Saturday, March 20, 2010
What God Did....
also entitled, "Why I'm Not Mad at John Piper Anymore." Well, there's a catchy turn of phrase, right? But I can't start en medias res, because as with all good tales, this one has an interesting background.
We moved to famous-college-town, Georgia in the fall of '05. This was a purposeful move away from vocational ministry for Rob, and our family quickly settled into "non-pastor's family life" quite comfortably. God led us to an amazing group of believers who cared for and befriended us, and each month that passed seemed to make our lives a little bit richer.
While we all enjoyed our life in that place, Rob and I both felt strongly that it wouldn't be our forever home; but I honestly tried very hard to ignore that feeling. I tried so hard that I became irritated with Rob when he would share with me how challenged he felt listening to John Piper's "Wartime Mentality" sermons. Now I love listening to Piper's sermons as much as the next guy, or gal, but really. John, can't you just let me be comfortable and enjoy my life IN PEACE??? Could you lay off the we're-in-a-war-and-this-is-not-the-time-to-settle-in-kick-back-and-enjoy-life speak for just a little bit? Clearly John Piper was not set on upsetting the suburban housewife's comfortable life. But God was. And I don't mean that in a God-is-a-cosmic-KillJoy way. I just mean that I had become content to watch from the sidelines. Oh, I would certainly jump up and be the water girl every now and again, but actually get in and play? No way. I might sweat.
So God brought a young college student into our lives. He lived in not-as-famous-college-town, Georgia, and he worshipped with a group of people who were wondering if God would be calling them to start a church plant.
I should have seen the writing on the wall....
We moved to famous-college-town, Georgia in the fall of '05. This was a purposeful move away from vocational ministry for Rob, and our family quickly settled into "non-pastor's family life" quite comfortably. God led us to an amazing group of believers who cared for and befriended us, and each month that passed seemed to make our lives a little bit richer.
While we all enjoyed our life in that place, Rob and I both felt strongly that it wouldn't be our forever home; but I honestly tried very hard to ignore that feeling. I tried so hard that I became irritated with Rob when he would share with me how challenged he felt listening to John Piper's "Wartime Mentality" sermons. Now I love listening to Piper's sermons as much as the next guy, or gal, but really. John, can't you just let me be comfortable and enjoy my life IN PEACE??? Could you lay off the we're-in-a-war-and-this-is-not-the-time-to-settle-in-kick-back-and-enjoy-life speak for just a little bit? Clearly John Piper was not set on upsetting the suburban housewife's comfortable life. But God was. And I don't mean that in a God-is-a-cosmic-KillJoy way. I just mean that I had become content to watch from the sidelines. Oh, I would certainly jump up and be the water girl every now and again, but actually get in and play? No way. I might sweat.
So God brought a young college student into our lives. He lived in not-as-famous-college-town, Georgia, and he worshipped with a group of people who were wondering if God would be calling them to start a church plant.
I should have seen the writing on the wall....
Labels: God
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Urban scavenger hunt....
or, "Friday Night Fun in the 'Hood." So every other Friday night is Family Night for us. Usually it involves some sort of fun food (a k a, no vegetables) and a movie. But the urban (nee suburban) family is on a bit of a media fast until the new year, so Rob and I wanted to do something other than the norm. Enter our great idea to have a scavenger hunt.
We were blindsided by inspiration around 8:00 pm.....waaaaaay before the night life cranks up on our end of town...and decided to split up three ways: Team 1- Rob and Kirk; Team 2- Harrison and me; Team 3- Eli and Sophia. The list went as follows:
- tire
- beer bottle
- beer can
- potato chip bag
- piece of old wood
- oyster shell
- kudzu leaf
- colored leaf
- old shoe
Rob briefly thought of two additional items, namely a crack pipe and roach clip, but wisely decided against it. For obvious reasons, duh!
So off we went in search of treasure, sort of. Loving my family as I do, it is very difficult to say what I am about to say: SOME people are cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eaters!!! Rob, dearest, you cannot "borrow" a shoe from a friend's front porch to qualify as your old shoe item. Eli and Sophia, a moldy odor-eater (ironic, huh?) does not qualify either. But I'm not bitter. Anymore.
We had a blast. I think the best thing about being a parent is convincing your child/teammate that it is more fun to be the one to run and roll the old tire.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Where, oh where, has my little blog gone...
Oh, wait. It's right here. I've been away for quite some time....life just takes over sometimes, yes? Things have changed in the suburban, er, urban household. We now have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, a 2nd grader, and a 1st grader. Whew! Talk about ch-ch-ch-changes! God has met us at each challenge with a mirror of our own hearts, so lots of growth has taken place around here.
I really want to share the story of how God moved us from comfortable suburbia to our own little patch of urban concrete smack in the middle of a south Georgia college town....it is not for the faint of heart!
Stay tuned...
I really want to share the story of how God moved us from comfortable suburbia to our own little patch of urban concrete smack in the middle of a south Georgia college town....it is not for the faint of heart!
Stay tuned...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Humility from an unexpected source...
Facebook is all the rage these days. Provided it doesn't become a time vampire that sucks every available (and unavailable) minute out of your day, it is quite fun- hilarious, actually. There are so many people whom I haven't kept up with by virtue of geographical distance or just plain losing touch; but with FB, they are just a search away.
