Busy, Busy

 

I told a friend the other day that I felt like I was about to have a nervous breakdown… I was teasing… mostly.

I’m not that far gone, but these last few months are catching up with me.  We’ve been busy, busy, busy and that just doesn’t jive with my introverted personality. I’m letting things slide, forgetting things, dropping the ball… totally out of character for me.

Last Saturday morning I decided not to have class with the little ones so I could sit out and hear the preaching.  I was getting over a cold and didn’t feel 100% but really that was just a handy excuse. 

It was so good… he preached just to me!  One of the last things said was that we all need a time to get away by ourselves.  That’s what I’ve been missing… quiet time. Time just to think and be. My hour of prayer.

Wednesday I felt off kilter all day.  I don’t know if the boys were especially crazy or I was especially short-tempered but it was a hard day.  Starting about mid-afternoon the thought kept coming to me that I should just stay home from church that night… rest.  Put the kids to bed early and enjoy the quiet.

We did go… and I was so glad.  As soon as I walked in I felt that off feeling lifting from me.  The song service was great, I could feel the presence of God so strong.  And the preaching spoke right to my heart.

I’m so thankful for a place to worship with others, for anointed preaching that convicts, encourages and uplifts.  But mostly I’m thankful for that well of living water that’s in me.  That I don’t ever have to go without. 

Sometimes I have to be reminded that even when life’s crazy and rushed there is still peace in God.  I get busy and then get bogged down in my busyness… I’m so thankful for the reminder that His peace is always with me.  And it’s not being lazy or selfish to need to get away for a while everyday.

Boy Logic

 

I told this story to my friend Jennifer and she told me I needed to blog about it… so Jen this one’s for you!

The other day we were getting ready to go to science co-op so I called the boys in so I could inspect their hands and faces.  They are building a tree house in a cedar tree and the combination of sap and dirt is not good. 

Jake was clean so I sent him to the car.  I checked Cade… he looked clean, sent him to the car.  Then I called Travis and his hands were nasty so I sent him to clean up.  This was our conversation…

Me: Go wash your hands, they’re nasty.

Travis: Cade was touching a dead fish.

Me: Why was Cade touching a dead fish???

Travis: It was in the tree.

Me: Why is there a dead fish IN THE TREE??????

Travis: It was alive yesterday.

Me: Why was there a LIVE fish in the tree???

Travis: It was our pet.

That’s when I gave up.  I did find out later that the fish had been in a bucket of water in the tree. 

Oh, and if you read my facebook update the other day, this was a different fish from the one in the net!

How He Loves Us

 

When I think of the goodness of Jesus, and all that He’s done for me, my soul cries out “Oh, Hallelujah, Thank God for saving me!”

I’ve just been impressed lately with how good God is… that sounds so simple but when I really stop to think it takes my breath away.

How good He is… there’s nothing I could ever have done to deserve His grace, but He gives it anyway.

Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

He died for the ungodly… that was me.  It goes on to say that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He didn’t die for us because we deserved it… because we were so good.  He died for us because we were lost without Him.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

How good God is that when we deserved death He gave us life… and abundant life at that!

Learning a Foreign Language

 

One of the subjects that always gets pushed to the side in our school is learning a foreign language.  Every year I say this will be the year we get serious with it and every year I put it off.

We joined a new library that offers a free online foreign language course… so I decided this would be the year we got serious.  Then we started school and I got tired.

Yesterday began our seventh week of school so in an effort to finally get serious I logged on to the library website and pulled up the list of languages available.

There are probably 20 different languages to pick from and my kids picked….

Are you ready????

PIRATE

Yes, Pirate! Out of that whole list Pirate is what they zoomed in on.

So when you see my boys ask them how to say, “Oh my stars, the ship is sinking!” in Pirate.

Good to see we’re finally getting serious with our foreign language study!

Monday

 

Whew… it’s been one of those days when I think I must be crazy for doing this and, by golly, these boys better appreciate all I’ve done when they grow up!!!  A week off school is nice, until the first day back!

We got a late start this morning… usual Monday morning stuff, then Brian was letting Travis use the cutting torch to cut up his scrap metal to sell… can’t interrupt that for a silly thing like school! ;-p

I had the bright idea that Cade and I would go ahead and start and then we would do our bible and prayer when the other two joined us.  BAD IDEA.  I don’t know why I think that will ever work, it’s always a bad idea. 

Things just went downhill.

Bad attitudes, defiance, picking, arguing, cutting up, stalling, you name it. 

But, by the grace of God, I didn’t lose it!  Jacob asked me once “Mama, why are you just sitting and not talking?”  “Because, baby, I’m praying so that I won’t say something I shouldn’t!”

Lot’s of redirection, lot’s of heart to heart talks, a little sentence writing, a little spanking… and a little voice raising.  Honestly though, I think Jesus probably raised his voice when He threw the money changers out of the temple… sometimes people need a little volume to get it through their skulls!

We finally finished school at 5:00, then there’s animals to feed (real ones, not the kids), supper to fix (kids this time!), kitchen to clean, and baths to take.

The point of all this is you can turn that bad day around… after baths we read a chapter from Anne of Green Gables and then watched the Cowboys. 

Everyone calmed down.

I spent some extra cuddle time with the one who gave me the most grief today… he snuggled up for the longest time, I could feel him soaking up the extra attention.  By bedtime he was a changed boy, much more mellow and fun to be around.

“Thank you Lord for getting us through this day… and, please Lord, let tomorrow go better!”  Amen.

Perspective

 

The boys and I took a trip this week to Austin to see my aunt and sightsee.  Depending on how I choose to look at life there are two ways I could describe this trip.

On the one hand…

The boys picked and argued and whined constantly while we were driving in Austin and San Antonio.  We were always running just a little behind so weren’t able to do some of the things they were most looking forward to.  They have no concept of sticking close in the city and watching out for other people.  My car broke down on the freeway in rush hour traffic in San Antonio.

But on the other hand I remember…. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

So on the other hand…

On the drive to and from Austin, where they had room to spread out and not be right on top of each other, the boys were great.  In downtown Austin they were super excited to use their own money to feed expired parking meters for strangers… and probably some that weren’t expired!  Even though we couldn’t do everything they had planned they took in fairly well in stride and started making plans for our next trip.  The car broke down right at an off ramp, we were able to crawl off the freeway and right into a parking lot before it totally died.  The parking lot was to an electronics store so there were comfy chairs and big tvs to entertain the boys while we got the car taken care of. My aunt was with us when it happened so I wasn’t stranded alone with the kids. They were so good in the store that one of the employees complimented me on their behavior.  They got to ride in their very first taxi.  And the car was fixed in a day and is driving great.

It’s all in your perspective…  I could look back and focus on all the negative and think it was a horrible trip.  But instead all I can see is how God blessed us and the fun we had. 

Simplicity

I wrote this whole long post on the simplicity of Jesus... and then decided that was kind of silly!!

So instead... just listen...




Ok... I have to say this...

I tell Travis all the time during math “There is an easier way!”. He will use the longest, most drawn-out way to find the answer. If I try to interrupt he has a fit, so I sit patiently and watch him do it his way and then I’m able to show him a simpler way.

I wonder how often God has to sit patiently watching until we wear ourselves out so that we will hear Him when He says “Come unto me.”