Thursday, February 16, 2012

These Days

Days of measuring out medicine.

Days of supplying kleenex in bulk.

Days of holding and praying as we wish for better days of feeling well again.

These past few days our home has been struck by one very nasty germ! I could go into song with complaining. I couldtell you how awful it has been... especially since it got me too (on Valentine's Day no less). I won't do that though. Instead I will tell you a different story.

It has been a sweet time of catching up together. It has been a time of watching movies on the couch together. A time of playing a few quiet games. A time of chatting about things... Deep things. A time of being blessed by my husband as he tends to things that he normally doesn't count as part of his own typical day.... And then some.

Today Caleb and I are home. Luke finally felt well enough to go back to school. Caleb lies on the couch looking out the living room window.

"Mom, lay here.... Just like I am."

He gets up and points for me. Tells me where to put my elbow and focus my gaze. I look.

"Do you see it? The tree out there has branches that form the shape of a heart."

I see what has caught his eye. I see it, and I see his heart. I tell him how very neat it is that he saw it.... Explain that a lot of people might miss it, but he stayed quiet long enough and gazed hard enough to see something very beautiful.

That's how things have been here for the past week or so. We have stayed quiet long enough and we have gazed hard enough to see the beautiful in the ordinary days of sickness. I am grateful for the ability.

I am grateful for the reminder from my 10 year old Caleb today.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Trust

This morning I am in my quiet house still putting things away after making the big move. I have my music tuned to a Pandora station while I work. Every song is hand picked for me today it seems. I must take a break from what I'm busy doing and make note of what is going on within hearts today.

'Tis So Sweet to Trust In Jesus.... It is Well with My Soul... Be Thou My Vision.... Etc.

Having a teenager is challenging, but not in the ways that most people warned me about when my belly was big with the babes growing within. The challenges come from having to stand and watch them struggle through this thing called life. They have to figure things out and learn things the hard way sometimes. I don't like to see my children hurt though. I don't think any mother does. Adults can be so difficult sometimes. I often wonder if some of them are stuck in their teenage years STILL! The popularity contests do not stop in some adults apparently. The have their favorites on the baseball field. It doesn't matter if one of the boys has been at a three hour practice and hit every ball except for one and caught every ball except for one. It doesn't matter that this boy is the first to grab the rake and start cleaning up the field when practice is over either. Skills and character only go so far with some I guess. This is where it gets challenging for me.

Watching... Watching him struggle through finding his way. Then, I read our devotional at the breakfast table this morning. It was about trusting and seeking. Trusting that hardship is placed with purpose. The purpose being to seek Him more. To find him as Treasure! Hardship brings MORE skill, MORE character. We prayed, my boys and I. Then, I took them to school for another day of academics, play and competitiveness on the baseball field.

I came home and these songs fill my home with remembrance of our time this morning. Our time of learning to trust more and seek Him more.

Thank you Jesus. Thank you for grace. Thank you for times like these that we all learn together. Please give my boys a peace about who they are and what they were created for. May YOU always be their source of confidence. ~

Friday, February 3, 2012

Boxes of Blessings


We are blessed.

Yes, we are moving again in less than 24 hours, but we are blessed.

We are blessed because we do not travel alone. We do not carry sickness with us. We do not pack boxes of burdens... Only boxes of blessings. Boxes of smiles because high school is good now. Boxes of night time boy laughter coming from the room that they will share. Boxes of rest for my Love as the rent is lower, thus allowing us to save more for our next home purchase. Boxes of peace and a closer togetherness... Good for a Mama's heart.

Excited to find out what life will be like in this new place, but at the same time, knowing it won't be much different at all. We have each other and that's what counts. I have been reminded on several levels lately of the importance of the important.

The Lord has been teaching, and I have been better about learning... Growth. Finally.

Grateful for the moments of my own growth, and grateful also for the moments that I've witnessed growth in my family. God is faithful... Always.