February 3, 2019

~ for deep conversations with Sawyer: Sawyer:”Who gave you that pillow?”  

Me: “My Aunt.”  

Sawyer: “You mean your mom?” 

“No, my aunt.”  

“So she’s your different kind of mom?”  

“No, she’s my aunt.”  

“Oh, so your aunt is your grandma?” 

“No. My aunt is my aunt.” 

“Oh, Ok!”

(Sawyer is also VERY excited that the “Brown Hog” did not see his shadow yesterday, because it means Spring is coming. And he knows my birthday is coming up, since it is “Feb-loo-ary.”) Oh how this boy keeps me laughing!

~ for the wonderful privilege to speak at MomTalk, a bi-monthly lunch for GCS moms. I got to talk to the other moms about the importance of sharing our stories with one another, finding our common threads, and encouraging each other through our trials. They encouraged me so much!

 ~for Carson Grace’s first softball game. She and her teammates had a great game, and it was fun to cheer for her. Now I will say, the combo of 40° weather, brisk wind, 6 whiny kids, and a non-leash-trained puppy were not ideal. Hoping for nicer weather for the rest of the season.

~ for Zoe having a great time celebrating the 100th day of school. She ate her tasty necklace of 100 Fruit loops, and the class did lots of fun activities.

~ for a thrilling lesson on the letter “F” for Sawyer and his JrK friends: petting a real live FALCON!

~ for our sweet new friend, Bear. He is just a love. All the kiddos can’t get enough of his wet puppy kisses and his fuzzy puppy paws. And I love him, despite cleaning up puppy messes every 7 minutes.  Potty training a puppy is NO JOKE. Haven’t done this in 13 years. Thankfully he’s a very sweet boy and seems to be a pretty quick learner. 

~ for new mercies every morning. I know I say that a lot. But I say it a lot because I NEED it a lot. This week my patience ran thinner than thin. We are all in various stages of a little annoying cold, puppy training is incessant, the kids have been AT each other constantly over anything and everything…it’s just so easy to default to irritation, which is exactly what I did. I’m not proud of my responses or my tone. But Jesus extends His unwarranted grace to me; allowing me to extend that same grace to my children.  And every day really is a new day!  So thankful to have a fresh opportunity to try again each morning. Thank You Lord for do-overs!  Anybody else need a good, old-fashioned do-over?

~ and for the BEST NEWS OF ALL!  Today our sweet Sam-girl was baptized!!!!  She asked Jesus into her heart several months ago, and since then, she has been eagerly anticipating her baptism, but has been forced to wait due to various illnesses and schedules not coordinating. So this was a long-awaited event!  What a blessing to see this beautiful girl answer the prompting of the Holy Spirit, make the personal decision to follow Jesus, and then publicly share this commitment in front of her church at the age of 11!  So wonderful that our daughter is now our sister in Christ!  And it was made even more special because we had so many people with us to celebrate: aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins, all together to share in her joy because she is so loved. What a beautiful picture of the redemptive love of Abba Father. God is just so GOOD, y’all!

Thank you for giving thanks with me.  In the highs and the lows, in the trials and in the mundane…the blessings are there if we train our eyes to see.  But it is a discipline. Our natural inclination is always to look and to gravitate downward.  LOOK UP!  Give thanks!  Let’s love one another well this week.

“Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 AMPC