Ponderings

My dear friend Vee, lost her precious husband on Saturday.  On the Sunday before his aorta tore and he was life flighted and underwent 6 hours of surgery.  He was in a coma all that week, and early in the morning on Saturday the 28th, the Lord called that good man home.  I am thankful to be able to say that I met John in person and he was such a kind and gracious man.  I'm looking forward to heaven a bit more now.  Vee - you are loved.


I read a really good blog post on Memorial Day regarding expectations.  You can read it here.  I say a hearty Amen, to her thoughts.


Work on the bathroom stepped up a notch on Monday.  After gathering all we needed on Saturday, I filled holes and sanded a tad and began cutting in the paint in the hall bathroom.  I didn't like it.  It was a bit deeper in color than the color I had taken in to try to match.  I was going for soft and tones of white/neutrals and this was just tan.  Bleh.  I stopped what I was doing and had a phone conversation with Tim.

After he got home from PAINTING a business today, he helped me mix the paint with white paint we already had and we lightened it up and went for it.  It looks different in different light and the main light is off the wall right now so we only have the overhead fan light.  I'll take a few photos along the journey, and we'll see how it turns out.  Its not bad already - its just not exactly what I had in mind.  I'm sure you know what I mean.



Today is Rachel's birthday!  She's 17, so hard to believe!  She is a delight to our family, and we are so thankful for her.  I'm grateful to say that she is not only my daughter, but she is my friend.

I am thankful for the relationship I have with all my girls (including my daughter in law), and with my Mom.  Last night a few of us went to see the new film based on Jane Austen's book Lady Susan.  It's called Love and Friendship, and we laughed out loud in some parts of this movie.  It was very enjoyable and so nice to go out together to see it.

Friendships, between family or friends has to be cultivated.  They take work to maintain and to sustain.  Some are easy, and some are harder, but usually they are worth keeping and investing in.  Of course sometimes, the relationship gets to be one sided, or there are legitimate issues that require you to establish clear boundaries,  or even to end the relationship.  I've had the opportunity to work through some relationships in my life and I've been so glad, that even though it may have been painful, it was worth it.  There have been a few that I had to let go, and that was the right thing to do.  Sometimes its hard to know what the right thing to do is in these situations, but if we walk closely to the Lord and ask Him for his thoughts about it, He is happy to give us direction.

There are a lot more ponderings in this mind - Oh, if you only knew!  But I think that's enough for today.

Monday Morning Ponderings

I've been reading a Young Adult fiction series.  It's really good.  It has caused me to do a lot of thinking about courage, fear, and trusting God.  I am going to do a longer post on it this week.

It's called The River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren.

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I have been thinking about how God wants us to pray for our leaders so that we can lead quiet and peaceable lives in the land. (1Timothy 2)  I don't really do that much at all.  I tend to get irritated and angry about the choices that our leadership is making.  I do believe that God would have us pray, and then I believe He wants us to go about our daily lives, reaching out to our neighbors, loving one another, being kind, helping the poor.  We can trust Him for all the rest.

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Easter is two weeks away.  I am thankful for what Easter means.  Hope, Love, Joy, Forgiveness, because of the Resurrection.

Life Is Never Static -

-  it keeps flowing right through the seasons - days, weeks, months, years.

I have found that I can't slow the passage of time, I can only join in its flow, and try to be fully engaged.

As we are headed into Autumn, I can see a difference in the light, and the days are noticeably shorter.  I've been lighting more candles in the evenings, too.

Taking the trip to Scotland with my dad, the near loss of Tim's mom has brought on much of these musings (ponderings?).  I want my life to count for eternity.  I want to live with a multigenerational vision for family life, which we are practicing in someways, we have 3 generations under our roof here, and one day (hopefully soon) we will have four generations here.

Children grow and become adults, and when your baby has his big teeth, you know you can't slow time, as much as you may think you'd like to.

