IN THIS WORLD, WE WILL HAVE TROUBLE

You know those times when life is a little gloomy?  When every phone call and email are the bearers of bad news?  When the "to-do" list is miles long and you are trying to figure out what even needs to be done?



Things aren't as bad as that, but there are certain areas of messiness right now.  And the reality is, there always are.  I had someone tell me recently that there are always two tracks in life that are running parallel to one another.  There is the good track and the bad track.  Things are always happening on both of them, but sometimes you spend more time riding one or the other.



Growing up, I thought it was possible to only ever hop onto the good train and ride it forever.  Mistakenly, I imagined going through life unscathed by hardship.  I crave fun and actively look for ways to create it, and I thought I may be able to wriggle through life the fun way, on the party train.  I am not sure how I overlooked or failed to consider that Jesus actually tells us "In this world, you will have trouble."  (John 16:33)

There is no "if" in that statement.

There is no "possibly."

There is no "some people."

Nope, Jesus makes it pretty clear that living in this world will come with Trouble.  (With a capital "T" that rhymes with "P" that stands for pool.  Raise your hand if you performed the Music Man in high school.  If only the trouble I was talking about was just a pool hall coming to town.)



One of the hard things about being right smack dab in the middle of trouble is that I don't know how situations will turn out.  As John put it last night, "We are not in a movie where this is the hard part, but we know that things will turn out well in the end.  There may be no happy ending."  Because in this world, we will have trouble.  People make poor choices that ruin things in their lives, possibly forever.  Watching this is heart-breaking.  Being stuck in the middle is even harder.



So, while all this trouble-business can still come as a surprise to me, there is good news for us all.  Jesus didn't stop with just talking about trouble.  He says, "But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)  Makes me tear up just reading it all over again.  There is hope!  I may not know the ending here on earth, but I know how it all ends.  Jesus overcomes the world.  He overcomes the sin and the mess and the hardship.  He redeems it all.



Just like I need fresh flowers at the end of dreary February to remind me that winter will not last forever  and that spring really will come, I need to listen to Jesus telling me to "Take Heart!"  To find my peace in him instead of little worldly pleasures that leave me wanting.

Take heart, dear friends.  This world is not all there is.  Thank the good Lord.

ON BEING A STAY AT HOME MOM

Last week we headed to Siloam Springs for JBU Leadership Day.  John had been invited to be on a panel with a few other alumni to talk business, give feedback and provide guidance to JBU students.  I am so thankful he had this opportunity, because he loves being able to give back in this way and finds it invigorating.

I went along and hung out with the girls all day, like usual.  We spent time with Ellen and True, and I showed Ellen how to ice a cake.  There was a little movie time, there was nap time, there was whine time, there was feeding time . . . it was a pretty normal day, just in a different place - a change I am usually up for.

I draw a comparison between our days, because it occurred to me while driving back on Thursday night that this day typifies our life right now.  I have chosen to stay at home with our girls.  John has chosen to spend time working and providing for our family.  We both fell into these roles pretty naturally, because we both grew up in homes where our mothers stayed at home with us.  We did talk about this in early marriage and picture it being this way.  Though I had not always aspired to be a "stay-at-home-mom," when the time came, I seized the chance.

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be a SAHM.  It affords me a front-row seat to my girls' lives day in and day out.  I get to be a primary influence in their little worlds.  It allows me a measure of freedom in our schedule.  Most of the time, I really love it, and I am well-suited to it.

However, it does not come without its challenges.  And, in the past 6 months, I have spent more time and energy outside of our home coordinating fundraisers and serving on the board of a non-profit.  This has been good and hard.  I really enjoy working with other adults and using some of my giftings in ways that serve a greater purpose.  The feedback and affirmation of things done well feels good.  It has reopened my eyes to the world outside of our home and even outside of CFA.  If I had chosen a different path, I could have a career and do stuff and feel accomplished.  Maybe I would be the one at Leadership Day.

Very rarely, I find myself envious of John and the opportunities he gets.  When my main job falls within our home, the two people that could give me feedback most often don't always speak in full sentences.  I measure success by how much laundry I did or didn't get done.  And usually, I didn't get it done.

I say all of this to bring it back around - I am glad that for right now, I get to stay home.  It is not for everyone, and certainly God calls each of us to different things at different times, but I am happy to say that all things considered, I am content.  I do have opportunities to serve outside of our home right now, and I am taking them for this time, especially since I know that once we have two more children, I will be more limited.  I want to be submitted to God, and I can see that being John's wife and Lily and Bella's mom is where most of my energy should go at this phase in our lives.  It fits our family well.

