A Stranger's Smile

A sweet smile today touched my heart. It was not just any old smile. It wasn't from one of my three beautiful children, whose smiles often tug at my soul. It wasn't from my handsome prince, the man who daily melts away all tension with just a grin thrown my way. Not only was it not from a dear loved one, it wasn't even a friend. It was from a perfect stranger.

Today was grocery shopping day and thanks to my sweet Mama, the hubby and I were free to take our time buying much needed household supplies, including food, without the added stress of three young kids. I didn't plan to be in town all day, but that is just, how do they say, par for the course?!?! I very rarely plan to be in town all day. So it was altogether normal that as we were rounding out our last stop for the day it was coming to the close of afternoon, beginning of evening, and we were both worn out. I honestly feel like there is something in the air at certain major department stores that make me feel absolutely miserable and therefore slows down my shopping so that I stay in the store longer resulting in larger purchases. SERIOUSLY, Walmart makes my head hurt!!! Needless to say I was dreading the drive home and the loading and unloading of the car. Then in the parking lot next to us I spotted her. She was a sweet little old black lady, carefully unloading her no more than five grocery bags into her trunk. When she realized that we met eye contact she instantly struck up a conversation and my heart was just glowing. I love old people in general, even when they are ornery, but more so when they are nice. She was one of those folks who just seemed to love life. She made small talk with me, and Josh joined the conversation. It was a simple moment of "looks like it will rain again today." "Yes ma'am, it sure does." "Well, the weather news did say 60%." Then it pretty much ended with, "well lately once it starts that's it you can't do nothing else. Y'all have a nice day now." "You too" We've had some heavy late-summer kind of rain storms the last few days and I knew exactly what she was meaning. The rain has been so strong that once it started you were dead in your tracks no matter what plans you originally had. Life is like that sometimes. Curve balls I've heard them called before, but the older and maybe a little wiser I get, I understand that it's really just God's will. Many times I've heard "nothing takes God by surprise." True words. God sees all, knows all. Past...present...future. So when we feel like our day to day lives are interrupted by what we call surprises, we have to remember that God is not taken off guard. I love the simplicity, yet complex nature of the idea that God has already walked where we are going. It's simple in that He's God so He's already been there. Yet, so complex in knowing that He's been where I've been, where you're at today, and where every other one around us will be tomorrow too. He's ready for the hurt we'll feel from an unexpected tragedy, love from a surprise blessing, accomplishment from a lesson learned without knowing, and even disappointment in the wrong choice. He's ready with compassionate arms to heal our hurt, open ears to receive our praise, a pat on the back to say well done, and even a shoulder full of forgiveness and grace. During the longest days of surprises both good and bad, God is like the lady in the shopping center parking lot. He's waiting with a look of love. As we were backing out of our parking spot we both saw the lady wave and smile as we left. That smile was so contagious, that my husband even responded with "she is just precious.". In a world where very little is thought to make a person "happy" ,  that elderly lady's "smile-with-her-whole-face" kind of grin, left our hearts joyful. I left praying that one day when I'm old and gray that I too can have a smile that will touch a strangers heart.

Word of God speak

It's amazing that in a massive dining room filled with 100 teenagers I did not notice it.  I can't imagine why a small noise like that would be undetected among this much chatter! But now before the crowds enter, there it is, a click, a clank, just a small bumping.  The ceiling fan near my table has a loose screw and is keeping a steady rhythm like a pendulum hanging over my head. To be honest it's testing my nerves!   As I have my Bible open beside me trying to concentrate on my morning study, I can't help but laugh that God has given me such an obvious example of my "not-so-quiet" quiet time.  Many times I sit with my Bible, ready to study, and encouraged that I a busy homeschooling Mama of three have actually made time today to have a moment to sit, read, and pray. The problem is that my brain sometimes speaks louder than the three young children around me.  It becomes a battle just to focus on the reason for my daily pause.  The Bible, God's Holy Word, can be a small bump, just a tick, to your heart but act as a sand in an oyster. The "sand" irritates till it becomes something beautiful, a pearl. See when we can rely on God for focus and truly listen among the noise for what His word has for us, we can see that it can bother us at times.  During those moments of hearing our Father speak,  the Spirit convicts and from there once the change has been made in our life, beauty is formed.  

 

Let's pray together.  Oh Father, what joy we find when we only take a moment to sit alone with You.  We thank you for a Word from You that not just a book but a living Word. Help us today with focus,  peace,  and clarity.  May your word convict where needed and let us change where needed before irritation can even begin.  For we know that true beauty is found in You and You alone. 

