Week's end with thanks
- Nana-made capes for the kids. Dutch donning his with underwear and flying off the retaining wall. Priceless.
- Souls identifying with Christ. Buried low in water, lifted high in praise. Church family cheering, shouting, clapping. All praise to God.
- Five dear pastors standing in the water, baptizing an entire family all at once. Knowing the love, tears, prayers these men share. Tears streaming down my cheeks. Grateful.
- Grateful to be seated at His table.
- Icy lemonade for sweaty kids.
- Water beading cold on sippy cups.
- Running through the field. Arms flapping.
- Watching my man — so proud to be his.
- Susan’s words.
- Robben’s words.
- Debra’s presence on a warm afternoon, watching pirate show and chomping apples, frozen blueberries, slices of cheese.
- Reveling in God’s provision — before we even speak He knows our need.
- Treat receipt.
- Dutch’s interpretation the gospel: “I guess we’re all kind of scallywags, huh?” Love it.
- First-ever I Belong Here class at WCC. So thankful to be a family member here.
- Not missing this.
- Participators.
- Getaways.
- Pirate paraphernalia.
- Six showings in six days and still standing!
- Riversong Retreat.
- Day of work.
- Day of rest.
- Treasures hunts.
- Falling asleep to the sound of the river.
- Revisions and provisions.
- Remembering that Jesus wants the rose.
- My dear live-life friend Danielle who let us hang at her house during showings.
- Taking the wrong car to DEQ. Opportunity to bow low.
- Daddy day.
- Eating snow peas right off the vine.
- Pulling dinner up out of the earth.
- Heidi’s surprise: A Dora t-shirt in the mail from her auntie Nikki. Heidi spinning around in circles, laughing out loud she was so happy.
- Heidi wearing the Dora t-shirt to bed.
- Heidi wearing the Dora t-shirt the next day.
- Relieved when water spilled on the Dora t-shirt so I could finally take it off and wash it!
- Heidi going through the clean laundry and finding … the Dora t-shirt. 🙂
- Heidi sitting with me silent through church. The only sound: her toots.
- Kissing her open, laughing mouth.
- Delayed gratification.
- Papa & Oma.
- Pam’s amazing story of God’s provision. God loves us SO much.
- Sacred Mundane coming along!
- Wearing Dad’s sweatshirts. What I always do when I’m here.
- Lasagna and chocolate cookies. The things I get to eat when I am here. 🙂
- Tough Boris.
- Susan Crozier.
- Our dear Compassion boy, Fiston, almost 18! What a godly young man he’s become and what a joy he’s been in our life!
- Heidi’s prayers.
- Selena’s face.
- Sarah’s hug.
- Kimmee’s voice.
- That God is always previous.
- Still underlining Ann’s One Thousand Gifts.
- Still listing out mine.
- This place that holds me accountable.
- You, who bless my life.
- Those who pray, cheer, encourage.
- Life: a grace-gift.
- Santa Clara Candi’s Jesus-trust. No one else like her and I miss her so much. But even the missing is a gift and I can see Jesus on her from afar.
- Looking close at the moments each day: He’s here! He’s here! He’s here.
- Sound of Heidi stirring.
- Inhaling her sweaty-sleep smell.
- Breathing deep all the moments of the day.
- Finishing work.
- His finished work.
- JOY.
F is for Failure, a healthy dose
“It’s not smart to stuff yourself with sweets,
nor is glory piled on glory good for you.”
Proverbs 25:27, The Message
“Can I talk to you about Dutch?”
Our children’s pastor pulled me aside and as she spoke my eyes spilled with tears — the joyous kind — as she related and confirmed what I’d already been witnessing in my dear boy. He’s doing so well! Her encouraging words, which I knew to be true, made this mama weep tears of joy. Mind you, he’s still a crazy-imagination-strong-willed-4-year-old and sometimes I still want to throw him out the window, but truly, my boy has changed so much in these past few months it makes my heart soar. The bottom line? Finally seeing the fruit of consistency and the grace of God. And yes I will take a moment’s liberty to share my little victories because I have certainly spent enough time sharing my little woes here in this space.
Just moments before I’d been talking to an elder and his wife about the exact same thing. They were rejoicing with me and, as I knew they were faithful pray-ers for us, I thanked them for their love and support. The husband laughed, “It’s so good for someone like you to have a boy like Dutch because if your kids were perfect you’d write a book about it!”
