Leaving the Building

Today was "Big Idea" Day at our homeschooling group. Big Idea is where you bring your cool organization tricks, homeschooling hints, supplements for curriculum, etc etc and we, in the end, have fun getting fired up about keeping on keepin' on!!! Fun time was had by all. I brought a couple of games we use for fun and to get our brain working quicker in the morning, Jonathan Park CD's, etc. etc. In the process of sharing with another homeschooling Mom, we were discussing how easily distracted we get, and how usually if things haven't progressed as they should in HS, we're usually at the root of it.....yes, she identified with me totally. Then when I mentioned that I had a blog, she said she did too and oh my goodness, we instantly diverted from discussing school to exchanging blog addresses and....now, what were we talking about Malinda??? All that to say, we start our vacation tomorrow, and I am going to miss blogging; reading and writing them. sniff sniff. I told Danny it has been a wonderful way to get connected, encouraged, and fired up, and even deeply touched by the amazing folks out there blogging. I feel blessed to have found ya'll-yes, you!!! So, while we have not left YET, we will be leaving the building (right behind Elvis I'm told). Blessings everyone!

"Miracle on the Hudson"

This is a drawing by an artist named Rex Babin. This particular drawing was forwarded to me today through a Mother in our homeschooling group. How watchful Jesus is over our lives. There's no question in my mind He had everything to do with the Miracle on the Hudson.

And We Thought It Was A Weed

After weeks and weeks of watering what we thought was a fuzzy-leafed weed.....behold, a new thing-beautiful purple flowers.

The story goes, over a year ago we planted some wildflower seeds. Nothing happened. We moved, and Bethany continued to faithfully water-every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday.....exactly as she had scheduled. Then something green with fuzzy little leaves grew in plain view. She continued to water. We talked a couple of times about feeling like just pulling it up, but we didn't. And this is what happened one beautiful day, not too long ago.

Lessons learned: Too many to name, but could start with Isaiah 43:18-19 which says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"

Prayer That Reveals

"Lord, I thank you that you are with me. I feel sorrow and grief whose source is unknown. Whisper your words of love and tender care to my heart. Lift every untrue thought and mind-wanderings of mine. You're a healer, you're a forgiver, and I need you."

Is it okay for us blogging friends to reveal a place that usually has a door in front of it? Well, my door is open today,(so in my view the answer is YES) and as I share I greet the first person at the door....my loving Saviour Jesus! : ) Welcome Lord. Welcome loving friends in the Lord. Inside there is peace, and it's walls are scrubbable! Watch as the untruths and unwelcome guests are swept outside. Clean house Lord! : )

Tall Man Lockdown

Tall man lockdown....let me explain. Remember now, if you read the last post, I have in mind being a fragrant aroma of Christ to my children, caught more than taught, right? Hmmm. Take 2. Son goes upstairs to take a bath to remedy source of undisclosed discomfort. Moments later, much later actually, son returns to Mother whose own head was in a towel heading for a bad hair day as sure as I live. Son returns only not alone, this time with my fav Michael W. Smith CD encircled about , one might say, his tall finger....a.k.a. "Tall Man." (See Bob Jones K5 Math.) Hmmm. What to do. I'm thinking, o.k. if it can go on, it can come off. Wrong. Wait, yes, but only in pieces. Did you know you can use PAM spray for a lot of things, but NOT for the removal of CD's from 6 year old boy fingers??!!! It did come off with a good pair of scissors amidst the hysterical fright of the boy fearing his own finger would be removed as well (oh, like I almost did to his ear cutting his hair 2 years ago now). The visual for the uninvolved reader evokes a laugh as it probably will to me tomorrow. Actually, it is hilharious. His final response to me when he looked at his puffy red finger, "Look what you did to me." The fragrance of correction was quickly released in our home. Amidst my sorrow over a hard morning my children threw love and hugs and kisses and more of the same as I stood with awful hair in our kitchen today. All is truly well.

The Closet

The footsteps of two destiny's scatter about in the room over my head providing the perfect background music for me as I write. To my left on this desk is the paper my daughter brought home from Sunday School. Their lesson: on Faith. Their focus: Prayer. Listed on her paper is the name of someone in her family she could pray for, and I'm on the list. Second was someone NOT in her family to pray for and that would be Mary Lee, great friend and babysitter to the children. Last, and my favorite is where she lists her place to get away and pray....her closet. Though my heart is warmed, my heart is also taught and instructed in soberness as I recall again that I am called as a Mother (as parents) to teach and instruct and raise my child, my children in the love, joy, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. I have heard, as you have, that it's caught more than taught. Lord, may our answers to YOUR questions about faith, prayer, the Word go beyond paper. May our answers be visible on the slate of our own hearts as you peer in and know already what we would say, what we would write. I add, that we would be before You, O Lord, in prayer, all the while instructing and raising our children before you, for us, for them to be a light: The reflection, the fragrance of Jesus to the World.

