Hope That Doesn't Disappoint

I woke up the other morning into the ordinary.

Mental to-do lists rushed at me before I even got out of bed.

Pull the chicken out of the freezer, return phone calls, buy Mother’s Day cards….

I was wondering if I could put the laundry off another day, trying to remember what we were going to focus on in math, and suddenly peeved as I realized the drapes I had hung in my room the day before were too short.

The day was not an ordinary one, however. In a few minutes I would learn of a death in the family. We had lost a grandmother.



She had loved my husband when he was in diapers. He grew up making memories at her house and eating her infamous graham cracker torte.


She taught him all the good card games and what it meant to live a life that honors Christ.

I met her much later, when she was a white-haired widow being wooed by an old high school sweetheart who never forgot her and managed to track her down after so many decades.


They married after us, but soon passed us up in anniversary celebrations. Understanding that they wouldn’t have many years together, they decided to celebrate the months instead.

When our first baby was being born this grandma waited at the hospital (a long time let me just tell you) to hold her first great grandchild.

“We decided not to have kids,” her husband later confided to me with a straight face, “because Medicare won’t pay for it.”

She always laughed gently when he teased her.

And one morning this week, about the time I was waking up into the ordinary, she was waking up into the extraordinary.

As she was dying, the words of Isaiah 43:5 were read over her:

"Do not be afraid for I am with you," says the Lord.



Minutes later she closed her eyes forever to the ordinary and opened them to behold the smile of the One she had loved for more than nine decades.

The One who has loved her since before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).

I don't say that she is in heaven simply because she was a good person known for a life of honesty and kindness. She put her faith in Jesus Christ, fully understanding that there is "no other name by which we are saved." (Acts 4:12)


And I don't imagine that she is in heaven just because it's a nice, comforting thing to say when somebody dies, something to take the edge off of the painful finality of it all.



I was so aware that morning that even as I was rearranging my to-do list for the day, she was tasting the exquisite pleasures of heaven.

I think mostly we lack the imagination to realize how wonderful heaven is. Either we secretly suspect that it will be boring, or we think perhaps it is impolite to think too much about heavenly rewards.

But neither of those views shows much understanding of our Creator.

Even through the sadness of that morning, I truly felt the deepest sense of joy that what God promises us through Jesus is really, really true.

I am convinced that a godly woman in my family met her Redeemer this week with great joy.



And as she found herself in a place of unspeakable beauty, I suspect that, like the Queen of Sheba who traveled to see for herself the splendors of Solomon's kingdom (2 Chr 9:6), this grandma exclaimed in awe:

"I was not even told the half of it!"

R.I.P. Cutie (And it's all Mommy's fault)

I once heard it said that giving your child a pet fish is one way to introduce him to the realities of death.

And now we know all about that.

When we gave Caleb an aquarium filled with five fish for Christmas, we told him that they needed to eat three times a day - whenever he was eating a meal, he should feed his fish.

But, it is easy for a little boy to forget.

And that means that I was constantly reminding him. And his response was almost always, "Oh, Mom, I forgot. Can you do it for me?"

Pretty soon I decided that I had enough other responsibilities without always making sure that Molly, Orangie, Cutie, Frankie, and Frankie Jr. were getting their tummies full.

It was time to let my son carry the weight of his own responsibilities. And if somebody went belly-up, well, it would be a hard but natural lesson about taking care of things that belong to us.

And last night it happened. My husband came out of the boys' room with a grim look.

"We have a floater," he announced.

In the moments that followed, there was the shock of disbelief.

There was grief and despair. "Orangie was my favorite one!" Um, actually it was Cutie. "Well, Cutie was really my favorite one!"

There was a big sister who got right to the heart of the matter. "Caleb, did your feed your fish at all today??"

And in that moment when realization dawned on his tender face, there was a Mom whose resolve weakened.

Now I know it is important to allow children to have natural consequences, but discovering that you're guilty of negligent homicide when you're only six suddenly seemed a little extreme, so I rushed in to bail him out.

"Oh, buddy, I'm sure that it wasn't your fault. One day of not eating wouldn't kill a fish." I reassured him.

"Well," he said as the tears came in earnest, "I don't think I fed them yesterday either."

I continued to soothe his guilt anyway, trying to ignore the fact that I was enabling his irresponsibility.

But the ungrateful little child didn't even hesitate to throw me under the bus a mere two minutes later.

"Well, it's all Mommy's fault anyway," he sniffed from Daddy's lap. "Because she bought the cheap food from Target instead of getting it from the pet store like you're supposed to."

