Take it easy....

We have gone alllllllll week.  And while this is not too much different then what we do every week this year, this week with two hour rehearsals each night have definitely taken their toll on this family.

I swore I wouldn't overcommitt my kids and we turn down a lot of activities.  And what they are involved in is all stuff that is different and I think is building them in terms of character and faith and intellect. 

But it can be exhausting....

Today in addition to their play tonight they were each supposed to have a soccer game through the day and a cast party (I'm not even sure they know about the cast party).  I've prayed for rain for days....just to have that break.  Isn't it amazing how God answers prayers?  This morning a gentle rain settled in around our home and games where canceled for the day.

So instead of bustling here and there - which is wonderful that we are able to do those activities at all - the kids played.  After breakfast they took off to the basement and I didn't see them for almost four more hours!  Later, friends from the neighborhood came over and they played outside.  What did they play you ask?  I have no idea!  I did check to make sure the gun I saw in the little boys pants was plastic and pretend (I just had to make sure) but other than that they just played!

Yesterday they played family and Rose was the mom and the other three were the kids.  And I'm pretty sure she "had" one of them - I witnessed this all with a smirk from further in the yard.  Nothing R-rated I promise (we haven't had that convo yet) but since that's been a big event in their lives this past year I can't say I'm surprised that is where their imagination took them.   

So today they played..... And like the gentle rain this morning it was an answered prayer for rejuvenatation and relaxation!

Now off to their second nightly performance and back to reality!

Following the Voice

So I felt like I was starting to lose myself.... do you know what that feels like?  I felt like I was starting to become someone that I didn't want to be and I was no longer passionate about what I did. I wanted to be doing something I loved, something that helped others, to teach, to be where I was called, but how was I supposed to do that?

I mean, I was living the American Dream right? I had a good paying job and that's all anyone is supposed to want, right?  Never mind that I dreaded going to work every day, that negativity crept in to even my simplest actions, and that I dreamed of being in the classroom working with students daily instead of behind my desk wasting away.

I began to feel a prod in the direction of teaching again last May when I thought about restarting in my teaching program.  On a whim, I emailed the director to see about summer enrollment (what pregnant woman on restricted duty with two kids wouldn't want to add grad student to that fun mix?), doubting that I could get in before the summer classes started.  Mind you they did start the following week I think!

Magically, it worked! And I was able to enroll and start classes again.

Next came lots of opportunities this fall and less prodding and more pushing in this direction.

Over Christmas break, my hubby and I did lots of praying and talking and discussing and crying and came to the decision that it was time to leave my "perfect" job and pursue where the Lord was leading me into teaching.

So with the new year, came a new outlook and journey in life and I have left my full-time semi-stable job to work, for free for now, in the classroom and go to school to learn, practice, and perfect my craft.

The sermon that Sunday was on Following the Voice and 1 Samuel 3:9 and how sometimes we don't always understand right away what the Lord is calling on us to do, but if we listen and we lean on his support and guidance we will hear the directions to follow.

*I know, I know, crazy lady right? I have to say 5-10 years ago, I probably would have said the same thing, however I have seen over and over again how God's hand has been there and guided different events in my life and I cannot say with any more conviction that I believe his hand is guiding this as well (~crazy~)*

Sooooo I turned in my resignation, and stepped out on a leap of faith.  Each and every day I trust that he is leading me where he wants me to be and that when the time comes it will be plain to see!

A year in review

It's been a while.......

And I have missed this terribly.  I have pictures and stacks and notes of ideas, that I just keep piling up for when I have time to write.  However, like everything finding the time and making it a priority is hard.

The past year, specifically the past 6 months have been a life-changing whirlwind.

We welcomed #3 to the family!  We didn't know what our bundle of joy would be until he made his arrival but he has brought so much to our lives already.  You would think he is the biggest and shiniest toy in the world the way that his sis and bub make over him - we are lucky that they care so much!

Shortly after Bray made his arrival, my husband, Bodie, decided we had not spent enough time in the hospital and headed there himself with a mild heart attack.  For those that know us personally, you know that my strapping, handsome, beast of a husband has a huge scar down his chest as a forever reminder of his previous heart complications.  This one, three weeks after our son was born, hit a little close to home.

So needless to say, we've been really looking at what matters in life, to God, and to us - and hopefully all of those things align.  

