I Miss My Mom

Today is a bittersweet day. On the one hand, I enjoy the attention, cards and handmade gifts from my husband and kids. On the other hand, it reminds me that I don't have a mom to do the same for. If you are a parent of young children, think about how much energy and time you spend taking care of them. Think about how much you love them. Think about how much your children are your life right now. Once, very long ago, you were also the center of your mother's life. She did everything for you because she loves you. Life is fragile and short. Make sure you do something extra special for your mom today. I sure wish I could.

My Daughter the Teacher

Today I went to lunch with a friend. Eric was on a conference call in his office when I left. So, I put Joshua and Sophie in charge until he was done. Now, Joshua had some reading to do and Sophie kind of took over the 'being in charge' part. She loves to be in charge. And she decided they were going to do school while I was gone.

All year long she has been 'teaching' my four year old preschool. My four year old, at this point, is getting rather tired of doing school. You should see his expressions when she yells, "Jeremiah, it's time for school!" He stomps into the school room, muttering things like, "Oh, great!" Recently, she has gotten Owen in on the action. Since it is still all new to him, he actually sits there and participates. It's a trip!

Well, today while I was at lunch, she called me three times, asking me if 'her students' could do this or do that. The second phone call entailed asking me if she could give her students a bath. What in the world? What in the world? Where in the world is your father? No, you cannot give them a bath!

So...I get home later and find out the 'why' behind wanting to give them baths. She decided today was 'picture day' at preschool and wanted to get them all fresh. Since I said no to baths, she put that really stiff hair gel all over their hair--you know the kind that makes it hard and crinkly like straw. Jeremiah has this infatuation for this pink shirt right now--it used to be Joshua's...um, like last year. So it is about two sizes too big. But he soooo wants to wear it. So I guess he picked it for 'picture day'. Check out the shots--they are hilarious:

Nice stance:

This one is particularly nice:Even some graduation pics--she was on top of it.

An action shot--with some illuminating light in the background. Nice touch.Student #2, before hair gel:Student #2, after hair gel:Yep, that's our O Factor!And let's not forget the teacher:

Soph, you make me laugh...i almost laughed about 'Picture Day' as hard as I laughed about Cafe Disco.

National Day of Prayer

This morning my devotional in 'Streams in the Desert' was all about persevering in prayer. It was most appropriate for this day. It was so very good that I thought I'd share it with you:

Jesus told his desciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1

The failure to persevere is the most common problem in prayer and intercession. We begin to pray for something, raising our petitions for a day, a week, or even a month, but then if we have not received a definite answer, we quickly give up and stop praying for it altogether.

This is a mistake with deadly consequences and is simply a trap where we begin many things but never see them completed. It leads to ruin in every area of life. People who get into the habit of starting without ever finishing form the habit of failure. And those who begin praying about something without ever praying it through to a successful conclusion form the same habit in prayer. Giving up is admitting failure and defeat. Defeat then leads to discouragement and doubt in the power of prayer, and that is fatal to the success of a person's prayer life.

People often ask, "How long should I pray? Shouldn't I come to the place where I stop praying and leave the matter in God's hands?" The only answer is this: Pray until what you pray for has been accomplished or until you have complete assurance in your heart that it will be. Only when one of these two conditions has been met is it safe to stop persisting in prayer, for prayer not only is calling upon God but is also a battle with Satan. And because God uses our intercession as a mighty weapon of victory in the conflict, He alone must decide when it is safe to cease from petitioning. Therefore we dare not stop praying until either the answer itself has come or we receive assurance it will come.

In the first instance, we stop because we actually see the answer. In the second, we stop because we believe, and faith in our hearts is as trust worthy as the sight or our eyes, for it is "faith from God" (Eph. 6:23) and the "faith of God" (Rom. 3:3 KJV) that we have within us.

As we live a life of prayer, we will more and more come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance. We will know when to quietly rest in it or when to continue praying until we receive His answer. from the Practice of Prayer

Wait at God's promise until He meets you there, for He always returns by the path of His promises. selected

My quick added thoughts: I don't think this addresses the fact that sometimes God says 'no' to what we are praying about. God will either realign our will with His and change how and what we are praying for or He will say 'no.' Either way, one thing is for sure: He is always faithful to answer us.

First Meeting

Our two nieces met their great grandparents yesterday for the first time! What a sweet picture. Maggie is named after our grandmother--she is holding her. I think I see some resemblance! Gigi is holding Meryl, who looks like she is sleeping away!

