All posts by RunAndBeStill

Love Runners and Do Good

In Love with Doing Good

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red threads and coffee

UPDATE: The do Good Studio is now OPEN! You can check it out here or directly at http://www.LoveRunners.org

This morning I am being fueled by a new blend of fresh-roasted coffee and decorated in red thread and sparkly beads.  All in the name of research and development…

I have been back and forth on the best way and time to share All The Plans that have been uncontrollably overtaking my thoughts the last couple of weeks.  Today I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.  I am hoping that you, my Run and Be Still family, will help be my Launch Team for this great big dream and Good idea. So, ready or not, here it is.

Love Runners and Do Good…

Here’s the thing. I have been working on these great, inspiring, succinct (this is my biggest struggle – I like words so much) mission statements that have lots of buzz words in them and wrap up my whole idea in a tidy little package but let me just lay it out like this for you today. The world sucks and my heart is breaking over the children who are caught in the crossfire of the myriad of ways that we’ve failed them. Kids sleeping on the streets, little ones digging through the trash for food, babies having babies, children forced into adulthood by the very fact that there is no adult there to take care of them. The kids on the fringes, outside our circle of our playdates and overnights and quiet neighborhood safety. But as my heart breaks over these things it is spilling out Mom Love.  It is getting all over my nice, comfortable, unmessy existence and really mucking things up. Enter the heart change and the move and all of the “adventures” we have lately found ourselves in.   Love in action has become the driving force in my day. I don’t want to continue living in apathy and indifference because we are not here to make an impression but instead to make a difference. I want to make a difference to these hurting, neglected, abused, sometimes prickly or troubled, often unnoticed kids. I just want them to know how much they are loved. 

Here is the Reader’s digest version of my dream.

It began with this picture…

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And from this Love Runners was born. The idea is to become a community resource dedicated to meeting the needs of others both locally and internationally.

We have been moved by compassion, to touch the lives of the marginalized and broken, giving what we can, in an effort to share The Love that has been poured out in our own lives. Wherever love is needed we seek to deliver it in whatever form we can.

This past Christmas it took the form of shoe boxes full of toothbrushes and pencils (and socks and toys and balls and dolls) shipped overseas through Operation Christmas Child. On the heels of that, we were informed of a need for blankets at an orphanage in Guatemala. (Babies were sleeping in their coats to keep them warm them at night!) Off the boxes went filled with blankets and Love in action…

We know the need is great, not only internationally but here in our own backyards as well! My pockets are not as deep as my heart is big though so the problem became how to fund this noble, often changing, cause…

Enter Do Good, the ever-evolving product of a sisterly brainstorming session. In a nutshell, Do Good is a not-for-profit store…shopping for a cause.  The proceeds from all of Do Good’s sales are funneled back into Love Runners to fund whatever the current project/cause might be and in this way, one small act or purchase can be combined into something much greater.

We have Big Plans for Do Good (because the world is full of Big Hurt) but before we can grow to Big we have to start small and from here, with your help and God’s blessing this will explode beyond anything we can imagine.

Step 1: Plans for today...we are preparing to launch Do Good’s online studio soon. (You can check it out here and be sure to visit us, like us, and share us on Facebook or sign up to get our emails and be one of the first to know when we officially open our “doors” for business.) We are currently scouring the globe, near and far, for fair-trade, up-cycled and unique Goods that we hope will become your new favorite things, perfect for gifting, or keeping for yourself! Thus, the new blend of coffee, the red thread and the sparkly beads…We have been shopping, tasting, trying, wearing, creating for a cause.

I am so excited to begin introducing you to our product line, and some of the artisan’s stories that make the Goods even greater!

Step 2: Dreams for tomorrow… What if? This is a great big question…What if? We have so many ideas but it all comes back to this… We dream about seeing tons of Good Done and having innumerable Love Stories to share.

Today, I am just so excited to finally be able to share this idea with you! Please check out Do Good and share our big news so we can begin to get some momentum going, and tell me, do you have a favorite blend of coffee, piece of jewelry, local artisan?

Is there a cause that is near and dear to your heart that has a need? We are going to begin the vetting process, building our portfolio of Love Runner partners.

