Stolen Moments

Thank you, Yahoo image.

Rain.

We are getting a lot of rain in our area. Normally, that would bum me out, but quite honestly I have enjoyed the slower pace rain seems to bring. Without forcing anything, we tend to want to lie around, play in clubhouses with blankets and watch movies. Ahhhh ... what a blessing.

The rain did subside for our soccer games on Saturday and for practice on Monday night. Interestingly enough, as soon as both were over for each of my girls, the rain started back again.

This is a busy time of year for us. I spend a lot of time trying to get around it, work out simpler schedules and force us all to take a deep breath and keep on going without losing our minds in the process. I watch other Moms seem to live a more hectic life than I do (is that possible??) and yet seem to have things together and never skip a beat.

(You know what that comparison game will do, don't you?)

Truth is, I'm just not one of those people. I crave peace and serenity and without making my girls give up every single thing they enjoy, I arrange our weeks in a way that demand it. (I'm not sure if that makes me lazy or smart :)

I get really grumpy when we don't have time to sit down to eat as a family or spend some time snuggling on the sofa. These are the things that will pass all to quickly, right? I am intentional in preserving some of that time.

More times than I can count, I have talked to the Lord about our time. What can I do, Father? Where can I better serve my family? What things do my children need to be involved in while still protecting our time at home?

It is a constant prayer and one that I'm sure will only become more and more necessary as my girls get older.

This morning, I was reading Mark 1:35-37. Here's what it says ...

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee! And, he said unto them, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth."

Do you see the comfort those verses bring to a busy, pulled-in-twenty-directions-at-a-time, Mom?

The Son of God becoming flesh on earth to experience all that you and I experience is such a personal thing for you and me. Christ knows each and every emotion we feel and that doesn't leave out or diminish the sometimes taxing schedule of being a Mom and being pulled in so many different directions.

Picture our beloved Christ stealing away for a few moments to spend time with his Heavenly Father. Then, just picture him becoming startled as his disciples interrupt his quiet time and say, "Where have you been? Everyone is looking for you!" Is there a Mom (or woman) reading this that has never heard those words when trying to spend a few moments alone?

I love that God is willing to be so personal with me and remind me in his precious Word that He gets it. He understands my heart! He understands our lives in today's culture! He understands when we're trying our best to sit at His feet yet life .... a crazy, busy life at that ... beckons.

We just have to keep going. Keep searching for the moments we can steal away to be with our Heavenly Father. That is the only relationship that will sustain us. He didn't give up .... and neither can we.

I'm sure we have one since she was only a few seconds old ...

O had to come home early from school today because she was sick. Well, not exactly sick, but she does have some MAJOR issues .... ummm .... going to the bathroom. She gets herself in such a state of pain and it takes weeks for her to feel 'normal' again.

Bless her sweet heart. When she got in my van today, she was clearly trying to hold herself together. Once the van door was closed and I asked her if she was okay, she lost it and cried all the way home. She was sad she had to leave her friends, leave recess and miss snack time. Her tears broke my heart.

Hours later and after hours of pampering and snuggling, she was still feeling bad but knew she had my full attention.

E was home by this time and trying anything to cheer O up. She read her books, tried to make her laugh and drew her pictures. O was unimpressed.

Then, E found a photo album with pictures of O when she was a baby. E said, "Awww, look at this picture of you when you were just 7 months old and sitting up for the first time".

O cut her eyes over to the picture, looked at it and then very sarcastically said, "So what. Find a picture of the first time I laid down and I'll be happy".

She's a tough one.

Because I know I won't have a free minute tomorrow ...

Guess what starts tomorrow?



Our fall bible study starts and I couldn't be more thrilled! Actually, if I listed all my emotions my list would include excited, anxious, full of doubt, confident, hopeful, prayerful, courageous, terrified!, confused, compassionate, sad, happy, desperate and so on ...

See all the contradictions? See how crazy I am?

Without God and His love for me, I am no doubt a person that would be tossed to and fro and left for the enemy to devour! My mind is a jumbled up mess until God lays his hands on my shoulders, shakes me and says, "Stop it!"

Ofcourse, he doesn't do that in the physical sense, but you get what I mean, right?

Thank the Lord for his constant redemption in my life! Without Him, I am one messed up girl. I am humbled that we are starting yet another study where we can witness His great power ... we get to witness how He changes lives through His word and brings a woman back under his wing and delivers her. It's a miraculous thing to watch (and, I am asking Him to do it for me as well!).

If you think about it, please pray for our group (and for me as I lead it). We have 44 women signed up .... including two of our youth girls :) I cannot explain to you how thrilled I get when I see youth joining the women in our church to study God's word. I love it!

