A Beautiful Mess

I could sum up my son in this little picture. I could actually write an entire essay on how these four items could describe his personality. I won't...but I could.

I was cleaning up the other day, and when I came to this "mess" to pick up, I couldn't help stop. It was as if he decided to place all of his favorite things together in just the right position. I'm sure he only left it for a moment to go look for "The King" to add to the mix! In 6 months, these things will be old news, and I'll be cleaning up a Bat Mobile or something else that has caught his undying love.

You never know who your children will be, or what their favorite things will be. However, I do know that I could not have asked for a more precious son to love. And, no, I'm not biased at all.

Shifting Sand

You would think, just by looking at a simple sand castle, that it would be an easy accomplishment. Something fun to do to pass the time spent on the shore. For some that might be true. For others, not so much.

My older sister had kids before me, and her first was a premie. He just barely made it, and had to fight with everything he had as a little two pounder to make it. He learned early that if you're going to make it in this life, you have to be a fighter, and that doesn't come easy.

Almost four years ago, when we lost my sister's husband, my sweet nephew of only 8 at the time, lost not only his daddy...he lost his best friend, his biggest fan, his closest confidant, his hero, his life. Much of their days together were spent on the beach. Exploring the rugged outer banks, learning to surf, playing in the water, building sand castles with extreme attention to detail.

We love to take them back down to the beach whenever we can, and this past weekend happened to be one of those times. It's funny, when we're getting ready to go down to the beach, all we hear from this particular nephew is...

"I don't want to go. How long are we going to be down there? I'll get all sandy, and it's gonna be cold."

fight fight fight....argue argue argue.

After he gets all that out of his system, he quietly shuffles his big almost man sized feet down the steps and over to the shore.

I think just getting to the sand is the hardest part.

Then for the next hour, or two, or three, he sits immersed in the sand, using whatever "tools" he can find to craft a most beautiful creation. One with great detail and skill...one that his father would be proud of. And once again, I marvel at how this boy of only 12 years, is choosing to fight to live life. How he has to choose to be a part of the rest of our lives, even just to build a sand castle that won't be there tomorrow.

A Morning Gift

The Lord is so near to those who call on Him. He caught me off guard as I was whisking around the kitchen and house, cleaning this, picking up that. And by His sweet Spirit, my attention was caught by a worship song that was playing.

I love that even a morning scratchy voice barely squeaking out the notes is still a "joyful noise in His ear."

I love that I can sit in front of my computer with my eyes closed and my hands held high in the presence of my God and King, and know that I'm worshiping before His throne.

How great is our God?! How awesome is His love towards us that WE can be called children of God.

In taking a minute to praise my true Father, I come into the very presence that I've been longing to meet with, even though I look everywhere else first. Lord, would you make my heart seek you first. Would you turn my eyes up to You, before things here. What do I have here??? On this earth??? Why do I look so intently here?? When You are life, you are truth. You are the Lover of my soul, and I am your Beloved.

A couple of years back, I got to go to an in house Derek Webb concert. He had just written the "She Must and Shall Go Free" album, and one of my favorite songs that he spoke about and played was Beloved. Beloved he shared was written for the "church" in America today. We as believers...who make up the Body of Christ here. So often, I forget how dangerous a place we as Christ's beloved are in. I am influenced by this need or that worry, or my ever changing schedule, and so distracted by everything going on around me. I easily forget He is everything. That...

"There is nothing more. No more blessings and no more rewards. Than the treasure of my Body and Blood. Given freely to all daughters and sons."