And finally, as my launch team, would you consider praying for this mighty endeavor, that God’s hand would continue to guide and direct as we move forward?

All my Love Launch Team – let’s do this!

 

 

This Is Life, Uncategorized

A Season of Transition and Milestones

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My heart is a little bit in my throat tonight.  I knew this day was coming and yet I was no where close to ready or prepared.  After hours and hours spent in a car with my son over the last months, tonight, he took the keys and headed out on his own.  Dear Lord, there are just no words…

You see when I look at him this is what I see.  My heart has frozen him here in time.  My little tow-headed guy who had the funniest little smile.

my little man

The changes now are coming so hard and fast.  Blow after blow and every now and again my eyes are opened and I see him for who he is today and it is like a gut shot. He is this amazing person that makes me laugh, challenges my way of thinking, continually inspires me to be a better person and on nights like tonight makes me cry for the passing of time. He is such a good kid and I am so thankful God has blessed us with him!ty grown

The following letter was actually written by Nate Pyle and published on A Holy Experience.  Dear Hurting World: How We Need To Raise Our Sons To Be Man Enough, wonderfully powerful, a version of it is sitting on my son’s pillow for when he brings himself back home this evening. A must read for anyone with young men in their lives.

Hey Son,

If there’s one thing about being a man I can teach you, it is this:

You have nothing to prove. Christ has deemed you worthy.

Do you remember that I drove you to pre-school last year? Do you remember that I held your hand as we walked the hallway to the “parrot” classroom, and that I gave you a hug as your teacher met us at the door?

This year you walked me to the street corner, then you turned to talk with your friends, and finally you waved at me before climbing the steps on the big yellow bus.

You wouldn’t know this, but new parents are told to enjoy the early years of their kids’ lives because they grow so quickly. And wow, I’ve found that to be true with you.

This year you’re stepping onto a bus; before I’m ready, you’ll be stepping across the threshold into a dorm room.

I’m not sure I’ll be ready for that step when you are.

In my mind, it signals something important. It’s a transition to adulthood – at least one of them, anyway. I don’t think any parent is ready to recognize that their children have become adults. But if I can’t be ready for you to become a man, I want you to be fully aware of the pressure you’re going to face along the way.

Every boy making the transition into manhood is scrutinized, questioned, and challenged to prove they’re man enough.

In our culture, manhood is earned. Something has to be accomplished, some award achieved before the title ‘Man’ is hung around your neck. At least that’s what we’re taught.

Win the fight. Do it without crying. Earn lots of money. Get physical with a girl.

Please hear me on this:

Sex doesn’t make you man.

Fighting doesn’t make you man.

Earning lots of money doesn’t make you a man.

Mountain climbing, fixing a car, playing sports, driving fast – none of these things make you a man.

Being a man isn’t about what you do; it’s about who you are.

You are called into the image of Jesus, into the fully human, fully alive life. Be that man – the one who imitates Christ in all he does – not who others tell you to be.

Be that man – the one who imitates Christ in all he does – not who others tell you to be.

Do you remember that baseball game we went to a couple of years ago? We sat just beyond left field in the lawn on blankets, and we stretched out our legs. Do you remember that you began playing with the boys on the blanket next to us? You had brought a toy, the half dinosaur and half robot one, and the boy next to you just stared at it.

You gave it to him to play with and watched with generous pride as the boy played and wondered over it. That was you being you. You see, son, you’re more generous than I am.

I watched you give away your toy freely, but I bet you had no idea my stomach was twisted in knots. Was he going to break it? Was he going to take it?

You being you has taught me so much about me being me.

Generous, compassionate, tender. This is who you are.

You grow into a man when you grow into yourself in Christ. And when you find yourself in Christ, you’ll be a man.

You grow into a man when you grow into yourself in Christ. And when you find yourself in Christ, you’ll be a man.

It’s easy to say, “Be you.” But I’ve found it really hard to do.

You’re going to feel the pressure from every side to be something you’re not.

God gave you a gentle and sensitive heart. Gentleness is a fruit cultivated by the Spirit, but seen as weakness by men.

