Waiting

Ahh, waiting...definitely not my strong point! Peter and I are stuck in an airport in Dallas right now. Our plane was delayed and we're having to wait for it to leave Houston and head this way. My first reaction to this "delayed" news was that of irritation. Our day was going so good and we were going to get to Midland with plenty of time to relax and enjoy the scenery, maybe do a little shopping. Those were our plans, and I'm a "plan" kind of person. I don't react kindly when my plans are messed up...just ask my husband!
And now I'm being forced to wait for an unknown amount of time. It's just frustrating!
But then I heard something.
I overheard the ticket guy explaining to another passenger that our plane was delayed getting here because of a tornado in Florida. The plane's route had to be changed in order to maintain the safety of the passengers and to avoid the oncoming storm. My irritation suddenly seemed very petty and small when I considered the fact that I would hope pilots on a plane I'm on would put my safety first too!
Then I was suddenly reminded of Who the pilot of my life is and of how so very often I chart my own course, come up with my own flight plan, and then get irritated when my plans are delayed or changed because of unforeseen circumstances. 

I usually never stop to consider that I'm not the pilot, God is. I'm just the co-pilot, and sometimes really, I'm just a passenger, waiting to get to my next destination. I can't see the bigger picture, but He can. Those delays and waiting times should just be seen as opportunities to be busy where I am, and also as affirmation that the God of the universe has His hand of protection over my small little grouchy undeserving passenger of a self!
So I'm still waiting on my plane, but now I'm doing so with a smile on my face! I'm DELIBERATELY waiting. It has a purpose. Just like I know that God also has a purpose for every day of my life...even when I'm waiting!

More Than Lemonade!

A lemon is a strange fruit.
It's such a bright pretty color, and it has these huge green leaves on the stem.  To look at it, you'd never guess how incredibly sour tasting the actual fruit part is!  When I think about a fruit, my first thought is of eating it!  I personally would never eat a lemon by itself.  It's not the least bit enjoyable.  Peter and I gave both our kids lemons when they were babies just so we could laugh hysterically at the funny expression they made as they bit in to it!  I know, that's horrible...but it was also funny!
Be careful with that lemon juice though!  If the lemon juice squirts you in the eye, or gets in the tiniest cut, well, it hurts like a mug!
A lemon is one of those things in life that make me wonder exactly what God pictured us using them for when He created them?  Was there a grand purpose, or did God just want to laugh at us like I laughed at my own kids?! I'm just kidding. There's a purpose to everything God does!
A lemon CAN be used, and used well, once you know the correct ways to use it!
I love, love, love drinking an ice cold glass of water with some fresh lemon juice squeezed in.  Yum.  It makes my mouth water right now just thinking about it!  A little bit goes a long way though, so don't over-squeeze!
The lemon rind can be used in tons of cooking recipes.  I'm actually baking lemon cakes this weekend that call for lemon zest (the rind) and lemon juice!
Lemon juice can also be used to clean with, shine stainless steel, keep other fruits from discoloring, and kill germs on cutting boards!
And there are tons of other uses as well.  I don't like lemonade so that old adage "when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade" does NOT apply to me...but it may to you!
Like I said, a lemon is strange fruit.  It's a fruit that's not really eaten as a fruit.
But even though it appears sour and useless upon first inspection, if you dig deeper and try harder, you can find so many ways to use this beautiful fruit.
My life is that way occasionally. Honestly, more often than not! On the outside, it looks pretty, bright...but on the inside a bit of sourness creeps in.  An unexpected shock occurs and I make that scrunched-up face and stick my tongue out at the problem. Sometimes, I would rather put that lemon on the shelf and ignore it and it's sourness.  But, like the lemon, God has allowed this problem here for a purpose at this specific time in my life.  I have to dig deeper, look passed the sourness, and figure out where the good lies inside this particular lemon.  And there's always a good!  If I'm willing to put the effort into scraping the rind to get the zest of life, or putting pressure on it and working to get the juice out, it turns out good in the end.
I'm dealing with a bit of lemon right now, and it's been awesome to me, once I asked God to show me how to use it, to watch that lemon turn into something sweet instead of something sour.
When life serves you a lemon, don't just assume you're only choice is lemonade...make it creative, dig deeper and make that sour thing turn into something miraculously sweet in your life!  That's my prayer for you and I both!

