Talking......

So while visiting with my friend, we did manage to get in some "chat time" and discuss some things that were relevant to my life in this season God has me in right now. I'm not sure how we got in any "talk time" with a newborn, a toddler, two older boys, one very homesick daughter (Baylee), housework, dinner time, homework, and oh sleep deprivation, BUT we managed, priorities ya know.....

I can't remember which of us said this (because we talk in circles and finish each others sentences anyway) but one thing in particular stands out in our conversation.
"you are chosen and set apart for the task at hand" and "God will not call you to something without equipping you to finish it".......both statements God has had me pondering the past few days. I find them true to my life at the moment and a very fresh word from the Lord. I'm so thankful for friends who speak truth into my life, and God who provides the truth and the friends.

becoming Family

above: Victoria, Brandi, Erin (Jan. 08)
I lived in a small apartment on the campus of Southern Seminary. 900 sq ft. and two children to raise. It was upstairs with very small windows, no balcony at all. I refer to that time in my life as if I were a caged bird. I read a book once by Maya Angelou "I know why the caged bird sings", I found it to be very true of my life at that time as well. Few times I have ever felt so alone and insecure in all the days of my life as I did those first few months on campus. God had other ideas for me, I just couldn't see them yet. Below me was another caged bird. It was a different cage but prison walls are all the same no matter their color. We were both fighting hard to break walls, untie chains, and heal shattered broken lives. In the process we became family. Erin is closer than a friend. To call her my best friend doesn't seem to do it justice. She is family is every sense of the word. Her joys are my joys and her sorrows are mine as well. I travel to see her in a few days and celebrate the birth of her fourth son, Nate. I look forward to pick up right where we left off. As best I can remember we had set out to solve the worlds problems together, storm the gates of hell with a water pistol or something to that affect. Conversation should be interesting!!! I love you sweet sister and can't wait to see you guys!!!

kids say the sweetest things

So this questionaire on facebook has your children answer questions about you.....

when asked "How do you know your Mom loves you"

Neal: "because she is proud to be a Mom"
Baylee: "because she is a Mommy"

what this really says is that they know I enjoy being a Mom and they can't imagine a world in which Moms don't love their children.....Baylee was like duh....she loves me b/c she is my Mom......I think thats great.....God bless em......

I also discovered that I wear sparkles, like to shop at the Mall, and I'm so funny I should be famous for it......I should ask these kinds of questions to my kids more often.....they told me a lot, oh and I watch too much GAC television (Great American Country....like CMT only better....lol)

".....and they shall come home with shouts of joy" vrs 6

Twenty years ago when I turned 10 years old, I was an alone and abandoned little girl. So scared and so shaken by the world around me, I had no home and no where to belong. God has restored so much to me. I spent the entire day being so thankful for my life and my family. Not for anything we have here on this earth, but for everything we have in Christ. Why does all this matter today.......because today my oldest son turned 10 himself. It's not just that his childhood has been spared the cruelty of my own, its not just that we are able to buy the things for him that he asked for. It goes much deeper than that (although I am thankful for those things). It is that twenty years later, I stand and hug my child a completly healed and whole women, able to love her children with love I never knew possible in the world I grew up in. Not only do I hug my child, but he is also my brother in Christ. God has already choosen him from the foundation of the world to know him. Not only do I get to be his Mom here on earth, but one day we will worship at the feet of our savior together as equals in Christ. What a GOD I serve!!! He has poured out his mercy and grace in my life and in the life of my family and my heart is overflowing with unspeakable joy today.

I am reminded of Psalm 126 today

A Song of Ascents.
1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
‘The Lord has done great things for them.
3The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.

4Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEAL CLEMENTS..........I am so proud that God has chosen us to share this life together as mother and son. I love you, and I am so very proud of the young man you are becoming. You are an amazing child and it is my pleasure to be your Mom here on this earth. For as long as God allows me I will do my best to live up to that calling on my life.

Mistake #1

Mistakes made today............

#1.....never underestimate the creativity of a 2yr old
#2.....when parenting instincts tell you to get a lock for the refrigerator, DO IT
#3.....get off the computer and go see what is going on when your oldest says to the youngest, "I don't think thats a good idea Brennan"
#4.....don't be surprised then when you don't get up off your lazy butt and find eggs busted all over the kitchen floor because your 2yr old mistook them for balls and thought they'd be great to throw around.

Really all I could do is laugh at myself at this point in the game. I should have known better, isn't there a label that comes on these kids somewhere that says, "do not leave unattended"....hum....maybe it came off in the wash....lol.