Random Wed. thoughts

• I can't wait to watch 'Little Guy' play his first t-ball game tonight!
• Our two year old has been delightful lately--ohhh, I hesitate to say that--I am going to have to eat those words!
• 'Case of the missing toothbrushes': solved. There is a small whole about an inch in diameter in our drywall behind the bathroom door (where our doorstopper ceased working and caused the door handle to pierce our wall). No, I am not kidding. Owen has been throwing our toothbrushes into this small whole, never to be seen again unless we tear down the wall. So, there sits our six toothbrushes...forever.
• Last Friday we had the most lame day of school ever. I turned on the History channel and we learned all about the blizzard of 1977 that hit New York and Chicago. Ask my children anything about this. They are now experts.
• We are SO READY for school to be OVER!
• I want to go on vacation so I can read the ten books piled up on my bedside table! Life is getting in the way of reading :)

Biblical Manhood

Eric brought home a sermon yesterday that he told me to listen to. It is called Biblical Manhood preached by Voddie Bauchum (not sure I spelled his name right). Eric and some men from our church have been getting together weekly listening to various sermons and discussing them. This one is the one they are discussing today. It was excellent! Some points from it were:

• God made the husband the head of the household. It is not a co-leadership. The man is the head, period. The woman was created to be his helper, period. The man was created first. The woman was made for him and from him. The Lord brought the woman to the man.
• The man being the head of the home DOES NOT mean by any means that he is a tyrant or that he lords this authority over his wife. NOT AT ALL. Quite the contrary. He does it by loving her so much that he'd die for her, if necessary. Ephesians 5:25-29: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.'
• Okay these last two points are my favorite: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word' ... Husbands are to be the spiritual leaders of the home by discipling and mentoring her through God's Word and bathing her in prayer! It is not the other way around! It is the husbands leading the wives in this area!
• Lastly, Voddie discussed that the husband is to come up with a spiritual vision for their marriage. He needs to have a vision: 'okay, this is what our purpose is, this is where were going, this is what we are going to be passionate about. Now, woman, you go do the day to day stuff.' Okay, he didn't say it quite like that. It was much more eloquent but you get the picture. That women need to know what their purpose is so that they can do the day in day out functions and that that purpose can spur her on through the mundaneness of life.
• By the way, I think someone needs to preach on Biblical Womanhood and our role in marriage and put us women in our place :) . God is and has been convicting me in the area of submission, especially lately. The book 'Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free' by Nancy Lee DeMoss has an excellent chapter on marriage and the lies we believe about marriage. It has helped me in reframing my mind with God's truth concerning my role, as I am constantly bombarded from all fronts by the world's view. This book is incredible in all ways--I highly recommend it! I think every woman should own a copy and read it every year or so!

If you are interested in hearing this sermon, I can find out from where you can download it. By the way, Voddie wrote an excellent book entitled 'The Family Driven Faith'. I highly recommend it, too! It is about having a family integrated church. It is excellent.

'More of Him, less of me'

The wicked witch of the west moved in and established residency in me on Thursday and stayed two days, casting spells upon all who got too near :) ...okay, kidding about the casting spells part but not about the witchy part....oh my, I was a witchy woman and prickly all over. But now it's over and the witch has moved on to indwell in some other moody lady. Actually, the Lord is trying to teach me through these moody days that like to come around every four weeks or so. It is an invitation to rely on Him solely, to cast all my cares, anxieties, moodiness, anger, and frustations upon Him. The tough part is doing this when I am absolutely so very tired and such a grump that I don't feel like it. You ever been there? You know that land of no return, when your attitude is so far south that you think 'forget it--it can't be turned around'? Honestly, I think we women just like to chalk it up to hormones and 'that's just the way it is'; I think we do this because it is far easier than having to wrestle the thing out in prayer and 'choosing' to be joyful when everything in us yells 'Woe is me!' It requires effort when we don't feel like giving any effort.

I really feel like the Lord is trying to teach me to see these times when my emotions feel out of control as opportunities for Him to display more of Himself and His power in my life. It is an opportunity to pray for God's grace to be sufficient in my weakness and to experience that I really CAN do all things through Him who strengthens me! This struggle really just comes down to the one thing that all struggles in our life come down to: 'I need more of HIM and less of me'. Yes, more of HIM, less of me.

The next time this moodiness comes around I hope to be better equipped to deal with it--I am going to put on my prayer boots and get in the trenches and fight this battle head on--and win!

'But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.' 2 Cor. 12:9-10