Tweens...the grand adventure

It is that time of year....school has begun.  There is homework to be done, a schedule to adhere to books to keep up with and of course open house.  The kids show off their classrooms, some things they have done and wait with a little anxiety to hear the teacher say they are doing just fine.  In the midst of it all, you have to find time for love and encouragement while trying to get it all done. 

As of late I have felt inadequate, overwhelmed and out of my element.  Because when it all boils down to it...no ladies and gentleman I am NOT "smarter than a 5th grader"!  When did math become so complicated?  As I look at my son's text book, I think...there is no way we learned that in 5th grade.  I am astounded by all he is already learning and feel unable to help.  I am ...but it is a feeling.  One that I haven't had a in a while.

 I remember those first weeks in motherhood, after being introduced to this tiny bundle of sweetness, crying, cooing and spit up.  It was in those weeks I learned, all those years of babysitting, being a day care teacher and a nanny did NOT prepare me for motherhood.  The books didn't tell me about supersonic poos that easily cleared 6 feet out of the diaper and necessitated a bath for anyone and  anything with a 6 foot radius.  It did not prepare me for sleep deprivation or the fear of knowing something was wrong with your baby but no doctor would listen.  It also did not prepare me for the depths of love and willing sacrifice I would feel and go to for my child. 

Now I stand at the precipice of the teen years.  Childhood, young child hood for my son is almost behind us.  He is about to enter............the TWEEN ZONE.  In some ways he already has entered it.  I again am experiencing..all the newness of having a child who is no longer a child but yet he is.  It is limbo land.  Somewhere between childhood and teenager without a map.  Yet, I see glimpses of the man he will become.  What  fine, upstanding man he will be.  He is compassionate and loving.  He is kind and caring.  Sometimes he can be a bit cranky and procrastinate (hmmmm I wonder...who he gets that from...checks to see if my "label" is showing). 

I being a Mommy and decidedly female, do not get the whole boy thing. 

A little  boy one second....something entirely alien the next.  (Did aliens switch him while I wasn't looking).?

Giggly and silly and full of jokes part of the day...moody and stormy another.
Yes...folks I think we are hitting the beginning stages of puberty.  Or as he asked me the other day "mom when I go through pubity, will I be able to grow  a mustache?  When  can I shave...cause I think...see right there on my chin..I think that might be a hair"

Now, his Daddy does and he helps.  However, my son needs to learn from me as the biggest female influence in his life , at the moment. My responsibility to him is to nurture without coddling, to be firm with mercy and to no matter what show him love. Now, I have no issue with the loving part..I have that down pat.  But when the tween attitude rears, I find it hard not to go a little heavy on the firm.  So this is a learning process for us both.

However, the tools in my arsenal include prayer and faith.  Thank GOD for these.  I could not travel this road without them.  As I traverse uncharted territory I trust God to lead me. 

My love for this child, I mean young man grows and changes with him.  It grows deeper, it expands and it learns. 

That is another thing......I didn't get totally, until I had kids...Love learns.

So we are off on this grand adventure...and I have my arsenal ready...faith, prayer, the word of God and lest we forget...for when I need it...COFFEE, calgon and chocolate. 

Wordless Wednesday

A kindergarten tale

Twas the night before kindergarten and all through the house giggles and wiggles echoed  my joy as I layed down in my bed.

I slept most soundly with visions of pencils and crayons and a nice teacher in my head.

Up before the sun I sprang rather slowly and could not eat

but hurried to get dressed with spiffy shoes on my feet.

Breakfast was done and now it was time to wait

for the clock to read half past eight.

I thought this day would never arrive

and waiting was almot too much to survive.

Finally Mommy said those wonderful words

It is time to go.

On with my backpack and lunch box too

posing for pictures is just something you have to do.

Off in flash, how much I have grown

with grins and "pinky tails" to be shown.

