Curious

There has been a lot of excitement around here leading up to someone turning six.

She is losing teeth.

Going to school.  Learning to read.  Growing tall.

She is always on the go.  Right now, at this very moment, she is begging me to go look for bugs.  Because she got this for her birthday.

It’s a bug vest and bug sucker.  I saw some very cool bugs on the trail while I was jogging this morning so we are going to go do some investigating.

Every day she is busy.  Wondering.  Curious.  We went to the aquarium and she brought her book of animals.  As we pulled out the driveway she asked if we wanted her to read about; parrots or owls.

She wants to know how everything works, where everything goes, who everyone is and what everything does.  It can become quite exhausting and frustrating some days.  Some days I don’t want to answer questions.  Many days I don’t even know the answers.

But I know one thing.  This is part of growing up.  This needing to know all about the world and life.  It’s wonderful and sad all at the same time.  All of our kids need to go through stages and discovery, some happy, some sad, some fun, some annoying.

I’m glad she is growing and learning and doing.  I love her enthusiasm.  She needs to go through this to grow into an adult.  Which our ECFE person always reminds us:  We are raising adults, not children.  Or something like that.

The point being my girl is growing up.  I can’t keep her a little baby.  Nor would I want to.

Ok, maybe I want to just a little bit!  Happy Birthday Annie!  I hope you stay curious and wonder at life for many more years.

Glowing

We never go visit my Grandparents without a trip to “Encore”.  It’s a second hand clothing store that I love with all my heart!  I always find lots of great things for the kids and Grandma always pays.

We bought the dresses that Annie and Maren wore to the Father Daughter Ball there.

That’s a goofy picture but look at how Maren is standing.  She’s posing and glowing. 

You get the idea.

It reminded me of when she tried on the dress when we got home from the store.  She flitted in to show my Grandpa and he gushed over how beautiful she looked and what a sweetheart she is.  You should know that my Grandpa is 94 years old and can hardly see.

But that didn’t matter to Maren.  She was absolutely soaking in the love.  Her eyes were shining, she was smiling and glowing.  Kind of like this:

I couldn’t help but wonder when the last time any woman over the age of 15 felt like that.  I mean it’s hard to feel so special and loved and doted on that we glow.  I think most of us are just trying to survive through the day.

Just how Maren felt in the presence of her great-grandpa is exactly how we can feel every day.  We can have that every single time we are in the presence of our heavenly Father.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,  that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!” 

1 John 3:1

We are loved beyond measure, worth great sacrifice, bought at a price.  It’s not based on how we look in our ball gown but who He created us to be.  We have constant access to him through his word, the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

Even if you don’t have red sparkly dancing shoes, don’t miss the chance to spend some time each day relishing in and glowing from the love of the savior. 

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
   I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  

Jeremiah 31:3

“Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” 

Ephesians 5:1-2

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”

Ephesians 3:17-18

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

  1 John 4:10

Sure Signs of Spring

We live in a place where winter lasts way too long so we really know how to appreciate the first spring days.  Here are some signs of spring:

Laundry on the line, waking up early to jog and thinking it’s a great idea, picnics, being too busy to blog, dirty feet and ...

Happy Spring!

Secrets to Being Rich

I have a secret ambition to be rich.

Sometimes I think “If I were just really wealthy, then I could give”.  I would give to orphans, missionaries, churches, non-profits and random people in need.  Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to be a secret millionaire?  I would love to swoop in and give someone their dream.

But I’m a stay at home mom that is married to a pastor.  The cash is not flowing in rapidly.  What is coming is mainly being signed straight over to the grocery story these days.  Sometimes I let myself use the excuse that I can’t give or be generous because I don’t have a lot. 

This week I was reminded of how to be generous and in turn, rich.  We took a drive across the state to visit my Grandparents.  They are 90 and 94 years old and still live in their home.  My Grandpa is a World War II veteran and then he farmed.  They haven’t exactly lived the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.  Yet they are some of the most generous people I know.

We grew up loving Christmas.  They start Christmas shopping in January.  We loved to spend our summers on the farm, too.  They always remember birthdays and anniversaries with cookies and cash.

