Praying for a Groundhog day..

The other day..

I had one of

"those days"

The kind of day..

when at the end..

You have regrets..

The patience, I did not have...

The motivation that I could not find..

Just one of those terrible, awful no good days.

And when I crawled into bed..

I didn't wish just for the day to end..

I wanted a "do over"

I wanted a Groundhog day..

To relive the day

So

At 9:00 I would know the water main would burst..

So not to be in the shower with soap in my hair..

At 11:00 Jax would explode from his diaper..

So at 10:50 make sure the wipe container is not empty..

And the diapers are not in a box underneath his crib.

At 2:30 The kids would be finger painting the entire kitchen with chocolate syrup..

So at 2:15 be in the kitchen with an approved craft..

The problem is..

We don't get do overs..

We get one day at a time..

Some days are awesome..

And Some

make you want to crawl into bed and pull the sheets over your head.

We aren't promised tomorrow..

Or even guaranteed that today will be good..

We are promised that His grace is sufficient..

1 Corinthians 12:9-10

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Ruining the picture..

When I was little..

I remember watching reruns on PBS..

Of this man who would teach you how to paint..

(yes, I was that awesome)

I don't remember the name of the man or the show..

I do remember he had the most wonderful fro..

And he always painted outdoor landscapes..

I remember watching him paint..

And thinking..

Wow, that's beautiful.

The painting can't get any better..

And then much to my dismay he would start painting a red blob or something..

And I would scream

(yes, because if watching someone paint on Public Television didn't make me cool enough, yelling at the TV did)

"STOP... YOU ARE RUINING THE PICTURE"

And then to my surprise he would make a beautiful tree out of that red blob..

And I would think..

Wow, now that picture looks perfect.

And then he would do something else...

That would infuriate me..

He would add something else to the picture..

Which of course would make the picture look even better..

It always happened...

Just when I thought he should stop..

Just when I thought that the picture was as good as it would get..

He would change something..

And I would realize..

He knew what he was doing..

He didn't ruin anything...

He made it better than I could have imagined..

In real life I find myself doing the same thing..

Thinking that something is the best it will get..

Getting comfortable..

Happy with how things are..

And then something changes..

And I think..

This isn't right, it's ruining everything..

And then I realize after awhile...

Nothing was ruined..

The end result is better than I could have imagined...

The picture was made better..

By the Artist..

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Peaceful

The scene was perfect..

We were at the beach..

Eating Tripoli's pizza..

The kids were enjoying themselves..

The sun was just right to capture a beautiful picture..

Court took the picture..

And then...

A flock of seagulls descending on the table next to us..

Fighting over a crust of pizza..

They were getting close to Ari Belle..

Who easily weighs less than those mammoth seagulls.

So Daddy came to the rescue..scared them off.

(He has an impressive ability to sound exactly like a seagull)

Peace was restored...

He even threw away all the leftover food on the surrounding tables to guarantee peace..

A few peaceful minutes later.....

He threw a piece of crust.....

In his defense it was away from us...

However seagulls are not the smartest birds..

and they all descended upon us...

The kids started crying and screaming...

I would have been joining them if I thought it was even the slight bit appropriate for a 27 year old pregnant lady to start screaming about birds...

Instead we had to book it to the car...

So as much as I would have liked our evening to end serenely like the picture above..

That's not reality folks...

Sometimes your day ends by being attacked by seagulls..

Sometimes things don't happen the way you would have planned..

But sometimes the way the do happen make for a far better story..

And sometimes when neither of these things are true..

It's important to remember this:

Let your conversations be without covetousness; and be content with such things that ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee or forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

My heart..

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.
-- George Mathhew Adam

I struggle a little with Christmas this year.

Because with all the excitement of the Christmas season..

All the decorations..

The gifts..

The tree.

I struggle because I want..

