Sydney

Sydney loves to be on stage. Here are a couple video clips of her singing at church tonight in a musical written by my brother Rob called Life School Musical.

The Light

I was lying on the couch this morning while Hogan got ready for school and I was looking at the back door. I was thinking about the sun coming in though the door and how I could close the blinds to block it out and it would be so dark...then I could sleep more! It made me think about Jesus being the light, our light and do we treat him with blinds. We can shut the blinds and have no Jesus in our lives. We can block out all he is trying to do in our lives, because it might hurt a little to follow him? We can close the blinds just a little so only a little light filters into our lives. We get just as much of Jesus as we want, just enough to feel the love but not enough to feel compelled to obey him. Or do we open the blinds fully and let him in to shine in us and through us so that others can see the Light too. Open to all the joy, love, and pain that may come but also open for all the blessings God will bestow. Just a thought. I think it is painful to be open but the only way to truly follow Jesus!

Arise, Shine!

"Arise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness covers the earth and thick is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you." Isaiah 60:1-2

This verse has always been special to me because my mother used to wake us up with it. She would fling up the shade and say, "arise, shine for thy light has come Isaiah 60:1" That was all I had ever read of the verse until tonight. Our worship minister brought this verse to us tonight during a devotional time, talking about times of depression and discourgement. Jesus is our light and he has come for us.

There are so many times when I feel the weight of this world and the things of this world pressing down. I have to remember that we are God's children, he is with us aalways and his glory will shine through us and bring his light to this dark world. Just as the sun rises each morning, God brings his light new to us each morning so that we can go out and be his light.

I want to shine God's light and I pray he will give me opportunities to share his love with the world.

Yo-yos and living sacrifices.

It has been summer - and summer means no schedule, travel, relaxing by the pool, friends and fun. As I went through this summer it hit me that I felt like a yo-yo in my spiritual life. It is so easy to swing away from God in the midst of fun and sun - caught up in my own desires. Just as the one holding the yo-yo has to draw the yo-yo back up that is the way I feel God draws me back to him from my selfish ways.

Heading back to school means getting back on a schedule, Bible study on Tuesdays and church again on Wednesdays...more communion with God, intentional time with God that is so easy to slide away from in the summer. This week in Bible study we were in Romans. The verse "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:1-2 The lady teaching asked if we knew the problem with living sacrifices? They crawl off the altar! That is what I feel like I have done and am back on the altar ready to offer my life as a living sacrifice for God to do with what he wants. I loved that picture of crawling off the altar. It is so easy to do, but also easy to crawl right back up there - ready to live for God.

Family

I have thought a lot about family in recent weeks. A few weeks ago three friends of ours had parents die within a few days of each other. As we sat through each of these funerals we listened to the families share their memories, laughter, tears and love. Each family is different and it made me so appreciative to have mine. This last weekend we got to be with my aunt and uncle in Dallas and my cousin who spent much time at our house growing up. It was so much fun to think back on our memories - the good and the bad. We laughed so hard and we enjoyed watching the next generation of cousins playing together. My favorite line is what Hogan told his best friend when we got home. When asked what we did in Dallas he replied " we ate the whole time!" As you can guess we were with the Howard's. It was all about the taste! (and my Uncle Jerry is the king of BBQ!!!)

Tonight I went to my first meeting of a different kind of family - the Family Advisory Council at Children's Healtcare of Atlanta - Scottish Rite. This is a committee I was asked to be on. We are going to be working to "advance family-centered services and support through the NICU policies, practices and procedures". As I walked out of my meeting I was hit with a wave - an overwhelming wave of grief. I have been back up to the hospital several times and really do fine most of the time. Sp this hit me out of the blue! Maybe it was reliving our experiences there or maybe it is just a relief to be helping through my experience. It was so good to be able to call a grieving friend who is part of my family - the family of God. We can also laugh together, cry together and share memories but we can also share the knowledge and joy that parts of our family are in heaven. Whatever the family God has provided here on earth, it is such a comfort to know we have a family beyond this earth led by a heavenly father. We rest in the love of Jesus and the overwhelming power He has, yet he cares about every little detail of our lives.

Celebrate

Today we celebrate one year since the end of Luke's life here on earth and the beginning of his life in heaven. It has been a year of tears, a year of missing but also a year to celebrate God's goodness. He provides all we need in every situation and we are so thankful. I just always come back to Psalm 139 which was one of my dad's favorites. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful, I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." God created each one of us to be special and to be His children. We trust in the knowledge that God has a plan for our lives and we know it will be best for us. A friend recently sent a poem to me written by a young girl with cancer. It talks about how we need to take the time to sit and listen to the rain, to dance, to play with our kids, to help someone instead of hurrying on our way...life is too short to wish we had taken the time to do and appreciate the small things. I want to remember that in the busyness of each day.

New Baby...

We got a new baby last week. Not the kind of baby I want, but the kind you get when you have a brief moment of insanity. You walk in the PetSmart to get tick medicine and see that it is adoption day. You hear your kids start begging to look at the puppies..."sure you can look". This leads to lots of begging because the little black one is so cute. Then you let them call their dad to see what he will say. His words? "What do you think?" Then you hear your voice answer I guess we could get him. Then with kids bouncing off the walls you race home to see if you have a crate and a gate then quickly call the pet rescue lady to see if she will hold the little black puppy and a few hours later and much paperwork later you have a new addition to the family. I had quite a few moments this week where I wondered how in the world I let this happen, but he is really cute and pretty good (if the kids remember to take him out) and I figured out he can make it from 12 am til 6:45 am without going out because his sleepy mom accidently didn't hear the alarm at 3 am! His name is Duke and he has had a hard life already so we are going to give him a loving home.