Abby's Future?

Yesterday Abby got to cheer and dance at Halftime of the Dublin Coffman basketball game. She had so much fun and got to wear a snazzy hot pink shirt. The lovely Coffman Cheerleaders offered an after school camp where they taught the girls a cheer, chant and dance. Then all the girls, over a 100, met on the court at halftime and performed. It was so fun to see Abby out there on the floor, I can only imagine if that might be part of her future. She loves cheerleading and I am so glad that she got to do this. Last year she did this as well but Mike was out of town and didn't get to see it. This year she showed off for many family and friends. I have some video but I am not sure how to work imovie yet to get it uploaded and edited.

It is crazy to think about who are kids will become. Today our pastor talked about how important it is to set boundaries with your kids as you parent and how those boundaries should be based on a target. The target for his children is that their kids would have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is our target as well and Mike and I are really having some great conversations lately on how we can better accomplish this. One other point our Pastor made was that we need to make sure we are not preventing our kids from being who God created them to be. I loved the verses he used today:

Psalm 139:13-14 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made....."

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

I am so glad that God has known my kids before even Mike and I did. He so wants them to succeed at what he created them to do. I know we serve an amazing God and I am so excited to see what amazing thing he will have my little Abby and Will doing to serve him.

Get your Nerd on!!

Abby and Will love attending our all church small groups on Wednesday nights. They always have a fun theme as well as a story from the Bible. This week's theme was nerd night. Now some may think this is making fun of people who are "nerds" but really it is quite the opposite. They are learning so many of God's truths each week that I was not worried that they would come out of the night thinking that being a nerd is something to be teased about. They actually learned that we are all individulas, with different talents and gifts and we are all loved by God. So here are my cute little nerds, it was fun to hear them come up with ideas. They both wore their snow boots and Abby wore a pair of my old glasses with tape between the lenses. Will looks scared stiff for some reason, probably because he has only worn a tie one other time in his life.

I feel so blessed to have a church that is so interested in all the children that attend there. They really go the extra mile to capture the children's attentions and their hearts for God.

Grandpa Update

Well I was fortunate to get to go visit my Grandpa this morning at the skilled nursing home in Dayton. He just moved there on Friday and so far things have been going well. He seemed in good spirits and had already had some PT this morning. It was great sitting and talking with him about life in general. So much is to be learned from his generation, if only we took the time to engage and listen. We talked about how kids today expect much without much effort on their own part, how people in my generation and younger do not understand basic finances and how to be secure in their future. In striving to give our kids a "better" lifestyle then our own, have we really done them any favors. Lots of food for thought from our chat today. So I am once again grateful for the opportunity to visit with my Grandpa and create more memories with him. He has seen a lot in his 84 years and I look forward to many more conversations with him. Get well soon Grandpa!

Hedbanz

Will got the game Hedbanz for Christmas so we decided to play it the other night. It really is a cute game and was fun for ages 6-adult. It was fun seeing the kids have to really think about the questions they need to ask to discover what object they were. It was also nice to see them helping each other out when they needed a little hint. I love that we can have fun together as a family and that the kids crave spending time with us. I know someday I won't be cool enough to hang out with according to them, but right now I am going to savor every last bit of it. I am so blessed to have the family I have.

Are you a good man(or woman)?

This past Sunday our Pastor played the following video at our church. It is of Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller and a proclaimed atheist. This video was also played for us hours before the Golden Globes where the host closed the show by saying "Thank God I am an Atheist". I encourage you to watch this video, it has a slow start but there is a part where he talks about how much do you have to hate someone not to share what you truly believe will save their life. It was very convicting. What if we all lived out each day being bold for our Christ, what message is our lack of a message saying to someone? Lots of food for thought this week about this video.

Here is a link to the youtube video via blog I found that offers some good thoughts on the video as well.

http://www.michealfelker.com/2010/05/15/penn-gets-a-bible/

Raising a Little Man

Last weekend at his first wrestling tourney, Will won 2 out of 3 matches and came away with a first place ribbon. We were so happy for Will to have a successful weekend without any crying. I have always said this was going to be a great opportunity for Will to learn some important life lessons.

Well he learned several life lessons at this weekend's tourney. He lost his first match by one point and he was doing okay but as he walked off the mat he stepped in vomit that must have just happened. He slipped and landed hard on his back. So Mike brings me a crying, sad and vomit covered kiddo to take care of. I felt horrible for him as I tried to clean him up as best I could with napkins someone brought me. He had a tough time calming down, which is understandable. I was so torn, how could he wrestle in these clothes, should I force him to wrestle anyways, what was a momma to do?

Luckily a mom from the team had an extra singlet for Will to change into. He was able to calm himself down and within 15 minutes took off on his own will to go sit mat side and wait for his next match. I was so proud of him. He ended up losing the second match and held off the tears. He lost the third match to a kid who had a good 6 inches on him by one point and came off saying, that was my best match ever. I am so proud of the little man Will is shaping up to be, he overcame and he persevered and came out better on the other side. I am so grateful for this special little boy. It is so hard to let him tough it out, the mom in me wants to rescue him from all hurt, disappointment and loss but I know that is not my job. My job is to expose him to Jesus Christ so that he learns that no matter the circumstance his faith in Christ will bring him out better on the other side.

I am hoping though that this was enough of a lesson in perseverance to not warrant anymore slipping on vomit. That was way gross.

***On a side note, this morning I had two moms come up to me at church who worked with Will this morning. They told me that after they had played a relay game they sat down for circle time. Will immediately raised his hand and asked " Can I go get a drink of water because I am smoking hot!!!" ***

Darn You Perkins!!

