Amazing Women

My three beautiful girlfriends who are my accountability group. You don't get much better than that!










My incredible mothers (and the best grandmothers to my children). Sometimes I think of my heritage of godly women and feel huge responsibility in living up to what God has given me in them!


I have been thinking about something a lot for about a week now and it seems that everywhere I go this week I am reminded of it. After a conversation with my accountability group I started thinking about the different women I know and the diverse struggles they have in their lives. Some of them are many years ahead of me and some are younger but already experiencing more than many people do in a lifetime. I look at these women and it is hard to understand how they have the patience, strength, endurance, wisdom, or peace to go through what they are and I pray that occasionally they are also seeing that in me. It is amazing how each one has what they can handle by God's grace. I look and wonder how they do it and they look at others and wonder how they can manage their struggles! God is so good to equip us throughout our lives for the very things that He will be calling us to or carrying us through. I am deeply humbled as I realize just how many women I am around on a weekly basis who have allowed God to create in them a strength that is amazing. I have heroes who are family members, older women, and friends. I can quickly think of women who have endured loneliness, divorce, physical pain, the loss of children, being spiritual widows, financial struggle, childhood wounds, and the list goes on and on. There are also those dealing with the "smaller" day-to-day life things that I look at and feel that I would not be able to handle it with the grace and patience they show. Sunday in our class we talked about spiritual maturity and I thought again of all the ways I see that in these women. And once again last night as I listened to two beautiful women share their stories, I was just overwhelmed by the wealth of wisdom, love, and godliness around me.

Just a quick plug for the RHCC girls here. If any of you have not yet been able to attend the Joy for the Journey meetings, they have been wonderful! Having these women mentor and share with us is uplifting and makes me understand once again how God knows exactly what He's talking about when He tells the older women to teach the younger women! Watch your bulletin for updates on these meetings.

Most of you who read this are these women in my life (the other few not being women!). I hope that each of you know the deep love and admiration I have for you. I hope I am clear with the way your strength and courage inspire and challenge me. I would love to sit here and list out each woman and every way you bless others but this would be never ending. Maybe that's something I'll do eventually is highlight some of those. I am honored to know you and richly blessed any time I can pray with or listen to you. I love you, dear friends!

Things I've Learned From My Toddler

I have become a much wiser person thanks to having a two-year-old son. I thought I would pass on some of these jewels to all of you in case they were things you've ever wondered about.

• Eating is optional and there are far better ways to spend your time until you get really hungry and down two, yes TWO, burritos from Taco Bueno.
  
• There is absolutely no end to toddler energy.
  
• It is possible to have a full bladder for many hours and not let it go simply out of stubborn determination.
• Dirty diapers do not bother everyone and do not hinder playing at all.
  
• Those little foam toe separating things for painting your toenails can be put other places on your body too.
• Anything can be used as a "bat" to hit balls - tennis rackets, golf clubs, and actual bats are preferred, though.
• Mommy's growing pregnant belly makes a great jungle gym.
• You can talk to an unborn child through your mother's belly button.
• If you want great maternity pictures that look like your son is talking to your baby, stick a cookie up your shirt.
• Couch pillows do not serve their best purpose sitting on the couch. They are put to much better use when you use them to bury your dad or make a pile to jump in.
• It sounds much cuter to say your B E D's than your A B C's. It is also far more endearing to readie writie than to read and write.
• Bob the Tomato can be found anywhere, anytime that you can find a circle.
• The church should really show Pooh on that big screen at the front. Each Sunday there is a certain level of disappointment that they still have not figured this out.
• Doing really cute things just like your dad does them will get you a long way with Mom.
• You can have endless fun talking to the recorded lady that comes on when you leave the phone off the hook too long.
• You can hum to the tone of the dial tone and it is also an interesting activity
• It only takes one to have a pizza party if everyone else is in the media room and thought you should go to bed (Tara will attest to the priceless nature of this one)
• All aunts, uncles, and grandparents should live in one house with us so that they never have to go home.
  

These are just a few of the ones I've been learning lately and I'm sure there will be many, many more. Oh, how I love my little guy! We've started lately spreading our arms as wide as we can to tell each other just how much we love each other. That doesn't even come close to expressing what is in my heart for him. Hopefully some day he will have a precious little boy and understand his mommy's heart.

"Punks"

I took John to a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound a few weeks ago for a little guy trip with his buddy Garrett (and their moms and Aunt Caitlin). John loved the "punks" and felt like he had an enormous job to do organizing everything when he saw that huge field of pumpkins. He takes things so seriously! It was extremely difficult to get a picture of John sitting or of Garrett and John in the same shot. These boys are so active! They had a hay maze and all these cute cutouts of different cartoon characters for the kids. He was excited about finding Nemo! They were both excited about running which is one reason I took Aunt Caitlin. Me running right now is just not going to happen. It was fun! Last night I made pumpkin bread and John was very confused how that piece of "cake" had anything to do with his beloved "punks." Some things will remain a mystery for a while longer, I guess.

