A Child’s Perspective

This morning as we were on our way to Farm Camp, and after a quick car prayer for a good camp day, Lainee told me that she could hear Jesus speak to her.  We’ve talked about this  on occasion and so I probed further into her statement.  She mentioned how she just feels Him speaking to her “inside herself”.  She then shared that Satan also talks to her.

Of course, hating that Satan is already grabbing my child in a way that she can verbalize an awareness I tried to probe once more hoping to see where this deep thought was going.  But before I could say anything she said “I hear One saying “yes” and the other saying “no”… “yes”, “no”, “yes”, “no”, “yes”, “no”.  Mommy if God has all the power in the universe why doesn’t he just kill Satan?”

While driving down Kirkwood Highway I tried to think how I could cover this topic in a kid friendly way and at the same time not show how impressed I was that her little 5 year old mind has such depth (I’d like to have that conversation later).  So I mentioned how God tells us (in the bible) that we will have until Jesus comes back to earth to choose to love God.  That if He forced us to love Him it wouldn’t really be love.  I ventured down the road of saying how I want Lainee to love me as her mother but not because I force her to love me.

She had a light bulb moment it seemed as she interrupted and said that God must be the only grown up in the whole world because we are His kids.   His kids should choose to love Him and all the good things… not the bad things.  Then she compared her Nana and Pops to God and me to, well, me and connected the fact that I am a grown up but still a child to my parents.  So– we are the same with God. We can be of different ages but we’re always a kid and he always wants us to chose to love him as our Dad.

Amen to faith like a child!

What if’s

My job as a homemaker is still in full swing and we’re expecting baby #3 in December.  Sadly, the pay isn’t great and since Brett has recently become unemployed he’s on the hunt for a new job and maybe a new career.

He’s excited and ready for a big change and knows that God’s hand is on all of this. He even talked about Paul’s (from the the bible) experiences being shipwrecked and bitten by snakes and how the path was rough but the end result provided great blessings.  His enthusiasm for snake bites and shipwrecks sent me to tears… but it’s sending him closer to God’s calling.  Amen

He’s the dreamer.  I’m the realist.  We’ve always balanced each other out but this situation is tricky.  I’m the supportive wife and have always been happy to be his cheerleader but this situation has left me probably a little less cheerleader-like than he’d prefer.   I can’t help myself.  When he dreams God sized dreams that don’t make sense to me (at least not yet), I find myself inserting comments like “but did you think about xyz?”  or “but how is that going to work with blah blah blah?”

A friend recently said I should just let him ’shop his dreams’ and when he’s ready to ‘buy’ then we can have the conversation of “what about this?”.    I think she’s right but I’ll have to really rewire my brain so I can say encouraging words with out the additional bring me down statements.

He’s looking for the call.  He thinks he knows the path but there’s no telling how long it’ll take to get through it or even on it for that matter.  He doesn’t know details and how could he really?  I’m just scared, I guess , that the time line could be way longer than I’m prepared for and the “what if’s” keep creeping into my head.

Easter Decor for the Church

Hey-
Just wondering if anyone out there had any good ideas for decorating the church for Easter. Our worship center is a converted gymnasium so we’re limited to a floating stage and cinder block walls.

The Ability to Believe

For the last year and a half or so my eldest daughter awakens overflowing with her ability to ‘believe’.  She has such faith in this ability [to believe] that she transforms each day into something new.  Monday of last week she was a super hero (which is her primary alter ego most definitely).  Tuesday she was an animal rescuer.  Wednesday she was a scientist.  Thursday she was a barber.  Friday she was a karate master as well as an animal rescuer.  She communicates her new identity shortly after waking up and then makes this same statement (each and every day): “Let’s see if I’m going to be a “—new identity—“ forever.  Okay Mommy?”

 

It amazes me how she asserts her faith into becoming anything she wants to be.  She’ll tell you that God gave her this gift.  She thanks him in prayer, every day, for her imagination.  She rarely says the same thing twice but the praise is always the same.

