Quote of the Day:
"Maybe if somebody dies....and they are our friend....we could make a mummy out of them?" --Cole, age 7 (said with great hopefulness!)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
This Morning
Justin has been on a trip for three days....I thought I was doing well this morning by getting up an hour early...in a quiet house...and making coffeecake for the boys as a breakfast surprise...
But I accidentally let a chicken out of the gate and had to chase it around the yard, dropped an egg when I was taking care of the neighbor's animals, gave the rest of the eggs to Cole and watched him drop one right outside the back door, refilled the water jug and got it all the way next door before realizing it wasn't screwed on properly (it fell apart and dumped water all over the ground), thought to check the mail for the first time since Justin left, hoping for a paycheck (our first check since mid-November) and was instead surprised with a huge STACK of overdraft notices from the bank since I accidentally put the money into savings instead of checking, opened a notice from the gas company threatening to turn off my heat on Monday because I forgot to send the check... and I'm utterly unable to do anything about it today since the CU is closed and I'm locked from doing any more transfers online. And then while I was fuming about the bills, Reuben stomped on my bare foot wearing his winter boots and I yelled at the top of lungs, which caused him to BURST INTO TEARS. And then I burst into tears and then we sat on the couch together and CRIED.
So I'll check the mail again a bit later. But I'm pretty sure that the Mom Of The Year award will NOT be showing up in my box today.
But I accidentally let a chicken out of the gate and had to chase it around the yard, dropped an egg when I was taking care of the neighbor's animals, gave the rest of the eggs to Cole and watched him drop one right outside the back door, refilled the water jug and got it all the way next door before realizing it wasn't screwed on properly (it fell apart and dumped water all over the ground), thought to check the mail for the first time since Justin left, hoping for a paycheck (our first check since mid-November) and was instead surprised with a huge STACK of overdraft notices from the bank since I accidentally put the money into savings instead of checking, opened a notice from the gas company threatening to turn off my heat on Monday because I forgot to send the check... and I'm utterly unable to do anything about it today since the CU is closed and I'm locked from doing any more transfers online. And then while I was fuming about the bills, Reuben stomped on my bare foot wearing his winter boots and I yelled at the top of lungs, which caused him to BURST INTO TEARS. And then I burst into tears and then we sat on the couch together and CRIED.
So I'll check the mail again a bit later. But I'm pretty sure that the Mom Of The Year award will NOT be showing up in my box today.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Room Enough
Oh, the days when I drew lines around my faith
To keep you out, to keep me in, to keep it safe
Oh, the sense of my own self-entitlement
To say who's wrong, who won't belong, who cannot stay
Cause somebody somewhere decided
We'd be better off divided
And somehow, despite the damage done--
He says, 'Come...'
Ever since I was a young child, I have always loved the image of huge, rustic banquet table. Yes, I love feasting!...but it is more that that--I love the picture of a table where no one is turned away. All are welcome, no one is cramped, and the wine and bread overflow. A celebration in its entirety.
My boys--Cole, especially--must have inherited this deep longing that I have for the fellowship and comraderie that reside in a banquet with food and room for all. He occasionally dreams aloud about the table in heaven and tries to estimate how long it must be! I love this because I believe that God's heart is for us to care less about determining where exactly all the little boundaries and differences between us lie, and instead to reach out, to love, to break bread together and live life in community.
But
Oh, the times when I have failed to recognize
How many chairs are gathered there around the feast
To break the bread and break these boundaries
That have kept us from our only common ground
The invitation to sit down
If we will come
There is room enough for all of us
Please come
And the arms are open wide enough
Please come
And our parts are never greater than the sum
This is the heart of the One
Who stands before an open door
And bids us 'Come'
I feel sometimes in this life like a child back in the schoolyard, hoping not to be picked last and feeling an ache in my heart for the one that is. Do we ever really outgrow this yearning to be welcomed into the fold? There have been too many times in my life--even as an adult--when I have been insensitive and uncaring to those waiting on the periphery for an invitation to be let in. There have been just as many times that I have waited, myself, for that invitation. The idea of a banquet table--my Lord's banquet table!--where there is a seat reserved for me, a glass of wine waiting in anticipation for my arrival, and One standing at the door to usher me in--well, it is almost more than I can bear. I can't think of anything greater than to be welcomed to the table of He who created the universe. I am absolutely humbled and terrifyingly overwhelmed.
To keep you out, to keep me in, to keep it safe
Oh, the sense of my own self-entitlement
To say who's wrong, who won't belong, who cannot stay
Cause somebody somewhere decided
We'd be better off divided
And somehow, despite the damage done--
He says, 'Come...'
Ever since I was a young child, I have always loved the image of huge, rustic banquet table. Yes, I love feasting!...but it is more that that--I love the picture of a table where no one is turned away. All are welcome, no one is cramped, and the wine and bread overflow. A celebration in its entirety.
My boys--Cole, especially--must have inherited this deep longing that I have for the fellowship and comraderie that reside in a banquet with food and room for all. He occasionally dreams aloud about the table in heaven and tries to estimate how long it must be! I love this because I believe that God's heart is for us to care less about determining where exactly all the little boundaries and differences between us lie, and instead to reach out, to love, to break bread together and live life in community.
