A Sweet Reminder

This morning my two year old woke up with a bad dream. Or perhaps it was just that he couldn't breath very well because of his cold. Either way, I got to spend some very sweet time with one tired little boy for a while.

I was in the living room on the couch when I heard the cry. In my motherly instinct I jumped to my feet to run and see what was wrong. I couldn't understand CD through his tears so I just cuddled him in my arms and brought him back to the couch with me. He clung to me as I rubbed his back and whispered in his ear "it's ok sweetie, mommy's here."

Before I knew it, he was asleep in my arms. The last time I can remember laying with CD asleep in my arms is when he was very small. Small enough to fit on my chest. As I listened to him breathe I was reminded of what a precious gift he and each of my children are from the Lord.

It's moments like these that bring me to my knees in prayer. I pray that He will watch over these children of mine. I pray also that He will fill me with His unconditional love for them until it overflows into their lives and is so evident that they can't help but know that they are loved. I pray for wisdom, guidance, and strength to nurture them from day to day. Most of all, I pray that they will come to know and love Him on a personal level like I do.

What a blessing to be a mother! :)

Company Girl Coffee 3.27.09

I'm going to follow my sweet friend Kerri this morning and take a minute to reflect on Gratitude Friday. :) I too, am glad that next week is Spring Break. This week has been conference week so we have had early release every day. Three of my kids are in school, and I've been to two of their conferences. My last one is this morning. I'm so thankful that all of my kids love school. They are readers! All three of them are at least a grade ahead in their reading levels. I'm so thankful for teachers that encourage them to excel to a higher level even though the district will only allow them to test at a certain number. I am also thankful that I have been able to hear first hand from their teachers that my children are kind, respectful, and hard working kids. We've had a few bumps here and there, but all in all, something we are doing at home must be working!

It's good to see signs of spring here finally. Hail aside, it has been a pretty nice week and the kids have been able to play outside some. For that, I think we are all thankful! :)

I was thinking about how much I love our coffee sessions on Fridays last night. I'm going to get on with my day, but before I do, I want to extend an invitation to all of you to leave your prayer requests here today. God is really teaching me the importance of being on my knees for other people in my life. Even the ones that I don't get to meet with face to face. I wish I could sit down and talk and pray with all of you, but I want you to know that I am a woman of my word when I say I will pray for you. So today and always, please feel free to either e-mail me or leave your prayer request in the comments. It's my pleasure to lift your needs to heaven. God is faithful, and He will answer.

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy..." Phil 1:3-4

Many blessings!
Melissa

Company Girl Coffee 3.20.09

Happy first day of Spring! Kids are off to school and my two youngest are playing nicely together. Oh, how I love to watch them play. It puts a smile on my face, and joy in my heart. :)

Last week I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about parenting. I have been really challenged lately as a parent in many ways. Part of it comes because my children are so close together in age. (7,6,5,4 and 2) With my oldest, I am finding all sorts of challenges that I am totally unprepared for. You know, the kinds of things you only learn from another girlfriend, not the parenting books. I am so blessed to be surrounded by other moms who have been there before me, even if it is across the miles through blogging!

This week I wanted to share something with you from the Beth Moore study "Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman." Each week she has shared a scenario as a main point. This week it was "It's tough being a woman in a mean world." How true is that! She goes on to teach the difference between mean people and mean streaks, which are moments where meanness just rears its head in us. The difference between a mean person and someone who just had a mean streak show itself, is that mean people never say they are sorry or admit they are wrong. On the other hand, someone who had a momentary lapse in judgement and either said something mean or did something mean feels bad about it, is willing to apologize for it, and make amends.

As a parent, I have seen those mean streaks in me, and I do not like them one bit. Usually it's when I'm ever so busy, and my kids are acting out so I have to stop what I'm doing. Other times I am ill, or just plain tired and the little annoyances seem to flare up and become big ones. That's when I shout, blame, and sometimes say things that I immediately regret.

