Rock of Ages

On Facebook I've been posting something I'm thankful for each day this month. I've already used up tonight's thanks on there so I decided to come over here to my blog. I really need to write anyway.

Tonight I am thankful for the Rock of Ages. Remember the lines of the song? "Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee." That's the part that speaks to me tonight...let me hide in you, Lord.

There are times when something upsets me...and I don't want the upset to spread to everyone around me...and I struggle with how to process the moment, knowing it will pass. That's when I need to hide in Christ and seek His peace and his wisdom and strength.

I'm thankful for The Rock, Jesus Christ.

Lessons and Laughter

Today my family had one of those moments that we hope will live in our memories for years to come.  I decided to blog about it in an effort to help it stick in my brain for a long, long time.  I don't know how funny it will be in writing because it might have been one of those "you had to be there" sort of funnies, but I'm writing it down anyway!

We are on a mini-vacation and this morning we were searching the town for breakfast.  Everywhere we looked we saw "Waffle House" which we were adamantly opposed to...at least those of us who were over the age of 15.  So we finally decided on some non-chain diner and without going into details, found ourselves wishing we'd gone to Waffle House, oddly enough.

Allison, my youngest, who is 11 (and a half), was eating fried eggs.  Now she eats fried eggs the way I eat fried eggs.  Most people see us attack them and ask why we didn't just order scrambled, but we have our reasons.  We like to smush them all to pieces with our forks so that the runny yolk runs all over the nicely done whites.  Alli was gripping her fork like a dagger and not doing the greatest job, so Guy jumps in to help.  

"All kidding aside, Alli, if you'll grip the fork like this..." he said while holding the fork with his forefinger pointing toward the part that goes in your mouth.  At the same instant he applied pressure with his finger, but his finger slipped off and went smushing through the egg yolk, fumbling the fork.  The lesson ended as quickly as it began, and we all cracked up, laughing hysterically.  

We relived the moment at dinner and laughed hysterically all over again.

Don't you just love those moments when you try to share your experienced wisdom with the young'ns and something like that happens?

Good times.

I have some amazing friends.  Today I'm going to write about one of them.  You know how there are those people who seem to keep the world spinning on the tip of their finger?  Then they roll it down their arms across their shoulder onto the other hand where it continues its spin?  Like a Harlem Globetrotter with a basketball, these people juggle life and make it look like a no-brainer.  I would say they make it look effortless but I KNOW there is so much effort they put into it that I don't want to even hint at it being an easy thing for them.

That's my friend, Kristen.  I have had a lot of friends in my life.  Friends I treasure and who have been there for me, and who have in no way let me down.  But Kristen flat out amazes me.

She's the mom of four beautiful, spunky girls...all born within a six-year window if I remember correctly.  Can you imagine four girls under the age of six under your feet?  She made it look like child's play.  Can you imagine four girls within the teen years all at once?  She can't either but it's coming!!!  ha ha (Sorry, K)

She worked nights for a couple years so she would be there with them during their waking hours.  Then as the number of girls increased she became a stay at home mom.  Now many moms with four kids would consider keeping the kids alive and the house in one piece enough.  They would do what they needed to make it each week...keep a step ahead of life, and that would be great.  Who could really ask for more?  But that's not Kristen.  She mommed her kids, cleaned her house, cooked wonderful meals, headed the PTA, organized major anniversaries from a state away (single-handed for in-laws), made every child's birthday every year a celebration for the books.  She took the girls on meaningful outings, major vacations, and handled the shopping with four apprentices regularly.  I can't even recall all the things she has done but every time I talk to her (and that would be daily...and multiple times per day, thank you... even though she's never lived even in the same state as me), every time I talk to her she is planning something for someone.  And here's the clincher...she does it all 200%.

I'm a survivalist.  I find 200% to be awe-inspiring...especially when it's how she approaches EVERYTHING.

And when my dad died, though she lived multiple states away and had four little girls to care for, and had every excuse in the book for just offering support over the phone...she came.  She was physically there for me, for my family and knowing no stranger she jumped in the middle of everything and did all she possibly could to relieve others of any duties they were tending to.

You know what that is?  Don't just call it friendship.  It is love in action.  Everything she does, she does with quality and she knows no excuses and makes none, because she doesn't find a need for any.  She shows up.  She completes things.  She loves anyone who walks into her life who gives her half a chance.

And yet, this wonderful amazing woman does not realize that she is a success.  Top of the corporate ladder?  No.  But a success.  Coming from a background where everyone of meaning to her has let her down, she has been a stability to four beautiful girls and a force in my life, too.  (And I'm quite sure that her other friends would say the very same thing.)

K, you are a success.  You live and you give of yourself completely.  I love you.  And I want to be like you when I grow up.  ;)

Change, Change, Change

I like to blog when I feel like I have some profound lesson to share...or something I find entertaining so I can be silly and funny. But somehow my brain hasn't lately (and by lately I mean the last year or two)...hasn't lately been in a really creative mode. Perhaps because I seldom sit alone where I can get creative. Perhaps because I just haven't jumped in and written. At any rate, I miss the blogging, so I'm sitting down and getting with it...whether it's really worthy of sharing or not.

Today is the first day of 2012. In the last few years my life has changed by leaps and bounds. First dating after at least 15 years since a date. Getting remarried. My mom lived with me during those dating years because my girls needed a chauffeur to their school when they got too old to attend the one at which I was teaching. Then Mom moved away when I got married. Change, change, change. Oh and let's not forget a girl entering adolescence and her younger sister tight on her heels. Change, change, change. I turned 40. Change, change, chang(gggggr)e. I resigned from my teaching job. I started working in Guy's office. Change, change. I got my motorcycle license...and my motorcycle. Change, yeehaw, change. And now, because all of that was not enough change...I'm going to tackle another biggie. It's a goodie, though. In roughly two weeks I will begin the first course in my master's degree. I'm returning to school to get my master's in professional counseling degree from Liberty University. It will be a lot of work on top of what life already is, but I'm excited about it! I honestly...with no dramatics about it...believe that God has called me to do this. I believe that Liberty is the school I need to attend to get the knowledge and skills necessary to really help some people. Because let's face it, we have some hurting people in our world. I know. I see them in my own family. I see one in my own mirror. But by the grace of God, I know that can change. I know people can heal. I know that they can do more than survive...they can really and truly live. And I'd like to do what I can to help them do just that.

So here's to a year, with the changes and challenges it will inevitably bring. Our God is great...and greater than anything we face. So change? Bring it on.