Family Musings

It didn't take long... My feelings of pride that I am doing the right things finally caught up with me. I was starting to pat myself on the back for feeding strangers and teaching my girls about the importance of God's command to " go ye therefore ." Then, within two hours of doing one of my most (seemingly) radical "go ye's," I got a reality check. It turns out, that, as much as I know and love God, I'm not quite ready to be Jesus to the "least of these." As we arrived at the home for the mentally challenged, I knew it would be a difficult experience. Not only was there the cultural barrier to overcome, but now, I was going to be interacting with people who were not fully aware of how the rest of us define personal space. Sure enough, it took no more than 10 minutes for me to physically back away from an out stretched arm of one of the residents. When he saw me back off, he became aware enough to go and wash his hands, thinking thi...

It's been a busy week in our house and the pace won't be slowing down for at least a couple more weeks. But, looking over our schedule, I wouldn't change anything. Everything coming up is good stuff. The first big thing is my Christmas present from last year. Bruce is sending me to The Gospel Coalition 2012 Women's conference in Orlando . I'll admit to getting pretty emotional when I opened the envelope and Bruce filmed it . It's not particularly flattering, but it reminds me how sweet my husband really is. Can I tell you that I am really looking forward to going? Because I am. Bruce has been lovingly teased me this past week because I've kept the conference schedule open and look at it several times a day. But every time I look at it, I'm reminded by what a blessing it is to go and hear so many gifted and blessed speakers share from their heart. The theme is "God's Revelation of Himself in Scripture." And the list of speakers is a wh...

Our girls were the first to find out whether Baby 3.0 is a boy or a girl.

The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! Proverbs 20:7 In honor of this special day for Dad's every where, I repeated my Father's Day Interview with Charlotte & Mary. What is something Daddy always says to you?  - "I love you." What makes Daddy happy? -  "Seeing me and Mary" What makes Daddy sad? -  "When he misses us. That makes me sad too" How does Daddy make you laugh? -  "By tickling me. I'm ticklish." What was Daddy like as a child? - " I don't know because I wasn't there when he was a child." How old is Daddy? -  "I don't know, 25?" How tall is Daddy? -  "Tall enough that he can get the beans down." What is Daddy's favorite thing to do? -  "Watch us dance and play together." What does Daddy do when you're not around? -  "He just, you know, like, he likes to sit around." What is Daddy really good at?  -...

Being a parent comes with a lot of challenges... from labor to potty training to the first and last days of school. And some where in between, we are expected to teach our children about how, well, children are made. I know a lot of parents stress over having "the talk." It seems like a daunting task to teach them about the birds and the bees. I don't really dread discussing it though. Maybe it's because I want to be the one to do it, instead of leaving it to school nurses or peer groups. I want to make sure I'm tuned into my children enough to sense and answer these questions to their satisfaction before they go looking elsewhere for their answers. Plus, I never want to give her more information than she is actually looking for. Being pregnant, my oldest daughter, Charlotte, has started asking some of these birds and bees questions. The first one was how are babies born. That was an easy one for me to answer, and I even found an animated version of birth to...

Ten days ago I thought I was stepping out on a limb when I shared my thoughts about mothering and God's sovereignty . After some Christians gave me odd looks when I explained it to them, I really posted it not knowing if I was right. I mean, I thought I was right, but when someone I respected was among the head tilters, I did have my doubts. Shortly after writing and posting my thoughts, my doubts were quickly assuaged by your comments, both here, on Facebook, and in private communication. I truly have some of the most encouraging friends a woman could ask for. Then today, upon waking from a lovely, summer nap, my friend Angela asked if I had seen the most recent Desiring God blog post . I hadn't so I clicked right over... And wouldn't you know it? John Knight had written about the very same topic, affirming what I had written less than 2 weeks ago. Sure, he did it better, but it was so incredibly affirming to read the words of such a great Christian leader echoing my...

Sometimes, I don't realize how odd I am until I share the inner workings of my brain with other people. They kind of cock their head to the side and look at me, confused or bewildered at what I've just said. Or maybe they are trying to think of a polite way to point out that I am crazy. As this pregnancy has progressed (I'm now almost 18 weeks along), I've left a few people with tilted heads as I explain my thoughts about motherhood and God's sovereignty. You see, for lots of reasons, I've thought a lot about how I would react if something went wrong. And while I can't be sure until I am in that situation, I know that God is sovereign. Here is how that is playing out in my mind during my third pregnancy (and where the tilted head might come in)... Because our family already has 2 daughters, many people have assumed that we are hoping for a boy. This question is mildly irritating when I think about what it implies about Mary (not having been a boy, she ...

I have no idea what I am going to do with my 4 year old. I really think that she might be smarter than me. And more compassionate too. Tonight she totally brought me to tears with this conversation that my husband shared on his Facebook page. Charlotte was bothering  Jennifer , asking for so many things so quickly. So, Jennifer said, "Just a minute Charlotte. I'm not Superwoman." Charlotte responded, "Yes you are, Mommy. You extend your hand to the poor."  Charlotte actually quoted Proverbs 31 about her mother. We have such an awesome daughter. "She extends her hand to the poor,  And she stretches out her hands to the needy." ( Pro 31:20 , NASB) Lord have mercy on me... I hope I can always live up to her image of me. And that, when I inevitably fail, she extends her compassion towards me. All I meant was that I couldn't do 5 different things at once, which is clearly how I would define a Superwoman. But that didn't matter to her. She de...