• Dec. 3, 2007 - More on prayers
Last night Noah's prayer thanked God for bathrooms, houses, families, toys, Grandmas and Grandpas, sisters... It kinda amazes me how praying comes so naturally to Noah. His sister still has to go down the list and maybe add something different like "please don't let my brother have a stomach bug" at the very end (kinda self preserving don't you think) But I guess you can say she got it answered.... He didn't have a stomach bug.
I can't remember if I have mentioned before that sometimes Noah sings his prayers. I guess like Emily I have always struggled with what or how I should pray. It is so easy to fall into a list of wants and blesses. I feel that God smiles down on Noah when he prays. I know he makes me smile. I am amazed at what all I can learn from Noah when I listen to him pray.
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• Aug. 20, 2007 - surfing
• Jun. 25, 2006 - The wonders of summer
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What is it that makes the simple things so wonderful?
Catching minnows, turtles, frogs, feeding
ducks, finding birds nests, swinging, running, climbing. Watching baby
robins running after their mothers, chasing rabits through the yard,
these are the things of summer. Late nights, fireflies, gentle breezes.
Smells of mint and jazmine and freshly cut grass... makes me wish for
watermelons. Windchimes, frog chirups, tweeting birds... one is calling
for it's mother. Time alone with the family, sitting on the deck.
What is it that makes the simple things so wonderful?
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• May. 25, 2006 - Good Samaritian
We live in a world where we feel at times
that people are too busy to stop and help. There are also so many
stories of "help gone wrong". It seems that the time of the "Good
Samtaritian" is gone. Traveling alone with two kids is scary at times.
It is difficult enough for me to ask help of people I know and love,
but to ask or allow a complete STRANGER to help...
Not even half way into our trip home yesterday, my car explodes. Well
okay a bit dramatic, but if it had I at least would have the insurance
money to pay for another car. The first miracle: We were near an exit
and were able to coast into a gas station. The second miracle: There
was a McDonalds across a minor road~ with a playground inside. The
third miracle: I knew what exit number I had just taken. I could tell
someone where we are.
I don't know about all these other points, but as my mom said they just
all line up too neatly to not have a purpose. I called my DH, I called
my mechanic, I called my dad. I didn't call triple AAA. Which wouldn't
have done me much good where I was. I thought my DH and my mechanic
were on their way to get us... it was only 3 hours away, "not too far"
my mechanic said. Having young kids with you inspires people to do what
they might not other wise do. So we settled down to wait. My mother
happend to be going to the Nashville airport to catch a plane later
that afternoon. My parents were ready to rush out the door to come to
our aid. No worry, don't come, help is on the way. So they decided to
not leave early, but they would swing by in case we were still there.
But we were all confidant that I would be gone.
2 hours into our wait, my DH calls and the mechanic hasn't met him yet
yet. 3 hours into the wait, my husband calls.... not only have they
STILL not left, they can not hook a tow bar to our mechanics truck...
they wanted me to pour water into the *whatever* and see if I could
make it a little closer to East TN. OK~ I won't put in type the
thoughts I had about "driving a little closer with two young children
in that car on the interstate..." I will tell you that my nerves were a
little FRAZZELED by this point. When I put that gallon of water in I
knew I wasn't going anywhere. When I put that second gallon of water in
(because no one believed me), a man came up and asked if I needed help
(well duh) so I began to explain the situation. I knew it was my
radiator and I asked if he could help me figure out if it was leaking
too badly to try to drive it a little farther. Well to make this long
story shorter, this man is a mechanic by trade (so he knows what he is
looking at when he is looking under the hood of the car!) 20 minuets
later after looking things over he figures out it is my radiator and it
is busted. My mechanic thinks maybe I can pour some more leak stop
stuff into the radiator and "try to make it a little closer to home".
