The Becoming Part

It's been a long, long time since I've taken the time to share a bit of what's really going on with me. I love sharing the photos (obviously) and I think it's so fun to read & share with you all schooling and home keeping ideas. But I crave authenticity. I love to hear it from those of you others who brave it.

I am 32 years into this journey with my Savior. For about 23 of those years, I've come to know God, not only as the God who gave his son to be the Redeemer of my sins, but as a friend.

He listens.
He holds me up.
He walks with me.
He teaches me.
He wants to see me become, become more like Him.

I so want to be more like Him. And we know that God isn't finished with the work He's doing in us, we know that He will be faithful to complete it.


On my bathroom counter I have the verse; "...sell everything you have...come, follow me." (Luke 18:22.)

In my adult years with the Lord it has been clear that I am not called to material poverty. So pondered, what does this scripture mean to me? I began to see it differently.

What do I have to sell? What does God want me to give? What am I to give up in order to be more like Him? My desire is that others would see God in me.

Then He whispered to me what God is calling me to sell.

My dreams.









(I'm all heart here)

My dreams.

God didn't create us to live large. He didn't call us to get fat and happy. He didn't call us to get our "mom time" or have rights or deserve time or respect or love.

I know this is going against popular ideas.
Not only that, it's just going against everything in me. I love to dream. I tend to think I deserve certain rights as a hard working mom. I should be loved by friends and family, right? I should chase after what I want, no?

But,
God created us to serve first.
God created us to give, to love, to teach, to humble ourselves as He did;

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Phil 2:5-11

Living humbly means letting go. Letting go of my dreams, my desires in life, all the things I think I need, the things I think I deserve.

Now I'm not saying I think it's wrong to work hard and care for yourself, your home and your family. Making your home a place you love to be is an art and a treat for your family. What I'm working toward changing is the attitude. The one that sneaks in and reminds me that I always eat last, or that I just need 5 minutes of quiet or that I really want this or that in order to be more comfortable. Some of the dreams I'm letting go of even seem selfless. Dreams to minister to others in a particular way, to do good in the way I want to. Instead, I want to yield to God, let Him show me how I can best do His work and live my life. His way is always, always, always best. (If you're not sure about this, let's have tea and chat. I'll share with you my story.) But I may need to wipe my ideas about the best way off the slate and let Him show me His perfect plan.

I'm certain this is a process, as is everything with God. (There's not a better counselor to work with.) And I know that I have a lot to let go of. I write to you with an achy heart, because letting go hurts. But I write because I want to encourage you all in this journey He's called us all to. I would love to pray for you if you're on this journey with me, and I'd love to know I have friends praying for me too.

So there it is, what's really happening in my heart, the story that's coming together in my journal. I hope these words will spur you on to run the race wholeheartedly, and in letting go of all that hinders.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1

*God is always doing a new thing in each of us and I know it's a different thing for each, but do share with the rest of us..what is God stirring in your heart? Are you sitting on that potter's wheel, allowing Him to do something new in you? What is it?

Once again..

Overheard in little boy play:

Nate: Boys, don't you know you're supposed to love your enemies? That means you're supposed to love your brothers and your sisters!

This photo cracks me up...taken at the History Museum in Denver. Nate wasn't too happy about the group photo.

Goodbye Garden

Parting is such sweet sorrow....I'll miss you little garden.

And now, for the birds....

Again....I'm laughing

In the car I put on hand lotion. A few minutes later, Nate asked me,

"Mom, what smells like Egg Noggin?"

I had to ask him to repeat himself because I wanted to be sure he said what I thought he did. I laughed tears this time.

Nate makes me laugh.

Nate put on his swim trunks to get ready to head to swimming lessons;

"Mom, you want to hear how excited I am? I already smell like the swimming pool."

:) *sigh*

Winding up October

Apple-Lanterns carved for a Halloween snack. The apples were cored and stuffed with Peanut Butter. My favorite snack!

This month has gone by so quickly here. Soccer, school, surgery and Autumn have been the topics of the month. I have a few random photos floating around that I wanted to share. Bear with me while I sum up the month. My mind is always coming up with serious topics, long and interesting blog entries for you all... but these days of caring for a house, schooling and lovign three little boys and a forever-on-the-couch hubby I don't get a lot of time to really get those oh-so-interesting thoughts on paper.

So....

October marks the end of summer around here. The garden is officially done, and I'm as sad as these sweet sunflowers are. I've got them all waiting to feed the birds for a snowy Winter day.

...and so then we celebrate by using cookie cutters on our cheese to make these cute little guys. I saw the idea over at Chasing Cherrios. The boys wanted more before they'd even started eating them, of course. As is our tradition (until our trees fill out a bit more) I took the boys to the park for a grand leaf jump. It was good friend. Nate was handy with the rake and the boys ran and played in the masses of leaves.After a trip to Costco the boys literally fought over the rolls of tp....they had a wonderful time building and bowling the toilet paper rolls. Perfect, functional Christmas Gift.And Halloween breakfast (cause we like to celebrate with Pumpkins)A little Curious George has a fantastic time collecting goodies at the harvest party we went to on the 31st. We "made" all our costumes...Eli helped me to make the ears and tail of his costume. I couldn't get him to wear the "scratchy" brown pants. Nate dressed as a soccer player and Joey (who else?) Luke Skywalker. It was fun night, but we missed having Ralph around...he was brushing up on his Chess skills at home.

Gotta Sing...

