Halloween 2013

1st shift of carving

Lulu refused to stick her hand in the pumpkin and pull the gunk out.

2nd shift of carving

Halloween morning about 6:50 am!

A Halloween breakfast

Oh these girls and their love of princesses and all things pretty and sparkly!

Goof balls!!!!

Zombie girl...yuk! The sad thing is she got a big black eye in her soccer game Saturday and all the kids at school  today joked that she forgot to take her zombie make-up off! Actually the make-up was less frightening looking than the real thing!!!! Poor baby!

The neighborhood gang all ready to set out!

I love this "holiday"! The kids love this "holiday"! So much fun and so simple really. This year was a little different as my 15 year old was not present for the pumpkin carving or trick or treating because she had basketball tryouts. Oh my heart! I guess I should rejoice in the fact that it lasted as long as it did. Those are just the "bumps" you have in a family with a large age span. We carved in shifts and Sam was sweet enough to carve Lulu's pumpkin and then wait and carve with Julia later that night. And Julia did catch up with us trick or treating and took the little girls to the doors. She got to dress up the next day at school where the sophomore class dressed as zombies. I even had to take a Halloween picture of all 5 in the wee hours of the morning before school in order to get all 5 together! Whew...didn't I say simple "holiday"? 

Mountain tops, valleys, and Martha and Mary

Ever since returning from China in July, I have struggled. I have struggled with what to do next, or now, or because of, etc. People talk about a "high" after a mission trip. I don't know if I would call it a "high" or a "low" or what I would call it really. How about "stumped"? After a life changing experience it is hard to stay status quo, yet life around you goes on status quo. So what does one do with the experience? I tried several times to put into words here some of my experiences because I truly wanted everyone to experience what I had experienced...all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly! Why did I want everyone to experience this? Because it is life altering. Just like when you put a delicious piece of moist, sweet, velvety smooth chocolate cake into your mouth and you say, "Oh, you have got to try this!!!!" Your taste buds will never be the same! That is what I am talking about! You want to share the "goodness" so others can join you in your place of bliss! Then together you can experience this awesomeness! I want to share in the "Ok, God, what now? What do you want me/us to do now?" There is so much to be done! So I have prayed. And waited. And tried to listen for His next directive. There has to be something to do with all "this stuff" I now know and feel and dream about?

Add to that experience, the year long, marathon deep soul searching I experienced due to the job loss. (He does have a temporary to hopeful permanent job as of now). What a doozy that was! I am wiped out! A whole lotta stuff there...deep stuff, deep places He took me. Good in the end, but a long hard road to travel. Again, the ultimate place he brought me to was life altering. So what do I do with that??? A side note....if you ever need counseling due to job loss, I am your free certified counselor!!!! Again, I have prayed for direction here too. The only thing I have felt Him saying is "Rest". Rest???? Really??? If you know me, I don't rest well...at all! In fact, that is quite torturous for me really. With all this new found knowledge, experience, love, etc you want me to "rest"??? Surely you have other plans for me now?

 Yet He brings Martha and Mary to my mind and heart. Martha, bless her heart, was so busy "doing" and got annoyed with her sister Mary for just sitting at Jesus feet.
 "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me?" Ok, just call me Martha. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:40-42  Deep inside, I think I do just want/need to sit at His feet with my head in His lap experiencing Him, and His love and His grace. I envision myself there with Him stroking my hair and I am at peace...and it is ok.... to just be there without "doing". It goes against my make-up, but it sounds so very good!

Then I read  some really great devotions by Oswald Chambers lately that sum up my experience.

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

I think I had some real "mountaintop" experiences over the last year and I truly did not want to leave those mountaintops where He was! But it looks like I must:

After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him.

So for now I will sit at my Savior's feet...in the valley. Quietly. With gratitude. And rest. Like Mary. I will try to put my "Martha" tendencies aside. I will try to curb my desire to "do more". I will come down off the mountaintops of last year and just rest. And be refreshed. I would imagine there is something I will do with these experiences, but I will let Him lead me there in His time. After all, Jesus gave us permission to stop doing when He said, "Mary has chosen what is better..." Music to my weary ears and humbled heart!