(a little side note here, my DH thinks that our mechanic is very
intelligent, but at this point in the game I am not thinking so). When
the man finds out that I still have 3 hours including Nashville traffic
to go, he says there is no way he is going to let me do that. He
happens to know of this "junkyard" where we can get a used radiator, he
hapened to just have come from there. I am getting the impression that
this is my best chance for getting home, so (surprise) I ask him if he
will fix my car. I tell him I will pay him for his time, if he can
spare the afternoon. He calls the place and asks if they have one that
will fit my car. Yes~ and since they know him, and know that he is
helping "this lady with two little kids who is stranded" they don't
charge for the fact that it is already out of the car (it is more if
they take it out of the junk car, less if you take it out). They charge
us an unbelievable low rate of $25. So he sends his 19 yr old son to
get the part and begins to take apart my car. 4 and a half hours later,
he is finished. He wasn't going to take any money for fixing my car. My
dad had made it back from dropping off my mom at the airport so I
talked with him and he said that I should pay the guy $100 for his
time. What really amazed me about "this guy who stopped to help us" is
that he remained cheerful the entire time he was there. Replacing a
radiator at a gas station with minimal tools was not an easy
task. And although it isn't summer, it was hot out in that parking lot.
The job in a shop would have taken about an hour. In a shop the
radiator would have cost around $200. Just for the part. Who
knows if it would have been new or used.
When talking with my parents, my husband, and my panicked daughter,
(Noah was clueless, more on him another time) I kept saying "we are
safe, this is just an inconvenience, things could be worse". I got to
thinking about all the people we had inconvenienced that day,
especially the *angel* God sent to fix my car. If he had decided that
it was too inconvenient to help us, we would have remained stranded. It
is true that when we are in need we see most clearly "God in action".
Even though this story doesn't have the "happily-ever-after" ending, we
were still blessed by the help we received. The engine was damaged when
it over heated and the car limped home. What should have been a 5 and a
half hour trip instead was a 15 hour adventure, with more stories than
I can share in one evening. But I was given a chance to feel God's
presence. It will be a long time before this event will fade from my
memory. The day God held my hand.
Life is hard~ God is good.
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• May. 10, 2006 -
I survived!!! Two small art workshops and
two days later and I am still here all in one piece. My largest group
was 16. That one was today. It was too big. 12 is ideal yet even that
at times can get hectic. But they were all so patient! And often one
would offer to do something like pour paints or put out newspapers or
push up the chairs after everyone had left. It is such a blessing,
these little acts of kindness. And what never fails to warm my heart is
those little voices asking "Did I do well Mrs. Jennifer?"
"Did I do well?", they ask with their little faces turned up, afraid to
believe that what they have worked so hard on for two hours is good.
After given the answer of yes they turn, their hearts now lighter. The
job is done. They can now relax.
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• May. 4, 2006 - memories on the wind
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For
some reason thoughts of my grandmother are weighing on my mind. Maybe
it is because my roses are in bloom and the smell sends me back to my
childhood. My grandmother loved roses. She had a rose garden in her
front yard and one in the back yard. She always had them. I love
flowers. It is something that reaches into the core of me. One of those
"family stories that gets told repeatedly until you are sure you are
going to scream if it is told one more time..." involves me and my
grandmother's roses. I was about two years old and was spending the
weekend with my grandparents. I had been told and told and told NOT to
pick the roses. But I couldn't resist. My grandmother says that I
wouldn't get any of the stem with the rose so she couldn't do anything
with them when I would pick them. Supposedly this was the reason I was
told not to pick any more roses. There are the most hilarious pictures
of me trying to pick more roses without my grandmother knowing I was in
the rose garden.... again.
When
we moved into this house one of the first things I planted were rose
bushes. The memories that are connected to them are precious. The funny
thing is that as much as I love roses I am not very patient with them
and do not do well at growing them. Despite my neglect the bushes
continue to survive enough to provide those glimpses into my treasure
box of memories.
My
grandmother no longer knows who I am or even if I exist. But my hope is
that when she gets a whiff of roses that she is sent back to her
treasure box of memories.
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• May. 3, 2006 - Income~ or lack there of....
I just saw the neatest site... salary.com
According to this site if I got paid for all the work I do as a stay at home mom, I would have an annual income of $133,174.
It is nice to know I have worth.
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• Apr. 30, 2006 - The art of mistakes
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"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."
~Scott Adams
If
we are a work of art, a masterpiece of God's, then we are not mistakes.
We are potentials. We have been created with a purpose. Often the
mistakes in our lives shape us and change us for our purpose. Christ's
presence in our lives is the color that brightens our gray world. His
love paints over our mistakes and transforms them into a masterpiece. A
masterpiece of love.
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