But
Oh, the times when I have failed to recognize
How many chairs are gathered there around the feast
To break the bread and break these boundaries
That have kept us from our only common ground
The invitation to sit down
If we will come
There is room enough for all of us
Please come
And the arms are open wide enough
Please come
And our parts are never greater than the sum
This is the heart of the One
Who stands before an open door
And bids us 'Come'
I feel sometimes in this life like a child back in the schoolyard, hoping not to be picked last and feeling an ache in my heart for the one that is. Do we ever really outgrow this yearning to be welcomed into the fold? There have been too many times in my life--even as an adult--when I have been insensitive and uncaring to those waiting on the periphery for an invitation to be let in. There have been just as many times that I have waited, myself, for that invitation. The idea of a banquet table--my Lord's banquet table!--where there is a seat reserved for me, a glass of wine waiting in anticipation for my arrival, and One standing at the door to usher me in--well, it is almost more than I can bear. I can't think of anything greater than to be welcomed to the table of He who created the universe. I am absolutely humbled and terrifyingly overwhelmed.
***********************************
Justin made me a table for Christmas.
It is seven feet long.
The table we have been using seats four comfortably. Four, and we are six...without any company! The new table is fashioned out of Justin's childhood table (in the middle, made of solid maple) and my childhood table (solid oak, cut in two and added to the ends). I cried and cried when I saw it. Not just because it is a "bigger table", but because it is a deep representation to me of the things God has been teaching me the last several years about having a truly welcoming and joyful spirit towards the people he brings my way--without reservation. It is the two of us, made better and stronger as one. It takes what was inadequate and makes it into something overflowing with purpose and life. God's provision for me abounds, and each time I am stretched, I experience more and more of his blessing. And as hard as it as gotten, that blessing is still so good, at its core, that I am absolutely unable to turn away and try it on my own! I am completely captivated by this life he has chosen for me.
There is room enough!
Thank you, Justin, for walking this journey with me, and for a gift that meets a need and speaks to my heart. It is functional and beautiful! I love every bit of it.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Oy
....Seemingly too busy facebooking to blog.
Thanks, Jill and Kristie :)
New post to come--tomorrow!
Thanks, Jill and Kristie :)
New post to come--tomorrow!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Better Hit The Mall
alternately titled: Better Review The Calendar Unit
Cole (as he casually loads his dinner plate into the dishwasher): "So it's two hundred million thousand days until Christmas?"
Mama: "Um, no."
Cole: "Well, how many then?"
Mama: "Three hundred and sixty four."
Cole (jumping up and down for glee): "THAT'S SO SOON!"
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Birthday, Please--Double Shot
Better late than never....here are the photos of Reuben's birthday!
It was mostly completed when Reuben woke up from his nap--of course he was thrilled to walk out of the bedroom and discover it, and kept saying, "that Thomas face is so funny, Mom, it's so FUNNY!"
The cars are filled with black jelly beans ("coal"), green gummy frogs and candy legos. Of course.
He got to hold a model of the earth that I had made out of playdough the day before. Justin talked briefly about the day he was born, then we had Reuben walk once around the sun, to represent his first year of life. He stopped on November, and Justin shared a little about his first year of life. We continued on in this fashion until he (and the earth) had made three complete circles around the sun.
a dinner of finger foods (in true one-year-old fashion) and a new rubber ball! Sean-boy, what a gift you have been to us this last blessed year! We love you and are so thankful for the chance every day to watch you grow and learn.
Dive in, little boy, welcome to toddlerhood!
This was the first year that we made a "do" out of Reuben's day--I guess because it was the first year he was really aware. His birthday is so close to Thanksgiving that we usually just celebrate with family that weekend instead. This year, he was emphatic that he wanted a Thomas cake and that he wanted to eat it with his friend Ella. We invited Ella and her family over for dinner and figured that was celebration enough (7 kids between the two families!).
I really really love making my boys' birthday cakes. This one was particularly fun.
It was mostly completed when Reuben woke up from his nap--of course he was thrilled to walk out of the bedroom and discover it, and kept saying, "that Thomas face is so funny, Mom, it's so FUNNY!"
The cars are filled with black jelly beans ("coal"), green gummy frogs and candy legos. Of course.After dinner we did something special: a Birthday Walk for our birthday boy. We lit a candle and placed it on the floor, to represent the sun. Then we put labels for each of the twelve months all around the sun in a circle, and asked Reuben to stand on the November label. 
The cutest part was that every time he would stop on his birthday month and listen to Justin talk about his toddler years, he kept trying to sneak a bite of the earth!
Happy 3rd birthday, Reuben, we love you!
*********************
And Sean just celebrated his first birthday...with a STORE-bought cake (see how worried he is?),
a dinner of finger foods (in true one-year-old fashion) and a new rubber ball! Sean-boy, what a gift you have been to us this last blessed year! We love you and are so thankful for the chance every day to watch you grow and learn.Dive in, little boy, welcome to toddlerhood!
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