Our plans verses God's plans

There are two ponds on one of my running routes.  Both were originally God made but man tried to rearrange God's plan.  Does that sound familiar to anyone?  Do you, like me try to arrange your day and life when God has his own plans for our day, week, month, year and life. 

The first pond you come across is quite large but it struggles, you see, it there was an original pond there and just as big, but there wasn't a constant struggle for it to remain.  Some wise person wanted to add a drainage system to it.  So they drained, bulldozed, and finally refilled it.  Over the past 4 years this poor guy has struggled.  It certainly isn't as pretty as it was once before. 

In my life I have done the same thing though, tried to reinvent a perfectly good wheel.  Just a little tweak here or adjustment there, thinking somehow I could improve myself, by myself.  Even though I do need improving.  There are, always two ways to improve oneself, Gods way and mans way.  Man's or my way usually result in a painful lesson and it never turns out the way I expected.  The other way (you know God's) is also painful but the results are perfect.  My way the struggles are there because they are effects of my choices.  God's plan,  causes and creates a better and more refined you. Case in point I have now lived in Alabama for almost seven years, I will not say this is where I wanted to be or really want to be.  However I know with all my heart if I had moved anywhere else God could not have worked in my life and molded me into the person He is working on me to be.  I am pretty sure our life would look largely different.

The Bible has several stories about our plans verses God's plan.  I am going to focus just on one since it is the one my five year old, six year old and myself are in the middle of studying. 
   The man's name is Abram and his wife is Sarai (most of us know them better as Abraham and Sarah) did you know God had promised them their descendants would be uncountable, yet they had no children, and gave them a land that was inhabited by other nations?  Gods plan was not an instant gratification plan.  It was not like the begining of this world where he spoke it and it was so.  This was a plan that required, patients, time, faith and a willing heart (willing to be obedient).  After ten years of waiting on God to make this child be born, Sarai thought God might need some help. One God never needs help, two here comes the patient part or the of the lack there of.  I will say ten years is a long time of waiting for something you want really badly, when it is one of you hearts greatest desires.  Her solution...Abram take a second wife (Sarai maid servant) and maybe she could have her son through her, maybe that's what God really wants to happen.  Except it was a "man" plan and not a God plan.  It is not what God intended or desired in fact it brought Sarai more grief and pain than it was worth.   Really isn't that what happens when we know what the end result is supposed to look like or where God is leading us but he is just taking a little too long, so we help God our way instead of his?  Ugh!!! Have you ever thought to yourself how many times will I have to learn this lesson?  To be continued...

The second pond, was there and then bulldozed also.  It is not supposed to be there anymore, it is supposed to be a lot for a house now.  What I have seen in the four years is amazing.  It started as a puddle, then slowly it got deeper, fuller and adorned with only things that God could place there.  Cattails began to grow, long beautiful grass all around it, the sounds of frogs at dusk.  While it may not be as large as the first one, but it has so much more to offer.  It  has a touch no one could ever give it, peace, beauty and grace all reflections of God himself.  In the prime of this beauty, man came once again and tried to rearrange Gods plan, his master piece if you will.  It was in fact mowed and bulldozed or tractored, it was no more.  Notice the it was part.  Within a week rain began to fall, and within in a month the puddle is larger than a puddle,  after the harsh summer of the south the pond remained strong, and now when you run or walk pass you can feed the Canadian geese who like to use it as a rest stop on their travels to the southern hemisphere. How amazing is that? My children have asked why the geese aren't looking for food in the bigger pond.  Simply the smaller pond has more to offer. 

Back to the biblical application....
Sarai, chased her maid servant off, but she came back and bore Abram a son Ishmael.  It is said he was a wild donkey and would fight his brothers.  Ten more years had passed (so that would be twenty if you are counting) and God finally said this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son.  Abraham was now 99 and Sarah was a young 89.  Sarah heard this conversation and now laughs in disbelief.  If you have waited and waited and waited, once it was about to happen wouldn't you kind of have your doubts?  God asked if anything is to hard for the LORD?  Well is it? No of course not! A year later they had a son and named him Isaac.  Which means laughter because God brought great joy to Sarah's life. 
To be continued...

You see even though our wait may be great, or we just don't get the sitting and being still or the growing in Christ.  In fact you might wonder how long is long enough?  Sarah waited twenty years for a son.  A promise God had gave her.  God doesn't change his mind or back out of His promises.  Sometimes it is hard to understand that because as a man, we do.  We do change our mind, we do back out of our promises.  God however does not.  He wants to be perfect for His plan, but his plan is filled with the qualities of the second pond.  Beauty, grace and mercy. His timing brings joy and celebration.  Ours usually causes a ripple effect that continues to wash over us now and then years after the original choice.

Back to Sarah...in her joy she also had pain, remember Ishmael, remember he will be as a wild donkey not getting along with his brothers? Her choice 12 years earlier is still rippling through her life.  She does however dismiss her maidservant and Abraham's first son.  Because God's plan and promise was to be through the son Abraham and Sarah were to have.  Do not fill bad for Ishmael, for his descendants are numerous too and they still fight against their brother Isaac. 

Whether you are working through a first pond situation or a second pond situation.  It is important to remember God's promises and plans will always come about, no matter the length of wait. The faith, beauty and grace that is given to you, is up to how you choose to better yourself.  Will it be by yourself for yourself?  or By God through God, for God? 

Next time you take time to look around at your surroundings remember who adorned them, the same someone who created you.

Super Mom

Faster than a speeding bullet, in a million places at once, queen of multi-tasking, never distracted, always on time, worlds greatest cook and her home is immaculate all the time without the help of a maid. 

Have you met this woman?  You know her she is a myth, her name is Super Mom, she does everything and it is all done perfectly.  Leaving the rest of us to feel not even worthy to call ourselves mom. 

She looks different to different women, she is whatever we are not.  She, to us, is whatever we feel we are supposed to be, or what the world has told us we are supposed to be.  There was a movement in the 60's, it was all about women and how we as women were getting the shaft.  We needed rights, the right to work for equal pay, the right to do what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it.   How awesome woman power right?  Pink is out, aprons are out, put on the power suit and go to work girls.  Being just a mom is not enough, we deserve more, who wants to be just a mom anyways? 

I do, I just want to be a mom, a wife, a woman, where femininity is not a weakness but a blessing.  Where I don't have to apologize for what I am.

I am all for equal opportunity, ladies if you want to be a police officer go for it...as long as you can do what the males can, shoot the same weapon, run the same distance and back up your partners.  Go ahead be a firefighter, if you can carry a man twice your size out of a burning building, I am not going to die because you could not equally do your job.  Want to be a sailor, marine, solider or airman, go for it.  I hope you can do your job without using your boobs to get ahead. 
There are a handful of women that can do these jobs just as well as their male counterparts and then there are the rest that except to do them because we have "equal" rights.
I am all for you working out of your home, but does your family suffer from it?  I know many have to now, so your familys' can survive and I am by no means talking down to you or think you are less of a mom. 

