In the Silence...

Tonight was the night of the second Miracle Service with Ben and Laura Ratchford, and Laura took this picture of me (which I really like - thanks, sis!)



It was awesome! During the evening, tornado sirens went off and we could hear the storms passing over the building. At one specific moment in the service, everyone in the room was silent. As Ben said, "God wanted to do something in the quiet."

At that exact moment, I could hear the wind roar and the rain travel across the roof. I was overwhelmed by the greatness of God. His might and power is utterly amazing, but even more amazing is the fact that this all-powerful creator of the wind and the rain loves me personally and intimately. He calls me by name and desires my company.

During the quiet, it is simpler to hear the whisper of God. When we get the noise out of our environment, it is so much easier to discern between my wants and the ways of the Lord. This quiet moment in the service provided a unique opportunity for everyone in the room to hear the whisper of God to them specifically. Even just thinking about that overwhelms me. Our God can communicate specifically and individually to that many people at once, and each person's experience can be unbelievably life-transforming.

We serve an amazing God, and I am making a point to dwell in quiet to hear His thoughts to me.

Piano Practice Debacle

I was looking through the pictures of our trip to Indianapolis, and I ran across this picture of the little man.



He had spent some birthday money on a souvenir of hot wheels cars from the Indianapolis Children's Museum and was looking over them. My attention was drawn to Judah's hands. They are in a beautiful piano-playing position even though he is playing with cars.

Judah takes piano from Grandma, and yesterday he had a phenomenal piano lesson. I'm talking one where she used phrases like "He learned this quicker than any student I have ever had!" and "He was perfect!" This was after a week where I had to prompt him to practice, but he did it willingly and completely on his own.

[Change scene}

Today, I told Judah to practice the piano. This simple directive was met with the modern day equivalent of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I finally got him sniffling to the piano bench. He played two chords and dissolved into tears again, complaining that he "can't play it." Bear in mind that he was still on the portion of the song that was phenomal and perfect yesterday. Yes...ter...day. Seriously?????

He's crying. I'm frustrated.

Then, he drops the "I'm just gonna quit piano!"

To which I reply, like the fantastic mom I am, "Oh, heck no, you are absolutely NOT allowed to quit!" (Probably not the best way to handle the situation since he started sobbing and saying that he is stupid. Great.)

I finally clued in that this is not really about piano, but that Judah was emotional for some other reason. He was so overwhelmed for some reason today, and practicing piano was the last straw.

After a little cuddle time, we eventually finished the piano practice session with only a few more tears, but it got me thinking about what makes us want to give up, even after success and encouragement. My emotions can run wild. My thought life can totally mislead me, especially if I don't grab hold of the thoughts that don't line up with the word of God right away.

"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" --2 Corinthians 10:5

I have to take captive my thoughts and put them in correct eternal perspective. To keep running the race with endurance, I have to be vigilant within myself. I can feel ready to quit and overwhelmed at a moment's notice, by courting the wrong thoughts, inviting them in, and sitting down to dinner with them. However, if I 'nip them in the bud' as my grandma would say and replace them with God's word and his thoughts.

When Judah said he was stupid, I told him he was smart. I wish with everything in me that I had told him this...

"Before you were even born, God designed you while you were still inside my tummy. He has had you planned to be the person that you are for all eternity. He does not, and will not, EVER make mistakes. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. The God who shaped the world is supporting, upholding, and lifting you up. You are not stupid, because God didn't make you that way. Making a mistake or a wrong decision does not change who you are created to be. You are wonderfully made, and I am so proud to be your mom."

I'm gonna remedy that, getting my speech ready for right before bedtime. Wish me luck!

Painting Prisoner

Yesterday I spent the entire day on a project - and I do mean the ENTIRE day. I now want to give a BIG shout-out to all professional painters. I have concluded that I never want to join your ranks. Translation: soooooo sore today.

I spent all of yesterday emptying the dining room of everything, painting the ceiling, painting the walls, cleaning wood work/floor/chandelier, and then cleaning furniture and placing it back in the room.