In our search to discern where we are called and where we are supposed to be we have been spending most of our time with our family, friends, and church.  Those are the things that matter to us most in life.

Recently, as in this past Friday, we have made other big changes in our lives as I have left my nice-paying, cushy, miserable, full-time job to pursue a lifetime of teaching others.  Crazy right?!  I have a whole nother post, Following the Voice, that is coming that will detail this a little more for you nosy folks but suffice it to say - a BIG change in our lives.  We will take prayers and good tidings and positive karma along the way!  Needless to say we are trying to follow the below philosophy... I think we are doing ok!

~Tangent~ (yes, I write like I think and speak - good luck keeping up!) So Rose has just wandered up wanting to work on our Ancestry (that's been a new venture that we've loved as well!) and asked what I was doing.  I explained I was writing to my blog that I hadn't written to in over a year.  She said - do you think anyone will read it?  I told her that there had been over 900 views last year without me even writing anything!  "Wow Mom!  You could write about your gardening, and cooking, and put recipes and everything!"  She is definitely my daughter.  

Christmas Traditions and New Year's Resolutions

A little late I know, but better late than never right? (One of my New Year's Commitments is not to stress over the little things and take time to enjoy life!)

So the holidays were crazy however we more than enjoyed ourselves.  One of my favorite things about the holidays is not the gifts, although I do love giving them and seeing others faces light up, it's some of the traditions that we have passed down and hopefully will continue to pass down to the next generations.

As a little girl, it didn't matter where we were Santa always found us.  I say this because once my aunt in NC had my cousins, we would travel back and forth every other year so that we could all be together for the holidays.  For most of my childhood I remember being surround by family on Christmas morning - my Pop Pop and Granny, my parents, my aunts, and my uncles and cousins as they were added - there would be people everywhere!  My parents house when I was little wasn't too much bigger than mine and everyone stayed there - our beds became beds for others, the pull out couch became another bed and my sister and I slept on free space on the floor.  No hotel rooms just three bedrooms and two baths and a whole lot of family!  It was crazy but we were all together and they were all there for Christmas. 

Now, the family may not all come together from NC, however my parents and my sister and her husband all trek over from my parents early in the morning on Christmas Day to be here when the kids come out for Santa.  Because my mom is a nurse that works nights, we've sometimes had to hold the kids back for a while, but to see the kids joy and my parents in watching them - I would change a thing - especially this year!

 

Another Christmas tradition is my grandmother's dumplings (course these are good anytime of year!) - our little helpers assisted in the kitchen to get everyone involved!

(Bugs works better when his tongue is out - go figure!)

Another tradition - the wishbone!

 

 

One of our treasured traditions, and I think PopPop and Granny smile down from heaven on us, occurs on Christmas morning.  Santa doesn't wrap the presents he delivers at our house so when the kids come out - they can see the spoils that he has left.  Those are free game - they can open them and look at them as much as they want.  After that, before another present is opened - we take a couple minutes to remember the true present of Christmas. 

The kids look for baby Jesus (we have two nativity scene, luckily) who has gone from his warm place in the nativity scene to hiding somewhere in the Christmas Tree (now I'm not necessarily sure of the significance of hiding him in the Christmas Tree but this is what I remember as a child and what we are passing on to the kids - so sue me I don't have a story for everything!). 

Rosie helping Bugs locate his miracle in the manager.

Success!

 

Once Baby Jesus has been found we all (even Dad and Bodie join in) proceed in singing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.  Oh yeah!  Afterwards we all sit down for a minute, pull out a Bible, and read the story of Jesus birth.   I can remember the torture as a kid of seeing all of my presents, that I couldn't touch under the tree, and listening to a story I didn't really understand - but I can still see my PopPop sitting down in my parent's basement reading the story to us.  He's been gone for a very, very long time and while I didn't understand the words at the time, the repetition year after year ingrained a memory that is more important to me than all the presents in the world that I could have ever opened.  I can only hope and pray that one day my kids will feel the same way.....

As for New Year's resolutions, I'm refusing to make any because they always seem to get broken or fizzle out by the 15th (probably wishful thinking that they last that long).  Instead I'm continuing to make the changes in our lives that led us to this blog in the first place.  We are eating better, getting healthier, working on financial freedom, serving others - notice the word "trying" wasn't anywhere in that sentence!  We did continue our traditions into New Year's Eve (although everyone left long before the ball dropped!) where we celebrated with dear, dear friends and family just like we are blessed to do every year.  With the kids running around, and friends laughter ringing through the air - I couldn't think of a better way to close out 2013.