It makes precious little difference where you buy the fish flakes if you don't ever give it them, I wanted to tell him.

But I bit my tongue.

"Maybe now would be a good time to feed the other fish," I suggested instead.

But he was busy grieving.

"Oh, Mom, can you do it for me?"

Make That Five

Five surgeries under his belt, that is.

In surgeries like the one Joshua had last week, the chances are less than 1% that there will be a problem with major bleeding that doesn't stop from the surgical site.

We were awakened at 3:30am on Sunday morning to find that the odds were not in our favor.

Since the bleeding was off and on at first, the doctor told us to wait and see for a while. By about 9:30 am it was clearly time to go the emergency room, where we sat most of the day with Joshua, as an alarming amount of blood poured from his nose and mouth, soaking towel after towel.

So many people were praying for us that day, and in the middle of a potentially serious and frightening situation, I truly discovered what it was like to experience peace that defies understanding (Philippians 4:7)

Not that we weren't concerned, uncertain, and uncomfortable, but there was as definite and deep a peace as I have ever experienced in my life.

My little boy, uncharacteristically weak and lethargic, laid his head on my lap and I stroked his head with one hand and pulled nasty blood clots out of his mouth with the other. Phil read aloud from Psalm 91:

He will command His angels to take good care of you. (NIrV)

I couldn't really describe to you the way I could feel, almost tangibly, that there really were ministering spirits in the room with us.

But maybe I could describe some of the specific ways I experienced the kindness of my Heavenly Father.

It was in the friends we were about to call that morning for help with our kids who called us first to say they were praying for us and felt they should come and get Grace and Caleb.

It was in all of the hospital staff who showed extra kindness and attention to us.

It was in the parking attendant who came out of his booth and manually lifted the arm for my husband who forgot to validate his ticket.

It was when the surgeon, who had just told us that despite his best efforts, it would probably be hours and hours before we could get a spot in surgery, returned with a look of surprise. "I can't believe this but they're going to get us in in 30 minutes. You really don't know how amazing that is."

I do know how amazing my God is.

Most of the bleeding actually stopped on its own by the time he got into surgery and the actual surgical site that needed to hold was in perfect condition. It looks like he only popped one stitch - the one that was considered "extra" from the beginning.

Joshua has recovered well these last few days and his speech even sounds better than we expected it to at this point.

Everything doesn't always turn up roses and sunshine for us the way I think it should.

When we left the hospital last week, we were certain that we had at least 3 or 4 years before we'd be sending our son back into the operating room, not 3 or 4 days.

And there were a lot of other ways I would have liked to spend my Sunday besides watching asinine Sponge Bob cartoons while blood pooled under my child.

Those who trust in Jesus aren't promised a life without problems. Quite the opposite, the Bible says. But we have the assurance that He walks with us through every one of them and not one detail gets by Him.

He is before us, behind us, and His hand of blessing is upon us (Psalm 139:5).

We are so grateful to be His kids. So undeserving. But so grateful.

Things Unseen

We had a baby shower this weekend for a dear friend who is adopting twins from overseas. Celebrating these babies and watching her prepare to travel brings back so many memories for us.

As gift after gift was opened, I thought of these little children on the other side of the world, oblivious to the fact that they were the recipients of all these beautiful things.

These children have no idea that there is a room on the other side of the world all ready for them, a closet full of beautiful clothes, bins full of toys, and arms of a loving family waiting to embrace them.

How could they know they have already been given new names, and new identities as part of this wonderful family? They have no idea about all the effort that is being done and the miles that will be traveled to bring their parents to them.

From their perspective, life will change in an instant.

But the truth is that preparations have been underway for this event for years. While day followed day in the orphanage, seeming like nothing out of the ordinary was happening, extraordinary things were happening on their behalf that they were unaware of.

I think about all of this when I find myself tempted to think that nothing happens when I pray.

Sometimes in my walk with God, His word is so rich and He feels so close when I pray. Other times, it just feels like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling.

I realize that, like these children living in Africa, like Joshua living in China, I only have a very small piece of the whole picture to look at. Though it may feel like every day is exactly the same, and look like nothing is going on in response to my prayers, I am choosing to believe that the Creator of the Universe is not sitting around idly in response to my prayers. Though the answers may not come as I think they should, I know that God is working for our good beyond our wildest imaginations.

Among other things, we continue to pray for miraculous healing for Joshua while preparing for the reality of surgery on Tuesday.