Our world does not seem to like men who appear weak. Unfortunately, men are often mocked for their weakness by being called women, as if being a woman is less than being a man. You don’t have to be afraid of women, and more than that, you don’t have to be afraid of being seen as weak.

Don’t be afraid of weakness.

Lots of men are afraid of being weak because I think they’re afraid of being less than a man.

Being afraid of weakness is like locking yourself in a prison. It keeps you from trying anything new, or doing anything that requires faith, or admitting your failures.

Here’s the secret, son. Being willing to be seen as weak means you are willing to be vulnerable.

And vulnerability requires an incredible amount of courage.

Men talk about running into burning buildings as courageous, and it is. But so is weakness, risking, and being honest. That’s the kind of courage we see Jesus model again and again. So what seems like weakness to others, is actually a sign of your strength in Christ.

So what seems like weakness to others, is actually a sign of your strength in Christ.

Every man has something they have to hold on to as they resist the pressure to be something they’re not.

Your challenge is to hold on to the characteristics God gave you.

You’ll want to trade them in and try to be like some other guy, but don’t.

Your gentleness is a gift this world needs. Do you know that?

We need more men who are willing to tenderly sit with people who are hurting, and fewer men telling them to shake it off.

We need more men who are willing to find strength in weakness, and fewer men who try to convince everybody that they’re physical strength makes them strong.

We need more men who are willing to leave behind the anxious pursuit to prove themselves as men in order to more fully imitate Jesus.

Take on the hard things of life. Be confident in who you are. Never give up. And when it gets hard and you’re weak and you feel like crying, it’s okay. You have nothing to prove. Jesus taught us that in our weakness we will find His strength.

Resist the temptation to convince your peers of your strength by bloodying someone’s nose. You have nothing to prove. Christ taught us true strength is found in making peace.

Speak the truth when it costs you to say what’s true. Friends may mock you, others may leave you. Stay close to who God made you to be. And when the mocking voices and loneliness set in, you can be sad. It’s okay. You have nothing to prove. Your identity is in Jesus.

Son, there’s nothing to prove because Christ proved it for you. I want nothing more than for you to rest in the grace of God. The Father’s grace that adopts us as sons despite the fact that we are not worthy of that title. Like the prodigal son who has returned home, the heavenly Father places his signet ring on our finger to tell us we belong in his household.

We belong.

Let this truth sink deep down into the recesses of your being: God does not require proof to accept you. All the needed proof comes through Jesus.

No longer is proof required to show that we belong, because we are already accepted. As one reborn in Christ, you are made new, already deemed worthy.

Don’t you see? You have nothing to prove.

God has declared in Christ: You’re already man enough.

This Is Life

There’s No Place Like Home

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 Some fun renovation/”never house” facts:
Sweatpants are my new best friend. I live in the woods and can go days without seeing anyone other than my children and husband so sweatpants it is. (This may make me a hermit.)

Also, hats are a great substitute for a haircut. This happened because I had gone 12 weeks between cuts while we were living in moving/renovation mode. (At least it grew through the awkward growing out phase unnoticed.)

We have at least 5 different colored outlets and faceplate covers. I know you might think they only make 3 colors but you would be wrong! And also, they are apparently mix and match!

Finally, we have a new pet. His name is Wally – because that is where he lives. In the wall (or possibly ceiling) in my bedroom. He (or she, species unknown) introduced himself to us at 12:30 am on the first night we stayed in the house. Phil and I were scrambling for our phone flashlights as he scurried across what we then thought was our floor. Frantically whispering, “What was that?!” And the most important question “Where is it?!” That night we heard him run down the length of the room and then a little while later, just as sleep was becoming a possibility again, across above our heads. Not a lot of sleep to be had the first couple nights as he continued to visit. I think we may have gotten rid of him or he has holed up elsewhere in the cold. Either way, living surrounded by nature is really super fun!!

I have been getting asked quite a bit if it feels like home yet. That’s a tough question to answer. I was struggling with what home was supposed to feel like. How am I supposed to feel? When will it not be weird and awkward to talk about our old house and fumble with what to call it, accidentally calling it home, and what to call our new house.

