Not My Home
15 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in Faith
I just read where someone wrote, “this world is not our home.” I’m thankful for the reminder that my sorrow need not endure, my sickness has an end, and the debt I owe but could never pay has been wiped clean. To make that true, I have to know that this world indeed is not my home, but a new world awaits me and awaits us all. A kingdom of feasts, celebration, endless praise to our God void of shame, suffering, and sin. My soul whispers, come soon, Lord!
Today, back home, a man that first demonstrated uninhibited praise and worship (in my eyes) as a small child in my home church is being celebrated at his home-going services. It was as if the first time I ever remember someone’s hand being raised in worship during a Baptist church service, Howell Anderson was doing so, just reaching up to hold his Father’s hands for a moment to say, I need you Dad and I love you.
Just this morning, a mom and wife from our church family, Katie, left behind her body that had become so weakened and sick. Just two days ago, she mustered every bit of strength to make it to church and see her daughter be baptized. I can imagine her soul wrestling the cancer, wiggling free of the pain, bounding and leaping right out of the frame it was held in. Because of Christ Jesus, she wasn’t shackled to that death, but was alive in Him who defeated death.
At some point in their living, Howell and Katie each had heard of Jesus. In their getting to know Jesus, they saw a cross. When they knew that cross was meant for them, they accepted that Jesus already went there, died a shameful death of agony and suffering, and in His death, he released them of their sinful shackles and raised Himself alive to destroy death’s curse. Their eyes had seen the cross and had looked beyond to a home.
They lived in bodies that became poor vessels for their heaven awaiting souls. They touched lives in true Jesus fashion; making much of their Father and tending to the lost and loving intensely. They turned hearts heavenward and caused others to gaze upon Jesus.
My heart is celebrating Heaven; as more people I love journey to where ALL is Holy, my soul longs to join the party.
My soul whispers, come soon, Lord!
Li’l Funny Bones
18 Sep 2010 3 Comments
in Family, Just life!
Dying to share a funny kid-to-parent moment…
So, one of our tactics to get through the potty training chaos is to set our daughter on the potty and have fun counting and distracting her from the monotonous routine of answering nature’s call.
Yesterday, RockStarHusbandBabyDaddy took her to the potty while we were enjoying some Dutch Monkey Doughnuts and the counting fun atop the porcelain potty commenced. Eric, adding to the diversion and keeping the interest alive, then asks her if she can count backwards.
So, our li’l funny bones obliges and twists her upper body around, faces the wall the potty is attached to, and says “One…two…three…” I guess the answer to my husband’s question is: Yes! Yes, she can count backwards!
Kids! They keep you smiling. And sometimes a little delirious. But a delirious smile is STILL a smile, right?
Everything That Slithers and Flies
30 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Just life! Tags: hummingbirds, leaf eating caterpillars, orange-striped oak worms
Well, I’d never make it as a compassionate entomologist. We recently discovered an orange-striped oak worm (caterpillar) invasion on our front yard oak tree. By the time we noticed one oddly naked tree branch stripped of its leaves, by the next two mornings, the bottom third of our tree was eaten off on one side! After some research by myself and some friends, we realized this needed to be treated ASAP. These worms are basically unsatisfied stomachs with legs!
Well, I killed those oak leaf gnawing caterpillars today and quite enjoyed the hours of carnage viewing as they wriggled around all doped up on Sevin spray to the point of lifelessness.
(Click images to enlarge. BIG files, so it will take some time.)
We started noticing naked limbs first…
Then found the little buggers that were wreaking all the havoc. Orange-striped Oak Worms.
And after a good dousing of a special Sevin spray, the sluggish spiral to death begins. For the caterpillars. Not MY tree. :)
Ahhh. Victory!
But I did do a good deed today in the name of God’s creation. Put another hummingbird feeder on the front porch because hummingbirds are just as stubborn as caterpillars when it comes to claiming something to feed on and not giving up.
We had this ruby-throated male hummingbird that claimed territory to our deck feeder and wouldn’t share nicely with the ladies, so we put another feeder on our front porch.
Here’s our non-sharer…
New feeder…
And within minutes of putting it up, our female ruby-throated gal makes it around the house to find a feeder she can claim!
Isn’t God mysterious and wonderful?
Forty-three.
19 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Family
Forty-three.
43 minutes.