We have no regrets about not praying enough for a miracle or asking others to pray with us, and we have no doubts that God has heard our prayers. We believe that He could still heal our son, although He may choose to bless him through this surgery.

When I don't get the answers to prayer I was hoping for, I'm often tempted to say, Well, I prayed but nothing happened.

But this week, if Joshua goes under the knife, I will not wonder if maybe God is withholding something good from us.

"He, who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Ro.8:32)

In other words, if God - who is just as loving as He is powerful - allows my son to have surgery instead of miraculous healing, we can have confidence that, in the bigger picture of Joshua's life, that is absolutely the best and most loving thing for him to experience this week.

Taste and see that the LORD is good...those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Psalm 34:8,10

When Good Hiding Spots Go Bad

I'm not very good at hiding gifts. My kids know all my hiding spots and have unfortunately found things in the past before they should have.

But this year I learned a few things about hiding gifts:

1. A cedar chest with a lock on it makes a perfect hiding spot for gifts.

Earlier this year, we were given a beautiful old cedar chest that had been in the family for years. Since it locked nice and tight, we stored the kids' gifts in there and congratulated ourselves that there was no way they could open it without the key.

And that brings us to the second lesson that we learned about hiding gifts:

2. It is not good to lose the one and only key to the cedar chest.

Just about the time Phil and I were congratulating ourselves on keeping the presents safely out of reach of snooping children, we realized that they might never get the presents.

(And I know what you might be saying: Christmas is not about presents, it's about Jesus. And you're welcome to come over and explain that to my empty-handed children tomorrow.)

We spent a lovely evening combing the house and digging through the trash until one am in the morning until Phil came to the conclusion that the only hope was to try to reproduce the key himself out of a piece of metal. (Fortunately he is really talented like that - remember the old TV show Macgyver where the guy can make anything out of duct tape and dental floss? That's my husband. Also fortunately, he always anticipates the worst, and had previously traced the key and it's measurements).

And so now he's off to Ace Hardware to save Christmas. Should his mission fail, I suppose we will be shopping again tonight. And the cedar chest will be passed down through the generations, its contents always to remain a source of curiosity.

I suppose someday, another hundred years from now, a resourceful descendant of ours will figure out how to get it open and they will discover an EasyBake oven and parts to a fish tank.

Fortunately, we hid the fish somewhere else.

Rich and Poor

We were in Walmart, having just come from the dermatologists office, where I had been expecting that Joshua would have to get a skin biopsy.

I had tried to prepare the kids on the way there, so they wouldn't be too horrified by the procedure. I explained what would probably happen in a matter-of-fact way and answered their questions, and then I thought of one other thing.

"Oh, and if he does have to have a biopsy, we probably won't be able to go swimming for a few days."

Silence.

And then from the back of the van, Caleb piped up, "I think we better pray about this."

Happily, the dermatologists were not concerned and saw no reason to biopsy. After a short and sweet appointment, we headed to Walmart to pick up a few things.

Now, here's how visits to Walmart usually go for us. There's lots of asking and begging for Mom to please buy this or that - "Please, please, just this one thing. I will never ask for anything again as long as I live!" - and lots of Mom saying no.

On one occasion, after her requests were constantly turned down, Grace demanded the truth.

"Are we poor?" she wanted to know.

Somewhere there is probably an instruction manual on how to respond to these questions. I should check it out.

I think I said something to the effect that we weren't poor, but if we started buying everything we wanted, then we would be poor.

On our next trip to the store, Caleb was begging me for something when Grace burst out, "Stop it, Caleb! For heaven's sakes, do you want to be poor?"

But on this particular trip to Walmart, everyone was in high spirits. We had expected to spend the morning watching Joshua get skin sliced off, but instead we were strolling the aisles looking at all the wonderful things.

"Mom, if I save my allowance every week, how long will it take me to earn enough money for that?" Caleb asked me.

"You'll be in college."

"Can you give me a loan? I promise I'll pay you back."

And then Grace found little unfinished trucks for 88 cents. "What about these, Mom? We could paint them this afternoon."

A cheap toy and an afternoon project! To the delight of my children, I let them each pick one out.

On the way out of the store, Caleb held his new 88 cent prize with a contented look on his face.

"You know," he said happily, "I really am rich. I have bunk beds, God answers my prayers, and now I get to paint my own truck!"

Not to mention a thankful heart.

You don't get much richer than that.

A Day In the Life...

In the few years that I've been homeschooling, I've noticed a few things.