I just wanted you all to know what I am about to right about, is not just to blast my contemporaries who do not live the same life style as I do.  All mom's suffer from wanting to be Super Mom.  The mom who does it all and never falls down, but what does Super Mom look like, who is she?  She is YOU! 
Last week when I was running, I started thinking about who exactly is Super Mom, who actually gets to wear that title, what does she look like?  Is she really just a lie that the world has made up so, we can constantly feel in adequate?
I have came to some conclusions about this elusive mom.
1. Working moms
2. Stay at home moms, work just as hard as the rest of the moms.
3. Home School moms, are not freaks, we desire, friendship and coffee with other moms too.
4. That each of these categories whether intentional or unintentional, only hang out with one another in that group and tend not to hang out with the other kind of mom. 
Number four really bothers me, I can safely say I have lived in each of the first three lives, within the last ten years. 
Number one, as a single mom from 1999 to late 2004.  In 2002/2003 I came to the realization that I was missing my daughters life, and I desired to be at home with her. Even though, I thought staying at home was stupid.  Women who do it, are dumb for not doing anything else and how could you stay at home the your whole life?  Then who are you once your children are grown and gone, you would have nothing.
Then in late 2004 I became, mom number two, I struggled with what I was supposed to do with my day and life.  I thought I would become a zombie who watched soaps and did nothing.  I was wrong because being a mother and a wife is a lot more.  I also believed that there was no way, I could ever home school my child and women that did were nuts.  By late 2006, I felt a small yet loud conviction, that we as a family should home school.  After much prayer we have now home schooled for the last 5 years.
None of the three are better than a particular one, each of us all are in fact moms.  All trying to be Super each day. We all try to juggle work, activities and the rest of life.  We all try to do the million plus one more thing.  We all fall short, we all are exhausted and we all wonder why we can not get it together. 
What if you are not made to do a million plus one thing a day?  What if the only thing you are supposed to do is invest in your family the best you can? At the end of the day, in your Super Mom roll are you rejoicing in it or are you more stressed out than you were the day before?  Most moms are on the run constantly, work (either at home or in the world), take all their children to all their different activities, try to figure out how to get homework done and fit a dinner in there somewhere.  Those are the things we think we need to get done and that isn't even adding all the chores in the day.  Sometimes, I think when you throw the chores in the day, you feel over whelmed and want to hide.  After all who wants to scrub toilets, floors or windows?  Who wants to tackle the never ending laundry?  I don't.  I wish, it would magic its self done. 
In our Super Mom moments, we expect me time, gym time and time with just the girls, after all we are on the go constantly therefore we deserve these small things.  My problem with the Super Mom syndrome is, no one tells you it is okay to say no.  No one tells you, you do not have to let your children join every stinking club out there, no one tells you don't have to be the den leader or team mom.  No one ever tells you the most important things are not things at all, they are lives.  Placed in front of you for a short time, a blink of an eye moment and they move on, to bigger and better things.   Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  Psalm 127: 3-5
Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.  Proverbs 17:6
When we get busy doing our million plus one thing, we miss the ones we are doing it all for.  It doesn't matter if you are mom 1, 2, or 3, none of us are a immune to this.  All of us tend to say "Just a minute", "Not now" or "Maybe tomorrow".  How many times in a day or week does one of your children ask you if you are listening to them? How many times do you really listen to them?  Maybe a Super Mom,  is the mom who has the power to stop the things and sit down, listen, read the story, play the game and invest in the heart.  A Super Mom stops the world from turning, so she can know her child's heart. So she doesn't freak out when they are not the child she thought they were.  They really are who she knows them to be, because she did slow down to notice.  As moms it is really easy to get caught up in the things and actives of the day.  It is hard to build lasting relationships because we have to do so much stuff.  In reality we only have to do what God needs us to do.  To raise up a generation who loves Him. 
I had a really hard time writing this particular post, in fact it has taken me five days of starting a thought and stopping.  I knew I was supposed write this, but I could not find any scripture about being a mom.  There is scripture about fathers, wives and children.  There are scripture references to how to treat your mom, or how a mom loves her children but, not hey lady, this is how you are to be one.  I even brought this up to my husband.  His reply was simple, you can not be Super Mom with out God, you can not do all you need to do each day without His strength and guidance, you can not be the mom who wakes before the sun if you do not have the proper relationship with God.  You can not make through your day and be the mom you are supposed without his support and loving him first.  
Wisdom from a man... He is absolutely right, you can not really love your children until you love God, you can not really do a million plus one things a day until He has strengthened you.  If God loves us enough to stop and invest in our lives we can stop and invest in our children lives.  The best part is to invest in their lives you do not even have to keep them busy or be on the go constantly.  We can just slow down, say no, say it is okay not to have an activity every night.  It is okay not to rush all day and be stressed out over unimportant things. Our homes, do not have to be spotless and our dinners can come out of a box, it is oaky.  When it comes right down to it, each of us are Super Mom's, because we all have been given different children and we only have to be Super to them.

another contest

I am entering another contest from the wellpanned day, people for t-shirts.  I know exciting, one day i will win a contest, will this be it?

Attention to detail

Dare I say the words again? Attention to detail, if you are as lucky as I am, you too have heard these three words all your life.  First from my Dad, then in the Navy, and finally my Husband.  You can use those three words for many parts of your daily life, whether it involves cleaning, making dinner, teaching children, mowing the lawn, creating a gift and even where you are walking.  Sometimes the person who puts their heart and soul into a painting, an egg, a Cuckoo clock, a home, a garden or creation.  You can stand in awe of what has been so masterfully put together. 


Other times it is easier, like when cleaning, to just get the surface. You know dust the major areas and skip the minor ones or vacuum most of the house except for the nooks and crannies. The problem with this is, over time those, unseen places become seen, in fact they can cause more problems than they are worth.  Those silly little details can be the cause of a corner of papers waiting to start a fire, an asthma attack for someone you love.  I know that you might be thinking I am being a little to extreme, but am I?  Couldn't those things happen? As I was cleaning on Friday (actually vacuuming my ceilings, who knew the could get so filthy), it struck me, my marriage is like this house, I can dust off the surface or I can pay attention to the details. 

You see just like in everything else you do, in you marriage details matter too.  Most of the time it is not just worth dusting and tiding up the surface areas of your marriage if the cracks are being filled up with trash.  You know brushing off the argument but still leaving a little of the sting behind or storing up all the unintentional hurts and never speaking up about them.  It is just like shoving a little more dust and dirt in the cracks.  Pretty soon the beautiful details of your marriage are ugly, filthy, cover in a thick layer of grime. In fact, you and your spouse might not even recognize the marriage you two are in anymore. 

