So Thankful

Today I am so grateful.

So Thankful.

For friends.

Friends that are moms.

We are friends because of our common circles....our kids.

I have taken this group of friends for granted...
....until now.

I work on Saturdays.  This is fairly new to me.

All 3 of my girls play basketball on Saturdays.
This is not new.
But me missing these games because I work on this day is new.

I hate that.
But we all like to eat and wear clothes and live. 
Which means, now...mama works on Saturdays.

One of my daughters, in particular, hates this. 
She can't help it. It's not her fault. She is the one who is most used to me being wherever she is...cheering her on.

The younger two hate it.
But get it. 

Today, I realized exactly how much the mama circle I used to see on saturdays really is more than just a circle of mamas. 

I received several text messages from the Dubuque Iowa Games. 
Updates, scores, and that they were there for my Marz.

I was able to text a fellow 5th grade mama who passed along a very, very (very) important message onto my 5th grader.  And I received a few texts back to let me know that the very, very (very) important message was well-timed and received.

And my 4th grade go-to-mama stand in was not only a coach, but it was her birthday as well.  And she still took the time to tell me how my Tookie was doing. 

All while I was at work. 

I am thankful for this group of people.
I will not take them for granted.
Ever.
Again. 

They were my lifeline today.

Blankie and a Good Song...

Sometimes I wish that wrapping up in my blankie and listening to a good song could make all my problems go away. 



And sometimes.......

Blankie and a song do make them all go away.

Or at least make them seem not so big. 

Being a Bully is No Joke

This is one of those posts where I wish I could say about 100 words for every 1 word I do say.

But I can't.

Here's the gist:

This week, I was given a "talking to."
(not by anyone I love or care about...just an FYI....but still important)
And I was bullied. 
Witnesses were present.
And nobody said anything while I could do nothing but cry and "take it in the chin."
proverbially speaking.

Today I was around some of those same people.
And when I made a small comment about the previous encounter
I was told that "it was a joke."

yeah.
Right.

In case you are new to the world of social etiquette and common sense....hounding someone about anything repeatedly in a small conversation....
....during which the person you are "making a point to" is crying
and you can clearly see that
and so can others around you....
and nobody is laughing....

......
...it is not a joke. 

Super-Power Miracle

So today I prayed for a miracle.

One that would have taken super-human powers for me.

So praying for these powers seemed like the miracle to pray for.

And I prayed.

And God gave me the miracle.

But not by making me all super-power-like.

He accomplished the task by providing help from another.

It would be easy for me to overlook the miracle that was provided because it wasn't done through me.  You know...the way I prayed for it. 

But the miracle God had for me was provided. 

Through another.
A friend. 
Amen.

Now, tomorrow my prayer might sound a little bit more like....
Dear Lord,
How can I be a miracle
For someone I know
Or meet
Today.
Amen.

I'm not all super-human
or super-religious.

But I saw a miracle today.
I'm so happy to have been the recipient
To acceot it
And report back to you, my dear sweet world wide web of friends.

On a completely different note:
I wish I had a phone that took great pics....
Because today on my rural route,
During a particularly white-snow-blowing everywhere road,
I got stared down by a
Cow 
(at least I think it was a cow)
That was bigger than my van.

It was a battle of who was gonna move where.

Luckily no one got hurt.
And I think the cows (?) are all safe at home.

I need a better phone camera.
It clearly would have been a conversation-piece sort of photo.

I just wanted someone to know....

There is no value in me sharing this with you
excepting for the (perhaps false?) sense that when I blog,
it feels like having someone sitting across the kitchen table and sharing a cup of coffee.
Or a glass of wine.

And that, I know firsthand, is cheaper than therapy.

So in no particular order
And only because I wanted someone to know:

Yesterday I got to focus on this young lady and her basketball team while they practiced.

This was the bright spot of my weekend.

Today I was a plumber.
And unlike other attempts at home repair where I have to end up calling someone to fix the fix that I tried to fix....
....I was successful.

This is where me and my wrench spent some quality time this morning.
I am happy to report that the bathroom sink drain is working properly.
For now.

Speaking of quality time and bathrooms, (I know, nice transition, right?) I spent the better part of Friday and all of Saturday getting all close and reacquainted with this:

I don't get sick alot, but when I do, I sure do.
I missed work.
And most importantly, I missed a couple of evening basketball games of the girls' that I would have been able to make had I not been sick.

But now that now that I am not sick, I have a whole new outlook on life and am incredibly thankful that my head isn't hanging over the pot. 

