Another Year Older

The family and I headed to a Wolves' hockey game a few weekends back. Free tickets, why not? It should be a fun family time I thought. That was before the spilled drink (a full one I just took out a loan to pay for), a pre game fireworks show so loud I had to take my sound sensitive child out of the arena because of fright and, of course, multiple on ice hockey fights that I just can't watch (sorry hockey fans but I just don't get it!).

In my head, I'm thinking this is a failed night, a zero on the family fun-o-meter. I turned to look at my eldest sitting next to me and she's smiling big, chattering away about this and that, nothing which has to do with hockey. She's the child I will always remember saying in her tiny preschool voice, "Mom, I just love being out and about with my family." That after a lame trip to Target to pick up extra diapers for her younger siblings. I must have bought her an icee or something. She just loves being out with her family, no matter what we're doing. Happiness to her soul right there.

Fast forward a few weeks and this precious girl is turning ten. How can that be? My heart flutters faster with thoughts of her growing up and out. When all I really want to do is keep her out and about with me, with us, her family. And I wonder, did I spend enough time with her today, her birthday? Or was I too concerned about cleaning up all the sprinkles rolling around on the counter after she lavished them all over her homemade birthday cake? Have I made sure she will knows we love being out and about with her as much as she loves being out with us?

This parenting gig is not for the weak at heart, especially around birthdays. On the outside we celebrate them growing bigger. We smile big for the camera and for the birthday kid. But on the the inside, there's an entirely different roller coaster going on. I don't want to stop the ride. Just would like it to slow down a bit. 

I guess my heart needs the reminder of birthdays, the reminder that time is moving fast but it slows down a bit when we're out and about with each other, doing our family thing, spilled drinks and all. I'm learning to savor our time together a bit more and a bit better each year. 

Growing older is part of the plan and I love watching the growth, savoring the tiny moments together that add up to memories. Let's continue to be together with the ones we love, doing the thing that makes them feel loved, enjoying each moment of it. 

The Greatest Love Note

I'm over the moon excited to be featured on (in)courage today sharing a story inspired by my sweet daughter and her even sweeter note to me. Here's a little sneak peak:

My kids and I love writing little notes to each other. We write on post-its, scraps of paper, even the backs of church bulletins, any paper we can find, just to give each other a little love and a smile. 

It's not uncommon to find these notes hidden in lunch boxes or under bedroom pillows for added surprise. We just love a good love note!

Our notes are nothing fancy. They simply state 'I love you' or 'You are awesome' accompanied by quick drawings or silly stickers. 

These notes always give us a smile in the moment but recently, the words in a note I received from my eight year old daughter lasted longer than a moment. They went straight to my heart and claimed a place in my soul. The note said: I love you for how you are. I love you because you are you.

Head on over to (in)courage to read the rest of the story. While you're there, sign up to receive free daily encouragement from the writers of (in)courage, right in your inbox! Just sign up here: http://www.incourage.me/subscribe.


(In)courage is one of my favorite places on the web. I know you'll enjoy it too!

Braver Than Our Excuses

These words keep running through my head...we must be braver than our excuses. I wrote it just a few months ago when I first started this blog. 

I had every excuse in the book to not start a blog---it's really not for me, I'm not creative enough, there's just no time, there's too much laundry to do (isn't there always?), maybe when the kids get older....

On and on and on. Isn't that how excuses go? They could just keep going on so far and so long, we just start to believe them. How can they not be true?

Do you ever see that thing you really want to do? That thing you know you could do? But, you know it will take a whole lot of work? A whole lot of thought? A whole lot of time? Yep, that one.

That's the one where we need to be braver than our excuses. We need to tell those excuses to move out of the way. There's no room for them. We have a job to do. We have a dream to chase. We have a goal to reach. 

The road may be murky, foggy at best. Our vision may be clear one moment and blurry the next. But let's move forward into our future with courage. Let's move forward with confidence. 

Let's be braver than our excuses. 

Coming to God in Prayer

I love writing for Getting Real Ministries. I wrote this post about prayer for the GRM blog. Enjoy and please hop over to Getting Real Ministries if you get a chance...I think you'll like what you see!

I was on the phone with a friend. She was asking me to pray for a family member who was seriously ill. Throughout the conversation, she began to reveal some insecurities over her prayers--one of them being the idea that my prayers would be heard by God much better than her prayers. In other words, my prayers for her relative would turn God's ears to her request more than her prayers because I was, in her eyes, the more 'spiritual one'.

Of course, I would pray, I assured her, but I had to let her know--her prayers were no less important and no less heard by God than my prayers. In fact, He wants her to come to Him, to seek Him out and pray to Him. I did what I hoped was my best to assure her of this. Eventually, the conversation went on to other topics and soon ended.