Read Hebrews 4:12

Baby steps~Focusing on even the smallest of accomplishments

Remember back when your babies were actually babies. Even the tiniest of learning and accomplishments brought on joy and celebration. We oohed and awed at baby cooing and smiling, we cheered at their first steps, and for sure rejoiced the moment potty training was successful. We realized that no matter how small, the fact was that we had made it through to the next era. Once toddlers and big kiddos started showing up we quickly seemed to get lost in all of the hustle and bustle of just keeping them from killing each other or destroying our home, and forgot to acknowledge all of the tiny achievements that our kids master. The last few days I have purposed in my heart and really prayed for God's guidance in this area of focusing on even the smallest of deeds. We have had a tough time with our oldest and math, with our middle and focus and desire, and with our youngest and attitude. It's really been some times of thinking "am I cut out for this homeschooling as part of who I am as Mama?" I refused to let myself beat up on me and I refuse to just quit. So I began praying. I asked my husband to pray. I asked others to pray too, the ladies I know I can depend on to truly pray for me and the kids and our schooling when they say they will. God has not spoken through a mighty burning bush. He didn't call out to me in a dream or even make it very obvious by speaking through His Word in my studies. He spoke in that still small voice. That voice that says "listen, I'm all around. I'm still here, and here's your reassurance." It first came when my Hannah sat down for math yesterday and not once complained about multiplication tables. It came when I had the ingenious DUH moment of breaking them down just a few per day instead of overloading her. It came when she lit up because I rejoiced with her for knowing and memorizing them perfectly in just one day! He spoke in a hushed voice when I overheard my little Sarah say "come on Noah let's go play. You're my best fand.", and watched as the two of them bounced on the trampoline without a fight. God then embraced me as He so lovingly does when the day was done and Noah ran to his Daddy with sight words in hand excited to share the new words he had learned that day. Oh, Father, how You love me. The ways that You show me You care are too great and far beyond my deserving. I will celebrate the smallest of achievements, even the tiniest of baby steps!

Busted pipes and a dose of reality.

Today started as a normal day. I started to prep for breakfast and stepped out on the back porch to get some sausage out of the freezer. I was digging through and realized I heard something unusual...running, no more like, spewing water. My very first reaction was that my kids had left the hose running. As I walked over that way I ended up ankle deep in a mini pond that had been created from water running out from under our house. Keep in mind that not only is this the third plumbing leak in less than 6 months that we've had but this time it also falls while my husband is at school (working on his bachelor's). I mentally put on my super woman cape and attacked the siding around our house to get to the pipe which in fact was spewing all over. I found the cut-off valve and turned it to the off position all while moving like a ninja when I felt the cobwebs hitting my arms. YUCK! I was actually hoping that was a cut-off to just the one particular pipe but it in fact turned out to be the water main and turned off our whole house. So it was, from the beginning, a day of no "quality H2O" for us. I knew I would not need water for breakfast so I went on with the morning as close to normal as possible but just about an hour later. We then took the time after some morning lessons to bring as many jugs and buckets as we could find to my mother-in-law's home to "collect" water for drinking and other uses. Boy, talk about a dose of reality. How dependent we are on today's age of electricity, running water, and technology. We really are living in an era of ease. Life seems so difficult and so chaotic. Yet, we live in so much freedom. We flip a switch to have an entire room full of light at night. We don't have to find a lantern or a candle. We don't have to go to "sleep with the chickens" if we don't please to because we can actually still function at night with more than a small flame as light to guide us. We turn a faucet to endless amounts of clear (hopefully healthy) water for our every liquid need. We cook, wash our selves, clothes, dishes, floors, we serve our thirsty children. Never do we have to "fetch" a bucket or "draw" from the well. In fact most of us don't even have the worry of having to keep up an electric pump and a dug water well anymore. We're all mostly on central water these days. I can thank God indefinitely just for the one, possibly vain, reason that I do NOT have to wash two loads of clothes per day by pumping up my water and scrubbing the stains out all by hand. Have mercy! What a relief! The little things in life that we have so much faith in yet take for granted on a day to day basis are often times the things we should be the most thankful for. I often find myself worried that I spent too much time on one thing and not enough on the other. Whether school lessons, house cleaning, or loving my family something always seems to lack when the other is blossoming. 100% of Mama stretches thin on a chart of all the different "hats" we associate with our must-do lists. Today, though, I stop and realize that if I didn't have my microwave oven or Heaven forbid my laser printer (imagine having to handwrite all those birthday invitations) then I would be pulled so thin I would be weak and more vulnerable to those feelings of inadequacy. We have to remember the old saying "When you think you've got it bad just look around someone else probably has it worse." Thank God for the items, people, tools, electricity, and absolutely the RUNNING WATER that make our homes so much easier to live in.

