Her Shoes

If I ever forget how small she is, I turn around

and look at her feet.

Her little flowered shoes and mismatched socks

remind me of her littleness.

She sits behind me and she fits there for now. 

I know one day these shoes will be lost in the city

of shoe land where all my children's shoes seem

to go. They never stay around long. They dissappear

in the night or on a road trip or simply somewhere

in the big red van. Never to be seen again.

It's a reminder that she too is growing and every

new pair of shoes that I buy is one step closer

to her being big enough to one day walk

away and start her own family.

I hope these little flowered ones stay around

a while though..I love this stage of camping out,

hair a tangled mess, (thumb-sucking still) little girl

that is a joy and delight.

Yeah! I hope these shoes hang around a while. 

A day in the life of my girls

We cook and around here, we cook alot.

I'm thankful for the counter that holds them.

I'm thankful for Taylor who teaches.

I'm thankful for the hours I have training up

my girls. It's constant and it's new every single

day but it's my mission field and although the heat

of Africa can't touch me here I'm nonetheless living out

a mission.

A mission of Motherhood   

We had a tea party today and the girls learned to hold their tea cups

and sit quietly while I read them a story.

Why is this important to me?

Because when we go to church they need to know

what I mean when I put my fingeres to my lips and say, "shhhhhhh".

Training for Sundays start on Mondays.
It's an all week process.

These fleeting moments are way too short.

Sleeping in school

A great part of homeschooling is that I get to be with my kids, homeschool my kids,

and watch my kids sleep while I'm teaching them.

I wonder what public school teachers would do?

I personally knew that my boy needed a nap and

so what if he decided to nap during school time? I smiled as

I read to the others. I thought how cute he looked.

See, I can think these things when I homeschool.

I don't have to get all worked up. 

I wasn't about to wake him.

We just kept right on going.

And he kept right on sleeping. The beauty

of homeschooling is that I see his beauty

even when he is asleep. Even when it's in my classroom.

Sleep well little Jo boy, one day

your kids will laugh at this.



Train up your children while they are young

I recently read this advice from a man named Richard Baxter. He lived around the 1600s and this is his advice to parents regarding work and children:

"Train up your children in a life of diligence and labor, and do not accustom them

to ease and idleness when they are young.

Many children are taught no calling, nor exercised in any employment,

but only such as is fit for nothing but ornament and recreation at the best.

Recreation should have but a small proportion of their time.

By the sin of their parents, many are early engaged in a life of idleness, which afterward

is almost impossible for them to overcome.

They are taught to live like swine or vermin-which live only to live,

and do small good in the world by living.

They rise, and dress, and adorn themselves, and go to dinner, and thence to cards (or PlayStation or xbox) or chat (txt) and idle talk. Then to supper, and to chat again, and then to bed.

This is the lamentable life of too many who have great obligations to God.

Richard Baxter

Work, it's a good thing..

a very good thing.

Let the stealer steal no more, but rather let him do hard work, doing with his hands what is good work, that he may have something to distribute to someone in need. - Ephesians 4:28

Memories on a road trip

Riding the road to Chattanooga to catch up with

friends lead them down a busy day.

1. Lupi's Pizza Factory

2. The Tennessee Aquarium

3. The Chattanooga Ducks

4. The Terminal

5. The Cupcake Factory

6. and to visit with friends....

 



It lead them to the chattanooga cup cake factory

where the cupcakes were so big you

couldn't eat it all.

I can't imagine. 

 Heavily armed with the remains of her cupcake

and too much Dr. Pepper..



My best friend in the whole world and her hubby,

Brock and Anna

thanks for taking that drive

and thanks for the memories

she'll never forget. 



2011

sometimes a girl just has to do it.

 Look into the bottom of an ice-cream box

and eat every single bite and not feel the least

bit guilty.

You can do this when you're 5.

Why so down cast?

He awoke with the sun still low on the east side of the house.

It was early, too early for him.

The sun shining her rays on his sleepy head. She was waking him

up slowly as he was waiting on his daily bread, revealing

his grumpiness at my table.

Grumpiness as he was being warmed by the very arms of God.

It didn't last long. God awoke in him his love for the day and

it wasn't long before he was up running and playing and singing

and laughing...

God had used His creation to bring the joy into Cullen's morning.

How often has He given me this same gift.

The sun in my kitchen.

The clothes on the line.

The kittens on my back porch.

The smile on my daughters face.

The water being used in my front yard

to cool my children.

The smell of supper cooking.
The feel of my loving husband's arms around me.

The hay being gathered in our pasture.

The sounds of that mean old rooster in the hen house.

The grumpiness is there some mornings,

but if I ever give over to all the gifts

that surround me, it flees and I'm left

standing in a puddle of God's love.

...no, swimming in it ...

The old man by the sea

I was sitting there thinking and looking out into the waters that held

a few of my children when I heard a noise coming from behind me.

 I turned to see a husband and wife carrying a small fragile

old man in a sun chair to the waters edge.

He was not healthy, this I could tell right off.

He was frail and very sick. His face looked sad and weathered.
His body barely able to keep it's position...
and I wondered about him and his life
before things got like this.

I wondered what he was thinking.

I could see them fussing over him. Making

sure his hat was on his head. Making sure he was sitting

up in his chair but he didn't seem to notice

any of it. His gaze was fixed to the sea.

His eyes never leaving whatever it was
he was fixed on.

What I didn't notice right off was the way his

feet lay in the sand and the water rolled

 over them time and time again as

 being washed by some invisible hand.

My tears started flowing because  I imagined the Lord

coming to him and washing his tired old feet on the

beautiful ocean floor. Time and time again the water

gently rolled over his old bones.I walked over not really wanting to interrupt but

just wanting to take a picture for them and I heard his story

and right there in front of strangers, I sobbed.

I cried for him.

I cried for Sherry who lost Tom.

I cried for the day when

this would happen to us all.

 His wife, the love of his life whom he lived with for 50 years

died two weeks earlier and they said he was depressed so they

brought him out to the ocean and the waves hoping that it would

make him feel better somehow.

I kept watching the water roll over his feet.

My mind mingling with the thoughts of my heart

that the Lord was washing this mans feet

 and encouraging him to keep running his race. 

The race the Lord put in front of him.

Yes, the race was hard but the Lord would renew his strength

even now. He kept looking forward, looking off

 into the depths, and I had to wonder

if he was talking to the Lord, if he was questioning or if he was begging

for the Lord to bring him home.  

How many times had he swam here

or ran down these white foamy pastures?

How many times had the ocean been his rescue?

How many times had his feet hit these waters?

Now he's old and now he sits, he runs no more

he swims no more, but he just sits in a chair

and he gets to look at the beauty before him.

Silent not a word

is spoken.

He's taking it all in maybe for the last time

and everyone there knows it.

Our lives are but a vapor. Is this our last time to take

in the beauty around us? Are we looking and not speaking

a word? Are we talking to our God and thanking him

for our race even though it's hard sometimes.

Live today as if...this could be your last