The Season of Pancakes, Superheroes, and Summer Reading Ecclesiastes 3

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." - Ecclesiastes 3:1

I was talking to Jesus this morning about what I should write for this blog. If I'm honest, and I'm doing my best to be honest here on this blog, I often wonder how many people are actually getting anything out of these words. Is what I'm doing making any sort of a difference? And then I remember. I hear the whisper in my ear that this isn't about me really. It's about glorifying God by doing what he has called me to do. And right now, I'm in a season of Summer Mothering.

You know what Summer Mothering is if you've been a mom for even a minute. Summer Mothering is all about keeping everyone alive. We are at the end of this particular season and I've already broken up a death threat (here is where I wish I knew how to cross out writing because I want you to see those words but I want to replace them with something else too)- make that a Nerf battle threat between the sixteen year old who is bored and the seven year old who is just tired deep into his bones. He hasn't had his daily dose of chocolate and sugar yet. It works much the same way as coffee does for us adult-like people. I'm thinking about getting him a chocolate IV...(I'm kidding, or am I? *insert steriotypical evil laughter here*) Look, don't judge. He's the fourth child. If he had been the first child, he would have only been introduced to organic chocolate that is dairy free and perfect. But he's the fourth. And fourth children get away with more things. Ask my oldest son.

At the beginning of the summer, I had plans people. We were going to read. We were going to complete the 85,000 activities that it would take to earn free ice cream from the library (not that the library gives the ice cream, just the coupon). We were going to go places and have play dates. Ahem, for teenage boys this name no longer applies though they do much the same thing at these "manly gatherings" as they did when they were 12 and "play dates" was still okay. They play video games and shoot each other with Nerf guns and eat all the good food (see, the definition of junk food for this one) and annoy the siblings, because why not?

What we have really done looks nothing like that. We have gone on vacation. That is the extent of our summer travels. One week. Every single other day has pretty much been here at home. We are watching tv, playing video games and board games, and doing the occasional chore. What are these books I referred to in the upper paragraph? Where did the summer reading paperwork go? How do I have late fees to the library right now when we barely read a thing?! And how do we have only four weeks left of summer vacation? Can I also add an equally important question here? How do we still have four weeks left of summer vacation??

Because that is how I feel. I am torn about this season of Summer Mothering. Part of me is so happy to have all of my cherubs under one roof. All. The. Time. Except for work times for the oldest and swimming time for the second son because he is lucky and has a friend with a pool and so his summer is all "I'm swimming!" and "I'm playing baseball!" and "Let's see how far we can launch a potato in a potato gun! Bonus points if you hit the old dryer right inside the door!"

And that is also how I feel. I am a total scatterbrain that cannot stay on topic if my life depends on it. How did I go from talking about being torn about the loveliness of having kids home to potato guns? It's a mystery...but anyway. I also am so ready for them to go to school. I am ready for them to fill their brains and their time with new information and new friends and new teachers and new books. I am ready for this house to be silent for a few hours.

If you know me at all in real life, you know that I am not especially optimistic. I am more of an Eeyore, a pessimist. But I have this teeny weeny little part of my brain that is optimistic. And in that part, I foresee myself getting the house cleaned, making amazing dinners and fancy treats, and having tons of time to just read my Bible. But I am pretty sure that is outside the realm of reality.

At this point, I have wandered so far from my original point, that I don't know if I can get this train back on the rails. So let's end with some questions.

What season are you in right now?

What is fun about this season?

What do you wish you could leave out of this season?

Is there a season coming that you're excited for?

Is anyone else in this season of Summer Mothering? I'll pray for you. ;) Because this season is one of the hardest I've been in so far. And I know it's going to repeat itself. The funny thing is, I also know that when it approaches again, I'll be excited about it again. Because Jesus was good to me when he made me. He gave me this amazing ability to forget things- a skill I don't fully appreciate when I fail to return the books to the library or use that amazing coupon at the grocery store.