How do you keep from the details of your marriage becoming tarnished and unrecognizable?  How do you keep from doing the easy thing, brushing off almost all the hurts or storing up the insults?  How do you keep the mole hill from turning into a Volcano? 
Be Angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Eph 4:26
This verse in the Bible, is a tough one for me.  I, like so many others rather respond to the one I love with a sassy, haughty "NOTHINGS WRONG" and roll over with tears in my eyes and go to sleep.  The problem with my response is that I wake up just as mad as I was the night before, in fact probably a little more so than when I went to sleep.  The other part I have trouble with is not sinning in my anger.  Anger it self is not wrong, God and Jesus both got angry, it is what we do when you are angry that can cause the problem.  You see my tongue can say the wrong thing, okay my heart and mouth say the wrong things when I am angry causing me to sin in my anger.  You got that?  What to do then?  How do I fix this problem?  First, let me say I alone can not fix this one, only through prayer and Jesus can I.  Can I just stop my tongue from saying something hurtful.  Yes, I can it is my tongue! Maybe it means, I put myself in time out and then go, state my case. That way the passion of the moment is gone, I have had time to think about what was truly said and maybe even have a change a heart.  The hard part is not going to bed.  It might mean you and your spouse are up to three a.m. talking about those tiny little details. 

How about the other things that can cause dust and cobwebs to build up, you know the things we as women are naturally good at.  Things that are spouses don't throw in the nooks and crannies but we do? Nagging, looking for an excuse to argue, whining about his chores vs her chores, complaining about things even when it was meant for good.  Well, Proverbs has a lot to say about this.  Check these verses out.
It is better to live in a desert land Than with a CONTENTIOUS and VEXING woman.
Proverbs 21:19 (NASB)
Contentious: Apt to contend; given to angry debate; quarrelsome; perverse.
Vexing: Provoking; irritating; afflicting
or
It is better to live in a corner of the roof Than in a house shared with a CONTENTIOUS woman. Proverbs 25:24 (NASB)
finally
A constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a CONTENTIOUS woman are alike;
Proverbs 27:15 (NASB)
I would like to point out two things first in the NIV contentious is replaced with nagging.  So when I applied these verses to my heart I took them literally as in not to nag.  Instead I would ask once and lay my request at God's feet.  It was now in God's hands to work in my husbands life.  That meant for me, to wait on God, whether it was an hour, day, week, month or year.  I have laid many requests at Gods feet and many of requests have been answered in HIS timing, not mine.  Second when I read these verses again this time with a NASB
Even though cleaning the surface of a marriage is the easy thing to do, is it worth the tarnished details, that become hidden over time?  Who wants to live in the hot desert on a corner of a roof top, with a annoying sound?  Wouldn't it be better to live in an oasis, lush, green, rich in color, and with of the aroma tropical flowers all around you?  It could be like living in the hanging gardens of Babylon instead of the Gobi desert. 
Here is a thought to leave you with.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.
Proverbs 18:22
We are good things given to a man who has favor in the LORD.  Wouldn't you like to clean out your nook and crannies with me and become the wives we were meant to be?

Yeah, yep, huh, what and acknowledgement

Do your children suffer from the yeahs and yeps?  How about the huhs and what's?  Maybe they just totally do not acknowledge you when you are speaking to them.  We are having a summer of bad habits, whether it is a yeah or a yep, an huh or a what, and finally just a plain not choosing to respond. Here is the problem, I am there biggest influence and most of their "socialization" skills come from yours truly.  So when my three sweet children started some bad habits, I of coarse wondered where in the world are they getting these from? They aren't at summer camps or day camps, they don't watch hours of unsupervised TV, they don't spend there time playing video games or computer games, and usually if they are playing with friends it is at our house.
First problem...our sweet five year old son, his disease the huhs and what's.  When you would speak to him, he would would respond with one of those responses.  Like, uh what'd you say or What? I didn't hear you.  The cure correcting the response to "Excuse me, Ma'am or Sir".  I had to remind him at first or simply say I would not answer that question.  He has done so much better.  Two weeks after the problem and cure were addressed he asked mommy a question.  My answer was a "Huh, what'd you say?"  He of coarse told me about the error of my ways.  Oops.
Second problem...our sweet twelve year does not like to respond, when spoken to.  After weeks of nagging and explaining that it is rude and Daddy does not like this she finally got it.  Not even a day later while at swimming lessons, I asked for a time check.  She tells me "Mommy, it is 3:45pm" and she repeats herself two more times and finally states in a loud voice "Mommy, you are not acknowledging me!" Dang it... In all fairness I was focused on teaching swimming lessons, but I did hear and should have answered.
Third problem...our sweet six year old and her disease, the darn yeps and yeahs. This one bugs me the most, this one I am guilty of the most too.  Every time a question is asked to her, her answer has become a yep or a yeah.  Followed by a gentle honey, please say "Yes, Ma'am or Sir" (We live in Alabama, this is not child abuse it is the way things are done.) Finally Thursday, I had enough, I took an old Navy trick, done at Corps School to a classmate of mine, Abigail go over to that trash can and say yep until all of them are in the garbage.  "Are they all gone?" "Yeah." "Good, now say 'yeah' in the garbage can until they are all gone."  "Are they all gone?"  "Yes, Ma'am."  Problem solved kind of we are still working on it, they have become a lot less though.  Fast forward to Friday, my son and I were going to swimming lessons, he talks non stop, he asked me a question.  Do you know what my answer was, I think it was along the lines of "yeah, you are right."  Followed by a, "Mommy, you are not supposed to say yeah when you are asked a question." Ugh!!!
So, going back to the beginning of this blogged message, I would like to say, I have a problem with yeahs, yeps, huhs, what's, and acknowledging others when they are speaking to me.
Solution, this Mommy needs to take time to say, "Yes", "Excuse, me could you repeat yourself" and take the time to respond to the ones I love when they are speaking to me. Yeah, it happens to the best of us. Should we give up or try harder?

Splish Splash...