Ha! He’s right, I’m afraid. I’m sure if they were little compliant angels my head wouldn’t fit through the door and I’d be dishing out advice so fast ya’ll ‘d be sick to your stomachs.
The truth is, he’s right — it’s good for me. As I wrote a year ago, reflecting on Beth Moore’s teaching:
It is actually not good for us to succeed all the time. Nor is it good for our children to always succeed. Some failures are healthy. Some humiliation, excellent, because it humbles us, and humility always leads to more intimacy with God. If we only had success and glory all the time, we wouldn’t have the character God desires. Beth Moore shares a story of how God rebuked/humbled her once and how on the spot she stood there and praised Jesus for His graciousness to her, humbling her. I was so amazed by that. I HATE being humiliated. But what if we embraced it? What if we saw it as an awesome way to be drawn closer to the Father? How cool would that be?!
As Proverbs 25:27 says, just as stuffing ourselves with sweets isn’t good for us, nor is it good for us to have glory piled upon glory.
Of course some of us still like to stuff ourselves with sweets.
Perhaps that’s the problem. We also wouldn’t mind a life of endless glory.
But oh, isn’t it true? Isn’t it so good for us: The scars, the trips, the toilet paper stuck to our shoe?
I know that I have countless more embarrassing and humbling experiences ahead. (For the record, there are few things more humbling than attempting to write a book!) But praise be to God that we can look back and actually thank God for His grace, humbling us and giving us a healthy dose of failure.
He’s never mean; it’s always for our good.
If He takes us down a notch it’s just that much easier to bow low and worship.
{What humbling experiences are you thankful for today? How have they brought you low and enabled you to bow low in worship? From my knees, thanks, dear friend, for reading.}
Tea for me, food for them. {What One Thing Would You Give Up?}
I click the screen and see the Somali faces gaunt, hollow eyes of hunger.
Just this morning I told Jeff I need to lose a couple pounds.
Isn’t this a crazy world?
Every person on this planet fights a battle. Just different kinds depending where we live. We in America battle the beast of consumerism, materialism, overindulgence, comfort-addiction.
Or am I the only one?
Every day the beast of my flesh must be slain.
You too?
You know what’s funny? We can actually help each other fight the other’s battle.
Perhaps we often think that we can help Somalia. Perhaps we think they need us. (And we can and they do!)
But think for a moment how we need them. How they can help us. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that our adventure this past year of pushing open the doors of giving has helped us more than anyone else. Other have received the donations but the real gift has been ours.
When we willingly help fight the beast of hunger that Somalis battle we break the back of our own beasts: consumerism, materialism, overindulgence, comfort-addiction. Beasts are slain exponentially.
By us helping them, they are helping us.
And we do need help, friends. Are you kidding? I couldn’t even kick my coffee habit on my own! Which is why when I received the email from World Vision Bloggers — an awesome group of people committed to blogging about poverty across our world and raising awareness for those in need (us all) — I was thrilled. Yes, the Somalis would help me!
How? By providing the perfect opportunity to say no to myself and yes to them. We’ve already discussed the facts (F is for Famine, Fundraisers, Fourteen-year-olds and fifty-one photos), but here’s a refresher:
- 12.4 million are affected in the region
- More than 35% of all children in the region are now facing emergency levels of malnutrition
- Starvation is a real threat in famine-declared areas of Somalia
- Some 30,000 children have already lost their lives
- Worst drought in 60 years
- World Vision’s teams in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are responding to this crisis with food, water, blankets and other critical needs for families
Ready for the fun part? I invite you to take part in World Vision’s 3-day awareness campaign Famine No More. Check out World Vision blogger Joy Bennett’s blog asking What one thing would you give up? so that you can simply send $10 to those in need. (click on graphic.)
See what I mean? We both have battles — we are helping theirs and they are helping ours. When we go without we are taking ground in the battle against consumerism and self-indulgence. Friends, we need this. We need them.
So what would I give up? I couldn’t think of anything at first. We live a pretty pared-down life and already give to World Vision on a regular basis, so I thought I could just add a little bonus to our next gift. But I wanted to do something that would daily remind me to put someone else above myself. (Goodness knows I can use some of that!) Then I thought of it — coffee. By quitting coffee for a few weeks I could remind myself every single morning that these Somali people are precious in the sight of God. That they matter, that their well-being is more important than my favorite morning perk. It’s silly perhaps, but I know of nothing else that cuts closer to the heart than caffeine. 🙂 (For the record, I’m not against drinking coffee–it’s just that it can save me a few bucks and remind me every morning … you get the idea.)
