For a Little While...

I fell like I should have something to say, but I don’t, really. The last time I wrote anything was last Thursday. Today is Monday. The day after Easter. I had a good day yesterday, but I almost feel guilty about it. The Five Dream Weavers went to LifeChurch.tv Edmond to celebrate new life with a dear friend as he got Baptized, then went to his house to celebrate his wife’s birthday and Easter. It was a nice change of pace – even if we did experience white-knuckle driving in torrential downpours and see 2 wrecks.

Easter is a time of celebration. Of recognizing the sacrifice God made for us ALL by giving up his only son. Makes me think about being a parent and especially about being a parent of a son. But what does that look like for a mother who just lost her own son way too soon? On Facebook she said “I am happy Brian is spending his first Easter in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I cry because I miss him and I want him here with us.”

When I was pregnant with my twins, I had lots of sonograms. I remember the first time the technicians and doctors tried to determine the sex of the babies. They told me Twin A (called Jenna in utero, now Emma) was definitely a girl. I was a tiny bit disappointed. I had thought I was having 2 boys. Then, they told me Twin B (Barbara in utero, now Lara) was not cooperating and her gender was still in question. A few weeks later, same outcomes. At 33 weeks, they told me Twin B was “most likely” a girl. I will confess that I held out hope until the moment she was born that Lara would be a boy. But, I got 2 precious orange headed girls, and they still light up every day of my life with their love and tenacity! Fast forward a few years and I was pregnant again. I had a precautionary sonogram at 14 weeks because the one a t10 weeks revealed something my doctor wanted to look at again (turned out to be nothing). But, during that sonogram, the technician asked if we wanted to know the gender of the baby. We were a bit shocked, as we thought it was too early, and we hadn’t really discussed it. But, we said yes. And, found out we were going to have a SON! Talk about humbling… And to reflect on what he means to me now, after the death of my mother’s son and the Easter holiday focusing on how God turned Jesus over to his haters… WOW.

My pastor, Craig Groeschel, wrote and amazing poem and showed it as a video during the sermons this weekend. I had caught parts of it on Saturday night as I volunteered as an usher for the 2 services in Stillwater, but I finally got to see it in context on Sunday morning. Here is the video:

It has inspired me again to be weird and to see things from a different angle. Reminded me that it doesn’t matter that none of my girls’ clothes came from “Justice” as much as they would like for them to have, and that my family is blessed to have 2 cars that run (even if they aren’t pretty), a roof over our head, and a pantry (mostly) full of food. We will survive this season and we will SHINE our light for others to see. I will survive feeling burdened and overwhelmed. I will learn from the obstacles set before me and the pain that seems to consume me. I will cherish that fact that my SON climbs into bed with me almost every night and needs extra love and attention at every bedtime right now. After all, he’s only my son for a little while…

Unplugged: Blessed!

Last night’s Unplugged was simply delightful!  (I promise I won’t bore you every week with an update, but last night was so nice!)  There was such joy – in the midst of typical chaos!  We like to start at 5:30, when #1 child gets home from tutoring, and Britt and I are both home from work.  But last night, due to Pre-K enrollment for #3 and a Parent teach conference with #2’s teacher, Britt and I wouldn’t be home until after 6pm.  The babysitters (Nana and Grandpa) were in charge…  I had left a note on the dining room table with a chore for each Twister, and a reminder that Unplugged started at 5:30.  #3 got a bit of a pass from his Nana, as they were having a “date” for Nana’s birthday to watch Tangled on DVD and it was not over at 5:30 (closer to 6:15, even), but #1 and #2 (as well as my dad), were in the living room -- electronics silenced --  reading and doing homework when we got home shortly after 6!  The rest of the night was just blessed!  I even forgot about the $50 bill I seem to have lost – until this morning…

•  Emma and Lara were SO EXCITED about playing games

•  You have never lived until you have played Toy Story 3 Yahtzee with a 4 year old!

• Jake still didn’t quite understand, but there was much less whining!

•  Although the weather STILL wasn’t nice enough to be outside (30 MPH winds with gusts to 40, and COLD), we found a way to make it work

• Taco Night!

•  The girls stayed up 30 minutes past their bedtime, because they wanted to go outside and plant seeds (I let them, but I was NOT going out in that wind and cold anymore!)

• Jake stayed up 45 minutes past his bedtime – bringing me book after book after book to read to him (and I just let him!)

•  After the kids were in bed, Britt read another ENTIRE book – Heaven is For Real (Todd Burpo) (I read it last week - AMAZING story!)

• I read 1/3 of Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) – gearing up to go see the movie with my Movie Crew

• We went to bed sleepy, happy, refreshed, and WEIRD!

…because normal isn’t working

We all know people that are weird in a weird way.  And people that are weird in a good way.  But, what about people who are weird in a GOD way?  Craig Groeschel started a new series at Life Church this weekend called WEiRD.  Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

I am really excited about this series.  Pastor Craig is going to teach about what it means to be WEiRD!  Many people can walk the broad road and live a “normal” life, but only a FEW can be on the narrow road, be weird, go against the crowd, and live for God.  “If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do.”  What is normal?  Stressed, hurried, broke, in debt, broken relationships, troubled marriages, tension, messed up values?  “If you want what few people have, do what few people do.”  BE WEIRD!

Britt and I are sure people think we’re WEIRD because we start each day in a quiet place reading and studying the bible with youversion.com.  And I KNOW people think we are WEIRD because we are doing the unplugged Monday nights with our family (I know this because of the feedback we got on facebook!)  We are weird – we don’t have any credit cards or credit card debt.  If we don’t have cash, we don’t buy it.  And we sacrifice!  But you know what’s even weirder?  We are passionately in love with our Lord and Savior, each other, and our family.  The joy in our lives is deep and rooted in the truth of the Word.

You want to know more?  Ask me.  You want to hear the message?  Go to Lifechurch.tv and watch part 1 of the series, WEiRD!

OH – and Craig Grosechel wrote a book to accompany this series as well, also called WEiRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working – it comes out on this Tuesday (but we got advance copies at church this weekend!) and can be bought at Amazon.com. 

Are you going to be WEiRD?