So what do I do when I find myself in those situations? I hug my kids and ask for forgiveness. They need to know that not even mom is perfect. How are they going to learn humility if they don't see it in me? In cases where disobedience was involved, after I've calmed down I explain to them why there will be consequences to their actions. Then in private, in my own time before the Lord, I work it out with Him. I ask Him to search my heart and see what caused my outburst. I "recharge" like Rachel Anne said today in her post, and seek Him in His Word and in prayer.

My Pastor said something on Sunday that really made sense to me. It's not often our successes that we learn and grow from, but our failures. Sometimes we just have to fall flat on our face before we can soar on wings. Can anyone relate to that? I can.

Isaiah 40:29-31 says it best.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Thank you for letting me be transparent before you. If I am really going to talk about what matters here, I need to be able to do that. I am so glad that I have each of you as friends for this journey. I look forward to having coffee with you throughout the weekend!

In His grace,

Melissa

Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 3.15.09

I am a couple of days behind in posting my Siesta Scripture Memory verse because I had company this weekend, but I am excited to continue with my memorization! I think God wants me to dwell on confidence for another couple of weeks. This time, I was reading in 1 John about love and came across a verse smack dab in the middle of a couple of other verses I already have memorized. So once I add this one to it, I will have a nice chunk in 1 John 4 to meditate on.

1 John 4:17
"In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him." (NIV)

Here it is in context:
1 John 4:16-18
"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

The words "made complete" translate to the greek word "teleioo" (tel-i-o'-o), meaning consecrate, make perfect, finish, or fulfill. (Strongs Greek 5048)

The word "confidence" translates "parrhesia" (par-rhay-see'-ah), meaning boldness. It is the same word used in my last scripture memory verse, Hebrews 10:35-36. (Strongs 3954)

So His love is finished, or perfected in us so that we can have boldness when we stand before Him on the day of judgement. We have this confidence, or boldness, because we are created like Him, and we rely on the love that He himself has for us! Now that's something to meditate on!

Blessings as you abide in His perfect love,
-Melissa

Company Girl Coffee 3.13.09

I'm just about to make some lunch, so I've switched to water for the day, but I want to invite you to come in and hang out for a while. Something I read this morning really threw me for a loop and I'd love to hear your opinion about it.

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think anything else you do well matters very much." -Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

At first, this quote seemed pretty extreme to me. I mean, I'm trying my best to raise my children up well, but NOTHING else matters? Hmm...let me think about that some more.

Here's what Jesus had to say to His disciples when they asked Him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven:

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" -Matthew 18:2-6

That last part is pretty pointed. It makes me stop and think about what I can be doing with His help to better myself as a parent. Notice I said with His help. Would I say that I bungle my responsibilities as a parent from time to time? Yes. Definitely. All I can do is lean on Him while I do my best to raise up these little ones that He has entrusted to me. It takes a lot of humility, and a willingness on my part to admit my mistakes and learn from them.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on the matter? I look forward to hearing from you!

10 Things Tuesday

It's been a busy morning for me. The kids were late to school this morning because I had to take it very slow on the way to school. The roads were one solid sheet of ice. Thankfully, even though the temperature is still not above freezing, the sun has melted away most of that ice. We are supposed to reach record lows for March this week in temperatures though, so I'm sure we'll be back to solid ice tomorrow morning.


The beauty of it all (as long as I am indoors) is that everything is so bright with the sun shining on a fresh coat of snow. I have opened my curtains to let the sunlight flood in and that has brought a lot of cheer to my day. I thought I would take a few minutes to participate in 10 Things Tuesday, even though I haven't seen XBOX Wife around in a while.

1. I am thankful for Christian radio. I love to have positive music playing in the background as I work. I often find myself humming along, or outright worshipping in my kitchen.


2. I am thankful that my Pediatrician's office is willing to call in a prescription for pink eye so I didn't have to take LR to the doctor today. It saved me a trip out in the icy cold.


3. I am thankful for my new Bible study "Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman," by Beth Moore. It has come along at a perfect season of my life and I am already getting a lot out of it in the first week.


4. I am thankful that my kids are so excited to go to church every week. I pray that excitement will continue as they get older.


5. Baskets! Yes, all kinds of baskets. I use them all over my house to serve various and sundry purposes. Laundry, books, toys, you name it, I have a basket for it!


