Week's End Wrap Up

It's Friday night. I usually do not have the energy to write at the end of the day, nevertheless the end of a week...but the little I have, I'm using up in this entry!


As I look back over the last week, I have many things to be thankful for. You probably do as well. Here are a few of mine, if you care to read...


1.) A home that is lived in. Lest I ever, in the least little bit, lead you to faslely believe our home is always one of order and cleanliness, let me show you a picture of our living room that I took this week after putting the babes up for their naps. At first sight I gave a weary sigh. But then I started thinking differently.



I took it because it embodies this season of my life and someday, and it occured to me there will probably be a day when time is passing at the speed of a clogged drain in the nursing home I live in, and I will actually wish my surroundings were touched with the haphazard interior design of busy little hands and clutter of life lived by many in a home. In order to appease my pride just a bit, I will say that I do straighten up after they are in for their naps during the day and after they go to bed. But...this is not an unrealistic, middle-of-the-day peek into my world. And guess what? I love it and am thankful for it.


2.) I'm thankful we have a home, our pictures, warm water to shower and cold water to drink, unlike many families in the South tonight. We have no fear of civil war violence like so many brothers and sisters in Kenya and we can sleep in peace. These are tremendous gifts that I can so easily take for granted if I do not keep an eye to the world beyond my own. I think it is important to do that.


3.) I am thankful for my dear, lifelong friend Annie. She has experienced a loss lately. She is real and she is resiliant. Never does she pretend to figure out God (in order to try to control or make sense of circumstances) or diminish His love for her. Our personalities mirror each other's extremely accurately, and we have an understanding that not many have. We were talking this morning about how, when faced with loss or dissappointment, we immediately have this desire to "start a company' or start something. Move on, bury ourselves in ambition and find validation however we can. I'm not saying it is a right way to feel(many times it is not!), it is just interesting how various personalities deal with life and all its variables. God is certainly creative!


4.) I am thankful for my mom.

I've always known, by experience and by the testimony of others, that she has a gift for encouragement. But I am also seeing she is gifted by God in the area of selflessly helping!!! I wish every woman whose mother has left for Heaven or has never been one to enjoy, had half of my mom in their life. She loves my children equally (including the one I did not birth!) and she gives generously of her time to help me when I need it, and occassionally makes a bang-up meal for our family (an event in which the men of our house look forward to like Christmas. I'm an 'ok' cook at best...my mom is The Queen Mother when it comes to cooking. There is no comparison between the food that is found on a fork from her house and the gloop you find on mine). We are renovating our kitchen, and my husband will be the main "Renovator"...thus our kitchen will be out of commission for some time (although I'll have use of the stove and microwave) AND our weekends will revolve largely around 'getting the kitchen done'. This has been years coming, and it is finally happening. In any case, I was trying to figure out how to best work around this 'interruption' and my mom and I came up with a plan that I am just thrilled about!!! On Saturday mornings, I will take the kiddos and recipe ingredients over to Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandpa will have his desired 'two/three one on one' time with the children and mom and I will work on preparing our meals for the week. This will save me a tremendous amount of time and stress (and less mess in a rooted up kitchen!) and I just cannot tell you how thrilled I am! THANK YOU, mom, for sharing your expertise (and in that, love) with me yet again!!! I do not enjoy cooking, but it will not be as bad with Judy "Paula Deen" Martin by my side.

4.) I'm thankful for Wal Mart and their clearance counter. It was there I found a $5 "My First Stove" that has captivated Christopher. I assured his father that when green plastic army men are what he wants, I will run out to the Dollar tree and supply him with all the armies he needs for a good battle. But for now, this little culinary interest keeps him interested and thus his mama happy. It won't be long before Annie takes over in their imaginary kitchen.

5.) I'm thankful that my mind cannot comprehend the full meaning of "Love" as God knows it. In being limited, it can be simultaneously maddening and gloriously hopeful, because He can still love above what our eyes can see and our brain comprehend. More on this next time...


I hope you have a contented weekend, whatever your circumstances...