So I wrote myself a note this past weekend, taped it to my counter, a gentle morning reminder for my head and heart: Tea for me, food for them. By drinking tea (I have loads of it on hand already) I can send that $10, but more importantly, send my heart and my prayers.
What one thing would you give up? Once you decide, go ahead and text in your $10 donation to “FAMINE” to 20222 or visit WorldVision.org.
Lastly, PLEASE leave a comment here and let us know what you did! It’s always more fun to do these things together, so please take a second and let us know you joined in the fun. Have a blog? Link up here, or to Joy’s post, and share the What One Thing Would You Give Up challenge with those in your sphere!
And now, I’m off to drink my tea. Thank you, dear friends, for reading.
Week's end with thanks
- Building THE coolest hot-wheels track for the kids. Racing through it at least a hundred times.
- Opportunities for ordinary grace.
- God-ordained frustrations.
- Ordered steps.
- Banana bread and decaf.
- Family Fun Night — SO fun.
- Seeing all the beloved friends I never run into at church.
- Long chats outside the bounce house.
- Jeff in the dunk tank.
- His expression when I hit the target.
- Hint-of-green bananas.
- First three tomatoes picked from vine!
- Fresh salads all week long.
- People who think of us — don’t have to, but do.
- Feel of long hair on bare shoulders.
- Unpainted toes.
- Chicken stock simmering.
- Four whole crabs from the neighbors — crab dinner!
- Morning with friend of 31 years. Sweetest gift.
- Soaking beans.
- Mango salsa.
- Letting Heidi cover my arms and legs with smiley-face stickers while I type this …
- Closed doors.
- The frustrating middle-of-the-story that I know has a wonderful ending, just not sure what it is yet!
- Chore chart … for me!
- Choosing to rejoice.
- Isaiah 40:28-31.
- Our Everlasting God.
- Watching Invictus with my man.
- Day in Molalla: refreshed and refilled.
- Fellowship with other moms — knowing we’re not alone.
- Afternoon picking blueberries by myself. Entire berry field all to myself — warm sun and sprinklers at my back.
- Getting a random silly song stuck in my head: Blueberries for breakfast, blueberries for lunch, blueberries for dinner so munch munch munch munch!
- Date Night with my man!
- The Help. Not quite as good as the book, but still very good!
- Family Date Night to pick up Azure food and play at Bridgeport.
- Blue Whale and Octopus gummies from Sweet Factory. Kids were SO excited.
- Spreading 5 yards of barkdust all day in the sun with my man. TIRED. The good kind.
- Admiring our work.
- Collapsing into bed.
- First meeting with Editor Ann. Thankful beyond words.
- Good friends who celebrate.
- Heading out to Riversong.
- Knowing there’s an end in sight.
- Knowing Him.
The daily miracle — God with us
“But how could God’s hand reach down this far from heaven?!” Dutch looked at me with a wide-eyed smile, incredulous. I’d just explained how an event was so clearly God’s hand orchestrating the details of our day. He shook his head and grinned, “Must be magic.”
No, it is not. Despite my attempts to avoid that m-word, it wiggled its way into our house and demanded explanation. I explained that while God does miracles which are extraordinary events that display His power, the world tries to copy His miracles by working magic, supposedly extraordinary events that display its power.
There’s always a counterfeit, right?
No I’m not losing sleep over Dutch talking about magic, but it reminded me of a recent conversation — about the Sacred Mundane — with a person who was all nods and agreement, but deep in my spirit I knew we were on different pages.
The sacred mundane’s counterfeit is pantheism.
The difference, in essence, is the inclusion or exclusion of the word in. Sacred Mundane says God is in everything. Pantheism says God is everything.
Pantheism says, in Tozer’s words,
“that God is the sum of all created things. Nature and God are one, so that whoever touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is, of course, to degrade the glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make all things divine, banish all divinity from the world entirely.”
On the other hand the Sacred Mundane,
“means simply that God is here. Wherever we are, God is here. There is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. … [and] it may be said that every act is or can be as truly sacred as prayer of baptism or the Lord’s supper. To say this is not to bring all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to lift every act up into a living kingdom and turn the whole life into a sacrament.”
The whole of life is a sacrament.
I can’t wait to share with you more about what this means. But what about you? What do you think this means?
Or more importantly, What does this mean for you today?
God is in the laundry room as you sort the lights and darks. He’s by your side as you scrub the hardened oatmeal from breakfast bowls. He’s whispering wisdom when frustration strikes and you’re at a loss for what to do. And He’s listening to your silent heart-thoughts when your only sanctuary is a hot shower and a locked bathroom door.