So what are some of your traditions and what are you "doing" this year to make your world better?

Sharing the Love

Filling others cups...
 

Have you ever had to spend the holidays away from home?  And maybe not just away from home because you were visiting friends and family, but in a hospital or alone with no one around.  If you haven't, count your very many blessings because as we all sit down this Thanksgiving remember there are those who can't - for whatever reason.

Now this isn't a blog to make you feel bad about how blessed you have been - I don't believe in that crap.  But what it is about is our journey to try and (see "try" still slips into my vocabulary) make the world around us a little better place and how we are doing that.

Most Thanksgivings when we are home we will go and deliver meals with the local Meals On Wheels program.  We started doing this when Rose was a year old and it has been an excellent way to get out into our community - for her to see how fortunate we are. 

I will never forget a couple of years ago we delivered to an older man, who lived in a decent part of town (some of the homes we delivered to were missing floors, shacks, etc.).  He was so apologetic for getting his meal - see his wife was in a nursing home and he spent most of his time there with her and just didn't have the gumption to cook when he got home.  He said it wasn't that he couldn't afford to pay the meals, he just wanted some home cooking without having to sit by himself at a restaurant. 

See that's the thing that I love about Meals on Wheels and many of the other opportunities to support others.  There isn't a question of the why behind the need - they are just there to fill it - and I think that is how we are all called to treat others.

We weren't going to be home this Thanksgiving so we helped prepare a meal for a friend instead.  She and her family will be spending Thanksgiving and the day after, which happens to be her birthday, with her sister and brother-in-law at the cancer hospital while he fights for his life.  To keep his and the rest of the family's spirits up some of our friends have gotten together to provide them a little taste of the holiday.  I dropped my contribution - and some pretty plates to hopefully make the hospital room a little more homey - off at the organizer's home on the way out of town.

So this holiday as you are enjoying your time with loved ones - take a moment and remember those that may not be as fortunate.  And if you can take time to do something about it - even if it just make your smile a little brighter as you pass the gravy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not Just Another Birthday

Every year we are given a special day to reflect back on the years before and the years to come - our birthday.

Looking back over the years, there have been great ones.......and some I would prefer to forget.  But today has probably been the best so far and I am blessed to look back over the years and reflect on how lucky I have been with the life that I have been blessed with.

I don't remember a lot from my 8th (or many of my other younger birthdays) birthday except a very inexpensive present that one friend gave.  It was a handmade card with two dollar bills through out it at the appropriate places and it said "Two (with a bill here), Four (and another one here), Six (and another one here.... you get the picture right?), Eight (last one!), Who do we appreciate?  Amber!" 

To this day, I have never forgotten this card and have shared the importance of heartfelt gifts with my kids.  When Rose, my daughter who is in first grade, got upset one day because "nobody likes handmade cards Mom!" I told her of this one that I remembered all of this time.  Now, one of her and Bugs favorite things to do is to make cards for others - in fact, I just got mine for today!

Over the past year, we have been making changes in our home - one of which is being more involved in serving those and the world around us.  Regardless of how hard we may struggle at times, I am so fortunate to have a job, amazing children, a wonderful husband, a home, a family that is extremely supportive and involved - things that so many others don't have.  So today, to celebrate this day and all that have been given to me - we chose to spend time with loved ones and give back to others.

We got to spend this morning with Bodie's family, then celebrate at church (of which Bugs announced my birthday during children's moments to the ENTIRE church - followed by my age....I'm thinking he should not be allowed anywhere near a microphone any more!), and then the whole family helped load and pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  It was overwhelming to be able to give back to others one this day when I have been given so much. 

We will be spending time with friends and my family this evening to finish the day out.  Spending the day with the ones I love, reflecting on the years many blessings I have received, and giving to others to fill some one else's cup - it's not just another birthday - it's the best birthday ever!

"Now I know, I know
It's not just another birthday
'Cause I'm here, she's here
And look how far we've come
Since you've called me, saw me
Held me and freed me
Thank you, Lord, for another birthday
And we'll be fine
We'll be fine"