(I don't know why I had to take a picture of my toilet.  But I did.  It's my potty and I'll blog it if I want to)


And lastly, I just wanted someone to know that I am nervous for tomorrow.  I have to work to make up for what I missed on Saturday.  So I will be driving and delivering mail and I get a tiny bit nervous spending 6 hours on roads that could be getting wet tonight and freezing tomorrow. 

Just sayin'.
That's all.

Clearly I have issues.
Pray for me.


And for sure my last thing that I have to throw up  out there is that it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I spent it watching "The Express."  I have a weakness for inspirational football movies.

I also read a great quote by MLK Jr. that is appropriate for today and every day:

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

 

 

Yucky

Oh my I've been sick.
It has been one of those weeks where everywhere I turn, "something" is there to steal the joy or ruin my plans.

I can't get into to much info with my kids right know, but it is safe to say that a choice was made to become involved in a very worthy activity.  And then "something" happened to steal her joy away.

I have been developing an idea for a dream project that I have been wanting to work on.  And now that I have a decent job, I feel that I finally have time to work at this idea.  But then "something" has been happening that has caused me to question my ability to do my new job well...and keeping me from beginning this project.

And then the worry.
Oh the worry.

And then....I get sick.  Like hanging my head over the toilet sick.  And my head pounding.  And me missing work.
And missing what may be the only two ball games of the girls' that I can go to this year....because of work.

So.
I'm feeling better today.
And I have come up with a name for this "something."

I am calling it spiritual warfare.

Which can only mean one thing....If the enemy is trying so hard to attack me, I must be on the right path.

Finding Joy

I'm posting this picture for my friend, Annette, who lives over at "Finding Joy," a nice little space located on the world wide net. 

But it is also for me.
And you too, if you want it.

It is a picture I captured of Claire.
When I looked at it, I was reminded of how sometimes being on the right path doesn't always feel glamorous.  And the enemy tries hard to steal joy, or make me feel like I'm on the wrong path. 
But trusting in the truth, as hard as it can be, will lead to the light.



"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Isaiah 30:21

Not to be confused with Thanksgiving....

I don't make Thanksgiving dinner. 

....at least not on Thanksgiving. 

But on a Sunday afternoon
When my kids are coming home
After being away on vacation
For over a week.......

...that's a good reason to break out some cranberry sauce and roast a turkey.

I'm just not myself without my kids around.

Hoping to get back to the normal, routine chaos that I love within the next few hours.

The Greatest Journey

15 Years ago I gave birth to a toddler.

Okay, so maybe he was really a newborn.
But you should have seen the looks on all the other newborn faces in the nursery line-up at the maternity ward.  They all thought that the new kid in the line-up was a 3 month old bully-baby who was in because he just got into a fight. 

Arriving in the world at 10 lbs. 8 oz, it is safe to say that his first battle with the world began with.....birth.  He was big, beat up, had a broken colar bone, and while I could give more details about his arrival into the world that would embarass him, I will just sum it up by saying his fight to get here was one that he almost didn't survive.  Let alone survive without severe permanent damage. (his sisters would argue that there was, in fact, permanent damage involved)

I would not have been able to survive that.  I can barely even say the words now when I stop and think how things may have turned out.

15 years ago, the greatest journey of my life began with the arrival and survival of the greatest miracle of my life.

January 4th, 1997
It was an atypical, balmy 60-some degrees here in Iowa.
One that was appropriately (and perhpas prophetically) suitable for a round of golf. 


Immediately after Nathan (meaning: gift from God) was born, the doctors and nurses whisked him away.  As the crowd of specialists surrounded him, the only thing I could see was his upper thigh.  And I distinctly remember my very first thought after seeing him:

He is fat.

And then, I heard him cry.
And let me just say, that was the sweetest song that I have ever heard.

I have been blessed beyond measure to witness 15 years of
changing
growing
and transforming
into this amazing
solid
godly
 young man. 

And in the process
I am challenged to change
grow
and transform
as a mother....
...which has been
by far
the GREATEST journey of my life. 

Dear Nathan,

I am so proud of you

Am so thankful for you

And I love you with my whole heart.

I know that it is your birthday

And the gifts are all yours,

But on this day

I cannot help but to think about

The day of  your birth

And how the gift

Was

And still is

For me.

Happy Birthday, Kid.

Love, mama

I wouldn't exactly call it a "hobby"

I have this on-going project that I pick up now and then.  I'm not worried about finishing it, just fun to pick up every now and then.

Claire calls this project my "Lonely Lady Hobby."

Um.
Okay.
I can maybe see why she would say that.

But I wouldn't use the word "hobby."

I prefer the word "therapy."