are tempted to do what we know is wrong. Do not Listen to Wrong, Do Not Spent Time with Wrong-Encouragers, and if need be physically run away!

Abram gives us a negative example: He travels with his family down to Egypt to get relief from a severe famine. But, in Egypt, he is faced with a test of his trust that God will protect him. Afraid of the Egyptian Pharaoh's ability to kill him and take his wife, he asks Sarai to lie for him about their marital state. Lying to the world will only get you in trouble, and Abram is asked to leave Egypt when their lie is discovered.

Daniel was a captive Hebrew, born a prince of Israel, forced to live in Babylon and serve the king. The king wanted to give the best of the Israelites a extreme Babylonian makeover!! They were to leave behind their Hebrew ways, and encouraged to be modern and live like everyone else around them. You and I are always under the same pressure from today's world. How did Daniel stay so strong? Verse 8, He made up his mind to choose what was right.

And so must we.......everyday......and when we fail, pick ourselves up ask God for forgiveness and try again.

Youth Conference Update!

Well, I know that you have all been anxiously awaiting this update, and I will not disappoint you! :-) Two vehicles of young people from our ecclesia went down to O'Neill Park, Uncle Jim piloted one, and Ed & I the other. We departed a bit late on Friday, due to work schedules, packing up and (quickly) washing the truck, so we pulled in just a wee bit late!! (12:50) We tried to be as quiet as we could looking for a campsite and erecting our tent. One advantage to setting up after everyone else is asleep is knowing where the snorers are and being able to avoid them!

This was the maiden voyage of our tent and it was really great! I'm glad we bought it when we saw it at Costco. We were set up and turned in for the night by 2:00, so 1 hour to do everything wasn't too bad. We slept pretty well.............. right up until the 13 year-olds started babbling at 6:30 in the morning. Seeing as breakfast wasn't until 7:30 it was a little bit earlier then I had wanted to be roused, especially with so little sleep.

Everything was organized well and the food was good and plentiful. (Props to Pamona Ecclesia for all their hard work) There were tons of squirrels and rabbits running around and the weather was very warm during the day and not to cool at night. I don't generally enjoy camping because it is usually to cold for me, but these were, really, very ideal conditions.

I will post summaries of each class in separate posts soon. I took quite a few notes and need to review them first. There were 4 classes and the Sunday morning Exhortation, so I hope to put out 1 post each so that reading through them won't be a pain. Enjoy!

Youth Conference is Here!!

So I'm off to the Spring Youth Conference!! I'm just dashing out a little something before we leave, so this will be short. The Conference is being held at O'Neill Regional Park, in Trabuco Canyon, and we will all be camping. Camping is not really my favorite, but it is always fun still. We're going to hear a good friend of mine, Eric Hawthorne, speak on the subject "Choose life....that thou mayest love the LORD thy God." I'm really looking forward to doing some Bible Study and seeing my old friends again. Well, I will not be posting probably until Sunday night or Monday, but I promise I will give you all a rundown on how everything was and also, a little something from each class if I can. So Long!!!

My Playful Pets: Maebel

I have two mid-sized dogs who have just way too much personality. The younger of the two (we suspect) is a cross between a Beagle and a Corgi. She is so adorable even when she is in the middle of being annoying. We decided to call her Maebel. No particular reason for that name, except we like to give out people names to our pets and Maebel is a singularly unusual name for a dog. Maebel has ~most~ of the nervous energy of the Beagle and the herding instincts of the Corgi, so that makes for some fun playtimes. For her morning constitutional, she likes to bolt out of the dog door as soon as it is opened, and dash, full-speed, in laps around our smallish backyard. This is done with a great deal of enthusiasm, and vigor. Once that task has been accomplished she ~bangs~ back through the dog door, to leap up onto the bed and trample/lick/greet whomever is unfortunate enough to still be laying in it. Usually with muddy feet! Also, this dog can jump really well. One of our favorite games is to hold up a tugtoy/stuffed animal, out at about shoulder height. Maebel will gauge the distance and spring up to snatch the object out of our hands. She doesn't always get up to it, but she's really starting to ~look~ good at it. She is so athletic, and it really is something to watch. (At least I can! I love dogs) Of the two dogs she is definately the cuddly one. Due to her abandonment as a puppy, she is always ready to be reassured that she is OK by a good cuddle. She also thinks it is her right to sleep between myself and my husband, and to sprawl out in a manner designed to take up as much room for herself as possible. We're still going to keep her, though, aren't we? (Wink)