But truthfully, I have never wanted to keep my children babies.  Tim has long said that we're in the business of "raising adults" and not children.  We don't want our kids to be dependents their whole lives!  We want them to be hard working, productive, world changers.  That sounds lofty doesn't it?  But it is simple in my mind, as you change the world around you - in your circle of influence- by the way you live your life.  Helping others by mowing their lawn or making a meal, helping a friend with a project, listening to a teenager share her tender, sweet heart and give encouragement, loving our aging parents, planting seeds in the hearts of grandchildren of honor and respect for their grandparents....all of that affects change in those around you.

Seeing our daughters grow as women, and to see the faithful, delightful people that they are, watching my once rebellious son become a hardworking, loving man, and a very good daddy is a joy!  We are so proud of them!

Why would I want them to stay children?  One day I'm going to need them to take my arm when I walk down the stairs, or to drive me places when I am so old, it isn't safe for me to take myself places anymore.  Life will have come full circle in someways and yet flow onward.

Ponderings

So, I've been pondering things in my heart lately.  I have always loved that term the scripture uses regarding Mary wondering about the things she was hearing about her baby boy.

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I pondering things in conversation with the Lord, not prayers necessarily, but more like "Why is it that...?"

Some of my ponderings have been about the future regarding family, the economy, our business....

I have been pondering and storing up in my heart the relationships that God has given me with people.  I am thankful for my family, thankful for friendships that are an encouragement.  This includes friends that I only know online.  It is such a blessing to walk along in this world side by side with you!

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We've been pondering our business, and praying about the direction we'd like it to go....

God has allowed us to live in these days...the days in which it seems that good is called evil and evil is called good.  It is challenging to raise our children in this culture, it requires us to pray hard for protection for our children from the enemy of our souls whose only goals are to 'steal, kill and destroy.'  Just about the time I think this must be the worst time in history to live, I am reminded of Solomon who wrote in Ecclesiastes "there is nothing new under the sun."  Evil and sin have been around for a long time, and the goal of the enemy has been the same - steal, kill and destroy.


And yet...our God is still in control.  He still protects.  He still leads.  He still gives wisdom.  He still provides.  He still empowers.  He still loves.  He still saves.  He still is worthy of glory and praise.  He still casts out fear.  He still heals.  He still has the victory.

A new to me blog that I have been enjoying is Like Mother, Like Daughter.  Here is a good post of ponderings that I say a hearty amen to!


What sorts of things have you been pondering lately?  Feel free to share them in the comments.

Life

I have been pondering a bit again and this time it is about life and the way our culture responds to it.

I saw an article about a couple who was suing their doctor because their child should never have been born with Down's Syndrome. You can read about it here.  It breaks my heart to hear, too, that what some call the Down's 'cure' is actually abortion.  This family's daughter's live was not considered to be of value simply because of her Down's.

Why does it need to be cured?  Having met this sweet family and getting to know them at church, we know that Down's is just different, it's not bad - it actually makes them special!  The link is to an update on Katie, the daughter they adopted from Bulgaria.  She is doing amazingly well, in the three months since they brought her home. 


Also a dear friend of mine has lost her baby at 18 weeks.  Today she must go in a be induced and deliver the baby.  I am heartbroken for them.  This would have been their 6th child, and many people think they have more than enough children! But they have said "yes" to God.  They are willing to love and accept into their family all the children God chooses.


This is painful for them, and I am weeping with them.  My friend Brigette is precious and she says she is learning so much about the Lord through this.  Also at this time her Dad, who has inoperable cancer, is starting to decline.  They wish he wasn't having to go through this, but they have seen how God has taken this man who 'grew up in church' to a man who desires to walk with God!  They are thankful.


Life is precious - we should never take it lightly.  It is a gift.  We must defend it.  I am asking the Lord to help me see the value of each life as He sees it.  

Pondering

 I was up early, for me, this morning.  I have a busy day ahead.  Lots of schedules to juggle and coordinate.  My thoughts have been on asking the Lord to help me to take one thing at a time and to Trust Him to make a smooth way through it all.  Isaiah 26:3 - "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."  