The Mega-mind of Moms

All moms are genetically altered at the moment they give birth or bring a child into their home.  When you become a mom, your brain suddenly morphs into "mega" capacity.  Now, unlike your life BEFORE children, your brain suddenly has the ability to contain microscopic details, needs, emotions and whereabouts of numerous other people at ALL times.  And there is a reason that this happens!
You are no longer your own person. Unlike with marriage, where you basically share yourself with one person, and typically retain half of yourself.  Not any longer.  Oh no.  Now the half of yourself that you didn't give to your husband is split again, and again, and again. 
However, thanks to your mega-mind, it is easy for you, as a mom, to juggle the lives and necessities of three other people, plus the family pet!  At all times, you know what size clothing each person in the house is in, what they have enough of and what they need more of.  You know what foods each person does and does not like, and how to fix something that is nutritious as well as pleasing!  You, mother with the mega-mind, always know who's had what vaccines, when the next one is due, what the kids reactions are to that and what different signals mean that your child may be getting sick.  You know when your husband needs to get out of the house, when he needs more sleep, when he needs...something else, and when HE needs to go to the doctor.  You are the one who house-broke the dog, and you keep track of how many times the dog has been outside to do his business, what signals he gives when he needs to go out, if he needs more dog food, when HIS last vet check-up was, when he last had his nails cut, and you manage to teach him some neat tricks too. 
Yes, Mom, it's a good thing that you have your mega-mind!  Otherwise the constant scheduling and planning and knowing and doing for others would drain your normal brain.  You might not be able to keep track of all the groceries and the grocery shopping, the laundry, the kid's homework, paying the bills and balancing the accounts, cleaning the house, washing the kids, feeding the kids, teaching the kids, running the errands, washing the clothes, letting the dog out and in and out and in, scheduling appointments, and picking up kids from school right in the middle of your day, and always knowing what's on the schedule for the rest of the month.  Thanks to your mega-mind, the constant activity in your brain does not run you down!


Hmmm.  If only that were completely true!  It's a nice thought though!  I do think God wires mothers differently so that we ARE able to constantly keep track of "what's what" in each member of our family. 
Men, on the other hand.  Well.  I won't go there!

A series of unfortunate events...

Today I marginally avoided catastrophe!
I almost burned my house down.
Yes, really, I'm not joking!
Tuesday's are always busy and a little hectic for me.  Most Tuesdays I babysit two little girls who are close to the same age as my own daughter, and today that was the case.  The three girls and I had been coloring in the kitchen...why the kitchen?...I don't know! That's just what happened!  They were sitting in the floor and I was standing at the stove and coloring a "Flat Stanley" that my neice had sent to me in the mail.  Once we were all finished I packed up all the crayons and the coloring books and put it all away.  My two year old daughter, London, had rolled up one of her coloring pages into a tube to make a spyglass and she was playing with it while I was cleaning up our mess.  At one point she unrolled it and drew a triangle on it. She showed me the triangle and was so proud of it she said she wanted to keep it and show it to Daddy.  I laid the slightly-rolled-up paper at the back of the stove while I packed away the last of the crayons and moved Flat Stanley over to the counter-top.
It was lunch time and the girls wanted Macaroni and Cheese so I got out a pot, filled it with water and was about to place it on the burner when I smelled it....
No, not smoke - poop!
One of the girls had a dirty diaper.  I thought, I'll turn on the burner and while waiting for the water to boil I'll run and change her diaper.  I flipped on the burner, grabbed up the girl and headed for the bedroom.  A minute later I carried her back in the living room and deposited her on the floor just as my phone rang. I answered my phone and was talking to my neighbor just as I walked around the corner into the kitchen - where I was met with the sight of flames on my stove!
Not only was my water NOT boiling, I had turned on the WRONG burner! And said burner just happened to be a little too close to the coloring page my daughter had handed me earlier!  The page was now burning and pieces of ash were floating up, sprinkling my stove and landing in my pot of un-boiling water!
Without letting go of the phone (why would I? I'm a mom, I know how to multi-task!) I said "Holy Moley! I have a fire in my kitchen!"  I grabbed the piece of paper by a corner not engulfed by flames and tossed it into the sink! Then I dipped my fingers into the still-cold water in the pot and flicked water on the ash all over my stove!
Then, in the spirit of a true mom, I calmly continued my conversation with my neighbor...
As soon as I got off the phone though, I realized how close to calamity I had come!
I've been studying the book of Job lately and his life. Last night, at our Bible study, one person had commented that a study like this always makes you wonder what you're about to go through that will compare. 
My first thought, as I stared down at the burned coloring page in the sink and the ash on my stovetop, was Oh, please don't let this be a little taste of what may be to come!
However, I do want to be ready when those times come in which God changes the course of my life, the plans I have for my day. He WILL do so...sometimes He uses easy methods and welcoming things, and sometimes He uses what we might call a series of unfortunate events (usually to test us and teach us)!  My plan for that moment had been to make lunch for the girls...but in the process I got distracted, took my eyes off of the job at hand and that was almost devastating.  I had to start over, empty out the ashy pot of water and fill it back up.  I was given a second chance, and I was glad for that!  This time, I made SURE I turned on the correct burner, then never left my post!
I'm so thankful that God is the God of second chances in every aspect of our lives!  Even Job was given a second chance at a new life.  God is gracious and merciful...even when we're distracted, and maybe not focusing on the task before us!
Distraction CAN be devastating...thankfully, for me, this time, it was not!

