Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Closet from Hoarders….

2:25 am.

I am in the midst of cleaning out my closet. I should take a picture.

My closet has been neglected for most of the time we have lived in this house. 7 years. It has become the catch-all of the house and has piled high enough it would be respected on the Hoarder’s show.

The rest of the house is lived-in. Most days it is not too bad, although there are always evidences of the children. Socks on the floor. X-box remotes on the couch. The endless supply of kids plastic character cups that can be found in the strangest places.

Lived-in, but not out-of-control, and usually just a few minutes away from being respectable. I’ve become a better keeper of the house as I have aged.

Except that dang closet. I’ve been working on it for the last hour or so and have made a scratch. Not a dent but a scratch.

I have this inkling that when I get it clean…I mean really organized and clean…it will mark something for me. It will mark the first step to the other projects around the house that I would like to get to.

The problem is I keep finding treasures as I clean. Little notes from the boys. Pictures that I’d forgotten. Books I want to read.

Things tucked away because they were important, but have been lost in a bunch of “stuff”. Mind you, this closet is a walk-in that comfortably houses two 6′ bookshelves along with all the built in shelving. I can cram a lot of stuff in that closet.

I think this is one of the things that gets me when I watch a show like Hoarders…we want to keep things because they mean something, and then all of a sudden we find that the important things are mixed in with the trash and we’ve lost track of which is which so that everything means less. The people on Hoarder’s started holding on to stuff almost invariably because there was a tragedy.

Tragedies scare us and they rattle us. And we want to hold on to something to remind us that we’re still here and we’re still part of something and we still belong….and there are still important things.

If all we are doing, though, is holding on to things to find some source of comfort, eventually we look and we are holding on to trash.

Life is like that, yes?

We hold on to habits, to ways of doing things, to thoughts, to activities…to people even…because we want to know that we are part of something. That we belong and there are important things that mean something in our lives.

Sometimes, though, all that stuff becomes cluttered with things that don’t mean anything, and we find ourselves overwhelmed.

Sometimes we need to clean things out. We need to clean out our thoughts, our habits and our activities…even the people we are investing in…to find what is really important.

When we’ve cleaned the stuff out, it is easier to breathe and to be efficient and to see that what is important is not the stuff. What is important is that we are created and made and called and loved by a Living God. We are His and we are not alone or forgotten. The stuff has not made us valuable…we are valuable just in being us. Unique, amazing creatures.

Back to the closet I go…redeeming the things that are truly important and finding them places where they can be remembered and enjoyed, free from the distractions of the trash. Back as well to redeem the things that are important in life, and to release the things that are not….

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Messy Monday…on Friday

Yes, I know it is Friday.

I also am aware that I began homeschooling three boys, three weeks ago.

I wanted to write that first Monday…to speak of the joy we had as we started. Real excitement of this new adventure. That was a busy week, though, and there was little time in front of the computer.

The second week, well, we realized some of our insufficiencies.

The third week, I yelled a few times. I got frustrated.

But there is still joy.

Messy Monday? Oh Lord, you should have seen the house on Monday.

Now it is Friday and the end of the third week. I think we are just beginning to hit our stride in the homeschool adventure. maybe another week or two and we’ll know better how to approach the day. We have to learn how we all learn, and we have to learn how to learn with a energetic and appealing little girl running to and fro. We have to learn, me and the boys, how to do this to our best ability.

I have to admit I had visions of us all reading together and joy on our faces as we learned new things. It is impossible not to have those expectations, at least in glimpses. One of the aspects of homeschool that was so inviting was this concept of getting the boys excited about learning. We still have to do math and writing and reading. We still have to work. We still have to read things that might not seem that interesting at the moment.

Learning is a discipline as well as a joy, and, as is often the case, the discipline comes before the joy.

We’re getting there, though, and the boys are hanging in there with me. We had our first day at the tutorial this week and it added such a great element to the mix. The boys were all chattering and excited about the classes and the people. I had not seen that level of excitement about the subjects they are learning in a very long time. It’s wonderful.

