Excellent Day

What a week!  I could end right there & not say anything more, but you know me.  I have too many words dying to be written!

This was one of the most crazy weeks that I have had in a really long time, but I'm not complaining, yet I feel like I am.  If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you know that we have been in a financial crisis for quite a while.  Even though my husband has remained in Real Estate there has not been enough business to provide for us.  He has been looking for almost 2 years for a part time job with no success...I mean NOTHING!  Then all of a sudden out of the blue comes this job opportunity.  It is contract work, so we don't know how long he will have it, but we are so thankful for it while he has it.  He can pick his hours so that is really good.  BUT (you knew I had to add a "but"), it is located in downtown Dallas so he rides the train into downtown.  No biggie, except that we don't have a second car so I take him to the station every morning & pick him up every evening.  No biggie, except I DON'T DO MORNINGS!.  Well, now I do.  We leave the house about 6:30 every morning for the 30 minute ride in the dark.  By the time I get him to the station the sun is coming up.  When I get home there is usually at least one child awake watching cartoons on the couch.  My day has officially begun & I feel as though I am running until I finally fall into bed at night.

Scott has been home for about 3 years now.  All the time.  Everyday.   Now after 3 years, he is gone all day & when he comes home it is exhausted so there isn't much conversation happening. 

It has been a hard week.  We are getting used to Daddy not being home.  Mom doing all the driving around and all the school work and all of the whatever else needs to be done.

Plus on top of all that, our homeschool co-op started on Monday.  We have never participated in a co-op before so this was totally new for all of us.  And I can't just go like all the other moms, I have to help coordinate part of it (ugh).  I am the cleaning coordinator & now I know why no one else wanted that job.  So Monday was bad...very bad...not-ever-wanting-to-go-back bad.  My kids loved it & I am committed to it & I know that it was the first day.  Already things are looking better.

So, did I say it was a hard week?  I just haven't felt this tired in a long time. And as we all know, with exhaustion comes lots of emotions.  One side of me is saying, "Thank you Lord for providing Scott with a job" & the other side is saying"I'm so tired, I don't wanna get up when it is dark, I don't wanna deal with bad kid attitudes, I don't wanna do this anymore!"

Then there was today.

Scott does the sound for Mom2Mom again, so he and Ashley (who works childcare) left at 8:00 & I was still in bed! Yes that is right, I slept past 6:00!  Then I casually got up & made waffles.  Then we casually started school, then I casually checked email. The whole day was relaxed & casual & I am still in my PJ's!  I love day's like that!  All my days were like that, but now with our new crazy schedule I can appreciate them much better & look forward to them.  We had an excellent day!  Thank you Jesus!

Reflections of Motherhood

Someone posted this on Facebook & I wanted to share it with you. I thought it was really neat & a good reminder to those of us moms who have been at this mom thing for a while now. I don't know where this video originated from or the ones who posted it & I don't endorse them. I just like the video.

Washed Away to Produce a Harvest

We have had more rain in the past 3 days than we did all summer. Tropical Storm Hermine moved through Texas with great force & brought tornadoes, flooding and a lot of complaining.

My husband started a new job this week.  In order for him to get to his job, I have to take him to the train station so he can ride the train into downtown Dallas.  It is a 30-40 minute drive for us & then another 30 minutes on the train.  So every morning around 6:50 Scott & I leave, in the rain, for the drive in the traffic to to train station.  It was a pain.  I hate driving in the rain.

This morning we left & it was cloudy again, but it wasn't raining.  On the way home after dropping Scott off, I was thinking about how glad I was that the rain was over.  As I kept thinking about this, the Lord brought this verse to my mind.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

The rain really only lasted a few days and we complained the whole time it was here.  But once it was over the sky was clear, rainbows could be seen, the grass will green up soon and the lakes & ponds are full again.  The rain was good!
When the Lord brings discipline to our lives, we rarely (if ever) say, "Oh good, I'm so glad you are disciplining me."  Instead we are complaining because life is difficult or uncomfortable. We don't like pain, we don't like to hurt, we don't like to be stretched beyond our comfort level.
But as we mature in our faith & understanding of God & His ways, we are able to appreciate the discipline he brings because we know that it is producing in us a harvest of righteousness and peace.  The verse before verse 11 says, "God disciplines us for good, that we may share in his holiness." (Hebrews 12:10)  In order to share in HIS holiness, we must be disciplined to bring about what is good in us.