I have spent way too long turning this over and over analyzing all the things home should or shouldn’t be in my head and the most intelligent and witty way to share it.  But in reality I have nothing profound and this really shouldn’t be this hard.(Too many quiet hours spent in my hermitage and sweatpants, I guess. Or possibly all the paint fumes…)

The problem is that home is so many different things at so many different times in our lives. Home starts off with Mom and Dad, it’s where the house shaped picture of home gets formed. One becomes two and a new family, a new home, is born. Home is full of both friends and laughter. The walls will bear witness to both heartbreak and joy. Home is arguments and tears and forgiveness. Home is sometimes far away from where we are currently living, a place our heart longs to return to. Home is both memories and dreams for the future. Home can be a place to launch from or crash into. Its where we start our best days and end our worst ones. It’s built on a foundation of trust and love. Home is a reflection of who we are, constantly being rebuilt with every life change no matter where we live.

This place is now full of our stuff. These walls, decorated with our memories. We have been working hard to put our fingerprints all over it. Earlier this week Mom came over and helped me continue in our quest to get settled. She hung pictures in just the right spot. Rearranged the furniture and decorations just a touch so that it all came together. I knew she would…I was waiting for her, needed her continued influence on my home. And that night when the kids got home Ty walked in and said, “It feels like home.”

So, to answer the question, does it feel like home yet? Yeah…I guess it does. But don’t ask me what that really means…

What does home mean to you?

I am betting you are a little curious about my “never house” and some of our projects here. (I would be. I am nosy like that.) I was awful at taking before pictures. I wouldn’t remember until it was way too late. So here is a little peek at a few afters…

  

This Is Life

It ended up being a heart thing…

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inthewoods.jpgI probably watch too much HGTV.  It seems to have made me believe that I am an expert when it comes to home renovations and that I am pretty much capable of completing whatever creative construction project I can dream up.  I am not afraid of power tools, whatever it takes to get the job done.   We had this crazy idea at the beginning of all of this that maybe flipping houses would be fun…kind of a hobby.  After all, we have skills.  We could totally do it.  Let me just say, 5 weeks in, NO!  No, no, no. Just no. There will be no “renovating for fun” in our future.  Days 1-5 of full time reno were great, then reality set in as did the physical pain of doing the actual work. (Somewhere along the line I got older and my body doesn’t handle what my brain thinks it’s capable of.)  Chip and Joanna Gaines we are not!  But, with the placing of the last piece of wood flooring last weekend our renovation status has officially been downgraded from DEFCON 1 to DEFCON 2.  That just means now we have a massive amount of “small” projects to attend to.  The major ones have all been completed.  Well, kind of.  I still see work everywhere I look.

Have you ever had a change of heart on something? Like something so big that you just said “Nope. Never. Not for me,” and then suddenly one day found yourself staring it directly in the eye as a possibility saying “Everything I thought I knew was wrong.” Personally I think God has a sense of humor and our “never” is basically like a dare to him.  We say never and He laughs and says “We’ll see.  That’s what you think.” Then He proceeds to turn your world upside down, so up is down and down is up and some days you don’t know if you’re coming or going. I’m kidding. It’s not that bad…most of the time. (But basically, to be safe, never say never if you really mean never.  That is super sound theology for you by the way.)

In a nutshell, that’s how I ended up sitting here in my “never house.” Here is where our story (More With Less) continues…

November. “Call me before you get on the plane.  I just had the most insane thought and I can’t help but feel like it has merit.” That was the message I left for Phil as he was headed out of town for a few days. Minutes later he called me back (he may have wished that he just ignored me) and I posed one of the most outlandish questions to him that I have ever asked. (That is really saying something too!) “What if we bought Mom and Dad’s house? I know it’s crazy and you know how I feel about that house and I know how you feel about it but I really feel like this is where God is leading us.  This change of heart about their house has to be a God-thing because I would NEVER have even entertained the idea if it came from my own head.  Don’t answer me right now.  Just pray about it over the next couple of days and let’s talk about it when you get back.” I had to get those words out really fast before he said, “No! You are a crazy woman!” and hung up on me.  This house was the opposite of everything we were looking for but we prayed and we talked to our “knowers.”