I Have a Love Problem...Do You?

I just realized I have a bit of a love problem...

In my quiet time with God yesterday morning (and don't think too highly of me, because making TIME for that quiet time has been a constant struggle since I became a mom...but I'm finally getting a bit of a handle on it!)....ANYWAY, in my quiet time yesterday morning, my focus verse was John 14:21.  As always, I'm so thankful that God's Word is living and personal and always reaching out, for I had read this verse many times over the course of my Christian walk, but this time something grabbed me.  The verse says:

"He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest (show) myself to him."

I read this verse over, and over, and over.  I felt... well, heartsick. I felt like Peter must have when Jesus looked at him and asked point-blank - "Do you love me?" 
I asked myself first, Am I keeping God's commandments?  Then I thought, Okay, give yourself a break, that's a little over-ambitious...Am I TRYING to keep His commandments?

This verse, in Jesus' words, clearly states that those that keep his commandments are the ones that love him.  No getting around it, no making excuses. 
IF I truly love God, then I WILL obey Him, not just in following the letter of the law, but following the spirit of the command as well.  If I have an obedience problem, well, then I really have a love problem.

Deeply and honestly looking within myself, I had to admit it, I have a love problem.  

For the most part, I obey God's commands. I do!  But really, honestly, it depends on how much it's going to cost ME!  How trivial and UN-LOVING is that? 
Take my quiet time, my study time, for example...
I have a hard time making time for it, mostly because I don't want to get up earlier and cost myself the extra sleep!  Then when I do, I'm so tempted to rush through it so I can do other things that are pulling at my time.  My quiet time feels more like a duty, a job, than a relationship.  And it aught not to be so!

My husband is coming home early from work today.  When he called a while ago to tell me, I was so excited! So thrilled at the extra time that we would get to spend with each other today...because I love him, and I WANT to spend time with him.  I should get that excited - No! MORE excited about getting to spend time with my Savior!  If not, then I have a love problem. My relationship with God should determine everything that I do.  God is love (1 John 4:16), and my total trust in God's love is crucial to how I follow his commands...which encompasses the last part of our beginning verse -

"He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest (show) myself to him."

Oh, the promises of God! The hope and joy they bring to me! And this is one of them!  Jesus says here that if we love him and follow his commands, then he will love us and show himself to us! 

I want to see him! 

I want to see him at work in every second of my life!  

I want to talk to him and know that he's right there beside me!  

I want that close, personal, loving relationship with the God of the Universe!  But first, I have to love him!  To me there's a difference in loving someone, and being IN LOVE with someone!  I love my friends and family members, but I'm IN LOVE with my husband!  I long to spend time with him, to hold his hand, to see him smile at me...  

I know that I love God.  I really do.  But am I also IN LOVE with Him?

Obedience is the outward expression of my love for God, and the reward for that is that Jesus will manifest himself within my life!  What an honor!
So, I guess that means next time I'm at the grocery store and I feel that tugging voice in my heart that says "Ask that woman if she knows Me" or when I see that lady that lives down the street taking her dog on it's daily walk and I hear "Go invite her to church"...well, that's a command, a command from the one that I love.  And if I truly love Him, then I will obey!  If not, then I need to fix my love problem!

How about you? Do you have a relationship with God?  Do you have a love problem with him?  How do I know, you might ask?  Well, do you see him working in your life?  Do you see him being manifest, shown, everyday?  If not, then maybe you're like me.  But we can fix it!  Just spend time with Him and obey Him!

Adventures in Potty Training: The Pee Pee Roller Coaster

Adventures in Potty Training!