A Perfect Day

Yesterday the kids all had a day off from school so I decided we needed to do something fun! With our weekends always so packed with soccer and social engagements it leaves very little time to explore other options. Fall is my favorite time of year so I checked into some "fall activities". The kids and I loaded up the minivan and took off for the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains where we enjoyed a beautiful drive, picked apples at an orchard, enjoyed a picnic lunch, explored waterfalls and streams, and old train tunnels and stopped at a favorite bakery. The weather was perfect, the leaves had a touch of color, and the time together was memorable. All five of them told me numerous times how much fun they had. To make the day even better everyone behaved, shared, didn't whine, controlled their "attitudes" and got along. I don't know about your house but at ours....this is a rarity! On any given day someone has a "tude", someone is crabby, someone whines uncontrollably, someone is hormonal and getting along.... well, "I'm telling!" rings out way too many times! But this day, well, it was pretty darn perfect and I am going to treasure it and hold it close to my heart! What a fabulous time we all had!

As October began.....

A little behind here again...as October began we have enjoyed the little bit cooler weather, attended high school and college football games, homecoming, soccer tournaments and matches in and around Georgia and South Carolina, began sign language club, attended birthday parties, I enjoyed an evening with some friends for dinner and David Crowder Band concert, a college entrance seminar-did I say college???-, enjoyed an evening watching the Littles' Spanish program, painted the little girls' room, celebrated Will's 49th birthday and visited the pumpkin patch....whew!!! No wonder I haven't blogged. Fortunately you only have to endure pictures of the last two above mentioned events :)

Birthday dinner

Don't you love the candle. We had a 40 and a 9. Put them together and what do you get.....49!

Love this crazy group of people!!!!!

Totally lovin the cover panties shot Lulu is flashing the world! Makes me laugh!

Seriously, when is her hair going to grow???? 

This is my absolute favorite time of year!!!!! Before the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

Hoping you are enjoying your fall!!!!!

Celebrating 7

Our Jaida Ruth turned 7 yesterday!

What a true joy and blessing it is to be her mother!

Beautiful

Smart

Funny

Kind

Fashionista

Loving

Observer-silent observer-every little detail observer

Fabulous Big Sister

Wonderful Little Sister

Creative

Imaginative

Loved Beyond Words

A Ture Treasure

So Blessed God placed her in our family!

Happy 7th Birthday Jaida Ruth!!!!!!!

I love you with my whole entire heart!

The Hummingbird Lesson

Hummingbird's are fascinating creatures. I always love to spot them fluttering around brightly colored  flowers. Yesterday one got stuck in our garage. Sam came in to tell me about 10:00 am that there was a hummingbird in our garage. Sure enough there was. I felt certain our little friend would explore momentarily and then realize there were no brightly colored flowers amongst the bicycles, skateboards, scooters, balls, bats, Barbie jeeps, smelly cleats, dog crates and a plethora of other belongings. I was painting our mudroom right off the garage so I was in and out quite a bit to retrieve more painting supplies. Each time I entered the garage our little friend was still there flapping wildly and searching for what appeared to me a way out. He kept flying up instead of down a little and out the wide open double doors! I started to become concerned for him as did Sam and Lulu. We looked up hummingbirds on the internet and found they are attracted to red and like sugar water. So......we found a red cup, made "hummingbird food" according the the internet directions, poured said food into red cup, placed a ladder, with a red top, under the area he was flying and put the red cup with sugar water on top of the ladder. Our hope was that it would see the red, find the food, and fly downward just a foot or so and then out the open doors. No such luck! Lulu and I prayed for our friend as she was concerned he was lost and missed his family and Mommy and Daddy. (I could eat this child up) The bird kept flying harder and harder upward. We got a broom and the pool net hoping to direct it toward the open doors. Nope! We laughed so hard because we looked like the biggest idiots and we hurt our necks in the process :-) I even got the big fan and tilted it upward to blow the bird toward the opening. We tried everything we could think of but the dumb bird just wouldn't cooperate. We were trying to "help" it and I am sure it thought we were trying to kill it-what with all the wild broom and pool net waving. At the end of the day after the Littles were in bed, I went out to check on my friend. It was getting dark. I opened the door and did NOT see him! Yipeeee! I said to Will, either he died or he flew away. Moments later I saw Will looking down with an odd expression on his face. Oh no! "He is dead isn't he?" "Nope, he is sitting under my back tire looking at me. He is breathing but not moving." It was pitiful. There sat my much exhausted little friend with wings spread out on the concrete. I then went frantically searching for our ancient butterfly net. I swear that thing must be 10 years old. I found it and Will gently placed the net on top of the bird and slowly and gingerly drug him out to a bushy area. I quickly closed the doors and we tried to take the net off him. His beak was stuck in the net! Seriously??? Will shook it a few times and finally......with a great swoosh....my buddy took off into the dusk sky. He was free. He soared so high and fast! I ran in to tell the Littles and they all cheered!