Beloved

by Derek Webb

beloved these are dangerous times

because you are weightless like a leaf from the vine

and the wind has blown you all over town

because there is nothing holding you to the ground

so now you would rather be

a slave again than free from the law

(chorus)

beloved listen to me

don’t believe all that you see

and don’t you ever let anyone tell you

that there’s anything that you need

but me

beloved these are perilous days

when your culture is so set in it’s ways

that you will listen to salesmen and thieves

preaching other than the truth you’ve received

because they are telling lies

for they cannot circumcise your hearts

(chorus)

beloved there is nothing more

no more blessings and no more rewards

than the treasure of my body and blood

given freely to all daughters and sons

Searching for Colors

This beauty is in my backyard. I'm always blown away by the colors of the fall. How in the world, can the leaves become so bright and beautiful right before they die? Yesterday, my son and I went exploring in the yard to find leaves for a project he's doing at preschool. We of course, found many more than we needed, just because of how breathtaking they are. We couldn't resist "picking" more and more. However, what I felt myself begin to look for were green ones. We had scads of red, orange, and yellow...but we needed a few greens to balance the bright colors out. As you are well aware, there are not many greens. So, when we would see one, we would say with excitement, "There's a green one!" As we were in the midst of hunting, something about looking for the green ones stood out to me.

It's as if the Lord was saying...

"Why are you looking for what's been here all along? They've been right here under your nose, but it's not been until now, that you can't find them, that you count them as valuable".

I don't know why it stood out to me. Maybe because I spend my life searching for "more" of what I've already been given in full. Or because I just try to get my hands on what seems out of my reach, only to find, it's been there all along. Either way, it was a message of hope. A message of fulfillment. A message of sufficiency.

A sweet reminder, that even though sometimes I search for things I don't have, that my Father is already there, and has always been there, even when I can't see. A gift to unwrap indeed.

Tuesday Date Night

Have I mentioned here, how I love to celebrate life? Just kidding. So, lately, my Tuesday evenings are a really fun thing around here. Wanna know why??? My hubs and I have started a new tradition. (I'm making myself laugh out loud right now, just typing that.) "Tradition....TRADITION!" (Sing along with me! It needs to be my theme song.)

We do lots of laundry, but usually don't get a chance to fold it right away. We let it pile up into a huge heap (all clean thank goodness) on the sofa in the living room. Then, after the kids are in bed, we make coffee and watch Office reruns (and sometimes other shows like the Biggest Loser) and fold all our laundry.

Yesterday, I saw all of it in the pile, and I said, I may need to make tonight my laundry night. Hubby said, "Is it Tuesday?" Yeah, it's a tradition.

It's great to be able to actually look forward to doing laundry. And the folding and putting away is the most dreaded part, anyway. But not anymore! Throw the word "date", "coffee", or "Office rerun" in there, and WHAM! It's a new favorite.

A Monday Kind of Tuesday Morning

It was one of those mornings.

You know the kind. You wake up late. Your husband has an early morning meeting, so you're on your own. Your kids don't want to wake up because they stayed up too late the night before. They finally do, only to be grumpy and whiny...and not to mention SLOW!!

You forgot to pack the kids lunches the night before, so you do it while reading the book that you forgot to read with your Kindergartner the night before. You don't have time to take a shower, because you forgot to get your aerobics stuff together and the stuff for your morning meetings. And to sign the papers in the backpack.

You yell at your kids for taking too long, and roll your eyes at your daughter's all out drama fit...about her eyes hurting and how she can't help but gouge it out with her fist. Then you try to be more patient by telling her she can "help it". That she "can do all things through Christ who strengthens her" because I'm demonstrating that so clearly.

You keep hitting start on the coffee maker, only to realize there's no water in it. Finally you put water in, but don't even have time to drink any. So you pour it into a to go cup, but because you're in such a hurry, you don't take the time to put the lid on properly. So you spill it on your white blouse as you're rushing out the car.

You're so angry by this point that when your 2 year old son is asking to hear his favorite praise song the second he gets into his car seat, that you yell, "NO, I'M NOT PUTTING IT ON!! I just need to talk to God!" Because you know, praising Him is the last thing you want to do.

