Last Minute Love

Wow! Today was packed and flew by, so I'm doing a last-minute post to stay true to my blog-a-day commitment. 

I just got home from the cooking class I take every week, and have a bit of a deep thought I'll blog about in more depth later. For now, I'll give you the thought and Scripture, and if you have any thoughts on it, the floor is yours!

The thought has to do with salt, and how in almost every dish we learn how to make, this is the most important ingredient. Chef Patrice usually waits until right at the end to add most of the salt, because this is where the cook has the most control. He also never gives us a measurement for any dish, we just have to learn to season to taste.

That said, here is the Scripture:

Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (NIV)

I look forward to exploring with you how these concepts go together and how they can be applied to our lives.

Beach Love

Dear Blueberry,

You won't remember this weekend, so let me just tell you about it. We went to the beach with some of our very best friends. We also saw some of Mommy's favorite people who knew me before I ever met your Daddy. I know, a long long time ago! They've been praying for you to come along almost as long as we have.

Aunt Ali with your "cousins" Tegan and Laci, and Uncle Nic

We love the beach and I think you will, too. Being at the beach gives you permission to do absolutely nothing for an entire day. Well, doing nothing isn't completely accurate. There are plenty of things to do. You can watch the water or go jump in it.

You can watch the wild life. In the sky or running to and from the waves.

You can eat way too much. You can build empires (and jump on them later).

(I don't know this kid, just thought he was cute)

or you can just sit and do, well, nothing.

This time, while we were splashing around in the water, you were doing your own water aerobics in my belly. I think you were having almost as much fun in there as I was feeling you flipping around! I promise to take you to the beach again, once you're on this side, and I'm sure you'll be the cutest babe on any beach anywhere.

Until then, I'll be content carrying you as close to me as I ever will.

All my love,
Mommy

Blog Love

So your favorite blogger (me, in case you wondered) is away at the beach for the weekend, but you really want to read some good blogs. What ever are you going to do?

Never fear! I got your back. I'll hook you up. Here are some of the blogs that have been challenging, encouraging or just making me laugh lately. Most are linked through the images except for the first one, which would not cooperate.

Laugh

My friend, Lacie, is hilarious and a great writer. You should be warned that she's really into The Jersey Shore, but other than that, her blog is one of the highlights of my days!

Encourage

My friend, Lindsey, lives in South Africa, for now. Just recently, she opened up about her journey in infertility land. I've loved reading as God works in her and her husband through this and can't wait to see what the next chapter for them is.

On the other end of the journey, is my internet friend, Stacey. I discovered her through the awesome guest blog she wrote for Stuff Christians Like and have been following her journey ever since. She is carrying her seventh baby, but will give birth to her first (in mere days!) after 9 years of recurrent loss and infertility! Many times what she writes about is exactly what I want to say.

Challenge

You may have seen this video or story as it made its way around the web. If not, watch it first.

 

Though I went to college with the Arnolds, and I remember them, I can't say I really know them. The surviving brother, Chad, started a blog and with raw honesty, is continuing to share the story that has touched thousands of lives.

I "met" Sara through my IRL friend Alece. She is an amazing writer and artist, who, though confined to her house due to a very rare disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, has chosen to spend her life in joy and service to God and others. She also plays Words With Friends with me from time to time, so that automatically makes her a winner!

Cooking (bonus section)

Sommer and I were great friends in high school and college. We went on two mission trips to India together. She's now a cooking instructor in Asheville, NC, and shares her culinary love and skillful writing with the world.

Mary is a dear friend who told me about the Culinary Skills 101 class we're currently taking together. She's been blogging about each of our lessons and making the recipes at home, so if you want to follow along with us (for free, no less!), follow her blog.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you've found something here you enjoy! 

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Dawn Love

My senior year at ORU, I had the honor of being a Resident Advisor (in Braxton, 3M, "Commissioned" at the time, if you care). Our dean of women was Dawn Hoskey. She would become one of the most influential people ever in my life and I still love her madly to this day.

Her niece, Jessica, was an RA in our dorm that year, and it worked out well for our dorm group that Dean Dawn also lived in an apartment in our dorm. I like to think our Braxton group was her favorite because we got to spend all sorts of quality time with her. That's probably why I'm such an awesome person today, because of all of Dawn's love and mothering of us.

Now that I'm 12 years out of ORU and life has changed dramatically for both of us, I have so enjoyed getting to know her as a friend. I think we're probably related somehow, too. She rides Harleys (she's the sales manager at Myers-Duren Harley in Tulsa, so if you need a bike, go see her!) and has a goddaughter at the same special school my nephew, Solo, goes to. And just recently, she became a foster mom.