Ok, you are probably thinking, "Lady, you really need to get a life!" I will admit, I was really"into" this little fella. I started to wonder if there was a lesson in this for me. Oh yes there was. How many times do we exhaust ourselves trying to go down our own path? Like the hummingbird trying to find his way out. How many times do we strive and work and exhaust or even harm ourselves because we think we know best? What if God was right there waving a broom or a pool net at us trying to redirect us but we were too headstrong to heed His "help" Some times the things God puts in our paths for help or guidance don't always "look" like help or a good thing. How many times are we the dumb bird that just won't cooperate? But what if we fully trusted? What if we stopped trying so very hard to find our own way and just let Him lead us? I know I have felt like that bird on the concrete, my wings collapsed with physical and emotional exhaustion. That silly bird could have had a grand day in the warm September sun eating nectar from beautiful flowers. It chose instead to almost kill itself and flap around all day in a HOT, smelly garage. Maybe sometimes we actually need to collapse on the concrete to be able to look up and say, "Ok, help. I can't do this on my own. What is your plan God?" And when we do.....how high might we soar? And I'll take sweet nectar over a smelly garage any day! How about you?

Soccer

Ok, I am so behind...Sam played in a tournament in Charlotte 2-1/2 weeks ago and did fairly well for their first time playing together this season. It was nice because Will and I were able to go alone with Sam and he got to be an only child for the weekend! So nice to just have one on one time with your kids.

The next weekend Julia and Sam played in the Aiken Cup. This year both kids switched clubs and so this tournament was a bit of a rivalry as their previous club sponsors this tournament. This was Julia's first time to play with her new team. They played an age group up and still dominated. The competition is not extremely tough in this tournament for the older girls but still the team played well. Julia scored a total of 10 goals for the weekend, with 2 hat tricks (3 goals in a single game) in 2 different games!!! They won their age group! Sam's team did very well having to play 3 games on the last day and also won their age group!!!! Sam played his old team in the finals. He was quite nervous and psyched!! A tough game and at the end of regulation play it was tied 1-1. They went into 5 minute over time periods with the first team that scores winning. About a minute or so into the overtime Sam received a great pass and took the ball down and shot hard at the goal........AND SCORED!!!!! Winning the game for his new team!!!!! It was a bittersweet win! So proud of him!!!!

Go Gunners!

This past weekend, Labor Day Weekend, usually brings us to our favorite beach and my "Happy Place". Unfortunately, Julia's team played in the Atlanta Cup instead. Hmmmmm....beach or south Atlanta???? I joyously awoke at 4:45 am Saturday morning to attend the first game. Saturday they won both games and we stayed at the lake with my parents, about and hr drive instead of paying the lovely Atlanta hotel rates. It felt a little more like a holiday that way too! Unfortunately, or fortunately, which ever way one would choose to look at it, they lost their first game Sunday morning. This ended our tournament and left us with half of Sunday and all of Monday to enjoy. They did not play well. It was hot and I think they were tired, or at least that is they way they looked! We had a great time at the lake, got some much needed rest, ate way too much good food, watched movies, played, shopped, and then ate a little more!

The regular season starts....we have this weekend off and then the chaos begins with 2 kids going in 2 different directions across several states, with 3 Littles in tow. Sometimes I question WHY we do this? Our kids love it. Our kids are good at it. We try to make it a family "event" although we often look like the circus arriving at the fields! Ha! The joys of a large family! People tell me that I will miss it when they are grown and gone....hmmmm? I am sure I will, craziness and all. For now, it is our lifestyle and I am thankful for strong healthy bodies and the dedication and commitment my kids put into it and the relationships they build through it. Here's to a great season...Go Gunners!!!!