I was mildly confused when Eli asked me to play the song..." get Godzilla out of my armpit"

I thought and thought on it. Then I got it;

"I waited patiently for the Lord,
He turned to me and heard my cry.
He pulled me out of the slimy pit
Out of the muck and the mire...

Then Nate asked me, "Why does the man sing "I love mud?" Nathan calls the song "The Swimey Pit song. They're so cute. :)

Soccer-Happy-Mom

40 practices
24 games
lots of new friends
3 happy boys

Soccer season has ended. The boys made amazing progress over the 8 weeks they participated this fall. All of the boys ran hard, played hard, worked on teamwork, made goals, learned new sweet-skillz...and I got to watch. ;)

Tonight on our way home from swim lessons Nate wondered out loud how I could think it was fun to watch the boys swim. I know what he was thinking. When I was a kid I just wanted to swim too! But as I explained to him, mama's love to watch their kids learn, excel, try new things. I have so enjoyed this season. I have such lovely little monkeys, how could it be boring to be a soccer mom?
Soccer Fall 2009

Thinking Christmas?

You so don't want to miss this fun little online shop. Let's Explore is offering $2.99 shipping until Sunday.

A few of my favorite things...

The Spinny Speller

Watercolor Crayons

Leaf Rubbing Plates

Take a Hike.

So, for real....this has not been an easy week. Um, make that two. Two tough weeks for me and I'm weary of it.

Today has been better, and I think tomorrow will be better yet. But I was so encouraged when I read this fun idea of a "Teacher Supply Box." The idea is that all teaching moms all have those days... the days when we just need a little something extra, a little push in the right direction.

These are the things Angela keeps in her Teacher Supply Box;

• A packet of a sweet coffee mix, hot chocolate, or your favorite tea bag.
• Your favorite candy. Or two.
• A couple of cards or letters from your husband or kids. (If they haven’t made you any lately, ask them to!)
• Your version of Post It notes. Am I the only mom obsessed with paper supplies? A fresh new pack of sticky notes would do my heart good! What would be your post its?
• A copy of your family mission statement.
• Some of your favorite quotes, poems, or scripture verses on teaching.
• A CD of uplifting music.
• An inexpensive timer. Set it for thirty minutes and take a well-deserved break. Usually, the days when you think you can’t afford a break are the days you need one most!
• A small journal or notebook to collect thoughts.

I love all those things. But for sure I have my own thing to add to that list--

A Walk. A Hike. Nature. Movement. Fresh Air. Quiet. Stillness.

Tonight, and I remembered how good it is to be outside. And I thought of how busy our days have been and how crummy I've been feeling. I thought of how much I wanted to get outside in the fall beauty.

We did. Kids got coats, hats & flashlights, I got my favorite (Ralph's) coat and the doggie and off we went into the fully moonlit night. It was wonderful. The boys were in awe of the stars and moonlight, and loved using the flashlights of course too. My doggie is happily snuggled up to my feet now. The boys are tucked in and pooped. A perfect ending to a hectic day.

At any rate, I'm going to work on my rainy day basket tomorrow... and maybe we'll get to go on a fall collection hike in the daylight.

If you made a basket....what would be inside?

Skip Counting with Eli

In case you'd like to see a little of what we're up to these days....here you are. Sevens are Eli's favorite.

Wild Things (part 2)

"The WARRIOR is out of the bathroom!" Growls Nate.

I love boys. Give a man a throne, and he is truly a warrior.

Wild things: the art of nurturing boys

I've been picking my way through this book long enough that I had to return it to the library and just buy it. We will read, and then put it on the shelf for reference.

Wild Things is a book about nurturing boys. This book addresses ages & stages of boys; how to best communicate with them, what they need most from their parents and teachers in those phases. There is a section on how the minds of boys work, how they can be most successful in school and more. The end of the book is a section of "hot topics" and ideas of how to address them. It's a great book of ideas on just what is going through the minds of these little (or big) guys and how we can best nurture them into manhood.

This book is a great combination of experience, humor stories and encouragment for those in charge of raising Wild Things.

Taken from the back of the book;

BORN TO BE... WILD!

A boy's endless imagination, hunger for adventure, and passionate spirit are matched only by his deep desire to be affirmed, esteemed and loved.

Yet over the past few decades, our culture has adopted a model of parenting and educating children that doesn't affirm, celebrate, or embrace a boy's hunger, passion, or wildness but rather seeks to tame it. As a result, many parents, teachers, coaches, and mentors find themselves frustrated, confused, and wearied by boys' behavior.

The truth is, boys don't need to be tamed--they need to be understood, loved, challenged, and encouraged.

Wild Things helps parents, teachers, mentors, and others understand and explore the hearts, minds, and ways of boys and the vital role that parents and caregivers play on their journey to manhood.

For additional information, visit http://www.stephenanddavid.com/home.html.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein

(photo of a little Kuhlman friend)

Quick Takes

Some fleeting thoughts...

1. I really, really long to spend more time outside while I can just now. Soon the foliage will be dry and gone and it'll be so cold to be out. I am inspired by this eclectic mama.
2. Ralph had reconstructive surgery last week. This has been more challenging for me than I even thought. I would rather have him here, unable to do anything, than gone on travel though. I'm so grateful he can work from home just now.
3. I've been working out my month-long-menu. October was my first shot and it was a success. I loved not doing a major grocery shop every week. (The kids do too.)
4. I have too many things that I want to do right now, and am not being to reasonable about it. I am overwhelmed with all there is to be done.
   
5. Joey had his first vision therapy appointment today. It went well. This was the first appointment of six months of therapy.
   
6. I am deep into a good book and am enjoying to the hilt. Simple pleasures.