That rain we had for 3 days washed away the smog in the air, cleaned off our streets, brought fresh water to the lakes & ponds.  We didn't like it raining for so long, but the end results were good.

I encourage you, the next time the Lord brings hardship & adversity into your life to embrace it as an opportunity to washed away and let His holiness be revealed in you.  Don't fight it, don't argue or complain, recognize it for what it is...God working in your life, producing a harvest or righteousness.

Excellent Correction

Psalm 12:18 says, "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Discipline is a God ordained opportunity for parents to train up their children in a way pleasing to God.  But because we are sinners, our discipline of our children doesn't always please the Lord.  I have days when I wait until I am so frustrated with my children that I fire off like a rocket at them and call that discipline.  It isn't.  It's just me spewing off at my kids.

One of my boys has quite the temper.  We call him our hot little Irishman because he can fire off so fast. Last night 2 of our boys were having a really hard time getting along.  I sent them to bed with instructions to not talk to each other, look at each other or get close to one another, but to wait for me to come to their room.  About 5 minutes later I opened the door to their room and found the little irishman standing over the younger brother holding a plastic baseball bat to his nose.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  WHAT DID I TELL YOU TO DO?

The Little Irishman immediately began his excuses for not being in his bed.  I didn't really care what the reason was, I just wanted him to go to bed.  I had heard their bickering all day and was done with it.  I gave them clear instructions to not move out of their beds unless there was a fire!
About 20 minutes later I went upstairs to check on them & found the Little Irishman sitting up in his bed, while the younger brother was sound asleep in his bed.  I sat down & asked what he was thinking about.  We talked for a bit.  I listened to him tell me how he thinks he is the only one that ever gets in trouble. (funny how all of my kids think they are the only ones who get in trouble)  We talked for a little bit about the importance of obediance and walking away from trouble.  He likes to be the last one standing, not the first one to walk away.  After we talked for a bit, I prayed for him.  When I was done he thanked me for praying for him and said that he really wanted to do better and learn to walk away from trouble.
I accomplished more with him in those short minutes than I had all week harping on him to stop fighting with his brothers.  My quiet heart, ministered to his hurting heart and repaired a stressed relationship.  As Christian parents the correction of our children is meant to bring about their excellent qualities, not diminish them.  Our correction can pierce their heart like a sword, or it can bring healing.  It is up to us if we will let the Holy Spirit create in us a gentle heart so we can correct more effectivley or if we continue to correct in our own strength.  I don't know about you, but  the Holy Spirit has a much better way!

Guarding my words

Set a guard over my mouth O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 114:3

Several years ago, my children memorized this verse.  It created a great picture in our minds of the importance of guarding our words towards each other.  They drew pictures to illustrate this verse by drawing a picture of themselves with a door for a mouth.  Some drew a big lock on the front of the door.

A guards' job is to only let in or out what is deemed appropriate, and that is what David is asking the Lord to do for him in this verse.  Help him to speak only words that are pleasing to God, not to the ungodly.

I stood there with my mouth wide open, not believing I was looking at what I was really looking at.  My son Josh had just cut a giant gash in the back of our leather sectional sofa!  He was about 7 yrs old at the time.  For a moment, I was speechless, but when that was over the words that came out were not good.

How could you do this?
What were you thinking?
What is wrong with you?

I just couldn't believe he had really cut this huge hole in the back of our sofa.  When I finally stopped ranting & yelling, Josh told why he had done that.  We had a new kitten.  The kitten had crawled up into the sofa & was in the back of it.  Josh thought it was stuck and would die if he didn't hurry up and get it out.  So out of his passion & love for this tiny little kitten, he did the only thing he could think of, he cut the sofa open to rescue the kitten.  Even though I didn't agree with his tactics, I understood why he did it.  But the damage had already been done.  Not the damage to the sofa, but the damage I caused on Josh's tender little spirit.  My words cut deep into his heart, like his knife cut deep into the leather on my sofa.  But unlike the sofa, his heart couldn't be sown back together.

I have learned that guarding my words is crucial if I am to build up and nurture the heart of my children.  Something as simple as taking a breath or counting to 10 before I speak can make a huge difference.

Today, my prayer for myself is Psalm 141:3 as I try to focus on the excellent things my children do.  I must guard my words so that only those that are truly good, edifying and right come out.  Even in my correction of my children, my words must be full of grace and mercy.  I am so thankful the Holy Spirit is available to help me do this or my efforts would all be in vain.

If you are participating in the 30 Days of Excellent in Every Way, leave me a comment with your blog address, or find my on Facebook!