Summer time fun. 
Most of you know I am a mom, teacher, helpmate etc...but I have a secret identity in the summer.  I flash back to when I am 14 years old, all the way through high school and I become "Ms. Erica, swim teacher!"  I am kind of like Superman maybe more Wonderwoman, I stand on pool decks across Auburn, Alabama and instruct children of all ages.  I will have to say that this has always had to be one of the best jobs ever. I enjoy so many parts of teaching swimming lessons, the smiles of a child when he/she accomplishes something new or "scary", and how children smile with their eyes. 
There is one final reason I cherish teaching swimming lessons in the summer (besides the fabulous tan)children say and do the cutest things.  There is never a dull moment. Here are some of my favorite things and quotes of the summer....
One little boy choked on some water and came up telling me "his squeaker is broken." A reference to his favorite movie Toy Story.
While swimming on her back, practicing kicks, with the aide of a kick board, one 5 year old girl told me "My neck is tired."
Another 5 year old girl told me, "Ms. Erica! Those dark clouds are freaking me out!"
One of my favorite cuties, a 3 year old girl, who did not want to swim with me would cry and cry and in between sobs say..."but I love you, Ms. Erica."
A sweet 3 year old blond boy, who has the heart to please, but is a boy.  Would get up to do his own thing, (aka not do what he is supposed to) when I asked him if he is obeying, his answer, "but I y'am yistening."  
Although this was not a quote she defiantly deserves kudos,the mom who bravely took a seahorse (dive stick)in the face and did not respond in anger but with love receives five stars.  I don't think I could have responded the same way if one of my own children had done the same.
T

Entering a drawing

Welll, I have not had a post in a while do to my fun summer job (post to follow), but I am now entering a contest from The Home Educating Family Magazine and Well Planned DayHomeschooler Planner.  To win a gift basket from Majestic Hills Lavendar Farm. I like thier page on facebook, won't you like their page too?
Thanks Erica

A Season of Change

"Time may change me, but I can't change time." -David Bowie

   As of Monday, June 27th, the Moore household is now toddler free.  After 12 years of having an infant or toddler in the house, we are now starting a new season of life.  Our three children are now all school age.  The younest two which I have called babies are now no longer babies.  What shall they be called now? Duckies, monkies, or something else? What exciting and sad at the same time. 
   Exciting, in the fact that a new stage of life has now started.  We are all big enough now to go to an amusement park if we choose.  They are all old enough to start learning and understanding each action has a positive or negative reaction.  They are old enough to all have chores. To buckle themselves, wash themselves, brush their own teeth, ride bikes, help and so on. 
    Scary, well really for the same reasons, they are all big enough to do more. Get in more trouble, understand more clearly, think trough and ask bigger questions, or challenge what you tell them. Moreover, now that we (my husband and I) have conquered the toddler stages and have lived through them.  We get to learn a whole new stage, a new routine, new likes and dislikes, new discipline and discipleship challenges.  The question is what will this season bring?  What will we learn about one another in the dawning of this season? 
     The good news we still have the same instruction manual, the one we have had since the beginning and the one we will continue to use.  I am so thankful that there is no need for an updated version. It is timeless and applies to all ages.  The Bible is the rock we are standing on. For the past season, the present season and the seasons yet to come.

Turning our gaze back

On this path we have chosen.  You know when you start out on your adventures and you are really excited on what you have set out to do?  What happens when the excitement dies and life kicks in? What happens when the world starts to consume your life you are living?  What happens when gaze shifts just a little to the left or right?  You are miles off the road you thought you were once on.  It is so easy to do.


I have noticed that on our (I almost said mine it is not mine, I will address this more) a long the way God speaks to me in different ways sometime through a radio ministry, through his Word, but most of the he uses some kind of home school or family magazine.  Don't laugh I am serious most of the time whatever is going on in out lives at that moment will be written about in one of these forms. How on earth does God do that?  I know He is God.


Our gaze:  Raise a family against the grain, bring them home in a Christ centered home, educate them with out all the lies. Talk about God from dawn to dusk.  Not shove God down their throats but speak of Him and praise Him in all we do.


My shift: Thinking that this was "my" thing not ours.  Closing out the Principal my best friend, but pretending he was still included. I foolishly alienated him from a very important part of our life. 


How did that happen?: First of all, home schooling can consume a lot of your life. OKAY! I was, eating, drinking and breathing home school.  It is what I talked about,it is what I am passionate about.  The problem my passion was consuming me, it wasn't a part of my life it had become my life.  Second, I would become offensive if anything was said about how I was doing "my" thing.  Even if it was to help our children, "my" thing was being attacked.  Therefore I was being attacked. Third, which probably should be first my love of my life became last.  Which I did not see until he took the time to say, I don't know you anymore.  Wait, what? What are you talking about I am here, at home all day? How do you not know me? 


Solution: Lets talk, we talked for a whole week.  I won't say they were all beautiful but they were healing talks.  Talks of hurts, talks of love, talks like when you first start to date. What kind of music do you like, what are you dreams, have they changed?  Pray, not alone but together, share some time just the three of you, Hubby, God and you.  Put God back in the center of the two of you.


During this whole time our magazines start coming in.  First one on communication and not understanding each other.  My husband called me and said we could have actually written that one. Next couple of articles all came from the same magazine.  One on being that girl (you know the one your husband married), another one on the secret everyone who home school knows but doesn't talk about. It is tough on your marriage if you, do what I did, shut your spouse out and try to do it alone and not communicate. Okay where were these articles weeks or months ago.  Why didn't anyone share these secrets.  Learning things the hard way is hard. I do find it amazing that God has a way of letting us know that we are not alone in this.  That more than the two of us have these exact challenges and yes there is a light at the end of the tunnel.


Finally: Marriage is always changing, you can change together or apart.  It is best to change together, to continue to learn about one another, be open to what your spouse is telling you.  Putting them before your children and other things.  Make an effort to show your love for him. Change what you need to change and love abundantly. 


Extra note: It doesn't mean quit home schooling, it means change how you were doing it and truly include your spouse.  Except his encouragement and guidance lovingly and gracefully.

Wanting instead of experiencing

   Have you ever focused on all you want, instead of all you have?  If you say no that is okay, but I am choosing to say yes.  It might come in the form of the if only's, you know if only we (or I) had this...... It might come in the form of whys, Why do so and so have so much and we do not.  It could come in the form of I'll do it myself since God is not blessing me (us).  The list is long and the wants are many.  What I have found while God blesses us daily we can miss them all looking at, focusing and wanting more.  
   When I focus on the stuff, the unimportant stuff, the worldly stuff, I find myself begrudging my family.  The very selfish me stuff, clothes, bigger and better house, nicer car, a yard, a garden, a new kitchen, to be skinner, blah, blah, blah.  Want, want, want.
        What about all the things I have, beautiful children, a wonderful husband, the gift of life daily, the joy that comes with discoveries or learning something new. Laughter, love, Christ centered life and home.  The ability to walk down the street while my children ride their bikes.  Coffee at sunrise with my husband after we have ran together.  Life is so rich when you stop to see the wealth God has bestowed on you. 
     It is when I or you might stop focusing on the richness of Christ and the wealth the world has to offer that we stumble.  It is when you might realize you are completely poor or lacking something everyone has in abundance that joy is squelched completely.  When you worry about tomorrow when today has not even started.  Not be able to take your parents every where you want to when they visit.  Instead of the gift of time, the gift of love, the gift of memories that last a life time.  It is not the quantity of life it is the quality of it. 
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, the body more important than clothes?" Matthew 6:25
   I admit I struggle with this passage, because it is so very, very easy to worry about the stuff God tells you not to.  It is so very easy to want more than you need, to be caught up in the latest fashions, restaurants, homes, decor, you get the picture.  It is so very easy to miss life's defining moments, when you look past them.  When I focus on me instead of God.  I miss out, I am ugly to loved ones, I am a selfish women.
   I am so thankful for all God renews each day, all He states here try again I love you.  I am learning that the richness of God and a God centered life is for more abundant than I deserve.  It is something to cherish and not grumble about.  In the end God's promise in the rest of Matthew:
   "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6: 26-27.
    Is complete truth, he loves you and is faithful to those who are faithful, my family's every need will be met.  Step out in faith and experience today.