I spent most of today sorting through all the junk that had accumulated in said furniture and only putting back what really needed to be there.

Here is what the kids did yesterday:



Yep. Judah stayed still enough for Jasmine to take him captive with painter's tape.

I repeat: He LET her wrap him up until he could barely move.

Then, Mike called from the other room for them to come to him (not knowing what was going on the other room when he arrived home). Jasmine came right away and Judah started hopping down the hall, while yelling, "I'm on my way, but I'm moving really slow - you'll see why in a minute."

We were cracking up laughing as soon as we saw him, but today I was thinking about it. That verse in Hebrews 12 came to mind.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" -- Hebrews 12:1

Sometimes the sin that entangles us is sin that we stand still for or even actively pursue. We may become blind to our own sins or comfortable in them. We may disregard the consequences, or not realize how it is affecting our lives.

We become so entangled that it is difficult to move forward in our Christian walk. We get bogged down and can't walk, much less run, the race.

We need the tape removed, and to be freed from the sin that entangles us in order to live life to the fullest.

So, today, freed from his bonds of captivity -- this is what Judah did with Jasmine today while I worked on the stuff from the dining room.



Looks like much more fun, right?! Life lived freely in God's plan is so much more fulfilling and richer.


On a side note, I stirred up so much dust cleaning out the dining room, that I was compelled to check out a book from the library called The House that Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing training my house to clean. :-)

Remember

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

Theodore Roosevelt


Today is Memorial Day, and when I saw this quote, I was struck anew with gratitude for those men and women who forego careers which will earn the most money, embrace moving often/leaving loved ones, feel a sense of duty to country more than to self-preservation, fight unpopular wars as well as those that are in favor with the masses, and live a life of service to ensure the freedoms of those they may neither agree with nor even like very much.

Our soldiers have endured hardships in training, active duty, and post war situations. Families of our service members have made enormous sacrifices, even the life of a valued and irreplaceable member of their family. Sometimes, they may not even understand the necessity or reason behind the orders they are given. They may not agree with the actions of the citizens, leaders, or even President they are representing and protecting. Yet, they set aside personal feelings and opinions in service to our nation. That act of selflessness is worthy of our admiration, respect, and gratitude.

A deep, heartfelt gratitude to all the soldier who have served and continue to serve our nation, as well as the families of those who have laid down their lives for the freedom and protection of others.

On this Memorial Day, we remember.

A Little Child will Lead Them

I am really thankful for kids who are still willing to do this for mom.



And this...



I love that Judah and Jasmine have a blast playing with all ages of other kids and enjoy hanging out at a children's museum with their parents. Before we went to the new West County Center Lego store yesterday for Judah to spend his birthday money, Jasmine told me that spending time with Daddy is even better than going to the mall. Wow! High praise indeed from our little fashionista who takes after her Aunt Laura in her love for shopping and all things girly.

Today we had a fantastic guest speaker at church who talked about following Jesus' example. One of the things I was thinking about tonight was how He got alone to pray regularly.

"After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray." --Mark 6:46 (NIV)

Jesus knew the power in the place of prayer, but He also was a son who wanted to spend time with His Daddy. How many times is God longing for me to spend time with Him because I long to be with Him? I make time in my schedule for so many other things, but sometimes I lack in the most important thing - spending time with Daddy God.

He would probably love to hear that I love being with Him more than going to the mall, hanging out on facebook, pinning on Pinterest, or (gasp!) Chick-Fil-A! Thinking that more time with my Father God is a great goal for this summer...

Multiple Personalities in this House

The last two days we made a quick trip to Indianapolis. During the trip, something a little strange happened. Our five-year-old daughter developed multiple personalities. See, these pictures are definitely proof:



These were taken mere moments apart. Even if these gigantic mood shifts were not proof of the new evidence of multiple personalities, there was further confirmation when we arrived home. Upon entering our house, Jasmine announced that her name was Isabella. She entered into a LONG back story for this particular personality, including the fact that she was born in China (but was born with this American voice so they sent her to Indiddlyapolis). From Indiana, she came to our house, hoping to find a family to live with. There were many more details to this history of Isabella.