 I have been praying for a friend's adoption of a daughter from Bulgaria.  God has been doing amazing things.  It is hard to find out about how children live - abandoned, barely cared for.  Praying for many things, especially what our response should be.  I read this morning about street children in Brazil.  It is wrenching.  How it must break God's heart.  Again, what must my response be?

 It is easy to get focused on mundane things, or a busy day, like I have today, but what I need to focus on is "What does God have for me in this day?"  What lessons does He want to teach me?  What blessings does He want me to be aware of?  How can I respond in love in challenging situations?

 God wants us to grow in character more than he wants us to be comfortable.  I tend to grow and then like to stay there...not to continue to be stretched and challenged.  He wants to keep moving us onward and upward.  Philippians 4:13 - "I press toward the goal for the prize, of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  I want to have the same desire as Paul did, pressing on in Christ Jesus.

 I desire to see this in my children as well.  The onward growth of walking with the Lord.  I want to shield them from apathy - I want their 'doing' for the Lord to be a natural out pouring from their relationship with Him, and not instead of having a relationship with Him.

He is good.  He wants His best for us.  Instead of us asking Him to bless our efforts, we need to make sure we are doing what He wants us to do, through Him.

I am thankful that He loves me, that His mercies are new every morning. 

What are you pondering these days?

Pondering

I am sitting on my bed, cross legged, which is my normal way to sit on my bed.  I have my computer propped on Tim's pillow and I am thinking of what it is I want to share with you.

Spring is here in full force, but instead of beautiful weather we have had a lot of rain and chilly weather.  We are due now for some days of 80 degree weather and more thunderstorms.  However to think about the beauties of Spring, the dogwood trees are blooming, our Cleveland pear is is flowering, the tulips are pretty, and my lilacs are just about ready to burst out with blooms.  The scent of lilacs is so lovely.  I adore cutting them and bringing them into the house.

I am going out this morning to ride my John Deere lawn tractor and mow our property.  It takes me about an hour and a half and I really enjoy it.  I put my headphones on and pick out things to listen to on my ipod.  It is such a great time to listen to sermons and other messages, to pray, to think through issues.  It is mostly uninterrupted time, which as we moms know is so rare.

I am in need of that time this morning.  We have been going through some challenging things.  In it all we have been seeking to honor the Lord in our responses to these challenges, but we are human and sometimes our flesh wants to lash out.  God has been so good to give us grace, and to teach us things about ourselves as well.  He is so good to use all things for our good.  Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."  While painful at times, it has been so good to walk through it together and to grow together.  I have received sweet, encouraging notes from some of the ladies that I go to church with and they have been a tangible way of seeing God's love for me.  Such a blessing and an encouragement!  It is a good reminder of how God works through us to minister to others - a reminder to write those notes, send an email - whatever - to those we are prompted to send one too!  We can be God's hands of encouragement to others through doing this!

We had a beautiful weekend, starting Friday night with a family dinner at Tim's brother's house.  They are missionaries in Senegal, West Africa, and we don't often get the chance to spend time together.  It was a lot of fun, even though Lindsay and Emily had to miss it.  They work at a Christian theater and the whole week - because of Easter - was sold out, and they were needed.  Sunday was great with a short service of singing and prayer by the pond at a local park and then breakfast all together at church.  Later in the day, after an egg hunt in our yard, we went into Maryland to a dam and riverside park to look for bald eagles.  It was rainy then so we didn't see many but we did see one perched on a tree.  He gave us a great view of him, turning his head to profile so we could look at how majestic his is.  Beautiful birds.

Emily's graduation is coming up in a month.  This year has flown by!  She has a few more papers to write and then she is done! Our evaluations are scheduled for the day before graduation so then she will really be completely done! We only have a few more days of school left until we finish our required 180 days of school.  My younger girls will continue to work on math.  They don't love math, though they are doing well, and I am thinking that I may have them work on math over the summer and do some other learning as well.  This would give us opportunity to take other breaks during the school year.  We also want them to always have an attitude of learning and not just stick to an artificial time table of when it's time to study and learn.
Kyle is doing well with addition and with his reading.  He is my youngest reader.  He loves to learn and I want to keep that love alive!

