Life and Faith

Once a year, Tim takes a bike trip that sends my prayers and my faith into a dither. Our church holds a church picnic out at Tilikum, our church camp. For whatever reason, Tim always likes to ride his bike out there. When the kids were littler, and could still fit in the bike trailer, he would take one or two of them along with him. I always hate that ride.

The last few miles of this trip to the camp is on a two-lane road with NO shoulder....lots of hills and valleys that leaves a very short sight distance. When I come after Tim in the van with all the stuff for a day at the camp, I take the path that he would ride just in case something happens. And that is where my faith gets a little unnerved. I have horrible visions of coming to the top of a hill, or rounding a corner to see Tim mangled along side the road. My visions were really horrible when he would have the kids with him. So...every year, as Tim prepares for this trip, I plead with him not to go. And every year, he just smiles at me as he takes off on his bike. And for a couple of hours, I'm just sick until I see that he is well and whole at the other end.

Today, I am leaving on a trip. A very long trip. I will be spending a total of approximately 48 hours, over the next week, in a van on my way to Mexico. I haven't even begun to calculate how many miles that will be....because that just feels overwhelming. The hours alone just about makes me squirm out of my seat!!

For the most part, I am excited about this trip. I last went on a service trip to Mexico back when I was in college. It really was an amazing experience. I loved every minute of it. Even though I dread the long hours in the van, I truly believe that it is going to be an amazing trip. I am excited to see what God is going to do on this trip, not only in my own life, but also in the lives of the kids that are going. It is going to be cool to see things on the other side of this week.

Then there is the other side of my heart. In the ten years that I have been a mom, I have never left my kids for this long. The very practical side of me tells me that they will have a wonderful time celebrating Spring Break with my parents, my sister, and her family. I'm a little jealous of their time together this coming week....but then I remember that the only reason this came together is because I am leaving the country!!! No fair! In all that though, there is this side of me that is terrified that in all those many, many hours on the road, that there will be an accident that will take me away from my family.

I know. I know. Faith is required here. But just because I have faith does not mean that tragic things won't happen. I also know that heaven is far more wonderful than anything here on earth. But to imagine my kids going through life with a loss as tragic as losing a parent....that sucks. Kids lose their moms all the time. There is no guarantee that I will make it back to my family. I could go on....but I'm not helping myself here.

As my time of departure draws nearer...(I leave in 2 hours!!)....I just pray a little more for the safety of our trip. I pray for my kids that they will have a week full of great memories. I hug my kids a little tighter....munch on them a little more often....and hope that it all holds us over until I come home again.

Adios, mis amigos!! I hope to have a fabulous update in a little over a week. Most likely I will shower first....and then post!!

Happy Spring Break!

Thankful Thursday

Since it has been a while since I have posted a Thankful Thursday post, and I will be out of the country next Thursday, I thought it was pretty important that I get one in. I really need to get back in the swing of being thankful. It is so very important for keeping my head on straight.

So...today I am thankful for:

• The opportunity to go on a mission trip to Mexico with our youth group. Honestly, there are some parts about the trip that I'm not too thankful for....but I know that it will be a wonderful experience. I am going to try to blog tomorrow about some thoughts running around in my head about that. I need some prayer.....

• For my parents who are coming out of their way to help care for my kids while I am gone. That really helps me be able to leave them for so long. They may need some prayer.....

• That my kids will make some wonderful memories with their Grammy and Papa. That helps me, too.
  

• For my husband who was a huge part of the reason why I decided to go. If he hadn't encouraged me, I probably wouldn't be going.

• For the young man who asked me to go in the first place. That he even wanted me along in the first place means alot.

• For my precious Moms In Touch friends who are praying for me.....for my husband....for my parents....for my kids.
  

Much to be thankful for. I will probably be keeping track of all the things I am thankful for in the coming week. I'm gonna be reporting back, because I think its going to be a good week.

Something to be thankful for....

My washer has been in its death throes for the last year or so. And it wasn't going quietly. Each wash sounded like a freight train barreling through my house. There was no doubt where the machine was in its cycle when the final spin was going on. I never liked to run it after the kids were in bed....I thought for sure that it would wake them up.

AND...it leaked like nobody's business. It was down right pathetic. It got to the point that I started putting towels under it to catch the water. I use to only have to use one towel per wash day. At the end, I was putting a new towel under there every load....and the towels would be soaked. Crazy. But, just like our old cars, Tim said that we were going to use it until it died.

Last Monday, it finally gave up the ghost. I went down after putting a load in to put it in the dryer. There it sat...humming...but no spinning. Clothes were soaked. No matter what I tried to do....it wouldn't work. After calling Tim, he informed me that he would look at it when he got home. That night, I had to leave for a meeting before I got to see "the verdict." But when I got home, Tim was researching new ones.

What?????