(These are the people in my life who know me and can tell it to me straight when I am being ridiculous or affirm my good ideas. These are the people who help provide insight and the wisdom that James 1:5 talks about. These are the people who speak Truth into my life. My “knowers” are the ones who handle my moods and tears, and whiny baby fits, which the grown up in me calls “venting.” And at the end of the day these are my favorite people to celebrate with. My “knowers”…I love you!)

Anyway, one afternoon I felt drawn to stop by the “never house.”  It was sitting empty and I sat on the back deck begging God for some direction.  I felt crazy for being there and even more insane for considering the house. (Again, really not my favorite place and night and day different from what we had and what we were looking for.  We are talking cabin in the woods vs. cute cape cod situated in a quaint downtown.) But as I sat praying and listening this phrase kept repeating in my head. “The desires of your heart.”

So, I went with that…the desires of your heart…and opened up my bible. It lead me straight to Psalm 37 and a passage that I had already fallen in love with.   A passage that was already wrapped up in Run and Be Still, tied inexplicably to this new idea blossoming in my heart, and speaks of “the land” over and over that God is promising to give.  That did it.  Message received. Everything clicked for me and I knew in my heart this was where we were supposed to be. I will tell you, on this day, my eyes were opened to see this house in a way I NEVER had before.  It was going to be ok.  This place could be home.  For the four of us it made perfect sense and absolutely none at the same time.  Clear as mud but with a knowing in our hearts.

The rest, as they say is history.  Our Realtor called on a Thursday morning about a month later to show our house that afternoon (of course, right?! because we lived in a constant state of readiness for buyers-NOT!!) to a couple who was looking for a house that was nothing like ours located in a different neighborhood about 30 min away. But on a long shot he was showing them ours anyway.  With some aerobic cleaning and creative “stuffing” I managed to pull it off, the house was ready, both dogs were taken care of, and I even baked some Christmas cookies for the potential buyers with a shameless note welcoming them to our home and thanking them for taking the time to look at it. (Don’t judge, my “never house” was waiting for me!) They looked at 12 houses in two days and on Saturday afternoon we signed the papers.  Our house was sold! (They said the cookies were what did it.) GULP!!

Clarity comes with passing time. And it wasn’t until last night that realized that “the desires of my heart” hadn’t come out of left field.  I was shocked to read these words (even though they were mine) from September’s post More Than Good Intentions. (Back before this whole crazy adventure even began!)

It’s a terrifying realization when you accept that you would be willing to walk away from your current life, answering the call of “not my will, but thine, be done.” Because these are not my dreams, these are God’s dreams for me.  It’s when you look around and realize that there is so much that you haven’t seen before when viewed through the eyes of Jesus.  It’s when you realize the discontentment you, your husband, and children have been fighting could be for a bigger purpose and you pray for their eyes to be opened to all that you are now seeing.
Just be prepared if you decide to raise your hand and say “Oh, oh! Pick me! Send me!” Chances are good that you will get picked but it will look nothing like what you think it will. I can assure you that when I wrote those words in September, I had no idea where that train was headed!

And that brings me to the second part of this. If God has been tugging at you to do something but you’re hesitant because you aren’t “ready,” it doesn’t make sense, or you don’t have your 36 point plan drafted, proofed and put into place with the end game strategy fully defined, welcome to the club.  John Ortberg says, “…’feeling ready’ is not the ultimate criterion for determining the places you’ll go.  God says, ‘I have set before you an open door,’ not ‘I have set before you a finished script.’ An open door is a beginning, an opportunity, but it has no guaranteed ending. It’s not a sneak peek at the finish. If it is to be entered, it can be entered only by faith.” We had more than our share of raised eyebrows and whispered suspicions from others as to what we were doing and why.

I will tell you though, from my very type-A personality, it’s ok not to have all of the answers.  It isn’t easy, but it’s ok.  And for us, this isn’t “They lived happily ever after in their cabin in the woods.  The End.”  This is just the beginning and I have absolutely no idea where the path on the other side of this door will lead.

show you the door

 

This Is Life

More with Less

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Just over two weeks ago, I turned off the lights for the last time and heard, in the deepest part of my heart, the finality in shutting the door for the last time to the empty house that we had built as our forever home.  I was the last one there.  The kids refused to come back to see it. They didn’t want their last memory of it to be an empty one.  Phil was already in his loaded down car with the last trailer load of mismatched items that hadn’t made the earlier trips.  It had been a sprint to the finish, emptying one house of love and memories and packing them with all of our other belongings to unload in a new place.  On this last night as I drove away my heart was burdened.