Four 10-minute increments with a bonus three minutes stapled onto it’s backside and a “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah … you can’t stop me” added for good measure. Make that 2,580 seconds of high decibel wailing. Our child just had the ugliest, shrilling, cry-it-out, kick and buck, snot slingin’, tear rollin’, food throwing tantrum.
Good golly. Miss Molly. I. Am. Drained.
I think children provide us with these moments to reflect on our own state of being a child; does our parental love align with God’s love and discipline for us? In the moment do we seek wisdom or satisfy the self?
It’s amazing that God would love me so much that when I have made a disastrous stink like my daughter just displayed, His love doesn’t detach, recoil, or diminish. I can’t sling enough snot to the point He’d walk away.
I doubt I come across irresistible in those moments, but His love finds me worthy enough that He patiently waits it out and lets me fall into a big ole hug of comfort and infinite love. In fact, His love has set a bar so high that it serves an example to us to keep turning and returning to love over and over for one another. Even when it’s hard. Really hard.
I couldn’t help but think of a tragic news story I read earlier today where a young twenty-something mom had done unspeakable abuse to her toddler son. This happens all too frequently. Something tells me she had no personal reference as to how much she can love her child as an overflow of how much God loves her. What sadness. I wish I could reach out to her. I wish her son could also hear and understand the vastness of God’s love and how special he is to his Creator.
Your love is deep, Your love is high
Your love is long, Your love is wide.
Your love is deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You’ve filled
Your love is deep, Your love is high
Your love is long, Your love is wide.
Who shall separate us from Your love?
Who shall separate us from Your love?
Nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus.
Nothing can separate us from your love.
Written my Jami Smith
Why Would Anyone Want to Adopt?
10 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Adoption, Family, Vivi Cakes!
My husband and I just tucked into bed a miracle and a dream fulfilled.
This day is more than a birthday for a sweet little girl. It marks a journey of a triad of love and sacrifice, hope and healing, love and joy, pain and progress.
Adoption is a concept born from our Creator. We embrace our neighbors, our friends, our communities, those that have and those that have not; our need for one another makes it possible, our differences make it worthwhile.
We adopt others and are adopted ourselves. Don’t prevent this essential principle from having an intentional role in your life.
Does this mean you actually choose to adopt a child regardless of your limitations or your natural abilities? Maybe. I sort of hope so!
Whether it’s a domestic or international child, a reclusive neighbor, a lonely widower, or a hard working single mom–just be open to championing their needs. If you have to search for a reason, you’re probably over-thinking it. Be willing to foster and move them forward before you move yourself. And, at a great cost.
Beware. Adoption is radically transforming. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Why would anyone want to adopt? I have my reasons …
chaw-kuh-lit
04 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Creations in the Kitchen, Helpful Websites, Homemade...and BETTER!
Have you ever realized you have everything (perhaps in your food pantry) to make what you really want (to eat), but the ready-made version isn’t available so you forego the craving/meal because you don’t want to mess with making something from scratch?
Yes? Well, stop doing that!
I’m starting a new category of posts that I’m passionate about: Homemade … and BETTER!
Recently my toddler has developed a love for chocolate milk. Who can blame her. It is chocolate, after all. After a carton of already made chocolate milk (that I must have purchased at some bargain price as having it in my fridge is quite rare) had disappeared, I was still being asked at snack time for “chocatat mil”. After an attempt to combine cold milk with a hot cocoa package created quite a sludgy, unmixed mess in the bottom of a sippy cup, I was getting worn down by this thirty-something inch-tall person. Plus, she was saying please. I mean, c’mon.
I’m also not one to just have chocolate syrup in my pantry. It’s just not a product we would use often, as well, the ingredients in most available ready-made syrups have a banned (from our house) substance: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
And before I go on, no, I’m not getting into a discussion about how HFCS is bad, but sugar isn’t better. I’m just opting for the less of the unprocessed and unnatural evils, okay?
How hard could could chocolate syrup be to make? I would indeed find out that not only was it NOT hard to make, but it also tastes significantly better than the syrup you’d buy in the grocery store. Not to mention, the ingredients are relatively common for having on hand in the average kitchen.
Here’s how to go from frustrated mom to hero and saver of the day! And be sure to get your kids involved. They are the best chefs and you’ll both love this learning time!
