Overheard...

We've finished our first week of school.  I have nine students, but that hasn't stopped me from working hard or being completely exhausted!  It was a good week of getting to know each other.  I overheard several comments this week that had me laughing...

"So, is your combine a two header...or one?"

"Mrs. Voth, I'm not like your average human..."

"Attention.  Pollute.  Pledge."

On the home front, we're running out of clean unmentionables, so it's time to do laundry.  Again.  My house looks like a tornado came through, but that's part of life.  For now.  The family is loved, fed, and relatively happy.  Clean underwear does wonders for morale.  As does adequate amounts of sleep.  Which I am sadly lacking.

What has kept me going these past few weeks is this book and a wonderful group of women to share life with.  We encourage one another, remind each other that we're "normal" (whatever THAT is!), and laugh at the fact that our husbands neglect to help with housework - not because they're trying to be mean and thoughtless, but because they simply don't SEE the mess that bothers us! I am blessed beyond and leave feeling "filled up" each time. 

Last year I read this book and my journey to "1000 gifts" is almost complete.  Today #767 - In my learning God is teaching.  My middle child.  My glass-half-empty child.  The one who pushes my buttons.  The one I have to breathe deep and ask patience for.  The one I ask repeatedly, "What's one GOOD thing you can say? do? think of?"  She was thankful.  For the small thing.  But what a big step.

I got a new toy.  And I am loving it.  And I am thankful for a husband who worked hard to provide, and blessed me with a new laptop.  Want to know my favorite thing?  So far?  The sticky notes.  I can make lists to my heart's content.  I have never been happier. 

You are GOOD...

So thankful for the reminders of God's goodness this morning.

You Are Good - Brian Johnson

Hunters...

"We're gonna twap dat wascally wabbit if it's the wast thing we do!"

Letting go of the rope...

"...All that I know now is partial and imcomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely."

- 1 Corinthians 13:12

It's a fuzzy picture.  Off center.  Out of focus.  But I love it.

It hit me this morning that all the time I waste striving to understand the "Why?" and "What now?" of life, is pointless.  I'm such a control-freak.  I want to think it through, figure it out, find a solution, pull myself up by my bootstraps.  "I can do it."

When I watched Abbie count down & let go of the rope that held her secure, she began to swing out of control.  But they said, "Lean back.  Relax.  Let go."  And she did.  It was a beautiful thing.  Instead of clinging for control, tense and miserable, she just let go.  Completely.  Reckless abandon. 

But that is where she finally felt comfortable.  "This feels good." 

I have to admit I was too chicken to put that harness on and try it.  I couldn't even trust the ropes would hold me up. What if they break?  What if I fall?

I don't trust that God can hold me up. 

I want to figure it out, find a solution.  But what I see and know now is not the whole picture.  It's not possible to understand completely or have my questions answered.  And the truth is I can't figure it out.

TRUST is the solution.

It's not easy to let go.  But being able to finally lean back into God, knowing that He sees, He understands, He knows me, He knows what He's doing...

that is real peace.

Everything's up to date...

My boys got a little tired of me belting out show tunes on our drive to Kansas City this past weekend.  This is the first trip we've taken together - leaving Daddy & the girls at home.  It was strange to take a trip with just half our family, but good for us as parents to spend some concentrated time with the ones we don't normally "hang out" with. ;) 

I didn't always feel comfortable letting the boys go on their own to the men's restroom, especially at big stops along the highway.  And they weren't very happy to be dragged into the women's.  But they found ways to entertain themselves.  On one particular visit, as I'm sitting in the stall, Daniel hollers out, "Mom!  Can I have a quarter?"  Noah's reading, "What are these Tam-POONS anyway?"  I explain, "Those are for ladies."  "For BABIES?!?"  "No...for ladies.  For women."  Daniel, still insistent, asks, "Well, can't we at LEAST buy a napkin?"  Oh my! 

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to this sweet girl, born on the day after Mother's Day, eleven years ago.  We love your smile, your initiative in working hard, your laughter, your creativity, and that "walk-on-the-wild" side!

Oh yeah...I'm sittin' by the fire!

Monkey girl...gotta do it different "just because"!

Mother's Day

We spent this Mother's Day weekend camping as a family.  We hadn't done that since Noah was a baby...9 years ago.  It was a lot of work to get everything packed up, but it was fun...working together, laughing together, and enjoying a slower pace of life.  I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day. 

And thanks to my wonderful husband, amazing kids, and horrible head cold...I didn't have to clean it up!  I woke up from a nap to find everything had been unpacked, counters were clean, and the house was picked up!