What hasn't ended for me is the idea many of us mistakenly believe--some people's prayers are better and somehow more spiritual than others, so therefore, God listens to those prayers more than He listens to others. Can I just tell you right now, that thought is wrong and please, if you are believing it, even if just a small part of you still hangs on to that lie, please let it go.

The prayers of your pastor, priest, Bible study leader or your 'super spiritual' friend are not better just because their words seem to flow with eloquence and yours seem to fumble along. Or because they seem to know more about the Bible. Or they seem to never mess up and you just know they always have their quiet time with God instead of hitting the snooze button five times each morning.

Don't stay away from entering into prayer because you think you or your prayers are not good enough. Can I tell you a little secret---I fumble through my prayers often. I start, stop and start them again and again. They are often a jumbled mess of requests and pleas and often they aren't even words as much as they are emotions and tears.

But God is so good.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

God is full of such grace and mercy. When you seek him with all your heart, you will find him and He will hear you.

He wants you to come to Him in prayer. He wants to hear all your requests. Your perfectly phrased ones and your cries for help. Your hope-filled ones and the ones you doubt will even reach His ears or make a difference. He wants your prayers because He wants you.

"Oh my people, trust in Him at all times. Pour out your heart to Him, for God is our refuge." (Psalm 62:8 NLT)

Come with boldness. Start your prayers with the belief and trust that God hears you. He wants to hear you and He wants to become a shelter for you and all your prayers. Nowhere does He say only certain people can pour our their hearts and others can't. There are no lower-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. All are invited to come and pour out their hearts to God.

My friends, please come before God in prayer. Rest assured He delights in hearing all your prayers.

Just come.

It's Time to Enjoy the Watching

I took my son to basketball practice the other night. I needed to get out of the house so I didn't give my husband the chance to offer his services. I just declared I would take him to practice and then we left, leaving at home a sick child, one well child and my husband to be the caretaker. 

I'm so glad I went. I love watching him play basketball. He might be little and double dribble a whole lot but there's something about watching him develop into his personhood that does my heart good.

It was tempting to get other things done while he practiced. I brought my grocery list and, I admit, some cookbooks with--thought I'd get in some menu planning. But for the most part, I resisted the urge to plan ahead. 

Instead, I watched my son shoot some hoops and saw how his form was getting much better. I saw his coach give him high fives and offer advice. I watched my son listen and obey his coach (good boy) then in the next moment, pretend he was in a light saber duel with an imaginary storm trooper (well, waiting in line can be boring--at least he has a good imagination!).

I saw a lot of who he is and who he is becoming and I am so glad I didn't miss it because of some grocery list. Now, I am all about making the most of my time and I do not have any shame in using my kid's basketball practice to get things done.

But I know it is also just as important to sit and watch. Just watch. Nothing else. It's so important to let your heart grow more in love with your kids as they do their thing. Growing closer to each other can happen just by being there.

It's our job to watch them. Not helicopter style watching, more like noticing. It's important to notice them. It's important to let them know you saw them. Let them know you noticed what they did and how you enjoyed the time spent on the sidelines.

We all know time goes by fast and they'll be grown soon. But let's watch for more than that. Let's watch so we can fall in love, so we can show our love a little more.

Enjoy the watching, friends!

For Just The Afternoon

Yesterday I was home with a sick kiddo. Whenever I am home with a sick kid, I feel this need to clean and disinfect the entire house. From top to bottom. Every germ I want to be gone.

But this need to clean does not leave me room to be a good caregiver. Since I have learned this about myself, I made myself a list.

Moments are so much easier to make time for when I break my day down into parts and focus on the priorities of just that slice of time. Then I  actually accomplish what I set out to accomplish! As for today's main focus--extra snuggle time with my daughter. I knew my compulsion to clean could overshadow my snuggles so I had to make the list and I had to put it in writing.

Not only did we get in snuggle time, we managed the bubble bath, the extra chapters of Charlotte's Web and I got some laundry put away. Miracle!

The afternoon felt manageable. It felt calm. It felt right. My time was spent right and my most important priority was cared for.

Each morning I stand at my kitchen window, coffee cup in hand, looking out at this view. This picture is a blurry but please notice the cross. It is in the upstairs window of my neighbor's house. They haven't taken down all their Christmas decorations--thank goodness I'm not the only one---and this cross has been part of their decorations all season long.

Everyone else up and down the street has taken their decorations down by now. Trees are sitting by the curb waiting to be trash and twinkle lights are packed away for next year.

But this cross is still there.

This cross is still shining brightly.

This cross serves as my morning reminder--when the decorations and the fancy have been stripped away, the cross still stands.

I keep my gaze outside a little bit longer in the morning now. I don't rush into the to-do's and have-to's quite as fast because I have a cross to notice. I have a cross to linger with and a cross to set my day straight.

May we linger with the cross a little bit longer today. Let it keep your day straight and let it shine on your path a little bit brighter today.