Tools: Heavy medium-sized saucepan, whisk, measuring cups and spoons, rubber spatula (just for scraping every gooey drop out), and sieve (optional).
Ingredients: Unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, water, and vanilla extract.
1. Add 1 cup cocoa powder to saucepan. Run through a sieve if there are clumps that need breaking up.
2. Add 1 cup granulated sugar to saucepan. Stir sugar and cocoa together to remove lumps.
3. Add 1 cup water and 1/4 tsp. salt to cocoa mixture in saucepan. (FYI-This makes the recipe easily recalled with the one-to-one-to-one ratio of cocoa, sugar, and water. Just think of the 1/4 tsp. of salt as a generous dash, as the salt just enhances the depth of the chocolate and cuts the sweetness of the sugar.)
*Steps 1-3 are perfect for little hands to help stir and work on those counting skills. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and have them count to four on all the ingredients!
4. Stir the mixture and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring with the whisk and keeping the mixture from scalding. Allow to thicken.
5. Once thickened to a syrup consistency, remove from heat. Do not over stir. Just a gentle stir every 30 seconds or so for a few minutes to add cooler room temperature air to mixture, but won’t create air bubbles. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and stir gently.
Use slightly warm or allow to cool completely.
Store it in the fridge in a squeeze bottle with a cap. About 1 tablespoon should make an 8 oz. cup of “chocatat mil.” This is where the hero mom action gets good!
I recommend looking straight up at the ceiling and squeezing it straight in the ol’ kisser, but that’s just me. ;)
For further proof that this wins the heart of a child, check out my daughter’s cheers to chocolate milk expression.
Smart Cars. Smart Kids.
03 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Family, Just life!
Just a quick funny about our drive home yesterday from a grocery stock-up trip. But first, some detail to build up the story …
At the end of May, we took the plunge towards a bigger people mover, a.k.a. a mini van, or as my neighbor phrased her family’s transition, “we now have a living room on wheels.” We loved our sleek Accord sedan and it would have been great to still have that car when our children were driving age, but it made no sense to have three vehicles.
Anyway, we stayed in the Honda family and purchased an Odyssey. It suits us–yes, our little family of only three–perfectly! Admittedly, I gaze in that built-in kid-watching conversation mirror and just dream of having a few more kids in tow. As well, the four half-day road trips we’ve already taken have been much more enjoyable and one major step in toddler raising has become so convenient whilst traveling: potty training.
Our almost two-year-old has a potty from Ikea (this is cheap and awesome and a gift from my sister-in-law) that goes where we go in the van. With just the mention of “potty, momma!”, we can whip our car into a safely parked position, unbuckle, unsnap and untuck, and plop down with hardly a panicked heartbeat and room to grab clean-up necessities and tinker with toys, that no doubt help this potty business go down smoothly when away from home and working plumbing. And, since we’re on the topic, let me tell you what my sister-in-law has taught me: keep a reusable shopping bag with a package of toddler bum wipes, a canister of sanitizing wipes, 4 or 5 plastic grocery bags (one for trash and the others to line the potty for poops or to seal around the potty if it wasn’t lined), and a roll of paper towels for wiping up any piddles or drying off a sanitized potty. Um, hello? Genius!
So, with the big push to ban distracted driving, I decided yesterday that I’d play a CD all by utilizing the talk command features of this new gadget-loaded hauler. Meaning, I can depress a button on my steering wheel, wait for a beep and audibly say, “Audio On. Play CD #5, play random tracks.” Voila! Michael Buble’s It’s Time album would then start playing it’s tracks in random order. Serious fun!
From the seat behind me, I hear my daughter doing her usual rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and, our favorite, Scooping Up the Baby Bumble Bee which is riddled with about a hundred extra syllables of words we can’t quite make out. Cute, huh?
What’s that I heard?
“On..”
“…On.”
“Potty on.”
“Mommy’s car potty on.”
“On!”
Now, instead of pulling over for the “get their pants down to pooh fast” rush, I was thinking of pulling over to let the wash of hilarity and laughter subside. I seriously love this stage of parenting a toddler. Their words. Their thoughts made audible. Our conversations. It’s pure medicine I tell ya!
We were so close to home that instead of asking, “Sweetie, do you need to go potty?”, I instead called my husband at work to share in the fresh from the laugh factory story. It was much too priceless a moment in our parenting journey to not share with all of you.