Well, I am just going on endlessly. I have missed chatting here, but the break was so good for me.   In our lives we are not promised freedom from trials or pain, but we are promised that He will be with us, and will be working on our behalf.  What great love.


 

Pondering...

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I have an afternoon to myself today and will be spending time pondering somethings that are a part of my life.  

I want to use my e-sword program to do some word searches and to also spend time in the Word and seeking the Lord's wisdom and guidance.

Most of you know that we home educate and that I lead a co-op.  One of my joys is to speak with home educating moms and to encourage them in this great task that God has given them.  The last few years I am hearing more and more that they 'need' to have their kids take classes from an academic co-op because either they are afraid that somehow their student will 'miss' something if they try to teach them or that their teen argues and fights with them at home about their schoolwork so they want someone else to be giving them their assignments, etc...

This troubles me and breaks my heart.  These years that we have our children at home is prime discipleship time!  The teen years are so great!  I have loved having mine at home full time - has it been always easy? No!  Has it been worth it? YES!  

I see a lot of fear out there...at a time when the sky is the limit in what is available to home educators, more and more parents feel like they can't do it - they can't teach their children to read, or they can't teach their high schooler Government...the list goes on!

Home educating is a commitment and a long haul kind of thing.  You learn together and also by the time your kid gets to middle school age they pretty much can educate themselves!  They just need you to guide, answer questions, motivate, encourage!  After all we want them to not have to be spoon fed all their information in order to learn something.  We need to be teaching them from early on HOW to learn.  

So, I guess my real ponderings on this subject are "How can I encourage moms? and Can I encourage them?"  Do they really want to be encouraged in it?

Another area I am pondering is how to be more physically active daily.  I sit - alot.  My muscles sometimes are tight from sitting so much.  I sit to do school with the kids, I sit at the computer, I sit to read, I sit to knit, I sit to sew...well you get the idea.  I am trying to do more physical work in the gardens and around our property, I want to be able to move well when I am 'old', after all.

I am pondering the many great things the Lord is teaching us...not always easy...but it is good.  It just sometimes leaves you on the fringe at times.

So, what kinds of things are you pondering these days?  

Some Ponderings Of My Own

I just came from reading Brenda's blog.  She was sharing some of her ponderings about how the Lord has changed her outlook on things.

Some of what she shared made me think of my Mother in Law.  She called yesterday to chat about her new great grandson and some other things.  One thing you realize when you talk with her is that she is a busy woman...she is 87 years old...she makes me tired!

Now I find that balance is needed, but I so appreciate her desire to serve others and to go where she feels the Lord has sent her - the woman does prison ministry.

While I don't feel lead to prison ministry at this point in my life, I have gained wonderful perspective about serving others, being willing to do hard things, and being a willing for God to use me.

We are in different stages of our lives, she is retired and busier than ever working at the food bank, doing prison ministry, playing piano for a small church, playing piano for a group of retired missionary ladies who go to the nursing home weekly to sing and share....

I am in the middle of things here with a grown son, two nearly grown daughters and three younger kids.  I have 15 years of homeschooling ahead of me still, even though I am in my 15th year of homeschooling!  (I may fast track these younger ones! hee hee)

The Lord has grabbed a hold of my heart and given me a desire to serve others, practice hospitality, pray....I hope to do it in some form for the rest of my life.

There is never a perfect time in our lives, a time without difficulty and only good. I talked about that here.  I do believe that God may have different things for us at different stages of our lives.  

The key in all of it is to seek God, let Him lead  you in every area.  He has something for us to learn and do at every stage in our lives.

Pondering.....

I have been pondering and talking and praying about the following:

Why is it that by raising your daughters to be mature and godly young women, they are the "odd ones out" at church. They have been involved in ministry opportunities, bible study, etc.. and yet no one will talk with them. Adults who have interacted with them are impressed with them and yet don't follow up by speaking to them on Sundays, and the younger people completely ignore them.

It hurts my heart because they should not be odd balls at CHURCH! They should be the norm.

Any thoughts?