Friday, September 30, 2011

Five Minute Friday: FRIENDS


Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We write because we want to, not because we have to. We write for fun, for joy, for discovery.
We just write without worrying if it’s just write or not.
Won’t you join us?
    1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
    2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
    3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes:

On FRIENDS:
GO:
It's a listening ear who never has too much noise in her life for me.
It's a helping hand always reaching and giving in unselfish ways, teaching me to love and reach out to those around me...
It's a shoulder to cry on (even when the tears are filled with hormones)...
It's a conversation that ends with communion of prayer, understanding that "where two or more are gathered in my name..."
Mere acquaintance turned into unexpected, unanticipated deep friendship with a woman who has much in common, raising three children, running around, feeling pulled in every direction...oh how we relate!
A friendship that is more than skin deep and a kinship that is bonded through faith.
A relationship blessed and granted by Him and Him alone, who hears all my prayers.
Him who makes every hole...WHOLE in Himself alone by satisfying my deepest desire to have a close girlfriend to do LIFE with.
Tonight I thank the "GOD who sees me" who fills every crack and crevice in my broken life and I give him the glory for this friendship.
STOP

There is so much more I would love to write about friends.
God has granted me with my two sisters who will always be my friends if they like me or not..they still have to love me, right?  And two sister-in-laws who I love deep.
He has also blessed me with my life-long friend, who even though still doesn't live down and across the street, her parents do and I get to wake up every morning and look out my front window to her childhood home that I spent many a night in...I think of her most days, how she and I bonded in Junior High when we both felt so alone and out of place.  I think about how God sent her to me, and I to her...and how he has kept us in touch after all these years...I think of all of the movie lines we had memorized and code names we signed on our notes and how all of that is so near and dear to me...how she is so dear to me, how I love her....
And I think about my other friend who moved to another state a few years back and how I thought my heart was going to break when she did, how it did break...I think of our kidless memories and the good times we shared, Joe and I and her and her husband...Young and full of life and dreams and how we enjoyed being together much of the time.  How rare it is for two couples to "click".  I miss our nights eating "bear claw" ice cream and watching the "X-Files".  But most of all I miss the years that passed when we got busy raising families and working jobs and not getting together enough when they were here.  
I cherish my phone conversations and sporadic  meetings in person with both...I want to make sure not to ever stop these get-togethers!  
True friendships are hard to come by in this world where most are out to gain for themselves.  I have learned to hold on tight and make every effort to stay in touch with those I call dearly loved because life can steam roll over meaningful friendships and time can pass quickly and before too long days can turn into months that turn into years...
So hold those friendships near and dear and nurture them, so they can grow into something beautiful.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Simply Enough

I hear the music to this song echoing off of the walls in the bathroom as the shower runs hard and fast.

Joe turns up the stereo and the boys walk on their hands and flip upside down and it sounds like they are going to bust through the ceiling as I wipe off left-over dinner crumbs underneath them all.

The water spills as the music blares as the boys pound and my patience thins all at the same time.

I had asked him to get Ayla ready for bed and had sent the boys up to read, not to do gymnastics.

General Mama storms up the stairs and breaks up the bash yet once again.

And as I turn the music down and make my way down the hall to settle the boys down to bed, my spirits fall down as well.

And not only because I was enforcing my mama-police duties but also because I let the anger creep up and overwhelm and have allowed it to overflow out onto the family yet once again...

And poor Joe was having a moment with the boys, sharing a song special to his heart and a story about a cousin who could walk clear across the driveway on his hands...

And I stomped up all puffed up and chirp in and ruin it...

And the guilt fills and spills thick.

And I turn it over as the words of the song strike a chord in my soul,,,

"All I want for you is to be satisfied"

And that is what I want for my children, for my family, for myself...

To be satisfied with "enough"

"Not to (as the song says) lust for rich mans gold (but to remember that) all you need is in your soul."

And I think about a blog I read a little while back about "Enough" click here

Those words typed and his song sang and Joe's favorite song all resounding loud help me focus on the important...issues of the heart.

And as I settle into bed I refuse to allow myself to be swallowed up by guilt but instead I agree to be saturated in thanks.

Because tonight I am satisfied with "enough".


Saturday, September 24, 2011

Five Minute Friday: Growing

Today isn't actually Friday, the late hour has turned to Saturday...But I am still linking up with Lisa Jo at www.thegypsymama.com for Five-Minute Friday....

Today's subject GROWING

Go:

The clock reads a bit after midnight as we carry and lead the children in the dark house.  We come home late night, stars bright...sky dark after a warm visit with friends who are more like family...The chill of autumn nips at bare arms and bites a bit but in a good way, we are home...

I had told Micah that I found his baby blankets earlier today in the attic while I was looking for something...He begs me to get them for him.  I tell him that they are dusty, would aggravate his asthma...He pleads with me that he just wants to see them...

So I tell my sweet middle child, who keeps mostly to himself and is so much like his mama-this middle sister, that I will get them for him...just to glance at before his eyelids shut and he dreams deep...

I flick the light on in the garage and pull down the chord to the attic....

As I climb each wooden length I recollect the tiny baby I held in my arms 8 and a half years ago...

He was so bright eyed and  chubby-cheeked...my precious Micah...who resides quietly in the middle, sandwiched between siblings...oh how I can relate....

And as I grab the dusty blankets in my hands memories flash of the day we brought him home from the hospital...

His big brother, Jonah was 2 years and five months...

He begged us to bring Micah directly into his playroom and after we did, asked us to take him out...he thought that his new playmate was gonna start to play right then and there...

And as I gather the blankets in my arms, these thoughts are fluttering...

I carefully make my way down the ladder and back in the house...