I have an awareness growing within me about what this is all about, for me. It is about providing them a great education that is tailored to them, and it is about spending time with them and being with them in a different way than I have to this point. It is about wanting something deep and rich for their childhood, but it is also something different. It is about discovering who they are and allowing them to see who they can be. It is about hearing them differently and exposing them to things that awaken in them not only the desire to learn more, but the desire to be more. It is about reading together while sprawled out on the couch, writing at the table…and on the floor…and in the ‘school room’; it is about sumo wrestling at snack time and giggling and engaging as siblings. It is about being frustrated and learning how to work through that, about having to do what we might not want to do at the moment…but doing it anyway. It’s about life.

I’m very thankful for the educators I have been exposed to, and for the educators the boys have had to this point. We’ve learned something from each of them. There is simply something different about educating a child who is yours, and that is what I am learning. It is not that homeschool is the perfect way, and I am not trying to make it out as the perfect situation….however, when teaching the boys i am teaching them with an eye to their character and their personhood that an educator in a school does not have. I am teaching them with prayer that is different than the educators they have met so far…and the boys teachers have held them in prayer, and I am so thankful for that.

I, however, am entrusted along with Steve in creating a place where these four children discover not only the world, but the God we claim to follow. We are entrusted with laying a foundation that gives strength to who they will become, and having them home for their education is providing such a great avenue for this endeavor.

I know that I will be frustrated and they will be frustrated and the house will be dirtier probably more days than I’d like. I know that there are things that happen in the school environment that they will miss, and yet I think there are such great possibilities for what can happen in the homeschool environment that I am not worried about what they will miss.

I am also aware that I need to read more, to enliven my mind more and to be excited about learning as I have been in the past. I need to write more, and to be more faithful to the discipline of learning so that they see the joy of learning in me as I seek to find it in them.

I’m excited. The adventure is under way and I’m excited. I’m grateful to be able to do this. I’m eager to see how it plays out and who these young boys become as men. And a little princess who is watching it all…what she will become!

Messy Monday on Friday. Maybe I’ll have TGIF on Monday!

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Chic-Fil-A and Ethiopia…….

I have hesitated to write about Chic-Fil-A, mostly because it has all already been said on so many blogs and tv shows and FaceBook pages…on both sides and all the spectators.

It is rather amazing how we get stirred up.

I went to Chic-Fil-A on the “Appreciation Day.” I did not decide immediately to go, but ultimately I went because I appreciate the fact that we have the ability to speak out in this country and to take a stand.

Here’s the thing, though…and more what is on my heart than another blog post about just Chic-Fil-A…I went with a heavy heart.

I read through a fair bit of discussion surrounding the whole situation, and I was taken back by the dialog.

I was taken back by the hate. I mean, real hate…the words slung at one another and the language used was filled with hate. From both sides. Dialogs and comments that I could never let my kids read because of the vulgarity of the language.

Then I looked the other day at a video my brother posted of his dogs. He was joking a bit and titled it “Pit Bulls Fighting”…but in actuality they are just messing with each other. Still, the comment thread is filled with vulgarity and hate. Astounding.

Then I looked around at other issues on politics and a variety of topics people are talking about…and again, we speak with such hatred.

We have the right to speak out in this country and we use it to sling crass, vulgar or petty comments at one another. We speak and grab at our right to speak, and yet we say very little of value. We speak at one another and do not dialog. We show our ignorance when our comments devolve into jabs about people’s appearance and sexuality rather than working to think through our politics or theology or perspective on life.

The days surrounding the Chic-Fil-A situation left me feeling frustrated. Honestly, I believe that some of it is just the out-spurting of emotions from people who are living with stress in a season in this country that is not easy. Sometimes we need to vent, but unfortunately we tend to vent at the expense of those around us.

The other thing it left me with was the deep awareness that we are in need of something outside of ourselves for help. I was left constantly with the prayer, “Lord, have mercy”. Have mercy on us, as we hate each other….rescue us from ourselves.

Lord, have mercy.

