Snippets from the week...

Look, another week has come and gone...So much life lived this week, but I do not have the time at 11 pm at night, to write it all. So bullet point highlights:

• Thank you Papa, the ceiling fan feels SOOOOOOO good. I am sorry it was so hard. I love you!

Poor Bella, shaved and spaded and chipped, all in two days. Her life turned upside down and she has no clue. Pray for her speedy recovery.

The boys, a dancing generation...praising God. A week of Arts Camp and praise worship every morning, soak it in to their bones Lord.

Smoggy air, muggy days. Thank you again, Papa for the fan installation!

Less boxes sitting around, more items in their place.

Starwars and Carribean Pirates all the the same week. Now their sticks can be light sabers or bucaneer swords...take your pick.

Mary, ah...my little Mary. This week I would have to say, Mary mary quite contrary....and yet we love you so. It takes longer, when you have to mother around the edges, in the seams. Yet, maybe it would be the same, even if I mothered 24/7.

Homestudy done at last...another blog covers that.

June almost gone...(guess whose wedding anniversary is next Monday? Momma, Papa!)

Work going well, project I love, and less desireable tasks accomplished and almost behind me.

Two people shared with me how much they feel Nick has a special calling from God, has God's annointing, God has plans for him. Amen, Lord. I receive it....and I say all my children. Each in the way you designed them, you have a plan for them. Bring it to fruition.

It is funny, in Nick I see myself. One moment he is praising God, writing a worship song, hugging his family, doing acts of kindness without being asked, and then in a turn he is arguing in anger, being disrespectful and snotty to his brother and sister.

Is that not all of us, if we would admit it? The battle of spirit and flesh? Of God and self? I rejoice in the spiritual steps I see Nick make and I fret over the tangled sin struggles. Yet, none of it phases God. He sees both. Knew of both. Planned for both, and even uses both, as he refines and makes something new of the flawed clay.

And that too is me. Passionate for God and struggling with self and sin. The life battle. Let none of us pretend it is not there. That we have obtained perfection.

As long as we are in these bodies, we have a rash on our soul, that only the oinment of the Word of God and the Spirit can remedy.

Pour it on Lord, Pour it on. Hold us still long enough, to pour it on.

Mom and dad. We love you tons. You work too hard for me. I am sorry. You are loved much.

Little ones, God's blessings to me, joy and much prayer, my little refining fires, you warm my life. I love you. But greater still, God loves you. You are His.

Lord, Abba, Jesus, Savior, Spirit, comfort and helper. Where would I be without you? Life would be dismal. Forgive me. Be strong in my weakness. Be miraculous in my failings. Be life in my weariness. Be Joy in my mundane.

Bella, be well, soon.

Joyous Moments....a song shared as moonset..

A few weeks ago, maybe a month or so now, my mom gave me this great article about joyous moments. and savoring them. After reading, I was inspired. And took time to think through the moments of joy during the day.... It was suprizing how many they are, if you put your mind in the frame and think about it. The inspiration only stayed with me a day or two though...until busyness and moving and finishing out the school year, and arranging for summer, and....... etc etc etc ..stole my mind away.

Today, I had a big enough one, that it made it's way through the static to be recognized.

Nicholas has gone to four days of Ranger camp. He had to leave at 5:10 am this morning. I thought I was going to have to wake all the kids and pile them in the car to drive Nick to the church to catch his ride, but a dear friend called me last night and offered to pick him up. Hallelujah.

At 4:45 this am, I was awakened by my little man, standing beside my bed, fully dressed, asking me what time it was. :) Ready to go.

So at 5:00 am, we piled all his stuff out on the front porch, and sat together outside on a little bench I have in the front yard. The weather was cool, he had on his hoodie, and I was wrapped in a throw blanket. The air was cool. The neighborhood empty. Quiet. A couple early birds starting to sing. A neighbor cat starting his morning stalking, (or finishing his night's carousing.) We noticed the stars still in the sky and a fullmoon over the rooftop of the neighbors house. As we sat and waited, we were on ready, knowing the sprinklers would come on at any time, and we may have to high-tail it out of the water's way.

We sat side by side. Content. Close. I started to sing a line from a hymn.....

"My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou are mine..." And my dear sweet Nicholas joined in.
"For thee all the follies of sin I resign,
My blessed redeemer, my savior, art thou,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus tis now.

I love thee because thou has first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree
My blessed redeemer, my savior are thou
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus tis now."

I don't know if we had the words right, but no song was ever sweeter, as the moon was setting over the neighbors roof, then to hear my 10 year old son singing this hymn with me.

Awesome. Joyous. Thank you Lord. He then shared with me a song that he had written, I cannot remember the words, but it was about Jesus, and needing help, and no one hearing his yelp in the middle of the storm. But regardless, he still was calling on Jesus. It was an awesome song.

How blessed am I? That the heart of my son is drawn to God so much that he would enjoy a before dawn hymn with his mom, and that he writes his own worship songs to God.

No greater joy...

Much better now....on the Potter's wheel

I know I have been in a stinky mood lately....would have been best for me not to blog at all during that time. But I am doing better now.

A bible study we are doing by Patricia Shirer, Can we Talk, is really helping....it is so self-contained, that you do not need the videos to get the benefit of it! I highly suggest it. (I would show you a really cool picture of it IF bloggers photo function would work! but it has been broken for several days now...)

