An 8 Year-Old's Wisdom

Yesterday morning was a tough one.  I woke up late feeling very ill and exhausted from a crazy week and had 3 boys to get ready for school.  As I was juggling boys, breakfast, and trying to get ahold of the doctor, I felt the pressure rising.  It's busy around here with 3 rambunctious boys...and LOUD...always.  Add in the constant tattling that has been their default mode lately and that makes for a very stressed mama.  So, in the kitchen in the midst of the spilt milk (seems like a daily occurrence) and getting the cereal bars on plates, I let out a big,

"Jesus help me!"

Then, I hear Ethan's voice very tenderly say,

"He's helping you mom.  When times are hard and you only see one pair of footprints that's because Jesus is carrying you.  And, He's carrying you now Mom."

I balled!!!!  Something in me just broke open and I started to sob.  Which showed me that Ethan's words touched something deeper inside of me than the stress of that moment....it touched a fear inside that taunts,

"You're not good enough.  You can't handle it.  Things will not go well."

As I balled and hugged my wise 8 year-old son, he went on to say,

"Jesus promises us that if we believe in Him, He'll never leave us.  So, He's with you mom."

He's with me.  As I recalled Ethan's words over and over the rest of that day, I did feel better.  I want to live there, right smack in the middle of that truth.  Instead of allowing circumstances to stress me out and making the choice (because it is my choice) to listen to those fears in my mind, I want to look at those circumstances through the lens of the Truth which says Jesus will never leave me.  He's with me.  His grace is sufficient.

Oh, to live there...that's my goal.

Happy Mother's Day

Me (5) & Mom

As I celebrate this Mother's Day I of course am thinking about my mom.  She passed away 10 years ago of complications from a very long-standing battle with MS.  Even though it's been so many years it is still hard to not have her here.  But today as my thoughts go to her I am happily recalling some things she taught me, not with words necessarily but with her life, actually, with her living, to be more specific.
She lived and loved and did it well.

So here are 3 {of the many} things my mom taught me:

1.  Love and cherish your family.  
Being around my mom I always felt loved.  I always felt important.  She spent time with us and actually enjoyed it...it showed and I felt it deeply.  It was the little things she did like making M&M cookies with me and my sister at Christmas {our favorite}.  Sewing dresses for us that matched with hers for special occasions.  Making "prairie hats" for us to sleep in at night, just like the ones Mary and Laura Ingalls had.  Playing all our favorite records and singing right along with us.  Praying for me when I was afraid in the night.  Stroking my back and my hair when I wasn't feeling well.  Mom also loved to create so she instilled a love for all things creative in me during the times of baking "Shrinky Dinks", crafting Christmas angels from clothespins, cupcake liners and cotton balls, and doing ceramics, and lots more.

2.  Create a welcoming home.  
Honestly when I think back on my childhood home before "the sickness" it was so peaceful, orderly and well decorated.  As a young stay-at-home mom of 2 little ones at the time and very little, if any, "extra" money, I don't know how she did it, but that's the way it was.  Mom loved to decorate and have things she loved around her.  She also used her strengths and a little ingenuity when it came to decorating.  She sewed, painted, did ceramics, crafted and used what she had to create a beautiful home.  But most of all the beauty in the home was truly her heart and it came through in every nook and cranny of that place.  Her stamp was on that house and people were drawn there because of her.  She always had an open door and a big smile for anyone who came by no matter the time, no matter the lack of notice.  She was an encourager and always had a positive word, hug, or contagious laugh for whatever the situation called for.  She created a safe, beautiful and loving place for us to call home and a respite for the many visitors who needed a little sunshine.

3.  You are not your circumstance.
My mom was diagnosed with MS at age 27.  At this time she was 8 years married and had 2 little girls and another one on the way.  This came as a heartbreaking shock as the disease moved very fast.  It seemed just a short time after the diagnosis that many of the things she did before the disease she could no longer do, until eventually she couldn't do anything at all for herself.  But she never stopped believing and seeing the good in things.  She never gave up on living.  She never lost faith or stopped trusting God.  Even though her body was weakened her spirit was strong.  She still had that smile, even when MS had taken her ability to speak she still communicated with that contagious smile.  She had an inner strength and was a true emanator of grace.  I honestly can say that I never heard her complain, and believe me she had every reason to.  In the days she was in health she lived life to the full.  She enjoyed what she had and used the gifts she was given to live the life she dreamed.  She loved being a wife, mother, homemaker, and creator of beautiful things.  She loved life and she had a light inside that never dimmed, even when MS took most all else, her light still shined.

My mom taught me to really cherish and encourage those I love, to spend time doing what I love, and to create a beautiful life.  To never waste a moment because they are so fleeting.


To live, loving this life. 


Thanks Mom!

I Love Sarah's Summer House!

Just watched the 1st show of Sarah Richardson's new series for HGTV,
 Sarah's Summer House.  I love this show.  Take a peek around the cottage renovation to see what's in store....

Sarah and her cheeky side-kick/partner-in-design Tommy are back with this new series which takes on a summery, vacation-homey slant on the usual {and wonderful} Sarah's House .  Lots of fun and tons of great design are being served up and the inspiration is flowing!
Catch it Saturday nights at 8pm eastern on HGTV.
Love it!!

14 Years!

Today is our wedding anniversary and I can't help but think of God's grace.  I'm so very thankful for the family we've created with this marriage; for the best friend I have by my side.  It hasn't always been this way...for many years our marriage was hanging by a very worn thread which had nearly broken.  But after several years of pain and failure we invited God in, and as He healed our hearts His grace securely wrapped around that very worn marriage-thread and He created a life-line, not easily broken.  Committed to each other and this family, we have held on in faith to the life-line, to God, and have found a deep satisfaction and excitement in creating this life and family together...found a deep love for each other.  Things are not perfect; they aren't promised to be, but what is promised, is the peace that comes in following the Lord.  And as we continue to look to Him in our lives and our marriage, we are learning how to see each other through His eyes.  Eyes of love and understanding.  Eyes of peace and grace.  Eyes of promise and purpose.  Eyes of faith and forgiveness.  We know that it had to have taken a miracle, His provision, to get us from where we were to where we are now.  So today I celebrate the goodness that this wedding anniversary represents and the love that has been cultivated and cherished, the family that has been created and nurtured.  But most of all I celebrate the goodness of the Lord and all that He's done in our lives, the healing that He's brought to this union.

A scripture, found in Luke's gospel, comes to mind and I echo it wholeheartedly....nothing is impossible with God!