"I have esteemed the words of his mouth

more than my necessary food".

Job 23:12b

"The one who has called you is faithful and he will do it."

1 Thessalonians 5:24

Get Organized!

I have discussed with a few of my friends how to organize all those preschool papers and projects our children bring home and how do you decide what to keep and what to throw away?

I did get smart the first year E was in school and put her work in page protectors and filed them in a 3-ring binder. That works great for 8 1/2 x 11 papers, but so many are larger than that. Truth be told, when we moved I haven't been able to get completely organized with it all and now I have TWO girls bringing work home.

I got my Lakeshore Learning Catalog last week and briefly flipped through it before throwing it away. (I haven't ordered anything from them except for O's alphabet puzzle.)

But, look what I found!
It's perfect for organizing each year's work and you can also get it personalized. Love that!

I will say that I do NOT keep every single thing my children make. I try to choose things that would mean something to them when they get older - anything with a handprint, story, first time learning to write letters, etc. It would be too much to save every paper, but even being choosy leaves us with a lot to organize. This will help!

Click here to order one.

Happy Place

O and I hang out uptown while E has her piano and violin lesson. It's here we have some of the best conversations. I get to focus on her and just listen.

While drinking a cup of juice, she asks, "Mom, what do you think this drink is thinking right now?"

Me: "I'm not sure. What do you mean?"

O: "Don't you think it's happy to be going inside my body? I mean ... the inside of my body is such a happy place."

10 on the Tenth

I can never get my act together long enough to join in on Meredith's 10 on the Tenth post, but thought I would today.

Here are 10 things I'm enjoying right now ...

1) Fall temperatures!!! It's no secret how much I love fall! I love the colors, the smells and the cooler weather. I am so much happier this time of year :) We have been having some much cooler temperatures and it feels great. It makes me want to break out the soup recipes ;)

2) My girls' school. I've said it many times, but it's worth repeating. I am so thankful to have such a peaceful, Spirit-filled place to send my children. At times, it's difficult to know God's will for our lives and such a relief when we know we are where we should be at that moment. That's how I feel about the school. God may move us one day or change our direction, but I am thankul for where He has us at this particular time.

3) My running shoes. In the past, I thought it was insane to spend a lot on running shoes (or any shoes for that matter). But, with permanent foot problems now, I am in love with my shoes that don't leave me wanting to crawl home.

4) Candy Corn. I anticipate this candy coming out in stores. I have always loved it!

5) Skype. With Eric traveling more and more, the girls are able to talk to him via Skype and it has been such a blessing.

This picture is of the girls talking with their Daddy last night while he was in Massachusetts. E was able to 'show' him her school project instead of just describing it on the phone. We also bowed our heads and closed our eyes together for bedtime prayers. It is just the neatest thing for these Daddy's girls to actually SEE their Daddy before they go to sleep. (I like it a whole lot, too ;)

6) Tylenol PM. When Eric travels, I have the hardest time sleeping. Actually, I have a hard time all the time, but more so when he's away. Tylenol PM is my friend!

7) Reruns of Friends. I finally had the insight to DVR old episodes of Friends (told you I'm slow). Anyway, every night I watch it before I go to bed and laugh like crazy. Good medicine. I feel like I've been reunited with an old .... ummmm ... well, Friend ;) ha!

8) Cinnamon rolls. Stop the madness! I've had them every day this week (and then skipped lunch :) I'm addicted. What's weird is I never used to like them. I'm going to try to make these this weekend. It's becoming an illness, really.

9) My blanket. Quite honestly, it's no different than any other time. It's just really dear to my heart ;)

10) My thirties!!!!!!!!!!! Today I turn 39!

THIRTY NINE!

Unbelievable.

Labor Day with a Bear

I've mentioned a time or twenty that we have been really busy. I knew we had a LONG weekend coming up, which would be sandwiched in between some very busy weeks for us. So, we decided at the last minute to take a trip with some friends.

We went to the mountains only a few hours from home. I almost didn't go because I got hit with a nasty cold on Thursday night. I felt horrible and even begged Eric to stop the car on the way there Friday night and leave me on the side of the road.

He decided to keep me and thankfully, I felt better Saturday morning and was able to enjoy our time.

All O wanted to do was ride the chairlift up the side of the mountain. If she asked us one time, she asked us a hundred. We finally gave in and rode to the top of the mountain. It's such a special place at the top. Complete with a gift shop packed full of Gatlinburg memorabilia. I don't think there is any other place on earth you can purchase a Smoky Mountain back-scratcher or Black Bear shot glass.

