Five Minute Friday--she

Linking up with Lisa Jo.

She has hair that has less gray than mine.
And yet her almost 83 years beat mine by half a century.
I've heard some say its because she doesn't know stress like we do today. That thought turns my mouth up a bit as I laugh to myself.
She raised 4 children. 3 of them boys. She knows stress.
She was the baby of 9 children and watched he favorite brother die when she was young. She knows stress.
She buried her husband far sooner than she or any of us expected. She's gone on 10 years without him. She knows stress.
She's seen most of her siblings go on home now. Both of her parents too.
She's seen the births of 9 grand children and 19 great grands.
She is what holds our family together. Even in the darkest of times.
Maybe she just knows who to give the stress to way better than we do.

Five Minute Friday: Mercy

Linking up with Lisa Jo.

I remember that unrelenting game as a kid. The one where someone twisted your arm or crammed your head under their arm and squeezed with all their might. You were stuck...until you screamed MERCY! I was never one for pain, so I was usually quick to yell mercy. But occasionally, I'd grit my teeth and push back. Or hold on. It can't be long before they'll give in, I thought. I can do this. Can we say stubborn?
Flash forward twenty or so years and it's far too often that I find myself in the same position. No my arms aren't twisted behind my back and thankfully I'm in no one's head lock...per say. But I am overloaded. Overwhelmed. Stretched thin. And while I know better. Far to often I find myself digging in, gritting my teeth and thinking just hold on, this can't last long.
It's then, that I hear Him most. At the end of my rope. When I just can't take one more thing and I'm about to (or maybe already have) pitch a grown up sized tantrum titled 'woe is me'. That's when I hear Him saying, just say it. Just call out to me. And I will give you mercy.

Five Minute Friday: RED

Five Minute Friday: RED

It's the color of my high school. My alma mater. It's the color of my first car. My favorite sweater. It's the color I see when my middler is crying for the umpteenth time in five minutes over which pair of shoes to wear. But more than that, it's the color of my salvation.
It's the color that poured from my Savior's side. It's the color that washed me. White as snow. It's beautiful and raging and calming and loud. It's a sign that I'm His. Not long for this world. A sign that I'm not home yet.


Linking up with Lisa Jo.

Our People

When we began this summer, this summer of travel and the crazy that comes with it, I was scared. Scared for a number of reasons. One of which was because of all the things we'd miss. Summer at our house has always been pool dates with friends, late night fires with hot dogs & s'mores, McDonalds after church with friends, & last minute picnics in the park. Miles from home and those friends, what would our summer look like?
Yes, this summer has looked different. There's been a lot of family time. But one of my favorite memories of the summer was the second night we were home after our first trip when some of our best friends dropped by with pizza unexpectedly. We were just finishing up our dinner, but when friends show up with pizza and their kids to play with yours, you throw open the door and clear the table. Hours later, we sat around the living room laughing and catching up after three weeks of life on the road. I am so thankful for those friends. We needed that night more than they'll ever know.
I love my husband dearly and have learned this summer that I would follow him to the ends of the earth. Even if it meant living in a hotel room with 3 littles for 2 weeks. {FYI...hotel rooms are small.} I love this family that we have. Despite the 'I'm not touching you's' and the occasional tantrums {some of which might be mine.} But I miss my friends. The group of people that we have surrounded ourselves with in our short 9 years of marriage. Those friends who don't need to ask if you need help, they just help. Those who bring you boxes and tape (even though you thought you had enough.) Those who let you cry over a house you wanted so badly to sell. Those who show up with pizza because they missed you. Those who bring Sonic drinks and take your kids without you ever having to ask.
Life on the road has been fun. We've learned a lot and seen even more. But I'm thankful for the home that we have. The people that are ours, waiting on us to return.

Five Minute Friday: Story

Yes, I realize it's Saturday. Sometimes that's when you get your five minutes.

Story

It's who you are. It what you have to bring to the table. It's one of my favorite parts of the job that they pay me to do. Hearing their stories. Getting a glimpse into their lives. For just a little while. Seems less for those of us in my grade because they leave us to go to a new building and some we never hear of again. And then there are those that years later I hear about and marvel at all that they've become.

Their stories are my favorite. And sometimes the hardest to hear. Most of them don't live in affluence. Their mamas and daddies are hard workers. Giving them all they've got. Most of them. And then there are those who aren't given much at all. Aren't treated well at all. And for those I pray that I can help their story. That they'll know if only for a second that someone loves them. Every part of them. That someone is cheering for them. From the sidelines of their life, even it's way back by their fifth grade year. Someone cares and believes in them and their story.


Joining in with Lisa Jo at Five Minute Fridays.

this old house

Chris bought our house before we got married. I feel certain that he had no idea what this house would hold. When I walked into it almost 10 years ago, I know I didn't. I wish I had a picture of what it looked like to begin with. Just since I moved in, we have painted, changed the carpet, remodeled the kitchen, painted, remodeled the sunroom, changed the carpet, finished the laundry room, had numerous heat sources, added a bathroom and walk in closet, painted, remodeled the sunroom, changed the carpet, added a deck and painted. (Paint colors---not my thing. Nor Luci's.) Oh and the walk...don't even get me started on the walk.

We've become a family here. We came home as newlyweds here, praying our brothers didn't prank us. We decorated together...carefully at first. Not so much now.

To say we've learned a lot in this house, is an understatement of the greatest kind. Far less dinners are thrown away these days. Chris has given up the pipe dream that I'm going to mow, he'd rather me be able to breathe. As for stoking the fire in our cellar/basement in the middle of the night in January or ever really....hahaha, bless him. Two of three kids are out of diapers. Who am I kidding? Potty training was the easy part! The fact that they're all alive blows my mind some days!! With two in school this fall, I sometimes just shake my head in amazement.

We've become a family here. We've brought 3 tiny humans home from the hospital here. We've boiled bottles and wiped up puke. We've nursed fevers and prayed over a little one who wouldn't gain weight.

I know every creak and groan in these floors. I know when to put out the mouse traps because it's getting cooler and while I will never welcome rodents into my house, I've learned that they will always come. I know when it's time to clean out the dryer hose (or tell Chris too.) I know when a heavy rain comes to be sure to check on the yard because it doesn't take much to wash it all away.

We've hosted birthday parties, cookouts, pizza dinners, youth nights, and graduation celebrations. Good friends have shown up with pizza and conversation when we didn't even know we needed it. We've roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and listened to boys camp out much to our neighbors chagrin.

We've become a family here. These walls have heard arguments and slammed doors. The floors have caught our tears and felt jumps of joy. There have been quite a few "wootwoots!" within these walls.

I know this is just a house, and one that I have often cursed over the years, but I am going to miss it terribly.

God has blessed us so much here. And while part of me is terrified about what comes next, a bigger part of me is just in awe of watching God's plan for us. His plan for our family. Our home. Our lives.

Five Minute Friday: In Between

Five minutes to write whatever comes to mind.  Here we go! 

It's the in between that scares me. 
The not knowing.
The waiting.
The hoping.
How's it gonna turn out?
How's it gonna go?
Will this be painful?
Will it bring us joy?

I like real.
Solid.
Something I can hold onto.

I remember graduating college and being terrified.
Knowing what my next step was,
but not being sure of it.
That time in between.
It was then that I grew the most.

I remember bringing my first baby home.
Being overwhelmed with emtion.
Praying that I could really hack it
when real life started up again.
That time in between.
It was then that I grew the most.

The in between, that's when we learn, we grow, we rebuild.
It's the part that, scary as it may be, counts the most.


Today I'm linking up with Lisa Jo over at Five Minute Fridays.