Or more accurately, need my children to understand..

that even though all these things are lovely and fine..

the most wonderful thing..

something more remarkable than a man in a red suit..

or a tree adorned in in sparkly ornaments..

Or the ground that is blanketed in snow..

That Love was given at Christmas..

That a Saviour came when He didn't have to..

That God became man because He loved us..

I love the decorations and the snow,

but my hearts desire is that my children will learn the real meaning of Christmas,

and that they will realize that that meaning is far more exciting than any tradition we may have.

I hope they learn not only to love Christmas,

But to love the Christ of Christmas..

Such a big responsibility.

It seems sensible to say...

You can buy this lovely little print here

I love the idea of faith.

In knowing that there is a God who is Powerful enough to have faith in.

I do have a little problem with leaps of faith.

I am the girl who hesitates before stepping on the escalator.

I would much rather walk on a sidewalk than venture a hike through the woods.

I like the idea of looking before you leap.

And relooking.

And looking again.

And of course taking a final look just to make sure nothing has changed.

Faith appeals to my spirit,

Leaps of faith contradict my nature.

I use to think that one could have Faith and still choose not to leap.

But the more thinking I do, I wonder.

Is faith, faith if I am too afraid to leap?

If God is powerful then why am I afraid to step out in faith?

Afraid to do something so big that if He is not in it the result would be utter failure.

If I have faith it will cause me to leap.

Because the awe of the One who I have faith in does not permit me to stand still.

It can't remain motionless.

Faith leaps.

Hebrews 11:1,8

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Poor choices and leprechauns

Let me tell you a little story.

A story of a teacher of 3 year olds who made a poor choice.

She had the best intentions, she was going to make the week of St.Patty's day a magical week in her classroom.

She hatched a plan. She would pretend leprechauns were visiting the classroom.

They would be notes from them, they would leave little treats, little clues they were there..

It would be such a fun make believe game..

It started out wonderfully, the kids laughed and had a blast searching the room for the little leprechauns.

And then nap time came.

"Um, Miss Kara Miss Teacher who shall remain unnamed" one little girl tugged at the teachers shirt.

"Yes, dear." said the teacher

"Can you sit by the door to make sure the leprechauns don't come in and get us?"

Oh, boy

Never fear, Teacher was quick thinking and replied...

"Oh no honey, we were just playing make believe. They are just pretend, you know like Santa.. I mean... OK, I will sit by the door."

True Story.

We hope you enjoyed your flight...

It was a harmless little bag.

It seemed so unassuming.

However this little bag was a valuable tool in helping teach me a lesson.

We flew last week to Atlanta. And I got my first taste of the wonderful world of lost luggage. I also heard the phrase "Sorry ma'am that's our policy" more times than I would have cared too.

There was a lot of confusion and frustration that boiled up to this moment, the moment where Court and I were checking into our return flight (with our luggage that we had just been reunited with 5 minutes prior, just in time to check it in again...nice). The moment when the lady behind the desk said, "Hmm, it seems only one of you has a seat on this flight."

Awesome

My patience waned and I felt my face turn beet red. All the list of that airlines mistakes flooded my mind. And in my absolute frustration I said: "This is the worst airline I have ever flown on."

The comment was really not directed at her, in fact she didn't seem the lest bit phased by it.

But I felt a little prick on my heart when I said it.

And even if I didn't, one look at Court's face would have made me realize my mistake.

I was defensive, told him I wasn't being rude just stating a fact. I told him she didn't even care.

He simply said that didn't matter.

I knew what he meant. Even though my frustration may have seemed reasonable, my actions understandable, none of that was the point.

The point is

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;just as I also please all men in all things,not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many,so that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 10:31-33

The point is it's more important to be righteous than to be right.

So this is just a reminder to myself. The next time I am at Starbucks and the barista messes up my order, I need to remember John 13:35 says this: we will be known to be disciples of Christ by our love.. not by our stinging sarcastic comments (which is a shame because I rather enjoy good sarcasm)...... but by our love.