We arrived at the school with time to spare

and had lots of things with my friends to share

Time for more posing for mommy to see

what a big girl God has made me to be

Who is that coming down the hall

it's my teacher coming to line us up straight and tall

Standing in line waiting to see

what my next adventure will be

Bye Mommy I love you so much but I am ready for this day

and I will see you later is what I have to say

And off I go hand in hand

with my teacher to Kindergarten land

I arrived home with smiles galore

and happy with all kindergarten has in store

I have a bright future it is plain to see

but I was so glad to have brother, and sister and mommy to walk home with me.

A new Era has begun

I am no longer going to be a mom with children at home during the day.  I have been a stay at home mom for almost 11 years. 

I have changed countless diapers, wiped noses again and again, kissed boo boos, mended toys and read stories. Now they will all be at school and Mommy's job has a new definition. While I will still do lots of those things, my children will be in the hands of others for a large part of the day.

I will now be the peruser of all things homework.  I will listen to their day and decipher what needs a listening ear and what need intervention.  I did some of this before but still had that last little one at home to offer the balance.

Our family is shifting, changing and growing.  While part of me says this is bitter sweet.  Another part of me says this is magnificent.  Change brings growth.  Families grow and change together and learn new things.  It is good. 

Hopefully, a job that works with the children's schedule will come into play.  When that happens, I will become the "working mom".  Now we all know that all mom's work.  However, I will be learning too.  I will learn to juggle, job, home, church, social lives of 3 children and much more.

I am up to the task.  And I look to the future with anticipation of what God is going to do through us and in us.  I want to prepare my children for the destiny God has called them to. I want to be the Mom, my kids know, prays about everything. The Mom they can come to about anything and know acceptance is not based on performance, but based on unconditional love.

Lord, let me be who you want me to be.  Let me say what you want me to say. Let me make a difference in this world and in the lives of  my children. Let my life count for you and your will.

Let me teach with love, discipline with mercy and hope in all things.  Let my children see the light of Jesus in all my words, actions, deeds.  May my hands be those to bless others.  My words be those that build up and never tear down.
Let me support my husband in ways seen and unseen.  May our home always be a soft place to land and a warm blanket of love with the light of love shining like beacon to all who see it.

The Potter and the Clay

A friend of mine wrote about wives and husband and how Christian women pray for their husbands to be changed, saved, whatever the need is at the time.  However, we as women have to be willing to change to.  To let God change us and mold us. How the fact that in a marriage we are two made into one. If only one of the couple is changed, then the masterpiece God put together in marriage, becomes lopsided, in a manner of speaking.  They can function as a whole, but something will be off.  When someone views the masterpiece, they may see it right away, or they may wonder...what is it.....what is off?  It isn't the fault of the Potter but the clay has been unyielding and their is a bubble or a crack. Under pressure and heat this bubble or crack can grow worse or be hidden.  It all depends on the clay.  The Potter will not force the clay to yield, but He works with it until it does yield. This is a process. It does not happen over night.

So for all those women praying for lost husbands, wayward husbands, Godly men who have issues that no one knows, do not give up.  God is working.  As women we have to yield to the Master and be willing to change to. Our husbands issues and faults do not lie in our hands, but God's hands.  We can not fix it, only God can.

However, we can yield and let God fix us.  We can yield to the molding, the fires of purifying.  Letting God do what HE wants in us to make us what He wants us to be.  To equip us for the work He has called us to.

When a potter works on his masterpiece, he uses many different tools.  Sometimes, he uses a chisel, sometimes water and his gentle hands, sometimes a soft bristle brush, and yet other times a hard bristled brush.  It all depends on what He is trying to make.  What flaw he is trying to work out of the clay. 

 Sometimes the molding feels pleasant and gentle.  Other times, it plainly hurts and feels as if something is being torn out. Why?  Because some things only come out by giving into pain, so that the Master can then take His gentle, soothing hands, and sooth away the scar/hole left by what was taken out.  He has the master plan.  He knows the design.  He knows what it will take to make the final masterpiece.

When we yield to the molding, making, breaking...we allow the Master to make us into something  beautiful.  There are times we have to be so broken, that part has to be built up again.  It is in those moments, God truly takes what was meant for pain and sorrow and turns our mourning into dancing.  And from our pain comes strength for the journey He has called us to.

