Spring!

Yesterday morning we woke up to a world covered with a wet, white blanket of snow! Sigh... March 30th, really??! But today? Today it looks like God finally flipped the switch for Spring!! Blue, blue sky, bright, beautiful sunshine, gentle, cool breeze.... aaaahhhhh! I think I hear a huge collective sigh as we all exhale and let this lovely day sweep the Long, Cold Winter away! My girls are outside reveling in the freedom of playing outdoors and not freezing, my house is all straightened up (why does the weather affect that?) and my mind is full of walks and picnics at the park and flowers and flip flops and all such lovely ideas! I am glad, after all, that God made winter - it sure makes me appreciate days like today so much more!! Happy Spring Time to all of you! May you feel His love for you today just as bright and warm as the lovely sunshine outdoors! :) PS I haven't gotten much input on household organizing tips... All I can assume is that I have a very organized audience! :) You can still share!

Happy birthday jennifer!

Dear jennifer, 6 years a go today you entered our lives - 2 weeks later than your "due" date! You were my much longed and prayed for baby, and i was so thrilled to finally meet you! Like the rest of your siblings, you hold your own special spot in our family. For you, it's a spot full of drama! Whether you're hurt or excited or grouchy or cheerful, it's all expressed with sweeping dramatics! Your imagination is as wide as the ocean and as high as the sky - anything is possible in your little world! Details are drunk in greedily as you closely observe all of life around you. Your observations are stored in the busy mechanism of your mind to be brought out at later dates in astonishing precision! You love stories, and your playtime reflects the stories you hear as you carry on a running commentary with e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. That you do. Your love for getting and giving makes birthday time
fun! You are entering a whole new realm of adventure as you turn 6 and start school. I love you!

"I think I'd like..."

Some days I'm tired. Tired of dirty laundry and dishes and floors and doing the same chores over and over, of losing sleep at night. Tired of trying to understand deep things, of praying for hard situations, of teaching and training children, of trying to model godly character. I think I'd like to wear three layers of "dress up" clothes and shoes 4 sizes too big and stand on a chair and sing loudly out of an orange song book. I think I'd like to be put down for a nap when I get cranky and sleep for 2 hours straight in a darkened room. I think I might enjoy kindergarten and coloring pictures and learning sounds for a change. For that matter, I think it could be fun to scrapbook or sew with no interruptions but it's been so long that I can't remember for sure. Then again, it could be very possible that the saying is true "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"! When I take 2 minutes to think of someone less fortunate, I pretty quickly change my tune to "I think I'd like to just be me!"

Some Truth to "Chew On" With Me

Does the Lord ever bombard you with something? Present you with the same truth from every different angle until you say, "Ok Lord, I get it! Now what??"? Yesterday I read no less than 4 blogs on pretty much the same subject. I'm going to share the links with you because they were just that good! http://flowerpatchfarmgirl.blogspot.com/BrokenForMe http://jenhatmaker.com/RunYourRace http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/RetainingHonour--Post5 http://emilywierenga.com/WhatIt'sLiketobeaMentalHealthStatitisticintheChurch I'm still "chewing"... God has been working on my eyes for a long time, opening them to see that A) I'm just as messy and needy as the "worst sinner" I know B) I am not the judge of others. I must love people in their messy state and allow God to work. In order for that to happen I might need to be willing to let some of their mess spill on me! C) God uses us in our messy state. The gifts that I have are worth offering *must be offered* to obey Him! A lot to chew on there....

Searching for Tips: Join the Fun :)

When I started this blog 3 years ago, I didn't have a big plan for where I was going or why, but I did have some big dreams! One of them was *ahem* lots of comments :) I'm not sure how I thought that would happen, but somehow I imagined they would just magically start appearing I guess! I'm finally accepting the fact that by and large, most people quietly read...but don't comment. That's just the way it is. And, really, it's ok! Still, I'd love to have more interaction! So... (you knew there was a "So..."?) So, since I'm feeling a need for some newness on here, I'm asking for input! :) I'm gonna ask for your response on a certain idea, question, etc, then in the next month I'll share them. For example: Give me your favorite household organizing tip! That's the one I'm putting out there for April. Send me an email at christopherbethany@juno.com and I'll pass your tip along to everyone else sometime in April! It doesn't have to be big or fancy, just join in for the fun - who doesn't love getting new ideas?!