Alone with my thoughts I needed a reminder of why we were doing this.  It had gotten so lost in the exhaustion of actually doing of it.  My prayer on this night was “Please God, don’t break our hearts over what we are leaving.  Help us to hold onto your plan for adventure.  Help us keep our eyes on You in all of this. I am still not sure any of this makes any sense.”

Rewind.  October. “I know it doesn’t make sense but I want to do more with less.  I can’t explain it but I feel like it’s time.  Let’s just pray about it and see where it leads.”  This is where all of this mess started, a growing discontentment in “comfortable” and a struggle over apathy and a fear of stepping out and, ultimately, of change.  For months we had been having conversations that found their base in this struggle. We wanted to follow God but when faced with the real task of making big, scary, life-changing decisions we stalled out out.  It was a vicious tail chasing cycle of safe vs faithful in our decision making and we were paralyzed in it.   We had a very nice, status-quo life thing going on that made absolutely no sense to walk away from.  We were settled. We were comfortable and it was nice.  But God…

We finally looked at a house we had been eyeing up for awhile.  It was around the corner from my parents and had been on the market for 6 years.  A house that was extremely overpriced and in need of a good deal of work.  We saw the vision, caught the excitement of a “project house” and put the For Sale sign in front of our own home to follow this path that we believed God was leading us down.  We were all on board. We took a contractor to our new “dream home” to get a project list together and prepare our offer.  All signs pointed to yes, this was the right move…until suddenly they didn’t anymore.  The same night we took the contractor through the owners accepted an offer.  The offer was not ours.  Six years this house had sat on the market, unwanted, and then it sold right out from under our noses! We were finally taking some action and the door was slammed in our faces.

I was so angry! I swore if one person told me that “it just wasn’t meant to be” I was going to scream because I was convinced this was right. (Translation, I was convinced I was right.)  I was so tired of trying to follow God only to have an open door slammed in the 9th hour. It had happened over and over and over in the last couple of months. Pray and listen and step out in faith and follow and WHAM! My head knew the truth. My heart was tired of feeling it. Disappointment is really a crappy feeling, isn’t it? I just wanted to be mad for awhile, to wallow in my frustration. So I did…and I was miserable.  Eventually The Truth penetrated the spiny shell that I had put up and because I had no other choice I let go of my Cape Cod Fixer-Upper dream.

Side Note: This is real life and yes, I was pretty snarky about it.  Here, you will get the unvarnished truth.  You get authenticity and you get the real me and sometimes it’s nasty and ugly and I am not proud of it.  But these are the places we grow and if we pretend that they don’t exist, if we pretend that we don’t struggle, then what’s the point? If that’s the case I am just spinning a fairy tale.

So, with our house on the market we looked at each other and said “Now what?” The short answer was we had no idea and not a lot of hope that our house would sell quickly so “we would cross that bridge when we got there.”

Fast Forward. On this night as I was driving away from our old life God answered my prayer as I remembered this.

“The doors God opens are like this: unlimited chances to do something worthwhile; grand openings into new and unknown adventures of significant living; heretofore unimagined chances to do good, to make our lives count for eternity.” Gerald Hawthorne

Looking back I feel like we were living in gray and these words made life come alive off the page to me.  This is what I think it must feel like to live in color. Doing something worthwhile…living an adventure of significance…having a life that counts for eternity!  This is what I wanted.  This is why we did it.  But in the moment, months ago, what we were doing made no sense and in the following weeks it was going to get even muddier.

To Be Continued…

Embrace the Crazy

This is my life…

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 Let me first make the bold recommendation that if you can ever help it, do NOT move over the Christmas/New Year holiday. Especially if that move involves major renovations that you intend to complete yourselves while living in your new home.