It’s not magic. But it is a miracle.
Immanuel. God with us.
—
{Where do you see Him today and what difference does it make? Thanks for reading…}
Week's end with thanks
- Box of splitting-ripe local tomatoes. Soon-to-be mouth-watering marinara.
- Jeff teaching Heidi to play cards. Hysterical.
- Dutch & Brooke. Best of buds.
- Triathalon of daily Black Butte fun: running, biking, swimming.
- Running through the meadow. Longhorns on either side, cheering me on. Three Sisters fill the sky.
- Coasting downhill fast.
- Signing.
- Reading One Thousand Gifts again, this time pen in hand.
- Generous big fish who take little fish under their wing.
- A big God who is never out of His league.
- Sitting in a virtual circle with Simple Moms and Simple Homeschool.
- Endorsements.
- People just so generous. So generous.
- Wycliffe.
- Wading pool.
- Coming home. No place like it.
- Familiar beautiful.
- My man out on a man-date. Perfect night for me to snuggle up with words.
- My first day of writing work. My office on top of bed, under quilt.
- Broken sunglasses … Discovering 60% off sale on sunglasses at Banana. Yes, the only ones on sale were HUGE. Yes, I look like a ridiculous wannabe celebrity and my husband makes fun of me mercilessly. I. Don’t. Care. Glad my eyes are shaded!
- Auto-on coffee pot feature. Because waking up at 5:30 is so much easier when the aroma of coffee wafts up the stairs.
- Grocery shopping alone.
- Late-night errands.
- Berry picking with dear friend. Perfect sun, happy kids, heart-to-heart over blueberry bushes.
- Afternoon dates with my man. The looong tennis match. Ask him who won…
- Jumping in the pool like kids.
- Jumping in the pool with kids.
- Heidi learning to go underwater.
- Treasure hunts.
- Nighttime treasure maps that lead to childrens’ beds…
- Family Snuggle.
- Little voices repeating Lord’s prayer: “Hollow be Your name…”
- Ten and a half pounds of fresh-picked blueberries.
- Eight and a half when we got home.
- Husband coming through door smiling.
- Husband surprising.
- Border’s going-out-of-business sale. Jeff’s amazing find: Pirate Legos.
- Entire day, Daddy and Dutch creating and recreating amazing Lego creations.
- Cloudless sky.
- Humble friends.
- Selflessness.
- Grace.
- Rustling of warm breeze in leaves.
- Voice of my brother.
- Quiet afternoons.
- Back with the beloved women’s ministry team. Love those ladies!
- Sharing pain and joys.
- Honesty.
- Truth.
- Tumbling down.
- God our rock.
Week's end with thanks
- Seventeen green tomatoes growing on the vine. Daily glimpse of hope and promise right outside my front door.
- Fresh salmon dinner, green beans and salad from the garden, finished off with Dad’s homemade vanilla ice cream. This is summer.
- Dutch’s maiden voyage on his new Lightning McQueen bike. So excited for my boy! Then …
- Poor Dutch flying down the hill at Melody’s, forgetting how to use his brakes, me running behind dragging Heidi by the arm, trying to catch him. Too slow, the dirt bank provided a merciful end to the runaway bike. No injuries, and after the hysterics were over he actually climbed back on!
- My tomboy: “No, pants!”
- Thinning carrots with Melody. Good words exchanged with hands in dirt. Digging into the soil of our garden and our hearts. Love doing life together.
- Good friend letting Dutch come play for the day.
- Girl day out. Sweet finds and sweeter chats.
- Zucchini!
- Still devouring cherries.
- Getting inspired.
- Gracious and amazing open door for Sacred Mundane.
- Kind people. Owing you nothing but offering you much.
- Faithful pray-ers.
- Papua Night at Community Group. Getting the joy of learning about Brendon and Naomi Yoder headed to Papua, Indonesia with Wycliffe. SO inspired, blessed, encouraged. LOVE these dear saints so much. Almost as much as I love the peanut sauce chicken sate they served! Yum!
- Friends who check on you.
- Hugs.
- Eyes that say it all.
- Selfless husband who volunteers.
- Early bedtime for children and children’s mommy.
- Mentoring Group! Love love loving these awesome women.
- Writing my obituary. Odd, yes. But such a good spiritual exercise.
- Texts that bring a smile to my face.
- Cowboy cookies.
