For Better For Worse

Timbo reminded me the other day as  I was sobbing over something minor  we were having a heart to heart that September is always an emotional month for us.  I don't know why it seems to surprise me when it happens but it does every.single.year.  I am shocked when my emotions begin to ramp up at the beginning of the month and they continue through the month until October and fall rolls around.

This year I am making the effort to realize that I am going to be emotional over little things, my husband is more stressed than normal this month, my boys really don't understand why but they also experience the effects of our higher stress level.  So I am committing to taking deep breaths and praying more.

I am trying to structure our days this month with some margin.  This is going to be a little bit difficult.  We are busy right now but I know that we need to find some time to pull in and have some family time.  I have to make time for both the boys and Tim and most of all for me to meditate on God's goodness.  The thing I can miss the most during our busyness and stress is the goodness of God and how he has carried us through this month for the last 14 years.  Every single year since September 1998 we have relived and remembered our loss.

September for us will always remind us of the vows "for better, for worse".  In 1998 we experienced on of the worst things any parent can experience.  In 2006 we experience the joy and a "for better" moment.  It would be nice if the better cancelled out the worse.  The reality is that isn't the way it works.  It is in the worse that we can know the fullness of God's power.  It is also in the worse that we can experience the comfort that comes from knowing the one who holds us and the one who offers the ultimate comfort of experiencing his peace and grace.

To Have and To Hold Part 2

 

My parents 50th wedding anniversary brought me out of a blogging hiatus. Then thanks to Pinterest I found this marriage challenge and the first weeks emphasis is prayer.

All marriages go through an ebb and flow. I think it is the nature of living with and loving another person. I shared how I have seen the marriage vows lived out in my parents lives.  One thing, I know about my parents is that they daily spend time praying for us individually and as a couple.  This act of prayer is glue that helps hold their marriage together.

My friends and family know that I don't enjoy calling people on the phone. I don't mind chatting on the phone but making the call, not so much. When a crisis happens in my life...my mom and dad are on speed dial.  I worry that because I mostly call when I need them to pray for something that they dread seeing my number on caller id. (Mama I am trying to get better about this!)  But I know that when I call they will pray.  I know that because I have seen the evidence in their lives and in our lives of their intercession.

So I am committing to taking my prayer life to the next level in my marriage.  I want my children to look at our marriage and my life and know that it is bathed in prayer.  I know that the best thing I can do for our kids is to pray for their dad and our marriage.  I am adding some little "reminders" to our home for me to prayer.  I plan to post some "notes" with prayer reminders where I will see them often during the day.

Want to join along?  Darlene suggests using your wedding ring as a reminder to pray for your husband and your marriage.  What ideas do you have for praying for your husband and marriage?

Be sure and check out the link above and also check out this kindle book on prayer that is free Sept. 3rd and 4th. The Sensational Scent of Prayer.

To Have and to Hold

Fifty years is a long time. When something lasts 50 years we are impressed whether it is a car, a piece of furniture, or a marriage. 

Fifty years ago my parents stood in a church with their family and friends and they said vows that sounded a lot like this...

for better or worse  They experienced both in family, with churches and with friends. 

for richer, for poorer  I think they would agree that their lives have been much richer than poor. They are rich in family, friends and churches even if not always in money.

in sickness and in health  They have experienced both and seen God carry them through.

to love and to cherish  One of my favorite memories happened last year when we were home at Thanksgiving. My mom was sitting in a chair in the living room and my dad was on his knee beside her just talking in the early morning. That picture is one I will carry of their love.

from this day forward until death do us part  From my perspective I hope that they celebrate many, many more years together. Their lives have been a model of how to make marriage work. Even when times were hard they never wavered in their commitment to each other. They never spoke the “d” word. They never stormed out and left. They are faithful to each other in every way. They have been a picture of what Paul talks about in Ephesians 5:31,33 “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” and “Each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Mom and Dad I hope you celebrate many, many more anniversaries together.

I love you.

One Million Tears

I feel like that is exactly how many tears I have shed in the last 13 years. Today, I will shed a few more. Thankful today that God has kept a record of my sorrow. "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." (Psalm 56:8) Thankful that He doesn't leave us in our sorrow. He picks us up and carries us through it.

49 Years and counting

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.

Mission Organization in Review

Day 8 and this was probably the biggest day in this project. We have a front room that could be used as an office but we set it up as our school room this past year. It didn't take us long to figure out that this wasn't a great idea for us. I don't like being in the room tucked away and the boys don't want to work in there if I am not in there. They spent a lot of time doing school on the floor in whatever room I was working in. Usually we ended up in Tim's office. That was not a good solution since there are times when we all need a little space. I ended up moving my chair into the living room and setting up a corner area of our living for us to do school. This will allow the boys to have plenty of room to stretch out and I can be in a more central location.

We decided that the school room would make a good room for the boys computer and also a TV with the Wii. At first I thought I would move some of their desks out to the garage and store them. When I actually got in the room and begin arranging things I realized that I could put all the desks on one wall. We were then able to put their computer, one laptop, the TV, and the printer on the desks. By moving all the desks to the same wall it opens up the room and really makes it seem larger. I moved three smaller bookcases along the opposite wall and those will hold our books and the boys bins they use for their daily school work.

In the closet I moved in a cube unit and it holds all our misc homeschool items, magnetic letters, HWT wooden pieces, word cubes, MUS blocks, musical instruments, art supplies, math manipulative's, and all our extra science stuff. I put some things on the top shelf in the closet and these are things that I don't generally want down and accessible to the younger ones with out supervision. This shelf holds our rocket set, snap circuits, Physic Quest materials and also a microscope. The boxes on the top shelf hold the boys school work from the previous year.

I am keeping some supplies we use regularly on top of the bookcases. I found these picnic bins at Target. Last year I got the red one which is a little larger and is divided into 6 compartments. This year I got the blue and white ones. They are divided in half and one half has three sections. I like that they are easy for us to transport to a different area if we need too.

Mission Organization in Review

Day 7 was spent running around in 100+ degree heat! I dropped off the items I had purged for friends who were having a yard sale. I also took Eli to pick up his new guitar. He has wanted to take lessons and we have someone in our church that is going to teach him. I asked on our homeschool group if anyone had an inexpensive guitar to sale. One mom told me her teen son had one and she would find out how much he wanted for it. The young man told me that he would like to give it to Eli! I am amazed at how God blesses us. We went today and picked it up and Eli is so excited to start lessons! AFter that we came home and I managed to clean out our freezer (which was appropriate) and I put off the school room for one more day!