You can now probably guess what we have been up to over the last several weeks. But instead of lamenting on kitchens with no water, or cabinet doors, or even appliances, let me tell you why the dog’s empty food dish is currently sitting in the front seat of my car and how tonight it struck me as a picture of what life is really like.

I have realized that I keep looking for the day when life looks neat and orderly. I keep thinking that as soon as this sport, or this project, or this move are finished days will go as they are planned. Hours will pass  quietly and uneventfully. I am beginning to realize that it might never happen.

We are currently living in a house I swore I would have never moved to. (More on that in the coming days.) Our old house sold in a market we never thought it would have to buyers who were looking for something completely different. Our days have become an adventure in which God is leading us and I am breathing easier through all the changes knowing we are following Him.

This is life…

In sub-zero wind chills we left Urgent Care to pick up an antibiotic for Mae and the sore throat-congested crud that has made her such a joy the last two days. We also had to return a bathroom rug and pick up more bathroom storage containers while we were out. It was a shopping trip with a 16 year old and a 13 year old and I swear they are more difficult and slower than when they were 6 and 3 and I could load them in a cart and just keep moving. But they are also filled with more laughs as they clown around in the curtain isle, pretending the drape samples are fancy scarves and speaking with French accents. Next stop while I had my (not-so) happy helpers was the hardware store to buy a couple of kitchen pantry cabinets that my husband promised would fit in my car. We got the cabinets (and a sled and driveway reflectors because our new driveway is a little hard to find-the cable guy ended up making his own path through the front yard last week in the snow. He required two tow trucks and a few hours to get freed up.)

For your entertainment…we now have a “service entrance.”

And we had one more item that would change the course of our evening, causing the dog’s dish to end up in my car, a pair of insulated work gloves.

This is life…

Of course only one cabinet fit, and then just barely. We got thawed out about halfway home with plans to unload and go back for the second one.  Five minutes after we were home I was desperately patting Ty’s cheek trying to get him back to consciousness after he cut his finger with a utility knife trying to unpackage his gloves. He had gone into shock, lost consciousness twice and was the gray pasty color of the drywall that is partially done in the family room. I helped him down the steps to the car, grabbing the empty dog food bowl as we passed it and he said he was going to be sick. We headed back to Urgent Care for the second time in 3.5 hrs. But not before Mae helped me haul the pantry cabinet out of the car, leaving it standing as a totem pole abandoned in our driveway.

 Thankfully, Phil beat us to Urgent Care, parked my car, and then took over and stayed with Ty while they got him put back together.

This is life…

We try to dress it up and put a pretty face on it, especially for other people but in reality it’s bloody, and messy, and unpredictable. And it can change in the blink of an eye.

Tonight, with boxes everywhere, flooring half done, drywall half up, and pizza for dinner, again, I am thankful for so many things. A warm fire in the fireplace, Cabin socks (some of my new favorite things) but mostly having my family safely tucked in their beds tonight. Battered and bruised but none the worse for wear.

I started a book study last November that coincided with our decision to sell our house. “All the Places to Go . . . How Will You Know” by John Ortberg. This excerpt is what started it all for us and I have so much more to share about where we are headed in the coming days and the journey that it’s been to get here.

“We chose it because the adventure of yes seemed more alive than the safety of no. Very rarely in the Bible does God come to someone and say, “Stay.” Almost never does God interrupt someone and ask them to remain in comfort, safety, and familiarity. He opens a door and calls them to come through it.”

Hopefully you all had a Merry Christmas and a more restful start to the new year than we did. I’ve missed you!  Here’s to God’s open doors and living His adventure…Here’s to life!

Uncategorized

A Six Year Anniversary of a First Thanksgiving

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  Six years ago, just days before we were to gather around the Thanksgiving table we were saying goodbye to, and burying my grandfather, one of the greatest men I have ever known. That Thanksgiving was a “First Thanksgiving” and everyone since then has been a reminder…Just yesterday I read this from Jen Hatmaker. For all of you experiencing a first or second or 6 year anniversary Thanksgiving there is a wealth of wisdom in her words. 

“A quick word to everyone for whom this Thanksgiving is a sad first. First Thanksgiving after you lost someone precious this year, after a divorce, after a hard move, after a job loss, after something broke apart.