For hours, she insisted that her name was Isabella and would not respond to Jasmine. This morning, she has alternated between admitting to being Jasmine and claiming that she is Isabella. From this I find some relief that my daughter has not been secretly replaced with a little girl named Isabella, but I do wonder how long these personalities will continue to manifest.

What is it that makes us all want to be someone we are not sometimes? God created my Jasmine to be a beautiful, wonderfully imaginative, caring, (if feisty) child. He did not place her in our family as Isabella.

He made each of us people who are uniquely designed and qualified to live the life He placed us in. He knew us before we were born, ordained our lives, and orders our lives. Today, I am going to take time to be thankful for who God made me to be.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

--Psalm 139:13-14

Awesome, Just Awesome...

And, you see the primary reason I did not blog yesterday. It took a little time to find a way to make Jurassic Park cake dreams come true for my soon-to-be nine-year-old son, and to get those plans started yesterday. However, I am very pleased with how it turned out.

He just kept saying, "Awesome, Mom! It's awesome!"

So, definitely a home run! I love mom moments like I experienced today. Judah and Jasmine played (with NO screen time) while I decorated two cakes and what seemed like a million cupcakes today. They ran and shrieked and squealed through the house, stopping in the kitchen occasionally to say I was doing an 'awesome' job and that they loved me.

I especially loved their reaction to the weather today. Our rule for the summer is that they can't have screen time unless it is raining. At 7 am, weather.com said we would have storms starting at 2:00 pm. At 2:00 the sun was still shining brightly and steadily. The kids began a rain dance and original song inviting the rain. This included lines like "I wanna hear the old man snoring..." and "start that water cycle up and let it go." It didn't work and this mama has to admit that I was glad the sun kept shining all day and all screens stayed banned.

After tonight's outing for pizza with cousins, we came home and created dinosaur utopia in the living room with the birthday gifts. Such a great day!

Kids' Choir Thoughts

The speaking part cast for the musical "Follow U"

Looking forward to the Grace Church Kids' Choir musical tonight! We have a kids' choir that is 75% four to six year olds. Can you say "yikes"? However, they are doing a great job. All those tiny kids can pump out a LOT of sound...but, I bet their parents could have told us that before we even started.

In fact, I have spent the last couple of hours listening to my two shriek back and forth at one another because one or the other is not doing what they wanted. Oh the joys of having two leaders that expect to be followed. I actually resorted to telling Jasmine today that she should look forward to the days when she is eight and her cousin is five so she can be in charge more and win more games over someone else (in response to her complaint that Judah always wins).

As I think about it, I am thinking that I am like a kid sometimes in my relationship with God. I get an idea in my head about how something should go, and then I get mad and stomp my foot when God has a different plan for my life. Maybe I shriek and scream inside, willing Him to shift to my position. Guess what? It doesn't work.

James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

He doesn't change what is the best for me because I disagree. His best for me may be painful, but it is always better than my ideas.
When I submit and use my emotion and volume for praising Him, like our kids will do tonight, I'm sure His heart is delighting, just like mine will tonight as I listen to the Kids' Choir musical.

Proud Mama

This is a pic from Mother's Day with my beautiful girl - she is hilarious! She is always saying things that have us laughing. One of our latest forms of amusement is asking her where we are going for Judah's birthday. We are taking him to the Indianapolis children's museum so he can see the huge dinosaur exhibit. Her answer to the question is something that sounds sort of like "Indiddlyapples" - then Mike tries to get her to say it as many times as possible.

Today's funny Jazzy Jazz moment came when I let her go outside and jump on the trampoline. She took her butterfly catching net with her. She was bouncing gleefully, shouting greetings to the neighbors, who are becoming exceptional at ignoring said greetings. Then, suddenly she exclaims,
"WooHoo! I have a special talent!