6. I am thankful my mother in law is coming to visit this weekend. I love it when she comes and so do our kids. I wish she could come more often and stay longer. I have said it before but I am so thankful that we have such a great relationship.


7. I am thankful for friends that have already gone through the stages of parenting that I am walking through currently.


8. I am thankful for God's mercy and grace.


9. I am thankful for life's little interruptions. (They happen on a daily basis around here!)


10. I am thankful that when my day seems to have slipped away, (like today) there is always tomorrow. :)

Birds and Lions

This morning as I was birdwatching out my window with my kids, (Can you find the robin in this picture?) I was reminded of a devotion I wrote a couple of years ago around this time. When I looked back on it in my journal, I thought it might be worth sharing.

March 2, 2007
The early bird gets the worm...or so that's what they say. There are about 50 Robins in my neighbor's yard this morning. That's either a lot of worms, or he put some bird seed out! Either way, it's a sign to me that Spring is on its way. We haven't seen any Robins in months. I can't wait until the warmth of the sun takes the chill away from the cold weather we've been having.

As I was watching the Robins going to and fro, content with whatever they were finding for breakfast this morning, the first thing that came to my mind was the familiar verse "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV).

Got it, Lord. Don't worry because You have it under control. I'm not worried about anything right now though. Life is good and I am trusting You to provide for me and my family. Is there another lesson you want me to learn this morning?

Enter cat... Those birds sure did scatter!

OH. I see. It is one thing to trust the Lord when all is going well. Having a good day? It's easy to praise Him. Got a raise at work? Thanks be to God for providing! Are the kids behaving nicely? God is good. You get the picture. When things are going great, and everything is under control in our lives, we tend to pat God on the back. "Good job God. You're taking care of my needs, just the way I like it."

Can you hear the BUT coming?

Here it is. But when all of a sudden a "cat" takes us by surprise, we find it a little more difficult to trust that God has everything under control. All chaos breaks loose because the enemy comes in "like a roaring lion" and steals our peace. (1 Peter 5:8) We scatter. We think that God has somehow let us down. We feel alone in our struggles and anxious about what's going to happen next.

Let's look at the Lion in context. 1 Peter 5:7-9 says "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be self controlled and alert. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering."

You see, we are not left alone to face our enemy. We can cast our anxieties on Him. Why? Because he cares for us. We can stand firm, knowing that someone else has been through or is going through the same trials that we are.

Yes, everything is good in my life right now. I feel at peace. I thank God for times like these because I know that at any given moment a trial might come my way. That is why the bible tells us to "be self controlled and alert." Be ready for anything, good or bad.

Which place are you in today? Are you the robin, without worry, or has the lion pounced in to steal your peace? Either way, my friend, stand firm. You are not alone.

Thank You, Lord for the lesson that you have given me in the robin and the lion. You are present in both times of peace and times of turmoil. Help me to stand firm in both.

I am in another season of peace right now, and I am thankful for it. What I thought of this morning that I had not thought of before though, is that He has peace for us even in the difficult times when we trust in Him. It goes back to my last Siesta memory verse. "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

Lord, please create in me a steadfast mind!

Company Girl Coffee 3.6.09

Welcome! I have to be honest with you and tell you I am still in my cozy bathrobe and a bit sleepy. But the coffee is warm and there is plenty. :) I was spoiled with last week's weather that almost reached the 50's, so this morning I am a bit chilled with it in the low 30's. It even snowed yesterday.

Have you been doing your laundry this week? I have! I'm so glad that Rachel Anne was so generous to let us rake in the points by doing something so monotonous! Laundry is by far one of my least favorite things to do. All the sorting and different types of loads. There's lights and darks and whites and gentles and hots and colds and warm/colds and hand wash and hang dry and oh, the ironing! (Which is non-existent for me if I can help it!)

I have to laugh when I think about a story from when my first baby was born. Laundry was so easy before we had children. Maybe once a week I gathered it up and spent a few hours on it. Then I got pregnant after 4 years of trying, and we found out we were having a girl. Well, the church we were working for had been praying for us so faithfully that they just had to throw me a shower to celebrate. I have never seen so many women gathered at one baby shower! It was actually a little overwhelming, but I was blessed that so many wanted to celebrate with me.