Well, except at the 97 stores at the BOTTOM OF THE MOUNTAIN.

Speaking of Black Bears (we were, weren't we?)....

Guess what we woke up to Sunday morning??

As Eric was going to work out, he met this guy on the stairwell. He started saying, "Go on. Get out of here." (scary, huh?)

It didn't work, though.

Not sure why.

What he was after was the trash. A particular Subway bag, in fact.

Subway isn't my favorite, actually. I mean I wouldn't stick around for it while someone is flailing their arms and yelling, "Shoo. Go on. Get out of here".

Little Caesars Crazy Bread, maybe. But, not Subway.

But, that's just me.

Anyway, we watched him (her?) for awhile and took pictures and videos and such. It was exciting.

The most important news about the whole thing was that not even a man-eating bear kept Eric from his workout. Once the bear turned his back, Eric ran in the workout room and locked himself in (because bears can't break through locks, you know?) Turns out the trashcan the bear found the most pleasure in was right outside the room Eric was in.

So, he was trapped.

And, we were worried about him.

After a loooonnnnng while and the bear finally had his fill, he leaves. We ran to tell Eric the coast was clear and he could come out.

His response?

I'm not finished with my workout yet.

I'm pretty sure I'm not that dedicated.

But, I AM competitive.

So, I decided to go ahead and run .... along the road ..... surrounded by woods ..... which had BEARS in them.

I thought of Meredith and her bear bell. So, I did the next best thing and kept jiggling my keys.

I think it worked :)

He Goes Before Us

It's true that the things we have the most anxiety about usually never come to fruition. Either that or the anxiety we feel demands us to call out to the Lord in prayer and as a result, He answers us with abundant mercy and grace.

I'm choosing to believe the latter.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm the most honest person I know. I mean that with all humility. I also mean it in a way that suggests at times, I'm too honest. I say what is on my mind and most times should have thought it through first.

So, when I feel like I'm hiding something (that isn't a sworn secret to a friend), I really don't feel much freedom until it's out in the open.

I'll cut to the chase....

From the moment I found out I was having a daughter, I knew I wanted to be careful about how she learned of my past. Typically, a little girl's world is wrapped up in her Daddy. How would she feel about learning her Mommy had been married before? When is the right time to tell her? What age is appropriate and when is she mature enough to understand?

E is my deep thinker. She analyzes every situation and contemplates actions of others from every angle. I knew early-on I would have to be selective about when I had this particular discussion with her. I never wanted to appear as if I was keeping a family secret. I just wanted to be sensitive to her ability to understand.

Honestly, for years I have looked forward to the opportunity to tell her how God redeems all things and how He is mindful of every detail in our lives. It's a testimony I share with my SS class and anyone who will listen. I wanted to share it with my little girl as well.

Also, I saw myself telling her as a pre-teen or teenage girl - you know - when I thought she could 'handle' it.

But, as fate would have it, we were put in a situation this school year that could possibly lead to someone else telling her ... say at recess. That sped up my plans.

Eric and I began praying and knew I had to tell her quickly. I asked several friends to pray as well. I asked God to go before me and prepare her heart. I also asked Him to help me to be strong (no tears!) and to be confident when telling her all He had done for me. I wanted to carefully choose my words so that no one was dishonored or torn down.

I planned to tell her last Saturday. BUT ...

On Friday morning, she crawled in bed with me and was just so happy. She asked me some questions about when I was a little girl. And, just like that I felt the Lord whisper it was okay for me to tell her.

I told her I had something very special to share with her .... a part of my testimony. She laid very still as I told her about meeting a guy in high school and making a decision to marry him and then knowing it was a very bad decision. As I talked, she began putting puzzle pieces together - moments in time we had mentioned (when I lived with my brother, when I got saved, etc.). It all seemed to click with her and made perfect sense.

Her response when I asked if she had any questions?

First, she said she didn't realize that adults could make mistakes. This gave me an excellent opportunity to talk about the good (when given to the Lord) that comes from bad situations and how God heals broken hearts and will do all that He promises to us. She loved hearing that.

I wasn't prepared for her next response ....

She said, "Mommy, I have been feeling very left out at school".

Me: "Why?"

E: "Because all of my friends have an older brother or sister. I don't and I want one. Do you have any other children?"

Are you kidding me?????

Me: "No! I do NOT have any other children, E".

E: "Are you sure? Think really hard".

And, just like that I knew God had answered my prayer and gone before me and prepared the way. We left that conversation able to find the humor in the midst of the serious ...

and laughed like crazy!