You get your daughter to school late, and you're rushing so much when you leave the car pool line, you almost get sideswiped by a huge SUV. By this time, you're ten minutes late to meet your 8 o' clock appointment you've had set for a week. With your coffee stained shirt, sloppy hair and barely any makeup on, you confess that it had been a hard morning with a drama queen for a 5 year old. Fortunately, his response was a chuckle accompanied with, "We've all been there. I have 3 girls." You want to say, "Bless you!" but you know if you say too much of anything, you'll just start crying, so you just chuckle back.

Thankfully, the morning got better. I took a deep breath, finally had some of my coffee, vented to a friend who listened so intently and then prayed for me, had another appointment that went much smoother, had lunch with a dear friend who let me laugh at myself and encouraged me simply by being in her presence. I tell you, I couldn't have picked a better day to see these gifts. I mean friends. And in the midst of it all that I "happened" to run across this...

"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth."

Yes, Lord, I will bless you. Yes, Lord, I know I didn't this morning, but would you help me. Would you send your Spirit through my pressed lips of frustration, and help me have praise continually be in my mouth. Help this mess of a girl, know your grace and your gifts today.

Free

There is much to celebrate today...

In the midst of kids being sick...

In the midst of life being overwhelming...

There is a God who is not overwhelmed.

And a love that is not shaken by checklists and chores.

There is a place that I can hide away

And be.

A place that I can forget about the stuff

To sit at the feet and listen

To the One.

For only one thing is needed.

And I would like to choose the better.

I would like for it to not be taken from me.

I'd like to be like Mary today.

So easily it can be taken.

But not today.

Not now.

Maybe today, I could choose freedom

I could choose

To rest.

Seem simple?

Not for me.

Seem impossible?

Yes.

Thankfully, nothing is impossible

With God.

Jumping In

Last night after dinner, my hubs, the kids and I went out on the front porch with our ice cream cones.    As we were enjoying our dessert, my husband prompted the simple question to the family, "What does it look like to trust God?"

Our oldest started shouting out things like, "praying!...love!... joy!" in search of the "right" answer.     Our son went along eating till his ice cream cone fell face down...the original reason why we went out to the porch.

Randy went on and asked when the kids jumped to us from the side of the pool if they thought we would drop them.   River shouted out an emphatic "NO!"   Exactly.   

I love the relentless trust that our little ones have when the spring from the side of the pool, straight into our arms.    They don't hesitate.   They don't doubt.    They simply jump in.  

I believe if we fully knew how much we could trust Him, we would jump.   We would jump in total abandonment and even in freedom.    We would let Him catch us.   Even if we didn't know where we would land or how we would get there...we would jump.     That would be my prayer for us today.   That we would have the faith of a little child and jump.

   Don't forget to check out other great posts about enjoying the gifts of the everyday at Tuesdays Unwrapped.    As Em says, "Tuesday is becoming my favorite day of the week."

You Like Tomaetos and I Like Tomatos

This past weekend, we had fun celebrating Randy being the awesome Dad he is to our two kids. But along with everyone, we're pinching pennies these days, and so we didn't really have an actual gift picked out for him. I tried to think about what things we might like to do together...that don't cost money. And things that I could make...hmmm...

One thing that's funny about my Randy and I is that we are total opposites. Most people after they've been around us a little will ask, "How in the world did you two end up together!?" He's a thinker, I'm a talker. I love being around people, and it kind of stresses him out. He's quiet, and I'm ...we'll you know the answer to that. And even though we do like many of the same things, most of our favorite foods are very different. I like cream sauces, he like's red sauces. I like comfort food, he likes raw veggies...all the time. I love steak, and he can do without. I like chocolate pie, he'd prefer apple. He's big into beans and veggies and I'm more of the bread and butter kind a girl. And the list goes on. So, taking my Mom's advice (AGAIN) that "homemade presents are the best presents" and I decided that my gift to him would be making his favorites for the weekend.