Our smart cars and at-your-fingertip luxuries can be so intriguing. However, when you stop and think what your kids must think when they hear you talking to your car or walking through the house dusting furniture with a bluetooth earpiece in, and of course they have no personal experience of what it means to speak their commands to technology and have it perform … yet, you kind of get the feeling that most of what they hear us say and do must seem so silly.
Silly, but obviously worthy of repeating and having a go at it themselves!
Beach Balls and a Manger
02 Aug 2010 1 Comment
This is a crazy exciting week. After having just returned from an early celebration of my Memaw-in-law’s 70th birthday, we are really just now beginning to dip our toes in the stream of upcoming birthday festivities.
Since my husband and his beloved Memaw share the same birthday this upcoming Thursday, we have always had lots to celebrate every August, especially since my brother-in-law’s birthday is exactly one week later. Over the recent years, we’ve acquired friendships with co-workers, small group friends, and neighbors, and yet more in-law relationships, who also have birthdays these first two weeks of August. What’s even more, our daughter, who came to us via adoption, will be turning TWO in just eight days! On the heels of that birthday, is the birthday of the wonderful angel birth mother who gave us our adorable, sweet package two years ago. It’s just an all out celebration of people that make my life so full. I love it!
But how do you celebrate a birthday in the hottest summer you can remember in your 31 years of life? With all things summer, of course! We have some beach balls to hit around, some buckets and sand, a play set with swings and slides, watermelon and hot dogs, water hose and wading pool … the works!
We’re aiming to keep it simple and toddler friendly and most of all, to make merry the day we honor our little beam of light, our daughter (who is currently painting her face in oatmeal and blueberries!)
What’s more exciting is I’ve been asked to take on a writing assignment and my first deadline is coming up along with this week’s parties and guests. Well, okay, so that’s not the part that is so exciting. In fact, that part I need your help praying that I accomplish much in little time! Really, I DO need your prayers! But, to me, the most exciting part is that I’ll be writing a script and retelling a Bible story for a video piece that plays to preschoolers in their churches across the country. I feel so privileged to be writing a piece that details the Christmas story and illuminates the story of Jesus’ birthday in a way that preschoolers can connect with and understand the love they have from their Heavenly Father; that he would give us his only Son and reconcile us to Him.
So while I’m teaching my little girl how to share beach balls at her birthday party, I’m also thinking of how I’ll teach her about the manger and how Jesus came to us and lay in a feeding trough, only to become her Savior and Prince. Like my daughter, He was adopted by an earthly family and a world that would come to know the gift He is.
Luke 2:6-7 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Caught in a FLYtrap
29 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I jumped back into blogging. Something I’ve let go for far too long. It’s something I enjoy and writing is my outlet. However, I had let the notion of being too busy with wife and mother duties keep me from being an active author to my own blog world. Notice I said notion, not actually doing those duties. Some of it I did in fact do, but not all that my dizzy head made me think I was doing.
Does the italicized font help you hear this conversation take place? Good. I was hoping it would.
I suffered self-loathing laziness, guilt, and had snarky thoughts in my mind when other moms I knew would detail (in conversations and on Facebook) their accomplishments, too many to count, by early daytime. I began to notice how these efficient mothers were spending abundant amounts of quality time with their husband and kiddos and weren’t tormented over the homestead duties awaiting them. Thankfully, divinely even, a fellow mommy posted her frustrations of not seeing the light (for all the loads of laundry, no doubt) and feeling quite overwhelmed. A friend of hers commented on her plea for help by saying, “girl, I need to introduce you to FLYlady!”
The curiosity got to me and I googled FLYlady. Then, the heavens opened to release a sweet dove which flew down from the departed skies, lighted on my shoulder whilst cooing a melody of full strings and celestial harp, and an angelic Celtic Women-like voice sang sweetly, “We are glad you are here. We have been waiting. Help is on the way.” Er, maybe it was more like a very basic website opened up and I saw a cartoonish purple-headed fairy lady greet me and then I navigated the page for a while. Either account is good for me; reality is secondary.
After a few minutes of digging in the website, I was shining things and just “jumping in”, which I’ll talk more about later. Since then, I have struck a balance in my home that not only everyone is noticing, but they are following suit, too. I have amazed my toughest critic. ME!