Pesky Trials of my Patience

They have been re-surfacing the parking lot outside of my office, and while it sure looks nice, parking has been a pain. Sections of the lot are closed each day and we all have to park outside of our "normal spot". I am one of those people who tends to arrive, with about 30 seconds to spare, to work. Parking in a different row is the difference between on time or late (oh no!!). Now, this re-surfacing has been going on all week and I made a genuine effort to be at work 2 mins early today to account for having to, literally, run across the lot from the middle to the far side. And my plan was very nearly perfect too, EXCEPT for a very clueless man in a large white pickup who was in my way. He pulled out of the closest spot I could get so naturally I went to pull in after him, but he just sat there, blocking the entrance, not to just one spot, but THREE. I politely waited for a minute, figuring that he was just getting something situated, but he still did not move. Now, I'm getting edgy, knowing that my "early to work" window is quickly closing. So. I lightly honk, figuring he doesn't realize someone is waiting on him. This works, kind of... He pulls back into the space and half of the next space AND is still half sticking out into the lane. Out of desperation, I squeezed my little New Beetle around him and parked in the farther spot, jumped out and sprinted like an Olympic track star, across the parking lot, through the office, and punched in at........... 9:00 exactly.. Phewww, guy nearly ruined it for me, Pesky Trier of Patience. I am definitely looking forward to Monday, when it will all have been completed, and this is just a fading memory. Also, the re-surfacing - stinks - ! A lot. Literally.

Today's Bible Readings

Deuteronomy 28
Song of Solomon 8
Acts 25 & 26

I read each of these passages, so feel free to comment on any of them, but I was just struck by what Paul's hope actually was. Here is a clear passage that ties the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, to our Hope of Salvation. Also, a important reference by Paul to the resurrection of the dead. Interesting that he points out how hard it is for a skeptic to believe that God can raise the dead.

Acts 26:6-8
"And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God, unto our fathers:
Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?"

My question for myself is: Do I live my life hoping for the promises to be fulfilled and the dead to be raised and judged with the living at Christ's return? This is the hardest thing about living for God. Knowing what is right and also doing what is right! I want to try harder to "instantly serve God day and night". Mostly it seems to be my nature to serve Him "in a minute, I want to finish what I'm doing first". I'm so thankful to be forgiven when I am weak! I know that God wants to forgive my sins as soon as I ask it of Him. Can anyone else relate?

What WE are Reading

I have a Mom who loved to read to us. As I grew older it expanded to include reading Fantasy stories to me and my Dad. So, in this great tradition, I have begun reading out loud to my husband which is something that we both really enjoy. We have just begun reading "Eragon: Inheritance, Book 1". We bought the book at Costco in hardback. I love hardback books. I hate how much they cost. But I pay anyway and never feel bad about it afterwards. So far I like this book, but it's hard to say, seeing we are only 3 chapters in at this point. I can tell though that when we have kids that they will probably love it. If you want to know more about this book, go here.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

There are a few things I am planning to add to this blog so that you can get to know my world a little better.

(1) I would like to post a head shot pic so's you all can see what I look like.
(2) Add a bio about each of my immediate family members
(3) Add little bio's about my close friends
(4) Periodically spotlight the Sunday Morning Exhortation
(5) Post about ecclesial activities as they come up and after they have concluded
(6) Introduce you to my family pets
(7) Give reviews of the different books I am reading
(8) Post Bible Passages that are especially meaningful to me
(9) Introduce my Hobbies

Wow, my list was longer than I thought it was going to be! I guess I think that I have a lot to say about things. Hmmmmm, now that I think about it, my nickname as a child WAS Kara Leann "Talkative" Stivers. I was also called "bossy". Hopefully just the "talkative" is all I have left to work on but probably not! ;)

Mother's Day Dessert: Triumphant!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that the Apple-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake was awesome!!!!