To Be Like Mom

The older I get, the more ways I remind myself of my mom. Sadly, I seem to have inherited more of her weaknesses than her strengths! One of those shining strengths that seems to have missed my genes completely is her love for visiting people. As far back as I can remember, mom has had some older person(s) that she visits and/or calls regularly. She loves to sit and visit with them, maybe taking them something or maybe just brightening their day with a listening ear. She loves to hear their many stories of by-gone days and takes a special interest in their hobbies and eats their food. I, on the other hand, might *think* of doing these things, but they rarely happen. Occasionally, I have a day like today when I take myself in hand and say, "You ARE going to make that phone call and you WILL take that jar of soup and your little people and go and visit!" And, you know what? When I do I get a glimpse of the warm feeling that must have blessed my mom all these years! Maybe it doesn't just come in the genes....

Thoughts From a Day Spent at C.O.S.I.

I sat there and watched them while my baby slept and my children played: big people, little people, tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, smiling people, sober people, excited people, bored people, hurrying people, meandering people, carefully dressed people, carelessly dressed people..... fathers explaining the "whys", mothers coaxing little people along, grandparents smiling indulgently, brothers, sisters, toddlers, babies..... People. So many people everywhere! And I realized with awe that every last one had a story, a life as real to them as mine to me. And I wondered, as I watched, how much pain lay hidden in all those people? How much hurting, how much hunger, how much neediness? And my heart ached suddenly as I imagined, and I wondered, how much do I care? How much do I see only the surface and never stop to consider all the stories God is writing in all the many, many people.... HE cares. Oh, does He ever care! And I couldn't help but think that because He cares, I should too.....

For My Mom and Dad on their 50th Anniversary

50 years ago on this very day, a young man and lady said "I Do". Their promise of "for better or worse" took them from their home state of IN to CO and eventually all the way to AR. It stayed with them through little houses and no telephones, dirt roads and flat tires, small pay checks and answered prayers. It carried them through the challenges of raising 6 children - 4 girls and 2 boys. It saw them through an ordination to Ministry and many years of leading, teaching, preaching, discipling, serving. It held them through illness and surgeries and questions and tests. It was there when their children spread their wings one by one, when age began to slow them down, when the baton needed to be handed to the next generation. The years have brought grey hair, lines, wrinkles, aches, pains, and change. But the twinkle remains in the young man's eye, and the young lady's smile flashes as readily as ever. The love that promised that long ago day has weathered the test of time and I am forever grateful! Love you.

This Writing Trap

The blog lies dormant these days. I've scared myself into silence it seems. Splashed too many words, laid too many emotions bare, opened my heart with too much honesty. My words cower in the shadows, refusing to come forward at my bidding. They tiptoe towards the light, then run at the frightening glare. Judgement, with it's dissecting fingers shines brightly, but worse still glares the painful enemy of misunderstanding. For all the honesty -the brave splashing of words and baring of heart- is the threat of grossly failing to convey the very message so desperately burning to be delivered! Safer, then, to cower in the shadows and never bare the heart. Simpler, then, to clutch the message close vs. risking the pain of misinterpretation. Still, a persistant voice whispers: "I never said write for admiration and endorsement, for 'likes' and 'followers'. Never promised safer or simpler. I only said, This is your gift. Use it. The audience and their response are incidental, Obedience is of utmost importance!

The Tale Of The Burnt Chili

If there's anything I'm NOT, it's a cook. I confess: I refrain from inviting people over just because they'll have to be fed. I choose the easy things when it's time for pot lucks, get togethers, hot lunches..... That's what started it all. See, I chose the chili because I wasn't about to make the bread! When it came down to it, chili made me just as nervous-I've never made 10 quarts of chili! But I read and I figured and it all went quite well, until I burned it. Scorched it. Blackened the pan beyond belief! What would You do?? When calling mom for tips turned up nothing, I turned to Google: "Add some liquid smoke" "Throw it out" "Strain it" "Add 1 T of peanut butter" (not kidding!) Since "throw it out" wasn't an option I doctored and prayed and tasted... Either my nose was so full of the smell that was all I could taste, or they just had to eat it and be nice, or the Lord turned burnt chili into delicious, I don't know, but my chili got all! If these things happen to keep us humble, than humble I am....

This, Is Life

It's a week off of school with bare roads - and snowy roads on the first day back. It's giving "new mommy" tips and realizing I've learned a few things the past 12 years - and turning right around and needing to make things for hot lunch and feeling completely out of my comfort zone! It's marveling at God's hand working in an impossible situation - and hearing tales of scandal in a Christian Leader that leave you feeling sick. It's laughing at baby and all his many cute antics at this "cutest stage yet" - and groaning in deep frustration over getting out of bed for the third time in the night. It's turning piles of laundry into tidy stacks put away in drawers - and marveling at the piles of laundry looming large as ever 2 days later! It's having heart to heart conversations with a child who's young mind is beginning to digest life's big questions - and sighing over the same child's childish reactions! It's the good and the bad, the mundane and the exhilerating, the happy and the sad...... This, Is Life.