As I opened one gift after another what I found inside was mostly pink, pink, and more pink! I was definitely not going to have any problems with people asking me if my baby was a boy or a girl! :) When we got it all home to sort through it, (luckily we lived on church campus back then) my husband joked about how now when we did laundry, it was going to be a load of lights, a load of darks, and a load of PINKS!

Since then, my laundry has become a lot more diverse in color because I have 2 girls and three wonderfully messy boys. My firstborn still wears pink, but it's LR, my other daughter (4) that loves it the most. She's sitting here next to me, in her warm fuzzy footy pj's, pink from head to toe! :)

Ahhhhh, laundry! It's a labor of love!

Hope you all had a great week. I can't wait to meet with some of you for coffee, but for now, I'm off to get my kiddos ready for school.

~Melissa

The Weather Report

Date: March 5th, 2009
Time: 10:30am
Weather: 33 degrees and SNOW????

Hmm.... I guess we're not quite out of Winter yet!

My husband reminded me that it snowed in June last year. I had to look it up on the internet to believe him. (Sometimes I can be stubborn that way!) Oh well. At least I haven't put away the heavy coats, warm hats, and mittens yet! :)

What's your weather doing these days?

I found WHAT in my kitchen???

Well, it's Monday. Not only that, but the first Monday of the month, which is when I try to get a lot of my once a month tasks out of the way. What's on my once a month list, you ask? Let's see...

• Shine my kitchen sink
• Empty the vacuum cleaner
• Scrub my kitchen counter tops
• Thoroughly mop kitchen and dining room areas
• Clean out the entry way closet

You know, there are more things on my list that I'd like to say that I actually DO once a month, but then I'd just be fibbing! Those five things are the ones that I am pretty consistent about crossing off my list every month. As you can see, the tasks are mostly centered around my kitchen.

Today's Small Thing over at Home Sanctuary was to look at your kitchen through new eyes, or the eyes of a visitor. I like to think of my kitchen as pretty sanitary, since I spend most of my time there. I was shocked to notice a few things that I usually look past from day to day.

• Drawers/cupboards with food that has been splashed or spilled on them
• Appliances that are dusty or have food or drink splashed or spilled on them
• Gunk (there's no other word for it) in the crevices around my stove
• Crumbs in the corners of the counters
• A pile of papers at the edge of the counter (or worse, spread out all over the place!)

Just to name a few! It was a real eye opener for me. Now, I'm not saying that my kitchen or any other room in my house has to be sparkling clean, 24/7. That would be an impossible feat and I am all about manageable cleanliness. I just had to ask myself today "Where else in my home have I looked past some pretty obvious eye sores?"

It caused me to once again re-visit my master task list and do some brainstorming about how to keep a productive cleaning schedule going. It's a work in progress. I usually get this way every year about now. After all, Spring Cleaning is just around the corner. Why not start planning for it now? I'll let you know how things progress!

What kinds of things are a "must" around your home when it comes to cleanliness?

Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 3.1.09

It's time for another Siesta Scripture Memory Verse! Wow! Has God been scribing these verses on my heart. He has really been teaching me about trust these past couple of months, from one verse to the next. Last Sunday my efforts to grow in trusting Him brought me to a passage in Isaiah that I thought might be my next to memorize.

Isaiah 12:2
"Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD is my strength and song;
He has become my salvation."

I have been meditating on this verse all week, along with my last memory verse. (Isaiah 26:3-4) After reading Beth Moore's post this morning, though, I believe that I am to join her in memorizing Hebrews 10:35-36. I think that God has a lesson to teach me in confidence. Last night as I was reading my daily passage in the Bible God put a devotion on my heart. (See previous post.) As I read Beth's memory verse this morning, it really rang my bell. It just drove home the point that I wrote about yesterday. Our confidence needs to rest in God.

Hebrews 10:35-36
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

I love how God works like that. If we listen with open hearts, He is faithful to speak to us through His Word, and other means. I am on my toes, listening, waiting with anticipation to receive what He wants to teach me next!

Blessings to you as you listen to His voice,
~Melissa