One of my Hobbies

Today is Ballet class day!! One of my hobbies is dance and right now I have been taking Ballet. I started out with my first class in September of '03'. My main objectives where:

(a) regain my flexibility ( I used to be a rubber band )
(b) get stronger legs and stomach (I used to be very fit, cross country runner, etc)
(c) have a way to relax and exercise!

I am happy to report that all of these things have happened and more!! I used to have chronic neck and upper right shoulder pain from taking phone calls for work. Now, I rarely have any sensitivity! Yay Ballet! Also, while painting my kitchen, I expected that my legs, neck and arms would hurt the next day and (wait for it, drumroll, clash of cymbals) THEY DIDN'T!! Also, I can now lay on my side and extend my top leg completely straight, foot flexed and held by my hand, with NO difficulty. Now, let me tell you that was NOT the case when I started the classes. I felt like 27 going on 57. Now I feel 27 going on 21!! Once again, Yay Ballet!

My class is preparing for the summer show, and I will be performing in it, God Willing. Our music is really modern and dramatic and our dance is shaping up to be fairly athletic, whether it is controlling slow movements shifting into different positions, or leaping and turning. I am really enjoying it.

Our barre work is very challenging, not in the sense that it is extremely difficult to do, but in sense of requiring self discipline. Hard for me to decide which part of class I like better, the barre work or practicing the Dance. Any one else out there a ballet dancer?

HaHA!! Here is a special little personality test!



Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

I was most pleased to be Westley. The Princess Bride is very possibly my all time favorite movie.

Mother's Day!

I intended to wake up this morning with an hour to get everything done before I left for Meeting, but I overslept by 30 minutes, so I had to rush around like a chicken with its head cut off!! I decided to start the Coffee Cake recipe this morning and to take the dough to Mom's house to finish it. Saves time later and the dessert is nice and hot!! Because I was rushing, I got flour everywhere. Course, the dogs loved it. But we got out the door just in time and Terrific Husband loaded up the car for me and let me get dressed without worrying something would be left behind.

The kids at our Sunday School gave all the mothers a small potted mini-rose bush and we had assorted egg, fruit and coffee cake dishes. They were all great and everyone had a nice time honoring our mothers.

So the Apple-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is waiting to go in the oven for our special Mother's Day lunch at mom's house, and it is sitting there looking scrumptious!! All the food smells fantastic and I am reminded how blessed I am to have this remarkable family for my very own.

Mother's Day Tomorrow

Mother's Day Sunday is going to be long day for us. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. In the morning my Terrific Husband is going to help me with my Sunday School class. The age group that I teach is 11-14. We are building a model of the Tabernacle in the wilderness that the children of Israel used, by God's command, for worship. After the service is over we are going straight to mom's house and having a Mother's Day lunch for my Grandma. I am bringing dessert but I think that I will actually just bring the ingredients and make it when we get there. It is called "Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake" and you can get the recipe right here. After the MD festivities are over Terrific Husband and I want to go to the movies and see "Van Helsing" We love fantasy genre!! All this and I still need to finish painting my kitchen/garage door.

Welcome to the life of Kara!!

I thought I would start this blog so that the events, activities, and thoughts of my life would be recorded for our mutual enjoyment. I have a lot of different interests that I will be posting about. So, what are some things that you will see here? Well, my beliefs about God will be here as will my love of music and singing. I hope to introduce you to my family & friends, books I'm reading and other various what-nots that strike my fancy. I anticipate that this will be a challenge for me at times but I think the rewards will be worth it. Optimistic aren't I? I am looking forward to hearing from others out there so please leave comments when you can. Here's to what I hope will be an awesome experience!!