Simplicity

This year I declared our family theme to be “Simplicity.” Last year our theme was “Endurance.” So today while the kids build a fort and watch Sesame Street I am collecting all the unused or unwanted clothing and junk and the Salvation Army is picking it up. I have winter to thank for this boost in productivity. If it weren’t for winter, I would never spend so much time in our home without interruption. No matter what time of year it is I always find myself staring away into our yard while I wash dishes. And now that I am no longer allowing myself to stare and wallow and wish for spring, I'm appreciating what I see out there. When I look back in our backyard I can see so far during the winter. There is nothing but bare trees and white snow, so my view is unobstructed. Hi there neighbors whose house I can only see when the couple of acres of leafy trees are naked!

I want to feel that same way when I look in our closets and cabinets. I don’t want to have to scoot around the stuff we never touch and the clothes we never wear. Since I’m powerless to make the weather change, I’m asserting my power to make our home feel more comfortable. Also, I’m one of those types, the type who loves cleanliness and organization. If I were a character off of FRIENDS I would like to think I would be Monica. So going through our house and freeing myself from current clutter and junk that will inevitably turn into to future clutter just makes my heart sing. I love it, but it still isn’t something I would have put on my top ten list to do this week. Winter gave me the inspiration to mirror its simplicity and the push I needed to make it happen. So for that, I am thankful (and to be honest kind of giddy about seeing so much stuff leaving our house!). Bye bye junk, you no longer have the power to make me feel overly Americanized and greedy and gross and cluttered. Simplicity, I love you and this winter is showing me that this year’s theme will bring forth a beautiful year for our family!

Seriously, where is spring?!

If you live anywhere from the midwest through the northeast, chances are you woke up to the worst weather report ever this morning. This first day of spring will be followed by 1-2 more weeks of blistery winter weather. If you are like me, your mad. Like real mad. Come on dude! I wish it was possible to punch the cold air, cause that is all I want to do right now! As totally and completely annoyed as I am...I also find myself thankful.

In past winters (especially winter of 2011 after my miscarriage) I wanted needed spring to come outside because in my heart I was enduring a vicious winter season. I was desperate to see the little buds discreetly appear on the trees outside our windows and then waited expectantly for them to produce even the tiniest bloom. When the soul endures winter, it's so painful and so long and so lingering. I needed to tangibly watch the earth transition into something warmer and welcoming and pretty. I needed to see it in front of me because I needed to be certain that God could do this for me too. God did move me from that place and out of that season I took with me so much richness and so much closeness to Him, that I wouldn't trade for a million spring days.

However, I'm very thankful that today it is spring in my heart even though it is winter outside. I'm so thankful for the joy and happiness and love and gladness that are present every day in my heart and in my home. This morning while I was reading I caught myself skimming the "sad" verses. I discounted their value, but then I remembered how vital those scriptures were to me in my hour of need. I clung with everything I had to David's psalms of languish and heartbreak. It meant so much to me that these verses were included in the psalms. Because it meant that God cared about all of me. God cares about each season I'm in. He isn't looking for me to be happy and perfect. He's listening in the praise and in the weeping. So I'll leave you with two totally opposite scriptures that are the same in their beauty for the one who needs them.




[9] O Lord, all my longing is before you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
[10] My heart throbs; my strength fails me,
and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
(Psalm 38:9-10 ESV)





[8] I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
[9] Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
[10] For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
[11] You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalm 16:8-11 ESV)

Homesick

Warning: I'm going to be honest, the kind where you admit stuff.

When I was single and thought about Heaven, especially the return of Christ to take us home, I often thought to myself, "that will be so awesome, but I have to get married first." When I was engaged I thought, "I can't wait for that!...Except that I really want to know my husband first" (in the biblical sense. I said I would be honest, but my dad might read this or something, ew.) Once I was married I thought, "Dang, when Christ returns it will be so beautiful, but I really want to be a mom first." Since having a son, it was "yea great, except I want to see Lyric marry a ballar woman of God first."

Recently, with all the current events and happenings of this generation, I have found myself thinking "Where can we go? Where can we move that will shelter Lyric from all this?" and then...boom. This longing feeling, its for home. Home. Then last week during worship it really hit me. And no, I can't even tell you what song or what prayer or what scripture changed my heart.

If marriage is a tangible picture here on earth of the marriage between Christ and the church, then why am I so eager to wait and see Lyric take part in the knock-off? It will be a happy day when Christ comes back for us, but it will be exponentially more beautiful seeing Lyric join the bridegroom. I'm so thankful for this insight, but a little sad that it took becoming a parent to see. Being a mom has given me this new and fresh desire for whats best instead of what feels best. This new gift of insight about the coming of Christ is just that, a gift; but its also a challenge to seek the perfect will of God for myself, not just for my children. (those born and yet to be born)

Thanks for letting me be honest.

"Don't Eat the Grease!"

So as my gal pal Adrienne so delicately put it...this is a semi-devastating event that I encounter seemingly daily. I love that gal.

So today we are doing second coat of blue on the bathroom walls and a first coat of beige on the ceiling. Don't worry, no paint fiasco. However...there was a doggy incident, but all in good time readers, all in good time. So, Austin and I got really pulled into the bathroom project and instead of stopping at 4:45 to get ready for date night (starting at 6), we did not stop until a little after 5-somethingish. So we were both rushing around and not ready on time for our sitter. As I am rushing downstairs, I notice that Austin is putting on new door-knocker thingies and Max is right behind him in the entry way standing over a pile of yuck. Thats right yuck. What is yuck? Yuck is what happens when your small dog gets into a very large Dickeys BBQ cup full of maple bacon grease. If by chance you think that its gross that we have a cup of bacon grease sitting around....please, tell me what you do with your left over grease (seriously, because there must be some other alternative). So I volunteer to clean it...without knowing that its full of bacon grease (and apparently forgetting my unspoken vow as a women to never clean up a dog's vomit if I don't absolutely have to). So I go down to clean it up and.......and nothing....I cleaned it up. But it was extremely yucky and gross. If you were wondering which consistency wins when it comes between dog vomit and bacon grease...its bacon grease, it holds its smell and texture very well. Ew.