I tip toe upstairs  and into his room making my way up another ladder and whisper..."are you still awake?"

He pops up, all bright eyed as I flick the switch..."Yes!!!"

He's been waiting...and I show him the blankets and he smiles big...cheek to cheek that are not so chubby anymore...

I tell him that I'll wash them tonight, he can have them tomorrow and he hugs me and falls down fast...

And as I make my way down the ladder of his bunk bed, I think about my sweet boy and how fast he has sprouted...growing up right in front of me, so rapidly...

And my heart swells...grows with love overflowing...

He and his big brother are best buddies and favorite playmates...it's all more than I could ever ask for...

And all too quickly he has turned 8 and a half... and I hold onto this love and turn it into a thanks to my Creator, my Lord who is the gardener, the one who waters my soul and grows this mama's heart up tall...

Stop





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Friday, September 16, 2011

Five Minute Friday: JOY


    It's FRIDAY!!  Today I am linking up with Lisa Jo @ www.gypsymama.com and writing for 5 minutes, unedited on:
JOY

Go:

When my husband Joe was a little boy, he was called Joey...

He thought the words to the song "Joy to the world" were about him..."Joey to the world"

and even though the song was originally written about Christ and the joy and good tidings he has brought by coming into this world.

And even though I believe that same Christ is the one who brings all joy to my soul...

I believe that he has gifted me with a deep down fulfillment in my partner who I still refer to as "Joey" and will until the day death do us part.

Whether it's the mundane everyday routine of our lives or the mountaintop (or should I say hilltop) experiences we share...



God has blessed me with this joy in my Joey that I will never grow tired and will always return to at the end of each day, as long as we share the breath of this life here on earth.

So thank you God above for my Joey, my joy...


STOP

Last weekend we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in beautiful northern Michigan and I felt a piece of heaven as we took in the gorgeous sunrise together...


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Filled to Overflowing

Tonight I washed a few potatoes and sliced them skinny layering them in a baking dish.

As I cut into the second to last one I realized the whole potato wouldn't fit in the glass pan.

Half of the potato was wasted and normally I would just toss it in the trash without thinking twice.

But tonight, I stopped dead in my tracks and almost lost it in the middle of preparing dinner for my family who never skips a meal let alone goes a whole day without food.

Images of starving children worldwide filled my mind as I held the wet halved root vegetable in my hand, this hand that has never been empty of any of life's needs.

I thought of Sajin, our sponsored child in India (through Compassion)  and glanced at the picture we received last week in the mail of him with his new birthday present he was able to buy from the money we sent.

No it wasn't a bike, or a game system or a pair of customized Reebok Zig Techs...No, Sajin didn't receive the latest and greatest sought after items like my spoiled children do...like I do...

Instead, Sajin bought a goat and her kid for his birthday present from us.



My heart is heavy and my hand is filled with much, too much...

This life we live and all of our stuff...overfilled stomachs, overfilled house, overfilled garage...

And Sajin gets a goat and kid for a birthday.

Who am I to ever be dissatisfied and ungrateful?

Who am I not to dig deeper and give more?

Not only monetarily but also of my time?

The words of a Keith Green song are ringing loudly tonight

"To obey is better than sacrifice, I don't want your money I want your life"

And I hand my guilt over to my God in Heaven whose hand will never let go and never give up on me...but who will always remind me that this life is not my own...

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. – Matthew 16:24-25

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Afraid of Heights


I am afraid of heights.

As I have aged and joined the ranks of motherhood this fear has increased.

It's a wonder that I'm the daughter of a roofer, who spent much of his adulthood tarring pitch on tops of buildings and climbing ladders up, up, up...

That fear and so many more have amplified these last number of years.

The other night we took the kids to a new play area and the boys spotted the webbed climbing net from the road...



They couldn't wait to climb...

They must take after their Papa...

Joe went down to cast a line in the canal and I plopped on the bench and opened the 
new read I couldn't wait to dive into that was just delivered to my door a few hours prior. 

Butterflies flutter in my gut as I glance up at Jonah, already up to the top... 



And as I skim the pages in my new read,  as panic tries to rear it's ugly head...I see these words black and bold printed right under my nose,

"I see a woman teetering on a tightrope, holding a long pole as she tries to balance herself in light of the truth of God.  It takes concentration, it takes work and it takes a whole lot of faith....Situations come up and cause us to tip a little, and we cry out in fear.  We often feel like just as we get it figured out, the wire begins to shake and we have to adjust it all over again.  ....What are we depending on when we start to tip?"

I glance over at Ayla she is balancing...reaching out and grabbing at the pole before she cautiously steps to the little platform


And the words I am reading are now visual as I picture myself carefully reaching and balancing, ...

and I am inspired to reach up in faith to my Heavenly Father as I take my next step...

And a bit of courage bursts through as I jump to my feet and run up to the web.  I am heedful as I step up but nevertheless I climb rope by rope all the way to the top!   

Invigorated and feeling like a kid again as I take in the view...



Maybe I did inherit a bit of my daddy in me after all...


Friday, September 2, 2011

Five Minute Friday (REST)

It's FRIDAY!!  Join in if you will   http://thegypsymama.com/


    1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
    2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
    3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.

    GO:

The subject:  REST


Today is the third day we have risen before sunrise to a dark quiet house.

And even though my eyes are stinging and my body is tired, my soul finds REST.

I REST in each red word that my eyes strain to read.

"Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it"  

I let it penetrate deep as we hold hands and come before our Lord in prayer, together, seeking Him in the dawn.

We decided to wake early and ask Him what His will is for our lives.

Coffee drips as His Holy Spirit filters these words as they soak deep.

And I REST-assured in His promise to find life in Him when I surrender all of my life...

STOP