Minivan Moments

What does being "blessed" really mean? Okay, i'm moseying along, minding my own business, raising my children, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, cooking for my family, giving to the poor, reading my Bible, commiserating with friends, praying for healing, and BAM!   I get knocked down. Yeah, yeah, like the song, " i get up again ."  I dust myself off, look around for where that slam came from, take stock, and head down the road again... washing, teaching, cooking, reading, praying... BAM!   There it goes again! Okay, so i get up. Again .  But now i'm starting to wonder what in blazes is going on? I look around again, see nothing out of the ordinary.... But i sense the presence of evil just as surely as i sense God's presence in church on Sundays.  I know it's there, but i can't see it.  I know it just knocked me down, but i can't tell where it's coming from. Eventually, i figure out the evil is coming from within .  From with...

Okay, first off, i am not a dieter by nature. Second, no, it isn't because i am a toothpick who can eat 2 Whoppers with fries and sit in front of the computer all day sipping calorie-laden soda and never gain an ounce. ( those women should be force-fed carrot sticks until they turn orange... just sayin' ) Finally, i have not EVER in my life been on a diet that was a true diet in the sense that i was dieting to lose a certain amount of weight. Still tracking?? Okay, that said... i have found the P-E-R-F-E-C-T recipe for weight loss, quite by mistake. First, let your house get really messy.  I mean messy, folks, not 20-minutes-to-good-as-new!  I'm talking, we had a nuclear bomb go off in the house, followed by a small tornado, then the closets all barfed their contents... messy . Next, schedule an appraiser to come estimate your home's current market value... in a sink-hole-of-a-housing-market era... so that you can take advantage of the astronomically-low inte...

So, in the midst of my already-crazy life, we are trying to refinance our house to get on a 15-year mortgage.  That means i am getting our home ready for an appraisal. Um... Er... Blech . Well, here i am, scrubbing, painting, trashing, filing, cleaning, dusting, sorting, organizing, and patching, and it hits me: Spackle. Duh. My life can be represented by the wall in my stairwell: there are dozens of fingerprints from all the people who have touched me, making their mark on my life; there are nicks from the times something got away from me along the way; there are cracks from the settling that naturally happens as we age, threatening to expose what is hidden away; there are half a dozen or so nail pops from screws and nails that are trying to get out of the original construction, which need time and attention to restore; and there are scuffs from people getting carried away and not being aware of the damage they are doing. The Stairwell Wall = My Life. Okay, so my life needs a...

Do you ever feel so misunderstood that you wonder if you're losing your mind? I often have trouble with my memory, so it is a handy excuse for anyone who comes against me to use... and it is offensive to be told i must've "had that conversation with myself" just because the other person doesn't remember it.  It is possible that i am not the only person who forgets things... so why can we not just admit we don't remember?  Why cast blame?  Why trash someone else's character? Because in the midst of the battle sits an enemy .  It's an enemy i have met before.  It's an enemy who has tormented me in the past.  But this enemy's got nothin ' on my God... and my God's got my back. Little things become bigger,     Bigger things become vast.         It gets hard to progress when            Someone's throwing up your past. Through Christ there is healing,   ...

How is it that i can have a child that still surprises me after nearly 11 years in the Parenting Jungle? How is it possible to have more than one child and still be taken off guard by the next? What does it mean that i can have a Bachelor's Degree in early child psychology and still not understand how my children tick??? Oh, i know their personalities, i understand their temperaments, i've even figured out some of their gifts and a few of their struggles.  But how is it that after a surprising 20+ years of dealing with children, i am still floored by the simplicity of their minds?? Stickers!! STICKERS!! Yes, for pity's sake, i finally decided to try using reward stickers for my struggling youngest children and wouldn't you know it!?  Success!! Stickers?!?!? REALLY?!?!? {sigh} Sheesh.  Someone needs to send me the men in the white coats, 'cuz i may not make it out of this Jungle with all my wits about me. [muttering to self] ...stickers... who kne...