Mom

     Mom, Momma, Mommy, Mother, Ma and the list goes on.  Who knew such a name could impact so many lives either positively or negatively. Some when they hear this name instantly smile, other will tell you they do not know much about that person.  Whatever comes to your mind when you hear such a name it has impacted your life too. 
     When I was in grade school I don't know how many cards I made for my mom with the word MOM cut out and then when you flip it upside down it spells WOW.  Mom is wow isn't she though? I know my mother loved and still loves me but I had no idea how much she would impact my life until I was a mother myself.  You see as moms we touch our child's lives daily.  We interact with them daily for at least eighteen years of their precious lives. 
    What I have learned from my mom is how to be a mom.  Hopefully that is also what I teaching my girls.   Like my mother taught me, I pray I will teach them.  How to be a loving, selfless mother.  Who showers her children with love, but also is not afraid to say no or discipline them.  The kind of mom you enjoy being around, who later in life you sit in the kitchen with in tears from laughter.   Where it is still funny when she ties a spatula on your apron so when you walk it paddles your butt.  How to love unconditionally even when you disappoint her.  To raise her children up to love God.  To teach them how to love their families, who shows you that even though chores are chores you can choose what kind of heart to have when you do them.  The cool mom, you know the mom who everyone on field trips wanted to be with.  The one who goes camping because her family loves it not necessarily her.  The kind that knows the value of teaching a child to work and do their jobs with pride.  All these things my mom taught me.  She taught us the value of TIME.  That spending TIME is sharing love.  That loving the gifts God has bestowed to her was very important.  She did it well and still does now from a distance.  Thank you Mom.
I love you
Erica

Rambling with Grace: Seeds Family Worship {Giveaway}

Rambling with Grace: Seeds Family Worship {Giveaway}: "Thanks to Seeds Family Worship I am happy to be able to offer one of my readers their choice of a Seeds Family Worship CD! Seeds Family Wo..." check it out

Rambling with Grace

Here is something that I have yet to do, but I thought I would give it a try.  My friend at Rambling with Grace is having a little give away for a family Worship CD.  I would love to put my hat in the ring and enter the contest by blogging about it here.  Maybe with a little grace and luck I might actually win something too:) Check out the blog @ http://ramblingwithgrace.com.  I wish everyone the best of luck. 
Erica

Reflection

  There are many days where I stand in awe. In awe at God, His love, His mercy and grace.  Many days I don't deserve all He gives me.  Most days I humbly ask for a do over.  I love how he loves me though.  That is one of the immovable parts of God isn't?  His love, it is amazing.  I have thought a lot about what Jesus has done for me and you, and still know I could have never layed my life down like that.  To be beaten, skin ripped open, to be mocked and spit on.  Yet not say one thing to those who did this to him.  He took it all, he was separated from God so I and you could be with God.  He asked his Father to forgive those who mocked and hung him on that cross.  Not curse them.
   Have you every thought to yourself yeah, I forgive you, God go get em'?  That is so not what Jesus did.  He said Father forgive them, they know not what they do.  I think I miss that part sometimes.  He was dying for forgiveness of sins all sins, past, present and future for all people who except this gift. 
   How many times have I or yourself not excepted his gift but been one of the mockers, the one who took the whip and tore his flesh or even worse nailed and crushed his bones to that cross?  How many times have you thought, that's great but I don't think so, not today God?  We all caused the scourging, the beatings we have at one time been the one to mock and spit.  I know I have.  I have said that his dying love was not enough.  Only to realize his dying love is Everything! It is the life I have longed for.  His love, mercy, grace and obedience has gave me life.  A life I know I could have never in a million years gained on my own.  His richness of daily life is more than I could have every imagined.
  God sent his son, to die.  His whole purpose was to lead people to God, to close a gap that was formed and no one could fill.  No one except Jesus.  Many times I have heard someone say "I could never send my son to die."  You know what I could never do it either, but I don't have to and neither do you, God did it. He did it out of love.  To close a gap. To bring his creation back to the Creator.  Today and this weekend.  What will you focus the most on Jesus or the Bunny? 
   I love God, he is my lover. He has my heart and soul.  I love my family but God is above them.  I love him because he reached down pulled me up and said, 'Erica, I love you.  Enough to put my son on a cross.  Come home, rest in me, my grace is sufficient enough.'  You know what it is true his grace, love and mercy is more than sufficient it is perfect. 

Cooking with joy...

   Yep, I am a cooker...I love it! Cooking, baking, grilling, whipping up something new or a family favorite.  Maybe even just shooting from the hip and creating something wonderful (probably shouldn't ask for it again because I didn't write it down).
       But I am really starting to enjoy spring and the weekends.  Why?  Because my hubby and I tag team dinner.  I prep, he grills.  Not only is it fun, but we are spending time together.  Who needs a fancy restaurant or a whole in the wall, when you have a backyard?  Or a kind back yard. 
      Maybe I am enjoying so much because last year we (I) only saw him in passing because of his work schedule.  I guess when you don't see someone  in quantity you can forget why you love them.  I think I have been enjoying our cooking together and even our little at home dates.  I look at him and just fall in love all over again.  Do you ever do that?  Look at your spouse and think oh yeah, that's why I love you....

Unplugged and free

An Indian house, child inspired and child built

 Okay, confession this is my second attempt at writing this blog post.  Frankly, I think I get caught up and stand on my high horse once and awhile.  I am trying to speak from my heart and not my horse.  I would rather have a smile than a why do I even read what she had to say. 
   This post is lovingly titled Unplugged and Free. Unplugged from the world and Free to have fun.  I sometimes look around at my peers and feel overwhelmed for them (you).  I sometimes look at my life and feel the same way.   How do you find balance in life.  What is most important to you and is it reflected in what is going on?  (Notice this post has some fun pictures.  This is an unplugged result.  As with all programs results may differ.)
   We (the Moore Family) take a different approach to raising up our children.  We don't cater to them.  I do not feel it is my job to entertain all day long.  I do believe, I am to train, teach and mold them.  


Stefy working on the roof

UNPLUGGED: I also do not believe that is what cable, Dish network or any video system is for.  There also is no such thing as "mindless" entertainment or "harmless" entertainment each thing has a purpose whether we see it or not.  Okay sorry, that is what I believe you may disagree.  