One thing is this: the hardest part isn't figuring out which curriculum to use or how to get your kids to learn things (that actually happens pretty easily).

The hardest part is figuring out how to get your day into a workable routine - how to get school done while keeping little ones out of trouble AND remember to spend quality time with them AND get the laundry done AND nurture each child's spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth AND find a little quiet time for your own sanity, all while maintaining a healthy marriage, an intimate walk with God, and a warm, loving home that is just clean enough to keep Child Protective Services away.

The other thing I've learned is this: it's impossible to get it all done, but it's easy to get depressed thinking that everybody else does.

So in the interest of full-disclosure, I'm sharing a day in the life of our very real family, as well as a few little things we've discovered that work for us:


1. Spend time with the youngest first

I was given this advice by homeschool moms older and wiser than me: Because the older children get most of your attention during the day, spend time with the youngest child first.

This is not a problem in my house because my little one gets up long before anyone else in the house would even consider opening their eyes (fortunately it's gotten a little better since we've found our sleep solution). Anyway, he and I usually have "coffee" together in the morning.



2. Four Befores

These are four chores that must be done (with a happy heart!) before breakfast. Every family has different morning chores they teach their kids to do first thing, but ours are:

1. Make your bed
2. Get dressed
3. Pick up your room
4. Pray for your day

They really do pretty well with it, and sometimes even remember their chores when we are away from home:



3. Devotions

After breakfast we have devotions and then everyone "writes" in their journals, even the little ones:



Now lest you think we are a super-spiritual family, I will give you an example of a discussion that we had one morning when one of my children was three.

Me: Tell me about what you drew.
Child: Oh, it's a goat
Me: A goat, hmm?
Child: Yes, well, I think... (brow furrowed)... I'm pretty sure God is telling me to worship a goat.

Sometimes they get it. Sometimes they don't.

4. School



After we clean up the kitchen from breakfast (and everyone has a specific job to help with that), we spend usually an hour and half to two hours on school. I have a curriculum I am using with Grace, and Caleb usually sits with us soaking it all up like a sponge while he puts puzzles together or plays educational games.

As tempting as it can be to get them started and then take off to get some laundry done, I try to remember that the main reason I homeshool is to spend time with my kids, so as much as possible, I sit right with them during school time.

And what does my two-year-old do during this time? Well, when you read the advice of all of those homeschool veterans older and wiser than me, they suggest having special toys just for school time or having them sit with you at the table doing play dough or stringing beads.

So I do that with Joshua and it works pretty well - for about three or four minutes (I think those people who say your preschoolers will sit still with your for an hour or more must all have little girls). Then Joshua is off to do head dives off the fireplace, invite the neighbor cats in through the back door, and rummage through the pantry until he finds expired food to snack on.

I know. You do not have expired food in your pantry. You are a better housekeeper than me.

And I'm okay with that.

5. Housework.

After we finish school, we all work together for a little while on cleaning the house.

Yes, I am the meanest mom in the world to make my kids do housework, but I think they'll survive (and maybe learn some good habits in the process) and yes, it would be easier if I did it myself, but I also think that if I keep training them it will pay off someday when they can do by themselves while I put my feet up and eat bon bons :)

We mainly focus on one job each day. For example, one day to vacuum, one day to clean rooms, one day to sort laundry, one day to fold it... We all dread laundry-folding day, so I have just decided that that is the day we get to have cookies or ice cream for a snack when we are finished.

6. Exercise and Fresh Air

This usually leaves us with a little time before lunch, and if the weather is nice, we will take a bike ride, walk to the park, or just play in the yard. Gotta make them tired for nap time.



7. Lunch and Rest Time

Ah, nap time. This is the sacred part of the day. It's not that I don't love spending time with my kids, but as the mother of a large family once said, if we don't take time every day to come apart, then we will come apart!

8. Afternoon

After rest time, we often do an art or drawing project and I read aloud from a chapter book. We are currently enjoying the Little House series.

The rest of the afternoon, they are free to play, and they often spend the time building forts, giving dental cleanings to the stuffed animals, generally running wild, or maybe hunting imaginary lions with nerf guns.



So that is the way a typical day progresses if all goes as planned.

There are always days we end up doing spelling in the car or math in the doctor's office while someone is crying.

Some days - okay, lots of days - we have to forget about schoolwork or housework (or all of it) due to doctor's appointments, speech evaluations, premenstral syndrome, a nice day that makes the park too hard to resist, a sale at Old Navy...

Yes, I know. Everytime you keep your kids home from school they are really sick.