“Dear God, Thank you that you made me a real super hero.”  “Dear God, thank you that you made me just like me.”….  I even caught her debating one of her cousins that she is in fact a real super hero.  She told him that God made her special and that’s all it takes! 

 

What confidence! 

 

She was so inspiring that her other cousin asked if she could be a real super hero too.  My daughter replied in the affirmative and immediately asked her cousin to close her eyes, fold her hands and then she began to pray for her.  She said “Dear God, please make Eden a real Super hero. Amen  —  Eden,  YOU”RE A REAL SUPER HERO NOW!”   The girls were so happy and demonstrated their faith in prayer so beautifully as they pranced away with their capes in tow.

 

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you (Luke 17:6)   This verse has such a new meaning to me as I look at my child and see that though her faith is small in it’s understanding of God’s greatness it is exactly how God wants to be praised.  Just have faith.  She does.  And it doesn’t even occur to her not to believe.  She’s amazing to watch as she matures and I’m looking forward to the mountains she’ll climb and lives she’ll impact through this great blessing of faith.

Sarah Palin on SNL- Good or Bad

Sarah Palin just appeared on SNL last Saturday.  Amy P. did a rap, from the perspective of Gov. Palin, expressing  issues along the campaign trail.  You can check out the clip by going to www.nbc.com .

Did it hurt or help Palin?  Some people who like her thought it was great.  Others who hate her think it only made more fun of her?  How is it that it could do both?  I suppose we see what we want to see and spin it in our own minds to work for our beliefs.

Regardless, I think she was a good sport about SNL.

Politics- The Forbidden Conversation Topic

I understand why people say the two topics that are off limits are religion and politics.  People feel very strongly about their personal beliefs and often participants in the conversation hold a range of different beliefs. 

I have recentlyencountered the ‘my way or the highway’ view regarding the current presidential race.  What I don’t understand is why these conversations, in a country founded on freedom, we can’t tolerate others freedom to choose for themselves in the matters at hand.

There are two parties and if one was right then we’d all be in the right party.  The wrong party would not exist.  There has to be “right” in both parties or they wouldn’t have continued for so many years.  Therefore, why can’t people just ‘discuss’?  Why can’t we talk about the good and undesirable platforms of BOTH parties in a respectful manner?  Neither platform is perfect and I’ve not had anyone yet convince me otherwise.  Therefore… there are good things about Obama and McCain.  There are also less desirable plans they propose.  Between the good and less desirable, we get to chose who we like the best.  How amazing is that!

Re-Decorate Your Room for a Budget

I can’t seem to get a handle on ‘having nothing more to do with the house’.  What I mean is that even after I redecorate a room, I begin to get the itch to do it all over again.  I probably make it about two years before I can’t stand it anymore and the plans to ‘re-do’ commence.

Bedrooms are often the last place decorated in most homes.  It’s probably because no one sees it but you.  Unfortunately in a ranch home… everyone sees (at least in our house).  Here’s our new bedroom!  (and for a minimal budget!!)  Who said decorating was expensive….

We ripped up our carpet and put a clearanced 5X7 floor rug down. Painted the accent wall dark brown and the remaining walls malted milk. I also found clearanced VELVET panels for $9.00 a piece.

BRe

My $.9.24 Travertine Tile Lamp (on clearance at Lowes)

We had to work around the antique furniture already in the room. We replaced the old, attached, mirror and put an inexpensive mirror on the wall.

This is how it all unfolded:

1.  Start with inspiration or focal point… in this case it was the furniture that wasn’t leaving.

2.  Select colors that coordinate and highlight your inspiration… We knew brown and blue was a great combo.

3.  If working on a budget, shop around for the best prices before you settle… I did some traveling but I got everything on sale or clearanced except the new ceiling fan we installed.