One verse that spoke to me this am, that the kids and I memorized last year, is Eph 4:29

DO not let any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth (or keyboard), but only that which is helpful for building up others according to their needs that it might benefit those who listen.

Even 4 year old Mary had this memorized. I realized this includes my self-talk as well...and my grumblings and complainings that are not a benefit to anyone, including myself.

:) SO I am doing better, more optimistic and hopeful. God has the slab of clay on the potters wheel, and although flawed, He is making me into something new that He deems right!

Amen

You are what you eat...

I sat down at the computer for a minute, enjoying a snack, before bed. (Enjoying....hmmm....snack mixed with guilt is not too enjoyable) whem I read an email subject line in my inbox: "You are what you eat was never so true..."

So I am an ice cream sandwich, I guess. Since that was what I was guilty of eating. :) I keep thinking, one of these days, I am going to get my act BACK together and start eating healthy again, and exercising. To think, a year ago, I was running 3 miles a day and freaking out if I missed a day. Geesh!

My mind needs a retreat. I am spinning so many plates so quickly on these long skinny sticks, that I don't feel I ever catch up, think, plan, focus or do the right thing. I just keep catching crashing plates or sweeping up chards of china. Every spare minute I have I feel like I need to be unpacking a box or hanging a curtain rod, or planting a flower or watering or laundry or paying bills or ...catching a plate.

Spin, spin, spin spin, whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl....

No end in site...

And it all comes tumbling down.....

I wonder if there are any more ice cream sandwiches in the freezer?

Not worth writing about...

I truly have nothing worth writing about....

But here are my words cast into cyberspace...

Labels.

I was thinking I am in a rut. But then I do not know if that is the right descriptor.

I am something....

and something not too good.

Muddy, overwhelmed, stuck? Dirty undercarriage?

Not sure about that ol' label, but I know it is not happy, joyous, energized, hopeful and with it. :)

Today is Father's Day. SO I must take a minute and accentuate the positive. My loving daddy. He is dear and endearing and steadfast and always there for me...Mom, too. They are a package deal. They came over today and we grilled hamburgers and watched a movie, Summer's End. (good movie). I can see why Dad likes it so much. Jesus, give him a spot on the lake with a fishing pole and a couple fishing buddies! :) Happy Father's Day, Dad...we love you.

The boys got buzz haircuts this weekend, for summer. ...and that is about as interesting as it gets!

No profound insight here.... dry, dusty, distance.

Unpacked boxes

Backed-up sink

Too short weekends

Extra pounds

Sore shoulder, and prescription side effects

Hot weather

Swampy back yard

Monday morning looming

No exercise

Poor diet

Blathering mouth (keyboard fingers)

And a perceived chasm between me and all that is good.

Must be buying the lie, huh?

I did not want to go to church today. Almost didn't. Finally rolled into the parking lot almost an hour late....and grabbed the tail end. As the verses were projected on the overhead screen, I just felt, Father, wash me. Wash over me with your word. I know no way to reach from where I am to you, so wash over me.

I will get back. I will get there. HE has not left me. HE wants me as I am. I will get there.

When I have a minute.

A Recipe for ......

Take 9 excitable children,
Add 1 1/2 hours of Kung Fu Panda movie,
Mix with cake and ice cream,
Top off with punching a pinata....

And what do you get???

Well, you don't get 9 kids that are able to resist doing Kung Fu in the house!! That is for sure!~

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A little intense but true...

Our God and King Jesus is so noble, loyal, loving and never gives up on us. Today, when I was driving, I heard a song on The FISH, http://www.1039thefish.com/ a Christian radio station. And the song was about Jesus is coming back for us..He has not left us, He will return. And it made me think of the movie, Last of the Mohicans...where Daniel Dey Lewis tells his love, as she is to be taken away, that she is not to lose heart, that he will come get her, he will find her.

That is our Jesus. Sometimes we feel lost in this world, on our own, in enemy territory, struggling to find hope, but our Jesus WILL find us..and He will come get us.

I also was thinking, not just in the future, but most assuredly then, but also NOW. Being Spirit, as well as body, He will find us NOW...He will meet with us NOW. He will rescue us from captivity Now.

I have always loved this movie, in spite of the violence, (rescues can be violent and our enemies plans for us ARE violent.) The scene when Daniel is seeking her out in the hospital and they eyes meet...floors me. I have always desired to me sought out like that. And I have come to realize, my Jesus seeks me out like that. So often He is trying to catch my eye, and I am too busy, out of tune, not seeing...How said He must feel. Yet, He still keeps seeking me out.

Enjoy. He will find us!

A decade has come and gone....

At 8:05 pm tonight, June 3, my first born baby boy turned 10 years old! A decade, as he put it!
Hard to even imagine! Where did it go? I still see baby sweetness in him, playfulness, sensitivity and also understanding beyond his years. A hope that all is truly good, a fear that many things are not. A black and white perspective, of why doesn't everyone want to choose good and if I just explain it, I am sure they would. A love for God and strong belief, and a love of family, traditions and joy. Laughs and makes us laugh. Smarter than I can imagine. And what he enjoys most, still, if I will just get down on the floor and play with him.

I love you baby boy. You are my awesome blessing! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Nickerbocker!!!