But I'm not a perfect mom.

And I'm okay with that : )

Yeah, But...

In my last post, I wrote about living with a sense of expectancy before God. I was remembering this time one year ago when I was on a plane headed to get my son from China. I had only a vague understanding of the way God was about to bless our family. And Joshua in the orphanage, could not have even imagined that he was about to be embraced by his Mommy and Daddy.

But let's be honest here, also.

Thinking back to one year ago, if Joshua could have seen just a glimpse of the week ahead of him - how his world would be turned upside down, how he would be handed off to strange-looking people who didn't even know how to talk right, he probably would have responded in fear and protested, "You call that a good plan? NO THANK YOU!!"

And honestly, if I on the plane could have seen ahead into some of the difficulties of the coming months - including spending a few weeks with a toddler in arm restraints - my response might have been just as fearful. (Adopting a toddler is a wonderful adventure, but let it never be said that I said it was easy!) I might have been tempted to yell, "Turn this plane around and take me back to the safe life!"

Can a person really trust God? I mean for heaven's sakes, you could wind up living in a mud hut in the jungle or something.

Sometimes I feel like I can relate to the Israelites of the Old Testament who followed God to the Promised Land and then balked at it. This is NOT what we had in mind, God! It looks way scary and not at all safe!

And they missed out.

Adoption is a beautiful thing that happens to a family, but if you think it's all hugs and kisses all the time then you probably also believe those women who say that childbirth doesn't hurt a bit. The truth is that whatever method you use to bring children into your life it's hard, messy, painful, costly...

And so worth it.

When Phil and I first felt that God was inviting us to bring another child into our home, we could have decided that it was just too risky (and I could have kept right on thinking up excuses of why I wasn't cut out to be the mom of a special needs child), and the truth is, life probably would have been a little easier this past year.

But we're forever richer because we said yes.



No, Lucy, Aslan is not safe. But He is good.

A Great Idea

I was laying down with Grace as she went to sleep - she, obviously deep in thought with her back to me, and me silently praying about opening lines of communication with her, drawing out some of the worries I know she has been silently carrying around.

Suddenly she turned to me with a sparkle in her eye. "Mom, I have a great idea!"

Oh boy.

I prepared myself to attempt a small show of enthusiasm before I totally squashed her next great idea.

Yes, Honey, it would be fun to have another Valentine's party with your friends here tomorrow and I can see you've already spent a lot of time creating hand-made invitations and party favors personalized to each person, but I'm afraid we have other things to do tomorrow.

Well, I'm not sure if popcorn kernels would get hot enough to pop on your light bulb, but it doesn't sound all that safe to have them flying around the room.

Yes, I'm sure you and Caleb could build a fine stable in that corner of the backyard, but our neighborhood does not allow us to keep ponies in our backyard.

No, it doesn't allow chickens either.

Well, yes, fish are allowed, but I'm not sure a pond in the backyard is such a great idea.

"So what is your great idea?" I asked cautiously.

"Well," she began, "I was thinking that we could put a bucket in my room and every night I could write down something that is bothering me and put it in there. After I go to sleep, you could take my worry out and write down a Bible verse about it and put it in there for me to read in the morning. It would be like I'm trading my worries for God's peace!"

"That is a great idea," I responded with true enthusiasm. "I think we will really enjoy doing that."

And we have.

...present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

WARNING!! I'm Pulling Out My Soapbox

I could not begin to count how many times over the last two years or so I've heard the following from wonderful, loving people: "We have definitely thought about adopting, but I doubt we could ever afford it. It just seems so difficult to do."

In contrast, thanks to President Obama's actions this past Monday, many around the world will not have to say that about getting an abortion.

I've also heard so many people say: "I don't think abortion is good, but you just don't realize how tragic it is to have all of these unwanted and/or disabled children in the world. It would be better if they weren't born."

When I hear that, I want to say, That's my son you're talking about!

Joshua was born with a birth defect that left his face deformed and made him unable to eat like a normal infant.


His birth parents abandoned him on the side of a busy road in a box.


He spent the first year and a half of his life staring out of the metal bars of his shared crib in an orphanage.


He will go through multiple surgeries costing thousands of dollars and have to overcome many obstacles to learn to talk normally.


Looking at a life like that on paper, many would say that it would be better for that child if he were never born.

And I would invite those who say that to look at my vivacious two-year-old,


who knows that he belongs to a family that loves him,


who is embraced by a wide circle of family and friends,


who dances like a wild child,


and who is far too fearless, strong-willed, and smart for his own good,


and I would tell those people not to discount what God can do, especially when it comes to orphans.