4.  Redecorate!

Privacy Please- Nursing Capes

Last month a group of my friends got together for our monthly Ladies Night Out.  Our usual night consists of a restaurant, yummy food, lots of laughter and a ‘question’.  The question that we all answered was “What three things would you like to do or accomplish over the next year?”.  Part of my response included  selling the nursing capes that I’ve been making for breast feeding mothers.  I’d like to sell them but I didn’t think I had much time to do anything about actually ‘advertising’ that I make and sell them.  Well, funny enough, one of those very women at our night out later asked if she could buy one from me.  So guess what?  I’m going to start selling them.  In the stores I’ve seen them for $39.00 and on line I’ve seen as much as $50.00.  I’m going to sell them for $29.99.  Here are some pix of the last two I made.  Both Capes have pockets on the back for nursing pads or a pacifier.  All the bibs also have an adjustable neck and boning to allow easy view of the infant.  Not only that– mine are lined!  Most capes I’ve seen are a single layer of fabric with turned over edges AND they usually only have ONE pocket. Check out the link to my shop (in my sidebar) or go to www.leisurelylulu.etsy.com

Vacation Mishaps– and We Just Arrived Today!

Our journey started this morning, from DE, with hopes of a long but uneventful drive to the outer banks.  So far, it’s like something out of the  National Lampoon adventures (okay- maybe a bit tamer) .  I still can’t believe the events that have occurred in a little more than 12 hours.

Event #1:After about 30 minutes of driving I heard a boom boom and a (surprising- but probably appropriate) 4 letter word from my husband.  I noticed the bicycle that was strapped to the roof of the van was bouncing behind us along 95 S.  Thankfully the normally gridlocked interstate was minimally trafficked at the time.  None the less there were cars around us and the bike could have killed someone.  It eventually landed between the first and second lanes. 

We pulled over and called 911.  We exited  and turned the car around so we could investigate the possibility of retrieving the bike for obvious reasons.  Oh- did I mention as I spoke the 911 operator he informed me he already had taken a call and someone was on their way?  As we turned the car around to retrieve the bike we saw an emergency vehicle driving away with the bike in the truck bed.   THEY’RE FAST.

Event #2:  We went out to dinner after arriving in the OBX.  We came back to the house.  Unlocked the door.  I turned the key (still in the lock) back to the initial position and “SNAP”.  They key broke right in the lock.  I used almost no effort and absolutely no ‘forcing’ was applied.  …. Are you kidding me?  After about 15 minutes of using my very nice tweezers we removed the key.  Hopefully we’ll be able to take it to get a copy made.  It snapped right at the base so let’s cross our fingers that that’s all they need make the copy!!!

Human Nature? George Michael Humilates Dr. Phil

Why is it that people tend to find joy in personally humiliating someone else?  Is it because the offender is himself unhappy and wants to make someone else suffer along side his private pain?  I’m sure I’ve heard the physcho-analysis once or twice.  But it does make sense.   Reportedly, George Michael humiliated Dr. Phil and his wife at a recent concert (State side tour) by pointing out  the phsycologists miserable face and that he should see someone about that.  George made an initial comment that ’it would be too mean of him to even bring it up’ (it, being the comment) but yet he began to talk about both McGraw’s, enjoyed the escalating boos directed towards Dr. Phil, and concluded with telling Dr. Phil he needed to “see someone about that”.

 I lose respect, if I had any to begin with, for George Michael and other perpetrators in humiliation when they engage in this business and some how they still get positive reinforcement.  The crowd went along with him and began booing the McGraws.  Are we still in middle school?  I’m seriously asking that question.  Does the game of ‘wanting to belong’ never end?  And the onlookers may not be any better. Going along with the crowd, knowing that the cool kid did something wrong but hoping that if we look the other way we won’t be lumped into the pot of victims on their ‘hit list’ is not just an adolescent phenomenon. 

I’m not in the work force right now and I assume any of you who are may see this thing happen more often than I do but I can remember it happening when I was teaching… amongst teachers! 

What would the world be like if we could just be who we felt comfortable being?