My motivation comes from my daily “hugs” and I love going out of my house for small grocery trips, travel, even just to check my mail and walking back into a balanced home, clean, and growing in organization. And my daughter has never once made me feel like I’ve snubbed her needs over a fresh and gleaming toilet! In fact, she now tells me when she’s playing in the dishwasher, “I halping, Mommy!”
I know I had to identify what was genuine laziness and what was valid concerns that kept me from getting things done. It was, and is, a lesson in self-control. I had read in the Proverbs, my daily honing tool, some wise scriptures that spoke to this area of my life.
Proverbs 25:28 “A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.”
Proverbs 26:13 “The lazy person is full of excuses…”
Proverbs 27:15 “A nagging wife is as annoying as the constant dripping on a rainy day. Trying to stop her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or hold something with greased hands.”
And finally, Proverbs 27:19 “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person.”
My heart and my attitude were mirrors of each other and my nagging was annoying even me! I was allowing things to burden me that were intended to bless me. My home, my family, and my duties were all things I was shackling to my feet rather than using them to lift me up. My reality was being choked of intentional blessings, and in exchange were darted with flying curses. I had never viewed my chores and duties at home as ways in which I could love not only my family but also myself.
And who doesn’t just thrive in a clean environment? Much like the financial common sense we subscribe to of Dave Ramsey’s, where paying off the smallest to largest debt creates a snowball of momentum for getting things done with gazelle-like intensity, once you start, you find that more can be accomplished in less time than you’d imagine. You surprise yourself and build faith in yourself.
In just a few days of going to bed with a shiny and dish-less sink, doing a load of laundry a day (if needed), unloading the dishwasher first thing in the morning, looking ahead to my calendar, and so on, I was caught in a trap. A FLY trap! Rooms of chaos and clutter were being tackled and things were finding their proper homes. Funny how the proper home for a lot of the stuff I cleared was the dumpster!
You can FLY, too. Finally Love Yourself.
How Do *You* Love Yourself?
28 Jul 2010 1 Comment
I have been blessing my home at Mach 1 speed this morning, which is my way of loving ME. Our house was awaken very early to a vocal toddler’s voice heard over the monitor saying there was a nose that needed blowin’. I was sleeping soooo good. Soooo good! Within minutes there were trips to the potty and giggles over mommy’s clumsy knees and feet hitting things in the thin morning light. There was no bedding this bull back down, so an hour after my feet thumped the floor, I’m drinking my french press and “jumping in where I am” to this dusty old blog completely guilt-free. (Which, I’ve been using some spare time to overhaul the look and give it a temporary to possibly permanent name: ohthejules. Whatcha think?! I know, it was TIME!)
Meanwhile, the husband and toddler are watching cartoons. Seems perfect to me!
Two months ago I would have made it down the stairs, groaned as I looked at a sink scattered with some of last night’s dishes, kitchen counters held down by appliances and unopened mail, rolled my eyes over the unfolded laundry as it lay creasing and wrinkling in a basket, and moaned at the mere thought of not one, but three bathrooms that needed my attention. I would spend more time concocting a convincing argument for both my husband and myself as to why hiring a cleaning service was imperative and less time actually doing the things the coveted cleaning service would do. I was busy being mom, right? Scared that time away from my daughter in any form would translate as “sorry, mommy is too busy to help dress the doll.”
Lately, however, I’ve developed a morning and evening routine and stick to a recommended zone cleaning schedule. I don’t spend enormous amounts of time on any of it, I just jump in and do it and try to never feel like I’m behind. That’s what FLYlady says to do! (More on that discovery tomorrow.)
This morning, in the first 45 minutes, I loved myself and blessed this home by: making all the beds, taking the dirty laundry down stairs, started a load of laundry, folded another load, emptied the dishwasher, gathered my bills and receipts for a financial check-up, fed my kiddo breakfast, put all the downstairs shoes in one place, cleaned all the toilets, returned the downstairs fort-building blankets back upstairs and put all the pillows and sheets back where they belong, and dressed myself for the day! Not only do I feel good about my work so far, but it sets me up for a day of continually loving myself and blessing my home while enjoying guilt-free time with my daughter, neighborhood mommies and their kids, and a shopping trip with errands … at a peaceful pace!
What do you do daily that helps you love yourself like this? Are you struggling and need to find balance, too?