If you're still reading, and come on, I'm not really sure why you would be since this post is so off the wall and all over the place, I urge you to enjoy the season you are in. Embrace it. Squeeze in a few more play dates (Manly Get Togethers) and have fun where you are. Don't focus on what happened earlier in the season and don't be gazing too longingly at the future- trust me, the kids notice that and they don't find it cute. Be fully present where you are. God is with us and he will get us through. He promised it in the Bible. And I believe him.

Have a blessed day today and don't forget to be a blessing too!

February 24th

For everything there is a season,a time for every activity under heaven. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. -Ecclesiastes 3:1,4


This past Friday was Gwen's due date. Now the problem with that particular date is that it is not only her due date, but also the due date of the baby I lost a few years ago AND my nine-year-old son's birthday as well! So for his sake, I chose to ignore the giant elephant in the room and carry on with our day, focusing instead on something I thought would be easily attainable. A bracelet.

In fact, I obsessed over that bracelet to the point that when I wasn't able to find it at the store on Saturday afternoon (after continuing to ignore the elephant who insisted on following me around to dinner Friday night and then to my son's birthday party on Saturday morning), I broke down in tears. Now several other things happened to fuel the fire, but in the end I needed to acknowledge my feelings about that date.

February 24th will forever be a bittersweet day for me. On the one hand, it is a very special day to celebrate the miracle that is my second son. And he is absolutely fantastic! But on the other hand, it is also a day that I will always remember as the due date for 2 of my other children who never made it into the world.

I've been told that I should just move on already, that these deaths are in the past and that I need to focus on the present and the miracles that I have right here. And that sounds great. It truly does. But I can't just ignore my God-given feelings on this! The fact is that no matter what, I am sad for the babies that I will never meet this side of heaven. Yes, they are perfect in every way now and enjoying our Father's arms in heaven, but I still wish I could have met them, held them, loved on them!

There are many days where I feel okay and know that I will make it through this with God's help and love. And then there are all the others. There are also many days when I think it would be awesome if God would give us another baby and then there are the ones when I just don't want to open myself up to the possibility of this pain again.

I don't have any wise words (beyond the verse above) or pretty, gift-wrapped way to tie up this post. This is just what is on my heart today and I pray that it is helpful in some way to someone out there. Have a blessed day today!

Hidden Blessings

On a good day, enjoy yourself; On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days so that we won't take anything for granted. -Ecclesiastes 7:14 (MSG)

I've been out of bed for about an hour now and have already changed two very stinky diapers. Add to that the fact that my head is already starting to hurt, there are no episodes of Diego to be found on demand for Ian, and he is walking around with yet another whistle (I thought I'd hidden them all!) and you can see that the morning is not shaping up quite right.

Don't get me wrong, this is far from my worst day. It's actually a pretty normal day. My point is that God has given me this day and instead of complaining about it, I need to thank him for it!

Sure, I've changed two stinky diapers already, but at least Ian can go. He doesn't have any sort of illness or major bowel abstruction. His digestive system is quite normal and I praise God for that fact!

There are no episodes of Diego on demand, but Ian is learning a valuable lesson from that: we can't always get what we want when we want it. Sometimes we have to practice patience and wait. With video on demand, that lesson is not learned often from the TV. And that is yet another reason to praise God!

The whistle, however, is going to be harder to thank God for. But I'll give it a go. "Thank you, God, that my son is able to blow into a whistle and make the sound come out! Thank you that he is alive and well! He is a miracle and you did AMAZING work on him! He is a blessing to our family every single day! Amen!"

I'm going to go finish my coffee and get started on school with my other little miracles, but before I go, here's my challenge for you and me this weekend: Let's praise God and thank God in the good times as well as the bad! After all, he gave us both kinds of days. Both are a blessing. :)

Live Well, Don't Just Coast

Looking at it one way, you could say, "Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster." But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well. -1 Corinthians 10:22-24 (MSG)

Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom. -Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT)

There have been many times in the last year when I've done exactly what the first part of these verses says: Done enough to get by. I'm sure we've all been there. We have busy, crazy days, too many people asking too much from us, and we coast. We do the bare minimum to make people happy.

