Keep ’em open, part 2

Here is my second tale:
Some of you may read the blog, Mom to the Screaming Masses, by Carmen Staicer.  She’s a mom of six, gifted writer, weight loss champion, exercise enthusiast, and much more.  She suffered an injury this winter which not only made it impossible for her to exercise, it also caused her take a leave from work.  As much as this injury has frustrated her, she’s remembered to keep her faith, to seek His will, and pray and pray and pray.  Fighting guilt of letting herself, her husband and her children down, she decided it was time she quit her job in favor of being available to her children more.  She recognized that things simply weren’t functioning properly with her trying to do it all, yet she knew her family depended on her income.  She sought writing work from every source she could imagine.  She took a long shot, and applied for a writing job she thought she’d never get.  Guess what?  She got it!  God is faithful!  There are still many hurdles to jump, and recovering from her injury is just one of them.  But without that injury, she would not have laid witness to God’s hand so clearly working in her life.

Many question the mere existence of a true God.  But those of us who dare to place our lives in His care, we are rewarded now and will be forever!  It’s ok to admit when things aren’t working.  I will learn to put guilt aside when seeking His guidance.

Advertisement

Keep ’em open

This whole blogosphere stuff is really something to behold, you know?  I felt a pang of guilt the other day, remembering a time a few years back that I offended J with some snarky comment about a site he liked where people posted pictures of their computer/speaker/tv/etc. set ups and gave detailed explanations of such.  It seemed so silly to me at the time.  And despite apologizing in words, my heart still felt the same.  I have a greater appreciation for that site, and it’s meaning for J, now.  I mean, really, how different is that than me posting some picture of my goofy kids or a beautiful blossom on a tree?  And, now that I’m invested in the lives of so many wonderful people out there-many of whom I’ve never met, I can’t imagine NOT having these connections.  The people in our lives-whether we’ve know them for years or only read their words on a glowing screen-can inspire us.  This week I will bring you some tales of inspiration I see around me.  Some are happy, some really, really sad, but they all have something to teach us.

Here is my first:
I have this dear friend from college who is struggling, I mean really struggling, in her marriage.  They have three young children and she has devoted herself to them to the point that she has lost her sense of self.  She has little contact with other moms.  I’m not certain if they even have an internet connection, as I’ve never received anything from her via the web.  She feels isolated and lost-the reasons many fine blog writers began writing in the first place-and, sadly, her marriage is suffering because of it.   I pray for her daily; for healing of her heart, for her dear husband who wants nothing but happiness for her, for strength for her to take action against the demons working in her life, for her children-may they see their mom value her needs and not ignore them.  I wish that I could fix it all for her, but know that I cannot.  This is something she must do for herself…it stands to be a defining moment in her life.

I vow to love and care for myself.  Not for my children.  Not for my husband.  Not for my parents.  For ME!

It’s been a while!

It seems like it’s been an eternity since I last wrote.  In fact, it’s been nearly a month, which is just sad, really.  It’s not that we haven’t been busy, but a month???  Since I last wrote, we drove up north to visit J’s brother and family, my parents came for a visit, and we drove east to visit J’s other brother-whose wife is expecting a baby in the next month!!  
I’m still watching the kids 3 days a week, so you know that is keeping me quite busy.  There was one weekend where I actually went to two events completely by myself!  It was certainly the calm before the storm, as far as having J available to help out.  
And rain, man have we had plenty of gray, overcast days.  Not so much drenching rains, but too little sunshine for my taste.  And just what does it say when I’ve resorted to discussing the weather here on the little blog of mine?  More than anything it says that I am ready for the blossoms to fill my yard.  The Bradford Pears have come and gone, the Forsythia is going strong, but I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Dogwoods.  We don’t have any cherry trees in our yard, but I’ve seen some blooming around town.

So I intended these photos to up a bit higher, but this is where they wound up and this is where they are staying!  We went to a playground one day when we visited J’s brother (the one expecting the baby).  Some how or other I dressed all the kids and myself in red shirts and jeans.  I seriously didn’t even notice it until we were all dressed and the day was half over.

 
If you’re still with me, well I’m actually quite shocked!  Other news around here-we got some chop sticks the other day at World Market.  The girls had lots of fun trying them out when J made Pad Thai.  

Let me introduce my youngest daughter, Baby Jaguar Super Hero.  Little Lamb is all about dressing up and assuming a new identity.  You can expect to be heavily reprimanded if you forget to call her by her new name.

When my parents came for their visit, they surprised the kids with a new swing set.  We’ve had a few bumps and bruises, but all in all they’ve had a ton of fun on it.  It seems that most of my pictures involving the swing set contain the kids I watch, and I’m not comfortable posting pics of someone else’s kids.  I’ll work on fixing that this week.  But, here’s one of Little Bear for good measure.

This must be a record for most rambling in one post.  I’ll save the flower pics for another day…