Stepping up....Stepping down

One day after a worship set that included a talented violinist my then 3 year old daughter Bethany picks up a white hanger off of the bed, crooks her arm and proceeds to use the hangar as a violin bow. "Look Mommy, I'm playing the violin like David." A year later.... "Momma, I want to play the violin!" Bethany, age 4. "Mommy, I want to play violin." Bethany, age 5. "Momma, when can I play the violin?" Bethany, age 6, 7, and 8. 'The first language I want to learn is Italian!" Bethany, age 8 1/2. "Mom, I want to take piano lessons." Now that I can do! Conversation with my own Mom when she randomly asks, "What I want to know is when are you going to teach that girl piano?" Perhaps I've been running from a portion of my destiny to teach my own child piano (a potential patience stretcher if there ever was one,) or perhaps I've been running from the nearly eternal strains of "stepping up, stepping down, then a skip" in every imaginable octave; the likes of which are being heard throughout the house as I write. Of course, on her own now she's skipping to lesson 2 where she plays in other keys. That's not supposed to be happening for 7 days now. Who shall save me from this amazing, wonderful memory....the beginning before violin? I think this day, our first day of piano lessons, is like one penny in a huge bank. A penny is a beginning, a penny is a deposit. Destiny is a bank and we daily deposit actions and obediences (yes Lord, I'll teach her piano)....kind of like stepping up, stepping down, then stepping back in awe as we wonder what the Lord has begun!!!

In the beginning God created....

I just wanted to post a blurb to remind everyone that Sunday 1/18/09 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, marking the beginning of a week to honor the life and the hope of the unborn child. If you have a local Crisis Pregnancy Support Center I want to encourage you to give a donation of any size to their ministry. We have a very active center in Phoenix that last year alone helped over thousands of families, moms, dads, and children to be ....in crisis. A family I know shared a personal testimony with me that they, as a Christian married couple, visited a local crisis pregnancy support center because they had an unexpected pregnancy as a married couple and it was really throwing their home and relationship into a tailspin. Crisis Pregnancy Support Centers also counsel post-abortive Dads who have helped fund abortions. Their ministry is amazing, and we need to keep them in prayer through the year. I pray also that the Lord will give us as Christians opportunity to tell the world about the new mercies of the Lord, the mercies that will rain down on us in the morning when we wake up! The mercy that sloshes around our feet, falling off our shoulders as we ready for a night's rest. Thank you Lord.

Beginning With the End In Mind

Late last year I heard a quote that comes back to me now, and the quote was "begin with the end in mind." The quote was issued as a help in how to approach the Holiday Season. What do we want our holidays to look like....here and there for parties, and the like, or quiet traditions shared within the calmer walls of our own home. I often like to take things I hear and try to make a spiritual application, if possible, so I regularly hold that quote over various areas of life, and have benefited greatly from doing so. Wiring, I'm told.

That being said, a couple of weeks ago I purchased for myself and my husband (for Christmas) our own "his and her" brand-new One Year Chronological Bible(s). I have been wanting a Chronological Bible for years now, and finally I had my hands on one! And it was mine, mine, all mine! Woo hoo!!! I decided there was no sense in waiting til the big day to begin my new quest through the Word, so I opened it up and began my reading in the December portion of the Bible-the book of Revelation. I guess you could say I began with the end! What a wonderful ending to begin with! I found myself smack dab in the middle of the most descript and exciting, yet terrifying accounts of all John heard,saw, and recorded. It had a profound impact on me. I couldn't help but view our current times through the lense of John's account. Then today, I actually got to start at the beginning, and the first words I read were, "In the beginning..." Hmmm. God began with the end in mind. When He began, before sin.... His creation and the purity it held; after sin....mercy shrouded in Holiness,our willful rebellion, His patience, our idolatry, His judgements, our waywardness, His heartbeat to reconcile....every bit of it pointed to the end. The end, us with Him, the part where we understand and see in full. Oh, somehow could we do that? Could we do what He did? Could we begin today -this new year- with the end in mind....looking for the return of the One who loves us greater and purer than we could comprehend this side of Heaven?

Son Daniel today, after watching the ever so slightly cheesy hit TV show, "Lost in Space" couldn't help but wonder outloud if the girl robot that was on the show was going to fall in love with the boy robot already a fixture in the series. Except that he said, "Do the robots turn in love with each other?" (Yes, "brown bear" boy with such questions at age six.)I wrote it down 'cause it was one of those childhood quotes I knew I didn't want to forget. He wanted to know how it was going to end. So, for us,in beginning with the end in mind could it be that a "turning" in our love is due. When God said "In the beginning....He knew there would be a turning away from, and through Grace alone, He began the all-out process of reconciliation - of our returning. We begin with the end in mind and we return. Happy New Year everyone.