"D" Home Academy

Today I woke up with great expectations and many prayers on my heart. As I cooked breakfast I was actually nervous. Me? Nervous? Why was I nervous to sit down in front of three children under the age of 8 and teach them just as I had done the past three years? It was all those great expectations. Expectations, that I myself was doubtful yet hopeful of all at the same time. I had prayed so hard for today to go better than years past. Even the first day of school has been tough for us before. What should hold excitement and curiosity would lack both to say the least. We just couldn’t seem to get it all together. After two very hard years of flip-flopping curriculum and lack of learning, I found myself questioning what it was God would have me to do to make things right within our home walls. Today was the sigh of relief I had been praying for. We woke up, ate a well-rounded breakfast and lunch, did morning chores, completed all of our lessons all before 2 pm! That is huge, I repeat HUGE for us. The D’ home academy does not normally complete tasks very well. Something, whether lessons or chores or even baths, gets spilled over into tomorrow until sometimes tomorrow is long gone.  So what made today different, besides being covered in prayer? I stopped the planning, preparing, and pondering overload and began the “D” home academy new school routine! The “D” now stands for not only Daniels, but also disciplined, determined, discipled, dedicated, driven, and delighted! (I had to throw in delighted because I have to be excited for school for my kids to follow my example) Today we were all of these things, ALL of us, and believe me I need more work on these than my kids do. I am beyond excited that we had such a wonderful day today and I can’t wait to see what our school accomplishes this year putting all of these principles into work! Stay tuned!

Christmas Candy

For any holiday there was always a kitchen full of women when I was growing up. My mom, aunt, and granny (great-grandmother) were always busy days before just preparing for the day of's feast. We were in and out as kids, but had better things to do then help cook but the older we all got the more we moved into the kitchen too. Mama and Granny started passing the traditions down to us and taught us the secrets to making Christmas dishes taste the way we knew they should, the way they always made them. One of the first things I remember Granny teaching me to make was Pecan Pralines. She had an old ragged piece of paper with the recipe on it, she never needed it, she knew it by heart. She always helped me measure the ingredients and I would stand by the stove and stir. While I stirred away and the pralines cooked low and slow, she would prepare the parchment paper, and get me a little bowl with water for the ball test, and chop the pecans. The pralines almost never flopped when she was helping me. She taught me how to test the candy for the perfect soft ball to see if they were ready. One thing I will never forget is she would say, that whoever started the batch had to finish them, because if someone else stepped in and stirred different than the starter the batch would flop. All of these things I cherish and will remember so one day I can pass on the tradition. Granny passed away Christmas day 2005, I miss her just as much as I did that very day. I keep her memory with me all throughout the year, but when I make Pecan Pralines I can feel her watching me stir.

Pause for the Cause

Was reading through facebook statuses and a friend had shared an article off a blog she follows that the creator calls  Proverbs 14:1 blogspot. The underlining subtitle had the verse on display. I didn't even read the article it was linked to (printed it for later.) I was instantly caught with all focus on this verse, "A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands." Oh, man was all I could think. I feel like this is what I've been doing. Let me try to explain...
I've watched my children lately. Noah, 4, is playing Sarah steps up to him and yanks a toy from his hand, he hollers, she hollers, more than likely slaps were exchanged. I see the look on their faces and I don't like it. They look so mad, so aggravated, so serious. Why are they doing this? Where do they get this from? IT HURTS MY HEART, IMMEDIATELY. They are following my example.  I HAVE to let God control my actions. I can't tear my home down with my own hands. Have you ever made a wrong choice and thought, Oh, if I had only waited ten more minutes I would have chosen differently? I once read about a couple that has a wait list for purchases they think they want. They wait for a few months, if they can afford it and still want it they buy it. Most of the time it's money saved because they see they didn't really want it that bad. I want a wait list for my actions. I want a wait list for my words, my tone. I realize that if I only "pause for the cause" I will realize the words flying from my mouth in anger are not the appropriate action. Lord, help me today to give over my tongue. I wouldn't speak that way to anyone else's children so why speak to mine like that. Allow me to keep close to my heart Proverbs 14:1 and also Proverbs 15:1 that says, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Help me to remember I am the role model. I am the example of Your love for my children. But most importantly help me to give my life daily, hourly, by the minute, over to you. Amen