Bits: Charmed

A wonderful woman and encourager from Liberty came to our house this week and prayed over it and us.  She filled us up with good or, rather, the Lord worked through her to do so.

And, I'll be honest.

The Lord has been working a lot lately--  on me, on my heart, on priorities in the middle of all that. 

I have been torn up in the best kind of hard ways-- over the state of the world, over what my children need to really learn, over the love and redemption I want for all people.  It's easier to tuck away these feelings sometimes, to pretend that I'll get to such things later.  Then, suddenly, truth hits me in ways that cannot be neatly boxed up and ignored.

Books like Billy Graham's Storm Warning or KP Yohannan's No Longer a Slumdog make me dig through my Bible or even throw one of the books down and say, "I can't do it! I can't read about these things!"

But, that doesn't keep them from existing.

So for today, as I turn such ponderings over in my heart and in my mind and as Joe and I talk about little and big changes to be made-- I know this; I have a charmed life. Even with my meager hardships, which sometimes have felt pretty tough over the years, I have a charmed life.  Almost a guilty amount of charmed, to be perfectly blunt, should I not believe I am to use it for good.

Today I get to cut up fresh foods for my family to eat for three solid meals, we have a strong roof over our heads, there are clean clothes and sanitary ways to keep us healthy, no one is forcing us to do unspeakable acts just because of where we were born or who we were born to. This list could go on and on and on...

I also know this; This small collection of memories is nothing if it does not glorify the Lord.  It is meant as a window into family history for us, for the clouded memory time will no doubt deliver.  It is also a way of saying thank you to Father God, for each little beautiful memory He sees fit for our family to have.  Each week I sit down to reflect and write my bits and it is a precious time for me. To everything there is a season and a purpose under Heaven.  I know things do not always stay the same, and I have always felt that these quickly passing days will one day be a great source of joy to have recorded.  They are not perfect; they are real.

I love them for that, patience testing and all.

So with every picture I take, with every story I tell, with every memory I try to etch in our hearts I hope to remember the people who do not have such opportunities.  I hope to make a difference to the ones of those people I am intended to help.  I hope to practice true religion and teach my girls that such religion is NOT about just us and our family.  In it are not a long list of rules or tyrannical demands; in it lies a tremendous amount of freedom and purpose.  Lord willing, they will come to know and I will better come to practice:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." ~James 1:27
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Just a few of this past week's blessed bits.


:: Getting to hang out with friends.  One of my days spent among five girlfriends, five and under.  Another morning spent taking cookies we baked for a walk with six girlfriends, seven and under, to the park.  

::Showing off dance skills.





:: Slowing down our busting the moves to hug on stuffed animals.
:: One moment we're dastardly pirates.  The next we're juggling baker chefs.  Talented.

The girls' favorite bedtime story these days is the idea of three grown up sisters, Princess Maddie and Astronaut Hope and Baker Chef Alysse-- all smart, beautiful, and kind and all ready for adventures of every sort.

 :: This girl, this hammy girl.  Ever the fashionista, ever the hilarious.
She makes up Proverbs like this one: "The girls are to brush their hair and jump up and down." ~Proverbs 16:16.  She stumps her older sis who, in an effort to get the bigger wooden heart to paint at craft time, tries to remind Maddie of middle sis's love for small things.  Maddie quickly retorts, "That's not always true.  I love God and He is really, really BIG!"  And she writes stories.  Oh, I so remember making those swiggly lines as first attempts at cursive.  I find her tummy down on her bed scribbling away and she says, "Quiet please. I'm writing a story."  After the pages are successfully filled she holds it up and announces, "This is a very important story! It's 'The Girl Who Loved Her Mommy'."  
Love you too, Maddie Girl. 

:: Though I lament age from time to time, I do think it's so fun as my girls ages start to even out a bit. This becomes especially apparent when I'm prepping things to do. It's rarely things for just the big girls now. The things come in threes.
   
 ::This scene should always make me hit my knees, that I have never had to see my babies go hungry. That we can light bunny candles and eat under a gentle breeze, at the direction of those same children.

 
Thank You, God.  Thank You, thank You, thank You. 

:: Ah well, I guess I'll lament a minute more.  How did we go from one of these to the other? Anyone?? 


 
  
::Daddy got a special day and, boy, does this Daddy deserve a special day.  We let him sleep in but then bumrushed him with, "WAKE UP... It's Faaaaaather's Day!  WAKE UP!"  Surely little girl picked and wrapped gifts, painted cards, and homemade breakfast is worth such an alarm clock?  We aimed for relaxing this Daddy's Day, for this Dada who works so hard.


One of Hope's gifts-- "The Adventures of Astronaut Joe."


Grateful to have charmed days, longing to do more, believing in a God who knows my heart and will show us the way.
~Katrina