Then, today I came across something that lifted me. I wish that things like this took off on the internet and in our discussions, but I think we like to be angry more than we would admit. Still…I’ll leave off with this, and tomorrow I’m going to spend some time with my kids showing them this video and letting them see what an amazing impact one person can have. Out of great pain, acting in love…

Rachel Beckwith’s Mom Visits Ethiopia. from charity: water on Vimeo.

I am very humbly grateful that I live where I live and I have the right to take a stand on what I believe. I am very frustrated that sometimes the taking of that stand is seen as hate. I am saddened by how angry so many of us are.

I am lifted and encouraged and humbled by the actions of the quieter among us who do truly great things.

When we are left to ourselves we show often how arrogant and selfish we are. I do it all the time. When we step outside of that and are unselfish, God can transform our actions and do some rather amazing things.

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Flight of Blue…..yep, a new book you need to check out….

Oh my word it has been a long time since I have had a chance to write a post!! We had a wonderful trip to Colorado for July 4th, spending time with 21 family members. During the trip, however, the laptop died and I am hoping to replace it this week…the lack of the faithful laptop has led to life being lived offline. Not such a bad thing.

However! There is good reason to be back on now….a friend from here in Nashville has done something fairly remarkable.

She has written a book.

I say that that is remarkable because I cannot imagine doing such a thing. I love reading, I love imagination, and yet I have never been able to come up with something I thought could hold folks attention.

A.E. Howard has come up with something that does just that.

The Flight Of Blue is a wonderful journey of imagination. We began reading it at our bedtime, after having just finished another Andrew Peterson novel. This book has some stiff competition with Peterson and recently The Wrinkle in Time on our list…and it held up well. The boys were caught up right away.

I know that the book has their attention when they have to stop me to ask questions. Not obvious questions that should have been clear…but imagination questions because their minds are working.

Oh, and of course that moment when I declare the reading to be done and I am met with cries for “Just one more chapter…” I love that. So, the book officially launches today!! Woohhoooo!! (If I ever actually write a book, and it launches….you will hear me shout with much joy!) Genuinely, you should check this out…I’ll write more on it as we finish the book (we are in the midst of the adventure), but take the time to read this little excerpt, then skip over to A. E. Howard’s launch site at the link below. Oh, and enter to possibly win a copy, or just go buy one! Let me know what you think….

Here is the excerpt:

Serina stopped for a moment and checked to see how Kai was absorbing.

“I don’t understand something,” he finally ventured. “If both my parents are Guardians–”

“Then why are you here? Good question, we don’t know. But we suspect you have the ability to act as both Guardian and Keeper, to unite both roles like the Guardians of old. And something is stirring, something is awakening in this realm for recently there have been more Keepers born, though none like you that we know of, than in many centuries before.”

Kai was speechless for a moment. “And you know for sure that I’m… what did you call me?”

“You’d be The Keeper of Keys. And, yes, I’m now pretty sure. See, Keepers can’t sense the other realms or the rips, but Guardians can. At some point in a Guardian’s life, around the age of twelve or thirteen, they awaken to the other realms and then have to choose whether they are going to live into their role as or not. All the signs point to today as the beginning of your awakening to the other Realms. You heard the music, the drums, and Reginald went against his instincts and spoke to you because he sensed who you are.”

A.E. Howard explains…

Most of this doesn’t make sense out of context, I realize, but I pulled it out because I really like this bit about what Kai is. All day, things have been getting weirder and weirder for him, ever since he and his friend Ellie stopped to see if they could help an injured possum on the side of the road. And then Kai’s life started changing faster than he could process. Here, he discovers that he’s something special, born into a role that no one has had for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, and what’s more, he’s born into a special time. He’s awakening to the Realms, and he’s barely got a clue what that means, but he’s already rescued a sorcerer and been hunted by a monster, and the weekend hasn’t even started

Launch Party Central Post on A.E. Howard’s Blog http://aehowardwrites.com/2012/07/flight-of-blue-virtual-launch-party

Buy Flight of Blue in paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Blue-Keeper-Chronicles-Volume/dp/1477666303/ref=la_B001JSECV0_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343079627&sr=1-1

OR as an eBook: http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Blue-Keeper-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B008N5QLT8/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1342820292&sr=1-6&keywords=flight+of+blue</a

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