 I yield Lord, Jesus. To your hands. Mold me and make me into what You want. Help me yield and not fight the process. Help me not worry about what the process is like for others because you are their Master working on them in the way they need.  

While my journey may be different.  When you match me with my husband or other believers we not only become a "matched set" but a masterpiece that works together. A masterpiece that draws others in, to be molded.  

Let me be a vessel of honor that brings in people to your Kingdom.  You are the Potter....I am the clay. I am in Your hands.  

Family Reunion

There we all were in days gone by, so
young, so innocent so cute and sweet.
Those were the days, you played in the yard without shoes (unless like myself you borrowed someones sock and shoe--see picture).  You ate watermelon with the juice running down your belly. You played unaware of the bugs, the heat, and the dirt.  Those were innocent, fun filled days. You could count on Grandma to have the cookie tin always full and the best fried chicken anyone could ever make.  My Grandma could make better chicken than the Colonel EVER could.  Those were the days, you drank out of the water hose and ran free in the yard or the neighbors fields.  Those were the days, parents didn't worry as much about their  children crossing paths with some stranger who would steal them away.  Although it did happen, those were different times.  A gaggle of children were always together, playing, running, laughing and screaming.

This past weekend I went to a family reunion.  We "children" now have children of our own.  Life is different.  Freedom to play and run is not the same.  However, our kids do not realize it, so they run, laugh, play and scream.  They love to hear about when we were kids.  Those of us who made it to the reunion, seemed to pick up, right where we left off.  Time and distance was not a boundary and love does not go away.  Hugs and joy upon seeing faces you haven't seen in yours; can not be measured.  The love of family is a timeless, endless joy. Miles may come between us and years may lengthen the time we see each other face to face, but love......love goes on. 

The legacy left to us by our grandparents is love.  Those children sitting on those steps have gone different ways and experienced different things...but there is one things that binds us together.  LOVE.  The heritage we need to pass down to our children is love.  Families were designed by God for just that reason..LOVE. 

God the Father sent His only Son into the world that we all might be adopted into HIS family.  His love goes on and on and does not die. 

One day there will be a grand and glorious family reunion. We will be reunited with family that has gone on before us.  We will be meet our Father in Heaven..face to face.  We will behold the Savior!  That family reunion will be unlike any other.  There is only one way to get there....you have to be adopted into the family, through the sacrifice of the son.  Are you ready for the reunion?  You have already received the invitation.  All you have to do is answer the RSVP.  Yes I am coming, I want to be in the family...I accept this gift of life. 
I have turned in my RSVP as a YES I am coming...Have you?

Thunderstorms, rain and kids

The sky is growing darker....the rain is starting to fall...the thunder is a clapping and the lightning can be seen by all.

We were going to do a drive by book drop off at the library and then run home again.  However, I seriously do not want to be caught out in a thunderstorm with a 5 year old who can get really freaked out by storms. 

The other day it was really, really bad.  And I told her about how Jesus spoke to the storm and said Peace Be Still and the storm stopped.  She wanted me to do it.  (She has more faith in Mama's prayers than Mama does. I think I just learned a lesson.)

So I opened up the back door and shouted out into the storm
"Peace Be Still, In Jesus Name".  And you know what.........the storm began to calm.  Jenny said "Yep..it works."  My other two kids said of course it works.
I was floored by their faith in my prayers. I sometimes, feel, like my prayers do not get past the ceiling.  However, my children think that Mommy's prayers bring results. 

Any time they feel bad or get an owie.  They come to me..."Mommy pray for me".  And I do.  They turn around and go back to what they are doing satisfied.  And even the times, my prayers were not answered right away, and the flu or fever raged on, they did not doubt.  They just said thanks Mommy...I do feel better now.  It isn't necessarily that the symptoms were better, but their spirits felt better.

What a lesson to say that even when we can not see the answer to our prayers, they have an effect.  Prayers do not go out void before our Father.  He hears them everyone.  He sees our tears and stores them in a bottle.  If He does that...how much more precious are our words to Him.

He loves to hear from us.  If we listen, we can hear Him too. Even if it is through the voice of our child saying "It works"...after we prayed.  That is the Father saying "I hear you"