Thanksgiving (and the Christmas season) are wrapped up in traditions, but when an important person or place is missing, everything can feel disoriented and broken.
I love you. God loves you and sees you. Praying this morning for new joy, fresh enthusiasm, the creation of new memories. Asking that grief does not rule your heart and mind this year.

You are strong and capable and still able to fill your days with laughter and joy. Jesus is the best. People love you. You matter. There is still so much ahead.

God gave us an amazing tool to mitigate sorrow and seize joy by the collar: gratitude. It is a crazy effective trick.

Maybe we can bear witness for each other here today. For those of us who suffered a loss this year and those of us who just love you. Let’s list it, name it all, as a sheer act of courage and trust in the face of struggle:

What are you thankful for, in spite of everything, dear ones?”

100 box challenge

Project Shoebox-Let The Fun Begin

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The shopping has officially begun for Operation Christmas Child and this evening Mae and her special helper Beezus are beginning the separating, sorting, and organizing. We are taking stock of what we have and what we still need.  There is no way we could have gotten this far without the help of some special people and I want to take a moment to say Thank You.

Sommers Family Dentistry for a box of 144 toothbrushes!

Our local Cub Scouts for adopting 50 of our boxes and the children who will receive them!

Captain Montague’s Bed and Breakfast for donating 10% of each room reservation between now and November 15th!

On behalf of the children…Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We are less than 100 boxes from our goal of 250! Praise God! The countdown is on though and we could still use school supplies (pencils, crayons, or colored pencils, small notebooks) small bars of soap, and will stuff as many small toys as we can into the boxes.  Let’s love on some kids!

The following video simultaneously breaks my heart and makes it rejoice at the same time.  Ralph and all of the kids like him are the reason we are doing this.

(I know the embedded videos don’t always show up in emails so here is the link https://youtu.be/4oLQIAkVhHg so that you don’t miss out.)

PS – Here is where this journey began in case you missed it and are wondering what I am going on and on about…Spreading Love with Toothpaste and Pencils

100 box challenge

“Care Like A Boss”

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This was forwarded to me this morning in response to my post, More Than Good Intentions.  My mind cannot even fathom what this must be like.  My heart is not big enough to hold all of the emotion that spills out when, even just for a split second, I let myself feel what these mothers must feel.  I just can’t.  This is happening, this is real.  This is a picture of what our world looks like whether we choose to see it or blissfully ignore it and it breaks my heart. My  poor heart runs away with my head, and I would love to jump on a plane and run off to Greece to be on the front lines to love on these poor, terrified people but I know that is an impossibility.  Instead, my burdened heart is filled with prayer for them.  It becomes a wake up call to be so thankful for the life that I have here, to have my eyes opened to all of the things we take so easily for granted.  And I think back to Ann VosKamps words:

We aren’t where we are, to just peripherally care about the people on the margins as some superfluous gesture or token nicety. The exact reason why you are where you are — is to risk everything for those being oppressed out there.

You are where you are — to help others where they are. The reason your hands are where they are in this world — is to give other people in this world a hand.

Caring isn’t a Christian’s sideline hobby. Caring is a Christian’s complete career. We don’t just care about people — caring about people is our job — the job every single one of us get up to do every single day. That’s it. Caring is our job, our point, our purpose. We’re here to care like a boss.

The world needs people who defy cynical indifference by making a critical difference — and that could be us.

Every single one of us can start changing headlines when we start reaching out our hands.

Since we can’t all jump on a plane to the front lines, will you join me in praying for those who are there in places all around the world, reaching out their hands?

P.S. Maybe, just maybe, some of our Shoeboxes will find their way to these refugees.

Still Moments

Still Moments-Kingdom Expansion In Progress 

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...Cleaning out my “office closet” and going through old boxes of scratches and scribbling and came across this…

So it is with every attempt to do something significant for God. It is never simple. Whenever God stirs us to establish His Kingdom in a new place, the enemy is sure to taunt us. The devil always tries to convince us that we’ve tackled too much this time and we’ll soon be humiliated. 

For anyone struggling though a “Kingdom construction project” today, here is a gentle reminder to brush off the dust, straighten your hard hat and keep swinging your hammer.