(Dawn, with her goddaughter, Morgan)

I used to say that I wouldn't get married until Dean Dawn did. She was so awesome and I thought I could convince God to bring her a husband sooner if I offered to hold off on mine. Well, God doesn't work that way, fortunately (for me and John), and though His ways are a mystery, they are good. She doesn't blog, but sends out a monthly email called "Friday Evening Ponderings" to her favorite people. She agreed to let me use last week's as a blog post, making her my first guest blogger.

Enjoy!
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This past Monday, I made my way to a shopping mall in pursuit of a special clothing purchase.  I don’t really care for clothes shopping these days, and quite frankly, I’d be perfectly happy to never step foot into the mall again.   But on this occasion, I was pretty excited to begin the hunt for a garment that would hold special meaning.

                  With Baby M in tow, I made my way through the likes of JC Penney, Dillards, and Macy’s.  Dress shopping is never easy for me, but I was determined to continue my search until I’d found what I wanted.   Sure enough, after several unsuccessful fittings of various dresses, I happened upon a two-piece suit that screamed my name.  The fit was perfect.  Thrilled with my find, I made my way to the check-out counter.  The sales associate rang up my purchase and as she placed a garment bag over the suit, she asked, “What’s the occasion?”

                  “A wedding," I replied.   And then, without giving it a second thought, I proudly announced, “Actually, I’m a first time Mother of the Bride!”

                  Mother of the Bride.   These are words I would never have imagined saying in reference to myself, yet, there they were.  A moment later, the impact of this realization caused my heart to swell with a form of happiness I’ve never known.

                  Now, before you think I’ve lost my marbles or that I’m suddenly revealing a hidden aspect of my life, let me explain.  My lovely niece, Jessica, will walk down the aisle one week from tonight.  While all of my nieces and nephews are near and dear to me, I hold a unique relationship with Jessica due to the way our lives have intertwined.   She has been very present in my life for her entire 31 years, and I in hers.   She lived with me two different times while attending ORU and has been subject to my “mothering” on many occasions.   There has never been, nor will there ever be a time, when I will not feel that she is, in fact, my child.  

                  So, when she became engaged and started to make wedding plans, she asked her “real” mother (my sister, Mary), if she would be o.k. with sharing the “Mother of the Bride” title with me.  Being the wonderful big sister that she is, Mary agreed.  And just like that, a hidden longing of my heart became a dream come true.

                  Many years ago, a young man named Anthony approached me during a chapel service at ORU.  He felt impressed to share a specific passage of scripture with me, and to encourage me with something he felt in his heart, which was a knowing that I would indeed be a mother one day.  At the time, I found hope in the words he spoke and even kept a written record of them in my Bible.  But as time marched on, and my dreams of marriage, children and family remained unfulfilled, I grew angry with God.  Actually, I became quite cynical and suspicious in regard to scripture.  While I remained fairly confident that the promises in the Bible could be valid, I simply concluded that they were not meant for me.  After years of waiting, it had become obvious that God wasn’t interested in granting me the desires of my heart.

                  Or so I thought.

                  The passage that Anthony shared with me on that day is found in Isaiah 54, verses 1-2:

“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song and shout for joy, you who were never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord.  Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.”

                  As I walked out of the store on Monday, I caught a reflection of myself in a pane of glass.  In that refection, I saw a woman, who, with one hand, was pushing a stroller, which held a beautiful baby girl, and with the other hand, was holding her “Mother of the bride” suit.  Instantly, the memory of Anthony’s words from all those many years ago flooded my mind and heart.  At that moment, I not only realized who I am to Jessica and Baby M, but to the dozens and dozens of other children, both grown and young, who consider me as their mother.  And with that, came a piercing awareness that was undeniable and profound … God had not forgotten me.

  I AM a mother.  And though I am not mothering in the way I hoped I would, I am a mother, all the same.  I did not arrive at this place in accordance with my own plans.  The road I traveled to get here is not even close to the one I thought I’d take.  I could NEVER have calculated this journey, even if I were given a thousand years to do so.  I have children, not in the way I thought I would, but in the way God planned.  All along the way, God has been positioning my careers, my friends, and my encounters, causing them to line up with an extraordinary harmony that has made the seemingly impossible, possible.

When God says, “I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you … plans to give you hope and a future," He really does mean it.  It might not feel like it at times, but it doesn’t make it any less true. 

Tonight, I want to encourage you to sing out with joy … to enlarge the place of your dwelling and to not hold back on what you’ve been holding as the desire of your heart.  God hears you … He knows what you long for.  Do not grow faint, but trust that your life, like mine, will fall into order as it should. 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”  -  Proverbs 13.12

(found at alexandersmithdesign.net)

Thank you, Dawn. I love you!

Mocha Love

Here's a funny story. Well it was funny to me and this is my blog. So there.