Potty training is my nemesis. “Pull-ups” mock me with their empty promises and this Winnie the Pooh potty chair does nothing to encourage actual poo!

Kids will definitely “do it” when they are ready…and not a moment sooner!

Why is it, though, that it makes us, as parents, feel like a failure when we see other kids, younger kids, who are already potty trained? Parents will always tell other parents that “well, kids do it when they’re ready”, but are we not secretly thinking that they must not be working with their child correctly? Come on, be honest! You know you’ve had that thought when you see a kid wearing a diaper that is older than your already potty trained child!

Today my house is spotted with towels that have mopped up pee puddles and little pee foot prints. My daughter and I have begun the Pee Pee Roller Coaster!

My son, Caynin (who is 5 years old now), and I went through this same ritual 2 years ago. I started working with him when he was about two and a half and he would have NONE of it. At the time, I was 5 months pregnant and had at first thought it would be nice to have him out of diapers before the new baby came along. However, following many a pee-spotted frustrating day I quickly decided that he simply wasn’t ready and had a tiny fear that, even if we succeeded now, possibly he would default back after the new baby came for attention purposes! Eight months later, after Caynin’s sister, London, was born and he seemed to be acclimating well to her arrival in our family, we tried it again!

My methods changed on weekly basis over the following seven long, long months. We tried the sticker chart and using pull-ups with his favorite characters, we tried buying underwear and telling him Diego did not want to get wet, we tried the rubber underpants and the reward system, we tried the “make Elmo go potty” routine and all the DVD’s, and finally we tried buying a gumball machine and letting him put a penny in and get a gumball every time he used the potty like a big boy! That last one actually worked the best, but I’m not sure if it was because it was best method for him or because we had simply worked at it for so long! During those final weeks there was pee everywhere! He peed in his car seat so many times we finally quit washing it and just threw it away and got a new one and took the padding off! He peed in his bed at least 4 times per week, and peed in his pants in public so often that we carried complete changes of clothing in the diaper bag at all times! The final clincher, though, came not from me, the Mommy who had worked unerringly with him for so long while taking care of my newborn daughter, but from his Daddy! Peter promised Caynin one day that if he could go a whole week without an accident then they would camp out in the backyard, just them two! Bam! The week flew by and on Friday night, Peter spent three hours setting up the tent and getting snacks and fixing an extension cord so they could plug up a fan and bring out the laptop to watch movies. They stayed out there for all of two hours before Caynin lovingly looked at his Daddy and said, “Ok, I’m ready to go in and go to bed now!” But, hey, at least our potty problem had been mightily improved upon!

Now, two years later, I’m back at it again! I just knew London was going to catch on so much quicker because she learns so much from watching her big brother! She started telling me when she was 22 months old when she had pooped and could I please change her diaper? I told myself, Oh, it will be so much easier now because I know what it takes and I can do this and she will be ready! But, what was it I said earlier? Oh yes…

Kids will definitely “do it” when they are ready…and not a moment sooner!

London, my dear sweet smart little girl, just told me that she pooped in her diaper because she was tired of sitting on the potty. Of course! But three hours ago, she pooped in the potty and was so excited about it. Oh, the roller coaster these little ones put us on! When I step in pee for the seventh time in one day, it’s so hard not to lose my temper. I put on what I now call my “Duggar Smile” (inspired by 20,000 kids and counting Mom on TLC) and mop up the pee and try to ignore the fact that I have urine on the bottom of jeans legs and remind myself to wear shorts tomorrow.

With kids, it’s always about the goals your reaching for tomorrow. I must remind myself that this little person that God has entrusted into my care will grow and develop into exactly who He wants her to be. My job is to guide her along the way, and to be a positive example…even if that involves stepping in pee puddles and getting excited about poop when it lands in the potty and not in a diaper!

Tomorrow it starts all over again. I thought she would never learn to walk…but she did. I thought she would never talk in complete sentences, but she does. One day, I’m sure I’ll think, I don’t think she’ll ever learn to write her name, or ride a bike, or drive a car…but she will! My job is to teach her.

And, so tomorrow, I will wear shorts (and possibly roll up the rug!) and get ready to step in some pee as I guide my daughter one day at a time along this roller coaster of our lives together. Because, sometimes, you gotta step in a little pee to make it to the potty!

My Church doesn't mind your junk!

My church is different…mostly in the fact that it doesn't mind that you have junk!


My church is different from most churches…and that’s makes most people automatically suspicious, and some people even angry! Some people have already stopped reading this, because they have pre-conceived notions about my church. I know, because I used to be one of those people!