   So what do we do?  How do are children function as children?  Well, check out our fun photos!!!  This is what might happen when you have the choose to unplug your family.  I love it!  There is never a dull moment. There are a lot of messes but at the end of the day they can be picked up.
   We allow about 1 1/2 -2 hrs of TV time a week usually Friday.  It is our family night.  We watch a movie or video from netflix or one we have here.   Yep that is it, they may ask for more, but usually they are directed to something else to do. 

AND FREE:  I also am not a fan of them being in a million trillion things where, myself and hubby would have to run in a million trillion directions.  We allow them to pick one activity, yes I would love for them to try all the sports out there and go to a million trillion things, but I need my sanity and so do they.  When they get to do one thing, you can focus on that one thing so they will not just be good but great.  When you are doing five different things when will they learn to appreciate what you allow them to do?  When will they learn the craft of what they are doing?  There also is the money factor now a days everything costs money, I would need two jobs just to pay for their fun things.  Hmmm.....I don't think so.

Free also gives our children the freedom to be children.  They can still play with their friends and work on their forts outside.  Take time to know what is like to be a child.
    What about the summer?  All year long I hear mom's talking about how they can not wait for summer to get here.  Then all summer long I hear them talk about how they can not wait for school to start.  Ladies, there is something wrong with one of those statements.  I will let you choose which one.  Summer is supposed to be fun, but it also can be cheap.  Cheap on gas and you.  What if you chose not to send them to day camps all summer long?

What would happen?  Would you or my children really be climbing the walls?  Does that really mean you have to entertain them all summer long?  NO!!! I bet if you unplugged and freed yourselves this month that summer would be a blast.  If you encouraged them to find something to do all on their own without electronics it could be your best summer ever.  Kick them outside.  I do, not just when they are alone but even when friends are over.  Go, outside and p-l-a-y.  Yes this is a little tricky at first because they will come back and say I am b-o-r-e-d.  Well go be bored outside, is my usual comment or  well your not coming in.  Yes I am a mean mom.

Unplugged and free is tough and the being but give it a year or two.   You and your family might just love it and who knows it might change your family life completely.  Not for the worse but for the better. 
   This is who we are, simple and uncommon.  We love every minute of it.  Sometimes it is nice to go against the grain in stead of following it. 



Looking in the Rear View

     Looking in the Rearview mirror or looking behind you what has past, what did you learn?  Do you focus on what you accomplished, how you could have done better or even the failures?  Do you dwell on them or move on?  Keep on keeping on, keep on trucking, oh well better luck next time or UGH!!!! I can not believe I am such a failure, what was I thinkin'.   I am all of these things, I guess really it depends on what part of life I am talking about.  If it is a new stage of life, that means I might try some things a little different.  If I totally let God down, I try really hard not to dwell on it but ask forgiveness and not go down that path again.  Then there is home schooling....
    What about my failures there?  Yes, I said what about my failures, since I am not perfect I have them too.  Since my children are mine and my husbands offspring, they too are not perfect. School would be beautiful all day everyday if we were all perfect wouldn't it?  We are not, so it is not.  That does not mean I am quiting, throwing in the hat and sending them all off to school.  No, it means I look at the year that is behind us.  What did I fail my children at?  What do we need to work on over the summer?  Where do we go from here? 
     What I did not do right...
          1. I did not willing, listen to my husband when he said our Kindergartner was not getting what I was teaching her.  I should have yielded immediately and found something she could understand and excel in.  Which, we have now done and it is a joy to teach her again.  She no longer calls Math "Latin".  Hello mom it is foreign to me.
         2. Allowed my 6th grader to not write papers, because her pitiful whining was not worth the fight.   Well, first problem, was I helping her by doing this or me?   Second problem, when will she learn if not now.  Plan of action even though 180 days of school ends this week, we will still be in school.  Learning how to write papers.  Oh and again, Daddy aka the principal stepped in.  He is in charge of this, I over see and make sure it happens.  It is not that she is not capable and smart. More of just finding out it really isn't that hard.  She has already improved over the last three days.
     What we are going to work on this summer....
              Writing and the basics so we don't lose what we have worked so hard on learning.  Will it be 8 hour days no, but each morning there will be time set aside to work on what needs to be improved and put into memory.
     What can I learn from this....
              1. Not be offended when my spouse tells me something is not right.  He is actually trying to help me not pick a fight.
              2.  I have got at least 21years on my children.  I have the title mom not them.  So next year we will not have mom submitting to child but the other way around. 
              3.  Every child learns different, so you might have to use something different with each child. 
              4.  Stick with what works, I do not have to change every year, because it looks neater, funner or easier; stick to what works.  Yes I said it twice therefore it is important.
   I am not beating myself up because we have learned and blossomed.  It was not all bad.  Once the corrections were put in place, the children and I have moved foreward. It also means I am going to stick with what works. I will not druel overthings that look nice and fancy. I will not change everything to try new curriculums, unless what we are using stops working. I will continue to look in my rear view every once and a while to make sure we can learn from our accomplishments and failures.  Not to dwell on them but to grow from them. 
    Most importantly, I will remember that home schooling is a blessing, it takes hard work like everything else God gives us to do.  It is not about yelling or tears.  It is about loving your children, teaching them from your heart. So they can one day go into the world around them and be a light.  So the can exceed in whatever they decide to do. How amazing I get to stay  home with my lovies everyday.  Not every mommy can do that, I get to, Thank you Jesus.  Thank you for allowing us to teach our children in a safe enviroment where we get to weed out the trash and teach them your ways. 
             

The beging of a new season

As winter has turned into spring, you get the lion and the lamb,  some days are beautiful and some are stormy.  That is the same with the seasons of life too.  We have stormy days and seasons along with beauty and peace.   It is almost official, we as a family are going to be out of the preschool/toddler age.  Wow, I can not believe it.  Life is a flash of light that passes, quicker than you think. 
    We have three children sigh, one is now a preteen or "tweenager" and two are at the dawning of their school age.  How did this happen?  I have called them babies for so long, and they are not.  They are now what I call monkeys or duckies it depends on the day.  Duckies when they all line up and follow mommy around and are helpers.  Monkeys when well, they are themselves, wild and crazy.  In a good way though, very creative and rarely bored *Warning if they are quite, that probably is still not a good thing*.  
     The last six years have blown by, some days a whirl wind, some a peaceful dance.   Many people ask if our youngest two are twins, they are not.  They are thirteen months apart.  Many have said "How in the world do you do it?"   "Better you than me."  My answers, " God helps me every day, life isn't really that hard, it is easy if this is all you know.  Well we are out diapers and strollers.  We are now facing new challenges. Like teaching them not to panic one their bikes, paying attention to their surroundings, how to focus on school work, teaching them that letters have sounds and make words.  If the last six years have not aged me, I am sure the next two will.  I had no idea, teaching a child to read could be so complicated.  Just for the record, every child does learn differently trying to figure out how is a little more tricky than I thought.  I have recognized though which one learns like myself.  Which means more repetition and time.  I am okay with this though because they will be gone before I know it. 
    Our oldest, is at a whole different stage in life, she will be who she is for the rest of her life in the next few years.  Her views and morals are being set right now.  You can see a reflection of who she is when you talk to her.  You can see compassion, love, stubbornness and a yearning to be right.  I think she needs to be a lawyer.
   Although it doesn't mater what I think anyone of them should be, it is about what God has planned for their lives.  It is my Husband and I job to train them and help them with their natural abilities so they can be effective servants one day.  Not the servants, like a maid or butler, but servants of their Lord.  To teach them, how to honor Him in whatever they do.  Whether it is a missionary, lawyer, Doctor, wife, mother, teacher ect. 
     So as Spring has sprung so has a new season at the Moore house.  Welcome to the dawning of our new adventure.  I hope it will be just as wonderful as the the first.