For me, it's doing just enough laundry that everyone has underwear and socks. Or doing the dishes just before Shaun gets home so we have forks for dinner (seriously, where do they go?? We never have enough forks around here!). You know, it's even smiling and waving at the neighbors and then quickly getting back inside before I get detained outside.

But why have I been like this? If I'm honest, it's because I see all of these things as inconveniences and interruptions to my day rather the very real opportunities that they are. When I do ALL of the laundry, including folding it and putting it away-because let's face it, having all the laundry clean is absolutely useless if you're just digging through all of it searching for what you need!-anyway, when I do ALL of the laundry, that is an opportunity for me to show God that I value the job he has graced me with and that I can do it well. It is my opportunity to show him that I CAN handle more should he choose to bless us again in any way.

I know, I know, I'm getting all of that from doing laundry? But it's not just about doing the laundry. It's about doing whatever job God has placed in your path with a happy heart. If I do all of the laundry, but do it with a negative attitude and an irritated soul, then I'm not really doing it the way I should. And this can be applied to anything we do!

I've mentioned before that I'm studying the book of Ruth for my Bible Study. Well, yesterday's reading included Ruth 2:4-7. I'll put it here so you don't have to hunt:

While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. “The LORD be with you!” he said. “The LORD bless you!” the harvesters replied. 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, “Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?” 6 And the foreman replied, “She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes’ rest in the shelter.”

So, notice that when the foreman describes Ruth, he adds more information than Boaz asked for? He adds that she is a hard worker! For him to add it must mean that she went above and beyond in all she was doing that day. He HAD to have been impressed with her! Her hard work got her noticed. And remember, Ruth was not only a Moabitess (totally not something you wanted to be in Israel at the time when God specifically told his people to steer clear of them!) but she was also a widow with no sons. She was pretty much as low on the social totem pole as you could get. Sad, but true.

I'm also bringing these verses to your attention because I want you to notice that it doesn't say anything about her doing all that hard work with a bad attitude. Ruth was grateful to have the work to do. She sought it out on her own! She purposely and happily followed behind the harvesters to gather dinner for her small family (which included her MIL Naomi and herself). I have to say that if that were me, I wouldn't be nearly so glad to do it and I would've taken way more breaks! And if I'm being completely honest here, I'd be complaining to whoever would listen DURING the break!

So here's my challenge for you and me today: Let's do our best to do whatever work God has given us with a happy heart and to the best of our abilities! Let's prove to God that he made the right choice in trusting us with what we've been given!

The Circle

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak. –Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, 7

I did something unusual yesterday. My family and I attended a funeral in the morning where we were privileged to celebrate the long life of an amazing man-my husband’s grandpa. It was amazing to see the line of people, the full pews, all there to see him one last time. He’d obviously touched quite a few lives in his time here on earth.

The other thing I did yesterday was on my own. I had the opportunity to visit my dear friend
in the hospital just hours after the birth of her fifth child (their second girl). We’d all been praying hard for her as she’s had lots of health issues this time around and was being induced.

The amazing thing about all of this to me is that as I was saying goodbye and celebrating the life of an amazing man, I was soon introduced to a beautiful little girl just starting out here on earth. I saw the complete circle all in one great day.

There were tears and laughs and smiles at both celebrations but they meant different things. At the funeral, there were tears of joy and sorrow, there were laughs and smiles as people reconnected and remembered good times with Grandpa. At the birth, all the tears, the laughs, and the smiles were happy. They were in anticipation of all that is to come for this new life.

As I drove home from the hospital last night, I thanked God for protecting my friend and her baby and then wondered aloud what I would write about this morning. And God pointed me to Ecclesiastes and the interesting parallel between those first two verses and my current location on my life’s path. It’s just so remarkable to me that this great book written thousands of years ago is still relevant in the here and now. Yesterday, I celebrated a time to be born and a time to die all
in one day. And tomorrow? Well, who knows? That’s one of the fun things about life! To quote the great Forrest Gump, “…you never know what you’re gonna get.”