Long ago, our Creator told a nation of people: I have set before you life and death,blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live. (Deut 30:19)




In our own nation, creating a loving home for an orphan is a dream out of reach for many people, but every effort is made to ensure that disposal of children is cheap and easy.


Please take a minute to send the President an email telling him that our tax dollars he's spending on abortions would be better spent on adoption assistance and orphan care.

What Home Education Looks Like

Recently, we've had several people express curiosity about homeschooling - why we do it, how we do it, etc, so I decided to offer a little glimpse into what it has looked like for our family this year.

I think people often imagine homeschoolers locked away in a dark room doing workbook pages all day. Sometimes, we do spend time doing workbook pages:


But more often we find learning opportunities present themselves in a more natural way in the world around us:



Earlier this year, we explored how Columbus' ships sailed:


We developed a water filtration system:



We made butter like the colonists and discovered what a chore it really is:


George Washington even stopped by for a cupcake:


"Character Education" is taught by Mommy and Daddy (we're not convinced the government is qualified):


Siblings learn to value each other and work as a team:



Of course, we also have to spend a lot of time practicing conflict resolution:


We learn to follow directions:



And have plenty of time to for Home Economics:



We get to help with outreach projects:




And of course we have recess!


People often remark that it must be easier for me to homeschool because I used to be a certified teacher. I think the truth, though, is that if I ever went back to the classroom, I would be a better teacher because I have been a mother.


It's not that we have anything against sending kids to traditional schools (after all, I'd like to think Phil and I turned out okay), and it's not that we necessarily think there's anything wrong with learning how to read in plastic chairs under fluorescent lights as your peers giggle while you try to sound out words.

We just think this way is nicer:

...and we're thankful for the opportunity to get to do it.

Gratitude

I never thought I would say this, but as I listened yesterday to a family member in his 90's discussing a book he was reading on Einstein's theories, it occurred to me that some of the more interesting people I know are over 80 years old.

Recently another very active family member who is approaching 90 remarked about something: "Oh, when I am old I would like to do that."

When you are old?

Not that getting old looks all that easy. Yesterday my husband's family gathered at our house for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time his grandma would ever be able to leave the Alzheimer's unit where she lives. It is sad even for someone who has only known her a few years to see how much she has aged and how much the disease has taken from her in such a seemingly short time. She is unable to walk, to stand up, unable to even understand most of the conversation around her.

We looked through old family photos yesterday and I saw her smiling and youthful on her wedding day, and full of life as a young mother. I saw all the places life had taken her over the years, and I felt sad for her for where she was now.

Yet it was she who gave me the best lesson on gratitude yesterday.

Her husband was telling us how he visits her every evening and they have devotions together. Recently she prayed with sweet sincerity: "Thank you, God, for this nice place to live (an Alzheimer's unit!). You have given me a nice bed, nice people to take care of me, good meals..."

Such a simple and pure gratitude for where God has her right now was both touching and convicting to me.

I watch her husband, and though he too is weary from her disease, he patiently reassures her, holds her hand, and kisses her, rarely leaving her side. He writes her cards with words like, "These are the good years."

As for me, I am thankful to have their examples of gratitude and faithfulness. After spending time with them, I am reminded of the words of Psalm 92:

[The righteous] will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, "The LORD is upright;
He is my Rock,
and there is no wickedness in Him."

Quote for the Day

I confess to being a bookworm and a lover of words. I think it was Mark Twain who said, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightening and the lightening bug." Some people have things they like to collect. I collect quotations, and I thought it was worth sharing one I found today:







"I remember my mother's prayers
and they have always followed me.
They have clung to me all my life."
~Abraham Lincoln


When you consider the man's life and some of the things he accomplished - saving a nation from being torn apart, giving the right of freedom to a whole race of people - you truly get a sense of how significant his mother's prayers were and how faithfully she must have prayed.

Of course it's possible that maybe he was just saying this to be nice to his mother. But as the child of a faithfully-praying mother myself, I do not discount the power of a mother's prayers.

Recently I watched my kids and their cousins running around laughing without a care in the world. I found myself wondering what the world will be like when they grow up, what kind of courage will be required of them? Will they find the dreams God had for them when He made them?

Lincoln's words are reminder to me not only to pray more for my kids, but to have the faith to pray big prayers for their lives. Not just, God, make this child sleep! (I confess that is probably what God hears from the most), but God, let this child's life bring freedom and life for many.