Vision Trouble

Tonight we had a sad little experience for about an hour. When John woke up from his nap and we were about to head to church for class, he began crying and screaming that his eye hurt. (We still don't know how the foreign substance got in his eye but we think it might have been blue crayon based on other evidence. Don't ask me because I have no clue how that happened. He didn't have a blue crayon when I left him tucked in bed.) First, it can be so nice to have children at the stage where they can tell you what is hurting. That development is a blessing! But, although he kept asking us rather pathetically to help him and seemed sure that we could, he wouldn't let us do what we needed to do to wash his eye out. We knew we just needed to get enough of the liquid in there to wash out whatever was irritating him but he refused to let us put in the solution or to open his eye once we did. He preferred to keep his eyes closed and bury his head on my chest because then it apparently wasn't hurting him as much. Any light seemed to further irritate him. We finally did what all parents must do and held him down against his strongest protests to get it washed out. Immediately he felt better, opened his eye, hugged his dad, and started playing.

As I watched this play out and thought of those yucky things we have to do as parents because we know it will help, I was again reminded of how much like a two-year-old I can be when it comes to God trying to remove things from my eyes. I can choose very painful ways of viewing life, others, and God's ways just because it's more comfortable or familiar to me than opening my eyes for a few quick minutes of discomfort and allowing God to clean them out so that I can see clearly. I want so much to refuse the toddler stage of believing God can do anything but still not allowing Him to do that in me without kicking and screaming. I don't want Him to leave me in my pain and ignorance even when I'm begging Him to do just that. I want to open my eyes wide, let Him do His perfect work, and then see the things that He has for me and for our family. Lord, give me courage to trust You and allow You to work in the eyes of my heart!

Earliest Memory

Okay, it's been a week since I blogged and I'm going to try something new. I love reading other people's comments so I'm going to ask a question and hope for a lot of feedback. As I am building precious memories with my little ones I often wonder when will the ones start happening that he/she will remember. Everyone seems to be different and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the things that people remember. I think one of my earliest, most vivid memories would be of my third or fourth birthday party. My older brother gave me a yellow "My Little Pony" that had apples on her little rump. I can't quite remember her name but it was a super big deal to me that this gift was especially from him to me. That cements so solidly in my mind how special and important John will be in Kailey's life. His acceptance and approval will play an important, God-given role in who she becomes.

So, what is your earliest memory and how does it (or does it) affect you today? Is it positive, negative, silly, or important? What does it mean to you? I wonder what our children's earliest memories will be. . .

"The Man"

Today our sweet little friend, Hayley, gave me a precious gift. Shelly will tell the story much better since she heard Hayley say it, but I believe the basic conversation was something like this. When Shelly told Hayley this afternoon that they were going to stop by our house for a few minutes, she was very excited about seeing Little John, Courtney and "the man." Shelly thought she must be referring to Big John and didn't think much more about it until they got home afterwards. Then Hayley again said that she had fun at John's house seeing John, Courtney and "the man." Upon asking more questions Shelly finally discovered that "the man" is kind (I believe was the word) and plays with them. He is in Kailey's room which was John's until recently. Apparently Kailey's room is the only place Hayley sees him. I am a firm believer in the special relationship that children share with the Lord and His realm. I have my own story of seeing "the man" in my room as a child and that memory is as vivid today as it was 20 years ago. I also had the tremendous blessing, as Hayley does, of having parents who believed wholeheartedly with me and encouraged my childlike faith. Is it really that odd that the Lord shows Himself to those tiny hearts who ask no questions but calmly accept the presence of His angels as good and right? And how interesting that "the man" is nothing foreign or unusual but someone who seems very normal in Hayley's little world. The more I have thought about this today, the more of a gift it becomes. This week has been a difficult one for me physically as I struggle through these last weeks of pregnancy with strong pregnancy symptoms like in the first trimester except with a third trimester belly and aches and pains to go with it. I have wrestled with the fact that it is difficult for me to care for my babies while carrying them (and this is certainly not a new struggle after my past pregnancy history). Today was as if God put His hand on my growing belly and reminded me that it is not I who is caring for these babies but Him. And there is "the man" waiting in my nursery the moment that Kailey arrives to care for her there. Coincidence that little Hayley's confirmation came this week? I think not. The nursery is also the room where we have prayed every night since moving in this house a year ago for our children. We pray for John, prayed for Kailey to be conceived, and have prayed for her during this pregnancy. Coincidence that "the man" resides in the room where we have spent more hours praying over our children than any other? I think not. And today, while doing something completely unrelated, I "randomly" came across this verse in Luke 10, "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. " Friends, I have to love a God who has revealed things to our babies because it was His good pleasure. I have to love that He placed a verbal little girl in my life for whom I have prayed since her conception to tell me what God is doing. I have to just love Him because He is so good.