Mocha loves John more than just about anything. Definitely more than anyone else, but she proved last night that he is her favorite thing ever, too.

Before we feed her, we have her "down" at the entrance to the kitchen. That way, she's not all up in the food as we're getting it ready. She has to wait until told, "Mocha, come." Sometimes we'll tease her and just say "Mocha," but she still has to wait for the "come" command.

(reenactment)

Last night, I had her waiting there and got the food in her bowl, and then had a pregnancy moment (or probably just an Anna moment) and forgot about her. I was looking in the fridge for my own dinner to appear when I looked over and saw her waiting.

Just as I told her "come," the door (downstairs) opened and John came home from work.

I wish I could've captured how tortured and torn this poor dog was. Almost equidistant from her was her dinner, which she had been patiently waiting for (since breakfast), and her master, around whom her world spins. What to do, what to do?

She chose John. Sortof.

She ran about half-way down the stairs as I was laughingly explaining to John what was happening. I guess her expression told him everything so he was laughing too, so he took his time taking off his shoes and getting up the stairs. Meanwhile, she ran up and down to that half-way point, making sure the food was still there, then going to check on him.

When he finally made it up and was greeted properly, she allowed herself to come eat.

I, on the other hand, just kept looking in the fridge for my dinner. Clearly, I have my priorities straight!

Happy Friday!

Oh, would you be a hero to some special needs kids and go vote for them if you haven't already? My nephew's school is in the running for $500,000 from Kohl's, but the contest ends tonight at midnight (CST). They are providing him with a $30,000 education for absolutely nothing and run completely on donations. Winning this money would make a world of difference. See the September Love post for more info. Here's the link http://apps.facebook.com/kohlscares/. 

Baby Love

Today I got some unexpected surprises, both welcome of course!

This morning after eating my first breakfast of cereal at around 6 (John's alarm woke me up, so what was I supposed to do?), I tried to go back to sleep, but Blueberry had other ideas.

I've been feeling flutterings and twitches for about two weeks now, but nothing I could feel from the outside. This morning, there it was. My hand bounced off my belly! I think the kid was doing somersaults, because it was this long, slow motion, definitely not gas bubbles! I texted John who was out walking Mocha and he ran back in, but Blueberry was on break. Sure enough, as soon as he was out the door, s/he started it up again.

I wish there was a way for me to capture what that feels like for John. I know you other women who have carried babies understand. I can't take any type of recording or impression of it. All I have are words, which are very failing.

Finally. Finally, after months of knowing there's a baby in there, even hearing a heartbeat and seeing the pictures, I don't need any machine to tell me I'm having a baby. The scale and my clothes have been hinting at it, but now I really know it. Simply amazing.

Ok, moving on to the next fun thing.

Baby F's mom called me yesterday and asked if I could watch her today. Her regular daycare provider had the flu, so of course I was excited to hang out with her. For my newer readers, Baby F was our first foster care placement back in February and we had her for the first month of her life. Here she is when we got her:

(2 days old)

Here she is today with her new best friend, Mocha:

(7 months old)

That girl is crawling and trying to stand up! She's eating baby food. She was totally fearless around Mocha and the adoration was mutual.

We also went to visit our good friends, Bre and Seth, who we were in a Beth Moore study with earlier this year. Here are the kids in February:

And here they are today:

And finally, here's one of me with the little lady. 

(Yeah, it's my "i'm holding a kid" picture smile. I hope I learn to smile naturally by the time Blueberry makes a debut!)

September Love

I love September!

It's mine and my nephew, Solomon's, birth month. The tourists go home.* The weather should cool down. And the new season of my favorite shows start!

This year, September is also going be my 30 Days of Blogging month. We're doing alot of fun things this month, and I'm not working anymore so I have no excuses!

Oh, and John got me a Cannon Rebel T2i for our anniversary, so as I learn how to use it, I'll share my best or favorite pictures with you.

For, now, I'll get this month kicked off right with an awesome video my brother made for Solomon.




Here's the link if you want to be a part of Solo's team and sponsor him for the Mini Laps event taking place Sept 25. He changes the life of everyone he meets, so now's our chance to help change his. Another absolutely free way to help him and the Little Light House, where he goes to school, is to vote for them in the Kohl's Cares contest on Facebook. They are the only school in Oklahoma in the running for $500,000 and only 9 slots away from the top 20! Would you be willing to spend about 2 minutes clicking some links to give them your vote? Then, go here: http://apps.facebook.com/kohlscares/ Would you also be willing to share this link with your friends? It takes so little to make such a huge difference. Thanks in advance!

What's your favorite thing about September?

(* of course, I love it when the tourists are here to visit me, but everyone else just clogs up the city :))