- Very kind and encouraging words from childcare workers. So thankful for them!
- Jesus Christ, the good life.
- The Pursuit of God.
- AW Tozer. I hope to hug him someday in heaven. The man has blessed my life.
- New paints! Kids creating masterpieces.
- Long drive to Bend providing perfect opportunity for long-overdue phone catch-up conversation. Blessed by dear friend!
- Amazing place to call “home” for 7 days. Kids instantly picking spots to sleep.
- Kids delighted by deer just off the back patio.
- Evening quiet.
- Large closets that sleep a 2-year-old perfectly…
- Berry Buckle.
- Generous saints who bring dinner, just because. Feast that fed us for multiple meals.
- Kids getting dressed straight from the clothesline.
- Warm jammies on cool nights.
- Shallow pool for little swimmers.
- Long bike ride at dusk with my man.
- Coming suddenly upon meadow, children playing tag, running free.
- Afternoon run in the heat. Sweating through my thoughts, prayers.
- California King-sized bed. No, I don’t mind at all having that much space.
- Quiet afternoon on the deck, alone with my words.
- Candyland.
- Cousins scampering.
- Silence.
- Stillness.
- Him.
F is for Family (the friends you didn't choose)
The quote wraps lovely around the coffee mug in large looping letters:
“Friends are the family you choose for yourself.”
Yes, so true. Sip the hot tea and warm thoughts of being chosen. Friendship certainly is special.
Then there is family. The real kind.
You didn’t choose them. And they certainly didn’t choose you.
Our August is full of family. We just finished a blessed ten days sprinkled with boating and camping and biking and feasting and swimming and shopping with my brother and his family visiting from Utah. We now are at Black Butte for a week with Jeff’s side of the family. At this very moment I sit in silence on the deck, looking out at towering ponderosa pines while Heidi sleeps and the rest have ridden bikes to the pool. It is the only moment of silence there has been, however, as our vacation home is teeming with four little cousins and seven adults with a couple more to come.
We’ve not seen Jeff’s brother and his family for two years and three years before that. Heidi certainly doesn’t remember seeing her cousins last, and Dutch only faintly remembered playing together two Thanksgivings ago.
We’re also a bit different. Or a lot different. They speak Spanish in their home, live in the blazing heat of Arizona and at least for awhile had gone the route of a Spanish-French immersion school. We speak English in our home, albeit not that well, we huddle close in the cool Northwestern weather, and don’t immerse ourselves in much of anything but the wading pool.
All that to say these four little cousins hardly know each other from Adam and also don’t have a whole lot in common.
And yet, within 30 seconds of their arrival, all the cousins were tramping through the house, Dutch excitedly showing them their quarters, all donning the capes that Nana had made for each. They quickly turned to outside adventures, comparing bikes and exploring the yard and, Dutch describing where he’d seen the deer last night.
After they’ve long gone to the pool and the house is quiet, I sit and think how funny it is — all of us, so different, all under one roof for seven days. I think of the quote on the mug: “Friends are the family you choose for yourself.” I certainly didn’t choose any of these people, and they certainly didn’t choose me.
But isn’t that exactly why family is so sacred?
Isn’t that the beauty of family? That we didn’t pick them and we love them anyway. That they didn’t choose us but they love us anyway.
I remember when my brother and his wife came from a missionary trip to China. They spoke of how the missionaries there, of which there were very few, referred to each other as “family.” Why? Because they certainly didn’t choose each other, but they were there and chose to love each other for the sake of the gospel. You couldn’t get in a tiff and go find some new friends. There weren’t any others! They got along because each other was all that they had. In that sense, they were family.
We live in a “De-friending” world. Facebook didn’t make us fickle friends, it just named what we were already doing in real life.
So I wonder again about the beauty of friendship being in the ability to choose.
Is preference really beautiful? Could it be we’ve set our gaze a bit low and there’s a loftier choice to be found?
What if the beauty lies not in choosing each other but in choosing love…
Sure, there’s less pride to pass around when we do less choosing and more loving. We can no longer take credit for our connections, but instead we humbly receive and extend grace-motivated love.
I’m basking in that grace-love this month as we rub shoulders with all the blessed friends we didn’t choose. There is no place I’d rather be.
{How can you choose love today? Happy Friday from Black Butte and thanks for reading.)
F is for Family vacation
Everyone has quirks. Why God puts us together. How it’s beautiful.
Psalm 27 {Hope}
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (13-14)
True hope not “getting hopes up”
Waiting on the Lord not man
Takes courage