Mike was outside getting the grill ready to cook dinner. There's no way he can keep from biting at such tempting bait, so he responds,
"What's your talent?"

She tilts her head, smiles, and replies,
"Not poking myself in the eye."

So proud of extremely talented kids! :-)

Nothing like climate control...

I am so glad I live in the age of central heat and air conditioning. Yes, I am admitting, readily and willingly, that I am a wimp. When it gets really hot or cold in my house, my hubby can attest that it makes me really crabby. Whew, confession is good for the soul! And, a new air conditioner and furnace are good for Mom's mood!



The goal of the day is for Ehrlich's Heating and Cooling to install these nifty new products and get our house more energy efficient and the climate indoors more reliable. Yea! A side benefit is that the kids have someone else to bug, er, make that 'ask endless questions' of regarding the process of installing said machinery.



After all, as a homeschooling mama, how can I keep them from this excellent learning opportunity, right? Never mind that there questions are things like:
"Why did you have to make a hole in our house?"
"What kinds of faces can you draw for me with my new chalk?"
"Eww, how come you made it smell so bad in here?"
"Did you know your friend is making a hole in our house?"
Curiosity is an important part of learning. Go, kids, go!

Occasionally, the questions took a break so the installers could actually get something done, and the kids played outside on the trampoline, expending some of that endless energy.



Go, kids, go!

A Declaration

I completely fell off the face of the earth when it comes to this blog. I was writing articles for an online marketing company, and so incredibly busy that I couldn't even fathom writing for fun. However, things have changed for the better. I am now teaching general music one day a week at a local private school for that little bit of extra income and I finally feel the pull to write for fun.

Tonight, Mike and I attended a graduation, and I was inspired for tonight's post by the speaker. Tad Armstrong is a lawyer, professor, and author with a focus on the Constitution. As the speaker at the graduation ceremony, he gave out pocket copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. I was thumbing through it, and the initial paragraph of the Declaration of Independence caught my attention.


Photo from www.archives.gov

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

This is the part that comes before the part that everyone quotes, "We hold these truths to be self-evident...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." and so on. As I read it, I thought of how in these modern times, we view the world as a global community, highly interconnected, largely because of the technology available to us. As a whole, western society espouses a world view that holds in high regard a respect for other cultures and nations. Reading the beginning of the Declaration of Independence for the first time since college (I'm sad to say), I'm noticing that the authors viewed themselves as a part of history, members in an interwoven global community, and, even while establishing their independence as a nation, espoused a similar respect for the people groups who were already established as known entities.

"In the course of human events" - this was not the first time, nor the last, that people would rise up to declare themselves separate from those who once ruled over them,

"It becomes necessary" - things have gotten so bad that as a people, they could no longer bear up under the restrictions and requirements placed on them

"to dissolve the political bands which have connected" - throwing off government which had overextended itself from protecting the rights of the people to oppressively lording power over them.

"to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station" - recognizing the established governments as valid in their own rights, but establishing a new identity

"to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God entitle them" - rights and freedoms, not granted by this document, but rather by a higher power and identified and protected by the written word

"a decent respect to the opinions of mankind" - with value and respect for the nations of the global community, state the case for a separation of colony from mother country

Then, as I looked line by line, something else stood out to me. In the course of the human events of my life, I was living in bondage, oppressed by a sin nature that had grown to enslave me. It became necessary for me to find a way out of the bondage of sin, to dissolve the connection between my inability to keep from doing wrong. Nature's God prepared for me a new identity, with rights, privileges, and freedoms, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus that simply needed to be accepted and declared. Out of respect for others already established in a new identity and those who need hope for escape from their own captivity, it is imperative that I take time to tell of my experiences.

The first paragraph of our Declaration of Independence is a beautiful picture of the birth of our nation and the quality of the founding fathers who authored it, but it is also a template to show the indescribable beauty of a changed life in Christ, where the old is thrown off and all things become new.