It gets even crazier. By Friday, I had a new washer sitting in my laundry room. A brand spanking new washer. For Tim, that is almost unheard of....especially so quickly.

No complaints. No arguments. I'll take it. Thank you very much!

Yesterday and today have been my first laundry days with my new washer. Can I just say WOO HOO!! It is so quiet. I can't even tell when it is done. In fact yesterday, I went down there and actually had to look at the lights to know if it was in the final spin or not. And it was!! It was so quiet. Unbelievable!! I can almost enjoy doing laundry now!

Needless to say, I am a happy housewife. Thank you, TimJ!

In This World

This morning, as I've been getting ready for my day, I've been thinking of the song with the words:

"In this world you will have troubles, but I'm leaving you my peace, That where I am you may also be."

I think that I have been living in a bubble the last 10 years or so. Since I no longer work in the mainstream, my life revolves around my church and my church family. Even now, with my kids being in a charter school, I am finding that the moms who get in and get involved are Christian ladies. It seems like I have very little, or very limited contacted with "The World."

I'm finding that where my world intersects with The World is soccer. You can really meet some interesting people in the world of soccer. I am amazed at how many people allow soccer to consume them. Even though, as I see how good my daughter is becoming, I can totally understand the tendency.

My frustration with soccer lies in the fact that, at least in our area, Sunday is not sacred when it comes to setting up games. Not even Sunday morning is sacred. For the last year or so that Daria has been playing throughout the year, and thus a little more competitively, we have had coaches who have respected our decision to keep Sunday mornings devoted to God. In fact, I have felt truly supported in that regard. At times, they have even bent over backwards trying to reschedule games so that Daria could be involved.

For the last month or two, Daria has been playing with a coach that I have been a little nervous about. His reputation regarding his temper has not been very good. Tim and I talked about it long and hard that we would need to stand firm if there were Sunday morning games. A week or so ago, I was surprised to hear this coach ask us to consider allowing Daria to play in the one Sunday morning game that was in our current schedule. (Personally, I was feeling pretty fortunate that it was only one game.) Because I am so intimidated by this coach, I told him we would talk about it and let him know. Really, I was just passing the buck for Tim to handle.

So, Tim handled it last night. I'm not sure the coach was terrible happy with us. He sort of made it sound like the team had gone above and beyond to reschedule games so that Daria could be there, so maybe we could at least compromise. But then he went on to lay on the compliments. I feel bad that he might be put out with us, but this morning, as I thought about it, I was reminded of why we hold true to our values.

Long after Daria can no longer play soccer, I pray that she will have a faith that will stand the storms of life. I am also praying that God will honor our decision to remain true to Him even in these little things. Even though Daria seems to understand, I pray that she will see the true reward of honoring God first above all. I was also reminded to continue to pray for her future coaches...that they would honor and respect our decision to put God first.

If nothing else is gained, those commitment reminders for me is enough.

Oh my....

Has it really been that long since I have posted on my blog????? How time does fly.

I think that my brain has been on vacation lately. Sounds great in theory. But in reality....oh my....so not good. I have been ditching responsibilities left and right. Not necessarily intentionally, just simply forgetting. Next thing you know...a week and half goes by.

But I love my blog. I miss unloading my thoughts on here. Like, today, Luke and I were sipping on some water as we waiting for our laundry to finish up at the laundry mat. (Old washer went belly-up, new one arrives on Friday) As Luke took a sip today, he says: "Mom, this water is so refreshing. Don't you think it is refreshing? Is all water refreshing? I think that all water is refreshing. Yes, it is refreshing." I swear....he said refreshing that many times!! So cute. So mature. (Didn't even know he knew the word refreshing!) Then he sat in my lap and sang "Muffin Man" and some of his own variations of that song. I loved hearing him actually say, perfectly, "Drury Lane." Ah....the peace that spoke to my heart. I know...silly....but it tells me so much of where he really is at.

And speaking of where Luke is....we are having success with learning out letters. That little man is so very stubborn. I took him a couple of weeks ago to have his hearing evaluated. His hearing is normal...and the speech therapist told me that his speech patterns and sentence structures are at age level....or ADVANCED. Yeah!! After working with him for the last couple of months, I have concluded that he just lacks the confidence in himself. I am praying against the lies that he has stored in his head. I'm trying to help him find value in the things that he is learning. When he assigns it a value....he learns. He is also LOVING reading. He has two particular books that are his favorites. We read them every night. He practically has them memorized....and they aren't particularly easy books to memorize.

I have lots of stored up stuff to say. I need to start carrying around a notebook, because I think of things when I am away from a computer. Then, when I'm tired, and I have slowed down enough to write, my brain can't think of them. I refuse to say that it has anything to do with getting older.....

Thanks for sticking with me. Things will get back to normal....soon. It is a promise I've made to myself. My blog is my therapy....and its cheaper than a psychologist!