Well this morning my grandparents were headed out the door as it was the last day for 20% off at their Perkins in Springfield. As my grandpa stepped off the porch he hit a patch of ice and slipped, falling to the ground. He ended up breaking his L hip and will have surgery bright and early tomorrow morning. Tonight I headed over to visit him in the hospital and am so glad I got to spend time taking care of him and just talking.

As I have gotten older it has been harder and harder to see my grandparents as my own family's schedule has gotten busier. We just saw them two weeks ago but barely got to visit as the house was full of people. I am so lucky to have three living grandparents at my age and really need to get better about making time to see them more often. Life is such a balance, I feel like you are pulled in so many directions, trying to please your family, your parents, your in-laws and carve time out for yourself as well.

Even though I am fortunate to have family that really does not put pressure on me, I continue to stress about pleasing everyone. I am sure God would love for me to spend less time stressing out about pleasing others and more time pleasing Him. So even though I would much rather have my Grandpa walking around right now and this to have never happened, I am so grateful for the blessing of spending time with him tonight. Only God can provide a blessing in such unwelcome circumstances. I am grateful to have a husband who so willing let me drop our plans today and go spend time with him. I am praying tonight for peace for my Grandparents, for the surgeon to be well rested and have no difficulties during the surgery tomorrow, as well as a full recovery.

What if funny about this story is when my grandma got the chance to step out of the hospital today to get a bite to eat, guess where she went....PERKINS!!!

Praying for strangers

I am amazed at the blogging world. In a moment you come across a blog, a story, a prayer request and you feel instantly connected to them and they have no idea that you even exist. I have been blessed to pray for so many strangers through facebook, twitter and blogging. I consider it pure joy to pray for others and even more joy that sometimes I get to see the fruits of those prayers because of the internet. Here are a few blogs that I have been following and praying for, some for awhile and some just recently.

Kellys Korner Blog- Kelly's little girl Harper was born two years ago. She was born they thought without complications and then within minutes things turned for the worse. Harper is now healthy and expecting to be a big sister very soon.

Our Journey to Love- Adrienne has three adopted children and after many losses finally became pregnant with Bennett. He was born very early and has had quite a struggle but is now days away from heading home to be with his family. The strength of this family and their faith in God is definitely worth checking out.

Little Did I Know- I just started following this blog this past week and the story of the how the blogging world spread word so that this boy named Davids from Latvia could be adopted here in the US is amazing.

I know social media has it's drawbacks and can be all consuming, even become an idol. I however feel like it can also be such a blessing. I am grateful that I see God's handiwork all around me, including in the interesting world of the internet.

Winter Mantel Linky Party

I am in the process of updating my mantle for its winter look. This post Winter Mantel Linky Party provided the inspiration and I hope to have some luck over the next few weeks updating my mantle a little bit. I wish I was as creative as some of these ladies. They are so original with their ideas and they also take the time to make tutorials for people like me to try and follow. I love the blogging world for this very reason and the website ETSY is equally as wonderful. Happy looking:)

We Need Him

As the news is still covering all the tragic events in Arizona this past weekend, I heard this song today and it really seemed to express how I am feeling in regards to all the chaos that surrounds us in this world. It is scary to be raising kids in a world where tragedy can impact anyone of us at any given moment. May we all find peace in the only true source, Jesus Christ.

My little Wrestler

Will had his first ever wrestling tournament today at the young age of 6. He is in the picture above shaking his first opponents hand, Will is the boy to the left of the guy in the orange shirt. What a great program the Dublin Little Irish program has been. Will goes for an hour two nights a week to Dublin Scioto High School and gets to burn a lot of energy and wrestle. My husband Mike wrestled in high school so this has been a great bonding experience for them.

In today's tournament Will lost his first match and won the next two. He actually came from behind in his third match and escaped an almost pin and won in overtime. Will is very competitive and I worried that he might cry if he lost, but he had so much fun hanging out with the other kids on his team that he was fine. I am so glad Will has a safe environment to learn the important lessons in life such as winning, losing, sportsmanship and persistence. I had to miss this tourney because Abby was recovering from strep throat but he has three more tournaments and I am so excited to go support him.

I am thankful for the excitement I heard from Will today before and after the tournament. I am grateful to have discovered this program for Will and it is so rewarding to see your child doing something they are very interested and excited about. It is also great that Mike and Will have this special bond over something of interest to both of them.

I do expect tears sometime during one of the next tournaments but I know that this is giving us opportunities to teach him some important lessons. How fun it will be if he decides to wrestle in High School and I can come back to my blog and relive where it all started.

The Homeless

There has been alot of buzz lately here in Columbus Ohio about the "Golden Voice" Ted Williams being discovered. It has really made me think about how we can truly help the homeless. I pray for them, I try and give money to those who are standing at the intersection with a sign but what else should I be doing. What is God calling me to specifically do or my church to do. I know we all have a role to play but it seems like I am content with what seems easy or acceptable or dare I say COMFORTABLE. I came across this blog post about a woman who invited a homeless man to her Christmas Dinner. It was very timely that I happened across this post as I am following closely what will happen to Ted Williams. I hope that I take this inspiration, pray fervently for God to reveal his will for me on this subject and then actually do what he calls me to do.


The Meditative Mom: A dinner date with Alistair

The Meditative Mom: A dinner date with Alistair: "Before I left for my break, I told you about my new friend Alistair, a homeless man who I invited over for Christmas dinner.  I promise..."