But what I wonder is why we, as people, are automatically so untrusting of things that are different? Jesus was definitely “different” during his time. He spoke things that went against what some of the spiritual leaders were teaching, he did things that went against tradition, and he performed and taught using unconventional methods. Those differences, well, they scared most “spiritual” people around Jesus.

My church is Grace Community Church. Now see, immediately, some people think, “Oh, it’s one of those non-denominational churches”, because of the name. But it’s not. I say, giving your denominational affiliation within the name of your church is a traditional practice…and again, not necessarily one that Jesus himself used, nor instigated. When he came, preaching the name of his Father and salvation, he did not align himself with a particular group of people. He was what he was, and he allowed his actions to speak louder than words, or a title. I believe that one of the reasons for this was because people outside of the Jewish faith (Gentiles, Samaritans, Ethiopians and even Romans and many others) already had opinions of the Jewish spiritual rulers and Pharisees of the day, and it was not an overall positive one. I believe that today, it is the same way. The very people that we, as Christ-followers, should be trying our hardest to reach are immediately turned off by the self-capitulating titles that we give ourselves. If you were to ask most “non-Christian” people to come to your church and you told them you go to such-and-such Baptist church, or this-and-that Methodist church (you get the point!) I guarantee that a picture of what your church is automatically pops into their head. You should try it yourself…and be honest now! I’ll say a denomination and you focus on the first picture you get in your mind!

1. Independent Baptist

2. Southern Baptist

3. Methodist

4. Pentecostal

5. Catholic

6. Church of Christ

Now, did you, or did you not, think of a specific “cookie-cutter” mold of each of those churches and what the people inside them looked and acted like? In Jesus’ time, I think the same was true. A Gentile would look at Jew and think, they would never accept me, I don’t look like them, I don’t act them, I don’t know all the spiritual things that they know, and they would walk away, intimidated and unchanged. Jesus used radical methods to reach outcasts of society, but we’re afraid to use radical methods today. If we break outside of our traditional mold, well, it’s just not done. Too many churches that I know of state that they have an open door policy and that they love people and want to reach the world for Christ. However when someone walks through their door on Sunday and isn’t dressed “right”, or has too many tattoos or piercings, or is blatantly living in sin, the churches first priority is to change that person, with a focus more on the outward than the inward. It makes us uncomfortable to have someone “different” in our midst. Again, why is that?

And that is where my church is different. We don’t go around broadcasting who we are; we say we are the church, come check out who we are and what we are about. And what we are about is following God’s Word, following Jesus’ examples, and seeing others give their life over to do the same. Doctrinally, Grace is a like a Baptist church, but people-wise it is like no church I have ever been to before! Someone once asked me, didn’t I think that would keep “Baptistic” people from coming to the church because they wouldn’t know it held to Baptist doctrine. My reply was, well maybe, but we’re more concerned about reaching the lost sheep than the ones who already know Who they belong to! Either we can give ourselves a “spiritual header” and scare away the ones who don’t feel like they fit under it, or we can walk into town simple and humble like Jesus did, and draw the curious to us because they DON’T already have those preconceived ideas. Think about it, if Jesus had carried a sign around that said “I’m teaching you things that the Chief Priests and Pharisees have been teaching you of”…how many thousands do you think would have followed him then? I dare say none. I’m not saying all churches are like the “Chief Priests and Pharisees”, but I’m saying our goal should be to reach real people and to be real people ourselves. I don’t fix myself all up and wear a dress any other day, why should I be different on the one day I come to serve God? He sees me as I am every other day of the week…if you ask me, I think we should humble ourselves down, dress in “sackcloth and ashes” and take the focus off of us and put it where it belongs. Read the scripture below, it’s a prime example of what I’ve been saying.

Matthew 9


1And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
2And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
3And, behold, certain of the scribes (“spiritual” peeps!) said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
4And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
5For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
7And he arose, and departed to his house.
8But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
9And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
10And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
12But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
13But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus’ words right there in verse 12 say it all…”They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

My church is different. We reach out to the sick. We are not a church that focuses on those that are “whole”. We welcome them with love, the un-hindered, compassionate love that says, like Jesus, Come as you are, come sit down at my table with me, let me teach you and minister to you, just as you are…and IF an inward transformation takes place it resonates on the outside, then great! But I don’t care about the outside, what matters is what’s different on the inside!

My church is different on the inside. I hope you’ll come one day and see that for yourself!