Letting go....

Letting go of things is rather hard isn't it? We (I) love running with our stroller it, is a close third behind God and my Husband.  This is my sanity, having a bad day, put the kids in and go.  Talk to God and vent about whatever it is.  Having a great day jump up and down with joy as I jog down the street praising God. 
   This you should know about me, I would rather be outside than in. I Love the conversations about what ducks eat or why a horse bms, followed by every other animal.  Most of all I love the songs, made up or real, sung to me while running.  Sometimes even them just peacefully sleeping and me getting my thoughts straight.  I love to jog for these reasons.  There is a peace about jogging or running. We started out just going a mile or so but now we go about 8 mi some days.  Our adventure in this stroller has been three years.  My little monkeys were 3 and 2 when we first started out.  Soon they will be 6 and 5.  My monkeys have been asking for months to either walk or ride their bikes.

I just couldn't let go.  Then this January my sweet hubby mentioned maybe I could give my stroller away to someone else.  That statement actually confused me a little.  I so couldn't think straight.  What?  Give my beloved thing away?  Really? Wow.  So a month later I thought well I am waiting until May to give it away.  Until yesterday, when they got in and I thought I had a flat tire, only to realize, my monkeys are maxing out the weight limit. As we ran along they played so happily,  throwing there weight around that it almost drove us off the side walk.  I don't think I will get to May, yesterday was it.  I tried to convince them to get in today, they begged to ride their bikes instead.  I was trying to wait at least until the training wheels came off.  Alas I allowed them to ride their bikes.  You should have seen their beaming smiles, they are finally a big girl and a big boy, riding on the big road.  I will never get them in to my beloved stroller again.  I know it is a thing and its going to burn according to one of my friends, but I still love it.  I am going to miss the random person saying did I see you and a stroller running?  Wow.  Even the butcher at Winn Dixie last night asked if he saw me earlier running up that hill with my two kids.  I smiled and said yes.  It is also what has kept me going, knowing that someone always sees me, so I shouldn't quit, silly I know.   So good bye loved thing I hope you are as loved by your new home as you were loved at this one.  I hope you may run down roads for

at least another three years and be passed on to another momma looking for a breath of fresh air in her day.      I would like to give a shout out to BOB STROLLERS, one of the best investments ever,  who needs a gym membership when you have a BOB?  I wish I could keep my little monkeys, little forever and they could stay in their stroller forever but they can not.  My monkeys must grow which is just as sad as saying good bye to the stroller, but that is a whole other blog post. 

Where does it go?

em

The time that is?  (this was my journal entry for the Contemporary Challenge)
To my dear sweet Contemporaries,
Sorry I have been lacking in the Challenges for the month but it is a time issue.  You know finding the time to do all you want to do. So this challenge is for March and April, do find time for all you have to do?  Whether you work away from home or you are at home all day, do you find time and energy and apply it to the ones you love.  Or are you like me, who is home all day, there for around the ones I love, but find myself saying not now.  "Mommy will you play with me?" "Mommy, can you read me a story?" "Mommy hold me."  Words I hear all day long but sadly rarely act upon, because allas I am busy.  Busy with what?  Chores, life, blogging, the list is long but it is poor.  Because the stuff will be there when I am done playing with my monkeys.  The stuff will be around as long as I am around.  My sweet children, I have eighteen maybe nineteen years with them, and they will be gone.  So my challenge to you and myself is this.  Stop, what we are doing you know the stuff and give the love our loved ones need.  Including our husbands.  Our homes will be okay for those few fleeting minutes, our world will not be upset.  But our loved ones in those minutes we impact them for the rest of their lives.
Basically we all have choices, what will you choose?  What will I choose?  We are give children and husbands for but a vapor.  How will we treat and love those for that minute?  Are they given to us to serve us, to please us, to make us happy or is it the other way around?  I promise they can never fill the first, they can improve the life we have but they can never be enough. How can we teach them what is important if we do not stop to show them they are important.  That life is short and sweet, that we are truly thankful the blessing of their life. Life is not all about us or them it is about serving God and teaching them the same.  We need to love them, take time with them.  It doesn't mean video games or movies it means, games, hugs, kisses and loves.

To many choices

    Ahhhhh! It is catalog season for curriculum's. Oh the pain of it all. Well if you home school your either like whats the big deal or I know right.  If you can not understand just laugh at it all. You see for the last five years, right now, every time, this time of year, I am overwhelmed with choices.  Oh the choices, if only you knew.  It is not even that I dislike what we used this year, in fact I love most of it.  The problem is all of the catalogs make me want to try something new and different.  I mean they all look so good, why not change again?  Why can I not just stick to what we love?  Everything is so enticing.  Last year I changed what I was using with the little guy and gal and ended up buying a second curriculum because it just didn't click with them.  I ended up using the same publisher as last year.  My oldest she just goes with the flow, the poor thing is my guinea pig.  I know what I am not going to change for next year but what about what I want  to change. Here is the kicker I thought I had everything picked out since January, now with the help of stickin' catalogs I don't know anymore.  
    Last year I chose not to pray about my decisions.  That is a very bad choice, so this year, I have already started to pray, it is a toss up.  Here is my big dilemma I do not want to fail God or my children as we educate them at home.  We as parents want them to be able to compete with their peers and succeed.  Mostly though I want an instant God with an instant answer, but I know that is not how He works.  Sigh oh the waiting and looking, could kill a girl.

