so i'm just a little excited....

I have an article featured in the latest Christian magazine for teen girls, 2:21 Mag!

If I could do cartwheels, I would!

But for some reason my cartwheels always end up looking like a half-hearted bunny flop, so I think I'll celebrate by going to bed early tonight.  That just made me sound really old.

I love this magazine.

To the moon and back.

Know any teen girls?

Pass it on!

can I unload on you?

....pictures from my iphone, that is (smile and breathe a sigh of relief).  Thaddeus loves the hipstamatic.  He's hip like that.  I have about a hundred pictures on my phone Thad has taken around the house and I think they're all great!  Most are pretty blurry, but he managed to get a few steady shots (and I helped him just a little bit). 

This week we've been quarantined.  My twins share everything....including sore throats.  So life has slowed down to a crawl and we've been drinking chicken broth and taking cool baths.  

And if you happened to drive by the Shell station on Railroad the other day, yes, I was digging in the trash can.  But I was wearing the gloves the kind gas attendant gave me.  And I did find my debit card.  Just in case you were wondering....

Have a lovely weekend!

superstar kidz club

Superstar Kidz Club

Where do you think you would find five teens every Saturday morning for months in a row?

Not sleeping in!  They're out on the streets by 9 am taking the love of Jesus to the poorest neighborhoods in our town.  That takes commitment.  That takes passion.  That takes radical hearts!  I am amazed by this generation.  As my husband likes to say, "this is the generation that will!"  And it is.

We don't have to travel thousands of miles to find our mission field.  It's right here.  In our backyards.  In lines at the food pantry, under the interstate, in fatherless homes and neglected playgrounds.  And if we really believe in a love that's bigger than this world, then we'll find them.  We'll find hungry hearts and fill them with Jesus.  If we really believe in eternity, then what is temporary won't matter quite as much anymore.  

I asked God to break my heart for what breaks His.  And I'm overwhelmed with heartache.  I cry every time I visit Superstar Kidz Club and get to pray with a little lonely boy or girl as tears run down their cheeks.  "God, they need love!  What can I give them?"  Those thoughts tumbled through my mind, arms wrapped over a little boy's shoulder as he cried over the loss of his best friend.  You can give them my Son.  I'll never leave them or forsake them.  God's love is the greatest gift.  We prayed and I told him that Jesus will be his best friend.  Closer than a brother.

Because he's been that for me.

I've lost best friends.  I've been that lonely little kid who cried themselves to sleep.  Something beautiful happened to me, though.  Jesus really and truly became my best friend.  He was always the first one I shared my secrets with.  The one I ran to with my hurts and my fears and my insecurities.  He held my hand and never let go.  He showered me with his love, filled my heart with joy.

I want that for everyone.

such a coon

Dear Boston aka my little rascal,

You have eyes that twinkle and a smile that melts my heart into putty.  Give me one of those toothy grins of yours and I forget all about the mountain of flour you spilled on the upstairs carpet or the honey you drizzled all over the dining table and chairs.  Moments like this one, when you found your daddy's coon hat and the gorilla he had when he was just a boy so much like you, make my heart flip flop and flutter.  You wrap your little arms around my neck and tell me you love me and I could hold you like this forever....

I love you my little coon,

your Mommy

eeeek!

Okay, so I'm not the most organized person you'll ever meet.
I'm one of those really laid back type of personalities.  As in spur of the moment, fly by the seat of your pants types.  I don't like to start fires or cause waves.  I'd rather be the one to put the flames out and throw a life buoy.  So far, this has worked for me.  My unorganized state of existing has occasionally created stressful situations, but nothing that couldn't be fixed in a mad dash of productivity.

Well, those mad dashes have now been occurring in increasing frequency.

God's putting his finger on one problem area of my life and I'm squirming just a little bit under the pressure.  After all, being unorganized isn't exactly sinning, is it?   I can justify my lack of organization.  I can think of a million reasons why I can't be organized.  But the problem is that I've now seen a bigger picture.  I know the unnecessary stress it causes and while I never thought before that it affected anyone but me, I've discovered I'm wrong.  It affects my ability to be my husband's best helpmeet, my kids best instructor, a good neighbor, an available friend, a ready witness.

There is so much God is calling me to do right now and the truth is that I really can't do it.  Not by staying the way I am.  I have to be putty in His hands.  Moldable.  Changeable.

I must become less.  He must become more.

And right now, "more" of Him includes a calendar in every room....(smile)

the poems that find you

copyright: Orissa Kent, image protected by copyscape

My lovely neighbor friend blew in with a rare breeze in this stagnant southern heat.  And with her, she brought the winds of inspiration.  On a picture of sunny poppies, were these fragments and phrases of words cut out of books.  And if you're a book lover like me, that sentence alone likely gave you a heart attack.

"It's a found poem," she told me, and I read it aloud.

"Discovery of a Living Valley... Life is clad in gentle colors.  "The air...is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.", the words washed over my spirit, awakening my senses.

How many poems are there just waiting to be found?  Hidden in "living valleys", cloaked in dense life-giving air.  They're in the moments we miss if we're not looking,  the seconds that slip into years unaware.  

Yes, the valleys are just as tremendous as the view from the mountaintops.

Life is in the poems that find you.

I finished reading the last line aloud, "for those who have eyes to see, are beloved of God."

Open my eyes, God.