Now the "friends" part is interesting: apparently, and I don't know if this is just Urban Legend, FB has a limit of 5,000 friends per person. I doubt I'm in danger of exceeding this!! But every once in a while, I am caught completely off guard by a friend request. This happens when I read a name and think, "Why would _________ want to be my FB friend?" I either totally ignored the person because he/she wasn't "cool" enough, or I just didn't make the effort to be friends.
So I am humbled by these requests. It makes me pause and wonder, even though (thank God) I don't act quite as immaturely as I did in high school, are there people around me today whom I judge as just a little "different" or "weird" and don't pursue as friends? Shouldn't Christ's love compel me to reach out to everyone in my sphere of acquaintances? Just a thought. Or two.
Now the "friends" part is interesting: apparently, and I don't know if this is just Urban Legend, FB has a limit of 5,000 friends per person. I doubt I'm in danger of exceeding this!! But every once in a while, I am caught completely off guard by a friend request. This happens when I read a name and think, "Why would _________ want to be my FB friend?" I either totally ignored the person because he/she wasn't "cool" enough, or I just didn't make the effort to be friends.
So I am humbled by these requests. It makes me pause and wonder, even though (thank God) I don't act quite as immaturely as I did in high school, are there people around me today whom I judge as just a little "different" or "weird" and don't pursue as friends? Shouldn't Christ's love compel me to reach out to everyone in my sphere of acquaintances? Just a thought. Or two.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thankfulness...
I've been scarce in Bloggetyville lately. Our life is very full with two children in traditional school, two whom I homeschool, Scouts (girl and boy), wrestling (Harrison, not me and Rob), church plant, learning and growing in my roles as wife and mother, etc., etc., etc. It certainly isn't that I have nothing to say, or that I don't want to blog, but I've had to make choices with my time, just as we all do.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving, and I'll let y'all in on a little secret: I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. Really. I like Christmas- don't get me wrong; I just like Thanksgiving more. I think there's less pressure or something. At any rate, I thought it would be good for me to enumerate some reasons for thankfulness this year. The list is by no means exhaustive.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving, and I'll let y'all in on a little secret: I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. Really. I like Christmas- don't get me wrong; I just like Thanksgiving more. I think there's less pressure or something. At any rate, I thought it would be good for me to enumerate some reasons for thankfulness this year. The list is by no means exhaustive.
- our new (to us) home
- sweet fellowship of believers in the church plant
- Harrison
- Eli
- Sophia
- Kirk
- Rob- you're the best, and I love you. But you get your own post on our anniversary.
- friends
- family
- salvation
- growth
- debt-free living within reach in 2009
- contentment
I'd love to read some of your reasons for being thankful.
Labels: thanks
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Rainy Day Fun and Reminiscing...
I was watching some littles on the playground today, and one little girl, Maggie, came up to me and my friend to tell us something. What she said I really don't remember, but HOW she said it- oh my! Hilarious. So that led me to thinking about the many things my kids did/do that are so funny. Rob's Nanny told me one time that I really should write those things down. I was in my early 20's when she said that, so naturally I thought, "Why would I need to do that? I'll never forget these things." Well, guess what? I have forgotten a lot of things. But a coupon for pantyliners and a forecast for a rainy day made me remember...
Once upon a time, long, long ago, we lived in the Mojave Desert in the uppermost corner of LA county. There were only four of us in those days: Rob, me, Harrison, and Eli. Our kitchen floor was that 13x13 glossy ceramic tile. You know- real uptown but hard to keep clean. Anyway. Rain in SoCal (southern CA for those who've never lived there) is not like what we folks in the good 'ole South experience. See, it doesn't rain for MONTHS there. And when it does start, like in October or November, it's a big deal.
It had been raining off and on for about a week that fall. I had taken the boys to the library and the park already that week, so I decided they could have some indoor fun at home. I put some toys out in the living room and some music in the CD player and told the boys I would be folding laundry in my room. Eli was around 14 months old, and Harrison was 4 (almost 5). As I was folding the second load of laundry, I began to hear hysterical giggling- the kind that gives kids hiccups because they can't catch their breath. I remember thinking to myself, "What's so funny about Legos and 'The Wheels on the Bus'?" I walked into the living room, but the boys weren't there. I went on into the kitchen where I beheld my offspring having the time of their short lives. "Momma! We're skating!" Harrison told me. "But y'all don't have on socks," was my last thought before Harrison demonstrated what he found. "Look, Momma! Skates that stick to your feet." Sure enough, he had found a box of pantyliners, peeled off the backing, and stuck them to the bottoms of his feet. And since he was nothing if not a helpful brother, he rigged Eli- who couldn't walk yet- by sticking them to the palms of his hands and his knees.
So now it's written.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
And so it begins...
The weather here in south GA was wonderful today: sunny, breezy, and warm. This morning I told the kids we would go to their favorite park later in the afternoon, after homework. (This, by the way, is a great motivator) I so enjoy watching my four play and interact with other children. Initially they all stay together, then "fan out" after 10 minutes or so.
I was sitting on a nearby bench when I looked up to see Kirk perched on top of the monkey bars. He was casually telling a group of three girls, "Yeah. I can pretty much do a backflip off these monkey bars." The girls, of course, were suitably impressed. With a 6-year-old. Unfortunately for him, the girlies wanted to see some action. I thought Kirk would start backpedaling, but it was not to be. "Well, y'all have to see that some other time. It makes mommies nervous when I do stuff like that."
Impressing the ladies. Holla.
Labels: Kirk