Yes, Even the Pollen

   Do you thank God for everything that comes your way or just the good things? In Job chapter 2, Job, rebukes his wife for wanting to curse God for the bad things that had happened to him. Job, himself lost all his earthly wealth, his children were dead and he was physically afflicted with sores, rotting skin, never ending pain and was starving to death because food no longer had flavor.  Even in those conditions he chose to praise God.  He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman.  Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"  In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.  Job 2:10
   I love nature, I love God's creation to be in it and be in awe of the greatness of it all.  It is so easy to thank him for a warm spring breeze, a warm spring day and even a spring shower.  What about the pollen, He created that too?  Here in the South you have about two weeks where you can leave your windows open to cool or warm your home after that, POLLEN.  I guess you could leave your windows open, if you do not have allergies or like everything being covered in yellow dust.  Here it is thick and yellow and covers everything you own, even your children.  You can rinse your cars off in the morning just to have them yellow by lunch.  We don't have smog in the spring we have pollen fog.  Go for a run or walk and cars just dust you with pollen.  It would be like living in Seattle and taking a walk after it has rained and every car that passes you covers you with water.  Here it is pollen.  My black hair looks like a bumble bee.  It is very easy to to complain about pollen. It is very easy to not thank God or praise Him for pollen.  Really, why would you want to? 
    Well, if we did not have pollen, flowers, plants and trees would not blossom and grow.  In a couple of months you would miss the beauty that pollen lives behind.  You would miss the life it gives to all the life outside.   Pollen also shows us something about God, His persistence and constant love.  God's love is sticky you don't get it when you want it and wash it off when you don't.  He just comes back even thicker and stronger.  Saying I still love you, there is no place you can not go with out me. I cover everything. 
   So I am going to chose to praise and thank God for that yucky sticky stuff.  Which he uses to uniquely add color and life to this world around us.  Try today with me just one time to say thank you God, for the precious reminder of his greatness and love.

Fartlicks...Funny Name Serious Business

    I love running, I love to get out and go and I can go for miles (8miles). I am like a tortois though, slow and steady.  I am in pretty good shape, carido wise (so I thought).  I wanted to shave time off my run and my sweet Husband said, there is no way you run that slow.  Well, Saturday, we jogged together, I learned I have room for a lot of improvement.  Today we did Fartlicks together, a fartlick, short sprints to raise your heart rate, then a walk a bit and then a sprint again.  The whole while trying to break 4 years of bad habbits, like taking short steps instead of long steps. Okay, let me just tell you, if you think you are in awesome shape and you rock just do a couple of miles of fartlicking.  Whew, I was beat, in fact it felt like I was in boot camp again.  Whining the whole time to myself, about how I felt like I was going to die.  So how is this making it on the blog you ask?  I like to apply anything I do, to what is God teaching me in this moment through this exprience right now?
    What I think He is teaching me today is this.  Erica, you are great at going the distance with me, but when I put the pressure on, when I want you to get a little tougher and stronger, you whine.  You whine and you are not trusting me.  Oh, so you mean to tell me God, that I am a whiner.  Yes, I am.  When I get a little uncomfortable, I complain and stop focusing on God and start focusing on me.  Do you do that?  You don't have to say yes, but what should we do in those situations?  It is like refocusing my stride, to retrian my mind to go back and focus on God.  Whether it is by scripture, song or prayer, a refocus moment needs to happen.
  Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like the stars in the universe. Philippians 2:14-15
   That is my start to do it without complainingnor arguing with God, so I can shine.  Do you want to shine with me?
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet yo have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14
   Do I forget what is behind me and press forward?  Not all the time but, how much greater would we be if we did?
  Just a thought in the light of day.

Dancing the Dance

   How do you Dance the Dance?  You know your daily dance, the one that starts while you are still laying in bed.  What do your thoughts immediately go to?  Is it a YES, morning, I LOVE morning. Or maybe you like the ugh, 5 more minutes.  Maybe its more of not another day, there is so much to do.  How about thank you Jesus, for another day, help me dance with you and not on your toes.  Lest today's pace be not mine but yours. 
   I can tell you what my day does not start out with and if you have known me anytime at all, it would be the first choice.  The whole woo hoo its morning thing, is not my thing.  My sweet husband could say something sweet to me, but it is probably best not too.  However, I do try to make the last choice in some form or fashion my choice.  I find asking for help first thing makes my day, go a little better, even a little easier.  Think about it this way your first thoughts are going to be what brings you threw your whole day not just the morning, but the whole thing.  Am I saying that each day is perfect absolutely not, but dancing with the Maker and not against Him is a lot easier.
   I have been learning (daily) when I give Him my day and reassure Him it really is His and I am here to do what He has planned for me and not what I have planned for me.  My days even though slammed packed, full from sun up to sum down.  I don't have that rushed feeling everything just flows.  I am not nagging children come on lets go, move, move, move.  My pace (Gods pace) sets the pace for the rest of the house.  When God is in charge completely, I can not step one his toes.  I seem to notice, everything He has created, I can take it all in, praising God is not so tough.  In fact it is effortless.  Take today, we do everything today.  We (the children and I) are moving non stop from one thing to the next.  Even though we are running, I appreciated my run, there was extra time in the car to listen to his word, there wasn't traffic downtown this morning and there was a parking spot right in front of the store I needed to go to.  Two weeks ago feeling rushed and overwhelmed, there wasn't a second to waste, I was cranky and so were my little ones.  That day, I was all about toe stepping.  That day the sun wasn't so shiny. 
   Take time with me to dance your daily dance with the Creator.  I promise you will be in the presence of greatness.  There will be something new and beautiful, you see everyday but toady it will be amazing.  Take time praise Him and give God your day.

Daddy's girls

   "Daddy's girl, Daddy's girl, I am the center of my daddy's world." This is a song my husband sings to our girls.  So cute and so true.  Daddy's and girls they are just made for each other aren't they.  Think about it from the first cry to the last good bye, that little girl has her daddy wrapped around their little fingers. Whether daddy is willing to admit it or not. 

   One of my husbands friends gave him some of the best words of wisdom ever. "Your daughter loves you now but when she a teenager she will break your heart." Can you imagine, breaking their precious daddy's heart?!? Well, I would like to say it is not true but how many of us mommas' broke our daddy's heart?
  Immediately he went to our oldest and asked her, you will always love me right? Yes, daddy I will...don't be silly. She even told him one time she is being bad because she wasn't getting enough kisses. Fast forward 6 years later. Poor daddy, kind of gets left overs, not that mommy has replaced him. She has just gotten older and "mature" loving on daddy is just not so cool any more. 

  When girls are little they think daddy's are the best thing in the whole world, better than sliced bread.  When they get to about 7 and 8 daddy's are still cool but maybe not the sliced bread they once were. Ten, Eleven threw about twenty...forget about it. Daddy, you are not so cool any more, well at least you won't know how cool you are because I am way to cool to tell you I love you.  

  Of course there are catches to this theory like, I really love you when I really want my friend to come over or I really want to stay up late.  But my all time favorite is when little sister wants to be with daddy too.  Then daddy is like a rock star who will win over daddy?  The youngest daughter with a single tear running down her face or the oldest who suddenly wants daddy too? 

  I will have to say today, my husband was a champion and did not choose one over the other but instead chose them both. So all three won, a beaming daddy with his two favorite girls. 

Daddy's are the best thing since sliced bread, I know my daddy is.