Spring Season

I am thankful:

~ for one of my favorite weeks of the year:  Bulky Trash Pickup Week.  For years it’s  been one of my greatest joys to cruise the streets of Tyler checking out the piles of castoffs, looking for “treasure” amidst the broke toilets and soggy mattresses.  I love the oddities I come across: the 8 foot headless toy soldier, Captain Mike pedal car, and sometimes what looks like an entire household emptied out.  But there were also a few great finds: some good frames, darling rattan chairs, an awesome tabletop that will make a fabulous sign, and a terrific study little table.  Josh is the best sport in the world – he HATES this week because of all the crap I drag home, but he puts up with me, even picking up the pieces I can’t fit into the bus (if I BEG).  But some items don’t pass his inspection and end right back on our curb.  But I love the thrill of the hunt, and the Littles all help by scanning the curbs for “treasure piles.”

~I’m thankful for the rain. It seems like we’re getting way too much rain, flooding, not enough sunshine…but the fact is, God is sending us rain.  So I guess that means we need rain.  And I’m trying to learn to be thankful for whatever He gives me. Even if what He gives doesn’t make sense to me.  So I’m choosing to be thankful for the rain.  My babies help me appreciate it because they find such joy.

~ for a surreal milestone.  My baby boy, the one who made me a mama, turned 20 this week.  I still can’t wrap my mind around Colton being 20. years. old.  I will never forget his traumatic delivery or how terrified Josh and I were to bring him home.  We had NO CLUE what we were doing, and I think we have continued to feel like that for most of the last 20 years.  But we all survived it all, we all learned through it all, and we love each other like crazy.  Happy birthday Colton, can’t wait to see where God takes you!

~for growth opportunities, even the uncomfortable ones, the embarrassing ones.  I’m thankful for the traffic that never moves more slowly than when I’m in a hurry.  I’m thankful for the accidents that I don’t know about that He has shielded me from time and time again.  I’m thankful for the things I wasn’t able to hurry up and get to.  And I’m so thankful that One Greater than me is in charge.

~for parking lot picnics in between activities at the school.  And I’m thankful that even if they don’t actually love it, my kids will eat a sandwich for dinner without complaining.

~ for teachers.  It’s been teacher appreciation week at GCS and many other schools across the nation.  And our teachers are outstanding!  These dedicated servants love on my kids.  They disciple my kids.  They pray for my kids.  All the kids. They are overworked and under paid.  I’m so thankful for all the teachers we’ve had over the years, and the pieces of the puzzle they have been in the development of my children. Thank you, Jesus for our teachers!

~for a really special visit with a dear friend.  Miss Robyn moved away about a year ago, and we have missed our spirited dinners and cultural outings that she has extended to our family over the years.  So even a brief time of catching up over a meal was delightful! We love you Miss Robyn!

~ for a great two weeks of Football Spring Training for Cooper.  He loves playing football and is PUMPED to play in High School next year!

~ for another bittersweet last with my girl: her last choir concert.  As always, the talent and performances were unmatched.  But everything feels different when it’s the last time.  Hearing the beautifully melodious blending of voices as they sang, “The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace…”  I’ve heard Carson Grace and her choir-mates sing that more times than I can count over the years.  But this time they were singing a prayer over one another.  Praying a blessing over friends who are about to go their separate ways.  Another hard season change.  Enjoy the video here.

~ for my new birthday hammock, finally hung!  We had to repaint our frame and clear out an overgrown tree before we could put it out, but now it is up and it’s SO CHARMING!  I look forward to seeing kiddos snuggled up in it from my kitchen window, and maybe I’ll even get to lay in it myself one day!

~for the most fun birthday party!  Sawyer was invited to the party of one of his sweet classmates at Half-pint Ponies and Petting Zoo!  (Where he had his Make A Wish “You’re-Going-to-Hawaii” party).  It was so awesome: sheep and goats to pet and brush; the fluffiest, softest bunny; tiny newborn baby pigs, and a “real life” unicorn to ride!  Tatum K came along, and that girl was in her heyday!  She marched around that barnyard in her cowboots, loving on all the animals and greeting them with, “Hi honey!”  They had the best time!

~ for ONE. MORE. BEAM. DONE!!!  (Only 5 more to go.)  Just keep scraping, just keep scraping….

So it’s finally really Spring.  I love Spring. Lots of rain, lots of green, fresh flowers everywhere.  Such a busy season.  Mercy Mama, is Spring a busy season at our house with the end of the year activities in full spring.  Changing seasons is always bittersweet.  In the middle of winter we long for the temperatures to rise and the green to emerge from its slumber.  But when the heat sets in, and we are no longer enamored by the sweat on our brow (and the back of our neck and everywhere else), we look back longingly to the crisp cool of winter.  So it is with the seasons of our lives. When we are raising babies, it feels like the sleepless nights will never end.  Endless diapers, spit up rags, and too many days upon days without a shower.  When our two-year-old is screaming for another cookie, our hearts yearn for tender baby snuggles.  No matter what season we are in, we are usually looking wistfully backward or longingly forward.  I have the unique opportunity to span so many seasons at once just within my Tribe: no babies any more, but I’ve got toddler, little kids, middle kids, preteens, teens, young adults.  I should have a great perspective, mature and seasoned, and a realistic appreciation for each respective season.  But man, I really don’t.  I haven’t learned to appreciate each season, or that every season is going to be hard, and NO SEASON will not be busy.  I STILL find myself simultaneously longing backward with some and straining forward with others.  I know it’s the dance we do.  I just want to learn from it all and be able to soak up the moments, the good with the hard, and EMBRACE them.  Lord, help me stay in today.  Hope for tomorrow, learn from yesterday, but LIVE IN TODAY. 

Please keep praying for Georgia.  She spiked a fever, had her first on-treatment ER visit, and is currently in-patient at Children’s, waiting for her counts to come back up.  Thank you for covering this precious little girl and her family.

Happy Spring, friends.  I pray you can embrace whatever season/seasons you are in.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  Romans 12:12

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8