I started out with a black bean dip. Then made some hummus. Then, his all time favorite, that I could care less about...vegetable soup. He's had like five bowls already. We had a big Sunday brunch after we got home from church. And then we finished with presenting the cake that as Asher said...."It's GEEEN!!" River had to decorate the top with a "family" of strawberries. The big one in the middle is Daddy.

Even though my sweetie and I are completely different, there's no one I'd rather be raising a family with, and spending my life with. I'm so thankful for how God made him...even though I still would rather have made a chocolate Ganache cake than a Watergate cake. But I have to say, it turned out pretty yummy. Now go check out all those other make-you-laugh-make-you-cry stories over at Chatting At the Sky!

Leaving Footprints

Last week when I was over at Em's, we both were saying how Tuesdays Unwrapped has begun to slowly seep into our thinking. We stop. We notice. And we are grateful.

As I was looking for gifts to unwrap today, I came across this. (no, not the dirty dishes)...





I almost erased it with a quick swipe of my sponge.


But then...I stopped. And I saw. And I was grateful.



Grateful for my sweet little boy and his tiny dirty feet. His dirty feet that go everywhere, and jump off of any surface they can find. His dirty feet that climb and explore til his little heart's content. His little feet that chase me around and laugh out loud with joy that I only hope to possess. His little feet that love to live life, wherever he is. Even on a kitchen stool.

Little Joys

This morning, no, change that...Last night, I started thinking about what I could write about today for "Tuesdays Unwrapped".   I knew that nothing was popping out at me, and I wasn't having all those little revelations that sometimes just seem to come so naturally.    And we can't find our camera battery, which means no great pictures of what I've captured.  

Instead, I had this:

A messy house, and the feeling of no matter what I will do, it will never all be together.  A cold that won't go away.   Fussy kids.  A busy and messy schedule - too much to do in too little time to do it.   No toilet paper - yes, you heard that right, and no it's not the first time that has happened.

But I did have these little faces to keep me company.    (this pic is actually from Christmas - I need new ones!)

And this sweetie to give me a hug.    

The kids and I had a lovely little lunch on the back deck.    Where big sister kept telling little brother to leave her birdhouse alone.   This is how she explained herself... "Birds of three, let it be!"   Oh, the little joys.

Unveiled Glory

My friend has this great idea...and I'm so glad that I finally got around to participating!  I love that we can share our stories of everyday grandeur!  

Yesterday (Tuesday) I found myself praying for my children a prayer that I often pray.  I don't start out thinking to pray this exact prayer, but what many times ends up being my prayer is that they would see God's glory and that because of seeing His glory, they would never turn away.   Then, this morning I sat in my favorite morning spot, drank a few sips of good coffee, watched the birds, and read for a brief moment before my two precious kids ran in to give me sweet good morning hugs and kisses.  

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18)

As the words entered my heart I thought about the crazy way God does things.    If I were God, I would say that the way you get glory is by doing great things.   Or by accomplishing great works.  But instead of doing, He simply says, look at me.  God.    Turn your eyes to me, and believe in my greatness, and you will be changed from glory to glory.    How amazing it is that He changes us from glory to glory, as we look upon Him.   That He doesn't say, bring a veil with you and cover your eyes.   That He says, look upon me, and have freedom!   Look upon me, and go from glory to glory!

Most days, my "glory" probably goes unnoticed even to me.   I don't realize that I'm getting more patient, or that He's making me more like Him.    Or that I screwed up everything, and had a great fall-on-my-face-so-You-can-remind-me-I-can't-do-it-alone day.   But as I fold the laundry or make a casserole, as I love my little ones and encourage their souls to seek after Him, I truly believe by faith, He is doing that work.  Even in yucky old me!   And you - it's pretty amazing.   To think that our acts of our own accord are filthy rags, but as we look to Him, we are changed from glory to glory, 'even as by the Spirit of the Lord'.

I'm glad that it's as true for me as it is for my sweet little ones.  That as they look to the Lord, as they see His glory, they will be changed from glory to glory.