They have entertained so many people in their little farmhouse.  Even now they keep coming.  My kids can’t figure out why we can’t move there.  My kids, my nieces and nephews, my cousins, and many other adopted cousins have been blessed by the generosity of my Grandparents. 

This is what generosity looks like.  Giving with joy.

Giving homemade treasure chests.

Giving jewelry keepsakes.

Giving with thought.

As our family grows, they continue to give.  They give of themselves too.  That’s why people keep coming though the door.

Year after year.

And why kids says, “I don’t want to leave.”  when it’s time to go.  That’s what it’s like to end life rich.  With love and relationships and giving and fun all around you.  Maybe in amounts that are more than you can handle some days.

I don’t need to give a lot, I just need to give what I have.  My time, my money, my possessions.  It’s not about a fancy house or food or gifts, it’s the heart.  Generosity lives there right next to love.  If your heart is full of that and you give it to others, you will be rich. 

I hope that I am as rich as they are someday.

Busily Bored

I was kind of bored yesterday.  Oh I have plenty to do.  I have a house that is dirty and disorganized.  I have loads and loads of laundry to do.  I need to cook.  There are a bazillion books I would like to read.  I have school work stuff to work on with the kids.  But yet I’m bored.

Yesterday should not have been boring.  I got the kids off to school, cleaned up breakfast, logged four miles on the treadmill, went to visit an elderly friend, made basketball cupcakes for a team party, went to party, swam, ate  and came home to do bedtime.

Today I did laundry, ran on the treadmill, went to Annie’s swimming party and had lunch with her class, went on a family walk, had the neighbors over to play and sent half the family off to their various activities. 

Every day is full and busy. In fact, every week seems to spin out of control.  I keep thinking next week I’ll …  I have more on my plate and more demands on my time that I can possibly meet but still today I’m bored.

All of the things I have to do are task-oriented, busy work that takes no mental stamina.  Laundry, unload dishwasher, reload dishwasher, fold clothes, put clothes away, clean toilets, make beds, make supper, give baths and fall into bed exhausted before doing it all again the next day.

There are new challenges coming at me in motherhood.  I’m trying hard to be engaged with the kids.  That part is not boring.  There is nothing I want to do better than mother.   But it’s hard to have enough energy for the important stuff when the boring stuff is slowly suffocating me.  I might feel a little guilty about feeling that.  Or a lot guilty.

Do you know what I mean?   I’m so so glad God has blessed me with my husband and kids.  It’s amazing.  There is nothing I’d rather be doing than be here for and with them.  I’m thankful for a great church body and great friends and family.

But what about the mundane stuff that goes along with it all.  How do I reconcile that?  I’ve blogged a lot (ad nauseum?) about God’s calling.  God has called me to motherhood and that takes a servant’s heart.  I get that.

I don’t even think that having a job outside of the house would cure my boredom.  That would just give me another list of tasks that I must accomplish. 

No, I think the problem is deeper.  Certainly these mundane, boring tasks are part of every day life.  There’s no escaping that.  It maybe that what I need to endure in this life includes those things.  Maybe it is a type of suffering.  A place where I can trust God more.  Become more humble and so on and so forth.

But that isn’t all either.  I couldn’t put my finger on it yesterday, but I think today I got a glimpse.  We were created for eternity.  Forever.  When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden they were meant to go on and on until forever. 

What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

But sin came in and changed everything.  The longing, the unmet needs, the frustration and boredom might be part of our deepest longing:  to be at home with Jesus in Heaven.  He put eternity in our hearts.  But we cannot understand what God has done.  We are still on this side of eternity.

We can find happiness and encouragement and joy in our efforts to some degree.  But ultimately, we only find it in Jesus.  And being reunited with Him forever. 

But this week I seemed to forget that I have Him now too.  He is with us.  We are not lost or forgotten here in the work He has given us to do. 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

Of course, I can find joy in serving my family in the mundane.  I can take on challenges to keep growing.  Mostly, though, I want to take these feelings of frustration, sorrow, boredom and look to Jesus.  I can serve faithfully now.  And yearn for Him and eternity.

It’s what we were made for.