That may change as time goes on, and in some ways, I might welcome that.  For now, I will rejoice in the simplicity of having one working parent in our house and me running the show here.  I pray that I am able to be sensitive to what God has for us in each season.

WEEKEND OF COMMUNITY

This weekend the guys from our community group all went camping together, and we women held down the fort.  We planned lots of time together so that it would help the weekend go faster, and it really worked, though we were still glad to get John home yesterday afternoon.  Since it was supposed to be really cold, the guys ended up sleeping in a friend's cabin.




They had a great time for the 4th year running.  We got together with 14 of the 17 kiddos for pizza on Friday night, which was crazy, as usual.  Also - there was the dreaded text from one friend that came at 11:30 that night saying her son had started throwing up.  I immediately was paranoid that all of us were going to start spewing vomit.  It would forever go down as "That Awful Camping Weekend."  Fortunately, no one else did throw up, and her son was better the next day.

I watched Pitch Perfect by myself that night.  Then, I watched more YouTube videos of other awesome acapella groups.  Because I am awesome.  Also, I have no vocal ability, so I am wildly jealous of what they can do.  I have long believed that God gave me no singing talent, because I would not be able to handle the fame that would inevitably come.  It would go to my head.  So, I can't sing.  God knows best.

Saturday night, we had the brilliant idea of getting sitters for all the kiddos and going on a girls night out.  We chose Local Lime, which is truly delicious.  But the company was even better.





These are the sweet girls that I am privileged to do life with most often.  I am forever grateful for the gift they are.  Being in the trenches with other people is a blessing that I do not take for granted.  After dinner we came to my house and did gel manicures.



I love being able to do gel nails at home, and it was fun to treat the ladies.  I will not name names, but I had to pry one of my friend's hands out from under her leg to paint it.  She never does her nails.  We were also going to do hair curling but ran out of time.  I am not kidding.  I love girls night.

Once John was home, we napped and lounged a bit.  Then we visited one of our amazing team members, Ms. Frances.  She is 85 and works in our dining room most days.  She also makes cookies to be distributed to the homeless in Little Rock.  If only I am half as spritely and service minded at that age!



Gearing up for a busy week ahead!

THIS CRAZY WEEK: HIGHS & LOWS

I think it is safe to say that February has taken us by storm. That is not all bad- clearly, it has included a great vacation. Which was definitely needed.  This week has included so much activity, that I know God timed our vacation so we could rest up for weeks like this one.  Most of it was fun stuff, but even doing too much fun stuff can be overwhelming.  (Oh, my first world life.)

Here are the highs and lows.

High:  Being back with the ladies.  And leopard print.



Low:  Everyone readjusting back to real life in our house.  This was kicked off by a really bad lunch at Cracker Barrel.  The food was fine; the attitudes around the table were not.  So much whining, most of it from people 4 and under.  But not all of it.

Low:  Having to use our shop vac on 3 separate occasions in about 24 hours.  John managed to shatter a glass.  Lily managed to break a bowl, and I used the shop vac on John's bare chest to get some of the peeling skin off so he wouldn't leave flakes of sunburned skin lying around.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I'll spare you the picture of that.



High:  Little girl giggles.  The girls play together exceptionally well.  I have only ever had them, so I can't compare it, but they get along so well so much of the time.  I am so thankful.



Low:  Being so busy that getting to projects like organizing this shelf in my closet seem like only a pipe dream.  Why does it look so crazy?  And why did I think I would have time to do anything about it anytime soon?

Low:  Driving through the snow/sleet/wintry-mix storm to get to NW Arkansas.  We were driving across the blue and purple line from this radar shot.

High:  Getting to hang with Ellen and True most of the day on Thursday.  Love them.

High:  Getting Lily's 4 Year pictures taken by Uncle Luke at Main Street Studios.  She was ready for her close-up.




I'm not sure why everyone was looking at me, but they were.



Low:  Bella wanting to photo-bomb Lily's shoot.  She would try to get right behind Lily while Luke was taking her picture.  Thankfully, it yielded some really funny shots that I am looking forward to seeing.  We were able to pacify Bella in the studio by showing her pictures of baby Bella.  She was entranced and a bit possessive.



Low:  Thinking I might have scabies.  Rhymes with rabies.  As my beautiful friend who was diagnosed with it on Monday said, "It's a long A."  I was a bit itchy last night, and my thoughts immediately went to having mites under my skin.  Also, wash all your clothes after you buy them and before you wear them.  That is where scabies come from.

High: Teaching the girls to play Candy Land.  They loved it!  Hopefully we can build a family of gamers from the ground up.



Happy Friday, friends!  May God grant you rest and love this weekend.  He is so good.